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Time to expand the trophy shrine at the Kiss house. After Mitchell’s surprise bronze at the Laser Radial Worlds in Scotland a couple of weeks ago, sis’ Morgan siling with Katia da Silva (58 pts.) snagged Silver in the girls’ Gold fleet at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR. After a 15th in qualifying they sailed a remarkable series in the finals and still had a shot at Gold on the last day, albeit a long one. In the final day’s first race they were controlled by the leaders Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA (56) who finished 17th, two spots ahead of the Americans. That was enough to secure the title, because the US girls already had two fat discards (BFD and DSQ and even a win in the final heat wouldn’t be enough to close the gap. Credit to them for racing hard and taking another second while the Italians coasted to a 17th, their second throw out. All in all it was a fantastic finish for the US team. In third, Cristina Celli/Silvia Morini ITA (69). Lambert/Doherty USA ended the series as 20th while Fauer/Lewis USA came 22nd.
In the boys’ Gold fleet, Justin Liu/Sherman Cheng SIN closed the deal for the title, 21 points ahead of Francesco Falcetelli/Gabriele Franciolini ITA and 24 better than third-place finishers Edoardo Scotti/Leonardo Cuccchiara ITA. The boys’ Silver fleet was won by Villas Boas/Camelo POR followed by Mototsu/Hino JPN and Hayward/Carter GBR. Mollerus/Peck USA finished in 10th. The girls' Silver fleet had three Italian teams ahead, which were led by eventual winners Paternoster/Di Salle, but a protest by the Vose/Brickwood GBR changed the podium somewhat and gave them third place overall. Ryan/Kirk USA and Crane/Blumenthal USA took 14th and 15th, respectively. The class Web site and the gallery.

Decent breeze but much less drama for the 505 artists at their Worlds in Aarhus DEN. In the day’s only race Wolfgang Hunger/Julien Kleiner GER (8 pts.) showed why they are considered event favorites leading wire to wire for their second bullet in three races and a four-point lead in the overall standings. Within striking distance Ian Pinell/Ian Mitchell GBR (12) and Howie Hamlin/ Andrew Zinn USA (13), the first-day leaders who took ninth yesterday. Jørgen and Jacob Bojsen-Møller DEN(14) took second to advance to fourth overall. Conrads/Haines USA (39) are 11th, Diaz/Lawrence (59) 14th. The results and the loaded event Web site.

Light winds in the morning and threatening thunderstorms in the afternoon put a damper on yesterday’s races at the 2010 U.S. Singlehanded Championships (USSC), hosted by the Pensacola Yacht Club. The men’s division managed to sneak in a pair of races, while the women were limited to one. Fred Strammer managed to break yesterday’s tie atop the leader board, while in the female division Sarah Stubbs holds on to her lead. Strammer reclaimed the lead by posting a bullet in race six and finished third in today’s first race. He has a two-point lead over Sean Kelly. Strammer, the former two-time U.S. Junior Triplehanded Champion, is a member of the Brown University sailing team and a 2010 ICSA Honorable Mention All-American Coed Skipper. Leonie Shuurmans continued her dominance in the women’s fleet by winning the day’s only race. She has won four of the five races in the regatta so far, but a 12th place finish in race weighs her down until the discard comes in while Stubbs has chalked up an a consistent 2-2-2-3-3. Annie Rossi had a solid performance today by finishing second and moved into fifth place. The full report and the results.

Yesterday, the Laser 4.7 Europeans on Lake Hourtin near Bordeaux, concluded for the 226 entrants with races 10 and 11. In the Boys’fleet, Maximilian Stein GER took the title by edging Benjamin Vadnai HUN and Bartul Plenkovic CRO. Vadnai also won the U-16-rankings where Sébastie Schneiter SUI took second. In the Girls fleet, the title went to Sara Pisecka POL, with Sofia Toroi FIN taking Silver and Antonela Kacan CRO Brionze. Winner of the U-16-rankings was Vasilea Karachaliou GRE followed by Maxime Jonker and Nancy Fakidi GRE.
The event Web site.

Chris Bake’s ‘Team Aqua’ stood up to challenging conditions and find themselves the new leaders of the fleet racing at the RC 44 Valencia Cup. ‘Team Aqua’ added 9 points to its score line and leads overall with 23 points. Close behind is Torbjorn Tornqvist’s ‘Artemis,’ which won today with a 1-3-2-1 and has 27 points overall. Previous leader, Anders Myralf DEN and ‘Team 17’, fell on some hard times and slipped to third with 32 points. The report with the results.

The Techno 293 World Championships with Youth and Masters Worlds attracted 360 sailors from 30 different countries. The very variable wind on the waters of Martigues FRA (15 to 23 knots) favored the best tactical sailors, and the lighter riders. The titles went to Gael Cousin FRA in the 158-board 7.8 boys fleet (Ian Stokes USA 62nd , Jack Lundquist USA 146th) and Andrey Zagaynov RUS in the boys’ 6.8 fleet. In the girls' 7.8 racing was tight with five different winners in five races and Naomi Cohen ISR taking the title. Marion Lepert USA finished 10th and Margot Samson USA in 48th. Marta Maggetti ITA posted a perfect score in the girls' 6.8 with Charlotte Samson USA 33rd. Alexandre Navarro FRA won the Open. Class while Partrik Pollak SVK was ahead in the Raceboard Masters with a perfect score and Thomas Goyard FRA won the Raceboard Junior’s class. The report and all results

The moderate conditions during the first leg of the ‚Solitaire’ ending in the early morning yesterday kept the fleet of the 45 solo-sailed yachts during four days very close, practically at sight. Consequently, there was a constant battle for positions, and Bernard Stamm SUI, sleeping only four times 10 minutes per day, was much impressed by the tight racing. Other participants mentioned to have suffered from halluzinations, and some did just fall asleep without hearing the alarm-clock. The official report and the summary by Bernard Stamm SUI, finishing on the remarkable 16th position. See also the video showing the arrivalt at Gijon. The leg from Gijon ESP to Brest FRA will be started next Tuesday already.

The 2010 Melges 32 U.S. National Championship is officially two-thirds complete. With only one day left to race, Ryan DeVos on 'Volpe' leads by a substantial margin followed by John Kilroy, Jr. on 'Samba Pa Ti' and John Porter on 'Full Throttle', second and third respectively. The report with the results and the gallery.

On the eighth day of competition in the freestyle double elimination contest culminated in the duel of the top two surfers in the last World Championships. With plenty of wind the first round was completed, often in gusts of over 40 knots, and it was vice champion Kiri Thode AHO who took down titleholder Jose Estredo VEN to win the first double elimination. Competition will continue today. In third is Taty Frans AHO. Details on the event Web site.

Three more races were added yesterday at the i420 Worlds in Haifa ISR in moderate breeze and open-ocean swell. Morgan Kiss/Katia da Silva USA ( 37 pts.) continue to look good, but they needed the second discard to remain in second in the girl's’ Gold fleet. Walking the fine line between glory and disaster, they added two seconds yesterday, which might have rattled leaders Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiera ITA (27), if it wasn’t for a DSQ in race eight. With a comfortable cushion to third-place holders Cristina Celli/Silvia Morini ITA (50), the US girls need to stay clean today without being overly aggressive since the Italians behind them are under pressure from Kalderon/Brewer GBR who are in fourth but tied on points. Lambert/Doherty USA are 19th while Fauer/Lewis dropped to 26th after a rather miserable day.
Singaporeans Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng (21 pts.) continue to head the men’s Gold fleet with a comfortable margin over Scotti/Cucchiara ITA (37) and Falcetelli/Franciolini ITA (54) who toppled Thamsoontorn/Chomtongdee THA (54) from the podium. Ryan/McBride finished the day with 7-6 to and are 17th, while their team mates Factor/Wefer slid to 23rd and Liberty/Whipple to 28th. In Open Silver Villas Boas/Camelo POR have the lead while in the girls’ Silver Paternoster/Di Salle ITA lead three other Italians. The class Web site and the event gallery.

The SAP 505 World Championships have started with a bang in Aarhus, Denmark with the breeze gusting up to 30 knots and an avalanche of dropouts in both races. Among the many casualties were some of the favorites like 2007 World Champions, Saugmann Ramsbæk DEN to drop out after leading the first heat. Last year’s silver medalists Mike Holt/Carl Smit USA replaced them at the top only to be forced from the parcours with equipment failure. A shame for them, since they thrive in these conditions, which are reminiscent of their home waters of San Francisco Bay. Keeping the thin end up and the rest in one piece was enough to do well. Best at this game were Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn USA who scored two seconds for the overall lead, followed by Böhm/Roos GER (6) and Hunger/Kleiner GER (7). Pinell/Mitchell GBR (8) are fourth while the Bojsen-Møller brothers DEN (12) are 6th. Other US finishers art Diaz/Lawrence in (28) in 12th and Conrads/Haines (34) are 14th. The event Web site with the feed orgy and the results.

Competitors woke up to limp flags on the last day of the 2010 Thistle Nationals and started another round of the waiting game. At 1 pm the RC pulled the plug, which meant that Team Ingham from Rochester, NY led by skipper Mike are the winners of this year's Thistle Nationals. Over the better part of the last week they showed excellence in all kinds of conditions and laid the ground work on the first day of the finals with three consecutive bullets. See the final results, visit their Facebook page, see the gallery and check the event site for updates.

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

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

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

Andrea Bonezzi ITA did it again and is taking home another Contender European Championship trophy. Using the second discard to rid himself of a 20-percent penalty and a ninth place in the ninth and final race, he tallied 17 points for first overall. In second BB Johsen DEN (21 pts.) followed by Simon Mussell GBR (22) who had two bullets Thursday but got buried deep and retired from the final heat. The other trophies went to Jacqueline Rufenacht SUI for the ladies win, Thomas Hooton GBR for the best junior and Stuart Jones GBR in the Masters. Ethan Bixby USA was 12th in that category. The results and the gallery.

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

Jumping from 10th to second overall, Morgan Kiss and Katia Da Silva USA were the movers in the girls’ Gold fleet on the second day of the finals at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR, which was raced in hot, sunny and light conditions. Their score line of 2,1,4,2,9 adds up to 33 points (with the points from qualifying) and looks much better without the BFD they got hit with in the third race on Tuesday. They trail the overall leaders Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA (23) by 10 points. In third, one point behind the Americans are Rebecca Kalderon/Katrina Brewer GBR (34). Lambert Doherty USA are 19th, Fauer/Lewis USA stand in 25th. In the boys’ Gold fleet Justin Liu/Sherman Cheng SIN (15) are the Untouchables, leading Mancinelli/Cucchiara ITA (31) and Thamsoontorn/Chomtongdee (40). Three US teams Ryan/McBride, Liberty/Whipple and Factor/Wafer are occupying places 17 to 19. Close racing in the boys’ Silver fleet with Hayward/Carter GBR (38) leading two others by only two points, while Paternoster/Disable ITA (25) and two other Italian teams lead girls’ Silver. The gallery and the Web site.

A frontal passage produced a volatile Northerly on the Western Lake Erie basin for 101 competitors in the 2010 Thistle National Championship. The Championship Division got off one race in 5-12 knots and frequent shifts. Greg Griffin mastered the tricky stuff to get the gun after taking the lead on the last beat and edging out Tim Fitzgerald, Chris Pollak and Mike Gillum. The racing was extremely tight and many saw huge gains/losses throughout the day. Mike Ingham (25 pts. ) held onto his lead and Greg Griffin (36) moved ahead of Greg Fisher (42) for 2nd. Last race today with plenty of excitement programmed. The accumulated Championship results. President’s results were still being sorted at press time. Visit their Facebook page, see the gallery and check the event site for updates.

