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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1493 - 23 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

BRASIL SAILING CUP Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brasil: Brilliant sunshine and a steady 10-12 knot easterly breeze gave the perfect start to today's first day of match race competition in the Brasil Sailing Cup, the year's first event of the World Match Racing Tour. Ian Williams (GBR) and his Team Pindar are showing their World Champion style, being undefeated among their five other rivals in Group A, while WMRT veteran Magnus Holmberg (SWE) shares the top of the leader board also on three wins.

Among the six teams in Group B, Paolo Cian (ITA) of Team Shosholoza and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) of Alandia Sailing Team emerged undefeated in their two flights of the day. Group B will be first to resume round-robin competition in the morning.

"We had a good day today but it wasn't all straight forward," said Holmberg. "We had a tough match against Adam Minoprio, he won the start and led round the first mark, and then we had a luffing duel down the run but couldn't get around him. It was close at the last mark and we just managed to pass him down the run to the finish." Minoprio (NZL) of Emirates Team New Zealand, BlackMatch Racing is just one of several new and talented teams entering WMRT competition in this event.

Williams, the reigning WMRT leader and World Champion, also had his hands full in his match against young Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and his Mirsky Racing Team. In his match against Mirsky an aggressive pre-start saw Williams penalized early on but with 30 seconds left to the start an infringement by the young Australian resulted in a Red Flag immediate penalty handed to him by the Umpires. -- Craig Mitchell

Results:

Group A Ian Williams, Team Pindar 3-0 Magnus Holmberg, Victory Challenge 3-0 Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team 2-1 Adam Minoprio, Emirates Team New Zealand, BlackMatch Racing 1-2 Daniel Glomb, Team Bravissimo 0-3 Juan Grimaldi, Giant Sailing Team 0-3

Group B Paolo Cian, Team Shosholoza 2-0 Bjorn Hansen, Alandia Sailing Team 2-0 Pierre Antoine Morvan, Equipe de France espoir de match racing 1-1 Mattias Rahm, Stenna Bulk Sailing Team 1-1 Peter Wibroe, Wibroe Sailing Team 0-2 Henrique Haddad, Tag Heuer Sailing Team 0-1

http://www.brasilsailingcup.com http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com

DOGS OFF CHAINS...AGAIN Who said the Mediterranean is unpredictable? Since last week-end, the weather experts had predicted a strong Mistral for this Tuesday. This afternoon, the increasing white caps on the bay have proved them right! Despite the alarming forecast, the racing committee tried its best to give a chance to the classes sailing in groups (RS:X men and Women, 470 men, Laser and Radial) to add a 5th race and a discard to their score before the start of the final's. "We reduced the racing areas to two and brought them closer to shore to increase the security" explains Event Director Bernard Bonneau. Soon after the start of the 470 men 5th race, the Mistral increased cancelling further racing for the day. "The wind was blowing at 25/28 knots average with gusts reaching 35. We knew that it was supposed to increase by 5 knots by early afternoon." indicated Bernard Bonneau. The fleets will be divided in Gold, Silver…groups on Wednesday and two to three races are planned to be sailed if the weather allows.

Every year, the Mistral gives a day off to the sailors. "One year, the Mistral was present all week and we only managed to sail three races!" It will not be the case this year with the Mistral expected to stay in the 15/20 knots marks on Wednesday.

Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout blessed the strong Mistral and the cancelled race. "We broke our boat yesterday and sent it to get repaired at Nautivela in Milan last night. With the cancellation today we haven't lost a day and should get our boat on time!" The Dutch pair have enjoyed the strong conditions and are looking forward another windy day to come back to the score after discarding their DNF in Monday's last race. Racing in Hyères for the 11th time, de Koning admits that the organisation had little to improve along the year. "This has always been a very well organised event. The racing quality has improved with less waiting on the water. The racing committee is reacting faster. The event is also gaining in media exposure, with more and more TV's and journalists covering the racing." With an 11th race as best result in Hyères, the pair has one objective this week. "The Medal race!" -- Corinne McKenzie

http://sof.ffvoile.net

CAGLIARI RC 44 CUP Cagliari, Italy: With recently crowned World Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Star) and Vincenzo Onorato (Farr 40), the second regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 promises to be a fantastic sailing event. Ben Ainslie, Russell Coutts, James Spithill, Sebastien Col, Larry Ellison, Cameron Appleton and many more will fight hard for the title on board ten strict one design RC 44's in the superb venue of Cagliari.

Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano (Armando Giulietti and Sebastien Col), the current leader of the Championship Tour and winner of the first season regatta in Dubai, will lead the charge. Also in Cagliari with great ambition, Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton - winners of last year's Championship Tour - will be keen to climb on the podium after their fourth place in Dubai last month.

Triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie will discover the RC 44 yachts on board Patrick de Barros's Team Banco Espirito Santo. So will Larry Ellison, helming both the fleet and the match race and sailing for the first time with Russell Coutts on a BMW ORACLE Racing branded RC 44.

The Cagliari Cup will start on Wednesday April 23 with the match racing event. Unbeaten in match racing since two regattas, Team Ceeref (Igor Lah / James Spithill) is the logical favourite of this event. After a full round robin, hopefully completed in two days, the team owners will take the helm for three days of fleet racing. A long distance race - the DHL Trophy - will allow the fleet to discover the beauties of Cagliari's surroundings.

Other teams will look for precious points on the Championship Tour, such as Miroslav Reljanovic's Cro-A-Sail, dominator of the first RC 44 season in 2006, DIMC's Team Sea Dubai with Marcus Wieser at the helm, or Isao Mita's Team Beecom (JAP). -- Bernard Schopfer

The teams involved:

(Name of team, owner, pro sailor) Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano, Armando Giulietti / Sebastien Col Team Banco Espirito Santo, Patrick de Barros / Ben Ainslie Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic / Morten Henrikson Sea Dubai, DIMC, Markus Wieser Team Beecom, Isao Mita / Kevin Harrap BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Mateusz Kusznierewicz Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato / Jes Gram Hansen

http://www.rc44.com

VENTURE, AN ELEGANT EDWARDIAN PERIOD YACHT, BY G.L. WATSON. Unexpected circumstances require the present owner to stop the restoration of VENTURE. She is 55' x 42' x 8'4" and 27 tons. Originally built by J. Samuel White at Cowes in 1924, she is presently located at Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA. This is an opportunity for a new owner to undertake this substantial, but eminently viable project at a particularly favorable exchange rate.

For more information about VENTURE or Gannon and Benjamin, see http://www.gannonandbenjamin.com or e-mail: gandb@gannonandbenjamin.com

SAIL TRAINING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN CANADA The Sail Training International annual conference will be held outside Europe this year for the first time ever. It will take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 14-15 November, and be organised jointly with the American Sail Training Association (ASTA - one of the founder member national sail training organisations of Sail Training International).

"This development recognises Sail Training International's growing engagement outside its historical European base and it will provide us with an excellent opportunity to gather more sail trainers from North America than would normally attend in Europe", says Nigel Rowe, President of the organisation. "Halifax will also be a Sail Training International host port for the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009."

The theme for the Sail Training Programme content will be 'Best Practices - why we do it and how we do it'. This will include workshops on subjects such as media relations, medicine at sea, youth work, State funding, and navigating the regulatory seas. The theme for the Host Port Programme content will be 'Working together - measuring and maximising the benefits of partnering with the sail training industry'. This will include workshops on subjects such as recruiting trainees, media case studies, corporate hospitality and economic impact studies.

Full details of the conference, with booking form and details of bursaries will be available on the Sail Training International website from the end of May, http://www.sailtraininginternational.org

Delegates from North America must register via the ASTA website, also available from the end of May, http://www.sailtraining.org -- Corinne Hitching

LIVELY LADY CIRCUMNAVIGATION The historic yacht Lively Lady is en route to Egypt, due to arrive at the beginning of May following a three week sail from India. This leg crosses the Arabian Sea before the yacht heads into the Gulf of Aden and up into the Red Sea to reach the Suez Canal.

Lively Lady is the historic wooden sailing boat that was sailed from Britain to Australia and back in 1968 by greengrocer, Sir Alec Rose. Now, Lively Lady is being sailed around the world by a crew of adults and young people, as part of a project to help disadvantaged young adults realise their potential.

