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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 783 - March 29, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. ADMIRAL'S CUP * The future of the Admiral's Cup hangs in the balance with a number of different solutions now under discussion by the RORC. It now appears clear that there will be a major Solent-based regatta of some kind this July. Though the RORC could neither confirm nor deny plans for an alternative event, club secretary Janet Grosvenor did throw some light on potential developments. "If in the event that the [Admiral's Cup] Management Committee did put out a statement on Monday that The Admiral's Cup was not going ahead, it could be that we would look at running a four day event." she said. Grosvenor was unable to tell us "exactly what the event would be", though she did indicate that it would most probably be centred on a long weekend over the period 21/22 July. Adrian Stead, skipper of the prospective British Admiral's Cup IC45, Barlo Plastics, suggested that the Admiral's Cup might be reduced to a two-boat event. "We are still working on the basis that we have an event," he said, "and we are hoping that the RORC will put on a two-boat event." *Peter Morton (who runs Farr's British office) has in his turn put forward another proposal for a new regatta. Morton has worked hard to try and hold together the Admiral's Cup and seems genuinely saddened that it is unlikely to go ahead. He has however, had no hesitation in trying to put on a regatta for the considerable number of Farr boats that will be in British waters come July. "We went back to the RORC and asked them to run a regatta for the Farr 52, the IC45, the Farr 40 and the Mumm 30," said Morton. "We also asked them to organise a team event consisting of one each of those boats." - Peter Bentley, madforsailing website. Full story: http://www.madforsailing.com ANOTHER OPINION As I see it, the interest for a One-Design in the big boat slot for the Admiral's Cup gives the RORC a great opportunity to do something substantial and of benefit to its members, Britain in particular and the world at large. My concept could actually be applied to either: * a proper One-Design (Designed and built in Britain); * or a Restricted class. Both options producing the kind of boat I believe the sailors would appreciate to be sailing by 1999 and onwards into the new Millennium. The concept revolves around producing a boat that re-defines the Dual-Purpose boat. It combines many more features and is essentially much more desirable than the existing IMS inspired sportboats/One Designs such as the Farr45, J.V project 99 or the R/P ID48. To be perfectly honest all these kind of boats (and others some even designed by myself) will pale into insignificance. It simply does both jobs better than existing options and with style. It produces a "machine" that is better suited for both Inshore and Offshore racing in the future. If that is not the ideal kind of boat for RORC I will never know! - Tony Castro - April 1996 Castro's complete proposal is posted on the SailSail website: http://www.sailsail.com/news/news-article.asp?Articleid=4526 AMERICA'S CUP Walker plans a summer of intensive training on the south coast before the team move to New Zealand in the autumn to begin their campaign proper with a new boat which is due to be built at the base in Cowes. The unknown factor is the extent of the team's commitment to the Admiral's Cup, whose future was thrown into doubt when the US pulled out. - David Pelly, Daily Telegraph, UK, http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/ DOUBLE VENDEE VICTORY VOLVO OCEAN RACE Before shipping the boat, the team sailed 1,350 miles trip from Australia to New Zealand and transited one of the world's most notoriously rough stretches of water, Cook Straits. "Not only were we met with steady gale-force winds on the nose, but sometimes a five-knot current against us. Talk about going nowhere fast!" said Rudiger of the trip. "Additionally we had become accustomed to the warm summer weather in Pittwater and were rudely awakened to the harsh cold water and wind. The crew was tough and resilient and we never missed a beat on sail changes including storm jib and trysail for a while. The last morning after clearing the straights at sun-up, there was snow nearby in the mountains giving a cold but beautiful view." While Rudiger and company have now sailed their test boats over 8,000 miles in preparing for the Volvo Ocean race, construction on two new boats for the Assa Abloy team continues in the UK. - SailNet website. Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/news/ GUEST APPEARANCE (Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) * From: William Sandberg wsandberg@rolexusa.com Most importantly was the message he left with the kids. To paraphrase, he said "Many of the people you sail against in the next two days, you will sail against for the rest of your life. So today is the day you start developing a reputation. Some of you will be known as great sailors and some as good sailors, but more importantly some of you will be known for sailing by the rules, and some of you will not. Think of how you would like to be known." A very strong message that those kids will long remember. Dave stands for everything that is right with our sport. * From: Nicole Breault nbsailor@snet.net * From: Tyler Garrett tagco@earthlink.net * From Jim Clinton jclinton@ullmansails.com Giorgio was simply, one of the great young men, who pass through life and attain so many of life's meaningful goals at a young age, that his passing leaves a big ache in our hearts and a void in our sport.Yet, his outstanding achievements will be with us, forever, and will serve as a reminder that so much is attainable, if you dedicate your life to excellence and work hard to reach your goals. Most notably, Giorgio did it with such genuine enthusiasm, pleasure, and in such a good-natured way. Giorgio will be missed, but not forgotten HALT - YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE. Does this strike anyone else as something we fought a couple of world wars to eliminate? I have a mental picture of a salty and weary racing crew returning to the dock to be greeted by a group of trench-coated thugs from the ISAF. The crew is lined up, and has to present his "papers." Those that don't have acceptable papers disappear from the dock and are never seen again. And what do we tell people who want to crew in a race? "Sorry, you can't go because I'd be cheating. Give me a call when you've joined up and have papers to prove it." Right. How do rules like this get passed? Is it possible that the meetings of the ISAF are filled with old geezers who haven't set foot aboard racing sailboats in years? Who, when someone suggests that it would be good for the bottom line if all crew had to join a club, respond with harumphs and "Here, heres?" You know what I think about the administrators at the ISAF who imposed this nonsensical eligibility requirement? I think more than a few villages are missing their idiot. - Chris Caswell, Sailing magazine, www.sailingonline.com CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: No, this does not mean we've re-opened this thread. It's still officially closed. THE RACE This time limit, calculated by adding 30 days to the finishing time of The Race winner, Club Med, is set in stone as far as The Race organizers are concerned. However, there has been a slight change in interpretation. A press release from The Race headquarters in Paris last week read: "For the two other competitors, The Race goes on. It is obvious these two boats will be finishing The Race out of time (deadline 30 days after the finish of the first, or 2 April 2001), this rule having been defined by the challengers themselves. However, the organizers have decided to leave the line open to allow the boats to finish in Marseille, come what may, even if it is quite clear the challengers will be continuing to race under their own responsibilities as from 2 April. The boats will be declared finished, fourth and fifth, out of the time limits." - Martin Cross, NOW Sports website. Full story: http://www.now.com/feature.now?fid=1439442&cid=997704 Positions on March 28 @ 1500 GMT: Team Legato, 2781.2 mile from finish, Warta Polpharma, 2942.4 miles from finish. - http://www.therace.org/ CAN WE TALK? The name Iridium is synonymous with one of the costliest business failures of the past decade. The original company orbited 66 satellites (there were 77 planned, the atomic number of the element Iridium is 77), spent $5 billion to launch the service in 1998, then quickly slid into bankruptcy when only 55,000 subscribers signed up. The marketing blunders were innumerable: phones cost upwards of $3000, per minute charges were to be as high as $7, and even at that astronomical price, service was erratic and in many instances completely unavailable. The Iridium logo was a familiar site at many sailing events in 1998 and early 1999. The company's original target market included consumers who would be beyond the reach of cell phones: ocean sailors were considered a prime market, along with mountain climbers and offroad racers. Not exactly the size of demographic group needed to support a $5 billion investment with huge ongoing operating expenses. * A new venture called Iridium Satellite LLC purchased the assets from bankruptcy court for a mere $25 million. The company estimates that it will need to take in $7 million a month to break even, that includes all operating costs and a planned $10 million marketing budget. That low break-even threshold is what may allow this latest iteration to survive. And while Iridium will certainly welcome bluewater sailors, it's new focus is on more specialized uses: offshore oil platforms, mining operations and secure communications for the US Defence Department, which signed a $72 million, two year contract with the firm in December. That contract is optioned until 2007 for an additional $252 million. The Navy currently has twice the demand for this kind of communications service than it can handle. * Thirteen service providers around the world have been contracted, giving the system global distribution capabilities. Airtime rates are expected to be about $1.50 per minute, with no additional long-distance, roaming or zoning charges. To attract previous customers, the service providers will provide upgrades and special rate plans for handset to handset calls. Whether Iridium finally achieves wide acceptance and use in the offshore sailing community is an open question, but fortunately the company's future isn't much dependent on it. One new feature of the system that will appeal to skippers and crews: a separate Subscriber Identity Module will allow crew members to share a handset and receive separate bills for service. - David McCreary, boats.com website Full story: http://boats.com/content/default_detail.jsp?contentid=13320 AMATEUR SAILING ASSOCIATION HELP WANTED CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Paul Cayard THE CURMUDGEON'S DEFINITIONS |
