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J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round The Island Race
A day of racing in sparkling conditions for the 1584 yachts in the 2015 J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. Giovanni Belgrano's 38ft classic yacht Whooper has been revealed as provisional winner of the main prize, the Gold Roman Bowl.

In the ISC Rating System fleet, Jeremy Vines' Dufour 34 Pickle has been provisionally announced as overall winner among the 680 entries. William Ball's Grand Soleil 34.3 Gazelle is second, while one of the lowest-rated boats in the race, Brain Haugh's 1958 East Anglian 28 Cherete third, just three seconds behind Gazelle on corrected time.

The MOD70 trimaran Concise 10 took line honours, finishing at 1040, with an elapsed time of three hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds. This puts her 38 minutes outside the multihull race record set by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2013.

The four GC32 foiling catamarans crossed the line just after 1100, led by Sultanate of Oman and Alinghi, after a close race that saw the boats separated by less than six minutes at the finish.

Mike Slade's 100ft Leopard finished at 1140 to take monohull line honours, but was outside the record time he set two years ago.

Provisional results show Sir Keith Mills' Ker 40 Invictus as winner of IRC Group 0, with Tony Langley's TP52 Gladiator second and Steward Whitehead and Jeff Blue's Carkeek 40 Rebellion third. A French boat, Arnaud Delemare and Eric Mordret's JPK 1080 is winner of IRC Group 1, while another boat from the same manufacturer, David Franks' JPK 1010 Strait Dealer heads Group 2 on corrected time.

In the ISC Rating System divisions, Johnny Plumbe's Emelina is provisionally winner of Group 4. Group 5 is led by Jeremy Vines' Pickle, followed by C and M Telford's Manic and Paul Britton's Florence. In Group 6, Demian Smith's Way Beyond is provisionally first, while William Ball's Gazelle heads Group 7. -- Rupert Holmes

www.roundtheisland.org.uk

First Of Three Starts: Off And Running!
Mariette of 1915. Photo by Daniel Forster/NYYC. Click on image for photo gallery.

An intense low-pressure system rolling up the Atlantic Coast put competitors and race officials on edge for the 48 hours leading up to the first start of the Transatlantic Race 2015, from Newport, R.I., to The Lizard off the southwest coast of England. Contingency plans were made by both groups, with the option of delaying the start for a few hours getting serious consideration. The storm passed through overnight, however, leaving behind excellent, albeit unseasonably cool, conditions and a favorable boost from the outgoing current and the run-off from Saturday night's heavy rain.

A baker's dozen of boats got underway in Start 1, crossing the starting line set off the Castle Hill Lighthouse at the entrance to Narragansett Bay's East Passage just after 2 p.m. Twenty-one boats will get underway on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1, and the four fastest yachts in the race will make up the final start on Sunday, July 5.

transatlanticrace.com

Race tracker: yb.tl/transatlantic2015

Note: there are race apps to download for iPhone and Android here:
www.ybtracking.com/race-app.php

The race organisers have paid Yellow Brick so that adding the TR2015 race to the app is FREE.

* A great blog post from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Grey Power team today, along with a video of the christening of a yacht by members of the Imperial Poona Yacht Club (featuring the esteemed Harry Anderson and that young whippersnapper Andy Green...)

Grey Power has some serious crew power on board including RORC Commodore David Aisher, Dilip Donde, a Commander in the Indian Navy and first Indian to sail solo around the world and Bernard Gallay who's crossed the Atlantic many times and has done a Vendee Globe.

ORC World Championship Starts Tomorrow In Barcelona
Practice Race. Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Barcelona, Spain: After days of careful measurements, practicing, and preparation here at the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona, tomorrow will be when 98 teams from a record 22 countries will start six days of racing for the 2015 ORC World Championship. Three class World Champions will be crowned after seven inshore races are held on two course areas in addition to two offshore races planned for this week, with the final day of racing to be Saturday, July 4th.

Class A features 25 boats from 13 countries, the most diverse international turnout of any class at this event. The largest and fastest boats are in this class - for eg, there are five TP52's and two GP42's competing - but also numerous cruiser/racers, such as the six Swan 45's racing here this week.

Among the favorites are two prior Class A World Champions: Alberto Rossi from Italy, the 2014 winner in Kiel, Germany, racing his red TP52 Enfant Terrible Minoan Lines with Vasco Vascotto as tactician, and Marco Serafini, the 2013 winner in Ancona, Italy, racing his bright green TP52 Xio with Thommaso Chieffi as tactician.

