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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 641 - September 7, 2000MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUPYacht Club Costa Smeralda Porto Cervo, Sardinia - Roy Disney's 70-foot lightweight racing yacht crossed the finish line almost three-quarters of an hour ahead of the Italian Maxi called Edimetra, but finished ahead by just one second on corrected time in the second race of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2000. But if Ernesto Gismondi missed winning the race, he can at least console himself that Edimetra leads the overall standings in the racing division of this high-profile regatta. America's Cup tactician Tommaso Chieffi is providing the local knowledge for American yacht Pyewacket, as the fleet negotiates the tactically challenging waters around the islands on this rocky coastline. "We picked the right corners today, along with good speed in the light winds," he said. Alexia failed to match her 2nd place in yesterday's race, and a disappointing 4th puts her in 2nd overall behind Edimetra. "We had a good first leg today," said Chris Larson, the American America's Cup sailor calling the shots aboard Alberto Roemmers' IMS Maxi. "Then we tried to sail the tactically safe option down the run, but I think there was some local knowledge involved in going towards the shore that we didn't pick up on." L'Oreal chief executive Lindsay Owen-Jones was not aboard his Wally yacht Magic Carpet to savour a victory by over three minutes on corrected time ahead of near-sister ship Genie of the Lamp. These two yachts now share the lead in the Light division, with a 1st and 2nd apiece. - Susannah Bourne Standings: IMS-ORC (Racing) Division 1. Edimetra, Ernesto Gismondi (5 points) 2. Alexia Alberto, Roemmers (6) 3. Pyewacket, Roy Disney (7); Light Division: 1. Magic Carpet, Lindsay Owen-Jones (3) 2. Genie of the Lamp, Gianluca Vacchi (3) 3 Tiketitan, Luca Bassani (6) Sorry, but there does not appear to be a website for this "high-profile regatta." AMERICA'S CUP (The following is an excerpt from an AC story by Rich Roberts in The Log.) "I would say that last time a good crew member with a Cup or two of experience made eighty to a hundred thousand U.S. dollars a year and this next time may double that," (Paul) Cayard said. According to sources, Oracle is offering annual salaries of about $160,000 compared to $200,000 and up from the other "bees," who include McCaw, Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss pharmacist who shanghaied Russell Coutts; the Benettons and, of course, Prada's Patrizio Bertelli. Full story: http://www.thelog.com/ OLYMPICS Westerly winds, gusting to 49 knots, presented sailors with a severe test of their seamanship skills on Sydney Harbour Tuesday as many trained or competed in a lead-up regatta to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The Bureau of Meteorology staff at the Sailing Marina Rushcutters Bay said pre-frontal west to north-westerly winds had averaged 25-30 knots between 1300 hours and 1500 hours, with many gusts over 40 knots. The maximum gust was 49 knots, recorded at North Head at 1340 hours. The Bureau earlier had issued a severe weather warning for the Sydney metropolitan area, with west to northwesterly winds reaching 54 km/h in the city and on Sydney Harbour. Many boats capsized, several 49er high performance dinghies and Finn dinghies broke their masts, while many others ripped their sails as they competed in the Countdown Regatta being conducted by Woollahra Sailing Club in Rose Bay. In one reported incident, a New Zealand coachboat rescued a Laser sailor who had become separated from his capsized dinghy while several 470 dinghies returned with ripped sails. At the Sailing Marina Rushcutters Bay, venue staff left their posts to assist sailors bring their boats back ashore at the marina and launching pontoons, on a lee shore. Venue management at the Sailing Marina Rushcutters Bay requested competitors and venue staff to secure all equipment, with a forecast south-westerly front, averaging 20 to 25 knots, being predicted to pass through Sydney about 2000 hours Tuesday, but moderating Wednesday. "The sailors and the venue staff have coped exceptionally well with the severe conditions and no injuries or severe damage has been reported," said Venue Manager Glenn BOURKE. "While, SOCOG was not involved in any water activities, we are naturally concerned for the well being of our competitors as they train for the regatta. The sailors are all experienced, and they had excellent support on the water from coach boats, while the Water Police and the Navy towed several boats back to the Sailing Marina," he added. Full story http://www.sailing.org/olympics MORE OLYMPICS Twenty seven Chinese athletes have been withdrawn from the Olympics after failing drug tests, the first major repercussion of the International Olympic Committee's extended testing programme ahead of the Games. Two Taiwanese female weightlifters, including world champion Chen Jui-lien, meanwhile, have been banned from competing by the International Weightlifting Federation after failing tests and Robin Lyons, a hammer thrower, has been dropped from the Canadian squad after testing positive for a steroid. The surprise cull of the Chinese squad - an additional 13 officials are also not travelling to Sydney - includes seven rowers, four swimmers (three male and one female), two canoeists and 14 track athletes. Six of these are believed to be women long distance runners that coach Ma Junren was expected to take to Sydney. Ma's athletes stunned the world in the Nineties with their exceptional performances, although questions were raised over possible drug use. Ma has always contended that their achievements were due to high-altitude training and traditional tonics such as turtle's blood and caterpillar fungus. - Mihir Bose in Sydney, Daily Telegraph, UK Full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION When you need the latest high-tech gear for your boat, you: A) Get in the car, drive to the store, wait for someone to show you a catalog. B) Dig out the "Old Boat Supply" catalog, and call for pricing on obsolete products. C) Visit ?????.com, and learn how to tie some knots or dock your boat. D) Call Performance Yacht Systems at 1-877-3pyacht. Click below for answers. http://www.pyacht.com hardware / rigging / sails / clothing / marine electronics MORE AMERICA'S CUP Ernesto Bertarelli with Russell Coutts will formally announce their Swiss Challenge for the America's Cup on Thursday 7th September. The ceremony will take part in two stages, with a morning session in Zurich for the German speaking press followed in the middle of the afternoon by a press conference at the Societe Nautique de Geneve on the shores of Lake Geneva for English and French speaking media. Not much is really known about the structure of the syndicate that bought the afterguard from Team New Zealand along with its key sail trimmers. Although money will not be an issue, design and training will pose significant challenges for this syndicate as it effectively starts from scratch with the clock ticking before the first race of the next Louis Vuitton Cup in October 2002. - Louis Vuitton website Full story: http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or 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 others disagree. -- From Carl Watson, Australia - In 'Butt 640 was the art of dipping a starboard tacker. I agree that the influence is on the trimmers, however in a windy situation why would you ease the jib and power up the boat? Surely the mainsheet trimmer eases the sail. However to compound the situation of jib ease will force the Yacht into a round up situation. How often have we seen port / starboard situations become gruesome because of this scenario? -- From Ginny Lovell - Kudos! to Jonathan Harley for his Olympic Diary linked with the U.S. Sailing web page. It is so much fun to read. It give one insight into what is going on behind the scenes with the Olympic Sailing Team, and it is even complete with pictures. http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/2000/diary.htm -- From Marceline Therrien (edited to our 250-word limit) - Many seem to assume that the club was justified in banning the competitor "because the club's members didn't like Sailor X" (AYC statement). We don't want to believe that a yacht club would ban a competitor for no good reason. One reader asserts that the excluded competitor did not conform "his conduct to the loose bounds of the sport." But AYC never made such a claim. It's obvious that this isn't true, because if it were, he would have been protested under rule 69. At the grievance hearing, AYC refused to explain why the competitor wasn't liked and why he was banned. They provided no information that refuted his claim that he was excluded because he is Jewish. Can't we therefore conclude that perhaps this might have been true? Is this really something that we sailors really want to rally around? We use the RRS promulgated by US Sailing and also appeal rulings up the US Sailing chain. US Sailing ExCom decided that AYC had been arbitrary and capricious in banning the competitor and ordered it not to do so again. Just as sportsmanship requires that we graciously accept a protest ruling that we don't like - we can't decide we're the real winners and steal the silver-- AYC should have accepted US Sailing's decision. But the following year it made a clumsy attempt to circumvent the ruling. US Sailing was right to toss them. AYC should quit its whining since it can now conduct its races however it likes. -- From Tom Donlan (edited to our 250-word limit) - "Sailor X" as they refer to him, alleged that he was excluded from the Albatross Yacht Club races because he is Jewish. The US Sailing hearing panel did not sustain his charge. I have two opinions, somewhat contradictory. 1. Excluding a sailor because he is Jewish is despicable, though our sport and many of its clubs have a long shameful history of doing that. If Albatross YC wants to exclude a 'jerk,' they should be able to cite race course conduct, protest activity, Rule 69 allegations, shoreside conduct, crew misconduct or any other behavior that would support exclusion from racing. If the alleged jerk claims that he's being excluded because he's Jewish, everybody in our sport ought to take the claim seriously and deal with it, up or down. Tell the club it's anti-semitic, or tell the guy he's a jerk. Maybe both. 2. This should not be a federal case. The Stevens Act is intended to promote and govern Olympic sports, not Tuesday night beer can races. This kind of federal intrusion into what should be private and individual athletic endeavors is completely unwarranted. But that's what you have to expect when you take Olympic sports as a matter of national pride and start seeking public support for amateur athletes. The Stevens Act seems to require that national governing authorities like US Sailing must submit disputes regarding the eligibility of amateur athletes to binding arbitration conducted by the American Arbitration Association, so we haven't heard the end of it. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: But we have heard the end of it here in Scuttlebutt- at least until there are some new developments. The Albatross YC thread is now officially dead. RRS - ROLE TACKING Recently, after sailing in light air conditions, we were informed that the technique that we use in our Roll Tacks infringes Rule 49 of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS). Our technique for the Foredeck crew during a Roll Tack is generally accomplished by hanging on the mast and/or shrouds to facilitate steering to promote the tack. In the process the foredeck crew hangs part of his/her torso outside the upper lifeline briefly on the leeward side until the boat is past head to wind and then briefly on the "new" leeward side until the boat is back on a straight-line course. What is the general accepted interpretation of what is allowable for Roll Tacking Offshore Boats? Is there already something that serves to explain or clarify this subject? Is that what we are doing is acceptable in the 97-2000 RRS? Moving your body is legal and essential for trimming your sails and steering your boat. Although you may never repeatedly use your body to propel the boat forward, you may as well take the opportunity to help your boat speed when you do have to move. Since this technique must be explicitly prohibited in the J-24, J-22 and Santana 20 Class Rules, is it otherwise legal? Our class, the Soverel 33, does not have such a rule. Web sites for the Mumm 30 and Tartan 10 explicitly suggest that you should "lean over the rail to roll tack." In the INTERNATIONAL JUDGES MANUAL under Title 4. Responsibilities of the jury during the event - 4.Roll-tacking: "Roll tacking is permitted; however, rule 42.3(a) is written to limit the roll-tack. Adjusting the angle of heel to help steer the boat through the tack is permitted under the definition of sailing. The resulting rolls may be exaggerated so that there is some pumping action in the sail. "Judging an illegal roll-tack is often subjective and difficult. Once a tack is completed, you cannot sit there and watch it to confirm your impression of what happened. As a result, hearings and disqualification resulting from roll-tacks have been rare." I suspect we can go to US Sailing to request an interpretation of the rules under Section D - Appeals 70.3. and Appendix F - F2.3 For a fee of $50-$100 they will dig out some unpublished decisions that they made probably 20 years ago. - Bill Heintz CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * September 23-24: J/105 Class North American Championship, Annapolis YC http://www.annapolisyc.com * October 6-8, 2000: U.S. Sunfish Class Masters Championship, Bay Waveland YC, Bay St. Louis, MS, Open to Class members 40 and up as of 10/7/2000. Clinton Edwards: c.edwards@fgh.com * October 21-22: Judges workshop with a certification / re-certification exam, Newport Harbor YC. http://www.nhyc.org/seminars.htm SOLUTIONS FROM SAILCLOTH.COM Wish your spinnaker would dry off after dunking, hold its shape after a few heavy air days of sailing, and resist tearing during complicated maneuvers? Next time, ask your sailmaker to use AIRX, a revolutionary new spinnaker fabric from Bainbridge International. AIRX is stronger, lower in stretch and has an ultra water repellent finish. With zero porosity and less tearing, it has a wide range of use for both racing a cruising sailors. AIRX is exclusively from Bainbridge International, where power and performance are cut from the same cloth. For more information, visit http://www.sailcloth.com STILL MORE AMERICA'S CUP (Having lost a number of key personnel to foreign raiders, Team New Zealand is showing it is not averse to a bit of raiding itself, the latest prize being Frenchman Bertrand Pace. Ivor Wilkins provides an insightful look at role Pace' will play with the Kiwis on the QuokkaSailing website.) * Having guided that youthful and lightly funded team to a creditable semifinal slot, Pace made it clear he was unlikely to be part of another shoestring campaign. Pace will serve as an alternate helmsman in the Team New Zealand camp, assisting young up-and-comer Cameron Appleton in the task of preparing Dean Barker for leading the 2003 Cup defense. "Pace will be an experienced sparring partner for our skipper Dean Barker and adds real depth to the team," said Team New Zealand Chief Executive Ross Blackman. With three helmsmen now in the lineup, Barker says the team will be better prepared than it was last time. While Barker anointed Pace part of the sailing team, he said decision on whether or not the Frenchman will join the racing crew in live action would be made down the road. * "It's similar to the situation when Ed Baird was brought in to tune up Team New Zealand in San Diego in 1995; except that Bertrand's role is not just as a coach. He is part of our sailing team," Barker continued. "But any decisions on crew selection are much further down the road. Right now we are taking one step at a time and we are very pleased that Bertrand is joining Team New Zealand." - Ivor Wilkins, for Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/09/SLQ__0905_s_TNZPace_WFC.html CHUCKLES While this was sort of a slow news day for sailboat racing, there was plenty to chuckle about. You can read about the resignation of the PR firm that had been advising Bridgestone/Firestone, or about the marriage of 66-year-old feminist Gloria Steinem: http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/firestone_pr000905.html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-People-Steinem-Marriage.html THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around. |
