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SCUTTLEBUTT 2048 - March 10, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.THIS DAY IN SPORTS The New York times runs a piece most days called "This Day in Sports" recalling the top sports stories of the day, at least from an American perspective, over the past 100 or so years. Today's NYT top story is about the American black athlete, Jesse Owens, "who arrived on the national stage in a collegiate track meet by breaking a sprint record that had stood for seven years. Interestingly, the NYT says today's "runner-up" story is about the America's Cup and, to a degree, also about equal opportunity -- in this case for women. The story goes back to 1994 and Bill Koch's announcement that he would defend the America's Cup with the first all-female crew in the history of the competition. America's Cup historian Tom Ehman has posted some very interesting insight into that campaign on the BMW Oracle Racing blog: http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/stories/1673947/ NOT TRUE It appears the European sailing press do not understand the New Zealand sense of humour. Overseas sources have been reporting Alinghi is holding talks with former skipper Russell Coutts about a possible return to the syndicate. But tactician Brad Butterworth says that is a bit off the mark. Butterworth says he is always winding up Coutts by suggesting a return, knowing full well he would turn him down. He believes the media has got the wrong end of the stick. Coutts was fired in 2004 following a row with Alinghi's billionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli. ~ NewstalkZB, http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91397 JUST ONE RACE LEFT Two-time Bacardi Cup Champion Peter Bromby, sailing this week with crew Bill McNiven, of Bermuda won Thursday's fifth race at the 2006 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta on the waters of Biscayne Bay. Sailors dropped their worst finish in the official standings, so the victory moves Bromby, who was black-flagged and disqualified for an early start on day three, to fourth overall following the drop. John Dane and Austin Sperry were the recipients of good fortune today, when a first start was scratched after the pin boat failed to hoist the flag marking the start of the race, and both race committee boats then raised conflicting individual and general recall flags. The duo from Gulfport, Mississippi, was over the starting line and would have been disqualified for an early start had it not been for the confusion that forced a restart. Instead, the sixth place finish positions them solidly in first place overall entering the sixth and final race of the regatta, eight points ahead of their nearest threats, Marc Pickel and crew Ingo Borkowski of Germany. A black flag on day three also was the German duo's only blemish, as they jumped the starting line along with 13 other teams. ~ Janet Maizner, complete story and results: http://tinyurl.com/p2c6r Standings after five races with on discard: 1. John Dane/Sperry Austin (USA) 11pts. 2. Marc Pickel/Ingo Borkowski (GER) 19 3. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) 23 4. Peter Bromby/Bill McNiven (BER) 24 5. Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 27 6. Iain Murray/Andrew Palfrey (AUS) 29 7. Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Dominik Zycki (POL) 30 8. Karl Anderson/Magnus Liljedahl (USA) 38 9. Afonso Domingos/Bernardo Santos (POR) 38 10. Mark Reynolds/Christian Finnsgard (USA) 41 Curmudgeon's Comment: Read Bacardi reports from 2005 Star North American champion George Szabo: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog What will the scores have to be for Dane/Sperry to win? Scuttlebutt has the winning combinations posted on the website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/sbc JP3 RUDDER BEARINGS PROVE RELIABLE IN VOR With the recent press regarding canting keel technology in the VO70's, little is being reported about the steering systems, which are also dealing with 'superloads' as well as maintaining helm sensitivity at 25+ knots. JP3 watertight self-aligning rudder bearing systems are being used on six of the seven Volvo 70's, 25 TP52's, and four of the current generation IACC yachts. Additionally Mari Cha, Morning Glory, and Orange are amongst many other notable "speed machines" carrying JP3 bearings. Make sure you're packing the same, reliable, lightweight equipment. Contact the sole US agent: Loughborough Marine Interests Llc, email mailto:david@lminewport.com, Link http://www.lminewport.com THE STAGE IS SET The stage is set for tense finish in the last hours of leg four with an overnight park-up predicted, and more of the same tomorrow. In the last few hours, local heroes, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) have overtaken ABN Amro Two (Sebastien Josse) and although the Dutch team did everything they could to stay ahead of them, it seems the Brazilian boat is slightly quicker than the white Dutch boat on this angle. The fleet has reasonable breeze tonight, but from tomorrow until the finish in Rio de Janeiro, the weather will be light and the chance of a park-up will increase. Leading the fleet, ABN Amro One (Mike Sanderson) has a 76 mile buffer on Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), but this could so easily diminish if the breeze dies. In the last six hours, the chasing pack, with the exception of movistar who is in a completely different weather pattern, has all lost miles to ABN Amro One. But they are just waiting for the opportunity to pounce and the final line-up in Rio de Janeiro could still be quite different from the leaderboard order shown here. ~ www.volvooceanrace.org Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Thursday 1. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 248 miles to finish 2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +76 miles 3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +111 miles 4. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +111 miles 5. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +160 miles 6. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +1160 miles CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CONDITIONS Sunny skies, warm weather and big breeze - Chamber of Commerce conditions - greeted the 142 boats competing in Acura Miami Race Week 2006. . In the 19-boat Farr 40 Fleet skipper Eivind Astrup and his crew aboard Norwegian Steam were exhausted but in good spirits after taking the early lead. Norwegian Steam stormed into the lead on the initial downwind leg en route to winning Race 2 then followed with a second in Race 3. "It is never good to lead the regatta on the first day. There is only one way to go after that," said Astrup, who nonetheless was thrilled to pick up the Industry Partner Boat of the Day honor. In IRC 1, Aera (Ker 55) and Moneypenny (Swan 601) continued their remarkably close duel that began in Key West. It was more of the same Thursday as skipper Nick Lykiardopulo led Aera to victory in two races and second in the other. Moneypenny put up a 1-2-2 line and trails by a mere point in the overall standings. Rum at Six gave a strong performance in the seven-boat J/105 class, posting a pair of bullets and a second. However, skipper Worth Harris can't rest on his laurels since Kevin Grainger and Gumption 3 also had a good day and trail by just one point in the overall standings. Four other one-design classes - Mumm 30, Melges 24, Etchells, and J/24 - start racing on Friday. ~ Bill Wagner, full report, photos and results: http://www.premiere-racing.com/miami06/pages/miami_2006_index.htm GOING OFFSHORE An afternoon and evening of punching into a southeasterly breeze and the Gulf Stream, followed by a nighttime run through the coral heads of the Bahamas Bank lay in store for the nine boats who set sail on the distance race of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship this afternoon. The longest race of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship - officially 18-24 hours in duration - is race seven of a 10-race series taking part during Acura Miami Race Week. At 2:30 Thursday afternoon, the Premiere Racing Race Committee started the fleet at the tip of Key Biscayne on an approximate 178 nautical mile course. The course is effectively counter-clockwise around a square, the first leg taking the boats east from Miami across to the Bahamas Bank, then north around a mark at the top of the Bahamas Bank before returning due west to Florida and then south down the Florida coast to the Miami finish. With a night on the water, the distance race represents a very different proposition to the fleet after the six, short duration windward-leeward races they have enjoyed for the last two days. The start was held in 12-15 knots of wind, but in a sea far more lumpy than kicked up by the wind. Karl Kwok's Beau Geste got the best start, tacking at the committee boat, but it was Patches who slowly pulled out a lead by taking the right side of the opening beat. At press time, two hours into the race, Patches was still leading the fleet with Beau Geste, John Buchan's Glory and John Coumantaros' Bambakou heading directly across the Straits of Florida. The rest of the pack had put in a tack south. ~ Media Pro Int'l, www.premiere-racing.com WILL THEY CRACK THE 50-KNOT BARRIER? Sporting new carbon planning surfaces and rig optimization from Doyle Sailmakers, Sailrocket is gearing up for a run at the 50-knot speedsailing barrier in Weymouth, England. In early trials the "rocket" hit 28.1 knots in 18 knots of wind - and the next spring gale promises to deliver the right conditions for a serious run at the record. Full story online at: http://www.doylesails.com/news.htm WINDSURFING EQUIPMENT The first major head to head competition between the recently selected 2008 Beijing Windsurfing equipment, the RS:X, and the much older and original hybrid design, the Mistral Prodigy, occurred at the Calema Windsurfing Midwinters, Mar 3-5, at Cocoa Beach, Florida. The popular and less costly Prodigy narrowly missed being selected for the next Olympic Games at the race- off in Italy last year. Interestingly enough, at the Midwinter Championship, where the Prodigys and RSXs started together as one fleet and sailed the same course, the Prodigys exhibited equal or better board speed in most wind conditions, particularly in lighter winds, despite having an 8.5 meter sail versus the RS:Xs larger 9.5 meter sail. Final results do show the RS:X in the top 4 positions, but then again, these were sailed by Olympic contenders (US Ben Barger 1st, and Canadian Alain Bolduc 2nd). Amazingly, the fastest board of all was sailed by Dave Stanger of Charleston, SC, a 52 year old and a grandfather. Stanger was on a (gasp) long board with a 7.5 meter sail! He finished just 2 points behind the leader, Ben Barger, starting at the same time and sailing the same course. In one race, Stanger was far ahead, stopped in midcourse to locate the finish line and lost several places. Have we made progress or what? BTW, average age of Prodigy sailors competing was also 52 years. ~ Dick Tillman NEWS BRIEFS * US Sailing has hired Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) as the full-time coach of the US Disabled Sailing Team. Alison, a five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and two-time Yngling World Champion, has been working with athletes of the US Disabled Sailing Team for several years, accompanying the U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team to the 2000 and 2004 Paralympic Games. Alison now officially joins a staff of three sailing coaches employed full-time by US Sailing: High Performance Director and US Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie, as well as US Sailing Team Coaches Luther Carpenter and Skip Whyte. ~ www.ussailing.org * The fairing system developed by Farr Yacht Design for the Volvo Open 70 keels has been the source of considerable interest for those following the Volvo Ocean Race. The team at Farr Yacht Design has just provided us with a detailed explanation of the system and of what happened . and we've posted it on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/0309/ * It will be a 'new look' Alinghi team for the 2006 season. The new graphics will emerge from the shed with SUI64 and SUI75 when the sailing begins on the March 21 in Valencia. "We intend to sail the two old boats and then bring online the new boat sometime in May," said vice-president Brad Butterworth. "We will be doing a lot of testing and a lot of racing, the three Acts in May and June being key times for us to see how we're doing versus the challengers." ~ www.alinghi.com * Here is the final list of entries for next week's Brazil Sailing Cup at Angra dos Reis, Brazil -- Stage 5 of the 2005-'06 World Match Racing Tour: on Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand; Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi; Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New; Gavin Brady (USA); Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino -- Capitalia; Peter Gilmour (AUS); Daniel Glomb (BRA); Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge; Staffan Lindberg (FIN); Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge; James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge; Ian Williams (GBR). ~ http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/ * With applications already at 194, the 2006 Newport Bermuda Race organizers are confident that the actual entries will swell to more than 220. Online application for entry continues through April 1st. The list of boats that have already submitted their application for entry is located at http://www.bermudarace.com/2006/entrylist.php FROM THE BLOG * The latest canting ballast boat to splash, the R//P 66 "Stark Raving Mad," is competing in its first regatta at Acura Miami Race Week. Look for SRM owner Jim Madden's daily reports on Scuttleblog during the event. * The Lightning Southern Circuit begins this weekend in Savannah, GA (March 11-12), and continues on to Miami, FL (March 14-15) and St. Petersburg, FL (17-19). Scuttleblog will be joining Greg Fisher's team, where they will provide insight into what it's like to be on this three regatta tour. Read it all at Scuttleblog: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog PREPARE FOR SPRING Need to get ready for the coming season on your sport boat? Problem solved: buy a Bongo and train for any position on the boat while having a blast. Limited dealer/distribution locations in North America available. Bongo sailors have fun every day. Contact us at http://www.sailabongo.