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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 1357 - June 24, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. HALL OF FAME Newport, RI - Sailing World magazine has announced three new inductees to its Hall of Fame. In its July/ August issue Sailing World will formally add Jochen Schuemann, John Bertrand, and Randy Smyth to the prestigious roster of the all-time best racing sailors, designers, and innovators. Jochen Schuemann held the high-profile position of Sailing Team Director and strategist for the Swiss Alinghi syndicate in its successful quest for the America's Cup last winter. The 48-year-old from Berlin, Germany, also won four Olympic sailing medals, three gold and one silver, between 1976 and 2000. He will continue his role with Alinghi in preparing for the Cup defense in 2007. John Bertrand of Melbourne, Australia, won an Olympic bronze medal in 1976 sailing in the Finn class, but the 54-year-old etched his name in sailing's record books forever in the 1983 America's Cup race. That was the year he skippered Australia II to victory against Dennis Conner's Liberty, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year winning streak. Although he is retired from grand-prix level racing, Bertrand recently won the Etchells class national championship of Australia. Randy Smyth won two Olympic silver medals in 1984 and 1992 in the Tornado catamaran class, but he has made an equal impression on the sailing world with five victories in the Worrell 1000, a 1,000-mile stage race from Florida to Virginia. Born in Pasadena, Calif., and now living in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Smyth has succeeded at nearly every multihull discipline in North America, winning a slew of national championships. His sailmaking business, The Smyth Team, focuses on multihull sails only, including assisting on designs for Team Adventure, the 110-foot catamaran Smyth helped race around the world two years ago. The 40 current Sailing World Hall of Fame members are: Ben Lexcen, Bill Lee, Bob Bavier, Bruce Farr, Bruce Kirby, Buddy Melges, Bus Mosbacher, Charlie Barr, Dave Perry, Dave Ullman, Dennis Conner, Doug Peterson, Eric Tabarly, Sir Francis Chichester, Gary Jobson, George O'Day, German Frers, Halsey Herreshoff, Harold Vanderbilt, Hobie Alter, John Bertrand (U.S.), Lowell North, Manfred Curry, Mark Reynolds, Nathanael Herreshoff, Olaf Harken, Olin Stephens, Paul Cayard, Paul Elvström, Peter Barrett, Sir Peter Blake, Peter Harken, Rod Johnstone, Rod Stephens, Russell Coutts, Stuart Walker, Ted Hood, Ted Turner, Tom Blackaller and Uffa Fox. A panel of 10 journalists and past honorees in the Hall of Fame made the selections. For more information on the three new inductees and upcoming interviews with them, visit the Sailing World Hall of Fame online at www.sailingworld.com U.S. YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Racing started Monday at the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship hosted by Milwaukee Yacht Club in Wisconsin. The sea breeze was late and never really filled in. Sailors were on shore until well after noon. Emery Wager (Seattle, WA) leads the 35-boat Laser fleet with a (5)-1-1-1 followed by Mike Wilde (Rochester, NY) with all deuces. Last year's runners-up Zach Brown and Melanie Roberts (San Diego, CA) lead the 54-boat Club 420 fleet with a 1-1-3-(4). - http://www.ussailing.org/ THEY JUST KEEP GOING AND GOING. At all the regattas around the world, just look at what the crews are wearing. It is no surprise that the Camet Padded Shorts, Bermuda Shorts, Cargo Shorts and Pants are everywhere, from Opti sailors to the Farr 40's, Maxi's and cruisers. The comfort of the pads, the reinforced Cordura seat, the quick drying breathable Supplex fabrics and the 97.5% UV protection is the solution to hours on the water. Check out the Shorts, Coolmax shirts, Neoprene Hiking pants, Bubble Tops, Rash Guards and Mylar bags on the Camet web site: http://www.camet.com ATTRITION Newport, R.I. (June 23, 2003) HSH Nordbank, one of the five yachts to start in Class II on June 21, has retired from the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge due to equipment failure. "The decision was executed on June 23 at 0010 (UTC), at position 38°30'N / 65°57' W," reported Erik von Krause, the yacht's navigator. At the time of the incident, HSH Nordbank was ahead of its Class II compatriots Zephyrus V and UCA by 30 nm. During a routine spinnaker set, the boat's spinnaker pole fitting failed, causing damage to the mast of the 78-foot Reichel/Pugh sloop formerly known as Morning Glory. Crewmembers determined that the damage to the mast was extensive enough not to continue the roughly 3,000 miles remaining in this race across the Atlantic and turned back to Newport. They are expected to arrive sometime today. Anny, the