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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 2420 - August 28, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. A FRESH, NEW APPROACH Signaling what is described as "a fresh, new approach to Mexican racing," the Del Rey Yacht Club has announced that in 2009 it will continue its traditional biennial race to Puerto Vallarta but with a format emphasizing the ideals of amateur competitors. For the last three races DRYC has featured both a racing division and a "Salsa" (i.e., cruising) division but now will organize a "Salsa Regatta" incorporating separate classes for serious spinnaker racers and non-spinnaker sailors. Club spokesman Tom Redler issued this statement: "In reference to recent comments about too many competitive Mexican races hosted by West Coast yacht clubs, Del Rey Yacht Club, the host of the biennial February Race to Puerto Vallarta Mexico since 1971, has, for the betterment of racing to Mexican west coast ports, decided that in 2009 it will not compete with other sponsoring yacht clubs for the diminishing pool of serious (often professional) long-distance racers. Instead, DRYC will appeal to the skippers who still dream of racing to Mexico but feel their boats have no chance against the new, all-out racing machines, or who do not wish to spend big bucks to keep up with gung-ho owners and their crews. Instead of their traditional 1,125-mile “Race for The Record,” DRYC will put all their efforts into staging a more relaxed four-legged ‘Salsa Regatta’ with a stopover and party at the end of each leg.” -- http://www.underthesunphotos.com/pv09.htm THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JUAN K (Leading yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, who won the last Volvo Ocean Race, and was part of the BMW Oracle Racing team for the America’s Cup, discusses both events with the Valencia Sailing website.) * Do you think BMW Oracle’s setup of having yourself and Bruce Farr working together on design was a mistake? Juan K: “There are two models nowadays. First, you have the more traditional model, for big-budget teams, of hiring 2-3 designers together with other very clever people, making them work in a coherent way while having a central coordinator whose role will be to assemble and coordinate all these little things done individually and independently. In BMW Oracle’s case, that role was played by Ian Burns but also a number of other extremely clever people. Still, this is a model I don’t like at all and I think it doesn’t work. That doesn’t mean that once you’re on it you can’t make it work but my point is that you can go much further with a different model.” * You designed the previous winner of the Volvo Ocean Race and you are now with Ericsson Racing Team. Do you find designing Volvo Ocean Race boats more appealing than America’s Cup yachts? Juan K: “As a designer, the Volvo Ocean Race is tremendously more appealing than Version 5 America’s Cup Class yachts. It’s a lot more exciting and it’s still a concept-rule race. Whenever you play with concepts it’s a lot more appealing. Refinement is always important but it is only a parallel track, you still have to get right a concept. The fact you have to deal with canting keels, daggerboards as well as aerodynamics is very interesting.” -- Complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/yq3kx4 RIGGED TO WIN - TP52 CLASS Congratulations to Peter de Ridder and his TP52 team, winning the latest Breitling regatta. It's nothing short of unadulterated 'on the edge' excitement for TP52 sailors and spectators in this year's MedCup. Different winners for each regatta, demonstrating not only the depth of talent but the variations in design/ technology used on the four winning yachts. Rig design has played a key part in performance gains this year. Southern Spars' latest TP52 rig development has produced a 20% increase in fore/ aft rig stiffness without compromise as well as other enhancements. Learn more about these sophisticated TP52 rigs, visit http://www.southernspars.com * Curmudgeon’s Comment: In this hyper-professional class, with a flock of new boats splashing specifically for this year’s MedCup, it is nice to see two 2006 designs in the top five at the Portugal Trophy last weekend: Valle Romano Mean Machine (1st) and Windquest (5th). These two boats, along with Artemis (2nd), were all sporting rigs from Southern Spars. A WINNING FORMULA There has been a lot of talk in Scuttlebutt about having more "fun' regattas, and it appears that the race organizers at the