In Class B there are the largest number of entries of any class - 38 boats from 11 countries - and a higher proportion of cruiser/racer designs in this fleet. Among the favorites is one of Spain's legendary offshore champions - Pedro Campos - who added the 2014 Class B ORC European Championship to his long list of victories last year in Valencia

Class C will feature 35 entries from 8 countries, and also some past ORC champions in the fleet: Vincenzo de Blasio from Italy on his NM38S Total Marine Scugnizza won the ORC Worlds in his class in 2012 in Helsinki, Finland and again in 2013 in Ancona, but he will have a strong rival in fellow Italian Giuseppe Giuffre and his team on Low Noise 2, who not only won the Worlds last year in Kiel, but also in 2011 in Cres, Croatia and in 2009 in Brindisi, Italy.

www.barcelonaorcworlds2015.com

Seahorse August 2015
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Dream start
Eight brand new custom-built grand prix racers (and one 2014-turbo) went to the line in Valencia. Rob Weiland has plenty to be proud about

Levelling the pitch
BAR Technical Director Andy Claughton helps bring 'proper' racing to the superyacht fleet

Some family
The Melges sailing dynasty is without parallel. Bill Goggins and Dave Decker catch up with all three of the most recent generations...

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Equinox Wins Sovereign's Cup
Photo by David Branigan/Oceansport, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

Equinox is the winner of the 2015 Sovereign's Cup. The Howth Yacht Club boat, owned by Ross McDonald has displayed an incredible run of 6 consecutive wins over the last three days to win the title as the boat that the organising committee judged was the best performing boat in IRC.

Clubmate Maximus, owned by Paddy Kyne, ensured that Howth Yacht Club was a major winner on the evening. Maximus, was judged the best performing boat of the regatta under the ECHO handicap.

The Michelle Dunne Prix d'Elegance, awarded in memory of a stalwart of Kinsale Yacht Club, the RNLI and the local area to the boat and crew judged by the Regatta Director to be the most elegant yacht went to the beautifully turned out Impostor, owned by regular visitor Richard Fildes from SCYC and the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The Irish Quarter Ton Cup was won by Tony Hayward's Blackfun from Cowes, with a score of 6 bullets and a second in her series.

And last, but not least, and very popular winners with the local Kinsale Yacht Club contingent, was Baccarat, owned by the McCarthy Brothers Anthony and Brian, who won the Non-Spinnaker Trophy as the best performing boat in the non-spinnaker divisions.

Full results on www.sovereignscup.com

Inshore Win For Team Brunel
Team Brunel emerged victorious in the final act of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 today in the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg.

Behind them there was major drama in a race for specialists of inshore racing as MAPFRE outwitted Team Alvimedica in the final few moments of an intriguing race.

By pushing the Turkish/American boat wide to allow Dongfeng Race Team to slip in ahead of them, MAPFRE ensured that they broke the tie for fourth place, which they were sharing with Team Alvimedica.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing earned the six points they needed to win the overall In-Port Race Series by edging out last-placed Team Vestas Wind.

"It's not how to start, it's how you finish," says Team Brunel's skipper Bouwe Bekking.

On Monday, Ian Walker's crew claimed the overall offshore trophy - the main event - with five points to spare from Team Brunel.

Team SCA sailed a canny race to claim second place in Gothenburg and with it the final, third podium place in the inshore series behind the Emirati and the Dutch boats.

volvooceanrace.org

Prize Awarded For 'toughest Of The Toughest' Job In Sports Reporting
Matt Knighton of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing has won the Inmarsat Onboard Reporter (OBR) Award for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, celebrating the most challenging sports journalism job in the world

Matt Knighton of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing has won the Inmarsat Onboard Reporter (OBR) Award for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, celebrating the most challenging sports journalism job in the world.

After a gruelling nine months at sea, delivering video, photography and blogs back to shore, the €20,000 cash prize and coveted trophy were presented to Knighton by Inmarsat's CEO, Rupert Pearce, at the final Gala Dinner in Gothenburg tonight.

Judged on creativity, quality and story-telling, the runners-up, Amory Ross (Team Alvimedica) and Sam Greenfield (Dongfeng Race Team), were also presented with €8,000 cash prizes by Pearce.

volvooceanrace.org

Dubarry Crosshaven - Preferred By Professionals

If you had to invent the most punishing ordeal for offshore sailing footwear - an extreme boot camp perhaps? - then it would be a professional, fully-crewed round the world race: thousands of ocean-bashing, boat-trashing miles around the planet. If there's even the slightest imperfection in boat, man or gear, this race will find it, break it, then tell everyone about it.

For most of us, it's the ultimate contest of man and machine against nature. For Dubarry, it's R&D. After supplying its ever-green Shamrock boot to the professional crew of Ireland's Green Dragon entry in a 2008-09 round the world race, Dubarry's most fanatical designers listened, developed, tested, listened some more, tweaked, analysed and tested again. The result was the Crosshaven boot.

When Green Dragon arrived in Galway at the end of leg 7 for the best party the race has ever seen, elbowing their way through the "craic addicts" was Dubarry's research team, wanting yet more feedback. Their finishing touches sealed the Crosshaven's reputation as the offshore professional's boot of choice. Where's the proof of that? Professional teams chose Crosshaven in the 2011-12 and 2014-15 round the world races.

Dubarry Crosshaven - Born at sea

dubarry.com

Emirates Team New Zealand Welcomes Toyota Back To The Team
Toyota New Zealand today announced their ongoing sponsorship with Emirates Team New Zealand extending the support of the team for over 20 years.

"To have an Emirates Team New Zealand boat without the Toyota brand proudly emblazoned on it would be like driving a Hilux with Corolla wheels- it simply would not feel right. The brand is a huge part of who this team is and we welcome them re-joining Emirates Team New Zealand as a major sponsor." said CEO Grant Dalton.

By the time the America's Cup gets underway in 2017 Toyota will have been sponsoring Emirates Team New Zealand for 25 years.

"There is no doubt with the increase in technology, and some new talent on the team this will be another extremely exciting regatta. Of course bringing home the 'Auld Mug' would be a perfect way to celebrate our silver anniversary," Andrew Davis, Toyota's General Manager of Marketing says.

emirates-team-new-zealand.americascup.com

2015 International Moth Uk National Championship
The final day didn't provide the glamorous conditions of the previous two days, but the Stokes Bay Race Team, led by Principal Race Officer Mike Rayden, managed to complete the full series in marginal foiling conditions.

With Chris Rashley clearly out in front, the battle for second place overall was hot - just six points separated 5 boats going into the final day.

In the end Ben Paton just pipped Jason Belben thanks to a third place in the final race. The pair ended equal on points but Paton's greater number of second place results gave him the runners-up spot on the podium.

The fleet has gone through a lot since the Moth Nationals were last held at Stokes Bay and Jason reflected on the quality of the racing throughout the fleet, "I think if you compare it to last time we were here, which was about four years ago, there was a big spread then, but you can see how the whole boat has developed and the people sailing it have got used to waves and everyone's come closer together and we're all using similar equipment now. There's not a lot of difference in boat speed now."

Chris Rashley continued his blistering form to make it 11 wins from 12 races, with just the slight blemish of his 2nd place in race 1, but with two discards in the event he was still discarding a 1st place. -- Mark Jardine

www.internationalmoth.co.uk

Final top five:
1. Chris Rashley, Stokes Bay SC & Royal London YC, 10 points
2. Ben Paton, Lymington Town SC, 33
3. Jason Belben, Stokes Bay SC, 33
4. Dylan Fletcher, WPNSA, 36
5. Mike Lennon, Hayling Island SC, 38

Full results: www.stokesbay-sc.co.uk

Jon Sanders Rescued From Stricken Yacht Off WA's Gascoyne Coast
Prominent sailor Jon Sanders has been rescued from his stricken yacht off Western Australia's Gascoyne coast after it started taking on water.

The cabin of Mr Sanders' yacht started to fill with water 10 kilometres off the coast, north of Kalbarri, and the vessel had to be left behind.

Authorities were notified of the situation after Mr Sanders activated his EPIRB device.

Mr Sanders was recovered safe and well and is understood to be resting in Geraldton after making landfall just before 5:00am.

He broke world records in 1988 when he completed a triple circumnavigation of the world alone.

Twenty-seven years later, at the age of 75, he is still sailing and has completed nine journeys around the world.

www.abc.net.au

J Class Falmouth Regatta
Needing to win the final race Lionheart stayed out of trouble this afternoon to score the required, definitive race victory which clinched the J Class Falmouth Regatta title only one point ahead of Velsheda.

Not long after being built and launched the black hulled J came to Falmouth in 2012 and had to settle for third. Last year Lionheart won successively in Menorca, Majorca and Porto Cervo but faltered badly at the last regatta of the season in Saint Tropez.

But today, with all three J's able to win the regatta on the final race, Lionheart and the 'men in black' delivered to draw first blood of 2015.

Racing in 10-14kts of SW breeze sparkling Cornish sunshine, with puffy clouds overhead and with thousands watching on the water and on land, Lionheart's starting is still their weakness but they were in position to benefit slightly after the gun when Ranger and Velsheda tussled.

John Cutler reaffirmed that the Lionheart team - as with the other J Class crews - have relished sailing in front of the crowds of spectators, and applaud the investment in on the water umpiring: "It is a spectacle which does not come around often and the boats are awesome. The boats look incredible so we like sailing here."

Results
1. Lionheart 10pts, 1,(3),1,2,2,3,1
2. Velsheda 11pts (3), 1,3,1,1,2,3
3. Ranger 12pts 2,2,2(3),3,1,2

www.jclassyachts.com

Clipper Race Quingdao To Seattle
The famous Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the world's longest ocean challenge, has announced it will stop in Seattle, USA, next year for the first time in its nineteen year history.

The tenth edition of the biennial 40,000 mile Clipper Race, exclusively for amateur sailors, is regarded as one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet. It was established in 1996 by British yachting legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop, around the world.

"I'm really looking forward to bringing the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race to Seattle for the first time," said Sir Robin. "As well as being an exciting host port for our crew members and partners, it is also an excellent international platform for Seattle to promote itself and its strengths to our global race community."

The matched fleet of twelve 70-foot ocean racing yachts will arrive in Seattle's Bell Harbor Marina in mid-April 2016 after completing the notorious 5,600 mile 'North Pacific Ocean Challenge' leg from Qingdao, China.

Starting in London, UK, on August 30, this year, the circumnavigation is divided into eight individual legs and will take almost a year to complete in a global series of races between six continents.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

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The Last Word
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