News

Three more races were added yesterday at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR in a moderate breeze and open-ocean swell. Before the last two races today, the situation on top of the Girl's Goldfleet remains very tight, as all teams have now high-digit discards on their accounts. Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA remain first with an 8 pts advantage on Morgan Kiss/Katia da Silva USA and another 13 pts behind, there are Celli/Morini ITA Kalderon/Brewer GBR with the same total score. In the Girl's Silverfleet, Paternoster/Di Salle ITA lead three other Italians.
Singaporeans Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng continue to head the Boys' Goldfleet with a comfortable margin over Scotti/Cucchiara ITA and Falcetelli/Franciolini ITA who toppled Thamsoontorn/Chomtongdee THA from the podium. In Open Silver Villas Boas/Camelo POR have the lead
The class website and the event gallery.

The SAP 505 World Championships have started with a bang in Aarhus, Denmark with the breeze gusting up to 30 knots and an avalanche of dropouts in both races. Among the many casualties were some of the favorites like 2007 World Champions, Saugmann Ramsbæk DEN to drop out after leading the first heat. Last year’s silver medalists Mike Holt/Carl Smit USA replaced them at the top only to be forced from the parcours with equipment failure. A shame for them, since they thrive in these conditions, which are reminiscent of their home waters of San Francisco Bay. Keeping the thin end up and the rest in one piece was enough to do well. Best at this game were Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn USA who scored two seconds for the overall lead, followed by Böhm/Roos GER (6) and Hunger/Kleiner GER (7). Pinell/Mitchell GBR (8) are fourth while the Bojsen-Møller brothers DEN (12) are 6th. The event website with the feed orgy and the results.

The positions on top of the Boys fleet before the last races today are very close, as Maximilian Stein GER, Bartul Plenkovic CRO and Benjamin Vadnai HUN are separated by 6 pts only, and their lead on the 4th placed Léo Vilboux FRA and others is at least 14 pts. Sébastien Schneiter SUI advanced on the 10th place and will be fighting for a medal in the U-16-rankings,where he is on the 2nd position behind Benjamin Vadnai HUN tied with Niels Broekhuizen NED. Nikolaev RUS, rank 4, is 11 pts back. 232 participants sailing.
Sara Piascka POL holds the lead in the Girls’ fleet with a 9 pts lead on Sofia Toroi FIN on rank2. Ida Voutilainen FIN and Antonela Kacan CRO follow tied on the 3rd place. 118 participants, sailing. In the U-16-Girls’ ranking, Vasileia Karachaliou GRE leads ahead of Maxime Jonker NED and Dewi Couvert NED.
The event website.

At precisely 01:14:32 CEST Armel Le Cléac’h on ‘Brit Air’ crossed the finish line two miles outside the port of Gijón, on the Spanish coast after 83 hours, 14 minutes and 32 seconds. He covered the 515 miles from Le Havre to Gijón at an average speed of 6.9 knots. ‘Brit Air’s’ skipper has participated nine times to the Solitaire and scored three leg wins. Yann Eliès on ‘Generali Europ Assistance’ finished second in Gijón 15 minutes later, but will get a minimum 30-minute penalty for using the engine to get free after running aground. Top lady was Jeanne Gregoire in 11th, best non-French finisher was Bernhard Stamm SUI in 16th. The rankings and the reports.

Ryan DeVos/Ed Baird on ‘Volpe’(10) continued where they left off at the 15-boat Melges 32 Nationals, which are hosted by Little Traverse YC: In the lead. DeVos raised the bar in the process and added two bullets to build a commanding 16-point lead. Scrapping for second are John Kilroy on ‘Samba Pa Ti’ (26) and John Porter on ‘Full Throttle’ (28). The results..

Andrea Bonezzi ITA did it again and is taking home another Contender European Championship trophy. Using the second discard to rid himself of a 20-percent penalty and adding a ninth place in the ninth and final race, he tallied 17 points for first overall. In second BB Johsen DEN (21 pts.) followed by Simon Mussell GBR (22) who had two bullets Thursday, but got buried deep in the final heat and retired. The other trophies went to Jacqueline Rufenacht SUI for the ladies win, Thomas Hooton GBR for the best junior and Stuart Jones GBR in the Masters champion. The results and the gallery.

The Laser Europacup Nieuwpoort BEL, at the same time the Open Belgian Laser Championship 2010, began with light winds. After three races, Wannes Van Laer BEL is the leader in the Lasers Standard ahead of Lander Balcaen BEL and Jordi Capella ESP. In the largest fleet with 49 boats, the Lasers Radial, a Singapore triple is on top with Glenn Scott SIN leading ahead of Victoria Cahan SIN. In the Lasers 4.7, only 4 boats sailing, Arthur Meursse FRA leads ahead of Marine Van Campenhout SUI The report.

With plenty of wind from first light, competition started on schedule in Sotavento, with the qualifiers from Thursday taking on some of the world’s best freestylers and tour regulars were seeded through to the second round. The wind remained consistent enough throughout the day to allow the elite surfers to flip, spin, and trick their way to the end of the first single elimination. Both the competitors and head judge wanted to begin the double, but late in the afternoon the conditions became too gusty resulting in the sailors being released to battle it out another day. Leading is World Champion Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo VEN, followed by Kiri Thode AHO and Tonky Frans AHO. Details on the tour website.

Yesterday on Lake Bicarosse South of Bordeaux, the 470 Open de France and the 470 Masters-Cup were terminated. After 9 races, Palmer/Weaver GBR were the overwhelming Open winners with 9 bullets, followed by Boime/Espinasse FRA, Chapelin/Barthe FRA and Martin Steiger/Hans Vonmoos SUI. 37 teams from 7 nations participated. The results. In the Grandf-Masters ranking, Chapelin/Barthe FRA were on top, followed by Schmiedel/Oetken GER and Steiger/Vonmoos SUI. The event website.

Morgan Kiss/Katia Da Silva USA from rank 10 to 2 were the movers in the girls’ Gold fleet on the second day of the finals at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR with hot, sunny and light conditions. Overall leaders are again Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA. In third, 1 pt behind the Americans are Rebecca Kalderon/Katrina Brewer GBR.
In the boys’ Gold fleet, Justin Liu/Sherman Cheng SIN are the Untouchables, leading Mancinelli/Cucchiara ITA and Thamsoontorn/Chomtongdee.
The gallery and the website.

Two more races yesterday, sailed in a fresher breeze, completed the qualification series at the Laser 4.7 Europeans. Bartul Plenkovic CRO and Maximilian Stein GER have the same score and are leading the Gold fleet before the final races. Jean-Baptiste Guillou FRA follows in 3rd, who also leads the U-16-class. In the Girls fleet, Sara Piasecka POL replaced Sofia Toroi FIN ontop of the leader board. Marta Biernaczyk POL follows in 3rd. The U-16-rankings are led by Maxime Jonker NED. The event site.

In moderate 8-12 knots of breeze and sunshine 15 teams raced three times on the first day of the 2010 Melges 32 U.S. National Championship, hosted by the Little Traverse Yacht Club. Leading the event with eight points is the youngest helmsman in the fleet, 18-year old Ryan Demos on ‘Volpe’ with his father Dick crewing and Ed Baird calling the shots. In second, two points behind is 2010 European Champion Joe Woods GBR on ‘Red’ with Paul Goodison GBR on tactics, after winning the first two heats and stumbling a bit in the third. In third, John Kilroy, Jr. with Stu Benatyne on ‘Samba Pa Ti.’ The report, the results and the official event Web site.

Six races were completed at the 505 Pre-Worlds, a tune-up event for the 505 Worlds in Aarhus DEN. The graying bears, double Olympic medalists Bojsen-Møller/Bojsen-Møller DEN, served notice that they want to add a 505 World Championship title to their impressive collection and finished first. Right behind them Saugmann/Ramsbæk DEN and Pinnell/Mitchell GBR, all event co-favorites. Hamlin/Zinn USA finished fifth while Diaz/Lawrence and Conrads/Haines took ninth and 10th, respectively. The real deal starts today with two races. See the standings and the event Web site with live tracking and all the feeds you can ever hope to digest.

After an over-the-line time penalty, the key favorite Andrea Bonezzi ITA, four bullets so far, dropped surprisingly back on the 3rd place. The new leader is now BB Johnsen DEN 1 pt ahead of Simon Mussell GBR. But with a 7 pts deficit, Bonezzi still has a hand on the title in today's races. The standings.

On the opening day of freestyle competition a handful of youngsters challenged the well-established tour regulars once the breeze gathered enough strength for the first single elimination round. In light of a favorable forecast, further racing was postponed until today. Fifteen-year old Youp Schmit AHO, eliminated Dai Nagamine, Daivis Paternina Teran VEN beat, Max Rowe GBR in a split 2-1 decision before Maarten Van Ochten NED pulled the big upset by sweeping aside the 2009 Pozo wave champion, Philip Koester GER. Andy Chambers GBR prevailed against fellow Brit Adam Sims. The event and the tour Web sites.

230 miles from the finish of the first leg of the Solitaire du Figaro the 45 solo sailors face a third complicated night at sea in very light and fickle breeze. The past 24 hours have produced several lead changes that continue to evolve on each position report. Intermittent leader Yann Eliès FRA onboard ‘Generali Europe Assistance’ made a fast recovery from running aground yesterday to move up to second Armel le Cléac’h FRA on ‘Brit Air’. Sailors get some respite and gather strength for the second, tricky half of the leg across the Bay of Biscay and the high-pressure ridge. Yesterday Eliès alerted RC that he had run aground on Primel beach in northern Finisterre. A Naval ship in the area set the rib off to meet the skipper but Eliès managed to get off alone with the help of his engine, spinnaker and the boat's ballast and continued racing. Since he broke his engine seals he is likely to incur a time penalty, however. At their evening sched, le Cléac’h had a narrow lead over Elies and Thomas Rouxel on ‘Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne ‘ The report and the live positions.

Yesterday, the Lasers and the Hobie-Cats, the latters sailing the European Championship, as well as 10 more classes sailed the first races of the second part of the Travemünde Week in a excellent 4-5 bft breeze.
In the the Laser Standard class, Simon Grotelüschen GER is leading the fleet with three bullets. With the F-18-catamarans, Bissaro/Cesari ITA are first in front of Sach/Sach GER. All further results and the daily report.

Lay day for the RC 44 Valencia Cup. That was used for practice by the teams. Up to four races a day are planned Friday through Sunday during which the team owners have to be at the helm. ‘Team Aqua’ won the match racing half of the event with a 9-1 record, one win ahead of second and third-placed Artemis and BMW ORACLE Racing, respectively. During yesterday’s practice race the event hosted fifteen sailors of the youth program at Real Club Nautical de Valencia. The report.

Yesterday, Swiss Olympic officially announced the Swiss participants at the first Youth Olympics 2010 in Singapore. Sailing is represented among the 22 athletes with the two SN Geneva sailors Sébastien Schneiter SUI and Alexandra Rayroux SUI, both at present sailing at the Laser 4.7 Europeans (see separate news text of today). The single-handed dinghy events, boys and girls, in Singapore will be sailed on the Byte II and the windsurfing event boys/girls Techno293-board. No Swiss will participate in windsurfing. The first race start will be on August 16.
The spezial ISAF pages and the release by Swiss Olympic.

The chips are down and the fleets were acting up at the first day of the finals at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR with 40 BFDs in the three opening races. Race 2 of the men had 19, while Race 3 of the women had 11 boats booted for being over early with the black flag in play. In the women’s Gold Fleet the lead switched to Rebecca Kalderon/Katrina Brewer GBR followed by Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA and Barbara Cornudella/Sara Lopez ESP.
In the men’s Gold fleet Asian sailors moved to the top with Justin Liu/Sherman Cheng SIN in the lead, followed by Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti/Leonardo Cucchiara ITA and Navee Thamsoontorn/Atiwat Chomtongdee THA. The men’s Silver fleet is led by Gratton/Riley GBR. In the women’s Silver Berta/Tisseli ITA are in front.
The event news ticker and the official reports.

Roland Gäbler and his wife Nahid GER won the 2010 Tornado World Championship with one race to spare, successfully holding off their practice partners and the reigning European Champions Iordanis Paschalidis/Konstantin Trigonis GRE, who scored three bullets in the last three races. In third, fellow Germans Helge and Christian Sach who normally race F-18 cats and had no practice time prior to this event. It was the fourth World Championship title for Gäbler, who had to dip deep into his skills to come away with the trophy after a wild last day that started with very light air and ended in a gusty rain storm. A total of eight races were sailed by the 52-boat fleet from 8 countries. The final standings and the report.

Two more races of the Laser 4.7 Europeans were sailed on Lake Hourtin near Bordeaux yesterday.
In the Boys fleet, Tora Kutoglu TUR has reclaimed the lead ahead of Bartul Plenkovic CRO advancing on the 2nd position with two day wins. Niels Broekhuizen NED folllows on 3rd. Broekhuizen NED also leads in the U-16-classification.
With the Girls fleet, Sofia Toroi FIN remained on top, followed by the two Polish girls Marta Biernaczyk and Sara Piasecka. In the U-16-classification, Vasileia Karachaliou GRE leads ahead of Maxime Jonker NED and Dewi Couvert NED.
Two more qualification races are scheduled for today. The event-website.

The conditions today off Malvarrosa Beach were similar to Tuesday’s 20-knot winds for the conclusion of the match racing at the RC 44 Valencia Cup. New Zealander Cameron Appleton and ‘Team Aqua’ captured the match racing portion of the week-long regatta with a 9-1 record. They clinched the title with a victory over Russell Coutts and ‘BMW ORACLE Racing’ in flight 13. One loss behind Team ‘Aqua’, Day 1 leader Terry Hutchinson and ‘Artemis’ finished at 8-2 and tied with ‘BMW ORACLE Racing’ for second place. ‘Artemis’ won the tie-breaker by virtue of yesterday’s head-to-head win. The report with the results.

Yann Elies had moved into the lead of the 45-boat fleet at the Solitaire du Figaro at 6:30 pm position reports, slogging southward at 5 knots in direction of Gijon ESP, the finish of the first Leg. He is spearheading a small runaway group with Frederic Duthil (BBox Bouygues Telecom), rookie sailor Yoann Richomme (DLBC), Damien Cloarec (Port de Plaisance Roscoff), Damien Guillou (La Solidarite Mutualiste) and Anthony Marchand (Espoir Region Bretagne) on a course closer to shore. Jean Pierre Nicol (Bernard Controls) is positioned closest to shore and currently lies in 7th place. See the live standings. Isabelle Joschke FRA/GER is in 23rd, 2.9 miles off the lead while Bernard Stamm SUI is in 26th 3.1 miles behind Yann. The report.

The fifth and final day of slalom competition started off with a long postponement before the final eight were sent out for the final race. Top favorite Antoine Albeau FRA had a good point lead over Finian Maynard BVI, who had to win the heat while Albeau had to finish near the bottom. Maynard pushed hard right at the start, but milliseconds later the horn went again, signaling a recall for the final eight. Unfortunately for Maynard, he’d put himself out of the race, and inadvertently handed the crown to Albeau who secured his fifth consecutive win here that also coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Fuerteventura World Cup. The final was won by Bjorn Dunkerbeck SUI who took third overall behind Maynard. More on the Web site.

As we reported earlier, the Mistral storm was up during the last crossover leg from Marseille to La Seyne with wind-speeds around 35 kn. The Farr 30s und spi reached surfing top speeds of 25 kn and more. A report by 'Bienne-Voile' and an impressive video of the Dutch 'Mummaduck'-Team, taken with the onboard-camera.

A 5-8 kn breeze again on the second day of the Laser 4.7 Europeans on Lake Hourtin. With the discard coming into effect after 4 races, some modifications occured in the overall results. In the Girls' fleet, Sofia Toroi FIN took the lead, Sara Piasecka POL is the new 2nd and Noora Koskiadhe FIN follows on the 3rd position of the 118 participants. In the special rankings of the U16 (46 participants), Dewi Couvert NED is on rank 1.
In the Boys' fleet, Luis Fernandez-Palacios ESP replaced Tora Kutoglu TUR on top yesterday with two bullets. Omer Zachar ISR, rank 1 of the U-16-standings, is on the 3rd place. The event website with gallery and the live-ticker.

Excellent sailing conditions with sun and a 3-5 bft sea breeze during the first days of the 420 World Championship allowed to run the qualification regattas according to schedule with a yesterday before the final races begin. In the men's fleet (i.e. Open fleet, as some mixed teams are included), the spread with Vasilas/Fragiadaki GRE on top is very tight. In the women's fleet, Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA are in the lead.
The first start today is at 1 p.m., the peak of the sea breeze. The official report.

No wind yesterday in Travemünde, so the 52 Tornado teams from 8 nations were forced to stay ashore. The decision for the title was postponed until today with Roland and Nahid Gäbler GER in pole position with a 5-point lead over Iordanis Paschalidis/Konstantin Trigonis GRE. The results and the daily report.

The 45 solo-sailors left Le Havre heading for Gijon ESP yesterday for the first leg of the 'Solitaire'. The initial breeze around 8 kn was freshening and turning North-West later, and the fleet is already out of the Channel, scooting along at a 10-knot average speed. The boats are still close together with leader Eric Péron FRA about 15 miles ahead of current Tail-end-Charlie Francisco Lobato POR. Top lady is Jeanne Grégoire FRA is tied with Isabelle Joschke GER 2,2 miles from the lead. Bernard Stamm SUI, 3,9 miles behind, is 26th. The rankings of this morning, the report and the video of the start.

Sun and a lively thermal breeze around 16-18 kn brought on two more races for the 87 participants at the Contender Europeans, but also the same old result: Andrea Bonezzi ITA (5) shows a 2/1/1/1 score line so far and looks like the odds-on favorite for another title. New in second is Simon Mussell GBR (16), Sören Andreasen DEN (24) is third. The results and the short report (in French.).

Small jibs and loose boom vangs were the order of the day as the RC 44 Valencia Cup got underway here in a pumping sea breeze that topped out at 20 knots. Despite the strong wind off Malvarrosa Beach, the professional crews threw the light-displacement boats around with seeming ease. In a day that saw seven flights and 28 match races completed, three crews made it through the first five flights undefeated. But only Torbjorn Tornqvist’s ‘Artemis’ with skipper Terry Hutchinson USA escaped unscathed, finishing the day at 6-0. Three other teams have a 4-1 record including Russell Coutts and ‘BMW ORACLE Racing’, Cameron Appleton’s ‘Team Aqua’ and James Spithill’s ‘17’. Rounding out the top five is Igor Lah’s ‘Ceeref’ at 3-1 with Rod Davis as skipper. The report.

After a long postponement at the PWA Grand Slam in Fuerteventura, the trade winds did kick in at 14 – 20 knots. In the day’s finals, former world speed record holder Finian Maynard BVI, Micah Buzianis USA and Bjoern Dunkerbeck SUI battled for the win. In the end, Maynard managed to fend off the hard-charging Dunkerbeck for his first win of the season. Top favorite Antoine Albeau FRA, crashed in his quarterfinal heat and failed to qualify. After nine races Albeau still leads, but with Maynard in second and Dunkerbeck in third closing the points gap somewhat. More on the event Web site.

Part 1 of the Travemünde Week ended yesterday without racing due to lack of wind. To mention among the winners of the numerous classes Jan Kurfeld GER Finn, Adzintsov/Meyer BLR 470 and Andreas Voigt Contender. All other rankings and the daily report.
As from today, it is the turn of the Lasers and A-Cats.

No more racing for the 26 teams on the last day of the Europeans as the thermal breeze failed to fill in. The European titles go therefore to 'Mecara' of Reinhold Suhner SUI with his team in the Classics, as well as 'Sophie II' of Hugo Stenbeck SWE in the Moderns. The final report with the ranking lists.

A new 13-week television show series aims to show an up close view of the devastating impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Gulf of Mexico boating and fishing communities. Airing Sundays at 10 a.m. (EDT) on Fox Sports Net and presented by BoatUS Angler, Cabela's Fisherman's Handbook portrays a realistic picture of conditions out in the field. Visits to bird recovery facilities, documenting the oil spill's damage to sensitive marshes and bays, and most importantly, fishing trips on the large swaths of unaffected areas are all included. BoatUS set up a Web site, to help boaters stay informed, safeguard their boats, and assist with recovery efforts. The full release.

Races 4-6, sailed in an excellent up to 4 bft seabreeze, were added at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR with one discard now in play. New leaders in the Open group racing are Vasilias Fragiadaki GRE ahead of Ikhlef/Pequin FRA and Liu/Cheng SIN.
Tight racing also in the women’s qualifier, where the lead belongs to Caoputo/Barbiero ITA, followed by Adler/Kunze BRA and Lee/Low SIN.
The sometimes instable event website and the official report.

Sunshine, 8-12 kn breeze and huge fleets for the first two races of the Laser 4.7 European Championship on Lake Hourtin near Bordeaux yesterday.
The fleet of the 232 Boys was split in four groups, and after the first day, two Laser sailors from Turkey are leading: Mustafa Onur TUR (2/1) is on top ahead of Tora Kutoglu (1/3) and Maximilian Stein GER (4/1).
For the Girls, the group rankings lists (59 boats by group) have not yet been consolidated. In the blue group, Anna Liebmann ITA (2/2) is first ahead of Sara Diaz ESP and Ida Voutilainen FIN. In the white group, Noora Koskiahde FIN is on top in front of Sofia Toroi and Vasilea Karachaliou GRE.
The event-website.

The breeze filled in late in the afternoon only off Travemünde yesterday, where two more races were sailed with Roland and Nahid Gäbler GER as winners, leading now with a 5 points advantage over Paschalidis/Trigonis GRE. New on 3rd are the veterans Helge and Christian Sach GER. Martin Rusterholz/Simon Koster SUI dropped on the 7th place. The results and the report.

At 2 pm CEST today, 45 competitors on their 30-Fuss-One-Design Bénéteaus are off to the 'La Solitaire' in Le Havre FRA. The 515-mile long first leg leads to Gijon ESP. Light air is forecast initially, but things will get bumpy once the front arrives from the West. Among the sailors are three ladies, Karine Fauconnier FRA, Jeanne Grégoire FRA and Isabelle Joschke GER/FRA plus Vendée Globe-participants Jérémy Beyou FRA, Armel Le Cléac'h FRA, Sébastien Josse FRA, Kito De Pavant FRA, Yann Eliès FRA and Bernard Stamm SUI. A preview.

The Contender European Championship started yesterday off La Rochelle FRA with two races. Andrea Bonezzi ITA, eight-time World Champion, is already in the lead again, joined by Sören Andreasen DEN. Jan Van der Bank GER follows in 3rd place. 87 boats' fleet from 12 nations. The results.

The man of the day yesterday was Björn Dunkerbeck, with a 2 and 1, advancing to fourth overall while Antoine Albeau FRA remains on top followed by Fininan Maynard ISV. All other details on the PWA-Website.

Not only the Tornados, but also the other classes already engaged during the first part of the Travemünde Week, had their races only late in the afternoon, due to lack of wind. 420, 470, 5o5, Korsar, Asso 99, Finn, Musto-Skiff, 18-Footer, Contender and some catamaran classes are currently racing off Travemünde. All results and the report.

Hi-tech race coverage will be in place for the 505 World Championship in Aarhus DEN (July 29 - Aug 5), including live video streaming, live GPS tracking, daily podcasts and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. More than 120 teams from 11 different nations will be competing, including local heroes and 2007 World Champions Saugmann/Ramsbæk DEN, their famous compatriots Jørgen and Jacob Bojsen-Møller, two-time Olympic medalists in the FD, Ian Pinnell GBR, winner of the 2008 Worlds sailing with Ian Mitchell and of course, Wolfgang Hunger GER a three-time 470 World Champion and previous 505 World Champion. See the event website.

The general weather turbulences over Europe influenced also the thermal breeze on Lake Uri on the third day of the 6 m Europeans, as the wind came late and lighter than normal. The day wins went to Swiss boats in the Classics and the Moderns. 'Mecara' with Reinhard Suhner SUI took the lead with the Classics one point ahead of Andy Postle GBR. Philipp Durr SUI follows on 3 with a small margin and the race for the title will be tight during the final races today. In the Moderns, the two top teams 'Sophie II' of Hugo Stenbelk SWE and 'Junior' with Bernard Haissly SUI/FRA are also separated by one point only. The winner of the day Beat Furrer SUI with his 'Temptation 3' follows now on the 3rd position. The report with the results.

After 130 days and 8000 miles, Sailing News friend David de Rothschild, his 60-foot plastic-bottle cat ‘Plastiki’ and the intrepid crew have reached Sydney, Australia, the final destination of their cross-Pacific voyage from San Francisco, CA. Yesterday they arrived at Sydney’s Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, to the welcome of family, friends and supporters. The ‘Plastiki’ was officially greeted by Sydney’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Phillip Black and the US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich. The pursuit of this ocean expedition that started in March in San Francisco was to alert the world to the effects of single-use plastics on the health of the oceans and its inhabitants. The boat will be on public display for the next month at the ANMM. Read their blog and see the gallery.

