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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 576 - May 24, 2000GUEST EDITORIAL - Art EngelRecently, there has been discussion of how US Sailing should support one-design and handicap racing. Apparently, many people have misconceptions of how USSA actually spends its money. Although I cannot speak for USSA, I think it might be helpful to describe some of the places that USSA provides financial support to our sport, including many areas other than one-design and handicap racing. [All of the financial information I cite comes from copies of USSA's audited financial statements for the past 4 years (1996-1999) and is calculated based on the average annual expenditures for those years. The data is provided for informational purposes only and is completely "unofficial".] USSA has a fairly large annual budget, approximately $4.5 million per year. To help understand how that money is spent, USSA's auditors have established, for informational purposes, 12 "areas" to which they have allocated all of the expenses and revenues of USSA. Since these allocations were done for informational purposes only, they certainly are not exact but they can help us to understand where USSA utilizes its resources. After costs related to getting and servicing members, the single biggest area of expenditures is for Olympic sailing (much of the money spent on Olympic sailing is from sources that specify how such money must be spent and thus is not available for other uses). Most of the other areas on which money is spent are fairly widespread across the sport. For example, Training includes the preparation and sale of training materials for use by private sailing schools as well as the actual training of sailing instructors. Race Management includes instructional and other support for virtually every conceivable type of activity associated with running races, including development and printing of the official rulebook in the US. Offshore provides coordinating and development services for the IMS, Americap II and PHRF handicapping systems. Inshore provides support to one-design fleets (dinghies) including "How to build your fleet" type services. Community Sailing helps to coordinate and encourage programs that make sailing and sailboats available to the general public. As you can see, the support that USSA provides to the sport of sailing is broad and inclusive. To get a feel for what gets spent where, the following is a list of the 12 general areas that the auditors have established for informational purposes and the average annual expenditures allocated to each area: Membership Supporting Services - $1,710,100 per year [35.9% of total expenditures] Olympics - $1,185,200 per year [24.9%] Training - $682,300 per year [14.3%] Offshore - $381,800 per year [8.0%] Publications - $300,900 per year [6.3%] USSA Championships - $190,800 per year [4.0%] Inshore - $138,200 per year [2.9%] Race Management - $83,700 per year [1.8%] Community Sailing - $32,800 per year [0.7%] Olympic Path - $31,000 per year [0.7%] Misc. - $18,700 per year [0.4%] Commercial Sailing - $2,400 per year [0.0%] While the amount spent in each of the 12 areas is helpful, it is probably more relevant to look at the extent to which USSA spends more on a particular area than it takes in. Each area is allocated both revenue which it generates as well as expense which it consumes (membership dues are allocated to Membership Supporting Services and not to any particular area of interest). Eleven of the 12 areas (the exception is Membership Supporting Services) consume more in expenses than they generate in revenue, so it can be argued that USSA "subsidizes" each of these areas by how much that area's expenses exceed its revenues (the "subsidies" come from the general revenues of USSA, principally members' dues). As you can see in the table below (Misc. [5.1%] not included), the "subsidies" are spread broadly across the various areas. Olympics - $98,000 per year [27.0% of total "subsidies"] Publications - $87,000 per year [24.0%] Inshore - $56,100 per year [15.5%] USSA Championships - $50,800 per year [14.0%] Community Sailing - $17,400 per year [4.8%] Race Management - $14,500 per year [4.0%] Offshore - $12,300 per year [3.4%] Olympic Path - $4,900 per year [1.4%] Training - $1,900 per year [0.5%] Commercial Sailing - $1,600 per year [0.4%] As far as the one-design vs. handicap issue is concerned, each sailor can decide for themselves whether the amounts spent are appropriate but it doesn't seem to me that USSA is "over-supporting" either area. More money is spent on handicap (Offshore) than one-design (Inshore) but most of that money is generated by handicap activities and does not come from USSA's general revenues (i.e., members' dues). One-design (Inshore) gets a much bigger "subsidy" than handicap (Offshore) but then there aren't as many "products" that Inshore can sell to generate revenues. Our sport is large and diverse with sailors who race and cruise and range in age from 7 or 8 years old up to 80+. Support for all segments of our sport is important and critical to its continued health and growth. USSA has done a good job of supporting the many diverse elements in our sport and should be commended for its efforts, not criticized because it supports some activities which one or another particular group may not be interested in. - Art Engel KIWI UPDATE (Following are excerpts from the latest reports in the NZ Herald.) * Team New Zealand appears to have lost two more key members of its crew to the rich Swiss syndicate for the next America's Cup. Team New Zealand trust spokesman Ralph Norris says it seems certain trimmers Simon Daubney and Warwick Fleury will join Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth. He says Murray Jones has also been approached by the Swiss. However Norris says Team New Zealand has worked quickly and will have made an offer to every member of the crew by this afternoon. * Ingenious yacht designer Mike Drummond has turned down three big-money offers from poaching America's Cup syndicates to stay with Team New Zealand. Drummond, described as one of the key factors in New Zealand's success, yesterday became the first crewman officially to join new leaders Tom Schnackenberg and Dean Barker in the troubled defence. The feeling is that Drummond's decision could tilt seesawing crew towards remaining loyal. The key designer and navigator has worked with five New Zealand campaigns over 13 years. But his talents were sought by three rival cup teams from "a variety of continents." "Yes, they were for big money," the 37-year-old said. "But I've turned them all down now - it's history." He made a handshake agreement with Schnackenberg and the new trustees late yesterday afternoon. "When I arrived, Tom bounded across the road and said 'congratulations, you're the first!'" Drummond said. Loyalty played a part in his reasons for staying. "I've spent a fair bit of my life trying to get the cup here. I wasn't quite ready to take it away from New Zealand," he said. "And it's a great team - there's huge potential for the future with new blood running through it." In the last America's Cup, Drummond dreamed up the original concept for the millennium rig on NZL60 and played a major role in the design of the appendages and structures. He ran Team New Zealand's on-the-water testing programme and was navigator in two of the five cup races. Schnackenberg last night applauded Drummond for turning down the lucrative foreign offers. "His contribution in 1995 and 2000 was probably three times as big as anyone outside Team New Zealand realised," Schnackenberg said. "He's definitely one of the key factors of our success. So it's a huge strategic move to have him inside our team again, rather than out." It seems certain that American Clay Oliver will also sway towards staying with Team New Zealand, after being a principal designer in the last campaign. Oliver had at least six other approaches, including four from the United States, but delayed his decision until Team New Zealand got back on their feet. "My decisions about America's Cup teams are largely based on the depth of the team's character - do they have the right chemistry?" he said. "In spite of the recent attrition, Team New Zealand has that depth of character." The other key member of the 2000 design team, veteran Laurie Davidson, is still in an Auckland hospital after knee surgery. Schnackenberg said he would wait until Davidson had recovered before he discussed future plans. - Szanne McFadden * New Zealanders are being asked to dig into their pockets so Team New Zealand can reward their crew for staying put. As threats of defections to other America's Cup camps linger, Team New Zealand want to lure their sailors, designers and shore crew with sign-on fees paid for in part by the public. A fund was set up by former commodores of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron yesterday, but already envelopes holding cash and cheques from $10 to $100 have been flooding the defenders' base. Tom Schnackenberg, Team New Zealand's new leader, wants to give money in advance to crew who re-sign. "Teams around the world are offering our guys big sign-on fees," he said. "If we can offer the team money up front, we can use it as an incentive to sign. "If we can help our guys, then we will look like real players. If we were the only syndicate in the world who couldn't offer it, it would be a bit embarrassing." Rumours suggest some Team New Zealand sailors have been offered $40,000 by foreign syndicates just to sign on. Schnackenberg said the Kiwi reward system would be funded by donated dollars and borrowed money until sponsorship deals had been done. "The support from the public buys us time before we rush into any sponsor agreements." - Suzanne McFadden * Defecting skipper Russell Coutts has claimed Team New Zealand will need at least $70 million to be successful this time - around $20 million more than the last defence. - Suzanne McFadden Read the full stories: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ TECHNOLOGY As technology moves forward in sail design and materials so it does in custom embroidery as well. New machines, software and techniques have made it possible to produce a product far superior today than in the past. Call Frank Whitton at Pacific Yacht Embroidery and Imprintables (619-226-8033) to stay up with the rest of the world. Don't settle for less when for the same price you can have the best. NORTH - SOBSTAD Sobstad's motion to block North Sails from continuing to produce 3DL sails was denied on May 19, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of Connecticut. In a written decision, the Court found that putting people out of work, as would be the case if North was blocked from continuing to produce 3DL sails, "weighed heavily in North's favor." The Court also found that the established escrow account set up by North for profits from 3DL sails "severely limited North's earnings during the pendency of the appeal." By upholding the stay of injunction, the Court allows North to continue production of 3DL sails pending the appeal of the trial-court decision that determined North's 3DL sails infringed Sobstad's patents. - Sail magazine website, http://www.sailmag.com/html/briefing.html#havana LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Jim Brady - Love all the interest in the America's Cup, it is good to see this event draw so much international attention years prior to hitting the starting line again. The interesting note is that this event has yet to become truly professional. The likes of individual personal sponsors (Patrizio Bertelli of Prada, Swiss pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, Craig McCaw, the telecommunications magnate and Larry Ellison of Oracle) and the top sailors fleeing to these funded syndicates just goes to prove that the America's Cup is at best only marginally viable for corporate sponsors. If the opportunity were there to raise substantially well funded campaigns, don't you think Coutts would rather remain the NZ hero he has become with "his own syndicate?" I would like to clear up a misleading note from Tim Jeffery's article which I believe is incorrect. He states that Coutts is "the only man to skipper a yacht to Cup victory and hold an Olympic Gold medal." If my memory serves me correctly, Buddy Melges won a Gold in the 1972 Olympics in the Soling class and then went on to skipper America3 to victory in the 1992 America's Cup. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Jim Brady was the first reader on Tuesday morning to pick up on the error in Jeffery's story, but the email from knowledgeable 'Buttheads has been non-stop ever since. -- From John Fradkin - Funding an America's Cup campaign to the tune of $50 or $100 million dollars is actually a very small number in today's economy to the really rich captains of industry. Larry Ellison, the well known Chairman of Oracle Corporation and owner of maxi-yacht Sayonara, is an obvious candidate to possibly fund an America's Cup campaign. He is already involved in yacht racing at an extremely high level, he knows a lot of the players, and most importantly he owns approximately 689 million shares of Oracle. To put that in perspective, when Oracle stock moves an eigth of a point, which it does about every 15 seconds, his net worth changes by $86 million dollars--about the cost of a full fledged competitive America's Cup campaign. -- From Jim Champ - Some twenty years sailing in skiff type dinghies I think gives me some justification to comment on Mr Suter's diatribe. To say that skiff types do not reach is obviously false - one merely needs to crack off the sheets an inch and a half on a 49er to travel faster on a beam reach than any none-skiff type monohull can dream of. What modern skiff types do not do is close reach with the spinnaker up. This is a "laws of physics" issue caused by the apparent wind of course, which they share with fast multihulls and ice yachts, and a problem that can be easily solved by towing a large bucket behind the boat. Such a practice may not necessarily improve the sport. ISSA NATIONAL TEAM RACE CHAMPIONSHIP Twelve teams sailed in the Baker Trophy at Old Dominion University. 90 races were completed over two days. FINAL RESULTS: 1) Newport Harbor, 15 - 2; 2) Coronado, 13 - 4; 3) Jesuit, 12 - 5; 4) Tabor, 8 - 9; 5) Lakewood, 9 - 5; 6) Marin, 8 - 6, 7) Williams, 6 - 8; 8) Barnstable, 5 - 9; 9) Key, 6 - 8; 10) Annapolis, 5 - 9; 11) Anacortes, 2 - 12; 12) Loyola, 0 - 14. MARK REYNOLDS Mark Reynolds, 44, of San Diego, Calif., recently qualified for the Sydney Games in the Star class Olympic Team Trials in San Francisco. This will be Reynolds' fourth trip to the Olympics. Reynolds won a gold medal in the Star class at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He finished in the top five of eight events in 1999. Recently Gary Jobson recently sat down with Reynolds to put it all in perspective. Here are some excerpts from that interview on the NBC Olympics website. JOBSON: Does it get easier or harder as time goes on? REYNOLDS: It gets harder. We have to certainly put a little bit more into it each time. In 1988, we worked hard, of course, but a little harder the next time, and the time after that. Everybody else keeps working hard. JOBSON: Why does it get harder? REYNOLDS: Everybody is pushing the level a little harder. This is the first time there's been people that have coaches here. Some people had two coaches here. Everybody just has to try a little harder the next time. Just like in any sport. JOBSON: Did you use coaches (at the worlds)? REYNOLDS: Kind of. My dad came up here, and when we realized at the last minute that we were going to need some support on the water, I don't know why I didn't figure it out before, but with the tricky currents, you need somebody to check the current for you in between races and that type of thing, and to have extra equipment on board, that type of thing. So my dad was my coach. JOBSON: Do the early (Olympic) trials help you? REYNOLDS: Yes. I think so. This isn't real early. This is probably about right. I wouldn't want it too early, because then you don't have all your home guys pushing you quite as much. I think this timing is about right. We have good time to make a game plan for the Olympics. It is tough to get through the trials, so you tend to focus a little bit, sometimes a little bit too much, on the trials, and when the trials are real close to the Olympics, that can be a problem. That is something I learned from Buddy Melges. But it was just right. Timing was perfect. JOBSON: How analogous is racing in San Francisco Bay to Sydney? REYNOLDS: Probably not too much. In Sydney, we're going to be predominantly on the ocean and big seas. We don't know exactly what we are going to do, but the rumor is one or two days, maybe, in the bay, which would be flatwater. So we're sailing in shallow, choppy water here with a lot of current. Actually, there is pretty good current offshore in Sydney, but that is consistent over the course. I'm not sure. You can't really match. And even when you can match, like in Savannah (site of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic sailing competition), we matched the venue perfectly and we didn't do so well. I'm not too worried about that. JOBSON: There are 15 boats in the Games. Does that change things a little bit, having a little smaller fleet? REYNOLDS: Yes, definitely. And this trials was good training for that. We had 16 in this trials. I think that was good. We had nice shore races, which is a lot different than what we normally do. We don't normally have one-mile beats. At the worlds in three weeks, we will have 2?-mile beats and 120 boats entered. The Olympics is a lot different, as this trials was from our normal racing. The mix of boat speed and handling and tactics and all that is a little bit different. I guess it is something, obviously, that we've adapted to well. We've gone through this four times now. Full interview: http://www.nbcolympics.com/ CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: We plan to profile Reynolds' crew Magnus Liljedahl in tomorrow's 'Butt. NEWPORT BERMUDA RACE 179 Race Applications have been received so far. Here is the breakdown by Racing Division: 125 IMS Cruiser/Racer, 7 IMS Racing, 7 IMS Racing "Grand Prix", 22 AMERICAP Cruising, Non Spinnaker, 5 Classic Yachts, 10 Double Handed, Spinnaker, 3 Double Handed, Non Spinnaker. Entries are still open phone (401) 423 8941. A list of the entries is available from the Race Office by fax and is posted on the Race Website: http://www.bermudarace.com THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why are all the winners of the Ms. Universe contest from "Earth?" |
