Around The World Of Sailing

Paradise Found

The 33rd International Rolex Regatta was every sailor's best dream. The three-day event, hosted by the St. Thomas Yacht Club from Friday, March 24, through Sunday, March 26, saw hundreds of sailors aboard 92 boats plying the shockingly blue waters of the Caribbean under color-matched skies, with winds cooperating perfectly. Though shorts and flip-flops may have been the sailing gear of choice and beach parties the evening priorities, the casual look and feel did nothing to lull the fiercest competitors, who came to win class honors and Rolex Submariner timepieces -- one up for grabs in each of eight classes for boats ranging from 24 to 80 feet.

>From the first day, Martin Jacobson's (Greenwich, Conn.) Swan 44 Crescendo led the Spinnaker Racing Cruising class, with 1984 Australian Olympian Jamie Wilmot (Sydney) steering. "It was just paradise," said Jacobson after the first day's racing on which his team aced three windward-leeward races in 12-16 knot breezes. The next day's races, held in even brisker breezes, gave the team a 4-1 to add to its score line along with some vivid memories of the dramatic coastline on the harbour race from the east end of the island, along its south side, to Charlotte Amalie. After a finish and restart just inside the harbor--in the shadows of large cruise ships and visiting super yachts--a reverse-direction race brought the fleet back home to the St. Thomas Yacht Club. On the last day, a distance race among the islands in Pillsbury Sound, handed a fifth victory to Crescendo, which became the only entrant among 22 registered from the U.S. mainland to claim a class crown.

"It was a great experience," added Jacobson, a newcomer to the International Rolex Regatta. "I loved how close everything was.the boats at the yacht club, the parties on the beach, the crews staying within walking distance.it made it very easy to come and enjoy myself."

Danilo Salsi of Milan, Italy, also led right out of the gate. He steered his Swan 45 Dsk Comifin to victory in Spinnaker Racing Class 1 and, like Jacobson, won all but one of his six races. Though Salsi hadn't expected it, his CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) rating served him well, leaving the class's larger boats such as Donnybrook (a Santa Cruz 70 owned by Jim Muldoon of Washington, D.C.) and Equation (an Andrews 68 owned by Bill Alcott of St. Clair Shores, Mich.) in his wake. Two other Swans, a 48 footer named Privateer (owned by Ron O'Hanley of Ipswich, Mass.) and a 45 footer named Devocean (owned by Steve Devoe of Stamford, Conn.) took second and third, respectively, in the class.

"We are overseas here until June 2006, training for the Newport to Bermuda Race and the Rolex Sydney Hobart", said Salsi, who won Rolex Capri Sailing Week in 2005, more recently finished second at Acura Key West Race Week and plans to next compete in the BVI Spring Regatta and Rolex Antigua Sailing Week. "The configuration courses are not so important to us. We like the distance races; it is what we need for our training."

Before the third day's distance race was scored, Gilberto Rivera of San Juan, Puerto Rico, sailing his J/24 Urayo, had sewn up the series for the CSA 24 Spinnaker Class. "We sailed the last race anyway, because we wanted to enjoy the day; we tried to not be aggressive, since other boats were sailing for second place," said Rivera. Urayo's fifth-place finish in that race, held in comparatively light breezes, was well balanced with a second-place finish and half a dozen first-place finishes posted over the previous two days. "The strong winds and waves of the first two days separated the more experienced sailors from the less experienced," he added.

Rivera finished second at last year's regatta, losing out to six-time Rolex winner Fraito Lugo (Ponce, Puerto Rico), who chose this year to sail in the IC-24 Class and finished fourth there. It was Rivera's first time to win a Rolex watch, which he gave to his father in thanks for his "sponsorship" of Rivera's sailing program over the years.

Another Puerto Rican winner was Enrique Figueroa, a multiple world and national catamaran champion who has represented his country in the Olympics four times. He defended his title aboard the Hobie 16 Suzuki Red Bull in the Beach Cats Class and has won this Rolex regatta "more times than I can remember."

While Puerto Rico was represented by 22 boats, the U.S. Virgin Islands had the largest contingent with 30 entries.

One of those, St. Croix's Robert Armstrong, sailing the J/100 Expensive Habit, took the Spinnaker Racing Class 2 by storm. With the help of 2004 J/24 World Champion Jens Hookansen, who grew up in St. Croix but now resides in Middletown, R.I., Armstrong posted all first-place finishes except one in his six-race lineup. A fellow St. Croix sailor, Tony Sanpere, likewise steered his Soverel 27 Cayennita to victory in Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 2 to defend his title there.

The balance of the fleet came from the British Virgin Islands (7), Antigua (2), St. Martin (2), Canada (1), Belgium (3), Ireland (2), Italy and the UK (1 each).

Two of the BVI entrants captured crowns in their classes: Christopher Lloyd (Road Town, Tortola) with his Beneteau 44 Three Harkoms, in Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 1 with all four first-place finishes, and Robby Hirst (Road Town, Tortola), who leapt from third to first on the scoreboard on the last day, driving his IC-24 Sea Hawk to finish positions of 1-2-2 in three final races.

The IC-24 Class, with a fleet indigenous to the area and growing rapidly in popularity, completed a 10-race series, participating in the harbour races to and from Charlotte Amalie but returning to round-the-buoys racing on the final day while the rest of the fleet sailed in Pillsbury Sound. "I'm somewhat speechless," said Hirst, who was the British Virgin Island's Olympic representative in 1996 and won the IC-24 class here last year as well. "I had no idea we'd pull it out like that." The day prior, St. Thomas sailor Chris Rosenberg aboard Bambooshay seemed to have wrapped up the series, with four straight victories in his scoreline. The final day's light breezes, however, became his downfall. "Sometimes if you have a lot to lose, you get defensive and end up losing it," said Hirst. "We had nothing to lose: we decided to just get out there and race, be consistent and stay in the top five all day."

Ironically, Hirst already wears a Rolex timepiece that Rosenberg insisted on passing on to him when Hirst helped him sail a Melges 24 to victory in a prior International Rolex Regatta. "I think the one from this year will be claimed by my wife," said Hirst, with a half-joking laugh.

Rolex also is the title sponsor for the Rolex Antigua Sailing Week, due for its 39th running from Sunday, April 30, through Saturday, May 6, 2006.

Full results (posted live each night by Interactive Creations), hometown rosters and nightly reports and photos can be found at www.rolexcupregatta.com,. Video coverage is available for viewing at www.t2p.tv or by clicking on the related icon on the regatta web site.

Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner's Name, Origin, Results, Total Points

CSA 24 Spinnaker (CSA - 8 Boats)
1. Urayo, J24, Gilberto Rivera, San Juan, Puerto Rico - 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 5; 13
2. KQ-LO, J24, Carlos Sierra, San Juan, P.R., USA - 3, 3, 3, 4, 1, 3, 3, 1; 21
3. Saudades Cemex Pr, J24, Leopoldo Loria, San Juan, P.R., USA - 4, 6, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3; 25

IC 24 One Design (One Design - 19 Boats)
1. Sea Hawk, IC24, Robby Hirst, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 0, 16, 1, 5, 3, 2, 8, 4, 1, 2, 2; 44
2. Bambooshay, IC24, Christian F. Rosenberg, St.Thomas, USVI, USA - 0, 5, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 12, 11, 7, 14; 56
3. Stinger, IC24, John Holmberg, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 0, 3, 7, 4, 7, 4, 4, 5, 9, 3, 11; 57

Spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 7 Boats)
1. Dsk Comifin, Swan 45, Danilo Salsi, Milan, ITA - 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1; 7
2. Privateer, Swan 48, Cr 48, Ron O'Hanley, Ipswich, MA, USA - 4, 3, 3, 1, 2, 7; 20
3. Devocean, Swan 45, Steve Devoe, Stamford, CT, USA - 3, 2, 2, 7, 6, 2; 22

Spinnaker Racing 2 (CSA - 15 Boats)
1. Expensive Habit, J100 33, Robert Armstrong, Gallows Bay, St. Croix, USVI, USA - 1, 1, 1, 5, 1, 1; 10
2. Lost Horizon II, Olson 30, James Dobbs, Antigua - 2, 2, 4, 3, 3, 7; 21
3. Broken Drum, J29 29, Jack Bishop, Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI, USA - 3, 3, 7, 11, 2, 5; 31

Non-Spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 12 Boats)
1. Three Harkoms, Beneteau 44, Christopher Lloyd, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 1, 1, 1, 1; 4
2. Wildflower, Sabre 402 40, Ron Noonan, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 2, 3, 2, 3; 10
3. Affinity, Swan 48, Jack Desmond, Concord, MA, USA - 4, 4, 3, 2; 13

Non-Spinnaker Racing 2 (CSA - 6 Boats)
1. Cayennita, Soverel 27, Tony Sanpere, Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI, USA - 1, 1, 2, 1; 5
2. ATN, J27 27, Marcus Compton, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 3, 2, 3, 3; 11
3. Poco A Poco - Preferred Health, Pearson Flyer 30, Agustin A. Rodrigues, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, USA - 8/DSQ, 3, 1, 2; 14

Spinnaker Racing Cruising (CSA - 15 Boats)
1. Crescendo, Swan 44, Martin Jacobson, Greenwich, CT, USA - 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1; 9
2. Lazy Dog, Beneteau 40.7, 40, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 5; 19
3. Pipedream, Sirena 38, Peter Haycraft, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 3, 2, 5, 1, 3, 6; 20

Beach Cats (Portsmouth - 10 Boats)
1. Suzuki / Red Bull, Hobie Cat 16, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, P.R., USA - 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2; 8
2. Heineken, Hobie Cat 16, Francisco Figeroa, San Juan, P.R., USA - 3, 6, 2, 2, 2, 4; 19
3. Exodus, Hobie Cat 16, Keki Figueroa, San Juan, P.R., USA - 2, 1, 7, 3, 4, 6; 23

Volvo Ocean Race Due to Set Sail from Brazil

March 31, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 is ready to set sail on Sunday when the next stage of the race gets underway. Leg five will see the competitors sail 5000 nautical miles through the Atlantic Ocean to Baltimore, Maryland.

Leg five promises to be a hard fought battle as the skippers and navigators face some difficult decisions due to the complicated currents and often fickle winds of the Western Atlantic.

The teams are likely to approach the leg in three sections; Rio to the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha where they can pick up some vital bonus points, the scoring gate to the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, and finally the last 100 plus miles up the Chesapeake to Baltimore where the leg points await.

Throughout the leg there will be some tough decisions to be made, as Assistant Race Meteorologist Jennifer Lilly explains: “Once passed Cabo Frio each team will have to choose whether they want to continue north along the coast, risking fickle winds to gain the advantage of less current and daily thermal winds off the land, or whether they want to head farther offshore risking stronger counter currents to have a more stable breeze.”

There will be no respite even into the last 100 miles of the leg. “The last section of this leg will be quite different from anything along the course so far. Past Virginia Beach and Norfolk the fleet will enter Chesapeake Bay, a narrow shallow opening, with tricky winds and an obstacle course of crab pots, fish traps, commercial shipping, naval warships and recreational traffic,” explained Lilly.

In previous races the leg has been won or lost in the final approach to Baltimore as race veteran and Ericsson skipper John Kostecki (USA) explains: “The Chesapeake provides a lot of challenges - there are large shoals, lobster pots, current and possible variable winds due to land on both sides. The three or four times that I have sailed up there I have struggled with the challenges of the Chesapeake.”

Pirates of the Caribbean skipper Paul Cayard also remembers some testing times in the Chesapeake: “We will have to see what happens as we approach the U.S in terms of fronts and then anything could happen into the Chesapeake. Based on experience, there will be a lot of re-shuffling and we could see boats parked up. It should be very exciting for the spectators as it really could come down to the wire.”

After a victorious in-port race in Rio, ABN AMRO ONE has pulled out a sixteen point lead over their sister-ship ABN AMRO TWO at the half-way stage in the race. Skipper Mike Sanderson hopes the next leg will go their way too: “I am expecting the next leg to be good for us. The boat was designed for moderate airs reaching and therefore this should be a good leg for us. Hopefully we can start to see a little edge over the fleet.”

With just eight points separating second place from fifth, there will be an intense battle for the podium places.

The Spanish entry movistar is just half a point behind third-placed Pirates of the Caribbean. Bouwe Bekking and his team have had a tough time but believe that their troubles are now behind them as Bekking explains: “I am confident that we have the right sails and a good team. We are aiming for a podium position and with second to sixth place very close, we are looking forward to the competition.

“A lot on this leg comes down to technique and concentration. The physically strongest crew will come out on top and I think that is one of the strong points we have for this leg. Our prime goal is to beat Pirates and ABN AMRO TWO. Of course winning is the first goal but we have to look to the overall and if we do that we are in good shape.”

Due to the hot conditions that the teams will experience, hygiene will also be an important factor on this leg as Kostecki explains: “This leg can be very hot and sticky and at times unbearable. When I sailed this leg eight years ago many of the crew had skin problems and I got infections in my legs. You have to be very careful with hygiene and make sure you stay healthy.”

The leg gets underway at 13:10 (local) on Sunday 2 April. Live audio commentary will be broadcast at www.volvooceanrace.org. Tune in to Guy Swindells English commentary with guest Rob Mundle. Spanish speaking listeners will hear the events unfold through the voice of Amanda Blackley and guest Maria Bertrand.

The boats are expected to arrive into Baltimore between the 17-19 April.

Current Leaderboard
1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 52.5 pts
2nd ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 36.5 pts
3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 31.5 pts
4th Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 31.0 pts
5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 28.5 pts
6th Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 23.5 pts

Crew Lists - Leg 5
ABN AMRO ONE
Mike Sanderson (NZ) – Skipper
Stan Honey (USA) – Navigator
Brad Jackson (NZ)
Mark Christensen (NZ)
Tony Mutter (NZ)
Sidney Gavignet (FRA)
David Endean (NZ)
Jan Dekker (RSA)
Robert Greenhalgh (GBR)
Justin Slattery (IRL)

ABN AMRO TWO
Sebastien Josse (FRA) – Skipper
Simon Fisher (GBR) – Navigator
Andrew Lewis (USA)
George Peet (USA)
Lucas Brun (BRA)
Hans Horrevoets (NED)
Luke Molloy (AUS)
Yves Leblevec (FRA)
Scott Beavis (NZ)
Simeon Tienpont (NED)

Brasil 1
Torben Grael (BRA) – Skipper
Marcel van Triest (NED) – Navigator
André Fonseca (BRA)
Andy Meiklejohn (NZ)
Henrique Pellicano (BRA)
João Signorini (BRA)
Horacio Carabelli (BRA)
Roberto Bermudez (ESP)
Stuart Wilson (NZ)
Marcelo Ferreira (BRA)

Ericsson Racing Team
John Kostecki (USA) – Skipper
Steve Hayles (GBR) – Navigator
Neal McDonald (GBR)
Damien Foxall (IRL)
David Rolfe (NZ)
Guillermo Altadill (ESP)
Magnus Woxen (SWE)
Richard Mason (NZ)
Ross Halcrow (NZ)
Timothy Powell (GBR)

movistar
Bouwe Bekking (NED) – Skipper
Andrew Cape (AUS) – Navigator
Chris Nicholson (AUS)
Jonathan Swain (USA)
Mike Joubert (RSA)
Mike Howard (USA)
Pepe Ribes (ESP)
Peter Doriean (AUS)
Stu Bannatyne (NZ)
Fernando Echavarri (ESP)

Pirates of the Caribbean
Paul Cayard (USA) – Skipper
Jules Salter (GBR) – Navigator
Craig Satterthwaite (NZ)
Jerry Kirby (USA)
Erle Williams (NZ)
Anthony Merrington (AUS)
Justin Clougher (AUS)
Justin Ferris (NZ)
Ian Budgen (GBR)
Dirk de Ridder (NED)

Mainsail Handling

Since the development of the headsail handling system the mainsail has become easier to use than ever. Both the main and the genoa can be deployed and handled with safety and confidence from the cockpit. Whether it’s the ease of hoist or the convenience of storage, two mainsail handling products come to mind: the Harken Battcar System and the Forespar Leisure Furl and Coastal in-boom furlers.

If it’s raising and lowering the sail that is giving you fits I urge you to check out the Battcar systems from Harken. Used in conjunction with Harken’s Lazy Jacks, this product makes handling the main much easier. With an anodized track installed on the mast, the Battcars travel up and down with relative ease. The mainsail is attached to Battcars that either ride on captive bearings or a low friction plastic insert, depending on which cars are selected for your project. The Battcar is adapted nicely to the full battens of the modern mainsail. Typical of Harken, the fit and finish are great. View this product at shop.torresen.com

For a more elaborate mainsail handling system with the latest developments in storage check out the “in-boom” furling main. As with the roller furling genoa, the main can be rolled onto a mandrel that retracts the sail into the boom. Full battens are easily rolled in-line with the boom. A sail cover is incorporated in the boom itself and merely slides forward covering the stored sail with a tug of a line. This system works well and allows reefing of the main safely from the cockpit. Boom retrofit projects like this are becoming more popular and even stock items on a handful of new boats. Check out this product at shop.torresen.com.

With these two new products, sailing a balanced boat with both main and genoa has become more convenient and safer for short-handed crews. For more information or an estimate on either of these systems contact John at the Torresen Marine Service Department.

Motherly Advice Dictates, “Make Sure You Have A Spare Pair of…

…filters, or belts, or zincs. “You never know when you may need them.”

If your mother was/is anything like mine, you have heard the importance of preparedness…repeatedly. And I concede, she is right. You never know what the future will bring, making preparation a necessity. Like that spare pair of johns in the glove box waiting for misfortune, spare engines parts can save you from an embarrassing situation.
The Torresen Marine staff has taken countless calls from stranded sailors in need of engine spare parts. At times those calls are for major engine components that have failed unexpectedly, not common spares. But, often times the customer will require a belt, or an impeller, or any number of engine parts that are considered a general maintenance spare. Although we love to provide the ailing sailor with these maintenance parts, it is easier and less stressful for both parties when preparation is attended to ahead of time. The customer is, therefore, not at the mercy of the marina’s stock or shipping time frames and costs.
A fantastic way to carry spares is via the purchase of a spare parts kit. Generally there are two parts kit variations, a minor and major. Anyone looking at an extended cruise should carry a major kit. The remaining vessels should carry the minor. The lists below give a general idea of what the kits contain.

Minor/ “A” Sized Parts Kits

 Oil Filter
 Fuel Filter
 Air Filter
 V-Belt/s
 Zinc
 Impeller & Gasket

Major / “B” Sized Parts Kits

 The Minor / “A” Kit plus
 Water Pump Assembly
 Injector
 Service Manual

Yanmar, Universal and Westerbeke all provide variations on these pre-packaged spares to accommodate your needs. Volvo engines also offer a variety of spare kits. Torresen Marine carries a full line of spare parts kits and general spares for each of the aforementioned manufacturers. To view and purchase parts and spares please visit Marine Diesel Direct or via telephone at 231-759-8596.

Beyond the Engine

Believe it or not, spring is right around the corner and with it comes the start of the 2006 sailing season. It won’t be long until you can feel the wind in the sails and the water rushing past as you trim in for your first outing of the year. In an ideal world we would spend all of our time sailing from one destination to the next, but unfortunately that is not always the case. More times than we would like, we end up using our auxiliary means of propulsion, more commonly known as our engine.

Moving while under power can be quite noisy and causes a fair bit of vibration. This vibration, while normal, is sometimes exaggerated by components of your drive train becoming worn out or misaligned. Before your boat goes into the water is the best time to inspect all of the elements of this system to ensure smooth operation of your sailboat while under power.

The first item we come to on our inspection underneath the boat is the propeller. The prop should be smooth and look completely symmetrical from one blade to the next. The slightest damage or imperfection to the prop can cause serious vibrations to occur while under power. Inspect the point where your shaft enters the prop, there should be absolutely no visible gap here whatsoever. If you can see any daylight, the prop is improperly mounted. Check to see that both nuts are tight and that there is a cotter pin in the end of the shaft. If you have a folding propeller, the blades should be tight in the hub and there should be very little play in the blades when they are open or closed.

The next step up the shaft is the propeller strut. The strut is able to hold the shaft in place but still allows it to rotate by means of a cutless bearing. This cutless bearing is a brass sleeve with a rubber liner inside of it. The brass sleeve is pressed in place in the strut and is usually held in place with setscrews. The rubber liner is what acts as the bearing for the shaft and it stays lubricated simply by the water it is submerged in. Although these bearings usually last quite some time, they will eventually wear out. Inspect the bearing from both ends and look for signs of wear. It is especially important to look for signs of uneven wear. Uneven wear can signify the need for bearing replacement as well as give you a clue about potential engine alignment problems, which we will discuss later in this article. Wiggle the shaft back and forth and see if there is any slop between the shaft and the bearing. This should be quite snug and any motion should be a cause for concern. If a cutless bearing fails, the rubber can become detached from the brass and fold over inside the bearing and cause serious problems. Inspect this area carefully and replace if needed. Do NOT oil this bearing.

The last inspection to be done outside of the boat is to the shaft itself. Grab the propeller and rotate it while closely watching the shaft where it exits the hull. There should be no sideways motion whatsoever. Any motion up and down can mean a bent shaft or potentially a shaft-coupling problem. Also look and see if the shaft exits the boat in the middle of the tube. If not, this could also be a clue to a potential alignment problem.

The first point of contact for the propeller shaft inside the boat is the stuffing box. The job of the stuffing box is to keep the water out of the boat while still letting the shaft rotate freely. The conventional stuffing box consists of a brass nut containing flax packing. By tightening this nut, the flax packing is compressed against the shaft and water is sealed out. When the packing is new, very little pressure is required to make this water seal. As the packing ages and dries out, more force is required on the packing to create this seal. This increased pressure over time can eventually get to the point were it will begin wearing grooves into the shaft. These grooves will in turn allow more water in, which requires the nut to be tightened more. This cycle can cause premature shaft wear as well as allowing unwanted seawater into your boat. If you have never replaced your packing, assume that it needs it. It is quite a simple procedure and can be done without too much difficulty.

The next step for your shaft is the coupling. This is the round T shaped piece that connects the shaft to the output shaft of your engine. It is very important that the shaft fits perfectly into the coupling. There should be absolutely no movement at all between these two components. If you can wiggle the two independently from each other at all, you need to have it corrected. This usually means replacement of either the shaft or coupling which is major, but crucial. This problem is one of the most common causes of excessive vibration and if this fit wears excessively it can cause the key and/or the setscrews to shear which can cause you to lose all drive to the shaft. If this failure were to occur while in reverse, it is possible that the shaft could even back itself out of the boat leaving you with a large hole in the boat as well as no forward or reverse. This fit is best checked with the coupling separated from the output flange of the engine and is most commonly done while alignment is being checked.

The shaft coupling is bolted to the output flange on the engine. It is important that these two mating surfaces are perfectly aligned with one another. Alignment is checked by first separating the shaft coupling from the output flange on the engine. The shaft is then positioned in the center of the tube where it exits the hull. These two surfaces are then inspected for alignment. If the two surfaces do not align perfectly with one another, the engine then must be repositioned until it is aligned with the coupler. This repositioning is done by adjustments that are performed with the motor mounts. These adjustments can move each corner of the engine up or down as well as side to side.

Motor mount breakdown is one of the biggest causes of engine misalignment and can dramatically increase vibration while under way. Inspect the mounts and look for any signs of them breaking down. The rubber on the mounts should appear firm with no cracks or tears. Keep them clean and free of diesel fuel or engine oil, as these products can break down the rubber. Motor mounts break down over time and will eventually need replacement. If you’ve never checked your mounts, now’s the time.

If you have any questions concerning any of the above information, please feel free to contact our service department at 231-759-8597 or send an e-mail to Brian Torresen. Torresen Marine also has expert mechanics on staff that are trained in the maintenance and repair of your boat’s entire drive train. Our mechanics are also available to assist you with inspections and repairs before your boat gets launched.

Whether you have a vibration problem or not, these are all items that should be checked in order to keep your drive train in proper operating condition. A little routine maintenance now can help keep your boat powering smoothly and help prevent expensive yard bills down the road.

The Rap On Halyard Wrap

In our March article about headsail handling we unraveled some of the history of the furling system. This article pertains to the issue of “halyard wrap”, a common problem that we are finding on many installed systems and addressing on every furler that we install. When a system is installed it isn’t complete until the sail has been fit. At this time the angle of the headstay and the genoa halyard can be inspected.

In a wrap situation the tendency is for the upper half of the swivel to spin with the rest of the sail causing the halyard to wrap around the furler foil. More seriously, if this occurs repeatedly or if the furling line is forced by using a winch, the headstay itself may sustain enough damage to fail completely. Using a winch to operate a furling system falls seriously into the “don’t” category. Seasonal maintenance should include a rig inspection by a professional. Specifically, inspecting the headstay for damage or wear is recommended.

Should your halyard become wrapped try to release it by alternately pulling on the sheets and furling line. If the wrap still persists, inevitably someone may have to go aloft to unwrap the halyard.

There are two solutions most commonly used prevent this problem depending upon the relationship between the sheave and headstay. The first is to install a halyard diverter. This device is installed on boats where the sheave is to close to the headstay. The diverter is mounted on the mast below the genoa halyard exit thus increasing the angle of the halyard. Likewise when the sheave is low enough a pennant can be installed at the top of the sail. This raises the halyard swivel up to the sheave box thus keeping the halyard from wrapping.

It should be noted that different headsails have different luff lengths and may or may not work with the system without the necessary modifications. Whatever the scenario, contact Torresen Marine’s service department to arrange a consultation and schedule a sail fit to ensure a proper installation. This will be good insurance that when you are spending valuable time enjoying your boat you won’t be hassled with a stubborn furler.

Why Use A Surveyor?

An aspect of boat buying and selling that comes up during most boat deals is having a current boat survey. Just as it is smart to have a home appraised before you buy, having your new/used boat inspected is a handy tool. It is a must when financing or insurance is required. Torresen Marine Sailboat Brokers have good working relationships with several surveyors in the area.

The surveyor will help you fine tune the value of the boat, note needed repairs, determine which deficiencies should have priority in repairing, and what conditions might be common in that style and age of boat.

The prepurchase condition and valuation survey is what prospective buyers normally order, usually as a condition of the sale. All accessible areas of the boat and marine systems will be inspected, including hull, deck, propulsion systems, electrical, plumbing, and navigation systems. A comprehensive written report and an appraisal of the fair market value of the boat will be provided. The cost of a survey is generally in the $12.00 to $14.00 per lineal foot range. Corrosion analysis, spectrometric oil analysis, or sea trials will have an additional charge.

More and more frequently we find that well prepared sellers are offering a current survey, from a qualified surveyor, to assist the buyer when he is making his selection. This survey may satisfy your lender and insurer but this will depend on how current the survey is. Check this out ahead of time to see what they might require.

Contact the Torresen Marine Brokerage Department for a list of surveyors near you. We can assist in setting up the survey arrangements, schedule the haul out/launch and assist in any concerns that may arise.

Hard Starting Engine

To have an engine, gas or diesel, start easily and consistently requires that many things must be in order. Some things will be peculiar to either gas or diesel but most requirements are common to both. Many of the essential needs are interdependent; for example, compression and cranking speed. Both must be within tolerance but as compression decreases, cranking speed will increase – all other things remaining unchanged.

Adequate compression is needed. Compression is the term used when air is taken into a cylinder (intake stroke) and then the piston is pushed into the cylinder (compression stroke) reducing the volume of the combustion chamber and compressing the contents of the cylinder. When starting, the starter motor provides the force required for the compression. As the pressure within the cylinder increases, the air being compressed leaks out a little. The higher the compression, the faster the leak and the slower the cranking the more time for the leak to persist. The internal condition in the engine contributes to the speed of the leak. Bad rings or valves can contribute greatly to poor compression. Low cranking speed can give the same results.

Compression test results are expressed as “pounds per square inch” (PSI). The readings should be close to the same across all cylinders. Gasoline engines should have compression readings between 90 and 120 PSI and diesel engine pressures will range from 340 to 475 PSI. Diesel compression is much harder to measure and requires better measuring equipment.

Low compression with proper cranking speed requires that the engine be repaired. Sometimes that repair is as simple as adjusting the valves or doing a valve job. More often in engines with higher running hours new piston rings will be required, i.e.; a major overhaul.

If compression is low because the cranking speed is low, there are a lot of things that must be checked and corrected to crank faster.
1- The starter motor must be in good shape. There are bearings, brushes and electrical components that age or wear over time, resulting in diminished cranking speed.
2- The batteries must be adequately rated and in good condition.
3- All related wires and cables must be in good condition with all the connections clean and properly tightened. Voltage can drop dramatically if a connection is oxidized, even if the retainer appears to be tightened firmly. The wiring and connections to the starter switch and dash panel must also be good.
4- The grounding of the starter to the engine block must be clean and tight.
5- The starter motor solenoid must pull in solidly and have clean internal contacts.
6- The engine lubricating oil should not be overly viscous.

The fuel must be relatively fresh, of the proper Cetane or Octane and free of water or additives.

Gasoline engines must have:
1- Properly operating choke.
2- Good spark plugs of the proper heat range.
3- Good low voltage components. (Points, distributor cap, rotor, condenser and wiring)
4- Good high voltage wiring and components. (Plug wires and coil)
5- The carburetor must be clean and properly adjusted.
6- The ignition timing must be to spec.

Diesel engines must have:
1- A good injector pump.
2- Good injectors.
3- The injection timing must be to spec.
4- Good glow plugs or manifold heaters – where installed.
5- Good preheating actuators and wiring.
All the above (and probably more) should be checked and discrepancies corrected. One or more items could contribute and fixing just one might improve starting, but not make it the best possible.

Volvo Race Portal a Roaring Success

March 30, 2006, Portsmouth, England - The Volvo Ocean Race mobile portal, a unique collaboration between Ericsson and the race organisers which enables fans to follow the drama of the event on their mobile phones has attracted huge audiences.

The portal, which enables enthusiasts across the world to experience and participate in the Volvo Ocean Race via their handsets has to date recorded over a quarter of a million page downloads just on mobile phones.

From the Ericsson-hosted Volvo Ocean Race mobile portal, consumers can enjoy daily news and results as the fleet makes its 31,500 nautical mile journey around the world, as well as videos, games, wallpapers, and images to enrich the consumer experience of the race. Operators who offer consumers this service include Bite Lithuania, EMT Estonia, Telefónica Móviles Argentina, Telefónica Móviles México, Telfort, Holland, TeliaSonera on their mobile internet portal SurfPort in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Lithuania, TMN Portugal and Vodacom South Africa. Latest operator to launch is Vodafone in Portugal where the Volvo Ocean Race portal will be positioned and integrated into the Vodafone live! portal.

Glenn Bourke, CEO, Volvo Ocean Race, says: “For the first time in the history of the Volvo Ocean Race, people are part of the race 24 hours a day via their mobile phones, getting the true feeling of the race. The portal gives consumers immediate access to experience the race on their own terms.”

The Volvo Ocean Race mobile portal is now available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. On average every day people are reading over 20,000 pages of mobile content race information including over 6000 downloads a day of a variety of content including video clips, audio interviews, mobile phone sailing games and sailing wallpapers. A further 3,000 core sailing mobile enthusiasts are receiving SMS news alerts whenever a story breaks.

Johan Bergendahl, Vice President, Marketing, Ericsson, says: “Ericsson is establishing a mobile channel business for media companies, by hosting brands to the market directly to consumers and also via mobile operator portals. We enable media companies to set up business relations with operators and act as both a reseller and a service and solution provider of mobilized content”.

The portal is integrated and hosted by Ericsson under a managed services agreement and operators can quickly introduce the Volvo Ocean Race service under their own brands. The portal can be part of operators’ existing portals or used as a stand-alone service.

