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Skandia Sail For Gold
Photo by Ian Roman, www.ianroman.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Skandia Sail for Gold Tougher competition than the Olympics was Ben Ainslie's summary of Skandia Sail for Gold 2011. It was medal race day and the tension could be felt throughout the boat park as the elite of each Olympic discipline prepared to be tested

There was so much on the line - possible Olympic selection, ISAF World Cup points, the regatta result and of course a hefty dose of pride. Five hours later and spectators had been treated to some stunning racing, topped off when Ainslie clinically dispatched another rival to take gold. Ainslie's win sealed Britain's place as the top nation sailing nation at the 2012 Olympic venue. Australia was the only country that could match the home team's gold medal tally across 13 Olympic and Paralympic classes.

Podium positions:

49er After Medal Race
1. Nathan Outteridge / Iain Jensen, AUS, 60
2. Stephane Christidis / Peter Hansen, FRA, 80
3. Stevie Morrison / Ben Rhodes, GBR, 90

470 Women After Medal Race
1. Jo Aleh / Olivia Powrie, NZL, 52
2. Hannah Mills / Saskia Clarke, GBR, 70
3. Camille Lecointre / Mathilde Geron, FRA, 74

470 Men After Medal Race
1. Pierre Leboucher / Vincent Garos, FRA, 38
2. Matthew Belcher / Malcolm Page, AUS, 61
3. Panagiotis Mantis / Pavlos Kagialis, GRE, 72

Finn After Medal Race
1. Ben Ainslie, GBR, 42
2. Giles Scott, GBR, 56
3. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, CRO, 57

Laser After Medal Race
1. Tom Slingsby, AUS, 41
2. Andrew Murdoch, NZL, 57
3. Paul Goodison, GBR, 64

Laser Radial After Medal Race
1. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 40
2. Evi Van Acker, BEL, 50
3. Annalise Murphy, IRL, 69

Star After Medal Race
1. Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada, BRA, 38
2. Fredrik Loof / Max Salminen, SWE, 44
3. Diego Negri / Enrico Voltolini, ITA, 72

RS:X Men After Medal Race
1. Nick Dempsey, GBR, 28
2. J. P. Tobin, NZL, 29
3. Dorian Vaan Rijsselberge, NED, 40

RS:X Women After Medal Race
1. Marina Albau, ESP, 37
2. Zofia Klepacka, POL, 45
3. Lee Korzits, ISR, 66

SKUD 18 After 8 races 1 discard
1. Daniel Fitzgibbon / Liesl Tesch, AUS, 9
2. Alexandra Rickmann / Niki Birrell, GBR, 16
3. Jamie Dunross / Rachael Cox, AUS, 30

Sonar After 10 races 1 discard
1. John Robertson / Hannah Stodel / Steve Thomas, 35
2. Udo Hessels / Marcel Van Veen / Mischa Rosseb, NED,40
3. Bruno Jourdren / Eric Flageul, FRA, 43

2.4 After 9 races 1 discard
1. Damien Seguin, FRA, 27
2. Andre Rademaker, NED, 28
3. Thierry Schmitter, NED, 42

Match Racing

Final:
USA Tunnicliffe / Vandemoer / Capozzi 3 - Gold
GBR Macgregor / Lush / Macgregor 0 - Silver

Petit Final:
USA Barkow / Kratizig-Burnham / O'Reilly 2 - Bronze
FRA Leroy / Bertrand / Riou 0

www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

Bjorn Hansen Lifts Korea Match Cup For First Time
Gyeonggi Province, Korea: Bjorn Hansen was named king of the Korea Match Cup for the first time today beating Francesco Bruni in a the finale to the third stage of the World Match Racing Tour. Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team held onto his nerve as the Final went to sudden death, eventually defeating Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing by three wins to two.

It is Hansen's first win on the World Match Racing Tour since he claimed Match Cup Sweden in 2007 and only his second ever Tour victory. Despite losing out to Hansen, Bruni also had reason to celebrate as the result moves him to the top of the World Match Racing Tour overall standings.

"We had a tough start to the World Match Racing Tour, coming last at Match Race France and then third to bottom at Match Race Germany so we knew we had to really raise our game," Hansen said. "We also knew we love this event and had a good chance to get a result here in Korea. Fransceco has been sailing really well this season and we knew we were going to have to sail really well to beat him. To beat him round the course we knew we had to win the starts and thankfully we did that three times in the Final."

Final Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team beat Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing 3-2

Petit Final Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar beat Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 2-0

Final Positions at the 2011 Korea Match Cup:

1. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team
2. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing
3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
5. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
6. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat
7. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
8. Paul Campbell-James (UK) Dream Team
9. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing
10. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team
11. Sung Wook Kim (KOR) Busan Match Team
12. Reuben Corbett (NZL) AON Racing Team

2011 ISAF World Match Racing Tour Standings (after 3 stages):

1. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing - 59 points
2. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing - 48
3. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team - 41
4. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat - 31
5. Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners - 28
6. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team - 27
7. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing - 27
8. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team - 24
9. Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team - 22
10. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar - 21

wmrt.com

Dubarry Storm - Sailing Style In On The Street
Dubarry Storm There's something cool about sailing, taking on the elements from the Solent to St Tropez, but how do you carry that cool onto the streets? Try wearing offshore oilies to your favourite restaurant and you're likely to end up hungry and sectioned. Dubarry Storm gives you all the cache of the crew in a way that doesn't mark you out as a madman. With polarfleece for warmth, a durable waterproof shell, inner storm flap and chin guard, Storm keeps you warm and dry in six snazzy colourways.

Dubarry Storm - the calm within the Storm.

www.dubarry.com

Highland Fling Wins Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2011
Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2011, Porto Cervo. Highland Fling. Photo by Guido Trombetta. Click on image to enlarge.

Loro Piana Porto Cervo, Italy: The fourth and final day of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta saw westerly winds of up to 30 knots put paid to hopes of another spectacular race day off Porto Cervo. The event, co-organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Boat International Media, took place from 7th to 11th June and hosted a spectacular fleet of 27 sailing superyachts. With victories in both the coastal races held, Irvine Laidlaw's Reichel Pugh-designed Highland Fling dominated in the Performance Division and also took overall victory and the Loro Piana Overall Prize: The Silver Jubilee Cup by Boat International Media. Harry Macklowe's 34 metre Frers-designed Unfurled claimed first place among the Cruising yachts and Andrea Recordati's Indio topped the leaderboard among the Wallys.

Highland Fling, which had US veteran sailors Mike Toppa and Peter Holmberg aboard, was also presented with awards for the top classified YCCS Member and the top classified member of the International Maxi Association. Second in the Performance division was Indio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana's My Song took third. Among the Cruising yachts Paolo Scerni's Kora 5 took second place with Hasso Plattner's Visione in third. Prizes also went to the 33.6 metre Thalima, owned by Holger Van den Heuvel, as the best classified Southern Wind yacht and to Salvatore Trifiro's 50 metre Zefira as the best classified vessel from the Fitzroy Yachts shipyard.

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's Regatta Calendar continues with the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series from 16th to 19th July and the Club's superyacht racing events continue in September in Porto Cervo and from November in the Caribbean.

www.yccs.it
www.loropianasuperyachtregatta.com

Etchells World Championship
San Diego has been anticipating this week's Etchells World Championship with a year-long series of competitive sailing battles off the shores of Point Loma California. On a day when the 2011 Championship had already been sealed and the skipper and crew from USA 979 respectfully declined to race and watched the action from a spectator boat, many other outcomes of the regatta were still up for grabs including a 3 point spread between Australia's 1026 Noel Drennan and USA's 1227 Vince Brun. Brun and crew started the regatta with four top 4 finishes, but their momentum slowed with finishes of 7, 14, and 9 leading up to the final race. Meanwhile, Drennan threw out a Day One finish of 21st place and finished in the top 9 in every race following.

