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SCUTTLEBUTT #494 - February 1, 2000LOUIS VUITTON CUP FINALSAmericaOne came out fighting mad today in Race 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals and scored an imperative 34-second victory over Italy's Prada Challenge. The win pulls the Americans to within one race of Prada, 3-2, in the best-of-nine series. AmericaOne has been in front of Prada more often than not the last two races, but lost both matches due to gear failures, ripped sails and poor crew work. All were in order today (except maybe the crew work) as AmericaOne won the start and sailed a tactically sound race. It covered Prada at every opportunity, when it didn't opt to sail to a shift, and then watched Prada suffer its own misadventures in crew work to give Cayard firm control of the match. Cayard needed a masterful performance at the start to gain an early upper hand, and he didn't let down his supporters. On port tack, de Angelis was on Cayard's windward quarter, outside the committee boat end of the line. Then, with 13 seconds to go, Cayard boldly tacked to starboard. He could've been penalised for tacking too close, but was able to fill his mainsail on starboard quickly enough to force Prada to tack to leeward. Cayard then hit the line at the boat end as the starting gun fired, with de Angelis tucked away neatly to leeward in his dirty air. First gain to AmericaOne. AmericaOne led by 32 seconds at the first windward mark, despite losing a genoa sheet during a tack near the top of the beat. The mishap infuriated Cayard, who showed he was feeling the pressure when he told the crew to get its act together -- albeit in much stronger language. A left-hand shift turned the first run largely into a starboard-gybe drag race, and Prada closed significantly on the Americans, trailing by just 10 seconds at the leeward mark. But AmericaOne sailed another superb beat on the next leg and padded its lead by eight seconds at the second windward mark. AmericaOne continued to have difficulty gybing the spinnaker on the second run. Early on the leg AmericaOne tried gybing to starboard but was so slow getting the pole through the foretriangle that Prada was able to cross its line, gybe to starboard and take up position on its leeward quarter. The two held starboard until slightly past halfway down the three-mile leg. Then Cayard threw a fake gybe at de Angelis. The Italian bit briefly, but abandoned the manoeuvre when he realised Cayard wasn't going to turn. The quick turns of the rudder began rolling Luna Rossa in the puffy wind and choppy sea. Cayard then gybed to port and de Angelis reacted. He spun the wheel, but Luna Rossa was already unstable and rocking back and forth. Then a puff hit as the boom cleared onto port gybe. Luna Rossa rolled hard and the end of the boom hit the water, sending the silver boat into a windward broach. AmericaOne sailed away as the Italians regained composure, and opened a significant 26-second advantage at the leeward mark. It added time early in the leg when Prada had a shoddy rounding, and eventually added 16 seconds on the beat for a 42-second advantage beginning the run to the finish. AmericaOne held a nearly identical delta beginning the final leg of Race 4, only to turn a victory into a loss. That would not be the case today. Although Prada cut out eight seconds, AmericaOne held on for the important victory. -- Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ TV SCHEDULE Race 6 - ESPN2, Tuesday, February 1, 9:30 PM Pacific Time (Wednesday, February 2, 12:30 AM Eastern Time) QUOTE / UNQUOTE * Paul Cayard on winning Race 5: "That was probably the hardest one to win of the four we have to win," said Cayard after the race. "Winning the next one will be good, that'll make it 3-3, then we'll see how those guys handle the pressure." -- http://www.americascup.org/ * Bruce Nelson, designer of AmericaOne, on boat performance comparisons: "Based on that I'd have to say the boats are quite similar in speed. I thought it real surprising that the boats are quite similar in a number of respects. All we can really hope for is a one or two second advantage. If you can squeeze that out and put that in the capable hands of one of these two sailing teams that's going to help them win five of the nine instead of only four of the nine. So these are the types of tight margins you are looking for in this game. No-one is expecting a blow-out victory here." -- http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ * Paul Cayard, on foredeck crew changes after injury to Greg Prussia two days ago: "I think we made the change real well. We're very fortunate to have a guy as good as Ralfie Steitz available to us. Curtis (Blewett) has done the bow for me in a lot of regattas including the Steinlager Cups that we've won, and of course the Whitbread. So, it wasn't the way we sailed for the last three months, but it's a pretty seamless change. As far as Greg goes, I