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SCUTTLEBUTT 1335 - May 22, 2003
Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is a
digest 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.
THE FIFTEEN COMMANDMENTS OF WEEKNIGHT RACING
1. Thou shalt not take anything other than safety too seriously. If you can
only remember one commandment, this is the one. Relax, have fun, and keep
it light. Late to the start?-So What! Over Early?-Big Deal; just go back.
Too Windy?-Quit. Not enough wind?-Break out the cold beer. The point is to
have fun and stay safe. As the ad says, "Safe boating is no accident."
2. Thou shalt honor the racing rules if thou knowest them.
3. Thou shalt not mess up thy boat.
4. Thou shalt not covet thy competitor's boat, sails, equipment, crew, or
PHRF rating.
5. Thou shalt not amp out.
6. Thou shalt not protest thy neighbor.
7. Thou shalt not run out of beer.
8. Thou shalt always go out for a crew dinner or drink afterwards.
9. Thou shalt bring thy spouse, kids, co-workers, friends, and whomever
wants to go.
10. Thou shalt not serve alcohol to underage sailors-especially if thou art
in the employ of a yacht club.
11. Thou shalt always try to use the old sails.
12. Thou shalt never, ever schedule anything at work after noon on a race day.
13. Thou shalt always thank the race committee and the skipper after the
finish.
14. Thou shalt not refer to weeknight racing results when discussing PHRF
ratings.
15. Thou shalt not worry; thou shalt be happy.
Courtesy of SpinSheet Magazine. - http://www.spinsheet.com
SIR PETER BLAKE TRIBUTE
The Sir Peter Blake Tribute will take the form of an exhibition at the New
Zealand National Maritime Museum celebrating Sir Peter's life which will
consist of a number of sections, each telling the story of a particular
period in his life - his early years, the sportsman and leader, the
Whitbread Round the World Races, the America's Cup story, Sir Peter the
explorer and environmentalist, and so on.
Winning the America's Cup on NZL 32 - Black Magic - in 1995 against Cayard
on Young America, and then defending it in New Zealand in 2000 will be a
feature of the exhibition through the display of NZL 32 Black Magic in a
purpose build "display case" over the water adjacent to the Maritime
Museum. The Tribute is being developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
Tongarewa (Te Papa) and the New Zealand National Maritime Museum. The total
cost of the project is estimated at NZD $10 million and the fundraising
campaign has got off to a brilliant start with the announcement of a $2.5
million grant from the NZ Government and a $2 million grant from the
Auckland City. It is anticipated that the exhibition will be opened by the
end of 2005.
For those interested in submitting donations toward the project, you can
contact Pat Stuart by email (Pats@tepapa.govt.nz) or send donations to:
Sir Peter Blake Tribute
C/- Te Papa
PO Box 467
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
PADDED SAILING SHORTS & PANTS
Sailing Angles trademarked Sailing Shorts and Longpants with rugged double
Cordura seats and knees, plus optional padded seat and knee fenders! You'll
love their functional deep pockets, non-corroding zippers, waist adjustment
straps, and double waist buttons, all designed to help you play and work
hard. Breathable, water resistance Supplex makes theses quick dry shorts
easy to pack and an absolute pleasure on the race course! Sizes from 26
(Jr) to 44, 4 to 14 in women's, in 2 leg lengths. Colors include aloha
silver along with navy, khaki, red, black and khaki/navy combo. Now at APS,
Layline and http://www.sailingangles.com
JONATHAN MCKEE
American Jonathan McKee recently won the first stage of the Mini-Bulwark
Series, an International Singlehanded Yacht Race sailed in crazy little 6.5
Meter (22 foot) boats. We all know that this kind of high performance
solo/Mini racing is largely a European dominated game. Has anyone ever
wondered what would happen if you took one of the world's best one design/
Olympic Class sailors and asked him to play the ultra-complex Mini-6.5
Meter class game? Here's what happened in Jonathan's first try...
After more than two days of battling relentless 25 knot winds and severe
waves, American Jonathan McKee won the Mini Pavois international race for
solo sailors (stage one of the Mini-Bulwark). In his very first single
handed race aboard the popular Mini 6.5 meter class boats, Jonathan McKee
surfed "Team McLube" to victory. Once surfing conditions had fully kicked
in, Jonathan stretched to an impressive 5 hour lead by the time he reached
the finish line in Portsmouth.
