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SCUTTLEBUTT 3134 - Thursday, July 15, 2010Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ullman Sails and Harken. MODERN SAILING CLUBS CAN SAVE SAILING Saving Sailing Author Nicholas Hayes continues to refine and improve the core ideas of his award-winning book in Part 4 of this 6-part series first published and still running in SpinSheet Magazine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Finding time". It's the first answer given by people who would like to learn to sail but don't, and it's also the first answer given by people who used to sail but don't anymore. This week, I'm looking at fresh data; 150 responses from an annual survey of prospects, members and past members of a not-for-profit sailing club. To the question: "Which factors affected your decision not to sign up (in our sailing club)?", most say: "I could not find enough time to take advantage of it." To the question: "What made you stop sailing?", most say: "I am too busy to find time to sail." Sadly, most people who leave sailing also add, "I don't sail anymore but I am still interested." Perhaps surprisingly, the mean age of people who leave sailing clubs is 34, while the mean age of people still in sailing clubs is over about 55 (this includes kids). It's also generally true that if you leave at 34, you don't come back. If you read the online discussion forums about Saving Sailing, you'll find lots of chatter about how it's all about getting kids into lessons. In fact, it's not about that at all. Youth-only sailing lessons are fine for teaching skills and can pack a kid's summer time with fun in the sun. But really Saving Sailing isn't only about the kids, it's about their parents. Parents are the people not sailing, precisely because parents are the people with the least time. At best, parents drop off their kids for lessons (like they might drop off kids at soccer). At worst, nobody in a family goes sailing at all. Now imagine that you're running a sailing program, perhaps for a club or a community center. What does this mean to you? I am suggesting bold changes. It's not just about acting "family-friendly". It's about reintroducing sailing to the American family in a new and modern way. To do this, clubs and organizations will have to create and share a new vision: that sailing is one among a very few ideal vehicles for active parenting, as important and effective in stimulating quality of life as reading to a toddler, or introducing bilingualism early on. To do this, clubs and organizations will reject the notion that sports or outdoor summer activities should separate the generations. They will show instead that sailing is a close-quarters, fun-packed challenging endeavor that everyone in a family can do and enjoy together, and that it can create a vast body of fond memories and lessons for living. Research shows that when parents (and other guardians and mentors) are made aware of these truths through clubs and other social networks, they usually find their own ways to recover lost time. When you ask a parent, "Would you prefer to drop your child off for lessons, or take lessons together?", more than 50% choose the latter. (Incidentally, when you ask a single parent the same question, more than 70% choose together-time.) -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/22rkvmq DODGING THE ISAF SHERIFF'S BULLET By David Fuller, YachtSponsorship.com A lot of people in Europe and around the world like to poke fun at Americans for having a domestic baseball competition called the 'World Series'. But at least MLB (Major League Baseball) boasts 30 teams playing over 20 games of baseball a month attracting talent from around the globe, some World Championships in sailing is not quite as impressive. For Olympic classes it's simple. A gold medal at the Olympic Games allows you to make a claim to be the best in the world, but for some non-olympic classes, the title of World Champion is a bit more fuzzy. While the ISAF World Match Racing Tour has graded events, a published table of rankings and a year long competition over ten events to determine the World Champion, the World Champion for the Extreme 40 Class will be determined from 6 competing teams over a week in Slovenia. The event should be a celebration of one of the most exciting classes in the sport, but the 2010 Extreme 40 World Championship demonstrates that the new sheriff at ISAF is still letting promoters off with warnings and making exceptions rather than being strong for the good of the sport. No matter how worthy this event is, it's not a World Championship and shouldn't be given that status. Mitch Booth, co-creator of the Extreme 40 says, "It was only six weeks ago that The Ocean Racing Club decided to have this World Championship, to actually commit and do the event which is a bold move at such short notice." Bold is one word for it. Organizing an internal company conference is hard enough at 6 weeks notice. Asking professional sportspeople and the media to respond within a 6 week time-frame just makes the sport look amateur. World Championships should take months, if not years to plan and promote properly. Booth continues, "ISAF have granted this Special Events rights, so we are not actually under the normal rules and restrictions of an international class to have a minimum amount of boats, or a minimum amounts of countries. So we basically work as a special event like Volvo Ocean Race do, or like the America's Cup does, or like in fact the Extreme Sailing Series does. It's the same thing." It's not the same thing. Neither the America's Cup or the Volvo Ocean Race position themselves as World Championships. As much as I love the Extreme 40 Class - ISAF as the governing body has to put its foot down somewhere and just say - no you don't meet the criteria, otherwise the title of World Champion is denigrated for those who compete in classes and events that do conform to the rules. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2469f3r ISAF REGULATION 18: "ISAF approval is required for any event that is described as a World Championship, uses the word "World" in the title of the event, or any of the promoters, organizers or any other organization officially connected with the event, represents or holds out in any way that the event is a World Championship or does the foregoing in such a way that the event is reasonably perceived to be a World Championship." -- Read on: http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/2010Regulations-[8860].pdf FLYING SCOT NA TITLES FOR KLEINSCHRODT & HOPKINS Ullman customers showed their speed at the 2010 Flying Scot North American Championships in Mississippi, claiming titles in the women's and junior events, and taking second in the open event! Congratulations to Amy Kleinschrodt, Sara Hall and Ashley Hall who won the women's NAs with three bullets. In the junior event, Sam Hopkins Jr. sailed his team of Sam and Alexander Hopkins to first place in a 16-boat fleet. And in the open event, Chris Wientjes and David Bolyard finished second overall in the Championship division. All three teams were fully powered by Ullman Sails. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com LASER RADIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Largs, Scotland (July 14, 2010) - It is never an especially satisfying way to win world titles, as Tuesday's still air was replaced by 40-knot gusts today, but with no racing on the final two days of the Laser Radial World Championships at Largs Finland's Sari Multala and Poland's Marcin Rudawski prevailed and were piped up on to the podium this evening as the 2010 world champions. Both sailors successfully defended the championship titles they won last year at a breezy regatta in Japan. This time it has been all the more challenging not just for the variety of wind strength but for the difficult shifts in direction which made consistency all the harder to achieve. And perhaps a true reflection of the Clyde's comprehensive test is that five of the top six women are current or past Laser Radial World Champions. US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics' (USSTAG) Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) and US Sailing Development Team's (USSDT) Mitchell Kiss (Holland, Mich.) both won bronze medals in the women's and men's divisions, respectively. The 149 sailors competing at this event quickly learned that every point counted, considering they only accomplished six races in both the men's and women's events, allowing only one drop score. "Every race - every point - was really important," said Railey, who also won a gold medal at Kiel Week last month. She described one of the races in which she faced an unlucky shift and rounded the windward mark in 40th, but ultimately climbed her way up to 17th. "All I could think about was that I had to keep fighting, which I did. I got up to 17, which was a huge achievement for me. Every point mattered." Railey shared the podium with Kiss, the youngest member of the US Sailing Development Team at age 15, whose bronze medal in the Men's event was his first medal at a major international event. "I have made great gains with my speed in breeze, and now I have to work on my fitness, strength and conditioning," said Kiss, who has a few days to prepare for his peak event: the Laser Radial Youth World Championship for sailors under the age of 19. Racing starts Tuesday in the same venue in Largs, Scotland. Full results: hhttp://tinyurl.com/Radial-Worlds-2010-results Event reports: http://www.470worlds2010.com/news.asp USSTAG report: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-07-14-10 DELTA LLOYD 470 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The Hague, The Netherlands (July 14, 2010) - For the first day so far at the 2010 Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships, the wind conditions at sea in front of The Hague allowed racing to get away on time for the three groups in the Men's division and the two in the Women's. Welcome respite from Tuesday's light winds and powerful tides, today the wind was typically above 10 knots, gusting up to 18 on the men's course, the tide still pushing the doublehanders over the start line early. After their perfect scoreline in three races on Tuesday, Australians Matt Belcher and Malcolm page still hold the top spot, discarding a 15th place in today's second race. After posting a 7-2 today past double World Champions, Skandia Team GBR's Nic Asher and Elliot Willis hold second on equal points with ISAF ranked world no1 duo from Sweden, Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Ostling. In the Women's class, there is still some consistency among the top three, where New Zealanders Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie have pulled into the lead, four points ahead of the hotly tipped Italians Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol, in turn another four in front of previous leaders and 2008 World Champions Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kingsolving Farrar (USA). At around 1400 local time after the second race, the boats were sent ashore. "There was a warning for a big storm with a lot of wind and thunder. The warning was given that it would be at 1500," explained Event Director Edwin Lodder. After several boats were caught out and some damage caused when a similar prolonged squall came through on Monday afternoon bringing with it 30 knot winds, Lodder opted for prudence. On Thursday the Men's groups will have to sail one more qualification race and the women two before they are sent back in to be divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze (for the men) fleets. -- Full story: http://www.470worlds2010.com/news.asp?NewsID=214 Event website: http://www.470worlds2010.com Maxwell/Farrar website: http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/ SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE As the sun rose on the fleet this Bastille Day, Pocket Rocket, the tiny 21-foot Mini Transat 6.50 design, was the closest boat to Hawaii in the 2,070 nm Pacific Cup race from San Francisco, California. Sailing with only two aboard, and starting with the Doublehanded 2 fleet on July 6th, Emma Creighton and her Rocket lead the 49 entrants still in the race that commenced with staggered starts between July 5 and 10. The Mini, designed for trans-Atlantic racing, was admitted to the Pacific Cup for the first time this year. With its light weight and broad, flat underbodies, these boats are ideal for surfing along in the brisk winds and long swells that characterize a Pacific trade winds race. Both the light early winds and the unusually strong mid-course winds have worked in Pocket Rocket's favor: in the light stuff, she can move when others are standing still, and in the heavy stuff, the boat surfs like mad with steady speeds of 14 knots occasionally bursting to 19, as reported by the skipper. The 25-year-old from Alameda, California has her sights set on moving to France to prepare for a 4200-mile La Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 campaign, and has constructed a program of increasingly challenging races to hone her skills. Sailing the Pacific Cup with Emma is Andy Hamilton of Santa Cruz, California, and the pair is expected to finish in time for Happy Hour this Saturday. -- http://pacificcup.org/tiny-boat-tiny-skipper-lead-way SWEEP: Bill Lee, the wizard of "Fast is Fun," must be smiling. Three of his iconic Santa Cruz 50 designs occupy the top three spots as the fleets pass the halfway mark in the 2010 Pacific Cup. As of Wednesday morning, Horizon, from Dana Point and skippered by Jack Taylor, enjoys the position of first in her division and first overall. J World's Hula Girl, the former Hula Girl outfitted and raced in 2008 by master sailor Paul Cayard, has climbed into second overall under a mixed team of instructors from the J World sailing school in Alameda, California. Third in division and overall is William Helvestine's Deception, a San Francisco area-based Santa Cruz 50 hailing out of Monterey, California. -- http://pacificcup.org/reports GET INSTANT UV PROTECTION - MEN'S & WOMEN'S STYLES When you escape the icy grip of the AC this summer for some outdoor fun, just throw on a Harken UV shirt and those hard-to-reach spots are good to go! Since the quick-drying 50+UPF protection doesn't wash off or make you greasy, wear yours sailing, snorkeling or just working outdoors. And don't forget your stylish Harken sunglasses - for half the cost of the other brands, you'll effortlessly spot shoals, wind patterns and distant buoys with Harken's sailing-optimized lenses. Get the gear to protect yourself at http://www.harkensport.com/cat/uv.html NOT ESPY WORTHY The ESPY Awards is an annual awards event created and broadcasted by American cable television network ESPN, where top celebrities from sports and entertainment gather to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. Among the nominees at the 2009 ESPY Award Show was 2008 Paralympic sailing gold medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, who was being recognized in the "Female Athlete with a Disability" category. There's was not another sailor in any other category, and while she did not win, it was an honor for Maureen and the sport of sailing to be rubbing elbows with all the other major sports in the world. But for the 2010 ESPY Award Show, which was held Wednesday, July 14th, the 'buttheads should not have been holding their breath for sailing to receive similar inclusion. Certainly an American team winning the America's Cup would be a worthy performance for consideration, but apparently ESPN did not think enough of the 33rd Match - what Scuttlebutt analyst Cory E. Friedman referred to as 'A Perpetual Cup for Not So Friendly Competition Between Lawyers' - to be ESPY worthy. Shocking! Source: http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-espy-worthy.html NOT YOUR TYPICAL REGATTA REPORT Here's a recap of the 2010 29er Pacific Coast Championships held this past weekend in The Gorge, the notable high wind venue of the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border. The following is by Helena Scutt, 29er racer: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Gorge delivered. Perhaps even a little bit too much! On Saturday and Sunday afternoons we were sent in after three races and didn't go back out because it was so windy, but between Friday and Sunday we got nine races off. Wind was 18 to the upper-20 range with occasional puffs of 30! There were a couple of moments when I don't think I have ever gone so fast downwind in a 29er. Insane! The races were close between the top boats. Heavy wind veterans Max Fraser & David Leibenberg (Santa Cruz, CA) dominated but as people warmed up they were soon challenged by Tucker Atterbury & Duncan Swain, Kristen Lane & Charlie McKee and Sterling Henken & Brian Bolton (who turned 16 in the Gorge this weekend!). Lisa & Jay Renehan and Paris Henken & Ian Andrewes had wicked upwind speed. The 29er fleet as a whole proved that to do well you have to do more than just stay upright in the big breeze. It was great to see new faces in the fleet too - and brave ones at that! The Gorge teaches you quickly not to make mistakes. By the end they were all shredding and enjoying the true skiff scene. A highlight was watching the impressive evening 'skirfing' - Max and David towing Evan Diola on his surfboard behind their 29er on a long downwind run, gybes and carving included! Photos: http://www.scutt.org Results: http://tinyurl.com/2emyv8k SAILING SHORTS * Medemblik, The Netherlands (July 14, 2010) - US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) members Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (West Chester Pa./Boca Raton, Fla.) scored a silver medal in the 12-boat SKUD-18 fleet at the 2010 IFDS World Championship behind GBR's Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell. Their final position was especially important because they also qualified the United States in the SKUD-18 class for the 2012 Paralympic Games. In the 47 boat 2.4 mR fleet, Canadian Paul Tingley tied for 3rd but lost on a tie break to finish 4th . -- Event website: http://ifdsworlds2010.com/index.php * Istanbul, Turkey (July 14, 2010) - After Tuesday's scheduled lay day, Wednesday dawned hot and hazy at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. By around 15:00 local time, a faint breeze started to form and classes on all three courses were called out. Most classes (except Laser Radial Girls) managed at least one race in wind ranging from 5-9 knots. Antoine Screve and James Moody (USA) rolled a 15th to drop them off the lead to 4th overall in the 29er, while Laser Radial favorite Erika Reineke (USA) remains in 6th, just seven points off the lead. Racing concludes Friday. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/2d99w7q * Blue Water Sailing, Cruising World and Sail magazine are hosting a gala celebration in honor of Frank Butler of Catalina Yachts, an industry veteran who guesses he's manufactured more than 75,000 vessels during his career. The banquet will be held on Friday, Oct. 8, at 7:00 p.m. in the main ballroom of Loews Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland. Individual reservations are available at $75 per person. Items are being sought for a silent auction. -- Boating Industry, read on: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2574955 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: July 15-18 - 1st Sunfish Youth World Championship - Blue Point, NY, USA July 16-18 - Vineyard Cup - Vineyard Haven, MA, USA July 17 - Lake Ontario 300 - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada July 18-20 - 18th Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge - Solomons, MD, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar IS IT CHAMPIONSHIP OR CHAMPIONSHIPS? This might seem like a minor question, but we all have work-related issues that need clarification. At Scuttlebutt World Headquarters (SWH), we track countless events and report on those that seem most relevant. This time of year there are a lot of National, North American, and World titles being contested. So here is the BIG question: Is it Championship or Championships? Here is the typical sentence: "The 2010 Ultimate 20 North American Championships will be held at Lake Dillon, Colorado on August 2-4." The question is if it is correct to use 'Championship' in the plural. SWH does not mean to single out the Ultimate 20 class, as in all honesty most reports use 'Championship' in the plural. Maybe that is because it should be. But if there is only one championship going on at Lake Dillon, Colorado on August 2-4, should it be plural? SWH is seeking 'butthead guidance on this all-distracting topic. Please cast your vote and/or comment here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/10/0714/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Materialism: buying things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people that don't matter. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Harken. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
