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SCUTTLEBUTT 3172 - Wednesday, September 8, 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Team One Newport, Morris Yachts, and Lewmar. WHEN GRAND PRIX SAILING WAS NEW (AND A LITTLE SCARY) Yachting author and historian John Rousmaniere reviews Bill Barton's new book, The Legend of Imp: The Magical Yacht that Rocked the Sailing World: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "I used up my fourth life racing sailboats," says Bill Barton. He could spend his next five lives looking back to his time in one of the most successful boats in the early years of modern grand prix ocean racing. Now he's written an entertaining, provocative book that's part-memoir, part-history. The Legend of Imp: The Magical Yacht that Rocked the Sailing World will appeal to anyone fascinated by our sport's development, or, for that matter, anybody who likes good sea stories, of which there are a great many here. In 1977 the green-striped 40-foot Imp, hailing from San Francisco Bay, won nearly half her races, including the Fastnet, and was top boat in ocean racing's two most competitive series - the Southern Ocean Racing Conference and the Admiral's Cup, the sport's unofficial world championship. Everything came together in Imp, says Barton, who describes her campaign as "an alchemical oven, through the heat of design changes and technological advances, and through the crucible of competition and challenges by nature, transforming our elemental matter and melding it into pure gold." Imp was designed by New Zealander Ron Holland, one of the hot race-boat designers of that day, and was built light and rigid in Florida by Holland's brother-in-law, Gary Carlin. Her highly innovative structure was more like a race car's than a typical boat's, with an internal metal tubular frame supporting a thin shell of a hull. All was supervised by the boat's owner, David Allen, whom Barton describes as "the planner and organizer extraordinaire who left no stones unturned." Allen was not new to the game, having campaigned widely in his Mull-designed, New Zealand-built downwind flyer Improbable. A Marin County real estate developer, he was as unique as his boats - impish yet humble, driven by what Barton calls a "warrior attitude and code," and also a man of spiritual conviction. In one of his many nicely told anecdotes, Barton tells of coming below in the middle of the night during a wet, raw Admiral's Cup race and finding Allen standing at the chart table. "No, we weren't lost, as I feared. He wasn't straining at the chart but rather was calmly reading his Christian Science lesson for the day, and he happily shared it, pushing the book toward me. 'Here, you'll like this.'" No less remarkable is Imp's skipper. "A good sailor is always anticipating the unexpected," writes Barton, "and our captain, Skip Allan, was a master. Aboard Imp, we trusted Skip and responded along with his keen instincts, which improved our own." Allan had already won the Transpac, the Congressional Cup, the Admiral's Cup, and much more. In that pre-professionalism era, he raced as an amateur and worked as a boatbuilder and delivery skipper. Grand prix boats - even the experimental 40-foot Imp - routinely crossed oceans on their own bottoms to get to starting lines. (For more about this great sailor, see Scuttlebutt 2675.) -- Scuttleblog, read on: http://tinyurl.com/The-Legend-of-Imp PACKAGING OVER PLATFORM It was American Scott MacLeod who took match racing from its infancy and organized a global tour that offered elite racing, prize money and a World Championship title. The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) remains the only professional sailing series in the sport, which makes MacLeod somewhat of an expert about what can be organized to sustain a business model. Given the interest for the America's Cup to move to an event where teams are supported by entities seeking a return on investment - rather than billionaires seeking pickle dishes - here is MacLeod's thoughts about the America's Cup monohull versus multihull debate: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally I am more of a monohull traditionalist as I believe the match racing "game" would be more interesting. However, multihulls would be very exciting and it will be a different game that will need to be explained, analyzed and marketed. Having created, marketed, and commercially funded over 20 professional sailing events in the last 20 years, I don't think it makes a difference what boats they sail. The Cup itself still has a very strong brand in the world of sport and if packaged correctly, leveraging all of the assets of the sport, including the boats, then the event will be very successful and this will be good for the sport as a whole. When I owned and ran the WMRT we discussed having an event in multihulls which I thought would have been pretty cool so I don't think it's a bad idea. If they go with multihulls, the current owners of the WMRT will have to rethink their format as will ISAF with the multihull not in the Olympics. Whichever direction they go in, I hope they have trapezes on the boats! Let's see what