In 1993, at Bodega Bay, Russell Long took his last ride on ‘Longshot', his custom Ketterman built trifoiler, which had just been outfitted with new foil wings. She bolted out of the gate a blasted up to near 50 knots when the back stay parted and she "blew up" scattering pieces about the harbor. Long emerged shaken but unscathed to follow another passion, in protecting the environment during the past 15 years.
‘Longshot’ was recently towed back to Watsonville, had a few tweaks and adjustments made and readied for another go at the record books. She still holds the class A 500 Meter Course record set in 1992 in Tarifa Spain of 43.55 knots. Russell has his sites set a bit higher, that being the overall 500 Meter speed record set by ‘Hydroptere’ of 51.36 knots set in Hyeres France in 2009. See the full report.

Tricky, shifty, winds of 8-15 kts on the Clyde provided the stage for the final two races of the Radial Youth Worlds in Largs, Scotland. Erika Reineke USA won the title with a race to spare. Manami Doi JPN managed to retain her second place, while Michelle Broekhuizen NED had to settle for third, however winning the European title.
Despite of yesterday’s 7th and 37th, Giovanni Coccoluto ITA closed the deal by winning the Laser Radial Youth Boys’ and European Championship after building a big points cushion throughout the week. Like Reineke, Coccoluto had won Bronze at the recent ISAF Youth World Championship in Turkey, but his final margin was just two points over Tadeusz Kubiak POL who squandered his title chances with a capsize on Friday. In third, another Italian with Luca Antognioli. Mitchell Kiss USA, one of the co-favorites, who held a podium spot Friday, slipped to fifth with two results in the mid-twenties, but won the Under 17 class. The report and the complete results.

After a dramatic final day of racing of the TP 52 Camper Regatta – Conde de Godó Trophy – Barcelona, the top three remained in place: ‘Artemis’ SWE (33 pts.) won the series after scoring a bullet in the day’s first heat and coming back from eighth at the first windward mark to finish second behind ‘Bribón’ ESP in the last race, to clinch the team’s first MedCup Circuit regatta win since 2007. ‘Emirates Team New Zealand’ NZL(35) finished second, while ‘Quantum Racing’ USA (44) held on to third after an up-and-down series on the Costa Brava. The report with the complete results and the galleries.

The 420 Class World Championship began yesterday in Haifa ISR with three races. Anna Burnet/Flora Stewart GBR in the women's fleet and Clement Ikhlef/Clement Pequin FRA in the men's fleet are the first leaders. Unfortunately, the event-website does not display the complete results at this very moment. Here at least the preliminary women's rankings (PDF) from yesterday evening. The top-15 by fleet are listed also in the report of the class association.

One more race was added on the last day of the Melges 20 Gold Cup in Malcesine ITA and the locals of ‘Reggini’ with Francesco Farneti pulled it out. Their fourth place was enough to keep their nose ahead of ‘Value Team’ of Benedetto Giallongo. New in third and happy to be there at the end was Marco Perazzo’s ‘Turnover’ benefiting from a DSQ of ‘Notaro Team’. The lone US entry, Michael Kiss USA sailing with Chris Rast USA/SUI on tactics and crew Alain Stettler SUI on ‘Bacio’ finished on a high note, getting a second for the day and pulling even with ‘Sei Tu 20’ ITA in the end. They recovered from a broken bowsprit and had to sort out a new boat as they went to school on the dominant Italians. See Chris Rast's blog. The final results and the galleries.

The Europe Class World Championship in Norrköping began yesterday with two races for each fleet. The former Olympic womens dinghy is still very popular around the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean nations. In the men's fleet (88 participants from 13 nations), Carl-Frederik Fock SWE leads ahead of Tobias Hemdorff DEN and Emil Bengtson SWE.
In the women's fleet (68 participants, 8 nations), Ascension Roca ESP is first in front of Emma Oljelund SWE and Silvia Zennaro ITA.
The short report.

Holding back in the qualifiers on Saturday, Antoine Albeau FRA demonstrated yesterday his skills as king of the PWA-Slalom events. With three bullets, he took over the lead from Cyrill Moussilmani FRA . In third is Finian Maynard BVI Keevin Pritchard USA droped to seventh. All other details on the PWA-website, including the videos of the second day.

Light winds and a substantial current off Le Havre yesterday for the proglogue of the 'Solitaire du Figaro' 2010, not included in the overall rankings. But the starting behaviour could not have been less aggressive. On the forth restart, 8 of the 45 participants were disqualified under the Black-Flag rule. Gildas Morvan FRA was the winner of the opening race. The results, the report and the video of the prologue.
The start to the first race from Le Havre FRA to Gijon ESP will be given tomorrow Tuesday.

Sun and the classic thermal breeze, 2-4 bft, on day 2 of the 6 m IJ Europeans on the Lake Uri arm of Lake Lucerne, where two more races were sailed. In the Classics, the first four boats were pooling up, separated by one point only. 'Erica' of Robert Laid GBR is in the lead one point ahead of the tied 'Titia' (Andy Postle GBR), 'Mecara' (Reinhard Suhner SUI) and 'Astree' (Philippe Dürr SUI). The oldest 6 m 'Rita', built in 1893 (!), owner Norbert Staniszewski GER, dismasted. In the Moderns, Hugo Stenbelk SWE on his 'Sophie II' has now a clear lead over Robert Leigh-Wood GBR on 'Lyonesse' and Bernard Haissly FRA/SUI on 'Junior'. The report with results.

Balboa Yacht Club’s 44th annual Governor’s Cup International Junior Match Racing Championship attracted 13 international teams who fought it out for four days. The title remained in New Zealand as the defending champions of Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (William Tiller, Harry Thurston and Shaun Mason) won the best-of-three finals against local favorites Newport Harbor Yacht Club team (Chris Segerblom, Connor Bathen and Kieran Chung) in the finals. More on the Web site.

In one month from now, the Moth-Europeans 2010 will begin on Lake Silvaplana SUI with 82 participants from 16 nations. The Italian Championship on Lake Garda had therefore a competitive fleet, taking this event as a last tune-up race for the continental championship. With the ranks 2/1/1/1, Matthias Renker SUI was the predominant winner in front of Markus Steeg GER and Mikis Psarophagis SUI. 24 participants from 7 nations were sailing, but not all could cope with the fresh breeze, such as the newcomers Sandro Fuchs SUI and Eric Monnin SUI on the positions 14 and 17. The results.

A southerly breeze of 12-13 kts on the Clyde for the penultimate day of the Laser Radial World Youth Championship, provided ideal conditions for the 320 competitors as they were regrouped into Gold, Silver – and in the case of the Boys’ – Bronze fleets. Erika Reineke USA remains odds-on title favorite in the Gold Fleet, after adding another first for a 27-point lead over the light-air specialist Manami Doi JPN who capsized once yesterday. In third is Michelle Broekhuizen NED.
In the boys' fleet, Giovanni Coccoluto ITA has a 17 pts lead on Mitchell Kiss USA, who is first in the U17-rankings. Former leader Tadeusz Kubiak POL had a poor day with a capsize in the second race back to third. The report and the all results.

With another win in the second short race off La Seyne, 'Nouvelle Calédonie' with the America’s Cup veteran Bertrand Pacé steering demonstrated once more its superiority in the Tour 2010. With 'Courrier Dunkerque' (Daniel Souben FRA) on rank 2 and 'TPM-COYCH Hyères' (Fabien Henry FRA) on 3rd, two other former Tour winners complete the podium. Eclat in the Amateur-classification, with 'Ville de Genève' as winner on the water, but penalized by the Jury with 10 points as they replaced their spinnaker torn on the day before without permission of the Jury. One point behind 'Purflo - Les Thermes de St.Malo', they finished on rank 10 overall and 2nd of the Amateurs. 'Team SOG – Safran', 8th overall, is the winner of the Students rankings. The final report, the results and the images of the day. The videothek contains some impressive clips from Friday’s race abandoned due to a too strong Mistral.
With the completion of this Tour, the time of the Farr 30 (previously Mumm 30) as Tour yacht is over. As from 2011, the new M34, especially designed for the Tour, will be used. One of the much welcomed starters will be Dean Barker NZL. 'Ville de Genève' intends to continue its participation provided the financing can be granted.

Big shuffle at the top of the final standings at the Laser Standard European Championship on the last day after two more races were added. Stuart Godwin GBR ended up with the Championship trophy after 10 races and two discards, without ever wining a single race. It was his consistency and his solid sailing toward the end that put him ahead of Alexios Katsios GRE and Nik Pletikosa SLO. Catastrophe befell Eifion Mon GBR (67), who missed the podium after dominating the week. Mon, the Welshman, couldn’t finish what he’d started with a score of 18-29-10, and a full count in the final race when he and the equally unlucky Francesco Marrai ITA, who had title ambitions, were both BFD’d. The event website.

No changes on the last day of the Platu-25-Worlds, as the Greek 'Modus Vivendi'-team with Mantis Panagiotis GRE, leading right from the beginning, defended the first position and claimed back the Worlds title they had already won in 2008. Thanks to two race wins, J. Pintos ESP on 'Carpantxo' advanced to the 2nd place. 'Iberdola' with Manu Weiller ESP took 3rd. The final report and the results.

Two wins in a modest breeze for ‘Artemis’ SWE puts them in the lead for the final day at the TP 52 MedCup in Barcelona, one point ahead of ‘Emirates Team New Zealand, NZL, who are six points clear of ‘Quantum Racing’ USA who started the day with a ninth after restarting for being over early in the first race and a pair of second places. ‘Artemis’ is bent on wiping out the memories of their poor showing in Marseilles but will have their hands full in today’s finale against the wily Kiwis, who committed a couple of mistakes yesterday that cost them a couple of places and the overall lead. The report with the overall results and the gallery.

After Friday’s storms dumped half a foot of snow on Monte Baldo and the ensuing strong northerlies forced a postponement, three more races were added on the penultimate day of the Melges 20 Gold Cup in Malcesine ITA. As the Italians continue to dominate, the hometown team of ‘Reggini’ of Francesco Farneti (20 pts.) managed to stay ahead, holding a one-point lead over Benedetto Gialongo’s ‘Value Team’ (21) and Luca Domenici’s ‘Notaro’. Breaking into the phalanx of Italians was ‘Bacio’ with Michael Kiss USA (46) and Chris Rast calling tactics, who recovered from a broken pole and a DNF on the first day and now is sixth in the overall standings . The podium is out of reach, but with a solid final day today, they have a chance to crack the top five, although that place now is held by ‘Sei tu 20’ with Flavio Favini calling the shots. The report (today only in Italian) and the galleries.

Despite the rain, a 3-5 bft breeze filled in on Lake Uri and permitted to sail two races on the first day of the European Championship. In the Classics category, Andy Postle GBR with his 'Titia' took the lead, in the Moderns, the Geneva lawyer Bernard Haissly starting on a French boat is first tied with Hugo Stenbelk SWE. The report with results.

The usual trade winds blowing with 30 knots allowed for three slalom heats on Fuerteventura on the opening day of the PWA-Grand Slam. Cyril Moussilamni FRA holds the first place ahead of the World Champion Antoine Albeau FRA and Kevin Pritchard USA. Björn Dunkerbeck starting for Switzerland is in 5th among the 60 participants from 21 nations. In addition to the slalom races, a wave contest is on the program of this men-only event. All details on the PWA-website.

The Travemünde Week 2010 began yesterday with a fresh up to 5 bft breeze for the 420, 470, 5o5, Finn, Contender, Korsars and Hobie Cats, the latter sailing for European titles in several categories. The Tornados did their exhibition races close to the harbour entrance. The report and all results.

The breeze finally arrived on the Clyde and provided for a good day’s racing. A steady 9-knot SSW’ly allowed the 320 sailors to finish their qualifying races. In the girl’s division (7 races, one discard) Erika Reineke might be only 17, but displays rock-solid confidence and sailing performances, clocking up another first today and two to grab the overall lead from Manami Doi JPN. In third Tiril Blue FIN.
On the boy’s side the standings only reflected four races. In the lead Tadeusz Kubiak POL, followed by Hermann Tomasgaard NOR and Luca Antognioli ITA. Today, the fleets are split in Gold and Silver. Four more races are planed for the finals. The report, and the results page.

Two wins were not enough for ‘Quantum Racing’ USA (25) at the TP 52 MedCup in Barcelona yesterday as they slide to third after three more races were run in moderate med conditions. Their undoing came in the first race with an 11th, aka DFL before bouncing back with two wins. Taking advantage of this slip was Emirates Team New Zealand's NZL (19 pts.) with a 1, 3, 2 for the day, which puts them in the lead ahead of ‘Artemis’ SWE (24) and ‘Quantum.’ The report with the results and the galleries.

