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SCUTTLEBUTT 1507 - January 29, 2004
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releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always
welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
WOMEN IN SAILING - Paul Henderson
Let us address the history of Women in Sailing especially in the ISAF
domain which makes the case why ISAF must decree the involvement of women
and not wait for the "Old Buoys" to get around to it. ISAF (IYRU) was
founded in 1907 and was part of the 1908 Olympics with the 12, 8, 7 and 6
Metre Classes. 76 years later at the 1984 LA Olympics there were still no
women's events. There were two or three women sailing such as Cathy Foster
(who won a 470 race) and Inge Trine Elvstrom. ISAF also got a demonstration
event for Women's Windsurfing.
The same arguments were put up then as now against decreeing (using a blunt
instrument) for separate Women's participation: "If they are good enough
let them win on merit against the men!" rang through the halls of ISAF.
ISAF did not listen to the traditionalists and showing international
leadership worked with the IOC for separate Women's Events plus continuing
the so-called Open Events. The number of Women in the Open Events has been
only one or two per Olympics in total. (None in the Open Classes, Star,
49er, Tornado and Laser, in Cadiz. Finn is a men's event)
By 1996 in Savannah women's sailing entries were the lowest of any dual
gender sport at the Games having only got to 19%. ISAF has shown great
leadership and ensured a minimum of 140 women athletes or 35% of the 400 by
introducing a 4th Women's Keelboat Event out of 11 for Athens 2004.
For a decade the French tried to get an ISAF Women's Committee but it was
turned down until the mid 80's. As far as the ISAF Council was concerned no
nation sent any women to the ISAF Council including the USSA and RYA who
had two delegates plus a VP all men, till Bobby Symonette (Bahamas)
appointed Teresa Lara from Venezuela in the early 1990's. It took over 80
years to get just 1 alternate. There had not been one women elected or even
nominated to the ISAF Executive Board. In 2000 ISAF decreed that one of 7
must be a women. ISAF Council has 40 delegates. In 1996 ISAF demanded that
there be a position allotted to a women to make sure they were represented
and that position stands until women are 25% of ISAF Council. There are now
4 women or 10% after almost 100 years, only 3 of 39 appointed by national
authorities. ISAF has decreed starting in 2004 that two of the 7 Executive
must be women and 20% of the Council or 8 of 40.
I was elected President in 1994, leaving this November (about time do I
hear), and if I have accomplished nothing else I am most proud of promoting
the participation of women in sailing and as active and respected members
of ISAF. I trust that it will be not be remembered how or who or even why
it was done but that the result was what was required for the promotion and
health of Sailing. I trust it was accomplished without losing my sense of
humour. - Paul Henderson, President, International Sailing Federation,
www.sailing.org
TECHNOLOGY
Ovington Boats is building a new Bieker 4 International 14 for Martin Jones
of 'Insensys'. Insensys are World leaders in Optic fibre technology and its
use for analysing loads. The fibres have been used in the big multi-hulls
such as Ellen McArthur's Kingfisher and Yves Parlier's latest cat built for
'The Race' . AC teams are also using the Insensys system. This is however
new to the dinghy world.
Ovington Boats will insert the fibres into the boat while it is under
construction, they will be embedded within the laminate and bulkhead
structures providing accurate monitoring of the dynamic loads whilst under
sail. F1 style telemetry is used to stream data to a Rib based monitoring
system for analysis. Dave Ovington from Ovington Boats says 'It is a first
for us and I'm looking forward to looking at the results when it is all
hooked up' - Dave Hall
www.insensys.com / www.ovingtonboats.com
WEATHER FLASH!
Bill Biewenga, veteran ocean racer and weather router has teamed up with
North U. to offer a completely new weather seminar series this winter and
spring! Cutting edge graphics will bring the lessons alive. Bill is also
available to coach you, your crew, or club; provide custom weather routing
for offshore passages or to personally oversee the professional delivery of
your yacht. Bill brings 320,000 ocean miles and 17 years of weather routing
experience to every project. For more information, email
billbiewenga@compuserve.com today or visit http://www.wxadvantage.com For
the North U. weather seminars visit us at:
http://www.northu.com/seminars.taf?_course=4&page_name=info
ROLEX MIAMI OCR
After weathering a severe squall on opening day, the Rolex Miami OCR
benefited from a fresh, though shifty, westerly breeze today, allowing the
11 Olympic and Paralympic classes to sail multiple races and solidify
positions at the event's halfway mark. The event, which continues tomorrow
and concludes Friday, has attracted 503 sailors from 39 nations.
