|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2158 - August 14, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.AMERICAN SWEEP California YC, Marina del Rey, Calif. --- Kyle Rogachenko, who finished eighth at last year’s Laser Radial Youth Worlds in Fortaleza, Brazil, became the first American to win the Laser Radial Youth Worlds Championships Saturday, while 15-year-old Claire Dennis in the girls competition and Bill Petersen in the boys' Silver fleet completed an American sweep of the event. Rogachenko, 18, of Collegeville, Pa. and Dennis of San Francisco led their classes entering the sixth and last day. Rogachenko paced the 70-boat boys' Gold fleet by 10 points and Dennis was the leader among 39 girls by eight points. But with the second throwouts still to kick in, they had to hold off strong bids from their nearest contenders---Brazil's Guilherme Barbosa Lima in the boys and Spain's Susan Romero in the girls. Dennis didn't have to sail the last race, in which she cruised to 11th place, her only double-digit finish in 10 races. She turned 15 only 33 days earlier, was the minimum age for the event. Also remarkable was that the previous week she competed in the women's championship and qualified for the upper Gold fleet, among the grown-ups. The Radial will be the women's new single-handed dinghy for the Olympics in China in 2008, but Dennis isn't really interested. "I'm going to be a sophomore in high school," she said. "Maybe in 2012." -- Rich Roberts, http://www.calyachtclub.com Laser Radial Youth Worlds, Male -- 133 boats: 1. Kyle Rogachenko, USA, 62 2. Guilherme Barbosa Lima, BRA 75 3. Mathew Archibald, ESP CAN, 84 4. Joaquin Blanco, ESP,86 5. James Sandall, NZL, 96 Laser Radial Youth Worlds, Female -- 38 boats: 1. Claire Dennis, USA, 17 2. Susana Romero, ESP, 19 3. Allie Blecher, USA, 25 4. Laura Maes, BEL, 31 5. Stephanie Roble, USA, 41 GOLD FOR MENDELBLATT AND STRUBE Neustadt, Germany -- Floridians Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube have won the Star European Championship with a score of just 10 points, and a 15 edge over Brazilian three time Laser Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt and crewman Bruno Prada. For the third straight days, the breeze was too light to hold any races on the Bay of Lübeck, and with just five races sailed there was some debate over whether this constituted an adequate number of races to be considered officially a European championship. However the Star Class rule book states a championship of this caliber is considered invalid “if it not possible to complete four races.” The European title itself went to fifth place finishers, Diego Negri/ Luigi Viale, Italy. Final results: 1. Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube, USA, 10 points 2. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada, Germany, 25 3. Andrew Horton, Brad Nichol, USA, 27 4. Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams, New Zealand, 27 5. Diego Negri/Luigi Viale, Italy, 29 http://www.Rolex-Baltic-Week.com and http://starclass.org ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY One of Team Shosholoza’s key sailors, Charles Nankin, 28, of Cape Town, is in post operative spinal recovery in a German hospital after he was accidently knocked off the yacht and hit by the rudder while racing in a Grand Prix sailing event in Kiel, Germany, last Sunday. Nankin, had gone forward on yacht Shosholoza RSA 48 to help pull in the spinnaker while rounding a leeward mark when he was hit unexpectedly by the foresail as it came across the bow and flung him overboard. Because the boat was turning he was pushed under water and hit his back against the rudder as the stern swung around. Trapped by the force of the water, his body became wrapped around the rudder but miraculously he found super-human strength to push himself off and surface within 30 seconds. He was immediately picked up by the Shosholoza chase boat and transferred by ambulance to the University of Schleswig-Holstein’s, Clinic for Traumatology in Kiel. He underwent a three hour operation, led by director of the clinic, Dr A. Seekamp, on Monday in which titanium was used to stabilize his second vertebrae which was fractured in the incident. He was sitting up and walked briefly on crutches yesterday (Thursday) and has no other spinal, neck or cerebral injury. He is expected to remain in hospital until 20 August after which he will join the rest of Team Shosholoza at their base in Valencia, Spain. Doctors have advised that he will need physiotherapy for three months and should be able to resume normal sports activities after six months. -- http://www.teamshosholoza.com A YEAR OF FIRSTS FOR THIS J CLASS From one-design starts at Key West, Deauxville and Cork Week to the first North Americans (at Rolex NYYC Race Week) and a 21-boat fleet at Skandia Cowes Week, the J/109 class is buzzing. 