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Big Breeze, Big Action
The action on Rhode Island Sound was fast and furious on the penultimate day of the 2013 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship in Newport, R.I., as the 15 teams contesting the 16th edition of this championship were challenged by three races sailed under a low cloud ceiling. The first race started in 12 knots of steady breeze from the north-northeast, which increased over the three races to 17 knots.

"We did a lot of back and forth before the start to get our rig tuned properly and we think that helped us a lot," said Kevin McNeil (USA) who stands first overall with his team on Nightshift after finishes of 2-5-3 today for 26 cumulative points with two races to go in the series. "We got pinned a little when the Italians [Enfant Terrible] came over and tacked on us and pushed us out. Strategically it was the right thing to do as they pushed us back a little bit and got another boat in front of us. We hung in there. We'll just continue doing what we're doing. Everybody is tuned in and doing their job, and they're doing a great job. I'm just the jockey; they [the crew] really pull it off. We had good clean starts today, which were helpful. The boat was going really well. We went fast upwind and downwind. We had a couple of little mistakes, but all in all it turned out pretty well. So we're very happy, but we're cautiously optimistic."

2013 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship Results
Place, Yacht Name, Owner/Skipper, Country, Results; Total Points

1. Nightshift, Kevin McNeil, USA, 2-8-3-1-2-2-5-3; 26 points
2. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, ITA, 5-5-8-3-1-1-2-5; 30
3. Barking Mad, James Richardson, USA, 4-3-6-2-6-9-1-1; 32
4. Charisma, Nico Poons, MON, 1-1-1-11-9-16/DSQ-4-2; 45
5. Flash Gordon 6, Helmut Jahn, USA, 7-2-2-9-8-6-13-4; 51
6. Asterisk Uno, Hasip Gencer, TUR, 9-7-4-4-4-5-14-9; 56
7. Nanoq, HRH Prince Frederik, DEN, 6-6-7-14-7-4-9-6; 59
8. Struntje light, Wolfgang Schaefer, GER, 13-10-5-5-3-13-7-8; 64
9. PLENTY, Alexander Roepers, USA, 3-9-12-13-5-11-3-11; 67
10. Transfusion, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, AUS, 11-4-11-7-11-10-6-7; 67
11. Endorphin, Erik Wulff, USA, 8-12-9-12-13-7-11-10; 82
12. Groovederci, John Demourkas, USA, 12-15-13-8-12-3-8-12; 83
13. Flojito y Cooperando, Bernard Minkow/Julian Fernandez, MEX, 15-11-15-6-14-12-10-13; 96
14. White Knight, Zoltan Katinsky, USA, 10-14-14-10-10-14-12-14; 98
15. Oakcliff Racing, Seth Cooley, USA, 14-13-10-15-15-8-15-15; 105

farr40worlds.com

Mark Foy Trophy Regatta Lands In Sf For 1st Time
The Mark Foy Trophy heads to San Francisco for the 1st time, beginning September 7th and running through September 8th. The event is the official Traveling Championship of the International 18' Skiff fleet, which originated in Sydney Australia and has gained popularity world wide in past decades and has strong holds in Europe, New Zealand and San Francisco.

The International 18's (aka Aussie 18's) will celebrate 12 consecutive years on San Francisco Bay this summer, all due to the efforts and drive of Howie Hamlin who gambled on the events success back in 2002, and has seen great returns and many satisfied customers in the 12 years since. The images accompanying this piece from the original 2002 event, to present some perspective.

The 2013 event will be the largest event in 18' Skiff's on SF Bay history with currently 19 boats registered and 1 or two more expected to register before the start. In that group will be 8 Kiwi teams, which will be the biggest turn out for New Zealand at the Mark Foy for an event not held in Zew Zealand in some time. -- Erik Simonson in Pressure Drop

www.pressure-drop.us

Americans Dominate on Fourth Day of BMW J24 Worlds
Photo by David Branigan, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

It was very much a case of North American domination on the fourth day of competition at the BMW J24 Worlds at Howth Yacht Club, with Tim Healy of Newport winning the first and third races of the day while compatriot Travis Odenbach's win in the second one has taken the crew from Rochester, NY, into the overall lead going into the final day.

