Clipper Round the World Race

Following a tactical decision to move away from the Brazilian coast Nova Scotia has given away second place to Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper. There a chance the Scottish team will also have to tack away from the coast later today but it is possible that Nova Scotia has moved too far from the coast for the boat to regain second place.

Durban 2010 and Beyond has finally cleared the difficult stretch of the Brazilian coast that has been worrying skipper Ricky Chalmers for the last few days. The South Africans have now managed to take advantage of Nova Scotia's tack away from the coast and extend their lead to 63 nautical miles.

Joff Bailey, Race Director, comments, "It would appear as though Durban 2010 and Beyond has a clear run home to the finish in Salvador but the winds can be fickle and unpredictable when sailing close to the shore especially at night time and with more than 200 nautical miles still to cover the positions could change again."

Liverpool 08's tactics of staying further east have finally paid off as they moved ahead of Hull & Humber into fourth place. This lead should be consolidated over the next 24 hours as Liverpool 08 has a more favourable angle on the wind than Hull & Humber. The entire fleet is now in the Southern Hemisphere.

Barcolana

Thursday morning the first RC44 Cup fleet race will start. Today the crews tested their boats in the Gulf of Trieste with over 20 knots of Bora wind, the best performances came from Team Omega steered by Russell Coutts and Team Aqua with Chris Bake at the helm. 10 teams will be racing, so the rankings could change since there are many participants and highly professional teams. Russell Cutts likes Bora wind, he knows he’ll have some advantage with strong wind.

There are 775 entrants in Barcolana 39 so far, among which the Farr80 Banca Generali, with Pelaschier at the helm, who will challenge Cino Ricci, recruited for the race by the Army. The three strongest helmsmen in the world, Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and James Spithill, presented today Trieste RC44 Cup to the press.

Velux 0 Oceans

Only weeks after announcing that Velux is going ahead with its sponsorship of a second 5 Oceans solo round the world race, organisers Clipper Ventures have hit a major snag: the race has been categorically rejected by the Open 60 class in favour of the rival Barcelona World Race, run by Ellen MacArthur's and Mark Turner's OC Group.

IMOCA, the Open 60 skippers' association, has highlighted what it calls 'previous problemswith the last two editions of the Velux 5 Oceans' and says 'an internal survey showed the race was mostly not part of the skippers' priorities'.

Instead, the class is putting its full weight behind the fourly-yearly Route du Rhum race in 2010 and a second edition of the two-handed Barcelona World Race later the same year.

This leaves Clipper Ventures with a big problem: it will be extremely difficult to attract top sponsors and skippers to the Velux 5 Oceans.

Osprey Cup

Later this month, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.) will host some of the world's most accomplished sailors during the Rolex Osprey Cup, an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 women's match racing regatta. Scheduled for October 18-21, the regatta will feature 10 international teams, including the world's #3 ranked Team Acuity, skippered by Katie Spithill (Pittwater, Australia). Spithill, the runner-up at the 2007 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship, will compete against nine other top skippers including #4 ranked Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), a two-time world champion and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, and Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif.), also a past Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and the current U.S. Women's Match Racing champion. Racing takes place daily on Tampa Bay in Sonar class keelboats, within viewing range of the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier.

Transat Jacques Vabre

With 60 boats registered, the eighth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre confirms the success of this race and its establishment as a major classic. Created back in 1993, and indeed ever since, this race, which follows the historic route of the coffee trade, has grown continually both in terms of its fame and sporting interest. For each new edition, the greatest yachtsmen turn up to compete in the Transat Jacques Vabre.

60 boats at the start, while there were 38 two years ago and 13 for the first edition back in 1993. 120 of the top ocean racing skippers will be present in Le Havre, thus confirming the popularity of the ocean race and showing that all of the skippers still have that desire to take part.

Since 1995, the teams in Le Havre have managed to create some exceptional conditions for the hosting of the race, and steadily improved on them with each new edition. Today, Le Havre is one of the top homeports for ocean races. For this eighth Transat Jacques Vabre, a marina is going to be created at the back of the Paul Vatine Basin for the thirty Class 40 boats, with the multihulls and the monohulls spread over the two sides of the basin.

A wide-ranging permanent programme of events is planned for the 7000 m2 village, which will be open throughout the week. It will be open each day from Friday 26th October to Sunday 4th November from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with three late night openings.

The boats must be in harbour in Le Havre by noon on Friday 26th October.

The prize-giving ceremony will take place in Salvador in two stages. The first evening on Tuesday 20th November will concern the first boats to finish, while a second evening will reward the Class 40 boats on Tuesday 27th November.

Transat Jacques Vabre

Leading British print and electronic media company Pindar, prolific supporters of British sailing, announced that Jo Royle and Alexia Barrier will skipper Class 40 yacht Pindar 40 in this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) transatlantic race. Over 40 boats have been entered in the Class 40 fleet which will race from France to Brazil starting on the 3rd November, Jo and Alexia being the sole female duo.

33rd AC in Valencia?

As a consequence of the uncertainty and the delays arising from the Golden Gate Yacht Club Law suit in New York, AC Management (ACM) is concerned that the feasibility of organising the next America's Cup in Valencia in 2009 has been effectively compromised. ACM will in the coming days engage in consultations with the Defender, the Challenger of Record, the Competitors and the Spanish Authorities on this specific matter. ACM is considering all options, including the possibility of postponing the event to a later date. In the meantime, ACM understands that SNG continues to try to find a resolution of the dispute pending with Golden Gate Yacht Club in New York.

Suzuki Signs 3 Year Sponsorship

Suzuki signs up to be main sponsor of La Solitaire for the next 3 years, an event they have supported since 2006. Suzuki France and Groupe Le Figaro have signed a partnership deal for 2008, 2009 and 2010. The race therefore calls itself once again “La Solitaire du Figaro” and introduces a new event logo with the main sponsor, Suzuki. Mr Yukata Higashikubo, President of Suzuki France and Mr Francis Morel, the General Manager for the Groupe Le Figaro, are pleased to announce this partnership that will come into play for the 39th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro in 2008.

Artemis Wins TP52

In the end they made it look easy. With only a single score outside the top five all week - a six in the first race - Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis (SWE), with Russell Coutts in the role of tactician (and at times magician) swept to a comprehensive victory at the Rolex TP52 Global Championship 2007. The winning margin was 26.75 points ahead of 2006 Champion, Eamon Conneely's Patches (IRL). The enormity of the win is emphasized by only 6 points separating the next four boats.

Rolex TP52 Global Championship

Only one race on Friday at the Rolex TP52 Global Championship. But what a race. No huge change in the leaderboard, but when you get to see TP52s screaming downwind in 20+ knots, that seems a minor detail. Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine (MON) gave a heavy-air sailing demonstration to lead the fleet around the course and finish some way ahead of Stay Calm (GBR). Artemis (SWE) kept her championship aspirations on target with a fourth, whilst Windquest (USA) might be forgiven for keeping their heads down after an unfortunate incident with HRH Harald of Norway's Fram XVI (NOR) at the second windward mark. Going into the final day Artemis has a fifteen-point lead.