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A Long Day On The Water
Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster. Click on image for photo gallery.

NYYC Invitational cup It was a long hard day on the water for the 20 Yacht Clubs competing for the NYYC Invitational Cup. The start was delayed by several hours waiting for the breeze to fill but when it came, three spectacular races were completed with some of the best racing imaginable. The 200 competing didn't reach the dock until after 5 p.m. and the NYYC apres sailing hospitality was very much appreciated.

During the day, the wind speed ranged from just 5 knots to a feisty 18 knots.

Race 3 of the series belonged to the Australian team from the Prince Alfred Yacht Club, consolidating their 1-5 scoreline on the first day and putting pressure on the overnight leader, Larchmont (N.Y.) YC. However, Prince Alfred Yacht Club scorecard faltered in the last two races of the day, as costly errors pushed the team down to sixth overall.

Meanwhile Larchmont YC continued the charge taking another second place to consolidate their position at the top of the leader board.

After five races, Larchmont YC still lead the regatta, but two teams are just a few points behind. The Royal Cork Yacht Club, skippered by Anthony O'Leary have yet to score a better result than fifth but their consistency has propelled the Irish team into second place. Anthony is sailing with two of his sons, Nicholas and Robert.

The reigning NYYC Invitational Cup winners, Royal Canadian Yacht Club have moved up to third place having won two of today's races.

Racing is scheduled to continue at 1100 local time tomorrow

Standings after 5 races:

1. Larchmont YC, USA, 25 points
2. Royal Cork YC, IRL, 31.3
3. Royal Canadian YC, CAN, 32
4. Japan Sailing Federation, JPN, 35
5. New York Yacht Club, USA, 36
6. Royal Prince Alfred YC, AUS, 36
7. Royal Thames YC, GBR, 40
8. The San Francisco YC, USA, 45
9. Royal Southern YC, GBR, 47
10. Royal Freshwater YC, AUS, 50
11. Royal Yacht Squadron, GBR, 51
12. Seattle Yacht Club, USA, 54
13. Royal Belgian Sailing Club, BEL, 56
14. Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, AUS, 59
15. Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, HKG, 61
16. Yacht Club Italiano, ITA, 62
17. YC Argentino, ARG, 70
18. Real Club Nautico de Barcelona, ESP, 79
19. Royal Swedish YC, SWE, 88
20. Nylandska Jaktklubben, FIN, 88.8

nyyc.org

A Day Off For Team New Zealand
Emirates Team New Zealand enjoyed a well-deserved day off the water on Wednesday as ORACLE TEAM USA was on San Francisco Bay, searching for an answer for the speed the Kiwis have been flashing on the upwind legs.

While the American team has led at moments in four of five races sailed, it has only once converted those leads into a win. The passing moves by Emirates Team New Zealand have always come on the one and only upwind leg of the race course, where the Kiwi team appears to enjoy both a speed and tactical edge.

"The boat is going really well, seriously quick upwind, which is making my life easier," said a smiling Ray Davies, the tactician for Emirates Team New Zealand, at Tuesday's press conference.

ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill agreed: "They're impressive upwind and tacking. There's no question about that. But we can win these races. We just need to be very, very smart about how we go about it and we have to sail our boat well."

Spithill said nothing was off the table in the search for improvement. The team was considering changes to both the boat and to the crew.

"I can't even guarantee I'll be on the boat come Thursday," he said in response to a pointed question about tactician John Kostecki's job security.

Next races: Thursday, Sept. 12: Final Race 7 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 8 (2:15 pm PT)

americascup.com

* Will Ben Ainslie get the call?

Trailing by four points to minus one to Emirates Team New Zealand in the first-to-nine-wins series, the defending champions were contemplating changes that could include the removal of tactician John Kostecki, whose disastrous error in race five on Tuesday night cost his team dear.

Ainslie, who has been helming Oracle's second boat all summer, was a popular choice to take over if Kostecki was stood down. The 36-year-old Olympian, who has been watching racing from Oracle's support boat, said he would be happy to take on a sailing role on the American AC72.

