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SCUTTLEBUTT 2492 – December 10, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. OPEN LETTER ON OLYMPIC SELECTIONS (Past ISAF President shares with Scuttlebutt a letter he had sent to current president Mr. Goran Petersson, where Henderson shares some of the history behind Olympic event selection, and clarifies some recent misconceptions.) “I am in receipt of the letter sent by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) with regard to the process and results in the selection of the Events for the 2012 Olympic Games. This selection always is controversial and political as it is with any organization which tries to accommodate over 125 MNA's in such a diverse sport as Sailing. The RYA uses IOC historical arguments to make their case to question the Council decision (as posted in Scuttlebutt 2491). I would like to clarify what happened as I remember them. “The IOC Program Commission (PC), led by Franco Carraro, was charged, as a sub committee of the IOC Executive Committee, to make suggestions on the program of events for future Olympic Games. Their overall mandate was to keep the Olympic Program to 28 sports, 10,500 athletes, and 300 Events. They were also asked to evaluate the inclusion of new sports which would necessitate reducing events including the dropping of some sports in total.” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1207a/ * Curmudgeon’s Comment: We love Henderson for sharing his valued perspective on this issue. He discards many of the mis-truths, including the IOC mandate, the cost of keelboats, the precariousness of Sailing in the Olympics, and the impartiality of the Events Committee. As he states, “Having been on the firing line for the selection of Olympic Events and Equipment for 7 Games over 30 years, it is interesting to see that nothing has changed as controversy and self-interest continues to rule.” OLYMPIC DREAM SETS SAIL DESPITE SETBACK For Nick Scandone, it's always been about the race. Beating the competition. Beating the clock. He thinks he was 7 or 8 the first time he raced a sailboat. Probably one of the Thursday night "Beer Can Regatta" events in Newport Harbor (CA), he says, alongside his mother and stepfather, who were members of the Balboa Yacht Club. He loved the water, the fresh air and figuring out how to play the wind. But what he really came to love over the years was the challenge, making it to the finish line before the other guy, raising his hand in victory and claiming the prize. By the time he graduated from UC Irvine in 1990, the school had won both the Dinghy National and Team Racing championships, and Scandone was an all-American. In 1992, he went to the U.S. Olympic trials, hoping to make the sailing team in Barcelona, but didn't qualify. Directionless but needing to make a living, he relegated sailing to "weekend warrior" status and, at 26, bid adieu to his glory days. However, today the 41-year-old Scandone is not looking back but forward. And if he never had a sense before of life's endless potential for irony, he surely does now. There's no soft way to say that Scandone has ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's a rough one, attacking the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leaving its more luckless victims either paralyzed or facing a steadily deteriorating life. There's no cure, and an estimated 6,000 Americans die of it every year. – Los Angeles Times, read on: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parsons22nov22,1,3988583.column * Curmudgeon’s Comment: Nick’s story is rare, as so many knew Nick from his sailing success prior to his illness, and now he is so well known in disabled sailing circles. You need to be registered on the LA Times website to read the rest of the story. If you don’t care to do that, use this: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com (email) and scuttlebutt (password). GIFTS FOR SERIOUS SAILORS The Hall Spars & Rigging website is the place to start when shopping for the serious sailor on your list. Consult our “Ideas” page for a selection of gear under $100 – perfect for that someone who has everything. Know what kind of boat they have, but don’t know what to choose? Contact our experts (real sailors!) for a recommendation. And, if Santa doesn’t bring you a gift from Hall, you can log on anytime and order. We’ll get it to you in plenty of time for Key West Race Week. http://www.hallspars.com FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF SAILING A GREAT BOAT Over the past three years, Fred Eaton has spent pretty close to $1 million to create the fastest, lightest, most advanced 25-foot catamaran in the world. Not only has he succeeded, but he's done it in convincing style, building the boat and winning an international regatta known as the Little America's Cup in Toronto in mid-September. In a series of races