|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 825 - May 30, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Joining the Kiwi couple were Prada Challenge's Gavin Brady who similarly swept past GBR Challenge's Andy Green. The only pairing needing three matches to determine a victor featured Magnus Holmberg of Team StoraEnso and the Victory Challenge against Rod Davis of Prada. Holmberg and crew dropped the first match to the Italian team before rallying to take two in a row, winning the deciding match by one minute and twelve seconds and denying Prada a chance to send two teams on to the next round. - Shawn McBride, www.sports.com/sailing/swedish_match/
VOLVO OCEAN RACE The newly built "SEB", launched and named in Stockholm at the beginning of May is now in Gothenburg, to be matched against its sparring partner, the Team SEB training boat (formerly Toshiba). A carefully structured program of sail testing, crew training and selection activities was initiated in Portugal during the autumn. "The training camp features complete port and dry-docking facilities, accommodation, a training facility, a sail loft and, is strategically well positioned in sailing terms," says Pelle Norberg, managing director of the syndicate company in Team SEB. "Three months in Gothenburg will give us enough time to optimise the new boat and the sails and also find the two remaining crew members," says skipper Gurra Krantz. - www.teamseb.com
SIMILARITY
NEWPORT BERMUDA RACE Sailors interested in this premier ocean race can sign up at bermudarace.com for newsletters, releases and any other information broadcast by the race organizers. It's a simple process of entering your e-mail address and real name and then clicking a button. You'll be linked to the race for all current information from now until the final race results. Along with the basic facts about the June 2002 race, bermudarace.com presents a wealth of helpful information to race veterans and rookies to the event. The FAQ section gives helpful insights garnered from years of race experience on how to enter and get to the race course in good fashion. The Crew List section is the place to list your availability to crew or to find the extra crewmember needed to fill out your list. The Useful Links button opens up a wealth of knowledge about the Gulf Stream, weather, other races and racing contacts. The Onion Patch Series also has a spot on the information list. For actual race information, the Race History section gives a race overview and presents charts to illustrate the start between Castle Hill and Beaver Tail Lighthouses in the Rhode Island Sound off Newport RI, the 635 mile rhumb line course across the Gulf stream and the finish off St. David's Light in Bermuda. The commentary along with the charts is a primer in the challenges of this classic ocean Race. There is a review and illustration of the 1996 class winning track of Nirvana and a recount of Boomerang's 1996 record setting run for line honors and the Lighthouse trophy. The 2002 Race is the 43rd sailing of the Newport Bermuda classic. It was first sailed in 1906 from Gravesaend Bay and except for war years has been a continuous biennial event. The race start moved to Newport in 1936. - Talbot Wilson, www.bermudarace.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Rob Mundle: Frank Betz appears to be confusing two syndicates in his reference to America's Cup campaigns with clubs of questionable origin. Bondy did his 1974 Southern Cross campaign with Yanchep Sun City emblazoned on the yacht's stern. It was a blatant promotion for one of his earliest property developments - a very sandy beachfront estate north of Perth. The "club's" headquarters was a dilapidated shipping container. In the end though - and after considerable rancor - the original nomines for the challenge, Royal Perth Yacht Club, became the official yacht club for the campaign. The "abandoned junked roadster" was in fact a somewhat dilapidated and aging Ford Zephyr that Mercury Bay Yacht Club claimed as its home and start finish box for the its very secret 1988 Cup challenge. Sheep farmers dominated the membership of this very small club in New Zealand. That campaign turned into the catamaran/mega maxi debacle in San Diego. * From Ian R Jenkins, Perth, Western Australia: With respect to Frank Betz's letter Scuttlebutt No. 824)I think he is referring to the New Zealand challenge by Michael Fay from the Mercury Bay Boating Club, which reputedly used an old car as it's starting box. Alan Bond's challenge was from Royal Perth Yacht Club; whilst I belong to a rival club in Perth I would not describe it in Frank's terms! It is the venue for the Australia Cup and a very fine establishment. Incidentally Mercury Bay in New Zealand was named by Captain James Cook, on his voyage to observe the transit of Mercury across the sun to aid in calculation of the Admiralty's Almanac- so the bay's association with "offshore" sailing is a long one. * From Paul Hansen: Peter Johnson of the World Sailing Speed Record Council should not be implying that there should be an asterisk beside attempts made for the sole purpose of breaking a record. I would think that it is just as easy to wait for the perfect conditions in an ocean voyage and then hit the gas pedal for the record. Grant Dalton said it took its toll on the boat and crew so they had to ease up for a few days afterwards to regroup. A record is not a chance occurrence. Maybe a record starting from near shore should be more revered, as the crew would have a tougher time getting the boat in the groove. i.e. The first few minutes of 30 knots seems a lot stronger than the last few. * From Ralph Taylor: In the advertising game, they call it "number of eyeballs." Unless New Zealand is planning a competition to select a defender, it looks like SAP, with New Zealand, will have the same amount of exposure as Oracle only if Oracle is eliminated early, depending on the number of races in the first round. If, however, Oracle makes it past that first round, the signage exposure becomes greater than SAP's.
