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Don't miss out on the 11th Malaysia International Boat Show to be held this month from 10 to 12 Sept at Admiral Marina & Leisure Club in Port Dickson. In addition to a diverse range of pleasure craft, angling equipment, marinas, personal watercraft, diving gear and watersports apparel, MIBS 2004 will for the first time incorporate Workboat SEA 2004 a special showcase for commercial craft and related equipment is expected to attract trade visitors, manufacturers, dealers and distributors from neighbouring marine industries. For more info please contact Ms Melissa at Protemp on 03-77272828 E-mail: melissa@protemp.com.my or visit their website at: http://www.malaysiaboatshow.com

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1. Editorial - 2004/05 AsianYachting Calendar here...
2. "Unluckiest sailor of the month" - Italian Etchell yachtsman Marco Cimarosti
3. Austral - Asian News - Inaugural Phuket to Singapore Yacht Race NOR...
4. International News - ATHENS 2004 OLYMPICS - Results and Summary
5. World Speed Records - Orange II smashes the 700 mile barrier

Well, what a spectacular 17 days of sporting glory the Athens Olympics turned out to be. The experts have proclaimed it as being beyond all expectations and anything that can replace the political doom and gloom usually reserved for the front pages of the news with some remarkable sporting achievements is like a breath of fresh air for humanity. Thank heavens no minority group decided to use the occasion to highlight their often pathetic cause to the assembled International media. Sailing seems to have gained a new level of importance under the IOC Presidency of Jacques Rogge (a sailor) with a number of national flag bearers leading their countries athletes during the opening ceremony and Greek torch carrier and windsurfing gold medallist Nikolaos Kaklamanakis given the prestigious honour of lighting the Olympic flame. A short summary and class medal winners can be found in the International Section (below).

Meanwhile back on the local scene, the China Coast Race Week conducted by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club from 21 to 24th October has been chosen to kick off the AsianYachting Grand Prix Championships this season. Three days off windward / leeward and passage races, in and around Hong Kong have been planned and a number of top racers including Aussie Grant Wharington's Super Maxi Skandia are expected to be competing. Many yachts will be heading off afterwards on the 656 mile Cat 1 Hong Kong to Vietnam Race which starts on the 26th, then continuing across the South China Sea to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and hoping to successfully compete on the coming South East Asian regatta's.

Serious SE Asian based yachts looking for an opportunity to hone their crews skills before the Raja Muda International and Phuket King's Cup should head for Admiral Marina in Port Dickson for the 5th ASEAN REGATTA from Nov 3rd to 7th. This regatta is focused on providing a high profile 4-day international standard yacht racing event that meets the demands of top-level yachts and serious racing sailors each year, has seen this event grow in popularity. For further details contact the Racing Yacht Club's oganising chairman Peter Ahern at Peteahern@cs.com or register your interest on the website at: http://www.aseanregatta.com

While many of the regions yacht clubs have been busy devising new yacht races and planning regattas, some with prize money (See updates in 3. Austral - Asian News below) we have managed to put together a updated 2004/05 AsianYachting Calendar page, which also includes the selected nine ***** five-star AsianYachting Grand Prix Championship events for this season, which can be browsed at: http://asianyachting.com/asiancalendar.htm

We invite any campaigned yachts looking for experienced personal to run Racing Teams through the season or crews intending to race or visit the Asian region to contact us at info@asianyachting.com for any additional sailing information that may not be available from the AsianYachting homepage...
Happy Sailing where ever you are
Capt Marty Rijkuris

Dennis Conner's aids mastless Italian at Etchells Worlds
During last months ACE Etchells World Championship (See Race Reports) in Mooloolaba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Italian yachtsman Marco Cimarosti snapped the mast of his Etchells, Hobe Ek Bahar, when the rigging caught on a channel marker sailing up the Mooloolah River on the second day of racing. Cimarosti was able to continue to race when the America's Cup legend Dennis Conner heard of the mishap he immediately offered his spare mast to the Italian with a reported comment "Don't tell the press; it will spoil my image".

Despite DC's act of good sportsmanship the Italian crew on Hobe El Bahir continued their run of bad luck. Their regatta virtually ended the following day when the boat was holed in a collision approaching the top mark, then the spinnaker was blown to pieces in a violent broach on the very next downwind leg in the strengthening afternoon sea breeze. While a large whale was noticed surfacing several times near the Italian boat on the way home, there was no report that it caused the hole in the hull.