USA's team of Tim Wadlow and Pete Spaulding embraced the good fortune of
today's five races in the 49er class. After posting a ninth place after
yesterday's single race, they rose through the ranks to first overall today
on the merit of a first, three seconds and a third. Also making it to the
top of the scoreboard today were USA's Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson in Star
class, while USA's Laser sailor Mark Mendelblatt rose to second behind
Norway's Per Moberg.
In Ynglings, six U.S. teams are competing, and the current Rolex
Yachtswoman of the Year Hannah Swett sits in third behind yesterday's
leader Sally Barkow, who allowed New Zealand's Sharon Ferris to sneak by
her in overall standings to lead. Another Olympic hopeful, USA's Kevin
Hall, who qualified the U.S. for its Finn Olympic berth at the Finn Worlds
in '03 (finishing 27th), posted a 1-3-5-4 today to take a position in third
place behind Denmark's defending champion and fleet leader Jonas Hoegh
Christensen and 1996 Finn Gold medalist Mateaus Kusznierewicz, currently in
second place overall. - Media Pro Int'l,
Comments from Paul Cayard: The day started out with 16-22 knots from the
Northwest. This is typically a very shifty direct as the wind comes off the
shore and today was typical. Sometimes the left looks good and sometimes
the right comes good. Very hard to know. The forecast for tomorrow is very
light winds; 4-8 knots from the Northeast so it will be a tricky day. As if
today wasn't tricky enough.
Complete results: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/RolexMiamiOCR/
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
In 2005 Grant Wharington plans to bring his 100-foot (canting keel) Skandia
to the northern hemisphere and race her in the Rolex Transatlantic Race
followed by the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Maxi Worlds in Sardinia. However
there is an ulterior motive behind his maxi. "We are very involved in
putting our Volvo program together and we wanted to make sure we had some
options in terms of sponsorship and being able to use this boat as a link
to our Volvo program and to be able to market the whole package including
this boat," says Wharington. "We see this as a useful corporate
entertainment vehicle to be able to use in conjunction with the Volvo boat
and probably ship it around to stopovers as well."
This is no pie in the sky idea. With a maxi boat already to his name,
Wharington is already well on his way to securing his budget. "We've
currently got enough to do the design and build the boat and get us to the
start line, so we are probably one third of our way through the funding,
but there are crew wages and shipping and other issues which rack up to a
hell of a lot of money. We don't want to be sailing the boat to the start
line - we want to ship it to round Europe. Building it here (Australia) and
training here and shipping it over and obviously paralleling with the
maxi." - excerpts from The Daily Sail website, full story:
http://www.thedailysail.com
SICK DAYS
Employers expect illness during the winter, so use those sick days and head
south for some sailing. Want to crew at the Acura SORC in February? Click
on the event at the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar to sign-up. Scuttlebutt's
crew list is also now posted on Acura SORC's website. -
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
NEWS BRIEFS
* Rolex have been gradually increasing their level of worldwide yachting
event sponsorship since 2001 and before. 2004 boasts a grand total of 18
events throughout the year with a further six dates already planned for
2005. New editions to the Rolex fraternity for 2004 include the New York
Yacht Club's 150 Anniversary Regatta, to be held from the club's Newport,
Rhode Island base. Rolex also sponsors the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the
Year and US Sailing's Yachtsman and Yachtswomen of the Year awards. - ISAF
website, www.sailing.org
* Skip Dieball with crew Nick Turney and Sarah Paisley won both the Larry
Klein Match Racing Championship (Thistles) and the Thistle Midwinter
Championship this past weekend in San Diego. Boats traveled from across the
country to Southern California for 15 races in winds ranging from 5-20.
