Weekly Sailing Summary

Summary for w/b - 26 June, 2006 12pm

KEEL BOATS
Margaret Williams is sailing towards her home port of Mooloolaba in her attempt to be the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo and non-stop. When she passes Mooloolaba she will have circumnavigated Australia, but she has to sail to Fremantle to complete a non-stop circumnavigation.

Ken Davis, aged 82, and his 84-year-old tactician Miles Kolosov, combined to sail Davis' Jeaneau one-design 30, Starstruck Daveau, to victory in Division J of the BMW Sydney Winter Series on Sydney Harbour.

Next Sunday, July 2nd, the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria will start the Melbourne to Vanuatu 1,850 nautical mile ocean yacht race off Portsea, and Geelong entrant, 'Ocean Skins', an Inglis 47 owned by Tony Fowler, will be amongst over 20 starters. On the boats will be 11.9 tonnes of school goods for the local TAFE College in Vanuatu.

Andrew Short's Volvo 60, Andrew Short Marine, is heading off on its longest voyage since its Round the World Race next Sunday, July 2 in the 1850 nautical mile race from Melbourne to Vanuatu.

Sea Safety and Survival Revalidation made easier - Sailors who have completed more than 2,500 offshore nautical miles over the last 5 years will be able to complete and sign a declaration to that effect, listing any races or passages that go to make up the miles sailed. Those in a position to sign such a declaration will be entitled to enrol on the shorter update course (1 day) if they wish, rather than repeat the whole SSSC (2 days).

Last Minute Special Offer - Crew positions are now available on Kioni, a Beneteau 47.7 at reduced rates for:

Before races or regattas, Sailing Services run training days that allow for crew familiarisation and assessment. Contact Sailing Services Mobile: 0438 082 616.

For possibly its last hurrah, the champion Mumm 30 Tow Truck from Lake Macquarie will contest the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's newest and longest offshore race from Sydney to Mackay starting 29 July.

Marten Yachts, a brand of Azzura Marine, will unveil its first Marten 49 from Azzura Marine's facilities in Australia and make her public debut at the Sydney International Boat Show 2006.

Farr Yacht Design launches design #605, the world's first ORC GP42. The Farr GP42 project "Roma" began in October 2005 with ORC's announcement of this new class. Filippo Faruffini contracted Farr Yacht Design to develop design #605, to be built at Latini Marine, outside of Rome.

Newport Bermuda Race - Hap Fauth's USA JV66 Bella Mente took line honours ahead of hot favourite Maximus.

AMERICA'S CUP
Louis Vuitton Act 12, Valencia. Sweden's Victory Challenge beat the defender of the America's Cup Alinghi in a hard fought match. It was a tremendous win for the Swede's who handed Alinghi just its fifth loss from 51 starts. Alinghi's loss clears the top of the leaderboard for Emirates Team New Zealand, who are now the only team with a perfect record after four days of racing.

MULTIHULLS
'More wind the better' was the call of the week at the inaugural Seawind Owners Rally around the Whitsunday Islands.

Luxury performance sailing catamaran, the Catana 47 Ocean Class, is being exhibited for the first time at the Sydney International Boat Show in August 2006 by exclusive importers Blue Yachting Australia.

OLYMPIC CLASSES & OFF THE BEACH
Kiel Week, Germany. Top ten Aussie Olympic class final results:

Sail Auckland is now an ISAF Grade One regatta, joining Sail Melbourne and the Sydney International Regatta as the top level ISAF Grade One regattas in Oceania.

In an all out bid to win the Australian School Team Racing championship at the end of this month for the first time, St Leonard's College (Brighton and Keysborough) sailing squad has been in training since February this year.

Windsurfing - The world's best descend on Lanzarote's Costa Teguise for the 2006 PWA Super-X world titles. Super-X is the PWA's dynamic obstacle race format. Full speed slalom-style racing, with inflatable jumps guarantee the spectator gnarly crashes. Mandatory freestyle tricks ensures that the lead changes constantly.

CRUISING
Treleavens' Travels – Andrea and Ian Treleaven are back cruising the Mediterranean after launching their book 'Letters from the Med'. They have been preparing their boat, a 47ft Beneateau yacht called Cadiz, and plan to be on the island of Ponza in Italy for the Aussie-Italian World Cup game. Ian goes shopping in the chandlery and finds an engine sump pump.

Sail Indonesia - A fleet of over 100 yachts will leave Darwin for Kupang on July 22, the first stage of the Sail Asia Darwin-Bali-Langkawi Rally.

ROUND THE WORLD
The Kiwis have performed a miracle in getting Gipsy Moth IV ready in time to continue with her global voyage. Due to the notoriously unreliable weather in the Tasman Sea at this time of year, the current plan is to ship Gipsy Moth IV as deck cargo to Sydney, where a number of Royal engagements await her. Gipsy Moth IV will still sail into Sydney Harbour on Sunday July 9.

Volvo Ocean Race prizegiving - One thousand people congregated at the Swedish Exhibition Centre, Svenska Mässan de Göteborg, to congratulate overall race winners ABN AMRO ONE and to recognise the achievements of all the crews.

The Volvo Ocean Race confirmed that the port of Alicante will host the start of the 2008-09 race.

Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race - The yachts restarted racing from Jamaica to New York using a Le Mans starting sequence controlled by the duty skipper, Conor Fogerty on Cardiff.

NEWS BRIEFS
Maritimo CEO Bill Barry-Cotter has acquired a 60-hectare (140-acre) land parcel in the Gold Coast's Coomera marine precinct and is planning a major development highlighted by a 200-berth 'boutique' marina capable of handling vessels up to 30.5-metres (100-feet) in length.

Macquarie Leisure Trust Group and Lend Lease announce the development of a 178 berth floating marina to be situated at Victoria Harbour, the centre of Melbourne's inner city Docklands precinct, subject to approval from VicUrban.

BoatStats, a new web site, has been launched to give surveyors, boat buyers and boat owners access to information previously locked up in thousands of yacht surveys carried out by professional European yacht surveyors over the last ten years.

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) launches its Australian training operations at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia on Thursday July 13. The launch of the not-for-profit organization, which is the world's largest and oldest marine training organization, will be attended by HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne), who is the president of the RYA.

DVD REVIEWS
'Rebirth of a Legend' Part One of the Gipsy Moth IV DVD series is available from www.gipsymoth.org. See the whole story of Gipsy Moth IV's refit and the start of the voyage. All the proceeds from the DVD go towards funding young people to take part in Gipsy Moth's round the world voyage.

Seamaster Sailing Series provides the latest sailing news on a monthly DVD, including interviews with famous sailors and footage on board some of the newest and fastest boats. The pace is fast, the interviews are interesting and the footage of boats sailing is some of the best.

WHAT'S ON

Photo - BMW ORACLE Racing vs Alinghi in the third day of racing of the Louis Vuitton Act 12 in Valencia (Spain). Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget.

More information on www.boatingoz.com.au or subscribe to receive weekly email news with links.