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Ostling Wins Women's Match Racing World Championship
Click on image to enlarge.

Anna Ostling Anna Ostling with crew Annie and Linnea Wennergren are the 2016 Women's Match Racing World Champions. In the Buddy Melges Challenge, the 3rd event of the 2016 WIM Series, the Swedes defeated Anne-Claire Le Berre, Mathilde Geron and Alice Ponsar of France, in a thrilling final over five matches on Lake Michigan.

Ostling took her first World Championship gold in Cork, Ireland, in 2014, and this year's medal is a milestone in a very successful year so far. Her Sheboygan triumph is her third consecutive WIM Series victory, after winning earlier in Helsinki, Finland, as well as in Lysekil, Sweden. With this result Team Anna stretches their WIM Series lead further, as only the regattas in Busan, South Korea, and St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, remain.

After a maternity leave of almost one year, Anne-Claire Le Berre came back to the WIM Series just for this World Championship, aiming for the final and for a medal to put around her neck. This time it's silver, but the gold wasn't very far away.

Final results:
1. Anna Ostling, Annie Wennergren, Linnea Wennergren, SWE, 25 points
2. Anne-Claire Le Berre, Mathilde Geron, Alice Ponsar, FRA, 22
3. Renee Groeneveld, Lobke Berkhout, Mijke Lievens, NED, 20
4. Stephanie Roble, Maggie Shea, Janel Zarkowsky, USA, 18
5. Caroline Sylvan, Louise Kruuse af Verchou, Frida Langenius, SWE, 16
6. Samantha Norman, Carla Holgate, Taylor Holland, NZL, 14
7. Pauline Courtois, Jeanne Courtois, Juliette Le Friec, FRA, 12
8. Nicole Breault, Molly Carapiet, Karen Loutzenheiser, USA, 10
9. Elizabeth Shaw, Madeline Gill, Malin Holmberg, CAN, 8

www.wimseries.com

Alinghi Pull Off Incredible Comeback To Take Act 6 In Madeira
Photo by Lloyd Images. Click on image to enlarge.

Alinghi Collision Swiss team Alinghi came back from a dismasting to win Act 6 of the Extreme Sailing Series in extraordinary circumstances on the waters of Portugal's Madeira Islands.

A high-speed collision with Red Bull Sailing Team resulted in the 16.5-metre mast of Alinghi's GC32 catamaran falling down. The damage, in the third race of the day, forced the veteran crew to retire from the remaining four races and threatened to keep them off the water for the final day of Act 6.

But thanks to the heroics of their shore team Alinghi were back in action when racing resumed today. The sailors then repaid their land-based teammates by sealing the Act 6 victory with wins in both races, which were held in light winds.

Red Bull Sailing Team claimed the runners up spot for the third time in six Acts as Madeira made its debut in the Extreme Sailing Series, with overall Series leaders Oman Air completing the podium.

The result sees Alinghi narrow the gap in the overall rankings to Oman Air to just three points with just two more Acts left of the 2016 season - Lisbon in less than two weeks and Sydney in December.

The Extreme Sailing Series heads to Portugal's capital city Lisbon for the first time in its 10-year history for the penultimate Act of the year from October 6 to 9.

Act 6, Madeira Islands standings after Day 4, 14 races (25.09.16)

1. Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothe Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 166 points
2. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Stewart Dodson, Adam Piggott, Brad Farrand, 153
3. Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari, 150
4. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi De Felice, Renato Conde, 141
5. Sail Portugal - Visit Madeira (POR) Diogo Cayolla, Frederico Melo, Nuno Barreto, Luis Brito, Joao Matos Rosa, 127
6. Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Neil Hunter, Chris Taylor, Will Alloway, Sam Batten, Rob Bunce, 122
7. Vega Racing (USA) Brad Funk, Tom Buggy, Nick Thompson, Ze Costa, Mac Agnese, 111

www.extremesailingseries.com

Rolex Middle Sea Race, With Five Star Sailing
Click on image to enlarge.

Five Star Sailing Onboard our Farr 45 'Werewolf' (pictured at right)

You will join our skipper, John, and first mate Sam onboard our Farr 45 for on the water training and preparation .You will be fully involved in the racing throughout, making you an important and valued member of the race team.

2016 Dates:

Arrive in Malta: Monday 17 October
Training starts: Tuesday 18 October
Coastal Race: Wednesday 19 October
Race starts: Saturday 22 October
Prize Giving: Saturday 29 October
Depart Malta: Sunday 30 October

Cost: £1,595 per person.

What's included?

All race entry and mooring fees, 3 days training and preparation, training in the Coastal Race and the Middle Sea Race, racing skipper, and first mate, food aboard the yacht whilst racing and training and team shirts to keep.

These crew places are for experienced racers and are not available to beginners. All crew members are expected to have medical insurance for the duration of the trip.

We are very keen for more helmsmen, trimmers, foredeck and mast.

For more information please contact John on 0034 618 406 747 or email

fivestarsailing.eu
www.facebook.com/fivestarsailing/

Gilmour Wins WMRT Cape Crow Cup
Ockero, Sweden: With a strong breeze of 15-20 knots pushing from the south and a strong current in the south east of the island of Ockero the scene was set for the final day of the Cape Crow Cup. Nicklas Dackhammar (SWE) and his Essiq Racing Team came out strong right from the start and continued their momentum to the end of the round robin. Dackhammar fell short of enough points to topple David Gilmour (AUS) but the two of them appeared in a league of their own.

The Semi Finals saw some fantastic matches but carrying their great form from the morning were Gilmour and Dackhammar, winning their respective matches with 2-0 and ensuring their invitations to the second World Championship stage of the WMRT 2016/2017 season. 

The first match in the Final was won by Essiq Racing, with Dackhammar sailing a flawless match, helped by some boat handling errors by David Gilmour. Team Gilmour managed to pull themselves together nailing the following two starts and managing to stay away from the hunting Dackhammar to take victory with a 2-1 score line.

The race committee managed to pull off 68 matches over the three day event under PRO Robert Ohlsson's watchful eye.

Final results:
1. David Gilmour, Team Gilmour , 13 points
2. Nicklas Dackhammar, Essiq Racing, 10
3. Hans Wallen, Wallen Racing, 8
4. Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team, 7
5. Mans Holmberg, Typhoon X Racing, 5
6. Joachim Aschenbrenner, Aschenbrenner Racing Team, 5
6. Philip Bendon, Bendon Race Team, 5
8. Kim Kling, Caprice Match Racing Team, 3

www.wmrt.com

World Sailing General Assembly Candidates Named
HM King Constantine and the Election Committee are pleased to announce full details of the candidates eligible for election as President and Vice-President to its Board of Directors. The President and seven Vice-Presidents, two of which must be from each gender, will be elected at World Sailing's General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday 13 November 2016.

Eligible candidates have been endorsed by at least five World Sailing Member National Authorities with the term of office beginning at the close of the General Assembly, at which the Board of Directors are elected for a period of four years.

The General Assembly will be the conclusion of World Sailing's Annual Conference and up to 700 delegates are expected to attend from 4-13 November 2016 at the Hotel Renaissance Barcelona Fira.

The candidates eligible for election at the 2016 General Assembly are:

Presidential Candidates
Kim Andersen (DEN)
Carlo Croce (ITA)
Paul Henderson (CAN)

Vice-Presidential Candidates
Alain Alcindor (SEY)
Chris Atkins (GBR)
Tomasz Chamera (POL)
Jean-Pierre Champion (FRA)
Jan Dawson (NZL)
Torben Grael (BRA)
Gary Jobson (USA)
Stanislav Kassarov (BUL)
Quanhai Li (CHN)
W Scott Perry (URU)
Tony Philp (FIJ)
Ana Sanchez (ESP)
Malav Shroff (IND)
Nadine Stegenwalner (GER)
David Tillett (AUS)

Full details of the eligible candidates, including biographies of each candidate, stated goals and nominating MNAs, are available to view at: www.sailing.org/meetings/

Mark Turner And How To Sort Out The Dinghy/Olympic Sailing World
Mark Turner, the new CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, has released his notes for a presentation to the ISAF Conference back in 2013 (now World Sailing) on how to develop the dinghy/Olympic sailing world to take it up a level.

