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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 2649 - Wednesday, July 30, 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. COLD-COCKED BY THE APPELLATE DIVISION Just when we thought the America’s Cup couldn’t get anymore disheveled, and that the pending decision from the New York court system would provide clarity as to when in 2009 the behemoth multihulls of the Swiss and American teams would face off for the 33rd Match, the court’s decision today has given this event an extreme “brain freeze.” Thankfully, Scuttlebutt Legal Analyst Cory Friedman will guide us through this mess. Read on: (July 29, 2008) By now many ‘Buttheads know that a sharply split Appellate Division, First Department, has voted 3-2 to reverse Justice Cahn on the law and reinstated the now teamless Club Nautico Espańol de Vela (CNEV) as Challenger of Record. Having incorrectly predicted that the First Department would affirm Justice Cahn, it is time for me to do my penalty turns. That said, unless BMW Oracle Racing's Larry Ellison throws in the towel or a mutual desire to settle breaks out, this case is going to Chief Judge Judith Kaye (who is actually quite svelte) and the Judges of the New York Court of Appeals in Albany, NY, who will have the final say. The two dissenting votes in the Appellate Division give Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) an automatic right to appeal. While the Appellate Division, being a division of the Supreme Court, has the power, unlike almost every other appellate court, to reverse on the facts or the law or both, the Court of Appeals may only reverse on the law. As the Appellate Division reversed solely on the law, the Court of Appeals has a relatively free hand on any appeal. The majority opinion, written by Justice DeGrasse, recently elevated after a mammoth trial in which Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Barry Ostrager’s firm, appearing pro bono, successfully argued that New York’s school funding was unconstitutional, has some pretty severe problems which may give GGYC an opening in the Court of Appeals. Although no one argued before Justice Cahn that the Deed’s “having” language is ambiguous, the Appellate Division sua sponte raised the issue, found that it was ambiguous, and that extrinsic evidence needed to be considered to resolve the ambiguity. That determination is questionable. -- Complete report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p27 Court decision: http://xrl.us/courts Alinghi statement: http://xrl.us/alinghi GGYC statement: http://xrl.us/goldengate QUOTE / UNQUOTE Here are a few of the ‘butthead comments after hearing the court’s decision: “I had to check my calendar; I thought it is April 1st.” - Peter Szasz “I believe this may be a final blow to the America's Cup as a prestigious, highly sponsored event. I don’t feel I’m alone in that view.” - Robbie Doyle “What a F... Up!! The America's Cup reached such a high level in Valencia sitting on the Sport Podium with "The Masters" and "Wimbledon" thanks to the integrity and class of Louis Vuitton and the wonderful cadre of Challengers. Now the egos involved have plunged the most high-profile event in the Sailing Spectrum into total disrepute. What a travesty!” - Paul Henderson OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN: 10 DAYS TO GO * From American Laser representative Andrew Campbell: “Let this be the place to tell you that starting August 8th, I’m not allowed to print anything other than descriptions of my personal experience on the site, no photos from inside the venues, no movies, no interviews with other athletes, nothing Olympic sponsors could make any money off of their exclusive rights I suppose. Everybody’s giving me a little grief about my being disturbed by the severing of our first amendment rights, but I’m a bit peeved to say the least by their removal.” -- http://www.campbellsailing.com * As Typhoon Fung Wong (Phoenix), which smashed across Taiwan a few days ago crosses China's south east coast a little less than halfway between Hong Kong and the Olympic venue of Qingdao, Wednesday’s practice could be blown out with wind gusts up to 30 knots possible. Fung Wong is the eighth tropical storm to hit China's coast and the strongest so far this year, with the latest five day prognosis showing that the breeze will be between 15-25 knots for the week in Qingdao. -- Sail World, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/UK/Is-Qingdao-the-new-Pusan?