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SCUTTLEBUTT 2548 – March 7, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. NEW ZEALAND FILES CHARGES IN NY COURTS by Bob Fisher Auckland, New Zealand (March 6, 2008) -- The America's Cup, currently, is little better than a war zone and Emirates Team New Zealand fired two missiles into the battlefield yesterday. The Kiwis entered two actions into the New York State Supreme Court in an effort to bring the defenders of the 157-years old trophy into line. The Societe Nautique de Geneve, Team Alinghi and its owner Ernesto Bertarelli, together with the organising America's Cup Management, are jointly and severally charged with breach of contract in not organising an event in 2009, as contracted with the New Zealand team, and perhaps more pertinently, of a breach of trust in endeavouring to organise a one-sided competition under the rules and regulations it announced with the connivance of the Spanish yacht club that was subsequently disqualified as a challenger. The event is already in court following Judge Herman Cahn's decision to disqualify the bogus Spanish club because the Swiss submitted further papers that have delayed the settlement order. The Kiwis had a contract with AC Management for an event in 2009, but already ACM has declared that this will not occur. Emirates Team New Zealand seeks damages as per its contract, in excess of US$12 millions. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/0306 * Radio NZ aired a 7-minute report about ETNZ's lawsuits against Alinghi, which includes an interview with syndicate head Grant Dalton: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/mnr/team_nz_sues_alinghi * (Valencia 6 March 2008) Statement from Lucien Masmejan, Alinghi legal counsel: "We are disappointed to learn of this legal action by Emirates Team New Zealand, given their previous public acceptance and commitment to the competition. These actions are totally without merit, wildly miss the target, and will be defended rigorously. We share the sailing community’s frustration in the delays affecting the America’s Cup but Alinghi, as trustee, is duty bound to defend its position in the current legal action and to preserve the integrity of the America’s Cup. We have repeatedly made it clear that Alinghi welcomes a swift court resolution and wants to get the action back on the water as soon as possible." SOME THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER by Cory E. Friedman, America’s Cup Legal Analyst (March 6, 2008) The second front has been opened – and the third. As widely reported, Team New Zealand Limited, (“TNZ”) (Emirates seems to be MIA), filed two complaints against Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), Team Alinghi, S.A., AC Management, S.A. and Ernesto Bertarelli. The first is a straightforward breach of fiduciary duty/breach of contract complaint filed in the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court, New York County. TNZ requests that it be assigned to Justice Cahn. In keeping with the selection of David Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, one of the most aggressive quality US law firms, as counsel for TNZ, the second, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (literally a short stone’s throw behind the Supreme Court building) and assigned to US District Judge Pauley, is an anti-trust case which lies somewhere near the outer limits of US anti-trust law. We have already seen Justice Cahn in action. I appeared before Judge Pauley soon after he became a judge and found him to be an excellent, no nonsense judge (who quickly ruled in my favor – full disclosure.) Unlike the pending GGYC v. SNG case before Justice Cahn, which should have been history by now -- if the keel yacht issue had not been allowed to drift off course -- neither of TNZ’s cases is amenable to a prompt resolution. Indeed, all of the appeals in GGYC v. SNG will probably be resolved before either case gets anywhere near resolution, so don’t hold your breath. The state court case is pretty straightforward. It alleges that SNG (and the other defendants) engaged in self dealing and breached a fiduciary duty to TNZ by cooking up the CNEV challenge in order to fix the 33rd Cup in SNG’s favor and wound up injuring TNZ by postponing the Cup because SNG was caught by GGYC (Oracle), which cuts off TNZ’s income, especially from sponsors, but not its expenses. The breach of contract claim is a little more intriguing. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p17 NO CHANCE AT MEDALS Yachting NZ has decided there will be no New Zealand Olympic entries in the Yngling or women's 470 classes. Yachting New Zealand's Olympic selectors insist the pregnancy of one of its sailors had no impact on her non-selection for the Beijing games. Yngling skipper Sharon Ferris and crew Raynor Smeal and Olivia Powrie have not been given the Olympic nomination despite qualifying the class and reaching the medal round at the recent world championships in Miami recently, finishing ninth. Olympic selector Rod Davis says it was a tough call but they do not feel the crew would be medal contenders and the overall results just did not cut it. Davis says Ferris' pregnancy was not a factor, as the criteria is performance based. Ferris is due to have a baby in two months. Yachting New Zealand has also decided against nominating a women's 470 team. -- http://www.radiosport.co.nz/SportsNews/spyac/Detail.aspx?id=133515 QUOTE / UNQUOTE “They are the actors in this movie, I am just the director. There is only space for a few personalities in this event and I want to concentrate on building the profiles of the people who actually race these boats around the globe.” -- Newly appointed Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad. -- http://tinyurl.com/yuk2jf * Volvo Cars has unveiled their special edition Volvo Ocean Race range of vehicles, which includes three models: the Volvo V70, Volvo XC70 and Volvo XC90 in exterior colors of either ocean blue or electric silver. For the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001-02, 4,500 special edition vehicles were sold. For the 2005-06 race, sales increased to 8,600 and the company expects to reach 9,000 sales for 2008-09. The cars will be in dealerships in June this year. PERFORMANCE RACE WEEK Perhaps you’d be excited about the mix of shoreside seminars and on the water training. Maybe the onboard coach would be an attraction. Or the video review. The six days of training and racing might be enticing. But the closer, the reason you should attend the North U/ Offshore Sailing School Performance Race Week, is the fun. Come to Florida April 6 – 12 for the fun, and as a bonus, go home as a winning racer. http://www.northu.com or http://www.offshore-sailing.com/racing.asp ACURA MIAMI GRAND PRIX Miami Beach, Fla. (March 6, 2008) – Vincenzo Onorato has skippered Mascalzone Latino to victory in the last two Farr 40 World Championships. With the 2008 Worlds one month away, the Italian team seems to be rounding into top form. Onorato had a brilliant opening day at Acura Miami Grand Prix, winning both races to take the early lead in the deep, talented and highly-competitive Farr 40 class. British America’s Cup veteran Adrian Stead called tactics aboard Mascalzone Latino, which made a great move at the leeward gate to take control of Race 1 then caught a favorable wind shift in Race 2. Michael Illbruck and John Kostecki have sailed together for nearly two decades in a series of different grand prix designs, even partnering to win the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001-2002. Illbruck, from Munich, Germany, recently jumped into the up-and-coming Melges 32 class and has enlisted Kostecki’s services in order to get up to speed. Illbruck has named all his boats Pinta and the latest placed seventh in Key West. Less than two months later, Illbruck and crew showed vastly improved boat-handling in starting Acura Miami Grand Prix with a second and third. Principal Race Officer Dave Brennan and Event Director Peter Craig delayed the start of racing by about an hour for a 8-10 knot southeasterly to develop for Race 1, building to 14-16 knots for Race 2. Provisional results after 2 races: Farr 40 (28 entries) 1, Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, Napoli, Italy, 1-1=2 2, Barking Mad, James Richardson, Newport, R.I., 2-2=4 3, Nerone, Massimo Mezzaroma, Punta Ala, Italy, 7-4=11 Melges 32 (20 entries) 1, Pinta, Michael Illbruck, Munich, Germany, 2-3=5 2, New Wave, Mike Carroll/Marty Kullman, Clearwater, Fla., 6-1=7 3, Star, Jeff Ecklund, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 5-2=7 IRC 1 (6 entries) 1, Flash Glove, J/V 52, Colm Barrington, Dublin, Ireland, 1-2=3 2, Numbers, J/V 66, Daniel Meyers, Newport, R.I., 3-1=4 3, Windquest, TP52, Doug DeVos, Holland, Mich., 2-5=7 IRC 2 (6 entries) 1, Teamwork, J/122, Robin Team, Beaufort, N.C., 1-1=2 2, Bandit, Swan 42, Andy Fisher, Newport, R.I., 4-2=6 3, Thin Ice, Aerodyne 38, Stuart Hebb, 2-5=7 Event website: http://www.premiere-racing.com/miami08/pages/AMGP08_entry_information.htm * Starting Thursday night, Jobson Sailing will be hosting the Acura Miami Grand Prix video reports which will run through Sunday night. -- http://www.jobsonsailing.com STAR BACARDI CUP Miami, FL (March 6, 2008) After racing was cancelled on Wednesday, the schedule was to begin an hour earlier on Thursday, but competitors were kept ashore under postponement as the race committee studied the glassy bay, the skies, and weather forecasts. With thunderstorms and winds bouncing down from all around the compass expected, racing was abandoned for the day before noon. Having now lost the fourth and fifth days due to either too much or too little wind, Friday will be the final day of racing, and strong winds and possible thunderstorms are in the forecast. -- http://www.starclass.org/artman/publish/article_317.shtml Current results (top 10 of 118) 1. GBR, Iain Percy/ Andrew Simpson, 3-14-3, 20 2. BRA, Lars Grael/ Marcelo Jordao, 7-1-16, 24 points 3. POR, Afonso Domingos/ Bernardo Santos, 12-9-7, 28 4. BRA, Alan Adler/ Ronald Seifert, 2-19-8, 29 5. IRL, Peter O'Leary/ Stephen Milne, 14-15-1, 30 6. ITA, Diego Negri/ Luigi Viale, 16-7-12, 35 7. ITA, Alberto Barovier/ Nando Colaninno, 23-4-9, 36 8. BRA, Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada, 4-12-21, 37 9. USA, Augie Diaz/ Phil Trinter, 9-3-29, 41 10. SUI, Flavio Marazzi/ Enrico De Maria, 15-21-5, 41.0001 Full results: http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=1371 SAILORS CAPTURE THE ARCTIC GRAIL Fortunately for true explorers in search of solitude, at least one great adventure, sometimes called the Arctic Grail, remains - transiting the Northwest Passage, the sea route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the northern coast of North America. Last summer, two San Rafael, CA residents - Doug Finley and Chris Parkman - successfully transited the passage as part of the six-person crew of Cloud Nine, a 57-foot Bowman ketch owned and skippered by Roger Swanson and his wife, Gaynelle Templin, of Minnesota. Seeking a trade route, early explorers from the time of the Vikings searched for an open, ice-free passage through Canada's far northern islands. Henry Hudson and Captain James Cook failed to find it. The first to succeed was Roald Amundsen in 1906. "Some people who were looking for it have never been found again," Finley said. "It is sobering. The biggest danger is to be frozen in and crushed by pack ice." On July 19, Finley, Parkman, and the rest of the Cloud Nine crew began their attempt on the Arctic Grail from Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. – Jan Pehrson, Marin Independent Journal, read on: http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_8465956 FREE-RIDING ON WATER? Some have compared sailing the O'pen BIC to free-riding on a snowboard or skis..... Fast, exciting, easy, and quick set up. Freestyle? Crash 'N Burn? That's part of the fun. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l6wIzg3SKI. Less than 1% of skiers or snowboarders ever compete. It's all about blasting around on modern gear with your buds. Isn't it time our sport took action to boost junior participation and offer inexpensive alternatives that are modern and cool? For more information on Fleet Pricing, Dealer Inquiries, Industry Insider Offers, or our June Mid-West Demo Tour contact mailto:info@BicSportNA.com. Bailing Is Cancelled! SAILING SHORTS * An obituary for Albert G. Van Metre, Sr., known in racing circles for his Annapolis-based yacht, Running Tide, and his support of the Hospice Cup Regatta that has raised $8 million, can be found at http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5880 * (March 6, 2008) In his attempt to be the first to establish a baseline record for the Antarctica Cup, Fedor Konyukhov has noted extreme iceberg presence as he closes to within 1,000 miles of Cape Horn in the South Atlantic, which has forced the Antarctica Cup organisers to close a section of the Racetrack for which competitors are to follow. Designed as the only non-stop race event to remain in the Southern Hemisphere and to circumnavigate Antarctica by passing the three most notorious capes on the planet (Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn, Cape Agulhuss). -- http://www.antarcticacup.com/ * Corona Del Mar, CA -- A powerhouse lineup of 40 boats is set for Balboa Yacht Club's biennial race from Corona del Mar to Cabo San Lucas starting March 28 and 29. The entries include Dennis Conner’s Farr 60, Stars & Stripes and 13 boats that sailed the Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii last summer, led by Overall Winner Tom Garnier’s J/125, Reinrag2 and Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80, first overall in Division 1 on corrected handicap time, which also last week set a new race record for the San Diego to Vallarta race. The race is being conducted under PHRF, ORR and IRC handicap systems. -- http://tinyurl.com/397yt6 * St. Maarten, N.A. (March 6, 2008) -- In staunch easterly winds of 25-knots, forty-seven boats in seven classes answered the call in the second running of the Budget Marine Commodore’s Cup, the prelude to the 28th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, the annual three-day Caribbean sailing carnival which begins Friday with a series of point-to-point races to Philipsburg. The forecast calls for continued steady breeze. -- http://www.heinekenregatta.com PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include a destroyed J/80, a record-breaking windsurfer, an iceberg filled racetrack, some sweet silver, Bill Hardesty and his winning Etchells team, a pretty sunrise off Cabo San Lucas, classic San Francisco settings, and kids and adults battling in Naples Sabots . If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/0307 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 Ian Duff: One option with which team racers are intimately familiar and which is open to other sailors stuck in a difficult situation like described in the Rules Quiz in ‘Butt 2545 and in Hank Evans letter "...get into a box canyon from which a collision is the only exit..." is to simply stop, or at least slow down, and no longer be trapped. What a concept. No shouting, just taking responsibility for putting oneself in an untenable position. Why does using stored energy to move canting keels not get the same treatment as using stored energy for other purposes on a racing sailboat, like motoring out to the starting line, or to trim sails? What's the difference between running an engine to cant the keel or to spin the propellor? Canting keels are an extraordinary development, and should be encouraged, but the rules should be fair. Perhaps canters should be classed by themselves, or for that matter, perhaps racing yachts that require the use of stored energy should be grouped together. * From Jos Spijkerman: Exceptions in RRS 19.2 only apply at marks. Because the