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

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

After eight races at the Contender Europeans in La Rochelle FRA, the standings have been turned on their head. Andrea Bonezzi ITA (29 pts.), the event’s dominating sailor thus far, has shown cracks in his armor and slipped to third overall with a points-penalty in Race 7 and an uncharacteristic 55th on Wednesday. With two seconds and four firsts on his scorecard but only one discard, he fell behind the impressively consistent BB Johnsen DEN (22) and Simon Mussell GBR (23). Ethan Bixby USA is 57th. The table is set for an exciting finale today. See the overall standings and the gallery

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

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

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

The 2010 U.S. Singlehanded Championship, hosted by the Pensacola Yacht Club (Fla.) gets underway this Friday, July 30 and runs through Sunday, August 1. New to the event is a women’s division that will be raced in Laser Radials while the men will sail in Laser Standards on Pensacola Bay. Twelve sailors will be on the line in each division. The U.S. Singlehanded Championships are open to male and female sailors 16 and older. A day of practice racing and a Rolex Clinic led by Kurt Taulbee was conducted yesterday. Sailors qualified through eliminations, both at the Area level and specific regattas including the Sunfish Class Nationals, the Interscholastic Singlehanded Championships and the ICSA/LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s National Singlehanded Championships. Details on the event site.

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

The chips are down and the fleets were acting up at the first day of the finals at the 420 Worlds in Haifa ISR with 40 BFDs in the three opening races. Race 2 of the men had 19, while Race 3 of the women had 11 boats booted for being over early with the black flag in play. In the women’s Gold Fleet the lead switched to Rebecca Kalderon/Katrina Brewer GBR (20 pts) followed by Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA (25) and Barbara Cornudella/Sara Lopez ESP (32). The op US boats are in 10th Morgan Kiss/Katia Da Silva (56) ahead of Dierdre Lambert/Tracy Doherty (60) in 11th. In the men’s Gold fleet Asian sailors moved to the top with Justin Liu/Sherman Cheng SIN (11) in the lead, followed by Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti/Leonardo Cucchiara ITA (14) and Navee Thamsoontorn/Atiwat Chomtongdee THA (23). Judge Ryan/Willie McBride USA (77) are in 13th, Whitmyer/Storck are 17th, Factor/Wefer are 18th.The men’s Silver fleet is led by Gratton/Riley GBR with Mollerus/Peck USA in fourth while in women’s Silver Berta/Tisseli ITA are in front. Crane/Blumenthal USA are 11th. The event news ticker and the official reports.

Roland Gäbler and his wife Nahid GER (12 pts.) won the 2010 Tornado World Championship with one race to spare, successfully holding off their practice partners and the reigning European Champions Iordanis Paschalidis/Konstantin Trigonis GRE (13), who scored three bullets in the last three races. In third, fellow Germans Helge and Christian Sach (22) who normally race F-18 cats and had no practice time prior to this event. It was the fourth World Championship title for Gäbler, who had to dip deep into his skills to come away with the trophy after a wild last day that started with very light air and ended in a gusty rain storm. A total of eight races were sailed by the 52-boat fleet from 8 countries. The final standings and the report.

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

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

Wednesday’s racing at the 2010 Thistles Nationals was epic on Western Lake Erie and sailors from Rochester seem to get the hang of this venue. A frontal passage kicked up some great 12-18 knot winds and the 100-boat fleet split into two fleets now was treated to two superb races. Local PRO David Shaffer ran exceptional races with Doug Kaukeinen (Rocherster, NY) with crew Diedra Santos and Brad Sweet found the conditions to their liking by winning both races in the stacked Championship Division. Mike Ingham (Rocherster, NY) maintained the top spot with a pair of 7’s over Greg Fisher. In the President’s Division, Doc Gates (Rocherster, NY) holds a slim lead over Dan Reasoner. Check the event Web site and the Facebook page for updates.

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

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

From September 7 to October 13, 2010, US SAILING will hold its annual election to fill three seats on its Board of Directors. Members are called upon to directly elect the Board members, who will serve a three-year term. All current US SAILING adult and family members are entitled to vote. The two nominees that receive the most number of votes will fill those positions. Nominated are are: Ed Adams, Mitch Brindley, Scott Ikle, Maureen McKinnon-Tucker. In addition Susan Epstein was nominated by the House of Delegates, and is running unopposed. Each active US SAILING member is entitled to one vote which also can be cast online, by mail or fax (401-683-0840) from September 3 to October 13, 2010. More on the election Web site.

After a mixed bag of conditions on all points of sail, a full moon and a sunset in the Manitous, the 102nd Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac finished yesterday with most boats home in time for the drink fest aka and Mount Gay Rum Party. The top boats were the ones with the best all-round performance: Chicago-Mackinac Trophy: ‘Lady K’ (J/110, Mike Stewart); Mackinac Cup: ‘Flying Jenny VI’ (J/122, David Askew); Cruising Division: ‘Intangible’ (Tartan 3700, Tom Falck); Multihull: ‘Gamera’ (F-25C, Matt Scharl); Doublehanded: ‘Skye’ (J/122, Bill Zeiler/ Rich Stearns). The event Web site and the overall results with a few protests pending.

Showing a flair for the dramatic, New England’s Bill Brangiforte (45 pts. Master) won the 2010 Sunfish North American Championship at Mattituck, NY July 23-25 by finishing second in final race of the regatta. Sailing with bad tendonitis in his left elbow – an injury that forced him to withdraw from several recent regattas, including the Worlds in June – Brangiforte modified his steering, tacking and sheeting styles to minimize the pain. Brangiforte was the most consistent sailor in the 87-boat fleet. He never won a race, threw out a 20th and otherwise never scored worse than 12th. In second Mark May (50, Master) followed by Jose Gutierrez VEN (53, Junior). Top lady skipper was Kamilla Sabogal ECU (65, Junior). The report and the final results (PDF).

Last weekend, flooding caused by heavy storms destroyed a dam in Iowa, causing much of the nine-mile-long Lake Delhi (prounonced DEL-hi) to disappear in just a few hours. Rushing through the gap in the dam, the water took numerous boats with it, as the video graphically demonstrates. No serious injuries were reported, but boaters and homeowners are now faced with a starkly different scene. “We are sitting, looking out over the river,” eyewitness Jim Kouba told NPR. “We had a nice little sandy beach right on the lake. Now, it's probably 75, 80 yards to water. And the water level is probably 30 feet below us.” Read the full report in the New York Times.

Excellent sailing conditions with sun and a 3-5 bft sea breeze during the first days of the 420 World Championship allowed to run the qualification regattas according to schedule with a yesterday before the final races begin. In the men's fleet (i.e. Open fleet, as some mixed teams are included), the spread with Vasilas/Fragiadaki GRE on top is very tight. In the women's fleet, Roberta Caputo/Benedetta Barbiero ITA are in the lead. Top US team in the male fleet is Jordan Factor/Matt Wefer (56) who are 14th. Liberty/White (62) and Ryan/McBride (63) stand in 19th and 20th, respectively. On the women’s side, Kiss/DaSilva USA (45) are 15th while Fauer/Lewis (53) are 21st. The first start today is at 1 p.m., the peak of the sea breeze. The official report.

Mike Ingham (3 pts.) sailing with his son Sam and wife Delia won all their divisional races at the Nationals yesterday and lead class veteran Greg Fisher with his wife JoAnne and Jeff Eiber by 5 points. The 100-boat fleet is now split for the balance of the event and racing will continue with four more races scheduled Wednesday-Friday.
Important Post Scriptum: The results of the Women’s Nationals were revised by the jury after the redresses in the third race were sorted out. As we reported in our Monday edition, Nicole Shedden’s team won the championship but the other podium positions changed. New in second (previously third) are Judy Gesner/Deirdre Santos/Caroline Gates. Listed as third overall now are Joanne Fisher/Laurie Dieball/Kristen Medwid, while (previously second) Kirsten Barton/Meg Pollak/Jocelyn Pollak dropped to fourth.
It's a family-friendly class and also care about sailors who still are on the steep part of the learning curve. From last night’s e-mail blast: “For those that are having a tough go and want to learn more about Thistle Sailing come to the Round Table. We will try to fit it in after racing and after the General Meeting (which will be after racing). Mike (Ingham) will moderate & contribute to the discussion and we know that there is a great tradition of roundtables that have enhanced people’s events.“ The event Web site and the Facebook page.

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

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

Sun and a lively sea breeze brought on two more races for the 87 participants at the Contender Europeans, but also the same old result: Andrea Bonezzi ITA (5) shows a 2/1/1/1 score line so far and looks like the odds-on favorite for another title. New in second is Simon Mussell GBR (16), Sören Andreasen DEN (24) is third, while Ethan Bixby USA remains stuck in 57th. Thestandings and the short French report.

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

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

Twenty-six years after the LA Olympics in 1984, Jay Glaser still has the touch and the passion for the sport, as he showed this weekend at the ABYC Multihull Regatta while crewing not for Randy Smyth but for his wife Pease as they won the 11-boat Formula 18 class in Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's annual Multihull Regatta. Sunday wasn't as windy, causing a 45-minute delay for the first of three races on the course inside the breakwater, but the tricky and shifty seven-knot breeze brought the Glasers' cunning to the forefront. At the end they counted three firsts, two seconds and a third for 10 points after discard. In second Dennis Key/John Williams (15) followed by Ian Sammis/Bobby Bob Kleinschmit (19) James Melvin, 15, helming for his famous dad Pete, finished 6th. Jeff Newsome and crew Michelle Eatough dominated the six-boat Hobie 16 class. Next up for the Formula 18 is the national Championship in Racine, Wis. The regatta served as a tuneup for some F18 teams that will now pack up their boats for their North American championships at Racine, Wis., next month. The results and the events page.

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

Dutch judges on Tuesday gave the green light for a teenage girl's bid to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo, thwarting a bid to have her kept in child care. The court rejected the request for the extension of supervision of child care authorities over 14-year-old Laura Dekker. Child care authorities asked the court last week to extend Dekker's supervision by 12 months to August 2011 in a bid to stop her departure, citing fears for her social and emotional wellbeing. Dekker, who has the backing of her parents, needs to complete the two-year trip before she turns 17 on September 20, 2012, to set the new record. The girl's lawyer Peter de Lange said he had contacted her by phone and she was "extremely happy". Dekker, who was not present for the judgment, hopes to set sail within the next two weeks, according to her blog. The full report.

Three races were added at the i420 worlds in Haifa ISR with one discard now in play. New leaders in the Open group racing are Vasilias Fragiadaki GRE (14 pts.) ahead of Ikhlef/Pequin FRA (16) and Liu/Cheng SIN (18). Top US team is Jordan Factor/Matt Wefer (56) who stand in 14th despite a BFD in the sixth race. Liberty/while (62) and Ryan/McBride (63) stand in 19th and 20th, respectively. Tight racing also in the women’s qualifier where the lead belongs to Caoputo/Barbiero ITA (15), followed by Adler/Kunze BRA (15) and Lee/Low SIN (16). Kiss/DaSilva USA (45) are 15th while Fauer/Lewis (53) slipped to 21st. The sometimes instable event Web site.

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

Karl Kwok's Farr 80 ‘Beau Geste’ (Hong Kong, China) took line honors in the 102nd edition of the 330-mile Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, finishing Sunday evening after an elapsed time of 31:13:10, followed by Windquest, some 36 minutes later. Corrected-time standings (without protests) were headed by Dave Askew’s ‘Flying Jenny IV’, a J/109 from Annapolis, Md. See the updated list.

It’s been a windy summer in the Columbia River Gorge, as the Moth and Laser sailors can attest. Last weekend the Laser Masters Pacific Coast Championship was run after a little tune-up called the ‘Laser Gorge Blowout, an aptly named 18-mile downwind hara-kiri from Cascade Locks to Hood River. This year they were blown out for real and pulled the plug at the mandatory halfway stop at Viento Park as winds started to gust above 30 knots. At that point Michael Schalka was ahead of John-Bernard Duler and Drake Jensen.
On Saturday and Sunday, 20 Masters in Laser Standards and 19 in Laser Radials gathered in Cascade Locks to race their guts out in the Westerly that’s howling up the Gorge, against the steady current of the Columbia. In the end of a hard-fought 10-race series, age and treachery beat youth and power. Vilhelm Roberts (31pts., Master) got the better of Nicholas Pullen (39, Apprentice) because of the age handicap. Both sailed a marvelous series with three firsts and three seconds and were tied at 15 net points. In third Tracy Usher (42, Master), ahead of Chief Bill Symes (45 Grand Master). A tight finish order was also posted in the Radial division, with Grand Master Mark Halman (40) edging Apprentice John Sturman (42) for the title. In third, another Grand Master with Bruce Braly (42). See all the results (PDF) and the events page.