Baltic 87 from Germany, has also retired from the race due to a malfunction in the propeller. Anny will continue either to the Azores or to Lisbon, Portugal. The yacht D'Accord, owned by Rolf Erben of Germany, reported to race headquarters that the boat's rudder had broken. All crew are unharmed and they have retired from the race. They will continue to Europe with an emergency rudder. Onboard the Dutch yacht Zwerver, the crew continued their progress and filed this report: "Les extrèmes se touchent - this morning at 6 AM we were surfing in a 30-35 knot breeze, and Michel obliterated all records with a staggering 16.5 knots boatspeed - I honestly did not know you could do this with Zwerver. We needed two at the helm, seated on opposite sides of the tiller, one to pull for going down, the other to pull for going up. The waves were 6-10 feet high (or something like it - it was rather dark) the spray was warm, the situation just under control, and the thrill tangible. Michel started to talk to the tiller as if he was riding a high performance stallion, and Philippe's staccato "Caramba!" came in molto allegretto." - Media Pro Int'l Regularly updated position of all competing yachts is available on: www.dcnac.de YOUTH MULTIHULL TRIALS In November 1999, ISAF decided that from 2004 onwards there should be a multihull discipline included in the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. At the present time, inclusion of a multihull event is at the discretion of the Organising Committee. A multihull discipline was held as a demonstration event in 2001 in Crozon-Morgat, France, during which the Hobie 16 was used. ISAF has sought invitations from interested classes, with all boats entering required to comply with a set of fundamental criteria, which as an overview requires an average combined crew weight of between 120 and 140 Kg, a gennaker, twin trapezes and be able to be sailed by both male and female crews between the ages of 16 and 19. As it has long been a tradition that for equality, new boats are provided for competitors at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship and so it has been decided that relevant manufacturers should be able to provide boats at no cost to the organisers of the event. The Manufacturers and classes currently confirmed to attend the October 27-31 trials at Quiberon, France are as follows: Hobie Cat Europe: Hobie 16 Race/Spi (confirmed) Hobie Cat Europe: Hobie Concept Boat(confirmed) Navistrat/KL Catamarans: KL Booster (confirmed) Performance Sailcraft: Dart 16 (confirmed) Sirena Catamarans: SL 16 (confirmed) Nacra: Nacra Blast (confirmed) There are a further four possible classes and these will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. All the above entries meet the criteria set out in the official invitation, which can be viewed at: http://www.sailing.org/sc.asp?id=Youth_Mulithull_Trials VANGUARD IS IN MILWAUKEE THIS WEEK You'll see Vanguard all around the country this summer at US Sailing's Junior Championships, starting with the 2003 Youth Championships at the Milwaukee Yacht Club. Vanguard's proud to be a sponsor of this premier youth event and to support the development of top youth sailors. Check out what's happening: http://www.teamvanguard.com LITTLE AMERICA'S CUP - Bob Fisher Ned Glenn's letter (Little America's Cup) needs some further explanation. What is generally unknown is exactly when the Little America's Cup title was first used, and it is appropriate to know and understand this nomenclature and why it doesn't refer to the cascade of silver sails that is the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy, nor ever should be. When a challenge for supremacy in catamarans was first mooted, it came from the late John Fisk, a twin-hull enthusiast from the mid-1950s. He had been present when the Robert Harris designed Tigercat, sailed by Glen Foster and Eric Olsen, had defeated the Prout Brothers' Cougar at the Yachting Magazine's One-of-a-Kind regatta in Miami in February 1959, and the experience was not one that John appreciated.. John decided to throw down the gauntlet and challenge the Americans to a match and since the Royal Yachting Association's multihull committee, of which he was chairman, had instituted three divisional limits to which boats should be built, it was considered correct to suggest that the biggest of them, which eventually became the C-class, should be used. The challenge was made at the end of that year and accepted by the Eastern Multihull Sailing Association of America, a very active body at the time. Fisk worked with the recently emerged force in catamaran design, Rod Macalpine-Downie, builder Reg White and myself for the rigging and equipment of these, then, big catamarans. Suggesting that there should be a best-of-seven series around a triangular and windward/leeward course of 20 miles, giving