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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1487 - 15 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

THIS WILL PLEASE JUDGE CAHN NO END... The Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) has today announced that it proposes to file an immediate appeal with the New York Appellate Court in order to accelerate the current legal process to return the America's Cup to the water with a competitive race. The intransigency of Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) since the day they filed their law suit has forced SNG to move the case to the next level in the New York legal system. In an attempt to obtain a swift resolution to the current uncertainty, an expedited process is being requested together with a motion to stay the case, this in order to suspend the implementation of Justice Cahn's previous order until the Appellate Court rules.

In line with standard legal practice, if the motion to stay and the expedited appeal process are granted, the Appellate Court could issue an order before the end of the June term enabling the competition to take place in accordance with the Deed of Gift, approximately 10 months later.

Lucien Masmejan, SNG's lead counsel, explains: "Our sole objective is to race in a competitive America's Cup Match. We have stated our desire for a fight on the water sometime after May 2009, but GGYC continue with the destructive strategy that has already eliminated all other challengers. They also refuse to provide the required information on their boat so in order to have a competition in 2009, worthy of the America's Cup, GGYC's obstructive tactics leave us no choice but to appeal to achieve our objective."

"We believe that the precedent set by the Mercury Bay Case in the eighties is supportive of the content of our appeal and look forward to the Appellate Court resolving matters in a timely manner."

http://www.alinghi.com

* The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today that further legal attempts by the defender to delay the next America's Cup Deed of Gift match are regrettable and the club will be doing everything it can to ensure the event remains on track.

"Buried within the legal language of this press release it appears clear that the defender is unsatisfied with Justice Cahn's decisions and now intends to file an appeal," Tom Ehman, the club's spokesman said today responding to a press statement issued by the defender who have filed further papers with the New York State Supreme Court.

"This appears to contradict any number of assurances given by Alinghi officials and lawyers that they would not appeal.

"Unfortunately it is also consistent with their preference from day one to do anything to avoid a boat race.

"From the outset the defender appears to have only wanted to race in a competition that is held entirely on its own terms. But we remain committed to the Cup proceeding in 2008 in accordance with the rules that apply to all teams. We will be doing everything we can to quickly move this process forward. "

Ehman said it was clear that Justice Cahn's decisions had been widely confirmed as well reasoned and the club remained confident his decisions would be upheld in any appeal process now launched by the defender.

It was unfortunate the defender had chosen to wait to lodge this appeal as a decision from Justice Cahn setting the date for the next match was expected any day.

http://www.ggyc.com

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/

READY TO WEAR, READY TO WIN What do the following boats have in common? STP 65 Rosebud; TP52s Windquest and Samba Pa Ti; Farr 40s Barking Mad, Goombay Smash, Sled, Morning Glory and Warpath; Melges 32 Pinta? They've all had a great start to the 2008 racing season. And all these teams are wearing custom branded sailing clothing from Bluwave Solutions.

To look and feel like a winner, contact us at http://www.bluwavesolutions.com

COUNTDOWN TO ROLEX COMMODORES' CUP Team preparations are beginning to really heat up. Organisers, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, expect 14 or 15 three-boat teams to take to the water for this increasingly fiercely contested international competition and challenges are anticipated from Hong Kong, Ireland, France (winners in 2002 and 2006), The Netherlands, Spain and Great Britain (winners in 1996 and 2004), which includes a team representing Scotland. Other teams known to be close to forming are Germany (winners in 1998) and Russia (debutants in 2006).

As has been the norm in recent events, the French, Irish and British will enter multiple team challenges. Elsewhere, the nation challenges will comprise single teams. But the work for these groups is no less intense and demanding. One such challenge is currently being finalized and will be formed out of Hong Kong, where Gerry Daughton a member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is marshalling the preparations. Hong Kong's only other appearance at the Rolex Commodores' Cup was in 1992.

Daughton is looking forward to bringing a team to The Solent, "Hong Kong is a vibrant sailing centre and has just hosted the Rolex China Sea Race, one of the major events of the season. Entering the Rolex Commodores' Cup is seen as very important for Hong Kong, helping to put it back at the forefront of international yachting, especially in this year of the Beijing Olympics."

