BMW ORACLE Racing and RC 44 Challenge share the lead with 13 points at the end of day 1 of the fleet race, ahead of No Way Back (14) and Ceeref (15). The battle for the title can be followed online thanks to a live virtual application available on www.rc44.com

The America’s Cup team BMW ORACLE Racing is on great form since the beginning of the year, and confirms it in the RC 44 Austria Cup. Indeed, USA 17 (Ian Vickers / John Kostecki) and USA 18 (Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts) share the lead at the end of day one of the fleet regatta, ahead of Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back and Igor Lah’s Ceeref.

The wind was blowing from the north-east this afternoon, between 5 and 12 knots. In most cases, the right of the course proved favourable and the RC 44’s had to head for the coast and stay as close as possible from the shore in order to benefit from land effects. However, the right proved favourable on rare occasions, allowing some spectacular come-backs.

It was definitely a tough day for the tacticians and the results show it clearly: except for RC 44 Challenge - who finished all the races in the top five – all the teams scored at least one counter performance, finishing 8th, 9th or even 10th. On the other hand, some well known teams such as Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis or Chris Bake’s Team Aqua didn’t manage to score a top three.

Read the full story here: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2323

Webb, who won gold with Robertson in the Yngling class in Athens in 2004 and with Sarah Ayton Beijing four years later, announced on Friday that she is pregnant with her first child but would return to competition in October in her challenge for a third gold.

Whether she will compete in the 470 women's class or the new match racing event has not been decided but in recent months, has been seen training in the 470s alongside Ayton who last week announced a 2012 campaign with Saskia Clarke.

If the Ayton/Clarke pairing fails to meet RYA selectors expectations over the next 12 months – and they finished 14th in their first regatta in Hyeres this week – Webb and Ayton could reunite for 2012.

Robertson, now 41, is more likely to campaign in the match racing class and is in discussions with the RYA.

The return of Webb has been warmly welcomed. "Sarah is more determined than ever and hugely committed to getting back in a boat and win that elusive third medal," said Stephen Park, Skandia Team GBR manager.

Britain enjoyed a productive day as they clinched three gold medals on the final day of the fourth sailing World Cup series event in France.

Light winds prevented windsurfer and overnight leader Bryony Shaw from competing, but she claimed her second successive World Cup podium finish.

Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith held on to their overnight lead for their first 49er win for six years.

And Paul Goodison won the Laser class medal race with a 14-point margin.

Goodison, the 2008 Olympic, world and European gold medallist was one point behind series leader Javier Hernandez before the start of the race.

But the 32-year-old won his first World Cup event of the year with a superb performance.

Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/sailing/8655228.stm

A record seven flights got completed today in perfect conditions. BMW ORACLE Racing leads the provisional match race ranking with five points, ahead of Team Aqua and Team Sea Dubai (4 points).

Absent from the Championship Tour since last year’s Portoroz Cup due to his America’s Cup commitments, Russell Coutts immediately confirmed that he hadn’t lost his magic touch, giving perfect advice to his helmsman Larry Ellison and winning his first three matches. The fourth one, against Paul Cayard’s Katusha, turned out to be the best one of the day, with the two teams staying in close contact throughout the race and inflicting each other all of match race’s dirty tricks. Paul Cayard won the match, but the duo Coutts / Ellison got its revenge in the next flight during another superb match, this time against James Spithill on board RC 44 Challenge.

Read the full story here: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2305

Bryony Shaw was the stand out performer for Skandia Team GBR on the penultimate day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Hyeres, France, on Thursday, as Britain secured 11 boats into Friday’s final races.

The Olympic bronze medallist Shaw took advantage of the improved wind conditions to extend her lead at the top of the RS:X women’s fleet to 18 points, meaning barring major upset, she can be confident of gold heading into the final day.

The 27-year-old secured another race win and a second from Thursday’s two races to pull ahead of nearest rival and Spanish training partner Blanca Manchon.

“It’s been a really demanding week – physically and mentally – not just on the water with the light winds we’ve had, but the delays are pretty draining as well,” Shaw explained.

“It’s great to be in such a strong position going into the medal race. I knew that I was strong in the light winds so that’s been a bonus, but it’s also encouraging to know that the work that Dom and I have been doing on technique has really paid off and we’ve seen the benefits of that this week.

She continued: “The medal race is all about putting on a good show for the media and spectators, so I’ll go out with the hope of winning it tomorrow.”

Read the full story here: http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/ShawhasHyeresWorldCupgoldwithingr...

Bryony Shaw, Olympic Champion Paul Goodison and the 49er duo of Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith made the best of another testing day at the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Hyeres, France, on Wednesday (28 April 2010).



The Olympic bronze winning windsurfer Shaw, who turned 27 yesterday, extended her lead at the top of the RS:X women's fleet, Goodison bounced back from a disqualification while Brotherton and Asquith put in solid showing across four races to take over the yellow jerseys in their respective fleets on another day beset with delays. 


Light wind conditions continued to dog the French Olympic Sailing Week, and with many fleets desperately needing races to complete their qualification series', it made for a long day on the water with the 49er class the last to reach the shore after sunset.Bryony Shaw sailed a mature two races to consolidate her lead in the women's RS:X fleet.



The Skandia Team GBR star picked up a third and a fifth from her two races, while all her nearest rivals struggled to find form, which allowed her to amass a 13 point lead over Spanish training partner Blanca Manchon after six races. 


Read the full story here: http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/452741/french-olympic-sailing-week-longest-...

Owing to the tide on Race Day (19 June), this year sees an early start of 05:00 for the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. And the firer of the five o'clock cannon will be none other than Round the Island Race veteran Dame Ellen MacArthur. Ellen will then be joining one of the four Ellen MacArthur Trust boats entered in the Race with the crews made up of young people recovering from cancer and leukemia.

Ellen follows in the foot steps of previous starters Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, double Olympic sailing medallists' Shirley Robertson OBE & Sarah Webb OBE and TV presenter Alan Titchmarsh - during his time as the High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight.

Read the full story here: http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/452737/dame-ellen-to-start-race

The Somali pirate gang who have been holding a British couple hostage since October fled with their captives yesterday after militants linked to al-Qaida took over their territory.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, who are both in their 50s, were bundled into a car yesterday when al-Shabaab insurgents moved into the pirate stronghold of Harardhere in the coastal region of north Somalia.

The Islamic group usually operates in southern and central Somalia but has shifted north in a possible attempt to crack down on piracy. If al-Shabaab militants take control of the pirate strongholds, the 300-plus foreign hostages could be in even greater danger.

Maslah Yare, who leads the pirate gang that is holding the Chandlers, said the group fled into a forest to escape the militants after they moved into the town.

"Al-Shabaab militants are chasing us," Yare told The Associated Press.

The Chandlers were kidnapped in October while on a yachting holiday. The pirates seized their 38ft yacht in the Indian Ocean as they sailed toward Tanzania.

Yare claimed that al-Shabaab has offered to pay £1.2m for the Chandlers but that his group is demanding £1.6m.

He said that pirates would abandon the Chandlers if the militants close in on them "because our lives are more important to us than holding on to them".

Ahmed Salad, a local businessman, said an advance team of al-Shabaab militants entered the pirates' territory in two vehicles on Sunday night after they forced out moderate Islamists from nearby villages. He said the militants later withdrew.

Another resident of Harardhere said the pirates had started to withdraw from the town to another pirate enclave called Hobyo.

"The town is nearly empty after the pirates have left it," said businessman Yusuf Arush. "It is calm but tense."

Drugs, alcohol and prostitution have thrived in Harardhere since it became a pirate stronghold. Such activities are opposed by al-Shabaab, an ultra-conservative Islamist militia that carries out lashings, stonings and amputations as punishment.

At present Somali pirates hold 15 vessels and more than 300 hostages.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security, said she will visit Africa next month to press for more help in prosecuting pirates arrested by European warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

Paul Goodison and Bryony Shaw head the British charge at the half way stage of the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres, leading their respective Laser and RS:X windsurfing fleets yesterday (Tuesday 27 August).

Tuesday's race schedule was once again upset by the light wind conditions which prevailed over the area, and in spite of the organisers pulling the start times forward only one race was possible in the majority of classes.

Shaw's RS:X women's windsurfing class saw just one race, which the Olympic bronze medallist won to extend her lead, while Goodison, the Olympic, World and European Champion, picked up a ninth in the only Laser race of the day but still managed to pull into the lead in the men's single-handed event. He tops the leaderboard by just one point over Austria's Andreas Geritzer.

Read the full story here: http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/452457/goodison-and-shaw-in-control

Former Olympic sailing rivals Darren Bundock and Will Howden have forged a formidable partnership to take on two former team-mates at this week's famed Eurocat regatta in Carnac, France.

Multiple world catamaran champion and two-time Olympic medallist Bundock will jump aboard the C2 Formula 18 with Howden, who represented the UK in the Tornado in Beijing, at the three-day regatta which starts on Friday.

Now based in The Netherlands, Australian Bundock and Howden will square off a strong international fleet which includes two sailors they both know well and have raced with and against for more than a decade.

"Glenn Ashby was my sailing partner at the last Olympics Games and Mitch Booth has sailed with Will in the past at many catamaran regattas so we all know each other well, along with everyone’s strengths and weakness','' Bundock said. "But Will and I believe we will have an edge at the Eurocat regatta because of what we will be racing.''

For the first time, Bundock and Howden will race a C2 Formula 18 together in the 24th editions of the annual catamaran festival on the Brittany coast of France.

Read the full story here: http://www.thedailysail.com/dinghy/10/55161/new-crew-for-darren-bundock?utm_s...