SCUTTLEBUTT #208 -- October 29, 1998

Germany's Markus Wieser won the top graded V Internacional de Espana in Bayona and leaps up from 8th to 5th position on the list. Nicola Celon (ITA), who was Wieser's opponent in the finals in Bayona, will be pleased to see his name among the top twenty of the world's match race sailors this month.

Although Russell Coutts carried home the King Edward VII Gold Cup after a very competitive match race regatta in Bermuda last weekend, the valuable grade 1 points are not enough to stop his slide down the Rankings. Coutts has not competed in enough events this year to maintain his place near the top of the list, and as his results from three years ago drop off, so his score goes down.

Gavin Brady (NZL) won the third Grade 1 event this month (the International France Match Race). Although he has not moved up the Rankings as a result, he consolidates his 4th place position and increases his points score.

Ranking points difference between the top eight match race sailors has never been so close. The highest rankings points of the year will be at stake at the forthcoming Nippon Cup 98 ISAF World Championship of Match Race Sailing supported by PIZZA-LA (Hayama, Japan from 7-15 November 1998) and the list could change dramatically when the results from that event are taken into account next month.

Paula Lewin (BER) competed in her home waters last weekend at the King Edward VII Gold Cup Match Racing Tournament. She did not finish well enough however to stop Betsy Alison (USA) from regaining her place at the top of the women's list. Alison is ranked #20 on the overall list and Lewin in #22.

1 Peter GILMOUR (JPN 12040
2 Chris LAW (GBR) 11437
3 Peter HOLMBERG (ISV) 11023
4 Gavin BRADY (NZL) 10571
5 Markus WIESER (GER) 10292
6 Ed BAIRD (USA) 10112
7 Sten MOHR (DEN) 10081
8 Jochen SCHUMANN (GER) 10074
9 Bertrand PACE (FRA) 9876
10 Luc PILLOT (FRA) 9720
11 Magnus HOLMBERG (SWE) 9545
12 Russell COUTTS (NZL) 9353
13 Neville WITTEY (AUS) 9241

Complete ISAF World Match Race Rankings: http://sailing.org/iyru/mrranking.html

EUROPE DINGHY NATIONALS

Held in Santa Cruz California October 24- 25. Racing was cancelled Saturday due to no wind and rain. On Sunday, there were only 5 to 12 knots of wind and large waves.

1. Hannah Swett NYYC 8
2. Meg Gailland American Y.C 9
3. Amanda Clark Sheiter Island Y.C 13
4. Leslie Osmera Island Hts Y.C 14
5. Danielle Brennan Myrdal Centerport Y.C 14
6. Krysia Pohl St.Francis Y.C 20
7. Samantha Barnes St.Francis Y.C 25
8. Lynn Olinger St.Francis Y.C 25
9. Sharon Alexander Richmond Y.C 27
10. Erina Mattson St.Francis Y.C 29

Complete results: http://www.sailing.org/today/whatsnew.html

ROLEX WOMAN'S CHAMPIONSHIP

Denise MacGillivray of Newport, R.I., has been named the event chair for US SAILING's eighth biennial Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, scheduled for September 19-25, 1999, in Newport, R.I. The championship, hosted by Ida Lewis Yacht Club and sailed in J/24s, brings together the top women sailors from around the world. MacGillivray has competed in the Rolex Women's Keelboat four times, twice as a skipper and twice as a crew member. She is vice-president of J World, where she began as an instructor in 1986. -- Barby MacGowan, Media Pro Int'l

A preliminary notice of race is available on the J/24 web site: http://www.sailing.org/j24/

HUH?

Yesterday we opened the door to begin the lobbying for Rolex Yachtsman / Yachtsman of the year awards·and didn't get even one taker. What's going on? Is it plain apathy · or has the dominance of professional sailors taken some of the luster off of these once prestigious awards?

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

So what are you going to give to your hardworking and loyal crewmembers for Christmas this year? They busted their tail for you this season -- now you have a chance to show how much you appreciate them with quality crew attire from Pacific Embroidery. Give Frank Whitton a call to find out how affordable it is to be good guy during the holiday season. Frank delivers! Pacyacht@aol.com / 619-226-8033

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON

>> From Ali Meller, VP International 505 Class Yacht Racing Association -- Regarding limitations on Category 2 and 3 competitors in some classes/events... While I think I understand the problem of your long time adversary showing up at a major event with a bunch of rockstars and cleaning your clock.... limitations on category 2 and 3 competitors smacks of people trying to be the big goldfish in a small pond. Why would you not want to race against the best possible team? That's how you get better. The current situation, with US Sailing making some questionable assignments of people to categories, the RYA doing something different, and some people checking out their competition and saying something like - those guys should really be category 3 and ineligible - is ridiculous. Thank God we don't invoke that appendix in my class... anyone who shows up and joins the class is more than welcome. My solution is to boycott any class that excludes anyone or limits who can race - actually very easy to do, as I am so busy with 3 505s, an Albacore and a Laser that I don't have time to race in any other classes. By the way, I don't work in the sailing industry, have never gone to the Olympics, and would be rated category 1 by US Sailing if they were ever asked.