Two of the three boats required are already confirmed. The small boat will be a J-109; the former Jeronimo that used to belong to Jonathan and Lisa Goring and which did well for the GBR Red team in 2004. This will be skippered by Jamie McWilliam whose brother Tom is also part of the team. The middle boat is a new X41, owned by Rick and Inge Strompf, and which will be helmed by Mark Thornburrow. The big boat is close to confirmation, but at this point the name could not be divulged.

For the RORC, the overall signs are wholly encouraging. The interest and activity is on a par with two years ago when 13 teams lined up and the event was not decided until the end of the final race of the weeklong series.

The Rolex Commodores' Cup will be held off Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 29th June to 6th July 2008. Entries, which must be made by Member National Authorities, close on Monday 26th May.

http://www.rorc.org

THREE YOUNG TEAMS WIN THEIR 14 SPURS Three new teams will be joining the UK International 14 fleet for a busy season of competition, after securing the use of a top-flight Bieker 4 boat for the year. Four other young teams look set to get into this skiff class in the near future. This follows a tough day's racing at Hayling Island, when 20 teams came to battle it out for the loan boats in challenging winds of 16 to 19 knots.

The winning teams, all in their 20s, are:

- Ian Martin and Ian Sharps - Tom Heywood and Ed Clay - Tristan Jacques and Tom Dawson.

In return for the use of the boat, along with other benefits such as brand new Hyde jib and three months' membership of Hayling Island Sailing Club, the sailors are expected to compete at a minimum of eight regattas throughout the year. Indeed, the top two teams from the weekend's racing still have ongoing commitments to their Olympic campaigns, and so Chris Rashley/Matt Gotrel and Dylan Fletcher/Alain Sign were unable to sign up to the requirements of the 14 boat loan contract.

International 14 website http://gbr.international14.org

BRAINS AND BRAWN CREATE A WINNING FORMULA Getting connected with the world's best racing yachtsmen means being at the top of your game and delivering brains and brawn in the shape of tough, durable and integrated networking you can rely on. The NXR racing instrumentation system doesn't do compromise.

http://www.nexusmarine.se

FUNCHAL 500 TALL SHIPS REGATTA The ports of Falmouth in the UK and Funchal in Portugal have now reached their maximum capacity for the large Class A ships for this year's Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta. Smaller vessels are still able to enter but these two ports are unable to berth any more Class A ships.

Falmouth now has ten Class A ships registered to take part in the first race to Ilhavo in Portugal, together with another nine vessels of the smaller classes. The second race, which ends in Funchal, has 11 Class A vessels registered with seven smaller vessels also taking part.

The Class A ships taking part include two of the biggest in the world, Mir and Sedov from Russia as well as Cuahtemoc from Mexico, Shabab Oman from Oman and Capitan Miranda from Uruguay which will make for a colourful and multi-cultural event. The latest Class A ship to join is Pelican from the UK, racing for the first time this year.

The Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta starts in Falmouth from 10-13 September where the first race will commence. The fleet will race down to Ilhavo in Portugal where they will enjoy four days of festivities, 20-23 September, before racing to Funchal where the fleet will form a centrepiece of the city's 500th anniversary and Maritime Festival for four days, 2-5 October.

http://www.tallshipsraces.com/funchal500

ISAF WORLD SAILING RANKINGS Australia is back on top in the latest release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings on 9 April, which feature two changes amongst the world #1 crews.

Sarah Blank (AUS) moves up to #3 in the Laser Radials Rankings to join the three existing world #1 crews from the Australian Sailing Team and propel the Aussies back to the top of the national standings. Whilst the Australia improvement means Great Britain drop to second in the national standings, they do gain their first world #1 crew in the 2008 Rankings. After victories at both the World and European Championships this year it is no surprise to see the Skandia Team GBR Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson reclaim the world #1 spot in the women's keelboat.

The other change amongst the Ranking leaders also sees a former world #1 return to the top spot. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) may not have made the medal places at the Laser Radial Worlds, but her consistent performances at the top events are unmatched in the fleet and put her back into pole position in the Women's One Person Dinghy Rankings.

