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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 862 - July 22 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, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
THE MIDDLE GROUND PAYS "We are ecstatic," Josh Hall, skipper of Gartmore said in a satellite phone conversation. "We have been looking at this weather option for three days now and I must say that I am pleased that it has worked out this well." Early on in the leg Gartmore missed a weather opportunity and slipped back in the standings. In a bold move Hall and his team decided to take a more southerly route compared to the race leaders, and for now it seems to be paying off. "We have made some big gains on the leaders and hope to continue pushing the boat at speed until later today when I think the wind will swing back into the west and we will be bashing into it again." The fleet is headed to Baltimore, the first boats are expected to arrive in a week.
Current positions: Event site: http://www.edsatlanticchallenge.com
YNGLING WORLDS Behind him saw two all female crews taking the Silver and Bronze, both skippered by well-known match racing sailors, Betsy Alison and Hannah Swett respectively, with a further all female crew skippered by Jody Swanson in 5th place. Also on board Jody's boat is Cory Sertl, who is on the ISAF Council (final decision making body of ISAF) representing the interests of women sailors. -- From the ISAF website at http://www.sailing.org Final Results after 7 races (one discard)
1. C Skolaut - AUT 201 - 41.80 Complete results at http://www.sailing.tm/yngling/
BACARDI BAYVIEW-MACKINAC
DRAGON WORLDS In the overall standings, Phillip came first, and thus wrested the Dragon title from Denmark's Claus Hoj Jensen. Second overall was another German crew skippered by Werner Fritz and third Denmark's Frank Eriksen. Phillipp received the Royal Hellenic Cup - the Epathion Vassileus - at a prize-giving ceremony in Hornbaek, which has hosted the 2001 Dragon Worlds. He will hold the trophy until the next World Championships, due to take place in Hobart, Tasmania in 2003. The next major international Dragon event will take place in Oostende, Belgium 18-25 August when the prestigious Gold Cup will be held. Unlike the World Championships, the Dragon Gold Cup is held each year. The website address for the Gold Cup home page is http://www.dragongoldcup2001.be/welcome.html . Complete results and photos on the event site: http://www.dragonworld.dk
PINKS AND WEEKS TAKE THE 29ER WORLDS
Gold Fleet
Silver Feet Complete results (and a nice site, VERY frequent updates) at http://29erworlds.org/01/
A HARD SAIL IS GOOD TO FIND
OPTIMIST WORLDS The final race with up to 78% DNFs was unfortunate but was raced strictly in accord with the Sailing Instructions and did not radically affect the top 10 or more places. The main fact established by this regatta is that Asian sailors are very good in light airs. This is not because they are physically small. The Asian team-members were not significantly lighter than the average. Huge effort has gone into Asian sailing in the last ten years. For much of the year south Asia does not have a lot of wind and their coaches are accustomed to sending their sailors out where a northern coach might shrug and hold a theory lesson. With reduced airfares in recent years and the availability of totally one-design hulls to charter, the Japanese and Singaporeans in particular travel widely in search of experience. And their coaches, local except for Singapore, are always eager to learn. Perhaps we should not be so surprised: the evidence has been there for a couple of years. In 1999 we had for the first time an Asian sailor in the top ten and whenever winds have been light at other regattas Asians have been in the top places. Earlier this year in Dubai Singapore beat Italy in a special team-racing event at the IODA Asians. - China took individual silver, best girl and 4th in the team-racing - Japan took silver in the team-racing - Malaysia took individual bronze - Singapore placed fourth both individually and in the national rankings, and even Thailand, absent from our Worlds for some years, placed ahead of such strongholds of sailing as Denmark and Canada. Qingdao 2008 Olympics is on the horizon -- And some of the sailors of this year's Optimist Worlds will be there, just as Ben Ainslie progressed from our 1989 Worlds to an Olympic medal seven years later. The venue will not be changed and in summer there is not a lot of wind anywhere in China. The IODA team, which includes two of the five Olympic Race-Officers, have identified areas of the city coastline with a little more wind. But not much. It will be interesting to see whether the light-air skills of Asian sailors can be translated into medals in 2008. -- Robert Wilkes, Optimist Class Secretary. Full results at http://www.optiworld.org/01worlds.html
EVERYWHERE
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Andrew Spaulding: In response to Ted Jones' inquiry regarding the Wee Scot of Western Long Island Sound: I found the information below on the Port Washington Public Library's web site with a google.com search, see http://www.pwpl.org/collections/special/local-history/lh-38.html. There is a box of materials at the library with: "the Constitution of the Association, copies of notices sent to members, regulations of the Wee Scot Racing Class, Milton Boat Yards design plans and brochures, diagrams of sails, minutes of meetings held in 1937, season events of 1937, membership lists, and Berberich's extensive correspondence as Secretary of the Association. This correspondence documents Berberich's attempts to build a list of Wee Scot owners, to determine the optimum dimensions for Wee Scot sails, to keep members of the Association informed about improvements proposed to the Milton Boat Yards, and to put prospective buyers of Wee Scots in touch with boat owners." * From Randy Bartholomew: To find out more info about the Wee Scot Class, try contacting both Mystic Seaport and Woodenboat magazine. * From Carol Boe: Recently, the 'butt recommended a book about the infamous 1998 Sydney-Hobart Race "The Proving Ground" by G. Bruce Knecht. ÊHaving read "The Fatal Storm" by Rob Mundle, I figured it'd be just a rehash. Wrong! Whereas the Storm gave a great overview, this one takes you more inside the noteworthy crews before, during and after the race. It's a heart pounding page burner, especially for us weekend racers who'll never know what 65 knots over the deck feels like. The 'butt was right: this belongs in every sailor's bookcase, right next to the Fatal Storm and Fastnet Force 10. * From Brian Kane: Some months ago I purchased a e-conditioned Iridium Satellite phone for $450 with Stratos as the service provider. I have been very satisfied witht he phone until last Friday when I had a message from Stratos asking me to contact them. This was a demand for an additional $500 deposit for 1 year (no interest!!) or they would disconnect my service. The excuse for this was that they had been unable to perform a credit check on me in the UK and therefore assumed that I was a credit risk for them. No mention of this deposit was made when I purchased the phone. I have spoken to their customer service and credit departments and they refuse to budge on the $500 and refuse to pay any interest either. They have me over a barrel and are well aware of it. Perhaps you could warn your readers of their policy in case anyone else is thinking of using Stratos as their Iridium service provider. * From Steve Steiner (edited to our 250 word maximum): I just had a very good experience with a ship while heading into Honolulu. A ship was heading out from the island as we were heading for Koko Head.They were coming fast and heading directly at us. We were making about 10-12 knots in 20-23 knots of wind. We were aboard the Sydney 40 'Bull' with a small carbon fiber mast so I hailed the ship on channel 16 to make sure that he had us on radar. I learned from a Tug Captain a few years ago to hail using their approximate Latitude and Longitude, their approximate bearing, and any point of reference you can find. I was told that most ship radio operators don't even know that they are being hailed without their name being used; which we know is impossible from aboard a sailing yacht at sea. When I hailed the ship off Hawaii, we received an immediate response from the Captain of the ship. He not only saw us on the radar, but knew what boat we were and congratulated us for our inevitable overall win in Transpac. He also altered his course by at least 20 degrees to avoid us completely. Thank you to the honorable captain of that ship that night. I know most of the YachtRacing world has had at least one frightening experience with a ship at sea, but I thought I should let sailors know that there are a few great ship's captains left.
GREAT LAKES MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
WHAT'S ON THIS WEEK
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