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SCUTTLEBUTT 2792 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Today's sponsors are Morris Yachts, North U, and LaserPerformance. MEASURING SPORTS SPONSORSHIP - ROI? ROO? In some senses, sailing has it easy when it comes to sponsorship. The relative immaturity of the sport means that often sponsors are not as rigourous as brands sponsoring other sports. This will obviously change and both sponsor and sponsored will need to understand the value of their property. The following excerpt is from an article is featured in Sports Business Journal. It shows that measurement is a way of life for those looking to get others to pay for their sport. It also discusses ROI versus ROO. If you don’t know what ROO is - it’s a must read. Bank of America, in the days following this year’s Super Bowl, was forced to defend its presence at the game as an NFL sponsor. Spurred by media reports that used words like “lavish” and “luxury” to describe the spending habits of a bank that has received $45 billion in federal bailout money, the bank blasted out a statement to defend its actions. “Our relationship with the NFL is a carefully managed and heavily evaluated business that generates profits for our shareholders that are many multiples of what we pay the NFL,” read the statement. Bank of America, for the first time, later revealed financial returns on its sponsorship investment. For every dollar the bank spends on sports sponsorships, it earns back $10 in revenue and $3 worth of net income. The revelation was an unintended use of data collected from measuring the value of sponsorship investments, but one that is a new reality in today’s economy, observers said. -- Yacht Sponsorship, read on: http://linkbee.com/HWV4 THE NEW RULES OF ONE DESIGN SAILING by Matt Bounds, One-Design Class Council Chairman Of course we have a new rule book this year, but that's only part of the "New Rules." The new rules this year also include lessons on frugality and fleet building in a tough economy. Owners and members will be more reluctant to spend money attending and travelling to regattas. Classes will struggle to grow and struggle to replace old boats with new boats. Many classes will stagnate or decline. Builders and all the essential suppliers to classes (sail makers, parts distributors and manufacturers, boat distributors, event hosts) will all be facing a very bleak year. Some may not survive. * Make sure your existing members have fun sailing their boats in a very cost conscious way. Against the economic gloom, it's going to be even more important to get out for a beautiful day on the water and have some fun racing. Your class's job is to create opportunities to do this in a very cost effective way this year. Have fun and inexpensive regattas. Pool resources to keep travelling costs down, using multi-boat trailers for example. * Maintain momentum and confidence in the class, individual boat by individual boat. Make sure your class sparkplugs are fired up and making the calls to get people out. Don't adopt a bunker mentality. No matter what happens, the sun will still shine and the wind will still blow - and they're both free! * Don't set ambitious, unrealistic expectations. Attendance at events will almost certainly be down this year. Don't let it dampen the party. The fate of your class is in your hands. You can either allow it to fade away, or you can get on the phone and rustle up some attendance. * Support your suppliers and sponsors. They will appreciate your class as customers because we stood by them and recognized their importance to our sport. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/HWV6 THE M29 IS BREAKING HEARTS ALL OVER FLORIDA! The new Morris M29 was the star at Miami’s Strictly Sail and is enjoying the limelight at Shake a Leg in Coconut Grove. Cuyler Morris will tow her across Florida to Hamilton Harbor Yacht Club in Naples at the end of the month as the M29’s east coast road trip continues. In Naples, Cuyler will race the M29 in the Southwest Florida Annual Regatta March 28 and 29 and Morris will host a private event April 3rd and 4th. From there, it is on to Charleston Race Week (April 16-19) and then to Annapolis on April 29-May 5th. For more information: http://www.morrisyachts.com/The-Morris-M29 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I checked out the M29 photo gallery, which shows the M29 to be another looker from Morris Yachts. I also saw that many of the photos were taken during her January sea trials in Northeast Harbor, Maine with subfreezing air temperatures. Awesome, but brrr! - Gallery: http://www.morrisyachts.com/photos/M29 THE WORLD'S STRANGEST YACHT CLUB TO SAIL AGAIN They sail on pink oil, they fly from every corner of the world for the opportunity, they sail only catamarans, and they're delighted if they only get a sail every couple of years. It's the Lake Eyre Yacht Club, and they just might get a sail soon. The Commodore of Australia's Lake Eyre Yacht Club, Bob Blackway, is watching Lake Eyre for signs that he can raise the flag and declare race entries open for the next opportunity to sail on one of the driest and most isolated lakes on earth, Lake Eyre. Water has just started pouring into the lake after an amazing seven week, 1300 kilometre journey. The deluge comes after the recent devastating floods in Queensland. The Diamantina and Georgina Rivers, that spend most of their lives dry, are rushing with water, heading inland for the lake which is 15 metres below sea level. -- Sail World, read on: http://linkbee.com/HWV8 * Any stranger clubs out there? Send an email with your story: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com TIPS FROM THE BOW Amy Ironmonger, a twenty seven year old trainee lawyer is making a name for herself in the Melges 24 fleet. Joining the class in 2005 she sailed with a number of teams before landing a regular place on board Scott Nixon and Terry Hutchinson’s Quantum Racing with whom she won the 2008 North American Championship. Here is a portion of an interview on the class website where she describes the secret to being a good bow person on a Melges 24: “One of the biggest misconceptions about the bow role is that you’re really only involved during the roundings. A bow person should be involved at all times during the race, even if being involved means hiking as hard as you can to hold a lane. There is a lot that goes into doing bow well and most of it comes from time in the boat, but there are a few simple techniques I’ve learned along the way that have helped me tremendously. 1. Keep your mind three steps ahead of your body and expect the unexpected. 2. “Cross-train.” I really believe this is the most vital tool in sailing. Don’t devote 100% of your time to doing bow on a Melges 24. 3. Hike, hike, and … hike! It makes such a huge difference and, I’ll be honest, I hate that it does. Much, much more: http://www.melges24.com/displayarticles.asp?year=2009&id=1548 GOOD OLE FASHIONED BOAT RACE (Mar. 2, 2009; Day 17) - The wind was from the north, the scoring gate was to the south, and the Volvo Ocean Race fleet had been jostling with a light air gybing duel on Monday. Just like Ericsson Team Meteorologist Chris Bedford said in ‘butt 2791, the 3-hour position reports have kept the fleet bunched like a New England frostbite race. However, this won’t last much longer, for as they cross the scoring gate that extends East-West off the northern tip of New Zealand only 304 nm ahead, expect a left turn toward Rio. Until then, teams are busy with boat preparation to ready themselves for the commencement of fire hose reaching that the Southern Ocean provides. As PUMA skipper Ken Read notes, “We have had a dream run down the Pacific and that should come to a screeching halt (shortly). The scoring gate will mark the end to the first part of the leg and the incredible chess match that has ensued. It is anybody's to take right now. Time will only tell.” Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janiero, Brazil is 12,300 nm, with the finish estimated on March 20th. Current positions (as of Mar. 3, 1:00 am GMT): 1. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 7,461 nm Distance to Finish 2. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 1 nm Distance to Leader 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 1 nm DTL 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 61 nm DTL 5. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 65 nm DTL Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Did Not Start Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, DNS Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, DNS Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com SIGN UP NOW US Sailing Racing Rules Seminars are headed to Grosse Ile, Rochester, Richland, Annapolis, Philadelphia, Texoma, Brick, Seabrook, Hilton Head, Charleston, Rye, Erie, Seattle and Vermillion; with more to follow. Presented by North U, the seminars cover all the rules - new and old - and include a Racing Rules Workbook created by Dave Perry. US Sailing members save $40. Check the schedule and sign up by visiting NorthU.com or by calling North U at 800-347-2457 or 203-245-0727. http://www.northu.com TOO MANY DAYS AT SEA (Mar. 2, 2009; Day 113) - Seeking to be the next finisher in the Vendee Globe, Rich Wilson has been forced to the NW to negotiate a very robust high pressure system dominating the North Atlantic. The hopeful ninth place American skipper, currently 1594 nm from the finish, has endured days and days of difficult winds, with the forecast predicting that that he won’t clear the worst of the high until Wednesday. The situation is worse yet for tenth place Raphaël Dinelli, who was sailing in winds between 35 and 40 knots, when the boat was swept along on a wave and the boom broke on a shroud. Raphaël is currently heading north at 7.5 knots under staysail. He is trying to head for a high-pressure area in order to find lighter winds and calmer seas to attempt to carry out repairs. According to Météo France, he is due to reach this area by Tuesday afternoon. Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en PLANS ADVANCED FOR AMERICA’S CUP Valencia, Spain (Mar. 2, 2009) - At a fifth 33rd America’s Cup Competitor Meeting today in Valencia, Alinghi, the Defender, the Spanish Challenger of Record and 16 of the 17 challengers (China absent) discussed amendments to the Competition Regulations, which are now in the final drafting stage. They also agreed a Protocol amendment which will loosen the restriction on designers moving between teams. The group appointed two additional members of the Arbitration Panel: David Kellett (AUS), ISAF Vice-President, and Peter Leaver (GBR), a UK barrister since 1967 and Chairman of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, will join Henry Peter (SUI), Luis Maria Cazorla (ESP) and Graham McKenzie (NZL). The 19 competitors also named David Pedrick (USA) Technical Director for the 33rd America’s Cup, and decided that participation in the 2009 pre-regattas on ACC Version 5.0 yachts is to be compulsory for all teams and it is intended that syndicates be allocated bases once they confirm their participation in these races. -- Full report: http://www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/index.php?idIndex=200&idContent=18980 * A reminder that the plans noted above will be useful in the event that Alinghi wins the latest round of legal arguments in the State of New York, Court of Appeals. However, if the courts view in favor BMW Oracle Racing, all bets are off. A decision from the courts is expected this month. SAILING SHORTS * The Canadian Yachting Association is seeking to recruit an Executive Director to lead Canada’s national sailing authority. -- Full details: http://linkbee.com/HWV9 * ISAF has signed IFM Sports Marketing Surveys as an Official Partner to the new annual ISAF Sailing World Cup. Consisting of seven of the world’s top sailing competitions that feature the Olympic events, the inaugural ISAF Sailing World Cup launched at the end of 2008 at Sail Melbourne, Australia and continues on through the U.S. and Europe. ISAF is seeking a title sponsor for 2010 onwards and will use the data from IFM Sports Marketing Surveys so as to market the position. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org/27462.php?PHPSESSID=1491d41ccf3fb2af6df2f2292232f86e * The International Lightning Class Association has just launched a new website, with many new features that they hope will better market the Lightning and serve their membership. -- http://www.lightningclass.org LANDSAILING IN THE USA - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW We woke this morning to find the land covered by a white frost, the sky was turquoise as the sun started its daily climb from behind the black mountains on the horizon - there was not a breath of wind. Wind, a natural element - it comes in forces such as today when you can hear the silence and then there are times when it blows so strong it will topple 200 year old trees and buildings to boot. In Provence, where we are fortunate enough to live, there is a wind that blows from the north called the Mistral - apparently there is an ancient law that states that if the Mistral blows consecutively for 21 days then a man is permitted to murder his wife. That is no doubt an old wives tale but none the less it does illustrate the point that wind can get on the nerves. But what would a world without wind be like - not much fun for extreme sports enthusiasts - that’s for sure! And it was at that point that we started thinking about all the different extreme sports that are so dependent on wind. One of those extreme sports that we don’t often write or hear about is landsailing and so we thought we would give you a little background information, show you some video footage and report on some upcoming events. We have never been lucky enough to try out land sailing but it sure looks fun and when you think the speed record for landsailing is 108.8 mph or 175.5 kph, set in 1999, it sure has to be considered an extreme sport. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/HWWA WHO IS LASERPERFORMANCE? The world’s largest producer of sailboats? The builder of such iconic dinghies as the Laser, Sunfish, 420 and Optimist (among many others)? The company that recently introduced the award winning SB3, Bahia, Vago, and Bug? If you said yes to all three, you were right! Find out more at http://www.laserperformance.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Dick Neville: I was sitting with some junior sailors at a “Changes in the Rules” seminar recently. As one of the presenters tried to explain the many changes to Rules 18 and 19, I glanced at the juniors next to me and watched their eyes glaze over and their bodies twitch with boredom. We will never grow this sport until we simplify the rules. They are way too complex. * From Bill Spalding: Does US Sailing need to modify the RRS for Olympic competition? I don’t exactly know what changes the USOC is looking for, but can they be handled by the NOR and Sailing Instructions? The regattas that are qualifiers for the trials and the trials themselves should be the only regattas that need to care about what the USOC rules are. In essence the USOC is the host of the party (Olympics) so we will have to follow their rules for their party. When my club hosts the party we will follow my club’s rules. We are fortunate that sailors, clubs, and classes have all cooperated to create US Sailing and ISAF so there will be a consistent structure for competition. Imagine if all of our regattas were held under the rules of a “Deed of Gift”. * From Daniel Forster: (re, letter in #2791 concerning redress in other sports) On August 29, 2004 at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, De Lima was attempting to become the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gold medal at the men's marathon event. Near the 35 km (21.75 miles) mark with about 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) to finish, and holding a lead of approximately 90 seconds,[citation needed] de Lima was pushed into the crowd by a spectator named Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish priest. Incidentally, Horan had previously disrupted the 2003 Formula One British Grand Prix by running onto the Silverstone track. Greek spectator Polyvios Kossivas subdued Horan and helped Vanderlei up and back to the lane. De Lima lost about 20 seconds in the incident, and was passed by Stefano Baldini (Italy) and Mebrahtom Keflezighi (United States) later at the 38 km (23.6 miles) mark. He finished third with a time of 2:12.11, winning the bronze medal and received a hero's welcome. The Brazilian Track Federation launched an appeal on behalf of de Lima with its president Roberto Gesta de Melo claiming that "someone took him out of the race and we are asking for a gold medal for our athlete... solutions like that have been done in the past for other events." The appeal was rejected. (source: Wikipedia) And, by the way, if a Formula One racer gets involved in an accident without fault, he has no other choice then to wait for the next race to get points.... * From Marc Jacobi: It's important for casual observers to realize that equipment was supplied for the athletes at the '08 US Boardsailing Trials, and that breakdowns due to that equipment and no fault of a competitor were certainly cause for redress. In such a situation, appropriate redress needs to be given, and should not be given in context to a competitor's OVERALL position, but rather their position in the particular race when the incident occurred. What happens after that is irrelevant (at least to me). CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Without geometry, life is pointless. Special thanks to Morris Yachts, North U, and LaserPerformance. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