"I will do whatever the team wants me to do but if a decision is made that they want me to sail on the boat, of course I would love to do that," he said. "But my role has been to support Jimmy Spithill and helm the second boat. I've been happy to fulfil that role but if that changes I will step up to it. I think this cup is still winnable for Oracle.

"We are in a very difficult situation and we haven't had a great run in to this event but we have proved we can win races and the team is capable of winning more races. If we can change the momentum of this series, anything is possible."

Signs that all was not well in Oracle Team USA became clear when they called time on racing on Tuesday to avoid another trouncing at the hands of their New Zealand challengers.

* 3 News New Zealand says yes...

Oracle Team USA have rung the personnel changes replacing tactician John Kostecki with British Olympic sailor Ben Ainslee in a desperate bid to try and match Emirates Team New Zealand.

Kostecki is getting the blame for Team New Zealand's come-from-behind fifth race win on the waters off San Francisco but was defended by Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill.

"I can't guarantee anything (about Kostecki's future). I probably can't guarantee I'll be on there," he told a media conference.

But Oracle wing trimmer Tom Slingsby was less protective of his tactician.

"I think it was a mistake in the end," Slingsby told AFP.

"We wanted to cover the right-hand side of the course toward Alcatraz."

"But ideally we probably should have kept going and tacked when they tacked."

www.3news.co.nz

Marinepool Is The "Official Clothing Supplier" Of The Second 800nm Nord Stream Race
Marine Pool In February 2013, St. Petersburg Yacht Club (SPBYC), in Russia and German Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) announced their cooperation in holding the 2nd edition of the Nord Stream Race, established in 2012.

One of the entries is campaigned by the "German Offshore Challenger" (GOC) initiative, a national project encompassing several German clubs under the patronage of the NRV, which aims for inaugurating a high-performance and motivated young crew to participate on the Swan60 "SGM" in various events of the Gazprom Swan60 circuit.

The Nord Stream Race is organized annually along the route of the Nord Stream Pipleline in the Baltic, which delivers Russian natural gas to Germany. While the first edition was sailed from North to South, this year´s race will see the yachts sail in the opposite direction from Flensburg, around Bornholm and non-stop to the finish in St. Petersburg.

An exciting match race competition for the Gazprom Swan60 Class is organized as a warm up in the natural sailing racing arena of Flensburg. Watch the trailer for the Match Race here: youtu.be

The race is open for the Gazprom Swan60 Class and yachts rated under ORC handicap with the start on September 15th. The Baltic is renown for its challenging conditions at this time of the year. MARINEPOOL is the official clothing partner of the event and MARINEPOOL performance ocean sailing clothing will keep the crews on the fleet of Swan60s dry, warm, comfortable and able to focus on their competition with opponents and the fight with the elements even when the going gets tough.

www.marinepool.com

Santander Test Event
Photo by Martinez Studio / Santander City Trophy. Click on image for photo gallery.

Santander The Ciudad de Santander Trophy after celebrating the 470 and Finn classes third round, second for Nacra 17, RS:X and 49er is more than half through.

The status of the third day has been had quite different conditions, the horizon was clear of clouds and permanent wind from first hours of the morning.

With a slight delay for the starts of the race, all classes were able to sail and complete races, with a Northeast wind 6 knots average, and quite stable.

On Thursday, there will be a race area in the bay of Santander, while the official area at Sardinero will continue with the 4 racing areas.

The idea is to try out this new area, since it will be the official during the weekend for the Medal Race finals.

The start for all racing areas will be at 13:00h, with Finn in Alfa area, Laser standard and Radial in Beta area, 470 (Men and Woman) in Charlie, Nacra and RS:X in Delta area and the 49er and 49er FX in Foxtrot.

