Valencia 7th May, 2007. Earlier this week the Swedish Victory Challenge needed to win her remaining three matches in Round Robin Two to have any hope of qualifying for the Semi Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Then, on Monday ‘Victory Challenge’ beat the team they are chasing, ‘Desafío Español 2007′. Each team now has two matches left. Any combination of either a Spanish win or Swedish loss will see the Spanish ‘Desafío Español 2007′ in the Semi Final. It is likely then that ‘Desafío Español’ will gain the fourth semi-final position. ‘BMW Oracle Racing’, ‘Emirates team New Zealand’ and ‘Luna Rossa Challenge’ appear to have secured their positions as semi finalists.In other matches, Emirates Team New Zealand beat ‘Luna Rossa Challenge’. ‘BMW ORACLE Racing’ is one point ahead, and will face the Kiwis on the final day, potentially with first place on the line. Conditions off Valencia were good with 10 to 12 knot South Easterlies providing ideal racing conditions.

The New President-Elect of France and conservative choice, Nicolas Sarkozy, has left France for a few days of holiday in Malta, after winning the Presidential vote from Socialist rival Segolene Royal. Mr Sarkozy is apparently on the 60-metre, British registered Motor Yacht ‘Le Paloma’ with his wife, son, a small entourage and five security guards. The luxury boat spent the afternoon cruising off Malta’s southern coast and the night anchored at Delimara Bay, Malta. Ironically this is where a summit meeting between U.S. President George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev took place in December 1989. One French website reported the luxury yacht belonged to industrialist Vincent Bolloré, one of the richest men in France. It was not clear whether Mr Sarkozy was a guest or had paid the roughly €110,000 three-day rate plus private flight.

The 80 ft Wally Yacht ‘Indio’, on her first visit to the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week 29th April to 5th May 2007, collected three of the most important trophies in the Cruising Class of the regatta: First place Overall of the Performance Cruiser Fleet (50 yachts) First place in her class Performance Cruiser I (12 yachts) Best Elapsed Time Performance Cruiser Fleet (50 yachts).

Portsmouth, Virginia- On Friday, 11th May, The U.S. Coast Guard called for more aircraft in the fifth day of the search for the missing sailing yacht ‘Flying Colours’. ‘Flying Colours’ is a Little Harbour 54, with 4 crew members on board. A severe storm with North Easterly winds near hurricane strength and waves of around 30 ft battered the East Coast on Monday. At this time of the year a lot of boats are returning from the Caribbean and many diverted to Bermuda. Four sailboats were in trouble off the North Carolina coast, with Coast Guard helicopters rescuing nine people from three of the boats throughout Monday. All had activated their emergency radio beacons, giving their locations. However, the Flying Colours signal, which began about 3:30 a.m. Monday, stopped about 7 a.m. At that time, it was about 160 miles southeast of Cape Lookout, N.C., the Coast Guard said. Despite a search of 50,000 square miles, ‘Flying Colours’ remains missing and no debris has been found.

Friday 11th May, 2007. This week we talk to Canada’s Curtis Blewitt from the Alinghi team, as he tells us about waiting for the challenger to emerge and what makes an America’s Cup sailor. We hear from the Shosholoza Team as the first South African campaign comes to a close in Valencia and we talk to the American tactician Dee Smith on his work in the Cup and his plans for the future.

The Volvo Sailing Podcast is produced once a week and you will find links to the podcast here every Friday. Visit the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 website for information such as the VO70 Rule, Boat Design, Notice of Race, Race Schedule and more: Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009. For this week’s Volvo Sailing Podcast: Listen Here.