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U.S. Coast Guard Issues Permit For America's Cup Racing
The U.S. Coast Guard has issued the America's Cup with the Marine Event Permit required to conduct America's Cup racing on San Francisco Bay this summer.

The Marine Event Permit ("MEP") requires the implementation of a Safety Plan that incorporates the 37 Safety Recommendations made by the Regatta Director following the fatal capsize of Artemis Racing last month.

After receiving the MEP on Friday, Murray issued a Regatta Notice to the Competitors advising them that the MEP had been issued, and giving effect to the 37 Safety Recommendations, which now rank as rules for the Regatta, and allowing the Regatta to commence on schedule.

"This Regatta Notice has not been made lightly, nor without due consideration of the impact on, and the possible consequences for, each Competitor and the organizer," Murray writes in a comment to close the Regatta Notice.

"I have exercised my professional judgment to the best of my ability, and have weighed carefully the unfortunate circumstances thrust upon us including (as a paramount consideration) the need to increase the safety of our crews, the officials and other Bay users, as well as the investment made by Competitors and all other stakeholders in this event. Safety is not a multiple-choice selection from which Competitors pick and choose. I have issued this Regatta Notice as being in the best collective interests of the America's Cup as a long-standing institution in and at the pinnacle of our sport."

On Thursday, Emirates Team New Zealand filed a protest with the International Jury over three of the 37 Safety Recommendations. The protest is expected to be heard in San Francisco on Monday, July 8, after racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup starts, as scheduled, on July 7.

americascup.com

Two New ORCi World Champions Crowned Today
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Ancona, Italy: On a day that was the perfect ending to a week-long series that featured a wide variety of racing conditions, a new ORCi World Champion is crowned in Class A, and the winning team from last year retains their title for Class B at the 2013 Adria Ferries ORCi World Championship.

Marco Serafini's TP 52 Hurakan was one of a group of five fast 50-footers that pushed each other all week to dominate the results in Class A for most of the eight-race series. Led by America's Cup tactician Thomasso Chieffi, the Hurakan team overcame a mediocre start in the first three races of the event to find their stride in the next four inshore races, never scoring worse than sixth and winning two races outright.

Giorgio Martin's TP 52 Aniene had to find a way to deprive Piero Panniccia's Cookson 50 Calipso an opportunity to displace their own chance to stay on the podium, so they drove the canting-keeled boat back into the fleet just far enough to make them not able to discard their 20th place in yesterday's Race 5. The plan worked by just a one point margin, putting Alberto Rossi's Enfant Terrible team into the Bronze position.

Winner of the Corinthian Trophy for Class A was 10th-placed Riccardo di Bartolomeo's GS 42R MAN, who is accustomed to being on the podium in ORC regattas with all-pro crews, but decided to take the helm himself this week with an all-amateur crew.

The intense competition amongst several teams at the top of Class A was different than in Class B, which was in contrast dominated by two teams most of the week: Giuseppe Giuffre's M37 Low Noise and Vincenzo de Blasio's NM38 Scugnizza, the reigning champion from last year's ORCi World Championship in Helsinki. The two were in a league of their own, and even after a weak start for Scugnizza, they stayed the top of this class throughout the competition.

But then disaster struck for Low Noise when measurers found the teams had inadvertently violated a safety rule by not having 100 kg of trim ballast secured in the bilge, an oversight that resulted in a 25% time penalty added to their scores for Races 1-3. This pushed them back into the pack in points and knocked them off the top of the leader board going into today's final day of racing. The reigning champions now held a virtually unassailable lead, and the path to a repeat championship crown looked clear, provided they kept free of any trouble.

Ironically, the path to victory for De Blasio was made even clearer when Giuffre decided to exit the competition completely for the final three races, even though his team had a chance for a podium finish. This left the silver medal place available for UkaUka Racing's Comet 38S, since they were able to discard an OCS on Race 5.

www.orcworlds2013.com

Lawrie Smith Snatches Overall Victory at Dragon Edinburgh Cup
Photo by Fiona Brown, www.fionabrown.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Weymouth, UK: Weymouth was at its best with sunshine and a decent north-westerly breeze which built from 8 to around 16 knots through the final race. The leading group of Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen (20 points), Klaus Diederichs (21 points), Gavia Wilkinson-Cox (22 points), Lawrie Smith (24 points), Grant Gordon (31 points) and Julia Bailey (32 points) spread themselves across the line with Bailey and Smith furthest left and Wilkinson-Cox furthest right.