Next up for the Olympic campaigns are the Mediterranean waters of Hyeres and the 40th edition of the ISAF Grade 1 Semaine Olympique Francaise. The French team will be looking for a strong performance on their home waters, especially following their best Ranking performance for some time, as they tie with Australia and Great Britain with four top-three crews. Italy and Spain are also looking good, whilst the Brits dominated the medals in Palma.

The next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings will next be on 30 April 2008, including results from the Star World Championship and ISAF Grade 1 Semaine Olympique Francaise.

See http://www.sailing.org/rankings

FIRST OF CLIPPER 07-08 RACE YACHTS TO ARRIVE IN SANTA CRUZ WEDNESDAY The first of the Clipper yachts competing in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race are due to arrive in Santa Cruz Harbour this week. The Clipper fleet's arrival will mark the first time this world-renowned race has visited the west coast of the United States.

The first of the Dubois designed Clipper 68s are expected to arrive in Santa Cruz on Wednesday morning after a fiercely fought 2,080-mile race across the North Pacific from Honolulu. With most of the fleet expected to arrive before the weekend the final two boats, Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com are expected next week. The two southern hemisphere boats had a delayed departure from Hawaii due to essential mast refit work after both were dismasted during Race 7 of Clipper 07-08 from Qingdao, China.

This is the sixth edition of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race and it the first time this biennial race has called into a port on the west coast of the United States.

http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

HIGH MODULUS - PERFORMANCE ORIENTATED COMPOSITE SOLUTIONS FOR WINNING RACE YACHTS With nearly 30 years experience and many wins under our belt, we still take the lead when it comes to the composite engineering of marine structures. For more information about how our composite solutions can help you to stay at the front of the fleet, contact us now.

Visit http://www.high-modulus.com

INDUSTRY NEWS * Formula Yacht Spars has announced that its French facility in Montpellier has been working with the highly successful Jason Ker design team to produce carbon spars for the much heralded new Ker 39s. This exceptional racing yacht is a development of Ker's custom 37 footer "Jump'n Juice" and the 39ft "Flying Glove", several of the new 39s will be taking part in this year's Commodores Cup. One of the first of this new breed is Colm Barrington's "Silk Glove", the yacht has already been selected for the Irish team and won the IRC 0 Class on its first outing in the Solent Easter Series. All the yachts selected for the Irish White team have Formula Spars.

* High Modulus has announced the opening of its operation in Qingdao, China, well–placed to serve the company's growing number of Asian customers. Last month the company opened a Representative Office, which will focus on the sales and market development of customers in the region. High Modulus has also entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Sino Composites, an established materials distributor in China. This new collaboration enables the B3 SmartPac, an engineered composite construction solution for production boatbuilders, to be offered to customers in Asia more cost-effectively and more efficiently.

The High Modulus Qingdao Representative Office will be run by Linda Teoh. Since 2003, Linda has managed the company's Asian customers from its head office in Auckland, New Zealand, but has now relocated to Qingdao to be closer to the market. Linda studied in Singapore, and graduated from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland with an Honours Degree in Engineering, specialising in Naval Architecture. She has practical experience of working in Asian shipyards and speaks fluent Mandarin. -- http://high-modulus.com

* Qingdao has been named Asia's Maritime Capital at the fourth edition of the Christofle Asia Boating Awards, held at Le Royal Meridien in Shanghai. This is the first time a Chinese city has been awarded such a sought-after accolade

This year's event was a big one for China. The newly created China Cup International Regatta was named Yachting Event of the Year, and for good reason. The China Cup, which runs from Hong Kong to Daya Bay, on the Shenzhen coast, is already one of Asia's biggest events. With the recent purchase of 20 new boats for the one-design class, the China Cup promises to be the biggest yachting event in Asia in only its second year. The creator of the event, Wei Di, was named Personality of the Year for his efforts.

Other notable wins included the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, which was awarded Best Asian Marine/Yacht Club of the Year. Best New Asian Marine/Yacht Club went to the Marina at Keppel Bay, which has already staged a number of flagship events and will host the upcoming Boat Asia show.

