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Local Hero, Perris Surprises The WMRT
Photo by Gilles Morelle, www.gillesmorelle.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Match Race France Marseille, France: Match Race France, the first event of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), has launched in style at Marseille today. Mediterranean style conditions during the morning favoured the local hero Gian Luca Perris (MON) and the late afternoon allowed Mirsky (AUS), ranked number 2 in the WMRT standings, to show is consistent ability to build a racing series in all conditions. Mirsky won his 2 matches this morning and also 2 matches this afternoon in totally different racing conditions which is a vital ingredient for those helms aiming to win this World Sailing Series and be crowned ISAF Sailing World Champion.

The race committee worked through the majority of the day in variable winds of only 7 - 10 knots in the Bay of Marseille completing a commendable 2 flights in shifting wind patterns. This was to the advantage of wild card entry, Perris from the Principality of Monaco, who surprised not only himself today but also the high profile Tour Card Holders. Perris, a new face to WMRT, was off to a strong start 2 nil up against Adam Minoprio (NZL) and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) ranked number 1 and 2 in the world rankings. The wind then moderated to conditions unable to hold a fair race and the racing was postponed until further notice with all competitors returning to the shore.

The forecast then took an unpredicted change, keeping all the sailors on their toes, as the temperature suddenly dropped the rain clouds rolled in, winds increased to 15 knots from the North West and racing was started quickly to make the most of the favourable conditions. Luckily for Mirsky, the conditions were also within his abilities to secure top results throughout the afternoon.

Tomorrow the weather conditions are meant to be 11 knots from the North for early morning, veering round to the North West by late afternoon as the wind again moderates to 6 knots.

Day 1: Current Round Robin Standings
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, 4-0
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, 4-1
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, 3-3
Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch, 2-2
Gian Luca Perris (MON), 2-0
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team, 1-1
Philippe Presti (FRA) French Match Racing Team, 1-1
Sebastien Col (FRA) ALL4ONE, 1-1
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Racing, 1-2
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia, 1-2
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, 0-3
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA), 0-4

For the live blog please visit www.wmrt.com/live-from-marseille.html

www.wmrt.com

Doriean Family Appeal
Spike Doriean The international sailing world was stunned on Tuesday April 6 2010 by the news of the sudden death of Peter 'Spike' Doriean, 38, one of Australia's best known professional sailors and one of the nicest guys any of us have had the privilege of knowing.

Spike was in the Caribbean to compete aboard George David's 90 foot maxi Rambler, at first Les Voiles de Saint Barth in St Barts. Tragically in a senseless accident, he slipped in the bathroom and sustained massive head injuries. He never regained consciousness.

Spike would have been 39 on April 13th 2010.

Spike is survived by his wife Nicki and two young children, Jemima aged 5 and Fox aged 3. It is for his young family that we are appealing for your help. Spike was the sole provider for his young family, and his death along with the financial burden of bringing Spike home to Australia, has had a devastating impact on this young family.

Unfortunately Nicki, Jemima and Fox now face a very uncertain financial future.

Nothing is going to bring Spike back, but by supporting this appeal, you will be easing the suffering that this family faces.

100% of donations will go straight to Spikes family.

Assist now by donating either directly into Nicki's Australian bank account; details below
Spike Consulting Services pty ltd
BSB 033 243
Account number
262516

or via paypal, click on link below for link to the Doriean Family paypal account which you can donate in international currency or by credit card;

https://www.paypal.com

www.dorieanfamilyappeal.com

* Editor: Please join me in contributing to Spike's familly. The PayPal link is fast and easy. Please just do it now. Thank you.

Competition Hots Up In The Radial Fleet
Photo by Paul Wyeth, www.pwpictures.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

RYA Youth Tensions were running high out on course B for the Radial fleet today at the RYA Volvo Youth National Championships as the final Gold and Silver series got underway seeing a bit of a shake up in the standings. Adding to the importance of the day, the event played host to a royal audience as HRH The Princess Royal, President of the RYA dropped in on proceedings.