don't think Greg can sail anymore for sure in this round. Hopefully for the (America's) Cup, he'll be back." -- http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ DRESS FOR SUCCESS It's been proven over and over again - if look successful you'll feel successfuland ultimately be successful. It applies in business. It works on the racecourse. So what are you waiting for? Go where the winners go for their crew shirts and regatta apparel. Frank Whitton at Pacific Yacht Embroidery can help you as he's helped so many successful racing programs: 619-226-8033 / pacyacht@aol.com AS SEEN BY OTHERS * AmericaOne did the move of the week. It dummy-gybed. For those not into yachting terminology, that means it put out the left-hand indicator to turn left - or, as in the Super Bowl, it went to pass the ball to the left, but sidestepped and went right. Prada almost took the dummy, corrected, and then AmericaOne went for it and gybed properly onto port. Prada wasn't ready for the sting in the tail, gybed too quick and didn't let go the runner quick enough. The main hit the runner, and then the argument why these boats should not have small rudders became abundantly clear. If the boat had been a Formula 1 race car, the stench of black tyre smoke would have been everywhere as Luna spun out into the grass. Its recovery was quick enough, but the spinnaker was out of control and Prada was very lucky not to wrap it around the headstay. AmericaOne passed around the Valium and led around the bottom mark by 26 seconds; 42 at the top, 34 at the finish. Nice job, guys. Awesome -- or whatever the Americanism is. -- Chris Law, Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ * This is a confidence game. Cayard and Kostecki had been knocked around pretty badly over the last couple of races, and for their own well-being and that of the team, this race was very, very important. Today they were in synch with Mother Nature and her wind shifts coming off the land in the Hauraki Gulf. Today will haunt Francesco until he purges it from his system. Time heals all, and yes, tomorrow is another day. But in the meantime, it hurts. Rod Davis and his very talented coaching team will be all over this, going through the process of how a situation like this can be negated in the future. The video will be studied incessantly until the 16 Prada crewmen are better prepared. This crew has come from nowhere over the last two years in terms of international match racing, and this close infighting exposes their lack of eyeball-to-eyeball, toe-to-toe experience. The Italians will come out fighting tomorrow. There's too much pride on that boat for them not to. I'd be surprised to see AmericaOne steal another start like that. Interesting in these pre-starts how the game changes so fast, so many variables, so many opportunities, so many balls in the air. Time on distance to the start is vital, while the different rules are whirring instinctively through your head. The Italian team will be fully analysing, as much as they can, the Cayard/Kostecki pre-starts. But they have to be careful not to go into information overload. As for Paul, he is a relieved man tonight; content as much as he can be in a job well done. Yes, the win was messy, mistakes were made, but as we say in this game, a win is a win. -- John Bertrand, Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ * There is no pressure cooker like the late stages of an America's Cup campaign, when $30 million to $50 million of other people's money and a couple years' work rests on a snap decision or hasty maneuver gone right or painfully wrong. Pressure, pressure, pressure. Today it was Prada skipper Francesco deAngelis's turn to wilt The outcome puts a jolt in a series that threatened to expire earlier than expected. AmericaOne has shown the speed to stay with Prada when the breeze is up, but breakages and crew mistakes spoiled the first two tries. "We've shown we can beat them in any condition," said barrel-chested grinder Jim Nicholas, a veteran San Diego Cup hand. "How about one break going our way?" Today, he got a couple. -- Angus Phillips, Washington Post Full story: http://washingtonpost.com/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Scott Truesdel -- Your readers it interesting that the spectator boats are so close to the race that the competitors have to sail through them. Well, 90-degree windshifts will do that sort of thing... I think the competitors understand this and that is why you don't hear them complaining (much) about it. Regarding other sports where the fans get on the same playing field as the competitors -- here's one: WRC (World Rally Championship)! WRC spectators make the running of the bulls in Pamplona look positively tame. The bulls don't run at over 100 mph! -- From Steve Taft, Vice Commodore St. Francis Yacht Club -- After What we have seen in Auckland during these finals, I would think the competitors would love to encounter the "unfairness" of racing