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Rich Roberts: An ad Wednesday had the headline "Name Calling," wherein it was making a comparison to the "conversations" on the race course and the brand names of its various cordage models and how they were all "part of the game" of sailing. But it rang loud and clear about the Midwinters regatta a couple of weeks ago at ABYC. There were 89 boats in nine classes, but the only six protests over two days were in the Lido 14 fleet -- five of the six involving the same veteran competitor. Paul Elvstrom always said he'd rather not win if it meant losing a friend. This person in question is no kid and is a good sailor who doesn't need to alienate his competitors to win. But his adversarial decorum on the race course is so much "part of the game" to him that he may have few friends left to lose. In fact, this time it cost him first place when he was disqualified on a rival's counter-protest. I don't know if he'll read this, but it's something for all of us to think about, especially the grown-ups. Maybe once in a while we need some kids to remind us what weekend sailing is about: having fun and making friends. * From Ken Guyer: Don't be so quick to condemn NMMA's Grow Boating campaign (Roger Marshall Butt 2046) as pro power boat. It is a general campaign to get newcomers to look at boating in general as a recreational sport. Further in their partnership with Sail America, NMMA promotes their Discover Sailing campaign at most of their in water boat shows. Giving free rides on sailboats to visitors to the show. Both campaigns are designed to grow boating, both power and sail. No other organization is able to do this on such a nation wide scale. NMMA and Sail America are helping, not hurting. * From Brad Maier: I thought Mr. Bischoff's editorial was on point regarding one of, if not the, major problem in our sport; the inability of interested spectators to access the regatta. I know of many interested sailors here at the University of Miami who followed the updates religiously on the US Sailing website and the event brought much discussion. We would have loved to come out and watch but we have one problem. We don't own a boat, and I'm sure this is reflective of many young sailors who could potentially be the beginnings of a great spectator base at regattas. The solution is for the host clubs to provide and publicize the availability of a spectator boat or two or three that could take interested spectators out to watch the race. Perhaps the host clubs could even charge a fee or sell tickets for the spectator boats to recoup their extra costs. I know I'd be willing to buy a ticket to watch the OCR, it would sure beat a Marlins game. * From Brian May (edited to our 250-word limit): I refer to PRO Terry Bischoff's comments about lack of spectator enthusiasm from even within our sport. There are probably a number of reasons for this, the most important being lack of staying power of all aboard who may not be as enthusiastic as the skipper driving his spectator boat who has two jobs to do; one is to place his/her craft carefully so as not to shield wind or provide wake (the latter which could be helpful or a hindrance!), which is difficult at the best of times in a big boat fleet but more so with dayboats and dinghies; secondly, he has to comment on the "goings on" for those on board with less knowledge and so his job is singularly stimulating. For those with less racing knowledge who want a day out watching the stars of our sport, they may invariably stray into areas that should be avoided, bringing the wrath of either the competitors or the marshalls onto them. I am not sure there is another sport that allows competitors such a wide field of play and this has to confuse spectators with little knowledge - and as Brett Larson suggested putting a gate(s) into the course will not only help ascertain who is actually winning, but akin to eventing at jumps, and motor racing at corners, will provide action, may provide close quarters sailing, overtaking opportunities, and the potential for conflict; all good for the viewer and the commentator alike. * From Bruce Miller (Sailing as a spectator sport): Unlike many of the low/non televised Olympic events like XC skiing or biathalon, the sailing venue is not viewer friendly. There you see the Olympic events spectators gathered close to the tracks. That is not allowed in sailing. In 1984 the Coast Guard kept each circle clear precluding most people from seeing the action without stabilized binnoculars. In Butt 2046 Ryan Hamm confirmed "sailors didn't show up" . Not many sailors will don foul weather gear, get in a small boat (inflatable) and go out to watch the racing. Only that way will a RC possibly allow them somewhat "up close and personal" viewing. Heaven forbid they show up in a large wind shadow, wake producing power boat. * From Peter Harken (Regards the Procyon features): The most important feature missed in the Trivia question: She was the first big yacht with hydraulic powered canting keel with weighted wings which is still operating today even after the boat went through a major fire a bunch of years ago. The push button keel has never failed. My brother, Olaf, was the lead project manager and originator of Procyon which had many new features, but her most important and successful contribution and legacy to yachting was her hydraulic canting keel. The wings were designed such that when the keel was canted to windward the hull would also crab to windward as if she had a jibing centerboard. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Seen on a bumper sticker: Grow your own dope - plant a man. Special thanks to Loughborough Marine Interests, Doyle Sails, and PC Sailing. |
