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Elies Wins Figaro Leg 1
French solo sailor and reigning race champion Yann Elies on board Groupe Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir, crossed the finish line in Porto at 16:03:26 CEST today, June 5th 2013, winning leg one of the 44th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard cachemire. Elies covered the 536 miles long leg from Bordeaux to Porto in 3 days, 3 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds thus taking his personal leg wins record to 8 victories in 14 editions of the race.

After leaving left the village of Paulliac on the Garonne river on Sunday, June 2nd bound for Porto, on the northern coast of Portugal, the 41 boats strong fleet experienced a relatively quiet crossing of the Bay of Biscay, a very tough night off Cap Ortega and to Cap Finisterre with high winds up to 35 knots that put to the test men and boats and caused several skippers to lose vital downwind sails. After rounding Finisterre the fleet was slowed down by light and fickle airs and compressed, causing a re-start with the skippers taking different options, inshore, offshore or an intermediate course to find the best pressure to approach the final stretch to Porto. With some of the stars of the class like Nicolas Lunven or Fabien Delahaye, getting stuck and losing ground the frontrunners swapped places several times and in turn the fleet was led by Michel Desjoyeaux (TBS), Alexis Loison (Groupe Fiva), Jean-Pierre Nicol (Bernard Controls) and finally Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner-Leucemie espoir).

This will be remembered as an extraordinary day for the Anglo-Saxons in the Solitaire du Figaro. At his third Solitaire du Figaro, Sam Goodchild (Shelterbox - Disaster Relief) looks like he has come of age in what is considered as one of the world's toughest offshore single-handed races. All along the 536 miles long first leg Goodchild showed enough consistency, boat speed and tactical skills to remain in close contact to the fleet, climbing to the top ten on the last night and finally crossing in 8th overall, that is to say his best leg result so far after a 14th on last year's leg 3. Nick Cherry (Magma Structures) gets an excellent 11th overall, missing 10th place by only a minute. 22 years old Jackson Bouttell (Artemis 77) at his very first experience closes in 23rd and 1st rookie, overcoming the only female sailor competing in this year's race Claire Pruvot (Port de Cahen Ouistreham) by only 11 minutes after three days and three nights at sea.

www.lasolitaire.com

Piling On: That's Going To Leave A Mark
Hot on the heels of the brutal New York Time's article "When Billionaire Sets Rules, It's an Exclusive Race" comes this from Bloomberg's Jonathan Mahler:

After Larry Ellison finally took possession of the America's Cup in 2010, he had grand plans for the race. He would transform this elite, gentleman's sport into a TV spectacle for the masses: NASCAR on San Francisco Bay. Ellison was going to reinvent the cup for "the Facebook generation, not the Flintstones generation." Yes, disruptive innovation was coming to sailing!

In a way, Ellison has been true to his word. The result is the sports equivalent of Apple's Newton or Microsoft's Bob: a disruptive, innovative, colossal failure.

it turns out that not even yachting billionaires are prepared to spend the $100 million it takes to build and maintain boats that meet Ellison's absurd specifications. Second, it turns out that sailors don't necessarily want to sail them.

Of course, no story of a megalomaniacal billionaire imposing his will on a sport would be complete without the fleecing of taxpayers. The city of San Francisco has spent millions to redevelop its waterfront for the race, even as it has come to grips with the reality that Ellison's promises of "economic activity" around the cup were mostly just hype. Russell Coutts, his team's CEO, is now acknowledging that mistakes have been made, and suggesting that whoever wins this year's cup will probably opt for smaller, safer boats.

www.bloomberg.com

Seahorse July 2013
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

State of play
Andrew Hurst talks to Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad about progress to date

Level spirit
Rob Weiland is very clear that a good rule or sporting regulation needs to be easily enforceable

Fastnet focus
Quantum Sails are leaving nothing to chance with their customers for the big race

The wizard of Santa Cruz - Part I
Bill Lee wrote the original TP52 rule, is heavily involved in HPR and launched an entire sailing movement

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Franck Cammas Secures The Win In The Long Race
Normandy Sailing Week kicks off with a fine victory for the crew of the M34 "Groupama". Franck Cammas' team came out on top after 32 hours of racing, outpacing "Courrier Dunkerque 3" and "Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Elite".

Despite a difficult rounding of the Isle of Wight last night, the nine competing boats were relatively quick to cover the 230 compulsory miles. They began on a reach for the first Channel-hop, with no less than 20 knots of breeze, before hoisting their spinnakers as they punched tide in light winds in the waters of the Solent. On exiting the Needles they were back on a run last night for a second express Channel-hop before linking onto a beat for a tough home straight along the tactical Norman coastline. The crew of "Groupama 34" survived repeated attacks from the Bretons on "Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite", "Courrier Dunkerque 3" and the youngsters on Federation Francaise de Voile (French Sailing Federation), the latter proving to be a real revelation.

