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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1478 - 4 APRIL

Brought to you by boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.com ) Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

REVISITING THE 2012 OLYMPIC EVENTS The papers for the 2008 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting have been published on the ISAF Meeting microsite. Meetings of the ISAF Council, ISAF Executive Committee and ISAF Events Committee will take place from 8-12 May 2008 in Qingdao, China.

The ISAF Equipment Committee will be meeting separately at the ISAF Secretariat on Saturday 19 April 2008, preceded by the ISAF Equipment Control Sub-Committee on Friday 18 April.

The ISAF Council, the final decision making body of ISAF, will meet over the weekend of 10-11 May and consider issues deferred from previous Council meetings, urgent submissions and financial matters. Discussion will include the proposals for the ISAF World Cup of Sailing, a report on amendments to the ISAF Advertising Code which are proposed for implementation from 1 January 2009 and proposals to amend Committee Terms of Reference. Urgent submissions include proposals on the Women's Forum, ISAF Sailor Classification Code and the match racing equipment for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Council will also be given the opportunity to address the selection of events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. By the close of the submission deadline for the 2008 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, submissions had been lodged by 15 ISAF Member National Authorities and two ISAF Class Associations regarding the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. In accordance with ISAF Regulation 1.6(b), the Executive Committee has considered all these submissions and maintains its position from February 2008 that any submissions on the events for 2012 should be considered at the 2008 Annual Conference in November.

However, recognizing the level of concerns over the decision as per the submissions received, the Executive Committee feels it would be prudent for the ISAF Council to have the opportunity in May 2008 to affirm or otherwise its decision taken in November 2007 on the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. Therefore, the Executive Committee has decided to put forward Urgent Submission M06-08, which invites Council to reaffirm or otherwise their decision on the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition made in November 2007. The Executive Committee intent in making this submission is to bring to a close the current speculation challenging the Council decision.

Excerpt from the 'urgent' submission:

That Council reaffirm their decision on the 2012 Olympic Events made in November 2007 by a simple majority vote.

Upon reaffirmation, the matter will be concluded and all submissions made whether accepted as urgent or not urgent, will be considered to have been dealt with.

Should Council vote not to reaffirm the decision, two separate votes will then follow:

1. Should the selected events for the Men be changed - A majority of two thirds will be required to effect any change as per Regulation 16.1.3 (a).

2. Should the selected events for the Women be changed - A majority of two thirds will be required to effect any change as per Regulation 16.1.3 (a). In case one or both of the votes under 1 and 2 above achieve the required majority, the 'new' decisions on the list of events for the 2012 Olympic Events shall be made in November 2008 and submissions on the events can be made in accordance with Regulation 1.

More at http://www.sailing.org/22668.php

SAN FRANCISCO - YOKOHAMA Since leaving San Francisco last Saturday at 22h45'45'' UT, Lionel Lemonchois and his crew have been racking up the miles at a steady pace - an average of over 21 knots - as they jump from one weather system to another. This strategy has paid off as, after just four days of racing, the 33 metres maxi-catamaran has a good lead over the reference time.

"Conditions are now ideal… We have been experiencing periods of sailing which have been considerably more pleasant over the past 24 hours. We have brilliant sunshine, increasingly calm seas and a twenty knot NE'ly breeze, which are currently enabling us to belt along at between 27 and 34 knots" confided Cyril Dardashti shortly after 2300 hours yesterday night.

In 2006, during its conclusive east to west crossing of the Pacific, Geronimo completed the course in three stages. In fact, weather conditions were such that Olivier de Kersauson and his crew were pushed onto a very S'ly course. This was so far south that the maxi-trimaran treated itself to two intermediary records (San Francisco / Honolulu then Honolulu / Yokohama) in addition to the North Pacific record crossing. For Lionel Lemonchois and his ten crew, the objective has always been to reduce the reference time for the whole course so the possibility of a passage between the Hawaiian Island was quickly moved to one side. The reasons for this are that the conditions Gitana 13 is currently benefiting from are enabling her to make headway towards the goal without having to round off her trajectory too much. "If the wind had guided us close to Honolulu we'd certainly have attempted the intermediary records, but we're passing too far north of the archipelago to warrant adding additional miles. This is rather good news for the outright crossing record!" added Cyril. Positioned 320 miles north of the island of Maui yesterday night, the maxi-catamaran has since left the Hawaiian archipelago abeam of her, to port.