After some 90 minutes of cutthroat racing and a lot of frantic points calculations it was confirmed that Lawrie Smith, sailing with Ossie Stewart and Tim Tavinor, had secured victory with 29 points and Klaus Diederichs, sailing with Andy Beadsworth and Jamie Lea, was second on 33 points. However, Grant Gordon sailing with Ruaridh Scott and Joost Houweling, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox sailing with Jean Sebastien Ponce and Vicente Pinheiro de Melo and Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen sailing with Andrew Norden and Hamish McKay were all tied for third place on 34 points and could only be separated on count back. It wasn't until the boats got back ashore that confirmation finally came that Gordon had claimed the third place on the podium with Wilkinson-Cox fourth and Hoj-Jensen fifth.

In the Corinthian Division victory went to Julia Bailey sailing with Graham Bailey, Keith Tippell and Will Heritage, Simon Brien sailing with Mark Brien and David Gomes finished in second place overall and Julian Sowry, sailing with Claire Sowry and Neil O'Hagan was third.

Overall Top Five

1. Lawrie Smith, GBR785 Alfie - 8,6,8,2,(42bfd),5 = 29 points
2. Klaus Diederichs, GBR758 Fever - 1,(15),7,6,7,12 = 33
3. Grant Gordon, GBR780 Louise - 7,7,16,(19),1,3 = 34
4. Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, GBR761 Jerboa - 10,8,12,1,3,(14) = 34
5. Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, GBR775 Danish Blue - 5,14,10,3,2,(28) = 34

www.intdragon.net
www.britishdragons.org

Olympian Peter O'leary Lifts 2013 Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale YC
Photo by David Branigan / Oceansport, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

Kinsale Yacht Club, Saturday 29th June 2013. The final day of the 2013 Covestone Asset Management Sovereign's Cup enjoyed Caribbean-like conditions of 14-16 knots of wind, flat seas and blazing sunshine, to conclude a week of magnificent sailing in Kinsale Harbour.

The Sovereign's Cup 2013 was awarded to Peter O'Leary and his crew on 1720 Sportsboat Spiced Beef, "for their consistency in performance in an incredibly competitive class," according to Regatta Director Mike Walsh. "This was a very difficult decision to make as there were four boats in the running but O'Leary and his team were outstanding in my opinion," he added.

The Spiced Beef crew comprised Peter and Robert O'Leary and Jamie Donegan from RCYC and Cathal Cottrell and Youen Jacob of Baltimore Sailing Club, who were all delighted to accept the beautiful Waterford Crystal perpetual trophy.

The Portcullis Trophy, awarded to the boat with the best performance under ECHO handicap, was presented to Godot, skippered by KYC stalwart, John Godkin.

The Quarter tonners had their fair share of excitement over the regatta. Getting these boats downwind in big breeze and rolling seas with the rig pointing in roughly the right direction is no mean feat, as Sam Laidlaw's Aguila displayed excellent crew work and skill to take the class win. Tony Hayward on Black Fun was second with Rob Gray on Cote third on count back from Willie McNeill's Illegal Immigrant.

The Michelle Dunne Prix d'Elegance trophy for the best turned out boat and crew was presented by Carrie Dunne on behalf of the Dunne Family to Andy Williams' Keronimo.

www.sovereignscup.com

Tour Voile: Groupama 34 Win The First Two In-Port Races at Dunkirk
This afternoon the Tour de France a la Voile race committee secured three races -and three opportunities to score - for the M34 fleet just off the beaches of Dunkirk. Franck Cammas' crew (Groupama 34) won the first two races and Thomas Coville (Sobedo) won the final race of the afternoon.

The first race started at 11am in 10-15 knots of wind from the northwest. Race committee set a short triangle (.75 nautical miles to the windward mark) course to compensate for the vast shallows and low tide.