Top three by class:

470 Men
1. Luke Patience, GBR, 13 points
2. Kazuto Doi, JPN, 16
3. Joonas Lindgren, FIN, 19

470 Women
1. Lara Vadlau, AUT, 4
2. Annie Haeger, USA, 7
3. Sophie Wegelin, GBR, 13

49er
1. Diego Botin, ESP, 4
2. Victor Paya, ESP, 5
3. Frederick Strammer, USA, 8

49er FX
1. Chika Hatae, JPN, 3
2. Laura Schofegger, AUT, 9

Finn
1. Josh Junior, NZL, 4
2. Alejandro Muscat, ESP, 9
3. Terpigorev Egor, RUS, 9

NACRA 17
1. Ben Saxton, GBR, 5
2. Thomas Zajac, AUT, 6
3. Rupert White, GBR, 6

RS:X Men
1. Dorian van Rijsselberghe, NED, 5
2. Julien Bontemps, FRA, 6
3. Ivan Pastor Lafuente, ESP, 11

RS:X Women
1. Charline Picon, FRA, 3
2. Maayan Davidovich, ISR, 7
3. Moana Delle Delle, GER, 8

www.santander2014.com/en/default/results

SOF: Round 5 of EUROSAFE Champions Sailing Cup
The fifth and final leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, the Semaine Olympique Française, La Rochelle, is taking place from 9th to 13th October. The official Notice of Race was published back in February of this year, but as the event draws near it has been decided to amend the Notice of Race, a copy of which will be found at sof.ffvoile.fr or championscup.eurosaf.org

It has been decided that the entry fee for early entry is to be extended until 30th September, when on-line registration closes, and that all disciplines will receive a start, no matter the number of entries. It is known that several European countries are planning on sending some, or all, of their Olympic development squads, so the regatta should prove to be a very competitive event and an excellent conclusion to the European sailing season.

To enter complete the on-line entry form at sof.ffvoile.fr

Lucas Takes Over At The Top
London 2012 champion, Helena Lucas, got the home flags flying as she moved to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the 2013 International 2.4mR World Championships at the Poole Yacht Club on Wednesday 11 September.

Lucas picked up her second race win of the regatta, following a thrilling tactical battle with British Sailing Team teammate, Megan Pascoe, to complement the third and fourth places she also scored from today's three races, to hold a three point lead over six-time World Champion, Stellan Berlin, with six races to go.

GBR and SWE are the sail numbers dominating the top five placings with Lucas' coach, the Sydney 2000 49er silver medalist, Ian Barker, in third, reigning World Champion, Peter Andersson fourth and Pascoe in fifth. With six races completed all 75 competitors can now discard their worst score of the regatta.

While Lucas and Barker shared a race win apiece, victory in the other race of the day went to Canada's two-time Paralympian, Bruce Millar, the next President-elect of the International 2.4mR class. Millar sits just outside the top 10 in 11th midway through the regatta and he admits he is pleased to see so many new faces top the class breaking into the top 10.

Racing is due to resume tomorrow (Thursday 12 September), with organisers exploring the possibility of including the provision to run four races. Event director, John Yonwin, insists no decision will be made on that without the full co-operation of the competitors and volunteers.

He said: "We firmly believe once we've made a decision to make any alterations, if possible and we have time, we will consult with the class representatives. Making some sort of change is pointless if we haven't got the competitors and volunteers on side with that decision."

www.24mworlds2013.co.uk

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The International Maxi Association
The International Maxi Association (IMA) is pleased to inform you that Mr. Andrew McIrvine was appointed as new Secretary General of the Association at the Annual General Meeting -AGM- that took place in Porto Cervo on September 5.

The current Officers of the Association are:

Claus-Peter Offen, President
George Andreadis, Treasurer
Thomas Bscher, Vice President Wally Category
Hap Fauth, Vice President Mini Maxi racing Category
Sir Peter Harrison, Vice President Supermaxi Category
Gerard Logel, Vice President Mini Maxi racing/crusing Category
Danilo Salsi, Vice President Maxi racing/crusing Category

IMA staff:

Pete Lawson, ATO
Marshall Lawson, Racing Manager
Maria Luisa Farris, Communications & PR

www.internationalmaxiassociation.com

Local Sailors Dominate The Cherbourg Race
Gery Trentesaux's MC34, Courrier Vintage. Photo by Peter Mumford / Beken of Cowes. Click on image to enlarge.

Cherbourg Race The final race of the RORC domestic season, the Cherbourg Race this year proved a tough and technical upwind battle for the fleet as, faced with squalls and spring tides, the competitors were kept firmly on their toes from start to finish.

