FEATURES

A balance of opinions
A lap of views from some of the entered challengers keen to begin the 33rd America’s Cup

Again
TORBEN GRAEL’s Ericsson 4 crew started leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race with an ‘acceptable’ points-lead over Telefónica Blue. But the Singapore stopover had been far from troublefree

Faster (Volvo) spars
STEVE WILSON of Southern Spars was a busy boy as his engineers worked to get a range of new VO70 spar options ready ahead of the current race

Heartbreak homecoming
Once again MIKE GOLDING finds himself out of a round the world race with a technical failure. Surely there comes a point... TIM JEFFERY visits the mind of the singlehanded racer

What seems to be the trouble?
As rudders break and spars tumble in the Vendée Globe one man who is looking forward to a busy time after the race is composite analyst JACQUES LE BERRE. He talks to PATRICE CARPENTIER about the evolution of his work

Act Two
– Part 1
The last Volvo Race saw Farr Yacht Design’s previous hegemony on the event broken at last. Predictably, that is not a situation that the Annapolis designers intend to allow to continue. BRITT WARD and RUSSELL BOWLER describe how the company is fighting back

REGULARS

Commodore’s letter
ANDREW MCIRVINE

Editorial
ANDREW HURST

Update
Hydroptère passes 61 knots (sic!), TERRY HUTCHINSON intends to enjoy 2009... and takes a US Rolex award (at last – ed), BLUE ROBINSON feels that he has finally made it into the big time... DOBBS DAVIS previews a robust-looking 2009 World Match Racing Tour and ANDY RICE talks with ED REYNOLDS as the Quantum Racing team begins its second season on the TP52 MedCup circuit

World news
Vendée retirements, rescues... and coincidences, Ragtime takes an unexpected lead-role in the Hobart, as Oats is put to the test (at last), ROY DICKSON (inset) puts in the hours to ease young CHRIS up the ladder... and some of those (bloody – ed) coach boats finally meet their maker. DOBBS DAVIS, PATRICE CARPENTIER, CARLOS PICH, ROB MUNDLE and IVOR WILKINS

ORC column

Olympic and small boat news – Another takeaway
XINMIN YAN investigates the state of sailing’s gently-awakening superpower with China Watersports Director QUANHAI LI

America’s Cup – Claws at dawn
As the two parties move towards the next act (that’s act, not Act...) TIM JEFFERY measures up the rivals’ claims, positions and support cast

Design – A friend returns
The Ker 11.3m has been around for a while now and continues to succeed under a rule – IRC – for which it was never intended. Now its designer feels that his baby merits something of an update. JASON KER talks with DOBBS DAVIS

Seahorse raceboat build table – Into orbit
DEREK JOHNS tells the story behind Ronstan’s award-winning new range of small boat blocks

RORC news
EDDIE WARDEN-OWEN 

Seahorse regatta calendar

Sailor of the Month
Master of the oceans versus master of the cats