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SCUTTLEBUTT 2384 - July 9, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. TEAM SAILING BRINGS TEAMWORK TO SPORT Due to the rise in popularity of sports like soccer and lacrosse, local youth's participation in sailing has dropped. Jim Lubeck understands this problem all too well. Luckily, Lubeck may have found a way to solve the problem. "It used to be that when you were in sailing, you were in with both feet," said Jim Lubeck, former Commodore at Bridgeport's Black Rock Yacht Club. Lubeck believed that the main reason local youths were choosing other sports over sailing was their desire to be part of a team. Instead of waving a white flag and giving up, Lubeck came up with an idea that has spread throughout the Long Island Sound region. In 1998 in conjunction with the Junior Sailing Association of the Long Island Sound and U.S. Sailing, Lubeck started what he says was the first Junior Big Boat Sailing program. "The goal of the Junior Big Boat Sailing program was to keep the kids involved with sailing after they were done with junior sailing," Lubeck said. And maybe Lubeck has achieved his goal and solved the participation problem at the same time. Because of the size of the boats, approximately 37 to 44 feet in length, a crew of over 10 people is necessary, making the membership requirement similar to that of a baseball or soccer team. The idea has caught on and spread beyond Bridgeport. Programs have been popping up throughout the Sound and Lubeck is currently in the process of making the program a national initiative for U.S. Sailing. -- Connecticut Post, full story: http://www.connpost.com/localsports/ci_6218241 WAIT AND SEE While there was no announcement last week over the future site of the next Americas Cup Races, the Americas Cup Management and the Valencian Government as well as Valencia Town Hall continue their negotiations. Some points of disagreement still outstanding include the fee payable by the valencians in order to stage the event with ACM demanding 120 million Euros (approx. 163.1 million USD) and the Valencians offering a little over 90 (approx. 122.3 million USD). Also causing some concern is the staging of the Formula 1 races in Valencia, coupled with the Swiss uncertainty over what effect the enlargement of the Port will have on the event. As a result of this, there now appear to be several rivals to stage the next set of races and these include Athens, Marseilles or Dubai, with an apparent front runner being the Sicilian port of Trapani, the birthplace of the wife of Michel Bonnefous, the ACM President. Bonnefous also revealed that if any agreement is made with Valencia it will be made known shortly and the races will start in 2009, whilst racing in any other candidate city, if that is the chosen option, would begin no sooner than 2010. With respect to the enlarging of the Port, Rafael Ferrando, the president of the business association CIERVAL stated that there was now no reason not to delay this expansion, which will combine pleasure and business when it is finished. -- The Valencia Life Network, mailto:publisher@valencialife.net ON TOUR Alinghi landed Sunday at Geneva airport amid much national celebration on a day that coincides with the 150th anniversary of the creation of America’s Cup competition. From Geneva airport the sailors travelled to the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) with the America’s Cup trophy, and then to nearby Parc des Eaux Vives to celebrate with an anticipated 30-40,000 people at a music festival held in their honour. The America’s Cup will continue on to Zurich on the 10 July, then Bern on the 12 July, culminating in Lugano on the 14 July. Team syndicate head, Ernesto Bertarelli comments on the tour: “Winning the America’s Cup again is a great achievement and we are doing this ‘Homecoming Tour’ to share our moment of victory with Switzerland as a thank you for the immense support the people have shown us during the campaign.” HARD KORE WINS THE CUP …and so did the new Jetty, the Rhino and Kore. These were the Kaenon Polarized styles worn by skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth, and trimmers extraordinaire Simon Daubney and Warwick Fluery, among others on board the winning boat in Valencia. Different styles, same incredible lens. Featuring the