Commodores' Cup Challenges Gain Momentum

Three months out from the start of the Rolex Commodores' Cup 2006, regatta organiser Royal Ocean Racing Club, is predicting a strong line up. In 2004, 11 teams took to the water, with England Red overcoming the Irish on the last day to win this Solent-based international competition.

David Aisher, newly elected Commodore of the RORC, is delighted with the prospects for this summer. "We hope to have at least eleven teams representing the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Ireland. There is also a strong possibility of one or two more attending". Given that the French are looking at adding a fourth team, the Irish a third and the Dutch a second to their existing line-ups, eleven may be conservative. Over and above these traditional entrants, there is also a good chance of an 'Eastern European' team with a mix of Russian and Polish boats. There is even a possibility of teams from both Malta and Italy, and discussions are taking place with the U.S., which has recently started using the international IRC rule. They have not competed in the event since 1996.

The Irish set their stall out early with their first team announced in September 2005. Colm Barrington has a Ker 50 Magic Glove building in South Africa, to replace his successful Flying Glove. Conor & Denise Phelan have a brand new Ker 37 also under construction. Whilst Anthony O'Leary will bring his Corby 35, Antix, which won the ultra competitive Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale in 2005 along with second overall (behind Colm Barrington's Flying Glove) at the MeesPierson IRC Nationals. In February a second team was confirmed, including Tim Costello's Mills 40 Tiamat, which had success at both the Bell Lawrie Scottish Week and Skandia Cowes Week in 2005; Eamonn Rohan has recently commissioned a Corby 37 Blondie as the team's Class 2 boat and Andrew Allen's/Colm Monahan's J 109 No Naked Flames will be in Class 3. Following their disappointment in 2004, the Irish enthusiasm - for a trophy they have never won - shows no sign of waning with rumours of a third team planning to cross the Irish Sea.

The RYA have announced their plans for the selection process which will include both inshore and offshore trials for the GBR teams with the intention of announcing teams towards the end of May. The GBR teams are likely to include one Scottish team.

The French are no newcomers and with victory in 2002, Gery Trentesaux knows exactly what is required to win the trophy. "The key to success is patience and a week-long strategy that recognises the importance of both the inshore and offshore components," commented Trentesaux who will bring his new Beneteau 44.7 Courrier du couer as one of the big boats. "And, naturally some luck as well", he adds. The French had two teams in 2002, three in 2004 and now hope to put together a fourth. "It is rewarding to see such strong French interest in this top level competition," explains Trentesaux.

RORC is particularly pleased that its efforts to attract an Eastern European crew in 2004 were not in vain. Serguei Kotsiouba's IMX 45, Follow Me, flew the Russian flag for Team Europe last time around. For this year hopes are high that two Russian boats will form a team with a boat from Poland. The Russian boats are Misha Mouratov's Swan 45. Murka, already a familiar sight on the Solent and Sergey Bryuzga's Sinergia 40, Juga, which was a regular on the Baltic circuit in 2005. "There are more and more eastern European yachts participating in our events in the UK as well in regattas in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in the world. Helping them get involved in international events such as the Rolex Commodores Cup will only help the sport to grow back in their own countries. For this reason we have no hesitation in assisting these people put competitive teams together," explains David Aisher.

The Rolex Commodores' Cup will be held off Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 25th June to 2nd July 2006. Entries close on Monday 22nd May.

Skippers' Plan Insures Spirit of Canada is Winner

Robertson & Robertson Insurance joins Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges as a Silver Partner. Just like thousands of boats in Ontario, Spirit of Canada is insured by Robertson and Robertson's "Skipper's Plan".

About Robertson & Roberson "Skippers' Plan"

Robertson & Robertson has the highest level of qualified professionals and have been providing advice and insuring boats in Ontario for over 40 years. Their knowledge of the marine insurance environment ensures that clients obtain the coverage that fits their needs. With their pledge to make their clients' best interests their own, always act with integrity, value people before profits, and honour their commitments, they are well suited to team with Spirit of Canada

Robertson and Robertson focuses on making their clients' contact with the marine insurance industry simple and positive. They provide the best professionally administered yacht insurance in Ontario.

Ellen's Team Scores Hat Trick

At London’s Grosvenor House hotel last night, the support team behind Ellen’s MacArthur’s Offshore Challenges Sailing Team had their efforts rewarded at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards as they walked away with three top awards. The Awards recognise the very best and most effective sponsorship campaigns for the year.

This recognition by the sponsorship industry of Ellen’s team could not be more timely as the commercial team are currently negotiating for a new title sponsor for Ellen’s ongoing sailing plans: “As we head into the next phase of our project which will see the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team return to the competitive world of IMOCA Open 60 monohull racing, we are looking forward to progressing this project with a brand new title sponsor and so this comes as a great boost to the team in recognition of what we have achieved so far on land as well as at sea,” said Ellen MacArthur.

The Offshore Challenges Sailing Team won both the Sports Sponsorship Award and the ESA International Sponsorship Awards against some strong contenders. In the Sports Sponsorship Award category sponsored by Aura Sports, they came up against npower Ashes Test Series 2005, John Smith’s Grand National, CIS Insurance Cups and Brain’s sponsorship of the Welsh Rugby team. But the B&Q title-sponsored campaign that culminated in MacArthur setting a new world record for a solo circumnavigation, won out.

In the ESA International Sponsorship Award, one of the most hotly-contested awards, the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team nomination came out on top against BP Explorer (sailing), Chang Beer Everton Football Club and the Nikon European Golf Challenge.

Then on top of these two winning awards, the team were to receive one further accolade and clinched the best Overall Sponsorship for 2006. This is not the first time the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team and their title sponsors have been recognised by the judges of the Hollis Sponsorship Awards, having been the recipient of four other awards in the past.

Ellen’s triumphant return after 71 days at sea sparked off a round of plaudits from industry insiders: “The branding and positioning of signage has been outstanding and work with the media has also been cleverly planned and skilfully managed. The whole package added up to one of the most successful marketing communications campaigns in recent memory,” Nigel Currie, chairman of the European Sponsorship Association [extract taken from Nigel Currie’s Media Comment column in Marketing Week].

“It was a flattering position for the company to be in,” commented Mark Turner, CEO OC Group, “and it was great for the team behind the scenes to get the recognition they deserved. Although as far as they were concerned they were just doing their job – communicating the project to the widest possible audience and ensuring that the sponsors get the best return possible.”

The unprecedented media coverage surrounding Ellen’s return in February 2005 both in the UK and overseas, turned it into one of the biggest sailing stories in history. It was front-page news on every national UK newspaper and was covered ‘live’ by both the BBC and ITN. An estimated 50+ hours of coverage was achieved in the UK during the record attempt reaching an audience of over 100 million viewers (UK and worldwide via BBC World and Sky). IPSOS confirmed that Ellen’s awareness in the UK was 77% (very few mainstream public figures match these awareness levels) and spontaneous awareness of B&Q’s association with Ellen stood at 57% (one of the highest figures ever seen by IPSOS). The ESA International Sponsorship Award recognised the campaign’s diversity in presenting a dual-branded project for B&Q in the UK and its French DIY counterpart Castorama across Europe – two sponsorships for the price of one! The 75ft trimaran was branded B&Q one side and Castorama the other, and the entire communications programme was two-fold targeting the relevant countries with the appropriate brands. In France, Ellen’s awareness was recorded at 68% and has maintained these high levels since the year 2001 when she finished second in the non-stop solo Vendée Globe race. Very few athletes reach these levels of awareness and even fewer in more than one country.

US Sailing Announces 2006 Championships

Portsmouth, R.I. (March 28, 2006) - US SAILING, national governing body of the sport, has determined its 2006 schedule for Adult and Youth National Championships. The 17 events, which begin in March and continue through November, will be hosted by different sailing organizations across the country and raced in a wide range of classes of boats. Continuing the event series' tradition, many of US SAILING's National Championships are being raced in different classes of boats each year. Most of the events also provide advanced racing clinics for the competitors.

While some participants are selected by their sailing resume, the course to the majority of Championships is either open or based on a ladder structure that begins at the local club level and progresses to regional finals before reaching the National Championship.

Since the first US SAILING Championship Trophy was first awarded in 1930, more than tens of thousands of sailors have competed in a U.S. Championship, either at the national level or at the local qualifying level. Many of the Championships' winners have gone on to compete at the highest levels: winning Olympic medals and world championship titles, being named US SAILING Rolex Yachtsmen and Yachtswomen of the Year, and much more.

BMW Racing Launches USA 87 in Style

Valencia, Spain. BMW ORACLE Racing celebrated three major milestones in Valencia, Spain today with the official naming of their first new generation yacht, the official opening of the team base and the launch of an extensive merchandise collection.

More than 500 guests and 150 international media gathered at the impressive new base to watch as Sue Dickson, wife of BMW ORACLE Racing skipper and CEO, Chris Dickson, broke the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow of USA-87.

“This is a great moment and milestone for our team,” Chris Dickson said. “A boat christening is always a moving event – for every designer and boatbuilder, for every sailor, for all of us who have the privilege to take part in such a magnificent campaign.

“USA 87 is the result of 1,000 hours of full-scale two-boat testing and 30,000 man hours invested by our boatbuilding team.

“Over the coming days and weeks, the challenge will be to tap the yacht’s full potential.” Dickson thanked the BMW ORACLE Racing design team headed by Ian Burns, the BMW contribution of automotive engineering know-how, the boatbuilding team managed by Mark Turner, Tim Smyth and Mark Somerville, and the sailing team who will now be testing the boat to develop its full potential.

Extremely strong and lightweight, the two-ton carbon fiber hull of USA 87 was constructed in the American coastal town of Anacortes, Washington. At the end of February, the “Made in USA” hull traveled from Seattle to Valencia in a spectacular manner – 8,900 km aboard a Russian Antonov cargo plane with support from DHL Global Forwarding.

The christening of the new race yacht was the centerpiece of a spectacular evening of celebrations, which took place at the new BMW ORACLE Racing team base in Valencia. The base covers 5,600sq meters over three floors and features world-class hospitality for team VIP guests, a public interactive centre, a gymnasium and team facilities for running a two-boat America’s Cup program.

“We designed a base that would encompass a wide range of our team requirements under one roof,” said Chris Dickson. “The first priority was to provide the most efficient sailing operations possible.

“At the same time, we wanted to design a space that would offer our guests a memorable world-class hospitality experience set amidst an authentic sailing environment. Our base is our home in Valencia and we will open our doors daily to the Valencia community with a public interactive and merchandise area.”

The base architecture and design reflects the team’s technology-driven campaign. The team commissioned noted German interior designer Volker Bender of Kaiserslautern, Germany, who also designed and produced most of the VIP interior and the public area furniture. Italian design label Tecno supplied all of the office furniture used throughout the base.

“Our program will be closer to what guests experience in Formula One than to what has been seen before in the America’s Cup,” said Mirko Groeschner, Marketing Director, BMW ORACLE Racing. “The crucial point is to entertain a significant number of guests at once and yet give each of them a very unique and special America’s Cup experience. We believe this base design concept achieves this goal.”

One of the highlights of the evening was the launch of the team lifestyle collection. Team members and models presented the range consisting of more than 28 separate items in a catwalk style fashion show.

In cooperation with BMW, the new collection was developed by world renowned marine clothing specialist, Henri Lloyd, who are Technology Partner for BMW ORACLE Racing.

State-of-the-art technology, professionalism, innovation, quality – these characteristics, which are associated with the BMW ORACLE Racing Team, are also reflected by the new merchandise range of clothing and accessories. The collection is inspired by the team kit worn onboard and the same attention to detail has been applied, incorporating premium quality fabrics, such as GORE-TEX®, Scheoller® Soft Shell Technology and Windstopper® materials, which are used to produce the most technically advanced performance clothing for one design racing.

However, fabrics such as classic cotton, jersey and polyester have not ceased to appeal to the classic on shore clothing items, which include a men’s, ladies, unisex and kids range.

First Day a Treat - Rolex Regatta

St. Thomas, USVI (March 24, 2006)--After last night's rousing welcome party, complete with Carnival dancers and a reggae band, the St. Thomas Yacht Club today kicked off the on-water action at the 33rd International Rolex Regatta with a packed morning and afternoon of course racing. Hundreds of sailors competed aboard 92 boats, ranging in size from 24 to 72 feet, while a brisk 12-16 knot breeze under notoriously blue Caribbean skies kept the competition tight and the action non-stop.

The conditions were perfect.just paradise," said Martin Jacobson of Greenwich, Conn., owner of the Swan 44 Crescendo, which leads the Spinnaker Racing Cruising class after posting three victories in as many races today. "We liked having the three races with shorter legs of about 1.5 miles each. We got better as a team throughout the day." Jacobson is one of 22 owners on the entry roster representing the U.S. mainland. It is his first International Rolex Regatta, and he is acutely aware that a Rolex watch is at stake for each winner in the eight classes. "Tomorrow could be different," he said, referring to a planned distance race to Charlotte Amalie Harbor, followed by a race back to the yacht club. "We have 15 boats in our class, and it's a strong class competition-wise."

Also showing strong are Spinnaker Racing classes 1 and 2 and their respective leaders Danilo Salsi of Milan, Italy, aboard the Frers 45 Dsk Comifin, and Robert Armstrong of St. Croix, aboard the J/100 Expensive Habit. Both skippers won all three of their races today, Armstrong with the help of 2004 J/24 World Champion Jens Hookansen, who grew up in St. Croix but now resides in Middletown, R.I.

Amazing growth in the local IC-24 class translated into 19 boats competing today, and close competition was reflected by the scores after five races. Local sailor Christopher Curreri's Brand New Second Hand leads with 24 points overall, followed by fellow St. Thomian Chris Rosenberg with 27 points and defending champion Robby Hirst of Road Town, BVI, also with 27. Aboard Curreri's boat is local Ben Beer, a veteran world racer at age 33, who has sailed the last several Rolex regattas aboard the 75-footer Titan 12. "Titan couldn't be here this year, so I decided to come back and do something really fun. Not that sailing on big boats isn't fun, but these are my home waters, and IC-24 racing is just different.it makes sailing new again for me." Curreri and Beer are joined by Lee Icyda of Stuart, Fla., another well-known sailor who is trying something different. "This is what happens when you sail all over the world--you meet people and get asked to do cool things like this," said Icyda, who is an Yngling World Champion and is campaigning the Olympic-class boat for Beijing in 2008.
The U.S. Virgin Islands are represented by 30 entries and Puerto Rico by 22. The balance of the fleet comes from the British Virgin Islands (7), Antigua (2), St. Martin (2), Canada (1), Belgium (3), Ireland (2), Italy and the UK (1 each).

Live results by Interactive Creations (www.yachtscoring.com) are posted on www.rolexcupregatta.com, where hometown rosters, nightly reports and photos also can be found. Daily video coverage will be available on demand by 9 p.m. each night at www.t2p.tv or by clicking on the related icon on the regatta web site.

Rolex also is the title sponsor for the Rolex Antigua Sailing Week, due for its 39th running from Sunday, April 30, through Saturday, May 6, 2006.

Place, Yacht Name, Type, Owner's Name, Origin, Results, Total Points

CSA 24 Spinnaker (CSA - 8 Boats)

1. Urayo, J24 24, Gilberto Rivera, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 1, 1, 1, 1, 2; 6
2. KQ-LO, J24 24, Carlos Sierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 3, 3, 3, 4, 1; 14
3. Compinche, J24 24, Gerardo Fernandez, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 2, 2, 4, 2, 4; 14

IC 24 One Design (One Design - 19 Boats)

1. Brand New Second Hand, IC24 24, Christopher Curreri, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 1, 4, 2, 9, 8; 24
2. Bambooshay, IC24 24, Christian F. Rosenberg, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 17, 5, 3, 1, 1; 27
3. Sea Hawk, IC24 24, Robby Hirst, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 2, 16, 1, 5, 3; 27

Spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 7 Boats)

1. Dsk Comifin, Frers 45, Danilo Salsi, Milan, ITA - 1, 1, 1; 3
2. Devocean, Swan 45 45, Steve Devoe, Stamford, CT, USA - 3, 2, 2; 7
3. Privateer, Swan 48 Cr 48, Ron O'hanley, Ipswitch, MA, USA - 4, 3, 3; 10

Spinnaker Racing 2 (CSA - 16 Boats)

1. Expensive Habit, J100 33, Robert Armstrong, Gallos Bay, St. Croix, BVI - 1, 1, 1; 3
2. Lost Horizon II, Olson 30 30, James Dobbs, Antigua - 2, 2, 4; 8
3. Ghost, Etchells 30, David L. Flaherty, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 5, 4, 2; 11

Non-Spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 12 Boats)

1. Three Harkoms, Beneteau 44, Christopher Lloyd, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 1; 1
2. Wildflower, Sabre 402 40, Ron Noonan, St. Thomas, USVI, USA - 2; 2
3. Acadia, Cat Ketch 48, Burt Keenan, New Orleans, LA, USA - 3; 3

Non-Spinnaker Racing 2 (CSA - 7 Boats)

1. Poco A Poco - Preferred Health, Pearson Flyer 30 30, Agustin A. Rodrigues, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, USA - 1; 1
2. Cayennita, Soverel 27, Elle & Tony Sanpere, Christiansted, USVI, USA - 2; 2
3. Eolo, J30 30, Jose Medina, Puerto Real, P.R., USA - 3; 3

Spinnaker Racing Cruising (CSA - 15 Boats)

1. Crescendo, Swan 44, Martin Jacobson, Greenwich, CT, USA - 1, 1, 1; 3
2. Lazy Dog, Beneteau 40.7 40, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 4, 3, 3; 10
3. Pipedream, Sirena 38, Peter Haycraft, Road Town, Tortola, BVI - 3, 2, 5; 10

Beach Cats (Portsmouth - 10 Boats)

1. Suzuki / Red Bull, Hobie Cat 16 16, Enrique Figueroa, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA - 1, 2, 1; 4
2. Doctor Lightning, Hobie Cat 16 16, Jorge Torres, Caguas, P.R., USA - 4, 3, 3; 10
3. Exodus, Hobie Cat 16 16, Keki Figueroa, San Juan, P.R., USA - 2, 1, 7; 10

Seamless Win for ABN Amro One

March 25, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – ABN AMRO ONE sailed a faultless race out on Guanabara Bay to win the fourth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 in front of a fleet of 1100 spectator boats.

Skipper Mike Sanderson and his crew took an early lead in the race and crossed the finish line just under two and half hours later to beat second placed movistar by a little over two minutes.

A delighted Sanderson said: “The boat was immaculately prepared for today’s race and the guys onboard did a great job – it was just magic and I was lucky to be holding the wheel.”

He continued: “We didn’t put a foot wrong. We started well and did not get overtaken by a single boat the whole way through the race. It is one of the best days yachting that we have had on this boat.”

During the race all five of the other boats held second place at some stage and the points were extremely hard fought. After plenty of jostling, movistar went on to take second place and after facing a race against time to repair the boat after leg four, movistar skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED) was content to settle with this.

“I am quite happy about our result” said Bekking, who continued by saying:

“You always race for first but today second feels good. ABN AMRO ONE sailed a superb race and deserved to win. We manoeuvred the boat well around the course but ABN AMRO ONE had slightly more speed upwind. It couldn’t have been a better day out on the bay and it was great to see all the spectator boats out to watch the race.”

Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean looked set to take second place at one point until a boat handling error saw them drop down the fleet.

Cayard explained: “We had a snowballing effect at mark four. We gybed too soon and we missed the lay-line to the mark, which was the first problem and then we had to do two quick manoeuvres, two gybes and a spinnaker drop, which wasn’t the end of the world, but when we gybed the jib got wrapped around the headstay and then it got snagged, so even after we unwrapped it we had to drop it.”

For the team onboard The Pirates the day got worse as they took the wrong side of the downwind leg and dropped back to sixth place overall.

Cayard concluded: “It was a tough day and it happens. It is not pleasant to go through but you have to keep your chin up and keep going. In the big scheme of things it’s just a minor set back as we still have a good team, we still have a good boat and everything was going great for first couple of legs and we were racing well. ABN AMRO ONE is just simply faster. We have the capability to race well and we just have to get back on it next Sunday.”

With the points being so sought after a couple of the teams were a bit over zealous at some of the mark roundings. At the first mark local hero’s Brasil 1 were penalised by the on-water umpires with a one turn penalty after infringing a racing rule and tacking within two boat lengths of the mark.

Grael commented: “I think we got a bit too close at the first mark, it probably was a good call from the umpire but I have not seen any video yet so can not judge. When I tacked I thought we were below the other boats line but it was quite marginal so a penalty was understandable. We were pushing hard as we wanted to get a good result and I probably ended up being too anxious.”

Skipper Sebastien Josse (FRA) on ABN AMRO TWO also received a penalty when he touched the buoy at the penultimate mark rounding.

In the end the podium positions went to the boats that made the least errors, and after moving up from fourth place overall, it was Ericsson who took the final podium spot.

New skipper John Kostecki (USA) summed up the teams day: “The guys did a good job today. Our goal was to get a podium finish and we accomplished that so we are all quite happy. We had an okay start, it wasn’t as good as we hoped and we felt we gave the rest of the fleet a little advantage, but we managed to recover nicely and the crew did a fabulous job. We minimised the mistakes and the other teams made more mistakes.”

He concluded: “It was a fun race. There was a lot of lead changing so it was exciting and you could feel the energy on all of the other boats and so it was a fabulous race. I would have to say it is probably the most fun in-port race to date.”

The teams returned to the dockside at the Marina da Gloria in front of a magnificent crowd of 19,000 spectators who cheered all of the boats home, and especially their local hero’s on Brasil 1.

The teams now have a week to prepare for the leg re-start which sees the boat leaving Rio on Sunday 2 April for the 5000 nautical mile journey to Baltimore.

In-port race results
1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 3.5 pts
2nd Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 3 pts
3rd Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 2.5 pts
4th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 2 pts
5th ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 1.5 pts
6th Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 1 pt

Current Leaderboard
1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 52.5 pts
2nd ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 36.5 pts
3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 31.5 pts
4th Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 31.0 pts
5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 28.5 pts
6th Ericsson Racing Team John Kostecki (USA) 23.5 pts

Fast Trip Downtown - Rolex Regatta

St. Thomas, USVI (March 25, 2006)--Most cruise ships stop in Charlotte Amalie to allow their guests some shopping downtown. But today, boatloads of sailors visiting the St. Thomas, USVI, waterfront capital had other reasons. It was the second day of racing at the 33rd annual International Rolex Regatta and the second year that host St. Thomas Yacht Club ran a spectator-friendly distance race from the east end of the island along its south side to Charlotte Amalie. After a finish and restart just inside the harbor, a reverse-direction race brought the fleet of 92 boats back home. Eight different classes of 24-80 foot boats enjoyed the spree, which was made more indulgent by 15-20 knot easterly winds. The wind direction made for mostly off-the-wind sailing on the way to town, though various turning marks lengthened the course and necessitated some upwind strategy. The race home switched to a mostly upwind battle against a 3-4 foot chop on top of big swells.

With finishes of 4-1, Martin Jacobson's (Greenwich, Conn.) Swan 44 Crescendo maintained its lead from yesterday in Spinnaker Racing Cruising class. "It was definitely interesting today," said crew member Tom Castiglione (Rowayton, Conn.), noting that his team didn't need a specified navigator on today's two distance races, which were 10 miles and 15 miles respectively. "We navigated by committee; you could just look around and see most everything you needed to."

The Beneteau 40.7 Lazy Dog, skippered by Sergio Sagramoso (San Juan, Puerto Rico), gave Crescendo a run for its money with a 2-2 in that class today, but his team sits six points behind the leader in second place. "We like the round-the-buoys racing of yesterday better, because it gives more chances for things to happen," said Sagramoso, who hopes tomorrow's planned long distance race in Pillsbury Sound will have enough upwind and downwind legs on its course to increase his chances of catching the leader.

Sagramoso's sentiment was somewhat shared by Jens Hookansen (Middletown, R.I.) aboard Robert Armstrong's (Gallos Bay, St. Croix) J/100 Expensive Habit. Although the boat holds onto its lead from yesterday, Hookansen maintained that it is faster upwind than downwind. "The boats with asymmetrical spinnakers just killed us today on the downwind legs," said Hookansen. "Tomorrow's race will be good for us only if we have some good upwind legs." A testament to Hookansen's theory was Expensive Habit's fifth-place finish in today's first race, followed by a victory in the second.

For another class leader, Danilo Salsi of Milan, Italy, today's race fit perfectly with his long-term racing plan. "This is group training for us," said Salsi, owner and skipper of the Frers 45 Dsk Comifin in Spinnaker Racing Class 1. "Usually in the Mediterranean, it is only windward-leeward course racing, so this is new for us. It is what we need." Dsk Comifin recently finished second at Acura Key West Race Week and travels next to compete in the BVI Spring Regatta, Rolex Antigua Sailing Week and the Newport to Bermuda Race. Traveling from Ghent, Belgium are four teams from the Arena Sailing Club, sailing in Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 2, where Cayennita, a Soverel 27 owned by Elle and Tony Sanpere (Christiansted, USVI) has moved into the lead. "We sail on the North Sea, and each year we choose one Caribbean regatta to sail in," said the club's spokesman Zeelmaekeus Rector. "In the evenings we are friends, but on the race course we are competitors against each other." Holding leads from yesterday are Three Harkoms, a Beneteau 44 skippered by Christopher Lloyd (Road Town, Tortola, BVI) in Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 1; Urayo, a J/24 skippered by Gilberto Rivera (San Juan, Puerto Rico) in CSA 24 Class; and Suzuki / Red Bull, a Hobie Cat 16 skippered by Enrique Figueroa (San Juan, Puerto Rico) in Beach Cats Class.
St. Thomian Chris Rosenberg took over the lead today in IC-24 class today aboard Bambooshay.

Ericsson Back on Podium

The Ericsson Racing Team finished third in the Rio de Janeiro in-port race, behind ABN Amro One and movistar. The team was joined by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, godmother of the Ericsson yacht, as onboard guest during the race.

The fourth in-port regatta of the Volvo Ocean Race started at 13.00 local time in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro (BRA). Conditions were perfect, with a southerly breeze of 12 knots building to 16 knots by the end of the afternoon.

This race was the first under American John Kostecki's leadership. Kostecki, also inshore tactician, commented: "It was a fun race with a lot of position changes. You could feel a lot of energy in all the boats; it was the most enjoyable out of all the in-port races so far."

A few seconds before the start of the race, Ericsson's keel got momentarily blocked - a late consequence of the lightning that struck the boat just before the arrival in Rio. "We didn't have such a good start because of this," commented Neal McDonald. "From then on we kept battling and fighting our way back."

Despite the late start, Ericsson had a good speed over the line. She benefited from fresh wind and good shifts, reaching the top mark close behind Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar, in fifth place. Brasil 1 rounded second after ABN Amro One, but had to perform a 360 degree penalty turn for obstructing the following boats. The six VO 70's headed downwind on the first of four windward-leeward legs. ABN Amro One led throughout the race, whilst positions amongst the rest of the fleet changed continuously.

Pirates of the Caribbean twisted its genoa at the beginning of the third beat, allowing Ericsson to pass and move into third. Next it was ABN Amro Two that was punished for touching the leeward mark on the final rounding. The team performed a 360 degree turn and from then on Ericsson covered the rest of the fleet and held onto third place. A hard fought battle concluded with ABN Amro One the clear winner, movistar second and Ericsson third, earning the team a strongly desired place on the podium.

The previous legs of the Volvo Ocean Race have been tough for the Ericsson Racing Team. It arrived into Rio in a disappointing fifth place, and has a lot to do in order to move up the leaderboard. Today was a great day of racing, and initial signs following the changes that have been made are encouraging.

"It was a difficult race because the course was quite short," commented McDonald; "the sort of race where whoever makes the least mistakes gets to the front of the fleet. We made fewer mistakes than others and finished third." His team mate Guillermo Altadill (ESP) added: "We managed to keep it simple, and anticipated the maneuvers well. Thanks to this, we were able to catch up well."

All crewmembers acknowledged the fact that the crew work was efficient and proved key to today's result. "The only changes to the usual set up were that Ross Halcrow (NZL) was trimming and Dingo was on the bow", explains McDonald. "So despite Roscoe, who fitted in easily, we were used to this setup."

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was the team's onboard guest. After enjoying lunch with the sailors at the Ericsson Racing Team compound yesterday, climbing onboard today made her feel even closer to the crew. "It was terribly exciting," said The Crown Princess, "and I was very impressed with the guys. I expected their work to be hard, but not to this level. The interaction between crewmembers, and the way they work as a team is very spectacular to watch from onboard."

Now is time to turn a new page. "We have a lot of work ahead of us", confesses John Kostecki. "We had a little problem with our keel and the electronics didn't work properly, so we are far from ready for the offshore."

Three in a Row for ABN Amro One

A faultless display from Mike Sanderson and his crew secured a third straight in-port victory in Rio de Janeiro today and extended the lead of ABN AMRO ONE at the top of the leader board of the Volvo Ocean Race. After a well executed start, ABN AMRO ONE lead into Guanabara Bay breaking away from the rest of the fleet – they went on to gradually lengthen the gap to the following pack from 55 seconds at the halfway point to 2 min 5 seconds at the finish.

Speaking from Marina da Gloria, Rio Mike Sanderson said, “That was the perfect race for us. The boat was in beautiful condition, it had been well prepared and the crew work was awesome. The guys should be very proud today, they sailed a fantastic race. To be honest we had worried about this in port race since the start because we knew the conditions were unlikely to suit us. This morning everything looked a bit light but by the time we were out there it all picked up and we had 17 knots at one point.

“The team was magic today – faultless. We got the perfect start and everything went to plan after that – it’s a great day for ABN AMRO ONE and I am very proud to be part of this team.”

There was less fortune for ABN AMRO TWO as Seb Josse and his crew who, despite a slow start, managed to gain third place by the penultimate leg. But as they made the turn the spinnaker hit the marker buoy forcing the crew to make a 360° penalty turn taking them back to last place. A final fight from the young crew on the last downwind leg however, saw ABN AMRO TWO catch The Pirates of the Caribbean to finish 5th just 3 seconds behind Brasil 1.

“We did not have a good start”, said ABN AMRO TWO skipper Seb Josse. “We were slow over the line and had to work hard to make up the ground but the crew did well and we went into the last lap in third place. We had a good fight with Paul Cayard on the final straight - it shows that our boat is fast. A few more meters and I think we would have caught Brasil 1 too.

“I was frustrated that we had to put in a penalty turn but that is sailing, the crew is also young and we are learning all the time. On the last lap when everything came together we showed that we can be very fast.”

Szambecki Team Race Regatta - Results

Saturday Regatta Report: Winds were oscillating between N and ENE today at 5-18 mph. 52 races were completed, with only one flight left to finish the 2nd round robin. The N course was used all day and the racing was umpired. All teams were on the water during the racing as we used 18 FJ?s and 6 420?s. Thank you to Dave Pyron and his team umpires-we had had 6 umpire boats to preside over the racing. Dinner tonight will be provided by the Szambecki endowment for all competitor?s and regatta mangagement volunteers and we thank them as well.

Sunday Regatta Report: Winds today were NW 12-20 mph. The second round robin was completed, followed by a single final four and consolation round. Thank you again to all the umpires, volunteers, and to Norfolk YCC, Hampton YC, and Dan Milligan for loaning us additional boats. Congratulations to Hobart William Smith College for winning the Szambecki Team Race Regatta. Please see the matrix attached for race results.

