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MACIF On Track For Race Record Smash
The Transat bakerly from Plymouth to New York is in its final stages for Macif skipper Francois Gabart who is now just over 450nm away from the finish line. The current routing is showing Gabart's estimated time of arrival as Tuesday at 1300 EDT (1800 BST).

Now well into his seventh day of racing, Gabart is 126 miles away from his closest rival Thomas Coville aboard Sodebo, and 473 miles ahead of the third Ultime Actual, skippered by Yves Le Blevec.

Gliding towards the Big Apple at around 20 knots, the 33-year-old skipper looks set to break The Transat bakerly race record tomorrow. Gabart's mentor and friend, Michel Desjoyeaux, currently holds the record after sailing the ORMA trimaran Geant from Plymouth to Boston in 2004, in a time of eight hours, eight days and 29 minutes.

Although sailing towards a different finish line, this year's edition of The Transat bakerly to New York is in fact longer than the record-setting course to Boston. If Gabart can finish before 1730pm local time tomorrow, the record is his.

Class rankings at 0800 BST

ULTIME
1. Francois Gabart/MACIF - 453.4nm to the finish
2. Thomas Coville/Sodebo - 126.96nm to the leader
3. Yves Le Blevec/Actual - 473.81nm to the leader

IMOCA 60
1. Armel Le Cleac'h/Banque Populaire - 1280.9nm to the finish
2. Vincent Riou/PRB - 42.03nm to the leader
3. Jean-Pierre Dick/St Michel Virbac - 83.63nm to the leader

MULTI50
1. Gilles Lamire/French Tech Rennes St Malo - 1346.1nm to the finish
2. Lalou Roucayrol/Arkema - 193.32nm to the leader
3. Pierre Antoine/Olmix - 297.26nm to the leader

CLASS40
1. Thibaut Vauchel-Camus/Solidaires en Peloton - ARSEP - 1655nm to the finish
2. Isabelle Joschke/Generali-Horizon Mixite - 4.14nm to the leader
3. Phil Sharp/Imerys - 21.06nm to the leader

All results: www.thetransat.com/fr/results/1

Emirates Team New Zealand Steal The Win
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

In a thrilling winner-take-all final race, Emirates Team New Zealand unhooked itself from a starting buoy to win the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series New York with the high score of 52 points.

Another large crowd, estimated at 100,000, turned out on a sunny day and was treated to some very unpredictable racing. This after over 75,000 came out on Saturday.

No lead was ever safe on Sunday as the wind shifted through wide arcs from the west to the north and ranged anywhere from 5 to 20 knots.

The Kiwi crew, led by Ashby and World Sailor of the year and Red Bull Youth America's Cup champion helmsman Peter Burling, was literally dead in the water at the start of Race 3. Crewman Blair Tuke had to jump in the water to unhook the starting buoy's anchor line from the catamaran's rudder. Making matters worse, the port hull was punctured by the buoy and water was leaking into the hull throughout the race.

At one point during the final race ORACLE TEAM USA looked to be in position to win. Skipper Jimmy Spithill and crew won the start and led around the first two mark roundings. But Dean Barker's SoftBank Team Japan grabbed the lead by working the right side of the course while ORACLE TEAM USA struggled on the right side. In the end the reigning America's Cup champion placed second in the race and second for the series.

Third went to Franck Cammas' Groupama Team France, winner of Race 2. SoftBank Team Japan placed fourth, Land Rover BAR fifth and Artemis Racing sixth.

The Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series now moves onto Chicago, June 10-12. After that it heads to Europe for events in the U.K. in July and France in September.

Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series New York Final Standings
1. Emirates Team New Zealand - 52 points
2. ORACLE TEAM USA - 50
3. Groupama Team France - 44
4. SoftBank Team Japan - 42
5. Land Rover BAR - 42
6. Artemis Racing - 40

Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Overall Standings
(After six events)
1. Emirates Team New Zealand - 244 points
2. ORACLE TEAM USA - 236
3. Land Rover BAR - 227
4. SoftBank Team Japan - 203
5. Artemis Racing - 201
6. Groupama Team France - 194

americascup.com

Light Winds Continue In Gaeta
Photo by Gianluca Di Fazio. Click on image to enlarge.

Light winds on the second day of the Finn Gold Cup in Gaeta meant only one race could be sailed. Phillip Kasueske (GER) sailed very well to win his first ever major international Finn race.

The win moves him up to second overall after three races behind Deniss Karpak (EST), who placed 13th in the race. Piotr Kula (POL) crossed in third to end the day in third overall.

For the second day running the fleet were held on shore for an hour before going afloat and the postponement continued afloat for a while before one race was sailed in 6-9 knots. There were a number of high profile black flag disqualifications including long time race leader Jorge Zarif (BRA). In fact, four out of the top 10 finishers crossed the line to find their sail number on the board.

Racing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday at 13.00 with even lighter winds forecast, though better wind is expected for the rest of the week.

Results after three races
1. Deniss Karpak, EST, 17 points
2. Phillip Kasueske, GER. 28
3. Piotr Kula, POL, 30
4. Pieter-Jan Postma, NED, 31
5. Ondrej Teply, CZE, 37
6. Tom Ramshaw, CAN, 40
7. Giles Scott, GBR, 45
8. Ioannis Mitakis, GRE, 45
9. Fabian Pic, FRA, 48
10. Egor Terpigorev, RUS, 48

Full results: 2016.finngoldcup.org

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

World news
Vincent Riou will not be taking foils around the world with him, VPLP will design the foiling Figaro 3, as rival designers fume, New Zealand aims to fill in a rather irritating gap... Rio waters hold few fears for Mat Belcher's tight 470 team, Peter Holmberg does his bit, as Dave Pedrick and Gary Jobson get the laughs. Dobbs Davis, Ivor Wilkins, Blue Robinson, Patrice Carpentier, Andy Rice, Carlos Pich

Design - A remarkable creation
Ukrainian Olympic medallist Rodion Luka handed him the brief... and somehow Slovenian designer Andrej Justin managed to meet it

Rod Davis
Don't be afraid to share to get ahead

World Sailing
Surviving after the Olympic circus moves on

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French Victorious In Hamburg
Xavier Rohart & Pierre-Alexis Ponsot are the SSL City Grand Slam Champions, winning 3000 points for the SSL ranking system and US$25,000. After an intense battle between 86 Star teams, battling through fourteen races in just five days, a boat length was the only difference.

On tight windward-leeward courses on Lake Alster, Hamburg, Germany, some of the finest, most intense yacht racing, was witnessed by over 100,000 people.

Norway's Elvind Melleby, racing with American Josh Revkin were second taking 2764 SSL Ranking points and US$15,000. Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki were third taking 2528 SSL Ranking points and US$10,000. Negri & Lambertenghi were fourth taking 2292 SSL Ranking points and US$8000. The SSL Ranking points will be updated next week, top ranking sailors will go to the SSL Finals in Nassau later this year.

Eight teams contested the SSL City Grand Slam quarterfinal, with the top five boats from the race, going on to the semifinal.

The next Star Sailors League Regatta will be the SSL Finals is the next star-studded battle for the Star Sailors League, which will take place in Nassau, Bahamas at the end of November 2016.

city.starsailors.com

Storm Trysail Club Announces Dates For Quantum Key West Race Week 2017
Larchmont, NY: The Storm Trysail Club is pleased to announce dates for the next edition of Quantum Key West Race Week: January 15-20, 2017. The event will feature the same successful format as in past years: one day of pre-race Registration and practice, followed by five days of inshore and short offshore course racing off the island of Key West.

"Our competitors and sponsors were extremely happy with how we managed the regatta this past January, even in our first year," said John Fisher, event chairman from Storm Trysail. "We had many challenges - such as the very windy weather for a few days during the event - but all our feedback has been positive, so we are going forward with plans to organize this event for 2017. We want everyone to know our decision and plan for the dates now to get their housing, dockage and other logistics in place to join us again in January."

The Notice of Race is being drafted now and will be available soon, as will the event website to start accepting entries. Once open for entries, the first discount entry deadline will be earlier this year, on July 1st, to help deliver the best value to those teams who can commit early to attending the 2017 event.

For more information about Quantum Key West 2017, visit the event website at www.keywestraceweek.com

For more information about the Storm Trysail Club, visit www.stormtrysail.org

Enda O'coineen Launches Ireland's First Ever Vendee Globe Challenge
Enda O'Coineen (60) will skipper Ireland's first single handed non–stop round the world sailing race entry this November. The 'Team Ireland Vendee Globe Challenge' is billed as 'a professional sailing team that will see the first ever Irish sportsperson compete in sailing's most difficult race, the Vendee Globe'.

