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SCUTTLEBUTT 2460 – October 24 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. THE AMERICA'S CUP ON TRIAL In Issue 2459, Scuttlebutt legal analyst Cory E. Friedman provided his esteemed view following Monday’s America’s Cup hearing in the NY Supreme Court, and now Cup historian John Rousmaniere’s follows with his own take below: “The first thing that should be said about the hearing in the America’s Cup law suit on October 22 is that it provided solid evidence that, despite recent appearances, the world does not revolve around the cup and its travails. After we had piled into New York Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn’ s courtroom – the platoons of lawyers for Larry Ellison of Oracle and Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi, the four television cameras and their attached technicians and talking heads, and the crowd of interested spectators and journalists (like myself, reporting for a Swiss newspaper) – we had to temper our excitement for half an hour while the judge dealt with the ten other cases on his docket. Some were postponed, others had been settled, and, one, a dispute concerning a painting by Willem de Kooning, ended right there before our eyes when the judge dictated a ruling. “Then the America’s Cup case was announced. As the attorneys rushed forward from the spectator’s seats to their tables at the foot of the judge’s bench, the fellow next to me – a lawyer on a case involving construction of a building in lower Manhattan – leaned over and asked what this was all about. I told him. ‘A rich guy in Switzerland, another rich guy in California, a sailboat race off the coast of Spain, and rules that were written 150 years ago – that’s what it’s about.’ He sat stunned for a few seconds, gazed up to heaven, and announced, ‘Is America a great place, or what?’” -- John Rousmaniere, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1023 * The hearing on Monday in the NY Supreme Court attracted the international press corps, and among the numerous news reports was the filing in New Zealand of this video footage by esteemed yachting journalist Martin Tasker. In this 3:46 minute clip, watch the lead attorneys from each side state their position while Justice Cahn looks on, then see interviews outside the court by Tom Ehman (GGYC), Hamish Ross (SNG), and Scuttlebutt’s legal analyst Cory E. Friedman: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/1023 QUOTE / UNQUOTE * Spain's Desafio Espanol are to blame for the America's Cup crisis triggered by the new set of rules laid down by champions Alinghi, Polish skipper Karol Jablonski claims. "All of this is in large part the fault of Desafio," said Jablonski, who skippered the Spanish team into the semi-finals of the challenger series for the most recent America’s Cup, and now has joined United Internet Team Germany. "If they hadn't accepted the Protocol proposed by Alinghi we wouldn't be in this situation.” -- http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=199102 * Regarding the events that have led to the lawsuit, Hamish Ross, Alinghi's General Counsel, comments, “I think it is simplistic to say one party is entirely to blame. We need to take some criticism that perhaps we didn't communicate the protocol in an appropriate manner and explain the motivations and what kind of intentions were behind the provisions. In hindsight, if you look back and say, ‘would you do things differently knowing what has happened?’, the answer is obviously yes.” -- Valencia Sailing, http://tinyurl.com/yw5g9z COLLEGE SINGLEHANDED CHAMPS On November 2-4, the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Men's and Women's Singlehanded Championship will be sailed out of Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle, WA. Lasers (Men) and Laser Radials (Women) provided by Vanguard will be used for the event, with each of the 18 men and 18 women entered having had to qualify through their district; here are the sailors that will be vying for the titles: Men: Charlie Buckingham, Georgetown; Jay Mills, Hobart/WmSmith; Royce Weber, Navy; Jess Kirkland, St. Mary's; Ryan Lashaway, Owens; Tod Reynolds, Northwestern; Kevin Campbell, Wisconsin; Kyle Kovacs, Harvard; Thomas Barrows, Yale; Reed Johnson, Boston College; Andrew Criezis, Tufts; Paul Stewart, U/Washington; Mark Spector, Hawaii; Chris Wenner, UC/Berkeley; Mitch Hall, South Florida; Chris Lash, Charleston; Brad Winslett, Texas A&M Galveston; Mark Hulings, Texas Women: Sara Morgan Watters, St. Mary's; Stephanie Roble, Old