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International Jury Decision Released
The America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA) announced today that racing can proceed as scheduled if the teams adhere to the AC72 Class Rule as well as to the 37 safety rules established following the Artemis Racing capsize that resulted in the tragic death of Andrew 'Bart' Simpson in May.

A decision today by the International Jury upheld protests by Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge that the Regatta Director alone could not change some of the regatta rules, even if he was acting in the best interests of all the sailors.

"This means racing can continue if the teams abide by the existing Class Rule and the Safety Rules," said ACEA chief executive, Stephen Barclay. "If the teams take this step, it will ensure the safety plan remains intact and the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Event Permit is unaffected."

Regatta Director Iain Murray said, "I am immediately reaching out to the Coast Guard and the teams.

"Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa are complying with both the AC72 Class Rule and the Safety Rules. Artemis Racing, who is still preparing its AC72, has previously advised that they can not immediately comply with both. Exactly how this decision impacts Artemis Racing is something we need to look at through our discussion with the teams."

* In a statement, Emirates Team New Zealand said it was pleased the jury "has maintained the sanctity of the AC72 Class Rule in ruling that it can be changed only by unanimous consent of the competitors and the Regatta Director."

The Kiwis added that they believe the jury's decision "does not affect the substance of the safety plan submitted with the application to the U.S. Coast Guard for a Marine Event Permit or the excellent work the Regatta Director undertook with the Review Committee."

The Kiwis also said they'd like to help Artemis Racing, which has said it doesn't have the proper rudders to comply with the rules.

The Kiwis said they have proposed that when Artemis is ready to race, it be given dispensation from the class rule regarding rudder elevators as long as it otherwise complies with the class rule and safety recommendations.

The Italians and regatta organizers weren't immediately available for comment.

San Jose Mercury News: www.mercurynews.com

* From Artemis:

Artemis Racing is disappointed that the Jury's decision leaves uncertainty. Artemis Racing is here to compete and remains confident that a solution will be found allowing for a safe regatta that all can compete in.

Our team is working hard and we are currently in the midst of completing the structural testing of our boat. This should be completed by weeks end. Final assembly of the boat will take place next week with the goal of getting on the water in ten days time. Artemis Racing has been working intensively for two months and we are eagerly looking forward to racing.

americascup.com

Luna Rossa On The Course
Photo by Luna Rossa / Studio Borlenghi / Butto. Click on image for photo gallery.

Luna Rossa Challenge Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 took to the America's Cup racecourse today for its first action of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America's Cup Challenger Series, and came away with 1 point.

With the wind blowing around 13 knots, helmsman Chris Draper guided the silver AC72 around the 12.07-nautical-mile course in 28 minutes, 58 seconds.

After consulting with the race committee, the Italian team chose to sail the five-leg course, shorter than the 16-mile courses that Emirates Team New Zealand sailed in its first two races on Sunday and Tuesday.

Luna Rossa reached a top speed of 36.13 knots on the first leg of the course, which it sailed unopposed because its scheduled opponent, Artemis Racing, is still carrying out structural tests on its AC72.

The next chance at two boats on the racecourse comes on Saturday, when Emirates Team New Zealand is scheduled to race Luna Rossa Challenge in the first race of the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

americascup.com

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
Photo by David Branigan, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Nearly 3000 sailors are afloat on Dublin Bay for the four day regatta that is the biggest sailing event in the Irish Sea area.

The regatta got off to a prompt start in spite of forecasts of no wind with all 25 classes completing the first day's programme.

Local sailor Maybury, from the Royal Irish Yacht Club, who was a class winner in June's Sovereign's Cup, took the first race of the 14­boat J109 fleet by a considerable margin, making every use of multiple Olympic keelboat helmsman Mark Mansfield on board.

Conditions could not have been more different than the first race this time two years ago when strong southerly winds gusted to gale force in the biennial event.

