|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1633 - July 27, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. COUTTS SACKED The schism has become a sacking: last night the Swiss America's Cup holders, Alinghi, fired Russell Coutts, the New Zealander who lead them to victory 16 months ago. Coutts was fired for "repeated violations of his duties" by Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss biotech billionaire who had hired him away from Team New Zealand in May 2000 after a comparable disenchantment with the directors behind the Kiwi Cup defenders. The gulf between Coutts, the most successful America's Cup skipper in the 153-year history of the event, opened up last year but erupted publicly only during last month's UBS Trophy regatta in Newport, Rhode Island. This was when it became known that lawyers were trying to negotiate a settlement between Coutts and Bertarelli. Coutts has not steered SUI 64 since Alinghi's crushing America's Cup win in March 2003 and the Swiss cited his reluctance to take the helm in Newport, and previously at the Moet Cup in San Francisco last September as a violation of his employment contract. The New Zealander has never fully explained the root cause of his disaffection with Bertarelli, a man with whom he appeared to have forged a deep friendship. But a source familiar with Coutts' contract said that helming was a minor responsibility of his duties. It is also believed that because of his previous experience at Team New Zealand, where he was to lead the defense but found that the trustees not only retained ultimate power but had undermined his position in TV rights negotiations in New York, Coutts had secured certain undertakings about influence and responsibility on all matters relating to the 2007 Cup and certainly not confined solely to raising sponsorship for and managing the sailing team. The Alinghi statement also went on to say: "Also particularly damaging was Russell Coutts' undisclosed involvement in the planning and development of a new race series, a commitment incompatible with his responsibilities and duties." This refers to a new event Coutts is planning with American former America's Cup sailor Paul Cayard. Coutts is likely to take issue with what Alinghi is saying, having informed Bertarelli's lawyers of his talks with Cayard a while ago. "In his capacity as a member of the board of Alinghi Holdings, Russell Coutts maneuvered himself into an inextricable conflict of interest," continued the statement put out by the Swiss. - Excerpts from a story by Tim Jeffery in the Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/3ojw2 Curmudgeon's comment: The Alinghi press announcement is strangely missing from the syndicate's website, but you can read it on the Sailing World magazine website: www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=34193&typeID=399&catID=566 REACTION Sacked Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts appears unlikely to helm a Team New Zealand yacht at the next America's Cup after Team NZ boss Grant Dalton described the sacking as "completely irrelevant to us". Dalton refused to talk about Coutts' sacking by Alinghi today. "I am aware of it but I have got no position or comment," Dalton told NZPA, shortly after he was told of the sacking. He would not comment on whether he would talk with Coutts about a position or if they were interested in him. "In terms of Team New Zealand we won't get into what has happened to Coutts. It is completely irrelevant to us." - NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/5tfhe Curmudgeon's Comment: Late last week a change was made to the America's Cup protocol (clause 13.12) which now makes it impossible for Russell to sail for any AC syndicate other than Alinghi. Coincidence? Sure! COMMENTARY These billionaires play tough. (Ernesto) Bertarelli was already on record that he will act to block any move by Coutts to work for a rival team and boasted earlier that he had "drafted my contracts a little better than Team New Zealand." He said in his most recent statement that he will "continue to do whatever is necessary to protect Team Alinghi." Could Coutts take the matter to a civil court? He could, of course, and he might have a case. Can a contract be binding if it is subject to retroactive changes not agreed to by both parties? But then there's this arcane business of the Protocol and the unique nature of operations in the America's Cup. If the results of taking the America's Cup Deed of Gift to court over the 1988 Big Boat/ Catamaran fiasco are any indication of what to expect, let's hope for anything, and I mean anything, else. - Kimball Livingston, Sail magazine, www.sailmagazine.com/news/NEWS/ CRUISING OR RACING Cruising and racing are very different, but the need for padded shorts are equally important for both. While cruising you also sit for hours on the decks, go through rainsqualls and hot sunny days. The Camet padded shorts are the solution. They protect you from the sun, are breathable and dry fast, plus the pads provide a cushion that will move with you around the boat. Coolmax Shirts, Belts, Bags, Boardshorts, etc. Available at Team One Newport, APS, Layline, Sailing ProShop, Fisheries Supply, Sailing Supply, Skyehigh, Dinghy Shop, Binks Australia, Perga Greece, Fogh Canada, Corby Boats England, etc. http://www.camet.com AMERICA'S CUP In the America's Cup there is no substitute for experience and (Peter) Gilmour says that he sees fledgling teams making the same mistakes again and again. "A lot of these new campaigns have got going with people who just simply don't understand the game and how they will ever breach the void? All the same mistakes are being made and it is remarkable that people that have been there and done it before, like Paul Cayard and people who really know how to campaign aren't employed by these campaigns for the knowledge, even on a consulting basis. That really surprises me." Gilmour is among the most likeable fellows you could meet and you can almost believe when he makes this statement that he does so selflessly. In addition to the America's Cup coming to Europe, Gilmour is enthusiastic about