International Sailing

At first, racing had to be abandoned to avoid a clash with an unannounced thunderstorm on Day 3 of the 2010 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. See the official report. The coastal race got under way once more afterwards and turned into a party in a 20-knot westerly. ‘Bella Mente’ (Hap Fauth) USA came out on top in the Mini Maxi Worlds to move up to fourth overall, 10 points behind class leader ‘Allegre’ GBR. ‘Esimit Europa 2’ (Igor Simcic) SLO claimed the lead in the Maxis, with a win yesterday, followed by ‘Highland Fling’ MON. There’s a new name in the winner’s circle in the Wally class with ‘Gibian’ GBR, while Hasso Plattner’s ‘Visione’ GER won the race in the Supermaxis to lead the class. Nothing new in the J-Class, with ‘Ranger’ CAY continuing to sail circles around the venerable ‘Velsheda’ GBR. Today is a layday before the Mini Maxis and Wallys continue their series with another coastal race on Friday and some windward-leeward races on Saturday. Maxis and Supermaxis have two more coastal races on the menu.

Today is the start to the Starboat Eastern Hemisphere Championship in the bay of Wismar GER, an ISAF Grade 1-Event, similar to a continental championship. The entry list contains 46 team from 16 countries, among them the favorites Lööf/Tillander SWE, Grael/Ferreira BRA, Scheidt/Kleen BRA/GER, Melleby/Pedersen NOR as well as the complete German team with the European Champions Polgar/Koy GER and Babendererde/Jacobs GER. The event site.

The low pressure area over Europe disturbed the Lake Garda thermal breeze also yesterday. Nevertheless, one race could be sailed in the afternoon and Marazzi/Wilke/Palfrey SUI extended their overall lead with a 2nd race rank. Burger/Simon/Dahemann SUI follow on the 2nd place. Thanks to the race win, Thelen/Hallberg/Nyberg FIN advanced on the 3rd position. With Bernard Haissly SUI and Hans-Peter Schmid SUI on the ranks 5 and 6, Switzerland remains the dominator in this former Olympic class.

Day 2 of the Maxi Yacht Rolex started in 18 knots from the southeast, which took their toll on some of the overpowered boats. Winners for the day were ‘Highland Fling’ MON in the Maxis on the coastal course, correcting out over Igor Simcic’s ‘Esimit Europa 2’ SLO who again got line honors. The ketch-rigged ‘Hetairos’ CAY corrected to first in the Supermaxis with ‘Ranger’ (CAY) again winning the J-Class match. In the Wally class, ‘Magic Carpet’ GBR corrected out to first in the race, but trails ‘Y3K’ GER overall. In the Mini Maxi Worlds, three races were sailed with ‘Rán’ (Niklas Zennstrom) GBR winning the day, but sitting in second overall behind Andy Soriano’s ‘Alegre’ GBR. A coastal course is scheduled for today. The report, the gallery and the tracking page (needs Google Earth).

With approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ISAF has published the Olympic Qualification System for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition in Weymouth and Portland GBR, which will accommodate 380 athletes in 10 events: Men's and Women’s Windsurfer (RS:X), Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser Standard), Women's One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial), Men's One Person Dinghy Heavyweight (Finn), Men's and women’s Two Person Dinghy (470), Men's Skiff (49er), Men's Keelboat (Star), Women's Match Racing (Elliott 6m). Conspicuously absent: A multihull class.
The total quota of athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC) is 16, nine men and seven women (maximum 1 boat per event). The Qualification Pathway states that 75% of each event's entry quota shall be qualified from those best-ranked NOCs in each of the relevant events at the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (Perth 2011). The remaining 25% of each events entry quota shall be qualified from each event’s 2012 World Championship or other event sanctioned by ISAF, to finish by 1 June 2012 at the latest. The report with the download of the details of the Qualification System. For still more information, visit the ISAF London 2012 microsite.

The Longtze Class had their forth event of the European Tour at Gargnano/Lake Garda over the last weekend. Friday and Saturday, 4 Up-and-Down races were sailed in a light to medium South wind each day. Sunday, the Trofeo Gorla – a long-distance race from Gargnano to Torbole and back – was on the program. At the start, a Northern breeze was prevailing, but at noon, the Southern wind filled in again. 11 Longtzes from France, Switzerland Germany and Austria participated. Eckhard Kaller on ‚Wetfeet’ was the winner ahead of Jarmo Wieland ‘Team Shensu’. The final race of the tour will take place off Bottighofen TG from October 22 to 24. The results.

No wind, no go in Torbole ITA on Day 2 of the 5.5. Worlds. Time enough to have a latte or three, lick the wounds inflicted by the zesty Ora on Monday and hope for not quite as much today. Leading the overall standings is Flavio Marazzi SUI (2) followed by Christoph Burger NOR (5) and Kristian Nergaard NOR (8). The report and the gallery.

The outcome of the 2010 Open 470 European Championships remained in the balance until the final leg of the men’s medal race. Just five points separated the top six men’s 470 teams going into the contest that was sailed in strong and gusty winds. Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE then once more proved their prowess in these conditions, scoring another bullet to secure their first European championship, at the same time condemning Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela ISR to second in the race and overall. It was Kliger’s third time as a runner up in the Europeans. In third place Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell GBR, who led the fleet after into the medal race, but sailed a high-risk strategy (including a port start) that failed them. Finishing fifth, they were happy to secure Bronze.
Series leaders Emmanuelle Rol/Helene Defrance FRA struck a windward mark during the women’s medal race and had to take a penalty turn, but managed to stay ahead of their rivals and finish third, winning Gold by 18 points over Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol ITA and Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux FRA, who took Bronze while Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron FRA slipped from second to fourth overall.
Earlier in the day the remainder of the 92 competing teams completed one final fleet race. Best of the rest were Matthias Schmid/Florian Reichstaedter AUT finishing 11th and edging Stu McNay/Graham Biehl USA who slipped to 12th. Reigning Junior World and European Champions Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion FRA secured victory in the Silver fleet. The report, all results and the gallery..

The first day of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2010 saw 47 boats competing on the seas off the northeastern coast of Sardinia in a light 7 to 8 knot NNW breeze. In the Mini Maxi World Championship ‘Alegre’ (Andy Soriano) GBR won out over ‘Shockwave (Neville Crichton) NZL and ‘Ran’ (Niklas Zennstrom) GBR. ‘Ranger’ CAY won the battle of the J-Class boats over ‘Velsheda’ GBR.
The remaining divisions, the Super Maxis with the 45.2 m ‘Saudade’ (Albert Buell) MLT and the 45-meter ‘Salperton’, completed a coastal race of 30 nautical miles. ‘Hamilton II’ corrected out over ‘Saudade’ and ‘Gliss’ (Marco Vogele) SUI. In the Racing/Racer Cruiser division ‘Esimet Europa 2’ (Ex Alfa Romeo/Igor Simicic) SLO, skippered by Flavio Favini ITA, won ahead of ‘Highland Fling’ (Irvine Laidlaw) MON and ‘DSK Pioneer’ (Danilo Salsi) ITA. ‘J One’ (Jean-Charles Decaux) FRA took first place in the Wally division followed by Y3K (Claus Peter Offen) GER and ‘Dark Shadow’ (Andrè Auberton) GBR. Racing continues today, with SSE winds of up to 25 knots in the afternoon. The report, thegallery and the tracking page (needs Google Earth).

After 10 races, Franco Solerio ITA with Branco Brcin SLO calling tactics is the X-35 World Champion ahead of four other Italian teams. In the X-41 sailed at the same occasion, Pier Vettor Grimani ITA, another Italian team, took the European title. The final report.

Yesterday was the first day of racing at the 5.5 Metre World Championship 2010 at Circolo Vela Torbole with 30 boats from nine countries. On a typical breezy lake Garda day, top Star sailor Flavio Marazzi SUI (2) got two bullets to lead the standings, followed by Christoph Burger NOR (5) and Kristian Nergaard NOR (8). Prior to the Worlds, Nergaard sailing with Peer Moberg and Petter Morland Pedersen won the tune-up event, the Scandinavian Gold Cup by beating Bernard Haissly SUI in the sail-off. It was Nergaard's third consecutive win of a unique regatta which is won by the boat that first wins three races. All boats that have not won a race after three heats are excused from competition. Get the details.

It took some doing on the last and windiest day of the 2010 Laser World Championship, but Tom Slingsby AUS, who also turned 26 yesterday, clinched his third title in four years and his second world championship in the last two weeks, after also winning the Etchells as crew for John Bertrand. After Slingsby had scored a safe sixth in the penultimate race, the last contest should have been more of the same, which it was until he found himself upside down as the breeze gusted to 23 knots. Somehow he got back up in a hurry and fought his way back to 14th, which sealed the win and a mega-cushion of 36 points. That’s because his closest rival in the overall standings, Nick Thompson GBR, also elected to run his capsize drill, which turned a possible top-three finish into a discard. In the end he had to be content with the crown prince’s honors, ahead of Andrew Murdoch NZL who had a strong day with 8-1 to return to the podium when it mattered and secure bronze for the second year in a row. Julio Alsogaray ARG, who saved his best sailing for last, finished fourth overall, ahead of Pavlos Kontides CYP, who sunk his medal chances with a 32nd in the very last race, which he was unable to discard. Defending champ Paul Goodison GBR was busy with damage control, won the first race of the day and booked a 10th to end in 9th overall. In the Silver fleet Dave Wright CAN remained on top, followed by Clayton Johnson USA and a surging Karol Porozynski POL, who had a 1-2 on the final day.
In the Junior World Championship Thorbjoern Schierurp DEN posted a third at the end to hold off Francesco Marrai ITA and Alex Mills-Barton GBR who took Silver and Bronze, respectively. The report, and the RYA video page with the day’s summaries (and an interview with Finn world champion Ed Wright).

With just the medal race remaining, the outcome of the 2010 Open 470 European Championships is far from clear. Two races in the gusty and shifty waters of Istanbul reshuffled the order of the men’s fleet, and now just 5 points separate the top six teams. The dice rolled right for Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell GBR who scored 5/1 to lead the men’s standings before today’s medal race. Next are Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela ISR, Pangiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE and Sime Frantela/Igor Marenic CRO. It will be a hot race because the next two teams, Leboucher/Garos FRA and Kampouridis/Polychronidis GRE, are only three points behind the defending champs from Croatia. In the Silver fleet Sofian Bouvet/Jérémie Mion FRA have a 9-point lead over Dubbini/Dubbini ITA.
In the women’s fleet, Emmanuelle Rol/Helene Defrance FRA now hold a 10-point advantage over Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron FRA and 14 over Giulia Conti/Giovana Micol ITA. Final fleet race for everyone outside the Top 10 at 11 am local time with the women’s medal race following at 3 pm local and the men’s at 3:45 pm local. The report, all results and the live tracker.

On the final day of the St. Moritz Match Race, the Maloja wind kicked in and Mathieu Richard FRA buckled down to grind out the necessary race wins for the title. Richard and Adam Minoprio NZL advanced from the quarters with one win only and got dusted in the first race of the semis. Richard lost to Ben Ainslie GBR while Minoprio fell to Ian Williams GBR. It looked like an all-Brits final was in the making, but Richard took the next two from Ainslie to advance despite having to do a penalty turn in the decisive third match. Williams kept the upper hand over Minoprio with 2-1 and faced Richard in the finals. They split the first two and Richard proved to be the master of the Maloja puffs to pull out the final win that earned him the big check and an extra cushion in the overall standings of the World Match Racing Tour, which he leads. Minoprio beat Ainslie in the petit final. The next tour event is on the island of Bornholm, Denmark next week. The report with the results and the 'Play of the Day' video with Minoprio hanging not one, but two penalties on Williams.

The Finn Gold Cup 2010 in the Frisco Bay - a windy and rough event - ended on Saturday with the outstanding victory of Ed Wright GBR also in the Medal Race. Silver and Bronze went to Rafael Trujillo ESP and Giles Scott GBR - here the final results and the official final report.
The media coverage was also excellent: All races with interiews are available on video clips. The individual races can also be reviewed by means of GPS-tracking.

