The demand from the IOC is that Olympic sports improve their ratings. ISAF has responded with medal races and here at Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, with a stadium course.

But television steps onto the field of play…

Yesterday, in the name of more exciting television, the ISAF contracted Sunset & Vine TV boat twice powered down the run, following the Finn class race leader Pieter Jan Postma and putting significant wash on Ben Ainslie.

The Medal Race day provided entertainment for the fans crowding the grandstands and Bather's Beach board walk. Although far from windy there was enough breeze to provide solid racing for all with the wind ranging from 7-13 knots. Each of the four fleets had intriguing story lines and tight battles throughout the top 10. Full results of these races and more can be found at www.perth2011.com. Nine different countries secured medals today out of the 12 medals available, with the Netherlands and GBR being the only countries to score more than one medal on the day.

An invitation to watch The O CANADA Project Sunday December 11 at 7pm on CBC’s Documentary Channel. Rogers 325, Cogeco 170, Bell TV 336, Shaw Direct 513, Shaw 124, and Videotron 151. The O CANADA Project tells the story of New Zealand boat builder Alan West rebuilding the former Spirit of Canada boat, skippered by Canadian Derek Hatfield in the 2006 Vendee Globe singlehanded race.

After a full weekend of racing, the 2011 Cork Fall Regatta and Great Lakes Championships has come to a close.

After a total of five races in the Laser fleet, local sailor and Canadian national team sailor, Robert Davis from the Kingston Yacht Club is the new Great Lakes Champion ahead of fellow Queen’s engineering students, Evert McLaughlin and Matthew Ryder (Toronto, Ontario). The overall winner and Great Lakes Champion of the Laser Radial class is Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest Illinois).

Antigua Sailing Week is delighted to announce Sunsail as Gold Sponsor for its 2012 event. With its continuing focus on and commitment to supporting sailing at every level and with the recent launch of the new Sunsail Racing product range, Sunsail is a perfect fit with Antigua Sailing Week.

Simon Conder, Head of Marketing for Sunsail said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Antigua Sailing Week and to become a Gold Sponsor for this premier yachting event.

In a reversal of fortunes from the inaugural event two years ago, the Terry McLaughlin-led team from the Royal Canadian Yacht Club persevered today to win the 2011 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex, sailed in Swan 42s.

The New York Yacht Club team finished second, with the Annapolis Yacht Club team, third. The final race days’ light and shifty conditions gave all 22 teams the opportunity to shift positions on the leaderboard, but in the end most just solidified what they had already earned.

All eyes were on the skippers and crews of Zingara and First Today as they prepared for the final day of the Beneteau First 36.7 North American Championships held at the National Yacht Club in Toronto, Canada. The two yachts were tied at 24 points each after three days and nine races and, with years of fierce competition between them, it had all the makings for a long drawn battle to the death. But within one minute of the first of two scheduled races on the last day of the regatta it was all but over.

Richard Reid owner/ skipper of Zingara summed it up by saying that they were looking for a good lane at the boat end of the line but got caught with their pants down and were forced to go the right side of the course which was the wrong way to go.

The Barrie Yacht Club (on Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt Bay) recently hosted the 2011 Olson 25 Canadian National Championship Regatta on September 10/11, 2011.

The 2011 event featured a very competitive seven-boat fleet that sailed six races in total over two days. Starting early on Saturday morning and running through until Sunday evening, Olson 25 skippers and crew enjoyed a full slate of racing and conditions that resulted in very close competition in challenging and sometimes shifty conditions.

The 2012 London Olympic Sailing Regatta in Weymouth is now just 10 months away (29th July -11th August 2012). Sail-World.com with large audiences around the world will have its largest ever Olympic media team and it will break new ground with a record 3.5 million event newsletters.

Parent company TetraMedia Publisher Rob Kothe said today ‘During the Qingdao Olympics the Sail-World team was sending out 80,000 newsletters each day providing the most detailed coverage of the Olympic sailing regatta of any media organisation in the world.

The 2011 J/105 Canadian Championship, the premier racing event of the J/105 Fleet 4 season was awarded to Dave Shaver's Retern, also winner of the 2007 edition. This year's Championship war flag was well earned in one of the closest events for the season. Second place went to Jamaica Me Crazy, last year's winner whilst third place went to Hey Jude.

The three day event was the perfect test for J/105 sailing out of Toronto, with variable wind conditions from moderate (Friday and Sunday) to high waves Saturday, current and oscillating wind directions, testing sailing and strategy of all the top crews.

Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (RIWKC) – Corey Sertl, from Rochester, NY moved ahead of both Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow to win. Corey's daughter Katja Sertl, in her second ever RIWKC, placed eighth and another local sailor, Kiki Werner was fifth. Top international boat went to the Dutch team, skippered by Marieke Poulie in 10th place, and top Canadian team was Sharon Ferris.

This bi-annual event, sponsored by Rolex from it's inception,

With fairly consistent easterly winds ranging from 4 to 12 kts, the International 2.4mR North American Championships finished today at The Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, Hamilton, Ontario. Oscillating shifts kept the sailors busy especially in the third race when the wind produced 12 kt gusts.

The second race brought out the black flag by CRO Anne Sanderson and the fleet fell quickly into line.

Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championships – Anna Tunnicliffe moved into first to tie up the lead with Sally Barkow. Corey Sertl remained in second and Carol Cronin moved into fourth.

Racing on Lake Ontario didn't start until after noon, when the wind came in and settled. After that the race committee pulled off three good races. The conditions ranged from light and variable to wavy with good breeze.