Damon Hill could not have stage-managed it better for visual effect

Damon Hill could not have stage-managed it better for visual effect. It will be difficult to fill the gap left by the retirement of Vicky Dixon but the good news is that the former English internationals and past captains Sandie Lister and Tracy Fry are back in training.Loughborough Students, newly promoted to Division One, will be strengthened with the arrival of Kate Sharland from Leicester and Ireland’s Laura Brown.-. England’s Lucy Cope returns after missing last season with injury problems. Absent will be Karen Brown and Helen Thornalley, recovering from injuries, and Sally Eyre, who is taking a year out to complete her studies.
Hightown’s England junior internationals Caroline Gilbert and Helen Grant have moved to Olton Terraquest while Maggie Souyave has retired.Newly promoted Olton are likely to be short of Mandy Gatherer with an injured back but hope to have all their Under-21s available after the World Junior Cup in Seoul with the exception of Lucilla Wright, who is resting.Lucy Youngs has taken over the captaincy of Ipswich, disappointed that in spite of the good showing in both League and Cup last season and a Silver medal in the European Championships they have been unable to attract new players. Slough, the National League champions, travel to Southport to play Hightown in today’s opening match of the season, strengthened by the inclusion of the Great Britain and Scottish international Sue MacDonald. That is the real test and from Friday we will see how each site keeps the scores for each match up-to-date.Official Ryder Cup site http:// www.rydercup /CBS Sportsline http://cbs.sportsline /u/golf/ryderwatch.htmGolfWeb http:// www.golfweb /ga/ryderGolf in Spain http://ww.golfspain /ryder97golf http://tour.golf /tour/pgatour/ryderGolf on Line http:// www.golfonline /tours/rydercup/Sporting Life http:// www.sportinglife /golf/news. The US PGA tour site seems to be completely insular and is ignoring the Cup altogether, while the European tour site gives a link to GolfWeb.Golf in Spain is mainly for the golf tourist, playing or watching, with player profiles and course details.

The Sporting Life site has Ian Woosnam providing his personal assessment of the Ryder Cup, the American team and a hole-by-hole guide to Valderrama and will be doing live scoring. GolfWeb is another good site, with all the features one expects plus an odds section. Golf on Line is the web site for Golf Magazine with its articles. CBS Sportsline is more americentric as one would expect, with only details on the American team, although golf , which is linked to NBC sports and Golf Digest, presents a more balanced view. Even so, she moved with power and grace.Heading back to London, an accident on the M3 closed the motorway. Sitting in my tin can, firmly anchored amid a wash of petrol fumes by a 10-mile traffic jam south of Bracknell, a thought strikes home…if only I had pounds 3m.. As Europe gets ready for its biennial outbreak of golf fever, more unifying than any EC directive, with the start of the Ryder Cup at Valderrama in Spain next Friday, internet users have a head start.

There are golf sites that cover the American and European tours on a weekly basis and some have included sections on the Ryder Cup. However, there is an official Ryder Cup site, rydercup , and this provides the most comprehensive coverage with some interesting features. With TV coverage restricted to satellite, you could do worse than follow the action via the net and the radio. This site is “cybercasting” in real time once the competition proper starts, with hole-by-hole updating of scores and a promised audio link to Radio 5 Live, star of the 95 Ryder Cup.
Features include a breakdown of the course, with an aerial overview of each hole plus Seve Ballesteros’ ideas on how to play it.

There is the official programme, with articles by writers such as Ian Wooldridge, Hugh McIlvanney, Peter Dobereiner and Michael McDonnell, the match format, records of every player who has played in the competition and detailed profiles of this year’s contestants.There are also sections devoted to news, features and trivia. “We’ve got a San Diego day for you.”A good wind and a hazy sun made conditions perfect, and as we slipped past a huge container ship being led like a puppy by a tug, Toshiba dipped her port side and gathered speed. The Solent looks vast, but it is not big enough for a thoroughbred to be given her head. Even Conner, who has a reputation for being a sometimes prickly character, is at his most affable, despite his luggage not having followed him to Southampton from a weekend regatta in Sardinia.”I’m sorry it’s not cold, foggy and wet like you’re used to,” was the big American’s welcome as we left the dock at Ocean Village. However, they could not have been more relaxed as they use the cruise to hone their skills – going through seven sail changes in two hours, accompanied by much intent gazing upwards. “That will do,” says Dickson, taking control as the 20 people on board prepare to scramble from one side to the other while Toshiba turns.With the start barely five days away, you might have expected the crew to be edgy and have little time for jolly jaunts with the press. Keep 50ft to the right of that red buoy and keep the angle at 27 degrees.”The first command is easy enough, for Toshiba, with mainsail and spinnaker raised, is remarkably responsive as though fitted with power steering.

Avoiding the buoy is simple when you are a long way off, but a certain nervousness creeps in as the boat rapidly closes and need we have to go so near?The degrees bit is to do with keeping the angle of lean constant. Dickson does not like it to fluctuate and soon he is ordering small adjustments The buoy reached, it’s time to tack. This is Toshiba, 60ft of wave warrior, which when you add on the costs of a nine-month race around the globe will have swallowed up the best part of pounds 8m. In truth, the Kiwi Chris Dickson, if not the world’s top skipper then close to it, is at my elbow and the America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner at my back, but that just adds to the responsibility for someone who learned all he knows about sailing from Rod Stewart. Right now, this would be a serious amount of kit and personnel to tip into the drink.
“Have you steered a boat before?” asks Dickson, who like most of the crew has one of those leather-tan faces that has been preserved in salt Well, yes and no. I’ve held a dinghy tiller in my time, but never a real wheel of the sort that Errol Flynn would have given his best cutlass to be lashed to “Right, drive it like a car then.