The Boating Industry is confident about a coming upswing of the economy in general and its own business outlook. The INTERBOOT open from September 18 to 26, 2010 demonstrates this with the attractive products on exhibition. The new motor-boats are speed and fun oriented, and also in the sailing yachts, performance boats including comfort in the cabin prevail. A preview (PDF).

Sun and a 2-3 bft thermal breeze prevailed on the last day of the H-Boat Swiss Championship on Lake Thoune where the races nbr 6 and 7 were sailed yesterday. Thanks to the higher number of race wins, Walter Pulz/Robert Huber/Manuel Bume GER defended their title from the previous year ahead of Knut Viehweger/Sabine Viehweger/Heinz Kirchhoff GER with the same points result. George Kugler/Peter Graf/Steven Kugler SUI/RVB are on the 3rd place. The results and the final report.

Ed Wright GBR destroyed the rest of the world’s Finn elite. It’s as simple as that. In the process he also shed the distinction of "Best ever, who never won a Gold Cup." With surgical precision Wright added another bullet in the medal race yesterday in mellower conditions than usual. It was his fifth in 11 races at the 2010 Finn Gold Cup and a fitting end of his title bid that put him 31 points clear of Rafael Trujillo ESP, who was lucky to hold off Giles Scott GBR and win Silver. Three points behind the British-Spanish sandwich was Zach Railey USA, who took second in the medal race, his first top-three result of the week. In fifth Thomas Le Breton FRA. The rest of the fleet sailed too with Daniel Birgmark SWE getting his second bullet of the week to finish in 12th overall, behind Marin Misura CRO and ahead of Jonathan Lobert FRA. Top junior was Caleb Paine USA who sailed to an eighth place in Race 11 for 28th overall. The event Web site, the final standings, the chopper shots and the YouTube Channel.

Tom Slingsby AUS is two steps removed from his third Laser World Championship after scoring two bullets yesterday on another English summer day in 15-16 knots of breeze. With speed to burn and conservative starts he finished far ahead of his nearest rivals in both races, building a 32-point lead in the Gold fleet standings. The champagne is on ice, but before Slingsby gets the winner’s dousing (and a birthday hug for turning 26), he needs two more solid races today since he already carded his throwouts. Defending champ Paul Goodison GBR continued his slide into oblivion after getting yellow-flagged twice in the first race for excessive body kinetics. His second disqualification in as many days plunged the Olympic champion to 19th overall. Nick Thompson GBR was expected to challenge Slingsby, but sailed a real discard with a 17th after being forced to do penalty turns and playing catch-up. A 12th in the second race salvaged his chances for Silver. Angling for a podium finish is Jean-Baptiste Bernaz FRA, who benefited from a mixed day for the Kiwis and scored 15/3 to move up to third, right into the crosshairs of Pavlos Kontides CYP, the expat from Cyprus, who's one point behind. The Silver fleet has Dave Wright CAN in the lead followed by Clay Johnson USA.
Punchy starting helped Thorbjoern Schierup DEN to leap into the leader’s position in the Juniors rankings after the first two final races, which he both won. Behind, but tied on points is longstanding leader Francesco Marrai ITA. Alex Mills-Barton GBR is third, 13 pts ahead of Filip Jurisic CRO. The report, all results and the video summary.

Light and patchy breezes on the penultimate day of the finals at 2010 Open 470 European Championships appeared tailor made for two French teams in the women’s division. Emanuelle Rol/Helene Defrance FRA got two thirds and moved into the lead, one point clear of their teammates Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron FRA, who had two seconds. Defending champs and Friday’s leaders Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol ITA are in third after a sub-par day, eight points off the lead.
Sailing the shifts rather than the fleet was the secret of success for Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE, who carded two fifths to extended their advantage over Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela ISR to six points. The Israelis had a bullet today to step up to second overall, two points ahead of Panagiotis Kampouridis/Theodoros Polychronidis GRE. Where are the Croatians who looked so good so far? Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic, the defending champs, slipped, tripped and tumbled to fifth, behind Nicholas Charbonnier/Baptiste Meyer-Dieu FRA who won a race yesterday.
In the men’s Silver fleet, the points remain very tight with Joonas and Niklas Lindgren FIN holding on to the lead by a single point from 470 Junior World and European Champions, Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion FRA. Stronger breeze possible for today’s last two fleet races, say the Greek, who have proven to know a thing or two about this place. Medal race on Monday. The report, all results and the gallery.

On a frustrating day for the six teams battling to reach the semi-finals of the St. Moritz Match Race, perhaps the biggest fight was off the water between the gradient northerly wind and the thermally induced southerly, which left the racecourse peppered with monumental wind shifts, holes and gusts.
Ben Ainslie GBR riding some luck but also considerable skill was the first and only one to advance to the semis yesterday sweeping Bjorn Hansen SWE. Adam Minoprio NZL slipped by Damien Iehl at the last second, coming from way behind for a 1-0 lead had, just like Mathieu Richard FRA holds a 1-0 lead over veteran Bertrand Pacé FRA. They’ll finish the quarters to find out who’ll join Ian Williams GBR the top seed in the semis and Ainslie. The report with the results and a video.

The X-35-Worlds title will be Italian at the end of the last race day today. After 9 races sailed, the Italian teams occupy the positions 1-5 with Franco Solerio ITA in the lead with a 6 pts advantage over Gianluca Vigano ITA. The results.
An Italian success also in view in the European Championship of the X-41: Andrea Tedesco ITA and his team are 4 pts ahead of Pasquale Orofino ITA. The results.

Let’s face it: Leading a world championship on the first day of the finals and getting sacked with a BFD hurts. Just ask Tom Slingsby AUS who experienced that yesterday on the first day of gold fleet racing at the Laser Worlds. Slingsby survived the day with the lead and got a smidgen of relief by the fact that defending champion Paul Goodison GBR and red-hot Michael Bullot NZL committed the same blunder and paid dearly for it. However, Slingsby won’t feel smug, because despite his 13-point cushion on Andrew Maloney NZL, he’s living on the razor’s edge with both discards occupied by fat scores so he can’t afford any mistakes from here on out. It was edgy out there yesterday in moderate breeze and glorious sunshine, but a strong current from leewards produced and an avalanche of 39 BFDs handed out by the RC across all three fleets in both races. One who kept clean was Nick Thompson GBR, who used a 4/2 to move from 7th into 3rd (tied for 2nd) with a tidy score line that includes only one ugly finish at the moment a 25th, which he managed to discard. Slingsby and Maloney will watch for him. In 4th is the intrepid Pavlos Kontides CYP all of a sudden eight points ahead of Goodison, who only managed a 17th in the second race after tangling with a French sailor on the second beat.
After the eight qualifiers finished in the Junior World Championships, Francesco Marrai scored two more bullets to build a 10-point lead over Thorbjoern Schierup DEN and Alex Mills-Barton GBR, who also won both of his group races.
The report, all results and the video summary.

Ed Wright GBR underscored his title ambitions at the Finn Gold Cup on San Francisco Bay winning the day with a third and a first, which was his fourth bullet in 10 races. Before today’s medal race he holds a 13-point margin in the overall standings over Rafael Trujillo ESP, who also did well with 2/5, but can’t seem to quite match Wright’s level of performance and consistency. Don’t discount Giles Scott GBR, either. With a 1/4 score he is lurking in third overall, five points behind the Spaniard and 17 clear of Zach Railey USA, who sailed his discard in race 10. Caleb Paine USA, 28th, is the top junior, only one point clear of Ioannis Mitakis GRE. The gallery and the YouTube channel.

After adding one more qualifying race and the first two races of the finals after the split into gold and silver fleets there's a Greek renaissance to report with new leaders in the men’s division at the 2010 Open 470 European Championships in Istanbul TUR. Racing in strong but shifty breeze and sailing with some panache, Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis GRE took the overall lead from defending champs Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic CRO by a single point. Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela, hold third place just ahead of Panagiotis Kampouridis/Theodoros Polychronidis GRE, who were 2-3 in the first two races of the finals. The Silver fleet is led by Joonas and Niklas Lindgren FIN.
Tough day for the ladies who were out on the water for three long and grueling races with, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol ITA holding a 10-point lead over Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer DEN who moved up to 2nd overall with a solid day and Emmanuelle Rol/Helen Defrance FRA. With racing now back on schedule two races will be scheduled for everyone today. The championships conclude with the medal race on Sunday. The report, the results, the gallery and the race tracker.

Light winds prevailed yesterday for the first time after a rather windy initial phase of the RS:X Worlds 2010 off Kerteminde DEN, and the program had to be reduced to one heat per fleet. The leaders in both the men's and women's fleets to book high two-digit results. Despite of sailing the discards, the top three women Alessandra Sensini ITA, Lee-el Korzits ISR and Blanca Manchon ESP defended their places, but the persuers Zofia Klepacka POL, Bryony Shaw GBR and Charline Picon FRA did come very close.
The men's Thursday leader Dorian van Rijsselberge NED arrived on position 38 only and dropped on rank 8 overall. The new leader is Piotr Myszka POL one point ahead of Przemyslav Miarczynski POL and four points on Nimrod Mashiah ISR, followed by Tom Ashley NZL, Julien Bontemps FRA and the day best Toni Wilhelm GER. The results, the videos and the event-website.

Ian Williams GBR (9-2), Ben Ainslie GBR (8-3) and Mathieu Richard FRA (7-4) emerged on top of the leader board after Round robin sailing concluded at the St. Moritz Match Race in solid Maloja wind. It was a dogfight for the remaining four spots in the quarters, with Bertrand Pace FRA (7-4), Björn Hansen SWE, Damien Iehl FRA and Adam Minoprio NZL (all on 6-5 record) making it through. While Minoprio squeaked in on countback, the curtain fell on Francesco Bruni ITA, Torvar Mirsky AUS, Eric Monnin SUI, Johnie Berntsson SWE and Jérôme Clerc SUI. Williams has a bye in the quarters today while the others will determine who will join him in the semis. The report, the gallery and the video feed.

Scoring a 1/5 yesterday on the last day of qualifying, Tom Slingsby AUS leads all comers before the decisive final phase at the Laser Worlds in Hayling Island GBR, where the fleets are now split into gold, silver and bronze. On a sparkling summer day, moderate easterlies from 8-11 kn that were accompanied by decent swell, the downhillers in the 159-boat fleet clearly were in their element. Confessing to “schoolboy errors,” as he called his mistakes, Olympic and defending world champion Paul Goodison GBR finally bagged a double-digit score in Race 7. Yet he sits in second, 14 points adrift of Slingsby and two ahead of the two top Kiwis (there are two more in the top eight), Michael Bullot NZL and Andrew Maloney NZL. In 5th the man of the day, Pavlos Kontides CYP, who makes his home in nearby Southampton GBR as a student, rolled two firsts yesterday.
After a layday, the Junior World Championships resumes qualifying with two more races before their four-race finals commence Saturday. In the lead here is Francesco Marrai ITA. The report, all results and the video channel.

Three more qualification races were sailed off Istanbul yesterday in a fresh breeze of up to 20 kn .With the discard result coming into effect, there were major changes on top of the rankings. In the 470 women, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Michol ITA took the lead with two bullets. Emmanuelle Rol/Hélène Defrance FRA follow on rank 2, Petitjean/Douroux FRA are 3rd.
Masterfully the new leaders in the 470 men: With an OCS and 3 bullets, Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell GBR are now on top ahead of Fantela/Marencic CRO and Kliger/Sela ISR.
The event-website and the report.

After another two windy races, the top five at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco maintain their relative positions, but leader Ed Wright GBR who scored 2/5 and Rafa Trujillo ESP who does not go quietly and scored 1/2, increased their points cushion over the rest of the fleet in the [url=wxw.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=342 overall standings[/url]. Giles Scott GBR hangs onto third place after placing 3/6, with Thomas Le Breton FRA and Zach Railey USA not far off. Perhaps the most exciting race was Race 8 with a nasty chop and 22 knots of breeze blasting down Berkeley Circle. It ended in a photo finish when Daniel Birgmark SWE pipped defending champion Jonas Høgh Christensen in the post for the win. Looking beyond Wright’s and Scott’s podium aspirations it should be noted that there are two more Brits in the Top 10, with Andrew Mills in 8th and Mark Andrews in 9th.

