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SCUTTLEBUTT 2522 - January 30, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. US SAILING'S 2008 ROLEX MIAMI OCR Miami, Fla. (January 29, 2008) - After postponements due to light wind, 369 Olympic and Paralympic sailors from 34 countries basked in sunshine and steadily increasing breezes on Biscayne Bay, completing day two of US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR. Ynglings, Lasers and 2.4mRs have now completed five races, while the Laser Radials, Stars, SKUD-18s and Sonars have each completed four. The regatta, as important for establishing a sailor's world ranking as it is for providing a warm-weather elite training option for Europeans, has this year attracted dozens of teams selected by their countries for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Regattas, set for August and September, respectively, in Qingdao, China. One of those teams is Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.), the USA's Paralympic representatives in the SKUD-18 class and the only ones at this regatta with a perfect score. With four points overall, they are eight points ahead of fellow US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Boca Raton, Fla). The duo has turned in significant margins of victory in the 10-boat fleet, including a two-minute lead at the finish of race one today. -- Read on: http://www.rolexmiamiocr.org/media/pressreleases/day2.html Day 2 Results Laser (24 boats) -- 5 races 1. Maciej Grabowski (POL), 2-1-[6]-4-2, 9 2. Kyle Rogachenko (USA), 1-4-1-[24/OCS]-6, 12 3. Marcin Rudawski (POL), [11]-3-4-2-4, 13 Laser Radial (39 boats) -- 4 races 1. Paige Railey (USA), 1-4-1-1, 7 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), 3-1-3-2, 9 3. Penny Clark (GBR), 6-2-6-9, 23 Star (70 boats) - 4 races 1. Rick Merriman/Brian Sharp (USA), 1-4-2-1, 8 2. Eivind Melleby/Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR), 6-2-1-5, 14 3. Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams (NZL), 1-3-7-7, 18 Yngling (28 boats) -- 5 races 1. Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson (GBR), 6-6-1-[23]-1, 14 2. Ekaterina Skudina,/Diana Krutskikh/Natalia Ivanova (RUS), [19]-2-3-3-9, 17 3. Monica Azon/Sandra Azon/Graciela Pisonero (ESP), [16]-3-2-2-13, 20 2.4mR (25 boats) -- 5 races 1. Damien Seguin (FRA), [4]-2-1-3-1, 7 2. Stellan Berlin (SWE), 2-[7]-2-4-2, 10 3. Paul Tingley (CAN), 1-9-[26/OCS]-2-4, 16 SKUD-18 (10 boats) -- 4 races 1. Nick Scandone/Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (USA), 1-1-1-1, 4 2. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett (USA), 5-3-2-2, 12 3. John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit (CAN), 3-2-3-4, 12 Sonar (11 boats) -- 4 races 1. Jens Kroker/Tobias Schuetz/Siegmund Mainka (GER), 1-3-2-2, 8 2. John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas (GBR), 6-2-1-5, 14 3. Bruno Jourden/Herve Larhant/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA), 2-4, 6 Complete results: http://www.rolexmiamiocr.org/results/index.htm * Rick Merriman and his mom must have had a very special relationship. Kathy Merriman rooted for her son through his entire sailing career, including the recent US Olympic Trials in the men’s keelboat event. But Kathy passed away on Sunday, January 27th, and now must be in heaven teaching all of the angels about Star sailing because Rick and crew, Brian Sharp, started the regatta with a bullet and are currently leading the fleet after two days of racing. -- Read on: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5776#5776 OLYMPIC SAILING DOWN UNDER * Melbourne, Australia (January 29, 2008) Britain’s freakishly talented single-handed Finn sailor Ben Ainslie, with a second placing in the medal race of the Finn Gold Cup today, won the class’ world championship for the fifth time. Ainslie already held the world record for the number of wins in this long established and legendary Olympic class; well ahead of Paul Elvstrom (two wins), Willi Kuhweide, Jorg Bruder, Lasse Hjortnaes, Freddy Loof, who all had three wins. And he has Olympic gold medals in both the Laser class (2000) and Finn (2004). Ainslie finished just a wave behind British teammate Ed Wright in the medal race, which is restricted to the top ten sailors after eight races in the 82-boat fleet, but well ahead of New Zealander Dan Slater, who had been only a point behind him going into the medal race. A fresh 15-knot sou-‘wester, with only minor variation in direction, made the race probably the regatta’s fairest. The outcome was decided at the start with Ainslie getting away well towards the middle of the line while Slater was buried and had to tack off on port early but in disturbed air under the Canadian Chris Cook. Slater ended up second overall, with Cook finishing the Gold Cup in sixth place. -- Event website: http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/event/finngoldcup2008 * Melbourne, Australia (January 29, 2008): It's an all too familiar sight going into Wednesday’s medal race in the 470 Women's world championship medal race with Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving (USA) maintaining first place comfortably, just as they did at the Asia Pacific Regatta earlier this month. After completing the final fleet races, the American women are guaranteed no worse than second overall as they maintain a 16 point lead on Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol (ITA), who pose the only threat. On the men’s side, Alvaro Marinho/ Miguel Nunes (POR) remain in first, but a redress hearing for Nic Asher/ Elliot Willis (GBR) awarded them average points for the three races they missed following a dramatic collision, and now the British team is only 3.1 points off the lead going into the final medal race. The top North Americans Stu McNay/ Graham Biehl (USA) finished the Worlds in 21st place. -- Event website: http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/event/470worldchampionships2008 USA’S SELECTION CONUNDRUM by Andy Rice There is a good news, bad news scenario playing out at the 470 Women’s World Championship for the Americans. The good news is that they have a team going into the medal race that can finish no worse than second, and is very well positioned to win. The bad news is that this team is not going to the Olympics, and in fact, the team that is going to the games failed to earn a position in the final medal race. Herein lies the weakness of the one-regatta, winner-takes-all Olympic trials system still favoured by US Sailing, yet long since abandoned by other leading sailing nations such as GBR. How many reigning 470 World Champions have been left behind, not even able to represent their nation, let alone win a medal? A lot, by my reckoning. When I was campaigning 470s in the early 90s, I remember Jordi Calafat and Kika Sanchez (ESP) winning the 1992 Worlds just a few months before the Games, and noting at the time that this would be the first time that a reigning 470 World Champion would actually be competing at the Games. For example, Kiwis David Barnes and Hamish Willcox won three Worlds in the space of four years, leading up to Long Beach 1984, only to finish fourth (I think) in the New Zealand trials. Four years later, reigning Pre-Olympic and World Champions Nigel Buckley and Pete Newlands could only manage fourth at the British trials in Weymouth. New Zealand didn’t come close to winning a medal in 1984, and Great Britain didn’t come close in 1988. For reasons like these have some sailing nations moved to a more subjective, selection-based system. -- Read on: http://sailjuiceblog.com/2008/01/29/usas-selection-conundrum * Curmudgeon’s Comment: Reigning Melges 24 World Champion Dave Ullman (USA), who last week won the Melges 24 class at Acura Key West, is another 3-time 470 World Champion who never qualified for the Olympics. WHO HAD THE MOST FUN IN KEY WEST...? Most sailors would agree that starting the season off in Key West is fun, competitive and a nice break from the cold weather. We think the crews on "Barking Mad", "Star", "Masquerade", "Bandit", "Stark Raving Mad", "Bad Girl", "Temptress", "Emocean", "Murka 2" and "Numbers" are especially psyched about winning their respective classes among some heavy competition. What do these highly competitive boats have in common? They all used North sails to power their way to the top. When performance matters, head North - http://na.northsails.com BOAT OF THE WEEK: BARKING MAD By Herb McCormick, Sailing World It took Jim Richardson eleven tries to win the Farr 40 class at Acura Key West Race Week, but when he finally did, it was in extremely dramatic fashion. Trailing Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino by a single point going into the eighth and final race, Richardson and his crew aboard Barking Mad recorded a bullet with Mascalzone a close second. That put the scoreboard at 29 apiece for the two boats, but Barking Mad broke the tiebreaker by virtue of more first-place finishes. And because the 25-boat Farr 40 competition was so tight—there were seven different winners over the series—Barking Mad earned an impressive double by being named Boat of the Week. Afterwards, Richardson and long-time tactician Terry Hutchinson talked about the honor. * Tell us about the week. TH: A tough one. On Monday eight of our ten crew came down with a stomach virus. On Tuesday six of us were throwing up while we were racing. So we were completely bogged down with that. So to battle in the manner that we did, we're really happy about that. And with the Farr 40 Worlds coming up, it was quite a big deal. By no stretch did we sail our best regatta. I made a lot of tactical mistakes; I can put my hand on the table for about seven points. But it's pretty gratifying to come up against this field and to be successful. * Tell us about your preparation. What's the key to success in Key West? JR: We got here early. We went sailing on Thursday, then full practices on Friday and Saturday, half a day on Sunday (racing was Mon-Fri). TH: Sunday was interesting. It was really windy, and there were about five or six Farr 40s that went out. We specifically went out and practiced jibing the boat and heavy air, because Monday was going to be really, really windy so we figured if we're going to win in heavy air we have to practice in heavy air. So we took it on and it was a little gnarly but it was a good thing to do. JR: It was definitely a good thing to do. I saw 34 knots out there and we had the masthead kite up. Terry was driving the boat and he turned around and said to me, after we did one jibe, water just pouring over the deck, "Do you want to give it a go?" And I laughed and said, "Not really, you're doing just fine!" We put a fractional kite up after that and I steered for a while but it was very, very good for us to go out and do that. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/33dju7 BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (Day 80 – January 29, 2008) If the crews of the Barcelona World Race thought they'd left the tough times behind them when the rounded Cape Horn, they've been sadly mistaken. Although storm force winds aren't the problem here, light, upwind conditions are making for slow progress home. "I think that these are the worst 24 hours I've experienced since the start," wrote Michèle Paret from Temenos II last night. "The wind was coming from every direction and we found ourselves upwind and then downwind. It was just surreal. We were manoeuvring constantly and changing sails. It was a very thankless task struggling to get the boat making headway without any result. We stayed with the same cloud, which blocked our way for several hours in a row. It would send us a few little puffs of air so we could start moving very gently at 5 or 6 knots, but as soon as we escaped its influence the boat would stop dead in its tracks as if it had hit a wall. We had to wait for the cloud to catch up with us so as we could get going again." -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Positions at 18:00 GMT (+gain/-loss from leader since previous day) 1-Paprec-Virbac 2, Jean-Pierre Dick/ Damian Foxall, 2,469 nm DTF (+164) 2-Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson/ Andrew Cape, 452 nm DTL (+79) 3-Temenos II, Dominique Wavre/ Michéle Paret, 1,612 (+31) 4-Mutua Madrilena, Javier Sanso Windmann/ Pachi Rivero, 1,679 (+8) 5-Educación sin Fronteras, Servane Escoffier/ Albert Bargues, 2,835 (+80) Retired - PRB, Vincent Riou / Sébastien Josse (broken mast) Retired -Delta Dore, Jérémie Beyou/ Sidney Gavignet (broken mast) Retired - Estrella Damm, Guillermo Altadill/ Jonathan McKee, (rudder damage) Retired - Veolia Environnement,Roland Jourdain/Jean-Luc Nélias (broken mast) FOR THE RECORD * Jules Verne Trophy (crewed circumnavigation around the three capes): (Day 5 - January 29, 2008; 20:00 UTC) The equator is the next objective for the 103-foot maxi trimaran Groupama 3, which was just 350 miles away midway through this afternoon. The weather forecasts suggest that Franck Cammas and his crew won't be too slowed by a rather inactive Doldrums. At this pace, the crew may well make it into the Southern hemisphere just after daybreak on Wednesday, which would give the giant trimaran its first intermediary time. With the exception of the first day at sea and a few squalls off the Canaries, Groupama 3 has essentially sailed in light to moderate breezes of normally less than twenty knots. In 2003, Geronimo sailed this first leg to the equator in six days, eleven hours, twenty six minutes, whereas current record holder Orange II wasn't very fast during the initial stage of its victorious trip around the world in 2005, making it to the equator in only seven days, two hours, fifty-six minutes. At an average pace of twenty knots this Tuesday, Franck Cammas and his crew should pass into the South between 0700 and 1400 hours GMT on Wednesday, making it from Ushant in six days, give or take a few hours. Presently, Cammas sees their advance over the current record as 496 nm. -- http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en * Route de l'Or (crewed route from New York to San Francisco): (Day 12 - January 29, 2008; 11:17 UTC) Since Sunday afternoon, the 110-foot maxi-catamaran Gitana 13 has taken advantage of a sustained southeasterly wind to once again chalk up boat speeds Monday afternoon that permited a 600+ day. Still cruising along the Uruguayan coast and nearing Argentina—the route chosen to keep a good distance from the Saint Helena high-pressure system—Lionel Lemonchois and his nine-man crew are preparing to enter another zone of unstable