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Day 1 Round-Up At Cowes Week
A gusty and reassuringly warm southwesterly airflow averaging 16-22 knots, provided a perfect day of racing on the opening day of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, with the wind against tide conditions giving lively downwind sailing on predominately windward-leeward courses.

The first starts, heading east against a building ebb tide, were for the J/70 and SB20 classes, both of which completed two races on Saturday, 3 August 2013, marking a significant break with the event's long-standing traditions.

The Etchells fleet opted for a different strategy to the SB20s at the start of their closely-fought race. The bulk of the fleet stayed well to the west of the line, with all but one boat holding well back until less than 20 seconds before the gun. Rob Elliott's Esprit was first to hoist the spinnaker, but crossed four seconds early - an expensive mistake, especially as she did not return following the recall. Andrew and Donna Cooper's Ice looked well placed a few minutes after the start, followed by Elvis, skippered by Tim Daughton, with both boats on a tight spinnaker reach towards West Ryde Middle buoy.

By the finish it was Mark Downer's Moonlight, who stayed further offshore after the start, trading a tidal disadvantage for a steadier wind, who came out on top, finishing 23 seconds ahead of Esprit. With the latter scored OCS, Rob Goddard's Stampede took second place, crossing the line 45 seconds after Moonlight, and Shaun Frolich's Exabyte V third. It was a close race, with the first half of the fleet finishing in little more than three minutes.

Not long after 1400 there was a rapid string of Black Group yachts finishing close to shore and under spinnaker on the RYS line. One of the highest-rated boats in IRC Class 4, Adam Gosling's newly refurbished 18-year-old Corby 36 Yes!, took line honours in that class. However, the lowest-rated boat in the fleet, last year's overall class winner, David Franks' Strait Dealer, finished less than 10 minutes later to win by a margin of just 18 seconds on corrected time.

The Sigma 33 class proved once again that this 34-year-old one design cruiser-racer is capable of providing extremely close competition. After almost three hours of racing, Jeff Worboys' Workout crossed the line just eight seconds ahead of Richard Puddifoot's Whippa Snappa. -- Rupert Holmes / CWL

www.cowes.co.uk
aamcowesweek.co.uk (busy server at press time, could not retrieve day 2...)

Copa Del Rey MAPFRE
The 32nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE finished today on the sixth day of competition in the Bay of Palma. The unstable wind conditions complicated the Race Committee's work today, and therefore, several classes couldn't sail a second race.

The winners:

Hublot IRC 0: "Alegre"
Andres Soriano's team "Alegre" won his second back to back Copa del Rey MAPFRE, after conquering it last year in the Soto 40 class. This time he takes the victory in the class Hublot IRC 0, after an intense duel with Sir Peter Ogden's, also British, "Jethou".

Hublot IRC 1: "B2"
Michele Galli's "B2" confirmed his place in the Hublot IRC 1 class by winning the only race sailed today. The Italian boat finished the 32nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE winning seven out of ten races.

Gaastra IRC 52: "Quantum Racing"
"Quantum Racing" scored a second and a first result today in order to be declared winner of the 32nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE in the Gaastra IRC 52 class. The boat skippered by Ed Baird, won six out of the 11 races sailed, finishing the regatta seven points ahead of Niklas Zennstrom's "Ran" (SWE).

G.H. Mumm ORC 1: "Rats on Fire"
"Rats on Fire" made it very clear he is the winner of the 32nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE in the G.H. Mumm ORC 1 class winning the last race. Rafael Carbonell's boat track record this week of competition includes five out of ten possible victories, and a fifth as their worst result.

G.H. Mumm ORC 2: "Movistar"
Team "Movistar" has achieved its fifth title in the Copa del Rey MAPFRE, sixth for its owner and skipper Pedro Campos.

Nespresso Soto 40: "Vamos Spain"
Luis Martin Cabiedes' "Vamos Spain", skippered by Pichu Torcida, has achieved an excellent overall victory after a very consistent week, and with a fifth as their worst result.

La Caixa X-35: "Margherita"
Roberto Mazzucato's "Margherita" defended its title from 2012 after a wonderful week where all his results were above third.

