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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1497 - 28 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

HYERES MEDAL RACES: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Despite a pessimistic forecast, the intense medal race programme was completed as scheduled. The wind, light and often shifty forced the committee to adjust constantly the course. Sailing proved difficult and tested the skills of the ten teams in each of the ten Olympic classes engaged in the event.

The 470 men were the first one to start the Medal race's show in front the harbour in Hyères. The wind, light and shifty, forced the race committee to reduce the course to a single windward return. The British took first place with the last two jibes to the finish claiming the Gold medal and their second title at the SOF.

The start of the Yngling, scheduled at the same time on the South area, was postponed with the wind shifting East. The Committees repositioned the racing areas to fit the new wind direction. Match racing specialists, Barkow/Howe/Capozzi (USA) excelled in the Medal race with a good start and speed to win the race and climb on the second step of the podium. After only one year in the Yngling, Athens Gold medallist in the Europe class, Siren Sundby (NOR) has won her first Grade 1 event regatta in the Olympic keelboat with Lise Fredriksen and Alexandra Koefoed.

A victory in the 470 women Medal race gives the Germans Stefanie Rothweiler and Vivien Kussatz the Silver medal in the SOF. World #2, Japaneses Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata, 6th across the line, conserve the lead and claim their first Grade 1 event title.

The Finn Medal race won by Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) was sailed in very light wind that didn't exceed 5 knots. The lead changed many time with the shifty conditions. Yesterday's leader, World #1 Jonas Hoegh-Christensen conserves the lead to win the event for the first time after placing 2nd last year and third in 2006

In the Tornado, French Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon won the medal race with a safe lead over Dutch Booth/Nieuwenhuis and Belgium Brouwer/Godefroid. The Australians Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby, 2008 World Champions, conserve the lead in the regatta and add a SOF title in their already impressive achievements.

Paul Goodison's (GBR) victory in the Medal race will not be enough to lift the British on the podium. Michael Leigh (CAN) and Andrew Murdoch (NZL) keep their earlier overall position on the podium, while Athens Silver medallist Andreas Geritzer (AUT) takes the Bronze after placing 4th in the medal race.

No surprise in the Laser radial fleet where the top 4 remain unchanged after Chinese Lijia Xu's victory in the Medal race. World #3, Sarah Blank (AUS) has kept the command of the Radial fleet all week and has proved her skills in the breeze as well as in lighter air.

2007 RS:X world champions in both the women and men division have taken the Gold in Hyères. Ricardo Santos (BRA) has mastered the light conditions that have prevailed in Hyères these last two days. The Brazilian wins the Medal race and the event, proving his skills in all type of weather. Julien Bontemps will be the only French medallist in Hyères this year. He takes second in the medal race and the regatta.

The top three remain unchanged in the Women division. Sofia Keplacka (POL) is continuing in her good form winning confortably the regatta after her third place in Palma.

Recently crowned European champions, Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez continue on their good form in the 409er. Third in the medal race, the Spanish stole the lead of the regatta from American Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast. Vice European champions, Federico and Arturo Alonso (ESP) take third place. -- Corinne McKenzie

Final podium places:

Finn 1. Jonas Hogh Christ (Denmark) 42 2. Edward Wright (Great Britain) 45 3. Gasper Vincec (Slovenia) 46

470 Men 1. Nick Rogers / Joe Glanfield (Great Britain) 39 2. Sven Coster / Kalle Coster (The Netherlands) 43 3. Carl Evans / Peter Burling (New Zealand) 56

470 Women 1. Ai Kondo / Naoko Kamata (Japan) 46 2. Stefanie Rothweiler / Vivien Kussatz (Germany) 51 3. Giulia Conti / Giovanna Micol (Italy) 62

Tornado 1. Darren Bundock / Glenn Ashby (Australia) 37 2. Francesco Marcolini / Edoardo Bianchi (Italy) 43 3. Mitch Booth / Pim Nieuwenhuis (The Netherlands) 48 Yngling 1. Siren Sundby (Norway) 44 2. Sally Barkow (United States) 51 3. Sarah Ayton (Great Britain) 51

Laser 1. Michael Leigh (Canada) 40 2. Andrew Murdoch (New Zealand) 52 3. Andreas Geritzer (Austria) 64

