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SCUTTLEBUTT 2487 – December 3, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. SCUTTLEBUTT POLL: BEST BOAT FOR 33RD AMERICA'S CUP No shortage of debate surrounding the 33rd America's Cup. Among the topics is the boat to be used. The competitors want to replace the Version 5 ACC, and a committee has created a box rule 90-footer. More debate has ensued regarding this decision. Those in favor feel the new boat will be grand, and in character with the event. It will be high performance, the racing will be exciting, and more representative of the top end of the sport. Those opposed say the history of the cup is being compromised, that the box rule takes away from the design process, and that the speed of the boat will result in big separation during races. Everyone remembers how close the racing was this past summer in the 32nd event, and fear change will be a setback. Then, of course, there is a chance that defender Alinghi and challenger BMW Oracle Racing will be meeting in catamarans next summer. Through all this, we are reminded that the America's Cup is not a normal event. Those that play the game make the rules, and the sailing public must go along with it. However, as the cup becomes commercialized, it would seem that our vote would matter. Scuttlebutt is well read amongst the cuppers, so let them know how you feel and reply to three quick questions plus post any comments. Do it all here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/07/1201 SWISS TEAM REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE The Swiss team that holds the America’s Cup refuses to negotiate a compromise despite being ordered by a court to face an American challenger next summer in a race that would be sailed in 90-foot multihulls, a spokesman for the U.S. Oracle team said Saturday. Tom Ehman said in a telephone interview from the Oracle team base at Valencia, Spain, that Oracle skipper Russell Coutts was to meet last Friday with Brad Butterworth, skipper of the Swiss Alinghi team, “but Butterworth didn’t show up.” Commenting Ehman, whose team represents San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, “We’re meeting with the other challengers Monday. We’d just like to get back to a normal America’s Cup and have a decent regatta in the new 90-footers as Alinghi proposed, with everyone involved. But if Alinghi is hell-bent to meet us one-on-one in a 90-foot multihull, Russell and the boys are working on that, too.” -- Eric Sharp, Detroit Free Press, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/37afjv * Based on some “leaked” correspondence from Russell Coutts, the betting line for a catamaran challenge next summer is moving from possible to probable. -- http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=19209 TRIVIA QUESTION If you were part of a keelboat crew, and your position was the “Piano”, would you suddenly fear your musical shortcomings, or would you know what to do? What exactly is the Piano position? (Answer below) HEAT UP YOUR WINTER Need a way to keep the fire burning during the cold winter months? Schedule a club night to learn about the latest sportboat craze, the SB3. The SB3 has infected Europe and has now landed in North America. This three-person keelboat flies around the course. With over 400 boats sailing in this ISAF Recognized Class, it just makes sense - strict one-design rules, no hiking, and a 500 sq ft kite have opened up this exciting style of racing to everyone. One price gets you a complete package ready to race. Schedule your turn now at http://www.teamvanguard.com/2007/Boats/SB3/Club-night.htm BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (December 2, 2007) The weather pattern in the South Atlantic isn’t doing the bulk of the Barcelona World Race fleet any favours, as it is distinctly advantaging the leaders in the fleet. After PRB passed Paprec-Virbac 2 Friday night, the two of them have added over 40 miles to their lead over third placed Veolia Environnement over the last 24 hours and nearly twice that over most of the rest of the fleet as well. The danger for the chasing pack is that the first two boat will hit the Roaring Forties with such a big lead that they roar off one or two full weather systems ahead, making it difficult for the others to stay in touch. Despite the leaders gapping on the fleet, Hugo Boss can at least take solace in having gapped a bit of his own on those behind him, while the distance between the most of the positions has otherwise remained more or less static. -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Day 22 Positions – December 2, 2007 - 18:00 (GMT) 1. PRB - Vincent Riou (FRA)/Sébastien Josse (FRA), 19,740 DTF 2. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA)/Damian Foxall (IRE), 36 miles DTL 3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain (FRA)/Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA), 265 4. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson (GBR)/Andrew Cape (AUS), 391 5. Delta Dore - Jérémie Beyou (FRA)/Sidney Gavignet (FRA), 438 6. Temenos II - Dominique Wavre (SUI)/Michéle Paret (FRA), 515 7. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP)/Pachi Rivero (ESP), 588 8. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill (ESP)/Jonathan McKee (USA), 713 9. Educación sin Fronteras -Albert Bargués (ESP)/Servanne Escoffier (FRA), 1019 * (December 2, 2007) The day nine report for Francis Joyon’s solo round the world record attempt from Brest, France remains free of drama, and weather conditions have allowed him to increase his advance to 779 miles over current record holder Ellen Macarthur’s pace in 2005. Joyon’s average speed over the past 24 hours has been 17.3 knots, with his position roughly abreast of the Open 60 Estrella Damm in the Barcelona World Race. -- http://www.trimaran-idec.com WORLD TOUR: MONSOON CUP Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (December 2, 2007) With the season-ending world championship title on the line, the twelve-team Monsoon Cup soon gained clarity after the close of the round robin portion on Friday. With the exception of Sebastien Col (FRA), all the main players advanced, though tour contender Ian Williams’ team was the last in to the final eight-team Quarter Final round. It was at that round when current tour leader Mathieu Richard (FRA) was eliminated, which left Paolo Cian (ITA) and Ian Williams (GBR) as the only two with a mathematical chance at the title, and they would face off in the Semi Finals. The conditions for the Semis were perfect with winds between 10-14 knots out of the Northeast, but the current made it a premium to protect the right. The duel was predictably close, but Williams advanced in the final race, which also sealed his victory of the world title prior to his finals match against Peter Gilmour (AUS). Conditions were sparkling on the final day, with the 12-14 knot winds and sunny skies adding to the action. Penalties proved to be decisive, with Williams gaining penalty flags on Gilmour for all three of his wins, giving him the Monsoon Cup title along with the ISAF Match Racing World Championship Trophy and 250,000.00 MYR ($74,098 USD). Sailing with Williams was Bill Hardesty, Simon Shaw, Mark Nichols, and Mark Williams. -- Event site: http://www.monsooncup.com.my Quarter Finals Peter Gilmour vs Adam Minoprio – 3-2; Bjorn Hansen vs Torvar Mirsky – 3-0 Paolo Cian vs Mathieu Richard – 3-1; Ian Williams vs Jesper Radich – 3-0 Semi Finals Peter Gilmour vs Bjorn Hansen – 3-0; Ian Williams vs Paolo Cian – 3-2 Finals: Ian Williams vs Peter Gilmour 3-1 Petit Finals: Bjorn Hansen vs Paolo Cian 2-1 Final results / standings: http://tinyurl.com/2qk6vw THE "6 FOR 5" SCHEME Countries seeking to start or enlarge Optimist fleets can apply to the International Optimist Dinghy Association for a development grant, aka the "6 for 5" scheme. The basis for the program is for every five boats purchased, a sixth boat is free, and these grants are available for associations, clubs or other "not-for-profit" organizations that agree to use the boats to introduce children of non-sailors to the sport. The latest two recipients of development grants are: * Mauritius: The beautiful Indian Ocean island has placed an order for 48 Optimists to add to the 12 already bought this year. These will be used initially for the IODA African Championship in August and then by the Mauritius Y.A. to expand its bases around the island. This is a major step forward for a country with little tradition of dinghy sailing but an active fleet of traditional pirogues. The main sponsor is Investec Bank (Mauritius) Limited. * Guatemala: To promote sailing in Central America ASOVELA is buying 18 new Optimists. President Juan E. Maegli writes: "You might be interested to know that 60% of our Opti sailors now come from very low income families from a local village at our lake. With the increased fleet (we will have around 40) we are going to be able to host the sailors from Salvador and Nicaragua (as well as the Mexicans) for regional regattas." -- http://www.optiworld.org/ioda-news.html RICHARD BOUZAID JOINS ETNZ AMERICA'S CUP CAMPAIGN While the date of the 33rd America's Cup is not certain, Richard Bouzaid is looking forward to contributing to Emirates Team New Zealand as Sail Program Coordinator. Richard will continue to assist with special projects for Doyle Sailmakers. With the introduction of a redesigned AC class, Team NZ is looking to add a new perspective to their sail design program. Richard commented, "The new class of yacht presents many challenges to mounting a successful campaign and will require a lot of innovative designers and yachtsmen to work closely together." Better engineered sails. http://www.doylesails.com WORLD’S BEST HEADING TO KEY WEST With weeks to go before the final entry deadline, the entry list for Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica is already long on talent and strong on international and national representation. And the traditional last minute crush of entries is yet to descend. It will only get better. Key West Race Week is so much more than a numbers game, but an early look at the current entries reveals some eye-popping stats. 