With pretty steady conditions, 12-15 knots it was a third good day of sailing out in the bay with both course C (420's, Laser Standards, Spitfires) and B (Laser Radials) enjoying some relatively straight forward races.

Cameron Douglas who had an almost perfect record in the Radial Qualifiers continued his streak winning race one of the Radial final series. However he dropped a 10 and 18 in the following races. Bleddyn Mon capitalised on the opportunity taking second place in the first, and second races following it up with a win in the third race finishing him at the top of the table. Douglas now lies in second with Lorenzo Chiavarini behind in third. For the girls Rheanna Pavey regained her lead over Sophie McKeeman posting a 27,29 then a 5, clinching her the girls top spot. McKeeman is placed just behind with Sarah Butterfield in third.

As a new introduction to this years event GPS tracking has been set up to enable live animation of some of the courses each day. Today saw tracking on the 420, Laser Standard and Laser Radial Gold fleet courses.

In the harbour on course A, Race Officers had more of a challenging day than their colleagues out in the bay with the afternoons shifty winds interrupting the 29ers four races of the afternoon.

To keep up-to-date with all the news as it happens in Weymouth and Portland and follow the racing as it happens on the event blog by visiting www.ryaracingevents.org.uk

Royal Lymington Challenge Cup

Challenge Cup Notice Of Race Highlights Rating Band Changes
The Royal Lymington Challenge Cup Notice of Race issued just recently reveals that the interclub challenge event being held in June has introduced overlapping class rating bands. The new limits facilitate flexibility on team selection whilst still offering close racing. The IRC rating bands are: Class 1 1.025 - 1.080, Class 2 0.985 - 1.035, Class 3 0.950 - 0.995.

Eight teams have already issued firm expressions of interest and entries are expected to start to be confirmed by national clubs, which will each select and put forward their three-boat teams.

The Challenge Cup which is sponsored by Seatrack consists of three days of racing with a combination of Solent navigation and windward-leeward courses in Christchurch Bay.

More information on www.rlymyc.org.uk/challengecup

Gathering And Mining Sailing Data
BMW Oracle Racing's victory in the 33rd America's Cup yacht race in February showcased the crew's extraordinary sailing expertise. But to hear them talk, the real stars weren't actually human. "The story of this race is in the technology," says Ian Burns, design coordinator for BMW Oracle Racing.

From the drag-resistant hull to its 23-story wing sail, the BMW Oracle USA trimaran is a technological marvel. But to learn to sail it well, the crew needed to review enormous amounts of reliable data every time they took the boat for a test run. Burns and his team collected performance data from 250 sensors throughout the trimaran at the rate of 10 times per second. An hour of sailing alone generates 90 million data points.

BMW Oracle Racing turned to Oracle Data Mining in Oracle Database 11g to extract maximum value from the data. Burns and his team reviewed and shared raw data with crew members daily using a Web application built in Oracle Application Express (Oracle APEX).

Burns then streamed the data to the Oracle Austin Data Center, where a dedicated team tackled deeper analysis.

Without the data mining, Burns says the boat wouldn't have run as fast. "The design of the boat was important, but once you've got it designed, the whole race is down to how the guys can use it," he says.

blogs.oracle.com/datamining/

A Disturbing Trend...
Click on image to enlarge.

Subic Bay Yacht Club The inaugural Commodore's Cup at Subic Bay Yacht Club starts today, but only after a flurry of legal action almost fit to rival the America's Cup - even if the dollar value is a little less.

Last year the Manila Yacht Club (MYC) expelled a number of its members in what was widely perceived to be a coup in the best traditions of Philippines politics, citing some rather questionable infraction of Club rules.

The expelled members, it so happens, were the stalwarts of the Club's yacht racing scene. So they took themselves off to Subic Bay Yacht Club (SBYC).