on S.F. Bay. Hopefully we will be in a position to host the event. -- From Wallace Cook -- At BYC for summer racing on Wednesday night, we use a 3 minute between starts, that lets us start 60+ boats in 7 to 9 classes, in 21 to 27 minutes. It is fast and furious on the RC boat. But the racers like it and we have had no problems, except for the dredging barge going through the start line mid sequence. But faster starts do work, but must be called out in the sailing instructions. --From Paul Galvez (Re: America One's Spinnakers) -- What's with those kites? Two blow outs maybe, but eight? The problem could be in the color chosen. It seems that every fluorescent kite I've ever used has always been a little more sensitive to tearing when compared to the darker colors. Is there an extra step taken to achieve this fluorescence and does it in fact effect the general integrity of the cloth? I've heard conflicting answers on this. LIME-GREEN KITES The San Franciscans have had eight of their great lime-green billowing sails rip apart like mail-order suits over the last few months, while the opposition's have remained incredibly intact. It didn't happen to AmericaOne in Tuesday's 34-second win that brought the team back to a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-nine Louis Vuitton Cup challenger finals, but it has happened often enough to raise some questions. Why has it happened so often? Why hasn't it happened to Prada? Their kites are really strong so they don't tear," AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard noted earlier. "They have different material." That material is a modified form of Spectra, originally created for Bill Koch's America3 defence campaign at San Diego in 1992, and dubbed Cuben-fibre. "We have nylon kites," Cayard said. "The Italians have a Cuben-fibre cloth ... Spectra cloth. It's really solid and it's not gonna break. It's a weapon they have." Spectra material is made in Phoenix, Ariz., on special order. For this America's Cup, Prada cornered the market. "They basically bought the entire production run," said Robert (Hooky) Hook, AmericaOne's chief sail designer. "It's a cost-prohibitive product for the ordinary sailing world." But it's also considerably stronger than conventional nylon for the same weight. Guido Cavalazzi, Prada's sail designer, said, "It's five times the cost of nylon. It's laid by hand ... very, very complicated, very expensive. They use the basic material in different ways. We gave them our specifications. The material was made only for us." Prada then used the finished material to build the sails. But the Italians don't use their Spectra spinnakers all the time. "It's a wind to wave situation," Cavalazzi said. "Nylon is more forgiving when there's movement in the boat and you want the spinnaker to be more stretchy. On the first two runs Sunday we used Spectra, but we won the race using a nylon spinnaker." Normally, Cavalazzi said, a Spectra chute would be used exclusively in flat water and any time the wind is over 17 knots, "because it doesn't break." The wind has been only a partial factor in AmericaOne's spinnaker failures. "Half of them broke because of getting stuck in the hatch or something and getting a little hole," Cayard said. Hook said, "If you look at the eight spinnakers that broke, five have torn on the jumpers or while being hoisted. The other day one caught on a hatch cover. The one on Sunday blew up on a 135-degree reach; Saturday, from burying the bow in a wave." Cavalazzi believes that AmericaOne's green spinnakers are weaker because of the dying process. "We had experience with very shiny pink material that was very brittle," he said. Would AmericaOne be better off with plain white chutes? "Absolutely," Cavalazzi said. Hook disagrees. That may have been true in the past, he said, "but with the dying processes we have now, what you find is that some of the brighter colours have better tearing strength." Either way, AmericaOne is destined to live or "dye" with its verdant kites. -- Rich Roberts, Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ SORC MIAMI BEACH- The pre-registration special entry price for the Acura SORC closes today - on February 1. Entries received or postmarked after that date will pay the regular registration fee. The final registration deadline is February 26. In a departure from previous years, the regatta organizers have limited entries to 200 boats. Nearly half that number have already paid their entry fees, including 16 boats from the Farr 40 Class, plus strong contingents from the Melges 24, Mumm 30 and Hobie 33 classes. The One Design 35 Class expects to beat its entry of 13 boats last year. Long renowned as one of the country's premier winter regattas, the Acura SORC last year attracted an outstanding field of entrants, with more than 85 percent of the boats coming from outside Florida and 17 per cent from outside the United States. Classes expected to compete on the Atlantic Ocean