In this Issue:
Whitbread Leg 6-Tradewind Sailing
Royal Sun Alliance- Dismasted
San Diego Nood-2nd in a series
Lightning-Midwinter Circuit
Snipe-Winter Regattas
Around Alone-39 Entries

Whitbread Leg 6-Tradwind Sailing
    The fleet of Whitbread 60's is smoking orth to Fort Lauderdale FLA. The fine sailing conditions have continued for the fleet. They even had a quick passage through the doldrums.

    Currently the tradewinds are steadily blowing from the North East in the mid 20 knot
range. This gives the W 60's a reach. They call it 'stability sailing' as it puts a premium on pumping up the water ballast tanks and sailing flat and fast, like 20 knots fast.

    The most current standing show EF Language leading once again. EFL didn't have a great beginning to this leg, but have pulled ahead. At this point the lead is 17.4 miles over Silk Cut, which has led a great deal of this leg. At this point in the race EF Language is reaping the benefits of the time they have spent sail testing. In most conditions they have a boat speed advantage which really can help a sailor look smart. In 3rd is Innovation Kvaerner, 43.8 miles back.

    The last schedule showed that Silk Cut gained 3 miles on EF Language. There have not been many boats posting gains on EFL.

    EFL shows an ETA to Fort Lauderdale of 0603 on Monday March 30th, Silk Cut shows 0754 and Innovation Kvaerner shows 1100. The race is still fast and close. Keep up with it by visiting: www.whitbread.org

Royal&Sun Alliance- Dismasted
    Sadly the quest for the outright record for around the world speed has ended. This due to a dismasting that occurred March 18th.

    In pitch black conditions which included 40 knots of breeze, the cat was picked up from astern by a huge wave. This buried the bows and stopped the boat. Five minutes later creaking noised emanated from the rig and over the port side it went !

    The rig coming down trapped several crewmembers in the port hull. Also, the crew worried about the flailing rig puncturing the hull. Luckily no additional damage occurred.

    The boat is now under jury rig and sailing towards Chile. The crew is being creative in the sail combinations they lash together for the truncated rig. Today's take is a square rigged sail made from a staysail.

    Humor is still flowing onboard. When rigger Samantha Davies performed a rig check she simply: "went up on deck looked up and said, 'yep it's still there' ".   Follow their voyage to Chile via: www.rsachallenge.com

San Diego Nood- 97 boats Strong
    This was the second in the series of NOOD regattas. The 97 boats were spread among 8 classes.

    The largest class was the Etchell 22, which had 31 boats. Among the big names in this class: Isler and Connors. Neither of those guys won. The winner was San Diego sailor Andy Ladow with a score of: 1-3-3-4-5. 2nd was yacht designer Bruce Nelson
and 3rd was Peter Isler. Victory also gave Ladow the title of Pacific Coast Etchells champion.

    Another big class was the Melges 24. This class was one by Dave Ulman with a score of: 3-2-5-1-1-1. 2nd was Vince Brun and 3rd was Darin Buchalter.

    For further details on this regatta visit:  www.sailingworld.com

Lightning- Southern Circuit Concludes
    The Lightning class concluded their Southern Circuit of regattas. The last 2 regattas were in Miami and St. Pete.

    The Miami Midwinters regatta was one by Tito Gonzalez with finishes of: 1-5-1-2. 2nd was Greg Fisher who sailed a: 3-1-6-1. 3rd was Peter Hall and 4th was Bill Faude and crew from Milwaukee WI.

    The final regatta was the St. Petersburg winter championship regatta. The St. Pete stop saw Tito Gonzalez wrap up the circuit title by placing 2nd. Tim Healey won the regatta and Ched Prector was 3rd. Greg Fisher slipped to 9th.

    The overall results show Tito Gonzalez of Chile as the overall winner. In the 3 regattas he totaled 27 points. 2nd place was Greg Fisher with 50 points. 3rd was Tim Healey with 61 points. Great Lakes sailors Bill Faude, Jared Drake, and Ralph Fisher placed 7th.

    For complete results visit: http://sailing.org/lightning/regattas98.html

Snipes-Down South
    The first regatta of the Snipe classes racing down south is underway. It is the
Midwinter regatta sailed in Clearwater FLA. After 4 races Tyler Moore is in the lead.
However, when you project 2 more races and include a throwout race George Szabo will be the winner. 
    To follow these Snipe regattas and find out who the winners are go to: www.snipe.org

Around Alone- The next around the world race
    September 26th will be the start of the next globe circling race- Around Alone. The race is expected to be well attended. 39 sailors from 13 countries are entered. Race officials expect 25 to 30 of these entries to make the starting line this fall.

    Torresen Sailing Site is presenting the Around Alone Series to help spectators prepare for this race. The primary part of the Around Alone Series is interviews with each of the skippers. So far there are interviews with 4 of the sailors posted on the Torresen Sailing Site. Check the Torresen Sailing Site http://www.torresen.com each Saturday for a new interview with an Around Alone sailor.

    There is also an official website for the race at: www.aroundalone.com