Another close match was for 6th through 10th place. On Friday USA 946 Craig Healy won the race by over a minute to move up to 6th, leading AUS 1278 Michael John Hiatt by 4 points, USA 1060 Dennis Conner by 5, USA 1152 Keith Whittemore by 11, and USA 1375 Argyle Campbell by 13.

The final race day (Saturday) began with lighter winds from a 220 - 250 axis as the fleet arrived in the racing area. As the competitors sorted themselves out, the race committee patiently waited for the breeze to settle in to a relatively stable 10-12 knots at the 240 axis. The R/C set the final course (2.1 mile legs). The fleet was anxious, and anxious to get to the right as well, and piled onto the right segment of the line. Twice, General Recalls were signaled. The R/C dropped the right side of the line back to 255 and the Black Flag was raised for start attempt #3. Competitors focused and a clean start was off just before 1220.

Final top ten:

1. Bill Hardesty, USA, 8
2. Noel Drennan, AUS, 46
3. Vincent Brun, USA, 55
4. Chris Busch, USA, 59
5. Don Jesberg, USA, 79
6. Dennis Conner, USA, 87
7. Michael John Hiatt, AUS, 88
8. Keith Whittemore, USA, 89
9. Bruce Golison, USA, 106
10. Craig Healy, USA, 109

Complete results: www.etchellsworlds2011.com/race-results

King Triumphs with a Race to Spare
Tom King. Etchells Australasian Winter Championship 2011. Photo by Kylie Wilson / Positive Image. Click on image for photo gallery.

Etchells Australasian Winter Championship Master tactician Tom King combined brilliantly with crew mates David Edwards, Owen McMahon and Ivan Wheen to win the 2011 Musto Australasian Etchells Winter championship off Mooloolaba today.

They faced the final two races with exceptional confidence after sailing smart in a difficult wind system to record a 2-4-2-1 which paved the way for Iron Lotus crew to basically shut out all challenges with a commanding 31 point lead.

As expected Tom King the Sydney 2000 470 class Olympic Gold Medallist continued to dominate the race for the championship steering Iron Lotus into 13th place to seal the win with a race to spare.

The Iron Lotus crew who managed to remain consistent in a tricky wind system led the series by one point after the opening two races on Friday firmed a vice like grip on the championship with a 2-1 score on Saturday then put the final result to bed with their 13th in race 5.

They had no need to contest the sixth race leaving Melbourne's Mark Tonner-Joyce (Dawn Raid) and the 2009 Musto trophy winner Damien King at the helm of Barry to set up their own private match race to decide the minor medals.

Mark Tonner-Joyce was put to the test but remained in control to protect his score when her steered Dawn Raid to a 4-2 to claim second by 3 points with 9-1-14-(16)-4-2 while Damien King secured third overall with his 3-5- (42) - 2-20-3.

David Clark who lost the 2010 series in the final 200 metres of the last heat proved to be the star performer on the final day steering Fifteen to a 1-2 to recover from a below par 16th to finish seventh.

His relative failure was not alone with former champions David Rose (This will make her scream) placing 15th after winning race 1 while Michael Coxon (North Star) struggled to finish 19th with Victorian Ian Johnson (Bananas in Pyjamas) one of six skippers Black Flagged in race 2 finished a disappointing 27th. -- Ian Grant

Final overall results:
1. Iron Lotus (Tom King, NSW) 2-4-2-1-13-(DNS-42) - 22 points
2. Dawn Raider (Mark Tonner-Joyce, Vic) 9-1-14-(16)- 4-2 - 30
3. Barry (Damien King, Vic) 3-5-(42 bfd) 2-20-3 - 33
4. Roulette (Mark Johnson, NSW) 7-(36)-16-3-6-5 - 37
5. Perfect Balance (Mark Bulka, Vic) 12-(16)-11-8-1-7 - 39
6. Racer X (Mark Thornburrow) Hong Kong 15-(18)-6-4-5-10 - 40
7. Fifteen (David Clark, NSW) (26)-22-9-12-2-1 - 46
8. Absolute Pearler (Peter McNeill, NSW) 6-17-5-(18)-10-9 - 47
9. B Squared (Gary Boyd, NSW) (28)-2-15-14-11-8 - 47
10. Critical Balance (Mark Langfoird, NSW) 18-3-18- 11-3-(27) - 53

Seahorse July 2011
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Move on up
Fascinating... Andy Rice talks to 505 and skiff champion Mike Martin about his new role as the head of America's Cup umpiring for 2013

Masterful evolution
Botín Carkeek designs have dominated the last three years of TP52 racing in the Audi MedCup. Marcelo Botin explains the developments that have gone into his latest designs for 2011

Paul Cayard
And learning new life skills at this point is cool

IRC column
James Dadd on why lighter can now be better

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

Industry News
The Volvo Ocean Race has been boosted by two senior appointments to lead them into the next event, Jon Bramley joining as Communications Director and Olivier Brémont as Commercial Director.

Bramley brings long and varied experience in global sports and general news including 11 years in senior news positions at Thomson Reuters, the world's largest international multi-media agency.

 He was the global sports news editor and deputy sports editor for Thomson Reuters for the last five years, responsible for running day-to-day sports news coverage. In 2009 he headed the agency's general, financial and political news output from the UK and Ireland.

He has also worked at the last five Olympics Games and was Reuters' desk head during the last four Games.

Brémont also has a strong track record of over 15 years experience in the sports industry gained with rights-holders, agencies and brands. 

Prior to joining Volvo Ocean Race, he was VP Business Development & Strategy at the WTA (Women's Tennis Association), the governing body of women's professional tennis.

Previously, he was VP Business Development at Infront Sports & Media, where he worked on a number of projects including the establishment of Infront China's sales and marketing business, the WTA's market entry strategy for China, and on a number of high profile media and marketing rights and corporate acquisitions in football, winter sports and motor sports.

volvooceanrace.com

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Doyle Sails NZ is pleased to announce the appointment of renowned world class sailing professional Mike Sanderson. Mike will be joining the team at the beginning of June 2011 as Director of Sales and Partner for the New Zealand and Australia operations.

Mike Sanderson was ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year in 2006, a veteran of three America's Cup campaigns and two times Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race winner.

Mike brings with him a wealth of experience having been involved on the technical side of sail programmes and as part of the design and build teams for both Team ABN AMRO boats, as well as Skippering ABN AMRO One to one of the most convincing Volvo victories in the race's history. In addition, Mike has extensive Superyacht experience including the high profile race boats Mari Cha III and IV which between them have dominated the Trans Atlantic Monohull record over the last twelve years.

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Raymarine UK has announced its support for National Historic Ships, the official voice for historic vessels in the UK.  Raymarine UK will donate prizes for a special competition being run by National Historic Ships which will help promote the use of electronic navigational equipment to increase safety at sea.

Applications for this competition are now being invited from owners of craft on the National Register of Historic Vessels. To be in with a chance of winning, entrants must propose a worthy story of why their vessel is most in need of Raymarine's state-of-the-art electronic equipment. The prizes on offer (valued at over £4,000) include an electronic chartplotter (C120W), and an AIS 500 (Automatic Identification System), which helps identify vessels and reduce danger of collisions at sea by displaying course, bearing and heading of vessels within a certain area.

Entrants can give an account of a real-life experience whereby having marine electronics onboard would have greatly helped, or a bid for upgraded equipment which will enable the vessel to undertake more ambitious voyages in future.

National Historic Ships was established in 2006 as a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport with a specific remit to advise the Secretary of State and other public bodies on ship preservation and funding priorities.

The deadline for competition entries is Monday 15th August with entries to be submitted via the National Historic Ships' website - www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk.  The winner will be later announced at the Southampton Boat Show on Saturday 17th September where they will be presented with their prize on the Raymarine stand, at the show.