Balboa and the Newport Harbor YCs in Southern California have developed an interesting template for others to examine. Their Long Point Race Week was sold out again this year and had a waiting list. Why? Maybe it's for the format that has more parties than races. The three-day event begins with an easy, one-sided 24-mile beat/ reach that takes the fleet from Orange County (the “OC”) to Catalina Island on Friday, where they pick up moorings and head to a dinner party at NHYC's Catalina shore-station in Moonstone Cove. On Saturday morning, the fleet dropped their moorings for a beautiful 15-mile windward-leeward race up the coastline of Catalina Island to Ship Rock and back. The wind built into the low 20s for the run home, providing regatta photographers with impressive action while supplying the fuel for lots of fun stories at the clam and lobster dinner that night at BYC's Catalina shore-station in Whites Cove. Sunday's run home to the mainland didn't start until 1PM, but most of the fleet had completed the 24-mile run before 5PM, giving everyone plenty of time to party a bit before the prizes were awarded. Three days; three easy races; two dinners ashore; two breakfasts ashore, and a swell prize-giving party -- it doesn't get much better than that. And the overall winner was the venerable, but magnificently maintained, 67-foot yawl, Chubasco -- a boat that is much older than most of the people sailing in this fun event. -- Full results: http://tinyurl.com/ynqxem GEOFF STAGG: THEN AND NOW (If you know Geoff Stagg, it is likely through his lengthy association with Farr Yacht Design and the one-design boats that he helped develop. In the August issue of New Zealand marine artist Jim Bolland’s newsletter, he describers the journey Staff took from Wellington, New Zealand all the way to Annapolis in the United States of America. Quite a good read on the history of NZL and some of the milestone boats from the 60s-70s.) Geoff Stagg grew up in Eastbourne, a suburb close to the eastern shores of Wellington Harbour, just a short sprint from the Muritai Yacht Club where he made a name for himself as a young man in a hurry. He raced to win and took no prisoners. Fair, but tough! After progressing through the very junior classes Stagg found success in New Zealand and Australia in the Cherub Class, a hard chine plywood 12 foot dinghy. His yacht was called ‘Whispers’, designed by the rapidly emerging Auckland designer John Spencer who, through the 1960’s and ‘70’s was championing hard chine, plywood yacht design and construction This was all happening during the late 1960’s, about the time that Chris Bouzaid took New Zealand sailing skills to Heligoland and demonstrated to the world in general that Kiwi’s can sail! Stagg was like a lot of young New Zealand yachtsmen who was inspired by Bouzaid’s success and he too, set his sights on distance racing in a bigger yacht. He again turned to John Spencer and the design outcome was a 13.7 m. version of the late Sir Tom Clark’s 18.6 m ‘Infidel’, a downwind flyer, still racing (now 19.8m long) in the U.S.A as ‘Ragtime’. Spencer had originally drawn the smaller boat in 1965. Geoff Stagg and friends built the boat in a lean-to shed near the Stagg family home and launched ‘Whispers II’ in 1970. The new yacht was an immediate success and in the fresh to strong breezes that are the norm on Wellington Harbour, ‘Whispers II’ quickly became the yacht to beat. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/stagg MORGAN LARSON ON LESSONS LEARNED As I recline my chairback on United #888, outbound for SFO and home, I look back over twelve days in Qingdao (at the Pre-Olympic test event). After eleven days of sailing (sort of) in 3-6 knots, all I can think about now is the rush of the medal race and how exhilarating it was for Pete Spaulding and me to race a 49er around the track with nine other elite teams in 20 knots of wind against an outgoing tide! The Spaniards and French jumped to an early lead, but from 3rd to 10th we traded spots back and forth all the way to the finish. Our coach, Stevie "Wonder" Erickson, is always saying, "never die". The Danish brothers, Peter and Soren Hansen, were a great example of "never die" as their jib halyard broke on the first beat up, and they kept pushing all the way through the race without a jib, rounding the last mark 10th out of 10, and then they slid past all of us who capsized on the final run and they grabbed a Bronze medal. The Danes' performance made me think back to my second Worlds in the 49er, when Kevin Hall and I broke our mast in a capsize on