OLYMPICS "The earlier we can identify, recognize and begin to support our top-level youth sailors with coaching and grants, the better prepared they will be for international competition," said OSC Chairman Fred Hagedorn. To select a team to represent the U.S.A. at the 2002 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF (International Sailing Federation) World Championships the OSC has selected four qualifying events. The 2002 world championships will be held July 18-27 in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, and will offer competition in the 29er (boys and girls doublehanded), Byte (girls singlehanded), Laser (boys singlehanded), and Mistral (boys and girls boardsailing). The eight members of the 2002 U.S. Youth Sailing World Team will be the winners of the four events listed below, who have not have reached their 19th birthday in 2002. Qualifying Events: Girls Singlehanded Entrant: The 2001 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship (Leiter Cup) scheduled for August 4-10, 2001, sailed in Laser Radials at Richmond Yacht Club, Point Richmond, Calif. Boys and Girls Doublehanded Entrants: The 29er Midwinters, scheduled for February 14-17, 2002, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Sarasota, Fla. Boys and Girls Boardsailing Entrants: The Calema Midwinters Windsurfing Festival, scheduled for March 1-3, 2002, in Merritt Island, Fla., in Mistrals. Boys Singlehanded Entrant: The 2002 Junior Olympic National Sailing Championships, planned for late June 2002 at San Diego Yacht Club, San Diego, Calif., in Lasers.
STILL ON HOLD The next system is due over the week-end and the meteorologist Roger "Clouds" Badham, will be giving the team an early warning if the intensity will sustain the Open 60 at over 20 knots for the necessary 24 hours. - Rob Kothe, Sail-world website. All the latest news on the Grundig Xena record attempt and tracking is available on: www.sail-world.com/xena
PENFOLD'S POINTERS So, if the sail has a mid height band on it, find it and fold the sail along it, then get rolling! This way it takes half the time to roll the sail, does no more damage than the normal way, and prevents the headboard potentially cutting the cloth. Also, when you need to re-hoist the sail, the head can be shackled straight on as when you hoist the sail will unroll itself! Should work well on most sails I reckon - especially fully battened ones. - By Penfold, BOATmagic website More pointers: www.boatmagic.com
UBIQUITOUS
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Buddy Melges
HUGE Last year saw a staggering 1,582 yachts on the start line; the race record is 1,813, which was set in 1989, the centenary year for the Island Sailing Club. The 50 nautical mile Hoya Round the Island Race, is to be held on Saturday 16th June, with staggered starts throughout the morning from 0800-1000 BST off the Royal Yacht Squadron starting line at Cowes. - Loretta Spridgeon, www.hoyaroundtheisland.org.uk
FINN MASTERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Complete results: www.cork.org/FIM.HTM
INDUSTRY NEWS
CORRECTION
THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL |
