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SCUTTLEBUTT 2474 – November 13, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. OUTRAGE IN TWIN-HULLED TOWN The elimination of the multihull from the 2012 Olympic Games has shocked many in the sport. Here is posting that is making the rounds: “When the ISAF Council voted against any multihull event for the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in Britain, it decided that in future the only sailing boats to be raced should have one hull. In doing so, it voted against the fastest boat at the Games, the only event open to both men and women, a permanent fixture for three decades, the recommendation of its own Events Committee, the strong endorsement of the host nation, and a sport invented in Britain. “The international catamaran community is shocked at the ISAF decision. ‘The bottom line right now is that Multihull sailing has no seat at the ISAF table. And, ISAF has voted that it is a monohull organization.’ according to Mike Grandfield (US), Chairman of the International Tornado Association, the Olympic Multihull. ‘This has nothing to do with objective assessment of Olympic selection criteria, but everything to do with sailing politics.’ says Nick Dewhirst, Chairman of UKCRA, the UK Catamaran Racing Association. That is backed by David Brookes (AUS), the ISAF Representative for Hobie Cats: ‘It is disappointing as we did have the votes until the US Delegation did a “deal” with the 470 Class at the expense of the multihulls.’ While ISAF Chairman, Goran Petersson’s (SWE) statement says, ‘The ten events chosen for the London Games provide a perfect showcase of the wide range and diversity of sailing,’ Dewhirst believes this is patently not so. -- Read on: http://www.a-cat.org/id132.htm Here is a link to a petition aimed at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in order to allow the multihull to compete in the Olympics: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/multihullinolympics/index.html WHAT ISAF SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CATS Howie Hamlin is among the participants in the A Cat World Championship at Isla Morada, Florida this week. Hamlin was a nominee for the 2006 US Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award, having won the I-14 Worlds, 18ft Skiff Europeans, and runner-up in the 505 Worlds that year. Here are some observations as he takes on the new challenge of mulithull sailing: “Talk about fun, at 165 pounds with a 30-foot tall mast, the A Cat is one of the most amazing boats on this planet. This is the result of a very simple box rule that only measures four things; length, width, weight and sail area. They are so slippery; you fly up wind silently and can tack through 70 degrees. Downwind they are fast, lively, and loose. Above 9 knots downwind you sit on centerline, fly a hull and send it. The A Cat may be easy to sail, but very hard to sail well. It is an apparent wind game. Being so light it accelerates/ decelerates quickly. The good guys are trimmed right and going; make one mistake and they are gone. I have a very high regard for the cat sailors here and foster no false illusions of how challenging this regatta will be. It will make me a better sailor, I know that much. This reminds me of learning how to sail and race 18-footers ten years ago; we thought we’d never learn. It is going to be fun watching all the cat legends perform: Pete Melvin, Glenn Ashby, Randy Smyth, Lars Guck, Scott Anderson, Mike Drummond, Luc du Bois, Mitch Booth, Charlie Ogletree, Jay Glaser, Pease Glaser and more. This is the leading edge of our sport; so why have catamarans just been eliminated from the Olympic Games?” -- Howie Hamlin * (November 12, 2007) In winds of around 12 mph and horribly huge and choppy seas, 98-entries began the first day of the A-Class World Championship, and watched as Glenn Ashby of Australia took a commanding lead to win the first race. American Lars Guck was around 10th place at the first weather mark, but had moved into 2nd place by the finish, while notables Mitch Booth could only muster a ninth place finish, just ahead of Pete Melvin. For the second race, Murray Philpott of New Zealand held the lead for two times around the course. Again, Guck was 10th the first time around. But by the finish, Lars Guck had taken the lead, followed closely by Pete Melvin. Philpott had slipped to 3rd spot. Booth had moved into 4th place. The big thing for the second race was Ashby had slipped to 6th. With those finishes, Guck has taken the lead overall in the event. -- Catamaran Sailor, complete report: http://www.catsailor.com/Stories_Temp/AWorlds07DayOne.html Event website: http://www.acatworlds.com FROST BITES MAN Despite what the thermometers say, we're close to frostbiting season! Face the elements without losing your edge with Harken Frostbiter gloves. Their large cuffs mate with your spray top and thermal layer, while Neoprene protects and insulates your hands. Harken's Black Magic palm material provides superior grip on cold, wet lines. Bite back, take hold, and don't let go - get Harken's new Frostbiters. http://www.harken.com/Scuttlebutt/FrostbiterGlove_07.php MORE THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER Australian yacht designer Don Jones, who penned Grant Wharington’s 98 foot Skandia that was the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner, provides his comments regarding the thread on concerns about yacht construction: “I read with interest Andrew Plympton's comments in Issue 2471. Please find below the contents of a letter I sent to Yachting Australia on February 27, 2007 which I believe will shed further light on this concerning issue. “‘I have mentioned to you during a telephone conversation of our concern that there are a number of recently designed ocean racing yachts sailing in Category 1 and Category 2 races with keel fins that do not appear to comply with the Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Racing Yachts 1994, usually a requirement of YA Special Regulations Part 1 Para 3.03.1(b). We have already referred this to you as a matter impinging on equity in IRC handicapping. This letter touches on the safety implications, should our conclusions be borne out on closer examination.’” -- Read on: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5501#5501 DROP THE COURT CASE & CHALLENGE Marcus Hutchinson is in a good position to compare the organization of one America’s Cup with others, because he has been involved in six. For the first five, he was part of the organization; last time round he was head of media affairs for ACM, this time he has switched roles and is in charge of the British challenger TeamOrigin’s media affairs. BYM News asked Marcus to answer questions designed to clear up the criticism and misgivings that some people still have about the format and organisation of the 33rd America’s Cup. Here are some quotes from Marcus Hutchinson: * On the changes for the 33rd America’s Cup: “Anything that survives as long as the America’s Cup must have gone through changes and there are always people who are nostalgic for the past. There’s a lot of money in nostalgia, but it is what it is, and for something to survive it has to evolve. I’m not trying to defend anything; I’m just trying to put my personal perspective on how it is.” * On the rights of the Challengers: “You could argue that the previous Challenger of Record gave away 95% of challengers’ rights for the 32nd America’s Cup, by allowing ACM to be created; when, for the 31st America’s Cup, there were two separate entities. So I don’t agree with any statement that says the challengers for AC 33 have given away their rights.” * On the right of the Defender: “One of the beauties of the America’s Cup, the thing that makes it different from all other sporting events, is that when you win it, it’s not just about collecting the Cup and having your picture in the paper the next day; it doesn’t end there. You win the Rugby World Cup and you’re famous for a day, you might get knighted at the end of the year, but that’s it. If you win the America’s Cup, you have all of that, but you have something else, something more tangible. You have the right, the obligation actually, as a sailor, or someone enthusiastic about the sport of sailing, to create the next event in the context that you see it.” -- Complete interview: http://www.bymnews.com/august/marcus-hutchinson.php BARCELONA WORLD RACE (November 12, 2007) The Barcelona World Race is off to a gentle start, but is perhaps no less demanding on the skippers than a gale would have been. The weather situation is complex and difficult to decipher with light, fluky winds making the early part of this race a potential minefield. Sailing in light conditions since the start has meant the top three boats are within three miles of each other (on the 16:00 GMT poll). The fleet split around the island of Ibiza, with the leaders sailing to the east of the famed island, while Veolia Environnement, Mutua Madrilena and Delta Dore staying closer to the Spanish mainland. This has put them nearly 20 miles behind the top boat. Ensconced in the top group of three, Estrella Damm co-skipper Jonathan McKee says he doesn’t feel particularly smart in making that decision regarding Ibiza but he’s happy with how it turned out: “It was a hard decision and it wasn't one made with a lot of confidence...I think all of the other boats would tell you the same thing. For some reason, the weather models are having a difficult time dealing with the conditions right now." -- Read on: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com/default.asp?section=10&sid=10485 Positions as of November 12, 2007 - 18:00 (GMT) 1. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill (ESP) & Jonathan McKee (USA) 24,426 DTF 1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) & Damian Foxall (IRE), 0 3. PRB - Vincent Riou (FRA) & Sébastien Josse (FRA), 2 miles DTL 4. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson (GBR) & Andrew Cape (AUS), 11 5. Temenos II - Dominique Wavre (SUI) & Michéle Paret (FRA), 12 6. Delta Dore - Jérémie Beyou (FRA) & Sidney Gavignet (FRA), 16 7. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain (FRA) & Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA), 16 8. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP) & Pachi Rivero (ESP), 24 9. Educación sin Fronteras - Albert Bargués (ESP)/Servanne Escoffier (FRA),80 Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com ULTIMATE SAILORS DESERVE SOMETHING SPECIAL….. A custom print from Sharon Green’s Ultimate Sailing Gallery. These captivating images will delight all sailors. Go to the Ultimate Sailing website and choose your favorite images. That doesn’t float your boat? How about an Ultimate Sailing calendar, t-shirt, cap, book, or note-cards for your Ultimate Sailor? See them all at http://www.ultimatesailing.com KLINGER WINS J/80 NORTH AMERICANS (November 12, 2007) Just six weeks before the J/80 NA Championship, the J/80 Class organization had a terrible problem. Lake Norman, N.C., where the regatta was scheduled was drying up because of the severe drought hitting the southeast USA. With too little water to race on it was panic time! The class’ s first call was to Kristen Robinson to ask if Eastport YC, in Annapolis, MD, could host the regatta. The club accepted and started organizing a first class event in record time. The class embraced the move and teams from as far away as California changed plans. The end result was a true championship regatta, raced by 33 competitors who love the boat. -- Full report and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5516 Final Results 1. USA 1001, Kerry Klingler (NY) [15/TLE,ZFP] 8-4-1-1-1-1, 16 pts. 2. Tiamo, Bruno Pasquinelli (TX) 2-4-5-4-3 -[24]-7, 25 3. Yoko, Glen Darden (TX) 15/TLE,ZFP -1-1-2-10-[22]-2, 31 4. Emotional Rescue, Jahn Tihansky (MD) 8/TLE -3-3-3-13-[19]-3, 33 5. FKA, Les Beckwith (NH) 8/TLE -5-9-6-[27]-7-6, 41 SAILING SHORTS * New Orleans, LA (November 12, 2007) -- Women sailors topped the top three spots of the Gold fleet for the held at Southern Yacht Club over this past weekend. 26 high school teams competed with Providence Country Day of Rhode Island skippered by Natalie Salk with Scarlet Darques winning Gold fleet honors. Laura Walsh-Rogalski and Kim Kaul of Marblehead High finished 2nd overall and Chelsea Clinton with Max Famiglietti from Sarasota High in 3rd. The silver fleet was won by local New Orleans school Brother Martin High School with 12 schools competing. -- Full report: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5517 * The ISAF Race Officials team for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition has been announced. The Race Management Team has the responsibility for running the races out on the water. It is made up of 26 ISAF International Race Officers, chaired by Charley Cook (USA). Twenty-seven ISAF International Race Officials form the International Jury. David Tillett (AUS) in the chairman of the Jury, a role he also occupied during the 2004 Athens Games. Dick Batt (GBR), chair of the ISAF Equipment Committee, heads up the 11-strong Measurement Team. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/21265.php?PHPSESSID=7ce96d44656b0192eb01a0bf03859895 * (November 12, 2007) After nine days, the monohull fleet in the Transat Jacques Vabre, a 4,300-mile doublehanded ocean race from Le Harve, France to Salvador, Brazil, is led by Ecover III, Mike Golding/ Bruno Dubois (Open 60; 2051 mile DTF) and Télécom Italia, Giovanni Soldini/Pietro D'ali (Class 40; 2666 miles DTF). The multihull contingent is on their eighth day, and the leaders are Groupama, Franck Cammas/Steve Ravussin (ORMA 60; 893 miles DTF) and Crèpes Whaou!,Franck Yves Escoffier/Karine Fauconnier (Class 50; 2003 miles DTF). -- Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en * The Snow and Satisfaction Regatta, hosted annually since 1976 by the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club in 420’s, features both current college sailors, those that raced in college in years past, as well as those who have distinguished themselves in sailing in other arenas. In this year’s event, held November 2-4, Justin Law repeated his win of the event in 2006 with new crew Caitlin Hill. Racing, scheduled for Friday through Sunday, was only held on Friday and Sunday due to high winds from Hurricane Noel on Saturday. Jesse Combs/ Caleb Dorfman and Zachary Brown/ Grace Becton rounded out the top three. Complete story and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5504 ISAF STATUS FOR VANGUARD'S SB3 The SB3 was recently recognized as one of ISAF's newest classes. This is just one more feather in the cap for the boat that has taken Europe by storm, and has now landed in North America. This 20' Sportboat is fast, fun, affordable, and turning heads everywhere. Check it out at http://www.teamvanguard.com/2007/Boats/SB3 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 William J. Hoehler: I am unsure if this is a record, but a 9 ½ foot, 4000 pound, 4 bladed bronze ship's propeller was stolen last week from the Tiburon Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay. Thieves also took a 250 pound, two foot high brass bell labeled " USCG 1912 " recovered from the ocean floor by members. The propeller had an interesting history and had been embellished with a shaft to turn it into a local landmark. Very sad! The price of metals today suggests that yacht clubs should take measures to protect such items. If any reader knows about these items, we would love to hear about it. * From By Baldridge: Correction on the Eight Bells in Issue 2473, as Drew Reed was the captain for Dr. Jim Andrews (and not Dr. Jim Edwards). Drew was indeed a rare individual who affected many. * From Gregg Hedrick: Happy Birthday Durwood! I remember sailing the 1979 Star Spring Championship of the Western Hemisphere in Nassau, where Durwood had the entire fleet at his home for a party. We all got a good look at his trophy room…very full. * From Bill Elmer: While this incident pre-dates the current row over TSA inspections, it might be of interest. This fall when departing my dock at Seattle Yacht Club headed for the University Bridge, all set to get an opening with another sailboat, a CG rib with at least a half a dozen “children” aboard, 50 caliber mounted, made a hard U-turn and came racing up behind me, lights a flashin’. What the heck they were doing in this waterway where we already have the Seattle Police boat patrol, and on occasion the King county boat on a Friday afternoon was way beyond me. But hey, maybe they had a “tip” about some white, gray haired, male, by himself on a sailboat that was a possible threat. Or more likely, they were on a “quota” patrol and there weren’t many hard targets. I noted that I was alone and the bridge was awaiting, to no avail, of course. Forced to all stop, drift with wind toward docks etc, but they ignored my concerns. Polite they were as they checked my papers. They also had some sort of secret laminated checklist they used to randomly look into some but not all safety, security and legal items. The top dog spent most of his time messing with some sort of super secret uplink wireless device that seemed to have some problems, while the “inspector” who was totally lost on a sailboat (actually that’s polite, any boat might have baffled him), did some checks. -- Read on, and if you have had any bizarre encounters with the Coast Guard, add them here: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5502 * From Damian Christie, Melbourne, Australia: The new competition regulations announced by ACM/Alinghi for the 33rd America’s Cup are farcical (included in Issue 2472). The defender should not be permitted to trial with the challengers – period. Either the Swiss agree to meet the ultimate challenger in the Cup match or they agree with the challengers by ‘mutual consent’ to overhaul the Cup competition and sail off with all competitors in a round robin series to decide the best two yachts for the Cup match – and in the bargain forfeit the automatic right to defend the Cup if they fail to qualify. Alinghi should not be allowed to hedge its bets several ways and gather critical intel for its defence by lining up against the challengers during the trials. Alinghi’s insistence on outlawing two-boat testing is also ridiculous and unworkable. Are we to believe that the Swiss will have someone on hand in New Zealand or the United States on a 24/7 basis to ensure Team New Zealand or Oracle don’t trial their two yachts against each other? And what’s to stop Alinghi from invoking the Deed of Gift (which has a clause that permits the defender not to name its representative yacht until the eve of the Cup match) to manufacture two-boat testing of its own? Roll on Justice Cahn. He will hopefully rule against the validity of CNEV’s challenge and the Swiss will be forced to renegotiate a protocol with Oracle that is more ‘traditional’ than the radical and absurd programme which the defenders have brazenly now put up. * From Karl Kirkman: Any idea how the organizers would prevent a "friend" of one of the well-heeled competitors from building scaled-down boats and then two-boat test them? This (scaled testing) was done on more than one occasion in the past for various reasons. It is not easy to see how one might sanction a competitor for the actions of another party in non-class boats. * From Hank Evans, Des Moines, IA: For the Olympic event selection, we now have no multihull, almost no keelboats, and 6 of 10 classes are dinghies. Are we a little over dinghied here? * From Chris Stahl: I am baffled by the events selected for the 2012 Olympics. The ISAF President claims they are a “showcase of the wide range and diversity of sailing” after explaining that they “will have a significant impact on the sport.” I share the excitement to have the match racing facet of sailing in the Olympics with the women’s event, but he shifts from the forward looking to the gains already realized when stating that “with the introduction of [ISAF women’s match racing events] we have seen a massive growth in women’s match racing.” Regardless, the gains in showcasing diversity made by the women’s match racing are quickly offset by eliminating the multihull. Why remove this large facet of sailing from the Olympics? This may not have a significant impact on the hundreds of thousands of Hobies/Nacras/etc. or the dedicated A-class & C-class types, but eliminating the multihull seems to go directly against the ISAF President’s statements. Meanwhile, there continue to be two men’s singlehanded events… why? Both received all or nearly all of the voters’ nods, but how do they really showcase diversity? Besides weight class, all I can think of are different downwind sailing techniques perhaps? Come on, seriously? In closing, I second ideas floating around about making the 470 an open class, and I think the women should have a skiff class! Maybe it was too progressive for this time around… but there’s the team racing I believe will be included in the future as well. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I don't have a solution but I admire the problem. Special thanks to Harken Yacht Equipment, Ultimate Sailing, and Vanguard Sailboats. |
