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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 734 - January 22, 2001AMERICA'S CUPBritian will be back in the America's Cup for the first time since 1987 with double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker heading a sailing team, New Zealander David Barnes running the operations side and a design group that could have a Japanese flavour. The challenge will be backed by Peter Harrison, who sold his Chernikeeff internet systems company for more than £200 million and committed himself last October. He has supported British match racing, the Olympic trials and the 1999 Admiral's Cup team, as well as endowing a £30 million foundation for disabled and disadvantaged sport. A formal announcement is expected by the end of the month. Harrison has bought the two Nippon Challenge yachts, built for the 2000 America's Cup in Auckland, which had been marketed for $5 million. The pair, Asura and Idaten, were created by a team of technicians co-ordinated by hydrodynamicist Professor Hideaki Miata, of Tokyo University. Some of those involved in the creation of the yachts may be part of a design committee to be run by Derek Clark, who did the same job for Peter de Savary's aborted Blue Arrow challenges of 1988 and 1992. Other members of the design group are believed to be Ian Campbell, of the hugely respected Wolfson Unit of Southampton University, Hugh Welbourn, who vetted the purchase of the Nippon boats, and the much under appreciated and free-thinking Jo Richards. Walker and Clark have a strong relationship from the last two Olympic Games, at which Clark coached Walker's 470 and Star campaigns. Ten years before Walker and the late John Merricks were the best 470 team in the world, Barnes was one half of an all-conquering Kiwi duo with Hamish Wilcox. - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK. Full story: http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2001/01/15/soyots16.xml KWRW KEY WEST, Fla. - George Andreadis leaped off his Farr 40 Atalanti XI and ran up the gangway to the Schooner Wharf Saloon. Soon he was back popping, pouring and spraying champagne in sweet celebration of a repeat victory in Yachting Key West Race Week. This one, the Greek banker said, was "more difficult. Last year we had a 19-point lead. This year we had a couple of bad races that put us back in the standings, but we kept on trying." A couple of bad races in that class were no disgrace. At an awards ceremony Friday evening Atalanti XI was declared Yachting Trophy Boat of the Week for winning the closest and most competitive class, based on a formula of mathematical criteria. Amid an armada of world-class skippers-turned-tacticians with blood in their eyes, but with '84 Olympic gold medalist Robbie Haines looking over his shoulder, Andreadis drove Atalanti XI to a 20-second wire-to-wire win in the eighth and last race Friday to shade Philippe Kahn's Pegasus from Santa Cruz, Calif. (Mark Reynolds tactician) by two points and Brack Duker's Revolution, Marina del Rey, Calif. (Peter Isler). by five. Pegasus had started the day with a six-point lead over both. Until Friday, nobody had won more than once and the class had seen a different leader every day. No less brilliant was Olympic silver medalist Paul Foerster, who guided fellow Texan Owen Kratz's 1D35 to a nervous fifth place - good enough to nip Shed Shellhorse's Avalanche from Lake Wesley, Va. for the overall title, 29 points to 31. Avalanche was third as Kara Zylstra's Wild Thing, San Diego, took its second consecutive win to grab third overall. Not far away, Ken Read was down on his knees - not to thank the wind gods, which could have been the case, but to help his crew roll sails after driving Makoto Uematsu's Farr 50 Esmeralda to first place for the day and in the IMS big-boat class. Friday's southeast winds of 13 knots building to 20, the best of the week, put the dark green boat in its element. NOTES: Marty Fisher's J/145 Strabo from Annapolis, Md., was declared PHRF Boat of the Week for winning PHRF-2. . . . Cita Litt's lemon-yellow Schock 40 Cita from Newport Beach, Calif. - the boat with the canting-bulb, twin-foil technology - was Friday's PHRF Boat of the Day for winning the final 16.49-mile race. . . . Jay McArdle's J/29 Fast Lane was Boat of the Day Thursday with a 1-4 effort. . . . - Rich Roberts Complete results: www.Premiere-Racing.com WINNING SOLUTIONS FROM SAILCLOTH.COM The 2000 Etchells Worlds and Mumm 30 European winners used AIRX in their winning arsenal. Next time, ask your sailmaker to use AIRX, the revolutionary new spinnaker fabric from Bainbridge International exclusively from Bainbridge International, where power and performance are cut from the same cloth. For more information, visit http://www.sailcloth.com ADMIRALS CUP The US Admiral's Cup Team Selection Committee announced that Philippe Kahn's Farr 40 OD PEGASUS, would be the Farr 40 OD on the 2001 US Admiral's Cup Team. This selection was based on the performance of PEGASUS over a series of 16 races held during the Farr 40 OD Class Miami Regatta in December and Key West Race Week just completed. At the conclusion of Key West Race Week the selection trials came down to two boats, Philippe Kahn's PEGASUS and Jim Richardson's BARKING MAD. After scoring the seven inshore races in Miami with one throw-out, the Miami long distance race and the eight inshore races of Key West Race Week with one throw-out, the remaining 14 races yielded a result of 17 points for PEGASUS and 20 points for BARKING MAD. The 50-hour long distance race from Key West to Fort Lauderdale scheduled to start on January 20 was to be weighted with triple points. With only the two boats entered for the long distance race, one of the boats would score first for three points and one would score second for six points. If PEGASUS were to be first, they would be the outright winner with 20 points. If BARKING MAD were to be first, the overall results would be a tie with both boats receiving 23 points. Applying the tie breaking procedure contained in RRS Appendix A, the result would be that PEGASUS would win the tie-breaker with 5 first places against 3 first places for BARKING MAD. Based on this information, the Selection Committee chaired by Ken Morrison decided to cancel the long distance race and announced the selection of PEGASUS for the US Admiral's Cup Team. 