Man of the day yesterday was Björn Dunkerbeck, with a 2 and 1, advancing to fourth overall, while Antoine Albeau FRA remains on top followed by Fininan Maynard ISV. Kevin Pritchard USA moved up to fifth, Micah Buzianis USA is 8th. Get the details on the PWA-Website.

Thirty-eight Lightnings congregated on Chesapeake Bay last weekend to contest the 2010 Lightning Atlantic coast Championship in hot and humid conditions, as one could expect at this time of the year in this area. To make matters more challenging, the winds were light and fickle and only three races were scored. Some of the top sailors like Allan Terhune, Geoff Becker and former Lightning boat grantee Justin Coplan sunk their chances in this no-throw-out series with BFDs. In the end, Dave Starck (9 pts.) edged Brian Taboda (10) and Tim Scanlon (18). See all the results.

The Windsurfing National & Formula North American Championships that were raced last week on San Francisco Bay were a long and exhausting affair in the typical Bay blow with cold, often-choppy waters and the ubiquitous fog. And the guests from Brazil didn't seem to mind. Paolo dos Reis BRA (12) did a number on the 48-board fleet, never finishing lower than second in 11 races and wrapped up the title with one heat to spare. In second Phil McGain AUS (13) followed by Wilhelm Schurmann BRA (22) who won the slalom. Ben Grodner topped the juniors while McGain, who also won the Grand Masters Subdivision finished second in the slalom and first overall. See all results and read up on the minutiae on Waterhound.

Hi-tech race coverage will be in place for the 505 World Championship in Aarhus DEN (July 29 - Aug 5), including live video streaming, live GPS tracking, daily podcasts and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. More than 120 teams from 11 different nations will be competing, including local heroes and 2007 World Champions Saugmann/Ramsbæk DEN, their famous compatriots Jørgen and Jacob Bojsen-Møller, two-time Olympic medalists in the FD, Ian Pinnell GBR, winner of the 2008 Worlds sailing with Ian Mitchell and of course, Wolfgang Hunger GER a three-time 470 World Champion and previous 505 World Champion. The 14-boat US contingent team is led by Mike Holt/Carl Smit (2nd in 2009) and Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn. See the event Web site.

The Contender European Championship started yesterday off La Rochelle FRA with two races. Andrea Bonezzi ITA, eight-time World Champion, is already in the lead again, joined by Sören Andreasen DEN. Jan Van der Bank GER follows in 3rd place. 87 boats' fleet from 12 nations. Ethan Bixby USA is in 58th. The results.

Little wind and late, but enough to add to races at the 2010Tornado World Championship, which is held as part of the Travemünder Woche GER. Gäbler/Gäbler GER took two bullets in the 50-boat fleet to build a five-point lead over Paschalidis/Trigonis GRE (10) and Sach/Sach GER (10).Burvill/Duffield AUS are in 4th. The complete
results and the report.

After 130 days and 8000 miles, Sailing News friend David de Rothschild, his 60-foot plastic-bottle cat ‘Plastiki’ and the intrepid crew have reached Sydney, Australia, the final destination of their cross-Pacific voyage from San Francisco, CA. Yesterday they arrived at Sydney’s Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, to the welcome of family, friends and supporters. The ‘Plastiki’ was officially greeted by Sydney’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Phillip Black and the US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich. The pursuit of this ocean expedition that started in March in San Francisco was to alert the world to the effects of single-use plastics on the health of the oceans and its inhabitants. The boat will be on public display for the next month at the ANMM. “It’s an incredible feeling to finally arrive in Sydney,” expedition leader, David de Rothschild said. “We had great faith in the design and construction of “Plastiki” and while many people doubted we’d make it, we have proved that a boat made from plastic bottles can stand up to the harsh conditions of the Pacific.” Read their blog and see the gallery.

In 1993, at Bodega Bay, Russell Long took his last ride on ‘Longshot', his custom Ketterman built trifoiler, which had just been outfitted with new foil wings. She bolted out of the gate a blasted up to near 50 knots when the back stay parted and she "blew up" scattering pieces about the harbor. Long emerged shaken but unscathed to follow another passion, in protecting the environment and has spent the past 15 years working with projects such a his Blue Water Network and Friends of the Earth, which among other things ended the use of 2 stroke engines on Lake Tahoe and forced the fuel efficiency issues in Washington and Detroit.
‘Longshot’ was recently towed back to Watsonville, had a few tweaks and adjustments made and readied for another go at the record books. She still holds the class A 500 Meter Course record set in 1992 in Tarifa Spain of 43.55 knots. Russell has his sites set a bit higher, that being the overall 500 Meter speed record set by ‘Hydroptere’ of 51.36 knots set in Hyeres France in 2009. See the full report.

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

Tricky, shifty, winds of 8-15kts on the Clyde provided the stage for the final two races of the Radial Youth Worlds in Largs, Scotland, and it was a memorable day for a young American. Seventeen-year old Erika Reineke (22 pts.) who is a member of US Sailing’s Development Team, came, saw and won, just as she had predicted at the outset of the event. And to ad insult to injury for the rest of the world’s best junior Radial girls, she did it with a race to spare. She sailed once yesterday and showed why she deserved the title. Buried in the fleet after the first beat, she never lost her cool and came back to finish fourth. Manami Doi JPN (49) managed to retain her second place overall with a seventh in the last race, while Michelle Broekhuizen NED (53) had to settle for third, however winning the European title as best European sailor.
Yesterday’s 7th and 37th may have ranked among his worst results of Reineke’s male pendent, Italian Giovanni Coccoluto (61) closed the deal by winning the Laser Radial Youth Boys’ World and European Championship after building a big points cushion throughout the week. Like Reineke, Coccoluto had won Bronze at the recent ISAF Youth World Championship in Turkey, but his final margin was just two points over Tadeusz Kubiak POL (63) who squandered his title chances with a capsize on Friday. In third, another Italian with Luca Antognioli (64), who nearly made it a double-tricolore triumph. Mitchell Kiss USA (76), one of the co-favorites, who held a podium spot Friday, slipped to fifth with two results in the mid-twenties, but won the Under 17 class. Other US finishers: Mateo Vargas benefited from the second discard and moved up to 20th, while Reed Baldridge slipped to 34th with a BFD in the last race. Domenic Bove in 43rd and Matt Mollerus in 50th were the other Gold fleet sailors. On the girl’s side the only other US sailor in Gold, Catherine Shanahan, finished in 43rd. Leonie Schuurmans took 9th in the silver fleet. The report and the complete results.

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

Who wouldn’t want to be 17, care free and on top of the world? Erika Reineke the freshly-minted Laser Radial US World Champion might have raised some eyebrows by announcing after winning Bronze at the Youth Worlds in Turkey two weeks ago, that she came to Scotland to get Gold. But in a true champion’s fashion she backed her words with results and stood on the uppermost step of the podium when all scores were tallied. Expect to hear more from this young lady, who claims two famous US Laser sailors as role models and in a delicious twist, is trained by the husband of one of her idols. “It feels amazing because I’ve never won a world championship. I think it’s a good start. I won the bronze at the ISAF Worlds, I finished second at the Youth Europeans in Copenhagen. I started sailing in Optimists from Lauderdale YC. Actually, I was hoping to win in Turkey but got the bronze so I came here all fired up to win. I knew I had to fight even harder to do well because I really wanted the gold.”
“When I return home I’ll take a couple of weeks off but then I’ll start training again with an aim of doing the US Olympic trials. Paige Railey is an amazing sailor and I aspire to be like her, and Anna Tunnicliffe of course, so I hope to give them both a good trials. My ultimate aim is to race the Olympics.
“I have a great coach back home – Brad Funk [Ed note: Anna Tunnicliffe’s husband] – he has been working and training with me and he has really brought me a long way. As far as day-to-day training goes, I go to the gym three or four times a week, Saturdays and Sundays I sail Lasers, and Wednesdays after school. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I sail for High School. So, basically I sail every day except Friday when I’m usually traveling to regattas.”

The i420 World Championship started yesterday in Haifa ISR with three races. Anna Burnet/Flora Stewart GBR in the women's fleet and Clement Ikhlef/Clement Pequin FRA in the men's fleet are the early leaders. The only US teams with top results were Jordan Factor/Matt Wefer (27 pts.) in 10th in the men's and Marlena Fauer/Christina Lewis in 17th in the 420_ladies (PDF) division. Unfortunately, the event-website did not display the complete results at press time and there were provider issues with the Web service. The top-15 are listed in the report of the class association.

One more race was added on the last day of the Melges 20 Gold Cup in Malcesine ITA and the locals of ‘Reggini’ with Francesco Farneti (24 pts.) pulled it out. Their fourth place was enough to keep their nose ahead of ‘Value Team’ of Benedetto Giallongo (27).New in third and happy to be there at the end was Marco Perazzo’s ‘Turnover’ (37) benefiting from a DSQ of ‘Notaro Team’. The lone US entry, Michael Kiss sailing with Chris Rast on tactics and crew Alain Stettler on ‘Bacio’ (48) finished on a high note, getting a second for the day and pulling even with ‘Sei Tu 20’ ITA in the end. They recovered from a broken bowsprit and had to sort out a new boat as they went to school on the dominant Italians. Said Rast in his blog: “For our team this was mainly a good event to learn more about the tuning and for Michael to get more comfortable in boat-on-boat situations and managing tight lanes. We did a lot of spy work on the top Italian teams and were on par with them at the end of the regatta. So overall this has been an excellent opportunity for us to improve our skills and hopefully get a little jump on the US Fleet …” The final results and the galleries.

The Club 420s gathered 109 boats for their 2010 North American Champioship in Brants Beach, on Little Egg Harbor Bay NJ. In light to fresh breezes 14 races and two discards Pearson Potts/Caitlin Connerney (41 pts.) took the title ahead of Graham Landy/Colin Murphy (45) and Connor Brady/Dillon Paiva (51). Ally Donahue/Maddie Widmeier (75) as the best all-female team took 6th in the final results.

You know it was an intense day when a Facebook post starts like this: “29er Nationals, the most carnage I have seen in one day. Broken top sections, collisions left and right and some pretty intense wipeouts. Haa can't wait for tomorrow….” This note by CC Childers came across the ticker Friday evening after she and Chanel Miller got done battling the elements. "We woke up to clear blue skies which only meant one thing, BREEZE ON! There were kelp beds left and right and avoiding them could cost you a boat but hitting them stops you dead in your tracks and could cost you the race, it definitely made things challenging," CC reported.
30 boats in the divisions Youth, Women and Combined sailed 11 races in 15-22 knots of breeze, dodging kelp beds and mostly staring at the stern of Max Fraser/David Liebenberg (17 pts.), who did a masterful job in the breeze taking four bullets, five seconds and a third. In second overall, and also winning the Youth Championship were Sterling and Hans Henken (30), followed by Oliver Tolle/Craig Schiffens (38). Kristen Lane sailing with Charlie McKee (65) in fifth was top lady skipper while Katy Cenname/Helene Scutt (97) in ninth were the top women's team followed by Miller/Childers (140), who finished 14th overall. See the complete results. Final word from CC: "Thank you to Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club and the Race Committee for putting on such an amazing event.."

