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SCUTTLEBUTT 2476 – November 15, 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. HOW THE TALKS BROKE DOWN A new player in the soap opera otherwise known as the America’s Cup is legal counsel Lucien Masmejan, who has been representing the defender Alinghi in their negotiations with the GGYC/BMW Oracle Racing team. As was reported in Issue 2475, the progress toward settling the lawsuit took a drastic turn this week, and both sides are now pointing fingers at the other. To better explain the defender’s position, the Alinghi team has posted an audio interview with Masmejan along with a text file. Here is an excerpt: * GGYC is disappointed that promising settlement negotiations have been rejected. Is this true, and if so, why, did Alinghi apparently call and say the deal was off? MASMEJAN: “The truth is that we called and we told them that we are not going to further negotiate with them and they have to enter the competition and drop their law suit. This is a consequence of a whole sequence of events, which I may briefly summarise as follows: Last week I got a call from Russell Coutts saying that he wanted to know why settlement talks did not move faster and I told him ‘you must define your position and know what you want to do’. “After that call, we had several phone calls with Melinda Erkelens, the attorney or BMW Oracle, and I thought the negotiations were progressing fairly and the basis for these was the nine point letter sent a few weeks ago by Oracle. On Monday night, Melinda called me and she said ‘this is fine, but we have been discussing with Russell and he now has five additional points which were not on the list’. Amongst them was one major point which was the authorisation to two-boat test starting 1 March 2009, which completely destroys the programme of cost-cutting measures which is in place with the agreement of the challengers. So she came back with these five new issues, and I told her that I can’t accept this and that I need to consult with my people, I suggested that we take the night to go over those points. “Tuesday morning, I called her back to say that these new points are a big problem. She said ‘these are important for us, you have to think about that. We need those points’. Then we did an analysis within our team and we said ‘look, you can’t negotiate on this basis. You try to resolve problems, you identify the problems, you focus on those problems, you get close to solving those problems and then the other side comes back with five new problems’. It ’s a never ending story and it is not the first time this happens in this negotiation, so we can’t negotiate any longer on this basis.” -- To read on or listen: http://www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/index.php?idIndex=200&idContent=14088 * Curmudgeon’s Comment: The statement Lucien Masmejan makes regarding GGYC/BOR’s “new” request for two boat testing seems to contradict a letter dated October 17, 2007, which listed that request among the original nine points of contention. Here is the letter: http://www.ggyc.com/071017_letter_to_Alinghi.pdf ROLEX INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S KEELBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP Houston, TX (November 14, 2007) -- “It's pretty surprising,” is all Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.) could muster after learning she's at the top of US SAILING's Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship. With a 5-7-1 scoreline on the first day of racing, Sertl not only had the most consistent results, but she is the only skipper with all top 10 finishes in a very competitive 39-boat fleet of International J/22s. For Sertl, who won the first Rolex IWKC in 1985 as crew and the 2001 event as skipper, the first to be held in J/22s, it might be hard to believe she's in the lead after what she described as a 'troubling time' at the start. “I definitely didn't start well today,” she said. “We just had really good comebacks. Once we started we were off the line. Well, one race we were over early and had to come back. We were in comeback mode the entire time, even in the last race. I'm really happy it was shifty so we could get back in the game.” -- Read on: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1777&lang=1 Day one standings (top 10 of 39) 1. Cory Sertl, 5-7-1, 13 pts 2. Sally Barkow, 2-16-3, 21 3. Lynette Edenfield, 16-2-5, 23 4. Sarah Bury, 11-3-12, 26 5. Malgorzata Rojek , 14-5-7, 26 6. Derby Anderson, 1-22-4, 27 7. Dominique Provoyeur, 6-21-2, 29 8. Kathy Parks, 12-8-10, 30 9. Jo Ann Fisher, 10-20-8, 38 10. Theresa Brandner, 21- 1-17, 39 Complete results: http://www.riwkc.com/index.php?pageID=3 Daily videos available at 9pm (CST) on http://www.t2p.tv/guide/riwkc07.php * American Sally Barkow’s match racing team topped the standings and won a severely truncated Vitória Brasil Women's Cup held last week in Vitória, Espirito Santo, Brazil. Heavy winds kept the teams ashore for nearly