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Mind The Gaps: Figaro Leg 3
That the gaps grow progressively bigger scanning down the afternoon rankings tells the story of this key stage of Leg 3 of La Solitaire du Figaro-Eric Bompard cachemire. As the leaders work progressively south and west towards the Odas turning mark, some 61 miles ahead of Yann Elies' bow, they were the first to break into better breeze.

Initially it appears to have been the thermal W'ly - not shown on the forecasts - but it was enough to get Elies and the three leaders moving at five to six knots while the second and third ranks, only a matter of half a mile to two miles behind, were still all but stationary.

It was a very disappointed Fabien Delahaye who arrived on Skipper Macif 3 into Les Sables d'Olonne. The erstwhile race leader, who will celebrate his 30th birthday just after the race finishes and who finished runner up in 2010, retired from Leg 3 after his D1 shroud failed pre-start on Sunday. He had decided that his deficit of more than 30 miles was too much to make up and so retired last night and headed for the Leg 3 finish town where he arrived in Port Olonna this morning.

But for the 35 remaining soloists there is still half of the 505 miles leg to sail, 60 or so miles to the turn and then 140 miles back nearly due east towards the BXA mark off the Gironde estuary before a final climb 55 miles north to Les Sables d'Olonne. Several of the solo skippers today spoke of conserving water and the possibility of a fourth night at sea.

Top ten at 1500hrs local time, all French except those marked.

1. Groupe Queguiner Leucemie Espoir, Yann Elies, 271.38 nm to finish
2. Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Performance, Corentin Horeau, 1.20 nm to leader
3. Armor Lux Comptoir De La Mer, Erwan Tabarly, 1.22
4. Interface Concept, Gildas Mahe, 1.29
5. Maitre Coq, Jeremie Beyou, 1.88
6. Normandy Elite Team, Charlie Dalin, 2.18
7. Agir Recouvrement, Adrien Hardy, 2.44
8. SMA, Paul Meilhat, 2.91
9. Un Maillot Pour La Vie, Corentin Douguet, 2.93
10. Guyot Environnement, Vincent Biarnes, 4.82

www.lasolitaire.com

Medal Race: Front Runners From Five Nations
The wind eased for the time being. At the fourth day of Kieler Woche after three days of strong winds, there was only a light breeze on the outer fjord in Kiel. But that did not really make life of the race directors and sailors easier, since the crews proceeded on their courses at a snail's pace - too slow to get a complete race program done.

On Wednesday there will be the finals of the Olympic classes sailed on short legs and three courses. At 10am the 49erFX (TV course), Laser Radial (course India) and the Nacra17 (course Juliett) will start, followed by the 49ers at 11am (TV) and the Lasers (India) and the 470s Men (Juliett) at 11:30am.

Results: Kieler Woche day 4

2.4mR: (5 races)
1. Heiko Kroger, GER, 4 points
2. Barend Kol, NED, 9
3. Helena Lucas, GBR, 15

Sonar: (5)
1. Jens Kroker / Robert Prem, Siggy Mainka, GER, 4
2. Soren Werner / Christian Bauer, Lutz Rewa, GER, 8
3. Thomas Beer / Jorg Meierdiercks, Oliver Utrata, GER, 11

49er: (7)
1. Erik Heil / Thomas Ploessel, GER, 16
2. David Evans / Ed Powys, GBR, 26
3. Jacopo Plazzi / Umberto Molineris, ITA, 26

49er FX: (5)
1. Jena Mai Hansen / Katja Salskov-Iversen, DEN, 11
2. Victoria Jurczok / Anika Lorenz, GER, 15
3. Tamara Echegayen / Berta Betanzos, ESP, 15

Nacra 17: (6)
1. Allan Norregaard / Line Just, DEN, 15
2. Vittorio Bissaro / Silvia Sicouri, ITA, 18
3. Lorenzo Bressani / Micol Giovanna, ITA, 23

Finn: (5)
1. Bjorn Allansson, SWE, 16
2. Giorgio Poggi, ITA, 16
3. Tomas Vika, CZE, 17.3