The last long-distance race from Marseille to La Seyne was an ultra-fast schuss with an 18-kn Mistral breeze to begin with, increasing to over 30 kn with 4-meter waves, bringing on high-speed surfs of up to 25 knots under chute. Unfortunately for 'Groovederci' the lone US entry, they lost their stick, just as 'Courrier Dunkerque' prompting the RC to abandon the race. If the Mistral sticks around, it could cancel the final short races of the Tour today. The daily report, the standings and the action-loaded gallery.

Rain, wind up to 18 knots and heavy chop made for a tough first day at the finals of European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy 2010 in Gdynia POL. Many of the young sailors had problems to control their boats and might get some relief once the second discard is in play. Still in command overall in the Gold fleet is Eifon Mon GBR followed by Nik Pletikosa SLO and Francesco Marrai ITA, U19 leader. On Saturday, the last two races will be sailed. First warning signal will be made at 11 am. The report and the results.

Consistency is a hard coin that seems to pay well for John Ingalls, Torey Pellegrini, Bruce Chafee USA have fought their way to the top of the Yngling World Championships in Lelystad NED, stumping an armada of Dutch boats. Getting their first bullet in Race eight and a ninth in Race nine leaves them with all Top-10 finishes, the only boat to do so. Minks/Molenaar/Toornstra NED followed by Otte/Oost/Deen NED. The Web site and the full results (PDF) ≈.

Only one race was added yesterday at the 2010 Audi Melges 20 Gold Cup, before a line of thunderstorms forced abandonment of all racing. Still it is all Italy. Second-place Benedetto Giallongo's ‘Value Team’ (12 pts.) cut ‘Reggini's’ (10) lead to two points, while Luca Domenici's ‘Notaro Team’ (18) came away with a win, also closing the gap to ‘Reggini.’ Top foreign boat is Savino Formentini’s 'Bitipi' MON (55) in 13th. Michael Kiss USA sailing with Chris Rast, got their pole issues from the first day sorted and scored a third to climb to 18th in the 36-boat fleet. The report, the complete results. and Carlo Borlenghi’s images.

The Greek 'Modus-Vivendi' starts to the two final races of the Platu25 Worlds today with an 8 points lead. Up to now, 10 races have been sailed in moderate conditions. The defending champion 'Movistar' (C.Paz ESP) is 2nd ahead of another seven Spanish teams. The results, the daily report (in Spanish) and the mediathek.

Competitors took to Lake Garda this morning for races 13 and 14 of the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships. The Gold Fleet to the Yellow/Torbole course and the Silver Fleet to the Blue/Riva course. Conditions were lively on both racecourses, with a constant 18 knots of wind at the start of racing. Ian Ainslie RSA) won the first heat by over a minute Jerry Hill GBR finished eighth, Luca Rodion RUS finished ninth and Craig Burlton GBR finished tenth with all chips on the table for the finals. Black clouds burst and the wind dropped to 8 knots and swung back 30 degrees. As the fleet approached the leeward gate, the RC raised the ‘T’ flag, which meant shortened course. A whopping 32 boats did not get it and continued to sail the course, which left them outside the 15-minute time limit and netted them a DNF. All drama aside, Jerry Hill/Joe Lewellyn/Grant Rollerson GBR (54) managed to close out the deal with a ninth to hoist the 2010 Laser SB3 World Champion’s trophy. In second, Ian Ainslie/Roger Hudson/Adam Martin RAS (63), followed by Team Saxton GBR (70). Top lady was Sarah Allan GBR (73) in fourth. The Silver Fleet is won by Vincenzo Graciotti ITA who racked six bullets in the finals. In 2011 the Laser SB3 World Championships will be hosted by the Royal Torbay YC, UK, May 16 - 20. The report, the results page, the galleries and a fine video.

The Splash and Flash dinghies, two Dutch youth boats, sailed their European Championship at the same time as the Ynglings Worlds. In both classes, the podium is Dutch. 90% of the boats were from the Netherlands. In the Splash class (149 participants, 7 nations), Gabriel Wempe NED was the winner. In the Flash class (34 participants, 4 nations), Igor Van Zalinge NED was first. The report.

After another long postponement a light SW'ly arrived on the Clyde for the 320 young sailors from 42 nations in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds & Europeans. Racing was tight on this second day of qualifying and some new names appear on top of the leader boards. And again, US sailors figured prominently in the proceedings. In the girls’ fleet, where a discard is in play, 17-year-old Erika Reineke USA, the bronze medalist in the ISAF Youth World Championship, added two firsts to Tuesday’s two seconds for second overall behind the equally impressive Manami Doi JPN who had another first in the Yellow fleet. Third is Tiril Bue FIN .
In the Boys’ category, Giovanni Coccoluto ITA, who was 1-5 yesterday, leads Paul Leroy FRA and Elliot Hanson GBR. The report and the results.

The Melges 20 Gold Cup got under way yesterday with 36 boats from six countries. Three races were sailed off Malcesine on Lake Garda and it was, well, an Italian championship with some friends from abroad. The top three are Francesco Farneti ITA, followed by Benedetto Gialongo and Marco Perazo. The best “real straniero” is Michael Kiss USA in 21st with Chris Rast calling the shots. Piloting a brand new boat made in Zenda, they scored a sixth in the first heat, but broke their pole later, forcing them to retire. The report, the Facebook page and the full results.

Patrick Blom who started coaching the Finnish Laser Youth Radial team this spring talks about the system of coaching in Finland. With Sari Multala having won last week’s the Women’s Laser Radial World Championship, and with five members of the youth team competing in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds, two of which (Heidi Tenkanen and Matias Mikkola) are ranked among the favourites to win this event, there’s a clear indication that Finland has good coaching formula.
Blom: “We do indeed have some very talented sailors and the Radial is an ideal class to develop their talent. Interestingly however, we don’t have many sailors in Finland so my job is to find the promising young sailors and bring them together into one group. Because we have so few sailors, club racing doesn’t really happen. Even at the national ranking events we only gather about 20 boats." Read the entire interview

Victories for the Amateur teams 'Ville de Genève' SUI and 'Mummaduck' NED in the three short races sailed with a 15 kn breeze in the Bay of Marseille. The Dutch have now a one point lead in the Amateurs’ ranking.. Overall, 'Nouvelle Calédonie' is the clear leader and will earn another Tour win in a few days. The daily report.

Current Open World Match Race Champion Adam Minoprio NZL has had his lead narrowed as has Lucy Macgregor GBR in the Women's Rankings. The big mover on the women’s side, was Anna Tunnicliffe USA, who moved up from sixth to third behind Claire Leroy FRA. In the men's men’s division division Ben Ainslie GBR, is now in second, followed by Mathieu Richard FRA. Full report.

'Modus-Vivendi' with TM Panagiotis GRE and his team have defended their first place against the Spanish armada behind. The report (in Spanish) and the mediathek.

For races 10, 11 and 12 of the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships the Gold Fleet moved to the winder Bravo Course underneath the Riva cliffs. With increased wind strengths of 20 knots, the Gold Fleet (PDF) had their work cut out for them. Hill/Llewellyn/Rollerson GBR (37) currently hold a 4-point lead over Burlton/Heeley/White GBR (41) and a 14 point lead over Pollard/Smith/Schwarz GBR (52), who are new to the top three having passed Rodion/Zherebtsov/Rudskaja/Lebedev RUS (53) who had a difficult day and slid back to fourth overall, tied on points with Ainslie/Hudson/Martin RSA in fifth. Vincenzo Graciotti had another great day in the Silver Fleet posting a 1, 1, 1. The report, the results page and the gallery.

Today, the 420 World Championship begins in Haifa ISR with the measurement control and first trainings. 160 Teams from 22 nations participate, among them the recently crowned ISAF Youth World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP and Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI. The start to the first race will be given next Sunday. The championship last during the whole next week. The event-website.

...or at least no news on the event-website. Two races have been planned yesterday according to the Notice of Race, but there are no news posted this morning, and the ranking list has not changed. Eifion Mon GBR will be the clear leader when it comes to the final races.

Without fanfare, Italian extreme sailor Alessandro di Benedetto completed his incredible single-handed round-the-world jaunt on his modified Mini 6.50 ‘Findomestic Banca’ yesterday in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. The geologist traveled 28.360 miles in 270 days, endured storms and fought through a dismasting in late March off Cape Horn (we reported), but carried on under jury rig. In 2002 he sailed from Las Palmas ESP to Guadeloupe and became the first to cross the Atlantic solo, non-stop on a beach cat and in 2006 he did the same from Yokohama JPN to San Fran USA. Di Benedetto’s blog did not even carry a note that he has finished. Talk about modesty and contrast to the garish hype surrounding the teenage sailors. The report (in Italian)

‘Quantum Racing’ USA emerged as overall leader of the Camper Regatta – Conde de Godó Trophy – Barcelona after opening with two fifth places and a second on what proved a testing first day of racing at the TP 52 MedCup Circuit’s first top in the Catalan capital. Dealing with a moderate 9-13 knots NE'ly breeze and big chop that was thrown back to the staring area from the nearby shore, keeping the boat in gear was crucial. Three different boats won races. ‘Quantum’ (12 pts.) leads ‘Emirates Team New Zealand’ NZL (13) ‘Artemis’ SWE (13), ‘Bribón’ ESP (13) and ‘Cristabella’ GBR (14). The report and the galleries.

After a day and a half sitting waiting for the wind, a steady, building northerly breeze trickled down the Clyde this afternoon allowing racing to commence at the Laser Radial World Youth Championship in Largs. In the boy’s fleet, one race was run with group winners Matthew Mollerus USA (Red), Elliot Hanson GBR (Yellow) and Tadeusz Kubiak POL (Blue) leading overall. The girls fleet got two races in with Julia Vallo Arjonilla ESP leading the overall standings, tied on points with Erika Reineke USA who had two seconds. In third, Martina Ciotti AUS. The report and the results page.

After Day 3 of European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy 2010 in Gdynia POL and six races, Eifion Mon GBR continues to lead the overall standings with a remarkable 23-point advantage (thanks to four bullets) over Stuart Goodwin GBR, who now holds a podium spot after working his way up from 18th overall. In third, just as before is Jochem-Bart Haakman NED. The next six sailors are all within five points or fewer of the podium. Today the 124 racers from 26 countries will sail the last of the group qualifying races before they will be split into Gold and silver for the final four races on Friday and Saturday to decide the title. The report.

Three races were sailed yesterday in a moderate 10 kn breeze allowing to have the worst result discarded at the end of the day. In spite of an abandoned race due to a damage, the Greek 'Modus-Vivendi'-team could defend the lead. The defending champion C. Paz ESP ('Movistar') is now on 2nd as best of the overwhelming Spanish armada (ranks 2-9 !). The standings and the report (in Spanish). Videos about the first day have also been posted.

After cleaning up in the short inshore contests at Port Camargue 'COYCH Hyeres' and Fabien Henry added a bullet in the 60-mile coastal race to Marseille to stake their claim on third overall behind 'Nouvelle Calédonie' and 'Courrier Dunkerque' in the overall standings . The first non-French 'Groovederci' USA (Deneen Demourkas) got a fourth in the last inshore at Port Camargue and finished also fourth in the coastal race to move up to fifth. They leapfrogged 'Oman Sail's Renaissance' which is now in sixth, three points behind the US boat. The report and the video library.

After seven often difficult races on the southern Ijsselmeer in Lelystad NED, John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA are now the best non-Dutch team on rank 3 in the overall rankings (PDF). gn competitor On their home waters, the Dutch are a force, playing ping-pong with two teams at the top. Current leaders are Haven/van Arem/Karsters NED who added two seconds yesterday to gain some breathing room on Otte/Oost/Deen NED. The event site.

With last night’s protests completed, the fleet was split into Gold and Silver for the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships finals. Three more races were scheduled for yesterday in typical summer ‘Ora’ in the mid to upper teens, so the race tally is now 9. It’s a British-Russian sandwich at the top of the Gold fleet with Burlton/Heeley/White GBR (24) leading Rodion/Zsherebtsov/Alexander RUS (25) by one point and Hill/Llewellyn/Rollers GBR (27) by three. In the Silver fleet the leaders are Graciotti/Zucconi/Pasini ITA (128). The report, Stefano Grasso’s gallery and the Day 2 video.

A couple who took a yacht for a quiet sailing trip were stunned when a 40-ton whale crash-landed on their boat off Cape Town RSA. The pair were enjoying calm seas off the South African coast when the animal flipped into the air and smashed into their mast. Ralph Mothes, 59, and Paloma Werner, 50, were helpless as the beast thrashed around on their 33ft vessel before slipping back into the water. The story and a slide show.