Today was equally as testing but for completely different reasons as sailors struggled to keep sails filling in the gentle sea breeze and strong sunshine that prevailed. 'It was light and shifty, you really had to keep your head out of the boat' said Mansfield, a veteran of the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics in the Star keelboat.

Racing is being staged until Sunday over eight separate courses and a combined fleet of 393 boats, with 120 visiting yachts.

An impressive line-up of 12 class zero boats has made Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta the biggest turnout this year for the 40-footers.

Ten are visiting boats, but first race honours are staying local with Howth's well campaigned Mills 36 Crazy Horse (Alan Chambers and Norbert Reilly) taking a win from the Clyde based First 40, Zephyr (Stephen Cowie).

Racing continues tomorrow (Friday)

Selected results only from VDLR Day One.

IRC Class 0
1. Crazy Horse (Chambers/ Reilly)
2. Zephyr (S Cowie)
3. Dark Angel (A Ackland)

IRC Class 1
1. Bon Example (X Yachts GB)
2. Now or Never 3 (N Stafford)
3. Rockabill V (P O'Higgins)

IRC Class 2
1. Checkmate XV (N Biggs)
2. Scenario Encore (S&J Fitton)
3. Tribal (L Burke)

IRC Class 3
1. Quest (Cunningham & Skerritt)
2. Kilcullen Euro Car Parks (Howth YC K25 Team)
3. Jaws (Jamie Bergin & Others)

J109
1. Joker II (J Maybury)
2. Jet Stream (J Collins)
3. Sgrech (S Tudor)

SIGMA 33
1. White Mischief (T Goodbody)
2. Leaky Roof 2 (A Harper/ E&K Robertson)
3. Rupert (R&P Lovegrove)

Beneteau 31.7
1. Eauvtion (J&D Corlett)
2. Twister (Byers/ Fletcher/ Fair)
3. Prospect (C Johnston)

Full results available on www.dlregatta.org

Peters & May Re-Appointed As The Official Shipping Supplier Of The British Sailing Team
Peters & May Peters & May has supported the Royal Yachting Association and the British Sailing Team for over 15 years, and both parties are delighted that an ongoing agreement has been signed which sees the two world class organisations partnered until at least 2017.

The British Sailing Team is now well into its new four-year competitive cycle, leading towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016. This is true not only for the sailors, but also for the dedicated support staff who work tirelessly to ensure the sailors are able to compete in a complicated and extensive programme of events over the next four years. Having an ongoing relationship with a proven partner such as Peters & May ensures continuity of service and peace of mind for the entire team.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park comments: 'Peters & May has been the shipping partner of the British Sailing Team dating back over 15 years, and during this time has expertly handled logistics of the team to events all over the world. The service that we have received allows the sailors to trust on the timely, safe and stress-free arrival of their equipment to wherever in the world they are competing. We look forward to enjoying another four years with Peters & May as we look ahead to key events in Santander, Miami, Oman and Rio that will all require the services of one of the world's premier marine logistics companies.'

Peters & May takes great pride in being an Official Supplier to the most successful Olympic sailing nation in the world. The company's specialist Racing Department, headed by Craig Stanbury, is prepared for the challenges of another four-year cycle, and has already been working on securing cost effective transport solutions to the many venues the team will visit in the coming years.

The team at Peters & May would like to take this opportunity to wish the British Sailing Team the very best of luck; we look forward to supporting your medal-winning ambitions.

www.petersandmay.com

Slow Second Start
Photo by Doug Gifford / Ultimate Sailing. Click on image for photo gallery.

Transpac San Pedro, California, USA: Unseasonably overcast rainy skies greeted the 21 starters today in the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, or the Transpac. The teams representing Australian, Canada, Japan, and the USA set off at 1300 local time from the start line off Point Fermin in San Pedro at 1300 Pacific Daylight Time for the 2225-mile race to Diamond Head, just east of Honolulu.