finish mark is also a committee boat in this scenario, this looks like dangerous situation. However, leeward can see this coming. If we want this to be a situation where the leeward boat can ask for room to tack, we have to accept another exception to an exception in the rulebook. It's complicated enough as it is, don't you think? Furthermore it is also unnecessary, as leeward can shoot the mark, and windward is the keep clear boat. Additionally, leeward is entitled to room under rule 18.2(a). She's only not entitled to room to tack. If the leeward boat crosses the line with her hull (or any other part of equipment in normal position), she has finished; she doesn't have to clear the line going forward, she can just as easily go back and clear the line that way. * From Peter Huston: To help sort out the mess at the weather mark (when using a gate), why not have a downwind start, sail to a leeward gate, then upwind. By the time the fleet gets to the weather mark, it will be reasonably well sorted out. * From Grant Wharington: (edited to the 250-word limit) After my ground breaking 30 m canting keel yacht was launched in late 2003, complying with the 10deg static heel rule that was in place at that time for racing in Australia, we were clearly ahead of the IRC rule makers with this type of boat as most regattas in 2004 we won line honours and overall IRC. At that time we rated 1.610 tcc, however, after 4 years of incremental increases in our handicap due to improved performance of newer boats of similar type, our tcc is now 1.750! Our IRC wins today are few and far between. Due to a similar small group of owners beating their drum in Australia, most regattas are separating divisions based on size and canting or non-canting boats. Fortunately the major trophy for the biggest race of the year - the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race - is the boat with the lowest corrected time. This has only once been won by a canting or water ballasted boat in conditions that arguably should suit movable ballasted boats i.e stronger winds with large reaching component. The every dog has its day approach needs to be taken onboard by ALL owners. Does anybody really think that it is possible to have a single number rating system (which we all wanted due to the complexity of IMS) that will accurately handicap windward/ leeward and offshore courses in 5 to 50 knots of wind? Please be serious and not show your ignorance! This is simply a rating issue; leave it up to those who administer the rules. If anything we need less class separation and a greater focus on overall winners so our sport is not fragmented ever further than it already is! * From Jock (Jocko) Allpress: I was fortunate to sail with many great sailors on "the black boat" - Running Tide - from 1972 to 1976 and I will fondly remember Al for a long time in his tennis whites, hanging on to the backstay. * From Paul Jacobs, Saunderstown, RI: Once and for all...an earth year contains 365.242375... days! Unfortunately this is an irrational number (i.e. a number that CANNOT be expresses as the ratio of two integers) and some people have a problem with irrational numbers. The Gregorian calendar uses the rule that every year contains 365 days, then we add one "leap" day every four years (365 + 1/4 = 365.25 days per year, which is closer), then we do NOT add a leap year for every century (365 +1/4 - 0.01 = 365.24 days per year, which is closer still), but we DO add a leap day every fourth century perfectly divisible by 400 (365 + 1/4 - 1/100 +1/400 = 365.2425...which is closer still. Unfortunately, this is still "off" by 0.000125... days per year, or about one day in 8000 years. This does not sound like much until you multiply 0.000125.. by 24 x 3600 = 86,400 seconds per day and discover the error is about 10.8 seconds per year! Atomic clocks can measure time, and GPS systems (and old celestial navigators!) require time to accuracies MUCH better than this. – Much more, read on: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5879 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Among Paul’s credentials is having taught Scuttlebutt founder Tom Leweck how to navigate, and thus we will close the Leap Year thread with Paul’s offering here, which is quite entertaining if you click through to the rest of it. Feel free to add your comments to his Forum post, and with Daylight Savings Time now upon us (see below), perhaps this is an able segue to the next discussion of time and space. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME The dates for when Daylight Savings Time begins are far from universal, and depend solely on where you stand. For the bulk of the ‘buttheads – at least for those in the US and most of Canada – it begins on the second Sunday in March… which is this weekend. For those in Mexico, Bermuda, St. Johns, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, it is the first Sunday in April. For the European Union, it’s the last Sunday in March. However, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, all this talk of when it begins is likely discouraging, as extra daylight to the north means that colder months are coming soon to the south. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants. Special thanks to North U and O'pen BIC. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
