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SCUTTLEBUTT 2103 - May 26, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.SIR PETER BLAKE Plans for a scaled-down memorial to Sir Peter Blake at the National Maritime Museum on Auckland's waterfront are being launched today. Three years after a $10 million memorial at the museum drew a lukewarm response from Aucklanders and sparked a fierce debate about how best to honor the slain sailor, the museum and Wellington's Te Papa have come up with a new $8 million design. Instead of the controversial ship-in-a-bottle glass building on the Princes Wharf side of the museum, the new design features an extension to the museum's Hall of Yachting honoring the legacy of Sir Peter, who was murdered in 2001 on the Amazon. The Princes Wharf side of the museum will be pushed out at the northern end and largely wrapped in green, blue and silvery white polycarbonate translucent panels to create a shimmery sense of water. The 23m-long America's Cup-winning yacht Black Magic will be suspended in the Hall of Yachting surrounded by an interactive exhibition over three levels. Among the exhibits will be the pair of red socks that Sir Peter Blake wore during Team New Zealand's successful 1995 America's Cup campaign. Many of the exhibits will be on loan from Lady Pippa Blake, who said one of the most appealing aspects of the project was the opportunity it would offer young people to learn about her late husband's achievements and act as an encouragement to work hard towards their own goals. "I feel that this is something that Peter would support as it will show others his world, tell the stories of his favorite races, including the Jules Verne and, of course, the success of the America's Cup," she said from her home in England. Sport and Recreation Minister Trevor Mallard has confirmed the Government will give $2.5 million towards the project. - Bernard Orsman, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/h67wo A YES AND A MAYBE Sébastien Josse, Skipper of ABN Amro Two announced that the crew will take part in the Portsmouth in-port race on Monday 29th May. However, no decision has been made regarding participation in the next leg of the race which starts in Portsmouth on 2nd June and races to Rotterdam. Participation in the races has been thrown into doubt following the loss of the crew’s teammate, Hans Horrevoets, who died in a tragic accident during the New York to Portsmouth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Seb Josse commenting about the inshore race said, “We are all keen to go on – we know that it is what Hans would have wanted and the first step is to get back out on the water for the in port race. Team ABN Amro Technical Sailing Director, Roy Heiner said, “The decision to carry on in this race is entirely down to Seb and the crew and they are under no pressure from Team ABN Amro to make that decision yet. Whatever they do, Team ABN Amro will support them. ” The team will meet up again in Portsmouth on Sunday to prepare for the in-port race following the funeral of Hans Horrevoets in Holland on Saturday. -- http://www.abnamro.com/team VIDEO OF THE WEEK In the May issue of Sailing World magazine, columnist Gary Jobson discusses "The Language Factor," and how communication is a critical performance factor in sailing. Based on Jobson's observations, we thought it appropriate to show videographer Harry Manko's "Tactician Training Video" as a how-not-to presentation for every aspiring tactician, and perhaps a frightening reflection for those currently holding the position. If you see yourself (or anyone you know) in this 1:48 video, seek out the Jobson Report in the May issue of Sailing World magazine. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for the video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/#media WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR A pair of Swedish teams stand 1-2 atop the standings of the 20th annual ACI Adris Match Race Cup, Stage 6 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour. Johnie Berntsson and Björn Hansen both posted 7-2 records through 10 of the 11 flights scheduled in Round 1 (each has had a bye), but Berntsson beat Hansen to gain the top spot. ACI Cup reigning champion Peter Gilmour of Australia and Italy’s Paolo Cian are tied for third with 6-3 records. They’re scheduled to face off tomorrow morning in the final flight of the round to determine the tiebreaker. The ACI Cup got into full swing today after yesterday’s virtual rain out. Abundant sunshine and northwesterly winds topping out at 12 knots replaced the liquid nightmare. With temperatures in the high 60s, it simply was a gorgeous day for match-racing. The crews were itching for action. Chief umpire John Standley reported 53 requests for penalties and issued 25 penalties. “It’s a high rate of penalties, but there’s a high standard of sailing here,” he said. “The sailors don’t ask for the penalty if they don’t think they’ve been fouled.” -- Sean McNeill, http://www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. ACI Cup Provisional Standings (After 10 of 22 scheduled flights) 1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE), 7-2 2. Björn Hansen (SWE), 7-2 3. Paolo Cian (ITA), 6-3 T. Peter Gilmour (AUS), 6-3 5. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 5-4 T. Ian Williams (GBR), 5-4 7. Dario Kliba (CRO), 5-5 8. Philippe Presti (FRA), 4-5 9. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS), 3-6 10. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 2-7 11. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA), 0-9 MELGES 24 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - PREPARE NOW There is some electric Melges 24 racing coming up and you need to get ready now! Melges Performance Sailboats is currently building boats for the 2007 World Championship in Santa Cruz, California. This major championship takes place in May 2007 - just one year away! Prepare now as Melges is cranking out these beautiful new rocket ships. Upcoming majors include the Gold Cup in Newport this July, US Nationals in Jacksonville, FL this November and of course, the Midwinters at Key West Race Week. Prepare now and let's build you a new Melges 24. - http://www.melges.com ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED Bowler, whose Farr Yacht Design company designed the Spanish yacht, is in Portsmouth consulting with the team to try and figure out what caused the critical damage to the boat’s keel, but suggested the bonding between critical components of the keel may have been responsible. He said, “. . .absolutely devastated with what’s happened to the boat in the last few days. We are here to try and talk to the crew and figure out what went wrong. It’s just very difficult to figure out what went wrong at the moment. “There are a number of parties (responsible). Obviously we designed it, and our design is completely open to scrutiny. In fact Bouwe (Bekking, the movistar skipper) at the start of this project called in SP Engineering who reviewed all the drawings as well. We have had the best in the business look at the drawings before the boat was built and we have got nothing to hide in terms of the design and the way it was analysed and detailed. We will put that on table for anyone to look at. “The build processes weren’t simple processes. Things need to be stuck together; it all relied on bonds. I’m only speculating what could have gone wrong. Until we look at, if we get the opportunity to look at the pieces, then we might have the clues as to what went wrong.” He did, however, point to the other three boats designed by his company – Ericsson, The Black Pearl and Brasil 1 - to deny that a lack of knowledge of the slamming loads led to a design susceptible to damage. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/z4qsa WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The Dexia Private Banking ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship is underway in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Sally Barkow (USA) aiming for her third consecutive title. For the first day of competition the wind has been blowing up to gale force, fortunately without gusting, and the sky has alternated between bright sunshine and heavy rain. The racing continues on Friday and Saturday with the finals being sailed on Sunday. After one day of competition in the event’s big, physical DS37s, the results are: Claire Leroy 4-1 Dorte O. Jensen, 3-3 Klaartje Zuiderbann, 3-2 Linda Rahm, 3-2 Marie Bjørling, 2-0 Malin Kallstrom, 2-0 Lotte Melgaard, 2-3 Christelle Philippe, 1-1 Sally Barkow, 1-1 Betsy Alison, 0-2 Silke Hahlbrock, 0-2 Nina Bræstrup, 0-5 Event website: http://wwmr06.kdy.dk/ OLYMPIC CLASSES Although heavy weather caused starts to be delayed until early evening Wednesday at the ISAF Grade 1 Holland Regatta, Thursday was marked by very light winds. In the afternoon, sailing conditions improved considerably and all planned courses could be sailed. Two USA teams are at the top of the leaderboard in the 30-boat 49er Class: 1. Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding, 9pts and 2. Tim Wadlow/ Chris Rast, 11pts. Canada’s Lisa Ross is currently in fifth place in the 59-boat Laser Radial class. Andy Horton/ Brad Nichol won the second race in the 17-boat Star class, but an OCS in the first race has then presently in sixth place. -- http://hollandregatta.org/2006/results/ THE STARS Annapolis YC -- It was warmer but cloudy with temperatures in the mid 60s (F) for Day Three of the Star Western Hemisphere Championship. The wind slowly built from the south and at noon there was 15 knots. San Diego YC member won both races on Thursday - Rick Merriman/ Rick Peters won the opener while Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel took the finale - their second bullet in the first five races. The leaders of the 42-boat championship after five races with one discard: 1. Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel 14pts 2. John Dane/ Austin Sperry, 14pts 3. Iain Murray/ Andrew Palfrey (AUS) 15pts 4. Brian Cramer/ Tyler Bjorn (CAN) 26pts 5. Jim Vander Molen/ Mike Wolfs, 27pts 6. Andy Macdonald/ Brian Fatih, 28pts 7. Arthur Anosov/ David Caesa, 31pts 8. John MacCausland/ Shane Zwingleberg, 33pts 9. George Szabo/ Eric Monroe, 33pts 10. Rick Merriman/ Rick Peters, 35pts http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=792 COLLEGIATE WOMEN'S DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP College of Charleston, Charleston, SC -- There was 20-22 knots of breeze for day two of the ICSA National Women's Dinghy Championship for the Gerald C. Miller Trophy. College of Charleston developed some consistent sailing on their home waters as seniors Alana O’Reilly (Charleston) and Susan Lintern (Kirtland Hills, Ohio) took over the lead in A-Division. Their teammates, freshman Andrea Savage (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) with sophomore crew Danielle Neri (Newport, R.I.), won two races to keep their grip on fourth place in B-Division in spite of the wind shift that shook up that fleet during their final race of the day. Making a big move from seventh yesterday, Stanford University sits second overall on 193 points. After 14 races each for Division A and Division B, the leaders are: 1. Charleston (73-95) 168; 2. Stanford (137-56) 193; 3. St. Mary's (123-79) 202; 4. Navy (93-121) 214; 5. Georgetown (131-84) 215; 6. Dartmouth (131-101) 232. -- http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/womens.asp Hot photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/icsa-w/ SAILING SHORTS * SUI 91 as been out sailing on the waters off Valencia this week, as Alinghi work up their first of two new boats. The Swiss Defender of the 32nd America’s Cup hasn’t taken much time to rest after winning Louis Vuitton Act 11. The team christened the boat on Sunday night, and after two days of strong winds in Valencia, took to the water on Wednesday. The team hasn’t yet indicated whether it plans to race SUI 91 in Louis Vuitton Act 12 beginning 22 June. -- http://tinyurl.com/gfx8f * Norfolk, Virginia has been announced as the second stopover port for the forthcoming single-handed around the world yacht race, the Velux 5 Oceans which begins in Bilbao, Spain on October 22. The announcement completes the race route that will circumnavigate the globe, starting and finishing in Bilbao and making two stops -- Fremantle, Australia and Norfolk, USA. The fleet will arrive in Norfolk in early February 2007 where they will spend four weeks repairing and preparing their boats before setting off on the final leg of the race across the Atlantic to Bilbao on April 15, 2007. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com * The historic British Yacht Gipsy Moth IV, is now at the Emirates Team NZ base in Auckland for repairs. By mid-morning today, work was underway tearing off the plywood that had been used to cover caused by the grounding for six days at the North West corner of the Rangiroa Atoll, part of the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. The interior side of the hull had been patched with concrete which is also being stripped away. The reconstruction which will proceed 24 x 7 to meet the original departure date from New Zealand of 23rd June. -- Richard Gladwell, Sail-World website, photos and full story: http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=24215 * Monday is the Memorial Day holiday here in the USA so there will be no issue of Scuttlebutt until Tuesday. FATHERS DAY SURVIVAL STORE Let Team One Newport insure the success of your sailing dad’s Fathers Day celebration next month (June 18, to be exact). Shopping on a budget? No worries - go to the Under $50.00 Gifts link to find a selection of affordable ideas. The Team One Newport website also has categories for a Kids Catalog, Event Gear, and Collegiate Sailing, in addition to women’s gear and a listing of their new products. Team One Newport - your every occasion survival store: http://www.team1newport.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Bill Canfield: I agree with Steve Taylor's comments that too many protests ruin the racing and further "three minute justice" is the way to go in this type of regatta. I also find it ironic that two weeks earlier at the Mallory HS Fleet Racing Championship the Chief Judge called the coaches together after the first day of racing in 20 knots and rough seas claiming there was too much contact and not enough protests. Maybe this set of judges were bored by the fantastic close action on the water. Most high school sailors don't want to spend hours in the room after 8 cold hours of racing. If, however, the system was quick and decisive they would protest infractions that involved contact. Sure an occasional mistake will be made with fast hearings but the fun is in the racing not in the protest room where the decisions are also not infallible. * From Brad Dellenbaugh (Re: Steve Taylor's and other comments): Don't reinvent the wheel, simply use the rules that exist. Appendix D2.3(b) is called Races with Limited Umpiring and with very limited resources, you can have both umpiring (if the umpires see the incident) and protests (if the umpires don't see enough of the incident). Appendix D2.4(b) then allows the protest committee to take evidence in any way they consider appropriate. On the water three-minute justice has been used successfully for several years in team racing