470 M: (6)
1. Panagiotis Mantis / Pavlos Kagialis, GRE, 13
2. Mathew Belcher / Will Ryan, AUS, 17
3. Ferdinand Gerz / Oliver Szymanski, GER, 18

470 W: (6)
1. Lara Vadian / Jolanta Opar, AUT, 10
2. Annina Wagner / Elisabeth Panuschka, GER, 12
3. Alisa Kirilyuk / Liudmila Dmitrieva, RUS, 18

Laser Standard: (9)
1. Philipp Buhl, GER, 29
2. Karl-Martin Rammo, EST, 33
3. Tobias Schadewaldt, GER, 40

Laser Radial: (4)
1. Lisa Fasselt, GER, 10
2. Tatiana Drozdovskaya, BLR, 10
3. Pauline Liebig, GER, 21

Melges 24: (7)
1. Riccardo Simoneschi / Enrico Fonda, Stefano Orlandi, Federico Buscaglia, Lucia Giorgetti, ITA, 8
2. Kim Christensen / Peter Jakobsen, Mads Holmer, Jamie Lea, DEN, 11
3. John Den Engelsman / Rikst Dijkstra, Willem Jan Van Dort, Rinse Ubbink, Irena Doets, NED, 27

Platu 25: (7)
1. Gordon Nickel / Morten Nickel, Nils-Mathes Fiege, Nils Merten Farber, Sebastian Roske, GER, 9
2. Ingo Lochmann / Christian Maedel, Matthias Kruger, Jens Steinborn, Timo Chorrosch, GER, 21
3. Eiko Powilleit / Robert Heymann, Frank Barownick, Thomas Schuler, Andreas Gluschke, GER, 22

J/70: (7)
1. Claas Lehmann / Marc-Daniel Mohlmann, Bjorn Athmer, Valentin Zeller, GER, 14
2. Wouter Kollmann / Kim Platteeuw, Gilbert Figaroa, Wick Hillege, NED, 20
3. Michael Ilgenstein / Finn Mrugalla, Jan-Ole Burzinski, Terje Klockemann, GER, 21

J/80: (7)
1. Martin Menzner / Frank Lichte, Mika Rolfs, Carsten Hopp, GER, 6
2. Soren Hadeler / Peer Schickedanz, Henning Buchmann, Simon Bodermann, GER, 17
3. Hauke Kruss / Ole Sartori, Rune Schytt-Nielsen, Peer Kolberg, GER, 20

SB20: (7)
1. Alexey Murashkin / Kirill Frolov, Egor Ignatenko, RUS, 9
2. Marco Van Driel / Joost Assmann, Martijn Worseling, NED, 13
3. Leonid Altukhov / Igor Matviienko, Ruslana Taran, RUS, 19

Albin Express: (7)
1. Arne K Larssen / Merle Risy, Steffen Muhlenkamp, Sebastian Hantke, Nils Albrecht, SWE, 7
2. Andreas Pinnow / Jan Heinecke, Frieder Neu, Malte Nathke, Julian Heller, GER, 11
3. Mark Schuerch / Dirk Hornschuh, Soren Hesse, Raoul Kubler, GER, 28

Offshore:

ORC I IDM (6):
1. Platoon, Harm Muller-Speer, GER, 7.5
2. Desna, Sven Wackerhagen, GER, 21.5
3. Oxygen, Morton Ulrikkeholm, NOR, 22

ORC II IDM (6):
1. Rockall IV, Christopher Opielok, HKG, 11
2. X-Day, Niels Gauter, GER, 20
3. Sirena, Peter Buhl, DEN, 23

ORC III/IV IDM (6):
1. Sportsfreund, Axel Seehafer, GER, 10
2. Solconia, Max Gurgel, GER, 11
3. Patent3, Jens Tschentscher, GER, 13

www.kieler-woche.de

Marinepool Revolution NX Line - The New Generation Of Racing Gear
What if there was a racing top light weight like a shirt, ultra comfortable, made from highly flexible fabric, waterproof like the best offshore sailing gear and more breathable than anything you have ever seen or worn? Impossible? Too good to be true? Well, not any longer!

The new "Revolution" NX top by Marinepool combines all the above mentioned highly regarded qualities in one new innovative garment with Dermizax® NX technology. This high-tech and high-end racing top is one of the stars in the Marinepool 2014 collection. The Marinepool design team and Toray, the producers of the Dermizax® NX fabrics, have been working behind the scenes to bring this new product to market, while the world-class athletes on Extreme Sailing Series Champion "The Wave, Muscat" put it through it´s gears in a thorough testing programme.

The feedback was inspiring the name of this racing top: Revolutionary

Never before has a racing top ticked off the boxes like "Revolution NX" with unrivaled comfort, ease of movement and a breathability at 30,000+ g/m2/24h - 50% higher than most other top of the range products on the market today.

"Revolution NX" features highly flexible neoprene neck and sleeve cuffs, a 3D designed shape, printed reinforcements and an adjustable neoprene hem. Reflective prints provide increased safety. The top is complemented by light-weight and ultra-flexible trousers and bermuda shorts. Both are made from the same high-tech ultra breathable 3-layer fabric with Dermizax NX membrane and feature abrasion resistant Cordura® reinforcements at the knees and bottom, adjustable elastic waistbands, belt loops and a bulky leg pocket with water resistant zipper. The trousers have got pre-shaped knees for increased wearing comfort and mobility and adjustable leg cuffs.

Dermizax® membrane is a nonporous membrane, highly waterproof and breathable. Its smooth and soft texture, super light weight and elasticity significantly increase wearing comfort. Athletes who turn every stone to reduce weight and who always are in pursuit of a competitive advantage will look no further.

"Revolution" NX by Marinepool. Design. Technology. Passion.

www.marinepool.com

Former Champ Hardesty Atop The Leaderboard After Day 1
Newport, Rhode Island, USA: It's hard to imagine a better day to start the 2014 Etchells World Championship, which is hosted by the New York Yacht Club at Harbour Court in association with Sail Newport. Plentiful sun, warm temperatures and moderate breeze created near perfect sailing conditions off Newport, R.I.

For two-time Etchells World Champion Bill Hardesty (San Diego) it was hard to imagine a better start to the regatta. Hardesty and his team placed second in both races and lead the regatta overall, with Ante Razmilovic's Swedish Blue team (London, U.K.) in second and defending world champion Marvin Beckmann (Houston) in third. In his first visit to Newport in more than 30 years, John Bertrand (South Yarra, Australia), the America's Cup-winning skipper of Australia II, lies fourth.

It wasn't easy for anyone, however. To spread out the fleet, principle race officer Tom Duggan stretched the legs to between 2 and 3 nautical miles, with each race taking between 90 and 120 minutes. The bulk of the fleet didn't reach the dock until after 6 p.m.

The regatta will continue tomorrow through Saturday.

Top ten after two races:
1. Line Honors, Bill Hardesty, USA, 4 points
2. Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic, GBR, 89
3. The Martian, Marvin Beckmann, USA, 11
4. Triad, John Bertrand, South Yarra, AUS, 14
5. Elizabeth, Tom Carruthers, USA, 17
6. Gumption3, Kevin Grainger, USA, 25
7. Arethusa, Phil Lotz, USA, 27
8. Hank Lammens, USA, 28
9. KGB, Senet Bischoff & Ben Kinney, USA, 30
10. Appreciation, Jeffrey Siegal, USA, 34

Full results: www.yachtscoring.com

Nine Teams For 2014 Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup
With the entry list now closed, nine teams have confirmed their participation in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, taking place out of Cowes over Saturday 19th July until Saturday 26th July.

This year the Royal Ocean Racing Club's biennial flagship event for national teams with amateur crews has two more teams than when the event was last held in 2012. This is thanks to France and Great Britain both fielding four teams, each comprising three boats.

The teams feature many previous Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup participants, particularly in the French line-up, where they are keen to emulate the success of the campaign led by Gery Trentesaux in 2006.

