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SCUTTLEBUTT 1422 - September 25, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and docktalk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. ISAF WORLDS CHAMPIONSHIPS Cadiz, Spain - The Racing has finished and the final medals presented, and with it the 2003 ISAF World Championship has closed. With only one race to complete the Laser World Championships it was down to a battle between Robert Scheidt (BRA) the overnight leader and Gustavo Lima (POR) who was only two points behind. To win Lima had to finish fourth or better with Scheidt behind. Like the Sydney Olympics the Laser class championship being decided in the last 300 metres to the finish. Lima rounded the final leeward mark in tenth place, but picked up seven places to finish third and claim the world championship by a single point. * Two golds, a silver and two bronzes from 11 events: that is how dominant British competitors have been over 70 other countries at the Olympic Sailing World Championships in Cadiz. "Other nations are saying, 'How can we compete against this machine'," said a delighted Olympic manager Stephen Park. "That's a nice position to be in." Britain took the IOC President's Cup as top nation, have now qualified in all 11 Olympic classes and have selected the sailors for the Athens team in four classes. - Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ol4b Final Standings: LASER (11 races; 174 entrants): 1. POR, Gustavo Lima, 27; 2. BRA, Robert Scheidt, 28; 23 AUS, Michael Blackburn 62; 6. USA, Mark Mendelblatt, 76; 25. CAN, Bernard Luttmer, 141; 108. BER, Alexander Kirkland, 224; 142. MEX, Julian Fernandez, 227. TORNADO (10 races; 72 entrants): 1. AUS, Bundock/ Forbes, 34; 2. GBR, McMillan/ Bulkeley, 39; 3. ARG, Lange/ Espinola 66; 9. USA, Lovell/ Ogletree, 109; 28. CAN, Johansson/ Curtis 238. 470-MEN (11 races; 98 entrants): 1. ITA, Zandona/ Trani, 51; 2. AUS Wilmot/ Page 59; 3 ESP, Martinez Doreste/ Wood 61; 15. USA, Foerster/ Burnham, 99; 58. CAN, Russell/ Macdonald, 173. 470-WOMEN (11 races; 55 entrants): 1. GRE, Bekatorou/ Tsoulfa, 47; 2. Petitjean/ Douroux, 61; 3. RUS, Ilienko/ Gaponovich, 62; 28. USA, Mcdowell/ Kinsolving, 113; 34. CAN, Provan / Girke, 125. 49ER (14 races; 89 entrants): 1. GBR, Draper/ Hiscocks, 42; 2. NOR, Sundby/ Bovim, 70; 3. UKR Luka/ Leonchuk, 72; 8. USA, Wadlow / Spaulding, 94; 64. MEX, Goeters / Goeters, 201; 70. CAN, Cunningham/ Paterson 228. Complete results: http://www.cadizworlds2003.com ISAF WORLDS MEDAL COUNT Cadiz, Spain - As stated above, Great Britain easily won the 'President of the International Olympic Committee Cup' as the best performing nation at the just concluded ISAF World Championship Regatta. Here's what the score board looked like: Nation Gold-Silver-Bronze 1. Great Britain 2 1 2 2. Australia 1 1 1 2. France 1 1 1 4. Greece 1 1 0 4. Norway 1 1 0 6. USA 1 0 1 6. Israel 1 0 1 8. Italy 1 0 0 8. Portugal 1 0 0 8. Poland 1 0 0 11. Spain 0 1 1 12. Brazil 0 1 0 12. Finland 0 1 0 12. Germany 0 1 0 12. N. Zealand 0 1 0 12. Sweden 0 1 0 17. Argentina 0 0 1 17. Denmark 0 0 1 17. Russia 0 0 1 17. Ukraine 0 0 1 http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=5491 WORLD CHAMPIONS WEAR KAENON POLARIZED! Ben Ainslie, GBR, Finn. Hanna Swett, USA, Yngling. Siren Sundby, Norway, Europe. Podium: Freddy Loof, Iain Percy, Star. Nathan Wilmot, 470. Meg Gaillard, Europe. Ulrike Schuemann, Yngling. Christoffer Sundby, 49er. Kaenon Polarized applauds excellence! Evolve Optically. Find yours, and an authorized dealer at http://www.kaenon.com ETCHELLS WORLDS Wednesday's race was sailed in 6 to 10 knots of breeze mostly from the southwest. Regatta leader Ken Read crossed the finish line in third place only to find out he was on the 'course side' at the start. He was not alone. In fact three of the top five boats in the standings were OCS - Read, Dennis Conner and Cameron Miles. Jud Smith finished second in the race, which gave him the opportunity to discard a 22 he picked up earlier in the regatta and move up to third place in the standings. Standings (5 races with one discard - 93 boats): 1. Ken