Dominion; Allison Davis, Kings Point; Morgan Wilson, Old Dominion; Katrina Williams, Old Dominion; Lauren Knoles. Michigan State; Christine Porter, Wisconsin; Jane Macky, Yale; Krysta Rohde, Coast Guard; Megan Watson, Harvard; Janel Zarkowsky, Boston Univ; Elizabeth Barry, Brown; Molly Jackson, Western Washington; Evan Brown, Stanford; Dominique Bertrand, UC/Berkeley; Allison Blecher, Charleston; Tinja Anderson-Mitterling, Charleston; Nataleigh Vann, Texas -- http://collegesailing.org/nas/fall07/singles MCNAY-BIEHL CAPTURE MEN'S OLYMPIC 470 BERTH Congratulations to Stu McNay and Graham Biehl for winning the Olympic Trials in the 470 Class! Using AmSteel, Lightning, and other high performance Samson braids, Stu and Graham captured the Olympic Berth in the 470 Class held at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA, October 13-14. The 2007 sailing season has seen winners using Samson lines across the Pacific Ocean in the Transpac, at Key West Race Week, and now at the Olympic Trials. Samson continues to lead the way to the finish line. See their full product line at http://www.samsonrope.com/recreationalmarine WHAT THEY WERE SAYING AT SEAWANHAKA The 2007 US Team Racing Championship, hosted last weekend by Seawanhaka Yacht Club, located near Long Island, New York, was reportedly the deepest event ever and with a historic number of teams. Tim Wadlow (of Whishbone) gave an emotional speech at the awards ceremony and pointed out that this is the first time in history a team has completed a grand slam by Silver Panda winning the US Championship, World Championship AND the Wilson Trophy in a row. A sidestory to the event was the high numbers of US Olympic trialists (and winners) who had quickly traveled to be among the 22 participating teams. Frequent US Sailing umpire/judge Bryan McDonald was onsite, and recorded a number of audio podcasts with many of the key players of team racing. Additionally, he pulled in US Olympic trials winner Andrew Campbell (Laser), Tim Wadlow (49er), and Stu McNay (470 Men) to tell their story, along with bridesmaids Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (470 Men) and Brad Funk (Laser). View the complete list of podcasts from the event here: http://sailing314.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-team-racing-championship-2007.html ATHLETES’ COMMISSION UPDATE This past weekend the top sailors from each Olympic sailing class met in Southampton, England for a three-day meeting that was a historic step forward for the empowerment of athlete’s voices to the International Sailing Federation. The athletes in attendance were voted in by their respective classes this past June to represent their views and help establish a stronger athlete presence. The meeting was as productive as could have been hoped, with a variety of issues being discussed and reflected upon. Lot's of enthusiasm was spent on marketing and press, alongside events and event management. Each representative supported the World Cup Series concept, but as of yet, ISAF and the event organizers have not reached an agreement (events tentatively are Miami, Melbourne, Palma, Hyeres, Holland, Kiel and one to be decided). Additionally, everyone wants a revised ranking system that would be more accurate. Some logistics were discussed for the Olympic Games and also how to improve the relationship between political decisions and athletes needs. The Athletes’ Commission will be reporting to ISAF's Executive Committee and will be represented at this year's ISAF November conference. Look for the meeting minutes and dialogue to soon be built into the ISAF website, and everyone is encouraged to reach to the athlete rep's so that your voice is heard. -- Ben Barger, Vice-chair Athletes Commission PROPER YACHTING Who's the winner? Yachting's the winner! Yachting's always the winner!" With these words, Donald Tofias, owner of the two W-Class 76-foot "Spirit of Tradition" sloops, rallies the troops before going sailing. Against a backdrop of the World Financial Center skyscrapers, the boats tied up to the dock in North Cove look relatively small. There's Black Watch, a beautiful 68' Sparkman & Stephens yawl built in 1938, the two replica New York sandbaggers, Bull & Bear, the replica Baltimore Clipper Pride of Baltimore, and of course, the two W-Class yachts, White Wings and Wild Horses. This somewhat random collection of boats and sailors are here for the first annual New York Classic Week regatta, organized by Mike Fortenbaugh and his team at the Manhattan Yacht Club. People who've sailed in or watched classic yacht events in the