Today this NE'ly wind is set to hold as it clocks round progressively to the E and then the SE tomorrow. This rotation will accompany Lionel Lemonchois' men in what will be their only day in a tradewind air flow during this record. According to Sylvain Mondon's forecast, this fifth day at sea also promises to be one of the most productive since the start. The combination of strong, established winds and fairly flat seas should enable Gitana 13 to lengthen her stride - the 600 miles covered in 24 hours are likely to be exceeded in principle - and they will be able to open up their lead still further over their virtual rival.

http://www.gitana-team.com

LATE AVAILABILITY FOR ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK 26th April 2nd May 2008 Ondeck, official sponsors (and preferred Yacht Charter Company) of the 41st Stanford Antigua Sailing Week have just 1 X Farr 65 & 1 X Farr 40 left ready for you to 'rock up and race' in this world class event. We also have a very limited amount of availability for individuals on one of our Farr 65s and on Team Pindar's Volvo 60. Full event management is included along with shore support and some fantastic opportunities for partying.

For more information contact sh@ondeck.co.uk or visit http://www.ondeck.co.uk

CLARK COMPLETES UK OLYMPIC SAILING LINE-UP Royal Naval Officer Penny Clark has earned the nod for the British Laser Radial berth for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, with her official selection today, along with eight other sailors, by the British Olympic Association completing the British sailing team line-up for the 2008 Games.

Sailing is the first British sport to have completed its cast for the Beijing Games with Clark, plus RS:X windsurfers Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw, the 470 men's and women's crews of Nick Rogers-Joe Glanfield and Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark and Tornado duo Leigh McMillan and Will Howden, all officially named today as members of 'Team GB' - the BOA's team for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, which could ultimately comprise 300 athletes competing across 22 sports at the Games in August.

These nine sailors join Ben Ainslie (Finn), Sarah Ayton-Sarah Webb-Pippa Wilson (Yngling), Stevie Morrison-Ben Rhodes (49er), Paul Goodison (Laser) and Iain Percy-Andrew Simpson (Star), who all had their RYA nominations ratified in January, to complete the list of Team GB sailors for the 2008 Games.

The 32-year-old Penny Clark earned her call-up following an extended trials process for the Laser Radial class in which she and Andrea Brewster, Charlotte Dobson and Lizzie Vickers were all vying for the single British berth in the class.

A bronze medallist in the Olympic waters of Qingdao at the 2006 Test Event, Clark earned her nomination by the RYA's Olympic selectors after having performed most consistently, and having delivered the best overall results, during the second stage of the selection process which began at the 2007 ISAF World Championships and went onto include Miami Olympic Classes Regatta and the 2008 Laser Radial World Championships.

http://www.rya.org.uk

DESAFIO CARRIES ON.. WITHOUT CNEV Wednesday morning finally saw some America's Cup activity in Valencia, not related to the infamous legal case in New York, even if one could argue about its relation to the world's oldest sports event.

Desafio Espanol, the now-invalidated Challenge of Record of the 33rd America's Cup, summoned the press in its base in order to present the team's TP52 and GP42 campaigns for the summer as well as give the current state of affairs in the challenger. Present where Agustin Zulueta, general manager, John Cutler, technical director and in charge of the TP52 campaign, and Laureano Wizner, helsman and skipper of the GP42 campaign.

The most important announcement was that finally, Desafio Espanol had chosen to represent a new yacht club, bringing the relation with the CNEV to an end. More precisely, from now on the Spanish team will represent the Real Club Maritimo del Abra, located in Bilbao, in northern Spain.

One obvious question was why didn't Desafio Espanol choose to represent Valencia's yacht club, given the physical proximity and of course the fact both Alinghi and BMW Oracle have stated that the 34th America's Cup will also take place in Valencia, regardless of the outcome of the 33rd edition. Zulueta's answer was odd and even if it sounded credible it caused lots of smiles from the journalists in the conference room.

Desafio Espanol's general manager declared that the decision was very simple and purely "alphabetical"!!! He had received a letter, dated 11 December 2007, from the association of Spanish yacht clubs where they stated that given the CNEV fiasco, each and every yacht club in the country was offering itself to let Desafio Espanol race its colors.

What was Zulueta's solution to the problem? In order to avoid the acrimonious Spanish regional disputes by choosing Valencia over Barcelona or vice versa, he took the list of all clubs ranked alphabetically and chose the first one, "Abra", or more precisely "Real Club Maritimo del Abra". It's credible but is it a coincidence the yacht club is located a few kilometers down the road from Iberdrola's headquarters?

Whatever the reasons, at least they learned their lesson and chose a serious, well-established club, more than a century old, having organized and organizing dozens of truly annual regattas. Yet, journalists jokingly asked whether the club had telephone and fax numbers or a functioning website. -- Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com

MULTIPLE RNLI RESCUES OF CATAMARAN SAILOR IN NEWQUAY In response to today's (3 April) media reports into the multiple rescues of catamaran sailor, Glenn Crawley, by the RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew off the coast of Newquay, Cornwall; the RNLI clarifies the following points on these rescues:

Newquay RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews have rescued sailor Glenn Crawley a total of five times since January 2006.

The most recent incident involving Mr Crawley occurred on Sunday 30 March 2008. Newquay's RNLI D Class inshore lifeboat launched at 12:50pm following a request from Falmouth Coastguard - who had received two 999 calls from members of the public reporting that a catamaran had capsized and appeared unable to right itself in Newquay Bay.

Commenting on these multiple lifeboat launches RNLI Sea Safety Manager, Peter Chennell says:

'The RNLI is the charity that exists to save lives at sea. We do not judge those whose lives we save. Some may question why, as a charity, our lifeboats and volunteers sometimes launch several times to the same boat or person, when every launch comes at a cost to vital funds and our volunteers' time. We have a duty to serve all who are reported to be in trouble at sea and our volunteer lifeboat crews will always respond to the call, no matter what.

'We understand that Mr Crawley has agreed to undertake additional training -indeed we recommend that all those who use the sea for leisure purposes get recognised training and qualifications - as this is not only a great way of getting added enjoyment from being out on the water but should also help to stop people from getting into difficulties. Sea users should be mindful of their abilities and their limits because weather conditions can change very quickly.'

Around the coast of the UK and Ireland the RNLIs team of volunteer sea safety officers work hard, with the support of seven regional sea safety managers to ensure sea safety education reaches the leisure boating public.

For further information go to: http://www.rnli.org.uk/seasafety

A NEW ULLMAN SAILS ADDITION Ullman Sails is proud to announce a new addition to its international group of sailmakers - Ullman Sails Croatia. The new loft, located in northwest Croatia in Rijeka, is family-owned and operated by Bojan Grego. Bojan has been producing cruising and racing sails for customers along the Adriatic coastline, including cruising keelboats, Elan 45s and First 40.7s. Ullman Sails is excited to welcome another European loft to the group that is committed to providing the highest standard of quality service and sails.

For more information on the 'Fastest Sails on the Planet,' contact a local loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com

MASTS AND RIGGING FOR DISMASTED YACHTS ARRIVE IN ALA WAI HARBOR The new masts, specialist swaging machine and shipment of rigging and other parts are finally in the Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, after being flown in from Los Angeles this morning. After being carefully lifted out of the 747 aircraft the huge sections were transported by road to Ala Wai Marine boatyard where they arrived at around 1500 local time and the mast builder from Atlantic Spars has wasted no time in beginning the task of rebuilding westernaustralia2011.com's mast and constructing a new one for Durban 2010 and Beyond.

The three riggers from Spencer Rigging have set up their swaging machine on the dockside at Magic Island Fuel Dock and have started replacing the first rigging components on Hull & Humber. They will have an early start tomorrow to work their way through the eight boats who are due to begin Race 8 to Santa Cruz in the next few days.

http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

FARR 40 EUROPEAN FLEET CALENDAR Porto Cervo, Italy: With European boats making up over half of the fleet - 18 out of 33 boats - currently registered for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship due to be held in Miami Florida from 16th April and close to forty members now registered, the Farr 40 European Fleet is gearing up for an exciting 2008 season. A series of regattas are scheduled to be held throughout the Mediterranean and Northern Europe using a new formula introduced this year which will allow owners to choose between two separate circuits: Circuit Med, with four events to be held in Italy and France; and Circuit North, with four events to be held in Denmark, Germany and Norway. The European Championship will be held as part of the Rolex Baltic Week 2008 in Travemeunde, Germany from 26th to 31st August.

The first event of the calendar, the Rolex Capri Sailing Week from 21st to 24th May, is part of the European Circuit Med and will be followed by the Audi Farr 40 Cup in Porto Cervo from 12th to 14th June. The action then moves to France for the French Farr 40 Challenge in Le Lavandou from 3rd to 6th July before returning to Italy for the fourth and final series of the circuit in the Settimana Velica dell'Argentario in Cala Galera from 19th to 21st September.

Meanwhile, the European Circuit North sets off from Larvik in Norway with the Larvik Race Weekend from 24th to 25th May. The second leg of the circuit will be held during Kiel Week in Kiel, Germany from 26th to 29th June and the third will be the Farr 40 Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark from 24th to 27th July. The fourth and final series of the circuit North will take place together with the European Championships in Travemeunde.

The decision to create two separate circuits was taken following consultation with European Farr 40 owners at a meeting held at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda during last year's European Championship and is intended to allow maximum flexibility for the entire fleet. Each competing craft must enrol in their chosen circuit at the beginning of the season and may compete in up to two events of the other circuit. Final scoring will be based on 4 regattas so that should a competitor participate in six regattas, which is theoretically possible, he would have two discards. The overall winner of each circuit will be awarded an identical European Circuit Trophy.

http://www.farr40.net

PATIENCE PAYS OFF IN THE RAYMARINE WARSASH SPRING SERIES What a difference a week makes to the weather in the Solent. After the gales and bitter cold wind over the Easter holiday, the second week of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series on 30th March was greeted with sunshine and blue sky. Only the breeze was elusive but after some delays, all competitors enjoyed a taxing day's racing, even if this meant plenty of work for the course setters and mark layers having constantly to revise their plans in the light and variable wind.

The two sportsboat courses were laid along the Meon shore near the entrance to Southampton Water and they enjoyed the best of the early morning breeze. The Laser SB3s started cleanly and Pieter Heyn's Go Hard or Go Home arrived at the windward mark first just ahead of Sbeed and Palava. Pieter then took a flyer out to the right which proved fatal allowing Palava a small lead. Positions constantly changed. Pambere for instance rounded in 11th place, climbed on the downwind leg to third, only to fall back to 11th again by the finish. At times the boats struggled to make progress. The breeze went so light that the wind turbine on the shore came to a halt. As the leaders reached the line, the wind had shifted dramatically to the south, where it steadied, making the second race a much fairer test. Palava took both wins - the second by a slender eight seconds from Eau No!

The Hunter 707 class enjoyed some of the closest racing of the day. Russell Mead, helming Ant Hill Mob, was out for the first time and put in a fine performance to take both races. In the 14-strong J/80 class Mosquito (Duncan and Michelle Johnston) led Boats.com (Ian Atkins) in the first race whilst Boats.com edged ahead of Savage Team Sailing in the second. Ian's consistency gives him three wins from the four races held so far.

Out in the deeper water, the Black Group committee boat set up station near North Ryde Middle and as the breeze hovered around the 5 knot mark, after an hour's postponement, the first four classes got away, albeit slowly and IRC1 with seven boats over the line early. The sequence was then halted when the wind disappeared again. In the fickle conditions the leaders of IRC2 were amongst the IRC1 backmarkers and many boats found difficulty rounding the downwind mark against the tide. Rafael Duplan helming Magic Mix read the conditions well on the reach to East Bramble and picked up a gust to round under spinnaker. Nick Haigh's DK46 Dark and Steamy also broke free to make steady gains. They went on to finish 20 minutes ahead of second placed Magic Mix. Whilst not so convincingly, Neil Vardy sailed his Elan 410 Esprit to a good win in IRC2.

After a further postponement to reorientate the course completely in the new wind, IRC3 got underway on the third time of entering the start sequence. By now the windward mark had moved from Flying Fish buoy to Gales HSB near the island shore. Progress to the windward mark was slow and subject to many fluctuations in the breeze. Russell Hodgson helming the new Dehler 34 Rushlex held to his offshore tactics and gained a good lead, although later those coming in closer to the shore also found better conditions. Rushlex was first at the windward mark and went on to take both line and handicap honours. Again the classes became intermingled as IRC4 came up to take the backmarkers. David Rider's beautiful quarter tonner Catch 22 took the winning gun.

Next week the "Big Boats" join in Saturday racing in the spring Championship, whilst the Spring Series continues on Sunday 6th April 2008.

http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Nino Shmueli: Mr. H. L Menin mention in his letter that "... To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a women's 2 person HP dinghy regatta (again, excluding the 470) other than the couple of times that the 29er was substituted for the 470 for the girls in the ISAF Youth Worlds (and in each case there was a drop in participation)......".

Few clarifications: 1. The boat that ISAF used for two person dingy at the past years was the 420 both for Boys and Girls and not the 470. 2. I agree with Mr. Menin comment "...(and in each case there was a drop in participation)......". find numbers of participation (boats and countries) during the past years. (For those of you reading this in text only, see http://scuttlebutteurope.com )

* From Simon Morgan: In view of the storm that's about to break out again over the selection of events for 2012 may I offer you the first signs of the bad weather approaching.

Henry Menin's excellent support for the cause of womens match racing should be praised. At least, unlike the ISAF executive it seems, he is prepared to entertain a debate, and although I am still going to oppose his position, he makes his points clearly and well.

But lets look at the facts. Scuttlebutt Europe reports today on the Womens World Match Racing Championships where there are 14, yes that's only 14, skippers, from a massive 9, yes that's only 9, nations.

Now I am sorry but if that's an event worthy of being in the Olympics then how in God's name can anyone at ISAF justify the disenfranchisement of the entire multihull community.

Conspiracy theory anyone?

THE LAST WORD I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. -- Stephen Jay Gould

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