Ireland, winner in 2010, was unable to defend its title in 2012, but is back with a team every bit as strong as it was four years ago. As in 2010, the effort from the Emerald Isle is being spearheaded by Anthony O'Leary, once again campaigning his Ker 39, Antix, the recent winner of the IRC National Championship. O'Leary, a former Vice Commodore of the RORC, will be joined on the Irish Team by the current Vice Commodore, Michael Boyd, competing on Quokka 8. -- James Boyd

Team lists for 2014:

TEAM GBR (4)

GBR Red
Iain Kirkpatrick; X 37 - Fatjax
Seb Blair; King 40 - Cobra
Robert Lutener and Martin Elwood; Ker 40 - Cutting Edge on Baraka

GBR White
James Gair; Mills 39 - Localletterbox Zero II
James Neville; Corby 36 - INO
Ed Broadway; Ker 40 - Hooligan VII

GBR Blue
David Aisher; J/109 - Yeoman of Wight
Robert Stiles; J/109 - Diamond Jem
Richard Patrick; First 40 - Dusty P

Scotland
Jamie McGarry; Swan 45 - Eala of Rhu
Rod Stuart and Bill Ram; Corby 37 - Aurora
Steve Cowie; First 40 - Zephyr

FRANCE (4)

France Red
Herve Borgoltz; Grand Soleil 44R - Eleuthera
Olivier Pesci; Grand Soleil 40 - Beelzebuth
Emmanuel Le Men; First 40.7 - Pen Koent

France White
Francois Lognone;J/122 - Nutmeg IV
Philippe Baetz; Grand Soleil 37 - MUSIX
Benoit D'Halluin; A35 - Dunkerque Plaisance

France Blue
Bernard Gouy; Ker 39 - Inis Mor
Jean-Claude Nicoleau; Grand Soleil 43 - Codiam
Gilles and Samuel Prietz; A40RC - Goa

France Green
Eric De Turckheim; A13 - Teasing Machine
Gilles Caminade; A35R - Chenapan 3
Eric Basset; Farr 30 - Motive

IRELAND (1)

Anthony O'Leary; Ker 39 - Antix
Marc Glimcher; Ker 40 - Catapult
Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling; Grand Soleil 43 - Quokka 8

commodorescup.rorc.org

Newport - Bermuda Race
Only six boats had finished the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race by late Tuesday afternoon in Bermuda: Shockwave, Bella Mente, Caol Ila, and Constellation have finished in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division. Kodiak and Stark Racing Mad VII have finished in the St. David's Lighthouse Division. The tally is six boats retired, six finished and 152 still racing.

The 2014 Newport Bermuda Race may set a record tonight. According to the Pantaenius Race Tracker estimated elapsed time calculations, as many as 120 yachts will cross the finish line between sunset Tuesday and sunrise Wednesday morning. That is an average of 14 finishers per hour and must be a record for the Newport Bermuda books.

Constellation, the US Naval Academy TP52, was the last arrival on Monday. They finished at 8:25 PM. Kodiak, skippered by Llwyd Ecclestone, was in at 2:17AM Tuesday and Jim Madden's Stark Raving Mad VII finished at 7:19. Times are all Eastern Daylight Time, the race baseline. Kodiak, a 66-foot custom racer, was the first to finish in the St. David's Lighthouse Division. She leads Stark Raving Mad on provisional corrected time in this Cruiser-Racer, amateur group of 97 entries. -- Talbot Wilson

The weather forecast calls for light winds into Wednesday morning.

bermudarace.com
onionpatchseries.com

Seahorse July 2014
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
Terry Hutchinson loses a rig... but wins a regatta, Peter Holmberg wraps up another successful Caribbean season and James Boyd takes a look at the Ocean Masters Imoca series

World news
New IRC designs shine in La Trinite, young chargers challenge in the Transat AG2R, Loick (Peyron) returns to his roots, a right royal dust-up in Auckland, the return of Big Red, a nice debut for Ran V - and Phoenix - at PalmaVela, the mighty McConaghy 38 and Atlantic Cup success. Blue Robinson, Ivor Wilkins, Patrice Carpentier, Dobbs Davis, Carlos Pich

Paul Cayard
If you’re going to try something new then why not start at the very top of the scale...

Special rates for Scuttlebutt Europe subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code SB2

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AF Offshore Race - Round Gotland Takes Over Central Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden: For a couple of days in the end of June (26-29), the sailing boats take over the central parts of the famous Stockholm waterfront as The Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) organize AF Offshore Race - Round Gotland, one of the world´s biggest and most prestigious offshore sailing races.

