SERVER SWAP. Okay, that was painless. The server swap was achieved a day earlier than expected so the BOB has now been given a new lease on life. By the way, this swap has been in the works for a long time. It was executed as planned and ahead of schedule, and will improve our ability to serve our steadily growing readership. The swap was not connected to problems you may have seen over on our main team website the past couple days (which, thankfully, appear to be behind us). Once again, our thanks to Roland Neubauer at SMS, and the teams at Twoday.net and Knallgrau for all their good efforts on our behalf.

MILESTONE. When I checked the Sitemeter a few minutes ago, we are at 99,945 visitors since we started the BOB in June 2005. In the next few hours likely we will click past the milestone 100,000 mark. Thanks again to all of you for your continuing interest.

BRUNO. Congrats to our old friend Bruno Trouble who, it was announced yesterday, will be inducted into the AC Hall of Fame at a gala dinner here in VLC this June. There is a story posted about all that over on the Challenger Commission Blog that I know some of you will enjoy reading.

NICE PHOTOS. Thanks to Steve Wilson (NZL, design team) for the appetizing photos, below, that he took before leaving NZL a couple weeks ago. We appreciate it any time someone from the team augments the snapping for the blog otherwise usually carried out by the pro/am team of Gilles Martin-Raget (FRA, team photographer) and your Ed. No question who is the amateur in that duo.

There is an extensive post now up on the Challenger Commission Blog covering the main decisions and other points of discussion from last week's CC Meetings. It's a bit heavy on rules and politics, but some of our readers who do not otherwise regularly check that site may find at least some of the info interesting if not also useful.

There is a bit of a pause in the posting action here on the BOB while the Challenger Commission meetings are taking place in VLC Mon-Wed this week and your Ed. is occupied with those proceedings. All 11 Challengers are well represented. The sessions are being ably led by CC Chair Alessandra Pandarese (ITA/ML), and have been successful and productive for all concerned. Check the CC Blog later today and tomorrow for updates.

On this, the 12th day of Christmas, while most of the Christian world has already begun packing up the ornaments, throwing out the tree, and finding a place for all of their gifts, Spaniards are continuing the celebration. All the stores are closed, and at least here in Valencia it is another clear, beautiful and unusually quiet Saturday.

Today also marks the rapidly approaching "beginning of the end" of AC 32.

In Spain, 6 January is Dia de los Tres Reyes -- Three Kings Day -- the long awaited day on which the three kings bring their gifts. On 5 January, children go to a parade where they see the three tings arrive in their city, and take the opportunity to ask them for gifts. Later, before going to bed, children leave their shoes out in a visible spot in the house or on their balcony. They go to bed hoping that when they wake up they will find gifts left by Mechior, Gaspar, and Balthasar.

For breakfast or after lunch, families often have the typical dessert of the day, the Roscón de los Reyes, a large ring shaped cake that is decorated with candied fruits, symbolic of the emeralds and rubies that adorned the robes of the three kings. Somewhere inside the cake there is a surprise, and the person to find it will be crowned King or Queen of the house for the remainder of the day. [Source: Escuela Internacional]

For those of us involved in AC 32 today has other significance: on 6 April, three months from today, Act 13 will be over; and a short month after that, on 6 May 2007, the LVC Rounds Robin will be over and seven of the eleven Challengers go home. More on the Challenger Commission site.

The guys began sailing in AKL this week, witness the nice story on our main team website today about USA 71 sailing off the Auckland cityfront yesterday in beautiful, breezy conditions.

By contrast, the sailing conditions in VLC are again this week, and typical for the winter months, very light....


Meanwhile in Malaysia, it is typically hot and humid on the opening day of the Monsoon Cup, the sixth stop on the World Match Racing Tour of which BMW is the official car (both the Monsoon Cup and the Tour). BMW ORACLE Racing is not was able to have a team in Malaysia this week given that both Dicko and Gavin had teams racing in the NZ Match Racing Championships in Auckland last week, the start-up of training with 71 in AKL this week, and the team Sten Mohr is taking to Brazil for the WMRT event there next week. Some photos and commentary on the Monsoon Cup will appear from time to time over on the Challenger Commission Blog and on the Monsoon Cup website.

Congrats to Hamish Pepper and crew Carl Williams (NZL, BMWOR sailing team) who won the first race yesterday at the hotly-contested 2006 Star Class World Championship being held this week in San Francisco Bay. We'll keep looking for some decent pictures -- any picture for that matter -- of the Pepper/Williams duo. In the meantime, full results and some images (including the one below) are on the St Francis YC website.

The St Francis website reports that, "The westerly breeze proved very shifty all afternoon, ranging from as much as 13 knots to as little as 5, with the pressure spread out all over the course. Racing began in an ebb, turning to a flood late afternoon. Hamish Pepper and crew Carl "Tiny" Williams (New Zealand) took the first win of the 6-day series with seeming ease...."

Check under "Links" in the right margin of this Blog and you will see "Family Program Key Dates" at the bottom of the list. Click on that to see the latest calendar as updated by the BMWOR Family Committee. As always the Calendar is intended for team members and their families/partners only, and is, therefore, password-protected. To obtain the user ID and password please check with Sofia Barraclough or Kristen Sneyd at the Team Base.

Team members, family and friends flying through Europe these days, especially those transitting through London's Heathrow or Gatwick, should be aware of the new regulations that severely curtail carry-ons.

New rules ban almost all liquids, creams and gels from being carried aboard flights. Those items must be put in your checked bags. Some exceptions include baby formula and some required medications. For some flights and destinations, even stricter rules may now be in force.

One of our team families returned from vacaciones via Gatwick earlier this week. They report that things have definitely tightened up. Click here for a photo they snapped en route from Gatwick to Valencia. ;)

Earlier this week Regatta Director Dyer Jones issued the slightly amended 2007 Racing Schedule as recently agreed with the teams. Details and the 2007 AC Calendar were posted this morning on the Challenger Commission Blog.

Also posted on the CCB today is a useful summary of Key Dates (not just racing) now through the end of the Cup.