|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1350 - June 13, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. THE SHORT LIST Geneva - With the objective of choosing the venue and host city for the 32nd America's Cup, AC Management retained eight European venues in March this year. At the time the eight were each requested to supply in-depth technical information to facilitate AC Management's task in making the best choice of venue for the next event of the world's oldest sporting trophy, the America's Cup. In particular, the eight cities were asked questions concerning specific local weather patterns, outline plans for the hosting arrangements as well as details of their initial thoughts on the likely infrastructure and logistical facilities. Over the past ten weeks, this unique search for a European venue suited to hosting an event as important as the America's Cup has required extensive studies and on-site visits. "I have followed the process carefully," says Pierre-Yves Firmenich, Commodore of the Société Nautique de Genève, "and each of the eight candidates presented outstanding bids. It has obviously been extremely difficult to make the choice. However, ultimately, only one venue can be chosen and so it is now time to publish a shortlist." The remaining venues are, in alphabetical order, Lisbon (POR), Marseille (FRA), Naples (ITA), Palma de Mallorca (ESP), Valencia (ESP). Michel Bonnefous, CEO of AC Management commented: "With this shortlist we have refined our goals considerably and will now work closely with each of the remaining venues through the next crucial steps in the process. Over the coming months, we will be concentrating on the more precise details for hosting the America's Cup. We need to understand clearly the minutiae of every positive and negative element associated with each venue. It is probable that the next announcement in this process will be the identity of the final choice." As defined in the America's Cup Protocol, this announcement will be made on or before December 15, 2003. Following Team Alinghi's America's Cup victory in Auckland in March 2003, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), the new trustee of the Cup, has appointed AC Management Ltd to organize the 32nd America's Cup, including choosing the host city. - Marcus Hutchinson Curmudgeon's Comment: For those keeping score, the venues eliminated by AC Management were Balcelona, the island of Elba, off Italy, and Porto Cervo in Sardinia. IT'S OVER Like a poker player who knows that his streak has ended and is smart enough to push his chair back and cash in his chips, Barry Carroll has decided to call it a day and close Carroll Marine. For 19 years, Carroll and his team of boat builders have been producing such popular race boats as the Mumm 36, Frers 33, 1D35, Corel 45, Concordia 47, Farr 40, Tripp 40 Farr 52, Carroll Marine 60, Farr 395, and most recently, a Wally 60. "It's sad and it's not," said Carroll in an interview last Friday. "Financially it's a good ending, emotionally it's a little tough. * Carroll also cited the lack of a grand-prix rule as being part of his decision to pull the plug. "As a businessperson who had a ten million dollar business to run, I was finding it more and more difficult to put all my eggs in one basket, especially when there's no grand-prix rule. The last six months we were able to get Tom Hill's Titan done and out the door," said Carroll. "And he's happy with it and we made some money, but all these other projects we were talking about with people never happened. We didn't lose them to someone else, they just didn't get done. - Tony Bessinger, Sailing World magazine website. Do yourself a favor and read the whole story: http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_article.php?articleID=1864 NORTH SAILS' TIM HEALY ON LAYLINE'S NEW VANG BLOCK Walt's long time friend/customer, Tim Healy with North Sails, has been putting our new Harken Vang Block through its paces on his J24, "Anna." Besides saying it worked great, Tim added some really nice go-fast nuggets to a conversation posted on the Layline website. It's worth reading even if you are not a J24 racer - the tips apply to almost all boats. And, as always, feel free to call us with questions or just to talk sailing! 800-542-5463. Tim's comments are at http://www.layline.com/llf/boats/j24/j24_healy_vang_article.htm TRANSPAC It was convenient how Transpacific Yacht Club scheduled its 42nd biennial race from Los Angeles to Hawaii this summer because it fit right into Scott Piper's plans. "This is part of the third circumnavigation," he said. Piper's Pipe Dream IX from Coral Gables, Fla. is one of three J/160s and eight J Boats overall. All will start in Divisions 3 and 4 on the Fourth of July, following the Cal 40 and Aloha fleets on July 1 and preceding Divisions 1 and 2 on July 6. The other J/160s are Peter Johnson's Maitri and Myron Lyon's Innocent Merriment, both from San Diego. There also are a J/145, two J/125s and two J/120s. There is even another boat named Pipe Dream: John Davis' Choate/Feo 37 from Long Beach. But it's a good bet that among the race's 59 entries none has as much mileage under its keel as Pipe Dream IX. Piper, 64, has sailed the 53-foot boat 79,341 nautical miles since he bought it in 1996. That's more than 35 Transpacs, at 2,225 miles each. In the past seven years the Florida orthopedic surgeon has been around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, through the Suez Canal and through the Panama Canal four times, including on this tour. - Rich Roberts, www.transpacificyc.org WOMEN'S MATCH RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP This year's ISAF Women's Match Racing Worlds is being held in the Scandinavian match racing mecca of Sundsvall, Sweden from June 17-21 provided J/80 keelboats. The competitors are: Marie Björling SWE (Ranked - 1) Malin Millbourn SWE (2) Marie Faure FRA (3) Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen DEN (4) Nina Braestrup DEN (5) Liz Baylis USA - (2002 World Champion -ranked 8) Betsy Allison USA (9) Sabrina Gurioli ITA (10) Gwen Joulie FRA (11) Ines Montefusco ITA (12) Deborah Willits USA (16) Linda Rahm SWE (17) Event website: http://www.sailing.org/matchrace NEWS BRIEFS * In a truly dominating performance on a long day on the waters of the Garda Lake, Italy, former Young America skipper Ed Baird and his Team Musto rolled off five straight wins to take control of his group in the Pedrini Cento Cup. Holding onto second place, with four wins and one loss is Sweden's Bjorn Hansen. Three skippers share third place, with a two win, three loss scoreline, Jes Gram-Hansen, Mathieu Richard and Maxim Taranov. - Cup in Europe website. http://www.cupineurope.com/MatchRace/03Pedrini-EN.htm * Huge- The Island Sailing Club's annual race round the Isle of Wight (UK) will have more than 1,500 boats lining up for the start on Saturday, June 21. http://www.yachting-world.com/auto/newsdesk/20030511115400ywnews.html * The sailors with disabilities sloop Kaz passed the half way mark 18 days 8 hours into her Australian circumnavigation. Based on their average speed over the last 3319 miles, Kaz has a new ETA of June 29th, a full eight days inside Magna Data's 1999 record. http://www.sailorswithdisabilities.com/03/challenge.html SAIL MAGAZINES TOP TEN From Sail Magazine's website - We've been hearing from angst-ridden readers ever since we published a survey of 10 of the top sailing events. We'll remind readers that Josh Adams picked: - Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta - Opening Day in Seattle - Swiftsure International Yacht Race - DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge - J/24 Silver Anniversary Regatta - Optimist Nationals - Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship - Audi Melges 24 World Championship Full story: http://www.sailmagazine.com/news/NEWS/ ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTION Would you jump out of a plane without a parachute? Go in a rainstorm without an umbrella? Then why go sailing without your Dirty Dogs? Dirty Dogs are a sailor's first line of defense against UV and glare. Too worried you'll lose them? Stop, DD has got you covered. Introducing the new Wet Glass. Half sunglass, half goggle, the detachable headband keeps your protection in place on the water and you in place off the water. Dirty Dog and Annapolis Performance Sailing remind you to always wear protection. Check out the DD Wet Glass at http://www.apsltd.com/scuttlebutt.asp LOOKING FOR SOMETHING? The Scuttlebutt website now has a search feature in the Archived Newsletter section. Type in your keywords and let the search engine look through all the Scuttlebutt issues dating back to 1998. Want to type your own name in and see how famous you are? Want to see how times a sponsor's name is mentioned in Scuttlebutt? Looking for information on a Scuttlebutt advertiser? Now you can at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/archivedMonth.asp?year=2003 TORNADO EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Cagliari, Sardinia - Shifty conditions were the order of the day for competitors at the Tornado Europeans. 8 knots building to 14 kept everyone on their toes. Austrian crews are dominating the European event, while the Australian pair of Darren Bundock and John Forbes (21 pts) have a 12 point lead the open championship for the Mats Nyberg Trophy. The top North American boats are Lars Gluck/ Jonathan Farrar (17th place- 83 pts), John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree (29 - 128pts) and Robbie Daniel/ Eric Jocobsen (30 - 129 pts). http://www.yachtclub-cagliari.com/tornado/classifiche/12giugno.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Kimberly Birkenfeld: The news article about the German Tornado team made me uncontrollably physically shake as I read it. I am so thankful that sailors Jo Jo Polgar and Andrew Landenberger were not seriously injured or killed by the powerboat. It is hard to comprehend how any sailor could be broadsided by a powerboat in clear daylight. Twice in less than a year this has happened - just ten months ago in Athens, Greece, my Olympic windsurf board was broadsided by a powerboat while I was warming up in the Saronikos Gulf for a race. The boat driver in my case implausibly denied any responsibility for the accident. I was in a coma, and once out of the coma, unable to speak for almost a month, so there were no statements from me. I suffer from severe traumatic brain injury to my cerebellum and incomplete paralysis. Thankfully, my cognitive ability was spared. To quote from the story, "The only thing both Andrew and Jo Jo could keep saying was it was unbelievable to think that someone involved in the race could be so careless." Thanks to God that they are OK. * From Dougall Johnson: All courses should be void of non competitors. Period! It's tough enough to win a race without having to ask a coach boat whether to "tack or cross". * From Peter Huston: Peter Harken is 100% correct about what junior sailing should be about. Has anyone bothered to ask the kids if they want all of this supervision? Ronald Dominicus asks for help in solving this problem at big Opti regattas. Having been involved in this issue in the past, I'm certain that writing rules about keeping coach boats out of the racing area will be either ignored, loopholes found in them, or the wealthiest of the parents will hire lawyers to get the rules overturned, and/or sue the event organizers. So, lets take a chapter from the world of hit TV shows. Require the kids to vote for "Worst coach" and "Biggest nerd parent" of each regatta. Post a picture of the winners of the contest, along with all the results on the event website. Add 10 points per race to each kids score who has a parent or coach in a private boat on the course. And if none of that works, make the offending parents/coaches write out in long hand the entire text of US Sailing's "Start Powerboating Right". * From Skip Doyle: As usual, Peter Harken is right on the mark. His comments about us losing our "personal responsibility" are sooo sadly correct! * From Robbie Doyle: Peter Harken certainly has gone too far with his latest comments regarding each coach needing a powerboat. Before you know it, he will be suggesting that kids be allowed to just fool around in the boats for fun. * From Roger Vaughan: 1. Thank you Peter Harken for having the temerity to suggest a revival of responsibility for self. That's a great virtue, and it's about time this entire country embraced the idea. A good start in that direction would be to keep the coaches on the beach where they belong and let the yuts go racing. 2. Doug Johnstone mentioned Jim Kilroy's amusing sentiment about one rich man and 22 poor ones who are having more fun. Kilroy was also adament about the 22 poor ones paying their own way to regattas (this was in the 1970s). He housed and fed them after that, handed out free shirts and belts, and laid on memorable crew dinners, but he thought it was important that his crew had some investment in the event. When Jim realized one of his sailors was making a career out of racing on Kialoa, he took him aside and gave him a job counseling session. Six months later if the guy still didn't have a job, he'd often offer him one at Kilroy Industries. If everything failed and the guy didn't have a proper job after three years, Jim stopped inviting him to sail no matter how good he was. I always thought that was responsible owner-ship. * From Bruce Kirby: New Zealander's are not only world champion sailors. Many of them among the finest people you could meet anywhere; but there is, unfortunately, a strong element among the Kiwis whose greatest accomplishment is world-class squabbling. Having exhausted themselves with the Coutts and Butterworth Swiss rebellion they are now beating each other up over how to honor the magnificent Peter Blake. Could we, just this once, allow them to do it among themselves and not in a public, international forum? * From Rich du Moulin: Rich Wilson and I enjoyed following the debate about our voyage on Great American II a few weeks ago. With shipboard e-mail, Scuttlebutt reachs every latitude and longitude. We were pleased to beat the Sea Witch's record, and also enjoyed a great school program. It continues as we visit some of those schools that followed us. Regarding the paid professional string now running on Scuttlebutt, I participated in four America's Cup summers from 1967 through 1980 and do not recall anyone taking money under the table. There were some sailmakers, boat builders, and naval architects crewing, but their only professional gain was either by reputation or helping their product win. We did get some free clothing, housing, food, and telephone numbers but most of us were forfeiting salary or deferring careers. I believe real compensation was a phenomenon of the 1990's. With campaigns requiring full time for several years, compensation is now the only practical way to retain personnel. The intensity of competition still seems to be present, but a lot of the fun seems to have been left behind. There are fewer smiles and laughs visible nowadays. * From Tom Keogh: People are paid to sail because there is a market for their services and the rules allow it. It is easy to limit or prevent the practice in classes or events which choose to do so. Appendix J of the racing rules says that competitor classification shall be stated in the NOR and SIs. Category 1,2,3 apply here but so could owner/driver rules (e.g. - Farr 40, J-105), age restrictions (junior / senior), USSA or club membership, physical ability (paralympics), and plenty more. Class rules often include similar restrictions. If you want to limit eligibility, it is easy to do it. On the other hand, if you're going to race on boats that do not limit the hull, spars, sails or other equipment from the "arms race" it is not surprising that they don't limit their crews either. I've had the good fortune to have raced with some of the great sailors of the last several decades. Some have been described as paragons of Corinthian yachting, others as sailors for hire. It seems to me their similarities are far greater than their differences. Ask either one if they're in it to win or to have fun and you'll get the same answer - Winning is fun. * From Véronique Teurlay, For Alinghi Team: We recently read in Scuttleboat that Team Alinghi will participate in the "Challenge Series" in San Francisco. I just wanted to mention to you that whilst Team Alinghi will be present in San Francisco only to sail in the regatta organized by Oracle BMW Racing between 14 to 20 September 2003 It is the only competition Alinghi will be sailing with their Class America boat until the end of this year. This is the only competition we committed and we were very surprised to learn that we have an entry in another competition! We would be grateful if you could correct this information to your readers so that there is no disappointment or misinformation on this subject. CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS "Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." - Mark Twain |
