Capsizes and Tough Competition at 18' Skiff International Regatta

Friday - August 15 2008 - 1300 PST - Want to level the balance of trade? Load all those empty containers going back to China with wind from San Francisco Bay. Qingdao could use it.

While their Olympic peers sat windless and idle Thursday, competitors in the seventh 18' Skiff International Regatta hosted by the host St. Francis Yacht Club had more then they could handle. There were so many capsizes it looked like synchronized diving, only in colder water.

Australia's Seve Jarvin and defending champion Howard Hamlin of Long Beach, Calif. were among those who flipped, but at the end of the day they were in first and second place after six of the 10 scheduled races.

"Today was the windiest day," said Jarvin, who dumped twice on the first downwind leg of the first race, won by Brett Van Munster of Australia - the only other sailor besides Jarvin to win a race so far.

Readings at Angel Island on the north side of the bay hit 32 knots, with gusts to 36. Three of the 11 boats didn't finish the first race and four didn't start the second, either damaged or displaying better judgment. One boat flipped on its way out to the starting line and was left behind.

Jarvin's and Hamlin's stumbles didn't matter much because the former's fourth place became his discard, leaving him with five deadly bullets, while Hamlin dropped a DNF (did not finish) from Wednesday when his mast broke and scored a second and a third Thursday.

There was so much carnage around the 1.75-nautical mile windward-leeward course that although it took Hamlin and crew Mike Martin and Paul Allen about 10 minutes to right their skiff, they dropped only one place from second to third.

"It happens," Hamlin said. "If it was easy it wouldn't be as much fun. We were in a huge puff, and everybody who tried to jibe in that kind of puff had trouble."

One Racer called Thursday's conditions "a survival test." He was unable to finish the first race but followed Jarvin home in the second. Photo Chris Favreau.

Team Russia on the Move

Friday - August 15 2008 - 1150 PST - Team Russia's skipper Andreas Hanakamp sends his report from Kosatka on the second day of their qualifier for the Volvo Ocean Race.

"The low that gave us a quick ride into the North Sea changed its mind, filled up and left clouds, rain and no wind in its wake. But anyway, while the on-watch was working on getting through the windless area, the off watch had enough to focus on the inside of the boat as unforeseen challenges lay hidden in the engine bay.

First was the DC hydraulic pump for the keel where a solenoid surrendered to the constant flow of seawater and stopped working. Second the water maker gave us a hard time, as it couldn't get enough water to run properly. The flat underwater body of the boat and the high speeds she is sailing most of the time caused this. After finally working things out, the starter motor of the small engine got stuck which took until this morning to sort out.

In the meantime a northerly breeze kicked in, letting us go west under Code 0 in search of the SE flow that should be closer to the island. Depending on the breeze over the next 12 hours we will decide whether we continue our attempt at the record time around Britain and Ireland, which would led us as far north as the Shetlands. Photo courtesy of Team Russia.

Qingdao's Breeze Lives Up to Ugly Rep

Friday - August 15 2008 - 1130 PST - Racing is underway on day seven at the Olympic Sailing Competition after long delays earlier today as the forecast breeze died shortly before the scheduled start times.

It's been a frustrating afternoon in Qingdao, with the forecast northeasterly breeze failing to materialize for the scheduled start of racing at 12:00. The weather buoys on the outer racing areas have been recording winds speeds around 5 knots but the breeze has been shifting dramatically.

Finally the wind has stabilized enough to get racing underway and the Finn fleet have now just began their race 8 in 8 knots of breeze on race area E. Race 8 for the Yngling fleet should begin shortly after. For both fleets this will be their final race of the Opening Series before their Medal Races tomorrow (no Warning Signal can be made after 16:00 on the final day of the Opening Series).

After returning to the boat park following the postponements earlier today, the Tornado and Star fleets are back out on course area A waiting to get the first races of their Opening Series underway. The Laser, Laser Radial and RS:X fleets are also all heading back out on the water. Story and Photo courtesy of ISAF.