happens. HURRICANE EARL STEERED CLEAR OF NEWPORT... But you should be prepared for the next one and you can take advantage of the Hurricane special at Team One Newport. This is for Scuttlebutt readers ONLY. If you order $50 or more, then you will get FREE GROUND SHIPPING. But wait, it gets better! If you order $150 or more, you will get 15% OFF (excludes Suunto and any sale or clearance items) plus the free shipping! Start your Holiday shopping early and save some money, but this is for a limited time and expires Sept 16, 2010. Be sure to put SSCFS in the Search box on the website. Visit http://www.team1newport.com for the best gear from Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Gill, Slam, Dubarry, Patagonia, Camet, Harken, Ronstan, Kaenon, Sperry, Sebago and much more! Team One Newport has been servicing the performance sailor for 25 years! You can also call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327). WHITE-KNUCKLE SAILING, REDEMPTION AND A CLASSIC The 76th running of the 238-mile Vineyard Race saw its annual Labor Day weekend event crossing paths with Hurricane Earl's route up the eastern United States. For Stamford Yacht Club (Stamford, CT), this required a postponement and course revision to keep the 85 entries within Long Island Sound, and away from the worst of the storm's fury. This year's Vineyard Race was about many things but what stood out were the white-knuckle sailing, some redemption and the return of a classic. The white-knuckle sailing was thanks in part to Hurricane Earl which cleared out before Saturday's delayed start and caused steady 25-knot winds from the west. All 68 boats that crossed the line (of the 85 that registered) quickly learned how good, or not so good, they were at heavy weather downwind sailing. Vela Veloce, Richard Oland's Southern Cross 52, drew the most looks taking off from the start at 24 knots and reached the turning mark 71 miles away in just over four hours. Many boats reported going through several chutes by the time they were done making it a good weekend for sailmakers. (There was also a dismasting to add to the excitement but fortunately nobody was hurt and the crew of Leverage found out they were traveling 26 knots when the rig collapsed, according to the Kattack tracking device.) This year's Vineyard was redemption for Thin Man, Todd Aven's J/92 out of City Island. Last year he completed the Cornfield Point course but only after finishing realized he had inadvertently not obeyed the final mark of the course. The mark was only several hundred miles short of the finish line and nobody else had seen him cut the mark. Still, he reported himself to the race committee and was disqualified. This year he went out with a vengeance and smoked the rest of the Cornfield Point fleet taking top honors for his efforts. The classic was Carina, the 1969 IOR racer revived by Rives Potts. He sailed the 48-footer to second in her class earning her the exalted Northern Ocean Racing Trophy given to the boat with best record over the summer of IRC racing. It was hard not to cheer for the boat that was made famous by Dick Nye and his son Richard and is now in a position normally occupied by much younger boats. All in all it was a successful weekend for nearly everyone involved. Fifteen boats dropped out, most due to gear failure or crew fatigue. Anyone who had questioned the RC's decision to shorten the 238-mile traditional Vineyard course to one within Long Island Sound changed his or her mind on the 70-mile beat back in the middle of Saturday night in 7 to 9 foot seas. -- http://tinyurl.com/2010-Vineyard-Race-report TAKING IT TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL The 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race inaugurated the position of Media Crew Member (MCM) in which each boat would have a dedicated person to supply the onboard sights and sounds in near real time for race fans. As part of the bid to promote the role of the MCM onboard each boat, Inmarsat, the technology sponsor of the Volvo Ocean Race, put up a cash prize for the best piece of footage coming off the boats on each leg, plus an overall cash prize. Rick Deppe, the Puma Ocean Racing team media crew member, dominated the competition, with his footage deemed the best on four of the ten legs, and nominated for nine legs. Deppe had come well prepared for the job, where his career as both professional sailor and filmmaker had already led him to shooting the "Deadliest Catch" television show and "Morning Light" movie. And now for the 2011-12 race, Deppe has joined the team at Volvo Ocean Race HQ as Associate Producer and MCM Manager to help prepare the new MCMs for the tough conditions for which the Volvo Ocean Race is renowned. "My job in this race basically will be taking the MCM project to a whole new level," Rick declared. He noted that the Media Crew Members did a great job last time, but hopes that with his help, they will be able to achieve even more. "In the last race I was part of the Media Crew Member experiment, and because it was so new - it had never been done, putting an embedded journalist / cameraman / sailor on one of these boats - there was enthusiasm, and some sailors and sponsors thought it was fantastic." Rick knows just how hard it is being on these powerful boats and how hard it is to work on them as a cameraman. "It's a very difficult environment to be a cameraman, when you're being tipped over, bouncing, trying to film with the wind noise and water flying everywhere," he recalled. "The rules to being a cameraman normally are 'always get a steady shot', 'always keep your lenses clean', 'get great audio', and all the other basic rules. But they all have to go out the window, when you get on a Volvo Open 70." "Being on a Volvo Open 70 is a unique environment, probably like no other on earth," he said. "It can be a very frightening environment; and then there's all the interpersonal stuff - being crammed into a little carbon fibre drum with ten other guys, some who may like cameras getting stuck in their faces while their trying to do their jobs and others that may not." So finding the right person for each team is vital, and Rick is already helping some of the teams with the selection process for the 2011-12 race. "It probably won't be my decision, but I'm trying to help out. And they really want to get it right." -- Complete story: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-090710 EMPHASIZING THE FUN FACTOR Imagine a regatta where the only entrants allowed were those that knew how to have fun? Barred from participating would be all the sea lawyers, corner crashers, and start bargers. Enter the Bucket Regatta, an invitation only event open to sailing yachts over 90'. The combination of glamorous boats, safe sailing, and swanky parties has proven to be a popular formula. The theme of the Sailing Instructions is quite clear when it begins by stating COLLISIONS ARE TO BE AVOIDED BY ANY AND ALL MEANS. Unique rules have been created to focus on collision avoidance while encouraging fair competition and good sportsmanship. One such rule is for the yachts to maintain 40 meters of separation throughout the race. Another is that engines may be put into gear and thrusters may be used at any time during the race for a yacht to take such action as will best aid to avoid a collision. With the Bucket Regattas often over-subscribed, it is wise for applicants to understand the basis upon which entrants are selected. The invitation matrix is comprised of many factors including the yacht's size and past participation, with major credit for contributions to the spirit of the event (the fun factor), and the crew's understanding that Bucket Regattas are primarily about camaraderie and sharing the exhilaration of sailing these magnificent yachts to their potential in a competitive, yet seamanlike manner. This event is focused upon the yacht Owners; hence chartered yachts receive low priority. On September 10-12, the 2010 Newport Bucket Regatta will be based at Newport Shipyards - the hub of Newport Yachting - where the entry list currently has 16 superyachts ranging from the Swan 100' VIRAGO, Alloy Yachts 108' PARAISO and Pendennis Shipyards 156' MITSEAAH. -- Details: http://www.bucketregattas.com/newport/index.html MORRIS YACHTS IN TWO LOCATIONS FOR NEWPORT SHOW! Morris Yachts will have two locations in Newport this year: Morris Service and Brokerage will be under the Morris Green tent in the show in the Oldport Basin. The full line-up of M-Series yachts and the Morris 42 Rejoice! will be located down the harbor at the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) at 449 Thames Street. At IYRS, we will be able to not only show the entire line-up of M-Series and an Ocean Series yacht but we will be offer demo sails to our clients. We look forward to seeing you! For more information please call 207-244-5509. -- http://www.morrisyachts.com SAILING SHORTS * Annapolis, MD (September 6, 2010) - Not only did the path of Hurricane Earl spare the Chesapeake Bay of significant damage, but it converted the sizzling heat and stifling humidity to near fall-like conditions for the 44th annual Annapolis Race Week. One hundred sixty-six entrants competed in 16 one design and PHRF classes, with the event also doubling as the Farr 30 North American Championship and Cal 25 U.S. National Championship won by Jim Richardson on Barking Mad and Brian Shenstone on Draco, respectively. -- Race website: http://www.cbyra.org/arw/ * Registration is now open for three upcoming development training camps in Miami, Fla., for young sailors competing in the Laser, Laser Radial, I420, 29er, 470, 49er, RS:X and Techno 293 classes. Hosted by US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Program and run by elite coaches, the clinics are open to US Sailing Development Team (USSDT) members and other athletes who are interested in launching an Olympic campaign in the future. Details: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/2010/Fall_Winter_Training_Camps.htm * Sardinia, Italy (September 7, 2010) - Day 2 of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup had epic written all over it from the break of dawn. The promised southeasterly winds were on schedule; a building sea-state, plenty of sunshine and forty-seven maxi yachts champing at the bit to enjoy Porto Cervo at its best. Racing started as programmed at 1130 CEST in 18 knots from the southeast. Some crews were forced into unplanned pit stops as conditions took their toll; others kept their focus on the sought-after appointment with destiny scheduled for the end of the week. -- Full report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100401&lang=1 * Major changes are planned for the 44th Antigua Sailing Week on April 24- 29, 2011. The newly formed Regatta Organising Committee (ROC) is responsible solely for racing and race organisation. After studying the formats used at different regattas around the world and seeking the advice of experts, a new racing programme is currently being finalised. Antigua Sailing Week will offer a combination of windward-leeward and coastal courses in keeping with successful modern practices. Also in the plans are courses of varying lengths to suit the large variety of yachts that enter the Regatta each year. -- Full report: http://www.sailingweek.com/v3/news.php?id=130 * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) announced that the 2010 ISAF Beppe Croce Trophy - which honours an outstanding voluntary contribution to the sport of sailing - has been awarded to His Majesty King Constantine (GRE). ISAF President Goran Petersson will present the award on Thursday 11 November during the 2010 ISAF Annual Conference in Athens, Greece. His Majesty's record of service to the International Sailing Federation spans more than 50 years. Since 1960, when he first became involved with ISAF, he has given his time and experience to many areas of the sport of sailing. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org/34011.php * ISAF has published the 2012 Olympic Qualification System as approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition to be staged in Weymouth and Portland will feature 380 athletes competing across 10 events (6 men, 4 women). The total quota of athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC) is 16 - nine men and seven women (maximum one boat per event). -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/news/34003.php SIZE DOES REALLY MATTER When it comes to sailing, size does really matter . . . well at least when selecting the right length winch handle is concerned. Lewmar, with the help of Lia Ditton, has put together a short video to explain the individual benefits of both the 8" and 10" winch handle. With a wide selection of handles from a lightweight floating version to the award winning OneTouch, all Lewmar winch handles are available in 8" or 10" versions - now you'll know why! Watch here: http://www.lewmar.com/product-listing.asp?action=search&type=25 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 jlongley (Scuttlebutt Forum): How sad to read Peter Gilmour's latest (in Scuttlebutt 3170). Of course he thinks commercialization is happening too slowly - he's making a living off what once was a Corinthian sport and he wants a bigger paycheck! Once upon a time, normal people used to get together on weekends and test their skills racing sailboats. We all had day-jobs; this was our recreational outlet, often with family members on the crew. I realize that the America's Cup was slightly different, but only because, 1) Paid skipper and a deck hand or two were aboard and, 2) The crew was largely made up of "trust-fund" or otherwise wealthy kids than didn't need a paying summer job. Dennis Conner changed all that by prostituting the defense by paying crew and seeking sponsorship for boats. Now we have sponsor names plastered all over the boats and non-professional sailors have virtually no chance to sail on the newest, most competitive boats, which seem to be owned by "rich guys" who rarely touch the helm and often only show up after the race to collect the trophies that they paid others to win. Our sport has been taken over by parasites that are only interested in making a career by being paid by owners. No wonder Peter Gilmour wants faster commercialization of our sport - he's looking for a bigger paycheck! -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10470#10470 * From George McCroskey: Very sad to hear of the passing of 'Donzo' (in Scuttlebutt 3171). I knew Don when he was the captain on Bayview Yacht Club member Jerry Shostak's first Frers 50, Fujimo, in the mid 80s. I was a crew member aboard another Frer's 50, George Uznis' Nitissima. During those years I spent a lot of my summer days at Bayview and many times I would hear Donzo called over the public address system to come to the clubhouse for a phone call (before the days of cell phones) and Jerome Adams, the bar manager, would always add, "Donzo, put your shoes on!" Don, as he headed to the clubhouse, would turn, smile that great smile at me and continue toward the clubhouse-shoeless, laughing that infectious laugh all the way to the door of the yacht club. That was Donzo. He will be missed. Sail on sailor. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Country song title: "My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him" Special thanks to Team One Newport, Morris Yachts, and Lewmar. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