courses are IMS Racing, IMS Cruiser/Racer, PHRF (with handicaps 90 sec/mi. or less), and Ocean Racing One Design, or Level Rated Classes with five or more entries (Farr 40, 1D35, J/105, Henderson 30, Mumm 30, etc.). Six classes are expected to compete on the Biscayne Bay Courses, including PHRF (with handicaps 91 to 175 sec/mi), Multihulls, MORC, One-design or Level Rated classes with five or more entries (Hobie 33, J/24, Etchells, etc.). Daily and series prizes will be awarded in all classes. Special trophies include the SORC Trophy for the best performance by a series yacht, the Mark H. Baxter Perpetual Trophy, for the best IMS yacht, the Florida Governor's Perpetual Trophy for the best PHRF yacht, the Hobie 33 World Cup, the Schoonmaker Cup for the best Etchells and the Melges 24 Midwinter Series Trophy. -- Keith Taylor Competitors can arrange boat hauling, launching and storage through Fast Track Yacht Management: http://www.FastTrackusa.com The Notice of Race can be found on the regatta web site at together with an official entry form: http://www.acurasorc.com Ocean course race entrants can make their berth reservations at the Miami Beach Marina: http://www.miamibeachmarina.com MORE THAN JUST NEWS You can find America's Cup news in lots of places. But when you're looking for more than just news -- when you're looking for insightful commentary that puts all of the 'news' in perspective -- you really must check into the Quokka AC website. You'll be treated to the well-reasoned thoughts of seasoned journalists whose observations go well beyond the headlines and the PR spin. And while you're there, you should also check out the daily audio recordings, the magnificent collection of images and the unparalleled news coverage. Try it -- you'll like it: http://www.americascup.org/ DISABLED SAILING TEAM PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (January 31, 2000) -- US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has named the 2000 US Disabled Sailing Team. Created to recruit and develop athletes for upcoming Paralympiads, the US Disabled Sailing Team annually distinguishes the top-three ranked sailors in each of the two Paralympic classes -- the three-person Sonar and the singlehanded 2.4 Metre. The following members of the 2000 US Disabled Sailing Team are listed in ranking order one through three. Named in the Paralympic Sonar class (skipper and two crew): 1998 World Disabled Sailing Gold Medalists John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.), Corky Aucreman (Newport Beach) and Waldo Esparza (Seffner, Fla.); '98 Independence Cup Champion John Kostanecki (Sugarland, Texas), Hugh Elliot (Alexandria, Va.) and Mike Passaro (Sacramento, Calif.); 1998 World Disabled Sailing Silver Medalists Paul Callahan (Palm Beach, Fla. and Newport, R.I.), Keith Burhans (Irondequoit, N.Y.) and Richard Hughes (Philadelphia, Pa.). Named in the Paralympic 2.4 Metre class (only two skippers qualified): 1997 North American Paralympic 2.4 Metre Champion David Schroeder (Miami Beach, Fla.); and Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.). The Olympic Sailing Committee of US SAILING has announced the dates for the Trials to select the U.S.A.'s 2000 Paralympic Team - Yachting. The Team is comprised of the Trials winners in the two Paralympic classes -- Sonar and 2.4 Metre. Scheduled for April 12-16, 2000, the Paralympic Team Trials will be hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, Florida. The Notice of Race: http://www.ussailing.org/SWSN/paralymtrials.htm Sailing will be a full medal sport for the Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, with the Paralympic Regatta scheduled for October 20-27, 2000, less than three weeks after the Sydney Olympic Regatta. Entries will be limited to 17 boats/countries in both the Sonar and 2.4 Metre events. As host of the 2000 Paralympic Games, Australia receives an automatic entry in each class. For the Sonar Paralympic event, the 15 countries qualified to date, in order of qualification, are: U.S.A., The Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Great Britain, Israel, Sweden, Spain, Armenia, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Japan. In the 2.4 Metre Paralympic event, the 15 countries qualified to date, in order of qualification, are: Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Sweden, U.S.A., The Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Japan. A joint committee of the International Sailing Federation and the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing will determine the remaining entry in each class. -- Jan Harley VOLVO OCEAN RACE Two new registrations have been received bringing the score to 26, including 12 confidential syndicates. Registration for the Volvo Ocean Race continues to be by invitation only, ensuring that a quality racing fleet will be maintained:
Event website: http://www.VolvoOceanRace.org THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. |
