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Williams Does A Rain Dance To Steal Canfield's Thunder
Johore Bahru, Malaysia: Taylor Canfield (ISV) dominated the first two days of the Monsoon Cup but today Ian Williams (GBR) managed to ruin his perfect score with a masterful execution of the start. Whenever the two most recent World Champions of the World Match Racing Tour meet on the race course, there are fireworks, and today produced a typically aggressive dogfight between these two arch-rivals.

Getting to the line a little too early after being harried by GAC Pindar, the US One skipper was forced into a gybe and a tack in the final 10 seconds before the start. The British skipper pounced on the US Virgin Islander's mistake and led from start to finish. The monsoon rain was pouring harder than ever, but more importantly for Canfield the wind had shifted significantly, making it easier for the British to defend and offering no likely way back into the match for the Americans.

Qualifying Session 1 after Flight 20

Taylor Canfield (ISV) US One 8-1
Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar 7-2
Eric Monnin (SUI) Team SailBox 6-3
Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN) Aschenbrenner Racing Team 7-4 (-1 point)
Nicolai Sehested (DEN) Trefor Match Racing 6-5
Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 5-4
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Nautiska Racing 5-4
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 5-6
Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing 4-5
Reuben Corbett (NZL) Corbett Racing 3-8
Maximilian Soh (SIN) Team Red Dot 2-9
Hazwan Hazim Dermawan (MAS) hazOne Racing Team 2-9

wmrt.com

ORC Superyacht Rule 2016 Now Online
The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and the Super Yacht Racing Assocciation (SYRA) are pleased to announce that the 2016 version of the ORC SuperYacht Rule (ORCsy) is now available online at www.orc.org/superyacht. These rules are intended to be valid for use now in any regatta this year using ORCsy.

The Designer version of the 2016 Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) that forms the core of the ORCsy is also now available to those designers, project managers and sailors interested in running their own test certificates in the ORCsy rule. This DVP version is available at the ORCsy website at www.orc.org/superyachtdvp for the annual subscription price of €1000, while current subscribers may renew for this year at a price of €700.

An online application for a certificate, measurement guidelines, a schedule of certificate fees and an overview of the system is also now available/

The process of handicapping widely disparate Superyachts represents one of the most formidable challenges any rule authority can undertake since a fleet of these boats typically includes schooners, sloops and ketches of varying lengths. And with displacements ranging from 50 to 600 tons and huge differences in yacht type, size and shape, these yachts are exceptionally difficult to handicap in a fair and transparent manner.

ORC has also created a Superyacht section on its website to give owners and captains/team managers access to the ORCsy Sailor Service system, an online portal that is a unique feature to ORC rating systems. Here is where designers and technical advisors can purchase the VPP for their testing and other users can run test certificates on their own using the online portal.

orc.org/superyacht

superyra.org

Melges 20 Selected As Sportboat For 2016 Resolute Cup
The best sailors can make any boat go fast (or faster than one sailed by the competition). That's one reason The Resolute Cup, a Corinthian championship for U.S. yacht clubs, which will be sailed September 12 to 17 out of the New York Yacht Club at Harbour Court, in Newport, R.I., has always used two different fleets of keelboats. The winning team will be the one that is best able to adapt to the sailing styles required for success in each design.

For the 2016 Resolute Cup, the New York Yacht Club has selected the Melges 20 design to be featured in the regatta, alongside the Club's fleet of Sonars. The peppy Melges 20, with its large asymmetric spinnaker, is one of the world's most popular and most competitive sportboats, thrilling amateurs and professionals alike with its performance, agility and intense one-design competition.

While the regatta plan hasn't yet been finalized, the Club is anticipating inviting 30 yacht club teams to the Resolute Cup. Those teams will be broken into three groups for qualifying, with the teams rotating between two fleets of Sonars and one fleet of Melges 20s. The top teams in each group will move to a championship, which will be sailed in the Melges 20s. The consolation finals will be held in the Sonars.

resolutecup.com

Seahorse March 2016
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Reflections
Forty years after bursting onto the design scene as one of the 'golden child' generation of the 1970s, Ron Holland reflects on the journey since... and then considers how things may yet turn out

From Venice with love...
Rob Weiland looks at the good and the bad of how we are currently running our international racing and introduces some of the best boats in the 2016 pipeline

Put down the transmitter
Conrad Colman is a man on a mission... the 2016 Vendee Globe. In the meantime he's been keeping the wolf from the door working alongside top routeur Jean-Yves Bernot

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Match Race Germany Has New Partners
Dusseldorf/Langenargen, January 28th 2016. Germany's Match Race Regatta sets course for its 19th edition. Match Race Germany (MRG) is traditionally held on Pentecost at Lake of Constance in Langenargen. From May 12th to 16th 2016 the international duel sailing elite meets in the German,Swiss and Austrian triangle for the Grand Prix of Germany. The organizers are expecting around 30,000 spectators for the action-packed duels on the shores of Lake Constance.

