In This Issue of Around the World of Sailing from Torresen Sailing Site, One Design 35 News, Around Alone, The Race, Sailing News and Clipper '98

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In This Issue:
One Design 35 Nationals' Preview
One Design 35's for Charter for Key West & SORC
Around Alone Report
Maria Cha III Update
New 'ATOWS' Subscription Form
Bermuda Match Racing
Clipper Around the World Race

Inaugural One Design 35 Nationals begin Friday
    Twelve One Design 35's (see entries below)
will vie for the inaugural national championship.
The regatta will be hosted by Annapolis (Maryland)
Yacht Club.
    Windward/leeward courses will be utilized
with 8 races scheduled (3 on Friday and Saturday
2 on Sunday). Racing will take place in Chesapeake
Bay off the mouth of the Severn River. Scoring
will be low point with no race scores to be dropped.
Four races will constitute a completed series.
    One Design 35 racing on the Great Lakes has
proved highly competitive. At most regattas multiple
boats have won races. These same boats have often
finished last in the same series. It seems that no
one boat has yet figured out how to dominate the
1D35 fleet. The no throwout scoring will put a
premium on consistent scores. Also, if it takes
out of town boats long to figure out the conditions
they could be too far behind to catch up.
    For the first time, the One Design 35's will
sail under their class rules. The class rules specify
that the helmsman must be of US Sailing's Group 1.
A maximum of 3 non group 1 sailors can be carried
as crew. The crews will have a maximum weight limit
of 1400 lbs.
    An interesting twist to the weight limit
hinges on who drives the boat. If the "exclusive
helmsman" is a Group 1 sailor, only half of his/her
weight applies toward the crew weight limit.
    What shall the sailors expect? Well, the One
Design 35 has gotten good reviews, including a
Boat of the Year nomination. Noted sailing journalist
Tom Leweck recently sailed on board on 1D 35. He
was impressed. They should expect an easy time
maneuvering the boat, as Leweck puts it:
"I have no idea who laid out the deck plan,
but it's PERFECT." They also should expect to
sail fast, again Leweck comments: "Outside the
Long Beach breakwater flying the standard oversized
kite, the knotmeter jumped easily and frequently to
11+ knots with fingertip control. Great fun!"
    Torresen Sailing Site will provide same
day coverage of the One Design 35 nationals. Please
check back beginning Friday October 23 for Day 1
Coverage in words and pictures.
    One Design 35 Nationals Entries:
Hippy Chick David Bowen Muskegon MI
Heartbreaker Robert Hughes Grand Rapids MI
Jazz John Fisher Peabody MASS
War Bride Pete Du Pont Wilimington DEL
Picante Robert Salk Jamestown RI
Avalance Sledd Shelhorse Virginia Beach VA
Excalibur Roland Arthur Roanoke TX
Widow Maker Nick Worth Norfolk VA
Roxanne Kip Meadows Rocky Mount NC
Canvasback Doug Crocker Oxford MD
Sotet Lo Phil Kubat Boston MASS
Victory V.J. "Buddy" Cribb West Palm Beach FLA

One Design 35's for Charter for Key West and SORC
    If you want to get in on One Design racing,
the opportunity exists- and its coming soon.
    China Cloud home ported in Chicago is
available for charter for Key West race week.
Key West race week will be sailed January 18 to
January 22 1999. Over 20 One Design 35's are
expected for this event, and you could get on
the starting line in this competitive yacht
(3rd at the Great Lakes Championships).
    Of course, after Key West comes the
SORC in Miami FL. This year the SORC will
sail from March 3 to March 7th. The One Design 35
De'tente is available for the SORC. This
yacht is One Design 35 hull # 18, just launched
in September. She has a full North 3DL sail
inventory, and Ockam instruments.
    If either of these opportunities
interest you please contact the Torresen Marine
brokerage department. You may e-mail
brokerage@torresen or call on (231) 759 8596 to
talk about this opportunity to fill your winter
with fun One Design 35 racing!

Around Alone Report
    Marc Thiercelin's Finot 60 Somewhere
continues as the Around Alone race leader.
He leads fellow French sailor Isabelle Autissier
sailing PRB by 38 miles. On board PRB Isabelle
is preparing her strategy for her upcoming battle
with the Atlantic high pressure systems. These
are both roughly on the latitude of the finish in
Cape Town South Africa. It may be possible for
the fleet to sail between the two, or sail over
the top of them.
    In 3rd place in Class I is Group 4
132 miles back followed by fellow British yacht
Gartmore 135 miles back.
    Class II is still led by Balance Bar.
Her lead over Cray Valley is 11 miles. The other
nite Balance Bar had an encounter with the
Brazilian navy. At first, the Navy called
Brad via VHF and queried in him in very
official fashion. They then told him to make
a radical course change to clear the area in
which they were conduction operations. Then
another voice came on the box. This time
it was a Brazilian Navy officer who also races
sailboats. Once he understood Brad was sailing
in Around Alone he allowed him to resume his
course. The conversation concluded with the
following exchange: "I told him that I was
currently first in class and that I was trying
to hold off a French man. He said the French
dominate this event, but now the Brazilian Navy
was rooting for me and that they would help
in any way possible."
    Magellan Alpha's Mike Garside is
putting his outlook back together after his
keel problems. He reports: "I'm getting to
grips with the race again."
    South Carolina Class II's 4th place
yacht is 365 miles back of Magellan a 26
mile gain. South Carolina is benefiting
from a change in fortunes: "good trades,
a change of hemisphere, and a change of
season."
    Rapscallion III trails South Carolina
by 93 miles and lies 5th in Class II.
    94 more miles back is www.no-barriers.com.
No Barriers is still in the Doldrums and
its squalls. At nite: "We took a knockdown
with the winds blowing 45 knots and I had
every piece of cloth hanging. With no moon,
it was pitch black. Fortunately these
spectra sails are well built and strong.
We suffered no damage, but inside the cabin
it was a mess with stuff thrown out of their
compartments."
    No Barriers has the edge in southing over
Rapscallion and my benefit from the tradewinds
first. 36 miles behind No Barriers is Shuten Doji.
    337 miles farther back is Paladin II
who leads Wind of Change by 37 miles,
the same margin as yesterday.
    So, as the fleet sails south the most
of the back half will exit the Doldrums and
get into the trades. Meanwhile the leaders
will begin to set up to best bypass the two
windless highs in the South Atlantic.
    For daily updates on Around Alone
please visit:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/around_alone_index_page.asp

