|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1459 - November 17, 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. US OLYMPIC/ PARALYMPICS TRIALS Of the seven athletes to emerge as winners of the Olympic Team Trials in their respective events, three have one thing in common. They have been there before. Lanee Butler Beashel (Dana Point, Calif.) in the Mistral Women's event, along with Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) and Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.) in the 470 Men's event were all members of the U.S.A.'s 1992 Olympic Team that competed in Barcelona. They will return to the Mediterranean next summer for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, which will be held August 13-29, 2004, in Athens, Greece. Joining them will be first-time Olympians Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in the Laser, Peter Wells (La Canada/Newport Beach, Calif.) in the Mistral Men's event, and Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) in the 470 Women's event. In the 470 Men's fleet, Foerster and Burnham were able to take a pass on the last three races of their series after they notched a string of first-place finishes marred only once - with a eighth when the pair had equipment failure. Mendelblatt was able to sit out the last two races of the 15-race Laser series and still post a whopping 16 points on runner-up John Myrdal (Kailua, Hawaii), to whom he had lost the 2000 Trials. Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine) has succeeded in securing his second opportunity to represent the U.S.A. at the Paralympics Games in the 2.4 Metre. In the Sonar class John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.), J.P. Creignou and Brad Johnson (both St. Petersburg, Fla.) won seven of the 12 races in the five boat trials to win the Paralympics berth with a race to spare. Final results: 470 Men (9 boats): 1. Paul Foerster/ Kevin Burnham, 31; 2. Mikee Anderson-Mitterling/ Graham Biehl, 47; 3. Mark Ivey/ Howard Cromwell, 48. 470 Women (7 boats): 1. Katie McDowell/ Isabelle Kinsolving, 26; 2. Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler, 29; 3. Erin Maxwell/ Jen Morgan, 37. Laser (32 boats) 1. Mark Mendelblatt, 33; 2. John Myrdal, 49; 3. Brad Funk, 55. Mistral Men (11 boats): 1. Peter Wells, 15; 2. Ben Barger, 24; 3. Kevin Jewett, 34. Mistal Women (7 boats): 1. Lanee Beashel, 12; 2. Beth Winkle, 28; 3. Taylor Duch, 30. 2.4 Metre (5 boats): 1. Tom Brown, 12; 2. Tom Franklin, 20; 3. John Ruf, 23; Sonar (5 boats): 1. Ross-Duggan/Creignou/Johnson, 15; 2. Callahan/Burhans/Cleworth, 18; 3. Doerr/Angle/McKinnon-Tucker, 23. Official website: http://www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicTrials/2004/ ISAF ANNUAL MEETING The final meeting of the ISAF Council on Saturday saw a significant change to the race format for the 2004 Olympic Regatta in the interests of putting increased emphasis on the results of the final race of the series. After considerable debate, the Council decided that at the 2004 Olympic Regatta there will be no drop races in any of the events. There was also extensive discussion of RRS 16.2 - Changing Course. Some had favored the removal of RRS 16.2, otherwise known as the "Anti-Hunting Rule", the Council considered a submission to clarify the wording, which was approved amended as follows: "In addition, when after the starting signal a port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass astern of a starboard-tack boat, the starboard-tack boat shall not change course if as a result the port-tack boat would immediately need to change course to continue keeping clear." Additionally, the Offshore Committees' position statement on single-handed sailing was adopted: "ISAF recognizes the importance of the contribution made by the sport of Oceanic Single-Handed Sailing; it does not have the power or the desire to prevent Oceanic Single-Handed Sailing. "ISAF believes that all yachts however manned should comply with the best standards of safety and efficiency in equipment, training and event organization and that the organizers of all races should communicate with and encourage mutual understanding between sailors, organizers and official bodies. ISAF would continue to promote these principles. "ISAF recognizes the responsibility of every yacht to comply with all relevant legislation and rules. ISAF should never be an organizing authority for a single-handed offshore sailing event. For an updated report detailing the other key: www.sailing.org/meetings BEHIND THE SCENES: Time and time again, the Raider RIB from Aquapro proves itself. From holding its own at the Mega Yacht Show in San Diego earlier this fall, to J-Fest, to being support boats for luxurious performance cruisers, Raiders are on the water and proving themselves. Arriving in the immediate future is the new 12 meter version RIB. A fast, sleek and strong boat, powered by twin 300 HP engines, this boat can meet a variety of needs on and off the race course. Call Jeff Brown at (619) 709-0697 or check it out today at http://www.raiderboat.com SHOCKED Ben Ainslie reacted strongly yesterday to a controversial decision taken here that marks a major change to the way in which the Olympic regatta will be run in Athens next year. The 1996 and 2000 gold medallist, who is also the current world champion in the Finn single-hander, the class in which he will represent Britain next August, heard that the annual general meeting of the sport's world governing body, the International Sailing Federation, had unexpectedly voted to veto the practice of allowing competitors to discard their worst result in what is normally an 11-race schedule. "I am very shocked to hear that," Ainslie said. "I am not sure where they are coming from. I hope they have thought long and hard about it. That means someone may not make it to the podium because of breakage. It's just stunning. I don't think you would find many of the sailors in favour of that decision." The discard procedure is in general use and the move applies only to the 2004 Olympics. "That," Ainslie said, "only makes it more ridiculous." - Stuart Alexander, The Independent, http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/story.jsp?story=464423 AMERICA'S CUP VENUE For those who like to plan that southern European trip well ahead, Naples or Marseilles should be good destination choices for the summer of 2007 because everybody else will be in Lisbon or Valencia. Valencia, most likely. The site of the next America's Cup is scheduled to be announced Nov. 26. * Conventional wisdom worldwide gives Valencia the inside track. The Spanish have the money and a nice site on the Mediterranean Sea, but the clincher may be their king. Juan Carlos I, 65, is an enthusiastic sailor himself. Spain's adjoining neighbor Portugal is close behind, but that bid involves two locales: Lisbon, the host city some eight miles up an estuary, and Cascais, the village resort that would be the actual venue 15 miles to the west on the Atlantic Ocean. Geographically and logistically, that arrangement would be similar to Perth's relationship to the madeover but delightful village of Fremantle in 1986-87 where Dennis Conner made history. It worked OK then, but having it all in one place is a plus for Valencia. For whatever reasons, the French and Italians appear to be out of the hunt. - Rich Roberts, The Log, full story: http://tinyurl.com/v9mb TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE Groupama, the 'green flash' trimaran skippered by Franck Cammas and Franck Proffit, scored a convincing victory in the 6th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre. They crossed the finish line in Salvador da Bahia on Sunday 16th November at 0810hrs and 41s GMT, or 0510hrs 41s local time. For the second year running Groupama has taken the crown, covering an actual distance 4,624m in 10 days, 23 hours, 10 minutes, 41 seconds at an average speed of 17.57 knots on the water. For Franck Proffit it is his second victory as he was co-skipper with Loick Peyron on Fujicolour which won in 1999. At 0922hrs and 42s GMT Belgacom helmed by Jean-Luc Nélias and Loick Peyron slid across the finish line to finish second, just 1 hour, 12 minutes and 1 second behind Groupama. The turquoise tri covered an actual distance of 4,675m in 11 days, 00 hours, 22 minutes, 42 seconds at an average speed of 17.68 knots on the water. Karine Fauconnier, the first lady in the race, and Irishman Damian Foxall on Sergio Tacchini finished third, arriving at 4 hours, 9 minutes and 47s after Groupama. Sergio Tacchini covered an actual distance of 4,700m in 11 days, 03 hours, 20 minutes, 28 seconds at an average speed of 17.58 knots on the water. Standings - 0300 GMT on November 17: Open 60 Monohulls: 1. Virbac, Jean-Pierre Dick & Nicolas Abiven, 282 miles to finish; 2. Sill, Roland Jourdain & Alex Thomson, 134 miles from leader; 3. Ecover, Mike Golding & Brian Thompson, 139 mfl. - www.jacques-vabre.com KEEP YOUR EYE OPEN Cost effective wireless instrument information and system control - Ockam introduces OS4 EYE. Load Eye software on your PDA (Pocket PC) and your Ockam connected WiFi PC. View multiple pages of instrument data, set cals, averaging and controller functions, track trends on stripcharts, all in your pocket - hiking hard on the rail or monitoring performance from your bunk! For detailed information and software download, visit http://www.ockam.com NEWS BRIEF * A record 39 boats attended the A-Class North American Championship in Mandeville, LA at the Pontchartrain Yacht Club. Competitors came from California, Texas, Canada, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and New Zealand! The regatta was won by Pease Glaser of Newport Beach, CA who showed excellent speed and sailing smarts by dominating the event on the last day in light and shifty winds. Johnny Lovell finished second with Pete Melvin in third place. Jay Glaser won Masters title, with forth place finisher Woody Cope becoming the top Grand Master. * After a long wait for the wind to fill in, Liz Baylis defeated Carol Cronin's Team Atkins 2-0 in the light air finals of the US Women's Match Racing Championship at the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans. However, because Baylis had already qualified for the Women's Match Racing Worlds in Annapolis in early June, Team Atkins was awarded that spot. In the Petit-finals of this ISAF Grade 3 event, Hannah Swett bested Sally Barkow. - http://www.ussailing.org/championships/womens/ * Final results of the Interscholastic Sailing Association Cressy National Championship hosted by Eckerd College - Full Rig: 1. Chris Banning, Pine View, 51; 2. Parker Shinn, Point Loma, 63; 3. Andrew Perry, Pine View, 72. Radial Rig: 1. Paige Railey, Clearwater, 45; 2. Adam Roberts, Point Loma, 46; 3. Royce Weber, Southern Regional, 56. - Full results: http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org/ 2008 OLYMPICS With a two-step process in determining the events and equipment (classes) that will be used at the 2008 Olympic Games, Saturday afternoon the ISAF Council determined the following events that will be contested. Next year Council will decide the equipment to be used. - Men's windsurfing - Women's windsurfing - Men's single-handed dinghy - Open single-handed dinghy - Women's single-handed dinghy - Men's double-handed dinghy - Open double-handed dinghy - Women's double-handed dinghy - Men's keelboat - Women's keelboat - Open Multihull There had been some questioning as to whether ISAF should determine the inclusion of the two windsurfing events this November, when as yet there is no suitable equipment identified. However, as noted by the Events Committee, it was felt important to give windsurfing a platform for the future, and it is now up to the windsurfing classes and industry to demonstrate that appropriate equipment is available. Following on from the Presentation Event in Cadiz, Spain, ISAF will hold formal Equipment Trials in March 2004 in Torbole, Italy, at the same venue where the 1996 Trials were held from which the 49er was selected for Olympic competition. Whatever the equipment (class) that is selected for the windsurfing events, ISAF will undertake the administration for the first few years to support the class and ensure it can respond to the demands of Olympic selection. Following the lead of the women, and responding to the requests from the Star sailors, it was agreed that for the 2004 Olympic Regatta the Star Class will adopt the weight limit measurement procedure as already implemented for the Yngling Class. - ISAF website, http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=5778 UNDER $20...UNDER $50...UNDER $100! UNDERSTANDABLY AWESOME! Attention, smart shoppers: On the Holiday Specials web page at Henri Lloyd you'll find great gear at prices that'll blow your Christmas stockings off! Check it out while it lasts: http://www.henrilloydonline.com/productmgmt/subcat.asp?nCatID=12 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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Gregory Scott: It must be a sure sign of declining temperatures in the Northern hemisphere when fellows such as Eric Hall have time to be witty and share their insight with us in Butt. Only when the frost is on the nose, can clever bits such as the vessel developed in Eric's mind, come to life. I can see a day when these new craft really catch on. It could create a whole new thread line for ideologues to report to Butt on the virtues of such vessels. And on the point of sailing being a rich man's sport ... it is. But so is skiing and for that matter, so is walking. It simply comes down to where it is that you choose to walk. If you want to walk on the moon it may be very expensive. But a walk around the block or down to your local yacht club for some fun in a PHRF boat may be quite