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SCUTTLEBUTT 3064 - Tuesday, April 6, 2010Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today's sponsors: North U, Morris Yachts, and Henri Lloyd. BUILDING MUSCLES, MINDS, AND TEAM SPIRIT By Stuart Streuli, Sailing World What was it that made the U.S. Sailing Team AlphaGraphics training camp so memorable, so unique? Was it the snow and sub-freezing temperature in Colorado Springs? The 6,000 feet of elevation? The fact the present and future hopes of U.S. Olympic sailing were assembled in a place nowhere near navigable water? Was it the synchronized swimming? The rope climb? All these factors did play a role, but the take-away was something less tangible and equally obvious: the U.S. Sailing Team is progressively developing into a team. The goals may still be individual - world championships, Olympic berths, and Olympic medals - but each athlete in Colorado Springs realized these are goals best achieved by working within the group. At one point during the March camp I turned to a veteran member of the USSTAG staff and asked him what would've happened had this idea been pitched to the team 10 years ago. Granted this came during the most outrageous moment of the camp, when head coach Kenneth Andreassen divided the sailors into four groups and tasked them with creating and performing a 30-second synchronized swimming routine. But his response was instructive. "They wouldn't have done it," he said, without a second of hesitation. Part of this, he continued, was due to the singular importance of upwind boatspeed in old-school Olympic sailing. Time was best spent dialing in sail shapes and rig selection. Money, or the lack of it coming from the team, was also a factor. Most importantly, it just wasn't done. The U.S. Sailing Team was a collection of individual Olympic campaigns. Making the team meant receiving a few hundred bucks - occasionally more - and some sailing clothes, maybe health insurance and logistical assistance. Now it's much more than that. It means access to top-flight coaching, conditioning, medical, nutritional advice, and substantial financial support. It also means joining a community of like-minded athletes. And this latter one was on full display in Colorado Springs. This transformation has been a long time coming. The groundwork was laid during Gary Bodie's tenure as the head coach - from 1998 to 2008 - a period of leadership continuity that allowed the team to grow. Dean Brenner, who took over US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee in 2004, has pushed hard to raise the funds necessary to fund the team like an Olympic sport needs to be funded. Andreassen is now putting his stamp on the organization. He's a different leader from the introspective, methodical Bodie. Andreassen is charismatic. He laughs a lot, and he's constantly ribbing his charges - from star pupil Zach Railey down to the youngest members of the development team. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ydtvkl4 COMPETITION HOT FOR 2010 WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR The World Match Racing Tour starts up again on Tuesday with Match Race France, in Marseille. All teams, including the new wild card entries will be up against the 2010 Tour Card Holders Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), and Ben Ainslie (GBR), who finished in the top three standings during the 2009 Tour and have been actively training with their chosen teams prior to this week's event that kicks off the 2010 WMRT season. Valencia Sailing talks to reigning champion Adam Minoprio, and his expectations for this year's championship: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * How do you feel now, before the start of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour? AM: We, obviously, have a lot of anticipation because this is going to be a very interesting year for us. We will start the Tour as the defending champions and we will be the target of the remaining teams, something we had never experienced in the past. In addition, the opening event in Marseille will be a tough one in the J80 yachts and we will have to take it one event at a time and see how it unfolds through the year. * Will you take part in all 10 events of the Tour this year? AM: Yes, we will take parts in all events of this year's championship. The Tour card policy gives us invites to 7 events and I have been in contact with the other events, so we will be present in all of them. * Do you think that the Tour this year will be more competitive than last year? AM: Yes, definitely. There is no doubt about it. The card system is making the Tour increasingly competitive. If you take a look at this year's card holders there are some big names like Peter Gilmour, Ben Ainslie, Francesco Bruni that will be very tough to fight. Bertrand Pace is back and he has won the World tour in the past, so he'll be someone to reckon with. With so many skippers with America's Cup experience we will have to take this year's championship extremely seriously. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/yah9gfj: Adam Minoprio / Team BlackMatch website: www.blackmatchracing.com World Match Racing Tour website: http://www.wmrt.com/ ACCELERATE YOUR RACING: You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process with a North U Coach. On Your Boat: Because there is no boat like your own. Stop Guessing: Rig tuning, spinnaker handling, mainsail shape, helming. We provide answers. For Your Crew: After all you have put into your boat and equipment, get North U for your crew. Learn More: Our training covers every facet of racing trim, tactics, and boat handling on your boat. North U: Turning sailors into racers and racers into winners since 1980. Ph. 800-347-2457, or http://www.NorthU.com AMERICA'S CUP IS STILL SAN FRANCISCO'S TO LOSE San Francisco hasn't yet presented a plan for hosting the America's Cup, unlike other cities vying to be the next site of sailing's famed event. But people close to the decision-making process say the City by the Bay's effort is in good shape. "The stars have aligned to make it happen," says Marcus Young, commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, home base of BMW Oracle Racing, the sailing team headed by Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison. Mr. Ellison's team in February won the most recent edition of the America's Cup in Spain - and with it the right to choose where to hold the next Cup. In the past several weeks, representatives from BMW Oracle Racing, the yacht club and the city have been working together to bring the regatta to San Francisco, say people close to the talks. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom met privately with Mr. Ellison soon after his team won the Cup, says Michael Cohen, director of San Francisco's Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the city's point person on the Cup effort. Over the last month, representatives from the city and the team also have held several meetings and toured potential sites together. They have had numerous conference calls and exchanged other information in an effort to bring the Cup here, says Mr. Cohen. "The discussions are very detailed," adds Mr. Young. Mr. Ellison, through a team spokeswoman, declined to comment. The 65-year-old billionaire has said publicly that he wants to hold the next Cup in San Francisco. The bay is "a wonderful natural amphitheater for sailing," he said in an interview in February. Tom Ehman, a team spokesman, says that San Francisco is at the "top of the list" of potential race sites, but that "I would not say that it is a shoo-in." The mayor's office referred questions to Mr. Cohen. While a formal decision isn't likely until Thanksgiving, Mr. Cohen says, "I believe our chances are good." -- Story by Ben Worthen, Wall Street Journal: http://tinyurl.com/yhpo9cv BVI SPRING REGATTA Nanny Cay, BVI, (April 4, 2010) - It was a picture perfect day in the British Virgin Islands for the last day of racing of the BVI Spring Regatta, with sun and wind all day long. Battles out on the race course were fought to the very end providing plenty of action on the SOL, Norman and LIME One Design Race areas. It was a given that Tom Hill (San Juan, Puerto Rico), sailing Titan XV, a Reichel Pugh 75, would take the top spot in Racing A. With five firsts and two seconds, they ended the series three points ahead of Vela Veloce, Richard Oland's Southern Cross 52. No stranger to the winner's circle, Tom said, "I look forward to sailing BVI every year. I race up north in the rain and cold and I love coming to the BVI." This year marked the debut of the International Yacht Club Challenge. Three teams, one representing the Royal BVI Yacht Club, one from Puerto Rico and one from Boston took the challenge and each raced new Jeanneau 42's. The Puerto Rico club sailing on Pelican Pat won the Challenge. Perelandra, a Beneteau Oceanis 361 from the Rob Swain Sailing School finished second in class, while the Boston Yacht Club finished third. As usual, the most intense, nail-biting finish came from the IC 24 course. It came down to the final rounding of the leeward mark in the last of 21 races to determine the winner in the IC-24 class. "I saw the door open and I took it," says Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo, about the maneuver that put the necessary three boats in between his Orion and closest competitor, Team Lime, to win the class by one point. -- Full story: http://www.bvispringregatta.org/ FIRST MORRIS M36 DELIVERED TO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 'Casamajor' left Northeast Harbor, Maine January 25th and was sailing in gorgeous Sydney Harbor on March 17th! Morris Yachts' Wythe Ingebritson flew down to meet the boat and to set 'Casamajor' up for her new proud owner. For the full report go to http://www.morrisyachts.com/news. As New England starts to dry and leaf out, we are starting to make plans for trucking the M29 home from Miami. The boat will be making a couple of stops for demos so follow us on Twitter. EAGLES WIN 2010 BRAD DELLENBAUGH TROPHY Cranston, Rhode Island (April 4, 2010) - Perfect conditions with a building southerly breeze between 10-18 knots, big waves, and lots of sun and nice temps in the 60's set the stage for the 2010 Brad Dellenbaugh Trophy April 3-4, hosted by the Edgewood Yacht Club. All courses were windward/leeward, and there was lots of current from the rain over the last week and lots of debris in the water. Eight races were sailed in each division in perfect 420 conditions, with just one protest resulting in Yale retiring from a race. Sunday showed another near perfect day with temperatures around 70 degrees, sun, and a nice southerly at 5-10 knots. Six more races in each division were raced on windward/leeward courses. Racing was very tight and a few protests were heard resulting in DSQ's for Dartmouth and Old Dominion. The Boston College Eagles had a terrific day on Sunday, to overtake Brown in the last B-division set, finishing the weekend with 149 points, ahead of the Brown Bears by five points. The St Mary Seahawks finished in third with 168 points. Race organizers thank judges Jeff Dusek, Meris Tombari (Brown '08), and John Pratt, and all the Brown sailors who helped out: Tommy Fink '13, Tucker Adams '11, Brandon Kaufmann '12, Evan Gill '12, Nate Shepard '13, and Brent Lunghino '12. -- Full story and more college sailing results, follow Scuttlebutt Forum: http://tinyurl.com/yklfy9k * Competitors, coaches, umps, and teammates - after a great weekend of college sailing, now is the time to submit nominations for US Sailing's College Sailor of the Week. Nominations should be made with online at http://www.collegesailing.org/docs/sownomination.asp. The selection committee is looking for the weekly outstanding performances and contributions of individual college sailors from the Intercollegiate