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. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) * From: Yves Tuset <ytuset@free.fr> As a spectator from the Froggyland (France) I do agree with Patrick Broderick and Tom Whidden's comment that the 12 m JI looked much more like boats than the IAAC boats. But I think the yachts (the word is important) built under the Universal Rule were more interesting than those built under the International Rule. The Cup means dream in one sense. So let us dream with beautiful yachts. We want J Class yachts for the next Cup. * From: "Chuck Riley" <chuck@fyicom.com> The 12's were grand. But watching them race off San Diego or, for that matter, much of the time in NZ, would have been pretty boring. * From: "Mr. Jan McCollum" <jan@vipdist.com> I have to agree 120% with Patrick Broderick. While the wind blew hard enough to snap booms, rigging, spinnakers and even whole boats in half in the Hauraki Gulf, the television coverage was bloody boring. The last exciting coverage was indeed in Australia. Maybe the AC could start sailing Farr 40's or Open 60's instead. Footage from those races is always great to watch. Also, in a one design class, the ability to sail would win races, not the ability to raise money! * From: Robbie Ferron, President Caribbean Sailing Association rferron@megatropic.com (edited to our 250- word limit.) Right now all the noise is about eligibility because all calls have been made. Advertising is still coming! Consider the situation of the Caribbean: 1. All the big Caribbean regattas are in the next few months. In respect to advertising, most of the NMA's have not yet made a ruling so it defaults to "A." This means that all sailors in the Caribbean regattas are supposed to suddenly discontinue all advertising. In a region where participating in regattas is relatively expensive, advertising is one of the ways to make the sport happen. Suddenly it is all illegal unless information is obtained from the MNA's of the sailors of all the many countries participating. ISAF quite happily creates an impossible situation and does nothing to change it. 2. In the case of the charter boats that are so popular they are theoretically all illegal because they have advertising (charter company names on the side). Does ISAF really think we are all going to throw out the majority of our boats? Of course not. Judges will find semi contradictory sentences for the sailing instructions and participants will struggle to understand what is going on and no one will have increased confidence in our world body of sailing administrators. 3. If you think that Henderson and company ride roughshod over the reality of US sailors consider the situation of the Caribbean where the little countries really get ignored. Henderson won't even reply to us let alone deal with our issues! * From Paddy Boyd, Secretary General Irish Sailing Association <paddy@sailing.ie> Where better a place to inaugurate the Club then in Dublin during the ISAF Executive Committee Meeting! We are hosting the Irish Sailor of the Year(2000) Awards ceremony at the Old Jameson Distillery on Feb 5th. This would be a most appropriate place to get SSC really flying! Afterwards buttheads could enjoy the renowned hospitality (and hostelries) of Dublin and perhaps discuss with the ExCom SSC's viewpoint on eligibility codes, the current state of Canadian/American relations, and whether SSC members should be dope tested for alcohol before or after racing! * From: Jesse Deupree <jdeupree@maine.rr.com> Paul Henderson's humorous comments reveal him as the pleasant person he must be when he's hanging out at the bar, but his suggestion that we "Just Say NO' to protesting under a rule his organization has promulgated is disingenuous at best- telling us we just don't understand what he meant by the rule is hardly a fair response to the criticism leveled by those who have to deal with its implications. I find his comparison to golf instructive. I'm confident he is not a member of the PGA and would be rankled if they tried to tell him he couldn't take his mulligans, or play golf unless he joined. I believe that amateur and professional golfers use two separate organizations to manage their interests, and I think sailing would be well served by a similar split. ISAF and USSA spend too much effort trying to assure their control of the professional side of our sport, and not enough time serving us amateurs. * From: "Dave Millett" <dmmillett@earthlink.net> Perhaps it's time for Mr. Henderson and staff to use that "Mulligan" of his and tee up a new rule. In case he hasn't noticed, his is the only voice of support that has hit this publication and unless anyone else has heard or read something it's not supported much of anywhere else either. * From: Michael B Brown, Barbados <brigade@sunbeach.net> It so sad when "representatives" that float to the top of the pile and "run" things lose touch with the practitioners that get down and (sometimes) dirty! * From: Peter Huston <PeterHuston@compuserve.com> El Jefe Henderson raises some interesting points in his response to this whole "membership mess". Central to my friend's idea is that clubs put forth the work to make regattas happen - and of course on that count he is certainly correct. However, what is a club these days? There are many old land/asset owning clubs that are begging for members - clubs that had a once proud tradition of running great races, but for a multitude of reasons have now become more concerned with restaurant management than regatta protocol. While the SSC will most likely never have a "place", what is to say that SSC members couldn't come together from time to time and place to place to produce great sailing events. Which is the more important aspect of sailing events - the place or the passion with which the organizers run the regatta? Perhaps SSC members can produce sailing events at these old land/asset based clubs that have run out of - or ran their members away from - these fine, but essentially dormant, faculties. * From: Marc Koski <maks@lubrizol.com> A Burgee - that's cool. They can be placed on bumpers and boat trailers so those who are apart of this network can identify. And that's all good and fun but I get concerned with the membership cards. The next few steps in this process are membership fees, selling more advertising and voila! You have a magazine. You hire more people to manage the content, you get a graphic art person to add color and photos. No, no, no, no, no! Scuttlebutt works because it is daily blurbs of sailing activities happening across the planet and an open forum for anyone to add comment. Basically this is an underground network that is perceived to be a personal email that we all get. Scuttlebutt, please don't go down that road of commercialization. As Paul Henderson stated it, "ScuttleButt YC Cyber Bar". Don't let it be anything more then this. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: No worries mates. The SSC is now and will forever be a virtual yacht club. There will not be a lot of rules. And although it was born of necessity, I don't think that means we can't have a bit of fun with it along the way. And this has been fun. THE RACE Whilst almost 680 miles separate them now, Club Med, the leader, and Innovation Explorer, the runner up, have recorded very similar performances in similar sailing conditions, even though they are moving in two entirely different weather systems. A subtle difference all the same: Club Med is following a perfectly straight course on a track very close to the great circle route, whilst Lo•ck Peyron and his men, not having a big gennaker adapted to wind astern conditions, is continuing to put in long tacks downwind, often far from the direct route. With the low pressure systems succeeding one another, Club Med and Innovation Explorer, in phase with the extreme conditions of the Indian Ocean, are winding out the chart of the Southern Ocean on fast forward. * The atmosphere aboard , Lo•ck Peyron' Innovation Explorer must be electric. Last night, after the boat had narrowly missed hitting an iceberg at full tilt, Julien Cressant opened up the throttle and hit an astonishing 40 knots - 40.4, to be precise! Apparently some of his fellow crew took a dim view of this feat, fearing the consequences of such heady speeds. http://www.therace.org * At sunset Sunday the 110-foot American catamaran Team Adventure had only 40 miles remaining before she reached port here. Damaged in rough seas three days ago, the remaining American catamaran in The Race of The Millennium was preparing put two injured crewmen ashore for medical checkups before a specially-assembled team of experts began round-the-clock repairs to the boat. The big cat, one of five racing non-stop around the world, was struck by a large wave about 1,100 miles southwest of Cape Town on Friday. She suffered structural damage to the main crossarm that connects her two hulls and supports her 150-foot high mast. Two crewmembers were hurt when they were thrown off their feet by the force of their impact. Both are under medical care and recovering, but will undergo a full hospital checkup as soon as they are brought ashore. "Hitting that wave was like standing in a bus going 35 mph and having it hit a car doing 20 mph the other way," said Larry Rosenfeld, co-navigator of Team Adventure. "We didn't stop altogether, but if you can imagine standing up in the bus, you can imagine how ugly it might be. Now we are all looking around the boat to see how to make it safer if crewmen are thrown forward suddenly. We are removing all sharp protrusions and looking for things to add so people can brace themselves, particularly in the starboard hull where the companionway leads to the open galley." Jeffery Wargo, the mastman, from Seattle, WA is recovering from lower back bruising. Crewmember Mikael Lundh, from Sweden, has a sore neck, a whiplash type of injury. Both men spent time on deck on Saturday and Sunday as the boat clocked speeds over 30 knots on its way to its unscheduled stopover in Cape Town. Under the rules of The Race, the boat must remain in port for 48 hours. All of that time will be needed for repair work that has already started with the building of special inserts for strengthening the crossbeam. - Keith Taylor, http://www.TeamAdventure.org
BIG BARGAIN?
VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot |
