Welcome to the AsianYachting September 2002
NEWS and VIEWS

1. Andres Soriano's Swan 80 Maligaya representing the Philippines continued on their winning ways to narrowly clinch the Premier Cruising class at the recent 2002 Hahn Premium Race Week. Stealing the honours from Stan Edwards Frers 61 Margaret Rintoul V with a number of veteran Aussie rock stars onboard keeping the pressure on and at times staged their own private match race. Peter Churchouse's Warwick 64 Moonblue 2 from Hong Kong finished 4th overall out performing Queensland's favourite Bob Robertson Sydney 60 Eureka to show how a well campaigned yacht from Asia can stand proud amongst some of Australia's finest racers.

2. To help the local racing sailors get familiar with the new Racing Rules of Sailing especially before the regatta season gets into full swing UK Sailmakers have presented a series of animated race course incidents on their website. The objective is to have the viewer follow the action, determine what rule or rules apply and finally decide who (if anyone) was right or wrong. Check it out including the answers at: http://www.uksailmakers.com/RulesQuiz/index.html

3. Asian sailors take note that the New Zealand America's Cup Roadshow will be taking place at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club on the 12th Sept. More info from Shu Fen the RSYC public relations officer or browse the details at http://www.rsyc.org.sg/nz/index.html

4. The 14th Asian Games to be held in Pusan Korea starts on Sun 29th Sept and finishes on Mon 14th Oct. Racing will be conducted in the 420, Laser, 470 - Double Handed Men, Mistral - Board Men, Optimist, 470 - Double Handed Woman and Mistral - Board Woman classes. Competitors are strictly selected by the regions national sailing authorities who have been warming up on the European circuit as well as undergoing intense localised training sessions with foreign coaches. More news next month or as soon as their website is up and running.

5. China Coast Race Week incorporating the China Coast Regatta and the Hainan Series, October 12 - 19, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. IRC and HKPN fleets will be taking part in Hong Kong's premier offshore sailing event. Full details including Sailing Instructions, Notice of Race and Entry Forms are available at http://www.chinacoastraceweek.com

6. Next year's Tasaki Osaka Cup, the Melbourne to Osaka double handed yacht race, will allow the entry of water ballasted boats for the first time. The acceptance of water ballasted yachts should provide for some exhilarating sailing and an opportunity to smash the existing Race record of 26 days. 20 yachts have entered the non stop ocean race that spans 5,500nm, the longest longitudinal race in the world. Entries close November 30. Email: info@osakacup.com Copies of the entry application form, rules, classification of yachts and safety regulations can be downloaded from the official website at: www.osakacup.com

7. Sailors and boat owners looking at chartering yachts during the major regatta's on the Asian Yachting Circuit 2002/03 should take note that AsianYachting has started a Yachts for Charter advertising page that maybe of interest to you all. The page beginnings are at and once again hope you find this service useful.

8. Sailors crossing the Indian Ocean this season are asked to keep a eye out for Russian sailor, Evgeny Gvozdev who left Darwin on Aug 8 in a 3.7m boat bound for the Cocos Islands to continue his second solo circumnavigation. He is not to be mistaken for a floating log adrift from the Sumatran jungles and survived his first circumnavigation on a 5.5m Micro-class boat in 1997. On the current attempt Gvozdev did not go through the Panama Canal but passed through the Estrecho de Magallanes channel in southern Chile. We wish him the best of luck during the Indian Ocean crossing.

10. Should MOB drills be introduced on the Asian Yachting Circuit?
The recent number of man overboard incidents in ocean racing has inspired the Transpacific Yacht Club's board of directors to expand its safety regulations by adding a mandatory pre-race man-overboard drill. Each crew in the 42nd running of next July's race from Los Angeles to Honolulu must certify that it has conducted such a drill, following guidelines in the Offshore Special Regulations of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

11. AsianYachting Circuit 2002/03 Notice of Race, entry forms and social programs.
Asean Regatta
Raja Muda Int Regatta - http://www.rsyc.com.my
Phuket King's Cup - http://www.kingscup.com
Phang Nga Bay Regatta - http://www.bayregatta.com/
Singapore Straits Regatta
Langkawi International Regatta

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. America's Cup coverage
Larry Ellison the chief executive officer of Oracle BMW Racing has developed software to enable him and race headquarters to keep an eye on the team's progress on USA 71 and USA 76 from America via computer. Data ranging from wind-speed and boat-speed, to direction and keel angles are monitored. Hopefully there is enough left in the budget to combine this technology with the live TV coverage to showcase the sport of sailing and attract global audiences to this spectacular event.

2. BBC Sport Online will be following the races, as well as producing regular webcasts with key members of the British team. "The infectious enthusiasm of Peter Snow, together with the world-class expertise of Ellen MacArthur, Tracey Edwards, Ben Ainslie and Shirley Robertson will bring to life the excitement of one of the world's great sporting events."  The America's Cup programming will start on 3 October on BBC Two with highlights on Saturday Grandstand on BBC One.