America's Cup semi-finalist Karol Jablonski and the New Zealand top ten team of Reuben Corbett and two top class skippers have already announced their starting intentions. The 10-time World Champion in Ice Sailing and Match Race virtuoso Jablonski said: "Match racing is my love and the Match Race Germany is one of my cradles. I am always very happy to come back to Lake Constance. The regatta is different from others. Here everybody is acting with a lot of heart and dedication."

Match Race Germany starts in 2016 with new partners, a new motorboat fleet, the famous Match Race fan, brand ambassador and actor Simon Licht plus ZDF reporter Nils Kaben as commentator into the match races.

The organizers of Match Race Germany, despite all new development on the WMRT count on their own charisma in 2016."For us applies what is also fact at sea: we do not have to join any radical maneuver immediately. We monitor developments after the Tour has new ownership rather from the dugout, "says sports director Eberhard Magg," we are responsible for Germany's most traditional Matchrace and voted against a tour membership for this year."

www.matchrace.de

Reef Destruction
As one does when you're the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, Paul Allen owns a big yacht - the Tatoosh, which at 303 feet long long is the 49th largest in the world, according to BoatInternational.com.

And now it appears that Allen's big yacht has him in big trouble in the Cayman Islands, where officials have accused him of wrecking a high percentage of a protected coral reef.

The Department of Environment has accused Microsoft co-founder of having caused serious damage to the protected coral reef in the West Bay replenishing zone.

Following an inspection by local divers to assess the damage, officials have found that Allen's 300 ft yacht MV Tatoosh wrecked a high percentage of the coral, which is essential for marine's life.

It is thought that the accident was caused by a yacht's chain when it was anchored by the Doc Poulson shipwreck and The Knife dive site.

According to the Cayman News Service, the yacht's anchor chain destroyed close to 14,000 square feet - three-tenths of an acre - of the coral reef in question, or about 80 percent of it. Coral reefs are considered vital for marine life to flourish and help protect coastlines from big waves and tropical storms.

Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. issued a statement to GeekWire saying that the yacht's crew was directed to anchor in the designated area and moved the ship when it found out something could be amiss:

"Media reports are greatly exaggerated and the investigation by the local authorities is continuing. The local port authority had directed the Tatoosh to anchor in a designated area, and the crew moved the vessel, on its own accord, as soon as it learned from local divers that there might be a problem. The crew is cooperating fully with the local authorities in this matter."

www.washingtonpost.com

A New Path To The Top Of The Match Racing Mountain
Today the World Match Racing Tour announced a series of qualifying events for the 2016 world championship Tour, providing a new pathway for young aspiring sailors to compete against the best match racing teams in the world.

The series of qualifying regattas, called 'World Tour' events, will provide the opportunity for ambitious teams to earn invitations to the World Championship level events with USD 200,000 prize money per event. The first World Championship event takes place this March in Fremantle, Australia, and the short Tour season culminates with Marstrand, Sweden in July, when the winner of the World Championship will take home a bonus of US$1 million.

For each of the four Championship events leading up to the finals in Marstrand, there are two World Tour qualifying events where the first three teams will go through to compete in its related Championship event. If a new team puts together a committed campaign, practices hard in the new M32 catamaran and does well, those sailors could make it through to the final 20 teams who will be fighting it out in the World Finals in Marstrand.

To register your interest and apply for an entry to a World Tour event, please contact World Match Racing Tour Racing Director Craig Mitchell at

2016 World Match Racing Tour Event Schedule

1 - 5 February 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Fremantle:
Warren Jones Regatta, Perth, Australia

24 - 26 February 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Fremantle:
South Of Perth Match Cup, Perth, Australia

2 - 7 March 2016
World Championship Stage 1: World Match Racing Tour Fremantle

14 - 16 March 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Copenhagen:
Bermuda

18 - 20 March 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Newport:
Bermuda

1 - 3 April 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Long Beach:
Ficker Cup, California, USA

5 - 10 April 2016
World Championship Stage 2: World Match Racing Tour Long Beach/Congressional Cup

