Team Russia

Today at a press conference held at Moscow International Boat Show, skipper Andreas Hanakamp and syndicate president Oleg Zherebtstov announced five key crew members that will join Team Russia to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

In a line up that unites experienced Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race veterans with Olympic and leading internationals sailors, Team Russia's crew now comprises:

Two former Volvo veterans Guillermo Altadill and Stig Westergaard named as watch captains. Guillermo sailed on Ericsson during the VOR 2005/06 and Assa Abloy in 2001/02. He skipped Estrella Damm in the recent Barcelona World Race and has over 300,000 miles of round the world racing under his belt.

Experienced Volvo Ocean Race and America's Cup sailor Stig Westergaard combines the role of watch captain with performance manager. He is a triple world champion in the Finn and Soling class and is a leading match racing coach, having worked with America's Cup and Olympic sailors.

Olympic silver medallist Rodion Luka takes the job of helmsman. Rodion is currently preparing to sail in the Olympic 49er class in Qingdao, China this August. He has extensive skiff and dinghy racing experience, which is essential for handling high performance Volvo 70's.

Wouter Verbraak is the team navigator. Wouter has competed in the Volvo Ocean Race onboard djuice dragons in 2001/02. He sailed in the America's Cup, Tour de France a la Voile, Admiral's Cup, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Baltic Race and advised sailors on strategy and weather in the Volvo Ocean Race, the Vendee Globe, Route du Rhum and the Olympics.

Finally, Vladimir 'Kuli' Kulinichenko who sailed on the first Soviet Whitbread boat Fasizi in 1989/90 and later Odessa and Hetman Sahaidachny, joins the team as sail maker. Kuli has an engineering background and world-class sailing and sail making experience. He has been involved in projects ranging from Whitbread campaigns to schooners, tall ships and IMS racing projects, over the span of thirty years and over 100,000 ocean miles.

Two Russian media team members were also announced today, Leonid Dubeykovskiy and Sergey Bogdanov, who will fill the media berth on some of the legs.

Zherebtsov also took the opportunity to unveil Team Russia's dynamic graphics ahead of the boat leaving Green Marine's yard in Lymington (UK) next month. The distinctive boat identity uses influences from Russian architecture.

Hong Kong - Qingdao

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) and the Chinese Yachting Association (CYA) have unveiled their plans for a major international yacht race of historical significance. To commemorate the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the RHKYC and the CYA are organizing an offshore yacht race from Hong Kong via Xiamen to Qingdao, PRC - the site for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Event. The race is organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and the Chinese Yachting Association, and will start at 1100 hours on Friday 18th July 2008.

The race will start from Hong Kong on Friday 18th July with the fleet anticipated to arrive in Xiamen by that Sunday. Those crews who have work commitments could then fly to a nearby destination for a few days whereas the other crews can visit the city and its surrounding areas.

In view of the possible effects of typhoons in the region, this stopover will allow a buffer zone with the safe anchorage of Xiamen port to serve to maintain the safety of the fleet and the integrity of the event. Consequently, start times may be affected. Other safe haven ports will be advised to the participants should the need for a disabled yacht to put in for repairs or shelter.

The second leg from Xiamen to Qingdao will start on the following Saturday (26th July) leaving Taiwan to starboard and arriving about 1 week before the Sailing Event Opening Ceremony in Qingdao which is scheduled for 9th August, 2008.

The event will be open to local Asian based and international yachts and multi-hulls in the cruising, racing, maxi/super yacht and/or other divisional fleets depending upon the entry list. Careful attention has been paid to the prevailing weather conditions for July and August which should give mild to hot weather, following winds and a favourable current for the majority of the Race.

There is a possibility that entrants may be sent off on staggered starts for the legs with a view to achieving a mass finish of the entire fleet in Qingdao. The boats are welcome to stay in the Qingdao marina and watch the Olympic sailing from their yachts albeit from a respectable distance. Those boats then returning south should be in time for the northeast monsoon to make an easy passage home.