Conversely, it was not such a good day for the South Americans from Brazil as defending champion Mauricio Santa Cruz had his worst results of the series, highlighted by an 18th in the second race, which drops him to third overall. It proved a very good day, however, for Mossy Shanahan of the host club who scored a 6th, 3rd and 4th, each finish being the best local result in the series to date.

Two more races are scheduled for the final day (Friday 30th) to complete the 10-race programme, with all eyes on the two US crews and Santa Cruz as the main contenders for the title.

Provisional Top Ten Overall Standings (With One Discard)

1. Travis Odenbach, USA, 23 points
2. Tim Healy, USA, 29
3. Mauricio Santa Cruz, BRA, 30
4. Ian Southworth, GBR, 46
5. Rotoman, GER, 55
6. I. Bonanno, ITA, 65
7. Keith Whittemore, USA, 68
8. Bob Turner, GBR, 70
9. Sullberg, GER, 88
10 Tony Parker, USA, 90

www.hyc.ie/J24WorldChampionship2013/

Marinepool Supports Youth Teams In San Francisco
Marinepool is partner of some of the fastest racing yachts on the planet. Maxi Tri Spindrift 2 and the MOD70 yachts Oman Air-Musandam and Spindrift are among them. And so are two teams in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup where Marinepool is proud supplier of the French (Next World Energy) and Portuguese (ROFF Cascais) teams.

They all trust in Marinepool performance sailing clothing, life jackets and team gear. And for a good reason.

With more than 22 years experience and design expertise, highly functional sailing clothing is one of the core competencies of Marinepool.

Before and during production, no detail is omitted and only the best materials and state of the art production technologies are utilized to ensure every product is optimized before it reaches the market.

In addition Marinepool focuses also on post-production services and particularly on customized team wear. Post-production branding is paramount for professional teams and the ambitious amateur crew alike. Marinepool provides branding services on both, performance sailing clothing - always maintaining its technical qualities - but also on technical fashion and casual lifestyle clothing.

As the official clothing supplier of world-class teams and events in sailing and powerboating Marinepool has vast experience and offers top notch quality for branded gear. Performance where it counts, durable in all wind and weather conditions.

Yet another strength of the brand are special productions for events, event series and teams where Marinepool - due to a vertically integrated organization from design to production and distribution - is able to offer a service second to none. Specially developed collections for the Extreme Sailing Series ( www.extremesailingseries.com ) or the Sailing Team Germany fan collection launched at 2013 Kiel Week ( www.stg-store.de ) are just a few examples.

Turn to Marinepool for your team or event wear!

www.marinepool.com

6th Half Ton Classics Cup
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France: In a fleet of 29 boats at the Port of Boulogne, for the first time ever, the Half Ton Classics Cup was won by a boat not based in the country where the biennial regatta was held.

9 races were sailed off Boulogne, with the ever-present sun and light winds, under the Cote d'Opale skyline. Apart from one team which was really outstanding, the remainder of the fleet enjoyed pretty close fleet racing with ever altering podium places. The race committee set out quite perfect courses, highly appreciated by the participating teams from France, Belgium, England, Ireland, Scotland and Finland.

Nigel Biggs and his team from the Royal St. George Yacht Club came to Boulogne with their latest halftonner 'Checkmate XV' (IRL), a 1985 MGHS built by Marine Glass Boats in Scotland to the design by Rob Humphreys. She is the production version of 'Flash', the boat which took 2nd place in the Half Ton Cup 1984 in the hands of Barrie Bullen and Lawrie Smith. The boat has been heavily re-fitted last winter at Corby Yachts, under supervision by Mr. Mills. She has a new rig with masthead spinnakers, a new rudder and a keel without a bulb, which was moved more aft.

Checkmate's results were 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1. (8 points after 2 discards.) These results are almost a carbon copy of the results achieved by the same team in 'Harmony', another Humphreys designed boat in the Half Ton Classics Cup in Dun Laoghaire in 2007.