now and takes care of all the incidents quickly. Protestor gets one minute, protestee gets one minute, protest committee decides in one minute. Sailors quickly learn not to come into this type of protest if they are the burdened boat and take care of the penalty during the race. Note regarding fees for protests: US Sailing prescription 61.4 says that no fees shall be charged for protests or requests for redress. * From Bill Artuzzi While Bob Killick's ‘pay to protest’ scenario ('Butt 2102) may work Down Under, we can't employ such a scheme Up Over because US Sailing prescription RRS 61.4 mandates no fees for protests or redress requests. Years past we used to charge $5, then $10, for unsuccessful protests on Wednesday nights to both discourage frivolous filings and augment our junior sailing fund. No more. In our political correctness, we ensure no competitor is denied access to a protest room or race course (see US prescriptions in Part 6 of the RRS), the underlying presumptions being that only race organizers will do something unseemly and the rest of the world does not have our discrimination problem. Want to put your YC on the map - just try to exclude someone from your races who is abusive to the RC and routinely flouts the rules. * From Caleb Silsby (In response to Steve Taylor's comments about umpiring): The excessive protesting comes from inexperience in team racing. At the higher levels of the sport there are generally fewer protests. The sailors understand the plays and the rules. More importantly, they understand that the best umpires in the country are going to make mistakes. Sailing is fundamentally based on mutual respect and understanding of etiquette. Team racing is the truest test of a sailor's understanding of the rules. Relying on umpires can take that element away. The British, for example, only sail in umpired events. This has an equally bad effect of manipulating the umpires. The British are great team racers but suffer from this reliance. The Brits tend to lose that "I owe you one" attitude. They continue to finish second to teams like WHishbone and Silver Panda who spin circles for questionable calls so that it does not go to the umpires. We need to continue to have races without umpires. Umpires should be there at the highest level events so that races can be decided on the water, but competitors need to have a certain level of "self policing" for this discipline to continue to thrive. * From Marc Jacobi: In team racing, rules are aggressively and continuously used by six boats against each other in incredibly tight quarters. There are bound to be genuine disagreements, and in our sport such disagreements are resolved by protests. Nothing wrong there. This regatta was the culmination of an intense season of racing, and stakes were high for the young athletes. Given the conditions, level of competition and tension, having only what, seven? protests filed in so many races is pretty amazing. Methinks this is more of a public relations fluff-up than anything indicative of any real problem. team racing is by its nature confrontational and aggressive, which must be upsetting to those used to watching more traditional racing pursuits. Ask the athletes themselves, however, and i'd bet they're far happier being able to make their cases to a jury than having some (perceived) old farts referee them on the water. * From Bill Wheary (Re Steve Taylor's comments): In the 16 years that the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race (Baltimore, Md. to Hampton Roads, Va.) has been run, there has never been a protest. Perhaps this is because the founder of the Race, Capt. Lane Briggs, whose untimely death occurred in 2005, announced at each race that the protest hearing would be held on New Year's Day on the deck of "Norfolk Rebel", his renowned "Tugatine." The race is held in October, and everyone knew that the "Norfolk Rebel" would be in Key West by New Year's Day. * From Brad Avery: It's hard to see a beautiful boat like a K 38 being destroyed. A classic yacht is a demanding mistress, requiring heaps of time, effort, money, and well researched maintenance decisions. It's a serious hobby, far more involving than owning a "normal" yacht. Many racing sailors, after years of experience, end up with a classic. I don't know if they could tell you exactly why. Most sailors enjoy seeing a classic yacht, but have the wisdom to know they shouldn't have one. Then there's the other camp. If you must have a classic, remember that you're not the owner. You're the temporary caretaker. Enjoy the work and the sublime pleasures of your charge, but let her go at a peak to the next person with time and money who just has to have her. * From Bill Munster: Paul Kettenburg passed on this past sunday....A true sailor in every sense of the word -- designer/builder/sailor/ a grand gentleman and friend. Have a good sail Paul, we will all miss you -- San Diego YC Life Member #6. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS You know you're a redneck when you take your dog for a walk and you both use the same tree. Special thanks to Melges Performance Sailboats and Team One Newport. |