Rolex Farr 40 World Championship

Among the 33 entered teams, 10 countries are represented, with the bulk of the fleet (18) consisting of American and Italian entries. At the top of the list for favorites is Mascalzone Latino, Onorato's entry. He will have his work cut out for him as there are three past world champions among the fleet - Barking Mad (USA), Jim Richardson's two-time winner (2004/1998); Nerone (ITA, 2003), co-owned by Antonio Sodo Migliori and Massimo Mezzaroma; and Alinghi (SUI, 2001), owned by Ernesto Bertarelli and the 2007 runner-up - and about a dozen other teams capable of winning the coveted title. The sentimental favorite of the group may be Richardson, who won the Class's first world championship, also held in Miami in 1998. Barking Mad has retained a core group of professional and amateur crew since the 2004 world championship win, with tactician Terry Hutchinson alongside Richardson. Earlier this year they collected back-to-back first place finishes at Key West Race Week and Acura Miami Grand Prix, which many see as an early predictor to the Worlds.

As always, the fleet is home to notable professional sailors from America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and one-design fame. In addition to Barking Mad, some of the stellar names are Adrian Stead on Mascalzone Latino; Paul Cayard on Steve & Fred Howe's Warpath (USA); Gavin Brady on Rod Jabin's Ramrod (USA); Brad Butterworth on Alinghi; Ian Walker on Doug Douglass's Goombay Smash (USA); Ray Davies onboard Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine (MON); Vasco Vascotto on Nerone (ITA); and Bouwe Bekking serving as tactician aboard HRH Crown Prince Frederik's Nanoq (DEN).

Powerboaters need licence

You need a license to drive a car or fly a plane, but in Sweden just about anyone can take the helm of a 200 horsepower speedboat.

That could change if a plan to make boaters apply for licenses becomes law. The result, sailors say, could be a more bureaucratic, rule-bound sea around Sweden's rugged coasts -- but also a safer one.

"Something like around 35-40 people get killed in pleasure boat accidents or disappear every year," said Lars Hogdahl of Sweden's Ministry of Enterprise. "Some just never get found."

He is the man behind a proposal on licenses that could be in place by next summer. The idea has been mooted for more than a decade, but always met opposition among Swedes who think of boats as a 'last freedom'.

Now, even though many boaters resent restrictions, support for his plan is building in a community fed up with fellow sailors who are ignorant, reckless or drunk.

"It's a very good idea," said Oscar Lagerberg, 26, a sailing enthusiast from Sweden's west coast. "Just today we had to give way and even honk at a person who didn't keep to starboard in the fairway."

The proposal, which will apply to boats of seven meters or more or those that can exceed 10 knots, will be circulated in October to maritime groups and the coast guard.

Goran Andersson, chairman of the Swedish Boating Union, said his 160,000-strong club backs the plan. "We have something we call the Boat Parliament, where we decided to fight for this."

Mindful of a possible backlash from seasoned sea-hands, the ministry is ready to exempt those who can document a large amount of experience on the sea.

Clipper Under Way

Ala Wai Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii " Race 8 in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race series is underway after a keenly-contested start in 15 knots of breeze off Honolulu on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

Nova Scotia was the first of eight internationally-backed yachts to cross the start line at the western end of the world-famous Waikiki Beach, before racing along the shore towards Diamond Head and out into the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the 2,080-mile race to Santa Cruz, California. Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com did not make the start line as work continues on their new masts.

The start was postponed 30 minutes from the advertised time due to a final rig inspection and a new gas sensor being fitted on Hull & Humber.

The crews have had a longer than expected stopover in Honolulu after race organiser, Clipper Ventures, took the decision to replace some rigging fittings across the rest of the fleet following the dismasting of two yachts, westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond, during the Pacific Ocean race from Qingdao, China. The work was completed yesterday and all eight teams headed out of the Ala Wai Harbor for short test sails to check their rigs and to get back into an ocean racing frame of mind.