No Wind in Qingdao

Thursday - August 14 2008 - 1022 PST - Friday promises to be an action-packed day at the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition after all races were postponed today as the wind deserted Qingdao. With no racing today, tomorrow's schedule has been amended and with stronger northeasterly winds forecast it looks set to be an extremely busy day seven at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

The first starts in the Finn and Yngling fleets are scheduled for 12:00, with the intention of giving both fleets time to complete the final three races of their Opening Series ahead of their Medal Races on Saturday 15 August. The Laser and Laser Radial fleets will also start at 12:00 and will utilize their reserve day with three races scheduled. Three races are also scheduled for the 49ers. The two RS:X fleets will use their second reserve day with races 5 and 6 of their Opening Series scheduled. Finally the Tornado and Star fleets will sail their first two races of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition in front of the spectators on the breakwater and television cameras on course area A. Photo and Story courtesy of ISAF. Photo Clive Mason.

Vendee Update

Thursday - August 14 2008 - 1015 PST - Little by little, the pressure is mounting. While some are busy working on the final details in the boatyards, others are leaving behind their shore base to move towards Les Sables d'Olonne. Many of the skippers are making the most of these final days to relax and recharge the batteries before the final run. The date limit of 18th October by which the competitors have to be present at the pontoon in Port Olona is drawing ever nearer.

Final delivery trips

Sébastien Josse has just brought his new BT from Cowes to Lorient. Having set sail from the Isle of Wight late last week, his 60-foot monohull had to work her way out through the crowds of pleasure boats in the Solent. The voyage began in light airs, but as they passed the Isle of Sein off the tip of Brittany a front passed over bringing with it winds in excess of 40 knots. Clearly the boat and skipper dealt admirably with the rough weather. In Lorient, Seb Josse will be near Jérémie Beyou and Yann Elies, who are putting the finishing touches to their boats before they are relaunched.

Derek Hatfield is about to leave his homeport of Toronto to begin his long voyage to Les Sables d'Olonne. After navigating down the Saint-Lawrence, his monohull will be stopping in Caraquet in New Brunswick for some final applications to the hull. A few PR operations will follow in Halifax before he sets out on the transatlantic crossing, which is due to begin on 5th September.

The British yachtsman, Mike Golding has just signed a partnership deal with the British section of the WWF to display the colors of the charity during the next Vendée Globe. Thus, the famous panda will be accompanying Mike on his mainsail throughout his voyage. As for Kito de Pavant, he is back with his Groupe Bel after a few weeks off, due to a fractured leg. However, his team has remained busy, as the boat is now ready to go, and her sails are now displaying the colors of the Vendée Globe. Kito de Pavant took advantage of the circumstances to carry out some spectacular photo shots. Photo Theirry Seray - DPPI.

Rubbin' Elbows in Olympic Town

Thursday - August 14 2008 - 0915 PST - We got this in from American Olympians Charlie Ogletree (who wrote it in the photo with Kobe Bryant) and John Lovell, who are representing the Unites States in the Tornado class.

The first race day for the Tornado Class in the Olympic Games is almost upon us. Tomorrow we sail a practice race and then on Friday we line up on Course A, the inshore race course right off harbour breakwater and spectator grandstand, for the start of Race One. Two races are scheduled.

For everyone who wants to see Tornado Racing on television, the races on Friday will be your only opportunity before the Medal Race at the end of the series. NBC-TV will feature our racing live in a two-hour web-TV segment between 1:00 am and 3:00 am Eastern on Friday morning at NBC Olympics.com. After that the footage will be archived and available for play-on-demand.

We completed our boat and sail measurements over the last couple of days, including the successful measuring in of our radical Chupacabra Code Zero gennaker. With the sail measured in and officially accepted, the only remaining decision was whether to employ it or stick with a standard gennaker during the series. We can't have both. It was a tough and risky call. We know the sail will power us up in really light conditions going to windward, but in any breeze over 11 knots we'll only be able to use it downwind and we'll risk being outgunned by boats with standard gennakers. After carefully weighing the odds, we decided to press ahead and use it.

This versatile undersized gennaker which allows us to power to windward through a chop in really light airs has been considered by several teams since our development work became public about five weeks ago. We know for sure that our Dutch training partners Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis have elected to go with a similar sail. We don't know about others.