three days, but the event was able to complete a single round robin to conclude the series sailed in Swedish Match 40s. As the winner of the event, Barkow had earned a slot to compete in the Brasil Sailing Cup, Stage 14 of the 2006 –’07 World Match Racing Tour, but elected to race in the Rolex International Women ’s Keelboat Championship. Runner-up Frenchwoman Claire Leroy is staying to race the men. -- Complete report: http://www.team7sailing.com/content/view/84/1/ TRIVIA QUESTION What court case was decided on November 25, 1987 that would later significantly impact a sailing event? (Answer below) WORLD TOUR – BRASIL SAILING CUP (November 14, 2007) Ten matches were raced on the opening day of the Vitória Brasil Sailing Cup, second-to-last stage of the 2006/2007 World Match Racing Tour, in Curva da Jurema, in the capital city of Espírito Santo. On the water, gusts of wind of up to 28 knots led the Regatta Commission to suspend racing until Thursday morning, when the schedule will resume at 8:30am. The twelve skippers are divided into two groups from where they will be attempting to qualify for the finals. Group A was able to complete nine matches, with Magnus Holmberg and Bjorn Hansen currently undefeated. Paolo Cian won the only match in Group B. -- Complete report: http://www.brasilsailingcup.com/cups/noticia_en.php?cod_noticias=287&etapa=5 Group A Bjorn Hansen, SWE – Team Apport .Net 3-0 Magnus Holmberg, SWE - Victory Challenge 3-0 Ian Williams, GBR - Team Pindar 2-1 Alvaro Marinho, POR - Seth PT Team 1-2 Daniel Glomb, BRA – Team Bravissimo 0-3 Claire Leroy, FRA - Team Mermaids 0-3 Group B Paolo Cian, ITA – Team Shosholoza 1-0 Mathieu Richard, FRA - Saba Sailing Team Eric Monnin, SUI - Team Meister Ropes Philippe Presti, FRA - Luna Rossa Torvar Mirsky, AUS - Mirsky Racing Team Pierre-Antoine Morvan, FRA - Extrem Team Morbihan 0-1 Standings: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=64445 ‘JACK-A-ROE’ NAMED CHICAGO’S PHRF BOAT OF THE YEAR John Dybas and crew on Olson 30 ‘Jack-A-Roe’ had an outstanding record this season, competing with a full set of Ullman Sails including two Fiberpath headsails. ‘Jack-A-Roe’ was awarded Chicago Yachting Association’s Annual Overall PHRF Boat of the Year for the lowest point score for all PHRF boats in Chicago racing. The trophy includes the best of 10 buoy races and best of 3 distance events. ‘Jack-A-Roe’ also won its division in the CYC Verve Cup Regatta with all first place finishes. “Those sails helped a lot!” Dybas said. Contact a local Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The 2006/2007 World Match Race Tour will soon conclude their longest season ever. In an effort to work around the 32nd America's Cup in April-July 2007, the tour revised their schedule to avoid conflict, and created a 15-event season that began in July 2006 and will conclude at the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia on Nov 28-Dec 2, 2007. The 2008 tour will return to a shorter schedule that will likely begin in the spring, though it expects to maintain the Malaysia event to officially crown the World Match Racing season champion. This week are featured two outstanding shows that provide great insight into the event, the sailors, and the intricacies of this area of the sport: the Troia Portugal Match Cup won by Peter Gilmour in July, and the St Moritz Match Race that Ian Williams won in August. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/1112 NEW NAME ON THE ISAF SUSPENDED SAILOR LIST Among the individuals listed on the ISAF Suspended Sailor list is now Simon Daubney (NZL), who has been added as a result of his positive drug test during the 32nd America’s Cup. On the ISAF website it is stated that Daubney has been provisionally suspended pending an Anti Doping violation hearing. Other individuals listed are: Justin Noble (CAN), until 1 May 2008 Christine Johnston (GBR), for two years from June 1, 2007 to 31 May 2009 Duarte Falcao Correia Santos (POR), until January 25, 2008 Guido E. Lugo Modesto (PER), until March 6, 2008 Brodie L Cobb (USA), until December 31, 2008 At this time, a date has not been set for Daubney’s hearing, but it is expected that Swiss Sailing/ISAF will be hearing his case in the coming weeks. Link: http://www.sailing.org/suspended-sailors.php BARCELONA WORLD RACE (November 14, 2007) After a long, challenging night with periods of no wind, the Barcelona World Race fleet was happy to wake up to wind that built to the 15 to 20 knot range over the course of the day. They weren't as thrilled with the direction however - the Easterly flow meant beating directly upwind towards Gibraltar. The light conditions overnight saw a slight compression of the fleet (first to fifth is just a 29 mile separation on the 16:00 GMT position poll) and the forecast means the strategy is now quite similar for the top six boats, who have all darted in towards the coast of Spain in anticipation of a Northerly shift later tonight. Jonathan McKee writes from Estrella Damm: “It has