Stop the Press: The first day of racing at the Grand Prix of Fécamp for 60ft ORMA trimarans was darkened by the spectacular capsize of Marc Guillemot's Gitana X. Starting in strong 25 / 30 knots of South West wind with squalls up to 35 knots and 1.5 metres of swell, four trimarans - Sergio Tacchini, Gitana X, Gitana XI and Foncia - immediately take to the head of the race with the rest of the fleet showing more care in these dangerous meteorological conditions.

Yves Parlier and Médiatis Région Aquitaine had an incredible nose-dive and tore one of its main sails during a jibe which forced them to return to port. At 11:50 am, while Sergio Tacchini was crossing the finishing line, Gitana X capsized with Marc Guillemot and his crew fortunately safe in spite of some wounds. Thanks must go to "G. Martin-Raget/Royale Production" for providing the great photos from www.martin-raget.com/eng.cfm More news also at: www.multis-online.com

Inaugural Phuket to Singapore Yacht Race
The initial running of this race is tentatively scheduled for 8 to 15 January 2005 in-between the King’s Cup and the Singapore Straits Regatta is designed to introduce two new elements into South East Asian yacht racing: 1) Long distance (500+ nautical miles) multi-day offshore racing and 2) Significant prize money.

A grand new trophy on par with RSYC’s Sir Thomas Lipton Cup (1926) is being commissioned for the inaugural race with a $S10k prize pool to be known this season as the Phuket to Singapore Yacht Race. This will act as a prelude to the inaugural Singapore International Yacht Challenge (SIYC) with a $S100k cash purse for the new Singapore President’s Cup to be held in January 2006. For more info and the NOR expected soon contact Adeline Foo at 65-6768 9389 or Ho Shu Fen at 65-67689333 Email siyc@rsyc.org.sg Race website at http://siyc.rsyc.org.sg

3.2 Singapore's Calvin Lim claims the BYTE World Championship
Kingston, Ontario, Canada: The 2004 Byte World Championship was the biggest as well as the most competitive championship ever and it seems appropriate that all was decided on the last day of racing. The final three races were enough for Calvin Zhi Yang Lim of Singapore to take over the lead and become the 2004 Byte World Champion and Byte World Youth Champion. Calvin's consistency throughout the event was truly remarkable. He won the Qualifying Series and scored no lower than ninth in the Gold Fleet. More at http://www.byteclass.org
Top five final places
1. Calvin Zhi Yang Lim, SIN
2. Jake Muhleman, USA
3. Leo Kong Ming, SIN
4. Danielle Dube, CAN
5. Chan Jing Hua, SIN

3.3 New Dates for Singapore to Brunei Challenge Race - Jan 28th to 5th Feb
The Brunei Darussalam Yachting Association intends to again conduct the annual Brunei Challenge yacht race - from Singapore to Brunei - starting on the 28th Jan to 5th Feb 2005. The start is designed to follow shortly after the end of the annual Singapore Straits Regatta and a local regatta is expected to be held in Brunei/Labuan after the yachts get there from the 9 to 14 Feb. For yachts going onto HK a passage race from Brunei to the Philippines is also being planned starting on the 17th to 24th Feb. The Preliminary Notice of Race is on the official website at: http://www.bruneibay.net/bbseries or contact the race secretary Allan Riches by e-mail: regattas@bruneibay.net Ph: 673 2 262676 Fax: 673 2 262675

3.4 Quantum's FusionM gets with the strength!

Asian sailors may be interested to know that one of the world's leading edge sailmaking factories is sitting in their backyard. Known as Quantum Structural Membranes (QSM), the factory located in Melaka, Malaysia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quantum Sail Design Group (QSDG) which provides QSDG affiliates around the world with the new Fusion-M product. Since it's formal introduction on May 10th this year, Fusion-M has taken the world by storm. Fusion-M equipped boats have won a number of major regattas, notably "Zurich" at the recent IMS World Championships. Club racers are also doing well. The Farr36, Inner Circle Rum has won the CYCA BMW Winter Series held in Sydney over the past few months. For a product update, including setting-up and gybing asymmetrical spinnakers on boats with ‘conventional’ spinnaker poles goto: http://asianyachting.com/news/QuantumSails.htm

3.5 Warning to all offshore racers.
DK Yachts are warning all offshore racers to watch out when one of their Malaysian built Mum 30, Farr 36, 40, 52, 520 or Mark Mills DK46 lines up on your starting grid. Ones to look out for in Australia are the Farr36, Inner Circle Rum and Matt Allen’s Farr 52OD Ichi Ban. While 2 worlds away sailors in the UK will not been spared as Chris Brown's DK46 Fidessa Fastwave has shown the fleet a clean of keels or Frank Pong's custom built 115 footer Maiden Hong Kong hits the water around you. Serious Yachts for Serious Sailors can be found at http://www.dkyachts.com

