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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 1700 - October 29, 2004Powered 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. GUEST EDITORIAL As a consultant in the sports marketing and sponsorship business, I would respectfully disagree with the notion that constant evolution of technology is the best thing for the growth of the America's Cup and the sport of sailing. Quite the opposite is actually more often true from the sponsorship and sports marketing world. Although great gains in technology may increase the excitement (and likely, the earnings) for on water competitors as well as the builders, designers, sail / spar-makers, etc., there is ample factual and objective research to prove otherwise should the objectives for "the future of the America's Cup" include more teams, more sponsor participation, thus more money, more press and live coverage, more spectators, more competitive racing... etc, etc. (all, which build on each other). Citing the often over-used metaphor of motor sports is a perfect example. While many believe F1 is the greatest success in racing, it has innumerable business concerns, which has the sport constantly looking for new ways to support its very expensive habit. Although technology is at the highest level in F1, the races are (arguably) boring and predictable with typically only a few competitors with a reasonable chance at victory. The teams have huge sponsorship fees that effectively outstrips most corporate ad budgets, causing a dwindling numbers of competitors and therefore, declining fan interest / ticket sales / viewership, thus even less corporate dollars invested, etc. This sounds like the anticipated road. On the other hand, like it or not, NASCAR's model of using basic technology, strict cost controls, and tight rules governing the cars (even to the point of slowing them down) allows affordable, relative to F1, sponsorship opportunities, which in turn allows for larger starting grids, which allows for more competitive racing (disregard the fender-banging element for a moment) which grows the fan-base, which grows the coverage, etc, etc… Although this is a very simplistic explanation for this forum, many other similar examples abound. I would argue that from a business aspect, the sport would have been better served remaining in 12 meters or a similarly affordable, controlled, and accessible technology-based formula. Not that public opinion has ever influenced the governing of the sport we all love, but if it did, I would urge all of you to consider the objectives and the sources before jumping on the "advanced technology will grow the sport" bandwagon. Think about it, who really benefits? - Bill Doyle TORBEN Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the rock star to beat them all? When he wakes up in the morning it is unlikely that the 44-year-old Torben Schmidt-Grael ever allows himself such self-indulgence. But when he is out on a sailing race course, the man who has won five Olympic medals is given every ounce of respect by his peers. In terms of adulation in his native Brazil, Grael ranks almost alongside Pele - and in terms of magical talent he is not diminished by comparison either. When Grael and Brazil's other current top yachtsman, Robert Scheidt, went home with their gold medals from Athens, they were at the front of the parade. World junior champion in San Diego by the time he was 18, Grael went on to win, securing a business administration degree along the way, Olympic silver in Long Beach in 1984 in the Soling and then bronze in the Star in 1988, gold in 1996, bronze in 2000 and gold this year. He also took the role of navigator on the Italian America's Cup challenger Prada in Auckland in 1999-2000 and 2002-03. Now, as well as having a long-term eye on the Beijing Games in 2008, he has turned his attention to a quite different style of racing - the one thing missing from his packed CV. Next year he will take on the daunting challenge of the Volvo Ocean Race, the pinnacle of off-shore racing, skippering a fully crewed 70-footer around the world. "Of course, a Volvo Ocean Race is very different from Olympic sailing. It is a different game, but there are always similarities. It's becoming more and more of a tactical race," says Grael. "But I have always wanted to sail on the long offshore races. Sailing around the planet is a great challenge and I am looking forward to it. I would be the skipper, but I will drive the boat as well. I have had experience of being part of a very small team at Olympic level and part of a very big team during two America's Cup campaigns and that will help a lot." - Excerpts from a story by Stuart Alexander in the Independent, full story: http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/story.jsp?story=575540 ARMS RACE Mk II (The Daily Sail has just posted part two of their story describing radical hull and rig design of Frank Pong's new super-maxi, designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian. Here are several excerpts.) The hull of Maiden Hong Kong is narrow with a waterline maximum beam of 3.8m. However the hull has wings at deck level similar to KZ1 or the Italian Open 60 Shining, extending the overall beam to 8m. In the wings there is tankage each side for 5 tonnes of movable water ballast. An issue with having a narrow hull is that its ability to plane is reduced. Above decks Maiden Hong Kong sports a 38m tall rig and this is the first rig on a 'G-class' boat - maxi mono or multihull - that not only rotates but can be canted up to weather. There are two other unusual aspects to Maiden Hong Kong's rig compared to those of the other maxi sloops: all her headsails furling, with three forestays, the inner two removable and instead of being fitted with coffee grinders she uses powered winches. With furling headsails and push button-operated winches