Tomorrow, the M34s will continue their battle with a series of round-the-cans races and the J111s will also put in their first appearance as they begin their European Championship within the context of Normandy Sailing Week. On Friday, a total of over 100 boats and their crews will be fighting it out on Le Havre's race zone. -- Translated by Kate Jennings

www.normandy-week.com

Echegoyen Undefeated After First Day In Busan
After a postponement due to lack of wind, Tamara Echegoyen of Spain swept her opponents away when the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship 2013 finally got under way in Busan, Korea. With five wins and no losses at all, the gold medallist from the London 2012 Olympics clearly showed that she is still to be reckoned with.

As the sailors walked to the venue along Haeundae Beach this morning, they could guess that it might be a slow start. The sea beyond the beach was flat calm, and their suspicions proved correct as the Principal Race Officer, American Peter Reggio, postponed the start for an hour waiting for breeze. The patience paid off as a decent north-easterly breeze filled in along the beach. The racing continued from just before noon until just past six in the evening, when the ninth flight was completed.

Local hero of the event is young and ambitious Sung-Eun Choi, who defeated Susannah Pyatt of New Zealand in their match. -- Joakim Hermansson

Standings after the first day of round-robin 1 (skipper/nationality/wins - losses):

1. Tamara Echegoyen, ESP, 5 - 0
2. Ekaterina Skudina, RUS, 5 - 1
2. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 5 - 1
4. Katie Spithill, AUS, 5 - 3
5. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 2 - 3
6. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 2 - 4
7. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 1 - 4
8. Susannah Pyatt, NZL, 1 - 5
9. Sung-Eun Choi, KOR, 1 - 6

www.wimrs.com

Teamvodafone Breaks Its Own Record In Auckland To Fiji Race
TeamVodafoneSailing has finished the Auckland to Musket Cove, Fiji Ocean Race in a new best time of 101 hours, 5 minutes and 5 seconds.

The trimaran, owned and skippered by Simon Hull, crossed the finish line in Fiji at 1905hrs today, after 1,150 nautical miles of sailing.

It set the previous record in the 2011 race, sailing hard to beat Emirates Team New Zealand's boat, Camper, into the finish line by less than 20 minutes.

The four days of sailing in this year's event offered up a bit of everything, and crewman Stu MacKinven said this afternoon "We have had an awesome couple of hours, we didn't drop below 25 knots of boatspeed and our top speed today was 35.4 knots."

The next boat to finish will probably be the keeler V5, owned by David Nathan, and with Olympic Silver Medallist Blair Tuke onboard. V5 is expected to arrive in Musket Cove tomorrow.

Visit www.rnzys.org.nz for bulletins and access to the Yellowbrick tracker

Security Afloat: 10 Tips To Protect Your Boat
In a world of escalating marine theft, you need to take a proactive approach to security. Alex Smith looks at ten useful solutions.

It is not difficult for a thief to remove a hull or engine number and that can make the job of identifying a stolen boat very difficult indeed - so how about getting on board with Datatag? It comprises a range of transponders, dots and labels with unique identification numbers and because it makes your boat so easy to identify, it makes it much less attractive to thieves. Since its introduction in the 1990s, the system has been used to great effect on PWs and the latest Datatag offerings are extremely comprehensive. They include 'Ultra Destruct Labels', Glass Tag Transponders, Self-Adhesive Tags, Warning Decals, Visible ID numbers and even 'Datatag DNA' - a chemical solution that protects each piece with an invisible code in the form of paint, lacquer, glue, liquid, powder, grease or oil. How clever is that?

Full article at: uk.boats.com

Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta Underway
Porto Cervo, Sardinia: The sun rose early on Wednesday morning to greet the 21 sailing superyachts taking part in the 2013 edition of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta. The regatta, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) with Boat International Media and hosted at the YCCS in Porto Cervo, marks the beginning of the Mediterranean regatta season.

The diverse fleet, ranging from the 24m Starck-styled Virtuelle and Hoek-designed Drumfire to 45m regatta regulars Salperton IV and Saudade, and 49.7m Zefira, were looking forward to racing getting underway in earnest. The fleet, which is racing under the International Super Yacht Rule (ISYR), covers a broad spectrum of superyachts, from modern classics to ocean thoroughbreds, sloops to yawls, and pure cruising yachts to those with a more performance orientated design. The 21 yachts have been divided into three equal cruising divisions - A to C - according to their ratings, and each yacht has three ratings that can be applied depending on the windspeed on the course.