3.6 CRUISING
The stopover of the Blue Water Round the World Cruising Rally in Cairns during mid-August signalled the start of a great adventure for 3 Australian-based yachts, which have joined the event to sail through Asia to the Mediterranean under the banner of the Oz-Med Rally. Two more Aussie yachts will be joining in Darwin at the end of September. Media release by Peter Seymour at Blue Water Rally’s website www.yachtrallies.co.uk

3.7 The 2^nd Annual 'Darwin-Kupang-Bali' Yacht Rally has exceeded everyone's expectations this year --- including the Indonesian government and politicians involved in the events. With forty three yachts and 120 captains and crew representing 10 nations, these events have not only became a cultural introduction to the traditional island way of life for the participants but has fostered a wonderful cultural bond between the friendly Indonesian people and all the nations represented. The genuine warmth and hospitality from the government and the Nusa Tenggara Timor people will not be forgotten. For more on what to expect during this exceptonal cruising event goto: http://asianyachting.com/news/DwnKupangBali04.htm

3.8 Phuket to Langkawi Yacht Rally in 2005
Mariner Boating's 2005 program for sailing regattas with more lay days than races is now available in PDF format on the website www.marinerboating.com.au or Ph: 612 9966 1244 for a brochure. The program includes a new event the Phuket to Langkawi Yacht Rally from Feb 13 - 17th 2005.

4.1 ATHENS 2004 OLYMPICS - Results and Summary
Sixty one nations sent a total of 400 sailors to the Olympics. Windwise, this Olympic Regatta will not be remembered as a classic but the frustratingly light and changing conditions on the Saronic Gulf did see extremely tense battles on the water and provided some exciting racing in other ways. Great Britain was top nation with two gold medals, silver and two bronze. Second was Spain with one gold medal and two silver medals. Equal third were: Brazil (two gold), Austria (one gold, two silver), Greece (one gold, one silver), USA (one gold, one silver), France (one gold, one silver), Ukraine (two silver), Denmark (two bronze).

A number of favoured nations and top-class sailors expected to take podium places had difficulties with boatspeed in the conditions or scored OCS at the start of the final races to finish well back in the points. Many have realized their potential despite their failure to win medals here and are determined go home, regroup, analise the training program and bring new experience, new motivation and new drive to win in Beijing 2008.

Finn (25 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Great Britain's Ben Ainslie emulated the outstanding achievement of his GBR team mates as he won the teams second Gold medal in emphatic style, carving his name on the slate of Olympic history with his third Olympic Medal.
Ben Ainslie, GBR, Gold
Rafael Trujillo, ESP, Silver
Mateusz Kusnieriwicz, POL, Bronze

470 Men (27 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Team USA's Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham win GOLD after a devastating match race covering the British team in the final race.
Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham, USA, Gold
Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, GBR, Silver
Kazuto Seki and Kenjiro Todoroki, JPN, Bronze

470 Women (20 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Greek sailors Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa made their nation proud by winning the Gold medal in the Double-handed Dinghy Women event in emphatic style with one race to spare.
Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa, GRE, Gold
Natalia Via-Dufresne and Sandra Azon, ESP, Silver
Therese Torgersson and Vendela Zachrisson, SWE, Bronze

Laser (42 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Adding to his seven World Championship titles, Robert Scheidt became the first Laser sailor in history to win two Olympic Gold medals when he clinched the title by the closest of shaves in the final races.
Robert Scheidt, BRA, Gold
Andreas Geritzer, AUT, Silver
Vasilij Zbogar, SLO, Bronze
Kevin Lim, Malaysia, 24th

Europe (25 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Siren Sundby had never taken her eye of the gold medal, and despite disappointment after race 3 when she took a DSQ, it made no impact to her overall position, sitting tight atop the fleet.
Siren Sundby, NOR, Gold
Lenka Smidova, CZE, Silver
Signe Livbjerg, DEN, Bronze

Yngling (16 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Great Britain's Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb claimed the Gold with a race to spare - an exceptional result for this outstanding crew who totally swamped the competition.
Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb, GBR, Gold
Ruslana Taran, Svitlana Matevusheva and Ganna Kalinina, UKR, Silver
Dorte Jensen, Christina Borregarrrd-Otzen and Helle Jesperson, DEN, Bronze