The sail has attracted a great deal of media attention and even questions about its legality. Everyone has an opinion but the simple truth is we have tweaked our sails for light air. In the Tornado Class every team has worked exceptionally hard to gain an edge and optimize every facet of their boat, rig and sails. Everyone has made their own choices on sail materials and special sail designs and shapes for the expected conditions. We did the same as everyone else, except that we designed and built a smaller sail that would be more adaptable in the four to eight knot wind range that we expect to predominate in the coming days.

Like everyone around here we took time off for the amazing, over-the-top opening ceremonies. Johnny elected to stay here in Qingdao for the big show they had here. I joined the majority of the US Sailing Team, flying with other sailors on a chartered jet to Beijing. It was a high-voltage day, starting with a police escort and cleared highways for our bus ride to the airport, a chance to mix with all our famous fellow Team USA members in Beijing, and a visit and photo opportunity before the Opening Ceremony with President Bush and the First Lady, his parents and other family members.

In the evening the whole US Team dressed in its Ralph Lauren blazers and white pants, with white driving caps, assembled in the gymnasium along with other teams and waited in the bleachers until it was our turn to enter the Birdsnest. Our order of entry was determined by the Chinese alphabet so we were #140 and one of the last teams to enter. This was my fourth Olympics opening ceremony and each one was unique but I have to say that the scale and the sheer magnitude were unrivalled.

Racking Up Miles

Thursday - August 14 2008 - 0905 PST - Here's a note from Ian Walker who is sailing his qualifier for the Volvo Ocean Race: Hi, just a quick update. We have made pretty good progress despite taking it easy overnight. We have 560 miles to go, so we are pushing out into the stronger winds to get them over and done with. It is hard to believe how much you can learn after just four days of sailing in these conditions, as a result we can be so much better prepared for the next trip. We have been really lucky during this qualifier to have had such strong winds and big waves to test both the boat and ourselves, it has certainly given us so much to build on when we get back.

The lads are having fun on deck now - they have 25 knots of wind, rolling waves, a fractional reaching chute up with full main and they have been told to go 'whichever direction they want as long as it is fast'! They will love cashing in on these conditions.

All being well we should average over 20 knots from here on, which will put us back in Cork around lunchtime tomorrow. But we have up to 40 knots forecast in the next 24 hours, so we will have to exercise some caution.

The Green Dragon is in good spirits and very happy to be nearer to Ireland than Iceland!
Photo courtesy of Volvo Ocean Race. Ian W

So Long China!

Thursday - August 14 2008 - 0900 PST - Whilst the Summer Olympics are in full swing in China, Lionel Lemonchois and his nine crew have bid farewell to Asia. The maxi-catamaran crossed the start line of the Tea Route - Hong Kong / London - today at 1555'32" local time. On a course spanning over 14,000 miles the sailors of Gitana Team are targeting a time of around forty days to make Europe and the city of London in a pursuit to set a record.

It is already over eight months that Lionel Lemonchois and his men have been sailing the length and breadth of the world's oceans aboard Gitana 13. This morning, they cast off once again, bound for the open sea. Ahead of the 33 meter catamaran lies a seventh and final reference time to beat in order to conclude a record campaign, which has already provided them with a wealth of lessons and discoveries.

Following on from the Route de l'Or, for which they've held the new record of 43 days 3 minutes 18 seconds since last February, the sailors from Gitana Team are tackling another legendary course: the Tea Route. This prestigious commercial route has seen some of the largest clippers of the XIXth century battling across this selective course, which begins with a close-hauled navigation across the China Sea and then the Java Sea, prior to entering the Indian Ocean. Lionel Lemonchois' crew will turn their back on this turbulent ocean immediately after leaving the Cape of Good Hope (SE tip of Africa) to starboard. From there the ten sailors will begin the long climb up the Atlantic Ocean, it too with its own share of surprises. During their target forty days at sea, the crew of the maxi-catamaran equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, will have the opportunity to adopt a route which is fairly unfamiliar to contemporary sailors. Indeed, to date, no maxi from the G Class has ventured into these regions; the current record being the property of the French sailor Philippe Monnet since 1990.

According to the weather forecasts, over the first days of the course Gitana 13 is set to face a medium SW'ly which will clock round to the W. Some close-hauled sailing is on the menu for the start of the course, which will take the men of Gitana fairly near the Vietnamese coast prior to closing on the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia.

"The first part of the course as far as the Indian Ocean won't necessarily be very quick. Until we get to the south of Vietnam, the anemometer will rarely exceed 10-15 knots, but as the wind gradually backs we'll be able to pick up the pace as we approach the Java Sea. There aren't likely to be any big surprises as far as the weather is concerned over the initial miles but the crew will have to be on their guard. We noticed during our previous records that our passage across the China Sea is likely to involve a number of encounters (fishing boats and drifting nets dotted about everywhere). In addition, throughout our descent of the Indian Ocean, we're going to pass strings of islands. Land will never be that far away." explained Lionel Lemonchois this morning, just minutes before making towards the start line.

Tunnicliffe's Gold Ambition

Wednesday - August 13 2008 - 0920 PST - Great Britain's Penny CLARK won today's only race in the Laser Radial event in Qingdao, but American world #1 Anna TUNNICLIFFE stays top of the leaderboard with another solid performance. Wednesday belonged to a very happy Penny CLARK (GBR), who went one better than her second place in race 1 yesterday to claim honours in today's race 3 of the Laser Radial event to be fifth overall.

"My win was completely based on my boat speed and because I found the wind. The conditions here are very tricky because you may see the pressure, but by the time you get there, it‘s gone," she said.

Although she did not win race 3, the only race sailed Wednesday on the Laser Radial course, Anna TUNNICLIFFE (USA) managed to hold onto her series lead with a sixth. The American, the world #1, even increased her lead by two points to seven courtesy of mixed results by the rest of the 28-boat fleet.

"I got a rough start. It was not until the second leg that I moved ahead of the fleet by finding the right position and catching the right gust," said TUNNICLIFFE. Story courtesy of ISAF. Photo courtesy of www.annatunnicliffe.com.

Spirit of Canada's Plea for Support

Wednesday - August 13 2008 - 0905 PST - Derek and Patianne have raised over $3.5 million to get the boat built and qualified to race in the up-coming Vendee Globe - an incredible feat and fabulous Canadian success story in itself. Unfortunately, it's not enough to just show up at this race, you must come prepared to finish it.

Spirit of Canada is the only participant in the 2008-2009 Vendee Globe without a major sponsor and as such will be competing at a great disadvantage. At this point, the only offers of money desperately needed for Derek to finish readying the boat to compete safely and aggressively have come from European companies, but this would mean changing the name of the boat - something Derek has refused to do.

Here's the good news. Each of us has contributed to this very worthy campaign in the true Spirit of Canadians. In fact, to date, over 5400 people have donated to Spirit of Canada and have their names on the side of the hull to race with Derek around the world. In 2003 Derek said that he needed 10,000 names to be on the boat to do the race. If Derek had another year to do boat shows and talks and open boats he would have the budget fulfilled - instead there are 90 days to the start. If each of us were to contribute an additional $100.00, Derek would be able to finish the work and purchase equipment necessary to compete on an even keel in this grueling challenge.

I urge each of you to contribute once again to Spirit of Canada if you are able. We have all helped Derek get to the starting line (where he will be regardless of the effect of this email); now let's help him finish safely and in winning form. Never has the name Spirit of Canada been so appropriate. Let's show our true spirit as Canadians and give the European competitors who are so well funded a true run for their money!

With this email, I pledge an additional $100.00 to Spirit 0f Canada. Let's all make this happen! Click here to contribute. By supporter Tom Penton.

Gitana 13 Standing By for Record Attempt

Wednesday - August 13 2008 - 0900 PST - On standby in Hong Kong to set off on the Tea Route, the crew of Gitana 13 may well take center stage tomorrow, Thursday 14th August. Indeed, with the boat ready to go and all the crew on Chinese soil, all that remained was a favorable weather window for the maxi-catamaran to set off. This window now seems to have opened.

Relaunched last week, Gitana 13 has been wisely sitting it out in Sai Kung marina, situated to the NE of Hong Kong, awaiting the right gap in the weather. In this way, Lionel Lemonchois, Dominic Vittet - the onboard navigator and Sylvain Mondon have been examining the forecasts in the China Sea for several days in order to target a suitable window. The various scenarios observed seem to have been confirmed and tomorrow is likely to see the 33 meter catamaran and its ten crew bid farewell to Asia. Bound for London, Gitana 13 will have to cover more than 15,000 miles.

It is worth remembering that the sailors of Gitana Team are preparing to set off on their seventh and final record attempt in their 2008 campaign; a succession of records which have already proven successful, with most notably the new reference time on the Route de l’Or (New York - San Francisco, via Cape Horn) as well as the North Pacific Crossing between San Francisco and Yokohama.

The exact time selected by the skipper of Gitana 13 for casting off remains to be decided however. Photo Yvan Zedda.

Troussel Wins Figaro!

Wednesday - August 13 2008 - 0855 PST - Nicolas Troussel finished 18th on the last leg of La Solitaire du Figaro, but the 6 hour lead he had over his closest rival was more than enough to clinch the overall win of the 39th edition of La Solitaire last night. Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) and Frédéric Duthil (Distinxion Automobile) take 2nd and 3rd places respectively. François Gabart (Espoir Région Bretagne) wins the 2008 Beneteau Rookie Ranking by finishing 17th overall for his first time participation on the race.

Troussel owes this win to an exceptional race on the first leg from La Rochelle to Vigo. The battle to get ahead in the light conditions and reach the wind first allowed him to continually extend the lead, a lead in terms of time that his fellow 49 competitors would never break over the course of the three legs. Recognition for Troussel's astounding success story is unanimous among the skippers. The ability to build such big gaps and to climb places from behind is astonishing. "Nico sailed really well on the first two legs. On the first, I was close to him when he managed to get away. I was tired and he still had the willpower and clear mindedness to try anything, to go and search and grab the opportunities. This does not come down to good luck, this comes down to pure talent." Describes Frédéric Duthil.

"I have been sailing like this for some years now," explains Troussel, "I believe in myself and my strategy and not necessarily just intuition. I try and see the long-term situation. When it works out it is a bit like a spiral, and that is were I do well. I am also confident in my ability which has just grown over the years."

Olympic Report - Aussies Looking Good

Tuesday - August 12 2008 - 0747 PST - Australia holds the overall lead in three events after a star showing from its 470 sailors on day four of racing at the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition in Qingdao.

The Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy events joined the show on Fushan Bay today, with both the Laser (Men) and Laser Radial (Women) fleets completing their first two races. The windsurfers in the RS:X fleet and 470 two person dinghies also completed races 3 and 4 of their Opening Series with China's Jian YIN continuing to lead the way in the Women's Windsurfer event. The Finn, Yngling and 49er fleets all had a day off the water, giving them the opportunity to recover and prepare for their return to the racing area tomorrow.

The light wind conditions continued in Qingdao today and racing was particularly tricky for the Lasers and Laser Radials on course area A with some big upsets amongst the pre-regatta favorites. New Zealand's Andrew MURDOCH leads the Laser fleet after a second place and a fifth today whilst back-to-back World Champion and world #1 Tom SLINGSBY (AUS) languishes down in 23rd overall. In contrast, Laser Radial world #1 Anna TUNNICLIFFE (USA) leads the women's fleet with consistent 4, 5 scores. China's 2006 World Champion Lijia XU got her campaign off to a mixed start, finishing 24th in the first race but recovering to third in the second.

Once again there was no stopping the host nation in the Women's RS:X fleet, as YIN extended her overall lead with a first and a third. Shahar ZUBARI of Israel posted identical scores to consolidate his lead of the men's fleet.

Triple World Champions Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE have taken the lead in the Men's 470 fleet with consistent 3, 3 scores today. Their team mates Elise RECHICHI and Tessa PARKINSON fared even better in the women's fleet with a fourth place and a win putting them top. Report by ISAF - photo ©Clive Mason/Getty Images

Is Ellison Bankrolling an American Olympic Loss?

Tuesday - August 12 2008 - 0730 PST - While the America's Cup action exists only in wood laden courtrooms, some of the AC players are reaping the rewards of being on the team just the same. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams are in the hunt for Olympic gold for New Zealand but it seems their campaign is being funded and supported by American billionaire Larry Ellison - and in a big way. The New Zealand Herald reported that the kiwi duo has all they need to make a strong run for gold.

"It's been the support that the multi-million dollar syndicate, still locked in its bitter courtroom struggle with Cup holders Alinghi, has given Pepper and Oracle team-mate Carl Williams that might help make the difference at Qingdao, " the paper stated.

"The support we have had from Oracle has been great," said Pepper to the Herald. "Whether it's been time or sailmaking or boatbuilders or logistics it's been really good."

One has to ask how American Star sailor John Dane feels about this type of "support". Photo courtesy of www.starclass.org

Wild Ride

Tuesday - August 12 2008 - 0720 PST - This came from Nick Moloney, skipper of BT looking back on the last installment of the iShares Cup:

"Probably the wildest three days of short-course racing I have experienced in my 20 years as a professional sailor! Exhausting in a mental and physical sense but simply awesome - it's events like this that live with you for a long time yet unfortunately our result overall was nothing short of terrible.

"It's been a crazy few weeks with speed trial in London and then home for a few days break before our training session prior to this event. Generally this is the event that we push for our best event result in that hope that we can carry that through to the end of the season, yet this event was to be our worst result in all of our time with this class - so to say that we are now on the back foot is a bit of an understatement.

"Somehow we have managed to hang on to 4th overall in the overall series and still have a chance of achieving our season objective of making the podium for the year in the class. "Our event didn't start well... on day one we were involved in a very high speed and dangerous collision which resulted in a lot of damage between ourselves and team BMW Oracle, our opponent breaking their front beam and rendering the boat un-usable for the rest of the event.

"The racing was held in more wind than we have ever sailed in and as a fleet battled to maintain control over our boats. The conditions led to five capsizes and two broken masts throughout the fleet... it was simply amazing and at times we were dodging upturned boats and swimming crews in the middle of the course."

Duthil Wins Third Leg of Figaro

Tuesday - August 12 2008 - 0718 PST - Frédéric Duthil crossed the finish line at 17:24 and 30 seconds on Monday the 11th of August to win the third and final leg of the 39th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro from Cherbourg to Aber Wrac'h. The skipper of Distinxion Automobiles covered the 470-mile course 71 hours, 23 minutes and 30 seconds at an average 6.6 knots. It was a duel for the 2nd and 3rd podium spots 5 minutes later; in an exiting match race right to the finish line, Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) beat Laurent Pellecuer (Dr Valnet-Aromathérapie) to second place by just 21 seconds. Nicolas Troussel (Financo), who leads on the overall rankings, is expected to finish in the next couple of hours to take the overall time win for the Solitaire, his second in 3 years.

Experiencing a victory is always and amazing thing and it must even be more so when it is along the beautifully rugged and rock strewn coastline of Northern Brittany. The finish line, set inside the Aber Wrac’h, one of the natural inlets that provide shelter to sailors along the infamously dangerous coast, provided a difficult but dramatic backdrop to the finish of the race on Monday evening.

The pedigree of these three winning skippers is undeniable; Fred Duthil won two legs last year, one in Crosshaven and another in the Sables d’Olonne, Laurent Pellecuer savoured victory in Ireland back in 2005 and Gildas Morvan has had four wins, one just last week in Cherbourg. The three solo sailors fought every inch of the way right down to the finish line, including a luffing match right up to the finish for 2nd place.

The 470-mile course was like a giant windward leeward race with 2-day upwind beat against in strong winds and currents to the Brittany Buoy weather mark out in the Atlantic and a fast downhill spinnaker sprint to the finish. “It was the toughest upwind beat of my life,” declared Duthil last night. Upon rounding the mark, the three leaders managed to detach themselves from the pack today and break away on the long and tactical ride west to finish. Duthil, waving from the bow as he crossed the finish line declared that it was just “never-ending, so it is fantastic to win the leg. I really had to focus hard on this leg and I realised I could win it 10 miles from the finish and just dug deeper and deeper to get here. What is funny is that Nico (Financo) wins the first leg and gets the 1st in the overall ranking, Gildas (Cercle Vert) wins the second leg and gets second overall and I win the third leg and take third place overall.”

Ainslie and Railey Battle for Gold in Finn Class

Monday - August 11 2008 - 0900 PST - After winning race 5 today on the final downwind to the finish, Athens gold medallist Ben Ainslie took the overall lead in the Finn class from American Zach RAILEY.