Racing had to be postponed for lack of wind at the third event of the TP52 2010 MedCup circuit that officially fancies itself the ‘Conde de Godó City of Barcelona Trophy. ’ An eclectic and high-caliber fleet of 11 boats from 10 different countries never got into racing mode. Around five hours in the hot summer Mediterranean sunshine, tracking the fickle breeze proved to be in vain for the TP52 teams who watched closely to see what they could learn from their smaller GP42 cousins as they took part in a slow, shifty practice race. Regatta goes until Sunday. The event Web site.

On Tuesday and yesterday, three races daily were sailed on Lake Uri with excellent thermal breeze conditions. The Swiss Champion title goes to Bernard Haissly SUI and his team, winning convincingly in the Moderns category on the French 'Junior'. Reinhard Suhner SUI on his 'Mecara' is first among the Classics. Tomorroy Friday, the Practice Race for the 6 m JI Europeans will be sailed. On Saturday, the first race of the Championship will be started. The report wit rankings.

After a short race off Port Camargue with 'Courrier Dunkerque' adding another race win to reduce the points spread overall to leader 'Nouvelle-Calédonie', the 28 teams started the 60-mile crossover regatta from Port Camargue to Marseille. At half-time of the race, 'TPM-COYCH Hyères' was ahead of 'Nouvelle Calédonie'. The teams are expected in Marseille this morning. Ville de Genève' finished 6th in the short race helping to defend the lead in the Amateur rankings. The event-website.

One race was added yesterday at the 2010 Yngling World Championship in Lelystad NED, which brought into play the discard. The overall standings still look like a Dutch championship with a few friends from abroad. Back on top now are Otte/Oost/Deen NED (12 pts.) followed by Roukema/Kuiters/Tromp NED (14) and Haven/Arem/Karsters NED (16). The event page and the standings. (PDF)

Largs continues to befuddle the Laser crowd. No wind and no races on Day 1 for the 317 sailors at the Laser Radial Youth Worlds and Europeans continue the theme of the Radial Worlds 10 days ago. In an effort to make up for lost time, the race committee has rescheduled tomorrow’s racing to 1100. The weather forecast however, shows little improvement with wind speeds reaching no more than 5kts from the north, accompanied by heavy rain. The report.

It was a nice weekend up here in Portland, Oregon and in the Gorge it was blowing like snot, more so than on other occasions (35+ knots we heard). There were 15 International Moths trying to test their big-breeze foiling and survival skills, if they could sail at all. So madness it was. The only sailable day was Saturday, when they piled on seven races. No contest for the top spot as Dalton Bergan (6 pts.) got six bullets and a second. The rest of the podium was made up by veteran Charlie McKee (21) and Matt Pistay (24). Adam Lowry had a forgettable start but a strong finish with 2-2-2-1 to secure sixth overall , despite two DNCs and one DNF. All results and a . gallery

The Platu-25 Worlds began yesterday off Alicante with two races sailed in a light 8 kn breeze. With the day ranks 1 and 3, the Greek 'Modus-Vivendi'-team with T.Panagiotis GRE is in the lead after the first day. Panagiotis was the World Champion in 2008, and added Silver in last year's championship. 'Carpantxo' with J.Pintos ESP and 'EUZ II' of L.Iacopo ITA are on the ranks 2 and 3. 64 teams sailing. The rsults, the daily report in Spanish and the video from the Practice Race last Monday.

A one-hour delay welcomed 124 sailors from 26 countries on the second day of competition in the European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy, and then they still managed to get in two races. Thus, one discard is in play now. New leader overall is Eifion Mon GBR who added a 1-6 to his score, followed by Philip Juricic CRO, who also leads the Under-19 class. In third is Jochem-Bart Haakman NED. The report and the gallery.

Tight racing on the second day of the Laser SB 3 Worlds in Torbole ITA with a strong showing of GBR teams. With freshly split fleets taking to the water at lunchtime for races 4, 5 and 6 of the Championship, the very lively ‘Ora’ arrived from the south, as per schedule. In the lead after six races and one discard are defending champions Burlton/Heeley/White GBR (13 pts.) followed by Hill/Llewellyn/Rollers GBR (14). Party spoiler is Luka Rodion RUS (14) in third. 104 boats from 16 countries competing. The report, the overall standings, the delicious gallery and a video.

The Vauriens started their Worlds yesterday in Slovakia with one race. Until the 70s, they were THE Youth class, but still today, 58 teams from 9 nations showed up at this years Worlds. The win in the only race of the day went to Olmo Cerri/Edoardo Meini ITA. The results.

TPM-COYCH Hyères' (Fabien Henry) was the team of the day yesterday with two wins in the three short races, consolidating its third rank overall. Nothing new on top where 'Nouvelle Calédonie' (Bertrand Pacé) remains the clear leader ahead of 'Courrier Dunkerque' (Daniel Souben). In a 10-12 kn breeze and summery 28°C, 'Ville de Genève' delivered a fair performance despite of technical problems, defending its lead in the Amateur classification. However, the advantage melted in half to 13 points. The results, the daily report and the video of the day.

A fleet of 124 sailors from 26 countries started in the 2010 European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy in Gdynia POL. A lively breeze in the mid-teens and some moderate chop provided ideal conditions for the first tow races and the “full-sized” young Laser sailors who are currently classified in category under the age of 21, but after the competition medals will also be distributed to the best U-19. Results after two races European Championships in Laser Class Standard: 1st Gozen Cem TUR, 2nd Eifion Mon GBR, 3rd Philip Juricic CRO. The event website, the complete standings, and the gallery.

Yesterday. 104 Lasers SB3 split in two fleets started the 2010 World Championship on Lake Garda with three races in best sailing conditions. Burlton/Healy/White GBR have taken the lead ahead of Hill/Llewellyn/Rollers GBR and Hudson/Rae/Jones RSA. The Olympic medalist Luka Rodion RUS follows on the 4th place. The results and the daily report.

10 races were sailed at the Coupe Internationale in Deauville FRA, initially in fresh winds, decreasing lateron. Florian Stauffer/Philippe Jacot SUI finished first overall after a tight battle for the top until the very last heat. Caroline Jacot/René Betschen SUI on the 4th place completed the good Swiss perrormance. The results and the report.

In brutal conditions, meaning high temperatures and next to no wind, the Ynglings sailed two more races at their World Championship in Lelyland NED. And the Dutch continue their dominance holding eight of the top nine spots. Notable exception is the team of John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA in fifth place. In first, Hidde-Jan Haven/Don van Arem/Miguel Karsters followed by yesterday’s leaders Tom Otte/Sander Oost/Jan Deen NED. The event website and the standings (PDF).

‘Plastiki,’ David de Rothschild’s plastic bottle catamaran, is on schedule to reach their final destination of Sydney by July 25. Boat and crew will be moored in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Originally they wanted to pit stop at Coffs Harbour and rendezvous with a pre-arranged charter escort vessel. But due to the “unpredictable nature of ‘Plastiki’s’ sailing capabilities and the prevailing weather conditions,” as a press release put it, the crew opted to get the escort vessel sooner to avoid being set north of their intended staging destination of Coffs Harbor. The 13 meter AVCG vessel, ‘The Mooloolaba Rescue’ rendezvoused with the ‘Plastiki’ on Sunday afternoon and is now in Mooloolaba. Read the phone log from a call by the Man, David de Rothschild, himself.

After the damages from the Vendée Globe last winter, Dominique Wavre SUI had his Open 60 completely revised and partially modified at La Rochelle. Supported by the new sponsor 'Mirabaud, he will participate in the Barcelona World Race for doubles to be started in October this year together with his partner Michelle Paret. In a video, they explain the modifications made at the boat. More details also on the website of Dominique Wavre.

Today, the Swiss Championship of the traditional 6 m IJ class begins on Lake Uri as a Tune-Up-Regatta for the European Championship starting on Thursday. How many of the 24 entrants from 6 nations registered for the Europeans will participate today will be seen on the ranking list this evening. The general weather pattern promises a good thermal breeze. The RVB-website.

The regatta activity on Swiss lakes contiues in spite of the holiday season. The Sailing Switzerland section contains all news and results of the weekend activities as far as available.

With the 470 World Championship in The Hague in the history books, two sailors have written a chapter for themselves. Malcolm Page AUS and Lobke Berkhout NED, both now own the distinction of being five-time 470 World Champions, sailing with different skippers, though.
A 12-knot southwesterly breeze and brilliant sunshine produced perfect conditions for the medal races at the 470 World Championship in The Hague NED. In the men's race Matt Belcher/Malcolm Page AUS took second, but it was just a flourish since they had secured gold already, which also was the fifth title for Page. In addition they won the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup with an event to spare. Medal race winners Nicolas Charbonnier/Baptiste Meyer Dieu FRA, jumped to second from fourth to take Silver followed by Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic, CRO with Bronze. In the men’s Gold fleet , Stu McNay/Graham Biehl USA took eighth in the final race to finish in 12th overall, while Adam Roberts/Nick Martin finished with a 20th too take 6th in the men’s Silver fleet.
In the women's medal race the defending World Champions, Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout NED proved too strong for Jo Aleh/Olivia Powrie NZL who entered the day with a slim one-point lead. While the Dutch played it safe surrendering the lead on the second run to finish third, the Kiwi boat struggled in mid-fleet to finish seventh. It was the second consecutive title for Westerhof/Berkhout, but the fifth for Berkhout who has joined Malcolm Page the Aussie crew in the record books. Medal race winner was the crew of Ingrid Petitjean/Nadège Douroux FRA who finished fourth overall, behind Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol ITA. In the women’s Gold fleet, the two top spots went the US teams: Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar ended the series with a second to take 11th overall, followed by Amanda Clark/Sarah Chin in 12th. In the women’s Silver fleet, Anne Haeger/Briana Provancha USA took sixth. The report, the video and the gallery.

In winds of up to 20 knots, the 6-boat fleet of Extreme 40 cats had a lively last day at the ‘World’ Championship in Portoroz SLO. No change in the leader board, though as local boat ‘The Ocean Racing Club’ with skipper Mitch Booth successfully defended the narrow lead against Roman Hagara’s ‘Red Bull Extreme'. Both teams had six wins and four seconds with Booth resting on a two-point cushion before the last day. 'Kempinski/Great Britain', helmed by double Olympic Gold medalist Shirley Robertson GBR won the last race (their first race win in the regatta), followed by ‘Red Bull’ and ‘The Ocean Racing Club’, which had to pass 'Team IWC/Holland' at the last second to secure third and the title. Andreas Hagara and ‘Team Petras/France’ finished third overall. Fourth was ‘Team IWC/Holland’, fifth ‘Team Kempinski/GBR’ and sixth ’Team Nokia/Hungary’. The next stop on the Extreme 40 circuit will be Cowes Week in early August. The report, the gallery and a video.

After the Laser Radial World Championships of last week, its the turn of the Radial Youth sailors to prepare for the World and European Championships which both are sailed in Largs GBR. 319 participants from 44 nations participate with England, Germany, Italy, France and the USA (among others with the two medalists of the just ended ISAF Youth Sailing Worlds Mitchell Kiss and Erika Reineke) enter the largest delegations. Switzerland is represented by Valentin Bovey, Sydney Bussard, Olivier Masmejan, Nigina Roemer, Gaëtan Van Campenhout and Doré de Morsier. The event Web site.

The Yngling Worlds in Lelystad NED (southern Ijsselmeer) opened yesterday with two races. The Dutch teams are dominating the 52-boat fleet with 7 boats in the top-10. Leaders are Tom Otte/Sander Oost/Jan Deen NED (5) but in fourth, as the best non-Dutch team are John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA (10) who had a 6-4. Thomas Beck/Markus Burri/Philippe Marti on position 15 had the best start of the four Swiss teams present, followed by Gregorini/Gregorini/Mantovani SUI on rank 24 of the 52 teams from 10 nations. The results (PDF)and the event website.

At the end of the final event of the European Melges 32 Sailing Series 2010 in Malcesine ITA, ‘B-Lin Sailing’ with Luca Lalli ITA, and tactician Lorenzo Bressani secured the title. In second overall in the series is Lanfranco Cirillo on ‘Fantasticaaa’ with tactician Michele Paoletti. Carlo Alberini on ‘Calvi Network ‘ finished third. Only two races were ran on Sunday with the breeze blowing more than 20 knots and Lalli demolishing any chance Cirillo ever had of capturing the event win as well as the series victory. John Kilroy USA on ‘Samba Pa Ti ‘with tactician Stu Bannatyne won Race 1 and 2010 European Melges 32 Champion Joe Woods GBR on ‘Red’ with Paul Goodison on tactics won the final heat of the regatta. Kilroy, as the top non-Italian, finished the series in 5th, followed by Woods in 6th. The report on the class Web site.

