SCUTTLEBUTT No. 611 - July 24, 2000

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FORD CORK WEEK
The best weather of the last five days made for a fitting end to Ford Cork Week with exhilarating sailing for all classes and plenty of dramatic incidents. The battle between Harold Cudmore's Barlo Plastics and Roy Disney's Pyewacket for overall event win produced one of the most exciting races of the week though their Class Zero title was almost settled at the start. The decider for the final day rested on the Harbour Course and the fleet massed for a broad-reach start off Roches Point as the wind built steadily to 15 knots and with a slight ocean swell. Of course, Pyewacket was off the blocks with superior speed before any other boat. However, Barlo Plastics was a little too keen and was recalled for being a premature starter.

The delay in finding space to return, and having to sail upwind before restarting cost Cudmore dearly. All he needed was to finish ahead of Pyewacket but this was not to be. It was also thought that Disney's 70-foot sled would be constrained within the relatively narrow confines of Cork Harbour. However, the mainly reaching course suited the American perfectly for its off-wind configuration.

But although Disney sailed on to victory, an accident on board could have produced a different result. While off Cobh at the turning mark, the boat's navigator found his sailing-jacket sleeve had become caught in the mainsheet winch drum. Before he could free himself, his arm was wound into the winch causing serious trauma to his arm. After recovering from the shock, he elected to continue racing. - David Branigan, the Irish Times

Class 0 - IRC (Final results after 7 Races, 1 Discard)- 1 Pyewacket (11) 2. Barlo Plastics (16) 3. Babbalaas II (34) 4. Highland Fling ( 41) 5. 2XL (47)

Full story: http://www.ireland.com/sports/other/2000/0722/other7.htm
Event website: http://www.fordcorkweek.com

IMS
(Herb McCormick' story in Sunday's New York Times discusses the recent Offshore World Championship and IMS handicap rule. Here are two excerpts from that story.)

* Like the old International Offshore Rule that preceded it, the I.M.S. rule - which was established internationally in 1984 - is no stranger to controversy, especially in the United States. "Nobody's on the fence about it," said Ken Read, who called tactics on George David's Idler, a Nelson/Marek 50, which finished second to Vim 3. "People either love it or hate it."

Those who find the current state of I.M.S. racing less than satisfactory point to high costs, complex scoring configurations and a certain design fickleness that, in some cases, appears to fly in the face of nautical common sense. To obtain a more favorable rating, for instance, it sometimes pays to modify the boat in such a way that, in certain conditions, it becomes slower, not faster.

* And for some sailors, the challenge lies in the rule's intricacies. "You've got to use a lot of technical know-how," Read said. "Idler's owner, George David, is in the business of developing new technologies, so he loves tweaking a keel, or moving a mast back in a boat, and calculating what that's going to do to the rudder surface, and how to go from there. He enjoys the rule because of what it allows him to do and what it allows him to think of." - Herb McCormick, NY Times

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/outdoors/072300boat-notebook.html

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.

-- From Chris Welsh - The figure of 300 Right Whales is bandied about as evidence of their near demise. According to whale websites, there are 300 in the North Atlantic - and thousands in the South. Some authorities ascribe a different species name to the Northeners, but they also acknowledge they all appear to be the same, with only geography making them unique. While the loss of one of 7,000 is still an issue, noisemakers to avoid once a year whale collisions are a bit much. Put it in perspective - the dollars spent outright on any boat making a major ocean crossing could save thousands of human lives in the third world - and even the dollars spent on whale noisemakers would save a few humans.

-- From Campbell Field - Lets not drag Scuttlebutt (and thus the sport of sailing) into the tabloid press by publicly declaring to the yachting community the private behaviour of a fellow yachtsman, regardless of his wealth/stature. I am not defending Mr Kochs behaviour, but hey - is this really news that is worthy of reporting in Scuttlebutt?

CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: You may be right. I wrestled with this for quite a while because it was not a story I wanted to carry. What it got down to was the question, would it be appropriate for 'Butt to ignore a story about our sport (or in this case, our sport's personalities) that was being covered by the major metropolitan media across the continent? Similar questions arose earlier when the media was discussing rumors about America's Cup defections and potential syndicates. Obviously, you know how I answered those questions. If that makes 'Butt a tabloid medium, I'll just have to accept that. But I suspect you should similarly label the Boston Globe, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and hundreds of other mainstream media outlets.