winds. The clear sailing along the Latin American coast will be interrupted on Tuesday when the team encounters a stormy low-pressure system, however, they hope to catch another set of solid high-pressure system winds in the evening to help carry them toward Cape Horn. The goal of the crew is to set a time benchmark for a maxi multihull on the 14,000-mile New York to San Francisco route, and improve Yves Parlier’s record (Route de l’Or 1998, on 60-foot Aquitaine Innovation multihull). The record dates back to 1998, when Yves Parlier and his crew finished the Route de l’Or in 57 days, 3 hours and 21 minutes. -- http://www.gitana-team.com/en/gitana10/homepage.asp WORD OF MOUTH WORKS For the ten year history of the publication, readership growth had been largely due to satisfied “customers” spreading the word about the publication. When Scuttlebutt initiated the Word of Mouth campaign last month, it was a call to arms for the ‘buttheads to get back to their roots. Looking at the results of the campaign, we were very pleased to see that our loyal audience took the message to the streets, and that the e-Newsletter subscriptions took a healthy spike upwards. We would like to thank everyone that helped make this happen, and would like to encourage the continuance of this word of mouth campaign. It is very easy to spread the word at this link: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wordofmouth 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 Ron Holland, Ron Holland Design, Ireland: (ie, the current debate in the courts regarding the ACUP challenge for GGYC) Regarding the latest analysis of Keel yacht versus Multihull terminology, I think it should be noted the keel of any vessel - (including racing yachts) has traditionally been the primary centerline structural member of the hull. Monohulls have one and Catamarans have two. While recent developments in composite hull construction have replaced the "Keel Centerline member" with overlapping laminates, it could be argued this increased hull shell thickness can still be called the "Keel area" of the hull. * From Paul Henderson: When are the AC combatants going to stop embarrassing our beloved sport of Sailing? Valencia was a great success. Build on that and stop the "boolsheet". Here are the salient points: > Venue: Valencia is ready and were great hosts. Let’s go! > Hospitality: The AC needs Louis Vuitton/Bruno Trouble back as they add class. > Timing: Should have been in 2009; now need to lock in 2010 or 2011 and set the program immediately so the sailors can prepare. > Challenger of Record: There are several bona fide YC's challenging. Pick one who will represent all Challengers and not be merely a contrived YC. > Yachts: 70', 80', 90'. Who cares! Whether it goes 12 kts or 12.5 kts is unimportant. Match Racing is team against team in close jousting, Match Racing must be in boats that go the same speed upwind as down wind. The closer the cut and thrust the better. Multi-hulls should be in the Olympics but not for Match Racing with or without a "keel". > Jury/Umpires/Race Officials: Must be independent adjudicators and not subject to the individual whims of one syndicate either Challenger or Defender. The group assembled in Valencia 2007 did a great job. All ISAF certified. No other legitimate sport allows the holder of the trophy to decide the officials. Alinghi and Oracle are embarrassing our beloved sport of Sailing. They are both culpable. The America's Cup is the #1 competition in our sport which non-sailors gravitate to and who are perplexed by the ridiculous court proceedings. Sailing must be decided on the racecourse. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: What are the odds of either one of these teams waking up one morning and saying, “Enough of this nonsense. Do whatever the heck you want and let’s get on with it?” Odds are pretty slim. It all brings me back to some sage advice that I was provided prior to my wedding regarding arguments with my spouse. To paraphrase, assess each argument for its value. Arguments can often lead far down pathways that were never intended. Determine early on how much you are willing to risk “just to be right.” THIS WEEK’S COMPUTER CRASH The Scuttlebutt publisher is working hard to recover from the dead hard drive that he woke up to Monday morning. There was a pile of email that went down with the ship, so if you sent any letters to the editor, ad inquiries, story ideas, etc. to the Scuttlebutt publication since last Friday, it would be very helpful for them to be resent. Thanks to those who already have done so, and for the helpful advice that others have sent. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM When blondes have more fun, do they know it? Special thanks to North Sails for their support of Scuttlebutt. A complete list of Scuttlebutt’s preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