certainly been an interesting race so far, with lots of intersting tactical options. We have had our ups and downs but at least no major mistakes so far, and we are still in touch with the leaders as we approach Gibraltar. We have been very close to Temenos for the last 2 days, they have been pushing us hard! We are trying to not get too worked up about anything at this point, just sail the boat and get into our rhythm. It is a very long race and we are trying to pace ourselves for the distance. Finally we got some decent wind this morning, after 2 days of light and shifty! The boat is working great; a few small things but generally all is good onboard.” Day 4 Positions - November 14, 2007 - 18:00 (GMT) 1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA)/Damian Foxall (IRE), 24,154 DTF 2. PRB - Vincent Riou (FRA)/Sébastien Josse (FRA), 9 miles DTL 3. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill (ESP)/Jonathan McKee (USA), 22 4. Temenos II - Dominique Wavre (SUI)/Michéle Paret (FRA), 23 5. Delta Dore - Jérémie Beyou (FRA)/Sidney Gavignet (FRA), 26 6. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson (GBR)/Andrew Cape (AUS), 36 7. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain (FRA)/Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA), 50 8. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP)/Pachi Rivero (ESP), 65 9. Educación sin Fronteras -Albert Bargués (ESP)/Servanne Escoffier (FRA),169 Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Curmudgeon’s Comment: In the last 24 hours, the lead boat is 114 miles closer to the finish. For a 25,000-mile race that is marketed as taking three months, the slow pace thus far would take 219 days…or a little over 7 months. If you don’t have a globe handy, the fleet is still in the Med, working their way to Gibraltar, which marks the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean and the fleet ’s southern course to the tip of South Africa. Race tracker: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/bwr A CAT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Islamorada, Florida (November 14, 2007) For the third day at the 2007 A-Cat World Championship, the seas were lightly choppy, the wind light but quite steady, and best of all, the kelp had disappeared. Kelp is normally a problem while sailing in Hawks Channel on the Ocean Side of the Florida Keys. We pondered where it could have gone overnight – but it was gone. However, getting started was a problem, as something went wrong on the first start and the RC sent boats out to round up the fleet and bring them back for another start. Hmmm! Could it be they might have been a millimeter slow in some sort of flag and were in fear of the International Judges? Following a General Recall on the next attempt, the line was again reset and this time a Black Flag Start was called for. Pretty stiff penalty, and fortunately the fleet all behaved for a clean start about a half hour behind the schedule for the lone race of the day. -- The Catamaran Sailor, read on: http://www.catsailor.com/Stories_Temp/AWorlds07DayThree.html Series Standing (top five of ninety-eight) 1. Lars Guck (USA) 2-1-(3)-1-2, 6 2. Glenn Ashby (AUS) 1- 3-1-2-(4), 7 3. Pete Melvin (USA) (10)-2-2-3-3, 10 4. Mitch Booth (NED) 6-4-10-(12/RDG)-5, 25 5. Charlie Ogletree (USA) 8-(15)-8-5-6, 27 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/2cycff Event website: http://www.acatworlds.com SAILING SHORTS * The schools that have qualified to attend the 2007-08 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Sloop National Championship, to be held at Ft. Worth Boat Club on November 16-18, are St. Mary's, Navy, Miami/OH, Northwestern, Connecticut College, Boston College, Western Washington, Hawaii, South Florida, and Texas A&M Galveston. Racing will be held in J/22s. -- http://collegesailing.org/nas/fall07/sloops/index.asp * Sailing World's College Rankings as of November 14, 2007 has Boston College remaining atop the Coed rankings, while Yale takes control of the Women's. Complete rankings at http://tinyurl.com/25nesh * (November 14, 2007) After 10 days 38 minutes and 43 seconds of racing at a theoretical average speed of 18.03 knots, Franck Cammas and Stève Ravussin on Groupama 2 crossed the finish line in the Transat Jacques Vabre early on November 14th, smashing the record by 1 day 22 hours 31 minutes and 58 seconds (former record from 2003: 11:23:10: 41). Still racing are monohull class leaders Ecover III, Mike Golding/ Bruno Dubois (Open 60; 1561 mile DTF) and Télécom Italia, Giovanni Soldini/Pietro D'ali (Class 40; 2316 miles DTF), and mutlihull Crèpes Whaou!,Franck Yves Escoffier/Karine Fauconnier (Class 50; 1505 miles DTF). -- Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en GET ON THE REGATTA LIST NOW! Log on to The Pirate’s Lair website right now to get on our 2008 regatta catalog list. DryShirt, ProWik, Tees, Polos, and the lowest gear prices for your next regatta. Free stuff for the first 50 applicants (tees and