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SCUTTLEBUTT 1452 - November 6, 2003Powered 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 and personal attacks for elsewhere. CARIBBEAN HAPPENINGS Virgin Gorda, BVI - J.J. and Peter Isler won the Scuttlebutt Offshore Championships at the Bitter End YC's annual Defiance Day Race. Sailing the Express 37 Cosmic Warlord in fresh breeze and bright sun, the Islers won both legs of two-stage event from the BVI's North Sound down to The Baths and return. Nigel Musto won the Freedom 30 division, while Dawn Riley and Rod Johnstone teamed up for win the Benneteau 403 division. The BEYC's Pro-Am Regatta began the following day in pleasant trade winds with each of the Junior and Masters skippers that are teamed together got off two races in their separate divisions. The event uses a Triple Racing format, which is a three-boat match race with only the winner scoring a point - the second and third place boats get zip. Team standings: - Ed Baird/Tom Leweck, 3 - Russell Coutts/Keith Musto, 1 - Peter Holmberg/Rod Johnstone, 1 - Dawn Riley/Lowell North, 1 - Andy Burdick/Butch Ulmer, 0 The finals of the Musto Scuttlebutt Sailing Club Championship Regatta take place on Thursday in the BEYC's new fleet of Hunter 216s, while the Pro-Am regatta concludes on Friday. - http://www.beyc.com TOSCANO CHALLENGE Currently there is a lot of wrong news regarding the Toscana Challenge. I am in charge of recruiting sailors and what was written in Scuttlebutt 1451 is partially wrong and could create some diplomatic problems. Karol Jablonsky is one of the people contacted to be part of the afterguard. Jablonsky, number one in the match race ranking, could potentially be one of the helmsmen. For sure at the moment we don't have a skipper because we are working really hard to optimize our project. The chief Gualtiero Pantani (the president) and Stefano Ghelli (commercial administrator) have been working many months and Saturday, November 8th, we will have our first meeting with all the team (Terry Hutchinson and Mike Toppa are coming from the States and Jablonsky is coming from Poland). After that we will have the first official press conference on November 22nd. I hope you understand that for us it is embarrassing to read that we already have a skipper. Of course all will be clear after the press conference and I will send to you a complete report. - Roberto Ferrarese, Toscana Challenge Curmudgeon's Comment: The report in question (in Scuttlebutt 1451) came from Yacht magazine. Says Yacht editor Jochen Rieker, "We did an interview with Karol Tuesday in which he - for the first time - officially confirmed his plans.": http://www.yacht.de/yo/yo_news/powerslave,id,2338,nodeid,33.html SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CLUB If you didn't make it to the British Virgin Islands to hang out with your fellow Scuttlebutt Sailing Club members during the Club Championships, don't worry as all you have to do is wear your SSC schwag around the marina and all sorts of fellow SSC members will hail at you to commiserate over a cold beverage. Check out the SSC merchandise and membership cards at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE Le Havre, France- On Wednesday at 10 o'clock French time exactly, the canon was fired at last for the 14 Open 60 Multihulls which have been tied to the pontoons in the Paul Vatine basin for an extra 3 days. The sea was beautifully flat, the sun already up and the wind breezing from the South East at 20-22 knots with gusts of 25 knots. All the trimarans had one reef in the mainsail, which they should soon take out when they round Cherbourg and then head out of the English Channel. It was a magnificent sight as all 14 multihulls opened their wings and took off at a rate of 18 knots towards the turning mark. With the wind behind them, these Formula 1 carbon racing machines flew across the line, it was Foncia first, skippered by Anglo-French duo Alain Gautier and Ellen MacArthur, followed by Groupama (Cammas/Proffit) and then Bayer (Le Peutrec/Cressant). - Event website for full story and current standings: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/pages_uk/accueil_uk2003.htm PHOTOS - If you were wondering about these multihull machines, the Scuttlebutt website has a photo gallery courtesy of photographer Carlo Borlenghi: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/03/1105jacquesvabre WEATHER HAPPENS…OFF-SHORE & OFF-SEASON Weather you're headed south or braving the winter in the north, improve your inshore and offshore sailing skills in the off-season with the help of WxAdvantage.com - a comprehensive weather information resource created by Bill Biewenga. Bill, a veteran ocean racer and weather router is available to coach you, your crew, or club; provide custom weather routing for offshore passages or to personally oversee the professional delivery of your yacht. Bill brings 320,000 ocean miles and 17 years of weather routing experience to every project. For more information, email billbiewenga@compuserve.com today or visit http://www.wxadvantage.com CHANGING THE AC RULE (Seahorse magazine interviewed Jim Pugh of Reichel Pugh Yacht Design about the current America's Cup Rule. Here are a couple of excerpts.) Seahorse: In terms of monohull design is the Cup class in danger of being left behind? Jim Pugh: Yes, for sure. There's been a lot of development in offshore boats and the America's Cup-class boats are pretty much dinosaurs. The class dates back to the 1992 Cup - with technology moving so fast you can't expect it to last as long as the 12-metres managed. SH: What's achievable within the existing rule? JP: Well, you could reduce displacement, which would need the formulae to be reconfigured so that you'd have the same sail area. At the moment sail area is adequate. If you reduce displacement by cutting down on bulb sizes you'd have to come up with another way of achieving similar righting moment, such as canting ballast. SH: How much lighter displacement? JP: It could be as much as 10 tons. All the bulbs weigh over 20 tons, which is why the current boats are upwind machines. They are good in the middle and upper range because they have enormous stability, but they suffer downwind because of that weight and because of wave drag. They are pretty hopeless downwind, frankly. SH: But wouldn't such change favour the rich teams because it would perpetuate the design process as a resource contest? JP: No. By and large it would open the game up. Original thinking would have a higher value than presently, where the game is more about expensive refinement. Reprinted with permission from Seahorse magazine. The story is not available on-line, so run off to West Marine and buy the November issue. NEWS BRIEFS * Officials from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia advise that entries for the 2003 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race close tomorrow (Friday, November 7). To compliment the race which starts on Boxing Day, December 26, the CYCA, with sponsorship from Rolex, will hold a lead-up regatta to be called the Rolex Trophy Series, to be sailed off Sydney Heads and on Harbour over three days in mid December in divisions for IMS, IRC and One Design yachts. For enquires and further information, call the CYCA on (02) 9363 9731. - Boating Online, http://www.boating-online.com.au/welcome.cfm * An America's Cup searchable database on the Herreshoff Marine Museum/America's Cup Hall of Fame website gives access to 5600 participants in the America's Cup from 1851 to the present, including names of crew, boat name, syndicate, year, countries etc. The direct link to the query page is: http://www.herreshoff.org/db/yacht_search.asp * This coming Sunday the New England Sports Network weekly show, "Let's Go Boating," will feature an interview with Ben and Nan Hall of Hall Spars & Rigging and a tour of their high-performance carbon spars and rigging factory. The show will air Sunday, November 9th, at 10:00pm. Check your cable or satellite schedule for NESN to confirm. * Newport Beach CA- 2003 Jean Schenck Memorial Team Race last weekend at Newport Harbor YC saw wisdom prevail over youth in this well attended team race event held in CFJs. Ten teams competed in 85 races for the title in 5-10 knots in Newport Harbor. Resutls: 1. NHYC: Jon Pinckney, Jaime Malm, Adam Deermount 2. SDYC: Bill Hardesty, Tyler Pruett, Will Stout 3. TISC: Nick Adamson, Scott Sellers, Adam Lowry Report by Ned Jones, complete results: http://www.nhyc.org BEHIND THE SCENES: Time and time again, the Raider RIB from Aquapro proves itself. From holding its own at the Mega Yacht Show in San Diego earlier this fall, to J-Fest, to being support boats for luxurious performance cruisers, Raiders are on the water and proving themselves. Arriving in the immediate future is the new 12 meter version RIB. A fast, sleek and strong boat, powered by twin 300 HP engines, this boat can meet a variety of needs on and off the race course. Call Jeff Brown at (619) 709-0697 or check it out today at http://www.raiderboat.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) 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 Richard Hazelton, Editor, 48 ° North Sailing Magazine: I couldn't agree more with the fellow that said "there's a lot to be said for just showing up." Every year we do a Top 20 Keel boats on Puget Sound, based on the results of five series of races. Now, with the likes of Bill and Carl Buchan, the McKees, and other world class sailors in our Seattle area, you'd think they'd dominate this list, which they usually do if they race enough races to qualify. They race a few but are usually involved in other national or world projects, so, they don't make the list. Our list, like those world rankings, reflects and rewards those actively participating in this particular group of races. Without all these "no name" guys showing up every weekend there wouldn't be any races. * From Chip Taternick: In the 90's mountain bike racing exploded on the scene due to the labor of unknown 23 to 40 year old Sport and Expert racers who trained while working full time jobs and raising families. Pro ranks swelled, salaries and perks grew as big dollar advertising and TV coverage arrived. An endless list of A-level sponsors wanted to be associated with the sport that was growing in both participation and TV viewer-ship. These were the boom years. In time pros lobbied that the venues were too crowded and the courses were becoming less groomed for them. US Cycling told the weekend racers that they could no longer be scored nationally or compete on the same day with the pros and almost instantly things went dark. Rider participation crashed and fans left the sport. The governing body and press never realized the fans were the same people that were racing every weekend. Bye Bye TV contract and big name sponsors. Bye Bye racing every weekend at a top-notch venue. Bye Bye big buck race team and contract. Hello no sponsorship and living in the back of a van wrenching your own equipment. Mountain biking and sailing are participation sports and governing bodies and the media such as Rich Roberts should never forget that. Traveling, competing and being scored at regattas such as national, regional and district championships grows the sport and in turn will benefit sailing. * From Dave Wilhite: (Subject: Rich Robert's comment) Rich Roberts does make a good point. Every American would think it absurd for the Florida Marlins to miss the regular season yet compete for and win the world series, taking with them rings, trophies and the coveted place in history as the number one team in baseball. However Mr Roberts neglects one of the fun aspects of sailboat racing. With a little perseverance, skill and money just about anyone can show up on the starting line of the Etchells worlds. Although the fleet is filled with good sailors Roberts has never heard of, there they were, the very fabric of our sport sailing among the greats, without who's participation the quality of the event might have been minimized. Isn't the whole point of this sport to go sailing whenever you can, wherever you can, be your best and simply smile. Besides, I doubt Ken Read suffers from extreme insomnia trying to figure out how to be rated number one Etchells sailor of the world. In his own way he already is. * From Ken Read, 2003 Etchells World Champion: (Regarding the Etchells ranking system) Thanks for creating such a lively debate on something that quite honestly I know nothing about. Etchells sailing for me is fun because it is a great class and we have a terrific local fleet here in Newport, RI. Karl Anderson and I bought a boat while I was in New Zealand last year, rigged it ourselves in the Spring and sailed it in the events we wanted to sail in. This included the local Tuesday night beer can racing here in Newport with my six year old daughter Tory. And, we made a goal early on that we wanted to qualify for and win the Etchells Worlds. Mission accomplished on all counts. Especially with regard to having fun on the water again, something I was told repeatedly that I needed to do. My personal opinion is that anyone who is sailing Etchells for their "ranking" is doing it for all the wrong reasons - but that is their prerogative. To me it is the little things that matter. Like Tory having fun and her Dad being competitive enough to accomplish his goals and bring home a few trophies. One design sailing is all about sailing with friends, christening a new boat, tweaking the layout, playing with different rig tunes, sharpening skills and winning some races. As far as I am concerned I can be ranked 1,829,044 in the world - or whatever it is. It isn't important as long as I am accomplishing the goals I create for myself. Curmudgeon's Comment: Thanks Ken! On that note, I officially close the Etchells ranking system thread. * From Scott Fox: Regarding the 470 Olympic Trials, how can the US expect to be competitive at the Olympic Games when there are a total of 12 boats at the trials further broken down to seven men and six women teams? Assuming the Olympics have highly competitive 40 to 45 +/-boat fleets, how can a victory in a six or seven boat fleet truly choose our best representatives (not to take anything away from the extremely hard working group of 12 teams)? I am sure small fleets will also exist in the Europe and Tornado classes as well. The US Olympic Committee (US Sailing) should either, A) put in the resources ($$$) to build competitive US Olympic fleets by purchasing 15-20 470s (Tornados and Europes as well) and make them available to competitors at US Sailing events nationwide, or B) abandon the whole "winner take all" trials format and use a ranking system based on five or six world wide regattas during the year of the games. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Atheism is a non-prophet organization. |