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Sperry Top-Sider has announced a major sponsorship agreement with 30 of the most successful and internationally renowned athletes from the world of Olympic sailing to form Team Sperry, a group of World Champion sailors from Croatia, France, Great Britain and the United States.

Already a committed supporter of sailing in the United States with its official footwear sponsorship of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup and numerous grassroots events, Sperry said the announcement today continues the brand's major sports marketing initiative that now is going global. The brand said it will soon announce further plans to support additional international athletes and teams and world-class sailing events aligned with the global expansion efforts of the Sperry Top-Sider performance and lifestyle brand.

Team Sperry represents world-class racers including the current top three ISAF ranked teams in Women's Match Racing and three of the top four Finn Sailors, two 2008 Olympic medalists and a host of Gold, Silver and Bronze World Champion medalists.

The Team Sperry athletes will be introduced at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta June 6-11, 2011, at Weymouth and Portland in the UK. The Regatta, scheduled on the same waters on which Team Sperry hopes to compete in July/August 2012 during the Olympic Games, should provide an early snapshot of what the world can expect in 2012. Members of Sperry Top-Sider's brand team will be present to welcome their newly sponsored athletes at the Regatta later this month.

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International Yacht Paint has announced that it will become the title sponsor of Katie Miller's Figaro II. The sponsorship will include Katie's 100 Mile Double Handed Race campaign.

As well as the Double Handed Race, International Yacht Pain will activate their sponsorship through a programme of corporate racing, including East Coast Sailing Week and the Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.

Miller will once again join forces with Matthew Lingley, co skipper of their successful Round Britain and Ireland Race in 2010, and the duo will compete in the 1000 Mile Double Handed Race. The race, starting in Scheveningen, Holland and racing to Lerwick, Shetland Isles and Bergen, Norway, is an official qualifier to the recently re-launched RWYC TwoStar TransAtlantic Race.

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Australian sailing apparel brand Zhik will follow up on its title sponsorship of the Moth Worlds with another high profile sponsorship of a moth event - the UK International Moth National and Open Championships.

The company is aggressively pursing brand awareness outside of its core Olympic class markets and signalled its intentions to be a player for bigger boats with its sponsorship of the SB3 Worlds.

As well as sponsorship of the Moth Worlds in January in Australia, Zhik has a new link to the UK Moth class through Simon Payne. Simon recently became the UK distributor for Zhik. -- Yachtsponsorship.com

* Performance car brand Abarth, will continue its support of Simon Payne in 2011. At an event in Portsmouth last week before the Hayling Island Moth Open, Simon revealed the new Black & White Livery for his 2011 campaign and sail branding which features the iconic Abarth scorpion badge. Abarth Cars UK supported the Hayling Island Moth Open with an aerobatic display.

globaloceanrace.com

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Round the world yachtswoman, Dee Caffari MBE, has joined the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) as Race Ambassador. Having recently completed the Barcelona World Race as the first double-handed, all-female team to race around the planet non-stop, Caffari has a valuable insight to the GOR. Dee will visit Palma, Mallorca, for the start and finish of the race; will assist in supporting the sailing charity, the Global Vision Sailing Trust, and will provide comment on the GOR action in a weekly blog on the event's website.

Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Digby Fox: We're filming a history piece for the new weekly America's Cup Uncovered magazine show on the first Cup around the Isle of Wight (1851). Would someone like to take us out for a day on a classic yacht as our filming platform? We can't offer 100 Guineas/great riches, but we can offer an amazing history lesson from dear Fish, and stunning filming of your boat. Dates are flexible, end of June, early July... Please contact me, Digby, Director/Camera -

Featured Brokerage
Featured Brokerage Boat 1997 Cork 1720. 8,950 GBP. Located In Eastbourne, United Kingdom.

This is a popular racing dinghy that has been priced to sell on account of it requiring a new suit of sails. It is currently out of the water and is being sold with a braked road trailer.

Brokerage through Bates Wharf: www.yachtworld.com/bateswharf/

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

The Last Word
I would much rather see responsibilities exercised by individuals than have them imposed by the government. -- Esther Dyson

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