The rest of the top 10:

2. Collector, FRA, 26 points
3. General Tapioca, BEL, 46
4. Chimp, GBR, 47
5. Sibelius, FRA, 50
6. Red Cloud, BEL, 59
7. Misjif, SCO*, 61 and first production boat
8. A+, BEL, 66
9. Waverider, BEL, 66
10. Superhero, FIN, 68

* Scotland!

One of the pre-race favourites, David Cullen's King One from Ireland, did not make it into the top-10 after an unlucky DNF in the undiscardable offshore race.

At the final prizegiving the Half Ton Class Europe unveiled plans for next year's regatta in France's Northern Brittany for the 7th edition of the Half Ton Classics Cup. In 2015 the half ton-fleet will gather again in Nieuwpoort (Belgium).

Full results at www.ffvoile.fr/ffv/

Audi Sailing Series M20 European Championship
Photo by Studio Borlenghi / Andrea Pisapia / BPSE. Click on image for photo gallery.

Porto Rotondo, Italy - The 2013 Audi Melges 20 European Championship kicked off today with three races and at the close, American Michael Kiss on Bacio managed to finish one point ahead of Giancarlo Capolino on Legionario. Kiss and Capolino rumbled on the Sardinian waters just off of Porto Rotondo, Italy to finish the day more than 10 points ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Marco Francini's Mezza Luna is currently seated in third and tied in points with fourth place overall Renato Vallivero on Audi Ultra Fratelli Giacomel. Another American, Marc Hollerbach on Fu completes the top five.

More than thirty boats have gathered in Porto Rotondo for the grande finale 2013 Audi Sailing Series event, in which three more days of racing are yet to come. Ten races will be seen to completion with a daily maximum of four and a discard coming into play after race six.

As for the current overall series leader, Alessandro Rombelli aboard STIG finished up the day in eighth, Guido Miani on Monaco Racing Fleet is ninth, and Achille Onorato on Mascalzone Latino, Jr. had a tough day unable to finish above thirteenth.

Top Ten Results (After Three Races)

1. Michael Kiss, Bacio; 1-7-1 = 9 points
2. Giancarlo Capolino, Legionario; 3-5-2 = 10
3. Marco Francini, Mezza Luna; 4-4-13 = 21
4. Renato Vallivero, Audi Ultra Fratelli Giacomel; 7-8-6 = 21
5. Marc Hollerbach, Fu; 10-3-9 = 22
6. Russ Lucas, Shimmer; 13-6-4 = 23
7. Claudio Dutto, Asante Sana; 5-11-7 = 23
8. Alessandro Rombelli, STIG; 8-12-5 = 25
9. Guido Miani, Monaco Racing Fleet; 16-2-10 = 28
10. Jan Kuchar, Aloha; 20-1-8 = 29

www.melges20.com

Final Day of GJW Direct Sailfest
Mike Radford in a Byte won the Raymarine Long Distance Pursuit Race, final event of the SailFest Regatta at WPNSA over the holiday weekend. Radford kept his head to finish in front of the rapidly approaching International 14 (who pipped the RS300 of Steve Bolland) and win the race.

The Overall title for the inaugural GJW Direct SailFest WPNSA Handicap Regatta went to Sam Pascoe and Alex Knight in an International 14 with an impressive scoreline including 3 seconds and 3 firsts. -- Brenda Hoult

Raymarine Long Distance Pursuit Race Results:

1. Mike Radford - Byte
2. Sam Pascoe & Alex Knight - International 14
3. Steve Bolland - RS300
4. Tom Gillard & Tim Hartley - Fireball
5. Russell Ward - Finn
6. Andrew Wilde - Phantom
7. Ian Morgan - Laser
8. Sam Barker - Musto Skiff

GJW Direct SailFest WPNSA Handicap Regatta, Overall Results:

1. Sam Pascoe & Alex Knight - International 14
2. Matt Burge and Richard Wagstff - Fireball
3. Tom Gillard & Tim Hartley - Fireball
4. Ian Dobson & Ben Ainsworth - Fireball
5. David Hall & Paul Constable - Fireball
6. Tim Rush & Dan Ellis - Fireball
7. Anthony & James Willcocks - Fireball
8. Will Gulliver - Phantom
9. Steve Bolland - RS300
10. Hannah Showell & Barry Smith - Fireball

www.sailweb.co.uk

Sea Gives Up A Portrait Of Ancient Rome
For 2000 years the ancient and decomposing hulk lay buried in deep, muddy waters, off the Italian coast.

Everybody knew it was down there because for more than 80 years local fishermen had been collecting bits of Roman artefacts and pots in their nets.

Finds of this nature are not unusual in Italian waters, which are littered with treasures going back thousands of years... They uncovered a 2000-year-old Roman vessel buried 70-100 metres deep and encased in layers of mud that promises to reveal secrets about the way of life in the 1st century AD, not only in Rome but in other regions that traded with the empire.

The discovery of the food transport vessel, with an estimated 200 clay amphorae on board - and with caps of pine and pitch intact - sent ripples of excitement through archaeological communities partly because the ship and its contents are remarkably well preserved.

''It is a relic of great value,'' Lieutenant-Colonel Schilardi, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. It goes back, he said, to the Roman republican and imperial age, when Rome traded with the Mediterranean countries, primarily Spain, and when the Ligurian Sea and the nerve centre, or the crossroads of Roman marketing and trade at the time.

www.theage.com.au

The Wind Deserts Tallinn
For the second consecutive day no racing was possible at the Finn Gold Cup in Tallinn, Estonia. Only four races have been sailed over four days and the prospect of further racing is not that encouraging. Andrew Mills (GBR) still holds a 17 point lead over Zsombor Berecz (HUN) and Michele Palette (ITA). There are just two days left to conclude the championship.

The fleet was held on shore in the morning but a developing sea breeze prompted the race officer to drop the AP at 14.00 and send the fleet afloat. However as soon as the boats arrived the wind started to disappear, with some large heavy clouds forming along the coast. The breeze returned gain, but was never more than 5 knots. Finally at 17.00 AP over H was hoisted to send the fleet back to wait ashore. The sea was glassy and the chance of racing was extremely slim. And so, 30 minutes later racing was abandoned for the day.

Racing on Friday has been brought forward to 10.00 to try and make the best of any wind available. Three races are planned to try and get back somewhere near the schedule. One more race needs to be sailed before a medal race cane be sailed on Saturday. After one more race, the discard also comes into play, which could change the leader board somewhat. However, whatever happens on the next two days the necessary four races have been completed to constitute a valid championship.

www.finngoldcup.org/2013

John Bertrand Named Swimming Australia President
Yachting Australia would like to congratulate John Bertrand AM on being appointed as the new President of Swimming Australia.

John Bertrand AM will take on the role immediately having just returned from a visit to the 34th America's Cup, and a reunion of the Australia II crew, in San Francisco.

Yachting Australia CEO Phil Jones said that John has been a long-time supporter of Australian sailing and will remain involved into the future.

"On behalf of the sailing community I would like to congratulate John on his appointment to the role of Swimming Australia President," said Mr Jones. "I'm sure that his wealth of knowledge and experience will be incredibly valuable to Swimming Australia in the coming years."

"John is known around the world for his role as skipper of Australia II in the famous America's Cup victory 30 years ago but he has been heavily involved behind the scenes for many years, most recently with the Australian Sailing Team in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games," he said. "We're very happy that John will continue to be involved with our High Performance Advisory Group into the future."

With the 30th anniversary of Australia II winning the America's Cup just around the corner John and the crew will be attending a special celebration in Sydney on Thursday, 26 September.

www.hurricaneevents.com/ac30years

Featured Brokerage
1988 Southern Ocean Shipyards Ocean 80. 595,000 GBP. Located in Hamble, United Kingdom.

Ocean Leopard is for sale. Well known and universally respected as a fine cruising yacht, Ocean Leopard has been hugely successful since her launch in 1988 as a charter and private yacht. She is a fast and is easy to handle yacht with her cutter rig and fully battened mainsail.

During her sailing life she has cruised extensively in the Mediterranean and Caribbean as well as in the South Pacific visiting French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. She has an easily driven hull.

Brokerage through Ancasta Yachts: www.yachtworld.com/ancastayachts/

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

The Last Word
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