Is it harsh to drive ladies and gentlemen who are getting on in their years to sail 10 races in three days. Not if you are a competitor at the 2010 Laser Masters Canadian Championship on Sturgeon Lake, ON. The stars of then showed that they still got it now. And they had a good time, too. After all was tallied, including the discard and the age handicap, the destinction of Canadian Masters Champion 2010 was bestowed on Al Clark (50 pts., Master age group) from Royal Vancouver YC. In second Ray Davies (52, Apprentice), followed by Laser and Finn Maestro Terry Neilson (70, Master). Top Grand Master was Rob Koci --(88) in fifth. Top lady, as so often, Susie Pegel (149, Master) in 12th. Best Great Grand Master was Lindsay Hewitt (185) in 16th. All results and the gallery. More will be published later today on the event Web site. Thanks to James Wisener for staying up into the wee hours to git’er done!

From San Francisco to Marblehead, Mass, Russ Silvestri takes to the Sonar and wins the overall title at the Sperry Top-Sider Marblehead NOOD. Silvestri and his crew John Collins, Julie Papanek, and Holt Conbon started off with a 17th in the first race on Friday but ended with a runaway win in the final race of the series, while fending off top local sailors Larry Ehrhardt and Sam Altreuter in a three-way tie by points. Sonars and other classes on the Tinker Line course got one race in yesterday, the classes on the Outside Line course were not so lucky and had to live with Saturday’s results, which became final. ‘Steelaway’ was the class winner. in the J/105. On the Halfway Rock Line course, closer to shore, Saturday’s leaders in the big Rhodes 19 class, Charlie Pendleton and Jim Raisides, kept tabs on Kim and Christina Pandapas to defend their NOOD title. Find all results the report and other stuff.

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

At the 2010 Thistle National Championships that are being held this week at North Cape Yacht Club on Lake Erie the crew of Andy Gunkler/Ryan Kyle/Kate Gladieux (8) topped the 13-boat junior’s fleet. In second Graef/Dolbar/McHoun(11) followed by Yinmgling/Bransch/Burns (12). The seven-boat women’s fleet was easy pickings for Nicole Shedden/Joy Martin/Sarah Paisley (5) who took the women’s Championship ahead of Barton/Pollack/Pollack (9) and Gesner/Santos/Gates(11) who won the finals race where five boats were scored RDG. See the event’s Web site and Facebook page.

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

Team Disaster Area, skippered by Bruce Golison (Long Beach, CA) and crewed by Andrew Kerr (Olympia, WA) and Willem van Waay (San Diego, CA) won the 2010 Santana 20 Class Championships. Going into the 7th and final race, Team Disaster Area led Team Giddy Up (skippered by Ron Fish of Eugene, OR) by 13 points, however with no throw out provided, simply being OCS could easily alter the outcome of the regatta. Team Disaster Area won the race, securing their victory with a splash of authority. This victory is Golison’s 4th title, Kerr’s 6th, and Van Waay’s 2nd. Golison recently also won the Etchells North Americans in San Diego. The event Web site and a rather original way to post the results..

A southerly breeze of 12-13 kts on the Clyde for the penultimate day of the Laser Radial World Youth Championship, provided ideal conditions for the 320 competitors as they were regrouped into Gold, Silver – and in the case of the Boys’ – Bronze fleets. Erika Reineke USA (12 pts.) remains odds-on title favorite in the Gold Fleet, after adding another first for a 27-point lead over the light-air specialist Manami Doi JPN who capsized once yesterday. In third is Michelle Broekhuizen NED (43). Catherine Shanahan USA (12) is in 39th. On the boy’s side, Mitchell Kiss USA (52) worked his way up to second overall, despite two mediocre finishes yesterday. It will be difficult to catch current leader Giovanni Coccoluto ITA (35) who has a 17-point advantage going into the final two races today. Former leader Tadeusz Kubiak POL (60) had a poor day today with a capsize in the second race dropping back to third. Reed Baldridge USA (122) is 24th. The report and the all results.

With another win in the second short race off La Seyne, 'Nouvelle Calédonie' with America’s Cup veteran Bertrand Pacé at the helm demonstrated domionance one last time to win the Tour 2010. It is Pace's seventh title. With 'Courrier Dunkerque' (Daniel Souben FRA) in second and 'TPM-COYCH Hyères' (Fabien Henry FRA) in 3rd, two other former Tour winners complete the podium. 'Groovederci' (Deneen Demourkas USA) after dropping their stick a couple of days ago, came back in style to get two fourths and finish fourth overall, a more than respectable result for the lone US entry in the final year of the Farr 30 class at this event.
EIn the amateur class, the Swiss 'Ville de Genève' won on the water, but got penalized by the Jury with 10 points for swapping an torn chute without permission, which gave the win to 'Purflo - Les Thermes de St.Malo'. The final report, the results and the images of the day. The videothek contains some impressive clips from Friday’s race abandoned due to a too strong Mistral. The era of the Farr 30 at Tour is over. Starting in 2011, the new M34, especially designed for the Tour, will be the boat of choice and Dean Barker NZL will be skippering one of the entries.

Big shuffle at the top of the final standings at the Laser Standard European Championship on the last day after two more races were added. Stuart Godwin GBR (55) ended up with the Championship trophy after 10 races and two discards, without ever wining a single race. It was his consistency and his solid sailing toward the end that put him ahead of Alexios Katsios GRE (60) and Nik Pletikosa SLO (65). Catastrophe befell Eifion Mon GBR (67), who missed the podium after dominating the week. Mon, the Welshman, couldn’t finish what he’d started with a score of 18-29-10, and a full count in the final race when he and the equally unlucky Francesco Marrai ITA, who had title ambitions, were both BFD’d. The lone US competitor, Chris Barnard USA (122), improved as the event wore on and finished in 20th. The event Web site.

For a week 315 of the best Opti sailors in the US have competed for the title in the Team Race Nationals, Girls Nationals, and Open Fleet Nationals at the Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville VA. Yesterday the final races of the Open Fleet Nationals were run before Nic Muller (21 pts.) of US Sailing Center of Martin Co. was crowned the champion in the Gold fleet. In second, Richard Schuurmans (27) of Houston Yacht Club with Friday’s leader Harry Koeppel (46) of Larchmont Yacht Club in 3rd place. Top girl was Eliot Caple (47) of Naples Sailing Center followed by Haddon Hughes from Houston Yacht Club and Alexandra DelBello of American Yacht Club. In Silver, Alie Toppa of Lauderdale Yacht Club finished in first, while Jed Londrey of Fishing Bay Yacht Club won Bronze and Gantt Shiflet of Davis Island Yacht Club won the Pearl fleet. View results, photos, video and more now on the Web site with more images on Dave Hein’s gallery.

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

Light winds threatened to cancel the last day of racing at the New York Yacht Club’s seventh biennial Race Week at Newport, but by 2pm the southerly sea breeze filled in and all classes raced on a four-leg windward/leeward course. At the end, the Southern Cross 52 ‘Vela Veloce’ was determined the best performing boat and was named the 2010 Rolex US-IRC National Champion and owner/skipper, Richard Oland received the engraved Rolex Yacht-Master watch. The calculation compared all entries based on a formula of average seconds per nautical mile, which put' ‘Vela Veloce’ 13/100s of a second ahead. Steve Benjamin and his team onboard his Tripp 41 ‘Robotic Oncology,’ which won IRC Class 3 (five bullets in six races) finished second overall. Dan Meyers’s J/V66 ‘Numbers’ took a second in the last race and held onto the lead in IRC Class 1, beating out the 90-foot ‘Rambler’ finished in second, while the STP65 ‘Evolution Racing’ took third. IRC Class 5 winner was ‘Storm,’ a J/109 that moved up to win the overall class by placing third in the final race. ‘Christopher Dragon’ won the IRC Class 4 by taking second yesterday. On-demand video results and images are available on the club’s Web site.

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

Ed note: This is an updated version of yesterday's report. Consistency is a hard coin that seems to pay well for John Ingalls, Torey Pellegrini, Bruce Chafee USA (44 pts.) have fought their way to the top of the Yngling World Championships in Lelystad NED, stumping an armada of Dutch boats. Getting their first bullet in Race eight and a ninth in Race nine leaves them with all Top-10 finishes, the only boat to do so. Ingalls, who won his second World Championship after 2006, benefited from a difficult protest that disqualified the front runners Hidde-Jan Haven/Don van Arem/Miguel Karsters NED for a violation of the Black Flag rule, which dropped them out of contention to sixth overall. The irony: Haven was mistakenly put on the BFD list in the first place. Doesn't sound right, does it? But the jury saw it differently. Minks/Molenaar/Toornstra NED (51) took second, followed by Otte/Oost/Deen NED (55). Upham/Wilson/Upham USA (333) are 46th. The Web site and the full results (PDF) ≈.

“I was going to launch a protest against 717, but then I found out he had a stash of cold beer and he offered me one, so I’m withdrawing the protest” … Welcome to Masters sailing: intense competition mixed with great sportsmanship and nothing that can’t be worked out over a cold beer. Mark roundings preceded by friendly debates about buoy room, competitors reminding each other where the next mark was to be found… masters of the sport reliving their youth, but with banter instead of temper, friendship instead of ego. Day 2 of the Canadian brought 5 races in moderate winds from the west for the first three, sailed on a trapezoid course, and dropping to light winds sailed on a windward-leeward for the last two. Race winners were John Rae, Al Clark (2x), Greg Tawaststjerna and Rob Koci who later was slapped with a ZFP. The top of the leader board is a bunched group led by Clark (31 pts. after handicap), Davies (36) and Andy Roy (38). Today, the Race Committee will try to complete four races to give racers two drops, weather and time permitting. The report, the results and the gallery.

Despite torrential rains, a fleet of 353 boats started to the 102nd Running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. Sailors still scrambled to make their boat calls amidst flooded streets. Many boats had to register last minute crew changes with race officials, as sailors were trapped due to the havoc of the weather. Several boats had crew due to arrive from Michigan via train this morning. Due to flooding on the tracks, trains were shut down and they were unable to make the race, which means many boats will be sailing lighter which could make the 290 nm course up Lake Michigan challenging. Judging by the Facebook posts, the tracking system is a crapshoot at best. Try your luck at the club’s Web site.

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

The breeze finally arrived on the Clyde and provided for a good day’s racing. A steady 9-knot SSW’ly allowed the 320 sailors to finish their qualifying races and US sailors continue to make an impact high up on the leader boards. In the girl’s division (7 races, one discard) Erika Reineke (9 pts.) might be only 17, but displays rock-solid confidence and sailing performances, clocking up another first today and two to grab the overall lead from Manami Doi JPN (15). In third Tiril Blue FIN (21). Other US results: Catherine Shanahan (112) 43rd, Sarah Stubbs (129) 48th. On the boy’s side the standings only reflected four races. In the lead Tadeusz Kubiak POL (5), followed by Hermann Tomasgaard NOR (9) and Luca Antognioli ITA (12). Mitchell Kiss USA (15) the bronze medal winner of the Radial Worlds, added a second place to improve his overall standing to sixth, and Carson Crain USA (40), had a second in the Red flight for 36th overall. Reed Baldridge (38) was listed in 31st. Today, the fleets are split in Gold and Silver. Four more races are planed for the finals. The report, and the results page.

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

No more races on the final day of racing was canceled at the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship (USJWSC) on Friday with Tropical Storm Bonnie approaching Miami. Despite not having the opportunity to finish the final two races scheduled, this year's championship did not come up short of excitement from the field of 46. Following Thursday's impressive performance, Miami's Arielle deLisser (13) won her second USJWSC in three years with a come from behind win. In second, Molly McKinney, the defending champion, who posted three wins on Day 1, but fell behind deLisser on Thursday and never got a chance to answer. In third, Sky Adams (25). The report, the event Web site and the final standings.

Two more races were added on a hot and muggy day in the fleet championship at the Opti Nationals in Deltaville VA with big changes in the results. New leader in the Gold fleet is Harry Koeppel, who added two fourths (14), followed by Richard Schuurmans and girl’s national champion Haddon Hughes. Shawn Harvey (23) leads the Silver fleet, while Sophia Sole (13) leads Bronze and Jillian Ticatch leads the Pearl standings. More on the event Web site and some nice images in Dave Hein’s gallery.