fast reaches to display the ultimate excitement of catamaran sailing and broad reaches and runs to define the best sailors as well as testing windward legs, Fisk turned to us and uttered the highly memorable phrase, 'Just like a little America's Cup.' It should be remembered that the original event of the name, America's Cup, had only been restored to the calendar after a 21-year gap in September 1958, just five months before Tigercat had drubbed Cougar in Miami. - Bob Fisher NEWS BRIEFS * Hannah Swett and her US Yngling crew have just won the Danish Yngling National Championship. Sailing in a 14 boat fleet North of Copenhagen, their 1-3-2-1-1 series gave them a ten point lead over Australian Mel Dennison. Dorte Jensen from Denmark finished third with World Champion, Monica Azon in sixth place. The next event for serious Yngling sailors in Keil Week, which starts tomorrow. * Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) has attracted over 60,000 participants for the next nine days of competition. Due to the volume and number of classes competing in what is Germany's largest dinghy and keelboat combined regatta, the event has, for a number of years been split into three - the Olympic Classes start on Wednesday in what is for many classes the last ISAF Grade 1 event prior to the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cadiz in September. In total, 49 nations are represented in Kiel. www.kieler-woche.de/ * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has announced two new entries in the "Performance Certificate" section. The new entries are: Initial World Record Hong Kong to New York; "Great American II". Rich Wilson (USA) and Rich Du Moulin (USA); 72 days 21 hours 11 minutes 37 seconds; and Jamaica (Montego Bay) to the Lizard fastest crossing to date; "Scarlet Sails" Tony Bullimore (GBR) and Fedor Konyukhov + 9 crew; 16 days 22 hours 7 minutes 8 seconds. http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * The Houston Yacht Club's 2003 Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta raised $286,000 in the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma this past weekend. Money was raised via donations, an auction, golf tournament, In-Town Party, regatta and many syndicates. Once again the Energy 2 Cure syndicate led the way with over $100,000 raised. * The Australian built and crewed super yacht "Alfa Romeo" has taken line honours by of 16 minutes in the first race in the prestigious Giraglia Rolex Cup, based in the Mediterranean resort of St Tropez. The 2002 Rolex Sydney to Hobart winner beat a field of 120 yachts in very light winds. The Giraglia Rolex Cup consists of three inshore races and the famed La Giraglia Race, an overnight event on 28-29 June that is a 240 nautical mile race. Charles Dunstone's R/P 70, Enigma of London, was the Class Zero corrected time winner. http://www.yci.it/regate/regate2003/giraglia/index_en.htm * John Kostecki has returned home to the United States after meeting Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton and skipper Dean Barker. Kostecki and fellow Illbruck sailor Ross Halcrow have both been in talks with Dalton and Barker in Auckland. It is understood neither Kostecki nor Halcrow, who sailed with Team New Zealand in 1995 and with the New Zealand Challenge in 1992, have signed contracts with the New Zealand America's Cup syndicate. However, both are expected to return to Auckland for further talks later this month. - Cup in Europe website, full story: http://www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/2007Pinta.htm * The impressive fleet of 203 boats gathered for the 20th edition of Storm Trysail's Block Island Race Week got off to a smooth start today in a gentle ten knot westerly breeze. Divided into 19 classes, sailing on four separate race courses, the wind died for some competitors as they were finishing their race and some had to sail a shortened course. However, only one class, the J/44s failed to finish. Daily reports, results and photos are posted on the website: http://www.blockislandraceweek.com THREE MORE REASONS: POLARS, STRIPCHARTS, NMEA Ockam's management of polar files is vastly more accurate and complete (2000+ data points versus 200), while adding polars to a system is plug and play simple. Ockam offers easy stripcharts - graphical history of wind and current is available at display level, with stripcharting of every system function enabled in PC software. Ockam's NMEA integration and interaction with external NMEA devices is more complete, yet simpler and more flexible (multiple NMEA taps can be attached anywhere on the data cabling throughout the boat). Three more reasons why Ockam is better! For more, visit http://www.ockam.com/ CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * June 27-July 3: Swan European Regatta, Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, UK. 