Achievements Recognized - Volvo - Leg Four

March 26, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Australian Chris Nicholson received the Musto Seamanship Award for his bravery and quick thinking in saving movistar from potentially sinking, at a glittering prize-giving ceremony in Rio de Janeiro last night.

The Australian watch captain was the man who powered up the pumps after water came flooding into the Spanish boat during the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.

He dived underwater to connect two emergency bilge pumps directly to the batteries, suffering a series of electric shocks as he secured the connection, and was able to fire up the pumps to drain tonnes of water that had risen to four feet high in the mid compartments.

The crew on Ericsson received the Media Award, presented by Executive Director of Volvo Car Brazil Marcos Saade, for the quality of their footage, audio and emails during the fourth leg. On receiving the cheque, crew member Richard Mason (NZ) promptly handed it on to Brasil 1 skipper Torben Grael for his Grael Project, which creates opportunities for underprivileged children to go sailing.

The Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean Watch Environmental prize was the next to be awarded. Given to the team that makes a difference to the environment, the prize went to Brasil 1 crew member Horacio Carabelli.

“Brasil 1 has twice taken responsibility not to cause any unnecessary pollution,” said Nils P Dyviok, company president and CEO who presented the award.

“Firstly by doing their utmost in collecting all debris when their mast broke during leg two and a second time when they had a leak in one of their hydraulic rams. The crew managed to get the leakage situation under control and even managed to recycle the oil. By doing this they diminished the risk of both running out of oil and of course saving the environment from an oil spill.”

New Zealander Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE, received two trophies. The crew were called up on stage to receive the Roaring Forties Trophy which is awarded to the team that achieves the highest aggregate points from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.

The Trophy, which features an albatross, was presented by Mr Romula Mello of Birdlife International Brazil, who explained: “This Trophy represents the Save the Albatross Campaign which has been adopted by the Volvo Ocean Race to reduce the seabird’s incidental capture by long line fishing.”

Shortly after, the ABN AMRO ONE team song played again and this time Sanderson and his team were on stage to collect the trophy for winning leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, which was presented by Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

The prize-giving, which was attended by around 1200 crew, sponsors and organisers, was held in a specially constructed auditorium at the Marina da Gloria and continued well into the night as guests shimmied to the beat of a vibrant Brazilian samba band.

Volvo Grand Prix Wraps - Win for Basilica

March 26, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Team Basilica from Britain wrapped up a triumphant week in the Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix series with three podium finishes, to win the Rio trophy after a challenging last day’s racing in Guanabara Bay.

Faced with tricky shifting winds which never rose above ten knots, helmsman Alistair Richardson steered Basilica to a win in the second race, sandwiched between a second and a third, where they competed after repairing a broken winch.

“This is a great result for us,' he said.

'We didn’t get off to a great start in the first event in Sanxenxo but obviously we have done a bit of work and put in a bit of practice. It has been a steep learning curve for us but we have come out on top so we are really pleased. We made a couple of crew changes after Sanxenxo so we now have some strong guys on the boat who enjoy pulling ropes.

“The secret to racing these boats well is staying calm. You only need a little gust and there are massive gains and losses to be had, which is different from normal sailing. It was difficult today because the wind was blowing off the land and we had heavy rain for the first half of racing which wasn’t as much fun.”

Motorola-CHR won the final race to finish 23 points behind Basilica and according to skipper Conrad Humphreys, performances across the fleet were improving as the crews became more familiar with the boats.

“These are powerful boats but all these sailors are world class so it has been a case of working together and practising the manoeuvres but I think at the end of two events, we are all of a similar standard and that has been reflected in some close racing this week,” he said.

Tommy Hilfiger, helmed by Randy Smyth (USA), finished third place overall in Rio, which was good enough to maintain first place in the overall rankings for the Grand Prix Series. Basilica moves up to second place overall and Motorola-CHR is one point behind in third.

The Volvo Extreme 40 was developed as a strict one-design catamaran for high speed racing both inshore and in short offshore regattas. It was created by dual Olympic medallist Mitch Booth and designed by Olympic Gold Medal winner Yves Loday and in the space of a year has created an explosion of interest in a burgeoning speed sailing market. The class is being showcased during five stopovers of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06.

“There is a lot of interest and there are people all over the world who want to get involved,” commented Booth.

“We have another three boats in production and we hope that by Portsmouth or Rotterdam, the Volvo Extreme 40 fleet will be bigger. We want as many people as possible to experience these boats because this is what sailing is all about.”

“This week in Rio has been a great success. This Bay is precisely what Volvo Extreme 40s were created for because we race close to the beach - a bit too close at times - so both the sailors and spectators get a slice of the action.”

“This is only our second event and we aren’t even a year old yet but our vision is to grow the class into a worldwide fully blown one design grand prix class and we are well on our way.”

The next leg of the Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series will take place Baltimore, USA, from the 28 April-3 May.

Final Results (after 16 races)
1. Basilica (1,1,1,2,3,3,1,2,2,1,4,2,1,2,1,3) 133 pts
Alister Richardson (GBR), James Grant (GBR), Pete Greenhalgh (GBR), Jonathan Taylor (GBR)
2. Motorola – CHR (2,3,2,1,1,2,2,3,3,4,5,3,4,3,5,1) 110 pts
Leigh McMillan (GBR), Conrad Humphreys (GBR), Will Howden (GBR), Hamish Oliphant (GBR)
3. Tommy Hilfiger (3,5,4,4,5,1,5,5,1,2,3,1,3,5,2,5) 98 pts
Randy Smyth (USA), Jonathan Farrar (USA), Stan Schreyer (USA), Juliano Viana (BRA)
4. Holmatro (5,4,5,3,4,4,3,1,4,3,2,4,2,4,3,2) 96 pts
Mitch Booth (AUS), Taylor Booth (AUS), Daan Koene (NED), Herbert Dercksen (NED)
5. Volvo Ocean Race (4,2,3,5,2,5,4,4,5,5,1,5,DNF,1,4,4) 91 pts
Diogo Cayolla (POR), Gregg Homann (AUS) & various guests including; Emma Westmacott (GBR), Roberto Bermudez (ESP), Chris Nicholson (AUS), Dirk Neumann (NED), Eduardo Pinedo (BRA), Clinio Freitas (BRA), Marco Grael (BRA), Mauricio Santa Cruz (BRA),

Overall Series Rankings (after two events)
1st Tommy Hilfiger 16 pts
2nd Basilica 14 pts
3rd Motorola – CHR 13 pts
4th Volvo Ocean Race 12 pts
5th Holmatro 11 pts

Remaining Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series Dates
Baltimore, USA 28 April – 3 May, 2006
Portsmouth, UK 27 May – 3 June, 2006
Rotterdam, Netherlands 9-14 June, 2006

Light Wind Seals Fate of Winners in Eight Classes

St. Thomas, USVI (March 26, 2006)--Though today's light breeze may have caused some frustration, it didn't dampen the spirits of sailors wrapping up three days of competition at the St. Thomas Yacht Club's International Rolex Regatta -- especially for the winners in eight classes, who each went home with a Rolex Submariner timepiece as a prize. The event, held for its 33rd year, hosted hundreds of sailors aboard 92 boats, ranging in size from 24 to 80 feet.

For all but the IC-24 class, today's agenda was the Pillsbury Sound Race, which started outside Cowpet Bay and then wound for some 14 miles among nearby islands. All of yesterday's leaders maintained their overall positions after the distance race was scored, including Gilberto Rivera of San Juan, Puerto Rico, sailing his J/24 Urayo in the CSA 24 Spinnaker Class. "In fact, we did not have to sail at all," said Rivera, explaining that his team mathematically secured its victory yesterday. "We sailed because we wanted to enjoy the day, and we tried to not be aggressive, since other boats were sailing for second place." Urayo's fifth-place finish today was well balanced with a second and six first-place finishes posted over the previous two days when the wind blew in the 'teens, showing off the best side of blue-water Caribbean racing. "Those strong winds and waves separated the more experienced sailors from the less experienced," added Rivera.

Rivera finished second at last year's regatta, losing out to six-time Rolex winner Fraito Lugo (Ponce, Puerto Rico), who chose this year to sail in the IC-24 class. It is Rivera's first time to win a Rolex watch, which he will give to his father in thanks for his "sponsorship" of Rivera's sailing program over the years. "It is also his birthday today, so it will be very special," said Rivera.

In the only upset of the day, Robby Hirst of Road Town, Tortola, took a leap from third to first on the scoreboard after driving his IC-24 Sea Hawk to finish positions of 1-2-2 today. The IC-24 Class completed a 10-race series, participating in yesterday's distance races to Charlotte Amalie Harbor and back but returning to round-the-buoys racing today while the rest of fleet sailed in Pillsbury Sound. "I'm somewhat speechless," said Hirst, who was the British Virgin Island's Olympic representative in 1996 and won the IC-24 class here last year as well. "I had no idea we'd pull it out like that." Yesterday, local sailor Chris Rosenberg aboard Bambooshay seemed to have a terrier-like hold on the lead, with four straight victories in his scoreline, but today's light breezes became his downfall. "Hirst is a light-air technician," said Rosenberg. "He did a great job."
Enrique Figueroa, a multiple world and national catamaran champion who has represented his country in the Olympics four times, also defended his title aboard his Hobie 16 Suzuki Red Bull in the Beach Cats Class. The Race Committee shortened course for the cats when the wind died to five knots, and Figueroa posted a second-place finish, adding it to a 1-2-1-1-1 lineup.

The last of the regatta's three successful defending champions was Tony Sanpere of Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI, steering Cayennita in Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 2. "After the start, I went right, because I knew the wind would switch back," said Sanpere. "A few of the boats tried to squeeze me out, but when I took off on them in the light air they gave up. We tacked back to port and caught a big lift, and that's all she wrote!"

In Spinnaker Racing Class 1, Danilo Salsi of Milan, Italy, sailing the Swan 45 Dsk Comifin, won the Rolex watch. Robert Armstrong of Gallos Bay, St. Croix, USVI, steered his J/100 Expensive Habit to victory in Spinnaker Racing Class 2, while Martin Jacobson of Greenwich, Conn., won in Spinnaker Racing Cruising Class with his Swan 44 Crescendo. All three skippers had only one race that was not a victory in their six-race scorelines.

Christopher Lloyd's (Road Town, Tortola, BVI) Three Harkoms, a Beneteau 44, won Non-Spinnaker Racing Class 1 with all four first-place finishes.

Basilica Ahead Going Into Final Day

March 24, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – There were testing times for both the competitors and the race committee on day four of the Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series.

With light winds never exceeding ten knots and dropping to five at times, the competitors had a tough time as the sea breeze never settled in.

Basilica, helmed by Alister Richardson, managed the best day in the testing conditions, scoring a second and a race win to maintain first place overall. Team Basilica, comprising of Richardson, James Grant (GBR), Peter Greenhalgh (GBR) and Jonathan Taylor (GBR), have established a 19 point lead over second placed Motorola – CHR.

Richardson commented: “With a first and a second we have been the winners of today’s racing but it didn’t all go our way. During the second race we ripped our mainsail which did not affect us this time but definitely would have if the races have been continued and had not been cancelled due to lack of wind. So we were lucky. The mainsail can be repaired easily and we look forward for the final races on Sunday.”

There was drama in the second race of the day for Team Volvo Ocean Race who managed to run aground as crew member Greg Homann explained: “As we were underway upwind in the second race we went parallel to Flamengo beach and the boat came to an abrupt stop with a nasty noise due to a collision with a rock. We had to retire immediately and went to port for inspection.”

He continued: “We found the port dagger board smashed at the bottom. Obviously and luckily there is no structural damage to the hull so there is only the dagger board to be replaced. It is good to have a lay day tomorrow so we can make repairs and get the boat fixed for the final day on Sunday.”

Going into the final day of racing, Team Basilica hold the top spot in front of Motorola-CHR. Tommy Hilfiger helmed by Randy Smyth (USA) is in third place, five points in front of Team Holmatro.

Tomorrow will see a lay day for the fleet whilst the Volvo Open 70’s take part in their in-port race. The Volvo Extreme 40’s will be back out in force on Sunday for their final day of the Grand Prix Series in Rio.

Volvo In Port Race Receives Royal Seal

March 24, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden visited the Volvo Ocean Race Village and had the opportunity to view the team’s final preparations before tomorrow’s in-port race, in which she will participate.

HRH the Crown Princess Victoria is godmother to the Ericsson entry and tomorrow she will be a special guest onboard for the fourth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, which is expected to draw a large crowd both on and off the water.

“I think we can expect a huge turnout tomorrow for the in-port race and I think it will be the largest number of boats that the bay has ever seen,” commented local hero and skipper of Brasil 1, Torben Grael.

It is expected that the course will be set on Guanabara Bay, just offshore from the race village. Spectators will be treated to the site of six Volvo Open 70s in close combat.

The conditions for the teams will prove tricky as Grael explains: “This in-port race will be a bit different from the others that we have sailed as it will be incredibly hot. Also the geography of the bay is very specific with hills all around and it is very narrow. This will certainly keep the race interesting and it will be a great event.”

Overall race leader Mike Sanderson (NZL) commented: “I really have no idea to be honest on what to expect on Saturday. The forecast is looking a little shady. It would be nice if the sea breeze could kick in like it did today but thunderstorms are forecast which could throw a spanner in the works.”

ABN AMRO ONE has established a 14 point lead over second-placed ABN AMRO TWO and as skipper Sanderson explains it is just a question of consistency: “It is a matter of earning as many points as we can during the in-port race. We don’t need to win it but we certainly don’t want to come last, but if we do it will hopefully be because we have had light airs or it is not our day. We just have to go out, try and do a nice job and see what happens.”

Further down the leader board the points are very close and a tight battle is expected for the podium positions tomorrow. Sebastien Josse (FRA) and his young team on ABN AMRO TWO are in second place just four and a half points in front of third placed Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by Paul Cayard.

As Cayard explains, tomorrow could see some further shuffling of the leader board: “We have done well in all the in-ports and we hope to do the same tomorrow, but it looks like it could be the trickiest day of all the in-port races just because there is tidal current in this bay and high mountains round the side so the lighter it gets the trickier it could be here.”

The Spanish entry movistar is in fourth place overall, with just a two and a half point buffer to Brasil 1. Bouwe Bekking (NED) and his team have worked hard during the stopover to get the boat ready for the in-port race, after suffering damage in leg four, and will be hoping for a change of fortune in Rio.

Local hero’s Brasil 1 will be spurred on by the possibility of victory on their home waters. Grael has already proven he is one to watch in the light airs and with the advantage of local knowledge will be a strong contender.

John Kostecki (USA) will take the reins for the first time as skipper onboard Ericsson. Kostecki is confident that the weeks training in the bay along with a few crew changes will pay off: “We have been race training for the last couple of days and it has been going quite well. We have two changes to the crew for the in-port race and that is all shaping up nicely and we feel like we are ready to go. We have not made any huge, significant changes but we are just trying to chip away at everything and do an overall better job. Hopefully we can get a podium finish.”

The one thing that does seem predictable is that it will be a hotly contested race as Kostecki suggests: “The racing is getting really competitive. Some of the best skippers in the world are involved and the crews are all top level which will provide some exciting racing for the public and also for us.”

Ericsson Racing Team: Looks Forward to Rio

The Ericsson Racing Team has been out all week, training in Guanabara Bay off Rio de Janeiro (BRA), and tuning in before Saturday's in-port race. Scheduled for kick off at 13.00 (local time), the fourth in-port regatta of the Volvo Ocean Race will be the first under John Kostecki's (USA) leadership and with Ross Halcrow (NZL) as crewmember. Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, godmother of the Ericsson yacht, will be the team's onboard guest.

The Ericsson Racing Team has been busy practising all week, ahead of Saturday's in-port race in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro. John Kostecki, the team's skipper for leg five and inshore tactician, arrived early into Rio to start training with the team, whilst talented sail trimmer Ross Halcrow has settled in "as if he had always been there", comments Neal McDonald (GBR).

"We've been race training for the last couple of days and things have been going well," said Kostecki. "We've had two changes to the crew for the in-port race and that's all shaping up nicely. Rosco [Halcrow] is a world class trimmer; he's filling David Rolfe's position for the in-port race and Rolfe's doing the bow now which he's very good at. These small changes have been a benefit and we feel like we're ready to go. Hopefully we'll get a podium finish."

The team arrived in Rio in a disappointing fifth place, and is now seriously looking to improve its result. "Our current ranking doesn't reflect the team's potential", said Kostecki.

Despite a broken propeller shaft door and a few electrical problems, the Ericsson yacht arrived into Rio in reasonably good shape. "We didn't have too much to do on the boat, which was nice," commented Neal McDonald, who has now taken over as the team's watch captain, along with in-port race helmsman Tim Powell (GBR). "This has allowed us to get back on the water and get sailing. The whole team has looked at every aspect of the campaign where there is room for improvement. We have added some new sails to the program during this stopover, which should make a difference."

"It has been a tough period for the team", confesses Ericsson Racing Team navigator Steve Hayles. "The way the team has encompassed the change is impressive and everybody is very focussed on the job in hand and in putting points on the table. We've had some good days training here. The bay's a complicated place and the tides and currents are a big issue. But we're feeling pretty confident for Saturday's race - it's a windward-leeward course and we know the boat is strong here."

The course for the in-port will be three to four laps depending on the wind conditions and the running time will be between two and three hours. According to local weather forecasts, there is a front approaching the east coast of Brazil, but no one quite knows when it will arrive in the harbour and what conditions it will bring.

McDonald predicts a pretty open field for the race: "The bay is going to be interesting - it's potentially shifty with varying pressure. It will be one of those regattas where the boats are very close and the places could change very quickly."

Volvo Ocean Race Sailor Takes Time Off

March 22, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Movistar watch captain Chris Nicholson took a day off from sailing today – to go sailing. Swapping 70 feet for 40, Nicholson took the helm of a Volvo Extreme 40 during the second day of the Grand Prix Series in Rio.

Sailing with team members Diogo Cyolla (POR), Gregg Homann (AUS), and Mauricio Santa Cruz (BRA) on the Volvo Ocean Race boat Nicholson, an experienced 49er sailor, managed to score a second, fifth and a fourth in mixed conditions to finish day two in third place overall.

Nicholson commented: “I had a great day today. It was good fun and fast, although our results were not that good. This kind of sailing is very enjoyable. You don’t need to coordinate nine other crew members and a shore team; you can just jump in and go.”

Drawing a comparison between the Volvo Open 70s and the Volvo Extreme 40s, Nicholson said: “Both of these classes are at forefront of the sport and technology. The Volvo Open 70 is at one end of the spectrum and is extreme - one of the fastest boats that you will sail offshore. The Volvo Extreme 40 is at the other end and is the fastest you will sail in flat, inshore waters.”

Team Motorola-CHR helmed by Leigh McMillan (GBR) set the days pace, winning the first race in 12 knots of breeze from Nicholson and his team on Volvo Ocean Race. The following two races saw a battle of the Brits with McMillan and his crew of Howden (GBR), Humphries (GBR) and Oliphant (GBR) going head to head with Team Basilica.

Motorola-CHR had the advantage in the second race finishing just behind Tommy Hilfiger helmed by Randy Smyth (USA). Basilica, helmed by Alister Richardson (GBR), crossed the line in third place after managing to return from the back of the fleet after suffering from a broken mainsheet.

The final race of the day saw Team Basilica back on fighting form, eventually crossing the finish line over a minute in front of Motorola-CHR to maintain their overall lead in the series.

Basilica crewmember James Grant said: “We feel that we sailed well today. The course was pretty tricky as the top mark was right under Sugarloaf Mountain which made the wind quite fluky, so we were pleased with our consistency today.”

After seven races Team Basilica lead the fleet by two points from Motorola-CHR with Volvo Ocean Race third.

Racing continues tomorrow at 14 00 (local). The series concludes on Sunday 26 March.

Results, day 2 (after seven races)
1. Basilica (1,1,1,2,3,3,1) 60 pts
Alister Richardson (GBR), James Grant (GBR), Pete Greenhalgh (GBR), Jonathan Taylor (GBR)
2. Motorola – CHR (2,3,2,1,1,2,2) 58 pts
Leigh McMillan (GBR), Conrad Humphries (GBR), Will Howden (GBR), Hamish Oliphant (GBR)
3. Volvo Ocean Race (4,2,3,5,2,5,4) 40 pts
Diogo Cyolla (POR), Gregg Homann (AUS), Mauricio Santa Cruz (BRA), Chris Nicholson (AUS)
4. Tommy Hilfiger (3,5,4,4,5,1,5) 38 pts
Randy Smyth (USA), Jonathan Farrar (USA), Stan Schreyer (USA), Juliano Viana (BRA)
5. Holmatro (5,4,5,3,4,4,3) 35 pts
Mitch Booth (AUS), Taylor Booth (AUS), Daan Koene (NED), Herbert Dercksen (NED)

Remaining Volvo Extreme 40 Grand Prix Series Dates
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 21-26 March, 2006
Baltimore, USA 28 April – 3 May, 2006
Portsmouth, UK 27 May – 3 June, 2006
Rotterdam, Netherlands 9-14 June, 2006

Daniel and Stunzi Win as Multihull Champs

Pensacola Beach, Fla. (March 23, 2006) - On the final day of racing, Robbie Daniel (Clearwater, Fla.) and Hunter Stunzi (Marblehead, Mass.) have won the 2006 U.S. Multihull Championship for US SAILING's Hobie Alter Cup. Competition was close throughout the five-day event and the team fought vigorously for its win. With the top three finishers posting consistently solid results, second place finishers Nigel Pitt (Harwell, Ga.) and Alex Shafer (Eustis, Fla.) had been in contention for the top spot from the beginning of the regatta. Last year's winners Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier finished third overall.

After 18 heats in varying weather conditions, new champions Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi showed conclusively that consistency is the key to getting to the podium. "We were careful not to be tricked into going for the big gains when we found ourselves behind," said Daniel, who has been competing in the Olympic Tornado class for the over a decade. "The key was to go for the small gains to avoid the risk of big losses."

The winners clearly enjoyed sailing the Nacra 20, a powerful jib, main and spinnaker platform they felt was similar to the Tornado in many respects. Like the rest of the fleet, they also expressed an appreciation for the rotation format that has been developed to self-seed the competitors from heat to heat. This modified round-robin keeps the top sailors sailing head to head as they rotate through each one of the provided boats.

Countdown to Perfect Island Racing

St. Thomas, USVI (March 23, 2006)--With more boats pre-registered than ever before, the 33rd annual International Rolex Regatta is counting down to the start of competition, which runs from Friday, March 24, through Sunday, March 26. To date, over 80 boats are signed up, with a good number hailing from the U.S. mainland, Canada, England, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland and the balance coming from St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, St. Martin, Puerto Rico and other nearby islands.

"There is always a perfect balance between locals and visiting sailors, big boats and small boats," said Tracy Roberts, who co-directs the regatta with fellow St. Thomas Yacht Club member Colin Probyn. "We still expect our traditional rush of additional entries on Thursday."

The regatta also strikes a balance between exciting competition and extreme fun. As such, it is not only one of the Caribbean's oldest sailing events but also one of the most revered. The event features handicap and one-design racing in a beautiful setting; professional race management; and dependable Caribbean trade winds. On the social agenda are festive shore-side events, which include unique Caribbean entertainment such as the Carnival Dancers and the Rolex Prize Giving partnered with a beachside farewell party at the Yacht Club. With over three decades of history, the tradition of a Rolex watch awarded to every class winner still stands.

Last year's coastal romp from Cowpet Bay, where the St. Thomas Yacht Club is located, to the island's cruise ship port of Charlotte Amalie and back will be repeated. This year the race will be augmented by some IC-24 windward-leeward racing in Charlotte Amalie Harbor. This will showcase St. Thomas's beautiful capital for the racers while affording islanders and visitors alike a flavor of competitive sailing, with the dozens of boats racing around the 100-foot power yachts anchored in the harbor and tied up to the downtown waterfront.

Already, seventeen IC-24s are signed up. The boats, indigenous to the area, were developed several years ago by a group of St. Thomas sailors who retro-fitted J/24 hulls. The fleet now attracts the very best in island talent such as defending Rolex champions Robert and Michael Hirst of Tortola, BVI, who will compete aboard Sea Hawk.

Other defending champions are James Dobbs of Antigua, aboard Lost Horizon II in the spinnaker racing class; Sergio Sagramoso of San Juan, Puerto Rico, aboard Lazy Dog in the spinnaker racer/cruiser class; and Antonio/Ellen Sanpere of Christiansted, St. Croix, aboard Cayennita in the non-spinnaker racing class.

In J/24s, six-time Rolex winner Fraito Lugo of Ponce, Puerto Rico returns aboard Orion, while perennial Beach Cat class favorite Enrique Figueroa, (San Juan) Puerto Rico's multiple world champion and Olympian, plans to defend his title, as well, aboard Suzuki/Red Bull.

At the other end of the scale is the Over-50 Foot Class for the biggest boats, which includes the 73-foot Donnybrook, owned by James Muldoon of Washington, D.C., the 68-foot Equation, owned by Bill Alcott (Detroit, Mich.), and the maxi sloop Black Shark of St. Petersburg, entered by a group from France.

Winds of Change

March 23, 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – With 48 hours until the in-port race starts in Rio, last minute preparations are underway and there are a few new faces on the dockside.

For the fourth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 many of the teams have made crew changes along with welcoming onboard an eleventh crew member to help with the additional work load when racing around a tight inshore course.

Ericsson Racing Team will be under the guidance of new skipper John Kostecki (USA), who has stepped up from the role of inshore tactician to replace Neal McDonald (GBR) as skipper.

The second crew change onboard the Swedish boat sees Ross Halcrow (NZL) replace an injured Thomas Braidwood (AUS) who has returned to Australia for treatment on a shoulder injury sustained during the previous leg. Halcrow will be a useful addition to the team having sailed with Kostecki for over ten years including onboard illbruck, the winning boat from the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02.

Injuries have also resulted in crew changes within ABN AMRO TWO. Gerd Jan Poortman (NED) was replaced by Brazilian Lucas Brun on leg four into Rio de Janeiro and it will be Brun who competes in the in-port race after Poortman is forced to sit it out due to a back injury.

Australian Nick Bice will also stay onshore during the in-port race due to a broken hand. Bice will be replaced until Baltimore by Yves Leblevec, a French Figaro sailor and world record holder with maxi catamaran Orange II. The eleventh man spot on ABN AMRO TWO will be taken by Australian Neil Cox TEAM ABN AMRO’s boat captain.

The Spanish entry movistar have waged a race against the clock after stopping in Argentina during leg four to repair a damaged keel. The boat arrived into Rio five days later than the fleet and since then the shore crew have been working non-stop on the boat.

Two crew changes have taken place onboard for the in-port race due to existing crew members returning to previous projects. Xabi Fernandez has returned to Spain to train for the 2008 Olympic Games in the 49er class and will be replaced by fellow Spanish Olympic sailor Fernando Echavarri. Echavarri, who was crowned world and European Champion in the Tornado class in 2005 and World Sailor of the Year in 2005 will be a useful asset to the team.

The second addition to the movistar team is Mike Howard (USA) stepping onboard for the in-port race and the next leg to Baltimore in place of Noel Drennan (IRL). Howard is an experienced ocean racer, having competed in the last race onboard Assa Abloy. The eleventh man spot will be taken by Pedro Campos, movistar’s Team Manager.

Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean finished second in the previous in-port race in Melbourne and will be looking to go one better this time. Two new Pirates will be stepping onboard. British sailor Ian Budgen will replace Rodney Ardern (NZ) who is due to return to Alinghi America’s Cup team. Budgen, who competed with GBR Challenge during the last America’s Cup, also has a wealth of inshore sailing from years of competing in the Olympic 49er class.

Curtis Blewett (CAN) returned to Alinghi prior to the last leg and was temporarily replaced by Jeremy Smith (NZ) for leg four. Jerry Kirby (USA) trained with The Pirates last year and has always been the planned replacement for Blewett. Kirby competed in the Volvo Ocean Race 97-98 onboard Chessie Racing and has an America’s Cup win under his belt. The eleventh man onboard will be Australian Mark Mctiegue.

Current overall leaders ABN AMRO ONE have very few changes to their crew, sticking to their previous in-port line up. Brian McInnes (CAN) replaces Mark Christensen (NZ) for the in-port race and Tomasso Chieffi (ITA) the newly signed joint helmsman of Team Shosholoza, the South African America’s Cup campaign, will also step back on for the in-port race.

Home favourites Brasil 1 will be looking for victory on their local waters after a disappointing fourth place finish into Rio. Norwegian sailor Knut Frostad who joined Brasil 1 for the Southern Ocean legs has stepped off, allowing space for Marcelo Ferreira, skipper Torben Grael’s Olympic Star crew, to step back onboard the boat. The crew of Brasil 1 will be joined by experienced keelboat sailor and Team Manager Alan Adler.

Multiple Olympic medallist Torben Grael and his crew, half of which are Brazilian, will be hoping that the local knowledge onboard will bring them victory in front of a home crowd.

The six teams will leave the Marina da Gloria from 11:00 (local) on Saturday 25 March. Racing gets underway at 13:00. The race will be broadcast live on TV Globo.

Live audio commentary will be broadcast at www.volvooceanrace.org. Tune in to Guy Swindells English commentary with guest Rob Mundle. Spanish speaking listeners will hear the events unfold through the voice of Amanda Blackley and guest Maria Bertrand.

Current Leaderboard
[position/team name/skipper/race points to date]
1st TEAM ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 49 pts
2nd TEAM ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 35 pts
3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 30.5 pts
4th Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 28 pts
5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 26.5 pts
6th Ericsson Racing Team John Kostecki (USA) 21 pts

Crew Changes on ABN Amro Two

For the second time in this race, TEAM ABN AMRO have realised the full force and strength of the extreme Volvo 70 class. Today ABN AMRO TWO confirmed two crew changes for both the Rio de Janeiro in port race and Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, due to crew injuries sustained on previous legs.

Nick Bice, 28, watch captain and one of the original four ‘professionals’ aboard ABN AMRO TWO sustained a broken hand during the last leg from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro. Speaking about the injury soon after it happened, Bice commented: “I was thrown into the steering pedestal and my hand came off second best so it’s a bit swollen, not sure what’s wrong with it but I think it could be broken. On the back of another wave I ended up with both feet through the wheel and sitting on the trimmer’s box back there - that’s probably the nearest I’ve come to coming adrift on a boat.” Following treatment ashore Nick was told two bones in his left hand were broken and he is now in a plaster cast. He will be replaced until Baltimore by Yves Leblevec, a French Figaro sailor and world record holder with maxi catamaran - Orange II.

Gerd Jan Poortman, upon visiting a specialist in the Netherlands, was diagnosed with a fractured vertebrae, sustained when he was thrown down the deck and collided with the daggerboard during a rough night on leg 3. Poortman missed the last leg from Wellington to Rio and is now expected to rejoin the crew of the world’s fastest monohull in Baltimore, a little later than previously anticipated. Lucas Brun, 22, from Brazil, who was the first Brazilian to sail into home soil and the youngest competitor on this race remains onboard ABN AMRO TWO in Poortman’s place. As the crew still have a vacant 11th man position for the in port race, on Saturday 25th March Neil Cox, TEAM ABN AMRO’s boat captain will take up the final place on board.

Sebastien Josse commented: “Of course it is always a disappointment to lose crew due to injuries, both Gerd Jan and more recently Nick are critical members of the team but this is sailing. Lucas was a great person to have onboard for the last leg so we are pleased he will be sailing with us again and I have no doubt Yves will fit into the team no problem. For the in shore race we have Neil Cox who has been a very important part of the team and the TEAM ABN AMRO campaign so I am happy he will be with us – he knows these boats so well. We are now all looking forward to the in shore race and working hard to keep getting points on the score board. It should be a good race but we are ready for the challenge.”