Turner never gave the presentation. Just half an hour before he was due to speak, the ISAF Executive Committee for a reason he was never given directly or openly, decided to pull it.

Now he has released the content in his blog...

Gerald New has the details in Sailweb.co.uk: www.sailweb.co.uk

Grenada Sailing Week
Grenada Sailing Week A truly friendly, competitive regatta - Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week 30 Jan - 4 Feb 2017

With five yachts already registered in the CSA Racing Spinnaker Class and two newly built Grenada boats launching in time to participate, this promises to be an exciting regatta.

Bernie Evan-Wong, avid Antiguan racer on his RP37 Taz, (known as "The Carbon Beast"), says: "For the past several seasons we have campaigned the Caribbean Racing circuit starting with Grenada in the South and going up to the USVI in the North, participating in around 10 Regattas each season, and I can safely say that Grenada Sail Week is one of my favourite regattas, warm, friendly and competitive."

Race Day Sponsor Sea Hawk Premium Yacht Finishes, a loyal supporter from the start, promotes this event at international boat shows and provides valuable bottom paint prizes for positions 1, 2 and 3 in all classes. Host Marina and Race Day Sponsor Secret Harbour in sheltered Mt Hartman Bay, with its premier pool house party venue, has long been a secret and chose to support Grenada Sailing Week to promote their fully operational marina to international and local sailors.

Regional Air Partner LIAT The Caribbean Airline will be offering great discounts to captains and crew flying in for the event - check the Grenada Sailing Week website for details regarding dates and eligibility.

Check our website: www.grenadasailingweek.com and sign up for our newsletter, email us at , find us on Facebook at GrenadaSailingWeek, or Twitter @grenadasailweek

D-Marin Zadar Regatta
Zadar, Croatia: Alex Roepers began his sailing season by scoring a major victory in Australia, stopped in Italy a few months later to secure another significant achievement then capped an extremely successful 2016 campaign by closing the deal in Croatia.

Roepers and Plenty clinched the Farr 40 International Circuit championship by winning the D-Marin Zadar Regatta, held Thursday through Saturday off the Dalmatian Coast. Renowned professional Terry Hutchinson served as tactician for Roepers, who steered his black-hulled boat to first place in three races and second or third in five others in posting a low score of 24 points.

This is the second International Circuit title for Plenty, which also captured the 2014 crown. That was also the year Roepers collected his first Rolex Farr 40 World Championship and coincided with bringing Hutchinson aboard as crew boss. The Annapolis resident put together a team of sailors he trusts, led by trimmers Morgan Trubovich and Skip Baxter.

Roepers and the Plenty program now set their sights on the 2017 International Circuit, which will be contested at various locales in Italy. All the owner-drivers in the class are pointing toward the 20th annual Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, being held July 13-16 in Porto Cervo. It is fitting the Farr 40 class is celebrating its 20th anniversary in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

Full results on YachtScoring

farr40.org

New Britannia Campaign
A secret naval design for a replacement for Britannia could provide the basis for a new £100million royal yacht, the retired naval officer who helped draw up the original plans has said.

The Telegraph can reveal full details of the 1997 design, which was drawn up by naval staff and approved by representatives of the royal family before Tony Blair's Labour Government refused to pay for it.

Commander John Pritchard, the project's officer in charge, said that there was no reason why the new design - which is currently languishing in Ministry of Defence archives - could not be used as a model for a replacement for Britannia, which was retired from service in 1997.

The Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign to return a modern-day version of HMY Britannia to the seas to help secure trade deals once Britain has left the European Union.

The vessel is estimated to have helped secure £3 billion of trade deals between 1991 and 1995.

Cdr Pritchard said: "Things have moved on with IT and communications, and big changes in marine propulsion, but the overall size and concept of the ship would be much the same."

Cdr Pritchard suggested the cost of the new yacht could be part-funded by other maritime Commonwealth countries and the command and personnel rotated among them.

The new yacht would have cost around £60million in 1997, which equates to £100million in today's money. She was smaller than Britannia, but was better equipped to deal with the demands of the 21st century.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words (but not for Henry's letter tonight...). No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Henry Menin:

We all lost a great friend on Tuesday. Terry Kohler had more influence on worldwide sailing, and the people in the sport, than anyone else I can think of. And most people involved in the sport were unaware of that influence, which is how he wanted it.

Terry was a passionate man; passionate about his wife, Mary; passionate about the value of marriage and families; passionate about his religion and his politics; passionate about conservation of this planet, and of course, passionate about sailing, particularly match racing and most particularly, women's match racing which he quietly supported, financially and otherwise, for lo these many years.

For all of his passions, he was the most philanthropic and generous man I knew. It is ironic, and fitting, that on the day of his passing, the opening ceremonies of the Women's World Match Racing Championships were being held in his beloved yacht club in his home town of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

I would like to share a little anecdote that may reveal a lot about Terry's passion for the sport and specifically for women's match racing.

With a great deal of support from Terry, we were able to convince the ISAF Council to include women's match racing in the 2012 Olympics. Shortly after that decision was made, I was in Edgewater, Florida with Terry, at his boat manufacturing facility there, discussing the attributes of a good match racing umpire boat that he wanted to build. We were in an office in the building, just the two of us, and he asked me (I was then Chairman of the ISAF Match Racing Committee) how the project for women's match racing in the Olympics was progressing. I told him we were trying to select a 3 person boat to be used and that frankly, the options were limited and none of them were ideal. He thought for a moment and then said with conviction that we should design a new boat … powerful, lively, athletic and with a retracting keel that would allow it to easily be stacked in a container for shipping. I told him I thought that would be pretty expensive and I wasn't sure we could raise that kind of money. I could see his wheels turning. He did some mental calculations, thinking out loud, on the cost of design, number of boats needed, cost of manufacture, cost of transportation to the Olympic site and then to a pre-Olympic regatta in Australia and then back again to the UK, maintenance, refurbishment, new sails, spares, etc. I don't think he took 5 minutes to do all of this in his head. He looked at me and finally said, "You'll need about 1 million dollars." I gulped and responded, "Well with your contacts in the industry, perhaps we could raise that, but I have my doubts." I could see him thinking again and before he could speak, I said, "Terry, we don't want your money. You are already supporting the Women's International Match Racing Association. We just need your contacts and your influence."

He glared at me. I could see the red rising in his neck. This was the first time since I had met him back in 1999 that I had witnessed any kind of belligerence in his temperament. He paused for a moment, and then said to me in very measured and deliberate words, "Don't tell me how to spend my money." Another pause, and then he added, "I will pledge to get you 1 million dollars to complete this project. It's done. End of conversation."

And he did. He guided the whole project personally, not only getting the money, but also providing the personnel, the administration, his complete encouragement, and the overall management, right through the end of the Olympics.

Because of Terry, women's match racing was the shining star of sailing in the 2012 Olympics and because of Terry, the global women's match racing series continues to this day.

We will all miss him greatly, even those who never knew him.

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The Last Word
You know how it is with some girls. They seem to take the stuffing right out of you. I mean to say, there is something about their personality that paralyses the vocal cords and reduces the contents of the brain to cauliflower. -- P.G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html

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