Read, K. Anderson & S. Norris, USA, 5 2. Dennis Conner, P. Burton & T. Rey, USA, 30 3. Jud Smith, H. Frazer & A. Wills, USA, 38 4. Cameron Miles, P. Smidmore & J. Mayjor, AUS, 45 5. Dirk Kneulman, D. Smithers & H. Lammens. CAN, 53 Event website: http://www.etchellsworlds2003.org/ NEWS BRIEFS * Robert Miller's 140ft schooner Mari Cha IV is set to leave the Newport Shipyard in Newport, Rhode Island tonight, bound for New York where she will remain on standby awaiting the right weather window to leave on an attempt to win back 'her' west to east monohull transatlantic record, between New York and the Lizard. "We're standing by as we speak," racing skipper Mike Sanderson told The Daily Sail last night. "The boat is ready to go, the sails are all back on, we've loaded food, the boat is in great shape." - The Daily Sail, full story: http://thedailysail.com/ * Three new Bruce Farr designed TransPac 52s will be built this winter at Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol RI. All three boats - Esmeralda then Bright Star with Sjamboc to follow - are for well known East Coast teams. Two of the new boats plan to participate in the 2004 Bermuda Race. This brings the total number of TP52s built to ten. The owners are planning a West Coast summer schedule followed by a class start at Key West in 2005. * Frequently, one of the most challenging parts of any sailor's campaign is finding sponsorship, to get themselves to the start line. In recognition of this, Clipper Ventures & Fast Track Events have commissioned an independent sponsorship consultant to provide a comprehensive workshop to short circuit the process of finding sponsorship for all prospective race entrants to the 5-Oceans 2006/07, the new Around Alone Race. The first Sponsorship Workshop will be held on Monday 27th October, in Le Harve, during the run up to the Transat Jacques Vabres. Sara Morland, sara.morland@fast-track-events.com * Scott Dickson, representing the host Long Beach Yacht Club, won the Ficker Cup match race series for the seventh time, with a convincing 11 - 1 record. The victory in this ISAF Grade 2 event provides Dickson with an invitation to the LBYC Congressional Cup, scheduled for April 19 to 24, 2004. His crew was Tim Lidgard, Dave Ridley, Tony Stuart, Ian Vickers and Matt Wachowicz. Bill Hardesty's Team Ayres Hotel finished second with an 8-2 record, and third place went to Jon Pinkney with 7 wins and 5 losses. - www.lbyc.org * Yesterday Scuttlebutt ran a letter about the Sailing Channel. A number of readers have asked for more information - so here's the website: http://www.sailingchannel.it/eng/index.htm * The Clipper 2002 fleet departure from Jersey took place early Wednesday morning because of the tidal streams and the requirement to make progress along the track to Holyhead and Liverpool; it therefore didn't provide much opportunity for nursing sore heads after the crew party. The wind has remained light, so the actual start of Race 16 has been delayed. At present the wind is between 5 and 8 knots. The forecast is for the wind to increase though, so it is now thought that the yachts will be able to start their race Wednesday evening. www.clipper-ventures.com * Scuttlebutt readers who read Italian might enjoy reviewing the full dossier of the Naples bid for the 2007 America's Cup at: http://comune.napoli.it/coppamerica/ * Boardsailor Barbara Kendall is the first New Zealand sailor to book a ticket to the Athens Olympics after winning silver at the world championships in Spain. She qualified New Zealand for an Olympic spot in the women's Mistral class when she won the world championships in Thailand in December. To confirm a place in the Olympic team, she had to finish in the top five in Spain and hope no other New Zealander finished in the top 10. - Sail-World website, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/ BOAT SHOW OCKAM DEMO COMPONENTS Boat Show season is winding down, leaving a modest inventory of items displayed for a few days at boat shows available now at reduced prices. It's a great time to save hundreds on the world's best instruments: processors, interfaces, Matryx, Magnum and 005 displays, etc... all pre-admired by the sailing public. Contact Tom Davis (tom@ockam.com) or your Ockam dealer for more information. http://www.ockam.com LITTLE AMERICA'S CUP Organizers of the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT) have announced the event's competitors, which makes its return with a new format after a hiatus of more than seven years. The event, better known as "The Little America's Cup," will take place September 28-October 3, 2003, from Sail Newport's facility at Fort Adams. This match racing competition is being sailed in F-18HT catamarans - mutihulls that go three times the speed of monohulls. There are confirmed challenges from four foreign teams three of whom hail from the Adriatic resort of Rimini in northeastern Italy. Representing Club Nautico Rimini will be Alberto Sonino with crew Edward Canepa, and Daniele Saragoni with crew Teo Di Battista. Massimiliano Sirena, with crew Paolo Bassani, will represent Vela Club Marano Riccione. Hoping to unseat the "Rimini Challenge to the Little Americas Cup" are John Pierce and Suze Davis. The pair represent Mumbles Yacht Club in Swansea, South Wales, United Kingdom. Four American teams have hopes of becoming the ultimate Defender at the conclusion of the elimination series. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) with crew Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas) representing Southern Yacht Club; Lars Guck (Bristol, R.I.) with crew Jonathan Farrar (Miami, Fla.) representing Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club; Mark Murray (Newport, R.I./Pensacola, Fla.) and crew Charles Barmonde (Newport, R.I.) representing Team 1/Sail Newport; and Barry Moore (Beverly, Mass.) with crew Eric Anderson (Andover, Conn.) representing Sea Cliff Yacht Club. Last sailed in 1996 when the U.S.A. was victorious over Australia, the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy was donated in 1961 by the Sea Cliff Yacht Club, located on the north shore of Long Island (N.Y.), to promote catamaran match-racing between nations. Previously sailed in "C" Class catamarans, the revamped series will feature the F-18HT catamaran for the first time. New, fully equipped Bimare F-18HTs will be provided to all teams. Much like the America's Cup, the winner will bring the trophy back to their yacht club to host the 2004 event, which will also feature provided Bimare F-18HTs to ensure consistency. On September 28-30, the four foreign "challenger" teams and the four American "defender" teams will each sail an elimination round robin match-racing series. After a layday on Wednesday, October 1, the winners of the respective Defender and Challenger eliminations will compete head-to-head in a best four out of seven series for the Trophy on Thursday and Friday, October 2-3. - Media Pro Int'l For more information: www.icct2003.org or www.littleamericascup2003.org. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar A WINNING FORMULA: Musto, Henri-Lloyd, Gill, DuBarry, Patagonia, Suunto, Kaenon, Teva, Camet, Petzl, Reef, Harken, Extrasport, Lotus, Gerber, Watershed, Freestyle, Ultimate Sailing, Railriders, Woolrich, Columbia, Bretton Reds, Tilley, OS Systems, Kokatat, Wichard, Ronstan, Aigle, Sebago, and the best customer service in the world is the winning formula. And this winning formula can all be found at Team One Newport! Call 800-VIP-GEAR for a catalog or visit http://www.team1newport.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Jamie Bendelius: The opening line in the lead story in Scuttlebutt 1421 caught me a wee bit off guard - "the race to reach the 50 knot barrier has become the equivalent of going supersonic in an aircraft. It is a milestone that many sailors and windsurfers have tried to reach, but so far all have fallen just short." In an iceboat that number is often seen when accelerating or decelerating through it. As an aside the world speed record for an iceboat is in excess of 120 knots. I know, I know, but hard water sailors are often if not always forgotten about and ignored. * From Douglass Sisk: Don't you think it's time to kill the media coverage thread? Even