Masters sailors aged 35 to 76 came from across Canada, from the US and one from Northern Ireland, former Olympians and club sailors, some having sailed all their lives, others more recent converts to the sport. They had to wait until 4 pm on Friday when the NW breeze finally filled in up to 15 knots. Race 1 was a battle between Ray Davies, Al Clark, Mike Schmidt (from the US) and Andy Roy, with Clark passing Davies on the last reach to take the gun. Race 2 was a renewal of the rivalry between Terry Neilson and Andy Roy, Canada’s two greatest all-time Laser sailors, the gold and silver finishers in the 1982 World Laser Championships doing battle almost 30 years later and finishing in the same order, a first for Terry and a second for Roy. They were followed by John Rae and CYA President, Gerry Giffin. Overall Roy (6 pts.) leads Schmidt (10) and Neilson (13), followed by former North American Champion Susie Pegel (13), the top lady. The full report, the overall standings and the gallery.
Thanks to James Wisener for going out of his way to keep us posted.

Rain, wind up to 18 knots and heavy chop made for a tough first day at the finals of European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy 2010 in Gdynia POL. Many of the young sailors had problems to control their boats and might get some relief once the second discard is in play. Still in command overall in the Gold fleet is Eifon Mon GBR (34 pts.) followed by Nik Pletikosa SLO (50) and Francesco Marrai ITA (58), U19 leader. Chris Barnard USA (104) is in 21st. On Saturday, the last two races will be sailed. First warning signal will be made at 11 am. The report and the results.

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

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

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

After a brief postponement, it was back to the ocean track for the 35 boats competing in New York Yacht Club Race Week presented by Rolex. Two windward/leeward races were held on Rhode Island Sound under less-than-perfect conditions; however the light rain and 4-6 knots of wind challenged tacticians and prompted a shake-up in a few of the standings.
By taking two wins in two races today, the J/V66 ‘Numbers’ also took over the IRC Class 1 lead from ‘ Rambler.’ which dropped to second position ahead of the STP65 ‘Evolution Racing’
In IRC Class 3, ‘ Robotic Oncology’ held onto its lead by winning both races. In second is ‘Arethusa’, a NYYC Swan 42. ‘Robotic Oncology’, Benjamin explained is in tribute to Dr. Samadi of Mt. Sinai Hospital. “I made him a promise that if he could cure me, then I would take him sailing.” The biggest shake-up of the day happened in IRC Class 5 with the J/109 ‘Rush’ winning the first race to take the overall lead from ‘Carina,’ which fell to fifth with 6- and 7-place finishes. The Southern Cross 52 ‘Vela Veloce’ held onto first in IRC 2. Racing concludes Sunday. More, including on-demand video and results on the club’s Web site.

After another long postponement a light SW'ly arrived on the Clyde for the 320 young sailors from 42 nations in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds & Europeans. Racing was tight on this second day of qualifying and some new names appear on top of the leader boards. And again, US sailors figured prominently in the proceedings. In the girls’ fleet, where a discard is in play, 17-year-old Erika Reineke USA (4 pts.), the bronze medalist in the ISAF Youth World Championship, added two firsts to Tuesday’s two seconds for second overall behind the equally impressive Manami Doi JPN (3) who had another first in the Yellow fleet. Third is Tiril Bue FIN (10). In the Boys’ category, 15-year-old Mitchell Kiss USA got a bullet in his fleet’s first race, as did Yuval Schwartz ISR in his flight. But Kiss finished 22nd in the second race, which has him stuck in 12th overall for now. Giovanni Coccoluto ITA (16) who was 1-5 yesterday leads Paul Leroy FRA (18) and Elliot Hanson GBR (19). Some other US finishers: Catherine Shanahan (55) is 43rd in the girls’ fleet while in the boys’ Reed Baldridge (54) is 30th with 2-6-46. Matt Mollerus (84), who won the opening race, added two uglies and dropped to 58th overall. The report and the results.

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

Three short races off the coast of Marseille were sailed yesterday in 15-knot breeze and the Swiss finally got on the board with the amateur crew of 'Ville de Genève' who won a race, just like 'Mummaduck' NED did, who also leads the amateur standings. Excellent day for 'Groovederci' USA, with 3, 3, 4, which propelled them past 'Ile de France' into third in the overall standings. 'Nouvelle Calédonie' remains in the lead and seems untouchable. The report.

The Melges 20 Gold Cup got under way yesterday with 36 boats from six countries. Three races were sailed off Malcesine on Lake Garda and it was, well, an Italian championship with some friends from abroad. The top three are Francesco Farneti ITA (6), followed by Benedetto Gialongo (10) and Marco Perazo (16). The best “real straniero” is Michael Kiss USA (51) in 21st with Chris Rast calling the shots. Piloting a brand new boat made in Zenda, they scored a sixth in the first heat, but broke their pole later, forcing them to retire. “Why is it that the Italians freaking dominate every Melges boat that hits the market?” Rast asked rhetorically. “Why is it that they are so damn professional about sailing these boats? I guess the boats and the concepts are sexy and just fit with the Italian mentality... The scene is so far ahead of what we are doing in the USA. They have great drivers/owners, pro sailors and their boats are tricked out. They sail tons of hours and just look slick around the course.” The report, the Facebook page and the full results.

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

On Day 2 of the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship and with eight races done, 2008 champion Arielle deLisser (13 pts.) posted three bullets out of the four races conducted on Biscayne Bay to take a one point advantage over yesterday’s leader and 2009 champion, Molly McKinney (14) who had three race wins of her own on Wednesday. These two were matchracing each other at times, but also had their issues. In race five, deLisser capsized on her first downwind leg, but came back to finish seventh. In race six, McKinney thought she was over early, restarted and finished third, which is the worst score she's had in two days. Sky Adams (25) remains in third, 12 points behind deLisser. The report, the event Web site and the complete standings.

Sunshine and vigorous winds replaced the rainy gray of Wednesday, a nice change for the sailors onboard 35 IRC boats in New York Yacht Club's (NYYC) Race Week at Newport. With a steady 10-12 knots of breeze and a sea much more settled conditions were right for the distance race that started in Newport, went out toward Block Island and finished on Narragansett Bay near Quonset Point
Fresh off a class win in June’s 635-mile Newport Bermuda Race, the 48-foot sloop ‘Carina’ took line honors in IRC Class 5’s by a little more than 12 minutes and leads overall in class. George David’s ‘Rambler’ was the fastest in IRC 1, finishing the long 53-nautical mile course 23 minutes ahead of Daniel Meyers’s ‘Numbers’ which corrected, on time, ahead of Rambler, but remains in second overall with ‘Evolution Racing’ in third. In IRC 3 Steve Benjamin’s Tripp 41 ‘Robotic Oncology’ leads the seven-boat class, just as ‘Christopher Dragon’ remained undefeated in IRC 4, while Richard Oland’s ‘Vela Veloce’ moved into first in IRC 2. On-demand video and complete results are available at the Club Web Site.

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

Haifa ISR is hosting the International 420 Worlds with 160 boats from 22 countries, including freshly-minted ISAF Youth World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP and Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI. There will be two separate events for boys and girls. The US contingent sent 14 teams including Youth World participants Ian Liberty in the boys and Marlena Fauer/Christina Lewis in the girls. The competition starts Sunday with the qualifying races after which the fleet will be split in Gold and Silver. Finals in the latter half of next week with the last race and awards scheduled for Sunday July 31st. The event site.

Racing on Day 2 of the 2010 USODA Fleet National Championship has been abandoned. See the impressions in the day's gallery. The sea breeze never managed to come in and never had more than 6 knots of wind all day. The green fleet has been out on the course for most of the day and got in at least half a dozen races. They were able to race in a small area nearer land that did have just enough wind for them to sail. Ian MacDermaid, Nic Muller and Duncan Williford lead the overall standings. For updates, see the event site.

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

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

Friday is the first day of competition at the 2010 Laser Masters Canadian Championship on Sturgeon Lake ON. The 55 participants will be scored in four age groups: Apprentices (35-44), Masters (45-54), Grand Masters (55-64), Great Grand Masters (65+) and include Olympic Finn medalist and four-time Canadian Laser Champion Terry Neilson, Joe Van Rossem, Greg Tawaststjerna, Rob Koci, Nigel Heath, Andy Roy, Ray Davies and Canadian Yachting Association President Gerry Giffin, plus top US sailors, including Sally Sharp, Susie Pegel and Henry Amthor, a past Fireball North American and US National Champion. The event Web site, the Facebook page and the Twitter feed.

After a day and a half sitting waiting for the wind, a steady, building northerly breeze trickled down the Clyde this afternoon allowing racing to commence at the Laser Radial World Youth Championship in Largs. It was enough to allow for the 320 competitors to finally start sailing. And from the get-go the US contingent served notice that they are shooting for podium finishes. In the boy’s fleet, one race was run with group winners Matthew Mollerus USA (Red), Elliot Hanson GBR (Yellow) and Tadeusz Kubiak POL (Blue) leading overall. Reed Baldrige USA got second in Blue and is tied for fourth overall. Mitchell Kiss USA, who won a surprise Bronze at the Laser Radial Worlds here two weeks ago, took 12th in Yellow and is in 34th overall. The girls fleet got two races in with Julia Vallo Arjonilla ESP (4 pts.) leading the overall standings, tied on points with Erika Reineke USA who had two seconds. Reineke, who won a Bronze in the Laser Radial at the ISAF Youth Worlds in Istanbul last week, didn’t fidget around. “My goal is to win and bring home a gold medal,” she said prior to the event. In third, Martina Ciotti AUS (6). Catherine Shanahan USA (38) is in 36th. The report and the results page.

After Day 3 of European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy 2010 in Gdynia POL and six races, Eifion Mon GBR (10 pts.) continues to lead the overall standings with a remarkable 23-point advantage (thanks to four bullets) over Stuart Goodwin GBR (33), who now holds a podium spot after working his way up from 18th overall . In third, just as before is Jochem-Bart Haakman NED (33). The next six sailors are all within five points or fewer of the podium. Chris Barnard USA (72) is battling in 33rd overall, which would put him in the Gold fleet, if he can keep it there. Today the 124 racers from 26 countries will sail the last of the group qualifying races before they will be split into Gold and silver for the final four races on Friday and Saturday to decide the title. The report.

The 2010 Optimist Nationals in Deltaville are nearing their high-water mark with the fleet racing championship on the line. Yestereday, 260 racers fought it out in three groups, which had three races each. As the shutters witnessed, it was quite lively out there. The overall standings show some of the usual suspects in prominent position: Ian MacDermaid, Nic Muller and Duncan Williford all managed to score three bullets to head the leader board with 3 points apiece. Best girl is Ceci Wollmann BER (9) in fourth, getting a measure of redemption after yesterday’s 11th in the Girl’s Championship. More stuff on the event site. Make sure you click through Dave Hein’s gallery and watch some of Sailgroove’s videos.

The second half of New York Yacht Club (NYYC) Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex began as many New England summer days do with fog, humidity and light wind. By the 11am starting time, the NYYC Race Committee reported 6-8 knots of wind, which held steady for today’s two races. The regatta doubles as the Rolex US-IRC National Championship, so all 35 boats are being scored with IRC ratings. In IRC 1, the largest entry was also the fastest. George David’s 90-foot ‘Rambler’, with tactician Tom Whidden and helmsman Peter Isler, took line honors in both and won on corrected time as well. Once the IRC handicap rating formula was applied to the elapsed time in both races, Rambler was determined the overall leader. ‘Numbers’ caught a lobster pot during a mark rounding and lost valuable time but is in second overall, followed by ‘Evolution Racing’ in third. In IRC 2 George Sakellaris’s Farr 60 ‘Captivity’ took line honors in the first race, but finished in second behind Richard Oland’s ‘Vela Veloce’ a Southern Cross 52, that corrected to first place for both races. Steve Benjamin’s Tripp 41 ‘Robotic Oncology’ won both races and leads the seven-boat IRC 3 class, while Andrew Weiss’s ‘Christopher Dragon’ leads the eight-boat IRC 4 class. The nine-boat IRC 5 class is headed by Rick Lyall’s J/109 ‘Storm’. More, including complete results and on-demand video is available on the NYYC Web site.