Maiden Hong Kong will not require a huge army of crew. Kouyoumdjian reckons she could easily be sailed by six and it is unlikely more than 10 would ever be needed. She could even be sailed singlehanded! Performance-wise the boat is expected to be constantly sailing faster than wind speed, her VPPs showing the boat reaching at 28-29 knots with peaks of 30-31 knots in 20 knots of wind. Upwind the boat will do 13.2 knots in flat water although in practice this will be closer to 10-10.5 knots. . - The Daily Sail, http://www.thedailysail.com/ FIGAWI FOUL WEATHER BOOT BEATS WINTER BLUES If it's ice and snow, it's H20, and no one knows frozen or flowing water better than the inventor of the boat shoe, Sperry Top-Sider. This winter, keep your feet warm, dry and planted firmly on the ground with Sperry Top-Sider's new Figawi Foul Weather Boot. Featuring wave-siped rubber outsoles for wet or dry traction, seam-sealed construction, nubuck uppers, and toasty sherling linings, the Figawi boot is engineered to perform in the teeth of a squall or in the face of a mud-soaked city street. Available in brown/sherling or charcoal/gold. Visit http://www.sperrytopsider.com NOT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Doctor Jean-Yves Chauve is very clear about it: men and women are not competing on the same level, as far as sport is concerned. While women may lag behind from a morphological perspective, they nevertheless have other advantages enabling them to hold their own against the lads. Ellen MacArthur proved that well and truly during the previous edition of the Vendée Globe. Here are some of Doctor Chauve's quotes from a story posted on the Vendee Globe website. "It is because of their inferior physical strength, women know full well that it's not worth the trouble of grappling with the elements or battling it out with storms. When the weather is bad, they know they need to take care of themselves. I think planning ahead and dodging difficulties is in many ways the guiding principle for the women in the race. They look at things much more pragmatically than the men. This isn't a negative attitude, as it helps protect the equipment, when things get tough, so they may set out again in fine form once the bad weather has gone by. Sailing a little less quickly, but more steadily can produce a good result. "The lads tend to think that to win, they have to suffer. The women are more likely to work with the elements and feel at one with the water. They are often less subject to mood swings and to despondency than the men, who sometimes fall apart very quickly. Their endurance, aggressive nature and determination are at least as strong as the men's. Their perseverance and composure are without doubt a real advantage on long haul races like the Vendée Globe." - Full story: http://www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/infos/286.html WORLD SAILORS OF THE YEAR This election is over - the voting to decide the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year closed on October 25. 115 ISAF Member National Authorities did the voting, with the Awards Presentation to honor the one female sailor/team and one male sailor/team scheduled for November 9 in Copenhagen. The winners will be presented with the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Trophy and a Rolex timepiece. The male nominees are: Ben Ainslie (GBR) Ed Baird (USA) Paul Foerster & Kevin Burnham (USA) Steve Fossett (USA) Gal Fridman (ISR) Torben Grael & Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) Roman Hagara & Hans Peter Steinacer (AUT) Francis Joyon (FRA) Robert Scheidt (BRA) Female nominees: Sofia Bekatorou & Emilia Tsoufa (GRE) Adrienne Cahalan (AUS) Faustine Merret (FRA) Shirley Robertson, Sarah Web & Sarah Ayton (GBR) Siren Sundby (NOR) http://www.sailing.org/meetings MERGER The Mariantic website is reporting a merger of the Spanish America's Cup syndicates. Their item indicates the following: - 29% "El Reto" people (Agustín Zulueta, Javier Banderas, Doreste brothers) - 20% "Pedro Campos" people (Pedro, José Cusí, Ib Andersen, the King's sailing master) - 10% Club Náutico de Valencia - 10% Club Náutico de Barcelona - 10% Spanish Sailing Federation - Remaining shares are allocated to the sponsors, particularly Right now, it's just a rumor, with no indication of where the boat(s) will come from or who's driving. - Full story: http://www.mariantic.co.uk/ac/six.htm#king NEWS BRIEFS * The wizard, Bill Lee, tipped us off about a 'well done' story in the November issue of Sail Magazine on emergency steering. These things are required for ISAF 4.15.1 for Categories 1, 2, and 3 and can be a real headache. * Chesapeake Rigging, Ltd./Annapolis Spars has been contracted by TPI Composites Inc. (builders of J/Boats) to build the spars and rigging sets for the new NAVY 44 sail training craft for the United States Naval Academy. The initial order is for 16 boats to be delivered over the next two years. "You should start seeing the new boats on the Severn starting early next summer, with a new launch every six weeks," said Tom Wohlgemuth, owner of Chesapeake Rigging, Ltd./Annapolis Spars. SAIL INTO SAVINGS Check out the closeouts at henrilloydonline.com for fall savings on fine gear. Henri Lloyd trousers and jackets, smocks and vests, all with the quality construction and styling you expect from HL…but at prices you might not expect! Choose from foul weather or fair weather options in a variety of colors and sizes. Be sure to order now while the selection's good. Close out your summer with closeouts from Henri Lloyd; you're just a click away! http://www.henrilloydonline.com/productmgmt/subcat.asp?nCatID=12 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Bill Stump: Does US Sailing need to reinvent itself, i.e. "restructure"? After all it was only 13 years ago we replaced "USYRU" with our current name and broadened mission, and 16 years before that