Two Brits and two French are lodged in the top five after two days of sailing at the St. Mortitz Match Race SUI. Damien Iehl FRA was the aggressor yesterday, racking up five successive victories. His victims included Wednesday’s leader Adam Minoprio NZL and AC skipper Francdesco Bruni ITA. As the Maloja wind rushed in, Iehl exhibited some deft moves, leading Minoprio around mark one by three lengths and eventually extending his lead all the way to the finish. Next on his list was Torvar Mirsky AUS who gained the initial advantage, but Iehl played the shifts well, building an insurmountable lead at the first mark. Meanwhile, Ian Williams GBR (7-1) showed little concern after sweeping his races of the day to defend the overall lead, one point ahead of Ben Ainslie GBR (6-2) and Mathieu Richard FRA (6-2). These three already are qualified for the quarterfinals. The next six led by Minoprio (5-3) and Iehl (5-4) are in the hunt for the remaining four places. The report with all results, the gallery and the videos.

Sun and a moderate seabreeze yesterday at the Tuscany Coast for the races nbr 4-6. The Italian teams - mostly with local professionals like Vasco Vascotto or Flavio Favini calling tactics - could extend their leading positions with five of them on top of the rankings. Franco Solerio ITA leads 2 pts ahead of Enrico Mattia ITA. The X-35-results.
In the X-41 Europeans, sailed back-to-back, Andrea Tedesco ITA remains on top. The rankings.

When there’s wind it’s Slingsby time. The easterlies got into the low to mid-teens, which made for more physical sailing yesterday at the Laser Worlds in Hayling Island GBR. In these conditions Tom Slingsby AUS moved to the top of the overall standings in the senior division, with a score line that shows three bullets in six starts. Sailing extremely smooth and fluid downwind portions, Slingsby served notice that he intends to add world title No. 3 to his trophy case. But then there’s also Paul Goodison GBR, the reigning Olympic and World Champion, who will have a say in this matter. Goody might be in 3rd overall, but is tied on points with Josh Junior NZL who holds 2nd at the moment as one of four Kiwis in the top eight. Unlike most others, Goodison has yet to sail a stinker, although he had to work hard to avoid his first double-digit score yesterday after getting buried deep in the second race. He put on a clinic to salvage a 7th, keeping his title defense on target with all Top-10 finishes.
In the Junior World Championships Francesco Marrai ITA regained his overall lead after a 5th and a 3rd, two points ahead of Thorbjoern Scheirup DEN and five clear of Keerati Bualong THA. The report and the video summary.

Discard time at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco where another two races were added in glorious sunshine, starting in mellow breeze that grew more robust during the afternoon. Continuing where he left off on Tuesday, Ed Wright GBR scored another bullet and later added a 3rd place to assume the top spot of the standings with a cozy 13-point cushion. In 2nd Rafa Trujillo ESP, who rebounded from a sub-par Day 2 just ahead of the next Brit Giles Scott. Wright and Trujillo now account for five bullets in those six races. Thomas Le Breton FRA and Zach Railey USA, who held 1st and 2nd Tuesday, slipped off the podium despite consistent sailing but without bullets yet. However, they are close, at least to silver and bronze, or to pounce on the moment when Ed Wright decides to become a mere mortal again. The official report and the Finn YouTube channel with some iPhone videos from yesterday’s races.

It was a crazy, confusing day at the 2010 Open 470 European Championships in Istanbul, yet somehow Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela ISR emerged from their side of the men’s qualifying with two 1st places. The Israeli team made sense of the light, patchy and shifty conditions that left most of the 92 teams quite bewildered. The only team that came close to matching the Israelis’ consistency were the defending European Champions Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic CRO, who scored two 2nd places on the other side of the qualifying split. In 3rd Yurii Zhuralov/Pavlo Matsuyev UKR.
On the women’s side Emmanuelle Rol/Helene Defrance FRA scored 1/3 for the early lead, followed by Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron FRA in 2nd and Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer DEN in 3rd. The report and the complete results, the gallery, plus the tracking page.

The opening day of racing at the St. Moritz Match Race dawned bright but cold, with very little wind but intense sailing. After five flights the lead belongs to Adam Minoprio NZL with a 4-1score tied with Ian Williams GBR and Björn Hansen SWE. In fourth is Ben Ainslie GBR at 3-2, the same score as Mathieu Richard FRA. The last race, between Richard and Williams, was also the closest. With 15 seconds to go the French skipper looked much too early, yet he found enough wriggle room to make a perfect start, much to the surprise of the spectator crowds. He led throughout the race by the tightest of margins - at the finish just one meter separated the two boats. The report, the results and the gallery

No sailing at the RS:X World Championships in Kerteminde on layday, but behind the scenes the talk was about securing the future of the class in prepatration for the annual meeting. the talk was about finding a qualified organizer for the 2012 Worlds and the new Danish system to bring the racing to the masses, called ‘Sailstream – You Are the Producer’. It combines the TracTrac tracking system with several channels of video, including one with commentary on the racing streamed live from the water via wireless broadband network.
Of greater concern is the ISAF Olympic Commission and the requirements to keep sailing Olympic, byond keeping the RS:X as the s]windsurfing equipment. This includes a professionally managed class Web site and social media. Another objective is increasing more female competitors to a share of at least 40 percent or even half of the total RS:X fleet and getting boards to ISAF Member National Authorities in as many countries as possible to spread the class globally. Read on.
Racing in the gold and silver fleets is due to get underway today at 1100 local (0900 GMT). 8-10 knots from the ENE is forecast. Dorian Van Rjisselberge NED and Maja Dziarnowska POL are the current overall leaders. The standings and the event site.

The X-35 Worlds began yesterday with 3 races off Scarlino ITA with the Italians dominating the fleet with 4 teams on top, but the points' gaps are still very small. Gianluca Vigano ITA leads in the results (PDF).
In the X-41 Europeans, sailed at the same time, M.Tedesco ITA is clearly ahead followed by the former Finn European Champion Paolo Semararo ITA. The report.

Two more difficult qualifying heats were sailed yesterday at the Laser World Championships in postcard weather and shifty light southeasterlies off Hayling Island, England. The objective was avoiding a fat score early on that almost certainly will come back to haunt the sailors later in the event. But in the fickle and shifty breeze this was a delicate, if not impossible undertaking. When the points were tallied and the discard was taken out, Luka Radelic CRO had claimed the lead in the senior division, ahead of Josh Junior NZL and first-day leader Michael Bullot NZL. Paul Goodison GBR might have slipped to 4th, but his scores (3-1-9-4) are even, just like those of Aron Lollic CRO who might only sit in 10th for the moment, but like Goodison will benefit down the road, provided he remains consistent. The surprise of the day was Malaysia’s Nik Azizan Ashraf Qaedi (129), who stands in 103rd overall with a picturesque score line of 36-46-46-1.
In the junior division, Magus Kaeldso DEN had a magnificent day with 1/2 to leapfrog to the top of the standings, replacing Monday’s leader Francesco Marrai ITA. In third the next Dane with Thorbjoern Schierup DEN. The report and the day’s video.

Two physically demanding races were sailed yesterday In a fresh up to 22 kn breeze. The man of the day with two bullets, Ed Wright GBR, advanced on the 3rd place of the cumulative rankings, only two points behind the leaders Thomas Le Breton FRA and Zach Railey USA with the same number of points. Giles Scott GBR and Gasper Vincec SLO follow closely behind. This evening, the discard result come into effect, definitely changing the positions. The report of the day, the videos and the event-website.

With six races now sailed and the discard coming into play, Dorian van Rijsselberge NED launched himself into the lead, with the final two qualification series races held off Kerteminde DEN. Van Rijsselberge dropped his black flag disqualification from race 1 and with an impressive three firsts is now five points ahead of Piotr Myszka POL and Beijing Gold medalist Tom Ashley NZL.
Two more races also in the women’s division with Maja Dziarnowska POL taking the lead after the Chinese faded a little. In 2nd, one point behind, Charline Picon FRA followed by Sun Sasa CHN and Li Ling CHN. A renaissance of sorts for four-time Olympic windsurfing medalist Alessandra Sensini ITA in 5th and elder stateswoman Jessica Crisp AUS, who posted a 3-2 for 7th overall. With the qualification series complete, tomorrow is a lay day before racing resumes on Thursday and Friday with the fleet divided into gold and silver fleets prior to the top 10 show down in Saturday’s medal races.
All results, the video and the tracking page.

The 92 teams were condemned to enjoy a hot summer day ashore on the first day of the 470 Europeans in Istanbul TUR, as the breeze took a siesta yesterday. It also was a chance to talk about the changes the class proposes to retain the Olympic status, including laminate sails, a two-piece mast for easier transport, and new foils. The balancing act will be to make changes that improve the class without rendering thousands of legacy boats obsolete. “We may conclude that we have a really good boat in the existing 470, and that nothing needs to change,” said class president Stanislav Kassarov, “but it is important we at least try these new ideas so that we know for sure.” Get the details in the official report.

After a light dusting of snow on the hills above the lake overnight, St. Moritz sparkled in the morning sun. However, the unseasonably cold weather meant the trademark Maloja wind was AWOL, leaving the 12 teams to contend with an erratic and chilling northerly breeze during their first practice with the blu26 boats. The entry list is lead by the 2009 winner Adam Minoprio NZL and the current Tour leader Matthieu Richard FRA. Start to the Round Robin is today at 11 a.m. CEST. According to the forecast, the wind might change to the 'normal' Maloja. The preview and the Web site.

A big X-Yachts happening is starting today at Scarlino / Tuscany coast in Italy. The X-35 sail their Worlds Championship with 36 teams from 9 nations and the X-41 with 15 teams/6 nations race for the European title. Moreover, all other X-Yachts are invited to this Goldcup event. See the entry list. A preview.

The strong tidal current and light and shifty breeze proved the challenges on the first day - a sunny one at that- of the 2010 Laser World Championships off Hayling Island GBR. The shifting wind, oscillating through as much as 30 degrees at times in the first race set the early test, but a big 50-degree swing early in of the second contest forced the delay of the second and third starts until the breeze settled. Michael Bullot NZL (3), runner up at last year’s World Championships posting a second and a first to grab the early lead in the senior division, one point over Paul Goodison GBR (4), the defending champ, who opened his regatta with third place and then won his second heat by a comfortable distance. Somewhat surprising third place which is currently held by Karl-Martin Rammo EST (4). Tom Slingsby AUS (9), fresh from winning the Etchells Worlds with John Bertrand in Ireland, jumped right in and won his first group race and took eighth in the second to stand in seventh overall. In the juniors, the top three are Francesco Marrai ITA (5), Lukas Feuerherdt GER (6) and Thorbjoern Schierup DEN (6). The full report and the video of the day.

A fleet of 87 Finn sailors tackled raunchy San Francisco Bay in the customary 20 –25 knots of westerly breeze for the first two races of the 2010 Gold Cup. The day belonged to Rafa Trujillo ESP who came away with a 2-1, which gives him a seven-point lead overZach Railey USA who had two fifths. In third is Giles Scott GBR tied on points with defending champion Jonas Høgh-Christensen DEN. The overall results, the event site with GPS tracking and the day’s video.

Perfect conditions on Day 2 brought a 20 kn breeze for the Olympic RS:X windsurfers who sail their 2010 World Championship in Kerteminde DEN. The men had 2 heats, while the women sailed three to make up for lost time on Sunday.
The Chinese women hadn't shown flag a lot at this year's World Cup events, but here they do. Li Ling CHN and Sun Sasa CHN have established themselves at the top of the standings as if they mean business . Lee Korzits ISR and surf-legend Alessandra Sensini ITA follow inthird and fourth. Some of the top sailors of the aging 2010 season are further back: Charline Picon FRA, tis only 11th, Marina Alabau ESP 13th, Bryony Shaw GBR 14th and Blanca Manchon ESP 15th.
The Olympic Champion Tom Ashley NZL continues to lead the men's fleet from the day's winner and fellow Kiwi Jon-Paul Tobin NZL, who's tied with Byron Kokalanis GRE and Przemyslaw Miarczyinski POL. The results and the report. All races can be viewed with GPS-tracking. During the day, some videos might become available on Youtube.