The MYC's signature event of the year is the President's Cup, a big boat cans regatta sailed in Subic Bay immediately after the China Sea Race (in CSR years) and at Boracay in the alternate years. Coincidentally, the people who actually organised the President's Cup - and, incidentally, the Manila-Boracay Race - are the same persons who recently took their ball away and went to play in Subic. SBYC/SAGS announced that this year they would run a new event, the Commodore's Cup, in Subic Bay, following on from the Rolex China Sea Race.

Presumably, if the MYC had wanted to run a President's Cup at the same time, somewhere else, then there was nothing to stop them doing so. But on Monday this week the MYC got a Temporary Restraining Order from a Manila court, to prevent SBYC/SAGS from holding a President's Cup. This didn't stick on two counts - one, the event in question is a home-grown SBYC/SAGS regatta called the 'Commodore's Cup'; and two, the Manila court was found to have no jurisdiction in Subic Bay. So last night there was a skippers' briefing and a Welcome Party, and racing starts today. Phew! -- Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia

www.sail-world.com

Carbon Difference
Exit Engineering Integral UniDirectional carbon fibre hinges.

Exit Engineering carbon gangways. Stylish, exclusive, ultralight, reliable.
Stylish as in perfectly designed for their function and made in Italy by composites experts.
Exclusive as in totally visible clear coated carbon with the freedom to customise your gangway with any graphic and colour your creativity suggests. Digitally transferred on your gangway.
Ultralight as in autoclave cured pre-preg technology optimised with FEM software simulations.
Reliable as in thousands of items sold to the most demanding shipyards and yacht owners.

The Smart Solution.

www.exitengineering.com

The Impecunious Collector, Maritime Division: America's Cup
Enormous sail area of the superb 90-foot racing yacht 'Reliance,'" Works and Studios, Arlington, N.J., and Underwood & Underwood Publishers, New York City. Click on image to enlarge.

America's Cup Antique It may not be time - maybe soon - to start spending serious money, but in the meantime you might be able to stay in the race on the cheap - under $100, maybe under $50, maybe even $10 - for an America's Cup experience.

Interest in the America's Cup was buoyed by national pride - America against all challengers. Victory after victory helped. By the 1930's, the America's Cup even became a welcome distraction from the country's troubles.

Beginning in the 1880's, photographers with familiar names sailed the wave's crest: New Yorkers John S. Johnston, James Burton, Charles Bolles, Theodore Gubelman, Edwin Levick, and Morris Rosenfeld, and Boston's Nathaniel Stebbins. Understandably, their work got scarcer and pricier.

But there were other categories to satisfy enthusiastic popular demand: stereoviews and cigarette cards, to name two. Herewith, a few samples of what might be out there - authentic, unique, inexpensive. Note that even in this limited group you can sense the photographic sophistication increasing over time.

See www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/?id=1825

ISAF World Match Race Rankings
Great Britain and New Zealand top the tables in the latest release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Kiwi World Champion Adam Minoprio remains top in the Open Rankings whilst Lucy Macgregor (GBR) has bounced to #1 in the Women's.

The match racing year is now in full swing with the 2010 World Tour in Marseille underway. Reigning World Champion Adam Minoprio (NZL) starts the 2010 season secure at the top of the World Rankings, whilst Lucy Macgregor (GBR) has leapfrogged Claire Leroy (FRA) to the top of the Women's Rankings.

The top two remain unchanged in the latest release of the Open ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Adam Minoprio (NZL) completes his sixth consecutive release in the world #1 spot, followed by fellow young gun Torvar Mirsky (AUS).

Triple Olympic gold medallist and TeamOrigin skipper Ben Ainslie (GBR) has jumped up to his highest Match Race Ranking at #3 knocking fellow Brit and double World Champion Ian Williams to #4. The French duo of Damien Iehl and Mathieu Richard drop to #5 and #7 respectively.

Women's Rankings

British skipper Lucy Macgregor is at the top of the Women's ISAF World Match Race Rankings, claiming the world #1 spot from Claire Leroy (FRA). Having reached the final at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami, Macgregor and her team were narrowly beaten by Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA. At the third regatta of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma, Macgregor claimed fourth position but importantly, like in Miami, she finished ahead of Leroy. Leroy won bronze in Miami in a race off with Nicky Souter (AUS) and was unable to get past the quarter final stage in Palma.