The vessel is due to arrive at Port Ghalib before heading to Abu Tig Marina for a stopover of around five days, due to arrive there around 6th May. While in port, the boat will be visited by Eastern Electronics, the long standing sales and service agent for Raymarine. After that, Lively Lady will travel through the Suez Canal before heading across the Mediterranean Sea to Valetta, Malta.

The adventures of those onboard are being followed by people across the globe via the dedicated Lively Lady website ( http://www.livelylady.net ). Since the yacht left the UK at the end of July in 2006 the 14 skippers and 30 young adults who have taken part so far, have sailed their way across the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The project has been sponsored by marine electronics manufacturer Raymarine which is headquartered in Portsmouth, England - the city in which Sir Alec Rose lived and worked. When Sir Alec Rose bequeathed the boat to the city of Portsmouth, he intended that she should be used to help disadvantaged young adults realise their potential.

The Raymarine Lively Lady Project is headed up by British ocean adventurer Alan Priddy who was inspired as a child by Sir Alec Rose. With the Raymarine Lively Lady Project, Alan is continuing this legacy, creating an exciting challenge which will see the boat returning to Portsmouth UK on 5 July 2008, having spent approximately 260 days at sea covering more than 28,000 nautical miles.

CLIPPER EVENTS IS HIRING Post: Corporate Sailing Skippers / Mates - 2008 Summer Season Department: Clipper Events, Clipper Ventures plc, Gosport Responsible for: Corporate Sailing / Yacht Maintenance Start/Finish 01/7/2008 - October 2008 Salary Scale: £18-24,000 per annum pro rata

Clipper Events is a world leader in corporate sailing and management training/development. Using the current Clipper 68' RTW Racing Yachts we deliver high quality corporate sailing, racing and management training. We are currently looking to recruit a number of qualified, experienced and high quality sailing staff for the forthcoming summer season. Minimum of Yacht Master (commercially endorsed) and big boat experience.

Send CVs to Becky: bscarrott@clipper-ventures.com

VITORIA BRASIL WOMEN'S CUP Brazil's Caroline Bejar defeated the Mathilde Geron (FRA), #25 in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings, by 3-0 in the best-of-five final.

Rossana Ramos, the other Brazilian in the competition, also put in a strong performance, although she lost the petit-final match to the American Sandy Hayes, #24 in the world ranking. Portugal's Catarina Carvalho defeated her fellow countrywoman Maria Ramires to grab fifth place.

Earlier in the regatta, Bejar had been on the received end of three defeats against Geron, but bounced back strongly in the final to win an ISAF Grade 1 event for the first time.

After being defeated in the final, Geron was disappointed with the result. "The calm of Caroline's team made the difference in this final series. The sea conditions were a little complicated today and they could deal with that better than we. I am a little disappointed. I expected to win. But this runner-up performance is not bad," stated the French skipper. -- Mauro Rodrigues, on the ISAF site, http://sailing.org

Event site: http://vitoriabrasilwomenscup.com

VOLVO OCEAN RACE UPDATE Newport, Rhode Island, USA: What began at 4am under the darkness of night and a full moon, ended more than two hours later in the morning dawn. Following a 20 mile trip, PUMA Ocean Racing's new boat for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 made its way from Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol, Rhode Island to the Newport Shipyard in Newport, where it will receive final preparations before going in the water.

PUMA's new racing yacht left Goetz Custom Boats at 4:07am Eastern time under the power of a 16-liter VT800 Volvo Truck. What normally takes 25 minutes for passenger cars took more than 2 hours as the wide load and 70-foot boat had to navigate over a closed 2-lane bridge, around streets signs, through narrow turns and over curbs. A dense layer of fog on the historic Mt. Hope Bridge, made for an especially tricky but photo-worthy drive. At 6:25 with the sun slowly rising, PUMA's new boat arrived at the Newport Shipyard.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is certainly an important milestone for both PUMA Ocean Racing and our new boat," said Read. PUMA Ocean Racing will reveal the name and look of its boat on May 12th when the yacht will be christened in Boston Harbour at the The Institute of Contemporary Art. http://PUMAOceanRacing.com, the team's website, will launch in early May.

* New Zealander Jack Lloyd, a well known figure in international yacht racing, has joined the Volvo Ocean Race as its new Race Director. Lloyd, 54, was Chairman of the International Jury for the 2005-06 race after serving as a member of the jury for two previous races.