There will also be analysis, maps, photos, interaction and games - enabling sailing fans to keep up to date with all the action.

3. Allot of the prospective buyers around lately have become confused with what type of yacht to buy next to successfully compete at the local club level. The results at the recent Commodores Cup which despite being stacked with racing pro's the 33 competing boats ranged from flat out racers to production racer / cruisers that produced a mixed bag of results and we leave it up to the readers to make their own conclusions. 

The Overall Top boat was Frenchman Gerry Trenteseaux's IMX 40 "Courrier Nord".
The Top Inshore Boat was Nick Harrison's Chartered Ker 11.3 "Natti Vee".
The Top Offshore boat was Hans Hout's Dutch IMX 40 "Salty Dog".
Top Team Overall was the French team made up of two IMX 40's and an X442
Top Inshore Team was Commonwealth made up of two Ker 11.3's and a Farr 52
Top Offshore Team was the Dutch made up of an IMX 40, a BH41 and a Grand Soleil 40 
 
The park-up conditions of the offshore races swung the regatta in favour of the two teams with the lowest rated boats i.e. the French and Dutch despite the flat out racers producing incredible boat speed when the wind was up but that's yacht racing.

4. GETTING READY FOR THE CENTOMIGLIA
On the last weekend of July, the Libera Class had its first 2002 outing on Lake Garda. The Libera Class is an astonishing boat, a maxi-skiff designed specifically for one race: the Centomiglia, a 100 mile race criss crossing Lake Garda.

A Libera carries a 12 man crew, with ten on trapeze on huge wings. The mast is 20 metres high, the boats are just under 42 feet long and weigh less than a ton. The ballast to keep the boats upright is all in the sailors on the wings. Boats racing in the Centomiglia (many classes race, but the Libera is the star attraction) start at the southern end of Garda, round a mark at Torbole at the northern end, then back to the southern end. The 52nd running of the Centomiglia will be on the 7th Sept. Class information at http://www.classe-libera.de
Race info http://www.centomiglia.it 

5. The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, the University of Auckland and Massey University are hosting a inaugural High Performance Yacht Design Conference in Auckland from 4-6th December this year. Papers will be presented by prestigious international researchers on topics including aeroelastic modelling, wind tunnel testing, computational fluid dynamics, seakeeping of planning hullforms and structural analysis. With the Louis Vuitton Cup in progress, December will be an exciting time in Auckland, however delegates are reminded to book their travel and accommodation early to avoid disappointment. For details of papers and delegate registration: http://www.hpyacht.org.nz

6. At the recent Sydney Boat Show Industry Breakfast, Aussie yachting legend Sir James Hardy OBE launched the NAVMAN 5^th International Sailing Summit to be held in Geelong (60 minutes south west of Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport) and hosted by the Boating Industry Association of Victoria in January 2003. The two day Summit to be held on 22 and 23 of Jan will enable delegates to share ideas on encouraging more people to try sailing, examples from around the world on how to promote sailing, focus on brand development of sailing and how to raise industry standards.

7. VOLVO 60S FOR CHARTER ON SYDNEY HARBOUR
EF Language, winner of the '97/'98 Whitbread race, and her matched pair EF Education were used by illbruck as training boats prior to the recent Volvo Ocean Race. Now these two famous racing yachts are in Sydney where the new owners Kookaburra Challenge have plans to race these exciting boats in most of the upcoming Blue Water events and available for corporate charter, club racing and industry day races. For enquiries or bookings phone Kookaburra Challenge on 61 2 9660 9133

8. ROLEX SPONSORS MIDDLE SEA RACE
Malta's most famous yachting event, the 607 nautical mile Middle Sea Race which takes place in the heart of the Mediterranean on the 26th October, gained greater International recognition with the announcement of a three-year sponsorship agreement with Rolex S.A, the world-renowned international watch maker. The course is very unique as it includes the deep azure waters of Sicily and the Straits of Messina, the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa and, even features Stromboli's active volcano as a rounding mark. A 2 Handed Class is included for the first time. The winners of the IMS/ORC Club Racer, IMS/ORC Club Cruiser, IRC/IRM Class Racer and the IRC/IRM Class Cruiser will be presented with a  Rolex Chronometer. Website: http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com

9. ROUTE DU RHUM
At the deadline for entries, there were a total of 56 competitors entered for the seventh edition of the Route du Rhum. They number a unprecedented: nineteen 60' multihulls, seventeen Open 60 monohulls, all professional entries and a who's who of ocean racing including teams from France, Italy, England, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. There is also an additional 20 amateur entries filling 3 monohull and 1 multihull classes. The race starts from Saint Malo (France) and finishes in Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe). The monohulls start on Saturday 9 November, the multihulls start on Sunday 10 November. Event site: http://www.routedurhum.org