Sailing: Updated Commodores' Cup should produce exciting confrontations

From 900 boats in Cowes Week the number falls to just 33 today, but the Solent takes on a more international flavour as 11 three-boat teams line up for the first inshore races of the Commodores' Cup.

As always, there is a slightly cobbled-together look to an event which was devised to be the First Division international Team Regatta answer in even years to the Premier league of the Admiral's Cup in the odd years. And some of the players may only be recent converts to the colours they carry.

But it has, at least, managed to retain the structure with which it started, includes some very competent names in the crew lists, and, now that the rules have been changed to encourage more modern racing machines, could produce some exciting confrontations.

In contrast, its big brother, also managed by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, failed to be staged at all in 2001 and, in a mangled form, relaunches itself in Dublin next year. There are also question marks over how and why Dunlaoghairi was chosen as the venue.

Back on familiar territory after a couple of RORC flirtations with Portsmouth, two teams each represent England, France and Ireland, with one each from Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Wales and the Commonwealth. There is a suspiciously England III look to the Commonwealth team, and two of the three Ireland blue boats are Solent-based.

Peter Morton, after failing to persuade the RORC to allow him to lead a European team, has Stuart Childerley inshore and Tim Powell offshore at the helm of Mandrake. Charles Dunstone, boss of Car Phone Warehouse, joins in with Communicator, but Colm Barrington's Gloves Off is very definitely Irish.

There was a standing ovation in the Royal Southern Yacht Club on Saturday to celebrate Simon Russell taking the Captain's Cup as the overall winner of the X One Design class in Cowes.

* An attack on the America's Cup defenders, Team New Zealand, has been launched by the Seattle-based challenger OneWorld, who are already the subject of an investigation by an arbitration panel which looks into disputes and rule breaches and could face disqualification. OneWorld claim that a former TNZ lawyer who went to work for McCaw has given a copy of their design to TNZ, in breach of the protocol.