Laser Radial 1. Sarah Blanck (Australia) 20 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (United States) 46 3. Evi Van Acker (Belgium) 47

RS:X Men 1. Ricardo Santos (Brazil) 22 2. Julien Bontemps (France) 27 3. Przemyslaw Miarczynski (Poland) 30

RS:X Women 1. Zofia Klepacka (Poland) 25 2. Olga Maslivets (Ukraine) 43 3. Jannicke Stalstrom (Norway) 48

49er 1. Xabier Fernandez / Iker Martinez de (Spain) 50 2. Tim Wadlow / Chris Rast (United States) 50 3. Federico Alonso / Arturo Nest Alonso (Spain) 58

2.4 m 1. Damien Seguin (France) 11 2. Heiko Kroeger (Germany) 20 3. Thierry Schmitter (The Netherlands) 20

Sonar 1. John Robertson (Great Britain) 8 2. Jostein Stordahl (Norway) 16 3. Marco Collinetti (Italy) 30

http://sof.ffvoile.net

PAOLO CIAN WINS BRASIL SAILING CUP Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brasil: In an anticlimactic fifth and final match where a dying breeze found rival Bjorn Hansen (SWE) on the wrong side of a huge shift, Italian Paolo Cian and his Team Shosholoza managed to navigate through the zephyrs and win the 2008 Brasil Sailing Cup. For their efforts, Cian and his crew of Pierluigi Fornelli, Antar Vigma, Pierluigi De Felice, and Teva Plichard won the top prize of US$36,000 of the $150,000 total purse in this first event of the 2008 World Match Racing Tour.

On his path to the Finals, Cian had to first get past Williams in the first-to-two point Semi-Finals, which was far from easy. Even though their pre-starts could be described as benign and flag-free since the two rarely engaged after their first entry, they both remained extremely focused on their timing to get back to the start line with speed and in control of the favored right side of the course. In the first match, it was Williams who got the right and maintained control in the light southerly to win, and then Cian who did the same in the second match. In the critical third match, it was Cian this time who got and held the right, and sailed into his place in the Finals.

With the breeze lightening and becoming frighteningly fluky, Race Officer Ann Viebig got the signals up quickly in a valiant effort to get the final match in before conditions glassed off completely. In their allotted four minute pre-start Hansen and Cian barely managed to get entered, extend to the right, tack once, and each get the side they wanted, with Hansen right and Cian left. As the SM 40's crept along and each team searched the horizon for the next puff, it was Cian and team who chose correctly, with a huge left shift and just enough pressure to tack, cross miles ahead of the hapless Swedes who were stuck with nothing, and sail to victory.

In previous Petit-Final action, Williams recovered from losing the first match in part due to a pre-start penalty incident with Holmberg, to winning the next and bring the score even in this first-to-three series. In the penultimate match, Williams took and controlled the right, and in the first cross Holmberg's lee bow tack was judged too close, earning him a penalty which he shed on the last beat in a penalty turn but could not catch the Brits who took and held their lead to finish third overall.

Overall final Results:

1. Paolo Cian (ITA), Team Shosholoza 2. Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Alandia Sailing Team 3. Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar 4. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge 5= Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team 5= Mattias Rahm (SWE), Stena Bulk Sailing Team 7. Pierre Antoine Morvan (FRA), Equipe de France espoir de match racing 8. Peter Wibroe (DEN), Wibroe Sailing Team 9. Adam Minoprio (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand, BlackMatch Racing 10. Henrique Haddad (BRA), Giant Sailing Team 11. Juan Grimaldi (ARG), Tag Heuer Sailing Team 12. Daniel Glomb (BRA), Team Bravissimo

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

EURO VS DOLLAR DRIVES CUSTOM YACHT CONSTRUCTION IN THE U.S. Celebrating twenty years of experience in the racing & performance cruiser market - NEW ENGLAND BOATWORKS is continuing a tradition of success. NEB has worked with designers & owners, from around the globe, on hi-tech sail & power projects.

Currently under construction: Mark Mills IRC 68, Reichel-Pugh IRC 69, Reichel-Pugh IRC 75. Contact: information@neboatworks.com http://www.neboatworks.com

TEAM HIROSHI - CITTA DI MILANO CONQUERS THE CAGLIARI RC 44 CUP Cagliari, Italy: With two races to sail on the last day of the Cagliari RC 44 Cup, Armando Giulietti's Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano was sitting at an enviable position this morning, seven points ahead of Banco Espirito Santo. However, the situation was more complicated behind the leader, with four teams separated by five points.

Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano increases its lead in the 2008 Championship Tour, ahead of Patrick de Barros and Igor Lah. Armando Giulietti will carry on sailing with the Championship Tour leader's gold wheels in the next event, the Austria Cup (May 28 - June 1).

Armando Giulietti, Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano: "This is a great conclusion to a nice week. I think that this is a decisive stage for the RC 44 Class. Indeed, it is growing and attracting more and more top names. It is tough to sail against all these teams but it is great when you manage to beat them."

Sebastien Col, Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano: "Our goal is clearly the fleet racing event, so we are very happy with our week. We are using the match-race to test new sails; this worked well and allowed us to make the right decisions in the fleet race. Our speed was excellent and we managed to sail in the right spot most of the times."

Final results after eight races (no discard):

1. Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano, Armando Giulietti, 19 points 2. BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, 32 3. Team Banco Espirito Santo, Patrick de Barros, 35 4. Sea Dubai, Joki Hellmich, 35 5. Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 39 6. Ceeref, Igor Lah, 42 7. Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki, 48 8. Beecom, Isao Mita, 50 9. Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic, 67 10. Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, 76

http://www.rc44.com

MAG 80 FIRST BUT DYING BREEZE DENIES RECORD Newport Beach, California, USA: Teased by winds as strong as 15 knots along the way, Magnitude 80 repeated its first-to-finish performance in the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's 61st International Yacht Race to Ensenada Saturday but was denied another record for its resume as the wind shut down in Todos Santos Bay.

When the breeze quit on Doug Baker's Andrews 80 from Long Beach and other line honor hopefuls it left Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket record for monohulls (10 hours 44 minutes 54 seconds in 2003) safe for another year by more than six hours. Steve Fossett's standard for multihulls (6 hours 46 minutes 40 seconds in 1998) has never been seriously challenged.

Mag 80 navigator Ernie Richau said, "We had a great sail for the first 100 miles. A little reaching and lots of running in 10 to 15 knots of wind. The racing was very close among SRM, Akela and Magnitude 80. It all came to a quick stop at about 8 p.m. last night when we had the last 25 miles to go. We finished at 4:52 a.m. That's about 9 hours to go 25 miles. . . . pretty slow going."

Mag 80 finished about 11 1/2 minutes before David Janes and Bill Turpin's Akela, a Reichel/Pugh 75. Bob Lane's Medicine Man (Andrews 64), Peter Tong's OEX (Santa Cruz 70) and SMR III (R/P 66) followed in that order in a 17-minute cluster.

About two hours later another group---Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes (Farr 60), John MacLaurin's Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), Brack Duker's Holua (SC 70), Yabsley/Compton/Parker's Taxi Dancer (R/P 68) and Ed McDowell's Grand Illusion (SC 70) finished less than 11 minutes apart.

Was it pretty? If you love oil paintings. Was it painful? Try root canal.

Or, as Luis, driving a photographer on one of Botas Juanito's pangas, noted: "It was blowing 30 knots here in the bay five days ago." -- Rich Roberts

VIRUS! N. POISONOUS MATTER; THE POISON CAUSING INFECTION. Perhaps referring to it as a Virus is a bit over-dramatic. But the effect, however small, of the ridiculous warfare being waged by 'Alinghi' and 'Oracle' is having on the rest of the sport of sailing is an absolutely negative one.

Last weekend, I was listening to a radio discussion amongst three well-known New Zealand sports journalists on the various ways that discipline is applied to those who offend on the sports field. It was fairly light-hearted but generally full of wisdom, as you would expect from professional scribes.

And then, while discussing a particular point, one of the panel said 'What do they do in sailing?' Quick as a flash, another said, 'Call a lawyer!' Hearty laughter followed this exchange.

You will notice that no one on the panel had mentioned the America's Cup, just 'sailing'. The problem is that the majority of sports journalist's, who have no interest in sailing, pick up on the rubbish that goes on between the aforementioned AC syndicates and their continual highlighting of this behaviour, gives the impression that the entire sport behaves in the same manner.