Mahou J80: "Turismo do Algarve"
The Mahou J80 Class had a main protagonist throughout the whole week: "Turismo do Algarve" skippered by Portuguese Hugo Rocha. The 2013 world champion won ten out of the 12 races sailed.

www.regatacopadelrey.com/principal/index_uk.php

* Winning six races from a full programme of 11 contests on the Bay of Palma, Quantum Racing win the 32nd Copa del Rey for the 52 SUPER SERIES for the first time.

The American team, which is skippered by Ed Baird, enjoyed the sparkling sea breeze which topped 20kts at times during the last race to deliver the final race victory, running out their third successive 52 SUPER SERIES regatta win after triumphs in Barcelona and Ibiza.

Niklas Zennstrom's Ran Racing started the week with three back-to-back wins before Quantum Racing really hit their straps, composing five race victories in succession and building a momentum that Ran Racing could not halt. Ran came close on Friday but Doug DeVos' team was the dominant team over Saturday the last day, finishing with a 2,1 flourish to ensure their overall margin is 9.5pts ahead of Zennstrom's world championship winners.

After 11 races with 1 discard
1 Quantum Racing (3,2,2,1,1,1,1,1,5,2,1) 15pts
2 Ran Racing, (1,1,1,5.5,3,2,3,2,2,5,2) 22pts
3 Azzurra, (2,4,3,7,2,7,2,5,1,6,3) 35pts
4 Rio, (6,3,5,3,7,3,7,4,3,7,5) 46pts
5 Provezza, (5,9,4.4,5,4,4,8,7,3,6) 50pts
6 Gladiator, (8,5,8,2,9,5,8,6,4,1,4) 52pts
7 Interlodge, (4,8,6.5,5.5,4,6,5,3,6,8,RDG) 54pts
8 Paprec, (9,6,6.5,9,8,8,6,9,8,4,DNF) 73.5pts
9 Aquila, (Aquila Sailing Team) (7,7,9,8,6,9,9,7,9,9,DNF) 80pts

www.52superseries.com

Ocean Safety Custom Lifejackets For Clipper Crews
Ocean Safety Ocean Safety has supplied a custom made lifejacket to each crew member of all twelve yachts taking part in the Clipper Round the World Race.

The lifejackets have been especially built. They are based on the Ocean Safety Kru Professional model, which is designed for long and demanding periods at sea. Crew members could be wearing them for many hours at a time during their ocean challenge and the Kru is designed to be comfortable, while at the same time boasting some many features.

Kru has a custom made spray hood, a heavy duty cordura cover which matches the boats' corporate identity, and a bespoke crotch strap system, using metal buckles instead of plastic. It also features a fitting point for the personal Kannad R10 Survival Recovery System which locates a crew member using AIS, in the case of a man overboard incident.

The start of the Clipper Round the World Race is only 6 weeks away and the handover of safety equipment from Ocean Safety is a part of the important preparations which are underway as the twelve skippers and amateur crews prepare themselves for their adventure of a lifetime.

Clipper skippers have familiarised themselves with the lifejackets at an in-depth training session presented by Ocean Safety's Training Manager, Chris Waterman.

oceansafety.com

Avantime ORC European Championship
Photo by Malcolm Hanes / KSSS. Click on image for photo gallery.

ORC European Championship Sandhamn, Sweden: An impressive fleet of 62 boats from 8 countries have converged on the picturesque island of Sandhamn in Sweden's outer Baltic Archipelago for the start of this week's Avantime ORCi European Offshore Championship, hosted by the Royal Swedish YC (KSSS). Racing will start tomorrow, Monday August 5th and continue through Saturday, August 10th.

The gorgeous sunny summer weather being enjoyed in northern Europe is forecast to continue, with the start of racing on Monday at 1300 local time predicted to be in a perfect 10-15 knot southwest seabreeze. Principal Race Officer Eckard Reinke and his race management team will start the event off with two windward-leeward races, with the intended format being a total of seven inshore and two offshore races through the week.

In an innovative departure from the usual two-class structure of ORC championships, KSSS has divided this fleet into three classes in order to provide closer racing on the water.