The winning skipper in Palma, Renee Groeneveld (NED), maintains her position at # 14.

Katie Spithill of Australia continues to hold onto #3 in the latest Rankings. Sally Barkow (USA) has climbed five positions to reach #5 with a sixth position at the ISAF World Cup in Miami and a third position at the ISAF World Cup in Palma.

This next release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings will be on 19 May 2010.

Full rankings at www.sailing.org/mrrankings

Seahorse May 2010
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Natural-born trimmer
The best Cup sailors are staying busy. Louay Habib asks Andy Hemmings how...

Update
Terry Hutchinson in Auckland, Dee Smith in Valencia, Dobbs Davis in Hamburg, a very cold front in Switzerland ... and Bruno Trouble in seventh heaven

World news
A new PRB for Riou, Cammas (and Peyron) keeps the faith, tall ship with a difference, Flinders Islet report and Dawn Riley finds 'gainful'. Ivor Wilkins, Rob Mundle, Patrice Carpentier, Carlos Pich, Dobbs Davis

Paul Cayard
And many key moves may already be in place...

If you haven't subscribed to Seahorse already we're keen to help you attend to that! - Please use the following promotional link and enjoy the hefty Scuttlebutt Europe discount... and it gets even better for 2 and 3 year subscriptions...

www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs

The RC 44 Championship Tour Heads For The Summits
Photo by Nico Martinez, www.nicomartinez.com. Click on image to enlarge.

RC 44 Championship The now traditional and much anticipated RC 44 Austria Cup will take place in four weeks on the stunning Lake Traunsee. Several sailors will make their come back on the circuit following the America's Cup, including James Spithill, Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison.

Ten world Class teams will compete for the RC 44 Austria Cup, including all the teams involved in Dubai in February. Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson) is currently leading the Championship Tour ahead of No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies), Team Sea Dubai (Markus Wieser), Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton) and Ceeref (Igor Lah / Rod Davis). Markus Wieser's team from the UAE won the first match race contest of the year, whilst Team Aqua grasped the fleet race title.

Absent from the circuit since September 2009 due to their America's Cup commitments, several sailors will make their come back in Austria, including James Spithill, Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison. Coutts / Ellison will be back on their one-design BMW ORACLE Racing (4th overall last year), whilst James Spithill will take the helm of a boat currently called "Boat 17". The flat water and sometimes tricky tactical conditions will be an interesting challenge for all the teams involved in the RC 44 Austria Cup. On great form in Dubai, with two victories in the fleet regatta, the local team Austria will be keen to perform in front of its public.

The teams involved in the RC 44 Austria Cup:

Team No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies)
Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson)
CEEREF (Igor Lah / Rod Davis)
BMW ORACLE Racing (Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts)
Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton)
Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (Daniel Calero / Jose Maria Ponce)
Katusha (Paul Cayard)
Team Sea Dubai (Harm Muller Spreer / Markus Wieser)
Team Austria (Rene Mangold / Christian Binder)
Boat 17 (Ian Vickers / James Spithill)

www.rc44.com

Bermuda Race Entries Reach 196
The victorious Sinn Fein crew in 2008. Can they make three in a row in 2010? From left to right Foster Tallman, Henry Hennings, Mark Rebovich, Peter S. Rebovich Sr., Peter S Rebovich Jr., Kelly Robinson and Gary Gochal. Photo by Barry Pickthall/PPL, pplmedia.com. Click on image to enlarge.

Newport Bermuda ...And the fleet may get even bigger before the late entry period expires May 15. The race record of 265 starters was set in the 2006 centennial Newport Bermuda Race.The 2008 fleet numbered 198 boats.

With 196 entries, the 47th Newport Bermuda Race fleet is on track to be the third largest in the race's history.

