SCUTTLEBUTT #318 - May 6, 1999

• Hold the event more frequently - every two or three years.
• Shorten the competition to a three-month period.
• Make the boats (more) one-design to shift the emphasis from technology to
• sailing skill.
• Limit the number of boats a team could have.
• Build national pride by allowing only nationals to compete on the team.
• Sail without instruments like the Olympic classes.
• Establish a syndicate salary cap like other professional sports.
• Establish a commissioner to remove the controls from one of the competitors.
• Create a course that encourages lead changes

THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Until recently, there were two very serious Sydney 40 programs competing for a single berth on the Italian Admiral Cup team. No more - the Sydney 40 with the Ullman Sails won the trials and will be at Cowes this summer. Ullman Sails are fast in any language. Isn't it time for you to find out how affordable improved performance can be for your boat? --

http://www.ullmansails.com/

AMERICA'S CUP
The America's Cup has always been as much a race of technologies as a race of sailboats. The competition to take on defending New Zealand in 2000 has taken technological innovation to places it's never been. "What's really neat about the America's Cup is, for some reason, these high-tech science companies seem to really love the Cup as a project to exercise their technology and their people," said Bob Billingham, chief operating officer for AmericaOne. "It also is a very legitimate sports-marketing venue. If HP [Hewlett-Packard] wanted to tout its technology, it would have a really hard time with the NFL, or even ice hockey.

"The America's Cup is about technology and teamwork, and that's what HP feels we're all about ... so it's really a perfect vehicle for us to show our technological prowess," explained Knute Christensen, market development manager at HP's high-performance systems division. Christensen works with supercomputers, including the one used by the AmericaOne team to create unprecedented computer modeling of design concepts.

"The process is very advanced from '95. In '92 and '95, the third-scale models you built and the tank-testing and the wind-tunnel work really gave you your model of development. "There was a lot of computer modeling there, but it was secondary to the physical modeling. People didn't trust it yet. Now the computer modeling is really leading the charge. We still build the physical models and put them in the tank and the wind tunnel, but we do less of it and with great confidence that the computer has already picked out the designs," Billingham concluded. -- Steve Kettmann, Wired magazine

For the full story: http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/19217.html

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
We read all e-mail (except jokes) but simply can't publish every letter. Those printed here are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks.

From John Fracisco -- I wanted to correct the information on the J/105 class crew weight. According to their class website: "The maximum crew weight (in swimming apparel) for one-design racing is 440 kilograms (970 lbs.) with no limit on numbers of crew."

FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
All eyes are going to be on the mythical West/East Atlantic crossing this year. It will be on the programme of a lot of yachtsmen in the coming months. The record for this crossing which is one of the qualification courses for The Race, has been in the hands of Frenchman Serge Madec since 1990 in 6 days, 13 h, 3 min and 32s at an average speed of 18.62 knots (34.5 kph) on the catamaran Jet Services V. It has not been improved since that date. The company Jet Services, owner of the big multihull at the time, has recently confirmed that they are maintaining the bonus of 200 000 FF for whoever reduces the reference time of almost ten years standing. Ever since, several skippers have attempted the adventure without success, Bruno Peyron, Laurent Bourgnon and Steve Fossett are the current declared pretenders.

THE EXPLORER CAMPAIGN -- Within the scope of the international promotion campaign for The Race, Bruno Peyron will have another go at the record in June. This will not be a first for the catamaran Explorer which had a go in November 95. Within the record time, Explorer/Pays de Loire was forced to abandon a short distance from England, in the grips of a powerful low and mountainous seas. At that time Bruno Peyron took the wise decision to give up the attempt, not wanting to risk breaking his fabulous machine holder of the 1st Jules Verne.

Explorer has spent 6 months in the yard in San Francisco and has been fitted with two inboard engines. Before leaving the mythical bay, she was the star of the Oakland (San Francisco bay) boat show and tacked a few times under the Golden Gate with as temporary skipper the American Cam Lewis. He chartered the catamaran for a promotional operation for his The Race challenge, Team Adventure USA.

BOURGNON, LEWIS AND LOICK PEYRON ON THE RECORD -- The two times winner of the Route du Rhum, the single-handed transat between St Malo (F) and Point-a-Pitre (Guadeloupe), should be the first to set off along the distance. In association with his brother Yvan, co-skipper, Laurent intends driving his 60 ft trimaran ex-Primagaz now renamed Foncia, as soon as a favourable weather window cracks open. The standby will start on May 10th.

PLAYSTATION DELAYED -- The first maxi catamaran launched for The Race, Steve Fossett's PlayStation was scheduled to attack the record sometime in June. A "rush" that everyone has been waiting for, since the Morelli & Melvin catamaran beat the record for the greatest distance covered by a sailing boat in 24 hours, or 580.30 miles. Unfortunately, a fire in the cat's starboard hull, while she was docked in Auckland (Nz) on April 22nd last, has modified the programme. "It's just been put back a bit" Steve Fossett told us. " it is going to take 2 or 3 months to carry out repairs, which means that our project to attack the Atlantic record this summer has been delayed. We are now aiming for a New York / England record run in the fall". An opening for Explorer and Foncia (ex-Primagaz) which could just benefit from this respite, and get their names inscribed, just for a season, in the famous honours list.

Full story: http://www.therace.org/english/actualite/index.htm

AUCKLAND UPDATE
(The following are excerpts from DEFENCE 2000, which is available from John@roake.gen.nz -- US $48 per year.)

* American Express executives from Europe, who recently had a familiarization visit to New Zealand, have spoken out about the likely shortage of first class seats to New Zealand and top level accommodation at America's Cup time. They are predicting that the perceived shortage may well dampen their big spending Platinum Cardholders enthusiasm. There is undoubtedly limited capacity in the lodges they visited in Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington, although they are capable of meeting their cardholders expectations.

* This is how the Auckland motel industry is viewing the America's Cup challenge and defence in New Zealand. A survey of motels overlooking the America's Cup yachting course shows that there is virtually no interest at all for booking over the summer racing period. A number of motels on the North Shore have yet to register accommodation requests. Anzac Court motel manager, Dave Armstrong, said he had received hardly any calls from folk wanting accommodation specifically for the America's Cup. Likewise the City of Sails motel, and the Browns Bay Olive Tree motel. They have come to the conclusion that the focus will be more in Auckland City, where people interested in yachting can get onto a boat and then go back to the clubs and restaurants afterwards. Lack of interest has held back many operators putting together a special America's Cup package for their establishment.

So the message for overseas readers, is that there is an abundance of motel accommodation available handy to the city, and the situation is best summed up by Sea View motel manager, Lee Dombroksi, who says "I don't believe the America's Cup will make any difference to us."

* The America True team returns (to Auckland) in July and will one of the first to be on site in preparation for the challenger series starting on October 18. They have a long list of "must do's" in the intervening period, and Dawn Riley, their CEO, says the most of important "will be working hard on the team's fund raising". But John Cutler, the team's skipper, said that "REST is at the top of his program. Then work on the technical aspects of the new boat, match racing, and organising more crew for the winter." Meanwhile David Barnes stays on site, and will be deeply involved in the building of their new compound in Auckland, complete with sail loft, offices, and boat shed.

THE PROPER INGREDIENTS
What do steady breezes, awesome courses, Corona Beer, Mount Gay Rum and Ullman Sails all have in common? Of course, they are all part of the 1999 Long Beach Race Week. This year's event is June 18-20, beginning with a 4:00 P.M. race on Friday afternoon. 6 races with a throwout are scheduled. One Design and PHRF classes are invited. The Notice of Race is in the mail. For more info or to enter: http://www.lbyc.org

TRANSPAC TUNE-UP
The 19th Annual "Around Catalina" race sponsored by Dana Point Yacht Club & Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club will be held on May 29-30. This year's race will include a "big boat" class with six already confirmed entries. This might provide another opportunity for Transpac tune-up. There will also be a Cruising class that will not round the island. For further information: http://www.dpyc.org/race/cat99.htm

IMAGES
The Walter Cooper Photo Web Site has been updated with images from the 1999 1D48 Grand Prix regatta, held last weekend in Baltimore, MD. If you weren't able to be there in person, stop by the site and check out the action: http://www.waltercooperphoto.com/

And Tim Wright has his photos of Antigua Sailing week posted on the web: http://www.photoaction.com/
http://sailingweek.com

AROUND ALONE
One of the great, sad ironies about the fifth running of the Around Alone race is that, when all is said and done, French skipper Marc Thiercelin may well be better remembered for what he didn't do, not for all he did. Thiercelin, a quiet man whose silence is often minsconstrued in the full-frontal, gregarious social whirl that accompanies Around Alone, is a sailor of immense talent. Against long odds, after a devastating dismasting that would have sent lesser sailors scurrying to the sidelines, Thiercelin has already accomplished something that Isabelle Autissier, Mike Golding and Josh Hall could not. He's on the back stretch of an epic journey. He's never given up. But Thiercelin has seen troubled times on this race. Many an armchair sailor, who wouldn't know the Southern Ocean from South Dakota, villified Thiercelin for his actions during Autissier's remarkable rescue. To them, Thiercelin will never be thought of as the seasoned mariner who sailed the fastest solo 24-hour run ever, who pulled into Cape Town nursing a mainsail that exploded seconds after crossing the finish line, who once led the race but kept on pushing even when all hope for victory was dashed. He'll always be the guy who didn't turn around. Thiercelin deserves better. - Herb McCormick

To read the whole story: http://www.aroundalone.com

Standings (distance to finish in parenthesis): Class I: 1. Soldini (374) 2. Thiercelin (570) CLASS II: 1. Garside (915) 2. Mouligne (1115) 3. Yazykov (1545) 7. Van Liew (2751)

OUTTA HERE
The next few days are supposed to be gorgeous here in SoCal, so the curmudgeon is off to Catalina for a looooong weekend. I'm leaving in about ten minutes - so there will be no 'Butt tomorrow.

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
If you aren't making waves, you probably aren't kicking hard enough!