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SCUTTLEBUTT 2925 - Wednesday, September 9, 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are North Sails and Atlantis WeatherGear. IT’S DANGEROUS - IT’S LIGHT AIR There is age-old strategy that if you say something often enough, it gains credibility. Over a hundred years ago, William James, the father of modern Psychology, once said, “There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” Such could be the thinking behind statements being made about the announced venue of the 33rd America’s Cup, Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates. If you ask the Challenging team, BMW Oracle Racing, the RAK is not a hospitable venue as it is both dangerous and offers only light winds. Dangerous? Not sure, but definitely different. On land, within the bubble of ‘America’s Cup Land’ (like Disneyland but with higher ticket prices), can it be any more dangerous than Valencia, Spain during the 2007 Match? Can it smell any worse? And on water, there is not much history of how Iran deals with yachties that bang the northern corner of the course. Hopefully the emirates will explain to them how embarrassing it would be if one of the teams were 'detained'. How about light air? Again, not much history here. An hour down the street, the 2008 Dubai RC 44 Cup (the RC stands for Russell Coutts) enjoyed winds of 6 to 18 knots during their March event. It is pretty evident from photos that the Defender’s catamaran won’t be crossing any oceans, so why not choose a venue that could exploit their strengths? But the Alinghi team said the venue choice was not about seeking a light air site, but rather one with suitable conditions and local support for the February 2010 event. Curious about the predicted weather, Scuttlebutt reached out to two of its advertisers - Jon Bilger at PredictWind.com and Chris Bedford at Sailing Weather Service - for local RAK information. Unfortunately, they are both under contract with the Defender and Challenger, respectively, and were understandably unable to provide any help. So the question about wind conditions rages on. If there are any weather services that would like some publicity, and provide anticipated information for RAK in February, the doors at the Scuttlebutt Forum are wide open. Post your report here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8178 THE SUCCESS OF THE CANADIAN LASER TEAM For 18 days of competition, the focus of the Laser class has been on St. Margaret’s Bay near Halifax, Nova Scotia, which this past weekend completed the 2009 Nautel Laser Worlds and Master Worlds Championships. Nearly 450 sailors competed for these two titles, with much attention given toward the development of aspiring athletes in this singlehanded Olympic event. As Canada was the only country with three sailors in the top 16 of the Laser Worlds, and considering that none of the guys have been traveling as much this year, Scuttlebutt asked National Team Sailing Coach Tommy Wharton to provide some insight on their training program. Here is his report: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the success of the Canadian Laser team (2 in top 10, 3 in top 16, 5 in top 35) I believe there are many key factors. Here is a short list: 1) Team worked together as much as possible. 2) Coach driven, athlete centered, sport science supported environment. We had two prior National Team camps in June (where American Clay Johnston joined in) and one in July (where we hosted GBR stars Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson - who ended up finishing first and third by the way - and their coach). 3) At these camps and during the Worlds event, we had a full court press of sport science - ie sports psychologist, nutritionist, meteorologist, strength and conditioning, and sport medicine and massage. All of these top notch support people were present in Halifax as they are contracted out of the Canadian Sports Center Atlantic. Having these people in the training camps prior and then the lead up to the Worlds ensured there were appropriate relationships between the athletes and the support people (so they were not just bombarded with support only at the peak event). -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0908 WIN-WIN WITH NORTH ONE DESIGN SAILS The best time to buy the fastest one-design sails is now! North Sails is offering 15% savings plus FREE SHIPPING on one-design sails ordered before October 1, 2009! This is the best investment you can make. Low risk, high reward ... a win-win! Restrictions apply. This promotion is valid in North America only. Call (619) 226-1415 to be connected to your closest North One Design class representative. http://www.onedesign.com TO GROW WINDSURFING IN THE U.S. by Britt Viehman, U.S. Team coach A record 261 sailors from 25 countries, under age 17(!), competed in the BIC Techno 293 Worlds at the site of the 2012 Olympics, Weymouth UK. It is likely that most future Youth Worlds and Olympic competitors were competing