The last two legs of the race have taken their toll on the young crew, now over halfway round the world. Battling with damage to both their boat and the crew themselves, ABN AMRO TWO had a tussle into Rio with local heroes Brasil 1 but they managed to hold them off and gain a well earned third place.

ABN AMRO ONE is once again joined by Brian MacInnes, in port grinding specialist and Tomasso Chieffi, tactician who have both been onboard for the last two in port races.

Final crew list:
ABN AMRO ONE
Mike Sanderson
Tomasso Chieffi (in port race only)
Stan Honey
Brad Jackson
Dave Endean
Jan Dekker
Sidney Gavignet
Justin Slattery
Rob Greenhalgh
Tony Mutter
Brian MacInnes (in port race only)
Mark Christensen (Leg 5 Rio – Baltimore)

ABN AMRO TWO:
Sebastien Josse
Simon Fisher
Andrew Lewis
George Peet
Neil Cox (in port race only)
Yves Leblevec
Simeon Tienpont
Hans Horreveots
Lucas Brun
Luke Molloy
Scott Beavis

New Marina Adds Berths to Americas Cup

A new project consisting of two marina facilities just minutes from the America's Cup race courses will add over 600 new berths to the Port America's Cup. This is in addition to more than 40 'Superyacht' berths already set up in the Port.

The North and South marinas are currently under construction and will be opened separately, with the 160-berth North Marina ready to receive boats in time for the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts 10 & 11, beginning on 11 May. The South Marina (approximately 500 berths) will open by January 1 2007. The two facilities are designed to accommodate 12 to 29-metre boats.

The marinas are being built as part of the general Port America's Cup project, which includes the complete renovation of the Dársena Interior, including the 12 team bases, the America's Cup Park, the new canal and 'Superyacht' pier. The marinas will be administered by the organisers of the 32nd America's Cup through September 2007.

The North and South marinas are located along the sides of the canal linking the team bases to the race course areas, and are thus just minutes from the race course. They will feature all the expected services, including security, fuel, and water, waste removal, electricity, toilets and showers.

Various packages are available for berthing, including long-term, competition-time and non-competition time. A percentage of slips will be allocated to transient/visitor moorage. Basic moorage rates during the 2006 racing season start at ?105.00 for overnight moorage for a 15-metre boat.

Mariners interested in securing moorage at the Port America's Cup should contact the Harbour Office at marina@americascup.com. A website (under development) at www.portamericascup.com has more information, prices and packages, along with a booking form.

Ericsson Racing Announces Crew List for Leg 5

The Ericsson Racing Team today announces its crew lists for the Rio de Janeiro in-port race and for leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race. This list includes two crew changes. In addition to John Kostecki, who was announced last week, Ross Halcrow (NZL) will come onboard as new crewmember. Jason Carrington (GBR) and Tom Braidwood (AUS) will step down for the next leg, although Carrington will sail in Saturday's in-port race. Braidwood, who suffered a shoulder injury during leg four, has returned to Australia for treatment, whilst Jason Carrington will continue to play a key role in the team on the shore side during next leg.

New Look for SUI64 and SUI75

Alinghi boats SUI64 and SUI75 emerged from the base in Valencia today for the first day of two boat training, sporting a new look.

Skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth comments: “It’s good to get back on the water and training and although some of the guys have been out racing on other circuits over the winter, it will be great to get the team back together again. 2006 will be an important year for us with the launch of our new boat in May and the upcoming Acts. Right now the conditions are ideal to carry on with our testing and training program.”

With the new season comes a new look, the re-design project has been led by Syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli and is a variation on the old one. Switzerland-based graphic designer Oscar Ribes has worked with him to put the concept to paper: “Ernesto wanted the new design to move forward and that is quite literally what it does. The Alinghi logo represents two boats circling in the pre-start and that won’t change, what does change is the spinning effect of the logo that whirls out from it now, with the new graphic, in a forward clawing motion that gives the impression of surfing or flying through the water.”

US sailing Presents Award for Race Administration

Chicago, Ill. (March 17, 2006) - US SAILING has presented its Harman Hawkins Trophy for excellence in race management to Robin Wallace (Newport, R.I.). The award was presented earlier today at US SAILING's Spring Meeting in Chicago, Ill. Presented annually, US SAILING's Harman Hawkins Trophy is awarded to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing in the field of Race Administration (Judging, Race Management, Appeals and Racing Rules).

Robin Wallace has a record of service in race management that is truly extraordinary. He is an indefatigable race officer, having served at all levels of the sport of sailing from the America's Cup Challenger Series to far less formal Wednesday night races. He has received well-deserved praise for his work as Principal Race Officer for fleet races, match races and team races. He currently represents US SAILING at the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as an International Race Officer and as a member of the Race Management Sub-Committee, the Medical Commission and the World Youth Sailing Trust. In addition, Wallace has served Rhode Island sailors as Chair of the Rhode Island State Yachting Commission.

Wallace was presented with the Harman Hawkins Trophy by Dick Rose, Chair of US SAILING's Race Administration Committee, as well as by Ron Ward, who last year was the first recipient of the Trophy.

The Trophy is named after Harman Hawkins (1919-2002), whose extraordinary involvement in sailing and numerous chairmanships of the Appeals, Judges, and Legal Committees brought him many honors and awards, including US SAILING's prestigious Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy. In his lifetime, Hawkins served as a President of US SAILING, Commodore of Manhasset Bay Yacht Club and Storm Trysail Club and President of the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound.

US Sailing Awards Sportsmanship Award

Chicago, Ill. (March 17, 2006) - US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, presented its National Sportsmanship award, the W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Trophy, to Greg Storer (Branford, Conn.) for his outstanding display of sportsmanship behavior at the U.S. Offshore Championship last fall. Storer was presented with the trophy at an awards dinner at US SAILING's Spring Meeting in Chicago, Ill., earlier this evening.

A Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and captain of the Academy's Offshore Sailing Team, Storer had led his team to the top of the scoreboard on day one of the U.S. Offshore Championship, held in Annapolis, Md. On the second day of the three-day event, the competitors sailed a 24-mile point-to-point race and the Midshipmen crossed the finish line in second place. The wind had been building throughout that race and the race committee had amended the course by inserting a safe water mark to keep the unfamiliar skippers clear of potential shoal water. Upon getting back ashore, a competitor pointed out to the Navy crew that it appeared Navy had passed this mark on the incorrect side. Although no protest was filed, Storer admitted that he was uncertain if he had honored the mark and voluntarily decided to withdraw from the race, converting his team's second-place finish to a 12th. The Navy team still managed to win the entire regatta after two races were held on the final day.

"Mr. Storer's conduct during the U.S. Offshore Championship was exemplary," read one of the nominations for the National Sportsmanship award. "He is a credit to himself, the Naval Academy sailing program and to sailing in general."

Greg Storer, 21, is a senior at the Naval Academy and plans to become a Submarine Warfare Officer upon his graduation this spring. Storer now joins a long list of highly respected sailors who have received US SAILING's W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Sportsmanship Trophy since the award was first presented 20 years ago. The list includes such well-known sailors as Olin J Stephens, Dave Perry, Harry Carpenter, and Buddy Melges.

Sportsmanship is difficult to define but easily recognizable. The high standards exemplified by the true sportsperson are vital to the health of sailing, which is why each year US SAILING presents its prestigious W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Trophy. This award honors those people who are outstanding examples of dedication and graciousness in the sport of sailing, and for sharing these talents with others. Nominees include sailors who have performed a single exemplary act or who have consistently exemplified the finest tradition of the sport both on and off the water, through instruction and encouragement of others.

Eight Days to Go - Report from Team Ellen

The countdown of to the start of the Asian Record Circuit 2006 has started. Just eight days remain until Ellen MacArthur and an international crew of four set off from Yokohama, Japan on Saturday, 25th March to cover around 4505 miles of very new territory [the equivalent of sailing from England to Mexico!]. The objective is to establish a series of crewed record times between key Asian ports [or gates] Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Malaysia to Singapore- it is a first of its kind for a major sailing campaign to take to these waters with the aim of setting benchmark times that can be challenged in the future by other sailors.

The 75ft trimaran was shipped to Asia from Southampton onboard CMA CGM’s container ship the ‘Bizet’ and arrived in Hong Kong 11 days ago where the shore crew quickly re-assembled <> and started their delivery trip to Yokohama, Japan. <> is expected to arrive in Yokohama by this coming Monday (20.3.06) and Ellen will join the crew to make the final preparations for the start of the record circuit.

Taylor Made Introduces Premium Fender Covers

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. – March 16, 2006 – New for 2006 from Taylor Made Products is a line of premium fender boots for the company’s popular Tuff-End™ boat fenders.

The premium covers are woven from heavy-weight, high-tenacity, solution-dyed polyester yarn that stands up to sunlight, abrasion and harsh environmental conditions. The fabric is a circular knit construction that eliminates lateral seams, and has a high degree of elasticity to maintain its shape and ensure a tight fit to the fender. Adjustable tie-lines are embedded in the seams top and bottom to hold the cover in place and allow for easy removal for cleaning.

The fender covers are available in three colors – navy blue, black and hunter green – to match the boat’s color scheme.

Taylor Made’s rugged Tuff-End fenders are designed for heavy-duty applications. The fenders’ unique construction features injected molded ends for extra strength and reliability. They are offered in sizes from 6- to 32-inches in diameter for boats 30- to 100-feet.

Charleston Race Week Registration Jumps

Charleston Race Week presented by Seabrook Island is rapidly cementing its status as one of the premier—and most popular—sailing competitions in the southeast. With three weeks remaining until the start of this annual regatta, already more than 135 entries have registered to compete. This year, the organizers anticipate that more than 150 teams will participate in the early April event (April 6 - 9). That figure represents significant growth over previous editions of the regatta. In fact, in the past four years, the event has grown by more than 90 percent.

Complementing this remarkable increase in participants is a burgeoning list of corporate sponsors that have signed on to support the regatta. Seabrook Island sits atop that list as the Presenting Sponsor, and according to both the event organizers and Seabrook Island officials, it’s a win-win arrangement for all parties involved.

"Sponsoring Charleston Race Week for the second year in a row is a smart business decision for Seabrook," said Joe Salvo, Executive Director of Seabrook Island Club. "It's a natural 'fit' that the not-so-secret Seabrook Island is helping grow Charleston's hottest new tourism event, drawing even more visitors and potential home buyers to the Charleston area."

Meaghan Van Liew, Director of Development for the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation (the Foundation jointly manages the regatta with the Charleston Ocean Racing Association) concurs. Expounding on the topic, she said: “It’s not hard for local sponsors to see the appealing demographic of this audience. This event attracts discerning competitors with serious buying power, and it’s staged in one of the country’s top-10 travel destinations. From a marketing standpoint, that’s a very strong combination.”

Van Liew pointed out that 15 separate companies are supporting the event this year. “Financially, we have three times the amount of corporate commitment than there was last year, and that’s great for both the companies involved and for the racers.” This growth, she explained, has enabled the organizers to provide more value to the sponsors by way of a printed program, a hospitality yacht, speaking opportunities, enhanced branding, and more space for exhibits. And, said Van Liew, the racers receive better shoreside festivities and expanded regatta management. “We believe that this year’s event will offer an increase in benefits for everyone involved,” she asserted, “and that creates an important foundation for the regatta’s future.”

Ericsson Racing Welcomes Crown Princess

HRH the Crown Princess Victoria christened the Ericsson yacht in Gothenburg, Sweden, back in August 2005. Not only is she godmother of the Ericsson boat - her brother Prince Carl Philip of Sweden was onboard guest for the first in-port race in Sanxenxo, Spain, which the Ericsson team won. Prince Carl Philip is also patron of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006.

"The Ericsson Racing Team is proud to welcome the Crown Princess as part of the team," commented Dusyant Patel, Operating Officer for the Ericsson Racing Team. "It will be an honour to host her during her stay in Rio de Janeiro, and we look forward to having her onboard for the in-port race. With any luck she will bring the team the same good fortune as her brother did in Sanxenxo."

Arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 24 March, Her Royal Highness will join the team at the Ericsson shore base for a team meeting and an informal lunch. She will be given a tour of the Volvo Ocean Race Village, meet the other competitors and learn what life is like for the sailors as they discuss their experiences in the Southern Ocean and prepare for the imminent inshore race. On 25 March she will take part in the fifth in-port race and will attend the official Leg Four Prize-Giving as the guest of honour.

Amongst other activities during her stay, The Crown Princess will pay a visit to Ericsson's Rio de Janeiro office to meet Ericsson employees. She is planned to attend a luncheon hosted by Ericsson and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Brazil to the benefit of the World Childhood Foundation; founded by H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden. The mission of World Childhood Foundation is to defend the rights of the child and to promote better living conditions for vulnerable and exploited children at risk all over the world. Crown Princess Victoria's visit will conclude on 2 April when she will bid the Ericsson Racing Team "goodbye" and head out on the water to watch the fleet's departure for Baltimore, USA.

Movistar Arrives in Rio

Movistar Sailing Team skippered by Dutchman Bouwe Bekking arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today at 16:11:46 GMT after 25 days, 14 hours, 41 minutes and 46 seconds at sea.

The team were having a highly competitive leg four until just before Cape Horn when they suffered a major leak surrounding the keel box. They suspended racing and motored into Ushuaia, Argentina, for repairs before finishing the leg in fickle and light winds.

The team now face a race against time to repair the boat and get it ready for the in-port race on the 25 March; something that Bekking feels is achievable:

“Our mission now is to get the boat out of the water, remove the keel and replace the keel wedges. This will take 5-6 days if everything goes according to plan and then the next aim will be the in-port race.”

Despite the set back on leg four, Bekking explained how important it was to finish the leg: “It was hugely important to finish the leg, for the team as a whole and for ourselves onboard. It was a big disappointment as we were going really well just before Cape Horn and then it was a slap in the face to be last in the fleet, but we just had to get on and finish the leg with as many points as possible.”

He concluded: “The boat goes nicely. We have had our fair share of issues but hopefully we can get all of those sorted now.”

Australian Navigator Andrew Cape described the high point of the leg: “We had a near record run just before we suffered damage. We were pushing the boat hard that day and the speed was just awesome. It was typically hairy but not too scary as you get quite used to doing those kinds of speeds now. Those days are always good days.”

Looking forward Cape commented: “We are naturally disappointed with the damage but we never felt that we were not safe and we had other boats around us. We now need to concentrate on fixing the boat, having some rest and then getting back out there and getting stuck into the race again.”

Movistar is currently placed fourth overall, just two and a half points behind third placed Pirates of the Caribbean.

Ericsson Racing Announces Crew Change

The Ericsson Racing Team has decided to make crew changes for the next leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore. American sailor John Kostecki, who has sailed with the team as tactician during the in-port races, will take on the role of skipper and Neal McDonald will sail onboard as watch captain and co-skipper. Due to injuries amongst the crew, it is not yet decided who will step ashore.

In order to improve the team's performance in the Volvo Ocean Race, the Ericsson Racing Team has been analyzing every element of the campaign. Today, the team announces that American sailor John Kostecki will sail as skipper for leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore. The team also continues to develop the sail program for the next legs, and focuses on other improvements such as working methods and communication - two areas where Kostecki's experience will be invaluable.

"Neal has been Ericsson's skipper since the beginning of the campaign, but considering our current situation in the race, it has become clear that we need to improve team dynamics and performance. Following long discussions with Neal, John and other team members, we decided that a change of organization onboard is necessary for leg five," comments Ericsson Racing Team Project Director Richard Brisius. "We are in a unique position to have two world class skippers within the team and everyone has done their best to put their personal interests aside, for the benefit of the campaign, especially Neal and John."

Winner of the 2001/02 Volvo Ocean Race as skipper onboard illbruck, Kostecki is one of the world's top sailors. An Olympic silver medalist (1988) and 10-time world champion in a range of one-design classes, he has also been involved in four America's Cup campaigns as tactician.

Neal McDonald commented: "It has been a tough race so far for the Ericsson Racing Team and we haven't had the results we expected. John Kostecki has a proven track record in both inshore and ocean racing and we all have a lot of respect for him, which is why he was associated with the team to begin with."

John Kostecki has joined the team in Rio de Janeiro, and he hopes to start sailing early next week in preparation for the next in-port race. "I am very excited and proud to join the Ericsson Racing Team for leg five," he said. "These boats are extraordinary inshore, so I can't wait to experience an offshore leg. I have a lot of respect for Neal McDonald and I can see how the entire team looks up to him. Now we just need to concentrate hard on the next legs and to remain focused. There are still a lot of points up for grabs and there are good opportunities to climb up the leaderboard."

Ericsson and other team partners have been informed about the planned changes since the team's arrival in Rio de Janeiro. "The support they give us and the respect they have for our decisions are very much appreciated", comments Richard Brisius. "We are fortunate to have partners who are focused on performance and result as we are, but who also understand the difficulties of an event such as the Volvo Ocean Race, with both human and technological challenges."

Ericsson is currently in a disappointing sixth place on the leaderboard, having failed to show its full potential. There are still five legs, four in-port races and more than 10,000 miles to sail. For the Ericsson Racing team, a new race is starting.

ABN Two Arrives in Rio as Heros

At 07.36 GMT today after 20 days, 06 hours, 06 minutes and 10 seconds ABN AMRO TWO, the ‘young guns’ in the Volvo Ocean Race staged a staggering come back to take third place on this, the fourth leg of the race. Having taken a gamble early on - which did not pay off and put the boat at the back of the fleet - the crew sailed hard, determined to make up the lost miles.

As ‘the kids’ tussled with Pirates of the Caribbean and Brasil 1 off the coast of Rio during the early hours of this morning it was always going to be close as the boats tried to navigate light and patchy wind. For ABN AMRO TWO there was an added incentive for victory over their Brazilian rivals, Lucas Brun the only Brazilian sailor onboard the ABN AMRO boat was hoping to be the first Brazilian to sail into his home country. As they crossed the finish line in third place, the boat once again proved that they are truly a force to be reckoned with in this race and they will continue to exert pressure on their rivals.

Lucas Brun commented on his arrival: “It was always going to be a dream come true for me to sail into my home town – of any of the legs, to sail on this one was always going to be an amazing experience. The leg has been hard work but when you arrive like this, you forget all the bad bits and just remember the best parts. This is the highlight of my career without a doubt. I can’t believe that we arrived in third place and that I was the first Brazilian back on home soil in this race - it is a great feeling and I am very proud.”

Simon Fisher, navigator of ABN AMRO TWO commented from the dock: “I couldn’t ask for anything more right now, we were struggling in sixth place with no wind and we were 200 miles behind and now we are here in third place. We were four miles behind at the last sked but managed to sneak in under them [Brazil 1] at the end. I felt pretty accountable for being so far behind but you have to take the rough with the smooth and we got there in the end so it is good. We’re going to have to lift our game to stay on the podium. When we’re reaching we feel pretty comfortable, but upwind we struggle. But we all have a laugh together - we keep the spirit high and the humour at base level, which is all good. I’m sure we have a lot more fun than a lot of the other boats. There is plenty of joking going on. We take the sailing very seriously but we also do this because we love it. It’s important not to lose sight of that.

All in all I am very happy, it was a result of teamwork - a massive team effort – it was hard fought and we are stoked.”

Current Leaderboard: (based on current positions)
1st: ABN AMRO ONE: 49 points
2nd: ABN AMRO TWO: 35 points
3rd: Pirates of the Caribbean: 30.5 points
4th: Movistar: 28 points
5th: Brazil 1: 26.5 points
6th: Ericcson: 21 points

ABN Amro One Win Gruelling Southern Lef

At 03.18 GMT today after 20 days, 01 hour, 48 minutes and 23 seconds ABN AMRO ONE, overall leaders in the Volvo Ocean Race, added a leg four victory to their impressive race record.

The Southern Ocean is notoriously the hardest and most challenging of legs for any round the world sailor – the extreme fatigue coupled with the intense cold, strong winds and large seas makes the arrivals here in Rio even more significant. For ABN AMRO ONE, who have worked hard to maintain their sometimes fragile lead, the finish here in Rio has come not a moment too soon. Mike Sanderson and his crew have now won 3 of the 4 legs in this race and continue to show that they are the team to beat in this race. However with half the points still available there is everything to play for in the remainder of this race and in a fleet that contains some of the world’s best sailors.

As Mike Sanderson commented on the dock side:

“I didn’t think we’d won this leg until this afternoon. That was when I allowed myself to believe that we might have pulled this off. And even in the harbour when at one stage it looked like we were going to swept past the finish by the current there were some pretty nervous times. It was amazing to watch the guys behind - I see there have been a few places changes today.

It’s been tough since we left Wellington, but some amazing sailing. All I can say is the guys did a fantastic job sailing this boat. I’m just so proud of the whole of TEAM ABN AMRO. The boat is immaculate, it never put a foot wrong - it did everything we asked it to do. We looked after it sometimes and then there was a couple of times we put the hammer down and showed a bit of pace, so that was fun.

I’m very excited to be in Rio. This is a pretty big milestone in the Volvo Ocean Race. We’re now roaring back into the Atlantic and there are some pretty exciting times for this boat coming up. This is one of the legs we were most worried about, perhaps for one or two of the short ones are going to be interesting too but the situation in the last thousand miles has been really tough, but we’ve been mentally preparing for that for about a year. I think the guys behind thought they might catch us up, but the boat went well and I think it surprised people how well it went in the light airs.

For now, this moment right here is the high point of this leg - having scored the results, being part of a team that I’m so proud of. This is the moment for me, for sure.”

ABN AMRO TWO are expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro at around 09.30am GMT Saturday 11th March.

Current Leaderboard:
1st: ABN AMRO ONE: 49 points
2nd: ABN AMRO TWO: 34 points
3rd: Pirates of the Caribbean: 30.5 points
4th: Movistar: 28 points
5th: Brazil 1: 27.5 points
6th: Ericcson: 21 points

One to Forget

For the crew of Ericsson Racing Team, leg four has not been the happiest and today’s result will be one they would rather forget.

Skipper Neal McDonald (UK) commented, “It’s great to finally be here. It was long leg and physiologically very difficult. We are not pleased with the result but we are very pleased to be here in one piece without to many catastrophes. We are not enjoying being behind and we will just have to try and improve in the future. There is still a long way to go and it feels like we have done all the hard work and I know from experience that there is still a long way to go in this race. We’ve been through the toughest legs and now it’s time to make up the points.”

Magnus Woxen added on the dock, “This leg was mentally very tough as well as physically, as you hammer the boat through big Southern Ocean waves. It’s an unbelievable experience when you are jumping and flying off waves. You hear bangs and hope that it doesn’t mean anything but it is one hell of a ride! It’s a question of knowing how hard to push the boat and we are still learning.”

Ericsson Racing Team arrived in Rio de Janeiro today in fifth place at 1912 GMT after 20 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes at sea. The story of their leg is one of immense frustration. On day four, they blew out a spinnaker, which took 36 hours to repair. The lack of this crucial sail prevented the team from sailing where they wanted to and the three boats to the south slipped away into more breeze. On day nine, 27 February, the boat did a spectacular Chinese gybe. Luckily no one was hurt and no gear was damaged. In a situation like this, they were very lucky not to break their mast. The team was back up to speed again in a few hours, but it again cost them precious miles.

In the approach to Cape Horn, there was a glimmer of hope that Ericsson might be able to pass ABN AMRO TWO. The team set their biggest spinnaker at first light in their attempt to overtake. Pushing hard until about 120 miles short of Cape Horn itself, the sea state was so unfriendly that the spinnaker was dropped. More drama followed shortly thereafter when, in the mountainous seas, their battery bank broke free and began to short on some carbon structure, starting a resin fire. Smoke and flames were beginning to show and the team quickly levered the whole bank away from the carbon, solving the immediate problem, and it was back to business.

Leaving Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands behind them, the team was obsessed with their strategy to the finish. They were at the back of the fleet and desperate to make gains, claiming that they would happily stay at sea for another four weeks if it could mean a better result. It was not to be.

Patches Wins Coastal Race; Pegasus 52

Eamon Conneely's Patches leapt back with a vengeance today to win the 45-mile coastal race of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship. After winning three races in a row on Wednesday and then having to retire from the distance race on Thursday with damage to its deck, today's win counted for 1.25 times the finish and catapulted the Irish boat back into second place overall, three-quarters of a point behind fleet leader Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52.

The Patches team, including experts flown into Miami especially from the West Coast of the USA, worked throughout Friday until 6am Saturday morning to cut out the broken area of deck and rebuild it. They went out to the racecourse today with a large area of black carbon fiber covering the breakage.

Today's exceptionally lumpy wave conditions, with a 15-knot southeasterly wind, in fact proved more of a test to Patches' repair than when it had broken originally, claimed skipper Ian Walker. A tug and barge moving diagonally across the racecourse complicated the opening leg, a beat out into the Gulf Stream. On Patches there was another heart-in-mouth moment when they thought they had hooked a substantial piece of rope hanging off the back of the barge. Losing distance as a result of this, the team found themselves on the left side of the beat astern of the leader, Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52.

First to the weather mark was Pegasus 52 with Fort Lauderdale 'amateur' sailor Tom Lihan behind the wheel instead of owner Philippe Kahn, who will rejoin the boat tomorrow following his forced absence due to business commitments. "We had a nice start and got the first shift to go ahead, then we could dictate," described Pegasus 52's tactician Ken Read. "We were going good, really happy. We think we have improved upwind with every race." Pegasus 52 was followed around the top mark by Patches and Michael Brennan's Sjambok.

Rounding the weather mark and bearing away onto a run, Patches made a winning move when the crew hoisted a masthead spinnaker as Pegasus 52 put up a fractional. "Our sail was too small and too flat," admitted Read of the sail they hoisted on Pegasus. "We changed to a masthead right away and even with the change we were too small and too flat. So we learned something."

Within 10 minutes of rounding the weather mark Patches had overhauled Pegasus to leeward in 15-18 knots of wind and went on to extend their lead. "It was really good fun - we were flat out," commented Patches' tactician Ian Walker. "We could only just hold that chute the whole way across with everyone hiking as hard as they could." Patches sailed below the layline in the anticipation of getting lifted as the team converged with the Florida coast, extending the lead.

Rounding the mark off Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, the boats went on to a port tack fetch as they sailed south down the Florida coast. From here there was little opportunity to find passing lanes and Patches fended off Pegasus to take line honors - the fifth in eight races sailed so far this regatta - by 1 minute, 33 seconds.

Two windward-leeward races tomorrow will decide the outcome of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship. "It will be a big day tomorrow," confirmed Patches owner Eamon Conneely. "We pulled it out of the bag today with brilliant crew work downwind and a great call on the kite by Ian. So two races tomorrow, fingers crossed. I'm quite nervous."

Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm, from England, finished third overall, passing Sjambok just before the final turn for the finish. "We are just trying to understand the angles we're sailing on the boat and getting to know those angles," commented Robinson.

Sjambok finished fourth close behind the British boat. "We made a bit of a mistake on our spinnaker selection toward the end of the reach, which cost us a little bit," admitted owner-driver Micheal Brennan. "It is getting pretty close with two races still to go. It will be a good battle tomorrow."

Stage is Set for Final Day Battles

It's down to the wire at Acura Miami Race Week.

Winners in nine of 12 classes won't be determined until the final day of the 142-boat regatta, organized by Premiere Racing. Adding to the intrigue is the fact the Acura Grand Prix Trophy is also up for grabs in six classes.

One entry in the TP52, Farr 40, J/105, Mumm 30, Melges 24 and Swan 45 will be honored for outstanding combined performance at Acura Key West 2006 and Acura Miami Race Week.

"For years, winning Key West has been one of the greatest achievements in U.S. sailing. Now the competition at Miami Race Week is just as stiff in several one-design classes," event director Peter Craig said. "Winning the Acura Grand Prix Trophy shows a tremendous level of excellence. To put forth a consistent performance at two major regattas is not an easy feat."

Stay Calm II, skippered by Stuart Robinson of Thames, England, holds an eight-point lead in the battle for the Acura Grand Prix Trophy. Adrian Stead is calling tactics aboard the British boat, which won Key West and stands fourth here in Miami.

Pegasus 52, owned by Philippe Kahn of Waikiki, Hawaii, held her overall lead in the nine-boat Rolex TP52 Global Championships by placing second in Saturday's coastal race. However, Eamon Coneely's Patches is just three-quarters of a point behind after winning the 42-mile jaunt into the Gulf Stream, up to Ft. Lauderdale and back to Miami.

It was a remarkable comeback for Patches, an Irish entry that broke its deck during the overnight distance race that began Thursday afternoon. Boat-builders worked fast and furiously to repair the Reichel-Pugh design in time for Saturday's start and the crew took over from there.

Helmsman Stuart Childerly and tactician Ian Walker led the way as Patches completed the coastal race with an elapsed time of 4 hours, 51 minutes, 35 seconds - 1:33 ahead of Pegasus 52.

Action is equally intense in the 19-boat Farr 40 class, where skipper Eivind Astrup and Norwegian Steam maintained their overall lead for the third straight day. A sixth and a third on Saturday gave the Norwegians 35 points - two better than Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino.

"It's been a fantastic week of sailing and it feels great to be in contention. The crew is gaining confidence with every day," said Astrup, who has not won a Farr 40 regatta since joining the class five years ago.

Norwegian Steam posted a podium finish at the Sardinia Cup and there have been moments of brilliance in other major events, just not the consistency needed to win. There was a sign this could finally be the regatta for the Norwegians, who fell into last place after hitting the top mark during Race 7 yet battled back to finish sixth.

"We've had high positions in individual races, but we have been irregular. We get a third then follow it with a 15th," Astrup said. "The trick is to avoid those huge downturns. So far, we have been able to do that here."

It must be unsettling for Astrup to have Mascalzone Latino breathing down his neck. The Italian entry has three-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts calling tactics and has made a steady climb through the standings - going from sixth on Day 1 to third on Day 2 to second on Day 3.

"We've been getting better as we go along. We might be winning if we'd been able to get better starts. We've spent the week battling through the fleet," said Coutts, the cool and confident New Zealand native. "We've had very good downwind speed, which has enabled us to make up ground."

Mascalzone Latino, which won at Key West, holds a healthy 8-point lead over Warpath (Steve Howe, San Diego) for the Acura Grand Prix Trophy.

It appears there is a runaway winner for the Acura Grand Prix Trophy in Melges 24. Italian skipper Riccardo Simoneschi is dominating the 25-boat class here in Miami after finishing fourth out of 60 entries at Key West.

"To be honest, that was one of my objectives. I saw the trophy here last season and thought it would very nice to win," Simoneschi said. "I appreciate the idea behind it, and will be very happy if I am able to hold it (Sunday)."

While the boat name has changed from Nautica to Giacomel Audi Racing, Simoneschi is sailing with the same crew as he did in Key West. After finishing third in Race 1 of Miami Race Week, the Geneva resident has reeled off five straight bullets.

"We are pleased with how we've performed at both events. We were battling for the win up until the last mark of the last race at Key West when we had to do a 720. We were determined to do better here," said Simoneschi, who picked up the Boat of the Day honor. The Melges 24 class was deemed the most competitive class.

Other leads in the Acura Grand Prix Trophy competition are Groovederci (Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara, CA) in Mumm 30, Gumption 3 (Kevin Grainger, Rye, N.Y.) in J/105 and Goombay Smash (William Douglass, Newport, R.I.) in Swan 45.

Monaco resident Peter de Ridder missed Key West because he was launching a new TP52, but was determined to make Miami because the Mumm 30 world championships will be held here in November. New Zealand professional Ray Davies is calling tactics for de Ridder, who has steered Mean Machine to victory in four of five starts en route to building a four-point lead over Groovederci.