The current weather predictions have them in light and variable conditions throughout the remainder of today and through the night until they reach about 120 W longitude. There the influence of the coast starts fading away and the prevailing northwesterlies circulating around the Pacific High will start to reach this group to help get them farther and faster down the track.

The problem is that this is over 120 miles to the west of the start area, and at current rates of speed about 24 hours away for some boats, so it could be a long night ahead for these teams. It will stretch the memories of Transpac historians to remember when downwind gybing was needed to approach the West End of Catalina Island, the last point of North America these crews will see for the next week or more.

This slow progress for Divisions 4, 5 and 6 is in start contrast to the first wave of starters on Monday who shot off the coast with perfect 10-20 knot conditions and who are still enjoying this good breeze some 600 miles down the track towards Hawaii.

Division 8 leader on elapsed time is Bob Hayward's Seastream 650 Manatea, who has stretched to over 50 miles ahead of the Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 52 Between the Sheets by barreling down the track at 9.3 knots. In corrected time, however, it is Rob Simonson's Jeanneau 44 Sleeper that was leading this class at this morning's 0600 roll call by nearly 2 hours over the runner-up, Matt Brooks' classic S&S 52 Dorade.

The spread in Division 7 is much tighter, with only 26 miles separating the entire group of six boats, and two Japanese entries taking the lead. Yuichi Takahashi's First 40 ten quarter and Hioshi Kitada's X-41 KIHO were within a mile of each other in the morning roll call, while it was a third Japanese entry, Kazuhiro Nakajima's R/P 44 Gefion, winning on corrected time by over 6 hours. -- Dobbs Davis

www.transpacyc.com

Zarif Takes Title At Finn Silver Cup
Click on image for photo gallery.

Finn Silver Cup With one race left in the 2013 Finn Junior World Championship, Jorge Zarif (BRA) has sealed the title after a series of consistent races. On the penultimate day, Zarif scored a third and a second place and is now untouchable. Jake Lilley (AUS) struck back with two bullets to pass current World Champion Martin Robitaille (CAN) by a few points.

The last race in the championship will decide Silver and Bronze, and there are five sailors who can still stand on the podium.

Lilley took a good start and was first at the cliff followed by most of the fleet. Closely followed by 2009 Junior World Champion Zarif, Lilley increased his lead steadily to win a second race. Strong wind races and early starts have made for a testing regatta for the young sailors who are also enjoying a good rest each afternoon.

The last race will start at 8am on Friday and will decide Silver and Bronze.

Unless there is a major breach of rules, Zarif is sure to get Gold. This will be the second Junior World title for the Brazilian who had won the Silver Cup in 2009 on Balaton

Top five after 10 races

1. Jorge Zarif, BRA, 16 points
2. Jake Lilley, AUS, 31
3. Martin Robitaille, CAN, 34
4. Peter McCory, GBR, 39
5. Anders Pedersen, NOR, 47

Full results: www.fragliavela.org

Louis Vuitton Wants A Refund
One of the most prestigious and longest running sponsors of the America's Cup wants some of its money back.

Louis Vuitton, the posh French retailer that has been a primary financial backer of the competition, wants $3 million refunded because so few teams have entered.

Louis Vuitton's initial sponsorship was for $10 million, according to an America's Cup source. Its contract was based on at least eight teams taking part in the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Since the 1980s, there have been anywhere from 7 to 13 teams taking part in the competition. Several potential challengers - from Korea, France, Australia, Spain and Italy - pulled out of the America's Cup, many citing the financial burden of competing at sailing's highest level.

Louis Vuitton can get a $1 million rebate for each team less than six that participate, the Cup source said. That would mean the company is entitled to get $3 million back.

A spokesman for the America's Cup, which began this week and runs until September, said that Louis Vuitton's actions were "a very old story."

"There's nothing new here," said America's Cup spokesman Tim Jeffery.