US know that that the two W-Class yachts generally travel as a matched set. Designed by Joel White and built in Maine in 1998, the boats were conceived as the "starter set" for what Mr. Tofias hopes to build into a one-design class. As such, they are the marketing platform for the W-Class, and Donald likes to add twists to spice up the inevitable match race between the two boats. For this event, Donald and Wayne George, owner of nautical store FL Woods in Marblehead and the Marblehead Greens apparel brand, came up with the concept of a match race between Marblehead and Newport with the stakes being nothing less than the title of "Sailing Capital of the World". -- Spindrift, read on: http://atlantisweathergear.blogspot.com/2007/10/proper-yachting.html THE PROVEN POWER OF NORTH SAILS When buying new sails, ask yourself this: "Which sailmaker builds and services sails that are the most durable and perform the best?" The answer is clear. TEN out of TEN class winners at Rolex Big Boat Series 2007 chose North Sails to keep them ahead of their competition. And more cruising sailors rely on North Sails than any other sailmaker in the world. Contact your local sales representative now to take advantage of North's great seasonal pricing: http://na.northsails.com BRILLIANT BOARDHEADER Stockholm, Sweden (AP) -- Two European scientists won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics for a discovery that lets computers, iPods, and other digital devices store reams of data on ever-shrinking hard disks. France's Albert Fert and German Peter Gruenberg independently discovered a physical effect in 1988 that has led to sensitive tools for reading the information stored on hard disks. That sensitivity lets the electronics industry use smaller and smaller disks.'' The MP3 and iPod industry would not have existed without this discovery,'' Borje Johansson, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences told The Associated Press. Regarding the $1.5 million prize that will be shared between the two scientists, Fert, a former rugby player and now avid sailboarder, commented, “'As usual when I get prizes, I share a little with my associates and then I will see. I think I need new sails for my windsurfers.'' SAILING SHORTS * The World Match Racing Tour has announced the appointment of Line 7 as the Official Clothing Supplier for the Tour. As part of the sponsorship, Line 7 will provide clothing to the World Match Racing Tour and tour merchandise will soon be available via an online store. Additionally, Line 7 is giving away an Offshore jacket and Aquatec 2 pants to a new Scuttlebutt e-Newsletter subscriber between now and November 15, 2007. Details on how to sign up for a free email subscription and enter the Line 7 drawing are at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/subscribe * William H. “Howe” Constable, former assistant coach of the Nantucket High School sailing team, was arraigned Monday on charges of possession of child pornography and possession of marijuana. Constable had been arrested Friday afternoon at The Comfort Inn in Hyannis after returning to pick up a digital camera he left in his room there. When an employee checked the camera to look for evidence of the owner, they allegedly found pornographic images and notified the police, officers said. -- The Inquirer and Mirror, full story: http://www.ack.net/constablearraignment102307.html * Sandusky, OH -- The Sadler Sailing Basin could host area sailors for another half century, according to a new agreement between the Sandusky Sailing Club and the city. Monday night, commissioners approved a new 30-year lease with the Sandusky Sailing Club, which will have two consecutive 10-year extensions.The move drew praise from club Commodore James Ziss and Commissioner Craig H. Stahl, who noted his family and friends have hounded him for months about settling a deal with the SSC. -- The Morning Journal, full story: http://tinyurl.com/25jy5h * The weakened U.S. dollar, which has plunged 20 percent against the euro since the beginning of last year to hit an all-time low last week and is down about 4 percent since the beginning of September, is helping sales of American yachts overseas. Well-heeled Europeans, Canadians, Latin Americans and Middle Easterners, whose currencies are stronger and economies often faring better than the U.S., are taking advantage of attractive prices. -- Boating Industry, full story: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=1303057 * 2007 Mini Transat leader Yves Le Blevec on Actual has finished