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SCUTTLEBUTT 1579 - May 10, 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. SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Porto Azzurro, Italy - Staging a massive comeback from deep in the standings, New Zealander Russell Coutts, the record-setting America's Cup skipper, won the third annual Toscana Elba Cup - Trofeo Locman, an event of the Swedish Match Tour. Coutts, the skipper of America's Cup champion Alinghi Team, defeated Australian Peter Gilmour and the Pizza-La Sailing Team, 2-1, to claim the championship of the Euro 100,000 event (approximately $118,000), the fifth event on the 2003-'04 Swedish Match Tour. At the end of racing on Thursday, May 6, Coutts was last in the field of 12 crews with a 1-5 record. After sailing 22 races, the maximum number possible, he has become the champion and won Euro 35,000 (approximately $41,600). Coutts's crew consisted of Rodney Arden, Josh Belsky, Warwick Fleury, Lorenzo Mazza, Dean Phipps and Peter Van Nieuwenhuyzen. Although Gilmour lost, he still won Euro 25,000 (approximately $29,700) for second place and has the Swedish Match Tour Championship Leaderboard in a stranglehold. Gilmour added 20 points to his scoreline by finishing second. With a total of 97 points, he is 48 points ahead of second-placed Magnus Holmberg (SWE/SeaLife Rangers) with three events remaining. The conditions for quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were glorious. The winds were out of the east/southeast between 8 and 12 knots. In the Petit Finals, the Oracle BMW Racing team - the winner of the round robin - defeated Poland's Karol Jablonski and the Toscana Challenge team 2-0. The next event on the Swedish Match Tour is the ACI HTmobile Cup, May 24-29, in Split, Croatia. - Sean McNeill TOSCANA ELBA CUP - TROFEO LOCMAN FINAL STANDINGS 1. Russell Coutts (NZL/Alinghi Team) 13-9, Euro 35,000 2. Peter Gilmour (AUS/Pizza-La Sailing Team) 15-5, Euro 25,000 3. Gavin Brady (NZL/Oracle BMW Racing) 16-4, Euro 15,000 4. Karol Jablonski (POL/Toscana Challenge) 10-9, Euro 8,000 5. Bertrand Pacé (FRA/Team France) 7-7, Euro 6,000 6. Jesper Radich (DEN/Team Denmark) 6-8, Euro 5,000 7. Ed Baird (USA/Team Musto) 6-8, Euro 4,000 8. Magnus Holmberg (SWE/SeaLife Rangers) 5-9, Euro 2,000 9. Philippe Presti (FRA/le Défi) 4-7 10. John Cutler (NZL/Mascalzone Latino) 3-8 11. Michael Dunstan (AUS/OzBoyz Challenge) 3-8 12. Paolo Cian (ITA/Italian Challenge) 3-8 SWEDISH MATCH TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD (After 5 of 8 events) 1. Peter Gilmour (AUS/Pizza-La Sailing Team) 97 points 2. Magnus Holmberg (SWE/SeaLife Rangers) 49 points 3. Gavin Brady (NZL/Oracle BMW Racing) 45 points 4. Jesper Radich (DEN/Team Denmark) 43 points 5. Russell Coutts (NZL/Alinghi Team) 35 points 6. Ed Baird (USA/Team Musto) 31 points 7. Dean Barker (NZL/Omega Match Race Team) 24 points 8. Jesper Bank (DEN) 20 points = Chris Dickson (NZL/Oracle BMW Racing) 20 points = Kelvin Harrap (NZL/Team New Zealand) 20 points = Terry Hutchinson (USA/Team Annapolis Volvo) 20 points Event website: http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/ YES VIRGINIA - IT IS A SPECTATOR SPORT Lake Starnberg, Bavaria - One thing was crystal clear when the first 2004 Volvo Champions Race ended this Sunday in Starnberg, Bavaria: 35,000 spectators have seen the biggest sailing festival ever happening at Lake Starnberg. Three days of action-packed racing with rounding marks not more than 40 metres away from the audience at the shores created a unique stadium atmosphere. The fight for podium places was not decided before the last race in the Tornado Class. It were then four times World Champion Darren Bundock and his British crew Will Howden, Tour winners of last year's first Volvo Champions Race Series to start into the new Tour with another win. The tricky conditions on Lake Starnberg offered more stable and stronger winds up to five Beaufort on the last day. In the 49er Class, nobody and nothing could stop the young German brothers Pit and Hannes Peckolt to win the event with a clear lead over their fellow Countrymen and reigning European Champions Marcus Baur and Max Groy. Last year´s Volvo Champions Race Tour winners Peter and Sören Hansen from Denmark had a great finish day with a third and a first thus securing third place overall. Results, news and pics: www.volvochampionsrace.de FREDDY LOOF, SANTIAGO LANGE, BEN AINSLIE Three World Champions in three months that rely upon Kaenon Polarized. The best tactical minds in the business enhance their eyesight, and protect it. Kaenon Polarized lens technology is unique. Not available in any other brand. The advantage the best tactical minds require to read the information and process it. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available at TeamOne, Vanguard, APS, Island Sports, East of Maui, Boat Locker, Sailing Supply, Svendson's, Seattle Sunglass Company, Alain Mikli NYC, Paragon NYC, Edward Beiner, Sunglass and Optical Warehouse, Lombardi's, Sport Chalet, West Marine, Cabela's and Boater's World. http://www.kaenon.com BRAND NEW AND SHINY Forget the SORC - after 64 years it is no more - replaced by Premiere Racing's new Miami Beach Race Week. The time frame has also changed somewhat with the new event taking place March 10-13, 2005. The Miami Beach Marina will serve as the Official Site for this new race week, hosting the two ocean courses, while the new Shake-A-Leg sailing facility in Coconut Grove will be the host site for racing on the bay. Event organizer Peter Craig said that handicap racing will be a major component of Miami Beach Race Week with both PHRF and IMS classes established. PHRF handicapping and class assignments will follow the successful models developed by Premiere Racing as part of their Terra Nova Trading Key West event. There will also be a big one-design component with invitations already extended to the Farr 40, Mumm 30, J/105, Melges 24, J/80 and the International Etchells classes. Other class organizations are also expected to add this new warm weather race week to their 2005 calendars. - www.Premiere-Racing.com ROUND THE WORLD The skippers and representatives of the six entries in the Oryx Cup flew out of Qatar on the 8th May, happy in the knowledge that The Oryx Cup is now full steam ahead. (This non-stop round-the-world race will start in Doha, Qatar in March 2005. It will finish at the same location approximately two months later. The Oryx Cup is open to multihulls of 100 feet and longer. The prize for first place is US $1 million, the biggest cash prize in sailing history.) The teams arrived in Doha on 5th May courtesy of the national carrier Qatar Airways. The conference was attended by all the teams, the Maiden Ocean Racing Qatar (MORQ) team and the Qatar 2006 crew. [Ross Field -Ocean Sport Management and Offshore Challenges; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston -Clipper Ventures; Tony Bullimore -Team Daedalus; David Scully - Cheyenne; Cam Lewis -Team Adventure; and Louis-Noel Vivies - Geronimo] Tracy Edwards MBE opened the conference explaining how the vision of The Oryx Cup had become a reality over the past six months. "Since the announcement in the UK on the 14th October last year MORQ has been working extremely hard in Qatar to lay the groundwork and the structure for this exciting event. We have worked closely with Qatar Sports International and many other bodies in Qatar to get us to where we are today. There has been much to do to ensure that The Oryx Cup is the best sailing event in the world but my team have worked tirelessly towards that vision. Today, seeing all these teams here is, for all of us, a reward for that hard work and determination." Before leaving Doha, Cam Lewis added his thanks to Qatar. "The conference has given us the information and the incentive we need to go and find a sponsor so that we can participate in The Oryx Cup and The Quest 2006." - Excerpts from a story posted on the Bang the Corner website, full story: http://www.bangthecorner.com/default.asp?m=da&id=11415 COCA COLA HOBIE 16 WORLDS Barcelo Maya Beach Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico - Final Results Masters and Grand Masters (7 races with one discard - 58 boats) 1 Jens Goritz/Simone Monreal, GER, 13 2 Rod Waterhouse/Jason Waterhouse, AUS, 15 3 Juan E. Maegli/Jose Daniel Hernandez, GUA, 20 4 Mike Montague/Kathy Ward, USA, 24 16 Carlos Armando Noriega/Armando Noriega, MEX, 92 Youth World Championship (6 races with one discard - 30 boats) 1 Jerome Legal/Vaik Delevaux FRA, 8 2 Axel SILVY/Pauline Jupin FRA, 8 3 Valentin Franc/Sandra Theleir FRA, 20 16 Jorge Xavier Murrieta/Santiago Ramirez, MEX, 70 19 Jacob Sailer/Clifton Neff, USA, 83 Women's World Championship (6 races with one discard - 18 boats) 1 Pamela Noriega/Martha Noriega, MEX, 12 2 Rosarito Martínez/Kamil Berrios, PUR, 14.4 3 Belinda Zanesco/Nicky Souter AUS, 15 6 Annie Gardner Nelson/Eliza Cleveland USA, 20 Results, pictures and commentary: www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp OCEAN RACING THIS SUMMER? GET THE SECRET WEAPON... Used by Mari Cha IV, Cheyenne, and 80% of the Volvo/Vendee racers. MaxSea Weather/Routing/Navigation software is now legal for Trans-Atlantic, Pacific Cup, and Bermuda. Easy to use, the most powerful weather routing functions take just two mouse clicks. Now predicts lifts/headers. http://www.SetSail.com/race NEWS BRIEFS * Santa Cruz, CA - Luca Santella "USA-551 Joe Fly" (ITA-550) and owner Giovanni Maspero are the 2004 US Melges 24 National Champions. Luca and his Joe Fly team are the 2003 European Champions and, can now add the US National Champion title to their growing list of accomplishments. Final results (9 races with 1 discard - 25 boats) : 1. Luca Santella, 17; 2. Sheldon Ecklund, 26; 3. Bruce Ayres, 28; 4. Philippe Kahn, 34; 5. Simon & Quentin Strauss, 36. http://tinyurl.com/23ubv * Santander Spain - Today, 37 of the World's best Women Yngling teams will do battle in their World Championship and final Olympic Qualification Regatta for the Athens Olympic Games. Eighteen nations are represented, 12 of which have already gained an entry to the Olympic Games, so there is the opportunity for a further four places to be granted. Canada, Norway, Columbia, Poland, Japan and the Netherlands will all be pushing hard for Olympic qualification. Hannah Swett (USA), last year's World Champion, is not at the event to defend her championship. Event Website: www.rcmsantander.com/yngling/index-y-i.htm * Over 100 sailors from around the world are now registered and arriving in La Rochelle, France for the 2004 Finn European Championship and final Olympic Qualification Regatta for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Of the 32 nations represented in La Rochelle 21 have already qualified for the Olympic Games, leaving ten nations fighting for the final five spots. This includes Italy, Russia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, US Virgin Islands, and Estonia. Event website: www.srr-sailing.com/divers/pagesiteeuropefinn.htm * One hundred men's teams and the 50 women's teams representing 43 nations that will take part in the International 470 Class World Championship in Zadar Croatia, the final Olympic Double handed Men's and Women's Olympic qualification regatta. The qualification series begins today. Event website: http://www.uskok.biz.hr/470wc2004/index.htm * Quantum Sails has introduced a brand-new membrane sail called FusionM. FusionM is not a load path sail - the continuous curves are replaced by a constantly changing, topographical map, reflecting a more realistic picture of the loads as they radiate in all directions. Reportedly, loads are transferred and distributed as they increase instead of concentrating and distorting sail shape in the most highly loaded areas, so the design shape does not distort locally. Assembled at a new facility in Malaysia that utilizes the type of heat, pressure, and controlled conditions that characterize true aerospace quality lamination techniques. - www.quantumsails.com * After blowing dogs off chains complete with horizontal rain yesterday in Calais, the 1000 Milles de Calais for 'fully crewed' Open 60s finally got underway Sunday afternoon in just 8 knots of breeze from the WSW. The gun went at 1641GMT, after a delay of 1 hour 41 minutes as the competitors struggled to make it to the start area off Cap Blanc Nez due to the light conditions and foul tide. The 1000 Milles de Calais is one of the official 2004 celebrations of the Entente Cordiale between the French and English. The Daily Sail, http://tinyurl.com/3cah3, event website: www.1000millesdecalais.com/indexuk.php 3300 MILE MATCH RACE With the Caribbean winter racing season almost at a close, for two Volvo 60's, Spirit and Venom, there is still one race left. A 3,300 nautical mile race home to the UK! Following Antigua Race Week, these two Volvo 60's last seen in the Tyco livery are going head to head in a transatlantic dual from Falmouth Harbour Antigua to Falmouth Harbour, UK. This unique challenge arose following their close racing across the Atlantic in November 2003, when the two yachts participated in the racing division of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). Whilst neck and neck for most of the passage, Spirit eventually pulled away from Venom, setting a new course record and finishing