Jonathan has just begun training (and qualifying for) for the 2003 Mini
Transat Yacht Race, a 4,200 mile singlehanded ocean race from France to
Brazil. Consider that this event is one man in a high performance 22' boat,
racing across the Atlantic against 70 other boats! That's right, only 70
boats are allowed to qualify for the extreme event.
"This race has always been a dream of mine, and I am grateful to Team
McLube for helping to make it possible," explains an enthusiastic Jonathan
McKee.
For photos and the latest updates in English, please visit
http://www.mclube.com/frames/sailkote/index.html
Or in French:
http://www.sail-online.com/xhtml.cfm?ActiveDoc=Actualite/article.cfm&NumArticle=10849
PS: Jonathan won a gold medal in 1984 with Carl Buchan in the FD, a silver
medal in 2000 with brother Charlie in the 49er, has numerous world
championship titles to his credit, and recently sailed with OneWorld
Challenge in the recent AC.
TEAM NEW ZEALAND
Comments from a local MP criticizing the decision to back the next
America's Cup syndicate have been challenged by the America's Cup minister.
Whangarei-based ACT-list MP Dr Muriel Newman slammed the Labor Government's
move to give $34 million to the America's Cup syndicate earlier this month.
However America's Cup Minister Trevor Mallard says no final decision on
funding has been made yet, but if the Team New Zealand campaign goes ahead
it is estimated to cost between $120 to $150 million. "The vast majority of
which will be spent in New Zealand," he said.
Dr Newman is calling for any money put aside for the challenge to be spent
more effectively. "The Northland District has the highest percentage of
police shortages in the country and under-funding means they are unable to
recruit more officers. "Rather than invest in law and order, however, the
Government would prefer to give millions of dollars to a rich man's sport."
- Karen Barkla, Whangarei Leader, NZ,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/northland/0,2106,2489780a1927,00.html
CHALLENGE MONDIAL ASSISTANCE
It was at 0604 hours and 22 seconds this Wednesday 21 May under driving
rain and storms that Groupama skippered by Franck CAMMAS (FRA) crossed the
finish line of this second edition of the Challenge Mondial Assistance. The
green and white trimaran took a total of 9 days, 15 hours, 4 minutes and 22
seconds to cover the 2,700 mlles of the race at an average speed of 11.68
knots.
It proved to be a very interesting last night revealing the true complexity
of the course. "It was a very complicated night in 35 to 40 knot winds and
jumps in the wind of 90 degrees" declared Franck Proffit, future crew of
Franck Cammas in the next Transat Jacques Vabre. "We had to make an
enormous amount of maneuvers and the whole crew is tired. Even the
electronics blew with the storm" he ended, half an hour after crossing the
finish line. 4 hours and 46 minutes separating the winner of this second
edition of the race from fourth placed, Michel Desjoyeaux. -
http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=4538
http://www.challenge-mondialassistance.com/uk/accueil_uk.htm
Curmudgeon's Comment: To completely appreciate these boats, I encourage you
to take a look at the sailing images on the event site:
http://www.challenge-mondialassistance.com/uk/pictures/boats_uk.htm
ADVENTURE FOR SALE
Challenge Business announced that the Round Britain and Ireland Challenge
2003 in association with The Daily Telegraph will start from the Solent on
Saturday, August 30. The fleet of identical 72 ft yachts will race
clockwise around Britain and Ireland, due to return approximately 12 days
and some 1800 nautical miles later. Onboard each yacht will be a
professional skipper and mate accompanied by 16 crew members made up of men
and women from all walks of life and nationalities.
Similar to Challenge Business' other events, potential crew need not
necessarily have prior sailing experience. Commented Simon Walker Managing
Director of Challenge Business: "We train all the participants with two
five day training sails during July and August plus a week of race training
and preparation prior to departure." The berth fee is £3,750 and includes a
berth in the event, sail and race training, wet weather gear, shore gear,
full race insurance and invitation to the farewell party and the prize
giving. - http://www.challengebusiness.com/rbc
THE RIGHT MEDICINE
Bob Lane had a winner in Medicine Man (Andrews 61). But his competitive
instincts told him the boat could be even better, so he came to Hall Spars
& Rigging. Hall replaced his heavy aluminum mast/rod rigging with a taller
yet far lighter carbon mast/ PBO rigging package. Look out, Transpac fleet
- this boat will fly! If you, like Bob, love your boat and want to
supercharge its performance, contact Hall. Carbon masts, booms, and
spinnaker poles; lightweight high-tech rigging - they have just the
prescription to optimize your boat. - http://www.hallspars.com
SEA STORIES
In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship.