reasonably priced. * From David Bishop: David Howie overlooks the fact that the vast majority (between 2 and 20 per boat) of people who participate in yacht racing are crew, with incomes averaging well below the idle rich; in some cases below the poverty level. Thank heavens that there are people economically successful enough to buy and maintain boats for the rest of us to play on. There are few sports that are cheaper to participate in for the non-owner than sailing. And if you think owning a yacht is expensive, try sport-car or horse racing some time. * From Enrico Alfredo Ferrari (edited to our 250-word limit): Sailing as a rich man's sport... Not true in my experience up here in Seattle. My father, a school teacher, managed to buy a Columbia 36 and we raced that boat in buoy race after buoy race with other people who earned the same or less as my father. I migrated to other boats (when he was off cruising) that had more tricks and more size all the way up the ladder to the latest and fastest boat in the Puget Sound Basin, Icon (a custom Perry 65). I too am a school teacher, but one who does not own his own keel boat. I have three dinghies in my garage and race on other people's boats. This is path of riding other's boats is one among many that sailors take in order to quench their passion for wind and waves. There are way more crew out there than owners and if not for them the fast boats wouldn't be so fast! * From Michael H. Koster: If anyone thinks the AC class is the Formula 1 of sailing with regards to technology, this simply is not true. Having procured materials for masts for 2 AC campaigns, I can attest that the AC rules severely limit the types of materials that can be used as well as the techniques that can be applied to those materials during the construction process. While the rules are well intended (level the playing field, keep costs down, etc.), this is not what I would consider cutting edge or "Formula 1". I suspect the "A" Class catamaran folks have more latitude with pushing the envelope than the AC Class. * From Matt Baldwin: I've really enjoyed some great shots in the photo contest. It is definitely worth a look. Not to open an old thread but take a look at photo #68. It shows an awesome picture of a coach boat at an Opti regatta going full speed in mid air on a breezy day. This just about sums it up. It is not the number of coach and spectator boats around the course, It's the number of boats around the course going like this that make it dangerous. By the way, no Jet Drive system will help when this guy lands on an 11 year old. * From Giles R. Anderson (re development in Mexico): As sailors we usually like to think of ourselves as "greens," if not guardians of our marine environment, at least friendly with it. The piece on the proposed development in Baja is an interesting example of how we can be so protective of an unspoiled area but ignorant of our own spoiled surroundings. I suspect that many of those weighing in with opinions on the Baja are from southern California, an area where LA dumps thousands of tons of sewage into the ocean each and every day, where development has proceeded nearly unrestrained and continues to ruin a similarly fragile environment to that in Baja. So wake up and take a look around you, as well as policing someone else's back yard, clean up your own. Write your local politicians or participate in community cleanups, there are dozens of ways to help the lakes and oceans we sail on. If you need a place to start there are plenty of worthy groups out there looking for help - www.oceana.org and www.oceanconservancy.org to name just two. Both groups offer ways for you to get involved locally - so do your part. * From Barry Ault: Having surfed and sailed most of the Baja coast I can attest to the beauty and frailty of the environment. While there are some examples of industry cohabitating with nature in Baja (Scammon's), they are rare. Just take the drive from the bull ring to Ensenada and you will realize that Mexican authorities have absolutely zero respect for the land. And if you have seen the nightmare that Cabo has become, you know where this plan will end up if it is successful. If there are groups of Mexican locals waiting to benefit from this ridiculous plan, they are dressed like cactus. The predictions are absurd. It is hard to imagine that this plan would even double the boat traffic in the area which means it will go bankrupt in about two months instead of one. CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why do they call it getting your dog 'fixed,' if afterwards it doesn't work anymore? |