we were "NAYRU" and in the process of restructuring back then. Is something broken; just what are we fixing? If you attended the Annual General Meeting, just completed in Portland, OR, you gained new respect for the scores of volunteers who make the mission and work of this organization happen. However, if you care to navigate the website, you'll find a mind-boggling array of committees, councils, associations, and directors all vying to be a piece of the rock. Some insist, as does newly elected Offshore Chair, Bill Lee, that we should focus on racing and bolster our membership from the skippers and crews who race. Others believe if it floats and gets pushed around by the wind, we need to service that constituency. Our mission is clear, "... to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing and racing...". To better accomplish that mission, our sport's leadership has determined restructuring is in order. Increased operational efficiency is usually a good thing and, for US Sailing, continually growing the membership and meeting budget challenges are vital concerns. Will restructuring solve all the problems we often discuss in these pages? Of course not, but it's worth a try. Sometimes change is good for its own sake. * From Antony Barran: I completely agree with the premise of Fred Scroth's recent guest editorial. The changes made recently, at US Sailing, will do nothing to fix the problems. However, his desire to lay the blame at the feet of those born after 1960 is one of the more fatuous arguments I've ever heard. The fact of the matter is that over the years, the Ivory Tower that US Sailing has become is one of the most exclusive 'clubs' in sailing. So much so, that the board is very much out of touch. I have grown up in the sport and have a great many friends who were born after 1960, as was I. Do any of them participate in the process at US Sailing? Not a one. Is it because we don't want to or don't care? No. It's because we've been completely excluded from it. After my family and my career, sailing is the most important thing in my life. It is the core around which my friends revolve and my relationships grow. I am very lucky; I get to sail with my father, my brother and now my 8 year old son. Why wouldn't I want to help the sport that has given me so much? * From Craig K Yandow: While I want to support sportsman like behavior such as retiring after the fact when you are made aware of a foul, I can't help wondering. In a multiple capsize situation, isn't it likely that a 360 degree rotation about the hull's axis and/or the dagger board's axis had to have happened (after the contact, since capsized boats drift downwind). Those turns should more than satisfy the requirement to get clear and do a 360 degree turn as the penalty for hitting a mark. * From Ray Tostado: The current crop of TV sailing formats attempt to gain audience by presenting a narrated real time documentary without editing. The presentation might in the producer's eyes have editing in place, but that is not so. Injecting talking heads and animated graphics is not editing. Not in the sense of drama. Someone has established that an ACC event should be watched as a real time event, beginning at 2:15 am PST, EST, and run into the dawn's break. What is important is to have a well-edited presentation available to do multiple play times and play dates hopefully in prime markets with prime sponsorships. This would require that the race is long over, the results are posted, and the public has no anxiety about outcomes. But what the public viewer will have is an in depth presentation as to how that outcome came to be. The introduction of the on board camera was the last innovation for sailing race TV. For us of the sailing world this event is the Super Bowl of Sailing. Yet it is presented like an esoteric local festival of sorts. I don't play golf, but I watch major tournaments and follow professional careers. We want people who don't sail, but want to watch major sailing events. This is the target audience that is being ignored. The question confronting the sailing fraternity is do we want to serve our own vested interests, or gather in the general public's? * From Norman Davant (Regarding Rand Milton's comments in Butt 1697 regarding keeping records of all expenses on your boat): It has always been my recommendation that an owner never keep records of the expenditures of their boat, especially sails. This could lead to all kinds of problems including divorce and worse. I would hate to burden an owner with these problems. * From Peter Johnstone: It is a relief to hear that Alpha Romeo recovered her crew so quickly. Code Zeros can be downright dangerous sails if something goes wrong. Several of the continuous line furlers tend to jam or wrap if not handled correctly, and the internal luff systems do not always keep the sail rolled up. Even if the equipment is perfect, the top of the sail can unroll. All it takes is one hand to pull down (and not aft) on the clew of the rolled sail during a douse. Or a few inches of leech to catch air. From there, the seconds turn into thousands of square feet of slippery cuben hell, as the entire sail opens up from the top down. A professional race crew will always push the limits. For the rest of us, it is worth considering the implications of these sails. Shorthanded, cruising, weekend warriors? If there is any sort of weather threat, this is not a sail you want to leave hoisted. Code Zeros can be a great addition to a sail inventory, but there are sound reasons why the Volvo sailors urged the ban of these sails on the new Volvo 70's. When things go wrong with these sails, they can go terribly wrong in a hurry. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The best way to keep kids at home is to make a pleasant atmosphere - and let the air out of their tires. |
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