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SCUTTLEBUTT 1851 - June 2, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest 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. ATLANTIC RECORD OBLITERATED Wednesday morning, in thick English Channel fog, Robert Miller's (Hong Kong/New York, N.Y.) 140-foot (43m) Mari-Cha IV passed through the four-mile-long gate off the Lizard on the Rolex Transatlantic Race to break the 100-year-old record set by Charlie Barr on board Wilson Marshall's 185-foot (56.4m) Atlantic. Miller's giant state-of-the-art racing schooner completed the 2,925-nautical mile passage, east across the North Atlantic between New York and the Lizard, in a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds-a full 2 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds faster than Atlantic's record-breaking voyage 100 years ago. In October, 2003, Mari-Cha IV set a monohull passage record between New York and the Lizard of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, but for that voyage, in stark contrast to the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, she had the major advantage of being able to set sail when her crew chose, in optimum weather conditions. Charles Brown and Bill Buckley's 100-foot New Zealand entry Maximus passed the Lizard at 13:18:55UTC, 3 hours 13 minutes and 32 seconds after Mari-Cha IV. In Performance Cruising class 1, Chris Gongriepe's schooner Windrose continues to lead the 178-foot (54.3m) Tiara, while Tiara's sistership Drumbeat is ahead on handicap. In the smaller Performance Cruising class 2, John "Hap" Fauth continues to lead on the water in his 116-foot (35.4m) Whisper, while Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III's Tempest is still first on handicap. As Mari-Cha IV and Maximus reached the Lizard, A. Robert Towbin's Sumurun, the on-the-water and handicap leader in the Classic division, still had 1,653 miles left to go to the Lizard. "We are the back of the pack, and it is pretty discouraging when you hear that the first boat has finished and you still have halfway to go," admitted Armin Fischer, skipper of Sumurun. "We had a lot of horrible light airs and big swells." - www.transatlanticchallenge.org MEANWHILE - ABOARD SARIYAH Our matinee movie this afternoon was Shrek 2. The off watches were laughing loudly in the salon as the on watch kept the bus rolling. So far this trip I've watched Ocean's 12 (good), Ladder 49 (sad), Shrek 2 (hysterically funny, especially the cat), and Pirates of the Caribbean (good). This is not your normal ocean racer, and we're not suffering much discomfort on this crossing. The worst thing that can happen is to sleep through a meal. Still, we're still pushing hard, which is easier to do when you're well-fed and well-rested. The boys on Mari-Cha IV and Maximus may get in well before us, but think of the depravations they've endured to do so. Freeze-dried food, stinky gear, and constantly interrupted sleep. - Excerpt from a story by Tony Bessinger (still 1,123 miles from The Lizard) posted on the Sailing World website, full story: www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=37139&typeID=419&catID=0 AMERICA'S CUP HALL OF FAME Three legends of America's Cup sailing - George "Fritz" Jewett Jr. (San Francisco, Calif.), Alan Payne (1921-1995, Australia), and Jack Sutphen (San Diego, Calif.) have been named as the 2005 inductees to the America's Cup Hall of Fame. Each of this year's inductees played a crucial role in America's Cup campaigns during much of the modern era of the Cup, respectfully as syndicate head, designer, and sailor. The inductees will be honored on the occasion of the Rolex America's Cup Hall of Fame 13th Annual Induction Ceremony to be held Friday, October 14, 2005. This black-tie dinner, sponsored by longtime supporter Rolex Watch U.S.A., will be at the St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, CA. From 1974 until 2000, Fritz Jewett played a pivotal shoreside role in making the United States' America's Cup teams competitive. Besides chairing five defense and challenge syndicates, Jewett was a key participant in four Stars & Stripes campaigns, from 1987 until 1995. His final Cup role in 2000 was as chairman of the America One Challenge syndicate on behalf of the St. Francis Yacht Club. Alan Payne, a brilliant naval architect designed Gretel and Gretel II, two of Australia's first America's Cup challengers. In the 1962 America's Cup, Gretel gave Weatherly a run for her money. Gretel was hugely admired for her superiority in fast downwind sailing. This quality won a race for Australia and nearly a second race in a tight series in which Bus Mosbacher and Weatherly defended the Cup for the New York Yacht Club. In 1970, Payne designed Gretel II for Packer and skipper James Hardy. The new design proved to be an even more dangerous challenger. Jack Sutphen began his America's Cup career in 1958 as a sailmaker with Ratsey & Lapthorn on City Island, NY. He was with the Weatherly campaign that year. In 1974, Sutphen was with the Courageous Campaign as was Dennis Conner. Sutphen had made a name for himself racing against East Coast legends Cornelius Shields and Arthur Knapp out of Larchmont Y.C. When Conner brought together his own Freedom Syndicate for the 1980 Cup, he needed someone to skipper his trial horse in a two year campaign and felt Sutphen had great credentials. Thus began a pattern of many successive campaigns including the great Freedom triumph of 1980, the U.S. defeat in 1983, and the monumental comeback in 1986-87 in Australia. The America's Cup Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving and demonstrating the influence of America's Cup Competition, for the purpose of education and the inspiration of excellence in the world of yachting. For more information: www.herreshoff.org SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree won their third straight International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT), hosted in Rimini, Italy and coordinated by the BLURimini organization and the Vela Viva Sailing Club. Lovell and Ogletree (defender) representing the Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA, USA, defeated Daniele Saragoni and Teo Di Battista (challenger) from Club Circolo Vela Cesenatico, Cesenatico, Italy 4-3 in the series. Because of a race committee error, Match 6 was sailed twice - with Lovell and Ogletree winning both times. - www.icct.seacliffyc.org ULLMAN SAILS WIN 2 OF 3, FIRST TEAM INVITATIONAL! Sixteen of Southern California's best racing yachts, ranging from Randall Pitman's 91' "Genuine Risk" and Roy Disney's 86' "Pyewacket" to 1D 48s, assembled into three classes off Newport Beach, CA. With mega yachts and helicopters for a spectator fleet, corporate sponsors and guests had front row seating. All yachts started together in a single start for the 4 race series. When the dust settled, Ullman Sails customers won two of the three classes and the overall corrected time. Congratulations to Paul & Laura Sharp's "Taxi Dancer" and Oscar Krinsky's "Chayah!" For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet," visit http://www.ullmansails.com WINNER TAKE ALL With one stage remaining in the 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour Ed Baird (USA) and Peter Gilmour (AUS) are tied at the top of the Championship Leaderboard, setting up a winner-take-all final event. Whoever places higher at the season-concluding Swedish Match Cup (Marstrand, Sweden, July 4-10) will be crowned champion of the sixth Swedish Match Tour. Baird, of Team Alinghi, has been at or near the top of the leaderboard since winning the season-opening Portugal Match Cup last July. And after winning the Nippon Cup last November he carried a 20-point lead into the winter recess. Gilmour, of the Pizza-La Sailing Team, trailed Baird by 23 points when the Tour's sixth season resumed at the beginning of May. But after two firsts and a second in the mad month of May, compared with a fifth third and fourth for Baird, the Aussie overhauled and opened a 10-point advantage on the American in cumulative points. Since Gilmour has sailed in all seven stages of the 2004-'05 season he discards his worst finish, a 5th at the Portugal Match Cup. The loss of 10 points has created the tie for the championship, each with 102 points. Baird, who has three career victories on the Tour, is seeking his first Swedish Match Tour championship. Gilmour, the Tour's reigning champion and career victories leader, is bidding to become its first repeat champion. He set records for most cumulative points, net points and best championship scoreline in dominating last season. Never in the history of the Swedish Match Tour has the championship come down to the final event, and never has more been at stake. The Tour champion will win $60,000 of the $200,000 bonus purse awarded by the Tour, a BMW 545i Touring, provided by Tour partner BMW, and the official Swedish Match Tour championship trophy, from Tour sponsor Wedgwood. - Sean McNeill, www.swedishmatchtour.com NEWS BRIEFS * The ISAF World Sailing Rankings have just been released for the Olympic classes. With key events taking place in Europe last month, the June 1 release sees a host of changes at the top of the classes, with sailors from Great Britain, Germany and the Ukraine leading the way. Keamia Rasa (CAN) has pulled out a significant lead at the top of the Laser Radial Rankings. The Canadian is the only sailor in the top ten to be counting her full quota of seven events and consequently lies almost 800 points clear of second place, Paige Railey (USA). - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j8~FhyAAB * An announcement on how the points system will work in the "acts" leading up to the next America's Cup has been delayed until Thursday. An agreement between the challengers and the defender Alinghi was due to be announced on Tuesday in Valencia. However, Britain's Independent newspaper said Alinghi wanted to include a high-scoring fleet race just before the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup which would force their opponents to show their true strength. The Challenger's Commission has drafted a modified agreement to block Alinghi's initiative. - www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10328637 * For the first time, on shore spectators will be able to track the entire Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race from start to finish. When the race starts June 17th in Buzzard's Bay, every race boat will be provided with a GPS transponder linked by iBoat to the internet. This is the first Category 1 race in North America to have complete GPS tracking of the race fleet. The GPS transponder will be provided to each boat at absolutely no cost except for a fully refundable deposit on the transponders return. On line demonstration: www.marionbermuda.com/ * At the recent First Team Real Estate Invitational Regatta in Newport Beach, Calif. Dan Nowlan, US Sailing's Offshore Director, announced over VHF radio the Americap corrected time places at intermediate marks of the first race as well as broadcast final results within seconds of the finish of the last boat in each class. All was facilitated by spotters at each mark and an Excel scoring spreadsheet, developed for the Offshore Racing Association. For future regattas, the spreadsheet will also be supplied to competitors for real time on-board corrected time differences at each mark of the race. - www.thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=159921 * Over a 185-mile course, competitors on 68 boats in the Storm Trysail Club's 60th Block Island Race experienced a wide range of conditions, from squalls that overpowered to breathless times that becalmed. Strong currents at The Gut and The Race, two choices for leaving (or entering) Long Island Sound and entering (or leaving) the Atlantic ocean, served up their usual tactical challenges. STC's Commodore Rich du Moulin performed the best overall in fleet and won the IRC class 4 aboard his Express 37 Lora Ann, completing the course in 33 hours. - www.stormtrysail.org * There is record registration activity for the July 10 Centennial Anniversary edition of the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. With over five weeks still left in the race registration period, 107 yachts have already completed their registration with more in process for a field that is absolutely limited to 150. The Boston Yacht Club co-organizes the event with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Halifax. - www.marbleheadtohalifax.com * From top Olympic level sailors to amateurs from the lakes, 557 catamaran teams from nine countries will gather on Texel on Saturday June 11. They will compete in the 28th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race. It is a race against the elements, the clock and the competitors, but it is also an annual beach party. During the race, live images will be broadcasted on a huge screen on the beach. The shootings will come from the island at Paal 17 (beach), the light house, Oudeschild and from the water. For this week, the catamaran sailing sport rules the island. - www.roundtexel.com/ * ACR Electronics, Inc, the world leader in safety and survival technologies for the marine industry, has been selected as the Official Supplier of Marine Safety Electronics for Volvo Ocean Race Round the World 2005-06. South Florida-based ACR will supply the racing teams with EPIRBs (emergency position indicating radio beacons), search and rescue transponders (SART), GMDSS VHF survival radios and other high-tech safety equipment. - www.volvooceanrace.org * The China Team America's Cup syndicate announced their first sponsor partnership - Tag Hauer Swiss watches and stop-watches. China Team by Le Défi is the first syndicate in America's Cup history to wave the Chinese flag. The team draws on the skills developed by Le Défi, with the support of the UNCL, during two previous Cup series. * Volkswagen is supporting Skandia Cowes Week in 2005 as the Event's Official Vehicle Sponsor with its luxury 4 x 4 Touareg. Volkswagen UK will be supplying Touareg models for use as event support and courtesy vehicles at the world's premier sailing regatta (30th July to 6th August 2005). Volkswagen will also be the title sponsor of the Laser SB3 sailing series with the Touareg. 50 Laser SB3's will sail under Touareg-branded sails at Skandia Cowes Week, also taking advantage of subsidized mooring from the company during the event that is expected to host around 1,000 yachts and 8,000 competitors. - www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk * "We saw gusts of over 50 knots this morning," said SAIC La Jolla navigator John Wilkinson in the Global Challenge RTW race, "Now it's down to about 27/28 … there could be some more gusts coming through but it's certainly a complete contrast to how its been for the last few days." BG Spirit still enjoys a 200+ mile lead followed VAIO, Barclays Adventure and SAIC. - www.globalchallenge2004.com/en FREE GILL POLARIZED FLOATING SUNGLASSES AT TEAM ONE! Gill has introduced a new twist to their annual "Breathe Easy" breathable gear promotion. Customers who purchase $270.00 ($330.00 Can) or more in Gill breathable and or select junior gear qualify to receive a free pair of Blade floating polarized sunglasses. These glasses feature built in floatation, 7 layer Polaroid© lenses, and are supplied with a carrying case. Promotion dates are May 20, 2005 through June 12, 2005. Gill is the official Technical Clothing Supplier to the US Sailing Team, ICSA and Junior Olympic Events. http://www.team1newport.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Stefan Lloyd: Bob Brenac asks: "Could someone please explain how it is possible to optimise a yacht's IRC 'rating' without knowing how that 'rating' is devised in the first place. Having raced under IRC in the UK for many years, the simple answer is that sailors and designers can observe the characteristics of boats and see what does well and what does not in various conditions. It quickly becomes apparent what makes a successful IRC boat. What makes IRC special is 1. the technical expertise of the rating office, which handles thousand of ratings worldwide and 2. the ability to tune the rule, year on year, so that designers' latest "rating-buster" ploys have a very limited shelf-life and, unlike IMS and IOR, IRC-optimised boats remain types which owners want to own. I am bemused by the complaints from the USA on measurement fees. In the UK, the majority of club-level IRC boats are self-measured and no measurement fee is involved. Only the more serious boats apply for an Endorsed certificate, requiring a qualified measurer. For that minority of owners, the one-off spending on measurement is a small proportion on what most will spend on new sails each year. * From Hugh Welbourn (re optimizing an IRC boat's rating): The rating details may be confidential, but their effects if you have enough certificates to analyse and know enough about the boats in question will give some pretty good clues as to whats going on internally. However, you have to bear in mind that IRC has a slightly favoured typeform at its heart which fits the average club racer ( Swans, Beneteaus or that sort of breed in general ) and that as you stray into higher performance ends of the racier boats then rating factor costs will be coming in exponentially rather than in a linear fashion, thus favouring - for general racing conditions - the good average design. Note - IRC with its single figure TCF expects to see a genuinely good all-round performer which is its real strength - make a one way flyer and don't expect the likes of an IMS system to rescue the dog from its kennel days. * From Frank Whitton (Response to Edward Fryer): Am interested in knowing how IRC loophole for "very high stability boats" was "slammed very firmly shut" when stability is not measured. This ones got my curiosity way up. Anyone got an answer? * From Bob Shinn: As there has been minimal coverage of high school sailing (ISSA - Interscholastic Sailing Association) in Scuttlebutt few readers would be aware of a remarkable series of victories by the Point Loma High School (San Diego) sailing team. Point Loma has won the national championships for both fleet racing and team racing in each of the last three years. * From Jervis Tilly: You want a new topic?; we had the "hoola did nothing article" and there's been a post mortem on the spars falling apart but can anyone explain why TNZ almost sank in the last AC? The explanation at the time that the cockpit filling up had never happened before did not gel with the ready-on-deck bailing bucket and the totally unphased crew posture. I know there are some hearty pros around but come on, sitting in deep puddle and just watching coolly as it gets deeper is another level. If it were the first time, wouldn't more guys have helped out? Surely now, after management and many personnel changes, someone can come clean? * From Jordan J.Dobrikin: Picking up some ideas from #1832 how do we get the following idea(s) off the dock and on the water. A top quality Sail Racing Organization, Management and Scoring Program for use on a garden variety IBM/Apple Laptop, on board, and/or, on shore, especially on the Race Comittee Boat. Said program to be funded by the Sail Racing Industry and made available for a nominal price, world wide. The intention being that a cadre of competent, skilled, Race Managemet Volunteers can be developed, Locally/Regionally to assist Clubs and Organizations in building grass roots Sail RACING for all, young or old, male or female, able or disabled. There is a combination Portsmouth /PHRF solution for the small/similar boat conundrum, (Sabot(s), Optis, El Toros, and other rowing, towing Sailing Dinghies. Divisions of similar Boats/Speed Potential/Rating using the full potential of the Portsmouth Rating System. It may be a little spotty for some classes at the beginning, but the Portsmouth System has a good system for collecting and using actual racing data to get the spotty ratings into line quite quickly. Both ideas will help get boats, from not to widely spread out, Racing Venues together with respectably sized Division Starts and viable Racing. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's our job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you'd like to have dinner with." - Kathleen Mifsud |
