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Australia's Hamilton Island Yacht Club Confirmed As Challenger Of Record
Hamilton Island Yacht Club (HIYC), located on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, has challenged for the 35th America's Cup. HIYC's challenge has been accepted by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which remains the Defender and Trustee of the world's oldest international sporting trophy after its team, ORACLE TEAM USA owned by Larry Ellison, won the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco last Wednesday.

For the past three decades HIYC has run Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, which has become the largest annual regatta in Australia with some 200 offshore yachts competing in recent years.

HIYC is led by Australian winemaker and sailing legend Bob Oatley, whose succession of yachts named Wild Oats have dominated ocean racing in Australia for years, including having won six of the last eight Sydney-Hobart races. An Australian team led by Mr. Oatley won the last Admiral's Cup, widely regarded as the world's top prize in ocean racing.

The challenge was filed by Mr. Oatley and his son, Sandy, on behalf of HIYC shortly after ORACLE TEAM USA won the thrilling deciding final race in the 34th America's Cup against Emirates Team New Zealand on San Francisco Bay on September 25th.

"We are delighted to have Hamilton Island Yacht Club and the Oatley's leading Australia back into the America's Cup for the first time since 2000," said GGYC Vice Commodore and America's Cup liaison Tom Ehman. "Hamilton Island's challenge was filed on the day Australia was celebrating the 30th anniversary of Australia II's historic win in the 1983 America's Cup off Newport, RI, which ended New York Yacht Club's 132-year reign as the Cup's defender."

GGYC and HIYC expect to have a Protocol Governing the 35th America's Cup, including dates, venue, boats and other details, agreed and published in the first few months of 2014.

americascup.com

In Saint Tropez, The Track To The Stars
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

The autumn's major festival of international yachting is preparing for battle in Saint Tropez and right around the bay. A festival on shore, a sporting celebration at sea, the proven recipe for success that is synonymous with Les Voiles de Saint Tropez 2013 is again pulling in thousands of sailors, fans of beautiful yachts, journalists and photographers.

The small port in France's Var region has managed to satisfy the demands of nearly 330 yachts, spread across the ports around the Bay, including a number of Classic and Modern boats spanning over 30 metres in length. The distribution of participants can be broken down into 115 Classic yachts, 160 Modern boats, 18 Tofinous, 8 Code 0s, and no fewer than 13 Wallys.

The superyacht Nomad IV has been putting in her first tacks this summer and will be one of the many attractions in Les Voiles de Saint Tropez's Modern category. Built entirely from carbon Nomex, Nomade IV can be distinguished by a slender design that sits low on the water, with a chined hull. This Finot Conq design boasts a Pierre Frutschi minimalist interior with a layout by Pierre Forgia that comfortably accommodates 12 guests in addition to the crew.

Five classic yachts in their seventies and eighties and rigged either as gaff or Bermudan, will be making their first appearance at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez this year. They bear the symbolic marks of excellence in the rare and magical combination of aesthetics and performance. Sonny, the Bermudan sloop, (Olin Stephens 1935), Bounty, the Bermudan ketch (Herreshoff 1936), Blazing Star, the Bermudan yawl (Alden 1928), and the Bermudan schooner Belle Lurette (Alden 1927) are the Stars among the Stars.

A familiar sight at Les Voiles for many years, the splendid Bermudan sloop Cotton Blossom II has created a stir in the bay on numerous occasions through the quality of her restoration and her prowess on the water in the expert hands of her owner, a past America's Cup winner, Dennis Conner. Cotton Blossom II is a Johan Anker design from 1924, restored with passion and in minute detail, which has earned her all manner of praise in the U.S. Built at the Jensen yard near Oslo this sloop won multiple prizes in the thirties.

lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

Team and Event Wear By Marinepool - High Tech Functionality and Customization
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, functional 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 such as Energy Team France - challenger in the 34th America´s Cup, Oman Sail and the Oman Sail racing crews in MOD70, Ex40 The Wave, Muscat and M34 circuit as well as the German national squad Sailing Team Germany 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

Lars Hansen Wins J/22 Legends Regatta
Newport, RI, USA: J/22 legends have reunited in the birthplace of the boat - Newport, Rhode Island - for the 30th anniversary celebration of the J/22. A group of past champions and stalwarts of the fleet's growth sparred on the race course Monday for bragging rights during the J Boats Legends Regatta. Hosted by Sail Newport, eight teams duked it out on the local fleet of J/22s during three brief races, and Lars Hansen was crowned the winning Legend. All of the competitors were then recognized at the Opening Ceremonies of the J/22 World Championship, sponsored by Fidelity Investments, which begins Tuesday.

Rod Johnstone, co-founder of J Boats and designer of the J/22, rallied a family team including Alan Johnstone and Jeff Johnstone. Past J/22 champions helmed with the same crews they will be working with during this week's World Championship including Brad Read and Cory Sertl. Many of the vital individuals to the launch of the J/22 Class in 1983, as well as its evolution over the past 30 years, participated including: past US and International J/22 Class Secretary Galen Freeman; past International Chair/Technical Committee Chair Chip Carpenter, with International Class President Chris Doyle on board; past Chief Measurer and Class President Hale Wolcoff, crewing with fellow champions Steve Ulian and Kevin Doyle; past US J/22 Class President Chris Princing and his Worlds crew; and past US Technical Chair Lars Hansen and his Worlds crew.

Now the focus shifts to the 2013 J/22 World Championship regatta featuring 72 teams from Canada, the Cayman Islands, South Africa and the USA. Racing begins on Tuesday, and continues through Saturday.

Complete regatta information, including live racing updates, is available at www.j22worlds.com

Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:

Louise Morton (GBR)
'As an "occasional fella" in Louise's crew I can honestly say that to sail with Louise and the girls is a huge pleasure; and they race harder than most boats on the Solent' - Sam Richmond; 'Always winning, always having more fun' - James Roche; 'As an infrequent crew member, I've never had more fun' - Nicky Bethwaite; 'Not just a fast sailor, Louise also does amazing things keeping the Quarter Ton class motoring along' - Mark Mills; 'About bloody time' - Led Pritchard; 'Much nicer than her hubby' - Mark Tomson.

This month's nominees:

John MacCausland and Phil Trinter (USA)
John MacCausland and his father before him have been extraordinarily enthusiastic and productive supporters of the US Star fleet for as long as they have been walking. And in partnership with 'Big Phil', John has finally secured the most prestigious title in small boat sailing. There can have been few previous gold Star winners so universally applauded

Annalise Murphy (IRL)
Redemption at last for the popular and bubbly Irish sailor who dominated the opening days of the London 2012 regatta in the women's Laser Radial fleet only to tumble to the leather medal as the event reached its final denouement. Murphy crushed all her previous Olympic rivals at this year's Radial Europeans, winning seven of the first eight races... plus the final medal race just to be certain. Keep it up, madam.

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry & Musto. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!

Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at
seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month

To subscribe to Seahorse Digital £30 for one year with discount promo code SB2: seahorse.co.uk/shop/digital

Sailing's Sacred Monster
The America's Cup is still sailing's sacred monster. More so than ever, in fact. And it is still something of which we can honestly say: "This is the peak of world sailing - alas". But after the fantastic 34th America's Cup series in San Francisco, there's no denying it has us hooked.

How can we be so sure? There's a simple test. Anyone who took the slightest interest in it now asks: "What happens next?" Once you're getting that response from people, whether they are sailors or sports fans or simply good old Joe Public who just happened to catch it on a news flash, then you've got them hooked, and you can build on that for the future of the event.

So from being something which was only the highly specialised interest of an elite minority, it has become a supercharged happening from which everyone can take something. My own conversion came not from contemplating the seemingly endless intrigues which surrounded the event, and not from its extraordinary history of larger-than-life characters and even more off-the-wall boats, but simply from watching the vids of the giant catamarans racing, just like anyone else in an increasingly rapt global audience.

Another must read for those who love long form journalism, from a master, WM Nixon, in Afloat magazine:

afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/

ISAF World Sailing Rankings
The ISAF World Sailing Rankings for 30 September 2013 have been released.

Top three rankings by class:

49erFX
1. Alexandra Maloney / Molly Meech, NZL
2. Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze, BRA
3. Giulia Conti / Francesca Clapcich, ITA

49er
1. Dylan Fletcher / Alain Sign, GBR
2. David Evans / Edward Powys, GBR
3. Julien D'Ortoli / Noe Delpech, FRA

Laser Radial
1. Tatiana Drozdovskaya, BLR
2. Alison Young, GBR
3. Tuula Tenkanen, FIN

Laser
1. Tom Burton, AUS
2. Jesper Stalheim, SWE
3. Ryan Palk, AUS

Men's RS:X
1. Ivan Pastor Lafuente, ESP
2. Ricardo Santos, BRA
3. Nick Dempsey, GBR

Women's RS:X
1. Bryony Shaw, GBR
2. Blanca Manchon, ESP
3. Flavia Tartaglini, ITA

Men's 470
1. Mathew Belcher / William Ryan, AUS
2. Matthias Schmid / Florian Reichsteaedter, AUT
3. Paul Snow-Hansen / Daniel Wilcox, NZL

Women's 470
1.Lara Vadlau / Anneloes Van Veen / Jolanta Ogar, AUT
2. Fernanda Oliveira / Ana Luiza Barbachan, BRA
3. Sophie Wequelin / Eildh Mcintyre, GBR

Finn
1. Caleb Paine, USA
2. Andrew Mills, GBR
3. Brendan Casey, AUS

Nacra 17
1. Thomas Zajac / Tanja Chiara Frank, AUT
2. Moana Vaireaux / Manon Audinet, FRA
3. Renee Groeneveld / Ferdinand Van West / Karel Begemann, NED

Complete rankings: www.sailing.org/rankings

WADA Publishes 2014 Prohibited List
Following approval by the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Executive Committee on September 11, the 2014 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods is now available.

In an effort to provide stakeholders with tools to support anti-doping activities and following the successful iPhone application introduced in 2011, the 2014 Prohibited List will again be available on iPhone and other mobile devices as of January 1, 2014.

In addition to English, French and Spanish versions of the List, it is also possible to translate the List into other languages.

For more information, please contact:

The 2014 Prohibited List (pdf), the 2014 Monitoring Program, a summary of modifications on the 2014 List, and a Q&A on any changes:

www.wada-ama.org

Industry News
GAC has been appointed the official logistics provider for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-15.

GAC, together with their partner Team Pindar, will provide a complete logistics support package, working closely with the Race's shipping provider, for the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-15. The services will include customs clearance and transportation of pavilions and hospitality infrastructure, broadcast and other support equipment from the ports to the Race Villages over the course of nine months, starting in October next year.

Formed in 2011, GAC Pindar is a strategic partnership between global logistics, marine and shipping services provider GAC Group and professional sailing team Team Pindar. It has become the go-to provider in the specialist field of marine leisure logistics, offering a complete range of services including yacht transportation, superyacht fuel, air ocean and land freight, yacht spare logistics, sailing event management and ships agency. At sailing venues around the world, it works closely with teams from GAC's offices to ensure smooth delivery of its full range of services.

www.gacpindar.com
volvooceanrace.com

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Clipper Ventures, the UK-based international marine events company behind the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, is to create a base in Sydney to launch an Australian division as the first stage of a global expansion plan.

Australia is a key market for Clipper Ventures, with a strong competitive track record of Australian boats and skippers having won the last two Clipper Races. It is the only global race to train amateur crew from all walks of life and Australians make up the second-highest crew contingent after Britons. The new base will mean two out of the three stages of Clipper Race training will be on offer in the country, removing the need to travel to the UK for courses. The whole Clipper 2013-14 Race fleet will debut in the classic Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at the end of the year.

clipper-ventures.com

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As the sun shone down on the last evening of the PSP Southampton Boat Show, organisers were left to celebrate a increase in attendance over last year, bucking a trend seen at most other major European shows.

Over the ten days of the event, 111,963 visitors came through the gates, up 2% on last year's figure, despite some changeable autumn weather that saw a number of torrential downpours over the course of the show.

More than 120 boats made their debuts at Southampton, with the number of exhibitors totalling more than 600, representing 22 countries around the word.

Ian Braham, head of finance house Lombard, meanwhile, said marine finance enquiries at the show were up 10% compared to last year, and that business in the first six months of the year was up a significant 26% over the first half of 2012.

www.mby.com

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Yachting Australia is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2013 Australian Yachting Awards, with strong competition again a feature in all award categories. The winners of the 2013 Australian Yachting Awards will be announced on Friday 18 October at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

Winners will be announced in seven categories, Male Sailor of the Year, Female Sailor of the Year, Sailor of the Year with a Disability, Youth Sailor of the Year, Sport Professional Award, Sport Promotion Award and Volunteer Award. A Lifetime Achievement Award and the Yachting Australia President's Award will also be presented. Tickets for the event can now be purchased, with more information available at www.yachting.org.au/awards

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YFM Equity Partners (YFM) has backed the management buy out of Douglas Gill International Ltd, better known as Gill.

Nick Gill, chairman of Gill, has sold a majority stake in the business to YFM for an undisclosed sum to back the existing management team.

Founded in 1975 by Mr Gill the company has become a leading international brand in the technical marine clothing sector, selling in 37 countries worldwide. Aged 60, Mr Gill has decided to step back from the day to day running of the company, but will remain invested in the business with a seat on the board.

"The business has never been in better shape and I felt the time was right to take a back seat and let the business continue with new energy," said Mr Gill. "My passion for the business and the sport which has been my life will be as strong as ever."

The business will continue to be headed by MD John Deverill, with his core management team of sales director Bryan Stewart and product development director Matt Clark. Steve Richards - previously CEO of Interflora - will join the board as non-executive chairman.

Boating Business: www.boatingbusiness.com

Featured Brokerage
2008 Dufour 365 Grand Large. EUR 97,000. Located in Crosshaven, Cork, Ireland.

This Dufour 365 Grand'Large is in very good condition. She is the twin aft cabin version and comes with an excellent inventory including a fully battened mainsail, Furling Genoa, hot water, shore power and more. She has the added advantage of a 2010 Volvo 29HP diesel engine. "St. Jude" has had light use from new. Excellent value!

Brokerage through Crosshaven Boatyard: www.yachtworld.com/crosshavenboatyard/

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

The Last Word
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