at this event. This was the first Worlds experience for ten new countries, including the four member US Team- three kids in the U17 and one in U15 classes. If you wonder why the Europeans are dominant in the Olympics, you only have to look at the full integration of windsurfing into junior sailing there. There were over 100 kids from GBR alone who had qualified for the Worlds from their ‘Team U15’ Youth Program. Talking with some of the coaches, they are predicting that the T293 will rival Optimist numbers in Europe within 3-5 years. For a sailing program the gear is less expensive, more durable, strict One Design, but above all, the kids have a blast. The T293 is to the RS:X Olympic board like the 29er is to the 49er or the 420 is to the 470 - great fleets at the junior level with the cream moving into the Olympic classes. With the T293 windsurfing class already strongly established in Europe and growing rapidly around the world, the US team was learning and taking notes. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8211 AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME In the hair's breadth between a fast-moving bus and a preoccupied Shana Bagley, an improbable grand adventure took root. The 41-year-old deputy district attorney from Walnut Creek departed Aug. 25 for England as one of five Californians participating in the Clipper Round the World sailing race. She will crew on the California, one of 10 identical, 68-foot sailing yachts that leave a small English port Sunday for a 35,000-mile global circumnavigation race with exotic ports of call that include cities in Brazil, South Africa, China and Ireland. The tale of how a novice sailor arrived at the precipice of a grueling global ocean race begins three years ago on a San Francisco street corner. As she started to walk into the intersection, a bus ran a red light. A man stuck out his hand and yelled, "Hey, lady!" "I felt the bus pass right in front of my nose," said Bagley. "Later, I thought, 'I could have died. I still have lots of things I want to do!'” -- San Jose Mercury News, read on: http://www.mercurynews.com/lifeandstyleheadlines/ci_13287002?nclick_check=1 LOUIS VUITTON LAUNCHES PROFESSIONAL SAILING CIRCUIT The Mayor of Nice, the World Sailing Team Association (WSTA) and Louis Vuitton announced that the first Louis Vuitton World Series (LVWS) event will be held in Nice, France on the 7- 22 November 2009. The Louis Vuitton World Series is an outgrowth of the successful and highly-competitive Louis Vuitton Pacific Series that took place in Auckland in February earlier this year. The launch of the LVWS is positive news for top-tier professional sailors as it guarantees a global world series aboard high-tech Version 5 ACC monohull racing boats. The series will feature a 10-team field competing in shared ACC yachts in a round robin, one-on-one match racing format where the two finalists go head-to-head to determine the winner. Points will be accumulated throughout the series to determine the ranking of the season.| The second Louis Vuitton World Series event is scheduled for March 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand, followed by a Series in La Maddalena (Italy) in May 2010. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ms5gn9 * A force in getting the new series off the ground was the establishment of the World Sailing Team Association (WSTA), which groups together some of the best professional sailing teams in the world. "WSTA is an association run by the teams for the teams, so in partnership with Louis Vuitton, it runs the event. It's a partnership that's a first in the sport, and it's been really needed because of what's going on. Now the teams get some control of their destiny," said Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton. "The biggest problem with the market is that the sponsors need continuity of brand, so you need an event you can sell. It's been impossible to sell the America's Cup in recent times because it could be some time away." -- NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10596051 * K-Challenge, a team that competed in the 32nd America's Cup, announced that three time Olympic Gold medallist and two times America’s Cup Winner Jochen Schümann has joined the team, and that K-Challenge will compete in the LVWS. The 54 year old German will lead the team together with Stephan Kandler as Sports Director and Skipper, and top ranked match racer Sebastien Col. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/l7ovos * Britain's participation in the Louis Vuitton World Series was still dangling in doubt today despite confident predictions by all the top managers that America's Cup challenger Team Origin would surely be included. There are eight signed up teams for the initial maximum 10 places on a tour which will continue through 2010 and will be cumulative in finding a world series champion, though its designation as a world series has still to be ratified by the International Sailing Federation. -- The Independent, full story: http://tinyurl.com/l8dru4 DISCOVER: THE “LEGENDS OF THE FALL” - 12 METRE STYLE On September 22nd, over 20 teams of legendary yachts and sailors from around the world will return to Newport for the 2009 12 Metre World Championship, a celebration of competitive sailing and America’s Cup history. Atlantis will be there, and as Official Technical Apparel provider, we’ve created the commemorative “12 Metre Collection”, a limited-edition line of jackets and vests with one-of-a-kind custom touches. Get in on the action. Check out the line at www.atlantisweathergear.com/12metrecollection and if you’re in Newport, come experience the excitement at the 12 Metre Worlds Village at Bannister’s and Bowen’s Wharves. Discover: Your Atlantis SAILING SHORTS * San Diego, CA (September 8, 2009) - If there was a form guide for the biennial Snipe World Championship, the first two days of competition would have done little to shake the faith of the prognosticators. Despite another day of challenging conditions for the 49 boat fleet, at the top of the standings are the reigning continental champions from 2008, with leader Bruno Amorim /Dante Bianchi (BRA) having won the Western Hemisphere Championship in Uruguay and second place Gustavo del Castillo Palop/ Felipe Llinares Pascual (ESP) winning the European Championship on their home turf in Spain. Racing continues through Friday. -- Event website: http://www.snipeworlds2009.com/ * Porto Cervo, Italy. (September 8, 2009; Day 2) - After two days of racing in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009 the leaders of the classification remain unchanged. Leading is Jean Charles’ Decaux’s J One (GBR) for the Wallys, Patrizio Bertelli’s Luna Rossa (ITA) in the Mini Maxi Racing division, Whisper (IRL), owned by Michael Cotter, for the Mini Maxi Cruising/Racing category, Filippo Faruffini’s Roma - Aniene (ITA) in the Racing/Cruising division and Velsheda (GBR) among the Cruising/Spirit of Tradition yachts. The various divisions in the 42 boat fleet were assigned two different courses of 39 and 47 miles in approximately 15 to 20 knots of wind and choppy seas. -- Full report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100163&lang=1 * American Yacht Club will host the 2009 J105 North Americans sponsored by Subaru on October 29 - November 1 in Rye, NY. Over 50 boats representing both coasts, the Midwest, South and Canada are expected, with past winners of premiere racing venues such as Key West, Annapolis and Block Island have already signed up to compete this year. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8218 * ADDITION: The report for the 2009 Nautel Laser Master Worlds Championships in Scuttlebutt 2924 did not include the womens winners in the Radial rig divisions. They are: Apprentice: Alison Casey (AUS); Master: Lyndall Patterson (AUS); Grandmaster: Sally Sharp (USA); and Great Grand Master: Deirdre Webster (CAN). -- http://can09.laserinternational.org/ PHOTO GALLERIA * Photographer Carlo Borlenghi provides Scuttlebutt readers with three pages of images from the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy. There something about modern racing boats over 60-feet - and some twice that length - competing closely around the buoys like a Melges 24 fleet, with everyone hiking just as hard, and doing it in the pristine waters of the Med … enjoy: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0908/ * Thanks to Sailing World magazine and Photographer Dan Nerney, Scuttlebutt has some wonderful photos of Tom Blackaller. Over the past few weeks, it has been a treat for Scuttlebutt to host a tribute honoring his life on the Scuttlebutt Forum, with so many great stories being submitted. This week marks the 20 year anniversary of his passing, but these photos nearly bring him back to life: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/09/tom-blackaller.html * Now that fall temperatures are around the corner, it is probably a good time of year to watch this video, as it may save you from soon relying on your worn out sailing gear. This edited footage from the PUMA Ocean Racing team shows just how wet it was during the Volvo Ocean Race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ByNeamlvbM * The arts & crafts department of Scuttlebutt World Headquarters will be out for a couple weeks, off on an Italian excursion to sample local wines and to bike the Tuscany region. As a result, the Photos of the Week and Video of the Week features will be missing too. Sorry! LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit 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 Dieter Loibner: As usual, your newsletter is the best time sink of the day. Had to jot down a sentimental note on l'Hydroptere: Dojng 100 on the water How fast is l’Hydroptere’s new record? I can’t help measuring it in memories, not dry numbers. Walking to elementary school in the Austrian Alps, we always bragged about our dads’ cars. Then,100 kilometers per hour (km/h) were considered fast. “Whoa, hundert Sachen.” Now, half a lifetime later, “hundert Sachen” is a reality for waterborne sailing craft. What blows me away is not just the feat, but how “normal” l’Hydroptere looks and how “normal" 100 km/h for a sailboat on the water sounds today. My arithmetic: l’Hydroptere’s timed 500-meter record of 51.36 knots equals 95.19 km/h, and the recorded top speed of 55.5 knots is the equivalent of 102.79 km/h. Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-gdqo35os * From Charlotte Taylor: I was saddened to hear of the passing of Grace Rogers (in Scuttlebutt 2924). Grace and her daughter, Cynthia, were the women who gave me my first job in the sailing industry. I began working at Pier 17 when I was 15 years old- and to this day am amazed at the things I learned working for them. Grace knew her business and stood her ground in a world where that was not always the appropriate thing to do. I have many memories of her store and the time I spent there. Thanks, Mrs. Rogers. * From David Davis: Regarding the story in Scuttlebutt 2923, it's only fair if McIntyre is truly going to suffer the deprivations, scanty navigation tools, food, and resources of the original voyage (by Capt William Bligh), that they do it up all the way. So who decides which "adventurer" will be killed by the natives? Will they be posting YouTube videos of divvying up the sea birds guts, "Who shall have this?" Which voyagers get to stay in Pandora's box on the way back to old England? Will they really wreck the new Pandora? And how do they decide who gets hanged in the end? What's the point? * From Chris Mitchell: Remembering Cayard, remembering Blackaller, reminds me that you should ask Paul Cayard to post something about Tom's little sign that I think said "We Are They". It always gave me a giggle, even though I never knew Blackaller. Anyway it was a good little story on its own about personal accountability, responsibility and the long, long road of the America's Cup. * From Neil W. Humphrey, Vancouver, BC: I read with interest on 07 September 2009 in the Telegraph Newspaper a quote from Mr. Pels from ISAF regarding the SNG and ISAF agreement. "’The court has already ruled that there is nothing inappropriate about our agreement with the Societe Nautique de Genčve," he said" The NYSC has not ruled on the SNG and ISAF agreement. If this was true there would be no reason for Corey Friedman, GGYC and host of international newspapers generating motions and affidavits to the NYSC to have the agreement before the courts. Maybe Scuttlebutt should request that Mr. Pels in writing on ISAF letterhead clarify his statement. I'm sure the international press and sailing community would welcome some clear clarification prior to the agreement going before the NYSC. Telegraph story: http://tinyurl.com/koo3ze * From Tim Abady: Paul Cayard, an ex skipper of Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing, tells us (in Scuttlebutt 2923) that “we can all begrudge the ‘Defender’ for "leveraging every angle they have to gain an advantage”. If that is the case I am sure he would agree that we can also “all begrudge the ‘Challenger’ for "leveraging every angle they have to gain an advantage”. In case we forget I would like to remind us all that the current 'Defender' actually won the Cup in Auckland 2003, then organized a fantastic and successful defense in Valencia 2007 for the 32nd Cup, which not only did “the honor and dignity” of the event a power of good but protected the “interests of other participants” to the tune of 60 Million euros handed back to the competing teams and really put the Americas Cup on the map worldwide. The proof of its success is surely evidenced by the sheer number of 'challengers' , twelve, registered for the 33rd Cup which I am sure would have been an even greater 'honor' to the Cup, and all now defunct! As a result of all this “leveraging” hundreds and hundreds of yachtsmen and support crew have been and are out of work for the foreseeable future not to mention the ripple side effects throughout the industry. I wonder who it is that has done “whatever”? * From Rick Bernstein: Regarding Mr. Hurlimann's note to Oracle to stop whining (in Scuttlebutt 2924)....history writes it was determined by others outside of the U.S. to keep the America's Cup name following Australia's victory in the 80's. Also, it's not Oracle that's whining, it's the entire sailing and racing world that's sick and tired of the greatest sailing sport in the world about to go the way of the dodo...the world knows the Cup’s been kidnapped, it’s history torn to shreds with no conscious and it’s being held secret and hidden with no regard for sportsmanship. Long die ego as it has killed the America’s Cup; the sport regarded as nation vs. nation has become the sport of ego vs. ego. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION ‘AVOIDABLE’ - What a bullfighter tries to do. Special thanks to North Sails and Atlantis WeatherGear. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