No wind, no racing and no changes in the overall standings of the Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai CHN. After only 6 races (including the semifinals) Jerome Le Gal/Enrick Obert FRA were crowned the 2010 Hobie 16 Open World Champions. In the one-throwout series they only had one bad result, a DSQ in the last race, that was otherwise contrasted by an impressive score of 1, 2, 1,4. In second former world champion Gavin Colby/Sasha Marks AUS followed by Darren Smith/Jasmine Hill AUS and William and Lucinda Edwards RSA. Aaron Worrall/Brad Wilson AUS round out the top five. Six Oz teams in the top eight underscored the dominance of Australians in this class, who won the Women’s Youth, Masters and Grand Masters titles as well. The final report and the gallery.

Today the starting gun sounds for the first qualifying races of the 470 European Championship 2010. The entry lists shows a relatively small fleets of 56 men and 35 women. Favorites are the French teams with Pierre Leboucher/Vincent Garros FRA, in the men's fleet, and Ingrid Petitjean/Nadège Douroux FRA and Emmanuelle Rol/Hélène Defrance FRA, women, but the Brits will have a say in this as well. A preview.

The third act of the 2010 Alpine Cup wit 20 Platu-25s from 5 nations on Lake of Lucerne over the past weekend was not blessed by good sailing conditions. Rain on Saturday killed the breeze keepting the boats in the harbour and on Sunday, a very shifty and irregular 2 bft wind made racing very difficult. However, 3 heats were sailed with Thomas Laherstorfer AUT winning ahead of the tied Günther Prummer AUT and Markus Siegrist SUI. Felix Dorn GER is on the 4th place. The rankings (PDF) and the report (PDF).

It will be a glut of nonstop ocean racing this fall and winter with the Barcelona World Race and perhaps the most exciting singlehander event, the Route du Rhum from St. Malo FRA to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, where many of the top IMOCA skippers will meet. On top of all that there' the multi-stage Velux 5 Oceans that is recycling some of the vintage 60-footers in the Eco Class.
Nine boats are set to compete in the Rhum (starting on Oct. 31) and at least ten for the Barcelona (starting Dec. 31). At the present time, some skippers are finishing their projects in order to make it to the start, while others are adding the final touches to their brand new prototypes.
Four major projects are under way at the moment. The most advanced of these belongs to Vincent Riou (PRB), whose new boat has been on the water since the spring, and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac – Paprec 3), who recently moored up in Lorient at the end of a long delivery trip from New Zealand via the Panama canal. Meanwhile, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is completing a race against the clock so as to make the start of the Route du Rhum, before gearing up for the Barcelona World Race. See who is doing what.

A shallow, slow moving depression crossing western Scandinavia, made for a challenging opening day at the RS:X World Championships in Kerteminde, Denmark. Two races have now been completed for each of the 60 strong men’s fleets, but none for the women’s. Even though the afternoon race in the yellow group, sailed in very light wind, saw a major right-shift that shuffled the fleet, the top sailors are found near the top of the leader board. After two group races the lead belongs to Piotr Myszka POL, followed by Shaha Zubari ISR and Tom Ashley NZL. Byron Kokalanis GRE is n fourth followed by three other Polish sailors. More breeze is forecast for today. The event website and the gallery.

The French Volvo Open 70, ‘Groupama’, skippered by Jules Verne record holder Franck Cammas crossed the finish line at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes GBR to claim line honors in the 2010 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. ‘Groupama’ completed the 1802-mile course in 5 Days 21 Hours 26 minutes and 55 seconds, smashing Dee Caffari's 2009 course record by 14 hours 3 minutes and 8 seconds. It was a triumphant finale for ‘Groupama’ in sharp contrast to the start, when they were the last boat to cross the line, after they had been damaged on their mooring. Second place, 5 h 11 min after ‘Groupama’s’ finish and also inside the old record, for ‘Teléfonica Azul’ ESP, skippered by 49er world champion Iker Martinez. They started the race like a bat out of hell, screaming down the Solent at over 25 knots, but a rigging problem meant that they were overtaken by ‘Groupama’ and they never managed to catch them. Next boat expected to finish is the IMOCA 60 ‘Artemis Ocean Racing’. The report, the tracking page and the rankings.

It blew like stink yesterday, so they had to cancel the practice race at the Laser World Championship in Hayling Island GBR. Sailors like Olympic Gold medalist Paul Goodison GBR and top-ranked US Laser sailor Clay Johnson USA reported being on or beyond the limit, fighting a 30-knot breeze and 12-foot seas. The forecast for today's races predicts lots of wind, decreasing later on. Check the updates on the event site.

The most important boat show in central and eastern Europe, the Interboot at Friederichshafen GER / Lake Constance will be open from September 18 - 26. 500 exhibitors demonstrate the newest developments of watersports in the halls and on the water. The focus of the 49th edition is a special exhibition concerning alternative and effective propulsion technologies. Highlight of the 'Green Power Days' will be Tuesday when products of this area will be demonstrated on Lake Constance as from 17 hrs. The INTERBOOT-website.

Repeating last year’s overall win in Cartagena ESP, Emirates Team New Zealand NZL hoisted the trophy for the second year in a row after a very consistent performance in all kinds of conditions, except for a DSQ in the penultimate race after they tangled with Quantum Racing USA it didn’t matter because the Kiwis came back to win the finals race in a moderate 13-knot easterly breeze to put an exclamation mark at the end of the week. In second ‘Matador’ ARG thanks to three bullets scattered throughout the regatta but also thanks to ‘TeamOrigin’s’ GBR bad luck with a broken forestay in the distance race and a botched start in the final race that forced them to restart and dropped them way back. Even so Ben Ainslie and company finished in the money only 1.5 points behind the reigning TP 52 world champions and seven ahead of Terry Hutchinson’s ‘Quantum Racing’ which had three top-three finishes but no wins. The report with the results and the videos.

Struggling with marginal conditions but successfully so, Phil Robertson NZL and his crew of Garth Ellingham, Sam Bell and James Williamson, won the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup and win an automatic entry into the Argo Gold Cup, one of the stops on the World Match Racing Tour. Taylor Canfield ISV with crew Matt Clark, Tod Reynolds and Dave Shriner, although only sixth at the Knickerbocker, won the first-ever East Coast Trifecta, that also included the CMRC Chicago Cup, and the International Match Race for the Detroit Cup. Canfield’s reward is a berth at the 2011 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, Calif., the only US Grade 1 Open match race. The details.

On the penultimate day of the Hobie 16 World Championships, the finals got under way with one race only and most of the top teams in double-digit scores. Including the results of the semifinals and one discard, the lead remains in the hands of Jerome Le Gal/Enrick Obert FRA (8 pts.) who seem to be able to hold off the Austrailain armada. In second now Gavin Colby/Sasha Marks AUS (15) closely followed by Darren Smith/Jasmine Hill AUS (17) and William and Lucinda Edwards RSA (19). Aaron Worrall/Brad Wilson AUS (21) round out the top five. There are six Aussies in the top eight while the best US team remains Mike Montague/Kathy Ward (79) in 38th. The overall standings and the gallery.

‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ (Yann Guichard) FRA (167 pts) won the third event of the Xtreme Sailing Series in Kiel with a race to spare after scoring four first places and two fourth places in the six fleet races. A distant second for Mike Golding’s ‘Ecover Sailing Team’ GBR (142) followed by Paul Campbell-James on ‘The Wave Muscat UAE (128). Conditions were similar to Saturday with squalls and big gusts alternating with sunshine and decreasing wind. A port/starboard crash between ‘Red Bull Extreme Sailing’ AUT and ‘The Wave, Muscat’ UAE at the first windward mark of the third race was loud enough to spook the champagne crowd in the VIP tent. Roman Hagara’s ‘Red Bull’ was awarded a 4-point redress for sitting out the next race to get their bow patched up on the water.
After three events in the series ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ (22) leads ‘The Wave, Muscat’ (20) and ‘Ecover Sailing Team’ (19). Next stop is Trapani, Sicily Sept. 24 - 26. The report with the results and the gallery.

Canadians Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke sailing ‘Canaan’, the defenders of the International C-Class Catamaran Trophy keep the trophy. In the forecast light air on Narragansett Bay they defeated the formidable challengers Glenn Ashby/James Spithill on ‘Alpha’ twice in convincing fashion yesterday to retain the title. The delta in the first race was a whopping five minutes in favor of the Canadian defenders, while in the second race they had to come back from 46 seconds down at the first mark to pass their rivals with superior downwind speed and stretch out to 48 seconds at the second windward rounding before taking the gun and a 3-1 lead. After that racing was called. The consolation round was won by ‘Invictus’ GBR with ‘Patient Lady VI’ FRA second and Orion third. The report.

Sailing legend John Bertrand AUS with his crew Andrew Palfry and Laser World champion Tom Slingsby wrapped up the 2010 Etchells World Championship title at Howth IRL yesterday with their fifth bullet in eight races and without sailing the last heat. Nearest rival Ante Razmilovic GBR sailing with Mike Wolfs and Chris Larson, suffered gear problems before the start of the eighth race, which forced them ashore for repairs. Fortunately, there was a general recall, so they hustled back in time for the re-start, but finished 19th in a fresh 20-knot northerly. It was Razmilovic’s second double-digit result, which sunk his title chances in this nine-race, one-discard series. Meanwhile Bertrand got his fifth bullet in eight races, which put him out of reach in the standings, so he retired, knowing that he won a coveted one-design class world championship to add to his Olympic bronze medal of 1976 and his America’s Cup triumph over Dennis Conner in 1983. Razmilovic added a fifth in the final race to end up with 35 points and second overall, ahead of Damien King AUS (48). The final report and the gallery.

Today is the World Championship Practice Race of the Olympic Laser Standard class on Hayling Island, where back-to-back the first Laser Standard Youth World Championship will be sailed. The wind forecasts predict rather light winds, which means that the group of favorites for the medels will be extended. 160 Standards from 57 nations and 137 Standard Juniors (up to 20 years) are on the entry lists. The largest delegations come from England (with top favorite Paul Goodison GBR), the Olympic Champion, and Germany. The previewu and the event-website.

The 2010 Finn World Championship begins today with the Practice Race on the Frisco Bay. The course will be laid out off Berkeley, in face of the Golden Gate Bridge, where the current is less than in the mouth of the Bay, but often changing direction. But a 20-30 kn can be expected everywhere in the Bay, due to the big temperature difference between the cold Pacific and the deserts on the mainland, causing a heavy seabreeze daily. 94 sailors from 32 nations participate, among them the favorites Ed Wright GBR, Ivan Klijakovic-Gaspic CRO, Gasper Vincec SLO, the big-breeze experts Pieter-Jan Postma NED and Jonas Hoegh-Christensen DEN as well as the lately improved Jonathan Lobert FRA and Thomas Le Breton FRA. The event-website.

Today the RS:X World championships start in Kerteminde on the Danish Island of Fyn with 119 men from 42 countries and 76 women from 28 nations. With only a handful of elite sailors dominating the class, wind conditions will be a decisive factor in the outcome. The forecast talks about two windy days initially but rather mellow condiitons later on, which could favor Shahar Zubari ISR. The woman to beat here will be Blanca Manchon ESP, who had a very good year with consistent top results. Watch the action via GPS tracking. The event site.

Back-to-back bullets in the inshore and the coastal race (150% points) pushed Emirates Team New Zealand (20.5 pts.) into the overall lead at the Caja Mediterráneo Region of Murcia Trophy regatta for the TP52 MedCup Series. In blustery winds which topped 22 knots at times the MedCup 2009 champions lead ‘Quantum Racing’ USA (39.5) across the finish line of the short race, and were comfortably ahead of ‘Artemis’ SWE (36) in the coastal race. ‘TeamOrigin’ GBR (29.5) dropped to second overall after a third inshore and limping home in 11th under main only after breaking their forestay in the coastal race. The report Web site with the results and the video of the day.

Croatia was the final winner against France on Lake Ledro, a small lake above Lake Garda, yesterday, winning the Optimist European Team Racing Championship. Winner in the petite final was Italy defeating Turkey for rank 3. The results and the report. Unfortunately, the teams were not presented on the website.