300+ boats are now sailing worldwide, and best yet, 70% of the owners actively cruise. http://www.jboats.com/j109 SCOW CHAMPIONSHIPS The 2006 Inland Lake Yachting Association Championships began with 28 A One Design scows taking to the water of Lake Geneva, WI. With Buddy Melges, Andy Burdick, and Gary Jobson all serving at the helm, the event promised to be rich in talent. Jobson served as a guest skipper and emcee of the premiere of “The Ultimate Ride”, a film chronicle of the development of A scows. After six races, the regatta title belonged to Geneva’s John Porter with Harry Melges as tactician winning by two points over multiyear past champion Rob Evans of Minnetonka. PRO Ken Legler returned to Inland waters to enjoy the event. The ILYA Championships continue this week with MC scows, E scows and I-20s competing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A Open class, C scows and M-16s share the waters the last half of the week. This marks the 107th year of the ILYA. -- http://www.lgyc.com/ GREETED BY DEAD SILENCE Skovshoved, Denmark (Aug. 13, 2006) — How do you take hope and anticipation away from a crowd of 1,500? If you’re Sébastian Col you defeat local hero Jesper Bank in the final of the 10th annual Danish Open. Col, 29, of Sete, France, won his first career World Tour event with a 3-1 defeat of the former champion. Col and crewmembers Christophe André, Jean-Francois Cuzon, Gilles Favennec and Teva Plichart became the first non-Scandinavian team to win the championship in the past six years. When Col and crew crossed the finish line of Race 4 more than 30 seconds in the lead the partisan crowd was dead silent. They finished the regatta with a 12-6 record and won DKK112,500 (approximately $19,000) of the DKK375,000 (approx. $64,000) prize purse. “What’s incredible is it’s our third Grade 1 win this year and second in a row,” said Col, the helmsman for Areva Challenge. “We won earlier this year in Marseille and last week in France. It’s a magical year.” Bank, the skipper for United Internet Team Germany, sailed with Henrik Blakskjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Matti Paschen and Jan Schoepe. They finished with a 14-4 record and won DKK75,000 (approx. $12,700). -- Sean McNeill, HTTP://www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com Danish Open Final Standings: 1. Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 12-6, (approx. $19,000) 2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 14-4, (approx. $12,700) 3. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 10-6 (approx. $9,500) 4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 9-7, (approx. $7,600) 5. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 8-6, (approx. $5,700) 6. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 7-7, (approx. $2,800) 7. Sten Mohr (DEN) BMW ORACLE Racing, 6-6, (approx. $2,800) 8. Peter Wibroe (DEN) Team Wibroe, 4-8, (approx. $2,200) 9. Dorte O. Jensen (DEN) Team Sjælsø Gruppen, 4-7 10. Simon Minoprio (NZL) Vision Yachting, 3-8 11. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 3-8 12. Mads Ebler (DEN), 2-9 JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Texas Corinthian YC, Kemah, TX – Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) has won the 2006 U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship in impressive style taking home US Sailing’s Smythe Trophy. Last year’s champion, Cameron Cullman (Rye, NY) took second place after a tie breaker with Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.). In the battle for the U.S. Doublehanded Championship for US Sailing's Bemis Trophy, it all came down to the last race as the top two boats were only two points apart. Then, the teams were tied at 15 points. In the tie breaker, Portland Yacht Club’s Alan Palmer (Yarmouth, Me) and Katherine Gullick (Portland, Me) edged out Sam Williams (Summit, NJ) and Margaret Rew (Princeton, NJ) sailing for Bay Head Yacht Club with teammates Molly Lucas (Little Silver, NJ) and Sam’s sister, Charlotte in third. Sponsored by Chubb Insurance Group and Vanguard Sailboats, the event was sailed in Laser and Club 420s. Vanguard’s sponsorship provides identically matched boats in each division, ensuring that each team is equally matched. http://www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/single/ http://www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjr/double/ SAILING SHORTS * North Cape Yacht Club, LaSalle, Michigan -- By scoring top five finishes in the first six of seven races Greg Fisher, Brent Barbehenn and Sarah Paisley of Arnold, MD won the Thistle National Championship by 19 points. Second place went to Skip Dieball, Karl Bradley and Ryanne Gallagher of Toledo, Ohio who narrowly edged out Paul Abdullah, Scott Griffin and Krissy Abdullah of Jacksonville, Florida. Fourth Place went to Kyle Finefrock, Brad Russell and Megan Keyser of Akron, Ohio. Fifth went to Chris Murphy, Jess Kitchin and Scott Lennox of Orange, NJ. -- http://www.thistle2006.com * The Sonar North American Championships were held August 11-13 at the Rochester YC in Rochester, NY. Twenty-seven teams including disabled teams from five nations competed on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Friday and Saturday were very shifty with more seas than wind making for extremely challenging racing. Sunday gave a variety of conditions from light winds to whitecaps building in the last two races of the day. Ten races were held in all with Peter Galloway dominating the series. Bill Lynn was second, Dave Curtis in third, Dru Slattery in fourth, and David Franzel in fifth. -- http://www.rochesteryc.com. * Newport, RI sailor Jim Richardson with Tactician Vince Brun of San Diego and their crew on “Barking Mad” decisively won the 20-boat Farr 40 New England Regatta with ten points to spare. Second place went to Matt Allen’s “Ichi Ban” with Grant Simmer as tactician, while Philippe Kahn’s “Pegasus” was awarded the third place trophy. “Pegasus” was driven by substitute helmsman Terry Mclaughlin of Canada and tactician Chris Larson. Next up for the Farr 40s is the pre-word and world championship scheduled for September 1-2 and 6-9 in Newport.6-9 in Newport. -- http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/m/_general/06f40ne.asp * Photographer Chris Cameron caught the final sail by America’s Cup team Emirates Team New Zealand of NZL82, which was celebrated by sailing her into the harbor in Valencia, Spain under spinnaker. ETNZ has wrapped up their summer training in Valencia, and now begins the arduous process of moving to their home camp in Auckland, NZL. Great view of NZL82 sailing into the harbor: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0811.jpg * In the last six weeks five Optimist continental championships have seen the participation of 544 different sailors from 80 countries. An overview of the highlights which included medals for sailors from such countries as Egypt, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Tahiti, with links to all the results, has been published at www.optiworld.org/ioda-news.html *The selection committee for Disney's Pacific High Productions has named the 15 young sailors who will advance to training in Hawaii early next year on the Transpac 52 that 11 or 12 will sail in next summer's Transpacific Yacht Race, without coaches or advisors on board. The tryouts were the first phase of a film documentary by Disney's Pacific High Productions planned for theatrical release in 2008. They will be the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac. The list is posted at: http://www.pacifichighproductions.com/News/PacificHighNews.html * Final results of the IMS Offshore World Championship held as part of the Rolex Baltic Week: Division One: Yugtransit, Sergey Shevtsov/ Russia, 19.13 points; 2. Data Communication, Ralf Aspholm/ Sweden, 54.50; 3. Moonshine, Matthias Müller von Blumencron/ Germany, 65.50. Division Two: . Froschkönig, Detlef Amlong/ Germany, 33.00 points; 2. No Limits, Sven and Lars Christensen/ Germany, 39.00; 3. Patent3, Jürgen Klinghardt/ Germany, 46.50. -- http://www.Rolex-Baltic-Week.com * Newt Wattis and crew Eric Joesten of Surf City YC in New Jersey dominated the 22-boat, six-race Mariner Class National Championship at Narrasketuck YC. Local sailor Jim Leiz finished eight points further back in second place with Frank Marinaccio taking third. -- http://www.usmariner.org/2006Results.jpg * Correction: Issue 2157 incorrectly reported the second place finisher of the Naples Sabot Nationals as Stacy Mace. Her correct name is Sally Mace. Complete results at http://www.sdyc.org/sabot/results.htm OLD NEWS NEVER DIES News never dies at Scuttlebutt, as every issue of the Scuttlebutt newsletter is stored in the Archived Newsletters section of the Scuttlebutt website. If you are ever looking for past information, use the Google search tool in the Archives to help: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/archivedMonth.asp?year=2006 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Rick Tears: I think that the expert who recommends the amount of sunscreen lotion to use (1 oz.) is the same person who mixes my drinks at the bars in the airport terminals. * From Marc Jacobi (edited to our 250-word limit): in 1982, during a presentation at one of the first CISA racing clinics, Dave Ullman told junior racers about skin and eye problems he had already experienced due to sun exposure. His talk had a profound effect on both my sailing and skin care regimen: ever since, I have assiduously attempted to protect my skin, wearing sunscreen, clothing and hats that sometimes made me the object of jokes. In the ensuing 24 years, two Olympic campaigns and untold days on the water, I’ve had very few sunburns; nonetheless, there is significant damage to my skin. Only this year I learned a possible reason why: most sunscreens marketed in the united states provide UVB, but *not* UVA protection. UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin than UVB, causing "photoaging" effects such as wrinkles and skin cancer. I was chagrined to learn my favorite sunscreen, that comes in a "sporty" blue bottle, wasn't providing any UVA protection! Please let your readers know to look for products with an SPF of at least 15, containing UVA absorbers such as camsule, or mexoryl SX (also known as "parsol 1789" and recently approved for sale), titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide. such products are sometimes marketed as "full spectrum" sunblocks--careful perusal of the labels will tell if such products indeed contain any of the above-mentioned UVA inhibitors. Finally, expiration dates on the package should be observed. * From Steve Morrell, Editor, Southwinds Magazine: In reference to Doran Cushing's (former editor of Southwinds) comments on the Florida sailors who seem to make up such a large number of today's racers - displacing California as the capital of the most racers - he ends with the comment, "It must be the water." No, Doran. It's the property values. Have you ever tried to buy a house in California? * From Hal Smith: Thanks to the Curmudgeon for the invite to participate in the Forums this week. It was instructive and disappointing. There are many incidents and issues that need to be examined and debated. It is too bad that many people commented with great passion but no civility and, often, a flawed stream of thought. When a comment quickly employed expletives, even with nonsense characters, I knew that the thought content would be worthless. I plead guilty to having exhibited bad behavior in the heat of a racing moment, but rudeness, crudeness and vitriol are counterproductive and inappropriate in a post-mortem. I believe that we do not have to reflect our society that has drifted in the direction of embracing coarse behavior. Rather, the other comments were very encouraging even when they may not have been my view. Most of the comments were obviously made by people who share my love of sailing and racing. Something positive may come from those sincere contributions. Now, let's go have a good time on the water. * From Tom Mullen: A recent Letter To The Editor spoke in glowing terms about how much fun it is tossing around water balloons and I certainly agree with the fun part. Unfortunately there have been reports of serious eye injuries from direct facial hits. It seems that when the water filled balloon makes contact with the eye socket, the balloon distends itself into the eye cavity. Then, as it withdraws from the socket, it does so with so much suction that it has been known to pluck the eyeball right out of the the skull. I liken it to the action of a toilet plunger, which is not hard to imagine as most of us have had to occasion to use such a device. Although I'm sure that such traumatic injuries are rare, the fun aspect of water balloon fights can't possibly justify the risk factor of such activities. Squirt guns are just as much fun and infinitely safer! * From Paul Kamen: Christopher Parker asks if "any geniuses out there think of a good substitute" for water balloons. We solved this problem decades ago on Long Island Sound: Jellyfish. * Tom Kirwan Commodore Chula Vista Yacht Club (In response to Glenn McCarthy in Butt 21540: At our Club “Race Your Home” tries to get live-aboards and slip queens out on the water to have some fun. Now these boats frequently have old sails, and lots of stuff on board. Or they are new owner with very inexperienced crew. They can’t race! So we take them upwind 11 miles and let them sail downwind and reach to the finish, We adjust the PHRF rating to compensate for the “stuff” on board They show that there’s an oven on board by handing over fresh baked goodies Or some other incentive. With water fights on the way to the finish, and costumes and accessories to prove they really live aboard it is as much a parade as a race. And lots of prizes and sharing of goodies at the end. If you can make it, please join us Sep. 2nd 2006, Chula Vista YC. (SI at cvyc.org) Thanks and have fun out there! * From Rick Bernstein: I found the conversation of the week, regarding putting/keeping fun in our great sport, very invigorating and even motivating. Discussions had turned away from the seemingly lost world of the corporate rich America’s Cup interest it attempted to relegate to the day sailor. I was happy and thankful for the conversations about fun. Then this happens, Miami Race Week abandons the weekend sailor in favor of the Grand Prix money. I know I’m being sort of draconian, but this is sad, sad, sad. Cumudgeon's Comment: We checked in with the President of Premiere Racing, Peter Craig, regarding Rick's note, and Peter replied: “If you read the entire release (www.premiere-racing.com), we believe you’ll see that the weekend sailor had not been ‘abandoned’. Premiere Racing would like nothing better than to continue to grow Acura Miami Race Week and include all the boats and classes that participated during the past 2 years. We carefully explored all options and contingencies, but found we really had only two choices for 2007 - reduce the scale or cancel the event. With insufficient slips available for the ocean component, there was no choice but to reduce the fleet size (invited classes). Significantly higher costs for dockage suggests the smaller, ‘non-grand prix programs’ would pass on attending and seek out some of the other options available (e.g. Key West, St Pete NOOD, Charleston Race Week). Regarding the Biscayne Bay component, it was the Etchells class that changed their Mid-Winter regatta dates for 2007. The announced format change enables us to keep the event alive while we await the current hurricane season’s impact on South Florida marinas and their business decisions for 2008 and beyond.” CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Yes, sweet, little, 80-year-old ladies do say the “F word” -- and it’s generally right after another sweet, little, 80-year-old lady yells "Bingo." Today’s issue of Scuttlebutt presented by J/Boats. |