the way America's Cup Management are turning the event into a more professional sports entity. This includes the bidding procedure that ACM employed to single out the Spanish host port. - Excerpt from an interview with Peter Gilmour on the Daily Sail website, full interview: http://tinyurl.com/628lb TOUR DE FRANCE Despite gale warnings, it was an easing wind that accompanied the fleet from the Tour de France à la Voile along the Camargue in this long leg between Gruissan and Marseille. It was the heat that could be felt on the water then rather than the expected gusts of wind and, prepared for sailing in a strong breeze, the competitors rapidly had to adapt to the very different programme, practiced very little since Dunkirk. Their speed was considerably reduced as the Race Committee forbade the use of masthead spinnakers this morning. - Translation by Kate Jennings, http://www.tourvoile.fr/ Curmudgeon's comment: American Deneen Demourkas' Groovederci leads the event by eight points over Bouygues Telecom, with Defi Partage Marseille just two points further back. STUFF HAPPENS After a weekend of brisk wind, brilliant sunshine and great sailing, day one of the Rolex Commodores' Cup saw very different conditions with a drop in temperature, an overcast sky and frustrated Race Committee and competitors after a day spent chasing the wind around the Solent. "We laid marks in the correct positions for three separate courses on 230deg, on 260deg and 045deg, but none of them ever came to anything," described Rolex Commodores' Cup Principal Race Officer Jamie Wilkinson. "I've never seen a day like that when throughout the day there's been enough wind to race, but never for more than 20 minutes in the same direction and with big shifts in between and flat patches." To make up for the loss of Monday's two races, the Race Committee plans to hold these later in the week, with one race Tuesday and another on Thursday, if conditions allow. - www.rorc.org Curmudgeon's comment: For really in-depth coverage of European racing events, read our sister publication, Scuttlebutt Europe: www.scuttlebutteurope.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar FIND YOUR WAY TO HENRI LLOYD'S NAVIGATOR SHOE… And you'll find yourself a step ahead of the rest. Say goodbye to stiff, rigid footwear and hello to flexibility, lightness and a level of comfort you simply have to feel to believe, thanks to world-class Pittards leather. The Navigator is definitely the deck shoe with a difference, but don't let all that comfort fool you; this is one tough shoe with rugged construction and an exclusive Henri-Lloyd anti-slip tread designed to hug even the wettest of decks! http://www.henrilloydonline.com/navigatorshoe.asp GLOBAL SPORTS SPONSORSHIP MARKET Formula 1 budgets are holding steady at the moment but the global sports sponsorship market is very busy at the moment, principally because preparations are now beginning for the next America's Cup sailing competition in 2007. A number of Formula 1 have already lost marketing staff to the sailing syndicates, all of which are looking for between $40-100m in sponsorship for their programmes. The impact of the America's Cup is more than in previous years because the Cup was won in 2003 by a Swiss boat. This meant that the Geneva Yacht Club won the right to choose the venue for the next America's Cup. Because Switzerland is landlocked country, the club picked the Spanish city of Valencia to be the first European venue for the America's Cup since 1851. The switch to Europe has put syndicates in direct competition with F1 teams for sponsorships. There are around 15 declared challengers all looking for money to compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the challenger series that will precede the America's Cup races with the defender Alinghi. The challengers will include BMW Oracle, Team New Zealand (which has just landed a $35m from the Emirates airline), a team based around the 2003 Prada team, the GBR Challenge from Britain and a variety of new syndicates including an Italian venture called +39, a South African challenge from the Royal Cape Yacht Club, a French challenge from the Cercle de la Voile de Paris, an Australian syndicate called OzBoyz, and possible teams from Spain, Tuscany, the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and the Sausalito Yacht Club in San Francisco. There has even been talk of a second British challenger involving the Royal Thames Yacht Club and property developer Peter de Savary, who has admitted to having had exploratory talks with a Formula 1 racing team (probably McLaren) about a technology deal. - Grand Prix.com, full story: www.grandprix.com/ns/ns13283.html NEWS BRIEFS * Although the Chicago YC has not sent out a press release about their Mackinac Race, judging by the results posted on the website - it must have been very slow. At our distribution time, only 33 of the 300 starters were reported as finishers. Makoto Uematsu's Transpace 52 Esmeralda is shown as the current overall leader, having corrected out over Dick and Doug DeVos' Max Z86 Windquest by exactly four minutes. Randall Pitman's line honors winning Dubois 90, Genuine Risk, is listed as third overall. http://chicagoyachtclub.org/mackinac/RacetoMackinac/Results/Mackinac_Cup.htm * US Olympic Finn sailor Kevin Hall has been invited by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) to be a spokesperson for the Cancer Survivorship Advocacy program. He has gladly accepted. After the Olympics, as time permits with his scheduled commitments to Team New Zealand, Hall will be will participate on panels and doing speaking engagements to help inspire others. www.laf.org/ * Clipper Ventures plc, has acquired the entire issued share capital of Zapcat Racing Limited, approved by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting of the Company held Monday. Zapcat Racing owns and operates the National Zapcat Championships, a strict one-design motor sport involving rigid inflatable boats. In addition to newly acquired Zapcat Racing, Clipper Ventures owns the rights to the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race, setting sail from Liverpool (UK) on 18 September 2005, as well as the 5-Oceans single-handed yacht race for professional sailors, which will next run in 2006. - www.clipper-ventures.com * C-Class catamarans return to the 'Little America's Cup' this fall, with the American Cogito team set to defend the International C-Class Catamaran Championship. We've just posted some amazing photos of the latest in hull and wing shape designs of the US team during a recent training session at the Bristol, RI event site: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/cogito726 * Members of The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania on Wednesday evening will elect Ms Marion Cooper as their first woman Commodore in the 123-year history of one of Australia's oldest yacht clubs. Marion, who has previously held the Flag positions of Vice-Commodore and Rear-Commodore, takes over from Commodore Robert 'Biddy' Badenach, who has completed the fourth year of his second term as Commodore of the club, based in Hobart's riverside suburb of Sandy Bay. - Sail World website, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/ * Daily television coverage of Olympic sailing will be aired in the United States on the Bravo Network between midnight and 1:00 AM in both the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones starting on August 14 and continuing through August 26. And on August 28 there will be two hours of Olympic sailing coverage on CNBC from 3:00 AM - 5:00 AM, ET/PT. Obviously, these listings are subject to change, but programming updates will be posted on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/shows/#8 IN MEMORIAM A great friend to yachting in Chicago died last weekend - Tom Broeckl. He was a member of Chicago Yacht Club for 60 years (one of the 25 oldest members), raced with panache in the Luders 16 fleet (attending world championships in New Orleans, Bermuda and Long Island Sound) and kept track of Lake Michigan's yachting lore. He knew every boat that lived on the Great Lakes, who the owner was and where it is today. Tom's sense of humor was also well known. He was the master of understatement having once commented that sailboat racing was "certainly an outmoded form of transportation", this while swatting flies in a no breeze zone on Lake Michigan. Everybody who knew Tommy, loved him. His wife, Nancy, and all of us have lost a great friend. - Betsy Altman REPLACE WORN OUT HALYARDS WITH SAILNET PREMIUM HALYARDS Our rigging shop offers the best value without compromising on materials. We use New England Rope's Sta-Set Polyester Double Braid spliced to Wichard shackles for unbeatable quality and price. For the lowest stretch in a polyester halyard, we use Sta-Set X with patented parallel fiber core. Custom sizes available: http://www.sailnet.com/view.cfm?page=12715 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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Andrew Troup: Robin Knox-Johnson asks why oceanographic scientists have denied freak waves for so long. To paraphrase their attitude, freak waves "may be all very well in practice, but they simply don't work in theory". I suspect the theory has neglected -or given insufficient importance to - many contributing factors, including vertical currents, upwellings, and shear gradients in horizontal currents. Who's to say there aren't even more subtle but still significant influences - perhaps underlying bodies of water at higher density, similar to those within which "internal tides" have recently been demonstrated. Many recent "discoveries" by oceanographers, to do with influences on wave behaviour, have been common knowledge among deepwater sailors for decades. Even the simple theory of shoaling bottom influence has given unrealistically shallow values for the depths at which waves of a given rms height will feel the bottom. Tom Cain asks why buoys and seashores did not blow the cover on "rouge" (sic) waves. I think this represents a common misconception. Rogue waves (and troughs) typically do not persist, and may not reoccur: they're a transitory, fleeting phenomenon, arising when a statistically unlikely event causes unusually high peaks from a number of underlying wavetrains of different wavelengths to coincide at a given place and time. The longer wavetrains, travelling faster, will soon "outrun" their slower cousins and those atypical peaks will no longer coincide. This explains why you have to be a satellite or a sailor to catch them in the act. * From Mike Leneman, Oceanographer: Rogue waves do not show up on offshore bouys or come to shore because they are the "momentary" constructive interference of a number of waves. They "appear" out of nowhere and then "disappear" because, in fact, that's what they do. They are temporary; they exist for only a short period of time. They are not a solitary wave which moves across the ocean for any notable distance. Once the waves that made them pass each other, they are gone. * From Morten Lorenzen: In your recent news release of Mike Sanderson you state that he is current record-holder of Sydney to Hobart Race. This is not quite true - The Official Record Holder of Sydney to Hobart is held by VO 60 Nokia skippered by Stefan Myralf of Denmark. Mike Sanderson was Watch Captain on Mari Cha according to his cv. Mari Cha that did sail from Syndey to Hobart in the record year of 1999. However Mari Cha was not in the race, but participated outside the race, and was not eligible to compete. Mike Sanderson is a great sailor, and have a lot of credits and merit - however the official record holder of the Sydney to Hobart Race is something he will have to work for. * From Al Schreitmueller: Heath Brunson asked why they make more bronze medals for the Olympics than they make gold and silver medals. They do it to account for ties in scoring. It would look pretty dull for them to not be able to give out a medal while someone is standing on a podium. * From Phil Danbe ( re Heath Brunson's question): Many sports (boxing is one example) do not have the losers of the semi-finals complete again. They award bronze medals to both. THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly. |