The team of John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee just won’t go away at the 2010 Yngling World Championships. Here we are, after seven often difficult races on the southern Ijsselmeer in Lelystad NED and the US team has sailed consistently in the top 10 to stand in third overall (PDF) with 34 points, which also makes them the top foreign competitor On their home waters, the Dutch are a force, playing ping-pong with two teams at the top, Current leaders are Haven/van Arem/Karsters NED (20) who added two seconds yesterday to gain some breathing room on Otte/Oost/Deen NED (27). Upham/Wilson/Upham USA (254) are 46th among the 52 boats. The event site.

The Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, Fla. hosts 46 of the best junior girl sailors in the country, ages 13-18, for this week’s U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship (USJWSC). Sailors representing 14 states are racing in Laser Radials on Biscayne Bay for the right to claim the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy. On a typical South Florida summer day with scattered clouds and temperatures in the high 80s, the easterlies varied between 6 and 13 knots. After four races, defending champion Molly McKinney (6 pts.) leads the standings with a 3-1-1-1 score, followed by 2008 champion Arielle deLisser (10) and Sky Adams (16). Visit the events page or follow the racing on the US Sailing Facebook page. Big thanks to event photographer John Payne/www.johnpaynephoto.com for his excellent images and wonderful service.

A couple who took a yacht for a quiet sailing trip were stunned when a 40-ton whale crash-landed on their boat off Cape Town RSA. The pair were enjoying calm seas off the South African coast when the animal flipped into the air and smashed into their mast. Ralph Mothes, 59, and Paloma Werner, 50, were helpless as the beast thrashed around on their 33ft vessel before slipping back into the water. Miss Werner said: "It really was quite incredible but very scary. The whale was about the same size as the boat. "We'd spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us. "I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight of the thing was huge. "There were bits of skin and blubber left behind, and the mast was wrecked. It brought down the rigging too." Thank goodness the hull was made of steel and not fibreglass or we could have been ruined." The story and a slide show.

By 5 pm on Tuesday July 20 all boats participating in the Lake Ontario 300 were finished and accounted for. It was a race of attrition with more than a quarter of all starters dropping out because of damage sustained in the violent squalls on Saturday afternoon. Preliminary results by division (SBC for Scotch Bonnet Island Course, MDC Main Duck Island Course):
MDC-Spin-Doublehanded-PHRF: ‘Upstart’ (SunFast 3200); MDC-Crewed-Multihull: ‘Flight Simulator’ (Corsair 28 R); MDC-Spin-Crewed-IRC: ‘Notorious’ (Farr 30); MDC-Spin-crewed-PHRF: ‘Afterburn’ (Dash 34); SBC-Spin-Doublehanded-PHRF: ‘Dolce Vita’ (Alberg 30); SBC-Spin-Crewed-PHRF: ’Sebana’ (Sirius 28); SBC-Doublehanded-PHRF: ‘For Pete’s Sake’ (Catalina C310); SBC-crewed-PHRF: ‘Impromtu’ (Ericson 35 MK II); SBC-Spin-Singlehanded-PHRF: ‘Taz’ (Tartan 10). The racewww.lo300.org/yachts-participants/kattack-race-viewer ]tracking page[/url], Bill Fleming’s gallery.

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

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

A building breeze on the southern Chesapeake yesterday provided ideal conditions for 79 competitors racing in the 2010 Optimist Girls National Championship. Haddon Hughes (6 pts.) from Houston Yacht Club won the title with a 4-1-1 record. In second, Eliot Caple, Napes Sailing Center (13), followed by KB Knapp (20). The young sailors were in for a treat in the evening with Olympic Gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe stopping by to speak to them at last evening’s competitors’ dinner. Check the photo album and scroll to the bottom to see the happy faces surrounding Anna during her autograph session. The preliminary results, Dave Hein’s fine gallery and the video page. Today is the first day of the fleet nationals, which run until Saturday.
Ed note: This is an updated version of the original report. The protest hearings that were pending last night did not result in any result changes.

Competitors and race officials alike had their patience tried today as very light and fickle winds allowed only for the completion of the three remaining flights of the Round Robin in Chicago Match Race Center’s (CMRC) Summer Classic B Regatta. US Olympic veteran and US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Sally Barkow, sailing with crew members Genny Tulloch‚ Katie Pettibone, Jenn Chamberlin‚ and Stacey Jackson, won with a score of 8-1 and doused the male competition, becoming the first female skipper to win a CMRC event. Emerging as runner-up from a complex three-way tiebreak on 6-3 scores was John Singsen. Winner of the Summer Classic A Regatta, Bill Hardesty had to settle for third. Final Results: 1. Sally Barkow; 2. John Singsen; 3. Bill Hardesty; 4. Guy Mossman. The report with all the results.

One race was added yesterday at the 2010 Yngling World Championship in Lelystad NED, which brought into play the discard. The overall standings still look like a Dutch championship with a few friends from abroad. Back on top now are Otte/Oost/Deen NED (12 pts.) followed by Roukema/Kuiters/Tromp NED (14) and Haven/Arem/Karsters NED (16). In fourth, after another solid day with a sixth-place finish are John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA (19). Val Upham/Erin Wilson/ Mark Upham USA (174) are in 47th. The event page and the standings. (PDF)

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

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

After a short race off Port Camargue with 'Courrier Dunkerque' adding another race win to reduce the points spread overall to leader 'Nouvelle-Calédonie', the 28 teams started the 60-mile crossover regatta from Port Camargue to Marseille. At half-time of the race, 'TPM-COYCH Hyères' was ahead of 'Nouvelle Calédonie'. The teams are expected in Marseille this morning. 'Groovederci' (Deneen Demourkas USA) added an eighth and is grooving along in sixth overall with the podium pretty much out of reach, but within striking distance to 'Ile de France' in fifth and 'Oman Sail's Renaissance' in fourth. The event-website.

A one-hour delay welcomed 124 sailors from 26 countries on the second day of competition in the European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy, and then they still managed to get in two races. Thus, one discard is in play now. New leader overall is Eifion Mon GBR (8 pts.) who added a 1-6 to his score, followed by Philip Juricic CRO (12), who also leads the Under-19 class. In third is Jochem-Bart Haakman NED (14). It was a much better day for Chris Barnard USA (45) who had a 12-10 to climb to 37th overall. Two races are scheduled for today, first gun at 11.00 am CEDT. The report and the gallery.

With a focus on Olympic class, one-design, youth and disabled sailing, Sailing News covers more events than anyone else. We do it seven days a week, so the news is always fresh. Keeping up is easy. Just subscribe to our daily Twitter updates and you are always in the know, whether you’re in your cube, car, castle or catamaran (or any other boat).

A challenging Lake Ontario 300 race has concluded with gale force winds at the start, followed by total absence of breeze along the south shore halfway through the race. Most boats had finished at press time and sailors were relating their tales of hurricane-force winds, high seas damaged sails and equipment. Fifty-three of 198 boats were listed as retired after getting hit by a series of squalls after the start on Saturday. Many were caught with too much sail up, broached and were held flat on the water for extended periods. The worst damage was reported from ‘Cheeky Monkey’, Ron White’s trimaran that capsized Saturday afternoon. Reportedly, the crew is OK and the boat had been recovered. Preliminary results have ‘Sansei’ as first to finish the shorter Scotch Bonnet Island Course, while ‘Gamera’ and ‘Gaucho’ were first on the Main Duck Island Course in multi- and monohulls, respectively. ‘Taz’, skippered by Dan Havlat, was the first of the singlehanders. The event Web site, the (not yet complete) finishing order (PDF), and the posts on the Facebook page.

While many sailors in the One Design portion of New York Yacht Club (NYYC) Race Week at Newport headed back to the office, some are busy planning their strategy for the second “half” of the regatta, due to start today. Four days of racing will take place on Rhode Island Sound and be purely IRC-rated. As part of US-IRC's Gulf Stream Series, this regatta attracted some hot performers such as Ron O'Hanley's 50-foot Privateer, George David’s 90-foot Rambler, Richard Oland’s Southern Cross 52 ‘Vela Veloce’, Dan Meyers’s J/V 66-footer ‘Number's’, and Ray Roberts’s STP65 ‘Evolution Racing'. The best performing boat among the 35 entered will take the Rolex US-IRC National Championship title and its skipper will be presented with a specially engraved Rolex timepiece at the Rolex Gala and Awards Party on Saturday evening. More on the NYYC site.

In the America’s Cup Video Competition a panel of expert judges selected three “early winners,” which could mean that there might be "late winners" as well, because the competition remains open through September. Watch these three clips titled 'Ride It', 'A bit of Hawaii' and 'Seaweed' to judge for yourself. Only entrants under 28 years of age are invited to share production techniques “to energize the look of the competition for the world’s oldest sporting trophy.” This demographic was targeted because of its close association with extreme sports and social media.
Starting on Thursday of this week there will be on-the water tests in Valencia ESP with two pairs of monohulls and multihulls competing on modified courses to review the format of racing. The boats will be equipped with HD and 3D cameras to capture the on board action.

The USODA Team Race Nationals got off to another early start on day 3, at 09:30 am to take advantage of the early breeze from the SW at13-18 knots. Teams were re-grouped into Gold and Silver divisions with LISOT Blue, Lauderdale YC 4, ISV 1, and LOOT gold having the best chance of winning the championship. LISOT Blue and Lauderdale YC 4 were only separated by 3 points, so the winner of the final, which was worth 6 points, would be the champ. Lauderdale YC 4 Team lead by the Wiliford brothers Duncan and Christopher with Wade Waddell, Liza and Alie Toppa finished 2-3-4-5 to secure the championship. LISOT Blue Team of Alexandra DelBello, Reiner Eenkema van Dijk, Drew Gallagher, Ty Ingram and Harry Koeppel finished 2nd. In 3rd were Andy Widmeier, Justine O’Connor, Ben Kern, Ian MacDiarmid, Nic Muller, and Wiley Rogers on Team M One. Silver division champion is the LISOT Red Team with. The event Web site, the complete results, the video of the finals and the gallery by Jon Deutsch.

The first half of the biennial New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, which finished up yesterday for seven classes, has also now concluded for five more one-design classes that have been racing since Saturday. The catch, however, was that today’s first race had to be abandoned and then competition cancelled when severe thunderstorms passed over Rhode Island Sound, leaving winners to be determined by cumulative standings posted yesterday. The circumstances left J/105 skipper Damian Emery, sailing his J/105 ‘Eclipse’ in the largest class here (20 boats), very happy. He is now the 2010 J/105 East Coast Champion, a title he also won in 2008 at this regatta, coincidentally under similar circumstances when a storm aborted racing on the last day. Other class winners:
NYYC Swan 42 (15 boats): ‘Arethusa’, Phillip Lotz ; J/122 (7 boats): ‘Wings’, Thomas Boyle; J/109 (13 boats): ‘Gut Feeling’, Ted Herlihy; PHRF 1 (10 boats):‘Good Girl’, J/100, Robert Armstrong; Beneteau First 36.7 (8 boats): ‘Elan’, John Hammel; CRF 1 (3 boats): ‘Black Watch’; 12 Meters (5 boats, 2 races): ‘Courageous’, Ralph Isham; CRF 2 (5 boats, 2 races): ‘Chips’, Jed Pearsall; 6 Metre (6 boats, 2 races): ‘Ranger’, Thomas Rodes; S Class (10 boats, 2 races): ‘Firefly’, Alan Silken; PHRF 2 (5 boats, 2 races): ‘Park Place’, O'Day 34, Richard Mentelos. More on the NYYC Web site.