After the Atlantic races ended last Friday, the second part of the Tour de France will begin on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea with the first short races today. Additional short races and two crossover regattas from Port Camargue to Marseille and Marseille to La Seyne are on the schedule. 'Nouvelle Calédonie' with the America's Cup-veteran Betrand Pacé have clear lead in the overall rankings and can hardly be beaten. 'Ville de Genève' in 8th has to defend the lead in the Amateur-class, whereas the two teams from 'Bienne-Voile' will try to improve their positions around 20. The daily report.

Today is the first racing day at the Junior European Championship of the Laser Standard in Gdynia POL. The largest delegations among the 137 entries from 22 countries come from Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Poland. Switzerland is represented by the Société de Genève Junior Sailing Team with Guillaume Girod, Lauri Kalkkinen and Jonathan Schopfer. Check the event website.

The World Championship of the Platu 25 is also scheduled to start today with the Practice Race off Alicante, and as from tomorrow, the Worlds races will begin. 91 teams from 12 nations are on the entry list with over half of the participants coming from Spain, including the defending champion. Switzerland is represented by the teams of the Kiel Week winner Markus Siegrist and Matthias Bermejo. The preview.

The light north-easterly current over Switzerland spoiled the Lake Thoune thermal wind considerably and in spite of the sunny day normally heating up the 'wind-machine', no more races could be sailed. After four heats, three of them shortened, Jean-Pascal Chatagny/Patrick Ducommun CVG had a convincing start of their Starboat career winning the traditional Rostige Kanne masterfully, and this on the 23-years old Olympic winning boat 1988 (now SUI 7252). The intensive training sessions together with the other Star from Lake Neuchâtel from Michel Niklaus/Serge Pulfer CVG, finishing 3rd, have been paying already in their first Starboat season ! Philipp Rotermund/Nils Holweg GER finished 2nd in the ISAF-Grade-3-event. 35 teams from 3 nations participated. The results.

During the past weekend, the Laser German Masters Championship, included in the annual Euro-Masters series, was sailed in Neubrandenburg. The winners after six races are Lennart Gnossen NED in the Lasers Standard and Peter Seidenberg USA in the Lasers Radial. Heini Wellmann SUI, the only Swiss present, finished 22nd.

The winner of the '3rd Tutzing Matchrace Cup' of the Deutschen Touring Yacht-Clubs (DTYC) is - as in the previous year - the Swiss Roger Stocker. Together with his team Mark Griesmaier and Robert Hürlimann, he won the only final match against Micki Daisenberger before the wind died. Kristin Wagner GER defeated Frank Weigelt GER in the petiite final. The report (PDF).

And just like that Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page have the 2010 470 World Championship in the bag. No need to worry about the medal race. After a poor first heat in yesterday’s three races when the wind piped up to 18 knots, they added a 1/2 and benefited from the misfortune that befell Patience/Bithell GBR, who took second in the first race and held the overall lead until they broke a rudder fitting in the second heat and dropped out. Belcher/Page are 20 points clear of second place, so they’ll watch the others scrap for the other medals in tomorrow's medal race. Contenders for the medal spots are Mantis/Kagialis GRE (60) in second of the Gold fleet overall standings, defending World Champions, Fantela/Marenic CRO (61) in third, and three others who are within eight points of the Greeks. In men’s Silver fleet , the leaders are Schmid/Reichstaetter AUT.
In the women’s Gold fleet , the stage is set for a match race between leaders Aleh/Powrie NZL and the tenacious and talented Westhoff/Berkhout NED in second just one point apart, who will have the gallery rooting for them. In third Conti/Micol ITA who sunk their chances for the title with a BFD in Race 2. Battle also looms in the women’s Silver fleet, where Koch/Sommer DEN have a one-point lead over Mrak/Cerne SLO. The entertaining video, the report, the tracking page and Thom Tow’s gallery.

Big receptions on Zurich and Geneva airports and festivities in the Clubs of Thun and Vidy yesterday at the coming-home of our medalists Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler aund Alexandre Massard/Jérémy Bachelin (Foto). Already on Tuesday, the Youth World Champions Fahrni/Siegenthaler SUI are on the road again, as next Friday in Haifa ISR, the first start to the first race of the 420 Worlds will be given. An addition to our news from yesterday: the last Swiss Youth Worlds medal winner was Jan Schenk, windsurfer, in 2002 with a Bronze-medal. All medalists since 1973.

539 Optimists competed in the Coupe d'été at La Rochelle, among them a Swiss delegation. In the Minimes D1 division, Arthur Fortune FRA was the superior winner after 10 races. 189 starters from 15 nations. In the BenjaminsJimmy Marchand FRA was first. The event website.

It was VIP day on the fourth day of the 6-boat Xtreme 40 ‘World’ Championships in Portoroz SLO with various dignitaries riding shotgun on the boats, which sailed four races in 8-10 knots of wind. Mitch Booth, skippering ‘Ocean Racing Club,’ clings to the lead with a two-point cushion over Roman Hagara’s ‘Red Bull Extreme’. In third, ‘Team Petras/France with Andreas Hagara at the controls. The final battle for the overall win on Sunday will be between Booth and Roman Hagara. The report and a video.

These past couple of months have been spent in Europe coaching Luke Lawrence in the Finn. We started with the Finn European championships in Croatia, followed by the Delta Lloyd regatta in Holland, a week of tuning with the Polish Finn team in Gdansk, Poland; and finished up at Kiel Week in Germany. Coming into the Finn class from the Laser in 1978, I experienced the same issues he is going through this season. Coming from the Laser into the Finn means learning new and different sailing techniques and dealing with a more complex sail and mast set up. The Finn is more of a "boat" due to it's heavy weight, (almost twice as heavy as the sailor) and less than a dinghy like the Laser, which is 75 percent the weight of the sailor. The harder you hike in the Laser, the faster you go. With the Finn, if the set up is not right, sometimes the harder you hike the slower you go! Learning to effectively sail any new boat requires going through a certain process. It takes patience, persistence and the ability to integrate and implement new concepts and techniques. Read Bertrand’s entire post.

Thunderstorm cells passing over Switzerland disturbed the traditional Lake Thoune winds, and the very puffy and shifty conditions allowed for one shortenend race late in the afternoon only. Michel Niklaus/Serge Pulfer CVG were the winners, advancing to the 3rd place overall. Leaders remain Jean-Pascal Chatagny/Patrick Ducommun MY/CVG, winning the traditional 'West-Ost-Preis' of the Starclass awarded after 4 races. The two newcomer teams from Lake Neuchâtel coached by Henrik Dannesboe SUI demonstrate an impressive performance. Philipp Rotermund/Nils Holweg GER are on the 2nd place overall. The results.

Thunderstorms passing over Lake Starnberg GER during the past two days, and on Friday, the Club territory had even been hit by a lightning. Nevertheless, the Round Robin of this ISAF-Grade-4-Match-Race could almost be completed. Roger Stocker SUI and Micki Daisenberger GER are tied on top with one flight left. The report.

The Swiss 420s kept their nerves under control and defended their medal places in a 15 kn breeze. In the environment of their fierciest opponents from Austria, Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler TYC sailed a mediocre 19th (discard) race. 26 years after the ISAF Youth Worlds title of Stefan Seger/Bruno Zeltner and 13 years after the last Swiss medal of the windsurfer Anja Käser (Bronze), the Swiss realised for the first time a medal double: Alessandre Massard/Jérémy Bachelin CVV exceeded their expectations with the Bronze-medal in the 420-Boys. Heartiest concratulations to the teams, their coaches and the responsible sailing club youth teams.

After a trying week of postponements, light and shifty breeze the ISAF Youth World Championship in Istanbul TUR concluded with a spectacular summer day with warm sunshine and a gusty offshore breeze from 8 - 14 knots. The medal table shaped up as follows: Spain two Gold, France, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands one gold each. France retains the Volvo Trophy for the best nation in a repeat of last year followed by Great Britain and Spain. The individual results:
The SL 16 catamarans were the first to decide the medals with Chase Lurati/Paul Darmanin AUS securing Gold ahead of twins Daniel and Nicolaj Bjornholt DEN and Taylor Palmer/Mac Agnese USA who needed a second in the last race to snatch Bronze from Boniface/Butler GBR.
The final day was the Radial Girls the moment for Michelle Broekhuizen NED who parlayed a 9th place into a Gold medal, holding off Heidi Tenkanen FIN who won the last race to secure silver and Erika Reineke USA who salvaged Bronze.
No changes on the 29er podium where Gael Jaffrezic/Julien Bloyet FRA took Gold in convincing fashion with a bullet in the last race. Silver for the girl/boy team of Alex Maloney/Sam Bullock NZL and Bronze for Antoine Screve/James Moody USA.
In the competitive 50-boat Laser Radial Boys, Thomas Saunders NZL defended Gold against Kheri Bualong THA and Giovanni Coccoluto ITA.
Switzerland’s Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI (27) could afford to sail their discard in the final race of the 420 Girls to secure Gold ahead of Maelenn Lemaitre/Aloise Retornaz FRA and Lara Vadlau/Hannah Hanke AUT.
It was a horizon job by Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP in the 420 Boys ,) who took the title with a 26-point cushion over Jao Villas Boas/Tomas Camelo POR. Bronze for Jeremy Bachelin/Alexander Massard SUI.
In the very tight RS:X Boys Mateo Sanz ESP wore down Wonwoo Cho KOR to take the Gold. The Korean, who led most of the week salvaged Silver by a point over Pavel Tarnowski POL.
Once Kamila Smektala POL was in the lead, in theRS:X Girls, she stayed there by scoring a bullet in the final race and watching Isobel Hamilton GBR slip by Ofir Halevy ISR who lead the better part of the series.
The daily report. The event Web site, the Facebook page and the gallery.

Finally, after an unorthodox few days off the Hague, with the wind and wave states severely disrupting the schedule, three races at the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships were sailed yesterday in a big 20-28 knot breeze. To get an idea, check out this wet video of the day. With the fleets divided, the heavy-air specialists and especially the Dutch showed their mettle on that exhausting day.
In the women’s Gold fleet, defending World Champions and local heroes, Westerhof/Berkhout NED. Scored three straight bullets to take the lead, one point ahead Aleh/Powrie. NZL, Thursday’s leaders who pocketed a DNF after their main halyard broke. In third Conti/Micol ITA. The women's Silver fleetis led by Koch/Sommer DEN.
In the men's Gold fleet, Belcher/Page AUS had a win to pad their overall lead, followed by Patience/Bithell GBR and the Coster brothers NED who rocketed from 11th to third overall. New in fourth Mantis/Kagialis GRE who rose from 10th and now have a shot at the podium. See also the Silver fleet results, where Schmid/Reichstätter AUT are ahead.
Three more races today, forecast is for 10-12 knots. The event Web site, the tracking page and Thom Touw’s gallery.

Yesterday, Mitch Booth's ‘The Ocean Racing Club’ took the lead of the Extreme 40 six-boat ‘World’ Championship in Portoroz, SLO with two firsts and two seconds. Booth now has 53 points and leads Roman Hagara’s ‘Red Bull Extreme’ and Andreas Hagara’s ‘Team Petras/France’at 51 each. ‘Team IWC/Holland with Pim Nieuwenhuis are slowly improving and are now tied with Shirley Robertson's ‘Team Kempinski/Great Britain’ at 31. A report.
Ed. note: If anyone had any doubt that a six-boat event should be called a 'World' Championship, the organizer, the Ocean Racing Club, has answered that question. No reports, no images, no results are published. Not on the event site or the class site. Let's hope the Xtreme 40s can keep it together for longer than their predecessors, the Formula 40...

It’s a rough ride for Plastiki’, David de Rothschild’s plastic bottle cat that is on it’s way from Samoa to Sydney Australia. Gale force winds and 25-foot waves are their companions as the boat twists, yaws and lurches toward Oz. They will put in somewhere on the coast, probably Coffs Harbour, before rolling into Sydney, provided the boat holds up. No dates have been announced. Vern Moen blogged about the experience:
‘Mr. T, David, Max, and myself are wrestling 60 knots of wind as we perch off the bow and wrestle the headsail like we’ve never wrestled before. It’s like holding onto the cape of a giant, flying grizzly bear. All hands on deck. No cameras were rolling. It’s not documented anywhere. A moment that is just for the three of us to keep.We’re currently experiencing a different side of the ocean than what we’ve grown so accustomed to in the previous 6,700 miles. We seem to have ventured into the land of 60 knot winds and 25 foot waves.Being on the helm is the most dramatic view of the situation. Physically, you’re about a foot away from the edge of the boat, so as a wave builds, it seems to be building especially for you. Though waves hit the side every 3 seconds, the biggest waves come in sets; about every 1 minute, and there’s usually 3 per set. These are the monsters.” Read it all.

The hot temperatures had a bad influence on the Lake Thoune thermal breeze, but nevertheless, three races were sailed in a light and shifty wind at the 'Rostige Kanne' event. With the day ranks 1/2/4, Jean-Pascal Chatagny/Patrick Ducommun MY/CVG have taken a clear lead ahead of Rotermund/Hollweg GER and Ryffel/Wyss YCR. 35 teams from 3 nations participate in the ISAF-Grade-3-event. The results.

Light to moderate air that started earlier than the previous days provided near ideal conditions on all courses and that meant lots of racing on the penultimate day of the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2010. In some classes the discards finally came into play, which shuffled the standings big time. Only three of Wednesday's leaders survived.
New leaders in the 420-Girls are Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI, who swapped places with Vadlau/Hahnke AUT. In the 420 Boys,, Xammar/Herp ESP are untouchable. In the very dense Laser Radial Boys, it’s another day another leader with Thomas Saunders NZL, but the top four are only separated by four points. There’s also a new leader in the Radial Girls with Viktorija Androlyte LTU, followed by Erika Reineke USA, who keeps marching upward. In the RS:X Boys class, Wonwoo Cho KOR keeps battling Mateo Sanz ESP. Same story in the RS:X Girls, where Kamila Smektala POL snatched the lead from Ofir Halevy ISR. Isobel Hamilton GBR is close behind. Today will be a battle for the title. In the SL 16-catamarans, Lurati/Darmanin AUS have a good lead over the Bjornholt brothers DEN. In the 29er, Jaffrezic/Bloyet FRA remained ahead of Maloney/Bullock NZL. Back on the podium for now are Screve/Moody USA. The points in the Volvo Trophy for the top nation were not updated. The event website, the Facebook page and the www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186898&id=93806273347]gallery[/url].

The weather continues to wreak havoc with the 470 World Championships in The Hague NED. Today the boats were sent out in the morning when it blew like snot. For safety’s sake the fleets were sent in. With wind against tide further increasing the severity of the waves in the afternoon, it wasn't until the early evening that the one race in each of the two women's groups was held. Winners Conti/Micol ITA and Sesto/Monsegur ARG. Overall the Italians are in first place tied on eight points with Aleh/Powrie NZL and three points ahead Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar USA (11).
A race was attempted on the men's course, very late in the day, but the decreases so much that the lead boats failed to reach the windward mark within the 25 minute maximum time limit. Regardless, the men are split up in Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets.Overall leaders are Belcher/Page AUS (8), followed by Asher/Willis GBR (11) and Dahlberg/Östling SWE (11). The video of the day, the Web site, the tracking page and Thom Touw’s gallery.

Only one short inshore race was sailed yesterday on the Garonne near Royan in a good breeze and big swells that were induced by current. It ended with the college crew of 'SOG-Saffran' getting their first bullet. In the overall standings 'Nouvelle Calédonie' (Bertrand Pacé FRA) leads, but 'TPM COYCHyères' (Fabien Henry FRA) now is in third again behind 'Courrier Dunkerque' (Daniel Souben FRA). With a 10th race rank, 'Ville de Genève' defended their 8th overall position and the lead in the Amateur rankings. The official report.

The 'PASSAGE', a 57-foot-aluminium sloop, built for the Whitbread Ocean Race (today's Volvo Ocean Race) has vacancies for enthusiastic sailors who want to round the Cape Horn and sail in the Antartics. Next possibility to join an learn more about the 'PASSAGE' is a training trip to the Faeroes from August 7 to 28, 2010 (1, 2 or 3 weeks). More information at www.sailfast.ch

As predicted, Markus Wieser/Sergej Pugatchev/Matti Paschen UKR are the overall winners at the Dragon Grand Prix ahead of Lilljeblad/Palm/Lilljeblad SWE und Müller/Hösch/Lipp GER. The results and the final report.

World Trade Center construction workers dug up something unexpected this week: an 18th century sailing ship. Plans for the new Trade Center require workers to unearth parts of lower Manhattan left undisturbed during construction of the original buildings. During part of this dig, in an area between Liberty and Cedar Streets, beams of wood rose from the mud. Yesterday, archaeologists confirmed that 20 to 30 feet below street level, a 30-foot ship chunk has rested for more than 200 years.
It’s not unusual for such artifacts to hide under large coastal cities. As a young city’s population grows, inhabitants look for any way possible to extend the city’s borders, transforming dirt and trash poured into the water into prime real estate. As The New York Times reports, this isn’t the first ship uncovered in Manhattan. In 1982, New Yorkers discovered a 1700s sailing vessel that had been hiding under 175 Water Street. The story in Discover magazine

If Tuesday had too little wind for the Laser Radial World Championships at Largs, yesterday had too much. Sustained 30 knots with gusts above 40 made racing on the Clyde impossible. Without a race on the final two days, Monday’s results became final: With only six races and one discard counted, Sari Multala FIN in the women’s division and Marcin Rudawski POL in the men’s successfully defended their 2009 World titles. Five of the top six women are either current or past Laser Radial World Champions. Second behind Multala was Marit Bouwmeester NED, followed by Paige Railey USA on the same points aggregate as Sarah Steyaert FRA, the 2008 champion. Anna Tunnicliffe USA (47) finished in seventh. Winner of the silver fleet was Rubel Yuan CHN.
In the men’s event, Rudawski displayed upwind speed, fitness and consistency, winning four of the six races. He promised to be back next year in LaRochelle FRA. In second, Wojciech Zemke POL, followed by Mitchell Kiss USA, at 15 the youngest member of the US development team. 92 participants. The results page and the gallery.

Another long waiting for the breeze yesterday, and only at 3 p.m., the first race got under way. All classes, except the Laser Radial Girls could sail at least one race in a 5-8 kn wind. The ranking in the 420 Girls did not change: Austria leading Switzerland! Finishing on 2 and 3, Lara Vadlau/Hannah Hanke AUT and Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI consolidated the leading positions overall ahead of Lemaitre/Retornaz FRA 9 pts behind. In the 420 Boys, Xammar/Herp ESP remain clearly on the first place. In the Laser Radial Boys, Arian Aleksander POL is the new leader, as the Levent Ahsikali TUR suffered a premature start. Keerati Bualong THA is now 2nd. No racing in the Radial Girls, where Chiara Steinmüller GER is on top. In the RS:X Boys class, Wonwoo Cho KOR remains on top, and in the RS:X Girls, Ofir Halevy ISR remains the clear leader. In the SL 16 catamarans, Bjornholt/Bjornholt DEN have taken the lead, and the new 29er top sailors are actually Jaffrezic/Bloyet FRA. With yesterdays performance, France has taken the lead in the nations rankings for the Volvo Trophy as in the previous year. The daily report.

It was an exciting sailing day in Medemblik with ‘fireworks’ in all classes. Fantastic weather, and , at last, good wind varying from 20 – 30 knots. In the 2.4 mR local hero Thierry Schmitter NED saved his best for last with two bullets to wrest away the title from Heiko Kröger GER. Bronze for Megan Pascoe GBR. Paul Tingley CAN finished 4th, ahead of Damien Sequin FRA. In the Skud 18, ther was nothing to stop Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell GBR from winning the title ahead of Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett USA and Daniel Fitzgibbon/Rachael Cox AUS. Another Dutch winner in the Sonars, with Duo Hassles/Marcel van de Veen/Mischa Rossen who came from behind to edge the team of Jens Kroker GER. In third the team of John Robertson GBR. The final outcome hinged on a protest of NED vs. USA which was ruled in favor of the Dutch who won their second title after 2003. The event Web site, Sander van der Borch’s gallery and the last day’s video.
Ed. note: Due to technical problems with the IFDS Web site, we were unable to provide links to the class results. We apologize for this inconvenience.

At the 2010 Delta Lloyd 470 World Championship in The Hague NED the conditions allowed racing to get away on time for the three groups in the Men's division and two in the Women's. The wind was typically above 10 knots, gusting up to 18 on the men's course, the tide still pushing boats over the start line early. At around 1400 local time after the second race, the boats were sent ashore in response to a storm warning. Leading the men’s division (five races, one discard) are Belcher/Page AUS (8 pts.), followed by Asher/Willis GBR (11) and Dahlberg/ Östling SWE (11). In the women's class, after four races (no discards yet) Aleh/Powrie NZL (9) pulled into the lead, four points ahead of Conti/Micol ITA 913) and Tuesday’s leaders Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kingsolving Farrar USA (17). The Web site, the tracking page and Thom Touw’s gallery.

Levent Ahiskali (18) dominated the opening races of the Laser Radial division at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Istanbul. Yesterday, he was hit with a BFD, which ruined his 22-point cushion and dropped him in the standings at least until a discard comes into play. Ahiskali started sailing seven years ago in Optimist and Laser 4.7 classes before stepping up to the Radial rig. He has been racing the Laser for two years but this is his first ISAF Youth World Championship. He sails in Marmaris on the Mediterranean Sea where there is usually more breeze than in Istanbul but he does not believe he has any local advantage. Read the interview.

Strong tides and lack of wind turned the last offshore race in the Atlantic from Talmont to Royan into a nail biter. The fleet started in Talmont Tuesday night because of a bad weather forecast. Then the wind died, just after the boats sailed around the islands of Ré and Oleron. Finally at 8 a.m. the first boat crossed the finish line and to many’s surprise it was ‘Groovederci’ USA the team led by Deneen Demourkas. An American winner on Bastille Day, no less. ’Groovederci improved to 5th overall. Second was Courrier Dunkerque with Daniel Souben FRA. Team SOG Safran’ FRA, with a college crew helped by singlehand-specialist Antoine Koch FRA took third ahead of ‘Oman sail’s Renaissance’ with Rob Greenhalgh GBR. Overall race leader ‘Nouvelle Calédonie' (Bertrand Pacé FRA) took 10th, the Amateur leader Ville de Genève finished 6th, improving the overall standings to 8th and consolidating the Amateur rank 1. The report and the overall standings.

Sunshine and a moderate breeze of 8-10 knots for the start of the first ever Extreme 40 “World Championship” in Portoroz SLO. It is a misnomer for an event that has all but six boat on the starting line. When is ISAF going to stop such nonsense? Nevertheless, the Hagara brothers Roman and Andreas AUT, demonstrated their sibling rivalry is alive. Roman, the double Olympic Tornado Champion and his older brother Andreas have not raced each other since 2003 when they went head to head in the Tornado Europeans. Back then, Andreas edged Roman to win the event – but yesterday the results were reversed as Roman, skippering Red Bull Extreme Sailing, beat Andreas' Team Petras/France to the top spot in the first two races, leaving his brother to settle for second. In third after the first day is Team Ocean Racing Club. An ocean race to Koper and back is on the schedule for today. The report, the event and the Web site.

Maxwell/Isabell Kinsolving Farrar USA (2) somewhat surprisingly top the women’s standings followed by Jo Aleh/Olvia Powrie NZL (4) and Margriet Fokkema/Marieke Jongens NED (5). On the men’s side, Belcher/Page AUS got three bullets for a commanding lead over Charbonnier/MeyerDieu FRA (7) and Asher/Willis GBR (13). Three races are scheduled for today. The (sometimes slow) event Web site, Thom Touw's galleries and the GPS-tracking page.

After Monday’s cancellation conditions were much better yesterday in Medemblik NED at the IFDS World Championships with winds SW to W, 6-10 kts, and blue skies. In the 2.4mR class , Heiko Kröger GER (22) holds ma narrow lead over Megan Pascoe GBR (24). Thierry Schmitter NED(30) is third. A pattern is emerging in the Skud 18 where Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell GBR (8 pts.) always seem to remain half a step ahead of Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett USA (11). The Brits had a pair of bullets, while the US team had a pair of deuces. In the Sonar the team of Jens Kroker GER (18) has a two-point edge over Udo Hessels NED (20) and six over Team Dror Cohen ISR (24) who are in third place. Two races are scheduled for today. The event website with images and videos.

Yesterday, more than five hours of frustrating drifting on the Clyde off Largs was in the cards for the sailors at the Laser Radial World Championships. But the wind remained elusive until, of course, after the RC had pulled the plug. Sari Multala, FIN the defending world champion goes into the final day of scheduled racing with a lead of seven points over Marit Bouwmeester NED and 12 over Paige Railey USA. In the Men’s fleet defending champ Marcin Rudawski POL, enters the last day with a six-point lead over his compatriot Wojciech Zemke and 15 points ahead of 16-year old prodigy Mitchell Kiss USA in third. Forecasts conflict as to how much or how little breeze there will be. Even if there are three races for the Women’s Gold fleet there can only be one discard and Bouwmeester has not finished outside the top ten so far, whilst Multala has a weighty 49th from Race 4 as her throwout. The event Web site, the standings and Marc Turner's gallery.

‘TPM COYCH’ made up for their poor offshore race by winning yesterday’s first inshore race at Port-Bourgenay followed by the amateurs on ‘Mummaduck’ NED and overall leader ‘Nouvelle-Caledonie’ with Bertrand Pacé FRA. In the second race, ‘Courrier Dunkerque,’ with Daniel Souben FRA took the gun to keep some pressure in the overall standings on ‘Nouvelle-Caledonie,’ which took third again. ‘Ville de Geneve’ SUI had two fourths clearly defending their lead in the Amateur classifications. Groovederci’ (Deneen Demourkas USA) had two eighths to stay in sixth overall and ‘Oman Sail’s Renaissance,’ had a 10-7 to remain in fifth overall. Due to a bad forecast, it was decided to start the 64-mile offshore race to Royan that same evening instead of Wednesday morning. The report.

Yesterday was a lay day at the ISAF Youth World Championships in Istanbul TUR, and a chance for competitors to put sailing concerns aside while partaking in a sightseeing trip of the city and the the Bosporus, the arm of the sea that geographically separates the Middle East from Europe. Check out some fun images and posts on the Facebook page. See the current standings. Action is scheduled to resume today with three races.

Six races were sailed in challenging light wind conditions at the Dragon-Grand-Prix. Markus Wieser GER starting for the Ukraine has a clear lead of 18 pts before the last races today. Hans Lilljeblad SWE and Thomas Müller GER follow on the ranks 2 and 3. 61 teams participate. The results and the report.

The start to the 18th edition of the '5 jours du Léman', sailed on Surprise yachts, will be given on August 8. The record distance after 5 days is 900 kilometers. 40 teams are on the entry list up to now, among them three all-women teams. This year again, the race can be tracked over GPS positioning. The event-website.

In difficult and shifty conditions on the first Day of Gold fleet racing at the Laser Radial World Championships on the Clyde off Largs, Sara Multala, FIN, the defending champion, scored a fifth place in the lone race to extend her lead in the women's overall ranking over Marit Bouwmeester NED, Paige Railey USA and Sarah Steyaert FRA. Dongshuang Zhang CHN read the big advantage to the left on the first beat and won the race with a lead of about 200 meters ahead of Anna Tunnicliffe USA, who describes in her blog how she managed to cope with the difficult conditions.
In the Men’s fleet, Marcin Rudawski POL finally did not win, but still holds a 6-point lead over Wojciech Zemke POL , who was OCS and Mitchell Kiss USA, at age 15 the youngest member of the US Sailing development team. Expect to hear more from him in the near future.
The result sheets, the report and Marc Turner’s gallery.

Delayed for most of the day, the fleets were sent out late and managed to get some racing in the forecast hot weather with light breeze. Finishing 10th, Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI remain on rank 2 with the 420 Girls behind the new leader Lara Vadlau/Hannah Hanke AUT, and ahead of Maelenn Lemaitre/Aloise Retornaz FRA. In the 420-Boys, Jordi Xammar/Juan Herp ESP are the leaders ahead of Joao Villas-Boas/Tomas Camelos POR and Carlos Vergara/Benjamin Grez CHI. In the Laser Radial Boys, Levent Ahiskali TUR was the only one of the top-ranked who did not flop. He is leading overall with a 22 pts advantage after 3 races on Herman Tomasgaard NOR and Aard van Aanholt AHO. Chiara Steinmüller GER defended her lead in the Radial Girls fleet despite of a 22nd race rank with a narrow lead on Michelle Broekhuisen NED and Marketa Audiyova CZE. The windsurfer sailed two heats. In the RS:X Boys fleet, Matteo Sanz ESP is now closer to the still leading Wonwoo Cho KOR, in the RS:X Girls fleet, Ofir Halevy ISR extended her lead now on Charalambia Antonatou GRE. The 29ers already sailed 5 races and thanks to the discard, Antoine Screve/James Moody USA passed Jaffrezic/Bloyet FRA on the top. Williams/Batten GBR follow on rank 3. In the Sirena 16-catamarans, the top-3 are Lurati/Darmanin AUS closely followed by Bjhornholt/Bjornholt DEN and Dljou/Le Croq FRA. In the Volvo-Trophy, the Nations ranking including all classes, Poland leads followed by Spain and Denmark. The event-website (still without daily report) and the video of the day covering the 420s.

After Holland’s loss in the soccer World Cup finals, even the wind had a hangover in The Hague NED at the 470 World Championships. After waiting out the clam, racing was abandoned because of the threat of severe weather. 5 knots of current, no wind, followed by a thunderstorm that brought torrential rain and 30+ for a brief period with some damage around the fleet. The schedule was changed, racing starts Tuesday at 11 a.m. and 3 races are on the program. More on the event website.

Up in Medemblik NED, the 470s’ story was repeated. All racing was canceled due to bad weather and high risk of thunderstorms, and the races were rescheduled according to the RC’s announcement. Current class leaders: Sonar: Jens Kroker/Robert Prem/Siegmund Mainka GER; 2.4 mR: Heiko Kroeger GER; Skud 18: Skud 18: Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell GBR.

‘Nouvelle Caledonie’ skippered by Bertrand Pacé FRA already won six Tour de France events and seems to be in shape to reach the magic number seven, equaling Lance Armstrong’s record on the Tour de France for bikes. The dominant leaders also won the last long-distance race with finish in Talmont, which was tricky because of light winds around Belle-Ile. They controlled ‘Courrier Dunkerque’ with Daniel Souben FRA, who took second in the leg and is second overall. The Dutch amateur crew of ‘Mummaduck’ had to surrender their early lead, but finished third to move up to 11th overall. The report and the overall standings.

Sebastien Destremau takes us on a spin around the world, reporting about some big boat events that Sailing News has covered over the recent couple of weeks: From France, the 28 Farr 30s competing in the Tour de France; from England, a record fleet sailing the Cowes-Dinard and the Dragon Edinburgh Cup; from Singapore, the 'Jewel of Muscat’s’ arrival; from Spain, 'Safran's' victory in the Vuelta Espana de Vela and lastly from the U.S., BMW Oracle Racing’s announcement of rules for multihulls and canting ballast monohulls drafted by US Sailing and RORC, respectively.

The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship 2010 began yesterday in Istanbul - with 65 nations one of the most international sports events world-wide - in moderate conditions. The Lasers, Windsurfers, SL-16-Catamarans and the 420s sailed two races, the 29er three.
Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI in the 420s-Girls had a perfect opening: With the day ranks 2 and 3, they are 2nd overall of the 28 teams, tied with the leading Malaysian girls Mohd-Offend/Zulkefu MAS. Vadlau/Hanke AUT follow as 3rd 7 pts behind. In the 420s-Boys, Yanaguchi/Isozaki JPN are the clear leaders with 2 bullets ahead of Xammar/Herp ESP and Villas-Boas/Camelo POR. In the Laser Radial Boys, Giovanni Coccoluto ITA and Levent Ahiskali TUR are tied on top of the 43 participants. In the 37 boats' Radial-Girls fleet, Paulina Barwinska POL is the leader with a small margin on Chiara Steinmüller GER and Patricia Coro ESP. Wonwoo Cho KOR is the clear leader in the RS:X-Surfer-Boys with 2 bullets, and Ofir Halevy ISR leads also with 2 firsts in the RS:X-Girls event. The best 29er is Lloyd-Williams/Batten GBR ahead of Jaffrezic/Boyer FRA. In the SL-16-catamarans, Bjornholt/Bjornholt DEN and Dijou/LeCroc FRA are tied on top.
The official report and the daily video, today about the two Laser Radial races.

After a long postponement forced by the strong westerly breeze on the Clyde off Largs, the warning signal for both Men’s and Women’s fleets was given at 5 pm. With a second place from today’s only race, Sari Multala FIN (10 pts.) moved into the lead on the last day of qualifying. In second Marit Bouwmeester NED (14) followed by Elias Calles Wolf MEX (21). Paige Railey USA (24) sailed her discard and slipped to 6th. The Olympic Champion Anna Tunnicliffe USA (45) had a fifth to move to 17th overall. In the men’s fleet, Marcin Rudawski POL scored his fourth win in five starts but still is only one point ahead of his compatriot Wojciech Zemke, with Ben Kopelaar NED in third. The report and the gallery.

After a short inshore race yesterday that was won by the Dutch team 'Mummaduck' the 28 teams started to the 112-mile offshore leg to Talmont-St.Hilaire. At the last sched, ‘Mummaduck’ was ahead again. Finish is expected for later today. The report and the standings.

Sailing in light and shifty conditions in the semis at the Stena Match Cup in Marstrand SWE, Jesper Radich DEN swept Magnus Holmberg SWE 3-0, while Ben Ainslie GBR prevailed over Torvar Mirsky AUS by 3-1. Ainslie then went on to beat Radich in a shortened final with a clean 2-0 score, while Holmberg beat Mirsky in the petits. The new World Match Racing Tour standings: 1. Mathieu Richard FRA, 77 pts., 2. Torvar Mirsky AUS, 60, 3. Adam Minoprio NZL, 54, 4. Ian Williams GBR 52, 5. Ben Ainslie GBR,45. More on the at tour and event sites and in the video archives.

After the practice race day yesterday, the Laser Radial course was swapped with the 420 and SL16 catamarans, so that the single-handed sailors did not have sail as far from the venue. The first day saw the young Italian sailor in the Laser Radial boys fleet Giovanni Coccoluto and the host nation’s competitor, Turkish Levent Ahiskali go head to head. Both snatched a first and second place with Kiwi Thomas Saunders in third. World Cup Final fever hit the dinghy park today and in the Laser Radial girls class the Spanish sailor Patricia Coro and the Dutch Michelle Broekhuizen battled it out in the first race. Broekhuizen led for the majority of the race, but Coro eventually pipped her to the post by winning the race. The report and a video that introduces some Laser sailors.

Three more races were added on the last day of the Melges 24 Volvo Cup on Lake Garda, but the top three remained in place. ‘Saetta’ with Nicolo Bianchi ITA (41 pts.) sailed a discard in the first race, but recovered with another first and an eighth to win the trophy two points ahead of ‘Hurricane Murphy & Nye’ with Alberto Bolzan (43) who lead the first couple of days. In third, 22 points back, defending champion ‘Blu Moon’ SUI (65) with Flavio Favini ITA driving. ‘EFG Bank’ with Chris Rast USA/SUI added 1-16-3 to the score (Z-flagged after an OCS) which moved him up to sixth overall. The final report (in Italian).

The Warnemünde Week ended with temperatures up to 40° C and very light winds. The new German Champions are: 5o5er, Meike Schomäker/Jens Tellen GER, 29ern, Schmidt/Böhme GER. All other results and the final report.

After three days and 10 races, Simon Payne GBR, World Champion 2010, also won the UK Championship at Torbay. Arnaud Psarofaghis SUI on 'Oyster Fund' finished with a bad heat after sustaining boat damage, falling to 3rd place, tied with Michael Lennon GBR. 43 boats participating. The results.

The two last races of the Laser Swiss Championships were sailed on the west end of Lake Neuchâtel in a thermal breeze enhanced by the gradient to 2-3 bft. Lauri Kalkkinen SNG, the dominant leader in the Laser Standard the evening before, lost all his options with an early start disqualification. After a disqualification for pumping in race 2, the error was not discardable, and Lauri slipped to rank 6 overall. The new Swiss Champion is Christian Steiger SCSG followed by Fabian Gielen GER and Guillaume Girod SNG. Lucien Cujean CNV and Charles Favre SNG are on the positions 4 and 5. No change on the podium of the Lasers Radial with Romain Paridant SNG on top ahead of Jonathan Schopfer SNG and Nigina Römer YCB. Another Geneva double with the Lasers 4.7 where Sébastien Schneiter SNG wins ahead of Guillaume Rigot SNG and Luca Hänni TYC. The best girl Alexandra Rayroux is 10th. All results and the final report.

Apparently no more races Saturday on Lake Constance. The local hero Tino Ellegast GER and his team are therefore the new X-99-World Champion after 14 races sailed in a light breeze. Silver and Bronze go to Christian Soyka GER and Jens Haldager DEN. The best Swiss Silvio Müller SUI is on rank 6. The results and the event-website.

In spite of light and shifty winds, the 5th edition of the Dragon Grand-Prix began yesterday with two races. For the first time, the new Boltenhagen Marina can be used. The favorites are already on top of the standings with Müller/Hoesch/Lipp GER on first in front of Wieser/Pugatchev/Paschen UKR and Fischer/Fischer/Quadfass GER. 61 teams from 11 nations participate.

The Sailing Switzerland contains the first results and report of the regatta activity on the Swiss Lakes, but there are still a couple of news missing. Scrolling down this page, the reports/results of international events terminated already on Friday or Saturday can be find.