A Louis Vuitton spokesman was not immediately available for comment. But a Louis Vuitton representative told a New Zealand newspaper that the company was "not happy" with the Louis Vuitton Cup so far. -- Eric Young, San Francisco Business Times

www.bizjournals.com

The Story Unfurls
Ronstan's next-generation furlers are the result of a complete rethink and redesign with top down furling applications foremost in our engineers' minds during development. Effective and reliable top down furling relies heavily upon the use of the right torsional cable; while as well as the need for quality our engineers also found that it is largely a case of the bigger the cable diameter the better the furl.

It's a sign of these progressive times that Ronstan is finding sales of top down furlers overtaking those of standard straight luff furlers. The advent of Code 0 sails using top down systems will only further increase the demand for these systems.

One advantage when using a top down Code 0 for race teams is that the furler can be pre-wound with around 10 full rotations before the Code 0 sheet is released. This technique delivers a powerful torsion effect to the head of the sail. Once the sheet is released the sail 'sucks' in rapidly and furling is swiftly completed – taking about half the time to furl compared with a standard system.

Full story in Seahorse: www.seahorsemagazine.com

More on Ronstan: www.ronstan.com/marine/default.asp

Strong Female Entry Rolex Fastnet Race
A key feature of this year's Rolex Fastnet Race will be the number of high profile women taking part, when the world's largest offshore race sets sail from Cowes on Sunday 11th August.

Yet again the Royal Ocean Racing Club's flagship event is breaking new records in terms of the size of its fleet with 372 boats entered at present. The biennial race from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland and back around the Scilly Isles to Plymouth, is now by far the biggest of all the international 600 mile offshore races.

The largest on the start line will be the 40m trimaran Spindrift 2, which as Maxi Banque Populaire in 2011 romped around the course in just 32 hours 48 minutes. As she was finishing most of the fleet had still to round Land's End en route to the Fastnet Rock. Since the last race, the fastest offshore boat in the world, which holds the record for the highest ever 24 hour run (908.2nm or 37.84 knots average) has been sold to the Franco-Swiss Spindrift racing team. Her new co-skippers are Yann Guichard and Dona Bertarelli, whose brother Ernesto Bertarelli twice won the America's Cup with his Alinghi team.

Team SCA is competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race as part of the Swedish campaign's rigorous training regime and selection process to mount the Volvo Ocean Race's best ever all-female campaign. Among the British crew is Vendee Globe skipper Sam Davies and Olympic match racer Annie Lush, two of the five women already selected for the team. Their boat is the former Puma Ocean Racing's "mar mostro".

Likely to finish between Team SCA and Spindrift 2 will be another Vendee Globe competitor, Dee Caffari who this year joins Sidney Gavignet's team on Oman Air-Musandam.

As part of Oman Sail's continued efforts to develop women's sailing in the sultanate, Omani sailor Raya Al Habsi will also be competing on board. She has previously competed in Sailing Arabia-The Tour in 2012 and 2013, and is currently part of the all-female Oman Sail entry at the J/80 Worlds.

Some way behind the grand prix speedsters will be another all-female team led by Lucy Reynolds. While husband Christian Reynolds will be campaigning the Swan 53 Northern Child, Lucy has entered the First 40, Southern Child.

fastnet.rorc.org

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.

* Simon Fishwick, Editor, Amateur Yacht Research Society: Frank Pong (Letters, Scuttlebutt Europe 2875) may safely believe a large amount that Dave Hollom wrote in SE 2874 about the AC72 foils, but he may have to sort out the science from the opinion.

The science (what an elevator is, how it works, and why it helps sailing foilers remain stable) he can safely trust.

The opinion (whether such things as elevators are/should be/must be now allowed under the AC Rules etc) he will have to make his own mind up about.

It may be that we "mushrooms" have to wait until the horses**t has decomposed a little before we can glimpse the truth.

Featured Brokerage
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Brokerage through APPROVED Boats: www.yachtworld.com/approvedboats/

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

The Last Word
Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art. -- Claude Debussy

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