on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, though the fate of 22 competing boats is unknown as their GPS beacons have failed. Among this group is American Clay Burkhalter onboard Acadia. -- http://www.teamacadia.org/ * Attempts to recover Stephen Ainsworth's Loki from extreme conditions off the coast of Golfo di Castallammare on the north-west tip of Sicily have been abandoned. Sadly Loki, the 60ft Australian Reichel Pugh-designed yacht which lost her rudder while competing in extreme conditions this weekend in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, dragged anchor and is now floundering on the rocks on the coast. -- Yachting World, http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070923152854ywnews.html VANGUARD SPONSORED SAILORS HEADED TO CHINA Vanguard representatives Anna Tunnicliffe and Andrew Campbell are headed to China. As winners of the 2008 Trials, they have risen to the pinnacle of competitive sailing. They are powered by Vanguard Laser and Radial equipment and Magic Marine technical apparel. Find out how you can benefit from these powerful brands, http://www.teamvanguard.com OLYMPIC CLASSES SURVEY On 9th November 2007, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) will decide which 10 Events will be contested in the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth 2012. Currently there are 11 Classes, so this means one of them must go. Not only that, but there are some new Events that are also vying for ISAF's attention. Whether you're a full-time Olympic sailor, a weekend warrior, or even just an armchair yachtsman, we want to know what YOU think. Which Events should be represented in the Olympic Regatta 2012? Remember, there's not enough room for everyone, so we also want to know which ones you would leave out. Take the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3bZCvXWEtM1%2f9u7NZZtgZg%3d%3d LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From By Baldridge: Congrats to Ken Read and Rambler for great seamanship in the Rolex Middle Sea race. It takes me back 34 years to a St. Pete - Ft. Lauderdale Race where Mark Leblanc Sr. and I fought a storm Jib and Genoa staysail combination on Munequita in 50+ knots all night to cement our lead in the SORC. The late Bobby Nugon was strapped to the deck to be able to drop the main (triple reefed) every time we were knocked down. John Dane did most of the driving that night. * From Gail M. Turluck: (regarding podcast in Issue 2459) Great technological coup and thank you Curmudgeon and Ken Read. Almost like being at the bar for the aftermath. Sounds like an awesome race and experience. Not so hot about the forehatch popping out, and happily there's a fine ending. Great sharing. (If you missed, here’s the link: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/1022 ) * From Paul Henderson: What a great weekend I had racing in a Harbor 20 at Hilton Head. It is a superbly designed club racer focusing totally on talent, not technology. Technology has priced our sport out of all reality, and with the time required to keep the gear in shape and learn how to pull the strings, it has tilted the sport towards the domination of Pros. Tom Webster calls it: "A Star with cushions." The electric motor stolen from an anglers trolling unit is brilliant. You must sit inside the cockpit with all the strings easily accessible. There are no trapezes or droop hiking or lifelines to hang over like uncomfortable pigeons. It is a race for everyone to enjoy. There was a 14 year old skipper plus many over the age of 70 with several women telling the old men where to go. It was very competitive fleet If competitive club sailing is going to revitalize itself, than these concepts, which are fun to sail for all abilities, is the future. It is a little wet, but if you are worried about getting wet, take up golf. Well done Bill Shock and thanks to Hilton Head for inviting me as it was good to have a reunion with some of the volunteers who ran the Savannah 1996 Olympic Regatta. * From Mark Weinheimer: Am I the only one who noticed the gender equality of the 470 Trials? There may be other factors involved that I don’t know about but when the women’s teams take first and third in a mixed fleet, scored together, it might be time to think about making the 470 an Open Class. This could open the way for an Open Match Racing Class without any classes being dropped from the Olympics. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION On a bumper sticker: Forget world peace - Visualize using your turn signal. Special thanks to Samson, North Sails, and Vanguard Sailboats. |