"We have been battling with Deneen for many years and it is always very close," said de Ridder, noting that he had not mathematically clinched the regatta.

There has been close competition in the Melges 32 class with the top four boats routinely overlapped at the finish line. Full Throttle, owned by brothers Brian and John Porter of Lake Geneva, WI, holds the overall lead on the strength of five bullets.

However, only five points separate the next three boats - Grins (Rick Orchard, Flowery Branch, GA), New Wave (Michael Carroll, Tampa, FL) and Star (Jeff Ecklund, Fort Lauderdale, FL).

"It's been a really tight regatta with lots of close racing and changing of places. Full Throttle has been strong, but with another good day we could possibly overtake them," said Steve Burke, crew member aboard Grins. "There are a lot of very good sailors in this fleet. The New Wave guys are real good and Star is always very tough."

Class organizers are hoping to have 12-14 boats at the North American Championships off Newport in July and possibly even more at Key West in 2007.

Two remain to be sailed on Sunday with close battles being fought in PHRF 2, 3 and 4, where four points or less separates the top two boats. The weeklong battle in IRC 1 goes in to the final day in a tie.

DIVISION 1
TP52
1, Pegasus 52, Philippe Kahn, Waikiki, Hawaii, 6-1-1-5-4-3-4-2=28.5
2, Patches, Eamon Conneely, Galway, Ireland, 1-6-3-1-1-1-dnf-1=29.25

3, Beau Geste, Karl Kwok, Hong Kong, China, 4-3-6-4-2-5-2-6=34.5

DIVISION 2
IRC 1

1, Aera, Nick Lykiardopulo, Cowes, UK, (2)-1-1-2-2-1-2-1=10

2, Moneypenny, Jim Swartz, Newport, RI, 1-(2)-2-1-1-2-1-2=10
3, Goombay Smash, William Douglass, Newport, RI, 3-3-3-4-5-(9)-3-3=24

Farr 40

1, Norwegian Steam, Eivind Astrup, Oslo, Norway, 8-1-2-5-6-4-6-3=35

2, Mascalzoni Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, Napoli, Italy,9-6-4-3-3-1-4-7=37

3, Heartbreaker, Robert Hughes,Holland, MI, 10-10-1-1-1-12-1-4=40
Melges 32
1, Full Throttle, Brian & John Porter, Lake Geneva, WI, 3-1-1-1-1-3-(5)-1=11
2, Grins, Rick Orchard, Flowery Branch, GA, 2-(3)-2-3-3-2-1-3=16

3, New Wave, Michael Carroll, Tampa, FL, 1-2-3-(4)-2-4-4-2=18

Mumm 30

1, Mean Machine, Peter de Ridder, Monaco, 1-1-2-1-1=6

2, Groovederci, Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara, CA, 2-3-1-2-2=10

3, Terra Firma, Dan Cheresh/Eric Wynsma, W. Michigan, MI, 3-2-3-3-3=14

Swan 45 (sub-class)
1, Goombay Smash, William Douglass, Newport, RI, 1-1-1-1-2-3-1-1=11

2, Better Than, Marcin Rojek, Newport, RI, 4-2-3-2-1-1-2-2=17
3, Fever, G. Gordon/K. Diederichs, Southampton, UK, 2-3-2-4-3-4-4-4-=26
PHRF 1 (IRC 1 – dual scoring)

1, Moneypenny, Jim Swartz, Newport, RI, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-(2)=7
2, Aera, Nick Lykiardopulo, Cowes, UK,(2)-2-2,2-2-2-2-1=13
3, Goombay Smash, William Douglass, Newport, RI, 3-3-3-3-5-(8)-3-3=23

DIVISION 3
PHRF 2
1, El Ocaso, Rick Wesslund, Tiburon, CA, 1-2-1-1-1-1-(4)-3 =10
2, Peregrine, Hunt Lawrence, Oyster Bay, NY, 2-1-2-2-(dnc)-3-2-1 =13
3, Emocean, Bill Hanckel, Charleston, SC, (5)-3-5-4-2-2-1-2 =19
PHRF 3
1, Defiance, Scott Taylor, Long Beach, CA, (4)-1-1-1-4-2-3-1=13

2, Triptease, Jeff Rubin, Fischer Island, FL, 1-(7dsq)-4-2-3-1-1-3=15
3, Temptress, Robert Hibdon, Charleston, SC, 3-2-2-(5)-2-3-2-2=16

J/105
1, Rum At Six, Worth Harris, Beaufort, NC, 2-1-1-1-2-2-2-3=14
2, Gumption 3, Kevin Grainger, Rye, NY, 1-2-2-2-3-4-5-2=21
3, Eagles Wings, John Gottwald, Chicago, IL, 3-3-4-4-5-1-1-5=26
PHRF 4
1, Sazerac, Gordon Ettie, Miami, FL, (3)-1-3-1-2-3-1-2=13

2, Kalevala II, Tapio Saavalainen, Annapolis, MD, 4-2-1-5-(dnc10)-2-2-1=17

3, Primal Scream, Steven Stollman, Key Biscayne, FL, 1-3-2-3-3-4-(5)-3=19

DIVISION 4

Melges 24

1, Giacomel Audi Racing, R Simoneschi, Genova, Italy, 3-1-1-1-1-1=8

2, Excellent, John Pollard, Torquay, UK, 7-5-2-2-2-2=20

3, Rock N Roll, Argyle Campbell, Newport Beach, CA, 1-3-3-3-4-9=23

J/24

1, La Calaca, Iker Belausteguigoitia, Miami, FL, 3-2-1-1-1-(4)=8

2, Gottago, Peter Benziger, Miami, FL, 1-(5)-3-4-2-1=11

3, Pick Up Styx, Jonathan Luscomb, Palm Beach, FL, (4)-3-2-3-3-2=13

Etchells

1, Oriental Express, Jud Smith, Marblehead, MA, NC, 2-4-1-2-1-(6)=10

2, Victory, Buddy Cribb, Miami, FL, 4-3-7-(22)-3-4=21

3, Pipe Dream XII, Scott Piper, Miami, FL, 1-(13)-4-9-2-9=25

Ericsson Racing Team arrives in Rio de Janeiro

A frustrated Ericsson Racing Team stepped ashore in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) this afternoon after 20 days at sea. The fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race has been filled with action - a lightning strike, a Chinese gybe, fires onboard and sailing around Cape Horn in all her fury. Despite the team's hard work and commitment, it didn't get the result it was expecting.

"This is a huge disappointment," commented Tom Braidwood. "We did everything we could and it wasn't good enough."

It was a perfect end to a disappointing leg for the Ericsson Racing Team today as it crossed the finish line in Rio de Janeiro, to the cheers of hundreds of spectators on the water, against the beautiful backdrop of Sugar Loaf. The leg from Wellington to Rio, concluded at 16.12 local time, after 20 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes of racing. Having sailed 6,700 nautical miles through some of the world's most hostile waters, Ericsson arrived just 16 hours behind the winning boat ABN Amro One, which goes to show just how competitive this Volvo Ocean Race fleet is.

A week after leaving Wellington, as they were sailing in fourth place, Ericsson was the victim of a Chinese gybe which gave the sailors a shock and cost them precious miles. Remarkably, the crew managed to recover the boat without breaking any gear and a few hours later they were back to full speed. They have since endured a fire onboard and a terrifying rounding of Cape Horn during which Ericsson reached speeds of 27 knots sailing with just the jib. "The boat wasn't surfing as we rounded Cape Horn," commented Tom Braidwood, "it was freefalling and it was just wild - everything I could possibly have wished for!"

Even the final day of racing was an eventful one, when Ericsson got hit by lightning during a tropical downpour. "We took a direct strike on the top of the rig which to our amazement resulted in flames at the top of the mast. It looks like the energy was enough to get the instrument wand at the top to actually burn", commented skipper Neal McDonald. "We have destroyed most electronics on the boat and we were without any sailing instruments, navigation computers, radar, VHF and other navigational gear."

Looking to the future McDonald said: "We need to work on a combination of things in order to improve. The first 4-5 days out of Wellington things were going well, so we know we have good pace in certain conditions. We now need to go back to the drawing board and analyse every element of the campaign. Missing the first Southern Ocean leg has probably cost us an awful lot and had a bigger impact than we first thought. We know a lot more now than we did before and we must convert this knowledge into better results."

Ericsson is currently in sixth place on the leaderboard, with 21 points - 5.5 points behind Brasil 1 and 7 points behind fourth placed movistar. ABN Amro One leads the race, with 49 points.

Focussed and Foot Perfect

The final week of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro was set to be a drawn out affair. As day 14, March 4, dawned, Sebastien Josse and his young team onboard ABN AMRO TWO had worked their boat into second position. The fleet was now 168 nautical miles east of the Falkland Islands and 550 miles from the Argentinean coast, and, as predicted, the boats had closed together and now only 48 nm separated first from fifth.

Movistar, meanwhile, had arrived in Ushuaia after being escorted all the way by a Chilean naval vessel. The shore crew were standing on the dockside when the boat came into view in the dead of night. Although exhausted, the crew were not ready to give up. “There is an outside chance of second place and we believe we can definitely make third place, “said Dutch skipper Bouwe Bekking. Farr Yacht Design, the designers of movistar were standing by to assist in any way they could.

Day 15, March 5, was one of those days that the new Volvo Open 70 was designed for. The fleet was reaching in breezes from 15 to 22 knots with boat speed nearly always matching the speed of the wind. The last 24 hours had been stress-free sailing for the first time in many days and the few sail changes that had to be made were tackled with fresh enthusiasm. But it wasn’t to last. By 1600 GMT, the fleet was sailing to windward and the wind ahead was forecast to become lighter as a high pressure ridge lay in their path.

Movistar was craned back into the water on day 16 and motored back to the spot where she suspended racing three days ago. As the team suspected, the fairing between the keel and the hull had broken off and that was how the water leaked into the boat. The team made temporary repairs in Ushuaia and set off towards Rio with their canting keel firmly locked in the centre of the boat. More repairs were planned in Brazil.

For the rest of the fleet, it was another 24 hours of smooth sailing. The dreaded slow passage through the high pressure ridge did not materialise and the fleet kept their speeds up. The order remained unchanged, but ABN AMRO ONE was showing impressive speed, at times up to two knots faster than anyone else. Strategy was king and consuming the navigators’ attention.

“I can’t stop thinking about strategy,” wrote Steve Hayles, navigator of Ericsson in fifth place. “It keeps me awake when I should be sleeping and I switch off from everything including the guys around me as I try and make sure that we are doing everything possible to leverage a position where we can make a gain and make it stick.”

By day 17, March 7, the pressure was really on and it had been a back and forth battle. The fleet was now 800 miles from Rio, a distance that could be covered easily in a fast two day sail, but the light winds made a delay of at least three days seem inevitable.

Knut Frostad from Brasil 1 filed a complaint:

“The brochure promised ice cold drinks, comfortable king size beds, exclusive gourmet meals and a service minded crew. On top of that, I was promised a Captain’s dinner at least once a week. Basically, it all looked like my dream holiday.

“And here I am! We are 1,000 miles from Rio. The king size bed is barely big enough for a kid and the one I was given has ripped apart. The food does not look or taste as on the brochure (apparently we are also running out of food in a couple of days), the staff is smelly and the couple of times I had dinner with the captain, he farted and wore no white uniform at all. The sun deck is quite big, but I still haven’t seen the sun. Basically I have been fouled.”

The racing became a grim game of snakes and ladders, a simple game where you work your way towards the finish, taking turns to throw the dice. “Yesterday,” explained Mike Sanderson from ABN AMRO ONE, “we slid down a nasty snake and lost 29 miles on the fleet and 39 miles to Brasil 1. Over the hours of darkness last night we gained back all that we had lost, plus some nice interest on a good ladder as we shot out to the biggest lead we have had for the whole leg.”

But apart from the frustrations with the weather, life onboard was good. “It is a far cry from the rigours of the Southern Ocean,” wrote Simon Fisher from ABN AMRO TWO. “We are sailing in shorts and t-shirts in the sun. The boat is now dry and you sleep well without being tossed around like a pancake in your bunk.”

But overnight, the fleet floundered in pockets of little or no wind. On day 18, Ericsson Racing Team was facing the possibility of finishing this leg in last place and onboard the stress was mounting. “We are at the back of the fleet and desperate to make gains,” wrote Steve Hayles. “The anxiety of sitting here in the nav station for hours at a time in little or no wind, almost praying for breeze, is enough to stop you eating and sleeping.”

Movistar had by now left the Falkland Islands behind them and were heading north towards Rio, but over 1000 miles behind the rest of the fleet.

On day 19, the breeze made a brief reappearance, but the seas were steep and choppy and the approach to Rio was fast becoming a bone-jarring affair. At the head of the fleet, Sanderson and the ABN AMRO ONE crew were watching the opposition carefully. Pirates of the Caribbean were 74 miles behind them, and Brasil 1 and ABN AMRO TWO were beginning a scrap that would last right up to the finish in Rio.

Progress on movistar was painfully slow as they sailed north in search of warmer weather. Their highlight in the next few days would be the day that Pepe Ribes allowed them to break into the leg of cured ham kindly given to the team by a Spanish icebreaker while they were in Ushuaia. “I am told,” wrote Mikey Joubert, “this is a very special gift to have received. We are also told by Pepe that there is a special ceremony required when opening and cutting the ham for the first time. He is keeping us all in mouth-water suspense when, every morning, he announces that ‘tomorrow will be the day’. If he does not hurry up, he will wake up to find a large piece missing and some very content people on deck.”

Day 20, March 10 and the closing stages of the leg were slow going and anything but straight forward and simple. A high pressure cell ahead of the fleet threatened to let ABN AMRO ONE through but trap Pirates of the Caribbean, while the remaining three boats could then catch up. On movistar, Pepe Ribes had still not let the crew open their ham. He said that he did not want them scoffing themselves and then throwing it up again in the rough weather. Perhaps day 21 would be the day?

Shortly after 1600 GMT, the Pirates became caught in the high pressure cell and were stopped dead in their tracks. Brasil 1 pounced and immediately took second place but only by a mile. ABN AMRO TWO was now only nine miles behind. Ericsson had yet another spell of bad luck when she was hit by lightning, taking a direct strike to the top of the mast, which, to the amazement of the crew, resulted in flames at the top of the mast. “We have destroyed most of the electronics on the boat and we are without any sailing instruments, navigation computers, radar, VHF and other nav gear. The sextant has been broken out just in case, but no need to use it yet,” wrote skipper Neal McDonald.

And then it was all over. ABN AMRO ONE finished the leg in first place, focussed and foot perfect. They drifted across the finish line at 00:18:23 local time after 20 days, one hour, 49 minutes and three seconds to claim first place. The team collected 3.5 points for passing the Cape Horn scoring gate first, and seven points for the leg win, bringing their total now to 49 points and putting them solidly at the top of the overall scoreboard.

In quick succession the next three boats crossed the finish. After 6,700 nautical miles of racing, the battle for second and third podium positions raged until the very last moments. In the last hours of the leg, Pirates of the Caribbean regained second position to cross the line at 04:06:50 local time followed just 30 minutes later by the young guns on ABN AMRO TWO. Local heroes, Brasil 1, missed a podium position in Rio de Janeiro, their home port, by the slimmest of margins, finishing 25 minutes behind ABN AMRO TWO.

And finally, Ericsson Racing Team crossed the line at 1612 local time after 20 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes at sea. It was a leg that this tired crew would rather forget. Perhaps they will have luck on their side next time?

Today, day 22 and movistar is still sailing north. The ham has not yet been opened and the crew are fed up with having no wind. Navigator, Andrew Cape, suggested taking down the sails and going to sleep for 10 hours, but instead the team battles on, changing sails all the time as what little breeze there is, is very unstable. With a fraction over 750 nautical miles to sail before reaching Rio, the movistar team is not expected to arrive until March 16. Perhaps Pepe will have allowed them to open the ham by then?

Thilling Conclusion to Acura Miami Race

There's nothing more thrilling than to have a major sailing regatta come down to the last race of the last day. That proved the case in multiple classes at Acura Miami Race Week.

Just ask Eamon Conneely, owner of the Irish TP 52 Patches. Conneely and crew captured the inaugural Rolex TP52 Global Championship in dramatic fashion, placing second in the 10th and final race to overtake Pegasus 52.

Pegasus, skippered by Philippe Kahn of Waikiki, Hawaii, entered the day leading by three quarters of a point and wound up 1¼ points behind after finishing one place behind Patches in both races on Sunday.

"I am very, very excited. I was very nervous last night because the pressure was on us," Conneely said. "We beat Pegasus, which is what we needed to do. It was incredibly close. In fact, you couldn't get much closer."

Actually, the IRC 1 class was closer as the Swan 601 Moneypenny nipped the Ker 55 Aera by tiebreaker after both boats totaled 13 points. Owner Jim Swartz and his team aboard the recently launched Moneypenny broke the deadlock by winning the last race.

"It reinforces what I was saying about how close the IRC rule has gotten these two boats," said Moneypenny navigator Mark Rudiger, part of an all-star afterguard that included helmsman Mike Toppa and tactician Gary Weisman.

Things were tense on the Farr 40 dock as a result of a protest involving on-water winner Heartbreaker. Skipper Robert Hughes vaulted from third to first on the last day, edging week-long leader Norwegian Steam by a mere point. However, the Italian entry Nerone protested Heartbreaker for tacking too close in Race 10 and that led to an uneasy two-hour period of waiting for the outcome.

Hughes, who owns an employee benefits company in Grand Rapids, Mich., was ecstatic when word came the protest had been dismissed. "To win a biggie like this is incredible. I'll be walking on the tips of my toes for a week," said Hughes, who took home the Acura Trophy as overall Boat of the Week and the Baxter Trophy as top performing Farr 40.

Tactician Bill Hardesty and trimmer Wally Cross were key crew members for Hughes, a two-time winner of Farr 40 Nationals. Heartbreaker stood third, six points behind Norwegian Steam and five astern of Mascalzone Latino going into Race 10. Hughes admitted his team benefited from a tacking duel between the Norwegians and Italians, who finished ninth and 11th in the last race.

"We got a great start and sailed our own race while those two covered each other. It worked out perfectly," Hughes said. "One of the reasons we were going so fast is because the crew hiked so hard.”

Five other classes were decided by two points or less with all but one coming down to the last race. Skipper Rick Wesslund and El Ocaso led PHRF 2 from start to finish, but almost suffered disaster at the end. The San Francisco-based J/120 was winning Race 10 when a lifeline broke and dumped two crew members overboard.

"By the time we stopped and picked them up we were in last place. Fortunately, we were able to claw our way back to fourth," said Wesslund, a resident of Tiburon, Cal.

El Ocaso, which won five of the initial six races, held off hard-charging Peregrine by one point and was rewarded with the City of Miami Trophy as PHRF Boat of the Week. "We felt really good about the way we sailed early in the week, but we faced some challenges the last two days. The level of competition got better each day and we feel fortunate to win."

Wesslund had high praise for Acura Miami Race Week, which has been dubbed the "SORC Renaissance." Organizers with Premiere Racing have revamped the renowned regatta, providing more professional management on and off the water.

"I sailed this regatta four years ago and wasn't happy with the way things were run so I didn't return. Premiere has made this a high-quality event again in every aspect. We will definitely be back next year," Wesslund said.

There figures to be more Melges 32s in Miami come 2007 after a strong debut showing this week. Brothers Brian and John Porter got the gun in half the races in leading Full Throttle to a one-point victory over Rick Orchard and Grins. "It was great racing all week. The boats are a blast and very evenly-matched," said John Porter, who steered while getting tactical calls from his brother.

The Porters, who grew up sailing on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, have enjoyed tremendous success in Melges 24 class the last decade. They thoroughly enjoy the larger Melges and predict rapid growth for the new fleet.

"This was our first time on the 32 and we had a lot of fun. We had a little difficulty figuring out when to heat it up going downwind. We broached a couple times and dropped the spinnaker once," John Porter said.

A tiebreaker was also required in PHRF 3, where Scott Taylor's B-32 Defiance and Jeff Rubin's Tripp 33 Triptease scored 19 points apiece. Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine and Deneen Demourkas' Groovederci traded first and second places in Mumm 30 with the former ultimately winning by two points.

No skipper was happier than Gordon Ettie, a Miami resident who has been trying to win this regatta since it was known as the Southern Ocean Racing Conference. Ettie, an equity investor who authored the book Demystifying Business with Cookies and Elephants, finally broke through with his Swan 40 Sazerac.

"We've come in second in this regatta so many times. I went all out to win it this year," said Ettie, who topped PHRF 4 by two points.

One of the more impressive victories came in J/105 as skipper Worth Harris steered Rum at Six to first or second in nine of 10 starts. "It was all in the crew work. We go around the corners fast," said Harris, a beer distributor from Beaufort, N.C.

However, it was another J/105, Philip Lotz's Indefatigable, that picked up the Acura Boat of the Day award after posting a pair of bullets on Sunday.

There was terrific action on the Biscayne Bay course, which featured the regatta's two largest classes. Italian skipper Riccardo Simoneschi gave a command performance in the 25-boat Melges 24 class while Massachusetts sailmaker Jud Smith was equally dominant in the 28-entry Etchells class.

Smith, who was sailing with his 17- and 16-year-old daughters, finished first or second in five of the initial seven starts and was able to sit out the final race and still win by 11 points. "Racing was a lot closer than the results would indicate. This was a strong fleet and the competition was very good," said Smith, a legendary figure in the venerable class.

Simoneschi was simply on fire after finishing third in Race 1. He reeled off a string of seven straight bullets, much to the amazement of top-notch competitors such as John Pollard and Argyle Campbell.

Simoneschi was one of six winners of the Acura Grand Prix Trophy, awarded for combined excellence at the two winters regattas organized by Premiere Racing.

Other boats that posted the top combined scores at Acura Key West 2006 and Acura Miami Race Week were Groovederci, the TP52 Stay Calm (Stuart Robinson, Royal Thames, UK), Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato, Napoli, Italy), J/105 Gumption 3 (Kevin Grainger, Rye, NY), Swan 45 Goombay Smash (William Douglass, Newport, RI).

Patches Wins Inagural Rolex TP52 Championship

As if to prove that the TP52 class is now one of the most competitive and hardest fought games in sailing, the two leaders - Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52 and Irishman Eamon Conneely's Patches - entered the final day and two windward-leeward races of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship, sailed in conjunction with Acura Miami Race Week, with Kahn's boat ahead by just 0.75 points. At the end of the first race today Patches had regained first place, though leading Pegasus 52 by just 0.25 points. The outcome would come down to the final race.

Patches and Pegasus 52 tackled the pre-start of this last line-up like an America's Cup match race, the two boats aggressively circling one another beyond the committee boat. Their progress up the first beat was relatively even until the approach to the weather mark where Patches was approaching on starboard with rights while Pegasus was on port attempting to barge its way in between the starboard tack boats.

"It was going to be close to cross with them as they had Glory right above them, but we had them, had them, had them - no problem - and kept going fast, but they did a nice job," said Pegasus' Ken Read on what transpired just prior to the mark rounding. "All of a sudden I think they got a flat spot and were hunting a bit. In about 15 seconds it went from a cross to a no cross. But by that time we were committed in there and there was no bailing out." Patches was forced into a crash tack to avoid colliding with Pegasus' transom, its crew protesting loudly. Pegasus immediately carried out a 360-degree penalty turn relegating it to last position. Finally, after rounding the mark the team had to perform another turn for having fouled within two boat lengths of the mark. "If you live by the sword you die by the sword," said Read.

This weather mark incident was clearly the deciding moment of the race, but while most teams might have taken it as a final knockout blow, Pegasus did not. Kahn's team admittedly brought up the rear for the next legs, but by the time the race finished they had done an admirable job climbing back to third place, immediately behind Patches. The finish wasn't enough to beat them overall. Eamon Conneely's team, led by British double Olympic medallist Ian Walker, won the regatta by just 32.25 points to Pegasus' total of 33.5.

"I was very nervous last night and yesterday after winning," admitted Eamon Conneely. "We had to beat Pegasus in both races today. It was incredibly close, so close you couldn't have engineered it. And it all came down to the last race..." Patches won this regatta in a particularly dramatic 'come-back' style after it had been forced to retire from the high scoring distance race on Thursday night with severe breakage to the deck, scoring maximum points in the process.

"I am thrilled for Eamon," said Walker. "He has put a lot of time and money into the boat. We only just made this regatta with the guys working for a month to fix the keel after Key West and then to break the boat here and fix it over night... It is quite a big team - not just all the guys on the boat who sailed well, but all the guys who have been fixing it and designing it and making it happen."

Despite finishing second, Ken Read was pleased with how their all-star team on Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52 had performed. "We don't feel bad at all about how we did," he said. "We got beat by a boat that had a little more time under their belt and were more prepared. We didn't even make Key West and we've worked really hard to get to here. Quite frankly Philippe and whole team were all pretty proud to come second. And it was fun. Hats off to Patches - quite frankly the best boat won."

While all eyes were on today's Patches and Pegasus showdown, there were two other noteworthy performances. The first race, ultimately won by Patches, saw the oldest boat racing lead for the first four legs. John Buchan's (Seattle, Wash.) Glory (originally named Yassou) was one of the first TP52s ever built. "We caught the shift and started on port tack. Then, we led for four legs, so that was great for us - a bunch of amateurs from Seattle," commented navigator Andrew Koch, who runs the boat, praising designer Bruce Nelson, who has been sailing on board as tactician this week. This is the team's first regatta in the boat which just three weeks ago was upside down in a boatyard having major surgery performed to convert it from being a 2001 generation TP52 into a 2006 one. "It is snowing in Seattle right now - 85F and wind, Miami's a pretty good place to be," concluded Koch.

The final race today was won by Bambakou. "We always peak on the last day, by that time we are warmed up we know what we are doing and it is time to come home," joked owner John Coumantaros, who attributed the success in this last race to his team picking the shifts well.

Bambakou also earned the Offshore Trophy for best performance in the two offshore races this week, Thursday's 200-mile overnight race and Saturday's 35-mile coastal race.

"What can you say? With 15-20 knots all week, it couldn't have been better conditions. Two days of windward-leeward races, a distance, a coastal race and back to the windward leewards - it is a fantastic mix of racing," concluded Coumantaros, summing up the feelings of all those have enjoyed this week of superb weather and top level yacht racing at the inaugural Rolex TP52 Global Championship, taking place at the Acura Miami Race Week.

At an on-shore ceremony following racing, Eamon Conneely, with the crew of Patches, received a Rolex Yacht-master timepiece in Rolesium. He also received the TP52 Global Championship perpetual trophy.

Rolex TP52 Global Championship

Final Results
Day 6 (of 6), ten races completed to date, March 12, 2006

Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, Total Points
1. Patches, Eamon Conneely, Galway, IRL, 1-6-3-1-1-1-15[DNF]-1.25-1-2, 32.25 points
2. Pegasus 52, Philippe Kahn, Honolulu, HI, USA, 6-1-1-5-4-3-6-2.5-2-3, 33.5
3. Beau Geste, Kark Kwok, Hong Kong, CHN, 4-3-6-4-2-5-3-7.5-6-4, 44.5
4. Bambakou, John Coumantaros, Newport, RI, USA, 5-8-4-6-7-4-1.5-6.25-4-1, 46.75
5. Rush, Thomas Stark, Newport, RI, USA, 2-4-2-10[DNF*]-5-2-9-8.75-3-6, 51.75
6. Stay Calm, Stuart Robinson, Royal Thames YC, UK, 3-7-5-2-3-6-10.5-3.75-7-8, 55.25
7. Sjambok, Michael Brennan, Annapolis, MD, USA, 7-2-8-3-8-8-4.5-5-8-7, 60.5
8. Glory, John Buchan, Hunts Point, WA, USA, 9-5-7-8-6-7-7.5-10-5-5, 69
9. Braveheart, Charles Burnett, Seattle, WA, USA, 8-9-9-7-10[DNF*]-9-12-11.25-9-10, 94.25

Note: Finish places for the race 7 counts for 1.5 times the points and race 8 counts for 1.25 times the points.
[DNF] denotes "did not finish"

PATCHES crew: Eamom Conneely, owner (Galway, IRL)
Ian Walker (GBR), tactician
Stuart Childerley (GBR), skipper
Guy Barron (GBR)
Hick Butt (GBR)
Simon Fry (GBR)
Roman Grealish (GBR)
Ian Moore (GBR)
Freddie Shanks (GBR)
George Skoudas (GBR)
Richard Sydemham (GBR)
Jonathan Taylor (GBR)
Martin Watts (GBR)
Ian Weighell (GBR)

Focussed and Foot Perfect

The team of professionals sailing ABN AMRO ONE, with Mike Sanderson (NZL) in charge, remained focussed and foot perfect throughout the whole of this, the longest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at 6,700 nautical miles.

They drifted across the finish line today in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro at 00:18:23 local time (03:18:23 GMT) after 20 days, one hour, 48 minutes and 3 seconds at sea to claim first place. The team collected 3.5 points for passing the Cape Horn scoring gate first, and seven points for the leg win, bringing their total now to 49 points and putting them solidly at the top of the overall scoreboard.

An ecstatic but tired skipper, Mike Sanderson reached the dock and said:

“It was a really tough leg, but it was amazing, the guys did a fantastic job. It was unbelievable and I’d thank the whole team.

“It was a very stressful leg and the leg that I was most worried about. It was really hard work mentally, but it was exhilarating, it was fast and we reached some great speeds. It was like taking a 49er across the Atlantic, it was really full on and it was just a question of hard you could get away with pushing boat.

Navigator Stan Honey, the man that Sanderson says it is an honour to work with, said,

“This leg is the essence of the race. It takes you half way round the world and past Cape Horn and it is one of the reasons why I am taking part. The other reasons are to sail round the world and to sail with these guys.”

The last stages of this leg have predominantly featured light airs, something for which this Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed yacht is not optimised and it has given Mike Sanderson his fair share of worries as he watched his lead decrease and increase with the fickle and unstable breeze.

Although this team has consistently been at the top of pack for most of this leg, they made a bold tactical decision to take a short term loss to make a long term gain and, late on day two, they gybed to the south of the fleet, losing 43 nautical miles and moving from first place to fifth. This was the day when they also encountered a six foot giant squid which attached itself to their windward rudder but was eventually untangled.

Life was very stressful onboard for the next two days as the tactic of going south rather than opting for a more northerly route with their sister ship ABN AMRO TWO played out. But within 24 hours of making the decision, they moved up into fourth place and reported high speeds and flat water.

By 1000 GMT on day four, ABN AMRO ONE was back in her familiar first position but quickly slipped to third as the fleet split when they headed north to round the two ice gates which kept the fleet the fleet north of iceberg territory.

Day five, 23 February, ended with the black boat in second place just behind movistar but by day six they had grappled their way back into the lead and really didn’t look back from then.

The Long Night

It simply couldn’t get any more frustrating than it already is for the boats in second to fifth position racing in the closing stages of the Volvo Ocean Race leg four from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro. Once again, the wind Gods are on the side of ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) but rest of the fleet is dealing with a very volatile weather situation as a front passes over them, causing headwinds, periods of total calm, alternating with squalls which bring 50 degree wind changes and 10 knots difference in wind speed.

Shortly after 1600 GMT, second placed Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) came to a grinding halt. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) made big gains and hooked into the new wind, while the Pirates were left wallowing. Brasil 1 took over second position and shortly thereafter, The Black Pearl was hit with a squall.

“It was all hands for about 30 minutes as we had to shift from light air mode, not to mention that we had to get a spinnaker up and the jib down and bagged,” explains Pirate Paul. “After we got under control, we looked around and saw a boat about six miles behind. We are not sure who it is of the three that were behind. We have since put about four miles on them and can no longer see them. We are currently still being dictated to by this massive cloud line, although it is only blowing 13 knots now. It’s going to be a long night.”