The global race begins on November 6.

The Team Ireland Vendee Globe Challenge Project Manager is Marcus Hutchinson. Dublin sailor John McDonald is an advisor and Neil O'Hagan of the Atlantic Youth trust is also involved.

www.teamireland.ie

Wales Win 30th RYA Eric Twiname Championships
Down to the wire racing for some classes at the 30th RYA Eric Twiname Championships as Wales were crowned overall team Champions taking home the Shield Trophy.

Wales also picked up the Dinghy Trophy following an impressive performance in the Topper and RS Feva classes, with two sailors in the top five in both.

The South East Zone dominated the windsurfing classes, securing first and second in the 6.8m and 7.8m Techno.

Techno
The most consistent performance of the weekend goes to 5.8m Techno windsurfer Oscar Shaw, he won all seven of his races

Optimist
Close racing for all sailors in the Optimist class, and it came down to the wire; Joey Taylor's (Buckwater SC, E) second in the final race was enough to give him the overall win.

RS Feva
Winning the RS Feva class with a race to spare was Pierce Harris and Alfie Cogger (Windermere School, N).

Topper Harris Cartwright (Clyde, Scotland) and Isabel Wallwork (Redesmere, N) battled it out at the front of the Topper fleet all weekend, Cartwright took the final victory and Championship as he crossed the line in seventh

Full results

www.erictwinametrust.org

Sehested and Canfield Set Early Pace in Copenhagen
Nicolai Sehested (DEN), Trefor Matchracing, and Taylor Canfield (USVI), US One, have set the early pace at the World Match Racing Tour Copenhagen, both skippers winning three of their four fleet race qualifying heats today.

Some of the newcomers to the Tour have also showed flashes of brilliance in today's light conditions, three-time Danish Olympian Michael Hestbaek (DEN), Team Hydra, winning two of his heats against an experienced group that included reigning Tour World Champion Ian Williams (GBR), GAC Pindar. The 49er Olympic gold medallist and Volvo Ocean Race skipper Iker Martinez (ESP), Team Espana, won one of his heats easily, although finished 4th in the next. Consistency is very difficult in these short-course races lasting little more than 10 minutes, and that's the difference between the talented Tour rookies and the more seasoned M32 sailors like Canfield.

Tuesday concludes the fleet racing phase, and is a crucial day for the lower-placed teams to fight their way up the rankings and do their best to avoid the Play-Offs.

Live coverage will be shown at www.wmrt.com from 1400 local Danish time

wmrt.com

Canfield Lays Down A Marker
Defending champion, Taylor Canfield and his US One team stamped their authority on the M32 Scandinavian Series, decisively winning the season's opening event in Copenhagen.

The Danish capital laid on July-like conditions for the three day competition, with racing held on Tuborg Havn, just off the clubhouse of the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub (Royal Danish Yacht Club), the event's hosts.

The breeze filled in from the southeast and built to 12 knots, more than adequate to get the lightweight speed machines flying their hulls. Once again there was a strong turn-out ashore by Danish fans keen to witness the spectacle, the near capsizes and the tight finishes between the seven international teams.

As to the competition compared to 2015, Canfield says it is a lot higher: "People have been putting the time in on the boats and some catamaran guys have come in and are pushing hard, but that is only pushing us to get better."

A final mention must be made of Mans Holmberg, the 19-year-old son of Swedish match racing legend and America's Cup helmsman, Magnus. This was only his second regatta and his first time fleet racing it. And yet he came close to winning today's third race.

This young sailor has earned himself great respect throughout the class this week and hopes to compete in the remainder of the M32 Scandinavian Series, which resumes in Gothenberg, Sweden over 16-18th June.

Results - Copenhagen Leaderboard

1. US One (USA) - Taylor Canfield - 51 pts
2. Trifork (DEN) - Jes Gram Hansen - 78 pts
3. Spindrift (FRA) - Yann Guichard - 82 pts
4. Essiq Racing Team (DEN) - Nicolai Sehested - 91 pts
5. GAC Pindar (GBR) - Ian Williams - 97 pts
6. Flux (SWE) - Johnie Berntsson - 118 pts
7. TyphoonX Racing (SWE) - Mans Holmberg - 130 pts

m32series.com/series/scandinavian-series/

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