superior SR-91 polarized lens technology that separates Kaenon Polarized from every other sunglass on the planet – SR-91 – patented and unique. Luxury performance for men and women. Prescription-ready. View the entire collection online and locate an authorized dealer nearest you at http://www.kaenon.com Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. JONATHAN MCKEE CO-SKIPPER FOR ESTRELLA DAMM Top American sailor, Jonathan McKee, today has been confirmed as co-skipper to Spanish skipper, Guillermo Altadill, for the IMOCA 60 Estrella Damm campaign. The duo will be gunning for a podium finish in this winter’s double-handed, non-stop Barcelona World Race starting 11th November. The two sailors have never raced together before but their combined experience is set to make them a competitive force. Both seemingly easy going on the outside, this apparent affability masks their intense competitive nature.Aged 48 and a father of two young children, Jonathan will be training with Guillermo within two weeks and they are aiming to qualify for the Barcelona World Race as soon as possible. -- Complete announcement: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com/en/?s=7444 ISAF WORLDS Cascais, Portugal (July 8, 2007) All 11 Olympic classes are now racing at the ISAF Combined World Championships, where fickle conditions on Friday were replaced with big breeze on Saturday with winds over 35 knots at times, and Finn sailor Zach Railey (USA) declaring, “I could have done with a seatbelt today. It was wild.” Sunday’s conditions fit somewhere in the middle of these two days, though each of the five race courses seemed to report extremely changeable conditions. The Star and Tornado fleets are now headed on Monday to the first medal races of the Worlds, where the top ten from each class will meet for a final heat with placings counting for double. The North American contingent will be shut out of the Star finale, but represented in the Tornado by John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree (USA). -- Complete event report: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=ju,Fnij1D&format=popup Top Three and Top North Americans Laser Radial (106 boats) - Gold 1. GER - Petra Niemann, 9-9-2-5-5-6-1-(12), 37 2. MEX - Tania Elias Calles Wolf, 3-11-2-6-1-1-15-(49), 39 3. ISR - Nufar Edelman, 4-2-13-2-(15)-5-5-8, 39 470 Men (112 boats) - Eliminations 1. AUS - Nathan Wilmot/ Malcolm Page 1-6-2-2, 11 2. USA - Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl 3-7-5-6, 21 3. ESP - Francisco Sanchez/ Alejandro Ramos, 3-11-3-5, 22 Yngling (35 boats) - Eliminations 1. GBR - Sarah Ayton/ Sarah Webb/ Pippa Wilson, 2-3-4-2-3-(13), 14 2. GBR - Shirley Robertson/ Annie Lush/ Lucy MacGregor, 1-2-3-9-10-(20), 25 3. USA - Sally Barkow/ Carrie Howe/ Deborah Capozzi, 8-5-1-1-(DNF)-12, 27 Finn (73 boats) - Eliminations 1. GRE - Aimilios Papathanasiou, 1-1-(12)-3-2, 7 2. NED - Pieter Jan POSTMA, 5-(13)-1-1-1, 8 3. ESP - Rafael Trujillo, 3-2-(15)-4-1, 10 4. CAN - Chris Cook, 1-6-3-(8)-2, 12 49er (78 boats) - Eliminations 1. GBR - Stevie Morrison/ Ben Rhodes, 1-2-1-1, 5 2. FRA - Morgan Lagraviere/ Stéphane Christidis, 7-1-4-1, 13 3. UKR - Rodion Luka/ Georgiy Leonchuk, 5-1-6-1, 13 4. USA - Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding, 1-6-3-4, 14 Tornado (49 boats) – Top ten medal race on Monday 1. ESP - Fernando Echavarri/ Anton Paz, 9-8-1-(11)-4-3-6-3, 34 2. BEL - Carolijn Brouwer/ Sebastien Godefroid, 5-10-3-3-8-(18)-5-6, 40 3 NED - Mitch Booth/ Pim Nieuwenhuis, (15)-13-2-5-1-15-3-2, 41 10. USA - John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree, 23-2-9-8-17-(25)-15-9, 83 470 Women (64 boats) - Eliminations 1. NED - Marcelien De Koning/ Lobke Berkhout 4-2-1-2, 9 2. ITA - Giulia Conti/ Giovanna Micol, 5-3-5-1, 14 3. SWE - Therese Torgersson/ Vendela Zachreisson 3-5-3-3, 14 11. CAN - Jen Provan/ Carol Luttmer 9-14-7-8, 38 Laser (149 boats) - Gold 1. AUS - Tom Slingsby, (21)-1-1-2-1-1-16-9, 31 2. CRO - Mate Arapov, 2-2-7-9-10-2-11-(12), 43 3. EST - Deniss Karpak, 8-(DNF)-12-1-7-6-8-3, 45 12. CAN - Michael Leigh, 16-2-7-9-4-25-(40)-31, 94 Star (62 boats) – Top ten medal race on Monday 1. BRA - Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada, 2-4-3-1-1-1-(29)-1-2, 15 2. FRA - Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau, 3-1-1-2-3-3-(7)-2-4, 19 3. GBR - Iain Percy/ Andrew