Brasil 1 is just a mile ahead of the Pirates tonight and ABN AMRO TWO is only nine miles behind them and the speeds are up throughout the fleet. Perhaps it will not be such a long night after all?

Close Competition at Acura Miami Race Week

Mark Rudiger stared at the scoreboard and shook his head in disbelief.

Rudiger, navigator aboard the Swan 601 Moneypenny, was checking the results of IRC 1 class and did a doubletake upon seeing the corrected times for Race 4 of Acura Miami Race Week 2006.

Much to the surprise of sailors from both sides, Moneypenny nipped the Ker 55 Aera by just one second in the morning race off Miami Beach. After 11.9 miles and 1 1/2 hours, a mere second separated the two burgeoning rivals once time allowance was factored.

"That sure doesn't happen very often. It's remarkable how evenly matched these two boats are," Rudiger said.

Moneypenny and Aera are continuing a tremendous battle that began at Acura Key West 2006. Aera edged Moneypenny by two points in that nine-race series, but the bigger boat came away with the inaugural U.S. IRC Championship that was scored by a complex formula.

"I am very surprised because they are different types of boats with different characteristics," Rudiger said. "We tend to do better on the beats while they are catching us on the runs. We are working very hard on our downwind speed because we know that every second counts."

Owner Jim Swartz has not been aboard Moneypenny so far due to business commitments. He arrives Saturday, but left the newly-launched Swan 601 in the capable hands of Rudiger, tactician Gary Weisman and helmsman Mike Toppa. That afterguard trio led Moneypenny to victory in both races Friday and the Newport, R.I. entry leads Aera (Nick Lykiardopulo, Cowes, UK) by one point in the overall standings.

Competition is just as close in Farr 40 class, which features 19 fully-professional teams. Robert Hughes and his Heartbreaker team posted a pair of bullets on Friday to vault from seventh to second in the overall standings - one point behind Eivind Astrup and Norwegian Steam.

"It was one of those days when everything went right. We got good starts, the crew hiked real hard and we hit the shifts just right," said Hughes, who owns an employee benefits company in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hughes credited bowman Mike Hill and tactician Bill Hardesty with helping Heartbreaker nail a perfect pin-end start in Race 5. Heartbreaker led around every mark and won going away, a rarity in the talent-laden fleet.

"In this class, you live for days like this. When we crossed the finish line, I looked back and saw more Olympic medals and America's Cups and Volvos than I could shake a stick at," said Hughes, who kindly carried a cameraman from the Outdoor Life Network aboard his boat on Friday.

Norwegian Steam held the overall lead for a second straight day after fifth and sixth. Astrup and crew sailed both races without instruments after banging masts with another boat. "We are only halfway through the regatta. This is a lot more racing to go. We cannot get too happy just yet," Astrup said.

Mascalzone Latino made a move on Friday, finishing third in both races to take over third in the regatta. The Italian entry, led by owner Vincenzo Onorato and tactician Russell Coutts, got better every day en route to winning at Key West and hopes to do the same here. "I got bad starts, but we made up ground because Russell is a genius and the crew is fantastic," Onorato said.

There was significant shakeup in the Rolex TP52 52 Global Championships following an overnight distance race that finished Friday morning. Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52 seized the overall lead in the nine-boat fleet after placing fourth in Race 7.

Skippers and crews thoroughly enjoyed the distance race, which took the fleet east across the Gulf Stream to a turning mark off the Bahamas then north past Bimini around a turning mark at Great Isaac Light. From there, the TP52s sailed west across the Gulf Stream to the Florida coast before heading back to the finish just north of Miami.

By far the biggest news came around 8.30 p.m. when the Reichel-Pugh designed Patches, owned by Eamon Conneely of Ireland, broke its deck at the forward end of the cockpit on the port side. "The core fully split - you could put your hand in there when you were sailing along," tactician Ian Walker said.

Patches, which had seized the regatta lead with three bullets on Wednesday, was forced to withdraw and return to Miami. Designer Jim Pugh was on hand to help boat-builders fix the damage so the Irish entry could complete the regatta.

Bambakou, skippered by John Coumantaros of Newport, R.I., hit 24.5 knots of speed on the downwind run en route to winning the distance race. Beau Geste, owned by Karl Kwok of Hong Kong, placed second and moved into second overall - one point back of Pegasus.

Among the PHRF classes in Division 3, no boat has performed better than El Ocaso. Skipper Rick Wesslund has steered the San Francisco-based J/120 to four bullets in five starts and holds a comfortable eight-point lead in PHRF 2. "Every morning I tell the crew, 'Welcome to day one of Miami Race Week.' We don't ever think about the standings, we go out with the mindset the score is still 0-0," Wesslund said.

Wesslund pulled a rarity by port-tacking the entire six-boat fleet at the start. Peregrine and Emocean, two other J/120s, stand second and third in the class, which also includes a pair of Beneteau 40.7s and an Aerodyne 38. "These are clearly conditions that favor the J/120s," Wesslund said.

Racing got underway on Biscayne Bay on Friday with the Etchells, Melges 24 and J/24 classes basing out of the Shake-a-leg facility. Jud Smith, a class legend from Marblehead, Mass., flashed his typically tremendous boat speed in taking the early lead in Etchells - largest class at Acura Miami Race Week with 28 boats.

Smith steered Oriental Express to an impresive line of 2-4-1 and earned City of Miami Boat of the Day for his efforts. Mike Craig is doing the foredeck for Smith, who has daughters Lindsay, 17, and Darby, 16, crewing for the first time in a major regatta.

"It's wonderful having a sailor the caliber of Judd out there. He's always so fast, it's a good benchmark for everyone else," said Buddy Cribb, a Miami resident who stands in third place.

A 10-15-knot Bermuda High breeze greeted the 65 boats on Biscayne Bay. Riccardo Simoneschi of Italy put up back-to-back bullets to grab the lead in the 26-entry Melges 24s while Iker Belausteguigoitia of Miami had a solid line of 3-2-1 to move ahead among 10 J/24s.

"It was a beautiful day of racing. This is the perfect time of year for this event. We're sailing in shorts and a t-shirt... it doesn't get any better than that," said Smith, who also carried a camera for veteran television commentator/producer Gary Jobson.

In Quick Succession

After 6,700 nautical miles of racing, the battle for the second and third podium positions raged until the very last moment. In the last hours of the leg, Paul Cayard (USA) and Pirates of the Caribbean team regained second position to cross the line at 07:06:50 GMT (04:06:50 local time) followed just 30 minutes later by the young guns on ABN AMRO TWO led by Frenchman Sebastien Josse.

Local heroes, Brasil 1 skippered by multiple Olympic medallist, Torben Grael (BRA), missed a podium position in Rio de Janeiro, their home port, by the slimmest of margins, finishing 25 minutes behind the Dutch boat.

At 2200 GMT last night, the drama was played out as Pirates of the Caribbean stalled in a light patch of wind and Brasil 1 swept pass to take second place with a one mile advantage. ABN AMRO TWO was just nine miles behind. But by 0318 GMT, and the finish of leg winner, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), the Pirates had regained control, pushing the Brazilians back to third place. In the next four hours, the young team of ABN AMRO ONE took it one step further and deposed Brasil 1 of a place on the podium.

As Cayard and his crew crossed the finish line, ABN AMRO TWO was just four miles behind her and Brasil 1, a further two. At 07.36 GMT, the white Dutch yacht claimed third, and Brasil 1 missed out on her place in the sun by three nautical miles, finally finishing in fourth place at 0755 GMT.

Paul Cayard/Pirates of the Caribbean: “Second is a good finish. It was a long six hours and we had everything thrown upon us. It really tested our selves, our boat and our whole campaign. I am really pleased with the consistency of results. We always said it would take us to Rio before we were up to pace.”

Lucas Brun (BRA)/ABN AMRO TWO: “The experience of being the first Brazilian to hit home shores is absolutely amazing and I really did not expect this. It has been a very hard trip and just have got here would be good. Not to have sailed in the other legs and then to finally sail this one and sail home was a dream come true.”

Knut Frostad (NOR)/Brasil 1: “We pushed the boat very hard and always knew we were the team who had a lot to learn. There was a lot of mixed emotion as we crossed the finish line especially for the Brazilians whose goal was better than fourth.”

Dockside with Pirates of the Caribbean

Quotes from the Dock:

Justin Clougher (AUS) – Pirates of the Caribbean

“It was a tedious leg with a rosy ending. We are happy to be here, we worked hard and we had moments of fear and loathing. It is a great venue to come to and it is a fantastic leg to do for all sailors.”

“The boat went quite well, we are very happy with it and overall have to be satisfied with this leg.”

“We were a late entry and knew it would take us time to get up to the speed of some of the other entries. You can see the entries that have spent most time on water are showing most speed. We gave ourselves the deadline that by Rio we would be up to the same speed, knowledge and handling of the boat as the other teams and I think we can say we achieved that goal.”

“The high point was finishing the leg and obviously getting a good result is a wonderful bonus. This is a monumental leg for all sailors and yachtsman - this is what the race is all about and this is what people think about when racing these boats.”

“The high point of this leg was seeing the boat perform - the thing goes like a bat out of hell. We saw what this boat was really made of and I hope we see it again.”

Paul Cayard (USA), Skipper – Pirates of the Caribbean

“This is an important result for team. We have been slowly progressing this project and we have a nice trend going; we were second in the Melbourne in-port race, third into Wellington, second round Cape Horn and second into here, and now we starting to show some consistency of being very competitive.

“We are racing the boat well. We have done a nice job of bringing the project along. The boat seems pretty solid, we didn’t break anything major, and that is a big improvement over Melbourne.”

Torben Grael (BRA), Skipper – Brasil 1

“It was unfortunate as we had a few breakages towards the end of the leg. We were forced to use our smaller spinnaker as we ripped the larger one and this affected our speed.”

“We are quite confident with the boats performance. We learnt a lot on this leg. We didn’t have a very good sail selection and we missed a couple of sails that we chose wrongly but despite that, we still managed a close finish.”

“The boat needs a lot of work as always but on the whole, we are happy with the speed and look forward to the next races.”

“The racing has been really good apart from the break downs. We know all of the boats are of similar speeds so it is quite fun – after 7000 nautical miles to have boats in-sight of each other it makes it a lot more fun. The boat is in very good shape after this long leg and the boat behaved beautifully in very tough conditions.”

“Now we have different conditions for the rest of the race, with a little less wind, which should make it better for us.”

Simon Fisher (GBR), Navigator – ABN AMRO TWO

“It was a really tough last few days for us. We were a little bit slower than Brasil 1 and they were grinding away at us and every position report we were slightly slower. The front came through early this morning and we thought we would push really hard, so we gained a little and then a little more.”

“There have been some real ups and downs in this race so we are absolutely stoked with third place. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

“The lowest point in the leg was when we were struggling in sixth place, sitting in no wind watching the boats take 50 miles out of us on each position report, was pretty tough on me as the navigator, but coming round Cape Horn and reeling them back in was pretty good. You have to take the rough with the smooth and it is a good example of never giving up.”

Bambakou Wins Distance Race

The Rolex TP52 Global Championship distance race sprang several boats into the limelight, turning the leader board on its head when John Coumantaros's Bambakou crossed the finish line in first early this morning. With a fourth-place added to his scoreline, Philippe Kahn and his Pegasus 52 moved into first place overall of the nine-boat fleet racing in the 10-race series, sailed in conjunction with Acura Miami Race Week.

Leaving Miami yesterday afternoon, the 200+ mile distance race saw the boats taking an effective anti-clockwise course around a square. The fleet first raced across the Gulf Stream out to a turning mark off the Bahamas, then north past Bimini around a turning mark at Great Isaac Light. From there, they sailed west, back across to the Gulf Stream to the Florida coast before heading back south to the finish just north of Miami.

The biggest shake-up took place at around 8.30pm last night. Sailing upwind in a relatively large sea, but moderate wind, Eamon Conneely's Reichel-Pugh designed Patches, broke its deck at the forward end of the cockpit on the port side. "The core fully split - you could put your hand in there when you were sailing along," described Ian Walker. Midway between Miami and the Bahamas at the time, the crew had no choice but to head back to port. "We had done half the upwind and we were looking forward to coming downwind with the chute. We had Rush and Pegasus tucked away, covering them for the overall positions," continued Walker.

Cruelly, at the time Patches was clear leader of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship after a hat trick of wins on Wednesday. The crew and a team of boat builders are now attempting to fix the break so that Patches can race tomorrow. "It might not be pretty, but we'll fix it," advised Walker. "Obviously they are high performance, grand-prix boats, designed as close to the limit as you can. We have had a few issues, but it is still a relatively new boat and once we shake out those issues we are really pleased with how she is going."

Tactically the most significant part of the race occurred on the first side of the 'square' from Miami across to the Bahamas. With the wind from the southeast and the north-flowing Gulf Stream running at up to five knots in places, the passage across was a starboard-tack-biased beat. At some point between Miami and the Bahamas the boats would have to put a tack in to the south, but the question was when to do this. A majority of boats, including early leader Patches, had chosen the latter southerly route, while Bambakou, Glory and Beau Geste had chosen the 'northern route' heading straight across to the Bahamas. As they approached the Bahamas this latter group was hit by a massive 40-degree header. All three tacked and suddenly were able to lay the turning mark.

At this stage Karl Kwok's Hong Kong entry Beau Geste had taken the lead followed by Bambakou and Glory. With Patches out of the running, Michael Brennan's Sjambok was first of the southern boats to reach the mark, but well behind the leaders. A match race for the lead took place on this next leg hugging the western side of the Bahamas Bank with Bambakou taking the lead only to be overtaken on the inside again by Beau Geste at the next mark.

On the run back across the Straits of Florida, Bambakou hit 24.5 knots, just more than the wind speed --the wind had piped up to more than 20 after midnight--and once again took the lead. From here the team hung on to first place until the finish, winning by six minutes 35 seconds ahead of Beau Geste.

On his arrival an exhausted, but jubilant, Bambakou owner, John Coumantaros, attributed the boat's success to his team and to sticking to their game plan. He believed that Bambakou was better suited to offshore races with a wider transom making for better reaching in moderate to strong conditions. Coumantaros added that they had benefited from using a fractional reaching chute, an A5, whereas Beau Geste was sailing under reefed main and masthead genoa.

"I am happy. We pride ourselves in the long distance courses and the boat went very well," said Coumantaros, adding that his background is in this style of racing. His father George had several maxi-boats called Boomerang on which he had sailed. "I called my dad before we set off and he said 'well the way you're going just split from the fleet. And as always he was right". Sailing on board Bambakou was America's Cup sailor Santiago Lange, along with his Olympic Tornado crew Carlos Espinolda and Jochen Barne, who sails with Lange at the Victory Challenge, Swedish America's Cup team.

Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, with Gavin Brady calling the shots on board, arrived close behind in second. "It was a tiring race but in the end the result pays off. And it was my first race crossing the Gulf Stream," said Kwok, praising his navigator Tom Addis.

In third place overall was Micheael Brennan's Sjambok, a Farr-designed sistership to Bambakou. On his arrival Sjambok navigator Campbell Field was kicking himself for not having gone north. "I didn't have the conviction and going north paid hugely," he said. However, they reached the Bahamas first by being furthest north of the southerly boats. Sjambok arrived just under 20 minutes after Bambakou. "It was good fun racing. We were close to boats all the time, sailing for 18 hours with the intensity of an hour and a half windward-leeward," concluded Field.

With three races left to sail, including tomorrow's coastal race, the top three positions see championship leader Philippe Kahn' Pegasus 52 (fourth today), second placed Beau Geste and Patches within two points.

Rolex TP52 Global Championship

Preliminary results
Day 4 (of 6), four races sailed, seven completed to date, March 10, 2006

Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, Total Points
1. Pegasus 52, Philippe Kahn, Honolulu, HI, USA, 6-1-1-5-4-3-6, 26 points
2. Beau Geste, Kark Kwok, Hong Kong, CHN, 4-3-6-4-2-5-3, 27
3. Patches, Eamon Conneely, Galway, IRL, 1-6-3-1-1-1-15[DNF], 28
4. Rush, Thomas Stark, Newport, RI, USA, 2-4-2-10[DNF*]-5-2-9, 34
5. Bambakou, John Coumantaros, Newport, RI, USA, 5-8-4-6-7-4-1.5, 35.5
6. Stay Calm, Stuart Robinson, Royal Thames YC, UK, 3-7-5-2-3-6-10.5, 36.5
7. Sjambok, Michael Brennan, Annapolis, MD, USA, 7-2-8-3-8-8-4.5, 40.5
8. Glory, John Buchan, Hunts Point, WA, USA, 9-5-7-8-6-7-5, 49.5
9. Braveheart, Charles Burnett, Seattle, WA, USA, 8-9-9-7-10[DNF*]-9-8, 64

Charleston Race Week Goes Global

One of the country's fastest growing sailing competitions, Charleston Race Week presented by Seabrook Island, will include entrants from outside North America for the first time this year. Joe Woods and his crew from Torquay, England, will travel to South Carolina to compete aboard a Melges 32 at the event this spring (April 6-9). Along with three other teams who will travel from Canada for the regatta, Woods and company will add an international flair to the event.

"We're gratified to know that word is spreading about the wonderful hospitality Charleston offers, and the high caliber of competition that underscores this unique event," said Brad Van Liew, Event Director and the Executive Director of the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation, the organization that is managing the regatta. "Having international competitors in the mix seems a fitting way for Charleston Race Week to enter its second decade of existence." The event first took place in 1995.

Meteoric growth is becoming a hallmark of this early April regatta. Just three years ago, the event attracted fewer than 90 boats. In 2004, 94 boats competed, in 2005 that number surged to 143. For 2006, more than 150 entrants are expected to materialize. Among those boats will be entries from as far afield as Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Several years ago, explained Van Liew, the officers of the Charleston Ocean Racing Association began instituting a number of incentives as a means of ensuring increased participation in Race Week, particularly among boats from outside Charleston. Free dockage was offered for early registrants, as well as free trailer storage for out-of-town boats, and those policies continue today. In addition, registration fees are set at an affordable level to encourage a broad range of participation. The growth that has resulted in part from these measures has given Charleston Race Week a unique character.

"This regatta attracts some of the top competitors in the southeast," added Van Liew, "and it can be very challenging on the water with the strong tides we have. But you'll also find sailors here who are just out for some fun sailboat racing, no matter the outcome. We've got sailors of all stripes. You see that on the water as well as on shore at the great parties we orchestrate. It's true southern hospitality at its best."

The Stage is Set

The stage is set for tense finish in the last hours of leg four with an overnight park-up predicted, and more of the same tomorrow. In the last few hours, local heroes, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) have overtaken ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and although the Dutch team did everything they could to stay ahead of them, it seems the Brazilian boat is slightly quicker than the white Dutch boat on this angle. The fleet has reasonable breeze tonight, but from tomorrow until the finish in Rio de Janeiro, the weather will be light and the chance of a park-up will increase.

Leading the fleet, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has a 76 mile buffer on Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), but this could so easily diminish if the breeze dies. In the last six hours, the chasing pack, with the exception of movistar who is in a completely different weather pattern, has all lost miles to ABN AMRO ONE. But they are just waiting for the opportunity to pounce and the final line-up in Rio de Janeiro could still be quite different from the leaderboard order shown tonight.

Slow Going

The sailing in the closing stages of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race is anything but straight forward and simple. With just 140 miles to the finish line in Rio de Janeiro, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has extended their lead to 94 miles, and for a brief two hour spell earlier this morning, the team was heading 90 degrees away from course in an effort to avoid the lightest patches of breeze and find more wind.

There is a high pressure cell ahead of the fleet. As the high pressure widens, Mike Sanderson will be hoping that he can ease ABN AMRO ONE through the gap and that his nearest rival, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), will be caught. This is a worrying scenario for Paul Cayard as the boats behind him could make big gains in a short period of time. “It could all be different tomorrow and we might skate through as well,” said Cayard late last night. “One thing it is not, is straight forward and simple. We will just have to deal with it, whatever it is,” Pirate Paul concluded. Both ABN AMRO ONE and Pirates of the Caribbean are struggling to make 7.5 knots.

No one will be pushing harder than Torben Grael as he drives hard for a podium finish his home town. Grael is conjuring 8.1 knots out of this boat and while the crew onboard ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) are putting up a fight and are doing everything they can to squeeze an extra fraction of speed out of the boat, they are only able to achieve 7.5 knots.

In fifth place, Ericsson Racing Team has nothing to lose by trying different tactics and is currently the fastest of the leading five boats as they position themselves 183 miles from the shore and to west of bulk of the fleet. “More losses in the last 24 hours to the leaders and we really have to hit a corner hard now; probably a loss, but then, we have nothing to lose,” wrote skipper Neal McDonald.

Onboard the repaired movistar, 1273 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE, Pepe Ribes still has not allowed the crew to tuck into their leg of cured ham. Upon interrogation, Pepe informed the crew that he did not want them scoffing themselves and then throwing it up again in the rough weather. “It is amazing how fast the waves have built up and we have been sailing with no mainsail, a small jib, even smaller staysail and still surfing at a regular 20 – 27 knots. In the last few hours, the wind has dropped to 30 knots and it feels sedate enough for us to almost want to pull out the deckchairs,” writes Mikey Joubert.

Alinghi Season Starts Now

Alinghi announced the 2006 season plans at a press conference in Lenzerheide, Switzerland on Thursday 9 March. On the podium were Brad Butterworth (NZ), vice-president, skipper and tactician, Jochen Schuemann (DE), sports director and helmsman and Nils Frei (SUI), trimmer. Brad led the event with the subject on everyone’s mind; SUI91: “The dye has been cast in so much as we have made the decisions now and the first boat is being built at Decision in Vevey, so we’ll find out how she goes when we put her in the water.” He also mentioned: “Alinghi has got a new look, so next time you see the boats they’ll look a little bit different!” The new graphics will emerge from the shed with SUI64 and SUI75 when the sailing begins on the 21 March in Valencia. The graphic re-design project has been led by Syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli. It is a move forward from the old look, quite literally... (new images to come). Brad finished off his season preview with a look forward: “This will be the start of a full year where we intend to sail the two old boats and then bring online the new boat sometime in May. We will be doing a lot of testing and a lot of racing, the three Acts in May and June being key times for us to see how we’re doing versus the challengers.

He then handed over to Jochen to comment on an excellent week of physical training at Lenzerheide: “We’re a Swiss team, so it is good to come back to your origins and since we are all now in Valencia, working sailing and living in the sun, it is a nice contrast to have some freezing conditions!” As far as the training is concerned: “It has been a diverse week so far with skiing, cross country skiing and gym sessions based around the snow time. We have already achieved a lot in the last few days and this is also an opportunity to spend a lot more time together as a team.”

Swiss trimmer Nils Frei described Alinghi’s plans for Switzerland this year: “2006 will be a Swiss year for Alinghi, there will be a lot of events here. A big one will be the Swiss Roadshow in September, where you will see the Americas Cup Class Yacht in several big cities around the country. We will also be sailing again in Switzerland with the UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour, before wrapping up in Geneva with a large event during the second part of the year where a lot of world famous sailors will attend.”

The sailing team held a sports exhibition at the end of the press conference which consisted of a relay, with cross country skiing, archery and sledging. Alinghi will stay in Lenzerheide until Sunday when they return to Valencia to begin training on the 21 March.

Betsy Alison: New US Disabled Team Coach

Portsmouth, R.I. (March 9, 2006) - US SAILING, national governing body of the sport, has hired Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) as the full-time coach of the US Disabled Sailing Team. Alison, a five-time US SAILING Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and two-time Yngling World Champion, has been working with athletes of the US Disabled Sailing Team for several years, accompanying the U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team to the 2000 and 2004 Paralympic Games.

"It's great to have Betsy Alison, an athlete of such high caliber, working with the members of the US Disabled Sailing Team," said Dean Brenner, Chairman of US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee which manages the US Disabled Sailing Team. "Our disabled athletes have been achieving great results in major international competitions and we look forward to continuing these successes as Betsy expands her responsibilities."

Alison now officially joins a staff of three elite sailing coaches employed full-time by US SAILING: High Performance Director and US Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie, as well as US Sailing Team Coaches Luther Carpenter and Skip Whyte.

Created in 1998 to develop and prepare the Team representing the U.S. at the Paralympic Games, the US Disabled Sailing Team annually recognizes the top three competitors in the three classes selected for the Paralympic Games: 2.4 Metre (Open Singlehanded), UD18 (Open Doublehanded) and Sonar (Open Triplehanded). Sponsors of the US Disabled Sailing Team are Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Zodiac of North America, Gill, Vineyard Vines, Sperry Top-Sider, Nikon, Harken, New England Ropes, Extrasport, and Team McLube.

BMW Cruise Bikes Handed to AC Challenger

Munich/Valencia. From the high-tech yacht onto high-tech bikes: BMW has equipped the BMW ORACLE Racing team with 20 BMW Cruise Bikes. The bicycles, a limited edition of BMW’s Cruise Bike featuring a special finish and the team logo, were handed over to the team by CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson in Valencia - providing the crew with extra mobility on land while they prepare for the 32nd America’s Cup.

“We are delighted about the team’s great appreciation of the BMW Cruise Bikes. The BMW ORACLE Racing Team is synonymous with state-of-the-art technology and challenge – qualities which are also characteristic of our BMW Cruise Bikes. The innovative design of the frame and the ergonomic comfort of our bikes will now be attracting attention in Valencia, too“, states Andreas Wecke, Head of Sales & Marketing, Merchandising & Lifestyle BMW.

BMW’s bikes are proof of the technology and design competence of BMW. Thanks to the innovative hydroforming technology, for example, the bicycle’s aluminium frame, the front section of which is spring-mounted, is unique in terms of its shape and design. The members of Dickson’s team will be using the new bicycle fleet to help improve their fitness and stamina ashore. Furthermore, the bicycles enable the crew to cover the mostly short distances within the America’s Cup Port quickly and flexibly.

Hat Trick for Patches Caps Fine Day on Course

In a class as competitive as the TP52, it is typical to have a different winner in every race. However, Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 52 won two of three races yesterday, and today, it was Eamon Conneely's Patches, from Ireland, sweeping all three races to take a commanding lead at the Rolex TP52 Global Championship, sailed as part of Acura Miami Race Week.

Three races were held out in the Gulf Stream, off of Miami's South Beach and with the exception of the last race, the wind was much more stable than yesterday, settling in from the northeast and ranging from 10-20 knots.

Straightaway, Patches seemed to have the bit firmly between her teeth going into today's first race. Although mid-pack at the first weather mark rounding, Conneely managed to gain the lead on the second beat and reach the finish line first by 26 seconds ahead of his British rival, Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm, which in turn squeezed in just ahead of early race leader, Michael Brennan's Sjambok.

In the second race Patches was, again, in the middle of the fleet at the top mark and at the end of the first run became involved in a port-starboard incident with Stay Calm. "We ended up going around the right-hand gate and everyone went around the left-hand gate," described Patches' tactician double Olympic silver medallist, Ian Walker. "Fortunately the crew did a great job and although it was a messy drop they managed to get the kite down okay."

After rounding the opposite ends of the leeward gate Stay Calm and Patches headed up the beat on opposing tacks - and sides - of the course and were both being lifted. "We couldn't tack and they couldn't tack and we separated from the whole fleet," continued Walker. "Fortunately for us there was a massive left hander and we took 300m in 500m." While Karl Kwok's Beau Geste had been one minute ahead at the leeward gate, this race-winning shift launched Patches into the lead to claim a second victory of the day by 1 minute, 43 seconds.

In the final race, held in conditions as shifty as they were yesterday, the afterguard on Patches made the correct calls off the start line. "We wanted the right and after the start we tacked immediately right, worked a couple of shifts and then there was a huge right hander at the top so again we were launched," described a jubilant Walker. Patches rounded the top mark with a 1 minute, 25 second lead over the fleet and went on to win.

The results for Patches today might come as pay back for the boat's keel structural issues suffered in the last few months, which kept it from competing at Acura Key West Race Week and the Rolex Middle Sea Race. "We are kind of owed a few," admitted Walker. "It's the luck of the Irish. We might go and do the lottery after today's run of good fortune. But it is nice for Eamon. Whatever happens in the rest of the week he has had one hell of a day to remember and he is owed it more than anyone after what happened at Key West and in Malta."

Elsewhere in the fleet Thomas Stark's Rush (Riverside, Conn.) was forced to pull out of today's first race when a batten end fitting exploded requiring the boat's shore crew to rush a spare mainsail out to the race course. Solid performances in races 2 and 3, enabled Rush to hold onto fourth place overall. In the second race, Charles Burnett's Braveheart (Seattle, Wash.) was also forced to withdraw after becoming entangled with the lines from a lobster pot.

On board Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, from Hong Kong, the feeling is that they are still playing catch up. "The European guys are a little more refined, more comfortable with their boats and I think that is showing in these changing conditions," commented Gavin Brady. Aside from this, what Brady feels is making the difference is the ability of teams to recover. "With the top four or five boats it is who can come back from a bad position in the fleet. We were back in the fleet in the last race and managed to get back to a fifth, but we were last around the last top mark. So it is a case of when you are having a bad race getting back and trying to get a keeper."

Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm posted second and third places in the first two races today, despite being over early in today's second race. "The boat is going well and our speed is good," commented triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie, who is sailing on-board. "Yesterday our big problem was starting, today it was much better."

Tomorrow the goalposts will change massively in the Rolex TP52 Global Championship when the boats are sent off on an 18-24 hour long distance race on a course expected to take the boats across to the Bahamas and back. While the last two days have been windward-leeward courses, this course is likely to see more reaching in a lumpy Gulf Stream. The results for this race, scored 1.5 times the windward-leeward race results, could cause a shake-up to the overall results.

Deja Vu - Volvo Race Update

Will history repeat itself? Four years ago, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet was in the final stages of leg four. SEB had dismasted and was sailing under jury rig while the rest of the fleet headed north. Illbruck’s lead started to evaporate, at one point they lost 25 per cent of their lead in just six hours. It was set up to be a thrilling finish and after almost 7000 nautical miles of racing, the five leading boats were locked into the tightest of battles as fickle wind conditions off the Brazilian coast turn wise old head sore.

There are some wise old heads and some young enthusiastic heads feeling very sore at the moment as leg four of Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 draws to a close. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is now heading away from Rio in a bid to find more pressure. She may well be lucky. There is a band of wind ahead of her and she will start to feel the benefit of this in about two hour’s time. The prospects for the rest of the fleet are not so bright. Second placed Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) is furthest west, just 165 nautical miles from the coast, but their current wind speed is just seven knots and the Pirates have lost 17 miles to ABN AMRO ONE in the last six hours.

Third-placed ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) has lost 10 miles and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) in fourth, has lost five miles. The winner in the fleet tonight is Ericsson Racing Team who is continuing to make small gains, this time five miles. It doesn’t do that much to ease the pain as they are still 138 nautical miles behind ABN AMRO ONE, but it will certainly lift morale, and they are sailing the fastest in the fleet at present.

Breeze at Last

The breeze is up, but for how long? Overnight, the wind picked up to 22 knots making it unpleasant in the lumpy seas for the teams struggling to reach Rio de Janeiro and the finish of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race.

“There’s nothing quite like bashing upwind into a lumpy sea when it is really hot and you have to have the boat all shut up,” says Mike Sanderson, skipper of leading boat, ABN AMRO ONE.

“The Volvo Open 70 was not made to go fast upwind, and that is exactly what the crews are having to do today” says Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford. Add to that a short and steep chop, the final approach to Rio is fast becoming a bone-jarring affair.