Sailing may not be as popular as football in this country, but hosting the world's premier regatta would pack at least three times the economic punch for San Francisco as a Super Bowl. That's the assessment of a new economic study obtained by The Chronicle that found that holding the next America's Cup here in either 2013 or 2014 would infuse $1.4 billion into the Bay Area's economy - the vast majority of it in San Francisco - and generate 8,800 jobs, from prep cooks to engineers. Hosting a Super Bowl generates between $300 million and $500million on average. All told, including statewide and national impacts like extended tourism, the series of yacht races in San Francisco Bay would generate $1.9 billion in economic activity and create about 12,000 jobs, according to a city-commissioned report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and Beacon Economics, which was released today. Read more about the what-ifs and the numbers that are being tossed around with great abandon.

TPM-COYCH Hyères' (Fabien Henry) was the team of the day yesterday with two wins in the three short races, consolidating third overall. Nothing new on top where 'Nouvelle Calédonie' (Bertrand Pacé) remains a mile ahead of 'Courrier Dunkerque' (Daniel Souzben). In a 10-12 kn breeze and summery 28°C, 'Groovederci' (Deneen Demourkas USA) struggled to get it going with 14-11-9, which puts them back into sixth overall. The results, the daily report and the video of the day.

A fleet of 124 sailors from 26 countries started in the 2010 European Laser Standard Youth Championship & Trophy in Gdynia POL. A lively breeze in the mid-teens and some moderate chop provided ideal conditions for the first tow races and the “full-sized” young Laser sailors who are currently classified in category under the age of 21, but after the competition medals will also be distributed to the best U-19. Today the first gun will be fired at 11 am. Results after two races European Championships in Laser Class Standard: 1st Gozen Cem TUR (2 pts.), 2nd Eifion Mon GBR (7), 3rd Philip Juricic CRO (8). Chris Barnard USA (51) is in 50th. The event Web site, the complete standings, and the gallery.

In brutal conditions, meaning high temperatures and next to no wind, the Ynglings sailed two more races at their World Championship in Lelyland NED. And the Dutch continue their dominance holding eight of the top nine spots. Notable exception is the team of John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA (35) in fifth place. In first, Hidde-Jan Haven/Don van Arem/Miguel Karsters (17) followed by yesterday’s leaders Tom Otte/Sander Oost/Jan Deen NED (18). The event Web site and the standings (PDF).

‘Beau Geste’, the 80-foot maxi out of Hong Kong, was the first to cross the finish line in the Pure Michigan Bayview Mackinac race at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday, ahead of Doug DeVos' 86-foot ‘Windquest’. which finished at 8:18 p.m. ‘Beau Geste’ crossed in a driving rainstorm, with visibility so bad it was difficult to see the boat until it was close to the finish, even with its 130-foot mast and sails. They had high winds, holes with no wind and finally rain over the last leg of the race. The TP 52 ‘Natalie J’, finished at 11:11 and corrected out over both maxi boats to place first in IRC-A. The report.

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

The 2010 2,300-mile Vic-Maui race was recorded as one of the faster ones with the “tiny” Riptide 35 ‘Terremoto!’ taking line honors in the 9-boat fleet with an elapsed time of 11 d 15 h 20 m 49 s. It’s by far the smallest line-honors boat in the race, with a time that compares to those of many larger yachts. Winner by corrected time was the Benny 47.7 ‘ Kinetic’, which corrected to 10d 23 h 01 m 19 s. after an elapsed time of 12 d 12 h 12 m 23 s. Class 2 winner was the Southern Cross 39 ’Sonsie’, which corrected to 11 d 19 h 38 m 37 s, for 3rd overall. Get all the minutiae on the event Web site.

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

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

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

No mercy for the 43 Laser Standard and 70 Laser Radials at the 2010 Canadian Championships at the Club de Voile de Laurentides. Five races on Friday, a loose day with two (Radial only one) on Saturday, but a full program on the final day. If you want legendary Laser designer Ian Bruce to hand you a trophy, you’ve got to earn it. After 10 races Chris Dold (16 pts.) was crowned champion. With nine top-three finishes he built an insurmountable lead so he could sit out the final race. Second was Lee Parkhill (27), who climbed a spot ahead of Evan Lewis (29). In the 70-boat Radials, Nigel Heath defended Saturday’s lead to take the title three points clear of the top lady, Danielle Dube (28) who had a very strong and consistent series. In third Jean-Luc Robitaille (31) who bumped Rob Koci (38) off the podium. Top junior was Dan Barry (43) in fifth. See the complete results.

After the Laser Radial World Championships of last week, its the turn of the Radial Youth sailors to prepare for the World and European Championships which both are sailed in Largs GBR. 319 participants from 44 nations participate with large delegations from England, Germany, Italy, France and the USA. The US team has entered 24 sailors, including the two bronze medalists of the last week's ISAF Youth Sailing Worlds, Mitchell Kiss and Erika Reineke. The event Web site.

Sailing on Sunday at the 2010 USODA Team Race Nationals started early with a 0930 first warning to take advantage of the SW 8-10 knot breeze to complete the first round robin. Lauderdale Yacht Club (#4) was the top-ranked team coming out of the first round, followed by LISOT Black, LISOT Blue, and FOR A. Those four teams made up the top group going into round two and the rest of the teams were seeded below them in the remaining 5 groups. Round 2 started in the early afternoon once the light sea breeze. The course was kept short, which created close racing, required great seamanship and showed quick tactical decision-making Round 2 results are as follows: LISOT Blue, Lauderdale YC 4, ISV 1, and LOOT gold. Those four teams will be in the Alpha group competing for the top spot on Monday. Another early start has been scheduled for Monday morning at 0930. The format for racing on Monday will be announced at the competitors’ meeting at 0800. The report, the gallery and the video page.

The Yngling Worlds in Lelystad NED (southern Ijsselmeer) opened yesterday with two races. The Dutch teams are dominating the 52-boat fleet with 7 boats in the top-10. Leaders are Tom Otte/Sander Oost/Jan Deen NED (5) but in fourth, as the best non-Dutch team are John Ingalls/Torey Pellegrini/Bruce Chafee USA (10) who had a 6-4. The second US team of Val Upham/Erin Wilson/Mark Upham is 48th. The results (PDF) and the Event-Website.

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

After the Atlantic races ended last Friday, the Med portion the Tour de France will begin with the first short races in Port Camargue today. Additional inshore races and two crossover regattas from Port Camargue to Marseille and Marseille to La Seyne are scheduled. 'Nouvelle Calédonie' with the America's Cup-veteran Betrand Pacé has a clear lead in the overall rankings and will be tough to beat. 'Groovederci' and Deneen Demourkas USA is in fifth overall. The daily report.

Today is the first racing day at the Junior European Championship of the Laser Standard in Gdynia POL. Among the 137 entries from 22 countries is one US sailor, Chris Barnard. The largest delegations come from Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Poland. Check the event Web site.

Seven classes concluded competition today in the first half of the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, while a balance of five classes logged a second of three race days in dazzling conditions similar to yesterday’s. The event is catering to 107 boats and 1200 sailors in its first half before switching gears on Wednesday to serve, in its second half, as the Rolex US-IRC National Championship for another 38 boats. The 12Meters were won by ‘Courageous’ while the Robert Armstrong’s ‘Good Girl’ topped PHRF 1, Richard Mentelos’ ‘Park Place’ edged out David Nauber’s ‘Wolverine’ in PHRF 2 class. Other winners crowned today were Trevor Fetter’s ‘Black Watch’ in Classics CRF 1; Thomas Rodes’s ‘Ranger’ in 6 Metre Class; Alan Silken’s ‘Firefly’ in the Herreshoff S Class. Racing concludes today for the Swan 42s (Phil Lotz’s ‘Arethusa’ currently leads); J/122s (Thomas Boyle’s ‘Wings’ leads); J/109s (Ted Herlihy’s ‘Gut Feeling’ leads), Beneteau First 36.7 (John Hammel’s ‘Elan’ leads); and J/105s (Damian Emery’s ‘Eclipse’ leads). Reports, results, images and on-demand video on the Club Web site.

‘Horizon’, the Santa Cruz 50 from Dana Point, finished the 2010 Pacific Cup Friday evening at 22:01:39 Hawaii Standard Time. Skipper Jack Taylor and Navigator Jon Shampain and the crew brought the boat from the Golden Gate to Kaneohe Bay in 8 days eleven hours, forty-six minutes, and thirty-nine seconds, which just might be good enough for the triple crown. Their course, like most in their fleet, took them on a path well to the north of the usual one for this race. Second home was ‘War Pony’ followed by ‘Limit’ and ‘J/World’s Hula Girl,’ ‘Deception’, ‘Trunk Monkey’ and ‘Pocket Rocket.’ Check the arrival reports and the latest release.

In another day of fickle, shifting breezes along the Belmont waterfront, race managers struggled to complete the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) Summer Classic A Regatta, with the winner declared from the Round Robin results. Having advanced through each stage successfully to meet US Olympian Sally Barkow in the final, Bill Hardesty and his crew of Tayler Sinks‚ Jack Jennings, and Nate Hollerback was declared the event champion when the weak sea breeze failed to re-strengthen enough to conduct even one sudden-death match. Hardesty eliminated Guy Mossman in the quarterfinals, then Steven Lowery in the semis. In the other bracket, Taylor Canfield pushed Sally Barkow, the world’s No 11 ranked female match racer, but lost in three races to finish third overall. Final standings: 1. Bill Hardesty; 2. Sally Barkow; 3. Taylor Canfield; 4. Steven Lowery. Racing will resume today in the CMRC Summer Classic B Regatta, with the first start intended for 9:00 AM. The event Web site

In Neubrandenburg GER last weekend, Peter Seidenberg USA won the six-race German Laser Masters Championship (part of the Euro-Masters series) in the Laser Radial class. Lennart Cnossen NED took the title in the Lasers Standard.

And just like that Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (40 pts.) have the 2010 470 World Championship in the bag. No need to worry about the medal race. After a poor first heat in yesterday’s three races when the wind piped up to 18 knots, they added a 1-2 and benefited from the misfortune that befell Patience/Bithell GBR, who took second in the first race and held the overall lead until they broke a rudder fitting in the second heat and dropped out. Belcher/Page are 20 points clear of second place, so they’ll watch the others scrap for the other medals in tomorrow's medal race. Contenders for the medal spots are Mantis/Kagialis GRE (60) in second of the Gold fleet overall standings, defending World Champions, Fantela/Marenic CRO (61) in third, and three others who are within eight points of the Greeks. McNay/Biehl USA (119) are in 15th overall. In men’s Silver fleet , the leaders are Schmid/Reichstaetter AUT (77) with Roberts/Martin USA (120) in sixth.
In the women’s Gold fleet , the stage is set for a match race between leaders Aleh/Powrie NZL (23) and the tenacious and talented Westhofg/Berkhout NED (24) in second, who will have the gallery rooting for them. In third Conti/Micol ITA (51) who sunk their chances for the title with a BFD in Race 2. Heartbreak for the US girls: Clark/Chin (100) were well en route to the medal race, but capsized in the second race and ended up in 11th, one point out of the medal race and eight points ahead of first-day leaders Maxwell/Kinsolving Farrar USA (108) in 12th. Battle also looms in the women’s Silver fleet, where Koch/Sommer DEN (58) have a one-point lead over Mrak/Cerne SLO (59) Haeger/Provancha USA (82) are in sixth. The entertaining video, the report, the tracking page and Thom Tow’s gallery.

After two days of sailing at the Canadian Laser Championships hosted by the Club de Voile de Lauren tides on Two Mountain Lake, the results were finally posted, albeit with some room for guessing. After seven races (one discard) in the 44-boat Laser Standard fleet, the lead belonged to Chris Dold (12), followed by Greg Clunies (13) and Lee Parkhill (21). Top junior is Martin Robitaille (43) in 6th. In the 70-boat Laser Radial the results reflect six races but strangely score everyone DNC in Saturday’s second race. Without any other discards, the top three are Nigel Heath (22) Rob Koci (31) and top girl Danielle Dube (35). Top junior is Daniel Barry (37) in fourth. No results for the Laser 4.7 were available at press time.