2 - 4 May 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Copenhagen:
Copenhagen, Denmark

9 - 14 May 2016
World Championship Stage 3: World Match Racing Tour Copenhagen

26 - 28 May 2016
World Tour Qualifier for World Match Racing Tour Newport:
Newport, Rhode Island, USA

30 May - 4 June 2016
World Championship Stage 4: World Match Racing Tour Newport

4 - 9 July 2016
World Championship Finals: World Match Racing Tour Marstrand, Sweden

wmrt.com

Get The Hell Out Of Our Waters
Sir Robin Knox Johnston fires a broadside at the two American yachtsmen who have had to call rescue teams nine times in seven months.

*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=vJVxQROUEzQ, $max_width=500, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N, $views=N]|*

Launchings
Click on images to enlarge

The new Discovery 48 Riviera and Discovery 48 Ocean performance cruising yachts debuted at Boot Dusseldoff. These new additions to the Discovery range include all the unique design features of our award-winning yachts set out in two versatile layouts to offer owners a smaller, elegant yacht for safe and luxurious blue-water cruising.

The Discovery 48 Ocean is a single helm, generous centre cockpit design with two en-suite double stateroom cabins and additional berths for up to seven. The Discovery 48 Riviera has been designed with twin helms, a luxurious en-suite forward master cabin and two additional double guest cabins aft.

www.discoveryyachts.com/our-yachts/discovery-48/

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Very rarely has a yacht model caused as much of a stir as the unveiling of the DAHM 120 has. "Expect the unexpected" - this is how dahm international, the exclusive brokerage house and the designers from beiderbeck designs, who hail from Bremen, Germany, - both members of the Superyachts Germany working group - announced their joint project in the form of a 36.6 metre fast cruising yacht.

The two steering wheels are situated a good four metres behind the mast and the yacht can essentially be sailed single-handed with no more than push button functions. With 20.75 metres to the bow section, the helmsman will feel like he's only steering a 70 foot yacht.

The 45 metre-high carbon fibre mast carries 680 m2 of upwind sail area, which is opposed by a 4.2 metre draught. This allows 130 tons of light weight for serious sporting requirements, emphasised by 1,000 m2 Code0 on the steady stay. The rig, with its self-tacking furling genoa and the carbon fibre furling boom for the main, has a proven track record. Throughout the design phase, particular importance was attached to simple handling and easy maintenance.

dahm-international.com
beiderbeckdesigns.de

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McConaghy released a line of sailing catamarans at Boot Dusseldorf.

The first yachts to be released in the series will be 50', 60' and 90' high performance cruising catamarans.

Naval architecture and styling is by Ker Yacht Design. McConaghy and Ker have collaborated for many years on racing and cruising yacht projects. Ker's experience with BAR Racing (Britain's America's Cup race team) have put them at the very leading edge of multihull design, which combined with their undoubted styling ability, made them a natural choice.

www.mcconaghyboats.com/multihulls.html

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The VCAT44 from vcatamaran is not only another fast cruising catamaran. The VCAT 44 is a boat that distinguishes from most of the markets choices. The VCAT 44 will not only be fast, but at the same time quiet. It will not only accommodate their guests, but offer comfort in a designed shell.

Propulsion will be Diesel-Electric: centered, quiet, eco friendly. Recuperation, regeneration will allow an average use without any generator noise, but with the amenities of modern life. All sailing can be done single handed.

Hybrid propulsion delivers many advantages. Most important for us is to center the weight of Generator and Batteries in the center of gravity of the ship. Combined with other heavy items, that are also housed around the mast bulkhead, we will have no moving dynamics against the waves. For the true sailor the VCAT44 will be a fully electric driven ship. When sailing, the recuperation mode will restore enough energy, to motor to a bay or harbor and stay there for three days without needing the genset. At your anchorage you can enjoy all amenities, you expect from a modern owners ship. Cook with induction, use fridge and freezer without the noise of a generator. This adds another unique quality to the VCAT44: no noise at anchor.

If you need the security of engine support, you can rely on 100 hours motor driven propulsion. The generator will give you a range of 600 nm with the e-pods!

vcatamaran.com

Featured Brokerage
2002 Ker 11.3. 89,000 EUR. Located in Holland

Designed to the IRM rule, 12 have been built of this 37 footer and after IRM was still-born, the design carried on to do well under IRC.

Details

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Compared to what they were, rock concerts now are like business meetings. -- Paul Kantner

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