The annual Christofle Asia Boating Awards show is widely known as the region's premier event for recognising the efforts of boat builders, marinas, clubs and individuals in creating a diverse and exciting boating community. It has also become a must-attend event for Asia's jet set. "This is the chance for Asia to celebrate its achievement as a growing centre of luxury boating that will rival places like the Caribbean and the Mediterranean in the near future," Burlot added.

Complete list of all awards: http://www.asiaboatingawards.com

* Hyde Sails has chosen ZigZagZeilen as its new distributor in the Netherlands. ZigZag, which is owned by Dutch yachtsman Bert Koeman, operates a 600sq m sail loft in Medemblik on the Ijsselmeer. The loft is said to boast a 200sq m cutting table and is fully equipped for all types of sail work.

Based in Swanwick, Hampshire, Hyde Sails produces more than 40,000 sails per year from its 50,000sq ft sail loft in the Philippines. The firm supplies custom racing and cruising yachts as well as a number of OEMs such as PSE and Topper. -- IBI, http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20080227143509ibinews.html

* Tuzla, Turkey-based yacht builders, Enigma Yachts, have announced an all-new company, marketing and distribution structure to manage its growth in the production and global sales and marketing of the successful Enigma 34 day racer in addition to a number of upcoming projects.

Three new shareholders are now part of the company's financial structure having recently injected an undisclosed amount of capital to increase Enigma's financial capabilities. The funding has now been put in place to meet the increased demand from clients for the Enigma 34 and the newly designed Enigma 34 Signature Edition that is scheduled for launch in May. The build portfolio also includes the development of new designs to enlarge the range of Enigma yachts in the 24ft and 44ft categories.

Enigma Yachts was founded in 2005 by the Danish sailing expert Frank Kirkegaard and the company developed the high-performance day racer, the Enigma 34, as a one-design yacht. Kirkegaard will continue acting as CEO and remains a shareholder of Enigma Yachts.

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 Ross Daniel: The Open 60 HUGO BOSS has now been down in Portimao in Portugal since 21st Feb, where we have gone through a process of stripping the boat back, servicing everything and refitting her.

The Barcelona World Race was not only the first race the yacht had done but also the first long passage so it was a big learning curve for Alex working out how the boat works on a day to day level and establishing what areas needed improving. The rudder problems that the guys experienced in the Southern Ocean that caused them to pull into Wellington for a pit stop have been fully investigated so there are no unknowns with the systems. We have also done some redesign of the system so that it doesn't cause any more problems.

Our new rigger, Giles Waterhouse, is settling in well and is rapidly forming relationships with all of our suppliers and strong bonds with the mast! A little while ago he found a small hole in the mast (in a non-critical area!) that has been easily repaired ready for the qualifying passage.

Unfortunately the weather has been holding us up a bit as it has been blowing 45kts and pouring with rain making painting the bottom of the yacht impossible! But hopefully the weather will clear up over the weekend in time for us to refit the keel and let the painters get on with their jobs! Once we have done that HUGO BOSS will go back in the water ready for Giles to restep the mast.

Alex will come back out to Portimao in a couple of weeks by which time we will have got her fully ready for Alex to take her off on a qualifying passage. Before July 1st of this year Alex has to have completed a 2,500 mile passage in order to qualify for the Vendee Globe so it is all systems go getting him and the boat ready for that.

FEATURED BROKERAGE 1999 Sydney 40, 41,125 GBP, Located In Hamble, Southampton, United Kingdom

Builder: Sydney Yachts Designer: Iain Murray LOA: 12.49m LWL: 10.67m Beam: 3.72m Displacement: 6070kg Draft: 2.70m

Brokerage through Nicolle Associates: http://www.yachtworld.com/nicolle-associates/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at http://uk.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1673285

NO ISSUE FOR WEDNESDAY Your humble narrator will be searching for his lost youth and celebrating / bemoaning his 53rd (!) birthday and with the aid of a few drams of single malt whisky. Back on Thursday, definitely older, perhaps wiser.

THE LAST WORD Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it. -- Alfred Hitchcock

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