Class 1 will have the fastest 11 boats in the fleet from 4 countries that rate 550 sec/mi GPH or faster, while Class 2 has 20 boats from 6 countries that rate between 550 and 600 sec/mi GPH and Class 3 has the remaining 29 boats from 6 countries the rate between 600 and 655 sec/mi GPH. All classes will race in the same course area with sequential starts, but Class 1 and Class 2 may have an additional leg to the standard 2-lap windward-leeward course. -- Dobbs Davis

www.ksss.se

29er World Championship - French Rule The World
Photo by Robert Hajduk, www.shuttersail.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

29er Aarhus, Denmark: Racing on Kalovig Bay was perfect today with sunny skies and 8-15 knots ISAF Youth World champions Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros (FRA) can now add the title of 29er World Champions to their list of accolades.

Rual and Amoros put a little fear into their supporters as they began the day with a 32nd, but kicked it into gear and followed up with a 10-2 to win the title by 27 points over Markus Somerville and Jack Simpson of New Zealand. Spaniards Marti Llena and Oriol Mahiques also sailed two top finishing races to move them ahead of the Australians who had been holding down the top few positions throughout the week Ragna and Maia Agerup of Norway were the top finishing all female team and Rual and Amoros also were top youth team.

Winners of the silver fleet: Clementine Mindren and Elitte Ferroniere (FRA); Bronze fleet: Douglas Campbell and Cameron Seagreen (AUS) and Emerald fleet: Var Osborg and Eric Collet (NOR).

Sailing Aarhus and Kaløvig Sailing Club were excellent hosts throughout the week providing a fantastic venue for sailors and spectators alike Twenty-five nations representing all continents with 213 entries competed in this highly competitive fleet.

The 29er Class will now look toward Kingston, Ontario, Canada for the 2014 World Championship.

www.29erworlds.org

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

Seahorse Magazine

Time is on our side
Groupama may not be returning to defend their Volvo Race title but skipper Frank Cammas tells Patrice Carpentier that with the switch to a new one design he is not ruling it out

On track for 2016
Rob Weiland’s calm persistence is paying off with a new TP52 build and three more on the way

Hard work pays
Quantum’s Dave Flynn looks at the out-of-the-box thinking applied to one of the latest IRC 52 rig configurations

Seahorse build table - A new generation
A ‘very’ one-off from Guillaume Verdier

Saving £16 / €25 / 24USD on the regular subscription price of Seahorse magazine. Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

Seahorse Discount Voucher
Code EUROB122609

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www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

South Africans are the 2013 Mirror World Champions
Photo by Gerardine Wisdom. Click on image for photo gallery.

2013 Mirror World Champions Today was the final day of 2013 Mirror World Sailing Championships on Lough Derg, Co. Tipperary and it was all still to play for. Two boats were still in with a shout and separated by just three points; Ryan & Michaela Robinson from South Africa and Ridgely Ballardes & Rommel Chavez from the Philippines with the Robinsons holding a few more aces due to better discards.

A nice bright breezy morning greeted the 182 sailors with 15-18 knots when boats launched but rain with plenty of wind shifts was forecast. The fleet got away eventually on the third start, not before about eight boats had fallen foul of black flag on general recall at the second start.

The first attempt at Race 2 was AP'd when a huge rain cloud descended and PRO Con Murphy held off starting for five minutes. The next attempt was a black flag and general recall with four numbers on the blackboard and a few boats heading for an early bath.

In to the finish it was neck and neck between Richards & Richards and Coady & Coady with the latter taking the win.

Then top Irish boat was Dougie Elmes & Scott Levie in 6th after a great series that included two race wins with Alfie Wisdom and Sam Warren in 10th making it two Irish boats in Top 10. -- Rachel Solon

Final top ten:

1. Ryan Robinson / Michaela Robinson, RSA, 43 points
2. Sarah Richards / George Richards, GBR, 51
3. Katie Davies / Gemma Keers, GBR, 66
4. Isabel Davies / Milly Moss, GBR, 72
5. Ridgely Balladares / Rommel Chavez, PHI, 74
6. Douglas Elmes / Scott Levie, IRL, 83
7. Joanna Kalderon / Imogen Bellfield, GBR, 103
8. Gabriel Fetizanan / Richly Magsanay, PHI, 104
9. Max Odell / Finley Boon, GBR, 110
10. Alfie Wisdom / Sam Warren, IRL, 114

www.mirrorworlds2013.com

Team Nzl Sails Against Artemis
Emirates Team, New Zealand went up against Artemis Racing today in some impromptu race practice on San Francisco Bay.