approximately 10 hours ahead after 2,800 nm of racing. Derek Saunders, owner of Venom, commented on the idea of the Challenge "We could not wait another year to race transatlantic again, so we had to challenge Spirit to a race back across the Atlantic in May". The match race started Saturday, Twice daily positions, and news can be followed at: http://atlanticchallenge.worldcruising.com HRC: HELLUVA RACING CORD! HRC, New England Ropes' Heat Resistant Cover is the industry-first cover designed to significantly reduce surface melting and fraying due to excessive friction and surging. A special blend of Nomex and Technora, HRC complements all of our high tech cores of Dyneema, Technora, or Vectran resulting in a line with significant performance advantages over anything from the competition. HRC is available from most professional riggers worldwide. Ask for it by name. HRC. It may just make you the next Happy Regatta Champion. New England Ropes. Performance Guaranteed. http://www.neropes.com 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 Ed Cesare : Relative to US Sailing's "moratorium" on participation in the RWP, I'm interested - where is the outrage? - Is it that no one cares, that the offshore community has simply given up on US Sailing or what? I would think at a minimum there would be a hue and cry for our national governing body to explain why they took this action beyond an intention to, "to allow time for wider review of national opinion among U.S. offshore racing interests" Particularly as in the same press release it states: "the RWP did a fantastic job at surveying potential constituents". * From Geoff Van Gorkom (edited to our 250-word limit): My blood boils when I see misdirected and detrimental attempts to control the sport I love. ISAF's Sailor Classification Code is a bureaucratic push to pigeon-hole people who compete in the sport of sailboat racing without any real thought of how they are affecting the industry that support it. While I can see the benefits of a pro criteria to limiting the Cayards, Kosteckis and Butterworths of the sailing world crewing for Joe Owner who can afford their talents, I also believe a disproportionate sector of the industry is penalized for trying to make a boating related living. I enjoy sailing but I do not derive a living from it. Yet I'm ranked as a Class 3 because I'm a naval architect and can appreciate the technical aspects of a boat. While I should be flattered by ISAF's classification, it effectively eliminates me from taking the helm of a boat in most ISAF sanctioned events (even though I might have absolutely nothing to do with the design of that boat). These blind rulings have affected many of my friends who work in the industry, guys and girls who work on the shop floor of a boat builder or sew sails at the local sail loft. The result is a general discontent within the sailboat business of people who are the greatest proponents of the sport. ISAF needs to step back and review these policies and ground them with some thought towards building a stronger participation within the sailboat industry. * From Bill Canfield: Yesterdays short blurb on the US Youth Championships mentioned that sailors had been selected from 19 states and Puerto Rico. It overlooked the US Virgin Islands that will be represented by four sailors in Laser, Laser Radial and Club 420 who were also selected for this prestigious event. * From George Washburn: I wonder if Dee Smith knows as much about Peter Huston as Peter knows about CBTF technology? Did Dee consider that Huston is a.) a big fan of CBTF technology, and b.) knows where the design, manufacturing and global service resources are within the aerospace industry to help make the mechanisms that control the forward canard on a CBTF more reliable, if not more precise in their movements as well, and perhaps lighter. Regarding the relative merits of cruising in a CBTF boat, if you like sailing with more than a few paid hands, having to run the engine every time you want to tack or jibe, and living in a completely open cabin, then a boat like Morning Glory is exactly what you want in a cruiser. I suppose that some could argue that an Optimist is the perfect minimalist cruising boat too. Curmudgeon's Comment: For those who would like to see what the interior of Morning Glory looks like: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/morninggloryinterior.jpg THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help. |
