SCUTTLEBUTT No. 672 - October 20, 2000

JUST FOR YOU

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A GATHERING OF THE EAGLES
(Some of sailing's brightest luminaries gathered at the St. Francis Yacht Club for an open forum on the state of the sport with topics including the America's Cup, professionalism and how to keep young up-and-coming sailors involved. The night was dubbed the Gathering of the Great Eagles, and it couldn't have been more appropriate. Sitting stage left were Malin Burnham, Hans Fogh and Roy Dickson. Sitting stage right were Bill Buchan, Chris Bouzaid and Bruce Kirby. Center stage featured: Lowell North, Bob Johnstone and Pelle Petterson. Sean McNeill covered the event for Quokka Sports and here's a brief excerpt from his story.)

"Professionalism has changed the sport and it's here to stay," said Lowell North, founder of North Sails who has recently returned from a world circumnavigation cruise. "The US Sailing categories need to be sorted out," said Bouzaid, a two-time winner of the One Ton Cup. "Category 3 sailors should be truly professional. There's only about 25 to 50 of them in the world. As it is now a rigger is a Cat 3 sailor, and that's not right." Echoed Bob Johnstone, co-founder of J/Boats: "The US Sailing breakdown of categories is inadequate."

No forum would be complete without discussing the America's Cup, and Burnham, the helmsman of Enterprise in the 1977 defense trials and organizer of the 1988 and 1992 series off San Diego, urged a rewrite of the Deed of Gift. "There are times when a format needs changing, and the America's Cup is beyond that time," said Burnham. "The format of challengers versus a single defender is passe. The playing field should be equal. There should also be a professional organization that runs the event and moves around the venue."

Burnham felt the advent of the billionaires for the next series was good. He likened today's wealthy individuals - Craig McCaw, Ernesto Bertarelli,

Larry Ellison and Patrizio Bertelli - to the Vanderbilts and Liptons of the glory days in the 1930s. He highlighted the romantic aspect they bring to the event.

Dickson, the father of Chris Dickson and sailing coach of New Zealand's first Cup syndicate in 1987, pounded a more serious drum. "We run the risk of having an America's Cup where the average yachtsman sees no benefit."

Through the years the trickle-down effect from the AC has served the sport well. Australia II's winged keel has been applied to cruising boats, making for shallower draft boats that can anchor closer to pristine beaches. Vertical cut sails led to molded sails, both of which have greatly benefited racers. But Dickson is worried those will vanish with the current elitism of the AC.

Dickson proffered that the bottom must be fed more to push the top harder. He, like many of the panelists, believe that the sport needs to do more to keep its young up and comers in the game longer. - Sean McNeill, for Quokka Sports

Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/10/SLQ_1019_openforum_WFC.html

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.

-- From Jim Morford - Among all the things that have been said about the Lloyd Phoenix Regatta, it strikes me that one of the most important concepts of our sport is corinthinaism. If some of the competitors felt that the Notice of Race was being violated, why did they wait until the last day of the event to protest - they could have raised the question at the skippers meeting or filed a protest on the first day. Also, our sport has no room for some of the "cheap shots" that are being taken by some of the competitors.

CURMUDGEON COMMENT: This will be the last letter published on this thread. There are just way too many half-truths and too much misinformation circulating about this incident to expect that anything meaningful could result from continuing this discussion.

-- From Tom Donlan - The gentleman who wants rules permitting sponsorship and advertising so he can advertise his own business and write off his racing expenses should consult a tax adviser. He should also bear in mind that the IRS has a bounty program in which they reward people who turn in tax dodgers.

I'm an amateur at tax law as well as sailing, but I don't think he would be legally entitled to write off any more of his racing expenses than an amount equal to his advertising income. It would invite a charge of fraud to claim that the market value of a "Eat Out at Mom's Diner" banner on a sail approaches the cost of that sail.

If I'm wrong on the legalistics, I'll revert to an opinion: It stinks.

-- From Andrew VanDerslice - The argument that allowing advertising a sponsorship is a pro vs. amateur argument is all but groundless. The people making these need to spend some time at their local parks, where they will view such professional venues such as Al's printing service vs. Mike's pizza softball game. Let's not forget last years superbowl, no not that one, but the one between Westport consultants group vs. Phoenix Home Life, in one of the best touch football games every played.

I personally would love if I can get some local support, I'm not talking thousands $$ but a couple hundred $$ if that. We may increase local awareness to our mostly invisible sport. The players with big money will sail what every boat they want. But there is a large group of sailing that would be boat owner (Stars, Etchells, Atlantic's, etc, etc) if they could get a little extra money and promotion for their boat and sailing. Hanging a flyer in Mike's pizza shop may translate into new crew as well, let not dream to high should we.

-- From Ian Venner - I know it is an important issue, now and going forward, but has not the advertising thread already been killed off once before?

CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Probably, but don't you agree that the pending action by the ISAF justifies a reopening?

-- From Jane Pegel - From the list of entrants in the International Masters regatta at St. Francis it appears that this is a reunion of International Star Class Champions. Indeed the Star Class, with nothing but main and jib and superb tactical racing with boats tuned to the optimum, does indeed produce excellent sailors. This is a testimonial to one design sailing at its best.

-- From Jody Robb - Jeff Melville is obviously a proud New Zealander and, at an Olympic regatta where a lot of Kiwi feathers were left in the water, understandably claims gold-medal-winning 470 sailor Jenny Armstrong as Kiwi born. I'm sure all Aussie sailing fans are more than happy to share their pride over the achievements of Jenny and Belinda. However, we must take exception to his claim that neither are Australians. Both live here and comfortably met the citizenship requirements of the IOC. Further, while Belinda was indeed born in Zimbabwe, her West Australian born mother registered her birth here and, as such, Belinda is an Aussie citizen.

Jeff, we're more than happy to share Jenny with you - but please don't try to steal our beloved Belinda from us. The members at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Perth, who raised $40,000 amongst themselves to fund her campaign and still haven't stopped applauding her victory, wouldn't let her go easily. And while Belinda is happily settled in Sydney with her bronze-medal-winning-laser-sailing partner Michael Blackburn, nobody there would dare claim her as New South Welsh - she's a West Aussie "Sandgroper" through and through!

ACURA SORC
MIAMI BEACH, FL, October 12, 2000-The Acura Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) regatta, Florida's winter ocean racing classic, will celebrate its 60th anniversary in March with a series of major changes and improvements. For the first time all races will be sailed on ocean courses off Miami Beach and all shoreside activities will be headquartered at the Miami Beach Marina. Acura is returning to Miami as the title sponsor for the third year. The series will be raced off Miami Beach, February 28 to March 4, 2001.

"With the continued growth of the event in recent years, there has been growing interest in concentrating competition on the ocean, off Miami Beach," said Dennis "Buck" Gillette, of Fort Lauderdale, chairman of the SORC. "By combining our venues and focussing all our efforts at Miami Beach Marina, we'll have a better handle on racing logistics and all our competitors can enjoy nightly prizegivings and hospitality under one roof."

In another break with tradition, the SORC has abandoned its entertainment tent of past years. Monty's Restaurant, long a popular watering hole for thirsty sailors, will host the nightly prizegivings and entertainment at its extensive facility at Miami Beach Marina.

Another new feature of the 60th Anniversary Regatta will be the sailing industry village organized by the event's media partner, Sailing World magazine, the country's leading performance sailing magazine. Gear and equipment manufacturers will show their wares in a series of individual booths fringing the regatta site.

Organizers anticipate the growing emphasis on one-design classes to continue, with entries expected from Corel 45, Farr 40, 1D35, J/105, Hobie 33, Henderson 30, Mumm 30, and Melges 24 classes. The event will provide a one-design class start to five or more boats of the same class. There will also be racing for handicap classes including IMS, PHRF, MORC and Multihulls.

With berthing space at a premium during the winter, Miami Beach Marina will add temporary docks to handle the influx of boats expected for the Acura SORC. "We are confident that we can provide dockage for all the visiting boats, from this country, and around the world, that are attracted annually to the SORC," Gillette said.

Last year the Acura SORC moved to qualify entrants, adopting an invitational format and limiting entries to 200 boats. An outstanding field of racers competed, with more than 80 percent of the boats coming from outside of Florida. Amongst the fleet of 173 boats, there were entries from 11 different countries. - Keith Taylor

Regatta website: http://www.acurasorc.com

NOT ENOUGH WIND TO RACE?
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SINK, SANK, SUNK
Dont believe everything you read, goes the old maxim, and it was doubly true this year for visiting sailors who congregated at the Rush Creek Yacht Club for the J/22 NAs. According to the verbage posted on the events website: "October is one of the nicest months in North Texas. Although waves can build up if we have high windsour lake is not an especially choppy sailing venue. For sailing gear... we can just about guarantee that you can leave your wool socks and hats at home!"

Well, tell that to Farley Fontenot, who suffered the misfortune of having his boat sink before the first race of the regatta. According to witnesses, a miscommunication on board put part of Fontenots crew to leeward just before a vicious puff slammed the boat on its ear. With the boats mast tip close to the water, Lake Ray Hubbards "not especially choppy" waves washed over the sails, pushing them under. Eventually, the combination of wind and waves turtled the boat, its interior filled with water, and it sank.

Though this kind of incident is rare, boats do occasionally sink in our sport. And it can happen to the best sailors. Fontenot is no stranger to the racecourse. Speculation regarding what happened on Lake Ray Hubbard maintains that the inspection port on the boat's forward flotation tank failed, and though the aft tank appears to have been sound (see photograph), the boat did sink. Exercising good judgement, the yacht clubs race committee had plenty of support boats on hand to rescue the sailors. The organizers wisely postponed the racing activity and sent the sailors ashore. Then they marked the boat so that it could be recovered later.

"The whole thing was kind of scary," said Lars Hansen of the incident afterward. "We dont normally put our hatch boards in [during heavy weather], but were going to think about that in the future." - SailNet website, http://www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=ddcksn0350&tfr=fp

THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
When people lose weight, where does it go?