the final run. We righted the boat and pulled the pieces onboard and Kevin looked downwind and said, "Hey, I think we can finish this race." So we held up what sail was left and finished second! So, to many, Qingdao was a drifter, but to Pete and me it was a great example of how you must be solid in all conditions. We took a swim that cost us a medal, so you can be damn sure that, along with our light air training in San Diego, you will see us mixing in a few days of big breeze under the Golden Gate. Lesson learned. -- Morgan Larson, SAIL, http://sailmag.com/features/MorganLarsonReport MELGES 24 AND MELGES 32 WINTER SERIES There is still plenty of hot sailing left this summer and fall for both the Melges 24 and 32 classes. Look for the Melges 24 National Championship this September in Detroit, with the famous Melges Winter Series set for both of these exciting one-designs to begin later this year. The Melges 24 and Melges 32 are easy to trailer, ramp launch, and sail -- making the winter sailing cost-effective and fun! New boats are available! Check out the venues and dates at http://www.Melges.com AQUA-ORIGAMI The sport of sailing can mean many things to many people, and for artist Frank Boelter, it meant setting sail in his lifesize paper boat from a shipyard in Lauenburg, Germany. Boelter constructed the 9-metre vessel from a 170-square-metre piece of 'Tetrapack' - a light material more commonly used for milk cartons. The 37-year-old artist first cut up some empty cartons to make a scaled-down model, then proceeded with his £110 boat that is 30 feet long, weighs 55 pounds, and took only two hours to construct. Boelter said it would survive forty days before it disintegrates into a wet, sinking mass, and is part of the artist's exhibition named 'Bis ans Ende der Welt' (Until the end of the world). -- Photos: http://tinyurl.com/3bcryx SAILING SHORTS * South African Sailing federation colors were awarded this past weekend to Captain Salvatore Sarno, founder and managing director of Team Shosholoza in recognition for what he has achieved for South African sailing and for transformation in the sport through the country's maiden challenge for the America's Cup. "Captain Sarno has done more for sailing in this country than any sailing organization or any sailor. We are proud to honor him in this way," said Rob McCrystal, chairperson of South African Sailing, the national administrative body. -- Independent Online, full story: http://tinyurl.com/268krn * The National Sailing Hall of Fame is hosting a Panel Discussion and Film Footage on the America's Cup: Past, Present & Future. This free event will have Gary Jobson as moderator, and the panel will include Halsey Herreshoff (America's Cup Hall of Fame), Terry Hutchinson (Emirates Team New Zealand tactician), Clay Oliver (Emirates Team New Zealand designer), and Tucker Thompson (VERSUS commentator). The event will be at the Loews Annapolis Hotel & Winchester Homes on Thursday, September 6 at 7:00 p.m. R.S.V.P. -- mailto:lee.tawney@nshof.org * Clyde Marine plc held an extraordinary General Meeting on Aug. 22 and voted to approve changing the company name to Lewmar Marine plc. The name change, announced by Peter O'Connell, newly promoted CEO, is expected to better reflect the true nature of the company's business to the financial market. Lewmar Marine plc is the holding company of Lewmar and Navtec whose principal business is the manufacture and distribution of deck equipment and rigging for leisure boats. * Port Washington, NY (August 26, 2007) -- The Bayview Yacht Club Match Racing Team, with skipper Chris Van Tol, Mike Hoey, John Van Tol and Mike Rehe have won the 2007 Knickerbocker Cup, beating Andrew Arbuzov (RUS), the leaders going into the semi-final round with a score of 2-0. It took three races to determine third and fourth place winners, with last year’s Cup Champion, Martin Angsell (SWE) beating John Loe (USA) 2-1 in the Petit Finals. -- Complete story and results: http://www.kyc.net/kcup/kcup2007/finalresults.htm HANGIN' ON TO SUMMER SALE - 25% OFF ALL MERCHANDISE There's still plenty of time to get out on the water. Or at least look like you do. Take 25% off all SailFast Apparel (except for charity wristbands where the money goes to Leukemia Cup). Shop now at http://www.isailfast.com - Enter code BBR at check out. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Tom Silvers (re story in Issue 2419) I really hope that the Storm Trysail Transpac 65 rule gains a few more players than the few they have right now. History has shown that the first wave of boats can have a lot of effect on the success of a rule. Fortunately for the TP52, the boat was so much fun to sail that it endured the first wave of boats being promptly out-designed by the next generation. Not much reward being the trendsetter when you know that your wave is going to hit the beach after just one season. I really hope that Farr Yacht Design, Reichel/Pugh, and Judel/Vrolijk have really sharpened their pencils and will produce competitive boats that will endure. * From Skip Wilson: Nice to see Howie Hamlin getting some ink in Issue 2419 for his accomplishments in the high performance sailing world. If the US could better appreciate what his 2006 victories meant in the 18’ Skiff, International 14, and 505, he might be wearing a Rolex watch right now as the US Sailor of the Year. * From John C. Quigley: (edited to the 250-word limit) Scuttlebutt 2400 kindly laid out my views for a solution to this fiasco but I read in #2416 with interest the thoughts of Peter Isler who knows more of and is closer to this event than I. In essence Peter suggests stepping back and taking a look at what is in the bathtub before chucking out the water. Having done so sadly it looks like a pretty ugly baby. So heave ho! He is also right that the event has 'survived' - however it has not flourished. It might have been on the verge of germination in this last cycle but is now slipping back into form. It is the oldest trophy in the world and is a venerable institution. It should doubtless be preserved and under the protocol continues to closely emulate the original event which was played out by wealthy individuals with huge egos and what a spectacle. Continue in that vein by all means - in fact make it a condition that every team must be funded by a wealthy individual or individuals - no corporate funding and ban advertising. The current event sucks in vast amounts of corporate Marketing/Advertising funding, but it is these antics that damage the perception of the sport, and in the process making potential sailing sponsors question the values and maturity of this platform. The IMOCA Open 60 and Volvo Ocean Race teams demand far less in resources, risk far more as extreme athletes/competitors and provide far greater return/value. * From Ray Tostado: Sorry Peter, of course we can have an argument of words until we backwind. But my American sports history somewhere included a reference to an Aztec sporting game using a ball, a hoop, and a final goodbye if a team lost. This by reasonable imaginations, became the sports of football, (EU), and basketball, (USA). The argument as to the outcome of the losers is, after 2,000 years, still under negotiation. The NYYC is entitled to recover their Mug and tend to their local business. But please do not associate this bad water bath mix with 'de Cup. If we can't beat up on the Brits, or their colonials, what's the point? * From Damian Christie, Melbourne, Australia: BYM’s interview with Michael Hodara of ACM (in Issue 2419) illustrates his incompetence to run an America ’s Cup regatta. He justifies turning away prospective challengers because ACM wants a higher caliber of challenger. Yet if ACM was serious about accepting high caliber competitors, then why was the first challenge it accepted from a sham yacht club in Club Nautico de la Vela (CNEV)? How does a club that runs a children’s regatta as a front for its annual regatta raise the caliber of the Cup challengers? Hodara’s logic also ignores a basic precept of the Deed of Gift – that the Cup defender and its management are obliged to accept all valid challenges, regardless of the size and clout of a given yacht club. Desafio Espanol’s reason for choosing CNEV as its representative club are also nonsensical. Desafio as good as admits that CNEV is a sham by saying they had to create a new club to ward off in fighting between the Royal Valencia and Royal Barcelona clubs. This merely hides the simpler explanation: Desafio was so desperate to secure the Cup defense in Valencia in 2009 that they were willing to sell out the rights of all challengers to Alinghi and ACM. While I don’t approve of Oracle’s heavy-handed legal tactics to hijack the Cup, if the Swiss and the Spanish had had the foresight to look at the bigger, longer-term picture, rather than their own short-term interests, the Cup wouldn’t be in this mess. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Earth is the insane asylum for the universe. Special thanks to Southern Spars, Melges Performance Sailboats, and SailFast Apparel. |
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