-- From Peter Johnson - In trying to refute the comments of Geoff Stagg (Butt 610) on the current state of IMS, David Pedrick (chairman of ITC which orders IMS) misses the point. The corrected times may well have been close at last week's IMS World Championship at Newport, RI, but it is just not necessary to achieve this by a complex, very expensive rule and an incomprehensible scoring system. For the reasons which Geoff Stagg gives, IMS was totally rejected several years ago in Britain, France, Ireland and elsewhere.

In the same week as the IMS Worlds (34 boats), racing yachts of equivalent quality and crewing competed in Ford Cork Week on the south coast of Ireland. 368 of them (616 yachts of all kinds in regatta) used the well established (since 1994) Anglo-French-Irish IRC (ex-CHS), which is a measurement rule (not performance, as PHRF and Portsmouth). A startling feature of IRC is that there are simply no complaints, despite a framework set up to handle them!

On July 29 , 250 boats measured to IRC will begin daily racing in the annual Cowes Week (850 boats of all types/classes). Robbie Haines who was aboard Roy Disney's R/P 73 Pyewacket was quoted at the Royal Cork Yacht Club as being more than happy with the rating system to which Pyewacket was certainly not designed. The time has come for David Pedrick's committee to understand that IMS is neither good nor bad - just unnecessary.

AMERICA'S CUP
(Following are two excerpts from a story by Jeff Pelline posted on the CNET News.com website.)

* Oracle's CEO (Larry Ellison) is running another venture: AmericaOne, a sailboat that lost its America's Cup challenge last year. This time, the yachtie is replacing veteran sailor Paul Cayard, skipper and CEO of AmericaOne, as team leader. Cayard, a San Francisco native, is a six-time world champion and five-time America's Cup veteran. He began sailing in 1967.

* "AmericaOne has now agreed to transfer all of its assets to Larry Ellison, and Paul Cayard has agreed to be part of a new Ellison team," reads a letter to St. Francis Yacht Club members this month. "Paul will not be the leader of the team the way he was at AmericaOne. The new leader will be Larry."

The letter from Bruce Munro, commodore of the San Francisco-based yacht club, goes on to say: "The increased cost of an America's Cup challenge has made it almost impossible to be competitive without the kind of financial support that only a very few individuals can provide. I believe this is an unfortunate development for the America's Cup, but it is the reality of today's situation."

Ellison has deeper pockets than Cayard--but much less sailing experience.

Ellison joined the St. Francis Yacht Club just five years ago. Still, he is a "recognized yachtsman," as Munro put it, "having campaigned his boat Sayonara on the international yachting scene under our burgee." Ellison's most high-profile win was the 1998-1999 race from Sydney, Australia, to Hobart, Tasmania, which occurred in a deadly storm.

But the St. Francis Yacht Club remains upbeat: "The board of directors of your club are enthusiastic about the prospect of a new challenge under Larry Ellison's leadership." - Jeff Pelline, CNET News.com

Full story: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-2312725.html

NIPPON SAY SAYONARA TO THE AMERICA'S CUP
Nippon Challenge has been preparing itself for the 2003 Challenge since the end of the 30th America's Cup, yet has decided to renounce its challenge for the next event. It will, in turn, conceive a long-term project of grassroots activities to promote the America's Cup and sailing culture in Japan together with Japan Sailing Federation, and will wait for the right moment to return to the America's Cup society as one Challenger from Asia.

One reason for this decision is the financial difficulty. Although we have managed to gain sponsorship from numbers of corporations, organizations, and supporters regardless of the current economic recession in Japan, in reality, the amount reaches to less than half of the intended budget. Stemming from the fact that marine sports are not prevalent enough in Japan and the sailing population is small compared to other challenging nations, we feel that Japan as a country requires further understanding of what it means to participate in this world's greatest marine event, the America's Cup.

We have considered pursuing our Challenge with a minimal budget, simply to "persevere". However, the Challenge itself requires tremendous amount of energy. Rather than trying to achieve "raising of younger generation" and "realizing the Challenge program" with limited budget and human resources, we concluded that it is most desirable to prioritize the promotion of the sailing sport within Japan.

