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Camper Finish In Fourth Place
Photo by Ian Roman / Volvo Ocean Race. Click on image for photo gallery.

Camper Finish In Fourth Place CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crossed the Leg 5 finish line in Brazil at 12:35:44 UTC on Tuesday 31 days after leaving Auckland, one of their two home ports.

The final result was a case of triumph over adversity for Chris Nicholson's CAMPER.

The team, who climb up to third place overall, were forced to suspend racing on April 3 when they pulled into the Chilean port of Puerto Montt for five days to fix structural damage.

"This leg, before we left Auckland was one where we had awesome potential I thought, and one of those factors was our reliability," said Nicholson.

"As always this race throws up lots of surprises and that was one of them. We'd done a lot of hard testing with the boat and never had a problem from day one.

"So, for this one to pop up like it did was both disappointing and surprising. What wasn't disappointing or surprising was how the team dealt with the problem, everyone got on with the job that took a lot of resources and a lot of hard work from everyone right across the team to essentially rebuild the boat in Puerto Montt, Chile, and rejoin the race.

"It's a valuable 15 points we'll get. We won't even know how valuable those points are until the end in Galway, but I have a feeling they're vital."

* The international jury have confirmed their scheduled protest hearing involving Team Telefonica will take place in Itajaí on Wednesday, April 18 at 1800 local time (2100 UTC).

The independent body of rules experts chaired by ISAF international judge Bernard Bonneau scheduled the hearing -- which concerns an alleged breach of 5.2.2 of the notice of race -- after receiving a report from the head of the race's measurement group over the sails carried by Telefonica during Leg 4 from Sanya to Auckland.

Under race rules, each boat is required to carry on board one storm trysail, one storm jib and one heavy weather jib, plus a maximum of seven other sails, made up of a maximum of one mainsail, two headsails, three spinnakers and one staysail.

volvooceanrace.com

Pit Stop and Co-Skipper Swap for Dutch Class40 Sec. Hayai
At 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, Sec. Hayai was 70 miles from Fortaleza where 72-year-old Budel will leave the boat and return to Europe. Having dismasted early in Leg 2 and missed out on GOR Legs 3 and 4, Budel and his team worked hard on returning to the GOR for the final two legs, re-joining the fleet in Punta del Este, and this most recent decision has not been easy. "I have to leave the race for important business in Holland," explains Budel who runs a highly successful property development company in the Netherlands. "Originally, I'd planned to handle this business after the race had finished, but it has arrived earlier and I really cannot let someone else deal with it and it is imperative that I'm in Holland."

Since the decision was made last week, Budel and Van Vuuren have been in constant contact with the GOR Race Committee to find a solution. For 42-year-old Van Vuuren to continue to Charleston single-handed would mean disqualification from Leg 4 and a lonely cruise north, but swiftly a practical plan was formed to find an appropriate skipper with the right skills and sailing qualifications. "The boat will continue without me," confirms Budel. "Erik and his girlfriend will race the boat on to the finish line in Charleston," adds the Dutch skipper.

Over the past four days, Dutch yachtswoman, Yvonne Beusker, has sent her sea survival documents and offshore sailing qualifications to the GOR Race Committee while organising a US Visa and is currently en route to Brazil. However, Van Vuuren and 40-year-old Beusker are not planning a gentle cruise passed the Caribbean to Charleston. Beusker is co-owner of a J-105, Panther, alternating between the roles of skipper, tactician and trimmer with a taste for offshore racing and successful campaigns in the RORC North Sea Race, the Viuurschepen Race offshore from Scheveningen and the Harwich to Woolverstone Race which she won overall in 2010.

Van Vuuren and Beusker have already sailed together and make a formidable team with Erik joining Panther for the Rolex Fastnet Race last year, taking fifth in class, and the duo took bronze in 2010 racing together in Croatia at the OCRi World Championships. For the unavoidable change in co-skipper, Sec. Hayai will receive a 24 hour penalty to be applied after they cross the finish line in Charleston.

At 15:00 GMT on Tuesday Cessna Citation was averaging eight knots with a 224-mile lead over Nannini and Frattaruolo on Financial Crisis.