Nacho Postigo, MedCup Regatta Director, has written a very interesting article on the organization of the six regatta MedCup circuit for 2008. There were a lot of problems getting 'the ducks in a row' while dealing with port and city officials, but one perpetual problem was the sense of insecurity that seeped through from the America's Cup situation A great effort went into the completion and signing of contracts, with many versions having to be re-written and with time running out, Nacho was under some strain. He writes; 'France has been more dramatic and the ones from Spain have been even worse, but that is the way it is.'

But the last years have been tough too, working from before the last regattas finish to get venues committed: 'It is not that different from last year, the other years have been difficult too, but this year I don't know why it has been especially long and difficult.'

Looking at the competitive sailing landscape from the viewpoint of a potential commercial sponsor, or a venue and the hiatus that the America's Cup has created, breeds a certain lack of confidence:

'The America's Cup situation has made the problems worse. It has created a large degree of uncertainty, a lack of confidence towards the world of sailing and any product connected with sailing. There is a perception of; 'What is going on with the America's Cup?' thinking.... 'this problem will affect us' and it goes from there."

"And then it has been the same with sponsors. They have been saying: 'sailing? Mmm...I am not sure I want to sponsor sailing because I see what is going on with the America's Cup and also the economic situation is not helping at all.' and people all seem keen but then don't want to invest because there is a crisis coming and they say 'we want to think about it first.'

As you can see, if the ructions within the rarified atmosphere of the America's Cup continue for much longer, this 'virus' attacking the health of the sport of sailing will spread!

Read Nacho's full report at http://www.2008.medcup.org -- From Jim Bolland's newsletter 'A Brush With Sail' available at http://www.auldmug.com

ROYAL THAMES CUMBERLAND CUP London, England: The following participants have been confirmed for the Royal Thames Cumberland Cup 2008 two boat international team racing contest:

Royal Thames Yacht Club (GBR) New York Yacht Club (USA) Royal Perth Yacht Club (AUS) Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (GER) Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (CAN) Southern Yacht Club (USA) Royal Alfred Yacht Club (IRE) Verine Seglerhaus am Wannsee (GER)

The Contest will take place at The Royal Victoria Dock, London from the 16th - 18th May, with the winner being presented the 1912 replica of the 1781Cumberland Cup.

The Event Website http://www.thecumberlandcup.com will have live results and a copy of the draw during the event.

SOLO SAILOR ROLLS IN SOUTHERN OCEAN, ABANDONS Glenn Wakefield, Canadian sailing adventurer who was attempting to be the first American to sail 'the wrong way' solo around the world, has rolled his boat and - after several days - made the decision to abandoned his attempt in the Southern Ocean on the approach to Cape Horn.

Wakefield started his sailing journey in September 2007, and was seven months into his trip, due to finish in July this year. The project had taken four years in the planning.

When his Offshore 40ft sloop built by Cheoy Lee in Hong Kong rolled, it sustained major damage, and Glenn suffered concussion in the incident. Glenn recovered, but the boat's damage was severe. While still watertight and the mast still standing, the yacht had lost the dodger and a hatch cover. The boat also has discharged batteries, severely damaged self steering equipment and an inoperable engine. It had also lost its liferaft and solar panels. The boat is extremely wet below from the roll, and water is now entering the boat through the missing hatch cover and down the companionway. At the time of the rollover the wind speed was 50 knots, in a 6 metre swell. It took Glenn several days to make the decision, at first maintaining that he could continue.

Here is part of the message from the Argentina naval vessel Puerto Deseado which announced his abandonment of the trip:

Glenn will be transferred to a Coast Guard vessel and taken to a port in Argentina and from there to Buenos Aires and home. The fate of Kim Chow is uncertain at this point. The Navy are considering the options. Words alone can't express his deep appreciation for the bravery and kindness of the captain and crew who stood by for 48 hours until weather and sea conditions would permit his safe transfer to their vessel. Glenn sends his heartfelt thanks to all those who played a part in seeing him safely through this difficult time.

The fate of the Kim Chow is as yet uncertain, but it is likely that she will be abandoned. -- Nancy Knudsen, full story in Sail-World.com: http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=43906

THE LAST WORD If you live long enough, the venerability factor creeps in; you get accused of things you never did and praised for virtues you never had. -- I. F. Stone

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