The race has a wide range of boats. Niklas Zennstrom's Ran (Southampton, England) in her first year won the 2009 Fastnet Race and also took Class 1 in the Sydney-Hobart. This cutting-edge 72-footer is one of 63 entries making their first Bermuda Race. Meanwhile, Peter Rebovich (Metuchen, N.J.) will sail his seventh "thrash to the Onion Patch" in his 45-year-old Cal 40 racer-cruiser Sinn Fein, which he has owned since 1973. The St. David's Lighthouse Trophy winner in 2006 and 2008, Sinn Fein is a victory away from matching one of sailing's most hallowed records - three straight Bermuda Race wins by Carleton Mitchell's Finisterre in 1956-60.

Sinn Fein can't reprise her 2008 duel with Selkie because that boat's skipper, Sheila McCurdy (Middletown, R.I.), has duties as Commodore of the Cruising Club of America, the race's co-sponsor with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Two of Sinn Fein's sistership Cal 40s will race. One is Douglas Jurrius' Belle Aurore (Easton, Md.), the other Gone with the Wind, which Bill LeRoy (Tiburon, Cal.) is shipping east from San Francisco Bay. His navigator is Sally Lindsay Honey, who normally races a Cal 40 with her husband, Stan Honey.

The big fleet may get even bigger during the late entry period that expires May 15. The race record of 265 starters was set in the 2006 centennial Newport Bermuda Race, and the 2008 fleet numbered 198 boats. The next largest fleet was 182, in 2002.

Among the non-U.S. entries are the overall winner of the recent Royal Ocean Racing Club Caribbean 600, Beau Geste, Cameron Ward (Sydney, Australia), and Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy's Noonmark VI (Southampton, England), which is on an extended circumnavigation that includes the world's major races. Another foreign entry is Hugo Boss, sailed by British ocean racer Alex Thomson (Gosport, England). "Newport Bermuda is one of the big classics," said Thomson. "Having done many Fastnets and Sydney-Hobarts, I am very excited to present our new boat and represent our sponsor in this famous race." -- John Rousmaniere

www.BermudaRace.com

Discussing The Wind-Heel Angle Relationship Of Traditionally Rigged Sailing Vessels
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
This paper reports on a series of projects funded by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) T&R Steering Committee. Analysis of underway data recorded on the Pride of Baltimore II in conjunction with CFD modeling has shown promising results on achieving useful wind-heel stability guidance. The resulting volumes of data were then entered into spreadsheets to develop the vessel's wind-heel stability characteristics. The current method of analysis involves the concept of Significant Heel Angle Analysis, i.e. the average of the highest one third of the heel angles obtained by sorting the data records by decreasing heel angle. This concept appears to be independent of whether or not a mast motion correction is applied to the wind anemometer data. Significant heel analysis also avoids the skew in the averages caused by small heel angle analysis. Most important, these characteristics can then be conveyed to the master in simple color coded charts.

The Center for Innovation in the Art & Science of Sailing is designed to provide an information hub, idea forum and testing lab, where new developments in equipment design can be introduced, evaluated and tested. The Center's webpage, hosted on the National Sailing Hall of Fame's website, can be viewed by visiting http://www.nshof.org and clicking on the "Innovation Ctr." link on the right.

You can also view/download the PDF file (7mb) directly by clicking here.
org2.democracyinaction.org/dia

Featured Brokerage
2001 Nautor Swan 82, EUR 3,700,000. Located in Antibes, France.

Favonius is now offered for sale as a turn-key program for anyone wishing to compete in the 2010 Swan Maxi circuit with a proven winner. She carries a full inventory of sails and equipment and is ready for a new crew to step on board and go sailing. Originally specified and built for a discerning owner with the assistance project manager Rob Weiland, Favonius has been maintained by a full time crew since launch. With an endless list of upgrades and improvements, Favonius has been optimized to the highest level and has many more years of competitive racing and extended cruising ahead of her.

Brokerage through Nautor's Swan Italy & Monaco.

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word
In museums and palaces we are alternate radicals and conservatives. -- Henry James

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