Groupama, Sodebo and OmanSail are first, second and third overall tonight while Normandie's young sailors are leading the amateur ranking.

All 12 M34 are sailing three in-port races tomorrow, weather permitting, before leaving for their first offshore leg. They will set sails from Dunkirk to Breskens, Holland tomorrow at 9pm.

www.tourvoile.fr

Team Aqua Lift The RC44 Sweden Cup
Team Aqua's Chris Bake and Christian Kamp. Photo by Nico Martinez, www.martinezstudio.es. Click on image to enlarge.

The breeze really kicked in on for the final day of racing at the RC44 Sweden Cup in Marstrand. Forecasters had predicting anything from 12-30 knots from the south, east or west; as the 12 competing RC44 teams headed out to the race course no-one knew quite what to expect. Ironbound (USA) won the only race of the day before the breeze reached 30 knots and the fleet were sent ashore. Team Aqua's (GBR) fourth place was easily enough for Chris Bake's team to win their second event of the season, but the fight for the remaining podium positions went down to the wire.

Racing got underway on time in a 20 knot southerly breeze. Two teams, Peninsula Petroleum (GBR) and Katusha (RUS) were called over the start early.

With the wind increasing Artemis Racing were first to suffer a broach down the run, a slow recovery saw the Swedish team drop from second to twelfth by the leeward gate. Team Nika were the next to fall, after fishing with their gennaker Vladimir Prosikhin's team retired with ripped sail, two snapped battens and a broken hatch.

By the finish Ironbound had extended their lead to take their second win of the event, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Paul Goodison calling the shots for owner David Murphy. Katusha, with Andy Horton calling the shots for Steve Howe, finished second followed by Brian Benjamin's Aegir Racing (GBR) in third.

Cameron Appleton guided Team Aqua up through the fleet to finish fourth and win the 2013 RC44 Sweden Cup convincingly. Synergy's recovery to seventh place was just enough for the Russian team to take second place overall, their best ever fleet race result in three seasons of competing on the RC44 Tour.

After three events in the 2013 RC44 Championship Tour overall standing, Team Aqua lead from Katusha and Synergy. The Tour now moves to Cascais, Portugal for the penultimate round of the season from 2nd-6th October.

www.rc44.com

Volvo Ocean Race Museum In Alicante Now Free To Enter
Photo by Tim Stonton / VOR. Click on image to enlarge.

Alicante, Spain: The Volvo Ocean Race Museum will be free to enter with immediate effect, giving more people than ever a chance to experience the historic round-the-world sailing race first hand as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The move to offer free entry comes as part of the Volvo Ocean Race's 40th birthday celebrations, which began with the opening at the Alicante Museum of a stunning new photographic exhibition entitled '40 years, 40 faces'.

The Volvo Ocean Race Museum opened in Alicante in June 2012 and is based at the race's state-of-the-art headquarters, just a five-minute stroll from the Mediterranean city's central esplanade and Postiguet beach, in the thriving port area of one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations.

The high-tech museum gives a close-up view of the NASA-inspired Race Control room at the race's headquarters, while offering visitors the chance to get hands-on with the race via a series of interactive displays.

The 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race starts in Alicante on October 4, 2014 and will run until June 2015 with a finish in Gothenburg, Sweden.

www.volvooceanrace.com

Frederick E. "Ted" Hood 1927-2013
Born in Beverly, MA in 1927 to Ralph Stedman Hood and Helen Emmart Hood, Ted grew up in the nearby towns of Danvers and Marblehead. He attended Marblehead High School and Wentworth Institute. He served in the Navy during World War II.

In 1955, he founded Hood Sailmakers in the back of Maddie's Bar in Marblehead, but later moved the operation to the nearby Little Harbor section of that town. With his father's help, Ted was the first sail maker to weave his own sailcloth, revolutionizing the process to enhance the strength and durability of his sails. By the 1970s, Hood Sailmakers had grown into a worldwide network of service and production lofts, with his sails ubiquitous on winning yachts including all the Americas Cup winners from 1958 to 1977.