/47024 * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has launched their new Olympic Games microsite, will include live mark-by-mark roundings and results from every race, daily galleries featuring the best photography from the Games, full details on every competing sailor, nations and event, a complete database of Olympic sailing results and all the latest news and features direct from Qingdao. View site at http://www.sailing.org/olympics BACK TO BACK MACKINACS Doyle Sails powered John Barbour‘s Velero VII to 2nd in the NA40 division of the 84th Bayview Yacht Club Port Huron to Mackinac Race and to win the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Division in the 100th running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. Doyle customers won 11 classes in the Bayview to Mackinac Race: C&C 35, Cruising B, Cruising C, Cruising D, IRC C, IRC D, IRC F, IRC G, J/105, J/120, NA 40. When you are ready to put in a winning performance, contact your local Doyle loft, 800-94-DOYLE, http://www.doylesails.com PROUD MOMS SET COURSE FOR BEIJING San Diego, CA - Proud mothers all over America are preparing to watch sons and daughters head for the 2008 Olympics in August. In Point Loma, two of those mothers - Jerelyn Biehl and Sherri Campbell - sit five feet apart in the business they run together, bursting with pride. One son, Graham Biehl, 21, will sail the 470 class with crew Stu McNay of Boston; the other son, Andrew Campbell, 24, will race singlehanded in his Laser class. Graham and Andrew both attended Silver Gate Elementary School, where their mothers worked together on the PTA. Graham and Andrew came up in the junior sailing program at San Diego Yacht Club. Their mothers went into business together four years ago at OneDesign Management, doing the administrative work for sailing associations around the country and the world. -- Peninsula Beacon, read on: http://www.sdnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2008/07/24/4888bfe7ec63a DAD, WHAT'S A LASER SLALOM? by Kimball Livington, SAIL WEST For one thing, son, it's a lot more fun than another day in America's Cup court (take my breath away, Justice DeGrasse) and it's a game that's perfect for San Francisco Bay. Once upon a time, when the original Laser Generation was coming on (Bertrand, Madrigali, Cayard, Silvestri for a short list) people came from all over the world to play. Now, with the Laser North Americans just completed, we have a new Laser generation stepping up. Picture two rows of buoys side by side, windward-leeward. Two competitors rally-up at the bottom of the course, each of them nose-to one of the bottom marks. When the judge figures they're even, he signals a start. The job is to tack up through the marks, cross over, gybe down through the marks, and repeat, and don't crash, and finish first. Keeping the marks close together keeps the gybes "interesting." Two days into a three-day event, we've seen moments when both boats were down. The bigger the breeze, the better the Slalom. It's supposed to be hard. Work your way through the eliminations ladder to the finals, and you have bragging rights. Our 2008 North American champ, David Wright of Toronto, says he grew up on "the legends" and wouldn't miss this opportunity to take a crack a Laser Slalom himself. -- Read on: http://sailmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/07/dad-whats-laser-slalom.html * Complete results for the Laser North Americans (Standard, Radial, and 4.7) can be found here: https://app1.regatta-manager.com/stfrancisyc/LaserNAs/documents PURSUING A DIFFERENT FORMULA Twenty six Vipers raced in the Viper 640 North American championships in Marblehead that finished on Sunday. The number of competitors has increased by 45% for two consecutive years mirroring the growth of interest in this modern 21 foot sportsboat. The Class Association has grown from a mere 20 boats 2 1/2 years ago to 100 boats in North America today. What makes this growth particularly interesting is that it occurred without the extensive marketing and promotion that is usually associated with the launch of one-design sportsboat classes. The Viper class pursued a different formula. "It was back to the future" says Justin Scott, Viper 640 Class Association president. "The great classes of yore like the Lightening and the Etchells and the Star were not launched with a large marketing campaign and expensive advertising budgets, They were beautifully designed, well built boats and the classes grew by word of mouth because they were fun boats to race and sailors told other sailors about them.” -- Read on: http://xrl.us/viper640 BROKERAGE BONANZA Have you checked out JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc. and their latest brokerage boats? We have the largest selection of used J/Boats on the market. Give our team a call and make an appointment to see these high quality listings. We currently have a new J/160 listing, two J/120's, J/109, and J/105, along with numerous other makes and models. Our team of Jeff Brown, John Bohne, and Roy Bream look forward to speaking with you and working with you. Give us a call at 619-224-6200, or take a look at our website at http://www.jk3yachts.com SAILING SHORTS * Marblehead, MA - More than 1,000 sailors with hometowns ranging California to Canada set sail on Massachusetts Bay last weekend looking to clinch the championship of the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta. Local Justin Scott and his boat, Dr. Who & The Daleks, came out on top of the Viper 640 class and as a result were awarded the overall victory among the 10 classes with 181 entrants. The title earns Scott an invitation to the 2008 NOOD Regatta Championships in the British Virgin Islands in November, where he'll compete against the overall winners from each stop of NOOD's nine regatta circuit. -- Full story: http://www.salemnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_210023056.html Final results: http://xrl.us/ok8jh * Lysekil, Sweden (July 29, 2008): Reigning World Champion, ISAF world ranking leader and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2007, Claire Leroy from France, had a very convincing start at the Lysekil Women’s Match, the world’s largest women match racing event, where she rolled with five victories and no losses when the racing started Tuesday. Lone North American entrant Elisabeth Baylis (USA) remains winless at 0-3 and is currently at the bottom of the leaderboard. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6150 * The Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii is officially now in the books, with double-handed sailors Joby Easton and Bill Huseby aboard the Cascade 36 Raindrop achieving the coup of winning both class and overall honors. Complete results: http://pacificcup.org/08/positions/pc08-prd15.html * The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the ratification of a new 24 Hour World Record (Powered Sails - WSSR rule 21c) by the 30m monohull "Leopard". Skippered by Chris Sherlock (GBR), the record was set May 27, 2008 after the team covered 466.4 nm for an average speed of 19.4 knots. There was no previous record in the 21c category, which was claimed during a Transatlantic crossing. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * Premium luxury German automobile manufacturer Audi has added yet another sailing event to its portfolio, with Audi Australia announcing that the company has secured Naming Rights to the 2009 Etchells World Championship, to be held at Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne, Australia in March 2009. -- http://www.audietchellsworlds2009.com.au * (July 29, 2008) The bulk of the troops in the 7th Transat Quebec Saint Malo (Canada to France) are traversing a zone of transition in the weather which is favouring the leaders. In the 50 footer camp led by Crępes Whaou! there is everything to play for amongst the pursuers, who are beginning to stretch away from the Class 40s. The focus of the race now seems to have shifted with some big strategic decisions the order of the day. -- Read on: http://www.quebecsaintmalo.com/en/news.asp?id=120 * From August 29 to October 8, 2008, US SAILING will hold its annual election to fill three seats on its Board of Directors. While President Jim Capron and Board member Bill Stump are running unopposed, the following nominees are vying for the remaining two positions: Paul Callahan, Susan Daly, John Dane III, Amy Gross-Kehoe (incumbent), and Dawn Riley. -- http://www.ussailing.org/BOD/election DESIGN ENGINEER REQUIRED Composite Rigging Division of Southern Spars is an industry leader in the application of advanced composites in yacht-rigging. The business requires a design engineer with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, and/or experience in mechanical engineering, analysis, modeling and drafting using AutoCAD/SolidWorks. Based in Rhode Island, USA. Forward resumes – mailto:angela.whyte@southernspars.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘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, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Ralph Taylor: (re, Steve Fossett in #2648) It seems that, whenever a body isn't found and there are no eyewitnesses, some will speculate the person isn't really dead. It happened with a friend of mine who drowned in Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Utah, along with several others. In that case, there were witnesses who saw -- from a distance -- the boat capsize & sink, people in the water, then bodies disappearing. Still, some claimed the deaths were faked. I believe the strongest evidence for Fossett's death is that the plane is still missing. A plane disappearing is something like a vessel going missing at sea, except than an airplane has a limited capacity to stay aloft. The eastern Sierra Nevada is wild, rough and desolate terrain; the deserts to the east aren't much more forgiving. A lone, unprepared person has little chance of survival. The Civil Air Patrol Major's statement that they found six other downed planes while searching for Fossett only says the CAP's prior searches for those planes weren't effective, casting doubt on the reasoning that the plane -- if it were there to find -- must have been found. As to the Lloyd's investigator, I can only say "Absence of evidence of the occurrence is not evidence of non-occurrence." Doesn't Lloyd's have many records of "overdue" ships? Perhaps, some of those missing 18th century vessels will soon sail into port and Steve Fossett will land at an airport near you. * From Charles J. Doane: (re, the Appellate Court decision) As a recovering attorney I remarked back in November that the reasoning behind Judge Cahn's decision seemed skewed (though I agreed with the result), so I am not at all surprised it has been overturned on appeal. I am very surprised, however, that the appellate court has ruled in SNG's favor rather than sending the case down for more fact-finding. As we all know, what this case is really about is Ernesto Bertarelli's failure to act as a responsible trustee. It seems very likely he cut a deal with the Spanish that Valencia would remain the AC venue if he were allowed to draft a protocol heavily favoring Alinghi as defender. If an already incorporated Spanish club already hosting an annual regatta had signed on to such a scheme, the breach of fiduciary duty would be just as gross. The courts have been very remiss here. Judge Cahn (very wrongly, I believe) dismissed GGYC's breach of duty claim saying there is no fiduciary relationship between GGYC and SNG. Who does SNG have such a relationship with? Who are the beneficiaries of the trust created by the Deed of Gift? The courts need to answer these questions once and for all. We also need to see Bertarelli---under oath, under penalty of perjury---answering questions about how his protocol for the 33rd match was created. * From George Oestreich: I love sailing, I love racing but I also find the endless litigation somewhat disheartening, regardless of whether it is at levels of the America's Cup or on the race course. 90% of all infractions on the race course are clear cut and in the "old days" a competitor would drop out acknowledging their infraction (some great stories about legends such as Ted Turner, having to start his engine for 10 seconds to avoid the tower in Buzzards Bay, dropping out). Today you do a couple of 360's (equivalent to a Hail Mary) and go on. There also seems to be a number of occasions recently where people who are at fault just refuse to admit they could do anything wrong, such as during a "classic regatta" not too long ago. To sit down at a race committee hearing and have those infractions that are in question resolved was a great way to keep the rules in force. Also it reinforced the idea that next time that the ultimate action is to avoid dangerous situations. It appears that many race committees have abdicated their responsibilities by avoiding telling their peers they are wrong. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: The game is played a little differently wherever we sail, but the responsibilities for how it is played still remain largely with the sailors. I heard a horrible story today about how a recent elimination event for a U.S. junior championship was plagued by litigation, all stemming from underage drinking. Guess what… the accused sailor got the case dismissed. Nice lesson! * From Jonathan Rankine: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2647) It was nice to see John Morgan get some well deserved recognition with your coverage of the Splash Worlds in one of your recent newsletters. This is just one of the 5 world championships John's athletes have won in the last 3 years. John has played a key role in developing the new breed of exciting young sailors coming out of NZ, which at the moment include Peter Burling and Carl Evans and former Radial #1 Jo Aleh. I was coached by John in the early stages of my career in New Zealand and was lucky to be part of many title winning squads and culminated for me personally winning an under 19 matchracing title. Recently John played a key role in a good result for our team in the NZ matchracing nationals. He helped us to prepare for the regatta, analyze our performance during the regatta which meant we were able to iron out some of the bugs in the team before the regatta reached knock out stage. It’s important these coaches are recognized as they play such a crucial role in developing our sport. * From Gary Edelman: Regarding Bob Patterson's letter in Issue #2648, while Terry Kohler has indeed been a major supporter of various aspects of the sport of sailing, and through the Windway Capital Corp. owns a controlling interest in North Sails, his relatives would have a fit if they heard he had suddenly taken over the Kohler Corp. that makes all those plumbing fixtures. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The more you complain, the longer God makes you live. Special thanks to Doyle Sails, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc., and Southern Spars. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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