50 foreign entries from no less than 18 different countries. New York’s 25 and California’s 18 entrants head a list representing 30 different US states and eight 2007 class champions have already signed up to defend their titles. North America’s annual gathering of international grand prix boats, high profile classes and sailing legends takes place January 21 – 25, 2008. The first entry deadline (for no late fee) is December 14. -- http://www.premiere-racing.com/keywest08/pages/KW08_news.htm CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar EIGHT BELLS Harold Lee Gilreath, Sr, of Mobile, Ala, died November 27th at the age of 78, in Mobile, AL. He grew up on a farm in Sand Mountain, AL before moving to Chattanooga, TN and entering the sailing world by joining the Sea Scouts in 1944. He served in the Navy during WWll, followed by attendance at University of Chicago and matriculation at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga; where he received a degree in Mathematics. He began his career as an aircraft engineer at Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas, and then transferred to Marietta, GA, with Lockheed Corp where he worked for the next 20 years. Harold began racing Snipe class sailboats in 1944, at Privateer Yacht Club, rising to one of the leading sailors in the class. He also raced FD's, Thistles, Lasers and larger MORC, SORC, and PHRF boats, always winning both on the racecourse and as a sportsman. His passion for sailing led him to a career in the marine industry as well as writing one of the sentinel books about one design sailboat construction, "Building a Plywood Snipe", which is still in publication today. After winning numerous championships across the US, he became one of the leading marine dealers and sailmakers in the Southeast. Later in life, he became a marine appraiser and landed in Mobile, AL. He was very active locally in the Christ Anglican Church and the Mobile Yacht Club. He is survived by Josephine Gilreath of Roswell, GA, Hal Gilreath of Jacksonville, FL, Suzanne Gilreath of Los Angeles, CA, and one granddaughter. A celebration of life will be held at 3 PM, December 7th, at Mobile Yacht Club. TRIVIA ANSWER The Mean Machine Farr 40 team sent Scuttlebutt a crew list with positions, and when we saw that Sander Van der Borch was tasked with the Piano Position, we asked what that meant. Here was the response: “Sander's position is as in the Pit. In Spanish, "pit" and "pit assistant" is translated as ‘piano’ or ‘ayudante de piano’ (yes, like a music instrument), and in the Press Kit it wasn't translated!” For those of you have never been in the Pit (as opposed to being in the pits), the position is generally tasked with managing the halyards and other rigging that is centered in one station, often near the front of the cockpit, and can be a key communicator between the front and the back of the boat. -- Scuttleblog, http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2007/11/piano-position.html 15% OFF GREAT GIFTS FOR SAILORS! Onne van der Wal's online gallery is a one-stop shop for easy gifting to your family, crew, sailing buddies & anyone on your list who loves wind and water. From affordable mini prints, calendars, notecards, posters & books to stunning limited editions - framed, unframed or on canvas - find it all at http://www.vanderwal.com 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 Ari Barshi, Event Coordinator, 6th Caribbean Laser Midwinter Regatta, Cabarete, Dominican Republic: (regarding Chris Ericksenletter in Issue 2486 re, King of the Masters) The King of the Masters series is open to all sailors of age, being from the West Coast of the USA, Avignon and even Rome. There is also no problem in having two Kings, but this clearly calls for a duel. If the West Coast crowns a King of the Masters (I wonder if I should have registered the name), than the two Kings should meet for a Match Race to crown Caesar; King of All Kings of Masters. We will call the East Coast King the defender as he was crowned first, and the West Coast king the Challenger. I can see in the future more Kings wanting to join our event, and they will have to match race among themselves first, as only one Challenger can face the Defender. I just need to write some rules down, a kind of a deed. Something simple, fun, and "having" to be sound 155 years from now. * From Barry Dunning: In Scuttlebutt 2486 photographs of the week you have a picture by Sally Armstrong of a gaff rigged yacht. She is a Solent One Design called Rosenn owned by myself and the yachting