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SCUTTLEBUTT 3492 - Monday, December 19, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: Team One Newport and Interlux. JUST IN TIME FOR WINTER Guess what has returned to the New York Supreme Court? Scuttlebutt enlists its talented legal tactician Cory Friedman for an update on this latest chapter of the America's Cup: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (December 18, 2011) - 'Buttheads who look back with nostalgia at the epic courtroom battle between Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and Societe Nautique De Geneve (SNG) in America's Cup 33, if only because it gave them an ongoing opportunity to rail against lawyers ruining sailing along with every other facet of Western Civilization, are in luck. The lawyers are back! And I'm back to tell you about it. Better yet, last time they were deadly serious and the litigation ended with a judgment. This time, as we shall see, it is more likely to end as farce. As has been reported (in Scuttlebutt 3491), African Diaspora Maritime Corporation (ADM), (yes, that American Diaspora Maritime Corporation) has filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, alleging, inter alia, that GGYC has improperly prevented it from entering the AC World Series for AC 45's and from competing with Oracle Racing for the right to defend the Cup on behalf of GGYC, the defending yacht club. Because of all of GGYC's alleged bad behavior, ADM is basically nowhere in its plan to defend the Cup, which ADM dubiously claims is true of every challenger before accepted, when the cash miraculously falls from the sky like manna. As a result, it needs a host of delays in the Cup schedule, as well as damages from GGYC, in order to prepare for the Cup. Oh, and because GGYC has been so mean to ADM, and GGYC and Larry Ellison have been engaging in all kinds of self-dealing and other breaches of fiduciary duty, GGYC should be removed as trustee. ADM claims that as soon as the Court grants the requested relief its team of world class African-American sailors and African-American backers immediately will be able to secure the backing which will allow ADM to knock off Larry's Oracle Racing in defender trials. It all sounds plausible. Right? Of course the lamentable fact is that world class sailing, or even youth sailing for that matter, has fewer African-Americans participating than just about any sport, except possibly whatever Sami kids in Lapland play when they aren't herding reindeer. Sailing certainly needs a Jackie Robinson, but before he set foot on Ebbets Field, Jackie Robinson was a great ball player - and a great youth ball player before that. He was inspirational not just because he was there, but because he was there and great. Starting at the AC level does not sound like the ideal plan for developing African-American sailors, but that is for African-Americans to decide. Who and/or what ADM really is and what its agenda really is remains to be seen. It does not have much of a track record. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p62 COMMENT: Later in his report, Cory questions whether an ulterior motive is behind this complaint. Said Cory, "Does this add up to more than circumstantial evidence of a Swiss connection? No, but as Lord Mansfield famously said: 'If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, and files complaints like a duck . . . .' Of course, it could be just an amazing coincidence." YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET The IRC is now used in almost 40 countries and the Royal Ocean Racing Club Rating Office in London looks after 25 of them. In their December 2011 issue of Poolside, they included a snippet from Seahorse Editor Andrew Hurst, who is concerned in how a few could be causing trouble for the masses in a report titled "Slumber party". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- So here's the score: seven of 16 Class 40s retired from the Transat Jacques Vabre, four of the six Multi 50 trimarans and four of 13 Imoca 60 entries. At the time of writing three out of six Volvo 70s will arrive in Cape Town by ship and let's not forget that in a moderate 2011 Fastnet Race, three of five maxis taking part dropped out with technical or structural issues and one, Rambler, capsized; it was only extreme good fortune plus the crew's rigorous pre-race survival training that almost certainly prevented a substantial loss of life. What the preceding paragraph screams out is that unless we rapidly get our sh*t together, offshore racing will soon be fighting an avalanche of regulation. Given the level of risk endemic to sailing, an invasion by jobsworths will bring about the strangulation of offshore racing as we know it or at the very least its forced mutation into an anemic derivative. During recent months we have been receiving valued support from a group of the very smartest engineers in an effort to put together a properly qualified series of articles addressing what was, even six months ago, obviously heading towards a denouement. Given recent events in the Fastnet, Volvo and TJV, we have accelerated things and the first article will appear next month. Meanwhile, with a near complete black-out on the causes of the most serious of these incidents, we sincerely hope those involved are treating the situation with the urgency it warrants. On a personal note I already require a Helmsman's Certificate of Competence to compete in some international regattas, and frankly it is a pain in the derriere. You ain't seen nothing yet. http://tinyurl.com/RORC-121811 GET YOUR LAST MINUTE SHOPPING DONE @TEAM ONE NEWPORT So, you've made your list. You've checked it twice. And STILL have some shopping to do for those who are Rowdy and Nice? Well here's Santa's list of Team One Newport's last minute gift ideas: -GoPro SURF HERO CAMERAS ($229.99): http://tinyurl.com/goprosurfhero -SLAM clearance sale: http://tinyurl.com/slamsale -Calendars from Dr Crash, Ultimate Sailing, etc: http://tinyurl.com/7cqgabm -Gerber Suspension Multi-Tool ($49.00): http://tinyurl.com/ger22 -Nautical Books for the young/young @ heart: http://tinyurl.com/books-gifts -The Team One Newport Gift Card: http://tinyurl.com/ton-gift-card Expedited shipping is available for your purchases anywhere in the US. 800-847-4327 or http://www.team1newport.com CLOSURE AT ISAF WORLDS Perth, Australia (December 18, 2011) - The ISAF World Championships for 10 Olympic classes were held over 16 days with some 1100 athletes from 79 countries sailing for both a world title and to qualify their country for next year's London Olympic Games. The ISAF Sailing World Championships are held every four years. Australia was awarded the IOC President's Cup for collecting the most Gold medals at Perth 2011. USA Match Racing skipper Anna Tunnicliffe (Women's Match Race) was named TAG Heuer Female Sailor of the week, Australia's Tom Slingsby (Laser) was Male Sailor of the week and Moldova's Alex Denisuic (Laser) won the Emerging Nations Programme rising star TAG Heuer award. * World #1 ranked Anna Tunnicliffe and her crew Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi secured the USA team a gold medal on Friday with four straight wins against defending champion Lucy Macgregor of Great Britain in the Women's Match Racing final on Fremantle's Inner Harbour. This is the first World Match Racing title for Tunnicliffe and Vandemoer and the third for Capozzi. France's Claire Leroy took out the bronze medal in the petite final against Russia's Ekaterina Skudina. * The Brazilians Scheidt and Prada, who entered Saturday with a 20-point lead, maintained their points lead in the Medal Race of the Star event to secure their second World Championship title. The pair also won at the last ISAF Worlds in Cascais in 2007. The silver medal went to Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen (GER), while Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) won bronze. After making its debut at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the Star has a long history in Olympic sailing but will bow out after the London 2012 Olympic Games. * World #1 ranked Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen finished fourth in the 49er skiff Medal Race on Sunday to claim the world championship. Finishing the regatta with 91 points overall, the Australian pair secured Gold ahead of silver medalists Peter Burling and Tuke Blair (NZL). Denmark's Emil Toft Nielsen and Simon Toft Nielsen took Bronze. A broken pintle in the medal race by Americans Erik Storck/ Trevor Moore dropped them to 9th position. * With an 11-point lead going into the final on Sunday, Spain's Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos seventh place in the Medal Race was enough to be crowned Women's 470 world champions. Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark led from start to finish in the Medal Race to take the silver medal. New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie surprised everyone, including themselves, by winning bronze on the final day of competition on Sunday. Americans Amanda Clark/ Sarah Lihan finished in 12th position. * With just one point separating Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED) and Piotr Myszka (POL) going into the final Medal Race on Sunday, van Rijsselberghe held off defending champion Myszka to claim the RS:X world title. Nimrod Mashich (ISR) won the Bronze. Canadian Zachary Plavsic finished in 12th position. * Australia's Tom Slingsby closed the Laser event strong by winning Sunday's Medal Race to secure a 19-point World Championship. For Slingsby, a winner of six races off Fremantle, it was a fifth visit to the Laser dais having won the world title in 2007, 2008 and 2010 after collecting silver in 2006. Great Britain's Nick Thompson collected the Silver medal with a second place finish in the Medal Race while New Zealander Andrew Murdoch earned his third world Laser bronze to go with silver from 2007. American Rob Crane finished in 14th position. The first week of the ISAF Worlds (Dec. 5-11) had competition for the Laser Radial, Women's RS:X, Men's 470, and Finn. Complete results: http://www.perth2011.com/results NOMINATED: The U.S. and Canada are using the Worlds to nominate their 2012 Olympic representatives. The only Canadians to secure their nomination were Richard Clarke/ Tyler Bjorn in the Star, but there will be additional opportunities in the other events next year. For the U.S., Rob Crane (Laser), Erik Storck/ Trevor Moore (49er), Amanda Clark/ Sarah Lihan (Women's 470), Robert Willis (Men's RS:X), and Mark Mendelblatt/ Brian Fatih will be nominated for the U.S. Olympic team. The U.S. Women's Match Race team will be decided at their final trials event in May. NUMBERS: Here are the entrant numbers in the 10 Olympic events in Perth: 49er (Men's Two Person Dinghy High Performance): 67 boats Men's 470 (Men's Two Person Dinghy): 80 boats Women's 470 (Women's Two Person Dinghy): 48 boats Finn (Men's One Person Dinghy Heavy): 72 boats Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy): 147 boats Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy): 102 boats Men's RS:X (Men's Windsurfer): 91 boats Women's RS:X (Women's Windsurfer): 68 boats Star (Men's Keelboat): 41 boats Women's Match Racing - 29 boats EIGHT HUNDRED MILES OF LEVERAGE (December 18, 2011; Day 8) - Skippered by New Zealand's Mike Sanderson, Team Sanya broke away from the six-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet on Saturday and headed north towards a tropical depression containing brutal headwinds. For the gamble to pay off, Sanderson needs the intense low pressure system to move east allowing Sanya to 'thread the needle' between the storm and Madagascar. "The forecast says we could see 50 knots," explains Sanderson. "Of slight concern is that in our weather briefing notes prior to the start, Ken Campbell our Meteorologist, warned us of the lows off Madagasca due to them sometimes see breeze up to 70 knots!! But the opportunity to lead the fleet by the Doldrums if our plan went well was just too good to pass up, and I am sure it was no great surprise to all the other teams to see us go." Team Sanya's daring strategy is motivated by their boat, which is the only design from the 2008-9 race. "Bottom line is that in a straight line reaching we aren't quick enough to just go boat for boat with the new guys, so we do need to hit it out of the park a bit when the opportunity is a well calculated risk. Don't lose faith in us if this doesn't work out, the last thing Aksel (navigator Aksel Magdahl) and I want to be known for is "corner hitters". I have certainly lost my fair share of races by not doing what the router wanted though, and this time it was adamant and consistent over two days." All six teams are now aiming at about 25 degrees... with about 800 nm of separation. - Event media Course details: http://tinyurl.com/Piracy-121111 Leg 2 - Cape Town, SA to Abu Dhabi, UAE Standings as of Monday, 19 December 2011, 01:18:33 UTC 1. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL) 2. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 213.6 nm Distance to Lead 3. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 214.1 nm DTL 4. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 219.9 nm DTL 5. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 260.4 nm DTL 6. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 294.8 nm DTL Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos Race Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule DTL: Our Christmas wish is that the Dashboard column on the VOR websiste called Distance to Leader will get properly renamed. What it is listing is the distance it would take for each boat to become the leader, otherwise known as Distance to Lead. Currently, PUMA is 213.6 nm behind the 'lead line'. However, if you were to measure the actual Distance to Leader, PUMA is 651 nm from Team Sanya. While the Dashboard calls it Distance to Leader, Scuttlebutt is correctly labeling this important reference above as Distance to Lead. Hopefully this will get changed soon... see for yourself: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/dashboard/leg_2_report_63.html BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * (December 18, 2011; Day 26 - 23:45:00 UTC) - Loick Peyron (FRA) and his team on the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V are dealing with light winds and extra miles to avoid icebergs, which has reduced their margin to 936.6 nm over the non-stop circumnavigation Jules Verne Trophy record of 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds set by Franck Cammas on the 103-foot Groupama 3 in 2010. They now have 8955 nm to the finish. -- http://tinyurl.com/BP-121111 * (December 16, 2011) - The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the ratification of a new B Division (from 150 sq.ft up to and inc. 235 sq.ft) World Record. Paul Larsen (AUS) sailed Vestas Sailrocket 2 to a speed of 49.19 knots on a 500 meter course at Walvis Bay, Namibia on November 30, 2011. Larsen was the previous recorder in 2008 on Sailrocket 1, setting a speed of 47.36 Knots on Walvis Bay. -- http://tinyurl.com/WSSR-121811 * (December 15, 2011) - The San Francisco Planning Commission and the San Francisco Port Commission voted unanimously on Thursday night to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report on the 34th America's Cup. The decision clears the way for construction on the waterfront, provided the Board of Supervisors approves the project in January. However, a coalition of environmentalists and neighborhood activists - San Francisco Tomorrow, Golden Gate Audubon Society, Waterfront Watch and Telegraph Hill Dwellers - was preparing to file an appeal that could cause lengthy delays. The appeal was expected to be submitted on Monday. -- Full story: San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/12/americas-cup-opponents-hit-setback NEW INTERLUX REDUCED EMISSIONS MICRON CSC HS ANTIFOULING Micron CSC HS (High Solids) reduced solvent emissions paint controls the release of copper for better longevity with reduced impact on the environment. Provides multi-seasonal performance and reduced maintenance: haul & re-launch - no need to repaint. Get more info at http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Ian Williams, 2011 World Match Racing Champion: I was disappointed to read the list of nominees for the US Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, not for who was on the list, but for who was not.... Matt Cassidy. To win the Audi MedCup, the RC44 Championship Tour and the World Match Racing Tour, all in the same year, is an amazing feat which in my view has not been matched by any sailor in the World this year. Not to mention also winning the TP52 World Championships and the Congressional Cup. Matt Cassidy doesn't shout his success from the rooftops, which is perhaps why his achievements have not been widely recognized, but I for one hope the judges will reconsider and add him to the list. Bowmen often do not get the recognition they deserve, but when someone cleans up in such a way as Matt has done this year, surely it is time to recognize the contribution that all crew members make to a successful keelboat team. * From David Munge: Slowly I understand what is happening with the America's Cup. Being of the 'Grey Nomad' generation, I have been watching and listening to all of the arguments for and against AC45s along with watching some of the YouTube videos. Is the new version multi-hulled AC going to be more exciting for me? I doubt it. It will be a visual experience and will be great seeing all the new media stuff. But it won't have that slow tension that built up on the last leg on the last race in Valencia (2007 AC), with both boats splitting gybes, and then slowly, very slowly coming back together on the finish line, with one second difference. You can see all the guys who sail them, come off them with a real buzz. Who wouldn't? Am I green with envy, yes I am. However, how many of us normal people will ever get that buzz? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Christmas Carols for the Paranoid... "Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me." SPONSORS THIS WEEK Team One Newport - Interlux - North Sails - New England Ropes US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics - US SAILING Southern Spars - Ullman Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
