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SCUTTLEBUTT 1748 - January 6, 2005Powered 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. MAJOR CHANGES The USA's Olympic sailing program is about to have a fresh new look. "The model with which we have organized, funded and administered our Olympic program is no longer viable," said Dean Brenner, Chairman of US Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC). A new strategic plan has been developed that looks well beyond the next four year cycle. This plan represents a fundamental shift in the way the OSC will plan for and administer Olympic and Paralympic sailing in the U.S. The new 20-year plan will focus on: 1. Generating a national effort to fund an endowment for the Olympic and Paralympic Program. 2. Create a path to mentor and guide our best junior, high school and college sailors into the Olympic Program. The plan also includes: - more direct funding to elite athletes; - more coaching resources for all Olympic and Paralympic Classes; - an annual budget in excess of $10 million a year through 2024; - the ability to support top-level athletes who want to compete over multiple quadrennia; - plans to evolve the Rolex Miami OCR so it's on par with the best events in the world; - a vibrant and well-supported youth development program. - a special fund to support winners of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials with technology, training partners, etc. The OSC will be reaching out to business leaders and successful sailors nationwide for support. At the same time, every dollar spent on the Olympic program will be examined to insure that the committee's resources are leveraged in the best possible way. The OSC is presently working on expanding and strengthening the US Sailing Team's sponsor and supplier programs. At the same time, they have developed a new 'partnership program' between Sailing Team members and yacht clubs across the country. Partner yacht clubs will have opportunities to host clinics and presentations from US Sailing Team-members and coaches while helping to generate support for the Olympic program. Any senior leader of a yacht club who is interested in knowing more about the opportunities of partnering with the US Olympic Sailing Program should contact Dean Brenner at dmbrenner@ussailing.org. - http://www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2005/oscplan.htm GUEST EDITORIAL By Dean Brenner, Chairman, US Olympic Sailing Committee The Olympic Sailing Committee has just announced our 20-year vision and plan for the Olympic sailing program. This is a challenging and exciting time for our Olympic program, and we have taken a hard look at what we do well and poorly. We have sought input from many sailors, coaches, and supporters and are committed to making a dramatic impact on the future of Olympic sailing in the United States. There are some things that are right about the state of Olympic and Paralympic sailing in the US. But for every single thing that is "right" with the US Olympic sailing program, there are several things that are "wrong". Let's be perfectly straightforward and absolutely clear - our model is broken. It no longer works, and the sooner we embrace that reality the sooner we will back to where we all want to be - with well-organized, well-supported, well-funded Olympic and Paralympic sailing teams. In order to insure future success, change must be implemented now … in this quadrennium. The nations that have successfully improved their Olympic programs in the last two decades do at least two things well - they make strategic decisions based on what is best for the long term, not just today and the current quad; and they have a source of funding that allows athletes to train full time and focus. That funding comes from the government in some cases, and in others from sources like a national lottery. We need a different answer. Corporate sponsorship is important, but it will never be the entire solution. The only true solution is a permanent endowment, and this OSC has made it a primary goal to raise significant endowment dollars now. We are also firmly committed to creating a clear path to guide our best youth, high school and college sailors into Olympic Sailing. We don't have funding for coaches, logistical support and training camps for developing sailors … yet. But we will. In the meantime, we are working on high-value, low-cost ways to make a difference in our young, talented sailors' lives. Finally, we are committed to evaluating every dollar spent. The dollars we have today, while not enough, will be leveraged to maximum effectiveness. We are thinking long-term, and we are focused on creating a permanent funding source for our Olympic Program. Our Olympic and Paralympic sailing teams are a source of national pride for our sport, and a healthy, vibrant program has trickle down effects to every corner of our country and every aspect of sailing in the US. You will be hearing more from us in the coming days, weeks and months. - Dean Brenner CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar ULLMAN SAILS 2005 COMPETITIVE EDGE Ullman Sails, positioned world-class sailmaker's around the globe to serve all your sailing needs. Make a New Years resolution to outperform your competition, with a new sail, or a new inventory of the "Fastest Sails on the Planet" from Ullman Sails. Utilizing state of the art materials, new construction technique and cutting edge designs, Ullman Sails team of designers introduced "FiberPath" sails, guaranteeing you top performance. For an investment in performance, and unsurpassed customer support, contact your local Ullman Sails loft or visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com IMPROVING CONDITIONS The three days and two nights of unforgiving and extremely changeable conditions came to an end Wednesday afternoon for Ellen MacArthur on B&Q. The wind is currently 25 knots from the West and expected to hold or strengthen a bit. Nice - but the last couple of days have not been fun. "Never before have I experienced winds more unstable, more aggressive, more unpredictable," she explained. "My body has been pushed beyond its limits, once again I found myself screaming at the heavens. This has been worse than anything I've had in the Vendée ... three days and two nights of this - just horrendous," she explained after enduring conditions that have been delivering wind speeds from 12 knots to 48 knots and variations in direction by as much as 50 degrees. There is at least some compensation to all the stress of the last few days, as MacArthur's advantage over Joyon's time now exceeds three days and seven hours. However, MacArthur faces another gale by Friday and she will be racing eastwards to prevent the storm from over-taking her, leaving B&Q wallowing in the center. - www.teamellen.com THREE WEEK SPRINT TO THE FINISH LINE Less than 100 miles now separated the three front runners in the Vendee Globe as they make their way up the Atlantic. Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding hoping to be less affected further offshore. Golding reported that the weather ahead is looking particularly volatile and this is making a mockery of his 'routing' software. As a result he is not relying on it. He is continuing to sail his own race but admits he is paying closer attention tactically to his position relative to his two French rivals. Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux) will be stopping off at Christchurch New Zealand. Patrice hopes to make repairs and then head back out towards Les Sables d'Olonne (outside the race as a result of receiving outside assistance) "There is nothing I can do so I'm going to make a pitstop," he explained. "Initially I was thinking of Wellington but it just wasn't feasible without a mainsail. "I am going to make my pitstop in Christchurch and will head out again alone to make Les Sables d'Olonne via Cape Horn." Leaders at 1900 GMT January 5: 1. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 6578 miles to finish 2. PRB, Vincent Riou, 59 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 97 mtl 4. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 809 mtl 5. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 1124 mtl 6. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick 1838 mtl 7. Skandia, Nick Moloney, 2873 mtl 8. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, 3408 mtl 9. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 3752 mtl 10. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, 3773 mtl Complete standings: www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE "I gotta get out of here, it's so windy it's unbelievable. I thought I was going to break the rig." - Nick Maloney, Skandia NEWS BRIEFS * Many of the world's best sailors will meet in Key West 2005 Jan. 17-21, including Russell Coutts and the Kiwi core of his former Alinghi crew. They just won't meet on the water. Coutts will call tactics on Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory in the 18-boat Farr 40 fleet. Brad Butterworth, Warwick Fleury, Dean Phipps and Simon Daubney will sail in PHRF 1 on another of the four courses on Dan Meyers' CM 60, Numbers, from Newport, R.I. Coutts recently joined Plattner's campaign for the Farr 40 Worlds in Australia in March. - www.Premiere-Racing.com * North Sails has partnered with Chris Bedford of Sailing Weather Services to provide free daily weather forecasts during Key West Race Week 2005, presented by Nautica from January 17-21. Forecasts will be emailed to subscribers each morning prior to racing. If you would like to sign up for this service: http://na.northsails.com/ew/EW_main.taf * Alinghi's SUI 75 returned to her birthplace at the Decision SA boatyard in Vevey, Switzerland. The Cup holder's second boat is now being modified to meet the new class rules for 2005. Turned upside down, cut, re-laminated, re-finished and re-painted, SUI 75 will be entirely rejuvenated by the time she is lowered back into Spanish waters in February. - www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/boat/2005/01/01/sui75/index.html *The team of Tim Fallon/ Karen Renzulli, Mark Ivey/ Rich Bell and Matt Lindblad/ Brock Callen won the USTRA midwinters sailed in Vanguard 15's at the US Sailing Center Martin County . The team of Gaffney/ Pumphrey; Zagol/ Largay; Dabney/ Bowen placed second in the series sailed in 10 to 15 knot easterlies and balmy temperatures on the Indian River Jensen Beach Florida. The winning team qualifies for the U.S. Sailing Hinman team racing championship. Complete results: www.usscmc.org/regattas/USTRA%202005Finals.pdf * The first ranking release of 2005 for the Olympic Classes is on February 2, and for the first time, they will include the Laser Radial. The rankings will include results from the Grade 3 St Nicholas Race in Pula, Grade 2 Christmas Race in Palamos, Spain, the Grade 1 Sydney International Regatta and the Rolex Miami OCR. We can hardly wait. - http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6fFhtuB8 * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has approved a new Windsurfer speed record of 34.44 knots set by Bjorn Dunkerbeck on November 16 at Port St Louis, France. - www.sailspeedrecords.com/ BELATED RESOLUTIONS It is not too late to confirm our New Year's resolutions for 2005. Will it be a new paint job for the house, more charity work… or the pure fun and smooth ride of a Raider RIB? The 2005 RIBs come in several sizes to make sure there is the perfect fit for you. Models are available in 22ft., 26ft., 30ft., 33ft., 40ft., and 46ft. and come in both cabin and console versions. Start your New Year with the Perfect Resolution - a Raider RIB! For more information, call Raider RIBs in San Diego at 877-RAIDER or visit http://www.raiderboat.com 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 Bob Fisher, Winner ICCT 1967: I would like to correct a continued misunderstanding that the Sea Cliff Yacht Club appears to wish to promote. The International Catamaran Challenge Trophy is not, and never has been, the Little America's Cup. The Little America's Cup is a match-racing contest in C-class catamarans and the term was coined before the trophy was donated. The original concept was that of John Fisk and was already fairly well advanced when one evening at the house of Rod Macalpine-Downie in Brightlingsea, with Reg White and myself present, he detailed his plans for a best-of-seven race series, much in the line of the recently re-instated America's Cup. 'It will be,' he said, ' a sort of little America's Cup!' It wasn't until much later when his challenge had been accepted, by the Eastern Multihull Association that nominated John Beery and Wildcat to meet Hellcat II, that the Sea Cliff YC was chosen as the host club to the challenge and the club kindly donated the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy. It is the event, in C-class catamarans, that is the Little America's Cup, not the trophy that was used. Curmudgeon's Comment: In yesterday's 'Butt (1747) we carried a story dealing with 'venue shopping' for the next International Catamaran Challenge Trophy regatta. Although the Sea Cliff Yacht Club's press release made reference to the 'Little America's Cup,' we simply ignored that reference in our coverage. It's our opinion that the current ICCT format is both exciting and marketable, and the Sea Cliff YC does the event a tremendous disservice with their continued use of this inappropriate linkage. * From Eric Camiel: Boats breaking when raced hard is nothing new. Bob Derecktor had a simple solution to such problems. He suggested, not entirely facetiously, that all boats be hoisted by crane and dropped 15 feet into the water. If it survives, it is strong enough to race offshore. The logic was that sooner of later, every boat will fall off a wave. Eyeballing swing keels riding parallel to the surface or thin, narrow cord keels with huge bulbs hanging from them, I'm amazed at the engineering that allows them to stay on the boat even in normal sailing conditions. The difference between now and Derecktor's days is that failures are now more likely to be sudden and catastrophic when the boat inevitably falls off a wave and that now the boats are sailing at 20 + knots. It is still the skipper's choice to slow down or heave to. * From Roger Shaw (edited to our 250-word limit): There's a simple solution to vexing problems of scantlings, safety margins, moduli of elasticity, and the risking of life, limb and wallet on vessels that should properly be upon a (rather large) shelf in a china shop, rather than upon a wild and wasteful ocean racecourse. It is suggested by the sad story of the dissolution of the uninsured $4 million yacht Skandia, and the eagerness of its skipper to cannibalize what remains of its wreckage and build another one. The solution - simply add to the ISAF Rules of Racing an inflexible rule that all boats ocean racing must be insured, for both liability and for loss and damage to the vessel (and at a reasonable yearly premium - say not more than 20% of the value of the boat). Yacht clubs and race organizers will be saved worry about esoteric technical questions, that they have proven incapable of answering. "Quesstimation" will be replaced by the cold-blooded calculations of beady-eyed insurance companies. They won't pay out more in claims and expenses than they collect in premiums, at least not for long. Even owners who are happy to throw away $4 million every race, will be compelled to build carefully, and to sail prudently a sea-worthy yacht, and to produce an insurance policy upon it, with a reasonable premium. Vast sums will be saved by taxpayers, instead of being spent on ships and helicopters, and their brave crews, scouring the seas in search of survivors, every storm-crossed yacht race. * From Bob Klein: I agree with Len Hubbard's observation that Narragansett Bay has "terrific children's programs, but they are all racing oriented." and that we should pay, "more attention to these other facets of this wonderful sport...". I recommend everyone look to the Flying Scot class as a perfect example of a solid, stable, affordable, healthy and active one-design class that will provide a perfect solution. You can race it with up to four building crew work, cruise it (yes there's quite a bit of that done", or better yet just get out on the water for a comfortable day sail. "Killer Instincts" allowed but not required. * From Joe Winston: Bristol Yacht Club and East Bay Sailing Foundation have long shared your concern for young sailors who don't want to race. Using out venerable Mercury's, we have a cruising program for those who aren't interested in the competitive 420 circuit. My youngest two children include the A skipper of the 4th ranked BC Women's Sailing Team and a young man with exceptional boat handling skills who would rather climb a boulder than race a dinghy. I'm proud of both. * From Jim Stone: If you failed to read the true rendition in 'Butt 1746 of one couple's struggle to live in the face of the tsunami that hit Phi Phi Don Island, I recommend that you do so. The narrative makes most of the important issues in our lives suddenly seem small and inconsequential compared to the totally unexpected and unforeseen survival circumstances faced by the Muesch'es and the Thai people. The fact that Ed Muesch shared his feelings so openly is commendable and hopefully gives him some deserved peace. Curmudgeon's Comment: Here's the link to Elaine Bunting's story in Yachting World that Jim Stone discussed: www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20050003094619ywnews.html CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION You know your getting old when your sweetie says, "Let's go upstairs and make love" and you answer, "Pick one, I can't do both!" |