in the harbour and on the lake, Eaton and his crewmate, Magnus Clarke, drove their experimental craft Alpha to a 5-0 victory over the reigning, U.S. champion. Eaton doesn't care that outside a small circle of sailors, nobody knew the race was on, or that the local media ignored him. Or that for the cool million, all he got was bragging rights, a handshake and a rather modest trophy. "It's 14 inches tall, a Lucite cube," he says. "It's worth about 80 bucks, I figure." But even as Eaton laughs at the spoils of becoming the first Canadian to win the International C-Class Catamaran Championship, it is apparent the 44-year-old economist, one-time biathlete, occasional hunter and member of Canada's unofficial royal family (yes, those Eatons) couldn't be happier. Like Victorian gentlemen who climbed mountains because they could, Eaton has indulged his small boat passion because he could. "I'm sure many people think I'm nuts," says Eaton, who runs a family investment company. "I'm okay with that. In a way, you have to be nuts to do this. You can't justify what we've done except that we wanted to do it for the privilege of sailing a great boat." -- Toronto Star, read on: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/283826 MISDIRECT OR NOBLE CAUSE? With his plans for the next America’s Cup scuppered by a loss in court, Alinghi’s president, Ernesto Bertarelli, has expressed interest in making radical changes to the competition, the world’s oldest major sporting event. Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire whose team successfully defended its America’s Cup title in Valencia, Spain, in July, issued an open letter Friday in which he called for an overhaul of the Deed of Gift, the 120-year-old document that governs the competition. Bertarelli said he would consider giving up some of the traditional privileges of the defender, including an automatic spot in the America’s Cup match and the right to choose the site of the race, if the competition could be restructured into an Olympic-style event with a permanent governing body that would select the sites well in advance. “This idea that the winner takes all is very romantic and very attractive, but, on the other hand, it prevents a number of things from happening,” Bertarelli said in a telephone interview. “It prevents certainty that teams can survive from one cycle to the other. It prevents planning and negotiating venues ahead of time and therefore prevents the cycle from being a faster cycle than a four-year cycle or even more in some cases.” Bertarelli’s proposals could be difficult to implement. Modifying the Deed of Gift requires the approval of the New York attorney general. Although minor modifications have been made to the document since 1950, Bertarelli’s proposal would constitute a major rewrite. “Anyone who anticipates a lightning-like conclusion to this will be disappointed,” said George W. Carmany III, chairman of the New York Yacht Club’s America’s Cup committee. -- NY Times, full story: http://www.nytimes.com * Ernesto Bertarelli letter: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1207 * NYYC statement: http://www.nyyc.org/home/article_116/ AN OPEN LETTER TO ERNESTO BERTARELLI by Bob Fisher, noted sailing journalist and historian Dear Ernesto, I thank you for your open letter and for the 90 minutes of your valuable time that you granted for an interview. At the Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award dinner you took me to task for my criticism of your team’s behaviour towards the 33rd America’s Cup. I demurred, saying that if I were mistaken, it was due to a lack of communication from your team’s leaders. That now is not the case. While I notice that the passing of two weeks has not in any way altered your determination to run the 33rd America’s Cup in a manner that would make the competition a far different event to all the 32 that had preceded it, and that you have attempted to make your intentions more widely known, I cannot agree that what you are proposing to do is for the benefit of the America’s Cup other than turning it into a revenue source for Alinghi and ACM. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1209 LAST CALL TO BE SANTA’S ULTIMATE HELPER! Order by December 15th to ensure Christmas delivery of the 2008 Ultimate Sailing calendar. For additional gift ideas, the Ultimate Sailing website offers an array of options. T-shirts, caps, book, note-cards, and custom prints can be yours with a click of your mouse. Go to http://www.ultimatesailing.com * Curmudgeon’s Comment: This is no joke; Sharon Green told us that their inventory of 2007 calendars was gone by mid December last year. BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (Day 29 - December 9, 2007) No sooner had Estrella Damm been the first team to break the 400-miles per 24 hours barrier last week on Thursday, Hugo Boss than proceeded to be the first to set the 500-mile mark on Friday. However, with the strong winds now on the track come the breakdowns, and leaders Vincent Riou and Sébastien Josse onboard PRB were the first casualty when they lost the top three metres of their mast on Saturday. Unable to continue, and effectively out of the race, they are now sailing towards Cape Town. Also suffering on Saturday was Estrella Damm with damage to her starboard rudder after hitting a UFO (unidentified floating object). The rudder was removed and repaired, but only one day later on Sunday the team took a harder hit on the port rudder, and now they also must divert to Cape Town, but to hopefully effect repairs with the assistance of their shore team. Estrella Damm is approximately 620 miles south-west of Cape Town. -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Positions at 18:00 GMT - Distance to leader (+gain/-loss since Day 26) 1-Paprec-Virbac 2, Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA)/Damian Foxall (IRE), 17,244 mi DTF (+1,252) 2-Veolia Environnement, Roland Jourdain(FRA)/Jean-Luc Nélias(FRA), 82 (+86) 3-Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson (GBR)/Andrew Cape (AUS), 124 (+68) 4-Delta Dore, Jérémie Beyou (FRA)/Sidney Gavignet (FRA), 315 (-19) 5-PRB, Vincent Riou (FRA)/Sébastien Josse (FRA), 618 (-618) 6-Temenos II, Dominique Wavre (SUI)/Michéle Paret (FRA), 652 (-155) 7-Estrella Damm, Guillermo Altadill (ESP)/Jonathan McKee (USA), 956 (-192) 8-Mutua Madrilena, Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP)/Pachi Rivero (ESP), 994 (-174) 9-Educación sin Fronteras, Bargués (ESP)/ Escoffier (FRA), 1723 (-323) * (Day 16 - December 9, 2007 - 17:50 UTC) Francis Joyon’s solo round the world record attempt now has covered over a fourth of the 21,600-mile course, and he is blazing across the Indian Ocean along the 44 degree latitude. There has been no give up to his pace, which now finds his 24-hour speed average up to 23.9 knots and 573 mile per day. Joyon’s advance over Ellen Macarthur’s record pace in 2005 has risen as well, climbing to 1,676 miles. -- http://www.trimaran-idec.com * (Day 10 - December 9, 2007) Of the fifteen Open 60’s that began the 4,200-mile Transat Ecover BtoB from Salvador de Bahia, Brasil to Port-La-Forêt, France, there are only thirteen still racing following the dismasting of Armel Le Cléac'h onboard Brit'Air, and now Mike Golding and Ecover with an overabundance of electrical issues. And though Loick Peyron is still leading the fleet, the danger now comes from Kito de Pavant and Michel Desjoyeaux, with the least 'handicapped' boats of the fleet. -- http://www.transatecoverbtob.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE Regarding Bertarelli’s idea to change the America’s Cup, Tom Ehman, a spokesman for BMW Oracle, said,. “We just hope that this letter is not intended to distract from the important question of getting A.C. 33 and our challenge on track.” CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Nariida (NOR), the Wally 105 owned by Morten Bergesen, was the first maxi yacht to cross the finish line at 03.06 am UTC on 7th December 2007 in the first edition of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. After 10 days, 14 hours, 1 minute and 48 seconds of navigation, the 15 crew members crossed the line located off Simpson Bay in Sint Maarten, having covered the 2,650 nautical mile trip from Santa Cruz in Tenerife at an average speed of 10.24 knots. -- http://www.yccs.it * The governments of Canada and the United States released the binational study report on November 26, 2007. The GLSLS Study was conducted to evaluate the infrastructure needs of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system, specifically the engineering, economic, and environmental implications of those needs as they pertain to commercial navigation. The study assesses the long-term maintenance and capital requirements to ensure the continuing viability of the system as a safe, efficient, reliable and sustainable component of North America’s transportation infrastructure. To read the study, go to http://www.glsls-study.com/English%20Site/home.html * Sydney, Australia -- RNZYS' James Williamson, William Tiller, Bradley Farrand and Michael Edmonds have won the 2007 Harken International Youth Match Racing Championship at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club defeating Sandspit Yacht Club's Adrian Short, Jed Martin, Reuben Corbett and Matthew Randell 3-0 in the best of five final in a 8-10 knot NE breeze on Sydney's Pittwater. -- Sail World, readon: http://tinyurl.com/3bvkso J/122 CLASS RACING TO DEBUT IN 2008 With IRC wins at major events across Europe and America and orders through May, the J/122 is already one of J Boats' most popular introductions ever. Fleet #1 (LI Sound) is formed and class racing begins in 2008. Best of all, owners love how comfortable their J/122 is to cruise. http://www.jboats.com/j122 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From James King: Can anyone advise on the relative speeds of larger versus smaller multihulls? Seems to me that the speed differential is less than the equivalent difference in monohulls. As I understand it, the Deed of Gift Challenge only has a maximum restriction on length and breadth, but some of the fastest and most highly developed cats around are 25’ x 14’. Now that they’re not supposed to use the “Little America’s Cup” moniker (boo!), what price the mighty C Class taking over their big brother’s event? * From Chris Dowling: People keep assuming that there may be two catamarans competing in the next America's Cup. It seems to me that there could be a foiling trimaran that would fit within the parameters as well. I was present for the finals of last A Cup and thought it was a great series, but it sure would be interesting to see what these two teams would bring to the starting line if they can't agree on a new protocol. * From Brian Comfort: In a letter in Scuttlebutt 2491, Craig Fletcher laments that we should "leave race out" of our discussions about sailing. That is exactly what has happened, historically and presently. But more than simply being "left out," race has been forced out. From the epithet deployed to denote captains of race boats (it's initials are b.n.) to the history of racist exclusion at many of our most "prestigious" yacht clubs, whether explicit or implicit, the racism (not to mention sexism, elitism, and homophobia) in our sport is deep and troubling. As a sailing community we need to address the historic and continuing racism in our sport, not bury our heads in the sand at the mention of it. I agree that it is appalling that "there needs to be a black boating summit," but, I am also appalled that there needed to be a civil rights movement in order for this country to recognize the basic human rights of more than ten percent of our fellow Americans. To be appalled at the need for something, however, does not mean that we should stop talking about it or trying to do something about it. Quite the contrary, it indicates that we need to talk about it all the more until something is done to negate the need for it in the first place. Only then can we "leave race out." I would hope that there are more events like the Black Boaters Summit and that publications like Scuttlebutt that truly serve the whole sailing community continue to give coverage to them. Attitudes like those expressed in Mr. Fletcher's letter only serve to perpetuate the exclusive nature and history of sailing and work against a more inclusive attitude within our sport. * From Tim Gregoire, Milwaukee, WI: Thank you for running the article in Butt 2490 on Paul Mixon and Bill Pinkney I applaud their efforts. But I found Craig Fletcher’s response (#2491) to “leave race out” a bit disheartening. Since when is it taboo to discuss race? Must we be so fearful of sounding politically incorrect that we continually push the subject under the rug? As someone who works in the “industry”, I’m all for growing the sport and marketing sailing to as wide an audience as possible (even with the risk of crowded harbors and anchorages). Why do we promote youth sailing groups? To sow the seeds for tomorrow’s sailors. Likewise, why do organizations like the National Women’s Sailing Association and Womanship exist? To make this traditionally male-dominated sport more open and appealing to women. So why should the black demographic, or any other demographic for that matter, be off limits? I’m equally appalled that Mr. Fletcher would be appalled that there is a Black Boater’s Summit. He uses the same tired, bigoted argument (and yes, it is bigoted) that since it’s not acceptable to have a White Boaters Summit, it ’s not okay to have a Black Boaters Summit, completely disregarding the fact the reason such groups exist is because they are underrepresented. Does he also have a problem with the aforementioned youth and women’s groups? Is he likewise appalled when he drives by, say, an Italian Community Center and wonders why there isn’t an American Community Center? YOUR FAVORITE EVENT With the publication of Scuttlebutt’s 2500th newsletter to occur next week, we are celebrating the success of the 2007 sailing season, and we want to hear what your favorite regatta was this year. Help others plan for 2008 by telling them what they missed in 2007. Submit your event, and you’ll automatically be entered to win some great giveaways. Go to http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5603 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils will dilate. Interestingly, your pupils will also dilate when you are looking at someone you hate. Special thanks to Hall Spars & Rigging, Ultimate Sailing, and J Boats. A complete list of Scuttlebutt’s preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