with the interesting drift into "yacht club exclusivity"? It's clear that some news outlets will devote space to yacht racing and some won't ... just like some papers cover Formula 1 racing/ thoroughbreds/ boxing/ squash/ tennis more than others. Although we'd all like to see our sport featured more, I suspect it's not in the cards except for the America's Cup and perhaps an around-the-world race. And if you're frustrated about the lack of coverage of sailing, then go talk to the top tier competition acrobatic pilots. Even with sponsorship they fly in the middle of nowhere in front of maybe 100 people, 40 of them judges and the rest pilots waiting their turn to fly... Curmudgeon's Comment: Once again Douglass, we agree. This thread is now officially dead. * From Marc Fountain: Some of your readers live and sail in the San Francisco bay area and we don't understand this Long Island sailing in heavy breeze' discussion at all. Practice makes perfect; we generally have a steady 20-30 knot breeze every afternoon from April to October. Put any Long Island sailor in 25 knots every day for a summer and they will probably figure out how to enjoy it, prepare for it, and race in it just like we do. I bet no Long Island sailor has sailed circles around the RC (as I have) while they were announcing a 'not-enough-wind' postponement when it was blowing over 10 knots.... I fondly remember 'Sergeant Schultz' (an accomplished yet non-pro J24) putting the kite up in excess of 50 knots on the bay (1990?) on a winter race day - they acknowledged later that it was extreme but they stayed upright and didn't think it dramatically more difficult to handle than typical summer conditions. If they can do it, so can you. The key is that they had years of weekends past in 20-30 knots. Number 4 jibs and harnesses - yes we carry those items. Many of us are prepared for 0-50 on any given Sunday. Please kill this thread! It doesn't make any more sense to debate the RC's obligation to hold a race in certain conditions or not (clearly no, they volunteer) than it does to debate the skippers' primary obligation to decide whether it's safe enough to sail or not (clearly yes). * From Ron Hopkins: Race committee's and race officers generally take their guidance from the Organizing Authority as well as the competitors for the types of racing to provide, as well as the range of conditions to sail in. As a Race Officer, I have a simple guide which I follow to help make those sometimes difficult decisions..."Safe, Fair, Fun", in that order. "Safe" for the folks that work with me and to the competitors in general, as "fair" as I can possible make the race.. and "fun", cause without fun, why be there. Fun also counts for the volunteers as well, because without them, well, I hope its obvious that without them, there would be no racing. That said, there will always be some who don't agree with the R/C's decision to sail or not. At a dingy event that I ran, a huge squall came thou the race area, we abandoned and told the competitors to drop sails, raft together and hunker down. Most did, but a few decided to continue to sail, "nuking" around under spinnaker in near zero visibility. One such boat was found 2 1/2 miles away from the race circle after the squall passed. * From Scott H. Dinhofer: The argument that has been presented by Adam Loory is one we have been discussing on our boat for two years. The simple fact is that there is an old cliché "experience, there is no substitute" There are too many crews and skippers not learning how to handle their boats in a seaman like manner because of the RCs failure to hold races in blustery conditions. How many of these boats will be able to handle a front when they sail a coastal distance race, or in a Bermuda race? * From Michael H. Koster: Reference heavy air vs light air sailing: Race organizers should publish in the Notice of Race, the wind ranges that competitors can expect races to be run in. That way, owners can decide for themselves whether or not they want to invest time and money to participate in a particular regatta. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due. |