Speed, spills and thrills! Check out the videos by Simon Brown with commentary by Bob Killick from the 18-foot Skiff International Regatta at San Francisco. Some of that stuff is absolutely amazing, especially the aerials of Day 4 with the Bridge-to-Bridge “Fiasko”…

At the time of this report, the Volvo Open 70, ‘Groupama’ FRA (Franck Cammas) was just 123 miles from the finish in Cowes GBR, sailing along at 13 knots on an easterly course. Their pursuers on ‘Teléfonica Blue’ ESP (Iker Martinez) were trailing by 60 miles and gybed south. Both are expected to finish in Cowes by Sunday afternoon BST, in all likelihood setting a new record. The IRC lead changed hands a couple of times with the Ker 46, ‘Tonnerre de Breskens’ NED back on top by corrected time as they are trying to hang on to the coat-tails of the British Keelboat Academy’s TP52, ‘John Merricks II’. The young Brits, by the way, are all unpaid amateurs and drastically short on money, which put their participation in jeopardy. At least they won’t have to go hungry, as they received a full load of freeze-dried food from the crew retired super maxi ‘ICAP Leopard’. The report, the race tracker and the positions.

The breeze returned with a vengeance on the final day of racing at the Hobie 16 World championship semifinals, light at first but getting to the high teens later in the day. It was enough for all competitors to complete four races and the selection of the top 56 teams to amake the cut for the finals. Jerome le Gal/Enrick Obert FRA tied Aaron Worrall/Brad Wilson AUS at the top of the standings. In third Darren Smith/Jasmine Hill AUS followed by William and Lucinda Edwards RSA. Looking at the standings, the dominance of Australian and French sailors with six and three teams in the top 10, respectively, becomes evident. The top 56 teams now move on to the finals, which are sailed today and Monday. Only one discard is allowed, so in all likelihood the champion will come from the small and selective crowd of sailors who have yet to get hit with a double-digit score. The report.

Despite torrential downpour at first which was followed by bright sunshine, it was a good day for Yann Guichard and his men on ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ FRA (111 pts) ending with a win in their match race against Loick Peyron and ‘Oman Sail Masirah’ UAE (95). Optimistic estimates talk about 30,000 spectators watching the nine Xtreme 40 cats (and two German teams among them) duke it out close to shore in Kiel. Dropping to third place was Mike Golding’s ‘Ecover Sailing Team’ GBR (93). Winner of the day was Mitch Booth on ‘the Ocean Racing Club ‘ SLO climbing to fourth overall, in part to redress received after a collision with ‘The Wave, Muscat’ and damage sustained on the aft beam, which forced them to retire. After a long night in the boat shed for the support team, Booth and company are expected to race today, however. The report with results and images.

Yesterday the match racing portion of the International C-Class Catamaran Championship began between defender ‘Canaan’ CAN (Fred Eaton/Magnus Clarke) and challenger ‘Alpha’ AUS (Glenn Ashby/James Spithill). However, spotty winds forced a couple of race attempts to get abandoned before the start was moved north of the toll bridge into steady 12-knot wind. ‘Canaan’ stalled in the dial-up for the first race, essentially forfeiting it to the clever and highly decorated Aussies. Ashby is multiple world champion in various catamaran classes while Spithill helmed the BMWOracle trimaran to America’s Cup victory. The Canadians fared much better at the second start, keeping it close at the first mark before turning on the turbo and telling the Aussies ‘hasta la vista’ downwind to tie the score at 1-1. The consolation series resembled Haydn’s farewell symphony as ‘Orion’ CAN dropped out before the start and ‘Patient Lady VI’ FRA lost her mast after finishing behind the only other boat that remains intact, ‘Invictus’ GBR. No word what they’ll do today, but expect an exciting match for the championship. Forecast calls for 5-knot winds from the northwest, becoming west 10 knots later in the day. The report and a gallery.

John Bertrand AUS retained his grip on the World Etchells Championship at Howth IRL after coming back from deep in the day’s only race to score a 4th while his rival Ante Razmilovic GBR had a 2nd to cut the Australian’s lead in the overall standings down to 5 pts. Race 8 had to be abandoned for lack of breeze and too much current and again Bertrand got lucky, because he was near the bottom of the fleet when the RC halted proceedings while Razmilovic was in the lead. After 7 races Bertrand leads Razmilovic by 5 pts. New in 3rd is Jake Gunther AUS who had a 6th-place finish. Today there will be 2 races and Bertrand will have his hands full to keep Razmilovic at bay if the breeze stays light. The report and the gallery.

After the forced laydays at the beginning of the Dart 18 World Championship due to unfavourable wind conditions, the 124 could successfully sail three more races yesterday, making it to a total of nine heats to crown the Champion. Until the last moment, Phipps/Glover GBR and Dode/Moreau FRA were in a close race that ended finally with the victory of the young English Tornado-team Tom Phipps/Richard Glover GBR in their first important Dart regatta. The French, defending champions, had to content themselves with the Silver medal, Bronze went to Norman/Rogers GBR. The final report and the results.

Thanks to the win of the last race, Frank Weigelt/Christian Rusitschka GER seized the Tempest World's title yesterday ahead of the tied defending champions Philippe Boite/Régis Viateur FRA, Bronze went to Bertold Baehr/Andreas Greif GER. The final rankings and the report.

Three races were sailed yesterday in light to moderate summer breezes at the Caja Mediterráneo Region of Murcia Trophy in Cartagena ESP, the fourth stop of the 2010 TP 52 MedCup circuit. After a small mistake in the dying seconds of the first race of the day when they finished third, ‘TeamOrigin 1851’ GBR added another bullet in Race 5 and now lead Emirates Team New Zealand by eight points after the Kiwis’ 5-4-3 day. Slipping to third was ‘Matador’ ARG. Details, images, videos and results on the event site. The schedule for the TP52's changed to offer one windward-leeward race today, followed by a 20 miles coastal race.

Iker Martinez's ‘Teléfonica Blue’ was in hot pursuit of Franck Cammas' ‘Groupama’ at times surfing down the west of Ireland at up to 20 knots of boat speed. ‘Groupama’ however still had an 18-mile lead in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race as they were bracing for more big breeze. With just over 500 miles to go, the winner of this duel is highly likely to break the race record. In IRC, the British Keelboat Academy's TP52, ‘John Merricks II’ was averaging over 15 knots as they built a three-mile lead over ‘Tonnerre de Breskens’ NED a Ker 46 that holds the overall lead under IRC. Yesterday’s afternoon report, the race viewer and the standings.

It's halftime at the Extreme Sailing Series Kiel GER and Mike Golding’s ‘Ecover Sailing Team’ GBR (67 pts.) defended the lead with two bullets, a 4th and a 5th in the fleet racing plus a win in the match racing. With only eight points separating the top three boats, Yann Guichard on ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ FRA (63) moved into second, ahead of Loick Peyron’s ‘Oman Sail Masirah’ (59). Double Olympic Gold medalist Roman Hagara on ‘Red Bull Extreme Sailing’ AUT (46) holds fifth, but had precious cargo with German super model Miriam Holler riding shotgun in the 5th man guest spot. The racing continues around 2:30 CEST today. Get all the details.

The 8-Metre World Cup 2010 is in the books with ‘Aluette’ SUI a runaway winner overall in the Modern division. Iris Metten’s crew carded all top-three finishes and sat out the last race. In second, as it has been all week long, ‘Lafayette’ with Murdoch McKillop nearly equally as impressive, but only nearly. The final podium spot went to ‘Sarissa’ SUI with Ralph Reimann. The top three were in a league by themselves, winning all eight races between them. In fourth ‘Mystery’ USA with Ron Palm the top US boat tied with ‘Yquem’ SUI. In sixth the best classic and winner of the Sira division ‘Raven’ CAN superbly sailed by Richard Self & Mark Decelles. The final results and the event Web site.

It was all Canada yesterday with ‘Canaan’ sailed by Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke winning all three races with ‘Alpha’ AUS Glenn Ashby/James Spithill in second each time. These two teams will determine the winner of the C-Class Championship in a best-of-nine match racing series that starts today. While the Aussies pointed higher upwind, the Canadiens displayed better tactics and superior downwind performance. ‘Invictus’ GBR finished third with ‘Orion’ CAN in fourth. Patient Lady “ FRA did not make it to the starting line with rig failure. Missing from the day’s racing was ‘Atheon’ USA, which capsized yesterday in spectacular fashion and destroyed its wing mast. Read Clark’s statement explaining the incident. The official report with the results.

Light winds dominated the racing today and for the first time this week the rain held off and sun came out. ‘Ecover Sailing Team’ GBR finds itself in the lead after finishing second on their home turf in Cowes, UK during Stage two. After a sixth on race one, the Brits got two bullets, a second and a third putting them first overall. In second Oman Sailing Masirah’ UAE followed by ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ FRA. The forecast for the rest of the event sees conditions building with up to 10 knots expected on Friday and a little bit of everything from sunshine to showers, and the breeze building to plus 20 knots on the weekend. The tour site with all the details.

John Bertrand AUS continues to dominate the 41-boat fleet at the Etchells World Championships at Howth IRL. Yesterday, on Day 4 of the regatta, he posted a 9-1 score and now has a seven-point lead over his main rival, Ante Razmilovic GBR, who finished 4-5. Nils Razmilovic SIN now is third overall. Three more races are scheduled with only one discard allowed for the 9-race series, so consistency is key. See John Bertrand. Report, results and gallery.

A very close fight for the Tempest Worlds title in the last races today, as Weigelt/Rusitschka GER, loosing their advantage yesterday with a premature start, are only one point ahead of Boite/Toupet FRA. The results and the report of the day.

Evgeny Neugodnikov RUS (5-0) is the only one with a clean record after the first day of round-robin racing at the Knickerbocker Cup match race. On top of the leader board however is Phil Robertson NZL at 7-1. The US Armada had mixed results: Bill Hardesty (4-1) and Anna Tunnicliffe (5-3) are the only ones in the money right now while Sally Barkow is 4-4 and Dave Perry will need a lot of luck to get out of hock at 3-5. More round robin flights today, before the top eight move on to the quarterfinals. The event site.

For the next 10 days, San Francisco will be the epicenter of the Finn world as the site of the 2010 Gold Cup, the class world championship. After the successful if low-key prelude of the Silver Cup, the Junior World Championship, the intensity level will be up a few notches as 95 of the world’s best Finn sailors descend on the City by the Bay. Look for a strong US contingent led by Olympic silver medalist Zach Railey, freshly minted Junior world champion Luke Lawrence and Brian Boyd. From abroad, watch for Thomas Le Breton and Jonathan Lobert FRA, Rafa Trujillo ESP, the current European champion Ivan Kljakovic-Gaspic CRO, Eduard Skornyakov RUS and, of course, Giles Scott and Ed Wright GBR. Other notables include Matt Coutts NZL, Philippe Kahn USA and reigning Masters world champion Michael Maier CZE. Racing to start Monday, Aug. 30. The event Web site.

The 2010 Laser World Championships in Hayling Island GBR is upon us, officially. The entry list comprises 160 men plus 137 Juniors (age 17-20) who represent 51 countries in the Senior and - for the first time ever - the Junior World Championship. Among the top favorites are World Cup winner Javier Hernandez ESP, Sail for Gold winner Tom Slingsby AUS, Dave Wright and Michael Leigh CAN. Competition starts on Monday, August 30 with the qualifying races, which determine the split into gold, silver and bronze divisions. The final series starts Friday Sept 2 and runs until Sunday Sept 5. A total of 14 races is on the docket. We will report daily. The event site.

Thursday's racing at the Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai China brought in the heavy hitters, with the pre-seeded teams from around the world joining the sailors who made the cut through the Qualifying round. The addition of the seeded teams certainly added to the pressure on the start line with each of the races taking three attempts to get away cleanly.
The overall results show some of the favorites ahead, with Le Gal/Obert FRA and Worrall/Wilson AUS both with a first and a second. They are followed by Owens/Ferris AUS. With only one drop allowed over the entire series, consistency is key as the competition will only get tougher. With three groups of 25 sailors, each team sails two races and then sits one out, so overall results during this phase of the competition are only meaningful after 3,6,9,12 races have been sailed and all sailors have completed the same number of races. Racing continues Friday and Saturday in the semi-finals before there is another cut and the top 56 sailors continue on to the finals on Sunday and Monday. The report.

