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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 667 - October 13, 2000WELL DESERVEDUS SAILING has announced that Carl Eichenlaub (San Diego, Calif.) will be the recipient of the 2000 Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy. The award, US SAILINGs most prestigious, is bestowed annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in this country in any associated activity. Eichenlaub has been a mainstay of the U.S. Olympic Sailing program for over twenty years. In 1979 he accompanied the Team attending the Pan Am Games as the official boatwright, a position he has held with five subsequent Pan Am Games Teams, two Goodwill Games Teams and six Olympic Teams. With an ability to fix boats that has become legendary, Eichenlaub now travels to each event with a specially outfitted 40 container that holds, among other things, a swedging machine, drill press, compressors, as well as a microwave for curing resin. The 70 year-young Eichenlaub, who seldom sits around with nothing to do, is frequently approached by foreign athletes with damaged equipment and seldom refuses a request for assistance once his work for the U.S. team is complete. His dedication to our sailors is unfailing and never more apparent than now - Eichenlaub suffered a broken hip at the Athletes Village during the Olympic Games yet maintained his duties while on crutches. Following a week of R&R at home he will return to Australia to assist the 2000 Paralympic Sailing Team during their competition scheduled for October 20-27 in Sydney. The owner/operator of Eichenlaub Marine can be found playing with a local symphony when not messing about with boats. - Jan Harley VOLVO OCEAN RACE New York, NY, October 12, 2000 - News Corporation, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies today announced its entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002. The Company declared a two-boat development and race strategy that includes an entry in the Sydney to Hobart race on December 26, 2000. The News Corporation syndicate will be managed by Ross Field Yachting and skippered by Britain's Jez Fanstone. The crew of 12 includes yachtsmen from Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The syndicate acquired a yacht from the 1997-98 Round the World race to compete in the Sydney to Hobart and for initial training in Auckland, New Zealand. A new Volvo Ocean 60 will be launched in 2001 for the Volvo Ocean Race campaign. Field has competed in four Whitbread Round the World races. His proven expertise in strategic planning and organization will provide strong back up for Fanstone and the sailing team. Field was a Watch Captain on the boat that won all six legs of the 1989-1990 race and was skipper of Yamaha, which won the Whitbread race in 1993-1994. His many international successes include winning the Melbourne-Osaka two-handed race, the Admiral's Cup and three Fastnet Races - two as skipper. In 1999 Field established a new monohull record for the classic Fastnet race. Fanstone 's broad sailing background includes crewing on the British yacht Silk Cut in the 1997-98 Whitbread race. Field and Fanstone teamed up to race in the European Maxi One Design Class, a successful partnership that has lead to their new joint venture with News Corporation. The two Watch Captains for the News Corporation syndicate will be Australian-born Steve Cotton and Englishman Neal McDonald. Both have previous round-the-world sailing experience. Ross Field Yachting has contracted Annapolis-based Bruce Farr to design an all-new yacht for the Volvo Ocean Race. Construction of the latest generation Farr design will begin at Cookson Boats in Auckland, New Zealand in October, with a scheduled launch for April 2001. The syndicate has purchased Merit Cup, a yacht built for a two-boat campaign in the last Whitbread race. This Farr-designed yacht is currently in New Zealand and being used for crew training and development in preparation for the Sydney-Hobart race. During the build-up phase of the campaign, the syndicate will be based at the America's Cup Harbour in Auckland and will relocate to southern England after completing sea trials off the New Zealand coast. V.O.R website: http://www.VolvoOceanRace.org REALISTIC COURSE CONDITIONS Compete online against other racers from around the world in realistic racecourse conditions. Experience lifelike sensations at the helm of a 24, 45 or 70-foot racer in response to realistic wind shifts, weather and currents. Visit http://www.virtualskipper.com/yw.asp today and play online for FREE. OLYMPIC PERSPECTIVE (Olympic Silver medalist Bob Merrick offers an overview of the US Sailing Team and its experience Down Under. Here is a brief excerpt from his story published on the SailNet website) After the Olympics in 1996 it was clear that the days of American supremacy in Olympic sailing were over. In that Olympiad, the US team took home only two bronze medals after dominating the previous three Olympic Regattas with medals in almost every event. Aided by the return of many veterans in 2000, the US Team had a successful event and has once again distinguished itself as one of the top teams in sailing. In 1996, no one country was rising to the top, but after the 2000 regatta that may be changing. The British and Australian teams, with the help of substantial government funding, have both made huge strides over the past four years and both are determined to become the next sailing superpower. With so many veterans on this years US Olympic Sailing Team, the indications are that the team we send to the Olympics in Greece in 2004 will no doubt be younger and less-experienced. What the next generation of Olympic sailors may lack in experience they will make up for in determination. In the Men's 470 Class, for example, no less than three teams from the US continued with their campaigns immediately following the trials, attending events in Europe this past spring and training in Sydney for the month of August. In November, ISAF will announce the classes that will compete in the next Olympic regatta, and the campaigns for 2004 will get underway in earnest. After 2000, the US Team is back on track and in a good position to build on its success for the future. - Bob Merrick, SailNet website Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=merric0017&tfr=fp LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) 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. -- From Ken Guyer - I could not agree more with Carolin Shining regarding sailors who are physically challenged when it comes to sailing. Until recently, I have always admired and applauded the accomplishments of such individuals from a distance. That all changed when on of my sailing buddies suffered a horrendous accident a couple of years ago while serving as a pilot for a national freight airline. Among the many injuries Craig Mueller suffered when run down by a 30,000 lb. forklift was the loss of his left leg above the knee and severe injury to his right leg. The fact he even survived is a tribute to the strength of his will to live. Flying and sailing pretty much summed up his on and off duty time before the accident. Afterward, getting back out on the water became a goal he set and was determined to accomplish. Long story short, just this past August, Craig realized his dream. He purchased a 51' Sparkman Stephens designed sloop well known in the southern California region as a former Lipton Cup and Big Boat Series winner. From the first day of sea trial it was evident by the ear to ear smile on his face as he took his place at the helm, sailing had given back to him some of what was taken in the accident. All of us involved with his goal of getting back on the water would agree, that smile was worth a million bucks. -- From Ellie Doyle - I would second Carolin (Keri) Shining's comments in 'butt 666 regarding disabled sailors. I have been lucky enough to sail with and against Paul Callahan and his team in the Sonar NA's as well as, local fleet racing in Marblehead. They are first and foremost sailors just like us. My experience is, unlike us non (physically) disabled types, these sailors consistently demonstrate the wonderful competitive spirit which we all look for in our sport and judging by recent comments in Scuttlebutt, seem to find lacking. -- From Dierk Polzin - Hey its not West Coast bias. Here in the Midwest we have our problems with US Sailing too. Let me just give one key issue that burns me an many others. Not collecting class dues at US Sailing ladder and championship events. US Sailing needs to keep the classes strong by not bypassing them at their Junior and Championship events. Why does US Sailing not collect Laser Class Dues for the Smythe or Junior Olympics? US Sailing hosts one event a summer around where I live the Laser Class hosts 20. By not collecting class dues US Sailing keeps these juniors in the dark, isolated and allienated from the class organization and informatitive mulit-page national and local newsletters. -- From Chris Ericksen - Steve Kuritz, in his letter in 'Butt 666, may have discovered the unspeakable truth about US Sailing: maybe the rank-and-file sailor is not the customer. Look at the programs: sailors with special needs, national championships, Olympic programs, junior programs; how much of this really impacts the weekend warriors like Steve and me? But maybe the customers are those who pay the bills. Sure, a lot of us pony up $25 or $35 or $50 per year for our membership--but what is that compared to the money paid by members of the President's Club or the big corporate sponsors? And what about the yacht clubs and junior programs and sailing associations who pay bigger annual dues? Maybe US Sailing is serving the customers: the ones who pay the bills. In the Presidential candidates' debate this week, Mr. Bush spoke the unspeakable truth: that the top five per cent of taxpayers in this country pay one-third of the total taxes and therefore deserve a bigger piece of a tax cut than the other 95 per cent. Maybe the same math applies at US Sailing. And maybe, Steve, you and I are just on the wrong end of the food chain: maybe we don't pay enough to be the customer. -- From Pat Healy - Steve Kuritz offered some thoughtful conclusions about US SAILING. But, when he says that sailors are customers of US SAILING I think misses the point. If Steve or I choose to be a part of the sailing community then we should support that community. At the beginning, how people learn to sail and who trains and certifies their instructors is done by US SAILING. If we are just out sailing, our national governing body insures that sailors have input to local and federal rule makers that could causing us no end of problems. When we race, the whole structure - rules, race management, handicap systems, safety regulations, protest committees - have been developed by US SAILING. We are not customers of US SAILING, we are members of the sailing community. We need to be good sailing citizens and support its basic structure with time (volunteering) or money, Whatever US SAILING annual dues are; they are a bargain compared to the benefits. PLAYSTATION Maxi-catamaran PlayStation went into Green Marine, Southampton, UK in late September to begin work on the hull extension programme announced by skipper Steve Fossett in early August. PlayStation is having her hulls lengthened over the next few weeks from 105' (32m) to 125' (38m). Steve Fossett: "PlayStation has the largest sail area of the new breed of multi-hulls (11,631 sq ft - 1,081 sq m downwind / 7,274 sq ft - 676 sq m upwind) - and therefore the most power. The longer hulls will allow us to use more of this power - especially upwind and in rough sea states - which we certainly expect to see in the Southern Ocean." Extensions to bows and transoms are both well underway, and the time in the factory is also being used to address other areas - including the refitting of the twin diesel engines (removed for the TransAtlantic record attempts), fitting of new trampolines and lighter and stronger Cuben Fibre sails, B-Sat telecoms gear and other computer equipment. The work is reported to be progressing on-schedule under the supervision of chief boat builder Sean Regan and watch captain Ben Wright - with the entire permanent crew working side-by-side staff at Green Marine. Skipper Fossett and crew are all itching to get back to the fray. Fossett expects that PlayStation will be back on the water around mid-November, when there will be about two weeks testing in the Solent and the English Channel before heading to the Mediterranean in preparation for 'The RACE' - no limits, non-stop around the world - which starts from Barcelona on 31 December. - PlayStation website, http://www.fossettchallenge.com/ OLYMPIC ATHLETES Members of the USAs 2000 Olympic Sailing Team will appear in New Orleans during the Annual General Meeting of US SAILING, national governing body for the sport. The Olympians will take part in a symposium Saturday, October 14, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Hotel Monteleone. A brief presentation will be followed by a question and answer session with the athletes. Of all U.S. Olympic sports at the 2000 Games, sailing finished an impressive fourth in the medal tally behind Swimming, Athletics and Wrestling. 15 countries divided up the 33 available sailing medals in Sydney, with four won by U.S. sailors. (By comparison, 22 nations divided the same number of medals in 1996.) The USA remains the undisputed leader in Olympic Sailing, with a total medal record of 54. Participating in the New Orleans symposium will be three-time Olympian boardsailor Lanee Butler (Aliso Viejo, Calif.); 470 Womens Silver Medallist Pease Glaser (Long Beach, Calif.); Tornado skipper John Lovell (New Orleans, La.), a two-time Olympian; 470 Mens Silver Medallist Bob Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.); and four-time Olympian Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.), who with crew Magnus Liljedahl (Miami, Fla.) won the Star Gold Medal. Reynolds and Liljedahl are also the current Star World Champions. - Jan Harley
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