Star (17 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Grael/Ferreira (BRA) secured the gold medal after race 10 so the battle on the final day was for the silver and bronze medals. MacDonald/Wolfs (CAN) won the silver by putting five boats between them and the French team of Rohart/Rambeau (FRA). Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter (USA) were brought down to earth with a crash on the second day of competition. They had a good start taking a first and sixth place in the first two races but Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira then took two first places in the next 2 races and held onto a substantial lead for the rest of the regatta.
Torben Grael / Marcelo Ferreira, BRA, Gold
Ross MacDonald / Mike Wolfs, CAN, Silver
Xavier Rohart / Pascal Rambeau, FRA, Bronze

Tornado (17 boats - 11 races with one discard)
Going into the last day of racing after ten races and a discard, the Sydney gold medallist duo from Austria, Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, were leading the overall rankings in spite of a very good penultimate day for the American crew of John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree. Going into the last race the difference being just three points, it was too close to call but the light weather specialists from Austria managed to get the bullet in the final race and win the gold medal.
Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher, AUT, Gold
John Lovell / Charlie Ogletree, USA, Silver
Santiago Lange / Carlos Espinola, ARG, Bronze

Mistral Men (34 boards - 11 races with one discard)
Gal Fridman (ISR) was awarded Israel's first ever gold at the Olympics. He put together a consistent series, not scoring outside the top five in a field that included some high scoring races for his competitors. In the last race local hero, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis held onto 2nd place overall and Great Britain's Nick Dempsey snuck into 3rd place by winning the last race to be awarded the first ever Olympic medal for British windsurfing.
Gal Fridman, ISR, Gold
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, GRE, Silver
Nick Dempsey, GBR, Bronze

Mistral Women (26 boards - 11 races with one discard)
The final race was every bit as tense as the preceding races with 5 only points separating 1st and 3rd places. Whilst there was no doubt that the three leaders would take the medals, the colours were not determined until they crossed the finish line. China's Yin Jian led until the second windward leg but it was a race of a lifetime for Faustine who became the first woman to ever win an Olympic medal in a woman's sailing event for France.
Faustine Merret, FRA, Gold
Yin Jian, CHN, Silver
Alessandra Sensini, ITA, Bronze

49er (19 boats - 16 races with two discards)
Realistically, there are eight teams still in the hunt for medals with five races still to go. Of those eight, perhaps only Brazil where the surprise inclusion. Conditions were challenging in the light breeze of the final race and while it was the kind of day where places might change, they didn’t. The Spanish team were world champions in the 49er class in 2004 and 2002.
Iker Martinez / Xavier Fernandez, ESP, Gold
Rodion Luka / George Leonchuk, UKR, Silver
Chris Draper / Simon Hiscocks, GRB, Bronze

4.2 ROLEX FARR 40 World Championships
San Francisco, CA, USA: One of the most elusive titles in the world of sailing is to become a "two-time Farr 40 World Champion." Over the past six years of world championships no one skipper has won the title twice. That could change next month when the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship returns to San Francisco, Calif. from September 8-11. You can follow the event at: http://www.farr40.org or http://www.stfyc.org

5.1 Orange II smashes the 700 mile barrier
Bruno Peyron's Orange II is the first yacht in the world to smash the 700 mile barrier in 24 hours, setting a new world record of 706.2 miles (average speed: 29.42 knots — awaiting validation by the WSSRC) during their recent Trans Atlantic Record attempt which they missed out on by only just 31 short minutes and 12 tiny seconds or by 15 miles after 113 hrs 59 mins 18 secs of pushing the boat beyond the limits. These figures are derisory if you take into account the size of the ocean and represent exactly by how little the crew of Orange II missed out on the prestigious North Atlantic record! The 10 men still deserve the satisfaction of knowing the job was well done right up to the very end, as well as setting a new 24 hour record, which will surely enter the annals of ocean racing...

Bruno praised the crew afterwards with "They never ever eased off , putting aside their tiredness and keeping their nervous tension under control, the 10 men aboard Orange II have gone as fast as the weather conditions would allow. Facing up to air flows making it necessary to make detours, they made up for this with their phenomenal speed, covering extra miles to remain within the time right up to the final lengths! Their efforts have been rewarded by crowning this pioneering crew, as the first men to go beyond the 700 mile in 24 hr barrier!"

"We just won ourselves a gold medal for smashing the 24 hour record, and a silver medal too for achieving the second best time on the route and coming so close to the record, that is something we can feel pleased about... And I can't forget that in the annual position chart for giant cats, which was established in the framework of The Race and which will soon be back in the news, we must have leaped ahead! So, of course, we like to win, but there are no bitter feelings aboard, and we really believe we fully accomplished our mission". More can be found at: http://www.maxicatamaran-orange.com

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