Today’s sea breeze off Cartagena ESP proved too feeble to allow any racing at the TP 52 MedCup Circuit’s Caja Mediterráneo Region of Murcia Trophy. The long wait in stiflingly hot temperatures proved to be in vain and the race committee sent the fleet back across an almost glassy sea to the harbor in Cartagena at just before 1600 hrs. The best entertainment was a submarine getting swarmed by chase boats as it passed through the racing area. TeamOrigin GBR leads Matador ARG and Team New Zealand NZL. The class Web site.

A light five-knot southeasterly breeze on Lake Ontario on Day 4 of the 8-Metre World Cup allowed the classic boats to race head-to-head with their modern counterparts. ‘Raven’ CAN had another fabulous day with 6-6 to lead the Sirena division of the classic designs while ‘Aluette’ of Iris Metten SUI continues to lead the modern boats, followed by ‘Lafayette’ of Murdoch McKillop GBR and 'Sarissa' of Ralph Reimann SUI, winner of a heat yesterday. See all results and the gallery.

The inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore drew to a close yesterday with a light and shifty 6 to 8-knot breeze for the medal races that included all competitors. Eleven countries won medals in the four events, only Germany had two. As predicted, all of Tuesday’s class leaders walked away with Gold as they held comfortable leads before the medal race, which could not be discarded, but behind them some shuffling was going on. In the Byte CII Boys Ian Barrows ISV secured the title with a 16-point margin over Florian Haufe GER and Just van Aanholt AHO, who clinched Bronze with a win in the medal race. Lara Vadlau AUT won her country’s first Gold at the Youth Olympics with a conservative medal race in the Byte CII Girls. Behind her, Daphne van der Vaart NED won Silver thanks to a second-place finish in the medal race while Constanze Stolz GER nearly gave away Bronze with a 21st-place finish. She lucked out as Celine Carlsen DEN took fifth in the medal race and fell one point short of the podium.
No changes in the Tecno 293 Boy windsurfers, where Rafic Mayan ISR closed the door on his competitors to win Gold, followed by Michael Cheng HKG and Martin Kieran GBR, who went into attack mode and won the medal race, but fell just short of catching Cheng. In the Tecno 293 Girl windsurfers Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA crowned her performance with a fourth place in the medal race that gave her the Gold. Veronica Fanciulli ITA rolled a 1 in the medal race to secure Silver. Audrey Yong SIN took third in the medal race and third overall - the host country’s only sailing medal - bumping Naomi Cohen ISR from the podium at the last second. The final report.

John Bertrand AUS still holds clinics about winning sailboat races. This time on the waters off Howth IRL, where he won both of yesterday’s races at the Etchells World Championships to open up an 11-point lead in the overall standings over Ante Razmilovic GBR. With crewmen Andrew Palfry and Tom Slingsby, Bertrand won the first race in light airs and when the wind strength increased, for the second race, their downwind speed in particular was outstanding. Three Australian crews are now in the top five. Top US team is Jud Smith in 7th place overall. The report and the gallery.

After two days' waiting due to no and too much wind, the 124 teams could finally start their first races yesterday on the 2012-Olympic waters off Weymouth. The still rather strong breeze kept the fleet inside the bay. Finishing 1, 2 and OCS, the defending champions Emmanuel Daude/Fred Moreau FRA are bound onto rank 30 for the moment. Three English teams are in the lead with David Lloyd/Joanna Jones GBR on top. The report and the results.

Finally, the nor’easter abated enough to allow the fragile C-Class cats to race on Narragansett Bay. And what a show they put on, at times match racing each other at blistering speeds. But the day was not without casualties as Steve Clark/Oliver Moore USA capsized their new boat ‘Aethon’ in the first, still breezy race, which resulted in the loss of their wing mast. Other casualties included ‘Orion’ CAN and ‘Patient Lady’ FRA, but the French were able to fix their rudder problems and returned to the racecourse for Race 2 and 3. In the overall lead after three races is' ‘Alpha’ AUS (4) with the hotshot crew of Glenn Ashby, an Olympic Silver Medalist and seven-time A-Class world champion and James Spithill, the helmsman of BMWOracle’s wing-sailed trimaran that won the America’s Cup. They eked out a win by a whisker in the first race and led wire to wire in the second, before getting beaten by defending champion ‘Canaan’ CAN (5) with Fred Eaton/Magnus Clarke, who stand in second overall. In third is ‘Invictus’ GBR (10). Get the details.

After the first windy race day with one heat only, three regattas were sailed yesterday with a moderate breeze. The new leaders are Weigelt/Rusitschka GER just ahead of Boite/Viateur FRA. The two dominators of last year's light-wind Worlds on Lake Thoune SUI are again on top under these heavy conditions. The results and the report of the day.

Yesterday’s three races concluded the Open Qualifying at the Hobie 16 World Championships in Weihai, China, with teams sailing in a solid, consistent 14 - 16 knot breeze. The top 45 boats, including Bill Myrter/Jacqueline So USA will move on to the next phase, which starts today. The series was won by Christophe Renaud/Vital Berger FRA, followed by Aldo Cailleux/Titovan Galea FRA. The dominating team of Aaron Worrall/Brad Wilson AUS decided to sit out the last three races, having already punched their ticket to the semis. See the report, the final results and the gallery.

After two races in easterly breezes of 16 knots and less at the TP 52 MedCup event in Cartagena ESP the lead belongs to ‘TeamOrigin’ GBR (4) followed by ‘Matador’ ARG (5) and ‘Emirates Team New Zealand’ NZL (6). ‘Quantum Racing’ USA (14) is in seventh. TeamOrigin's skipper Ben Ainslie cited higher levels of confidence, cohesion and the fact that for the first time of this season his TP 52 team has not changed from the previous event in Barcelona. Other than that they had all the ingredients, good starts, smart tactics, and great boat speed. If sailing would always be that simple… Get the details on the event site.

Toronto delivered perfect late summer sailing conditions for the 15 teams from five countries on the third day of the 8-Metre World Championships. With good size swells and 15 knots of easterly breeze two races were run. After five races ‘Aluette’ (Iris Metten) SUI has the lead in the modern division over ‘Lafayette’ (Murdoch McKillop) GBR. In the classic Sira division the leader is ‘Raven’ (Richard Self/Mark Decelles) CAN. The report, the overall results (PDF) and the gallery.

Four races were sailed in the Bay of Constance despite the very light winds during the past weekend. Robbi Montau GER was the winner ahead of Jan Eckert SUI. The report of the Konstanzer YC and the Lacustre-Class Association.

Three more races were added on the last day of fleet racing at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, which required very alert sailing and smart tactical decisions. In the Byte CII Boys Ian Barrows ISV (41) exploited the shaky performance of his rivals, and added 8-2-1 for a comfortable lead of 122 points over Florian Haufe GER (53) and 14 over Kaari Tappe FIN (55). One more decent race today and Barrows is golden. In the Byte CII Girls, Lara Vadlau AUT (23) also looks like a lock for Gold with a 13-point advantage over Constanze Stolz GER and 16 over Daphne van der Vaart DEN who will battle for Silver and Bronze. Rafic Mayan ISR (18) is in command of the medal proceedings in the Tecno 293 Boy windsurfers, with an eight-point lead over Michael Cheng HKG (26) and 13 over Martin Kieran GBR (32) who will look over his shoulder for Kim Chaneui KOR (32). Ian Stokes USA (148) is 20th. No more suspense about who'll get the Gold medal in the Tecno 293 Girl windsurfers where Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA won the last five races and now has a 20-point lead over Veronica Fanciulli ITA (38) who heads a triple pack of sailors with 38 points that includes Naomi Cohen ISR and Valentina Serigods ARG. An exciting finale is brewing here. Margot Samson USA (135) is 16th. Today’s medal race is for all competitors and cannot be discarded. The report.

Luke Lawrence USA, coached by Finn impresario John Bertrand, is the winner of the 2010 Finn Junior World Championship aka Silver Cup with a 3 pts lead in the final standings over Ioannis Mitakis GRE, the reigning European Junior champion in this class. In third Oliver Twedell AUS who surprised with an incredibly consistent series, counting eight top-five finishes. Defending champion Jorge Zarif BRA rounded out the Top 5. The event Web site.

Ater the first race, Philippe Boite/Régis Viateur FRA are on the first place in the overall standings in front of Weigelt/Rusitschka GER and Frenzer/Reichert GER. With Mario Suter/Andreas Hochuli SUI on the 7th place and Stephan Fels/Timo Naef SUI as 10, two SUI boats were also im the top-10. The results.

The Volvo Open 70, ‘Telefonica Blue’ is scorching along at a blistering speed. After the first 24 hours of the Round Britain and Ireland Race, the Spanish yacht has covered 440 miles of the 1,800-mile course. Hurtling along six miles behind them is ‘Groupama 70’ with Franck Cammas FRA. The two Volvo 70s are already north of Edinburgh, and could well be north of mainland Scotland by morning. Several hours behind is Jonny Malbon and his crew on the IMOCA 60 ‘Artemis Ocean Racing.’ More wind is expected, which will turn this into a even more of a speed fest. The complete report and the live tracking page.

Just half of the participants terminated the first race of the Tempest Worlds off Hoorn, but it has not been communicated whether the reason was too much or not enough wind. The event-website Philippe Boite/Régis Viateur FRA was the winners in front Weigelt/Rusitschka GER and Frenzer/Reichert GER. The results.

18 teams from Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland sailed a 4-nations-Class Championship on Lake Como over the past weekend as part of the 'Alpine Cup Series'. 6 races were sailed in an excellent 15 kn Breva breeze. Veit Hemmeter/Dominik Halbing GER were the winners ahead of Martin and Julia Rusterholz SUI, and Jean-Marc Cuanillon/Michael Gloor SUI. The results and the report (Ital.).

They’re 0 for Two at the C Class Catamaran Championship in Newport. For the second day in a row, the Little America’s Cup crews were grounded by a Nor’easter churning up Narragansett Bay while their fragile craft lay idle on the hard, strapped down to prevent them from becoming kites. The format of the regatta has been changed to allow for two days of fleet racing (Wed./Thurs.) followed by two days of match racing (Fri./Sat.) according to the NYYC Web site.

The 127 teams are still waiting for their first start. After the postponement on day one due to too little wind, the multihulls remained ashore yesterday because of too much breeze. The report.

First too much, then too shifty, and in the end not enough. That, in a nutshell, was the story of Day 2 at the Etchells Worlds in Howth IRL where no racing could be conducted. Two races are scheduled for today. The event Web site. Ante Razmilovic GBR leads John Bertrand AUS overall.

After six races at the Hobie 16 Worlds Open Qualification in Weihai CHN Aaron Worrall/Brad Wilson AUS continue to lead the overall standings. The French teams of Christophe Reneaud/Vital Berger and Aldo Callieux/Titovan Galea answered the Korean challenge from Monday with some impressive results to reclaim their podium spots now that one discard is allowed. A grand total of 15 boats did not finish the sixth race. The event site and the gallery.

It was a different look for sailing on Day 3 of the ninth annual 18ft Skiff International Regatta on San Francisco Bay. On The City's hottest day of the year no locals could recall offhand when their thermometers last touched 96 degrees, especially following what they were calling their coolest summer in years. Three Australians led by Herman Winning, the son, Michael Coxon and Woody Winning, the dad, as welll as Howie Hamlin USA, cut themselves a 10-point gap in the standings from the other 10 entries with four races remaining over the next two days. Rich Roberts’ gallery and the St. Francis web page.