polos mostly) Event, retail, and team buyers only please. Go to http://www.pirateslair.com/sailing TRIVIA ANSWER In what was the most bizarre challenge in America’s Cup history, it was on November 25, 1987 that Justice Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick of the New York Supreme Court confirmed the validity of New Zealander Michael Fay’s 90-foot monohull challenge. With just 10 months to prepare, the American defender decided upon the radical option of building a catamaran, which later successfully defeated the Kiwis 2-0 in September 1988. It may not be a coincidence then, that the recent rumor of a decision coming on November 21st by Justice Cahn of the NY Supreme Court regarding the current lawsuit between the BMW Oracle Racing/GGYC and Alinghi/SNG has less to do with actual insider information, and more to do with the fact that both the 1987 date and the 2007 date land on the Wednesday before the American holiday, Thanksgiving Day. 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 Jude Ho: (regarding the ACUP conflict reported in Issue 2475; revised to 250-word limit) When are these gentlemen going to admit that they still remain at the crossroad and that there will be no movement forward until the GGYC matter is resolved [in court or through negotiation]. Picture all challengers moving forward and constructing boats, GGYC winning their lawsuit, and following that by winning THEIR challenge. Who is responsible for the financial losses of the challengers? ACM? SNG? Or Mr. Bertarelli? No sponsor in his right mind would commit to something so outrageously uncertain. How could so many supposedly respected men continue to make such fools of themselves and a mockery of the sport? The America's cup is governed by a Deed of Gift for a reason. Winning the cup doesn't give you the right to change that vision into one of your own; only bragging rights and the right to defend against the next challenger. If Mr. Bertarelli wants to create some F1 style yacht series, by all means he is free to do so. He can do whatever he wants… just don’t call it the America's Cup. The real loser in all this is the sport and the faith of the public. Watching so many people just roll over to the will of one man because he holds the cup is pathetic. Good on ya Larry, for being the only one with some backbone. Hope you kick some ass in court and then on the water. * From David Chivers: Maybe ISAF should remember the Olympic Motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius… which means Faster (or Swifter), Higher, Stronger. Sounds like the Tornado to me (and other multihulls). I vote Digby Fox for President! * From Mark Lammens, Coach/Technical Director, Sask Sailing Clubs Association: Very interesting on what comes out of the ISAF meetings and the new Olympic events. I have heard that there are many arguments for/against in the selection of events; cost, international activity/representation, appropriateness for population, media appeal, fitness requirement, plus others such as class history. However, how is it that the reasons for selecting 1 event for a gender does not apply to the other gender? High Performance skiff for men but not the women, 49er has been great for the Olympic schedule, why not add a women skiff?. Match racing for the women but not the men. Match racing was in the Olympics for the men in 1992,1996 and 2000 and then dropped. When Match racing was in, there was good media appeal, but it was dropped. Now it is added, but for the women. Why not the men? The ISAF message is very mixed and inconsistent. * From Bob Merrick, 2007 US Pan Am Games Team Member, Hobie 16 Class: (regarding story in Issue 2475) The Olympic selection process didn’t have anything to do with the Pan Am Games. How could a bunch of Brazilian sailors and coaches - from mostly monohull classes - behaving badly have any influence on the selection of a catamaran for the Olympics? The blame for the absence of a multihull in the Olympics lies on ISAF’s shoulders and in large part on the shoulders of US Sailing. -- http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5522 FINAL DAY TO WIN LINE 7 GEAR Scuttlebutt is giving away a fresh kit of Line 7 gear to an e-Newsletter subscriber that has signed up between Oct 22 and Nov 15, 2007 (by 3pm PT). If you are not already a subscriber, or would like to help out your sailing pals, spread the word and join the Scuttlebutt community to earn a chance at winning a new Line 7 Offshore jacket and Aquatec 2 pants ($600 USD value). Line 7 has been the official clothing supplier for the past twelve years to Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup, and just recently became the official clothing supplier for the World Match Racing Tour. Complete free subscription details at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/subscribe CURMUDGEON’S COUNSEL What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your mouth. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and The Pirate’s Lair. |