It was also before commercial fertilizer's invention, so large shipments of
manure were common. It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a
lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became
heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a byproduct
is methane gas.
As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and
did) happen. Methane began to build up below decks and the first time
someone came below at night with a lantern, Boooom!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just
what was happening. After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped
with the term "Ship High In Transit" on them, which meant for the sailors
to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into
the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of
methane. Thus evolved the acronym.
NEWS BRIEFS
* Santana magazine which has covered sailing in Southern California for the
past 16 years has been sold to Dockside Publications Inc. of Irvine, Calif.
Scott Leigh, president of Dockside Publications and publisher of Dockside
magazine, said Dockside will continue to publish Santana as a separate
publication. Catherine "Kitty" H. James confirmed that she had sold Santana
to Leigh in April but said she is not retiring. "Kitty will cover Southern
California yacht racing and will be actively involved in other editorial
matters," Leigh said. - The Log, http://thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=59158
* While no stories were available, the results are in from the first day of
the 19th SPA Regatta in Medemblik, the Netherlands where 864 boats and
1,200 competitors representing 60 nations, are competing in the eleven
Olympic classes. Top North American results: 470 Men: 6th- Forester/?
(USA); 470 Women: 12th- Maxwell/Morgan (USA); 49er: 5th- Wadlow/? (USA);
Europe: 15th-Tania Elias-Calles (MEX); Finn: 17th- Christopher Cook (CAN);
Laser: 17th- Zachary Railey (USA); Mistral Men: 16th- Alain Bolduc (CAN);
Mistral Women: 22nd- Dominique Vallee (CAN); Yngling: 7th-
Alison/Lcyda/Leech (USA); Star: 2nd- Bromby/White (BER); Tornado: 13th-
Johansson/Curtis (CAN). Complete results - http://www.sparegatta.org/2003
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS:
* May 24-25: ISSA National High School Team Racing Championship for the
Baker Trophy, Mission Bay YC, San Diego, CA
http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org/
* July 12-13: Road to Rolex women's sailing clinic, in preparation for the
Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (IWKC), Oklahoma City
Boating Club. Former J/22 & J/24 World Champion Mark Foster will conduct
the clinic. For information: linda@onesds.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 or a
bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best
shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Hal Smith (edited to our 250-word limit): It was incorrectly
reported by Sail magazine that only six boats started the Charleston to
Bermuda race on May 17 out of an anticipated 20 boats. Rather, 16 boats
started the race in blustery conditions with a miserable 4-day forecast.
The race was started by the Irish tall ship, Jeanie Johnston, in Charleston
harbor in winds blowing in the mid 20's. After a spectacular close reach
start to a turning mark in the Ashley River, it was a beat out of the harbor.
Unfortunately, Bermuda is on a line straight beyond the harbor exit through
the jetties. Progress was so slow, that one boat had made only 38 miles
during the first day and decided to retire with numerous equipment
problems. That boat, a Hinckley 40, J Henry, was followed by 4 more boats
with equipment failures including a nearly lost mast. At this time, 11
boats continue to race with evening reports posted on a bulletin board kept
by SailNet. This is viewable at: http://www.sailnet.com/c2b/index.cfm
There was great interest in this third effort at establishing this race as
a bi-annual event. I am sure that the race organizers are sorry that anyone
has had difficulty obtaining accurate information about this fun and very
wet event. The race was sponsored this year by the South Carolina Maritime
Heritage Foundation which is supporting the construction of a tall ship for
Charleston.
* From Vincent Casalaina: I've never been concerned about Scuttlebutt's
policy of letting people have their say pretty much uncensored. if ISAF
would like to respond, or even to give their side of the issue I have no
doubt that Scuttlebutt would print that just as quickly.
I dislike very much the attitude that Mr. Epstein seems to put forward that
these sorts of issues should be dealt with in the back room - with no one
in the greater sailing community aware of the conflict going on. Maybe the
press is not the place to argue the case, but it's certainly a great place
to get the issue out in the open so that we can all get a better idea of
what the administrative heads of our sport are doing.
I was sorry that Mr. Epstein did not take his own advice and give us some
solid information on "the story behind the controversy". This was his
opportunity to put forward the "facts" as they exist - he chose not to do that.
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
One good turn gets most of the blankets.
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