Light and shifty winds on Day 5 of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore led to two more races. The two-day break obviously benefited top favorite Darren Choi SIN who is riding his consistency to the top of the Byte CII Boys without having won a race yet. In second, Ian Barrows ISV, closely followed by Florian Haufe GER. In the Byte CII Girls, Lara Vadlau AUT continues her dominant performance after a 3-4 day. She leads Constanze Stolz GER by 12 and Celine Carlsen DEN by 20 points.
Equally dominating is Rafic Mayan ISR in the Tecno 293 Boy windsurfers, after two bullets yesterday for an eight-point lead over Michael Cheng HKG who is trailed by Martin Kieran GBR. With three bullets in the last three races in the Tecno 293 Girl windsurfers Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA looks like the new champion as she has an 11-point cushion over Naomi Cohen ISR and Audrey Yong SIN. The report.

Well, after eight races at the 2010 Junior Worlds aka Silver Cup in San Fran, Luke Lawrence USA (19) still remains the man to beat in the overall standings. But barely so. Hot on his tail and down by a mere point is the reigning European Champ Ioannis Mitakis GRE (20), who added a 4-1 yesterday. In third, Caleb Paine USA (21) who revived his chances with a 2-4 day. Don’t discount Josip Olujic CRO (23.5) and Oliver Twedell AUS (24.5) who were scored as tied in Race 8 (2,5 pts each). The regatta concludes today with one last race for all, which will be a keeper as it can’t be discarded, so sit back and enjoy an exciting final where the current, the individual form and most likely a few inches will decide who's going to get the Silver Cup. Check the event Web site for the latest report, which was not posted at press time.

POST SCRIPTUM:
There was a lengthy protest hearing last night that determined the finish order in the second race, a triangle course in 18 knots of wind. The leading boats, Mitakis, Lawrence and Olujic who was neck-and-neck with Twedell, believed that a St. Francis committee boat flying a start/finish flag anchored near the gybe mark signaled a shortened course, when in reality it was part of a starting sequence for the 18-footer race nearby. However, not realizing what was going on, the first three Finns stopped racing after passing the wing mark. The boats farther behind realized the mistake and carried on to the real Finn finish, with Caleb Paine winning the race. The top three asked for and were granted redress after a lengthy jury deliberation that decided to take the order at the gybe mark as the finish order. That’s how those decimal points in some scores came about.

Alain Thebault, the French skipper of the world sailing speed record holder Hydroptere, on Monday unveiled a new prototype of the 'flying' yacht as a first step towards ocean-going records. The 60-foot (18.3 metre) experimental Hydroptere trimaran, which uses foils to lift itself above the waves at speed, broke the mythical 50 knot barrier (93 kilometres per hour, 58 mph) off the French Mediterranean coast last year. The "Hydroptere.ch" catamaran unveiled at Décision SA Ecublens in western Switzerland on Monday is just 35 feet (10.8 metres) long, with two main hulls instead of three used so far and will be the new testbed designed with EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) to develop new sail and hull configurations for promised 30 metre "maxi crafts" that would attempt Transatlantic, Pacific and round-the-world speed records. The official website and the Communiqué. Btw: Décision SA and EPFL are - among others - the designers and constructors of the Alinghi mono and multihulls, the Decision 35 multihull and the Multi One Design 70.

An approaching storm with winds exceeding 40 kn prevented the start on time of the Tempest-Worlds 2010 on the Ijssel-Meer. Most of the teams succeeded to return to the harbour just in time. The report and the gallery.

Bad luck for the 129 teams from 7 nations yesterday in the first Worlds Championship race on the Olympic 2010 waters off Weymouth. In a dying wind, the Race Committee failed to hoist the course shortening flag in time after two rounds and consequently the race had to be abandoned when the breeze disappeard completely. The daily report.

Aaron Worral/ Brad Wilson AUS have taken the lead in the qualifying races for the Hobie 16 Open Worlds where six of the top 11 teams at the moment are from Korea. Two races were sailed by the 51-boat fleet in light air and rain. In second are Donggyu Lee/Beomgyun Baek KOR, followed by Keunsoo Kim/Minhae Song KOR. The top teams to emerge from this 3-day qualification will be joined by the seeded teams in the semis who have won their national selection. It's very differnt from any other Worlds, mostly because all racing has to be done on 60 new boats provided by the event. Read the report that explains it all and flip through the gallery.

There's some gambling going on at the ninth annual 18ft Skiff International Regatta, and it's paying off bigtime for the boys from Down Under. Australian sailors Herman Winning (6 pts.), Michael Coxon (13) and Winning's dad John - Woody - (13) have been rolling the waves on port tack starts and now occupy the top three positions in the 13-boat fleet. Howie Hamlin USA (15) is in fourth. The fleet is sailing a 1 1/2-mile windward-leeward course past the host St. Francis Yacht Club between the Golden Gate Bridge and the city front. Racing is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. daily, although the first two days were postponed to 2:30 because of unsettled breeze that soon developed into 12 to 15 knots. Wednesday's race for the 18s will start at 5 to precede the Bridge to Bridge race for a mixed fleet including sailboards and kite boards. The results and Rich Roberts’ gallery.

Etchells Worlds Championships 2010 started at Howth, Ireland today (Monday 23rd) with two scheduled races sailed in freshening winds, with Ante Razmilovic GBR holding a one point lead over Australian sailing legend John Bertrand at the end of the first day. The top US entry is Jud Smith of Eastern YC in sixth overall. The report and the preliminary results.

No racing at the C Class Catamaran championships in Newport RI since there was real wind. Up to 30 knots, according to the NYYC Web site and the event pages. They'll have another try at fleet racing today.

A couple of weeks ago Louis vuitton pulled the plug on their Hong Kong event, now the World Match Racing Tour announced that The Qingdao Match Cup in China (scheduled for late October) was canceled. No specific reasons were given in their official communique, except that that “local authorities have been unable to meet the requirements outlined by WMRT.” If it doesn’t smell fishy, it is certainly a blow to the expansion plans of WMRT, because only seven weeks ago, on June 18, they had announced the Qingdao Match Cup with great fanfare, as we reported. So it looks like this year’s match racing circuit will consist of only nine events.

Six mostly windy races with some big currents thrown in for good measure, are in the books now for the Juniors at the Finn Silver Cup in San Francisco and Luke Lawrence USA (9) looks more and more like the guy to beat here after her got a third and first yesterday. His score line of 3-1-1-3-1 is as impressive as it is consistent and if he keeps it up, he’ll be tough to deny the title come Tuesday. With one discard in play he leads Ioannis Mitakis GRE (15) who made the predicted jump in the overall standings now that he rid himself of a pesky DNF from the first race. Josip Olujic CRO (18) winner of the second race on the water yesterday, was later DSQ'd after a protest by Caleb Paine USA (15), who now holds third overall. Olujic's misfortune dropped him to fifth and helped Lawrence, as he was elevated to first in that race. The event site and the gallery.

The Optimist Swiss Championship on Lake Thoune ended yesterday with 3 races sailed in a 1-3 bft breeze. With the day ranks 2/1/2, Marvin Frisch GER gained the Swiss title after his victories in the German and Austrian Championships, and this with a clear advantage on the defending Champion Victor Casas CNV, who – in spite of his handicap of being at age 15 one of the ‚biggest‘ participants – showed an excellent performance in the 8 races sailed mostly in light winds. The Bronze medal went to Romain Defferard CNV as best of the new Optimist talents, who will be the leaders in the coming years. On rank 6 already follows Tanguy Ruleau FRA, who – as best of the group B (U-11) – being a light-weight was at ease with the prevailing conditions, loosing the place on the podium only because of a premature start disqualification in the heat he won. Sébastien Aubord CVVT on the 8th place and Florian Mortier GER on 29 complete the U-11 podium. Gesa Bornemann GER, 7th overall is the best girl, ahead of Carla Gerlach GER (rank 9) and Raphaella Schobinger SCC (rank 13).With 166 participants from 6 nations, the 2010 Swiss Championship event was the most attended one ever. The final rankings and the event-website, where all races can be reviewed with the GPS-tracking files.

2009 Star world champion George Szabo, sailing with German journeyman crew Frithjof Kleen, who just won the Sail for Gold World Cup regatta in Weymouth GBR with Irish skipper Peter O’ Leary, secured his third North American title by besting a 42-boat fleet from three countries at California YC. Szabo/Kleen (23) had a seven-point edge over the 1992 Olympic Gold medalists Mark Reynolds/Hal Haenel (30) and a 10-point cushion over third-place finishers John MacCausland/Rick Peters. As always, winning a major Star event is a fine accomplishment, and Szabo has done it often enough, although it should be noted that this time several top US skippers like Mark Mendelblatt, Andrew Campbell or Andy Horton were not in attendance. The report and the complete results.

Today is the start of the International C Class Catamaran Championship aka IC^4 or Little America’s Cup. Six C-Class cats will go at it in a fleet racing format to determine the seeding for the match race portion. The top two will have a best-of-nine match race series to determine the winner.
Defender is ‘Canaan’, skippered by Fred Eaton with crew Magnus Clarke CAN, who have to earn a return trip to the finals. The other competitors are ‘Aethon’ (Steve Clark/Oliver Moore) USA, the US Godfather in this game who will have to use an old rig because the new wing was damaged. Also in the mix is ‘Invictus’ (Paul Larsen/Helen Darvelid) GBR, campaigned by the Airbus folks from the UK, who spent a lot of time refining their ride. Preventing this from being a purely Anglo-Saxon affair is ‘Patient Lady VI’ (Antoine Koch/Jérémie Lagarrigue) FRA the 25-year old vintage vehicle that now is campaigned by two French cat veterans. The second Canadian entry is ‘Orion’ (Dan Cunningham/Rob Paterson) a fairly new boat with a 2006 wing.
Perhaps the most intriguing team is made up by two Aussies, serial catamaran world champion (A-class, Tornado, F-18) Glenn Ashby and James Spithill, the man at the controls of BMWOracle Racing’s wing-rigged trimaran at their successful AC run last winter. They are sailing the Canadian ‘Alpha’, the boat that defeated Steve Clark's ‘Cogito’ 5-0, wresting the Little America's Cup from the US in 2007. The NYYC page and the Facebook page.

Observing the sailing rivalry between the Winnings, father and son, on opening day of the ninth annual 18ft Skiff International Regatta in San Francisco, one could conclude it's intense, but it doesn’t stop there with father John ‘Woody’ running a successful appliance business, and son John Jr. ‘Herman’ the same stuff over the Internet. As an arriving high-pressure system turned reduced the expected 25-knot breeze to 15 knots with slightly warmer temps (relatively speaking) the sailing was close, with few flips that included Australia's Michael Coxon and his all-star crew of Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas, multiple JJ Giltinan world champions, among them. After two of 10 scheduled races, John Winning Jr. AUS (2) has two bullets for the lead, followed by John Winning Sr. (5) and the top US team of Howie Hamlin/Matt Noble/Fritz Lanzinger (6). Here's Rich Roberts’ gallery. Alas, no complete results were posted online at press time, so you want to try your luck on the club Web site.

Four trophies were awarded thus far at the Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai CHN, and all of them ended up in Australian hands. After Masters and Grand Masters, Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin (18) AUS ran away with the Youth title, followed by Benjamin Deguine/Benjamin Roulant FRA (37) and another Aussie pair, James Wierzbowski/Pip Pietromonaco (40). The Womens World Championships was a closer but not really close, with Natalie and Jasmine Hill AUS (22) holding off Charlotte Picou/Julie Avron FRA (30) and Alizée Angibaud/Constance Huard FRA (30). The wrap-up report and the gallery.
Meanwhile the Open qualifying started. After the first race the leaders are Aldo Cailleux/Titovan Galea FRA. Open qualifiers go until Aug. 25, then the semis (112 teams) until Aug. 26- 28, followed by the finals (56 teams) Aug. 29-30.

Last weekend, the annual Dennis Conner International Yacht Club Challenge was sailed on J/24s in New York Harbor with Societe Nautique Rolloise SUI (14 pts.) from Lake Geneva at the top of the preliminary standings (with a protest pending). In second was the Southern Yacht Club USA (15), followed by Royal Cork Yacht Club IRL (17) and the Austrian lake sailors from Burgenlaendischer YC AUT (20). The club’s Web site.

The 29er Class Championship was sailed over the past weekend in good conditions on the Major Lake of Locarno with Lavinia Tezza/Paoloa Bergamschi ITA as the superior winners with three bullets. Sandra Giovanoli/Franziska Wild SCStä were 2nd, Ivo Jenni/Daniel Vettiger SUI 3rd. 27 teams from 4 nations participated, half of them from Switzerland. The results, the video and the report (in Italian).

Today is the first day of the Tempest World Championship 2010 on the Ijssel-Meer off Hoorn. The entry list contains 36 teams from 7 nations. The event-website.

No races yesterday at the Youth Olympics and a lay day is scheduled for today. Results as of Friday stand. Kaarle Tapper FIN (25 pts.) leads the Byte CII Boys, in the Byte CII Girls Lara Vadlau AUT (10) is at the top of the standings. In the Tecno 293 Boys Mayan Rafic ISR (10) lis ahead while the Tecno 293 Girls are led by Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA (14). The program provides for another lay day today, but it's getting tight for the completion of the full schedule with only six races in thus far. report and thegallery.

Battling Bora Gulari USA nearly all the way to the end of the regatta, Nathan Outteridge AUS won the 2010 Moth European Championships on Lake Silvaplana by two whiskers. Gulari won the penultimate race, which had him in pole position for Gold, but owing to a stomach discomfort he limped around the course and was scored as 65th in the last heat, which was then won by Outteridge. “Thanks all who were rooting for me,” Gulari Facebooked after all was said and done. “My stomach was not doing so hot today and I did not have the strength to complete the last race. Nathan sailed a great regatta and is a deserving champ.” In third Scott Babbage AUS, tied with Simon Payne GBR, the reigning World Champion, who lost the tiebreaker and was scored fourth. Chris Rast USA climbed another spot to 9th overall. As the top-finishing European Payne also won the official title of European Champion. The honor of "Vice" goes to Arnaud Psarofaghis SUI, followed by Matthias Renker SUI. The final results and Loris Siebenthal’s gallery.

After two victories in the second day of racing at the Finn Silver Cup (the Junior World Championship) in San Francisco, Luke Lawrence USA (10 pts.), trained by US Finn legend John Bertrand, took the overall lead. In second is Josip Olujic CRO (13) with a 4-2 yesterday, followed by a new third, Oliver Tweddell AUS who had a 2-5 day to rise from fifth. At 93 kgs (205 lb), Lawrence is one of the lightest sailors here, but handled the breeze really well as it increased from 13 knots in the first race to 20 in the second. Friday’s leader Caleb Paine USA (19) had a 10th and a fourth to drop back to fourth overall. Once the discard comes in, look for the move of Ioannis Mitakis GRE who is in seventh momentarily, saddled with a DNF. Racing will continue on Sunday with races 5 and 6. Winds are forecast to reach 25 knots and more current. The report and the gallery.

Again only a light thermal breeze arriving late in the afternoon on Lake Thoune. However, two races for both groups were completed until 19.30 pm, in spite of a dozen general recalls with a number of blackflag disqualifications. Gwendal Lamay GER and Marvin Frisch GER now tied on top could defend their leading places, but the man of the day was Victor Casas SUI/CNV with two bullets who is now on 3rd, only 4 pts behind the leaders. Romain Defferard SUI/CNV remains 4th, followed by the best girls Gesa Bornemann GER 5th and Carla Gerlach GER 6th, separated by 2 pts only. Sébastien Aubord SUI/CVVT on the 7th place is best in the B-rankings (U11), 2 pts ahead of Tanguy Rulleau FRA, 9th overall. Exciting races today for the final boys and girls champions' titles are ahead. Racing will resume Sunday morning at 7.30 a.m., again transmitted with live GPS-tracking. The results and the event-website.

Yesterday, 200 boats started racing in the CORK OCR, an ISAF Grade 1 event. The regatta includes the Canadian Championship for the 49er and the North American Championship for the 29erXX. Laser and Laser Radial are sailing for world ranking points. A light 8-knot breeze permitted racing on all four courses, with Ehvert Mclaughlin CAN leading the Lasers after three races while the 84-boat Radials were split for the qualifiers. Danielle Dube CAN (2) leads Brenda Bowskill CAN (3). 29er North American Champions Max Fraser/David Liebenberg USA lead in the 29er XX class followed by four other US teams, while in the 49ers, Jon Ladha/Daniel Inkpen CAN are in the lead after winning two of Saturday’s 5 races. William Combaluzier is ahead in the open Windsurfing class, while Caroline de Alcala is leading the Bic 293 Youth division. All results and Geoff Webster’s gallery.

The leaders remain in place after 10 races at the Hobie 16 Youth and Women’s Worlds in Weihai CHN where five races were added in fresher breeze (22 knots in the last race were reported) and flat water. In the Women’s division Natalie/Jasmine Hill AUS (15) have a nine-point edge over Alizee Angibaud/Constance Huard FRA (24) who swapped positions with Charlotte Picou/Julie Avron FRA (26) In the Youth class, the podium remained the same with Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin AUS (16) still dominating Benjamin Deguine/Benjamin Roulant FRA (25) and James Wierzbowski/Pip Pietromonaco AUS (29). The event site and the gallery.

Under the watchful eyes of IOC President Jacques Rogge, a former Finn sailor, new leaders in the Boys Byte Cll and the Girls Techno 293 windsurfing classes have emerged after Day 3 of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, which was raced in moderate winds but strong currents. With the completion of five races one discard is now in play. Kaarle Tapper FIN (25 pts.) now leads the Byte CII Boys, followed by Florian Haufe GER (27) and event favorite Darren Chong SIN (31) while previous leader Just Van Aanholt AHO dropped to fourth. No such antics in the Byte CII Girls where Lara Vadlau AUT (10) had a 1-3 day to extend her lead to 11 points over Constanze Stolz GER and Celine Carlsen DEN (both on 21)
In the Tecno 293 Boys Mayan Rafic ISR (10) leads the boys after a 2-4 day, followed by Michael Cheng HKG (13) who won the final race of the day with a dramatic surge at the finish and Martin Kieran GBR (15) who had a bullet in Race 5. In the Tecno 293 Girls Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam THA (14) got her third bullet of the series to take the lead from Audrey Pei Lin Yong SIN (15), who lost ground after dropping her sail twice in race five and previous leader Naomi Cohen ISR (17) who had an OCS in Race 6. The Saturday forecast is for similar conditions. The report and thegallery.

Bora Gulari USA and the Nathan Outteridge AUS, the runaway performers at the Moth European Championships on Lake Silvaplana SUI, still can’t decide who’ll win this thing. Hence they are tied at the top with three races left today to settle matters. Gulari has drawn even with 2-1-1 yesterday against Outteridge’s 1-3-4 who was on the verge of dropping out again with layers of carbon coming off his main horizontal. The Aussie still has one more race win, but he can’t afford a slip with one DNS already in the discard pile. Equally exciting is the fight for the remaining podium place between Arnaud Psarofaghis SUI, Simon Payne GBR, the reigning World Champ and Scott Babbage AUS, who are separated by all of three points. Sailing News editor Jean-Pierre Ziegert SUI holds on to eighth overall. After weather agony early on, the Swiss summer and the vaunted Maloja wind are making up for it and provided another excellent day for Moth sailing in 6,000 feet of altitude with the top guys surpassing speeds of 25 knots. Chris Rast USA (91), who improved to 10th overall, observed in his blog that the wheels are coming off these fragile boats as the racing continues in solid breeze. So lots of TLC is required once the jockeys hit the beach. The full results the news and Loris von Siebenthal’s shutterwork.

The combined 420/470 Junior Europeans in La Rochelle FRA ended yesterday with the 470 Medal Race and another 420 regatta. Outstanding Sofian Bouvet/Jérémy Mion FRA in the 470 with 11 wins in 12 races and a 2nd place to discard. Silver and Bronze medals went to the two German teams Tim Elsner/Oliver Szymanski GER and Daniel Zepuntke/Dustin Baldewein GER. Annika Bochmann/Anika Lorenz GER on the 29th place were the best women's team. The final standings 470.
In the 420s, Yoav Levi/Dan Froylich ISR clearly defended their 1st place against Antonio and Georgios Kavvas GRE. The ISAF-Youth World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP jumped on the final rank 3 on the last day of the event. Ikhlef/Pequin FRA had to content themselves with the 4th position. The event-website.

Overcast sky and a light thermal breeze only filled in during about 3 hours yesterday afternoon. Just one race could be completed in both groups .. with a number of general recalls. Winning their races, Gwendal Lamay GER and Marvin Frisch GER extended their lead on top of the overall rankings after 3 races, ahead of Jonathan Kruisinga SUI/CVLL, 3rd, 6 pts behind, as welle as Romain Defferard SUI/CNV and Grégoire Siegwart SUI/CNM. Gesa Bornemann GER on 6 is the best girl, Sébastien Aubord SUI/CVVT on 7 the best of the younger group B (U-11) participants. The results after three races. All past regattas can be repeated on GPS-tracking, or followed live this afternoon.

With a second and a third, Caleb Paine USA (5) claimed the lead after Day 1 of the 2010 Silver Cup, the class Junior Finn World Championships in San Francisco. In second Josip Olujic CRO (7), followed by Luke Lawrence USA (8) in third. Watch for Lennart Lutkus GER (9) though, who won the first race, which also was his first race ever in the Finn. With the wind increasing from 10 knots in the first race to 18 in the second, the triangle course was set with Oscar flag for free pumping. Ioannis Mitakis GRE, the reigning Junior European Champion who got slapped with two penalties for pumping in the first race, was now free and clear and promptly won the heat by beating defending Junior World Champion Jorge Zarif BRA and Paine. With only 15 boats racing in a world championship regatta, the decision was taken not to have a medal race, however the last race on Tuesday will be non discardable. The report, the standings and the event Web site.

Covering 298.8 miles from 8 am on August 19 to 8 am on August 20, Betrand Delesne FRA (‘Prati'Buches’) set a new 24-hour distance record for the Mini 6.50 class at an average speed of 12.45 knots, which helped him extend his lead in the interim standings to 48 miles over Leg-1 winner Jörg Riechers GER (‘mare.de’). At last sched. Delesne was 550 miles from the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne FRA. It will be a dramatic couple of days that will decide the overall winner since Delesne finished the first leg in second, a mere 1 h 45 behind Riechers. Third place holder Luc Montagne FRA (‘ONG Conseil’) already is 86 miles off the pace. Ryan Finn USA looks to be in some serious trouble as he has dropped from fifth in the beginning of the stage to 32nd, limping along at 2 knots far behind and way to the north of the fleet. The RC is contemplating diverting a chase boat to see if he needs assistance. The report (French) and the race viewer.

Five races were sailed on Day 1 of the Youth/Women’s Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai CHN in moderate breezes and under overcast skies. In the Women’s class the early leaders are Natalie and Jasmine Hill AUS (7) followed by Charlotte Picou/Julie Avron FRA (8) and Alizee Angibaud/Constance Huard FRA (9). Christina Bradshaw/Kathy Ward USA (21) are sixth in the nine-boat “fleet”. In the Youth class, Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin AUS (4) have a string of five bullets to lead Benjamin Deguine/Benjamin Roulant FRA (10) and James Wierzbowski/Pip Pietromonaco AUS (10).

Tim Healy did it. He and his mates - D. Borges/M. McClintock/D. Rabin/J. Mollicone (24 pts.) closed the deal for the 2010 J/24 World Championship in style on the last day under sunny skies and in moderate breeze. Their performance was so dominant that they could afford to sail their throwout (16th) in the ninth race from which they came back with another second to preserve Gold by a 12-point margin over Ian Southworth GBR (36) who won the day with 3-1, but could not touch the US team. In third Andrea Casale ITA (64) an incredible 40 points out of first. Matias Pereira ARG (71) had hopes for a podium finish but had to settle for fourth overall after a BFD in Race 9. Tony Parker (J. Niblock/G. Ewenson/J. McCabe/ R. Dierdorf) USA (82) held a tenuous third on Friday morning but in the end was shoved off the podium to end in sixth. Mike Ingham (M. Penfold/D. Thompson/Q. Schwenker/E. Ferullo) USA (125) finished in 10th. (The Swede Björn Thielcke SWE/SUI, sailing with a Swiss boat, finished 51st). The event site, the final standings and Magnus Grubb’s gallery.