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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 2584 – April 28 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. ‘QINGDAO-LIKE’ CONDITIONS FOR HYERES’ MEDAL RACE Hyeres, France (April 25, 2008) The 40th Semaine Olympique Française was completed on Friday with light and shifty winds providing for marginal sailing, but all Olympic classes were able to complete their final, double-point, non-discard race. As Carrie Howe of the American Yngling team stated, “The best way to describe this regatta was ‘extremely challenging’. It started out with strong Mistral winds and massive rough seas, we lost a day of racing due to too much wind and almost missed another because of no wind, and we finished up in fickle breezes that replicated ‘Qingdao-like’ conditions we all expect to find at the Olympics.” For many teams, this was their final event, and will be spending the next three months training in China or elsewhere to best prepare for the Olympics. Final results (Top 3 plus top North Americans) Laser (156 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Michael Leigh (Canada) 40 points 2. Andrew Murdoch (New Zealand) 52 points 3. Andreas Geritzer (Austria) 64 points 9. David Wright (Canada) 79 points Laser Radial (78 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Sarah Blanck (Australia) 20 points 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (United States) 46 points 3. Evi Van Acker (Belgium) 47 points 9. Paige Railey (United States) 87 points 49er (42 entrants; 11 races, 1 discard) 1. Xabier Fernandez / Iker de Martinez (Spain) 50 points 2. Tim Wadlow / Chris Rast (United States) 50 points 3. Federico Alonso / Arturo Nest Alonso (Spain) 58 points Yngling (20 entrants; 11 races. 2 discards) 1. Siren Sundby/Lise Birgit FredriksenAlexandra Koefoed (Norway) 44 points 2. Sally Barkow /Debbie Cappozzi/Carrie Howe (United States) 51 points 3. Sarah Ayton/Pippa Wilson/Sarah Webb (Great Britain) 51 points Finn (56 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Jonas Hogh Christ (Denmark) 42 points 2. Edward Wright (Great Britain) 45 points 3. Gasper Vincec (Slovenia) 46 points 8. Christopher Cook (Canada) 78 points 9. Zach Railey (United States) 90 points Tornado (21 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Darren Bundock / Glenn Ashby (Australia) 37 points 2. Francesco Marcolini / Edoardo Bianchi (Italy) 43 points 3. Mitch Booth / Pim Nieuwenhuis (The Netherlands) 48 points 11. Oskar Johansson / Kevin Stittle (Canada) 470 Men (75 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Nick Rogers / Joe Glanfield (Great Britain) 39 points 2. Sven Coster / Kalle Coster (The Netherlands) 43 points 3. Carl Evans / Peter Burling (New Zealand) 56 points 15. Stuart McNay / Graham Biehl (United States) 470 Women (37 entrants; 9 races, 1 discard) 1. Ai Kondo / Naoko Kamata (Japan) 46 points 2. Stefanie Rothweiler / Vivien Kussatz (Germany) 51 points 3. Giulia Conti / Giovanna Micol (Italy) 62 points 14. Amanda Clark / Sarah Mergenthaler (United States) RS:X Men (92 entrants; 8 races, 1 discard) 1. Ricardo Santos (Brazil) 22 points 2. Julien Bontemps (A S P T T Nantes) 27 points 3. Przemyslaw Miarczynski (Poland) 30 points 21. David Mier Y Tera (Mexico) RS:X Women (61 entrants; 8 races, 1 discard) 1. Zofia Klepacka (Poland) 25 points 2. Olga Maslivets (Ukraine) 43 points 3. Jannicke Stalstrom (Norway) 48 points 22. Nikola Girke (Canada) Regatta website: http://sof.ffvoile.net Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/0425a PROFESSIONAL CIRCUIT * Cagliari, Sardinia (April 27, 2008) -- With two bullets in the last two races, Armando Giulietti, Sébastien Col and their crew on board Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano confirm their leadership over the RC 44 Class. After their victory in the match race event, Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts (BMW ORACLE Racing) conclude the fleet race event on the second spot, just ahead of Patrick de Barros and Ben Ainslie’s Banco Espirito Santo. -- Full report: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=932 * Vitoria, Espirito Santos, Brazil (April 26, 2008) -- In an anticlimactic fifth and final match where a dying breeze found rival Bjorn Hansen (SWE) on the wrong side of a huge shift, Italian Paolo Cian (ITA) and his Team Shosholoza managed to navigate through the zephyrs and win the 2008 Brasil Sailing Cup. Coming back from a 2-0 deficit, Cian’s team won the top prize of US$36,000 of the $150,000 total purse in this first event of the 2008 World Match Racing Tour. Leading into the Semi-Finals, World Match Racing Tour veterans Ian Williams (GBR), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Cian, and Hansen dominated the Quarter-Final stage, staying undefeated on a course area set up in the narrow strait overlooked from above by the Hotel Ilha Do Bol and fanned by a brisk easterly sea breeze. To reach the Finals, Cian and Hansen both bested their respective rivals, Williams and Holmberg, by a 2-1 match score. In the Petit-Final to determine third place, Williams beat Holmberg 2-1. -- http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/78003 