Durban 2010 and Beyond followed the eight yachts out of the Ala Wai to wave farewell to the teams who set off on Race 8 this morning. Watching from the quayside was westernaustralia2011.com's skipper Martin Silk along with several of his crew. Round the worlder, John Kimber said, "This is weird, watching them go and being left behind."

Progress on the masts has been excellent and the shipment containing the spreaders arrived yesterday. The team will work through the weekend to ensure the task of getting westernaustralia2011.com and Durban 2010 and Beyond on their way to Santa Cruz is completed as quickly as possible.

Pirates Hit

The French three-masted sailing ship Le Ponant was hijacked on Friday morning in the Gulf of Aden.

A group of pirates have taken over the 88 metre, 850-tonne, three-masted French luxury yacht with 30 crew on board off the coast of Somalia. French cruise operator CMA-CGM confirmed Le Ponant had been seized on its way from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean. The luxurious yacht was scheduled to take on board passangers in Malta between April 21 and April 22.

The 32-cabin Le Ponant, is a fully equipped with lounges, bar and restaurant, is one of three operated by the Marseille-based firm, which describes itself as France's leading cruise provider. With a capacity for 64 passengers, it offers cruises in the Gulf region, including between Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan, and off the coast of Oman.

Le Ponant, 'was the victim of an act of piracy as it was sailing between Somalia and Yemen,' CMA-CGM spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.

A spokesman for the boat's owner, the Compagnie des Iles du Ponant, said there were no holidaymakers on board, and that most of the crew are from France and Ukraine.

The lastest news is that Le Commandant Rouen, warship, has been diverted from NATO's Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft.

Desafio Espanol

From Valencia Sailing blog:

Wednesday morning finally saw some America's Cup activity in Valencia, not related to the infamous legal case in New York, even if one could argue about its relation to the world's oldest sports event.

Desafio Espanol, the now-invalidated Challenge of Record of the 33rd America's Cup, summoned the press in its base in order to present the team's TP52 and GP42 campaigns for the summer as well as give the current state of affairs in the challenger. Present where Agustin Zulueta, general manager, John Cutler, technical director and in charge of the TP52 campaign, and Laureano Wizner, helsman and skipper of the GP42 campaign.

The most important announcement was that finally, Desafio Espanol had chosen to represent a new yacht club, bringing the relation with the CNEV to an end. More precisely, from now on the Spanish team will represent the Real Club Maritimo del Abra, located in Bilbao, in northern Spain.

One obvious question was why didn't Desafio Espanol choose to represent Valencia's yacht club, given the physical proximity and of course the fact both Alinghi and BMW Oracle have stated that the 34th America's Cup will also take place in Valencia, regardless of the outcome of the 33rd edition. Zulueta's answer was odd and even if it sounded credible it caused lots of smiles from the journalists in the conference room.

Desafio Espanol's general manager declared that the decision was very simple and purely "alphabetical"!!! He had received a letter, dated 11 December 2007, from the association of Spanish yacht clubs where they stated that given the CNEV fiasco, each and every yacht club in the country was offering itself to let Desafio Espanol race its colors.

What was Zulueta's solution to the problem? In order to avoid the acrimonious Spanish regional disputes by choosing Valencia over Barcelona or vice versa, he took the list of all clubs ranked alphabetically and chose the first one, "Abra", or more precisely "Real Club Maritimo del Abra". It's credible but is it a coincidence the yacht club is located a few kilometers down the road from Iberdrola's headquarters?

Whatever the reasons, at least they learned their lesson and chose a serious, well-established club, more than a century old, having organized and organizing dozens of truly annual regattas. Yet, journalists jokingly asked whether the club had telephone and fax numbers or a functioning website. -- Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing.

Rolex Farr 40 World Championship

With European boats making up over half of the fleet - 18 out of 33 boats - currently registered for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship due to be held in Miami Florida from 16^th April and close to forty members now registered, the Farr 40 European Fleet is gearing up for an exciting 2008 season. A series of regattas are scheduled to be held throughout the Mediterranean and Northern Europe using a new formula introduced this year which will allow owners to choose between two separate circuits: Circuit Med, with four events to be held in Italy and France; and Circuit North, with four events to be held in Denmark, Germany and Norway. The European Championship will be held as part of the Rolex Baltic Week 2008 in Travemeunde, Germany from 26^th to 31^st August.

The fleet includes two-time Farr 40 World Champion Vincenzo Onorato with his Mascalzone Latino (ITA) and current European Champion Massimo Mezzaroma with his Nerone (ITA). With thirteen nations competing in the European fleet this year however, (Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ukraine) the recent Italian domination of the class could be under threat.

The first event of the calendar, the Rolex Capri Sailing Week from 21^st to 24^th May, is part of the European Circuit Med and will be followed by the Audi Farr 40 Cup in Porto Cervo from 12^th to 14^th June. The action then moves to France for the French Farr 40 Challenge in Le Lavandou from 3^rd to 6^th July before returning to Italy for the fourth and final series of the circuit in the Settimana Velica dell’Argentario in Cala Galera from 19^th to 21^st September.

Meanwhile, the European Circuit North sets off from Larvik in Norway with the Larvik Race Weekend from 24^th to 25^th May. The second leg of the circuit will be held during Kiel Week in Kiel, Germany from 26^th to 29^th June and the third will be the Farr 40 Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark from 24^th to 27^th July. The fourth and final series of the circuit North will take place together with the European Championships in Travemeunde.

The decision to create two separate circuits was taken following consultation with European Farr 40 owners at a meeting held at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda during last year’s European Championship and is intended to allow maximum flexibility for the entire fleet. Each competing craft must enrol in their chosen circuit at the beginning of the season and may compete in up to two events of the other circuit. Final scoring will be based on 4 regattas so that should a competitor participate in six regattas, which is theoretically possible, he would have two discards. The overall winner of each circuit will be awarded an identical European Circuit Trophy.

Extreme 40

With the Extreme 40 catamaran fleet now numbering 14 boats, there is potential that even more will make the start line of the five iShares Cup events, which begin in Lugano, Switzerland, on May 30. The entry list reads like a Who's Who of sailing, bursting with the very best skippers and crews in the sport. America's Cup sailors will be lining up against Olympic medallists, ocean racers, and world champions, all coming together on the unique iShares Cup sailing circuit. With the next America's Cup looking set to take place in multi-hulls, the Swiss ! Defender Alinghi will be putting their cat-sailing skills to the test in this year's iShares Cup. America's Cup-winning helmsman Ed Baird has been putting in plenty of training in the Extreme 40 with the Alinghi crew in Valencia. Even this multiple world champion admitted that the powerful catamarans can be pretty challenging. The 2008 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series takes in five European venues, each chosen for their fantastic sailing and viewing opportunities - from the spectacular Swiss lake of Lugano, to the bustling centre of UK sailing at Skandia Cowes Week, before bringing high speed sailing action right into the heart of the city at the event finale in Amsterdam.

America's Cup

With the agrement of Groupama, Franck Cammas, the skipper of Groupama 2, has been enlisted by the BMW ORACLE Racing team as consultant for the bulk of the America's Cup campaign in multihulls. Among the pit members enlisted this week in Lorient are Russell Coutts (NZL), John Kostecki (USA) and James Spithill (AUS). Moreover, some familiar members of Franck Cammas' crew will complete the crew, such as Thierry Fouchier (FRA) and Bruno Laurent (FRA). During the second week of training, the team will race against another 60 foot multihull and thus amass experience on these high performance multihulls.