After a brief postponement the breeze filled in to around eight knots, and the patience of the yacht owners and crews was rewarded as the race committee set three courses of roughly 29, 25 and 23 nautical miles for class A to C respectively. The three courses followed roughly the same track - a short beat to a laid mark, followed by a fetch to the Mortorio islands, then a long run to Monaci, a short dog leg to the south of Caprera and then home to the finish off Porto Cervo.

By the time the fleet got to the famous Monaci rocks at the end of the run, Virtuelle had powered into the lead on the water, rounding the rocks and dowsing her spinnaker nearly six minutes ahead of the second yacht, 49.7m Zefira.

Racing continues tomorrow with the first start scheduled at 12:00 and scirocco winds of 10-12 knots forecast.

www.yccs.com
www.loropianasuperyachtregatta.com

New Foils And Centre Float For Mirabaud LX
Click on image to enlarge.

Thomas Jundt's famous wing-masted foiler Mirabaud LX is scheduled to race the Lake Geneva classics this summer with a new centre float and 2.6 metre foils.

The crew that includes Thomas Jundt, Antoine Ravonel and Eric Gobet, with Philippe Barraud managing logistics and shore support, has already had some great sailing on the Lake despite the gloomy weather conditions this spring.

For the 2013 season Mirabaud LX is sailing with new foils and a new look float. The foils have been increased from 160cm with a 22cm cord last year to 260cm on the leading edge, 240cm on the trailing edge and 16cm of cord. "In seeking slenderness, we are increasing the smoothness and the ability to fly earlier," explained Thomas Jundt. "The question is how much stress they will take. According to calculations, the current model is solid enough, but it is impossible to know 100% until you sail, so we are slowly tuning up."

The float that allows for light air sailing has also been modified. It is made of foam, hand-shaped, and coated with carbon.

Mirabaud LX will race the Lake classics this season, starting with the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva, followed by the Bol d'Or Mirabaud, the Six Hours of Nernier and the Versoix Double.

The team will once again benefit from the coaching skills of Philippe Barraud, a former racing sailor and co-founder of the Centre d'Entrainement a la Regate, plus a weather station. All data collected will go towards performance development. -- Bernard Schopfer

Etchells Australasian Winters
The Australasian Etchells Winter Championship, which will be sailed off Mooloolaba from June 6th to 9th 2013, is shaping up to be one of the toughest in its 17 year history.

There will be around 40 one design Etchells yachts fighting it out, on the offshore Mooloolaba course over the Queen's birthday weekend, with three past and current Etchells World Champions in the fleet.

Mooloolaba Fleet captain Trevor Martin said today, 'It's a stellar field and it could be any of a dozen boats that could walk away with the 2013 title.

'Amongst the fleet and certainly amongst the top contenders are the 2012 World Champion Tom King ( 2011 Australasian Winters winner and 470 Olympic Gold medallist in Sydney 2000 ), and Cameron Miles, the 1999 World Champion who won the 2006 Winters titles and the legendary America´s Cup winning skipper John Bertrand. Bertrand the 2011 Etchells World Champion and six times Australian Champion is still trying to win this elusive winter regatta.

'In 16 years of the Etchells Australasian Winter Championships, all staged in Mooloolaba, there have been 16 different winners. This event regularly throws up a wide variety of racing conditions from heavy offshore to smooth water sailing all in the space of three days and history has shown that the quality of the fleet and the testing conditions just keep producing new winners.

www.mooetchells.yachting.org.au

Painting Of Prince Philip Yacht Racing Surfaces After 60 Years
A previously unknown painting showing Prince Philip leading the fleet as he raced a yacht during Cowes Week has emerged after 60 years.

The oil painting was by Montague Dawson and is not formally listed in his body of work Photo: Christies/BNPS

The stunning work, that features the Royal Yacht Britannia in the background, is incredibly rare as it features the Duke of Edinburgh taking part in a sporting event.

It is believed to have been painted in the early 1950s when Prince Philip actively took part in sailing races at the prestigious event in the Solent.

The boat he is depicted on is the 20ft Flying Fifteen yacht called 'Coweslip' and Prince Philip and his crewmate - legendary sailor Uffa Fox - appear to be leading the fleet in the race.

The work was bought by a Canadian collector of maritime art from a London dealer in the 1960s.

It has been passed down his family and is now being sold for the first time at public auction at Christie's in London.

In 1962 at Cowes, Coweslip nearly sank when she was hit by a gust of wind and capsized, throwing both Uffa and Philip into the water.

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The Last Word
If monarchy is corrupting - and it is - wait till you see what overt empire does to us. -- Daniel Ellsberg

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