On Sunday July 7, Knickerbocker YC held their annual Day Race. Nine Sonars, five KODs and 5 MBOs were on the starting line on a day that brought bright sunshine, and enough wind for the PHRF boats to sail two races on Long Island Sound, and the One design classes to sail four races (three for the MBOs) in the bay. At the conclusion of racing, all teams gathered at KYC for great munchies and libation. The results for the day, beginning with the Sonar fleet: 1. #421, Weekend Warrior, Dan Simon and Bill Simon, 2. #396, Delight, Bob Kirtland, and 3. #368, Tzuris, Stanley Rosenberg. The KOD top boats: 1. #14, no name available, 2. #8, Second Chance, Perry Lengton, and 3. #15, Dybbuk, Roy Israel. Winners in the MBO fleet: 1. #26, Malachite, Lew Lane/Nina Randall/Gina Sigal, 2. #17, Frolic, Bill Martin, and 3. #11, Old Gray Foxes, Bob Adams/Curt Champlin.

Results have been received for the Thirsty Thursday Spring Summer Race #6 and Race #7. On Thursday, June 26th, 18 teams competed. Division I: Course UDA (4.82 nm), 4 boats: 1. Donna J, Jeff Wenger, 2. Grace, Gene Gold, and 3. Rainmaker, Brian Cohen. Division II: Course BDA (5.22 nm), 8 boats: 1. Xcite, Yalcin Tarhan, 2. Tootsie, Ron Fink, and 3. Irish Blessing, Ed Gillen. Division III: Course UMA, (3.5 nm), 4 boats: 1. En Passant, Bob Ebenau, 2. Charlie's Boat, Charlie Cannam, and 3. Sundance, Joel Ziev. Division IV: Course UMA (3.5 nm), 1 boat: N Joy Two, Israel Gerber. Division Catamaran: 4.82 nm: Renegade, Andy Ledins. On Thursday, July 3, 20 boats were on the starting line in 5 divisions. All divisions had the same course: ZMZ (3.18 nm). Results for Division I: 7 boats,: 1. Avalanche, Al Albrecht, 2. Kamikazi, Mario Fichera, and 3. Promise Kept, Sandy Lindenbaum. Division II: 7 boats: 1. Tootsie, 2. Vision, Marc Epstein, and 3. Wooly Bully, Richard Furie. Division III: 4 boats: 1. En Passant, 2. Charlie's Boat, and 3. Sundance. Division IV: one boat: N Joy Two. Division Catamaran: one boat, Renegade.

Plans are under way to hold an annual Sir Peter Blake memorial regatta at the Viaduct Harbour to decide the top yachting nation. Yachting veterans John Street, a life member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, and Tom Ehman, who was Oracle's rules adviser at the last America's Cup, are trying to organize the regatta, which will be known as the Blake Cup. Street, who was a director of the America's Cup Village in the 2000 defense, said the idea came after New Zealand lost the America's Cup and Alinghi changed the nationality rule. "We thought, 'Now the cup is gone, we have to utilize the facility in the Viaduct Harbour and put it to some other use'." And with Alinghi taking away the nationality qualification, we thought, 'Why don't we have a nation to nation sailing competition'." The details of the proposed regatta will not be finalized for a while, but it is hoped the first race will be next February. Street said the regatta, which will last for 10 to 12 days, would be divided into four categories: junior class sailing in Optimists, Olympic class in 49ers or 470s, fleet division racing in Etchells, and offshore division racing in 50-70ft keel yachts. There will be one team per country, with each member having to hold a passport for that country. Organizers say the regatta will always be held at the Viaduct Harbour, irrespective of which country wins. Mr. Ehman, who is American, has been meeting a series of yachting's big names, such as Larry Ellison, Dennis Conner and Paul Cayard, to discuss sponsorship and participation.

Street said he had received support from the Auckland City Council, but the competition would not need financial support from the Government or the council. Auckland Mayor John Banks confirmed that he was aware of the Blake Cup. "The proposition has a lot of merit and we are currently working through the finer details." The trophy that has been chosen as the Blake Cup has a long yachting pedigree. It was awarded to the yacht Cambria, which was the first English yacht to challenge for the America's Cup after England lost it. Street bought the silver trophy at an auction last year for about $4500.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) has announced six of the eight seeded skippers who will compete for the Investors Guaranty presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup. The regatta, the second event on the Swedish Match Tour 2003/4, will be held October 18-26. Topping the list of skippers is America's Cup winning helmsman Russell Coutts/Alinghi Team, who has won the King Edward VII Cup a record six times (2000, '98, '96, '93, '92, '90). Two-time champions Peter Gilmour (AUS; '97, '95), Chris Dickson (NZL; '89, '87), 2001 champion Peter Holmberg (USVI), and Dennis Conner (USA) will join Jesper Radich/ TeamRadich (DEN), the reigning champion who is currently second on the Swedish Match Tour 2002/2003 rankings, to challenge for one of match racing's largest prize purses. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club is thrilled to have all of these skippers return to Bermuda after their hiatus for the America's Cup," said RBYC

Commodore Les Crane. "With the assistance of Investors Guaranty and the best skippers in the world, this year's event will be a blockbuster." And to make the event even more exciting, The Swedish Match Tour has just unveiled the new Swedish Match 40, a new custom-built match racing yacht designed for the Tour by Swedish sailing legend Pelle Petterson. Said Petterson, "The Swedish Match 40 is a unique design based on the most recent America's Cup class yachts. The Swedish Match 40 will provide sailors and teams a perfect tool to develop their match racing skills on the road to the next America's Cup in 2007." This boat is perfect for the Tour as it provides the Tour with a boat that is consistent in quality with each other and from event-to-event, which is essential for match racing. The incredible feature of these boats is their portability - they fit into a 40-foot container that allows them to be shipped to each event on the Tour. According to Scott MacLeod, the Swedish Match Tour Director, "We wanted to create an opportunity to simulate the America's Cup racing and bring it to as many markets as possible, including those that in the past would have been unable to host a Swedish Match Tour event due to a lack of a suitable fleet."

While the only match racing event on our bay, the Knickerbocker Cup, will not be using the Swedish Match 40, the event, which is scheduled to take place August 27 through September 1, will bring terrific international match racing teams to Manhasset Bay. A highlight of this year's KCUP will be a talk by John Standley on Friday evening, August 29th. Standley has been an International Match Race umpire for over 10 years and will present an illustrated talk on the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series and America's Cup from an Umpires View. Proceeds from the talk will be donated to the Manhasset Sailing Foundation. Save the date, and look for more information as the event draws near.