Simpson, 1-8-2-5-2-2-4-8-1, 25 12. USA - Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel, 5-6-17-11-14-6-18-7-14, 80 RS:X Men (113 boards) - Eliminations 1. POL - Przemyslaw Miarczynski, 1-1-12-1-1, 4 2. BRA - Ricardo Santos, 2-5-1-3-1, 7 3. POL - Piotr Myszka, 2-2-1-2-5, 7 36. CAN - Zachary Plavsic, 11-18-15-7-14, 47 RS:X Women (73 boards) - Eliminations 1. POL - Zofia Klepacka, 1-1-6-3-1, 6 2. FRA - Lise Vidal, 3-5-3-1-20, 12 3. ITA - Alessandra Sensini, 1-1-5-8-7, 14 41. CAN - Nikola GIRKE, 16-25-15-19-17, 67 Complete results: http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/home.php?content=resultadoGeral.php * The Olympic future of sailing appears to be secure for the next several quadrennials. The IOC in Guatemala at their Session have just voted to keep the same 26 Sports for 2012 and 2016, with 2 more sports to be added for 2016. There are plans to drop one sport for 2020, but to do so 50% of the IOC members must vote to do so. While there are 28 sports at the 2008 games, the IOC in 2005 had voted out Softball and Baseball for 2012. The IOC had wanted Rugby 7's and Squash to replace them, but did not get the required support at the Guatemala Session, therefore leaving only 26 sports for London 2012. * Sail TV will be broadcasting live coverage of the Medal Races for two hours daily on July 9-13. The channel will be providing two modes of coverage from Cascais, with a daily news update which is free to view, and live programming coverage of the event will be available for a fee. Details at http://www.sail.tv WORLD TOUR - MATCH CUP SWEDEN Marstrand, Sweden (July 8, 2007) – On a day that was a spectacular counterpoint to the light air that plagued most of the event, Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and his Team Onico consisting of Tompi Hallberg, Gustav Tempelman, Pontus Meijer, and Mathias Bredi went three straight against Magnus Holmberg (SWE) to win Match Cup Sweden. Despite being a competitor at this event six times over the past seven years, this was Hansen’s first victory at Match Cup Sweden and his first win at a World Tour event. Near-gale westerly breeze gusted to nearly 40 knots throughout the day, creating waves that crested to over 2 metres high in the course area. For the audience assembled on the cliffs, the course area was a spectacular scene of breaking waves, spewing sea foam, and huge gusts of wind, with the DS 37’s under reefed mains and jibs launching and crashing off the tops of the waves upwind, and hurdling at planing speeds in wild showers of spray off the wind. -- Complete story: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=57471 Final placings and prizes: 1. Björn Hansen – Team Onico (SWE), 24,000 Euro (approx. 32,700.00 USD) 2. Magnus Holmberg – Victory Challenge (SWE), 15,000 3. Jesper Radich (DEN), 12,000 4. Mattias Rahm – Victory Challenge (SWE), 10,000 5. Gavin Brady – BMW Oracle Racing (NZL), 9,000 6. Mathieu Richard – Saba Sailing (FRA), 8,000 7. Sebastien Col - Areva Challenge (FRA), 7,000 8. Simon Minoprio (NZL), 6,000 9. Johnie Berntsson (SWE), 2,000 10. Ian Williams – Team Pindar (GBR), 2,000 11. Evgeniy Neugodnikov – Lord of the Sail Team (RUS), 1,500 12. Eric Monnin (SUI), 1,500 13. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), 1,000 14. Claire Leroy (FRA), 1,000 15. Jenny Axhede (SWE), 0 16. Malin Millbourne (SWE), 0 - Match details: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=57255 - Photo sequence of a spectacular dismasting: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0708 WINNING AT BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK WITH OCKAM Ockam Instruments congratulates the great performances at the 2007 Block Island Race Week. Ockam customers won the Rolex US-IRC National Championship (Bob Towse’s Blue Yankee), top three in the NYYC 42 class (Tsunami, Arethusa & Bandit), top three in IRC 5 (Cabady, Troubador & Lora Ann), plus trophy winners Savasana (J/105, 1st); Storm (J/109, 2nd); Rima 2 (IRC Super 0, 3rd); Yellow Jacket (IRC 2, 2nd); & Shamrock Sensation (IRC 4, 3rd). All of these winning yachts rely on Ockam Instruments’ superior processing and display technology to provide a useful competitive advantage. At Ockam, we have race winning solutions for everyone. Contact mailto:sales@ockam.com SAILING SHORTS * (Cowes, England) For the second year in a row the Swan 45 