Sailing Association. The honor should reflect an association-wide distribution and should include honorees that may be crews, or skippers, and of either gender. SAILING SHORTS * A fleet of some 65 boats in nine divisions set off under the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday for the Double-Handed Farallones Race in a light breeze and gray skies. A three knot ebb saw a few over-earlies eat it while trying to get back to the starting line in the three to five knot southerly. Once outside the Gate, the fleet was treated to a lumpy sea state with swells in the 10 to 14 ft range but never more than 12-15 knots of breeze until they got back into the Bay. -- Report at http://tinyurl.com/ykqqnnx * Registration is open for the San Diego Yacht Club's 33rd Annual Yachting Cup to be held first weekend in May. This year's freshly formatted event includes a match race in J/22's on Friday, use of the South Bay venue for smaller one design and racing boats, and offshore racing on the Roads and West Ocean courses. The event showcases the best yachts and sailing competition in Southern California. IRC, ORR, PHRF and one design racing including J/105, Flying Tiger, J/120, Farr 40, Schock 35, Beneteau 40.7, Melges 24, J/80, Beneteau 36.7, and other classes subject to registration. -- Event information: http://sdyc.org/yachtingcup/ * The ISAF World Sailing Rankings for 31 March 2010 have been released at www.sailing.org/rankings, where the full ISAF World Sailing Ranking lists, results from all ISAF Graded events, lists of Graded events throughout the year, Ranking release dates and the method of calculation for the Rankings can be found. The next issue of the rankings will be released on 21 April 2010 including the Trofeo SAR Princess Sofia Mapre in Spain and the Star Western Championship in the Bahamas. * CORRECTION: The link to the 2010 Rolex China Sea Race story in Scuttlebutt 3063 was wrong, here is the correct link: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100276&lang=1 OCTANE NEW FROM HENRI LLOYD Move easier. Henri-Lloyd's Octane WINDSTOPPER Range blends windproof, breathable, water resistant performance with more freedom of motion. Sold exclusively by Henri Lloyd's Elite Dealers, Octane is the ultimate in cross-functional, technical gear, as comfortable fielding the ball as it is facing the waves. Take it with you everywhere you go. Learn More: http://www.henrilloydonline.com/web/product.php?prodID=675 LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Eric Sorensen: (re, Scuttlebutt 3063) I heard that the Larry and Russell show was considering a 4-6 boat ACC v5 common platform format (like the current LV contest) to be shared amongst all contestant teams for the next Cup while making up the rule for the next Z86 or similar box rule for the following Cup. That seems to be a good idea and would get things rolling again on the water, which is where it should stay. The skippers and crew with the most current experience in Match Racing are constantly doing battle in that Match Race tour. Whenever I read about the Match Race Pro contest ('butt 3063), I am always amazed to find only a couple previous AC skippers on the list. This is the type of racing an owner would want to harvest a top skipper or crew out of. Are the current top guns of the AC just that much better and the Match Cup is a kind of a college training program compared to the NBA or NFL or the real AC? * From David Tabor: (re, changes for next America's Cup) First and most important: how about making certain you stage it in S.F. Bay. Imagine people lining the shores/cliffs/etc to watch - great angles for camera coverage. Boats: monohulls. Sure, the multis are faster and kinda cool looking, but let's face it, they are kind of impersonal and don't really get into the kind of boat on boat tacking duels and crossings that made the Cups of old so interesting. People are going to be more interested in seeing what is happening on the boats (are we going to cross?) and the effort that goes into grinding the sheets in quickly. In short the PEOPLE are what make the race. Think D.C. in '87. Next, limit the boats to 60 feet. Okay, longer is faster but so much more expensive. Keep the boats at a reasonable length that encourages experimentation without needing to be a multi-billionaire to afford a campaign. Sixty feet is long enough to be highly visible from shore and small enough to keep costs down. We want the South Africans, the Italians and anyone else who can put together a decent campaign. Let's not price out the competition before it even begins. -- Follow on Scuttlebutt Forum: http://tinyurl.com/yj76l9o * From Beau Vrolyk: A great deal has been said, and a great deal more will be said, about various venues for the upcoming America's Cup. There is a simple and clear reason that San Francisco is the superior choice. The central San Francisco Bay offers two unequalled natural advantages, which none of the other locations can provide. First, it's the weather. Much has been said about providing great racing, which is fun to watch. What is simply impossible for sponsors and broadcasters to deal with is an unpredictable schedule. Can one really imagine the Super Bowl or the finals of the World Cup in Soccer being "delayed" by variable winds, or canceled by a lack of wind? There are NO serious sponsors and broadcasters who would operate under those conditions. To attract the best sponsorship and viewership, the venue must provide predictable and exciting levels of wind every day, without fail, full stop. Of all the locations discussed, and I've personally sailed in them all, the only place that offers this is the summer time in on San Francisco Bay. -- Follow on Scuttlebutt Forum: http://tinyurl.com/yl47yh4 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Eat the rich. The poor are tough and stringy. Special thanks to North U, Morris Yachts, and Henri Lloyd. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