55 Swan yachts, from ten countries, plus a curmudgeon from California. http://www.nautorgroup.com/ * August 1-3: Buzzards Bay Regatta, New Bedford Yacht Club, South Dartmouth, MA. Five race circles for dinghy and keel boat classes. http://www.buzzardsbayregatta.com/ * September 18-27: MasterCard International Etchells World Championship, Indian Harbor and Riverside YCs, Greenwich, Connecticut. www.etchellsworlds2003.org LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Genevieve Robson: In Scuttlebutt 1356 Chris Welsh suggested the true role of a Little League baseball coach was to teach the players to , "treat women well"? What on earth has that got to do with baseball? (or sailing for that matter). This is exactly the kind of thinly veiled sexism that helps to prevent women from achieving on a equal footing with men in many sports and other areas of life too. Comments like that illustrate and assumption by some men that women must be coddled and protected and that they have to be treated in a more delicate fashion than men. Is it possible to be a "responsible member of society" without treating all people well, women and men? We women can look after ourselves and we don't require special treatment from the likes of you! Thank you very much! * From Bob Congdon: "If lots of beer, good friends and some laughs can win ocean races then we'll do well" Thus began a crew letter from Eric Swenson 25 years ago when he brought the then state of the art Freres 51 "Blizzard" to Long Island Sound and renamed her "Toscana", now familiar to anyone who has seriously sailed in New England waters since then. He wanted to see if a bunch of yahoos could sail competitively against the best the game could offer without the benefit of 'pros' A true Corinthian spirit, he sailed for the love of the sport and gave back without thought of return. Sailing lost one of its best today when Eric passed on. He won the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy and then after an IMS refit, the same boat was named IMS boat of the year in Long Island, making him the only man to ever have both of these trophies on his mantel. There are no major ocean races in New England that have not had their podiums graced by his presence at one time or the other. He sailed his last Bermuda race at 84 last year drove the boat during the Manhasset series this fall. But Eric would not and did not count his success based on pickle dish count, which was high, but rather on the quality of the experience with his friends and his love of the game. He was loved by many and will be missed by all. * From Teki Dalton: A famous sailing philosopher once defined a yacht crew as a bunch of strong and intelligent, well motivated young men and women who stood by you and helped you solve all the problems you would not have had, had you not met them * From Denis Farley: As an active sailor at my club in New Jersey I have been noticing that a large number of racing sailors either do not know the sailing rules or are hopelessly out of date as regards revisions, e.g., a couple of sailors in a race yesterday really believed that they had to re-round a mark if they hit it. It has been many years since this rule was changed. I am concerned about the lack of knowledge of the rules, and in one case, I know a racing sailor who is starting his tenth season, and is willfully ignorant of the rules. I am going to address this problem to the club Race Committee Chairman, however, I am curious if sailors at other clubs are experiencing the same problem. * From Seth A. Radow: Philippe Kahn and his crew are, without question, the classiest racing team I have ever known on the water. My personal experience with Mr. Kahn's Transpac 2001 crew will be remembered by the Bull Racing Team for years to come. After our 0430 hour finish in the 2001 Transpac having arrived at the dock shortly after 0500 hours, Mr. Kahn's crew, some of the world's finest, well respected and internationally recognized sailors were waiting for us at the dock to offer their congratulations for our victory. These world class sailors showed all of us, the Bull Racing crew and those who attended the victory party, what true professionalism and sportsmanship is all about. When the best of the best take the time and effort at 0500 hours to congratulate you and your team on the docks for a job well done … that's a testament to the owner and his crew. Mr. Kahn practices what he preaches and his team has fun on the water. That's why he is at the forefront of sailing. That's why his team wins races consistently. That's why the best of the best keep coming back to sail with him. That's why Mr. Kahn and his crew are "the best of the best". CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS When you get old enough, you can hide your own Easter eggs. |
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