Starting the race in the middle of Stockholm is a huge success and in the summer of 2013 more than 200 000 spectators followed the 300 boats as they left the city.

Never before had so many spectators followed the start of the classic regatta heading for the island of Gotland and back. The northern cliffs of the city part Södermalm were full of viewers, as were the docks below.

About 160 000 visitors entered the event area on Skeppsholmen island, opposite the Royal Castle, from Thursday to Sunday to get a closer look of the boats moored along the temporary docks, placed there by the city of Stockholm, next to the tall ship "Af Chapman".

This summer, the start of AF Offshore Race takes place in the central parts of Stockholm for the third year. The Race Village on Skeppsholmen is larger than before. A great new restaurant is facing the water and the sailors will get their own area, closer to the tall ship "Af Chapman".

The first starts of the race from 10 AM on Sunday 29. The boats sail through the Archipelago out on the Baltic Sea and round the island of Gotland. They will finish outside the island of Sandhamn after 2-3 days at sea.

www.ksss.se

Nicolai Sehested Takes The Last Wildcard To Stena Match Cup Sweden
Nicolai Sehested and his team TREFOR Match Racing have received the last entry ticket to Stena Match Cup Sweden, the second stage of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour 2014. The young Danish team now completes the line-up for the 20th anniversary of the event - 14 elite teams will come to Marstrand in less than a week and fight for one of the most prestigous awards in match racing.

The line-up for Stena Match Cup Sweden 2014 is now complete and the 14 teams entering the regatta all have the potential to reach the finals. Sailing legends Magnus Holmberg (SWE) and Ed Baird (USA) are both back at Marstrand to celebrate the event's 20th anniversary.

Ian Williams (GBR) and his team, winners of the tour opener in Germany, and the reigning World Champion Taylor Canfield, are two of the favourites. Swedish skipper Björn Hansen has won Stena Match Cup Sweden two years in a row and has a chance to complete a hat-trick at Marstrand.

Stena Match Cup Sweden is June 30th - July 5th.

wmrt.com

D-One Europeans and GBR Nationals Start This Week
The D-One Europeans and GBR Nationals start this week at Brightlingsea Sailing Club. A coaching day will be followed by three days of fun but competitive racing. Nick Craig nearly managed a clean sweep of all the major championships during 2013 but was denied the British National Championships, having to settle for second place on that occasion.

The D-One fleet is also excited to announce that CompoTech are sponsoring the 2014 D-One Europeans. Compotech are a Czech is a composite manufacturing and engineering company specialising in the high-tech automated filament laying (AFL). CompoTech has always maintained strong links to cutting edge marine development from the carbon fibre head foils produced for America's cup teams in the 2000's and the licence of their production technology to Southern Spars. CompoTech have worked closely with Devoti Sailing in the production of the D-One rig and now also the D-Zero rig as well as Fin rig developments.

For further updates about the event, sign up to the GBR D-One Facebook page: www.facebook.com/groups/gbrdevotione/

Letters To The Editor -
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* From David Le Pelley, HPYD5 Committee: There are only a few days left to submit your abstracts for HPYD5 (High Performance Yacht Design)

The conference promises to be the best ever, taking place right in the heart of the Auckland Viaduct during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover. The America's Cup designers will be hard at work right next door. As well as the technical papers we will endeavour to organise a number of high-profile keynote speakers, a public forum and a range of exciting social events. Make this the conference you attend in 2015!

If you have not yet submitted your abstract, please send it by reply to . Please also encourage your work colleagues to submit and attend the conference.

Final papers are due on 1st October.

Featured Brokerage
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The extras we fitted are numerous like carbon rigging /steering quadrant/winches to name a few. She rates 1.164 (2012) but can go lower to 1.161 if you go down to 3 spinnakers.

Results from 2012 include
1st Key West in IRC
2nd in St Thomas but we had 3 TP 52's in our class and long reaches
1st BVI Spring Regatta
1st Cowes Week

Contact: Key Yachting Ltd Hamble Point Marina. Hamble. SO31 4JD
keyyachting.com

Details:

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

The Last Word
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