Championship Division final results: 1) S. Dieball, N. Turney, S. Paisley
(Toledo, OH), 17.5; 2) M. Gillum, M. Gillum, C. Nesbitt (Sacramento, CA),
22; 3) T. Lettenmaier, D. Lettenmaier, L. Mordhorst (Seattle, WA), 39.
http://www.mbyc.org/regatta/2004_Thistle_MWW/Championship__final.htm
* There have been several changes made within ISAF to the Anti-Doping
policies and procedures. ISAF Regulation 21 - Anti-Doping Code has been
completely revised following a template, which all International Sports
Federations are now using. Regulation 21 starts on page 61 of the
Regulations Section of the 2004 Yearbook ( available from the ISAF
Secretariat) includes a revised List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.
Another new procedure within the List is the inclusion of a Specified
Substances section. Items in this section are considered particularly
susceptible to unintentional anti-doping rule violations and carry reduced
sanctions. For complete information: www.sailing.org/medical
HOBIE CATS
It seems appropriate that the International Hobie Class Association (IHCA)
explains their position with regards to sanctioning our racing to Hobie
Cats only. The IHCA is an amalgamation of dedicated multihull sailors that
choose to sail Hobie Cats. The IHCA and our Class Rules are acknowledged
and accepted by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). The IHCA was
built and is supported not by any multihull sailors but by Hobie Cat
sailors. We race under a very strict one design racing rules which allows
those that participate to sail using their skill not with their cheque
book. When a Hobie Cat sailor crosses the finishing line in first place
they do not have to do calculations on some weird handicap system to see
how they performed, they know the won the race.
If I attended a Laser Championship with a 420 would I be allowed to
compete? Or if I turned up with a Mumm 36 at a Farr 40 Regatta would they
accept my entry? The answer would be no you could not be allowed compete in
a Class sailing event if I did not have that Class of boat. As such the
IHCA and the North American Hobie Class Association are no different.
All Hobie sailors enjoy competition, and it is one of the reasons why the
IHCA is a strong supporter of open racing such as the Formula 18. But the
Hobie sailors also enjoy Class racing and it is obligation to provide this
service to them. We are the International Hobie Class association, not the
International Multihull Class Association. David Brookes, Executive
Director, International Hobie Class Association, : www.hobieworlds.com
ULLMAN SAILS CONGRATULATES KEY WEST CUSTOMERS
For the past two years at Terra Nova Trading Key West, Team
Bergmann/Bennett sailed "Zuni Bear" to victory in the J/105 class, with
Ullman Sails taking 3 of the top 4 places. More Results: Top two in the
Corsair 28R class (1st- Team Harkrider's "Bad Boys"; 2nd- Team
Freudenbrg/Hudgins "Condor"); Top two in the Corsair 24 class (1st-
Remmers/Onsgard "Breaking Wind"; 2nd- Steve Marsh's "I-Fly"); Bob Berg's
"Love that Chicken" dominated the J/109 class; 2003 Melges 24 World
Champion Samuel "Shark" Kahn finished 2nd; Michael Carroll's Henderson 30
"New Wave" was 2nd in PHRF 4. - http://www.ullmansails.com
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 Tony Castro: I feel compelled to offer my support to Andrew Hurst
views on this New Grand Prix Rule. I hope he, and others, manages to make
enough "noise" via Seahorse and Scuttlebutt to stop the absurd process this
new rule seems to be following. My gut feeling is that it is all happening
once again behind closed doors (something the IMS was very good at) and the
rule makers are perhaps not being exposed to a wide enough range of views
and opinions from a wide audience.. Let's get this whole debate open in
Seahorse pages (or web site) for example, show us what you have in mind,
expose your ideas, share the problems, etc ...before it is all too late.
* From Chris Hubbard: Regarding the idea of having an AED on board your
boat, I (and my wife who is a practicing M.D.) whole heartedly agree with
the idea- the statistical chances of a heart attach victim surviving when
an AED can be used within 4 minutes are truly impressive.
I'd just like to point a few important points. While easy to use, the AED
does require some training to be used effectively (not to mention that good
basic First Aid skills are a must) and without injury to others on the
boat. That brings up my second point. The AED does use a large electric
shock which can and will be transmitted to others in contact with the
victim- even if that contact is only by water and saltwater. When it comes
time to use the AED the victim must be relatively dry and on a dry
non-conducting surface. (To illustrate the point, my wife has watched
another Doc shock himself while using an AED, because his stethoscope was
touching the victim- it knocked the doc out cold)
Another important point is the maintenance and storage of the AED We all
know who boat electronics stand up to the salt water environment … the AED
will only be available to save lives if stored and maintained properly.