Managing the big storm cells and the 30 degree lifts and headers associated with them was central to how boats performed. The wind would increase from 15 to 30 knots very quickly and many of the fleet were caught out with ragging sail as the squall passed through.

Andrew Pearce and his crew on Magnum III were delighted to round off their excellent season with their first ever line honours, leading their main rival, Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens 3, over the finish line.

However across the board the British and Dutch boats were beaten on corrected time by the French. Fittingly, the race results were dominated by local entrants from Cherbourg with two class wins and strong results in IRC Overall. In particular was local favourite Bruno James whose Sunfast 3200, Le MC do de Cherbourg, was virtually the smallest boat in the fleet but nevertheless claimed 1st place in IRC Four as well as an excellent 2nd in IRC Overall, crossing the finish line among many of the IRC One and Two boats.

Another popular local, fresh from his success at the Rolex Fastnet Race, Pascal Loison returned to finish the RORC season with his JPK 10.10, Night and Day. Coming first is becoming a force of habit for Pascal with this, his fifth, IRC Three win this season, and he is sitting comfortably at the top of IRC Three Season's Points Championship. His usual co-skipper, his son Alexis, was racing onboard the hugely successful Inis Mor who also won their class, IRC One.

However it befell another consistent French performer, Courrier Vintage, to walk away with 1st place in IRC Overall. The MC34 Patton, owned by Sam Marsaudon and skippered by Gery Trentesaux, has now performed a hat trick of IRC Overall wins this season, adding to the Cervantes Trophy Race and the De Guingand Bowl Race. -- Lizzie Narraway

www.rorc.org

IOC Selects Tokyo As Host For 2020 Olympic Games
Buenos Aires, Argentina: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020 to Tokyo, which was chosen over fellow Candidate Cities Istanbul and Madrid after two rounds of voting during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. Tokyo received 60 votes to Istanbul's 36 in the final round, with Madrid having been eliminated in the first round after losing a tie-breaker with Istanbul. Tokyo, which also bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, previously hosted the Games in 1964.

"Congratulations to the city of Tokyo on its election as host of the 2020 Olympic Games," said IOC President Jacques Rogge, whose 12-year term in office comes to an end on 10 September. "Tokyo presented a very strong technical bid from the outset - and it needed to in competition with two such high-calibre bids from Istanbul and Madrid. All three cities were capable of staging excellent Games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo's bid that resonated the most with the IOC membership, inviting us to "discover tomorrow" by delivering a well-organised and safe Games that will reinforce the Olympic values while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation."

The signing of the Host City Contract and press conference with the 2020 host city is scheduled to take place from 18:30 today, local time.

Vorting results:

Round 1
Tokyo: 42
Istanbul: 26
Madrid: 26

Round 1 tie-breaker
Istanbul: 49
Madrid: 45

Round 2
Tokyo: 60
Istanbul: 36

ISAF: sailing.org

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke To Join Australia II Celebrations
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke is set to join the 30th anniversary celebrations of Australia II winning the America's Cup.

Mr Hawke will join skipper John Bertrand, syndicate chairman Alan Bond and the Australia II crew at a lunch in Sydney on Thursday 26 September.

Vision of Mr Hawke wearing his iconic jacket after Australia II's historic victory still stands out as one of the defining images of Australia in the 1980s.

The event will be the only gathering of the Australia II crew in Australia to mark the 30th anniversary, with Mr Hawke, John Bertrand and Alan Bond taking part in a discussion panel.

The Sydney lunch comes just a month after the crew gathered in San Francisco to celebrate, coinciding with this year's America's Cup which kicks off on Sunday morning.

The lunch will also bring together some of Australia's current sailing champions, with money raised on the day assisting in the support of the country's next group of elite sailors, through the Australian Sailing Team, Warren Jones Foundation and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program.

Tickets are available for $297 each with the function being held from 12pm till 3pm on Thursday, September 26, at the Hilton Grand Ballroom, George St, Sydney.

www.hurricaneevents.com/ac30years

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The Last Word
Pluto will always be a planet in my book. That's because my book was published before Pluto was blacklisted by planetary scientists. -- Jarod Kintz

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