The talented sail maker also founded Hood Yachts Systems, which built spars and custom tear-dropped shaped rigging and invented ground-breaking marine hardware including the Gemini grooved headstay for racing, and the Seafurl and the Stoway Mast roller reefing systems for cruising. These contributions made sailing safer and easier for thousands of sailors around the world.

After selling his business in 1999, Ted continued to work on new yacht designs, including both power and sail catamarans and expedition yachts. In 2006 Ted wrote his autobiography "Ted Hood, Through Hand and Eye", with Michael Levitt.

According to his children, he was marking up drawings right into his last days. All who knew him were inspired by his innovative mind, entrepreneurial spirit and creative passion.

www.tedhood.com

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 Adrian Morgan: Iain Murray implies that all the teams agreed that modified elevators would be a purely safety device. Clearly ETNZ and Luna Rossa did not, which means that two of the three viable teams disagreed. And ETNZ's current protest would seem to confirm that.

So who is going to check that the angle of these safety devices is fixed, five minutes before the start, in the heat of the pre-start? A tweak of half a degree would probably make the difference between pitchpole and safe foiling (a contradiction in terms surely).

And if those same people who originally specified the boats were so smart, why did they not foresee foiling and allow fully moveable elevators during racing from the beginning? Being blind sided by the Kiwis must have been tough. Oracle seem to have been playing catch up ever since.

Now, with a week or so until the start, Luna Rossa and ETNZ cannot possibly reconfigure and the winner could face a significant disadvantage in the cup match itself.

Who bankrolls this event? Who is the piper that calls the tune? Whose lawyers vetted the rules? Call me suspicious, but in the context of the cup, this is not surprising.

A level playing field is all we as spectators ask. Then let the best Kiwi team win.

* From Andrew Lechte: Larger rudder elevators might make the AC 72's more safer but where do you draw the line? Lifelines would make the boats safer. Already there are a few occasions where crew (and skippers) have fallen off the boats which can be as dangerous as pitchpoling. Why choose the unproven elevator change compared to the proven safety of lifelines?

Both Luna Rossa and ETNZ don't appear to have any control issues to date while complying with the rules as agreed to by all competitors. Is there some proof that changing their appendages at this late stage may in fact increase the risk of unexpected control issues rather than decreasing them?

* From Dino Silva (via Sir Robin Knox-Johnston): Regarding the tradition of mariners to help each other, I come to you to ask help in this situation: In 2005 I purchased Lua's hull (aluminium 8mm); 2006 - 2013 - sailed during summer and work in the winter (thousands and thousands hours of work). In this period sailed home-Ireland-home; twice home-Canaries-home and all Azores islands.

My dream (for more than 15 years) was sail to Iceland. I started heading to Iceland on 9th June. On June 16th I lost the rudder. Tried 4 times to rig an emergency rudder but failed. In a place far from everywhere and not common for cargo ships. I contacted a cargo ship who came more than 70 miles to rescue me. I am now enroute to US. You Sir, like Moitessier, are my sailors model since my childhood, and I come to you to ask if you could help in any how to find my Lua to put him in a safe place - I don't have children - is Lua my boy with literaly my blood, tears and sweat.

Lua was left at 17th in 53 30N and 23 30W. Maybe he will be in Irish and Scotish sea in the next weeks. If you could spread among to your contacts who sails that seas... In advance, all my thanks and appologies for the bad english.

PS: Just today arrived from US to Lisbon

If readers have any information on the yacht Lua please contact:
Dino Silva
00351 965624373 (mobile) 00351 295333316 (home)

Featured Brokerage
2006 RC44. EUR 250,000. Located in Austria.

Designed by Russell Coutts / Andrej Justin.
Built by Pauger Carbon. Hull Nr. 8.

Complete RC 44 hull on RC 44 designed flat rack container.

All items needed to race and meet class requirements.

Fitted 20ft workshop and storage container, equipped with Sail racks and tools for boat work.

The boat will come as last raced, fully set up and ready to go race, rig tune numbers and notes along with targets and settings - all included!

Brokerage through Bach Yachting International: www.yachtworld.com/bachyachting/

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

The Last Word
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