That said, our boat will certainly have one this coming season.
* From John Rousmaniere: The chicken-and-egg debate about the relationship
between money, egos, and the America's Cup is almost as old as the event
itself. "It is a game for the wealthy, so let them choose the type and size
of craft," advised Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. Having built many cup
defenders, he well knew how things worked.
Games have rules, and this game's fundamental rules were laid out by the
owners of the yacht "America" based on their experiences at Cowes in 1851.
When they founded an international challenge-match competition between
large, spectacular boats, they obviously hoped to attract people like
themselves, with high ambitions, thick wallets, and pride enough to be
called personal vanity. That such individuals will always be around is
inevitable.
Not so inevitable is their continuing interest in the America's Cup. There
are plenty of other places where they (and their companies) can put their
money. The key factor here is that the rules in the deed of gift are simple
and practical enough so that, in the right hands, they can accommodate many
such people while also meeting the needs of changing times and be available
to clean up messes that threaten to kill off competition altogether.
* From Kevin L. Kelly (Regarding the discussion of the crewman in the photo
at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/keywest/): Although you
might need an eyewitness (or video) to effectively argue the application of
Rule 49.2 to the crewman's position, you would only need the picture itself
to apply Rule 49.1. A "human guy" is one thing but a "human guy hanging
from the shrouds" under Rule 49.1 is quite another matter. If the crewman
were to argue that the shrouds of a sailboat were "designed" to help
position his body outboard, he would have a tough time convincing anyone
that they could be described as "hiking straps". . . and an even tougher
time demonstrating how one uses them as "stiffeners worn under the thighs."
* From Pauline Jerry (edited to our 250-word limit): It's clear that Mssrs.
Brierre, Prophit and Hopper didn't read the ISAF cases suggested by Mr.
Jerry (yes, he's my husband). Here is some of the pertinent verbiage in
Case 83:
"...The phrase 'to perform a necessary task' contained within rule 49.2
means that the torso may be positioned outside the lifelines only to
perform a task that could not reasonably be carried out from within the
lifelines. The rule is clearly aimed at permitting an otherwise illegal
action. Permission does not extend to normal sail trimming even when this
would be more effectively achieved by position the torso outside the
lifelines. The actions of A's crew member in leaning outboard of the
lifelines break rule 49.2."
The critical element that has been missed by the three gentlemen is that
Case 83 defines the action (of leaning out to trim the guy) as not
necessary, even though desirable, and thus not allowed since this task
could indeed be performed with the torso within the lifelines (and arm
extended outboard), albeit less effectively. Note that duration is
therefore not an issue. The spinnaker pole work is allowed by the exception
in Rule 49.2 since it cannot be performed within the lifelines.
Not quite as clear-cut as some would have you believe, but becomes clearer
after actually reading the rules. And just because everyone does it doesn't
make it legal. The maneuver as pictured might be O.K. on a boat without
lifelines (J/22, Yngling) since 49.2 wouldn't apply.
* From Lloyd Causey: Tim Patton's missive in Butt 1505 in support of Paul
Henderson's fiat about having a quota of women officers in ISAF is a slam
against women and men. It seems to assume that the women cannot excel on
their own merit and must have a quota and are not there because of
"dinosaurs" among the male membership. A quota does not address the
fundamental reason why there is a discrepancy in representation.
One of the basic reasons that women are not represented in the management
of sailing organizations is that they are not members. This lack of
membership is the result of how most local yacht clubs are organized, as
there is no benefit for more than one member of a family unit to have a
membership. One membership allows full privileges for all social and
sailing events. In a high percentage of family units the yacht club member
is male. Only members can hold office in most organizations, so women are
under represented beginning at the local club level. This disparity will
naturally be carried higher in regional, national and world organizations.
To correct this, Tim and others must address the issue at their local club.
There must be an incentive for female sailors to be members of sailing
organizations and be eligible for leadership roles. Women are good leaders,
but being a sailor is not the issue, they need to be members!
CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
If Frederic March III had married Tuesday Weld, would she become Tuesday,
March 3rd?
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