Ben AINSLIE (GBR) then placed 10th in race 6 with Zach RAILEY (USA) in eighth to go into the lay day with a one-point advantage. Guillaume FLORENT (FRA) moves up to third after placing fourth and sixth today. Chris COOK(CAN) drops one place to third after finishing 23rd and fifth today.

"It was a good race in the first, but I would have liked to done a lot better in the second so that was pretty disappointing. But still a long way to go, and it's good to be at the right end of the fleet," reflected AINSLIE at the end of the day.

With 14-15 knots of breeze early in the morning, the conditions looked good, but the forecast was for it to drop. When the fleet arrived on course area E it was still at 12 knots, so most of the fleet hoisted their heavier sails. Then once it was too late too change again, the wind started to decrease. Story and photo courtesy of ISAF.

Round the World One Design Proving Successful

Monday - August 11 2008 - 0845 PST - Yesterday at 1.00am Charles Caudrelier, skipper and Yann Clavier, boat captain, pointed the stem of Bostik, the first Veolia Oceans® one-design of the SolOceans , in Cherbourg harbor arriving from New York City, after 11 days 6 hours and 15 minutes, sailing over the 3,501 nautical miles (6,480 km) of the course, at an average speed of 12.95 knots.

"It's infuriating", explained Charles Caudrelier, "we had more than forty hours of dead calm. Otherwise, it would have taken us less than 10 days. The Veolia Oceans® one-design is a fast boat and she is very easy to steer. We had long planning at speed between 24 and 26 knots, and we really felt that we could still go faster. Actually, during a race, it should be possible to have days at more than 20 knots on average." Or more than 480 nautical miles in 24 hours. Yann Clavier added:

"We sailed the whole of the Channel at 18 knots on average, it was great!"

The Veolia Oceans® one-design Bostik left Cherbourg harbor on the 6th July with Alexia Barrier as the skipper in a wind Force 6 to 7. It was also in a Force 5 to 7 breeze that Charles Caudrelier and Yann Clavier sailed the Veolia Oceans® one-design back to Normandy.

Bostik is now heading back to the boatyard in Caen where, during the next ten days, as it was decided last Spring it would be brought up to standard with the rest of the one-design fleet and with the second unit of the series currently in the boatyard. On Wednesday August 27th, Bostik will then resume her test sails towards la Trinité-sur-Mer, La Rochelle and then the Mediterranean Sea. Photo François Van Malleghem - SailingOne

Open Competition

Monday - August 11 2008 - 0830 PST - Jerome Sammarcelli, U.S. distributer/builder for the Open 5.70 and owner of Sailing Sportboats in Los Angeles has returned to his homeland to compete in the Open 5.70 European Cup, (sorry the site is only in French). Sammarcelli has taken the 5.70 fleet from zero to dozens of boats in the U.S. in about two years. The recent decision to build the 5.70 in the U.S. has made the boat one of the most affordable high quality sportboats on the market. Sammarcelli has indicated he will keep us up to date on the event that is looking at 40 or 50 boats competing. Photo Pat Reynolds.

Dragon on the Move

Monday - August 11 2008 - 0815 PST - Green Dragon of the Volvo Ocean Race are currently sailing their 2000-mile qualifier. This is from skipper Ian Walker's blog.

We have just gybed in 30 knots, about 180 miles south of Iceland which marks the half way point of our qualifier. The last 24 hours have been relatively news free which is nice to report.

It is raining, very grey and we still haven't seen any boats since day one. Right now we are enjoying great ride in a 25 - 30 knot north-easterly. In fact, for the last hour we have averaged over 22 knots of boat speed, with a top speed 30.3!

We have tried to seal up the abundance of leaks around the bunks, but it still leaves a bit to be desired. It is a brave man who takes off his oilskins to sleep right now.

Guo Chaun and Huang Jian have taken some excellent photos and video, but I think they are grateful they are not having to edit it onboard on this trip. We have destroyed one computer already with water ingress, so we will leave the others tucked away. It is clear that the onboard media role is going to be a tough one to fill.

With current progress we should be home on Wednesday, which would be two days ahead of schedule. If we stay incident free and maintain this wind, 450 plus mile days should be no problem. Fingers crossed that is what happens.