>> Steve Loeb -- From IMS is alive and well in Long Island Sound. It is producing some of the best racing around. Publishing this kind of editorial which is just an advertisement for J Boats unfairly denigrates IMS. A review of the 2 boats J125 and Farr 40 by a competent naval architect would be interesting.

>> From Mike Guccione-- The last day of a regatta is a pressure filled one. After the race the crowd wants to get the trophies awarded and go home. A lot of protests slows this process down big time. The larger the regatta the more protests and the more pressure to get them done. So it is understandable that a race committee is trying to make the competitors more responsible for at least being available for a protest hearing.

I have sat on a few protest hearings and the only thing that I have found consistent is that the two sides always have a completely different set of facts. I am sure if we brought the other side in we would hear how they yelled protest and raised the B flag within 10 seconds of the incident. Then they came over to you after the race and notified you once again and then begged to the protest committee to announce one more time that they needed a representative from your boat.

Now that the responsibilities of a clean start are being partially shifted back to the the R/C's, do you want to use that as an excuse for not being responsible for anything? What do you want now a subpoena?

>> From Charlie Arms -- We have finally gotten the powers that be to see that most competitors want to be notified if OCS, please don't convolute the issue by associating it with your scenario of protest notification, which by the way seems to be sufficiently addressed in the rules. If winning the regatta means checking the official notice board (however inconvenient its location) then it is worth a stop on the way to the party.

J/24 EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP

The J/24 East Coast Championship will be sailed off Annapolis October 30-November 1. Can Terry Hutchinson add another J/24 jewel to his 1998 collection (he already has won the Midwinters, the North Americans, and the Worlds)? Will 1997 World Champ Chris Larson take the momentum from his Boat Show Sailmaker's Challenge win into the regatta? Or is this the regatta in which an up-and-comer steps up and makes a serious challenge to the class pantheon? The East Coasts are traditionally windy and ultra-competitive. About 90 boats are expected. Stay tuned! -- Spinsheet

http://www.spinsheet.com/

AROUND ALONE

Mother Nature's about to switch off the fan. The party's over. Or is it? Thus far the Class I racers have continued to enjoy wind where, according to the weather maps, wind should not be. This morning, the top five boats were in spread formation, with the leading pack of Autissier, Thiercelin and Golding flying down the middle while Hall was flanked to their north and Giovanni Soldini was set up well to the south. Hall's plan to cut the high and reduce his mileage has thus far not paid dividends; he was 145 miles behind Golding early today. Soldini, who has displayed his gambler's heart time and again on Leg 1, has once again split away in search of his own private breeze. For Soldini, Friday's forecast holds a ray of hope: "Westerlies will appear around 36S and the further south you are, the stronger they will be." Soldini, currently at 39S, has thrown down his last card. Only time will tell if it was a winner.

Yesterday, Autissier wrote, "Now the weather is fairly clear and cold. The wind is still out of the northwest, but dropping. That's a drag, because since I'm in the lead I'm heading for an area of slackening wind, while [Golding] is catching up. [Thiercelin] must have fixed his mainsail, since he seems to be moving well again." And Golding, who reported yesterday that he'd had to back the sails aboard Team Group 4 and put her in reverse to clear a 40-foot "lifting strop" from his keel, added, "The way the weather is shaping up it's certainly not a done deal yet and I still have a shot at getting to Cape Town ahead of [Autissier and Thiercelin]." Golding was just 18 miles behind Thiercelin, and 41 miles astern of Autissier at 0940 GMT.

In Class II, J.P. Mouligne held a 24-mile edge over Brad Van Liew at 0944 GMT. But both sailors reportedly suffered damage to their mainsails when overtaken by a passing cold front. Mouligne said, "The bad news is that I now have a bad tear in my beautiful Kevlar mainsail at the first reef. The sail split vertically as I was setting the first reef in. I am back to the second reef and [sailing] underpowered to ease the load." And this from Van Liew: "I have just spent all afternoon in a sail-mending race with J.P. I actually had two [rips], one at the leech which was about one-and-a-half-feet and the other in the center [that] was about three feet. Both of the tears were below the second reef and above the first." With light airs waiting ahead, the winner of the "sail-mending race" may well hold a huge advantage in the challenging days ahead. -- Herb McCormick

CLASS I (Distance to go)
1. Autissier 0932
2. Golding 0955
3. Thiercelin 0973
4. Hall 1118
5. Soldini 1223

CLASS II
1. Mouligne 2157
2. Van Liew 2181
3. Garside 2278
4. Davie 2662
5. Stricker 2793

Event website: http://www.aroundalone.com

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
It's lonely at the top, but you eat better.