GOR leaderboard 15:00 GMT 17/4/12:
1. Cessna Citation DTF 2,873 8kts
2. Financial Crisis DTL 224 8.5kts
3. Phesheya-Racing DTL 324 7.6kts
4. Sec. Hayai DTL 417 7.1kts

globaloceanrace.com

Ocean Safety's Timely Volvo Equipment Servicing
Ocean Safety The UK's largest independent marine safety equipment supplier, Ocean Safety, was in Auckland just before the start of Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, to make sure that the vital safety equipment that the company has supplied to all the yachts was in top condition for the Southern Ocean. The Ocean Safety experts were on and off each of the boats servicing and checking EPIRBs, Kru lifejackets, Jonbuoy Recovery Modules and life rafts to ensure that all the kit was still in good order, and they were also on hand to offer advice and answer questions. The company was contracted by Volvo to give the gear the thumbs up for the second 'half' of the race around the world.

And it was just as well that the equipment was in good order. Now at the finish of the leg across the Southern Ocean to Itajal, Brazil, all - whether they made it to the finish line or not - are looking back on the toughest and most gruelling leg to date.

"Lifejackets are being worn for long hours, and the heightened awareness of safety procedures and what kit is onboard is never far from the consciousness in these situations," comments Mark Hart of Ocean Safety.

www.oceansafety.com

Austria's Red Bull Sailing Team Lead In China After Opening Day
Photo by Mark Lloyd, www.lloydimages.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Extreme Sailing Qingdao Despite Act 2 not opening officially to the public until tomorrow, thousands thronged to the breakwater to see the Extreme 40s in action on the first day of racing. The biggest support went out to China Team in their Extreme 40 debut and with two men-overboard incidents, the action was full-on. But it was the Austrian Red Bull Sailing Team skippered by Roman Hagara with his Olympic partner, Hans Peter Steinacher as tactician, who used their knowledge of the Olympic waters to edge ahead and top the leaderboard by the end of play on day 1.

Six open-water races were staged today, which saw four different race winners. Racing took place just outside of the breakwater, close enough for the public to follow the action, during a light breeze day, which required shrewd tactics from the sailors.

Tomorrow is the first of three public days with even more locals expected to descend on the Olympic village to watch the stadium racing that will be staged inside the breakwater of Fushan Bay. Racing starts at 1300 local time and for the fans not here in Qingdao, a LIVE REPLAY of the race coverage is available on the official event website from 1330 CET .

Standings after Day 1, 6 races (17.4.12)
Position / Team / Points
1. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche, 47 points
2. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson, 44
3. GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams, Mark Ivey, Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot, Andrew Walsh, 37
4. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec, Jean-Christophe Mourniac, Herve Cunningham, Bernard Labro, Romain Petit, 32
5. Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson, Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger, 28
6. Alinghi (SUI), Pierre-Yves Jorand, Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, Charles Favre, 26
7. ZouLou (FRA) Loick Peyron, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sebastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Patrick Aucour, 24
8. China Team (CHN) Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Kit Cheng, Nick Catley, Xiaqun Song, 18
9. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Christian Kamp, Jonas Hviid, 14

extremesailingseries.com

Tight Tornado Contest in the City Centre of Prague
Photo by Martina Barnetova. Click on image for photo gallery.

Tornados in Prague On the Vltava river between Zeleznicni and Palacky Bridge, right in the heart of Prague, the 4th international exhibition of boats on the water was held. As part of the largest sailing events in the Czech Republic with a regular attendance of over 10,000 participants, the Tornado Class held another successful Speed Sailing event.

Saturday bought a beautiful sunny day with light winds. Battles were very balanced and there were plenty of close passages near the shore, which was very attractive for the thousands of spectators lining the shore. The overall winner was team BROKER CONSULTING 1 - David Krizek and Peter Hruby. The second crew drove team UNIQA - Zdenek Pavlis and Zbynek Vesely and third team CP INVEST - Ivan Ptacnik and Jan Forejt.

In the afternoon, after the ceremony proceeded the catamarans went back onto the water but this time with full racing crews. The wind was quite weak and very variable. However, the race committee headed by Martin Souskem managed to make three races. The best performing crew were UNIQA, who managed to secure themselves three race bullets.

On Sunday, racers woke up to completely different weather conditions. There was a moderate to strong breeze and overcast skies, which were bound to bring rain.

The overall winners were team UNIQA - ZdenekPavlis and Jiri Pavlis (racing for PREFA Hubenov), the second team was BROKER CONSULTING 1 - David Krizek and Zdenek Adam (competing for the CK Fischer) and the third team BROKER CONSULTING 2 - Jan Petrak and Frantisek Marek (racing ABACUS ELETRIC). -- Andrew Dowley

Spinnaker Tales
The 308 n/ml QantasLink Brisbane to Gladstone ocean race proved to be an important learning curve for owner skipper Rod Jones and crew on board A5-AUDI Centre Sunshine Coast.