Bedford says there is still every indication that the breeze will shut down in the closing miles to Rio. If this does occur, the fleet will quickly compress, giving a welcome opportunity for the following boats to catch the leaders and giving Mike Sanderson something to worry about. “It’s not clear if there will be an obvious lane through these light winds at the finish,” says Bedford, adding, “It could all come down to little bit of luck as random puffs and shifts will decide who goes forward and who is left behind.”

The order remains unchanged today, but the whole fleet has made gains on Sanderson and ABN AMRO ONE. Sanderson is watching the opposition carefully: “We know we have an 80 mile [now reduced to 74 miles] gap back to the Pirates [Pirates of the Caribbean/Paul Cayard] and if the conditions were to be plain sailing, that would be a pretty comfortable lead, but as we know only too well after losing a 30 mile lead with 90 miles to go to the finish, just as in the last leg into Wellington, this one is far from over.”

Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is breathing down the neck of ABN AMRO TWO, only four miles behind and just over the horizon. They will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to be on the podium at the finish of the leg in their home port of Rio. ABN AMRO TWO is responding, attacking each manoeuvre with the full aggression of an inshore move. The stack of spare sails is flying quickly from one side of the boat to the other in the hope that they might gain an extra few miles. Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) is just 39 nautical miles behind Brasil 1, but sailing at almost the same speed.

Progress on movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has been painfully slow as they sail north in search of warmer weather as the wind is coming from the direction the team wants to go. The surprising thing seems to be the boat’s performance with the keel locked in the middle. Somebody onboard movistar was heard to comment yesterday that this fixed keel concept might actually catch on someday. .

The highlight of the remaining part of this leg for the Spanish team will be the day that Pepe Ribes allows them to break into the leg of cured ham kindly given to the team by a Spanish icebreaker while they were in Ushuaia. “I am told,” writes Mikey Joubert, “this is a very special gift to have received. We are also told by Pepe that there is a special ceremony required when opening and cutting it for the first time. He is keeping us all in mouth-watering suspense when, every morning, he announces that ‘tomorrow will be the day’. If he does not hurry up, he will wake up to find a large piece missing and some very content people on deck.”

Innovation and Competition at Miami Race Week

Skippers of all 142 boats entered in Acura Miami Race Week 2006 are anxiously awaiting racing in 75-80 degree temperatures and 12-20 knot winds.

However, California resident Jim Madden is looking forward to the regatta a bit more than most. That's because Madden will debut his innovative Custom 66-footer Stark Raving Mad during the grand prix event that has been dubbed the "SORC Renaissance."

Stark Raving Mad features a canting keel to provide stability. That innovative technology has already been used aboard specialty designs such as the Open 60, Volvo 70 and MaxZ86.

"Like I told the crew, the objectives this week are to be safe and have fun. However, I'd be lying if I told you we weren't competitive," Madden said. "We're here to sail the boat hard and see if we can win."

Stark Raving Mad, designed by Reichel-Pugh and built by Westerly Marine, was launched a month ago on the West Coast. Madden, a Newport Beach resident, took the innovative racer offshore for some sea trials, but never saw winds above eight knots.

"We're going up a very steep learning curve right now," said Madden, who tested the boat in 14-21 knot breezes off Miami on Tuesday. "We're still figuring out the timing of when to swing the keel during a tack or a gybe."

Madden, who grew up sailing out of Oyster Bay, N.Y., was inspired by the series of Australian-based canting keel yachts such as Wild Oats and Alfa Romeo. "It looked fast, it looked exciting and it seemed like the wave of the future," Madden said of the technology. "I wanted to keep my boat under 70 feet so it would be easier to handle."

Stark Raving Mad, which is competing in IRC 1, has performed well during practice sessions, Madden and tactician Robbie Haines both said. "We have found the boat really accelerates. Once you get the keel set and the sails trimmed, she really takes off."

Because of the canting keel, Stark Raving Mad is the scratch boat in IRC 1 and will get stiff competition from the Swan 601 Moneypenny, the Ker 55 Aera and four Swan 45s. Moneypenny and Aera duked it out at Acura Key West 2006 in January with the latter capturing class honors and the former taking the inaugural U.S. IRC Championship. "We will have to work very hard to sail to our rating," Madden said.

Organized by Premiere Racing, Acura Miami Race Week 2006 has attracted 142 boats from 22 states and 10 foreign countries. As usual, the professional-laden Farr 40 class is a focal point of the regatta. Big-name tacticians and trimmers can be found on all 19 boats and the action figures to get intense. "It will be another dogfight. There's a bunch of good teams here," said Dee Smith, making his debut as tactician for John Demourkas and Groovederci.

Demourkas was disappointed with his placement at Acura Key West 2006 and was looking forward to significant improvement due to the addition of Smith. "Dee has an uncanny ability to read the shifts, and it looks like it could be shifty here the next few days."

Pre-regatta favorite is Mascalzone Latino, skippered by Vincenzo Onorato and featuring three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts as tactician. This is the second event for Onorato and Coutts, who debuted together by winning Farr 40 class at Acura Key West 2006.

Veteran Farr 40 owner Jim Richardson is thrilled to have longtime tactician Terry Hutchinson aboard Barking Mad. The two have been together six years and won numerous major class events, including the 2004 world championship. However, Hutchinson has been away from the program since signing on as tactician for Team New Zealand a year ago.

"Terry is like family and the entire crew has certainly missed him," said Richardson, who has used Brad Read, Chris Larson and Vince Brun as replacements. "Terry and I have an incredible level of communication and he's the best leader of people I've ever known. He gets the most out of every sailor on the boat."

Another event headliner is the inaugural Rolex Tranpsac 52 Global Championship, which began Tuesday and features eight star-studded teams. Patches, skippered by Stuart Childerly of Ireland, dominated Day 2 of the competition with three bullets in as many races. British Olympian and America's Cup skipper Ian Walker is calling tactics on Patches, which leads Philippe Kahn's Pegasus by seven points.

There will be opportunity for the trailing boats to make up ground as Thursday brings an 18-24-hour distance race and Friday features a 5-7-hour coastal race. Both are weighted more than the eight buoy races in the series.

Kahn, who lists Waikiki, Hawaii as home port, has assembled an all-star afterguard that features multi-time America's Cup helmsman Ken Read as tactician and includes highly-decorated pros Chris Larson and Morgan Larson.

Stay Calm, a British entry owned by Stuart Robinson, is another top contender after winning Acura Key West 2006. British America's Cup sailor Adrian Stead is calling tactics for Robinson.

Racing on Biscayne Bay begins Friday and features the two largest classes at Acura Miami Race Week 2006. Local skippers Scott Piper and Buddy Cribb are among the favorites in the 28-boat Etchells fleet after placing second and third at this regatta last year. Riccardo Simoneschi and his Nautica team will be a key player in the 26-entry Melges 24 class after finishing fourth in a loaded field at Acura Key West 2006.

Not many PHRF entries will have as talented a crew as the J/100 Moxie, owned by Fischer Island resident George Collins. North Sails pros Jim Allsopp and Willy Keyworth are sailing with Collins, the retired investment banker who funded the Chessie Racing campaign in the 1997-98 Whitbread.

Collins, who has not steered a sailboat since last year's Miami Race Week, did not participate in a Wednesday practice session with the team since he was still on a skiing vacation.

Is West Best - Volvo Race Report

Overnight the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has been floundering in pockets of little or no wind. The five yachts first started snaking around to the northwest as they hit the wall of no wind, before gybing back to the west, as what little wind there was had changed direction. For one painful moment, there was only one knot of wind speed.

ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is now 63 nautical miles ahead of ABN AMRO TWO and will face light winds for the next 14 hours or so before benefiting first from any significant breeze. Based on her current speed of 9.4 knots, the finish is predicted around 1700 GMT on Friday March 10, but there are still 576 nautical miles to cover in fickle and unstable winds.

Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) is facing the possibility of finishing this leg in last place and onboard the stress is mounting. “We are at the back of the fleet and desperate to make gains; the anxiety of sitting here [in the nav station] for hours at a time in little or no wind, almost praying for breeze, is enough to stop you eating and sleeping, but yet, at this very moment, if you could transport me to my living room, hand me a cold beer and stick a decent English comedy on television, it would still be a hard decision to leave.”

Ericsson Racing Team is the only boat which has made any inroads into the lead during the last six hours. Although they have only gained a mile, this small gain will help bolster the flagging spirits onboard.

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has now left the Falkland Islands behind and continues on a northerly course towards Rio de Janeiro. They are currently enjoying slighter stronger winds that the rest of the fleet as they are positioned over 1000 miles to the south.

Losses and Gains

As the fleet stays tightly together, it could still be anyone’s race. An early lead now could so easily dissolve into a deficit in the light and fluky winds usually found off Rio de Janeiro, not a comforting thought for race leader ABN AMRO ONE and Mike Sanderson as he sits helpless with no wind and watches the fleet closing in on him.

Tonight, there are no losses for the chasing pack, just gains, and quite large ones at that. Sanderson’s speed has dropped to just over 7 knots as the pack hunts him down sailing four knots faster. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) has closed to within 19 miles of ABN AMRO ONE, gaining 28 miles, seemingly attached to ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) by a piece of elastic, who has also gained 26 miles and are now three miles astern of the Pirates.

The biggest gain of all tonight is Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), whose move to east of the warring couple has paid off handsomely with a gain of 39 nautical miles in the last six hours and an average speed of five knots faster than ABN AMRO ONE. The leading Dutch boat is now the furthest yacht to the west, 463 nautical miles from the coast, with Ericsson Racing Team the furthest east, 53 nautical miles east from ABN AMRO ONE.

No one is taking any chances. “We are adopting a pretty conservative strategy,” says Paul Cayard from Pirates of the Caribbean. “We take some risk but only when it is pretty high percentage, but otherwise we don’t shoot the corners. It is keeping us in a good position, but it will be a shoot out right at the end.”

Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is sailing into her home port and this team will settle for nothing less than a podium position at the finish. “For sure there are other ways of getting there [to Rio] which are much easier than the one we have in front of us,” writes watch leader Knut Frostad. “Wish us the best – we need it.” Andrea “Bonchecha” Fonseca adds, “I think that if we make the right calls on the weather from now on, we have a chance to fight for the victory. Conditions now are on our side.”

“I can’t stop thinking about the strategy,” writes navigator Steve Hayles from Ericsson Racing Team, still in fifth position, but also gaining 20 miles. “It keeps me awake when I should be sleeping and I switch off from everything, including the guys around me as I try and make sure that we are doing everything possible to leverage a position where we can make a gain and make it stick.”

Now back in the race, Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has sailed through Le Maire Strait and is now following in the exact track of Brasil 1 and heading to pass east of the Falkland Islands, doing 11.9 knots. She is over 1100 miles from the leader and her estimated arrival in Rio will be three days after the bulk of the fleet.

Acura Miami Preview

Racing sailors from 22 states and 10 foreign countries are converging on the waters off Miami Beach for the 2006 edition of Acura Miami Race Week. The ‘SORC Renaissance’ will feature over 140 boats racing on 4 separate courses.

Racing sailors are looking forward to ideal conditions - the long term forecast calls for 75-80 degree temperatures and winds ranging from 12-20 knots every day. Ten races are scheduled over the next 6 days.

Star-studded, international Farr 40, TP52 and IRC fleets are the big boats on the ocean divisions that begin racing on Thursday. The Melges 24, Etchells and J/24 classes begin racing on Biscayne Bay on Friday.

Key West 2006 champions Mascalzone Latino (Farr 40), Stay Calm (TP52) and Aera (IRC 1) lead the line-up in their respective classes.

Vincenzo Onorato and Russell Coutts proved in Key West that they are a formidable Farr 40 team, but 18 other Farr 40s with the likes of Kostecki, Appleton, Chieffi and Harrap in the afterguard, will certainly challenge a repeat win. The World Champion combination of Terry Hutchinson and Jim Richardson makes Barking Mad one of the pre regatta favorites.

The 2006 Rolex TP52 Global Championship kicks off race week on March 7. This inaugural event brings together high performance thoroughbreds from Europe, Hong Kong and across the US. Monday’s practice race took place in ideal conditions. PRO Tom Duggan was all smiles as he came off the water, remarking that the fleet was ready to go on Tuesday with racing that includes a distance and coastal contest.

IRC 1 features a Key West rematch with Jim Swartz’ Swan 601 Moneypenny against Nick Lykiardopulo’s Ker 55 Area, Jim Madden’s swing-keel R/P 66 Stark Raving Mad debuts this week with Dave Ullman and Robbie Haines aboard. Jim Bishop’s venerable J/44 Gold Digger, Larry Bullman’s newly acquired Farr 40, and 4 Swan 45s round out the big boat class.

All four Swan 45s competed in the Gold Cup World Championship at Acura Key West in January. William Douglass’ Goombay Smash finished just 2 points shy of a Gold Cup win.

Melges 32 and Mumm 30s complete Division 2. Mike Carroll’s New Wave won the Melges 32 one design class debut in Key West and he’ll be defending against a field of proven veterans like Brian and John Porter’s Full Throttle (Lake Geneva, WI) and Joe Woods’ Red (Torquay, UK).

Peter deRidder’s Monaco-based Mean Machine Mumm 30 crew and Deneen Demourkas’ Groovederchi from Santa Barbara, Cal. team will see a lot of each other this week as they look forward to their November World Championship in Miami.

Three PHRF classes and a J/105 class comprise the third ocean division. PHRF 2’s big boats to watch are Rick Wesslund’s J/120 El Ocaso and Greg Manning’s Beneteau 40.7 Sarah. They finished 1st and 2nd in class at Key West, with Wesslund also taking home PHRF Boat of the week honors.

Biscayne Bay racing begins on Friday. The Melges 24, Etchells and J/24 Floridians will need to apply whatever home field advantage they can muster. Melges 24s have traveled from France, Italy, Germany, the UK and 9 different states to prove their skills in the bay waters. 8 races are scheduled over the 3 days. Headquarters is again based at the Shake-A-Leg facility in Coconut Grove.

The Etchells fleet boasts 28 entries – many of them looking for rematches and second chances following their recently completed Jaguar series. Local favorites Scott Piper and Buddy Cribb will be looking to repeat their Acura Miami Race Week success from 2005. They were 2nd and 3rd at last years inaugural.

Key West set the stage for the Acura Grand Prix trophies to be awarded at the conclusion of Acura Miami Race Week. These prestigious awards debuted in 2005 and recognize the top boats with the best combined score from both Key West and Miami Race Weeks. TP52s, Swan 45s, Farr 40s, J/105s, Mumm 30s and Melges 24s are eligible.

Pressure Is On

It’s been a back and forth battle over the last 24 hours within the Volvo Ocean Race fleet racing in the final, but frustrating, stages of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race. In ideal conditions, the final 800 miles could be covered in a fast two day sail, but the light airs situation at present is likely to delay the fleet for another three days or more, and the overall picture is for very light wind all the way to the finish in Rio de Janeiro.

Huge losses have been made overnight as race leader ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), in their westerly position, sailed through the decaying low pressure system, reached the new south westerly gradient and managed to maintain high speeds all the way. For the next six hours, the Dutch boat will luck in as the breeze ahead is good, while the rest of the fleet struggle in virtually no wind at all.

Paul Cayard is sitting in the Pirate navigation station, waiting for the next weather report. “We are waiting for the wind to lift just a bit more and then we will gybe onto port and head towards the shore. The game here is to try and get the biggest shift without getting so close to the centre of the low, that we lose too much wind. This is made trickier by the fact that this low pressure system is decaying and possibly spreading out.”

Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) was the worst hit by the light airs, losing 71 nautical miles to the leader in the last six hours and only averaging a speed of 4.3 knots, compared with that of ABN AMRO ONE at 17.2 knots. Pirates of the Caribbean lost 29 miles and is now 50 miles behind Sanderson. Third-placed ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) lost 57 miles and Ericsson Racing Team lost 52 miles. The stress of racing is inevitably going to increase.

Knut Frostad, watch leader on Brasil 1, says, “The big thing now is the change of mode from breezy, high speed condition to light air focus. The boat is constantly restacked [all the sails, spares and the very few food bags left are moved forward, to leeward on deck and down again). The fleet is packed again, and in fact anyone has a realistic chance of being first into Rio.”

The pressure is on for everyone, not just the leaders. “More than 800 miles to go in very light airs: this is not the easiest for us. The pressure is on, but we are well trained for that as every finish has been running this scenario, hopefully we will survive,” wrote Sidney Gavignet from ABN AMRO ONE.

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) is making good progress and is currently 57 miles south of the Falkland Islands.

Snakes and Ladders

It’s been a difficult few days for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, now in the closing stages of leg four of the race from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro, and it will only get harder, as the approach to Rio is notorious for being difficult.

It’s a game of snakes and ladders according to Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. Snakes and ladders is a simple game where you work your way towards the finish, taking turns throwing dice. If you land on a ladder and you climb closer to the finish. If you land on a snake, you slide back towards the start. One of the largest scale games of snakes and ladders that can be played is happening out on the race track right now.

“Yesterday,” explains Sanderson, “we slid down a nasty snake and lost 29 miles on the fleet and 39 miles to Brasil1 (Torben Grael). We made our play to the west again that we had tried earlier in the day and had chickened out due there just being no wind, then, over the hours of darkness during last night, we gained back all that we had lost plus some nice interest on a good ladder as we shot out to the biggest lead we have had for the whole leg. No champagne cork popping sounds going through our heads here though, we are about to slide down another nasty ladder as we charge into a light spot and we just know we will lose miles.”

There will continue to be some big gains (ladders) and losses (snakes) in the fleet as all the teams fight to stay in the hunt to win this leg. At this level of professional racing, every boat is sailed extremely well and while tiny little gains can be made by sailing the boat well, the winner will be the team who gets it right with the weather (a ladder) and that is going to take a lot of hard work and a little bit of good luck.

Aside from the frustrations with the weather, Simon Fisher from ABN AMRO TWO says life is good. “It is a far cry from the rigours of the Southern Ocean. We are sailing along in shorts and t-shirts in the sun. The boat is now dry and you sleep well without being tossed around like a pancake in your bunk.”

Pirate Paul and the lost souls onboard The Black Pearl are pragmatic. “If it takes forever to get there, so be it. We just want to win this leg and we are prepared to stay out here for however long it takes to get the job done.”

Tonight’s position report shows gains by most of the chasing pack except Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald), who lost nine miles and movistar (Bouwe Bekking), who is creeping along the coast and sailing the shortest distance possible. The strategy varies across the fleet and currently the east-west positioning of the fleet remains the big tactical question. ABN AMRO ONE is the most westerly boat, while Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) holds onto the east. Ericsson Racing Team has moved to the west and is in the tracks of the Pirates but behind.

Unfortunately, before the fleet makes it to the finish, there is very likely to be more light air as another area of high pressure moves off the coast and towards the fleet. This will even more frustrating and could well be the cause of yet more last minute position changes in the dying moments of the leg before the fleet crosses the finish line.

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking), with her keel fixed firmly in the middle of the boat, is making good progress north. There is no chance of them catching the fleet, particularly as they cannot make use of their canting keel, but they should benefit from favourable conditions which will give them a relatively fast downwind sail towards Rio.

Spirits Rising

After the battering the fleet had as it rounded Cape Horn yesterday, the lighter winds that the crews are now have as they sail around the southern side of The Falkland Islands is more than welcome. Spirits are rising and grins are back on the faces of the tired crews.

Hatches, which were once closed to prevent an unwelcome torrent of water pouring into the boat, have been opened and the boats are beginning to dry out. The chance of sleep without the boat shaking and bouncing as the crews cling to their bunks is now possible and lying huddled on the floor in a survival suit is no longer necessary as the urgency to get everyone up on deck immediately has become less of a reality.

But this is no time to rest on their laurels, the battle for supremacy in the North Atlantic is on and while the boats are storm battered, and bent, the crews are gathering their strength to take on each other again in the last third of this leg to Rio de Janeiro.

Tonight the fleet is spread over 55 nautical miles from first to fifth place, and everyone has made gains on ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), who leads the field. His margin is just 17 miles from Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), which is averaging the slowest speed in the fleet. Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) in the south both have better breeze and consequently better speed, sailing three knots faster than Sanderson and his team.

Movistar has almost reached Ushuaia. She has just 30 miles to motor before reaching the safe haven of the harbour and the welcome sight of her shore team standing on the dockside, but the winds of up to 30 knots are hampering her progress.

Ericsson Racing Team Rounds Cape Horn

The Ericsson Racing Team is fighting its way back in the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Only 58 miles away from the leader ABN Amro One, the team has a few good opportunities to play, as explains Juan Vila, one of Ericsson Racing Team's meteorological advisers. The fleet is headed for Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) where it is expected to arrive in around eight days time.

Ericsson has been benefiting from excellent - although very brutal - sailing conditions during the last 48 hours, whilst the boats at the head of the fleet were confronted with massive patches with no wind. On the last position sched, Ericsson was sailing at approximately 25 knots, whilst the leaders ABN Amro One, Brasil 1 and Pirates of the Caribbean were becalmed, doing 3-8 knots in big seas.

Ericsson skipper Neal McDonald's (GBR) prediction seems to be materializing. "There will be a lot of opportunities as we round Cape Horn and just after", he explained. "The guys are very focused and they carry on sailing aggressively. I am proud of them for this, because it is tough when you are at the back of the fleet."

This morning (Friday), navigator Steve Hayles (GBR) commented on the recent sailing conditions: "As we approached Cape Horn, we were being chased by a very deep and threatening Southern Ocean depression. We were going fast and in the hours of darkness it would have been madness to set any more sail but we had 250 miles to go to the scoring gate and we needed another knot of speed to catch ABN Amro Two. We geared ourselves up and set a bigger chute at first light; from the second we set the thing it was clear this was going to be a 'big day at the office'."

Hayles continued: "Tim was driving and in these conditions he is hard to beat; nothing normally fazes him, but a look at his face made it clear that this was no walk in the park. The sea state as we rounded Cape Horn was unlike anything we've seen before and most of us have been round it a few times." Indeed for Spaniard Guillermo Altadill, this is his sixth time.

A new race is currently starting, as the boats head north towards Rio de Janeiro. Juan Vila, meteorological adviser to the Ericsson Racing Team explains: "The leading boats are sailing in a patch of light wind located at approximately 52 degrees south. This is developing around the Falklands, and will give some good opportunities for the boats coming from behind. After this, the wind should build from the north/north-west so they will be reaching at a closed angle towards another patch of lighter winds, located around 42 degrees south. This is the St-Helena high pressure system. It is currently located far to the west and will play an important role in the race towards Rio de Janeiro."

In previous Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Races, the Falkland Islands have often played a crucial role. However, Juan Vila doesn't believe this will be the case. "I guess they will all sail to the east of the Falklands, otherwise they would be beating along the South American coast in lighter winds."

Steve Hayles, and the other navigators, must all be thinking hard about how to get north as quickly as possible. But for Hayles, there are also some other distractions, as he commented in his latest email from the boat:

"Just as we started enjoying the flat water after Cape Horn, another minor drama reared its head. The motion had been so violent that one side of the battery bank had broken free; they were now shorting on some carbon structure inside the box and were starting a resin fire. Jason, Bagi [Magnus Woxen] and myself set about opening the battery compartment which was so well sealed that it took 20 minutes to prize it apart. We were getting electrical shocks from everything. There was more smoke and flames were starting to show. We quickly levered the whole bank away from the carbon and the problem was solved.

"It's been an epic 48 hours that will linger long in the memory; for now though its back to business as normal as we set about getting into the boats ahead. I look forward to some conditions that suit Ericsson a little more and being able to shout from the hatch that 'we're on fire' and not mean it literally!"

Season's Highlight for the Star Class Fleet

85 crews from 20 nations expected at the Europeans

Having kicked off the season with the Rolex Miami OCR Regatta in January, this August the Stars' sails will fill the Bay of Luebeck off Neustadt in Germany during Rolex Baltic Week (6th - 13th August).

"We are expecting around 85 boats from 20 nations, including all the top European teams," says Torben Knappe, Regatta Director from the organizing club, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein Hamburg (NRV). 'Spirit of the Stars' - is the motto in anticipation of the current World Champions, Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau from France, the former world title-holders Ian Percy/Steve Mitchell from Great Britain and newcomer Mateusz Kusznierewicz from Poland, a double Olympic Champion in the Finn Dinghy.

A maximum of eight races will be sailed from 7th - 12th August under the direction of Christian Haake (Berlin/Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee), however the new Olympic format will not be adopted. "Our plan is to move to the new format this autumn after testing it at Kiel Week," explains Alexander Hagen, European vice-president of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association (ISCYRA). For 51-year old Hagen, the European Championships will be the peak of the season, since these are his home waters where Luebeck-born Hagen first set sail 41 years ago. His initial dislike of the Star, which he once described as the "boat for the elderly", soon turned into a success story for the vintage motorbike enthusiast. Hagen has two World titles (1981 and 1997), three European Championship gold medals (1980, 1981, 1983) and two Olympic campaigns (1988 and 2004) under his belt. In 2005, the "veteran" once again proved his credentials by coming sixth at the European Championships.

Hagen targets a top 10 finish in August, a tough task given he has a new crew, medical student Sebastian Munk from Kiel, an experienced Finn Dinghy and Contender sailor. "We will sail our first regatta in April on Lake Alster near Hamburg," explains Hagen. They will manage to fit in a few training days in Denmark and use the Northern District Championships during the Travemuende Week (21st - 30th July) as a dress rehearsal for the Europeans. Asked about his plans for the Olympics 2008, he leaves everything open: "I have no idea yet, we'll see what happens."

Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski are less vague about their target. The Kiel-based boat builder and the lawyer from Babelsberg near Berlin definitely want to take part in the Olympic regatta in Qingdao, and they have no intention of leaving this to chance. Borkowski, part of Jochen Schümann's Silver Medal winning Soling crew at Sydney 2000, has secured a three-year leave of absence from his employer, the Brandenburg government. The financial side of their campaign is secured by the Willi Illbruck Racing Foundation. "Without this support, we couldn't go ahead," says family man Borkowski.

The pair only just missed the German Star berth at the 2004 Athens Olympics and is determined to succeed this time. The year has not started perfectly with a "somewhat bumpy" 29th place at the Rolex Miami OCR Regatta, confesses Borkowski, "but any other outcome would have really surprised us". The two last sat together in a Star in May 2004. "We have a lot of catching up to do," says the 34-year old, who does not see any problem in living quite some distance apart from his helmsman, Pickel. This year alone, they have scheduled up to 150 sailing days together. In between, they will work individually on their respective strength and stamina. In an effort to avoid missing any opportunity to face up against the world's elite, at the end of February, they returned to Florida for the Bacardi Cup (5th - 10th March). "The high peak of our season will be the Worlds in San Francisco in early October. It is then that we want to prove that we are worthy of world class sailing," says Borkowski. "The Europeans in the Bay of Luebeck (where he finished seventh in the Dragon at last year's Worlds during the Rolex Baltic Week with Marc Pickel and Thomas Müller) are a very important milestone for us."

The 2008 Olympics are also the target for Robert Stanjek (25) and his crew Frithjof Kleen (22). Like Pickel/Borkowski, the two Berlin-born sailors take a professional approach to their campaign, as they are part of the NRV Olympic Team. At the Rolex Miami OCR, though, the two youngsters finished a rather meagre 43rd. "We had to wait nine days for our boat to clear customs, then had to sail the first race with a chartered boat and spent half of the second night rigging our boat under floodlights. All this was reflected in the regatta results," reports Stanjek, who had switched to the Olympic keelboat at the end of 2004 from the Laser (German Champion 2003). He has never regretted his decision to do so. "I'm one of the younger guys in this class, and this is an advantage that gives me steadiness." Importantly, Stanjek and Kleen have found an experienced coach in Christian Rasmussen from Denmark. "He truly is a genius," raves Stanjek. They plan for 100 joint training days this year. "Our focus is to improve on our speed. We have been sail training off Majorca, Spain, where we will stay until Easter and enjoy the perfect conditions". The two sailing students - Stanjek is studying sports sciences at Humboldt University, Berlin and Kleen political sciences and philosophy in Rostock - have also headed across the pond for the Bacardi Cup. They will then gear up for the European Championships, "One of the two high points of our season, because we want to get into the A squad of the German Sailing Association", adds Stanjek.

Information on the Star Class:
The two-hand keelboat was designed in 1911 by the Americans Wilhelm Gardner and Francis Sweisguth. The first boats were rigged with a steep gaff parallel to the mast. The international class association is the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association (ISCYRA). The Star boat is the longest-standing Olympic class (since 1932). More than 7,500 boats have been built of which around 2,000 are actively sailed. Worldwide, the class is divided into 21 districts, which are subdivided into fleets.

There are 23 fleets in Germany, with 149 boats registered. The F. Laeisz International German Championships (23rd to 28th May) on the Alster/Hamburg will be organized by the Luebeck and Hamburg fleets, which celebrate their 25th and 75th anniversary respectively.

Technical data:
Length-over-all: 6.922 m
Length at waterline: 4.72 m
Displacement: 671 kg
Draft: 1.02 m
Sail area: 27.92 m2
Mainsail: 20.5 m2
Mast length: 10.0 m

The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) Hamburg will organize the third Rolex Baltic Week from August 6 to 13 in 2006. The event will encompass three different regattas - and once again it will take place on Luebeck Bay in Neustadt/Holstein on the Baltic Sea. This year's highlights will be the IMS Offshore World Championships and the Star Class European Championships. The Rolex Baltic Week 2006 will again feature the Swan Race, a regatta exclusively for Nautor's Swan yachts.

Icon of the Race

Tonight, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet prepares to enter some of the most hazardous waters in the world, a place where the Southern Ocean is at its shallowest and the winds funnel at 40 knots. This is the exit of the Southern Ocean and the experience can be dramatic or benign, but whatever weather the wind gods decide to throw at the fleet this time, leaving the desolate wastes of Southern Ocean via Cape Horn to port, means many things to many people.

“Turning the corner at Cape Horn is a big psychological change. In some ways you look forward to it because a lot of the difficult conditions are behind you, I know for me, it’s also quite a sentimental moment, because the round the world race is really about sailing in the Southern Ocean and when you turn that corner, you turn your back on some of the best sailing that this available on the planet and it is the best sailing that I have ever done. And you never know if you will ever come back again. This could quite possibly be my last time. That is a huge icon of the race.” Paul Cayard, skipper Pirates of the Caribbean.

“Of all the landmarks, you would have to say that Cape Horn is THE one. It marks leaving the southern ocean and that is something people remember. Neal McDonald, skipper Ericsson Racing Team.

“It’s the Everest of sailing for a crew, like a graduation, another notch of experience to add to your belt and things that you have lived.” Guillermo Altadill (Ericsson Racing Team), rounding Cape Horn for his sixth time.

As the teams approach the massive Cape, 314 nautical miles ahead of leader ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), a huge storm is brewing behind them. The front runners should reach the Cape ahead of it, but the back markers are anxious: “We think we will get around the Cape before it hits us, but if it does, then we really have to be on our guard, just for our own safety apart from the race. We’re taking the middle road right now and firming up our final approach plan at some time later today,” said Neal McDonald.

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) and Captain Paul Cayard and his pirates on The Black Pearl are fighting cat and dog for the points on offer at the scoring gate. Neither team is giving an inch, which is, in turn putting pressure on Mike Sanderson who would rather sail ABN AMRO ONE a little more conservatively, maintain his lead and arrive in Rio de Janeiro in one piece. He’s having to sail faster and carry more sail than he would like in order to protect his 40 mile lead from the two thrusters who hunt him down with more wind behind them. Movistar leads Pirates of the Caribbean by just half a mile, squeezing past her in the last six hours. All but Ericsson Racing Team, who has lost another four miles, have made small gains on ABN AMRO ONE tonight.