scribe Bob Fisher. She was built in 1896 by Whites of Southampton. She is raced regularly and still has her original spars. If any of your readers have any information on her or the Solent One Designs, we would love to hear from them. Our information is that 22 boats were built for the members of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Island Sailing Club between 1896-98. Rosenn was originally named Eilun and had the sail number of 6. She spent the last 100 years on the River Crouch in Essex. Were they the first one design fleet and are there any others afloat and racing? We understand that the class died because of the introduction of the metre rule in 1907. Send information to mailto:barry.dunning@hotmail.com * Here are the photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/1130/ * From Brian Trotta: Am I the only one that looked at the announcement of the Portimão Global Ocean Race (in Issue 2486) and shook their head in wonder? How could the organizers schedule an event that overlaps with the Vendee Globe, the premier race for the Open 60 class? It's not like the dates of the Vendee are a secret. They've been out there since the last race ended. And because of it's lofty status, all the top boats and sailors will be in the Vendee, leaving the Portimao race with only second-tier sailors in older, non-competitive boats. Competitors will have a tough time attracting sponsors for a race with that kind of background. I love the Open 60s and have a tremendous respect for those who sail them. But the world doesn't need two races going on at the same time. Just look at the Barcelona World Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre. The fleets in both races were diminished by the fact that the races overlapped. The BWR got the lion's share of the 60s, but some big name skippers skipped the round-the-world race in favor of the TJV. Overlapping races doesn't do either event any good. The folks at PGOR need to postpone their race, take a look at the calendar, and find a time when there isn't an established Open 60 race going on. That way, they can put on an event that will attract the best fleet, the most media, and the biggest return on the sponsors' investments. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: We contacted Josh Hall, Race Director, Portimao Global Ocean Race 2008-09, who provided this reply: “Firstly, I would like to make it very clear that the Portimao Global Ocean Race does not allow Open 60's. We have created this event due to the numerous requests for us to do so from owner/skippers of the now somewhat marginalised Open 50's and Open 40's, and many from the fast expanding Class 40 fleet. The Open 60 fleet is large enough to support concurrent races such as the TJV and the Barcelona World Race and the fact that these are both IMOCA endorsed events shows that the Class Association, which does a fine job of guarding the Class and its events, is very pleased with the things taking this direction. In fact, some of the boats in the Barcelona World Race would not have been built unless this race existed. “Secondly, I also am a huge fan of the Open 60's and have in fact spent my entire life racing them and managing them. The Open 60 fleet is expanding at an incredible rate but, and I can say this from a position of knowledge, the budgets required to compete are now huge and the Portimao Global Ocean Race is an event that puts competitive round world racing squarely back in the realms of privately funded campaigns or sponsored campaigns that require a fraction of an Open 60 budget( i.e. acheivable). We also anticipate our event being a springboard for some skippers to move on to an Open 60 programme having proved themselves on the race track and their value to their sponsors. Having been contacted by over 150 seriously interested entries from around the globe, I would argue that we have that concept right.” – Read on in the Forum, and post comments if desired: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5586 * From Paul Kueffner, Southport, CT: (re IRC’s ‘facts’ in Issue 2486) It would also appear that the title "What If You Gave A Party And Nobody Came" was placed on the wrong article. According to the 2006 SailingWorld/ IRC Handbook, there were 7,078 IRC certificates worldwide at the close of 2005. While the 6,742 certificates issued as of August 31, 2007 worldwide may be 20% more than existed last year, 6,742 IRC certificates is still 336 fewer than were issued in 2005. It would seem that many sailors don't like the party the way it's currently set up. Perhaps they can't afford a new boat or rig every year to accommodate secret changes in the rule. I know I can't. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION During their lifetime, the average American will spend an average of 6 months in their car waiting at red lights. Special thanks to Vanguard Sailboats, Doyle Sailmakers, and Onne van der Wal Gallery. |