Their fifth place on line honours behind the longer, faster and more modern yachts Wild Thing, Black Jack, Lahana and Shogun V in their first ocean race provided the crew with the important benchmark toward racing the remodelled former champion Heaven Can Wait to her full potential.

The impressive older generation 15.4 m ocean racer designed by Hugh Welbourn and raced with distinction under original owner Warren Johns showed that skipper Rod Jones and the nucleus of his crew who have the distinction of winning two Audi Australian ocean racing championships are heading on a gaining tack in what promises to become another impressive campaign.

Skipper Rod Jones has drawn up a plan to represent Queensland in the 2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race and while that challenge is a little over 20 months away it will provide the crew with the important time to ensure A5 -Audi Centre Sunshine Coast will be ready to race hard and fast on the wind tormented rhumbline to Hobart.

Meanwhile both skipper and crew remain committed to making sure that every ocean race result is a progressive improvement to gain the required handicap rated boat speed to prove that a well sailed older generation ocean racer can compete against her more modern rivals.

The Gladstone Race result for the crew who were 'learning the ropes' was a good start however their challenge slowly fell apart when they were slowed by a fading breeze after they weathered Breaksea Spit with 114 nautical miles to sail.

As expected the softening wind hampered the record challenge in what proved to be an exciting race for line honours between the 20.3 m Mark Bradford skippered Black Jack and the 30.8m maxis Wild Thing (Grant Wharington) and Lahana (Peter Millard).

Black Jack the well prepared Riechel /Pugh designed maxi chaser proved to be a distinct line honours challenger when she held a narrow lead after weathering Lady Elliot Island.

But they were slowly pegged back before Wild Thing claimed a 16 minute 29 second win however the Black Jack crew became the star performers to record a runaway 2 hour 43 minute 50 second corrected handicap win over the Peter Millard helmed Lahana to become the 64th winner of the prestigious Courier Mail Cup.

This result was a deserved reward for Black Jack's modest owner Peter Harburg and his crew who besides winning line honours in 2009 and 2010 and finishing second overall behind the Marcus Blackmore skippered Hooligan in 2011 finally expressed the required dedicated team work to record a popular win.

A5-AUDI Centre Sunshine Coast racing under the Maroochy Sailing Club burgee finished a creditable 7th overall to record an impressive debut for the talented team of sailing mates representing clubs from Mooloolaba, Maroochydore and Noosa. -- Ian Grant

Industry News
Data released today by YachtWorld.com, a Dominion Marine Media (DMM) business with the Internet's largest worldwide database of brokerage boats, shows that Florida member brokers sold boats in 2011 with an aggregate price nearly equal to that of boats sold in the rest of the U.S.

The data contained in the YachtWorld Market Index showed that while Florida brokers accounted for just fewer than 20 percent of the brokerage boats sold nationwide, their sales netted 47 percent of the value of all sales in the country. Other key findings of the YachtWorld Market Index include:-

- Combined Brokerage Sales in Europe & U.S were U$5.34 billion in 2011 versus U$5.25 billion in 2010
- The number of brokerage boats sold in the U.S. was down 3% compared to 2010 while the aggregate value of the sales was up 3% to U$3.3 billion.
- The number of brokerage boats sold in Europe was down 2% compared to 2010 and the aggregate value of the sales was down 1% to U$2.03 billion.

The report is published by YachtWorld.com. With boats for sale offered by over 10,000 individual yacht brokers in 143 countries, YachtWorld.com receives nearly 2.5 million global visits by boating enthusiasts each month. Data on completed boat sales is contributed by broker members to YachtWorld.com's proprietary website, SoldBoats.com, which currently stores detailed specifications and actual selling prices on over 500,000 used boats, sold since 2002.

A copy of the YachtWorld Market Index may be obtained here
www.dominionmarinemedia.com

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SAP have been a sponsors of sailing for many years. The company has had partnerships with the 505 World Championships, Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) and has supported America's Cup campaigns including Team New Zealand in 2003.

Now the company has announced its sponsorship of the SAP Extreme Sailing Team formerly the Danish Extreme Challenger Team. The SAP Extreme Sailing Team is set to compete in Act 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series season in Qingdao, China, where its new multihull will be unveiled.

As part of the deal, SAP will look to implement a range of innovative technology solutions to deliver cutting-edge analytics to the team in order to improve overall race and training performances.