Reaching Towards Rio

According to Mike Sanderson, skipper of leading boat, ABN AMRO ONE, yesterday was just one of those days that the new Volvo Open 70 was designed for, reaching in breezes from 15 to 22 knots with boat speed nearly always matching wind speed.

“We are doing 21.7 knots at 95 degrees true wind angle in 19.5 knots of wind,” writes Sanderson, adding, “numbers like that a couple of years ago just weren’t achievable in anything other than a multihull of a super maxi such as Mari-Cha IV. Every now and then, the rule makers stumble on a special boat. The new boats [the Volvo Open 70] are fantastic, exciting and a real challenge to sail, and the racing is getting hotter than ever.”

As the fleet heads north towards Rio de Janeiro, at roughly the same speeds, 94 nautical miles separates the most westerly yacht, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) from ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) in the east. Grael and his team are now a little over 700 miles from the coast, and they are desperate to record a podium position on this leg in their home town.

The next obstacle to lie in wait for the fleet is a ridge of high pressure, which they will negotiate today.

Movistar Back on Track

At 3.30 GMT this morning movistar (Bouwe Bekking) was about to be craned back into the water. She is now motoring back down the Beagle Channel and has 34 miles to go before returning to the spot where she suspended racing and her leg can resume to Rio.

As the team suspected, the fairing between the keel and the hull had broken off and this is how the water leaked into the boat. Once the boat was out of the water in Ushuaia, the team was able to see that there was also some light damage to the rudder and the hull, which was almost certainly caused by the fairing breaking off. The team has carried out repairs which will get them to Rio de Janeiro, where they will carryout a more rigourous investigation and a repair will be done to bring the boat back up to optimum condition for the next leg of the course.

“We will be sailing with the keel halfway so as not to exert too much pressure around the area until we are able to perform more in-depth repairs,” explained skipper Bouwe Bekking. “Obviously, in these kinds of conditions, our speed will be a lot slower than the rest of the fleet, but we should be in Rio by March 13th,” he added.

The race office was also informed that movistar has withdrawn both protests against ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) which were submitted ashore during the stopover in Wellington and one after the re-start in Wellington.

For the rest of the fleet racing towards Rio de Janeiro with just over 1000 nautical miles to run, it has been another 24 hours of smooth sailing. The dreaded slow passage through the ridge of high pressure yesterday did not materialise and the fleet managed to keep moving. The whole fleet tacked late last night, but the order remains unchanged as they head towards the coast, 700 miles to their west. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) continues to sail consistently faster than the chasing pack and has extended her lead to 45 miles, from ABNAMRO TWO in second place.

All Change

Overnight, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) has worked his young team in to second place, pushing Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) into third. The fleet is 168 nautical miles east of the Falkland Islands and 550 nautical miles from the Argentinean coast. As predicted, the boats have closed together and now only 48 nautical miles separates first to fifth position.

Leader Mike Sanderson is frustrated. Time and time again he has seen his substantial lead eaten away by the back runners, and, once again, as history repeats itself, it is ABN AMRO TWO who is threatening his lead. “Just amazing that you can be 200 odd miles behind as was the case with the Kids on ABN AMRO TWO or the Brazilians, but probably more frustrating even still is the fact that Ericsson has worked their way back into this race.”

Movistar has arrived in Ushuaia, after being escorted all the way by the Chilean navy. The team will now lift the boat out of the water to inspect the damage.

Southern Ocean Drama

Violent waves with gusts of up to 60 knots greeted the crews on 25 February, day seven of leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race. All six yachts had successfully passed the first ice gate and were in full flight towards the second ice gate, just 78 nautical miles ahead for race leader, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson).

The first three boats, ABN AMRO ONE, Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) were separated by just 26 miles, while ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) found themselves last by 224 miles, a position they have, so far, been unaccustomed to.

“Any feelings of frustration over our position have been replaced with a fire in my belly and an overwhelming desire to kick some ass,” wrote a determined Simon Fisher, the navigator on the Dutch boat.

On day eight, the fleet passed the second ice waypoint and headed south towards the icy wastes of Antarctica on the penguin route, as Bouwe Bekking dubbed it. A fine battle was developing between the leading three boats and The Black Pearl squeezed a lead of just two miles ahead of ABN AMRO ONE, with movistar 14 miles behind in third. The sailing was fast and tactical as the fleet roared around a massive high pressure system, being chased by a huge low and the leaders formed a line along the leading edge of the front, hoping to ride it all the way to Cape Horn.

For those at the front of the fleet, it was the best of times, but for those at the back, as ABN AMRO TWO was, then it was the worst of times. Their consolation was to hit the mythical 40 knots of boat speed barrier.

By day nine, the fleet was careering south at breakneck speeds. Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE) was in a dilemma: “How hard to push? What are the other guys doing? Is going as fast as movistar was in the last sked [position report] good enough to hang on? Wait a minute; we don’t have to beat them in this leg, nor the other teams either. We just have to keep this thing in one piece… but there are 3.5 bonus points waiting at Cape Horn for the leader… those points would make our lives a little easier… but what if we push too hard and break?”

Movistar was just revelling in the true southern ocean conditions. They covered 140.8 miles in one six hour period, averaging a speed of 25.5 knots. “Just ripping the miles, this is what we love to do,” wrote an elated Bekking.

Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) wiped out in a Chinese gybe but made a remarkable recovery and no bodies or gear were damaged, prompting navigator Steve Hayles to write: “It’s been the hardest 24 hours of the race for all us, and the brutal facts are, that with 2000 miles to Cape Horn, this sort of drama is far from over.”

ABN AMRO TWO tore a metre-long hole in her mainsail, the crew painstakingly repaired it and then ripped it again. “Right now it may as well be made of newspaper - at least we would have something to read,” wrote Simon Fisher.

Onboard Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) Knut Frostad suggested that a call to the health and food authorities might have been a good idea. “Can someone please remind me, in four years from now, that I really don’t need to do this any more. I do really like a big, warm nice bed and dry clothes, and I do love nice food… it’s true, I do! Why are you laughing and thinking ‘idiot, you said this four years ago.”

As the teams looked forward to rounding Cape Horn in three day’s time, the weather was grey, damp and foggy. Full face masks were worn by everyone to keep out the constant fire hose of icy water coming over the deck, making it impossible to see. The sea temperature dropped and it was feeling very, very cold. The heater broke on Ericsson Racing Team and everyone onboard was cold and tired.

Even taking all this into account, Paul Cayard on second-placed Pirates of the Caribbean said that these were the richest days of sailing that he has ever been given. “Being at sea, traveling extremely long distances and circumnavigating the planet earth are bigger than life experiences for almost everybody and I appreciate being one of the few hundred people who get to do it,” he said by radio. The order in the fleet remained unchanged and everyone except third-placed movistar, made gains on the leader as the wind went lighter.

Nerves were on edge by day 10, February 28. Cape Horn was now just over 1100 nautical miles ahead of the fleet, and with 3.5 points on offer for the first boat to get there, it was an anxious time onboard. A new weather system was approaching from behind the fleet and it was moving only a little quicker than the leaders. It was an ideal situation for Ericsson Racing Team and ABN AMRO TWO to make gains and it became a drag race south. By day 11, the fleet had closed together and the crews were beginning to cover their opponents.

The fog had gone, replaced by crisp dry air and although the fleet was able to keep pace with the front, the weather was forecast to deteriorate and the winds increase to 35 knots. It became a ‘torture by numbers’ as the boats made gains and then losses to the leaders as the wind increased.

“A simple number like -6 can quite literally affect how you feel physically,” explained Steve Hayles from Ericsson Racing Team. “You stare at the screen in disbelief as you feel your shoulders tension up, but after a few minutes you realize that there is no asking for a recount, or having a second try. That six hours are over and you lost 6 miles; end of story.”

Day 12 and the fleet was preparing to enter some of the most hazardous waters in the world, a place where the southern ocean is at its shallowest and the winds funnel at 40 knots. This would be the exit of the southern ocean and the experience could be dramatic or benign. The fleet just had to wait to see what the weather Gods would decide to throw at them. The Gods chose movistar to be their victim.

At 0315, March 2, in 30 knots of wind and a big sea, Bouwe Bekking reported that movistar was taking on water at a high rate and requested that the boats nearest to her, Brasil 1 and Ericsson Racing Team, should stand by to offer immediate assistance.

“We are sinking. Everybody up,” commanded Bekking as the water poured into the boat around the keel box. “Slow the boat down, the water is coming in very fast, and close the water tight hatches,” Bekking shouted in the darkness.

Within minutes, the crew was knee deep in water and the safety gear and grab bags were moved on deck. The sail area was reduced to only the staysail and the yacht slowed down as the crew frantically pumped.

“A sailor’s nightmare is sinking,” wrote Bekking at 0945 GMT. “This looked like a pretty serious situation. If we had rats onboard, they would have jumped off by now.”

Down below, water was swirling around the living area of the boat. It was a scene that Hitchcock could only dream of. Water and electricity do not agree with each other and the circuit breakers were popping off all the time. Chris Nicholson dove underwater to connect the two emergency high capacity bilge pumps directly to the batteries which was the only way of assuring power and running the pumps.

Then came the shout, “Pumps are running.” Now the crew would have a chance to beat the incoming flow rate and get the water level down. Slowly, but surely, the crew got the situation under control. Bekking was proud of his boys. “They did well, not just in this emergency situation, but also the way that they have sailed movistar so magnificently up to that moment.”

The crew made an emergency repair to the leaking keel box and sailed slowly towards Cape Horn, passing the scoring gate at 0500 today. They suspended racing at 1338 GMT today and now they are motoring up the Beagle Channel towards Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina’s province of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost city in the world. Their shore crew will be waiting for them to help repair the boat before returning to the race track and sailing to the finish in Rio de Janeiro.

On the other side of Cape Horn, a deadly combination of massive seas and patches of no wind lay in wait for the rest of the fleet. ABN AMRO ONE was the first to score points, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean, Brasil 1, ABN AMRO TWO and Ericsson Racing Team. The luck was with the back markers as they screamed up behind the leaders in a pattern that is now becoming a familiar threat to Mike Sanderson at the head of the fleet. In a bid to make up lost ground, ABN AMRO TWO destroyed their code six spinnaker when the boat accelerated down an impressively large wave and the bow dug in, stopping the boat dead in her tracks.

Ericsson Racing Team closed to within seven miles of Dutch yacht. A glimmer of hope in catching them led to a large spinnaker being hoisted at daybreak. “We took off down the first wave with such pace that you would swear blind that we were being propelled by something infinitely more powerful than the wind,” wrote Steve Hayles.

Fighting on the edge of control, the motion of the boat was so bad that the battery bank broke loose and the terminals began to short on some carbon structure inside the boat, staring a resin fire. The crew had to strip down the battery bank and lash each cell in place before wiring it all back up.

After 4,500 nautical miles, and 13 days at sea, only 67 miles separated the fleet from first to fifth position leaving it all to play for in the race up the coast of South America.

Brave Move by Brasil 1

After a 24-hour period of mountainous seas and 45 knot winds, overnight the fleet was all but becalmed. Now, as they approach The Falkland Islands, 130 miles to the north east, all boat have better breeze and speeds are back up.

Tactical decisions have come in to play and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) has gained 23 miles in the last six hours, by managing to slip through the Le Maire Strait, inside Staten Island, while rest of the fleet opted to stay further south. She has overtaken Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and is now only 13 nautical miles behind the leading boat, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and sailing quicker. She has positioned herself to the north of the fleet and could still make the choice of leaving The Falklands to starboard, while the rest will almost certainly pass to the south of the islands.

Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) has closed to within seven miles of ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) after having a tough 24 hours. In the approach to Cape Horn a glimmer of hope in catching the second Dutch boat had the Ericsson boys hoisting a bigger spinnaker at first light. “We took off down the first wave with such pace that you would swear blind that we were being propelled by something infinitely more powerful than the wind,” wrote navigator Steve Hayles. Fighting on the edge of control, the motion of the boat was so bad that their battery bank broke loose and the terminals began to short on some carbon structure inside the boat starting a resin fire. The crew was able to strip down the battery bank and lash each cell in place before wiring it all back up.

After over 4,500 nautical miles and 13 days at sea, only 58 miles separates first to fifth position

After the drama onboard Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) yesterday, she has passed Cape Horn, scoring one point, and is now heading for the port of Ushuaia. The Chilean navy is checking on the team regularly and asking for updates. “Even though we are fine, it is good to know that big brother is keeping an eye on us,” wrote Bouwe Bekking this morning. The team has spent the past 24 hours since yesterday’s incident when the boat took on massive amounts of water, clearing up the mess and trying to get their equipment working. Their generator, which was totally submerged, has coughed into life, but they are still having problems with the alternators which were also under water.

“We have had some small electrical fires onboard, all little things, mainly motors of small bilge pumps, which have given up, but in my opinion, it is amazing that the electronics have survived so well,” observed Bekking.

The team is using their emergency water supply (50 litres) for the time being as their water maker has not recovered. They will install their spare unit if taking the existing one to pieces and rebuilding it does not work.

Rolex TP52 Global Championship Set for Miami

International yacht racing at its highest, most competitive level comes to Miami for the 2006 Rolex TP52 Global Championship. Set for March 7-12 during Acura Miami Race Week, the inaugural championship welcomes a fleet representing England, Ireland, Hong Kong and the U.S, abounding with the world's top sailors from the America's Cup and Olympics. The racing series consists of short windward/leeward and longer, offshore races that will take the fleet to the Bahamas and back.

"Victory in this regatta will be achieved by the team that performs flawlessly and finishes well in every one of the 10 scheduled races as there is no discard race," said TP52 class executive director Tom Pollack. "This regatta will be a true test of each team's skill, daring and preparation as they compete to be named the inaugural Rolex TP52 Global champion."

The biggest attraction for competitors has to be the boat itself: a state-of-the-art, high-tech sailing machine, built from the latest materials that provides crews with a high performance, exhilarating ride they perhaps lacked in previous boats of this type.

"The appeal of the TP52 is sailing on an incredibly high performance and fun boat against the best sailors in the world on an extremely level playing field," said John Coumantaros, owner of Bambakou. "We were exceeding 25 knots of boat speed in Key West, in January, and it was, mostly, all under control."

Introducing an element of offshore racing to the mix is in fact one of the class assets. The race schedule for the 2006 Rolex TP52 Global Championship will feature two days (March 7-8) of windward-leeward buoy racing, followed by an 18- to 24-hour long distance race (March 9-10). According Pollack, if the weather and the Gulf Stream oblige, the distance race will be a literal blast across to the Bahamas and back. The next day is a 5- to 7-hour coastal race (March 11), and the event concludes with a final day of windward-leeward racing (March 12). The scoring for this no-discard, boat-for-boat series is also weighted with the distance and coastal races scoring 1.5 times and the 1.25 times the points earned, respectively.

This combination of challenges is what attracts not only many of the world's top sailing crew to the TP52 class, but also the boat owners, who get to steer their own craft. Under TP52 class rules, only the owner or a sailor who is Category 1 (an amateur under the International Sailing Federation definition) can helm. For the Rolex TP52 Global Championship there is an additional trophy for the top scoring owner who decides to be on the helm for the start of every buoy race plus the start and first 30 minutes of the distance and coastal races.

Nine teams will take the start line with the largest contingent from the USA, including race veteran John Coumantaros (Newport, R.I.) and his Bambakou, Charles Burnett (Seattle, Wash.) on Braveheart, John Buchan's Glory (Hunts Point, Wash.) and Michael Brennan (Annapolis, Md.) on Sjambok. From Honolulu and California comes one of the US' most prolific sailor/owners, Philippe Kahn and his latest Pegasus, while the newest of the American boats is Tom Stark's (Newport, R.I.) new Farr-designed Rush, second in January at Acura Key West Race Week.

"There is a lot of talent in this fleet and any of the participants can win," says Kahn of the line-up. "It will be real tight racing and our goal is to sail to our best potential."

Europe is represented by Irishman Eamon Conneely's Patches (Galway, IRL) and Stuart Robinson's brand new Farr-designed Stay Calm (London, U.K.).

>From the opposite side of the world comes Beau Geste, owned by Hong Kong-based owner Karl Kwok.

While any of the nine entries is capable of winning, Stay Calm can perhaps be considered favorite for Miami, as the boat beat Rush when the class last locked horns in Key West.

"We hope to minimize mistakes and stay in close contention to have our shot at the title on the last day," says Bambakou owner John Coumantaros of their prospects. "There are the coastal or distance races which we feel are our particular forte. This mixes it up a bit from around the buoys. The new boats are fast, no doubt, and have to a degree a competitive edge, but by far the overriding factor is sailing well as a team. If we sail well, we will be very much in the hunt. It is going to be a great event."

Punctuating the racing is a series of social events; some combined with Acura Miami Race Week, the event in which the 2006 Rolex TP52 Global Championship takes part. The social schedule culminates after the distance race on March 10 with a party hosted by Rolex at the magnificent Casa Casuarina on Ocean Drive. Here the class' brand new two-meter tall TP52 Global Championship Perpetual Trophy will be presented.

International fleet to compete March 7-12 With fleets in U.S. and the Mediterranean, the TP52 class is seeing exponential growth in numbers at present. So what is its appeal? "These are great boats, with very tight racing and lots of talent," explains Philippe Kahn, owner of Pegasus 52. "We've found the Pegasus 52 to be a tremendous performer offshore and inshore. It's essentially a perfect racing yacht."

TP52 class rules restrict parameters such as weight, sail area, length, beam, etc., and yet are tight enough to keep competition close. Each boat is unique in allowing the world's top yacht design houses to try their hand at creating the fastest boat.

Movistar Takes on Water

At 0315 GMT today, Bouwe Bekking reported that movistar was taking on water at a high rate and requested that the boats nearest to movistar, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) should standby to offer immediate assistance. They were sailing in 30 – 35 knots of breeze with a jib top, small staysail and one reef in the mainsail, 242 nautical miles from the scoring gate at Cape Horn.

“We are sinking. Everybody up,” commanded Bekking as the water poured into the boat around the keel box. “Slow the boat down, the water is coming in very fast, and close the water tight hatches,” was the command.

The water was coming in from around the top of the keel box. Within minutes the sailors were knee deep in water. The water tight hatches were closed immediately and safety gear and grab bags moved onto deck. The sail area was reduced to only the stay sail and the yacht slowed down, as the crew frantically pumped.

Bouwe Bekking’s report leaves nothing to the imagination:

“A sailor’s nightmare is sinking, and this looked like a pretty serious situation. If we had rats onboard they would have jumped off by now.

“We mobilised some people on deck to drop all the sails, and when I went downstairs again, I got a real shock. The generator box was already completely underwater, and the water had spread now through the entire mid compartment, and was close to washing over the main engine box as well. And what a mess inside, sails, sleeping bags, food bags, you can't name it, were floating around. In the mean time Spike (Peter Doriean) had collected all the safety gear and put it on deck, just to be sure.

“Capey (Andrew Cape) had already informed race-headquarters. After seeing the amount of water, I decided to ask headquarters if other boats could assist. Water and electricity don't like each other too much, so the circuit breakers were popping off all the time.

“With the personal torches on it looked like a scene that Hitchcock could only dream of. Now Chris (Nicholson) was diving underwater to connect the two emergency high capacity bilge pumps directly to the batteries, as that was the only way of assuring power and running of the pumps. What else do you do? Bail of course, like mad, but I felt it was like watching television where somebody is using one small water hose to protect his house against a raging bushfire. Even though we knew we were on the losing hand, strangely enough you don't give up.

“Then the shout, PUMPS ARE RUNNING. Now we maybe have a chance to beat the incoming flow rate, and get the level down.

“To all our big relief, this was the case. Slowly but surely, the levels went down and we got the situation under control. We have made an emergency fix on the leaking box, and the incoming flow is minimal. I’m proud of the boys, they did well, not just in this emergency situation, but also in the way that they have sailed movistar so magnificently up to that moment. We are now heading for Ushuaia (Argentina) to look at damage.”

Bekking said in a radio interview this morning that the team is planning to make a stop in Ushuaia where they will have to make a huge reinforcement to the keel box and then carry on from there to Rio de Janeiro.

Elsewhere in the fleet, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) leads the chase towards Cape Horn, 62 nautical miles ahead. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) is in second place, 28 miles behind Sanderson, followed by Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and, bringing up the rear, Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald).

Massive Seas Lie in Wait

Massive seas and patches of no wind, a deadly combination, were lurking in wait for the Volvo Ocean fleet as they rounded the mysterious land mark, Cape Horn.

Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) passed Cape Horn in 33 knots of wind and now, just 47 miles east, they have just five knots of wind, but a huge seaway. “At least we are headed directly where we want to go: La Maire Strait, which is the water between the very bottom of Argentina and Staten Island,” wrote Cayard tonight. Leading yacht, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), is in the same situation, but worse, only managing two knots in 4 knots of wind. The best wind is offshore and Cayard and his band of Pirates may well change their game plan once they become aware of this.

The luck is staying with the back markers as they scream up behind the leaders, in a pattern that is now becoming a familiar threat to Mike Sanderson at the head of the fleet. ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), the furthest south, is giving the becalmed boats a wide berth, keeping well to the south to avoid the wind hole. She is still sailing in 26 knots of wind, while Ericsson Racing Team is making 22 knots. Even the stricken movistar, who almost sank earlier today, is managing 13 knots at times, but she still has 78 miles to run to reach the scoring gate before diving into Ushuaia to effect repairs to her leaking keel box.

ABN AMRO TWO reports massive seas, 45 knots of wind and, at times, upwards of 35 knots of boat speed. They totally destroyed their code 6 spinnaker when the boat nose accelerated down an impressively large wave and the bow dug in, stopping the boat dead in her tracks.

“Despite Hans Horrevoets’ valiant effort to save the spinnaker by easing about five metres of sheet, it was a futile situation and, as the bow went down, the tack of the spinnaker was ripped clean off.

“Even at this stage it wasn’t quite over as the wave that had caused the tip up now started breaking over the transom and was attempting to flip Sebastien Josse over the handle bars. Luckily Seb, in the midst of all this, managed to execute a swift left hand down and steered the boat away from the point of Chinese gybing. What ensued was a tidy up and the realisation that this was it for the code 6 for this leg as the tack patch conveniently tripped itself off the tack line and floated away,” explained navigator Simon Fisher.

Shortly after this, when ‘Sod’s law of the sea’ was in full force, they hoisted their code 0 sail which only lasted half an hour before the tack line snapped sending it and the metal furling unit flogging behind the boat. “The furler did a spectacular job of beating the s…t out of the sail and the sail repair list got even longer,” Fisher said.

ABN AMRO ONE Back on Top

ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is back in the leading spot once again as all boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, except ABN AMRO TWO, which is still 19 nautical miles to the south of the line, have satisfied the first of the two ice gates. The ice gates are not scoring gates. The only scoring gate on this leg will be at Cape Horn, approximately 2,199 nautical miles south east of ABN AMRO ONE.

After days of dilemma, waiting to see if the northerly choice of course taken by Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) would be one that would pay off, the question was finally answered today as the breeze freed the boats in the south and they were able to sail quickly towards the latitude they had to cross.

The next ice waypoint is set between 130 degrees west and 125 degrees west, approximately 500 nautical miles to the east of the fleet. Juan Vila, weather consultant for Ericsson Racing Team, expects to see the fleet to stay north just long enough to catch the western end of the second gate before diving back into the stronger winds to the south. Each boat in the fleet has to be above 48 degrees south at some point between the longitudes of each of these gates.

“It has been tough to go north when our optimum goal is to get to Cape Horn,” said Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. “We were all believers in the ice gates, we all wanted them to keep these new rocket ships away from the icebergs. Even though it has been tough to go north to go round them [the ice gates], it’s a lot better than bumping into an iceberg.”

The Richest Days of Sailing

With the rounding of Cape Horn a little over three days away, less than 1500 nautical miles, the Volvo Ocean Race crews are concentrating on positioning themselves to collect as many points as possible at this, the only scoring gate on the course.

The fast reaching and running conditions under masthead spinnaker in 20 knots of wind have not been that enjoyable for the fleet today. The sea temperature is dropping and it is feeling very, very cold. There are no heaters on Ericsson Racing team (Neal McDonald) and everyone onboard is cold and tired and looking forward to getting round Cape Horn. Losing and gaining miles is almost the entire existence of the crews and it is hard, when each position report delivers the bad news of lost miles. Keeping the morale up onboard is even more important in this distant ocean, where crews are constantly tired and drink only desalinated water and eat freeze dried food. Wearing the right clothes, staying as warm as possible, sleeping when the opportunity is there and making sure that all the necessary vitamins and supplements are taken, all helps to keep spirits up.

The weather is typical; grey, very damp and foggy which limits visibility. The crews wear full faced masks to keep out the constant fire hose of icy water coming over deck, but which make it hard to see.

Even taking all this into account, Paul Cayard from second-placed Pirates of the Caribbean says that these are the richest days of sailing that he has ever been given. “Being at sea, travelling extremely long distances and circumnavigating the planet earth, are bigger than life experiences for almost everybody and I appreciate being one of the few hundred people who get to do it,” he said in a radio interview today.

The order remains unchanged tonight, but everyone except third-placed movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has made gains on the leader as the winds go lighter at the front of the fleet.

BMW Racing Flies New Cup Boat to Valencia

Valencia, Spain. An Antonov cargo plane landed today in Valencia carrying unusual precious cargo – the new America’s Cup Class yacht of BMW ORACLE Racing. Thirteen hours and 8,900 kilometres after departing from Seattle, WA in the USA, the 24-metre carbon fiber hull was delivered today to the Challenger in Valencia, site of the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007.

The plane took off at 5pm local Seattle time on a 13-hour flight to Spain. By flying the boat, thanks to logistics support from DHL Global Forwarding, the logistics business unit of Deutsche Post World Net, the team shaved almost three weeks off the traditional method of transporting the boat via truck and container ship. The plane, one of the largest ever to land at the Valencia airport, touched down at 3 pm local time today.

The international team is hoping the precisely built high-tech yacht will provide the performance needed to win the America’s Cup. The hull is the end result of 30,000 man hours from the 20-person team of boat-building experts and an innovative technology transfer from the automotive industry incorporating engineering expertise from German premium car manufacturer BMW.

“Thanks to the early commitment from our partner BMW and team owner Larry Ellison, BMW ORACLE Racing benefited from an intensive research and development program that has produced this finely built hull,” said team CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson today upon receiving the yacht in Valencia. “The delivery of our first new generation America’s Cup boat marks an important milestone in our campaign. Now we are faced with the challenge of developing this boat to its full potential. We look forward to taking our new yacht through its paces.”

The hull design and construction is the result of more than two years of intensive research and development. BMW engineers are integrated into the 30-person international design team, bringing expertise in structural engineering and load analysis to the project. US-based technology leaders Oracle and NetApp also contributed to the R&D process by increasing the speed at which the research data could be processed and stored.

“The initial series of sailing trials is really the moment of truth for the design team,” said Ian Burns, BMW ORACLE Racing Design Coordinator. “Although countless hours of research have come together in this boat there is no way of modeling the complete package – except by building and sailing the yacht. With the help of our partner BMW and our technical supporters, including Oracle, NetApp, CD-adapco, PTC/NetIDEAS, and ANSYS we have had the tools to do the job. Combined with our strong design team, we are hopeful that we have achieved what our sailing team has requested – a fast strong boat that they can match race at the highest level. The build team has done a great job in delivering a precisely built boat. The delivery of the hull today is the first step toward developing the new yacht to its full potential. Now we begin the next arduous task of extracting the maximum performance from the new platform. Every trick we had for getting the best from our old boats now has to be confirmed or modified for the new boats. Now the hard work is in front of the sailing and performance teams.”

Constructed over the past six months at a purpose-built facility in Anacortes, WA, the hull rolled out of the boat shed Monday on a flatbed truck enroute to the Seattle airport, the first leg of its voyage to Valencia, Spain, where the US team is now based for the training and competition that leads up leads up to the racing next spring.

The hull was painted in the team’s livery before being shrink-wrapped in plastic and strapped onto a flatbed truck. The new yacht departed the Anacortes facility at 8 am local time on Monday February 27, starting the journey to Valencia. The truck transported the hull the 150 kilometres south to Seattle airport. The BMW ORACLE Racing boatbuilding team carefully loaded the 4-metre wide racing yacht through the 6.5-metre wide nose of the Russian cargo plane. Three of the team’s boat technicians, Pete Balash, Scott Bennett and Andrew Rhodes, accompanied the boat on the flight.

Team members awaited the boat on the tarmac of the Valencia airport where they carefully unloaded the new boat. The boat was craned onto a flatbed truck for the 20-kilometre ride to the team’s base in the Port America’s Cup. The plane also carried two 35-metre long masts.

The team will now add the remaining components including keel, hardware, and mast before the new boat can touch water for the first time. The team will take the boat through a commissioning process where the engineers will test loads and ensure it is structurally sound before starting a training and testing program with the boat’s trial horse and tuning partner, USA-76. The new generation racing yacht will be launched at a christening ceremony March 27 at the team’s new training operations base at the Port America’s Cup in Valencia.

Drag Race South

In the drag race south, Cape Horn and 3.5 points to the first boat to reach the scoring gate, is just 850 miles away. Once reaching The Horn, the racing will start to get interesting as the crews make the tactical decisions as to whether to go inside or outside the Falkland Islands.

The fleet is jib top reaching with water coming over the deck at a steady six degrees centigrade. From onboard Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), navigator Marcel Van Triest says he likes this part of the world, but he is not sure that his Brazilian friends are enjoying it as much as he is. “It’s a pretty desolate place, with not a lot of human interference. What is special, is that wherever you are in the world these days, there is always a trace of human interference. In this part of the world there is nothing. It makes you feel very small and very humble. There is absolutely nothing. There are no fishing vessels, no cargo ships, no aircraft. Just nothing. Just nature.”

Over the last six hours, the fleet has made a small but not significant compression. ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) has recorded the longest 24 hour run of 508 nautical miles. Captain Paul (Cayard) and his Pirates onboard The Black Pearl has lost three miles in the last six hours, while the rest of the fleet has made some gains, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) gaining 10 miles and ABN AMRO TWO nine miles.

Count Down to Cape Horn

With just 603 nautical miles to the scoring gate at Cape Horn, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is closing together and the crews are beginning to cover their opponents. The north south divide is just 70 nm between Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) in the north and ABN AMRO ONE in the south.

At 1000 GMT today, Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) had again lost miles and has swapped places with ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) to be in sixth position.

The pedal is firmly down as the fleet travels at the same speed as the front, with a steady wind speed of 20 – 22 knots, but the weather is expected to deteriorate in the next 12 hours, possibly increasing to 35 knots. The forecast shows that the increase of breeze is coming from the northwest, so Brasil 1, ABN AMRO TWO and Ericsson Racing Team should continue to make gains on the leaders in the approach to Cape Horn. After rounding Cape Horn, the fleet should continue to reach in a strong westerly breeze which will help eat up the miles to the finish in Rio de Janeiro.

Paul Cayard onboard The Black Pearl in second place, 34 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), is happy. He wrote late last night, “movistar has now come up from the south and is 15 miles behind us. So the decision we made three days ago, to gybe towards the Horn and leave them to go south, paid off to the tune of 15 miles at least. ABN AMRO ONE is staying down there [in the south], as they don’t worry too much about getting caught low as they have much more stability than the rest of us, so they can just rock up across the fleet whenever they want. Brasil 1 has been making nice gains to the north of our line and I think that was another reason movistar changed course and headed north.”

After Cape Horn, the tactical decision will be whether to go through the narrow Le Maire Strait, between Cape Horn and the Isla de Los Estados, and, following that, whether to leave the Falkland Islands to port or starboard.