Nippon Challenge will postpone its challenge activities for the time being, but we are high in pride of being the First Challenger from Asia and have had launched three consecutive campaigns, all resulting as the Semi-Finalists of the Challenger Series. With the great support from corporations, organizations, and supporters, we feel that we have successfully left significant footsteps in the Japanese sailing world and marine culture for others to follow.

Nippon Challenge sees this postponement as a transition from one generation, which started in 1987, into a new generation. It is time to execute a long-term project for raising younger generation with the knowledge and experience that we have accumulated in the past 12 years. It is now our obligation to create an environment where young emerging talents may fully explore their potential, together with the veterans who have had their opportunity. - Nippon Challenge

MORE AMERICA'S CUP
(John Roberson interviewed Bertrand Pace, the current leader of the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour, for Quokka Sports. Here are two excerpts about the America's Cup from that report.)

* Though he's playing his cards close to his chest as far as his America's Cup future is concerned, there are various pointers as to where he won't be. "I think the chance of me sailing for France in the next America's Cup is small," he commented. "I think it will be a bit difficult, because in France we are not sure that we get the money. We expected to sign a month ago, and we have not signed."

* Pace admits to having three strong offers, but says he won't make a decision until September. "I am a free agent, so I will wait for propositions. I have got some, so at the moment I am just talking."

While discussing the game of musical chairs that Cup personnel are now playing - in particular, where designers would end up - Pace revealed a surprising gem of information. He said that Bravo Espana was one of the fastest boats in Auckland, and he rated Rolf Vrolijk very highly as an America's Cup designer. "It was definitely faster than AmericaOne," said Pace, referring to Paul Cayard's Louis Vuitton Cup runner-up. It's believed that Vrolijk might be invited to join the design team of Ernesto Bertarelli's Swiss challenge, featuring Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth. - John Roberson for Quokka Sports.

Full story: http://sailing.quokka.com/stories/07/SLQ__0721_s_pace_WFC.html

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J/24 NAs
Kingston, Ontario - (44 boats - 11 races) - Final results: 1. HEALY, T (36) 2. ZALESKI, (57) 3. WOLFS, (58) 4. EIFFERT, G (87) 5. BROWN, K (105) - Complete Results: http://www.cork.org/J24.HTM

THISTLE ATLANTIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Cedar Point Yacht Club - Thirty-four sailors braved horrific weather forecasts and arrived Saturday morning at the club to find rain and a strong southeasterly breeze. The anemometer in the club was reading 20-25, but there were reports of 30-knot gusts and six-foot waves out on the open water. Race Committee Ted Fontelieu prudently chose to postpone the start for a couple hours. By 12:30, the winds had died to 15 with gusts to 20 and the skies lifted. We launched boats and headed out onto Long Island Sound.

Sunday's weather defeated the forecast of rain and thunderstorms, providing us with a light easterly breeze with a strong opposing current. The wind built throughout the day until every boat had three on the rail and some were depowering their sails.

Final result: 1. Mike Ingham (16), 2. Brad Thompson (16) 3. Dave Rosow (23), 4. Eric Gesner (23) 5.Eric Goethert (27). - http://www.thistleclass.com

FINN NAs
Toronto Canada, ISAF President Paul Henderson finished 8th overall and 3rd Veteran at the Finn North American Championships. The best six of seven race series was sailed over three days on Lake Ontario from the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. Winning the series was Canadian Olympic representative, Richard Clarke and American Olympic representative, Russ Silvestri from San Francisco finished second. Henderson, who represented Canada in the Finn Class at the 1968 Olympics in Acapulco, Mexico, was happy with the light conditions. "I am glad the winds didn't get over 10 knots," commented Paul after racing. "At least when it's light, cunning has a chance over brute strength." - Pat Healy

NEW TOYS
Oscar Krinsky of Long Beach, California has bought the 1D48 Leading Edge and will have it in Southern California in time for the Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race. This is the third 1D48 to be transplanted in SoCal. Krinsky previously campaigned an IOR 50 (the former Springbok) and a Schock 35, all named Chaya.

OUTTA HERE
For the next few days the curmudgeon will be aboard 'Rockin' Chair' - swinging on a mooring at Howland's Landing at Catalina Island. It appears that well respected international yachting journalist Bob Fisher will be putting out Scuttlebutt while I'm gone. I will be back in time to put out an issue of 'Butt this coming Friday, but in the mean time, you're in good hands. Adios.

THE CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain