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SCUTTLEBUTT 2278 – February 9, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). SNAP GOES $750,000 Chris Dickson's America's Cup syndicate found a costly weakness in a race rig Thursday when a mast top broke during training in the Hauraki Gulf. USA71, one of BMW Oracle Racing's 2003 generation yachts, damaged the top of its 34m mast while training in 15 knots of breeze. No one on board was hurt and the damaged rig remained intact as the yacht was towed back to the team's base at the Viaduct. A mast and rigging cost around $750,000. USA71 was racing downwind during an in-house training session when the top of the rig collapsed. The race rig was not one of the syndicate's innovative jumper-less rigs. It was being removed last night for inspection. Dickson, who was on the syndicate's new boat USA98 at the time, said the incident was unfortunate but they had been pushing the boats hard. "That's why we are here," said Dickson, who is the syndicate's chief executive and skipper. "We would rather learn the lesson now than during the Louis Vuitton Cup when this sort of mishap could cost us a race. This was a race rig so we are disappointed, as the piece that broke should not have broken, but we are pleased we discovered this weak link now during our race training." -- New Zealand Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=106&objectid=10423123&ref= rss AMERICA'S OLYMPIC CONTENDERS This week, Scuttlebutt has been providing a class-by-class look at the current crop of America’s Olympic contenders. The rankings discussed are the result of each team’s performance in designated events, which have then been used to determine the members of the 2007 US Sailing Team. Our final report takes a look at the Laser Radial and Laser classes. Laser Radial This will be the first Olympics for the Laser Radial, and the class will likely garner significant attention at the US trials. Competition will be fierce to merely attend the trials, as only the top 22 will get bids. Once there, however, expect it to be the Anna Tunnicliffe - Paige Railey show, as these two have been trading places in the international spotlight through much of the last two years, and are both strong contenders for a medal in China. Tunnicliffe has remained the most consistent of the two through the past year, largely due to Railey’s recent struggles with kinetic violations, and it has earned Tunnicliffe the ISAF #3 ranking announced this week (both Anna and Paige held the #1 ranking in 2006). There is a strong crop below these two, with third ranked Sarah Lihan leading the charge, plus 1994 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Danielle Brennan Myrdal will be joining the fray to possibly challenge at the Trials. * 2004 Olympic rep: Meg Galliard (14th place in Europe) Laser By far, this is America’s most popular Olympic class, and it will be a challenge to simply be among the top 33 to get invited to the trials. However, like the Laser Radial class, the focus for the on-the-water action will be between two sailors: Andrew Campbell and Brad Funk. In the 2004 trials, Funk was third and Campbell was seventh, with Campbell just edging out Funk in last year’s pre-trials. Funk made it to the medal round in the Miami OCR, and both are bound to be training hard until the trials. There are likely few who can hang with these two in a breeze, so getting an early lead in the trials will be imperative if the conditions are strong. The US Sailing Team rankings for this class will not be decided until after the Midwinters East later this month, but currently Kurt Taulbee is ranked third behind Campbell and Funk. * 2004 Olympic rep: Mark Mendelblatt (8th place) The complete review of all classes can be found at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0205 COUTTS COMMENTARY (Yachting World’s Sue Pelling caught up with Russell Coutts, where excerpts of her interview with him are below.) * Coutts on the TP52 class: “No matter how wealthy the owners are, cost is always an important criteria. We've all heard it before when people have said: 'well these people are wealthy enough price doesn't matter', I can tell you, in my opinion it always matters.” * Coutts on his RC 44: "We have a 10-event series planned and by the second event we should have 10 on the water. The boats are being produced at two yards one in Budapest and one in Dubai. The Dubai operation is just completing the first boat now." * Coutts on Dubai: "… that whole area is largely undeveloped and undiscovered as a boating destination. Dubai is one area and there's also Abu Dhabi. From November to March the climate is great. There are even good sea breezes… I think that area has a lot of potential for sailing events particularly with its location which is halfway between Asia and Europe." Complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/28ezux CHARTER FIREFLY FOR ANTIGUA RACE WEEK! A charter on Firefly - a Custom Morris 45 - is a rare opportunity to participate in one of the sport’s premier and exclusive sailing events. Your skipper will be none other than Cuyler Morris, President of Morris Yachts. Cuyler has competed in all levels of racing, from Olympic Star class to offshore competitions, including numerous Antigua Race Weeks. For those looking for a more sedate experience, Firefly will also be available for bareboat charter from March 15-April 15 ($7,500/ week). The rate for Antigua Race Week, April 29-May 5 - including captain: $28,000. Contact: Karen Dunbar: 207-244-5511 or mailto:kdunbar@morrisyachts.com FAMOUS SAILING COUPLES With Valentine’s Day next week, Scuttlebutt would like to celebrate those married couples that are contributing or competing at a high level in the sport of sailing, or have so in the past. Among those currently on the list are Jim and Julia Brady, John and Deneen Demourkas, Jay and Pease Glaser, Jay Kehoe and Amy Gross Kehoe, Sally Lindsay Honey and Stan Honey, Pamela and Craig Healy, Liz Baylis and Todd Hedin, Melinda and Bill Erkelens, Lisa and Neal Macdonald, and Mike "Moose" and Emma Sanderson. Add your suggestions here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/07/couples ELLISON HELPS MAKE HISTORY Mario Olivarez stood in the shadow of billionaire Larry Ellison's $50 million super-yacht Ronin, ready to make history. Strapped to his chest was a tackle box-sized contraption with a dozen switches and a small computer screen. Nearby in a slip at Chula Vista's Marine Group Boat Works (just south of San Diego, CA), the yacht was secured – via three 90-foot-long straps – to one of the largest travel lifts in the world. Olivarez looked up, got the “go” sign and flipped a few switches. Slowly, the straps tightened around the 384-ton boat and began to lift it out of the water. After the hull had cleared the edge of the slip, the Marine Travelift, with its four pairs of 9-foot-tall wheels, rolled the boat away. A couple of hours later, the 192-foot-long yacht was up on blocks in the boat yard, where it will stay for 12 weeks while Marine Group workers give it new paint, a propeller rehab and dozens of other small fixes and improvements. The maneuver Monday, accomplished at greater speed and less cost than traditional dry-docking, ushered in a new era at the 30-year-old boat yard and put it on par with other yards worldwide that specialize in mega-yacht retrofitting. -- Union-Tribune, full story: www.signonsandiego.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The 2007 St Maarten Heineken Regatta is scheduled for March 1-4, so it is high time we get a laugh from this highly dramatic and humorously produced promotional video for the event. Powerful music and intense narration describes tales of high adventure, bitter on-the-water battles, self-sacrifice, and ultimate courage… all laid over footage of inebriated sailors enjoying the regatta parties. Watch this, and you will start singing, “Mothers, don’t let your babies grow up to be sailors.” Spare 2:06 minutes for some fun. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week ’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0206 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Further proof that sailing can be a spectacular spectator sport will be offered when the 44th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Honolulu starts off the Point Fermin Park and historic lighthouse in San Pedro this summer. At the suggestion of Steve Dair, a San Pedro resident, veteran sailor and Transpac competitor, the event's board of directors voted unanimously to move the starting line from the point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula where the race has started for more than a quarter century back to where races started in the 60s and 70s. -- Sail World, full report: http://www.sail-world.com/index_n.cfm?nid=31041 * Pembroke, MA. (Feb. 8, 2007) - Ritchie Navigation, a marine compass manufacturing for over 150 years, has announced the promotion of Jonathan Sherman to the position of President and CEO. Sherman was formerly the Sales and Production Coordinator for the brand, and will replace Paul Sherman, who has stepped down, but will retain his position as treasurer of the corporation. Sherman, 32, joined the company in 1998 in sales under the direction of Steve Sprole, V.P. of Sales and Marketing, whom he will continue to work alongside. Ritchie Navigation began in 1850 and holds U.S. and worldwide patents ranging from 1860 to the present day. - http://www.ritchienavigation.com * Registration numbers for the 2007 Marion Bermuda Race are significantly ahead of the 2005 pace for this June race. Details at http://www.marionbermuda.com WHY WAIT? You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process at North U. Seminar season is here, with North U TRIM and Tactics seminars offered throughout North America. Top instructors - not just great sailors - so the emphasis is on your sailing, not their sea stories. Multi-Media content. Exclusive interactive Sail Shaper and Wind Shift Simulators. Books and CDs to take home. Tools and techniques to make you a better racer. Learn Fast (& Smart). Visit http://www.NorthU.com 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 Rick Van Mell: (edited to the 250-word limit) Speaking of famous couples, many of today's duos hooked up during their days of college sailing. Take for example the annual Timme Angsten Regatta at Chicago YC each Thanksgiving. Typically 36 races in three days and a weather mix from calm to snow storms, with frozen sheets to boot. But the opening scenario was the welcoming of 18 college teams into the homes of CYC members for, usually, a late Thanksgiving dinner, then transportation to Belmont Harbor for the Skipper Meeting Friday morning. Those dinners and sleeping accommodations were often the initiation of life-long relationships. There was one year that Augie Diaz and the Tulane team stayed with us. There were 6 of them, 4 guys and 2 gals. We said there was one spare bedroom and floor space in the living and dining rooms. It was up to them how they decided to spread the space (no lectures about guys being here - gals being there.) We said goodnight to the team, did our ablutions, and headed to our own bedroom. Five minutes later there was a knock on our door. "Yes," we said. A head poked through the door and said, "We've decided where we want to sleep." "Fine," we replied, not prepared for their next response. "With you," they all cried, and piled onto our bed with great laughter. College sailing has proven to be a great seed for a wonderful life between men and women who love the water. Here's to couples past and future. * From Peter Cassidy: One of the biggest honors in my life is when Mitch Gibbons-Neff accepted my invitation to be one of my Watch Captains in the 100th anniversary of the Newport Bermuda race onboard my S&S New York 32 "Siren". He hesitated only a moment indicating that he was concerned about the time he could commit to boat preparation for the race. I assured him that I could handle that aspect of the project and he assured me that I was under estimating it in his typical fashion. Sure enough he was right, but who was there to pick up the slack, Mitch Gibbons-Neff driving 3.5 hours to and from my boat in Marion, Ma from his home in CT. He spent several weekends of his free time and about 20 trips up and down my rig to make sure every shroud was tuned, every cotter pin taped and no halyard would suffer from chafe. No job was too big or too small, Mitch and I wet sanded the bottom of the boat, with bottom paint dripping from his elbows he stated "she looks fast". When we arrived in Bermuda, Mitch dawned his swim suit and proceeded to shower with a hose on the dock..."this is the way it use to be". I will miss you sir. Curmudgeon’s Comment: We will be closing this thread in the newsletter, but encourage comments and photos to be posted in the Forum, where Brad Read, Paul Buttrose, Tommy Mercer and others have offered their thoughts: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/07/mitch * From Danielle Richards, UCI Sailing Team Captain, President Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference: In response to Gail Turluck's letter in Scuttlebutt 2276. I sail for the UC Irvine Sailing Team, a smaller varsity team on the west coast. Our team is facing the same fundraising issues. We are one of those so called "funded teams" but that does not mean that we have a budget anywhere near big enough to travel on. For the fall season my teammates and I paid out of our own pockets to go compete on the east coast for 4 events. We slept on fraternity floors, dorm room floors and made do with what we have. Again this spring our members are so eager to compete and sail that once again we are paying out of pocket to go east. I would love to say that as a varsity sport it is easier but it is not. We did a tally of our alumni list and if every alumnus donated $35 dollars a year we would reach our annual fundraising goal. That's less then dinner and a movie for a couple. I think every former college sailor should go back and get in touch with their school; odds are they need your help. * From Bob Leslie: After reading his letter (in Issue 2277) it’s pretty obvious Mr Cushing has never had to solicit support for Sailing, and from this point on is the kiss of death for sponsors. Talk about looking gift horses in the mouth! * From Chris Dowling: (re, ‘SMALL VESSEL THREAT’ article in Issue 2276) I have thought about a "drivers" license for "boaters" for quite a some time now. A simple multiple-choice test with questions on basic rules of the road, navigation, seamanship, and safety. A brief practical where you can prove you can tie a bowline and a clove hitch and you are in business. I know it would be a hassle to take a trip to your local Department of Motor Vehicles to take a test, but just think about the benefits. Not to single out anybody, but just think how nice the waterways would be if every Sea Ray and jet ski operator knew something about what they were doing! * From Ted Beier, Chairman, National E-Scow Class Association (edited to the 250-word limit): I've been biting my lip, and trying to ignore this thread since the "magic box" article, but Steve Moore's letter in Issue 2275 has sent me over the top. I find his claim that racing is a "money-dominated event" disgusting, even though much of the sailing print media seems to support it based on a count of column inches devoted. People wonder why sailing is loosing popularity, but the answer seems pretty obvious when the lion's share of the publicity goes to the "lead bottomed money gobblers" that most cannot afford. One-design sailing is intended to take fat checkbooks out of the equation, and provide a game to determine which sailor has the best skills at solving the various time and distance problems mentally, feeling the trim of the boat, and reading the wind on the water up the course. He/she is NOT a servo that responds to the output of software generated performance differences. Most one-design sailors look down on those who try to "buy" trophies with large numbers of sails, new boats, and other gimmicks; and well they should. For those boats with all the software and generated power, we at Boeing can supply digital servos that can do a better job at trimming than the human ones. With some added expensive sensors, these digital servos can do the steering job too, and avoid the other boats and marks to boot. Then sailing will clearly be a sport no longer. How far in that direction do you want to go? * From Bob Pickett: It brings back a great trip 20 years ago reading about the exploding genoa and looking up on the wall over the desk and seeing a piece of the same sail (certificate # 00735) that I was able to purchase while in Fremantle cheering Stars & Stripes on to victory. CURMUDGEON’S ROMANCE MATHEMATICS Smart man + smart woman = romance Smart man + dumb woman = affair Dumb man + smart woman = marriage Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy Special thanks to new advertiser Morris Yachts and North U. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
