IT'S A WILD ONE - COUNTDOWN TO ROLEX SIDNEY HOBART

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race gets going in just over a week and in its 69th year the fleet will feature 94 yachts, including 22 international entrants, five 100-ft Maxis, seven former winners and the current race record holder.  The 628-nm race commences on 26 December from Sydney Harbour with the game wide open. This week's edition of World Sailing News features some of the latest news from the event media worth checking out.

At the inaugural Melges 20 World Championship John Taylor, Bill Hardesty and Joey Mello, sailing Ninkasi, took the first world title in the class.

For Hardesty it was another world championship title on his résumé but for Ninkasi owner, Taylor, it was his first ever major regatta victory. See below for a full report from the 2013 Melges 20 Worlds .

IFDS Rankings for Paralympic Classes were released this week and there's further news from the Hobie 16 Worlds, Kiteracing Oceanic Championship, Cyprus Sailing Federation and 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds. There's also an opening at the ISAF Secretariat for a Communications Administrator with full details included below. (da www.sailing.org)