In 2011, SAP worked with Audi Sailing Team Germany on solutions to support the decision-making process of sailors in order to increase the effectiveness of their racing strategy and execution. With this in mind, a "Sail Better" solution was created to help sailors and coaches to increase their training efficiency through trim optimization, venue pattern analysis and video-based learning.

As premium sponsor of Kieler Woche, SAP delivered a number of solutions that enhance the viewing experience by bringing together live race results, analytics software from the SAP® BusinessObjects(TM) portfolio and 3-D visualization with commentary.

SAP's longstanding relationship with the 505 World Championship has provided another excellent platform to showcase their innovation within the sport. At the 2011 505 World Championship, SAP launched a prototype application that consolidated GPS tracking data with an augmented reality function to provide thrilling real-time insights into the race, offering spectators access to a live results list simply by pointing their phone toward race markers or the fleet of 90 participating boats.

www.yachtracing.biz/blog/

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The Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg based in Hercules Yacht Harbour, Russia has appointed the international sports agency Fast Track Sailing to head up global public relations as well as offering consultation on yacht racing event activation.

Based at the heart of Russian sailing, the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg aims to develop sailing as a sport across the nation as well as keeping traditional maritime history alive through a sustainable legacy programme with worldwide reach.

Fast Track Sailing will be utilising current properties of this unique yachting organisation such as high profile honorary members including His Majesty Constantine II, King of Greece and Goran Petersson, President of the International Sailing Federation, in addition to sourcing new opportunities for the Yacht Club to explore.

Profiling will not be limited to 5 star facilities on-shore; it will also extend to the Yacht Club's roster of serious yacht racing events within the Baltic that incorporates classic yachts right through to new racing builds. 2012 is set to be a special year in the Yacht Club's development both through expansion of facilities and introduction of ground breaking race events that will definitely put this Russian Yacht Club firmly on the world map.

www.yacht-club-spb.ru

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In order to keep pace with growing demand for UK manufactured products and to push growth plans for 2012 and beyond, Marlow have strengthened their UK Leisure Marine sales force with the introduction of new staff and the appointment of new agents.

Oliver Rees - Business Development Executive - Southern England

Jeremy Entwistle - Marine Sales Agent Northern England

Maurice McGlade - Marine Sales Agent Northern Ireland and Eire

"The addition of Oliver, Jeremy and Maurice to our existing UK sales force of Tom Edmondson and Kevin Aitken (Sales Agent for Scotland) shows Marlow's commitment to growth and to supporting our UK customers. This investment in sales resource is mirrored by an extensive investment program in building and machinery currently underway which is set to further increase our UK manufacturing capacity." Paul Honess Leisure Marine Sales Director.

marlowropes.com

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Britannia Corporate Events, one of the leading marine leisure event companies in the country, has today announced a significant investment in a brand new events facility in the heart of the prestigious Port Hamble Marina in Hampshire.

Britannia will relocate from its existing offices in the marina to a new event facility at No.1 Waterside Buildings. The larger, modern, waterfront facility will include dedicated regatta check-in and briefing areas, extensive car parking, meeting rooms and an events pontoon that will berth Britannia's managed fleet of Beneteau 40.7 and Beneteau First 40 yachts.

The move signals a strong commitment from Britannia to developing its business at Port Hamble Marina over the next decade with an investment in excess of £1 million to the site over this period.

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 Paul Henderson: To All Old Finn Farts!! You can now register for the regatta online. https://www.netdirectories.com/~regatta/

It's August 24-26.

Don`t worry... the races will be held in Ideal 18's and any old Finn sailor or those who wish they were can forget their bad knees and backs and have some fun in the calm waters of Toronto Bay.

Those like Bruce Kirby can lawn bowl.

* From Eddie Mays: re: John Fitz's Letter 17th April on the America's Cup Hall of Fame:

Surely John must realise that the Americans are obsessed by 'Fame'. It is the mark by which they can monitor their worth in the world (aka America).

Leave them to it.

Featured Brokerage
Featured Brokerage Boat 2007 Dehler 39 SQ. 169,000 GBP. Located In Hampshire, United Kingdom.

This must be the highest specification Dehler 39 SQ ever built. She is here with us in tip top condition. She cost in excess of Euros 360,000. She can be be purchased for £ 169,000 Excluding VAT which is extremely good value.

Brokerage through Key Yachting Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/keyyachting/

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

The Last Word
The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it's only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse. -- Terence McKenn

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