Racing into the sunset, Round Robin was completed in challenging conditions off the Belmont Harbor waterfront yesterday. After a long day of challenging conditions, where the wind went from beguiling zephyrs to blustery zingers and touched every point on the compass at the Chicago Match Race Center’s (CMRC) Summer Classic A Regatta, reigning US National Match Race champion Bill Hardesty and his team lead the standings on an eight to one win-loss record. In second Taylor Canfield (6-3) who hold the tiebreaker over Sally Barkow (6-3). In fourth John Singsen (5-4). In the quarterfinals, Hardesty will race Guy Mossman, Canfield will race Mark Kroening, Barkow will race Colin Rathbun, and John Singsen will race Steven Lowery. Winners in this first-to-three point series will advance to the semifinals. The official report.

The 2010 USODA Nationals kicked off on Saturday with the first day of Team Racing. 110 sailors divided into 24 teams competed in a round-robin format in the first of 3 days of racing. After a short postponement, the fleet was sent to the racecourse and the 24 teams took turns racing each other in the round robin in meager SSW winds from 6-8 knots. Around mid-afternoon some inclement weather appeared on the horizon and the sailors were sent in after only 24 of the 36 races planned for round one and racing was suspended for the rest of the day. No results were available by 9:30 pm EDT. The report, the gallery and the video page.

Tens of thousands of people lined the banks of the Humber and the quayside of Hull Marina to welcome home the paying amateur crews after enduring storms, calms and calamities during the 35,000-mile Clipper 09-10 Race. As we reported yesterday, line honors in the final stage went to the Irish entry, ‘Cork,’ their second race win and a nice rebound from the disaster last January when they lost their original boat in the Java Sea in January. Second were the hometown favorites on Hull & Humber who ended up fourth overall, behind winner ‘Spirit of Australia,’ Team Finland’ and ‘Cape Breton Island.’ Read the entire report. The final standings: 1. Spirit of Australia, 128 points; 2. Team Finland, 105.3 points; 3. Cape Breton Island, 104 points; 4. Hull & Humber, 98 points; 5. Jamaica Lightning Bolt, 98 points; 6. Uniquely Singapore, 76 points; 7. Qinghai, 74 points; 8. Cork, 56.8 points; 9. Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, 53 points; 10. California, 42 points.

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

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

Torey Pellegrini, Stephen Pellegrini, Kyle Carney, three young US sailors, traveled to Lelystad, northeast of Amsterdam NED and battled hard to take second overall in the European Yngling Youth Championship behind Lucas Lier/Emil Max Moeller/Konrad Floryan DEN and one point ahead of the Dutch on their home waters and earned the European title. Big breeze and produced tough conditions, which spread the fleet wide and far. For the youth sailors (up to age 21) this event was a tune-up for the Yngling World Championships also held in Lelystad NED, from July 18 to July 23, for which 51 teams are registered. The event Web site.

The parking lot entrance of Key Sailing offers a breezeway to paradise. Out the back, Santa Rosa Sound beckons with its gentle surf, wide expanse and sparkling shoreline of Quiet water Beach. In the summer, it's usually a crowded hub of boating activity. "I would have 10 kids running around the beach right now doing stuff, three or four people working the counter and 100 people lined up out the door,'' said Kirk Newkirk, who has operated the business for 36 years. But not now. Not this week. Not this summer. While the sound has not been dotted by tar mats or tar balls, the impact of the oil spill has been severe for Key Sailing and other businesses on Pensacola Beach offering water recreation activities. The water has been perfectly fine for sailing and boating, but far less people are doing it. "Percentage-wise, we are down somewhere between 70 to 80 percent,” Newkirk said. Pick a day, any day from May 1 until today, and Newkirk can show the log sheet of rentals. In addition to sailboat rentals, Key Sailing offers parasailing excursions, jet ski rentals and pontoon boat rentals. “Here's eight people (renting) on May 6, 12 people on May 7, whereas in a typical day we would fill a column and a half (of rentals),'' Newkirk said. "Instead of eight, we would have 80.” Read the entire story of the Pensacola News Journal.

For the first time in 18 years, US Sailing’s Youth World Team won three bronze medals at the 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship today: Erika Reineke in the Laser Radial, Antoine Screve and James Moody in the 29er, and Taylor Palmer and Mac Agnese in the Sirena SL16 multihull. 344 sailors from 63 countries were competing in an intense and difficult regatta. “We didn’t have conditions as expected,” said Olympic Coach Leandro Spina. “It was mostly light and shifty, and today was windy and shifty. We had very long days, and our team was able to stay focused all week long. Our good approach to the challenging conditions paid off. Discipline helps the talented sailors win.” Read the entire release.

After a trying week of postponements, light and shifty breeze the ISAF Youth World Championship in Istanbul TUR concluded with a spectacular summer day with warm sunshine and a gusty offshore breeze from 8 - 14 knots. The medal table shaped up as follows: Spain two Gold, France, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands one gold each. France retains the Volvo Trophy for the best nation in a repeat of last year followed by Great Britain and Spain. The USA got three bronze medals and took ninth. The individual results
The SL 16 catamarans were the first to decide the medals with Chase Lurati/Paul Darmanin AUS (24 pts.) securing Gold ahead of twins Daniel and Nicolaj Bjornholt DEN (34) and Taylor Palmer/Mac Agnese USA who needed a second in the last race to snatch Bronze from Boniface/Butler GBR.
The final day was the Radial Girls the moment for Michelle Broekhuizen NED (52) who parlayed a 9th place into a Gold medal, holding off Heidi Tenkanen FIN (55) who won the last race to secure silver and Erika Reineke USA (56) who salvaged Bronze.
No changes on the 29er podium where Gael Jaffrezic/Julien Bloyet FRA (28) took Gold in convincing fashion with a bullet in the last race. Silver for the girl/boy team of Alex Maloney/Sam Bullock NZL (34) and Bronze for Antoine Screve/James Moody USA (45).
In the competitive 50-boat Laser Radial Boys, Thomas Saunders NZL (48) defended Gold against Kheri Bualong THA (53) and Giovanni Coccoluto ITA (62). Mateo Vargas USA (106) finished in 13th.
Switzerland’s Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI (27) could afford to sail their discard in the final race of the 420 Girls to secure Gold ahead of Maelenn Lemaitre/Aloise Retornaz FRA (31) and Lara Vadlau/Hannah Hanke AUT (35). Marlena Fauer/Christina Lewis USA (56) improved over the course of the regatta to finish 10th. It was a horizon job by Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp ESP (17) in the 420 Boys ,) who took the title with a 26-point cushion over Jao Villas Boas/Tomas Camelo POR (43). Bronze for Jeremy Bachelin/Alexander Massard SUI (47). Ian Liberty/Colin Murphy USA (109) finished 23rd. In the very tight RS:X Boys Mateo Sanz ESP (21) wore down Wonwoo Cho KOR (23) to take the Gold. The Korean, who led most of the week salvaged Silver by a point over Pavel Tarnowski POL (24); Cullen Ahearn USA (176) finished in 29th. Once Kamila Smektala POL(16) was in the lead, in theRS:X Girls, she stayed there by scoring a bullet in the final race and watching Isobel Hamilton GBR (21) slip by Ofir Halevy ISR(26) who lead the better part of the series.. The daily report.
The event Web site, the Facebook page and the gallery.

Finally, after an unorthodox few days off the Hague, with the wind and wave states severely disrupting the schedule, three races at the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships were sailed yesterday in a big 20-28 knot breeze. To get an idea, check out this wet video of the day. With the fleets divided, the heavy-air specialists and especially the Dutch showed their mettle on that exhausting day.
In the women’s Gold fleet, defending World Champions and local heroes, Westerhof/Berkhout NED. Scored three straight bullets to take the lead, one point ahead Aleh/Powrie. NZL, Thursday’s leaders who pocketed a DNF after their main halyard broke. In third Conti/Micol ITA. “Wow that was windy! We have moved back up to 7th overall after a 2, 13, 8 today,” was the short tweet by Amanda Clark/Sarah Chin USA (49). Maxwell/Kinsolving Farrar USA (54) currently hold 10th. The women's Silver fleetis led by Koch/Sommer DEN (58), Haeger/Provancha USA (82) are in fifth.
In the men's Gold fleet, Belcher/Page AUS (23) had a win to pad their overall lead, followed by Patience/Bithell GBR (29) and the Coster brothers NED (30) who rocketed from 11th to third overall. New in fourth Mantis/Kagialis GRE (31) who rose from 10th and now have a shot at the podium. McNay/Biehl USA (74) are in 17th. Roberts/Martin USA (83) who were listed as 39th before the split (which would have them qualified for Gold), got shuffled into the Silver fleet, but ended their day with 2-1 to stand in third overall. Three more races today, forecast is for 10-12 knots. The event Web site, the tracking page and Thom Touw’s gallery.

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

Shortly before 10 p.m. on Friday, the scratch boat ‘Cork’ that had a head start on the larger and lighter rest of the fleet finished the last leg of the Clipper Round the World Race 2009-2010. About 103 minutes later, ‘Hull& Humber’ crossed the line in second with ‘Spirit of Australia’ and ‘Cape Breton Island’ expected next. The official end will come this morning at 09:30 local time when the fleet is gathered at Hull Marina to race up the Humber River in formation to the Humber Bridge before returning to the finish line off the marina entrance. After that the party will begin with parachutists, helicopters, and lots of music leading up to and continuing beyond the awards ceremony on Humber Quay in the afternoon. The report and the finishing order.

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

Light to moderate air that started earlier than the previous days provided near ideal conditions on all courses and that meant lots of racing on the penultimate day of the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2010. In some classes the discards finally came into play, which shuffled the standings big time. Only three of Wednesday's leaders survived.
New leaders in the 420 Girls are Linda Fahrni/Maja Siegenthaler SUI (17) who swapped places with Vadlau/Hahnke AUT (18). In the 420 Boys, Xammar/Herp ESP (13) are untouchable, Liberty/Murphy USA 986) are in 20th. In the very dense Laser Radial Boys, it’s another day another leader with Thomas Saunders NZL (41), but the top four are only separated by four points. Mateo Vargas USA (96) is 14th. There’s also a new leader in the Radial Girls with Viktorija Androlyte LTU (35), followed by Erika Reineke USA (39)who keeps marching upward. In the RS:X Boys class, Wonwoo Cho KOR (16) keeps battling Mateo Sanz ESP (19); Cullen Ahearn USA (153) is 29th. Same story in the RS:X Girls, where Kamila Smektala POL(15) snatched the lead from Ofir Halevy ISR(17). Isobel Hamilton GBR (19) is close behind. Today will be a battle for the title. In the SL 16 catamarans, Lurati/Darmanin AUS (20) have a good lead over the Bjornholt brothers DEN (29). Palmer/Agnese USA (36) are working hard to iron out the poor start of the regatta and are in 5th, four points from the podium. In the 29er Jaffrezic/Bloyet FRA (27) remained ahead of Maloney/Bullock NZL (30). Back on the podium for now are Screve/Moody USA (37). The points in the Volvo Trophy for the top nation were not updated.
The event Web site, the Facebook page and the gallery.

The weather continues to wreak havoc with the 470 World Championships in The Hague NED. Today the boats were sent out in the morning when it blew like snot. For safety’s sake the fleets were sent in. With wind against tide further increasing the severity of the waves in the afternoon, it wasn't until the early evening that the one race in each of the two women's groups was held. Winners Conti/Micol ITA and Sesto/Monsegur ARG. Overall the Italians are in first place tied on eight points with Aleh/Powrie NZL and three points ahead Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar USA (11). Joining them in the Gold fleet are Amanda Clark/Sarah Chin USA (26) in 11th.
One race was attempted on the men's course very late in the day, but the breeze dwindled so much that the lead boats failed to reach the windward mark within the 25 minute time limit. Regardless, the men are being split up in Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets.Overall leaders are Belcher/Page AUS (8), followed by Asher/Willis GBR (11) and Dahlberg/Östling SWE (11). McNay/Biehl USA (29) are 16th. Roberts/Martin (56) are 39th to barely sneak into the gold fleet. The video of the day, the Web site, the tracking page and Thom Touw’s gallery.