The teams had never before lined up together in their AC72s. Practice race starts had been arranged with Luna Rossa but the Italians returned to the dock before they could take place.

Dean Barker: "We were set up today to practice with Luna Rossa; we hadn't discussed sailing with Artemis." With Luna Rossa heading back to the dock and Artemis was practising time-on-distance nearby a shouted conversation across the water quickly arranged another training partner.

Barker was more than happy with the arrangement. " Artemis was keen to get into it ...it's always good to practice with another team. We learned a lot today from a different opponent. Artemis was aggressive in the pre-start and the five starts added another dimension to the team's development."

Artemis faces off against Luna Rossa in the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series. The first race is on Tuesday (San Francisco time).

ETNZ will be back on the water tomorrow to continue preparations for the Louis Vuitton Cup final which starts on August 17. -- Warren Douglas

americascup.com
etnzblog.com

Medieval Boat Discovered On River Chet
Click on image to enlarge.

Medieval Boat The remains of a boat which could be more than 600 years old has been discovered by a team excavating a new drainage dyke in Norfolk.

The oak timber remnants, dated circa 1400, were found near Loddon during work on the Broadland Flood Alleviation Project (BFAP) along the River Chet.

The BFAP is a long-term project to provide a range of flood defence improvements, maintenance and emergency response services within the tidal areas of the Rivers Yare, Bure, Waveney and their tributaries.

Paul Mitchelmore, from the Environment Agency, said the boat was the latest of "several interesting archaeological finds" encountered during the project.

"We think it dates between 1400 and 1600 AD and is very well preserved. It might have been used for carrying lighter good on the river."

"Some of the planks on the side of the boat are quite loosely in place so we'll be removing them separately to put into wet storage," said Ms Wallis.

"In the long term we hope it will go for conservation and end up in one of Norfolk's museums."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23526192

British Airways Round Jersey Race
The Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club's annual British Airways Round Jersey Race is scheduled to take place next Sunday, 11th August. This will be the nineteenth year that BA has sponsored this very popular race that will see the racing fleet turning out in force for the forty-mile-or-so circumnavigation of the Island. Starting in St Aubin's Bay at eight a.m., the course takes boats eastwards to the Violet Channel buoy, lying some four miles southeast of the Island, thence northwards for an anticlockwise passage around Jersey providing a great opportunity to enjoy the Island's truly beautiful and ever-changing scenery.

Sailing in light to moderate northeasterly conditions, David Myatt's 8 Metre, Erica, won in class one last year with a time of seven and a half hours whilst Peter Crabb and Peter Williams' quarter tonner, Jackflash, won in class 2 having sailed for a little under eight hours. Adrian Jesson and Bruce Steedman, sailing the Hobie Tiger Hobie 68, won the sport-catamaran class in six hours twenty minutes, admittedly a far cry from the three hours six minutes record set in 2010 in much more boisterous conditions by Guernsey's Benn Garnham's Tiger Poker Face but surely no less skilful.

Boats in class one will be racing for the RCIYC's prestigious Jesse Boot trophy (presented to the Club in the '30s by Jesse Boot, founder of Boots the Chemist), boats in class 2 for the no less ancient Cabot Memorial trophy whilst sports-catamarans will compete for the British Airways Speedbird trophy.

The race is open to all keelboats with an IRC rating, non-IRC boats racing under the RYA's National Handicap for Cruisers scheme and to sport-catamarans.

The Notice of Race is available in the clubs and on www.rciycjersey.com

The entry list closes on Thursday, 8th August.

Featured Brokerage
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Successful and manageable IRC race boat, with a full specification for inshore and offshore challenges. PRICED TO SELL this boat has been dry sailed, professionally maintained and comes with a great selection of sails. Ready to go this is a great opportunity to run a racing campaign with a winning start.

Brokerage through MGM Boats: www.yachtworld.com/mgmboats/

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

The Last Word
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