Maria Cha III takes on the Atlantic Crossing Record
    Maria Cha's record breaking voyage officially
began at 12:09:31 UTC on Thursday October 15th.
    The first day saw the 145 foot monohull
fully powered up carrying: max spin, main, mizzen
spin and full mizzen. Friday saw some serious
high speed sailing: "With a moderate wind between
24-27 knots NW, the average speed is 23 knots!"
Saturday saw Maria Cha continue to sail east in
slightly less wind.
    Sunday night saw exciting sailing including,
"Two "unpredicted" gybes resulted in two cracked
battens." Both the mizzen and main had to come down
and were re hoisted after repair. Of corse,
Maria Cha is a bit different than boats that
normally break record. Each day the crew takes
a hot shower between duty shifts.
    Throughout the attempt, Maria Cha has
sailed a rhumb line course. At this point
Maria Cha is less than 1,000 miles from the
finish of her voyage. At this point the outright
record of the catamaran Jet Services (6 days
13 hours 3 minutes 32 seconds) is out of the question.
However, the 8 day 3 hour time of Phocea
(set with powered sailing systems such as
electric winches etc. on board) is within reason,
and the 11 day mark of Nicorette will certainly fall.
Weather router Pierre Lasniers predicts:"an 8 day
crossing. I hope it will be less than 9." In
other words stay tuned to see if Maria Cha
makes it under the wire in time.
    The team sailing Maria Cha II hopes
to build an even bigger monohull and sail it in The
Race. To put the speeds expected in the Race
into perspective the qualification standards are:
"Qualification times should be inferior to 125 %
of the best time recorded on each course." On
the trans atlantic course the qualifying time
must be less than 8 days 4 hours, an average
speed of 14.9 knots. On the Yokahama to San Francisco
course the needed time is: 18 days 9 hours, average
speed of 11.2 knots. The final possible
qualifying course is Los Angeles to Honolulu.
To qualify for The Race on this course you will
need a passage time of 6 days 17 hours or less,
at an average speed of 13.7 knots.
    To see if Maria Cha II makes it visit:
http://www.winning-edge.org/MAINFRAME.htm

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Bermuda Gold Cup
    This major match racing event is sailed in
Bermuda in International One Designs. This year
marks the 50th anniversary of the Gold Cup.
    The Gold Cup utilizes a unique competitive
format. It all starts with 24 sailors. 8 of these
are seeded tennis tournament style. The other
sixteen skippers compete in a double round robin
qualifying series to win the other eight places
in the first round of the championship, and
the right to sail against a seeded skipper.
    Advancing from Group 2 of the unseeded
sailors were: by Murray Jones/NZL,
Andy Beadsworth/GRB, Andy Green/GRB and
Glenn Astwood/BER. Of note, Paul Cayard did
not make it out Group 2.
    Advancing from Group 1 were:
Paula Lewin/BER, Francesco de Angelis/ITA,
Dean Barker/NZL and James Spithill/AUS.
    Today, racing between the seeded
sailors and qualifiers is underway. Peter
Gilmour has 2 wins over James Spithill,
Russel Coutts has 2 wins over countryman
Dean Barker, Gavin Brady leads Paula Lewin
1-0, and Francesco de Angelis is even at
1 win with John Cutler.
    To follow the racing to its
conclusion on Sunday October 25th visit:
http://sailing.org/goldcup/

Clipper '98 Sets Sail
    Sunday October 18th saw a fleet of 60 foot
yachts set sail from Plymouth England. The seven
identical 60 footers are sailing in Sir Robin Knox
Johnston's Clipper '98 Around the World Race.
    Similar to the British Steel Challenge, the
crews are amateurs who pay to sail. A total of 201
people comprise the Clipper crews.
    The 10 month race takes a different route
than most around the world races. The clippers do
not round Cape Horn but are using the Panama Canal.
Among other places the fleet stops at; Maderia,
San Salvador, Nassau, Havana, Panama, Galapagos,
Hawaii, Japan, China and Hong Kong.
    The first leg from Plymouth to Madeira has
not been easy. Winds have been up to Force 8 right
on the nose. The first Clippers will reach Maderia
on Tuesday.
    Last report had Ariel Clipper in the lead by
8 miles over Thermopylae Clipper. From 1st to last
the distance is only 46 miles. In the last 24 hours
the boats have made from 77 to 96 miles.
    To keep up with this grand adventure please visit:
http://www.clipper-racing.com/fs-main.htm