Lloyd, who takes over from Andy Hindley, completes the race management line-up for the 2008-09 race following last month's appointment of Norwegian Knut Frostad as CEO who took over from Glenn Bourke, who returned to Australia.

Lloyd has been an International Umpire since 1993 and an International Judge since 1996. He is an ISAF International Umpire Test Administrator and is Chairman of the Test Administration Group.

Lloyd has completed two America's Cups as an umpire and jury member and has been Rules Advisor to both OneWorld in 2002-03 and Emirates Team New Zealand in the 32nd America's Cup sailed last year in Valencia. -- Lizzie Green Ward

http://www.volvooceanrace.org

A BIT OF HISTORY1928: 12' DINGHY CLASS Designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, over ninety years ago, the International Twelve Foot Dinghy became the first one-design racing dinghy to gain international recognition. Today it is virtually forgotten in the United Kingdom, but the class still enjoys a sizeable following in the Netherlands, Italy and Japan, and is regaining popularity elsewhere.

This class was used for the second time as an Olympic Class in 1928 during the Amsterdam Olympics.

This year's winners of the Vintage Yachting Games will sail one final VIP race during the prize giving ceremony in the Medemblik harbor using the 12' Dinghy.

Each dinghy will get a special sail flying the Class logo of each winner. The sails are donated by Hagoort Sails. The owner will act as crewmember.

The winner will win the VIP prize 2008!

http://www.vintageyachtinggames.org http://www.12footdinghy.org

$780 EBAY BOAT IS RACING TO ENSENADA Newport Beach, California, USA: John Haupt and Steve McLaren's 1974 Ferro-cement schooner won't be the oldest boat in the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's 61st race to Ensenada starting Friday, April 25, but it should be the least expensive among the few hundred entries.

Haupt, a Chula Vista Yacht Club member, recently bought the twin-masted 36-footer on eBay for $780. That wouldn't buy a new backstay for Magnitude 80, Doug Baker's maxi sled that will be going for another record in the 125-nautical mile run to Baja California, the largest international race in the world.

The only time the two boats will meet may be when Magnitude 80 passes by the little schooner on its way back home. When Mag 80 starts at noon alongside other high-performance chargers like Stark Raving Mad III, Medicine Man and a half-dozen ULDB 70s, Haupt and McLaren will be mingling with the masses in the Cruising Class crowd somewhere in the rear, awaiting their turn an hour and a half later. But they'll all be in the same race.

Haupt says, happily, "You don't have to be a millionaire to race against one."

Actually, their boat is going for a prize of its own: the race's coveted brass spittoon awarded annually to the boat that finishes last on overall corrected handicap time before the deadline of 11 a.m. PDT Sunday. Haupt has won it on other boats in Ensenada and two other races.

The boat's white hull will be repainted red before the race to achieve a red and green color scheme suitable to its new name: Fantasma de Navidad ("Ghost of Christmas").

The boat, with spars of Sitka spruce, was essentially abandoned in an Oxnard marina north of Los Angeles but was well-equipped, including a surfboard and fishing gear, so Haupt and McLaren sailed it down to Puerto Salina Marina near Haupt's Mexican home to refurbish it.

"We were out two hours and got hit with 40-45-knot gusts coming off Port Hueneme," Haupt said. "Our GPS showed 11 1/2 knots across the bottom at one point. We knew after that that this boat should take whatever gets thrown at it."

As a final touch for several Mexican sponsors, including restaurants and a topless bar, they'll race under a Mexican flag. Haupt has a Mexican passport and is considered an immigrant for having lived there more than five years.

Race entries officially close Wednesday, April 22. Problems with the online registration system have caused race officials to return to the former mail-in or fax system, so competitors not yet entered are urged to do so as soon as possible.

Current entries number 324 boats as of Thursday. Magnitude 80, which has already set records in two longer races to Mexico this year, will try to retrieve the Newport to Ensenada record of 11 hours 23 minutes 53 seconds set by its earlier version in 2002 and was bettered by Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket a year later in 10:44:54, a record that still stands.

The multihull record hasn't been seriously challenged since the late Steve Fossett clocked 6 hours 46 minutes 40 seconds in 1998---the only boat ever to finish before sundown. -- Rich Roberts

THE LAST WORD A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. -- George Moore

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