Gold Cup will be going back to the USA with newly crowned world champion Alexander Roepers, tactician Chris Larson and the crew on Plenty. It was all on in the final race, as Plenty and fellow American William Douglass' Goombay Smash were tied on points, but Roeper and his crew etched out a fifth place finish to take the honours by two points. - Complete story: http://www.swan45class.org/news_detail.asp?idn=204 - Complete results: http://www.pojac.com:8686/swan_4.htm * La Trinite sur Mer, France (July 7, 2007) The strong Spanish contingent among the 124-boat fleet at the 2007 J/80 World Championship took three of the top four positions, with Jose Maria Torcida Seghers winning 5 of the 11 races for the win. Top non-European was Glenn Darden (USA) in sixth place. – Full report and results: http://www.j80worlds2007.com/Compresse/en/compressen8.htm * Just off the Roucas Blanc, the competition got hotter and windier for the Extreme 40s on day two of the three-day iShares Cup, Marseille, with British team Basilica firmly asserting their presence in a 10-18 knots of breeze and dominating the results table with four wins and a second place, to take pole position with 84 points overall. -- Complete story: http://www.isharescup.com/container.asp?section=news&artid=7458 * Hamburg, Germany: July 6, 2007 – The 90-foot Rambler, owned by Conneecticut businessman George David and skippered by America’s Cup veteran Ken Read, is the winner of the HSH Nordbank blue race from Newport, Rhode Island, to Hamburg, Germany, after a blistering 11d, 16h, 13m, 59s voyage across the North Atlantic. Ramber finished the race on Thursday, July 5 and corrected out to first overall Friday while its main rival, the 80-foot Bon Bon, remained at sea. -- http://www.hsh-nordbank-blue-race.com/1.0.html?L=1 * The Youth Olympic Games will become a reality. The IOC members have approved, at the 119th Session in Guatemala City, the project that foresees the first editions for the Youth Olympic Summer Games in 2010 and for the Youth Olympic Winter Games in 2012. According to IOC President Jacques Rogge, the Youth Olympic Games, which will take place every second year, are the flagship of the IOC’s strategy outlined for young people, which includes other initiatives, such as an educational project on Olympic values, a dedicated website for youngsters and a campaign highlighting the Olympic values to young people. -- Full details: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=ju7FnijqD&format=popup EIGHT BELLS Long Beach, Calif.---Wendy Siegal, a schoolteacher as well as a strong competitor and influential force in the success of the Transpacific Yacht Race in recent years, was found drowned Thursday, July 5, 2007 near her Cal 40, Willow Wind, in the Alamitos Bay Marina. Her death came four days before the first boats, including three of her beloved Cal 40s, were to start the 2007 race off Point Fermin in San Pedro. Now a driving member of the Transpacific Yacht Club Board of Directors, she was not planning to compete, having taken over the responsibility of managing the mass of trophies the race distributes. Complete details were not immediately available, but Long Beach police said there were no signs of foul play. Apparently, Siegal had been alone working on her boat and had been in the water a considerable length of time before her body was discovered at 3:50 p.m. floating in an empty slip on the next gangway over. At 12:30 Monday, July 9th, before the smallest boats including three Cal 40s take the first of the race's three starts at 1 p.m., Siegal's friends---including some sailing Cal 40s---plan to scatter flowers over the starting area in her memory. Services are pending in Detroit, where Wendy's family resides. -- Complete details: http://www.transpacificyc.org/07/news/tp07-press-rel-23.html CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Jim Brady: Just when they have some of the closest and most exciting sailing in the America's Cup - they want to change the boats! That will open opportunity for design to again play a larger role in the outcome and take the emphasis off of the sailors (faster boats win when there is larger speed differences between boats). We'll be back to to minute plus margins, not boat on boat tactics - a real yawner! Once the IACC design was refined to the level we saw in Valencia - some of the