DISCOVER; THE LATEST IN BOAT EQUIPMENT On average, visitors from over 100 countries log onto MyBoatsGear.com. For those in the northern hemisphere it is spring, and a good time to research the latest in boating Equipment. What are you looking for? With gear organized into 18 easily-accessible top level categories and 200 plus sub categories finding great new products is easy. Our aim is to promote boating products in an unbiased format. MyBoatsGear.com is a free online magazine dedicated to finding and reviewing the best boating products, and stores product information for access anytime, anywhere. -- http://www.MyBoatsGear.com TOP COLLEGE TEAMS MOVE ON TO FINALS For the first year, the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is hosting Semi-Final eliminations for the Coed Dinghy Nationals. This past weekend, thirty-six teams that had qualified through their region were competing in either New York or California to determine the top nine from each qualifier, with those teams gaining one of the eighteen slots allotted at the Dinghy Nationals to be held in Newport, RI on June 2-4, 2008. Here are the top nine teams from each semi Semi-Final event: Eastern ICSA National Semi-Final Coed Dinghies Geneva, NY (Hobart/WmSmith), 420s 1. Boston College, 69 points 2. St. Mary's, 82 3. Vermont, 91 4. Conn College, 97 5. U/Penn, 100 6. Stanford,107 7. Harvard, 112 8. Hobart/WmSmith, 126 9. Wisconsin,144 Results: http://www.collegesailing.org/regattaLatest.asp?RegattaID=286 Western ICSA National Semi-Final Coed Dinghies Long Beach, CA (USC), FJs 1. Georgetown, 112 points 2. Yale, 132 3. Brown, 178 4. College of Charleston, 184 5. MIT, 200 6. Roger Williams, 202 7. USMMA - Kings Point, 226 8. South Florida, 237 9. NY Maritime, 240 Results: http://www.collegesailing.org/regattaLatest.asp?RegattaID=291 ANOTHER HOT BUTTON Over the years, the Scuttlebutt editors have discovered some of the hot buttons for the ‘buttheads. When the topics wander toward racism, sexism, religion, and politics, the tide of incoming email rises quickly. From the rate of email last Friday, a new hot button was discovered, which was all in response to the open letter in Issue 2583 by Giovanni Maspero, owner of Joe Fly, following their disqualification at the recent Farr 40 World Championship in Miami (USA). Maspero was critical of a number of things from the event, and the ‘buttheads were seemingly unanimous in their contempt for his criticism. Here is a sampling: * From Morten Lorenzen, DEN 2900 "Backbone": As a participant in the Farr 40 Worlds in Miami, and a participant who easily could have protested Joe Fly out of contest on the third day of racing, I feel that Scuttlebutt readers should learn another side of the Joe Fly story. Reality is, that Joe Fly showed great arrogance and sailed a highly risky regatta. In race eight at the start, Joe Fly made a very risky move, which could have ended in a crash with our boat "Backbone" or the committee boat, had we not given room. The jury on the water saw the incident and whistled to let them know that they had made a mistake, which should have made them to correct this by making a 360 turn. Even though we hailed protest and informed them loud and clear about the Jury´s whistle - which was heard by all others in the area, Joe Fly arrogantly continued leaving us behind with a terrible start and with a gesture which no one could misunderstand. And Joe Fly ended up second in that race. At the dock we realized that Joe Fly was second in the regatta, only one point behind Mascalzone Latino, and basically we could have decided the Worlds by going through with our protest - which we would have won, with the jury as witness. We decided, after serious considerations NOT to file the protest, as we did not want to be the decider at the Worlds. We did have a serious talk with Joe Fly´s owner and tactician about their arrogance and risky strategy, and while the owner seemed to understand, their tactician continued to play the arrogance style, not understanding what on earth he had done wrong. I can only comment, that Joe Fly should find another class to play in, if they do not want to play by the rules - sailing is still a gentleman sport, even at this level, and the kind of risky game and arrogant attitude Joe Fly showed in Miami we will not miss them in the class, nor in any class. * From Tom Thayer: I have never understood the concept that someone who manages to cross the finish line first while fouling another boat "won it on the water". It seems to me that they lost it on the water when they committed the foul, especially one as obvious and egregious as it sounds like Joe Fly committed at the Farr 40 Worlds. They could have done their penalty turn, but then they wouldn't have crossed the line first and they couldn't claim that they'd won it on the water. * From Barry Ault: Anyone who thinks Tom Ehman or any other certified race official, be they a judge or a PRO, would be influenced by relationships with the competitors or their employers really doesn’t understand why they are there or the Corinthian ethic that they and the those of us who love the sport still believe in. => A statement by Vincenzo Onorato, 2008 Farr 40 World Champion: http://www.mascalzonelatino.it/home.html?MainID=1&SubID=35&ArticleID=221 READY TO GO FOR FIFTY On April 4, 2007, the team onboard l’Hydroptère beat two world speed records ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC): An average of 44.81 knots over 500 meters, speed record in category D; An average of 41.69 knots over one nautical mile (Outright Nautical Mile) in all categories . Both those records were set in an open ocean setting, and now with the team’s goal being to break the all-time sailing speed record and mythical barrier of 50 knots , the hydrofoil trimaran has been undergoing modifications that will increase speed and better adapt to an ideal, smooth water course. The boat has just arrived in Toulon (South of France) to begin this campaign. -- http://www.hydroptere.com/_en THE PERFECT NAUTICAL GIFT Latitude Kinsale’s 3D charts are proving very popular as gifts for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, or simply treating yourself, made to commission- they are truly unique and personal. A new feature is surround lighting built into the frame, adding a whole new dimension to 3D charts. Have a look at the website and you will see examples including Newport & Hawaii. ‘Story board’ charts are popular for capturing an event and are great mementos of that lifetime cruise or racing campaign: “From all the crew, thank you skipper!!!” Check out the website today and talk to Latitude Kinsale about your commission. http://www.latitudekinsale.com COMING AWAY WITH THAT GOOD FEELING The Optimist stagecoach seems to have crossed the western sierras, and looks to have successfully corralled the kids in Northern California. Compared to Sabots and El Toros, the Opti is smaller and quite manageable for the younger sailors, and well suited for the strong winds that San Francisco Bay is noted for. On April 19-20, there was an Optimist regatta hosted by San Francisco Yacht Club that had 61 entrants, making it the largest Optimist regatta ever held in California. Ten year old Alex Moody wrote a report on the event, and while it would be unrealistic to think that every young sailor came away with such a positive feeling, he did a nice job of providing the hope that they all did. Here is an excerpt: “The second day of the regatta started with no wind once again. As soon as the wind picked up it started to gust over 20. It was another exciting day sailing Optis on the Bay! Most of the kids were more prepared for the wind so everyone handled the wind better (than the first day) and there were fewer capsizes. The reaching legs were really fun because it was windy enough we could surf on the white caps. By the end of the second day it was even windier than the first. We all had a wild sail back to the yacht club. I’m looking forward to the next Harken regatta!” – Complete report: http://www.sfbayopti.org/sail/2008harken2 SAILING SHORTS * (April 26, 2008) Teased by winds as strong as 15 knots along the way, Magnitude 80 repeated its first-to-finish performance in the Newport Ocean Sailing Association’s 61st International Yacht Race to Ensenada Saturday but was denied another record for its résumé as the wind shut down in Todos Santos Bay. Among the 380 starters, the lead boats enjoyed a little reaching and lots of running in medium breeze for the first 100 miles, but only very light winds for the final 25 miles. There were 307 boats that completed the annual event. -- Complete story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/0426/ * Annapolis, MD (April 27, 2008) There were 268 entrants from Annapolis to Australia that competed in the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta in Annapolis, with the J/22 (38 boats) and J/105 (31 boats) hosting the largest fleets among the 17 classes. However, it was the Melges 32 class winner that was named the overall winner of the regatta. Hailing from the United Kingdom , Joe Woods and his team onboard Red will receive a trip to Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands in November to compete at the championship event against the winners from each of the additional eight stops on the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta series. Final results: http://tinyurl.com/4fr6ry Audio reports: http://tinyurl.com/3nkkom * Gulfport, FL (April 26, 2008) - Nigel Pitt (Hartwell, GA) and Alex Shafer (Clermont, FL) won the U.S. Multihull Championship over 19 other teams racing on Capricorn F18s. The newly crowned champions jumped into the lead on day three of the five day regatta, with last year's champions, John Casey and John Williams (Longwood, FL) finishing second overall, just two points behind the winners. -- Event website: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usmhc * The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court has set a date of June 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm to hear oral arguments following the submission of briefings by America’s Cup Defender Société Nautique de Genève’s (SNG) on April 21, 2008 and Challenger Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) on April 22, 2008. PUMA, PUMA, PUMA....... Brand new Volvo Ocean 70 sexy black sneaker rolled into Newport Shipyard, Wednesday the 23rd, prepped 24th, 25th, sailed the 26th. Lots of action with the crew training at the Shipyard until August 15th. Eating their three "squares" every day at Belle's! Dock with us; join in. http://www.NewportShipyard.com 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 Bob Webbon: As Rumsey suggests (in 2579), maybe we would all be better off without the Olympics. Indeed, a World Championship is maybe much harder to negotiate a win, but the intrigue of the Olympics is omnipresent. It also captures the imagination of so many young sailors it cannot be swept aside. It is interesting to note that the Tornado was designed for one purpose. In the early 70s, the Olympic organizers came to the multihull discipline and asked the multihull community to create a new design for showcasing their most talented sailors for the Olympic Regatta. The boat was never designed for the masses. As for popularity, look to the F-18 class, which had 128 boats at their 2007 Europeans last summer. As for heroes, even monohull sailors would recognize some of the entrants at the 100+ boat 2007 A Cat Worlds last November in Floriday: Howard Hamblin, Cam Lewis, Pease Glaser, Randy Smyth, Mitch Booth. As in all disciplines of sailing, heroes are present. Rightfully so. The names of Herreshoff, Elvstrom, Marstrom, Hall, McArthur, Joyon all come to mind in the multihull community. The Olympic debate is about a sailing discipline wanting just one seat at the table, along with boards, dinghies, and keelboats. It's about providing the future youth a means to express their competitive expertise in the diverse options provided by the sport. * From Chris Boome, San Francisco: I grew up sailing in the 60's and 70's at the Palo Alto Yacht Club near San Francisco. We had an awesome fleet of 505's with great world class racing (Dennis Surtees & Dave Vickland, etc.) AND the most fun racing ever. We used to laugh every 4 years when 4 or 5 Flying Dutchmen would show up, apparently because it was an "Olympic Year". In the end, the good boats and good classes don't need the Olympics and are probably better off WITHOUT the Olympics. I wonder how much a new Laser would cost if it was not an Olympic class? * From Dyer Jones: I noted with interest the announcement by Alinghi on their Website that it would take 15 months to design and build their defending yacht for a match against the BMW Oracle Challenge of Golden Gate Yacht Club; as well as the subsequent discussion as reported in Scuttlebutt 2853 that either the 10 months notice of challenge as provided in the Deed of Gift for America's Cup needs to be extended, or the design and construction process made simpler. Perhaps we should remember the timeline for the 12th America's Cup Match in 1903 (RELIANCE vs. SHAMROCK III). It was 6 months vs. 15 months. >> October 7, 1902 - 3rd Challenge of Sir Thomas Lipton of Royal Ulster Y.C. received by New York Y.C. Formation of Reliance Syndicate (C. Oliver Iselin, et al) and negotiation of contract with Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. >> April 12, 1903 - Launching of Reliance. >> Early September 1903 - 12th Match. RELIANCE is the largest yacht built (to date) for America's Cup competition (Length of Hull 149' / LWL of 89.6' / Overall Length from end of bowsprit to end of main boom 201' 9") with a sail area of 16,160 square feet and a crew of 64. She was principally designed by N.G. Herreshoff who was assisted by 4 draftsmen in preparing the drawings. According to his son, Mr. Herreshoff cut the model for RELIANCE in two evenings working at home. (Remember, NGH first cut a 1/2 model of each yacht. Measurements were then taken from this model and drawings prepared.) He incorporated significant innovation into her design and construction. Amazing - just over 6 months to design and build this enormous yacht and then 5 months of racing trials in preparetion for the match. By this comparison, 10 months seems quite reasonable. * From Adrian Morgan: Nary a word of criticism anywhere to date of Oracle, Ellison or Golden Gate. What a splendid PR job they're pulling. That Tom Ehman, Oracle's eminence grise, is a clever fellow; pops up everywhere, especially when there's a sniff of controversy. Sounds like a critical imbalance to one who watches from a far, far sideline. Amidst all the rancour directed at Ernesto Bertarelli, are we sure the alternative is any better? Was he wrong, for example, in suggesting Louis Vuitton pitch for the challenger series afresh? Does Larry Ellison truly have the good of the Cup at heart, or simply the burning desire of the mega-wealthy to win at any costs? Maybe he thinks the two are synonymous. Which makes two billionaires with delusions of grandeur. The Cup, as someone recently wrote in Scuttlebutt, belongs to a nation not an individual. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A single fact can spoil a good argument. Special thanks to MyBoatsGear.com, Latitude Kinsale, and Newport Shipyard. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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