closest sailing yielding the most exciting races was due to the extremely marginal boat speed advantages. As a sailor - and I might add one who likes one-design, this is very sad news for the America's Cup and one which I predict will showcase cool new boats with limited close racing. I see how it greatly benefits the defender (being able to work on design before new class announced) - however, it seems a shame for the event. * From Scott Tobin: We finally get a Cup series that kicks butt with equally matched boats, lots of drama, and tight racing with unheard of lead changes on boats that pit crew work and tactics against each other. It sounds like the 33rd edition of the Cup will be back to the same old grind of leader-follower racing without the drama. * From Bill Sandberg: Many people who sailed as kids will tell you that some of their best friends for life were those that came out of junior sailing. That was evident this past weekend, when a reunion of the Junior American Yacht Club (JAYC) was held. Over 200 former JAYCERs from the 1930's to the 1970s (the cutoff date to attend was 1980) attended this year's second reunion (our first was 1996). People arrived from around the country (one came from the state of Washington), armed with scrapbooks and lots of funny stories. Remember when we stole the burgee from Larchmont? Remember the waterfights we had with other clubs, complete with a fire hose? Remember when someone stole a cannon ball from Larchmont and put it in Phil Beach's toilet? Funny, today's kids will have their own special memories, but in our litigious society, they won't have ours. I'm not suggesting that kids become thieves, but it was great fun to steal another club's burgee only to have to give it back to get your own returned. Of course, like any reunion, most people became instant liars. A fantastic time was had by all, causing one husband of a past JAYCer to comment, "You are all so lucky to have had this sort of childhood and made so many friendships that have lasted so long." Yes we are. * From Clark Chapin: I must agree with Chris Ericksen (and disagree with Paul Henderson) regarding the IYRU-ISAF name change, but I think that the US SAILING name change was a positive change and somewhat overdue. At my first USYRU meeting in 1988, I thought the "Save our Union" buttons that were circulated against the proposed name change were a little over the top, but they certainly reflected the depth of feeling of the "Union" believers. The proposal was voted down. I'm proud that the One-Design Class Council cast the votes three years later at the Stamford, CT meeting that made the name change official under the old, archaic USYRU/ US SAILING voting procedure. In retrospect, the US SAILING name change was the first step toward the new organizational structure which is an ongoing experiment in control of our National Governing Body. Oh yeah, and I still think that US SAILING should be in all capitals when it appears in print, but I'm also one of those people who cares whether or not "anal-retentive" is hyphenated. * From Eric Robbins: I have two questions on completely different topics. In the ISAF Worlds results, Brad Funk's score includes a "DPI", described below as "Discretionary Penalty Imposed". I can't seem to find this in rule A11. My guess is, that he either forgot to "check-in", or threw trash overboard, or violated some other sailing instruction for which the penalty is "something less than disqualification if the Jury so decides", which we often state, but have never imposed, in our club SIs. Any clues? My second question is where does Mr. Ficken of Vermont find a rule that requires a "privileged yacht" to maintain a "proper course" upwind? Rule 16.2 permits, when a port-tack boat is attempting to duck a starboard-tack boat, a change of course that does not require the port-tack boat to "immediately" change course. The video shows that Alinghi made a change of course, then held course, giving TNZ ample time to keep clear. So, TNZ's failure to keep clear was a foul under the rules, regardless of Match Racing modifications. Alinghi's actions were perfectly permissible under "normal" fleet-racing rules. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Would a fly without wings be called a walk? Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized and Ockam Instruments. |
