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SCUTTLEBUTT 2361 - June 8, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). THE BATTLE FOR EUROPE (June 7, 2007) Some sore heads in the Kiwi camp this morning, as it seems like the Kiwi camp partied long and hard last night! Such was the release of pressure yesterday in the Kiwi team as the champagne corks started popping, it was almost as though they’d won the America’s Cup itself. One of the senior management team commented at the team barbecue last night that they’d done the job they came here to do. What? Surely the job is only half done? Yes, the Kiwis had a right to party after winning the Louis Vuitton, but the real job has yet to begin. Hopefully a gap of two and a half weeks before the America’s Cup is enough to reset Kiwi ambitions for the Cup, and put victory in the Louis Vuitton Cup into perspective. Meanwhile, the Kiwis must be beginning to wonder if they’ve got any fans in the world outside of the North and South Islands. A couple of days ago Desafio Espanol went out training with Alinghi. Let’s not forget that the Spanish have given the Kiwis their toughest challenge to date, holding them to 5-2 in the Semi Finals, with a boat – ESP 97 - that some pundits believe is the fastest design of any challenger team. On Thursday, the vanquished Luna Rossa team put out this announcement: “Being the only semi-finalist still working here in Valencia to not have raced against Alinghi, after they raced Emirates Team New Zealand two days before the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals and also against the Spanish Team during the Finals, Luna Rossa will race the America's Cup defender Alinghi on Friday.” -- Andy Rice, SailJuice, read on: http://sailjuice.blogspot.com/2007/06/battle-for-europe.html America’s Cup Match (first team to win 5 races in the 9 race series) Challenger: Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 0 Defender: Alinghi (SUI) _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 0 * Race schedule: Racing begins Saturday, June 23rd, with the second race on Sunday before the first rest day on Monday. -- Complete schedule: http://www.americascup.com/en/americascup/program/calendrier.php * Steel balls: If you have heard the reference “steel balls” during a starting sequence, it relates a highly dangerous dial-up escape move. Tom Ehman takes a stab at describing the tools needed on the BOR blog: http://blog.bmworacleracing.com/stories/3317639 * Security risk: It is reported that the Basque separatist group ETA may try to attack the Americas Cup event. After ETA said its terrorist campaign would resume 'on all fronts', security at the America's Cup venue was reinforced. Lengthy traffic jams built up outside Valencia's Port America's Cup as police officers carried out car by car searches and foot spectators were subjected to bag checks at the gates equipped with metal detectors and x-ray machines. -- http://www.cupineurope.com/NewsEN/2007/ValenceNews.htm REWARDING THE BOSS Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson said it was nice to be able to reward the team's hard working boss Grant Dalton with a dominant performance against Luna Rossa and a place in the America's Cup match. Dalton was called in to take over Team New Zealand following the disastrous 2003 defence. Four years later the round-the-world yacht race veteran has gone a long way towards restoring the nation's pride in yachting. "I think you have to realise that this programme would not exist without Dalts," Hutchinson said. "Everything that he has done for the team. It is nice to be able to reward him in the manner that we did. He has worked the hardest out of everybody without question." -- NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=531&objectid=10444136 VERSUS IS LISTENING From John Wilson, Versus, America’s Cup show producer: “Hi Craig: Entertaining stuff on your feedback board. Some insightful and some taken with a grain of salt. We are striving to make improvements for the Cup, some with sailors in mind, but more with the hopes of reaching out to a larger audience. To date the passionate sailors who are watching have not justified the investment that Versus has made. Our hope of continuing to do this is to draw in a larger audience. Because of that we make choices that many sailors will disapprove of and disagree with. I will keep reading, thinking, and laughing. Interesting that the most negative, non-constructive comments come without identification. I'm glad it's not a ‘pick your favorite producer’ poll.” As you can see, the Versus team is continuing to tune the product, and they are listening to what the Scuttlebutt community has to say. The America’s Cup match begins June 23, so there is another 2+ weeks for them to raise the bar further. Please use the feedback page that Scuttlebutt has created to vote for your favorite commentator, and to provide the ‘suits’ with constructive input: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/07/0606 EMERGING TALENT Just over five weeks remain until the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship brings the sailing stars of the future to Canada from 12-21 July. As well as the seven Youth World titles up for grabs, the inter-nation competition is set to be as fierce as ever as Italy defend the Volvo Trophy. In Weymouth in 2006, Italy made history by becoming only the fifth nation to lift the Volvo Trophy. “It’s a reward for all our efforts,” declared Italian coach, Filippo Maretti. “We are so happy for all of our sailing team and for the strength it will give sailing in Italy in the future.” Inaugurated at the 1991 Youth Worlds in Largs and initially called the Nations Cup, the trophy is awarded to the best performing nation at the Youth Worlds. It was first won by France, a victory they have repeated on eight occasions since then. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j62FnAA/B&format=popup J/65 COMING TO RHODE ISLAND Coming to Rhode Island this summer for showings is the J/65 hull #2 “Brand New Day”. The “flag ship” of J Boats displays exceptional performance under non-overlapping headsails, double-handed ease of operation, minimum on-deck maintenance, luxurious accommodations, and stunning aesthetics. To set-up an appointment to see the J/65, call Jeff Brown on his cell at 619-709-0697. To take a virtual tour of the boat, click on the following link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7922479841303055047&hl=en OLYMPIC UPDATE: EUROPEAN CHAMPS * Laser Europeans, Hyeres, France: (June 7, 2007) Two attempts to get off a race in extremely light winds were wisely abandoned after three legs. With the event ending Friday, it looks like this championship is coming to a grinding halt unless the weather picture improves overnight. However, more of the same is predicted for the final day of the regatta. In the 155-boat senior division, Aussie Tom Slingsby is in first while Canadian Michael Leigh remains the top North American in third; in the 103-boat youth division, Kyle Rogachenko (USA) holds the top continental slot in eighth place overall. -- Brad Funk, complete results: http://coych.nikopo.com/?page=affnews * Finn Europeans, Lake Balaton, Hungary: (June 7, 2007) On waking Thursday morning, most sailors were hoping for at least one race to be sailed in order to make a championship, but on arriving at the club, they found a healthy 5-7 knot breeze in place from the north-west with clear blue skies, which meant that two races were sailed and a drop could be counted. With now five races completed, Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) grabbed a slim lead on the fleet by winning the second race of the day, with American Andrew Casey moving up to 8th overall and the top North American entrant. Racing continues through Saturday. -- Robert Deaves, full results: http://www.spartacus.hu/hun/hirek/versenyeredmenyek/doc/finn_eb_results.htm * 470 Europeans, Thessaloniki, Greece: (June 7, 2007) With un-sailable conditions since Monday, the fleet today got in three races to complete the 6-race qualifying series. In the 92-boat men’s fleet, Alvaro Marinho/ Miguel Nunes (POR) are in first with all top-ten finishes, while the top North American team in 7th is Stu McNay/ Graham Biehl (USA), moving up in the scores by rolling a 5-8-1 today and dropping an OCS as their throw-out. In the 48-boat women’s fleet, Stefanie Rottweiler/ Vivien Kussatz (GER) won the last race to take the lead, with Amanda Clark/ Sarah Merghenthaler (USA) staying in the top-ten today to hold down 15th place. Racing continues through Sunday. -- Event website: http://www.ncth.gr/470 VIDEO OF THE WEEK On the occasion of it being 40 years since man first went Windsurfing, we introduce to you a scan of the original drawings of the first windsurfing board by Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer and precious video footage of Man's first step on board, shot in Marina del Rey, CA. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0604 POOR MAN’S OLYMPICS If you are a city that would like to bid on hosting a huge sailing event, and the Olympics is a bit more than you want to take on, the Volvo Ocean Race route doesn’t pass by your port, and you are not in the America’s Cup game, it is starting to look like the ISAF Sailing World Championships is the next rung on the ladder. First run a year before the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the event gained significant prominence in 2003 when hosted by Cadiz, Spain, where 71 nations participated with 993 boats and 1472 sailors, and 450 journalists attended. The four-year cycle for the Worlds has remained, and with it being held in the year prior to the Olympics, the event is widely used for determining which countries and sailors will be attending the Games. In 2007, all the top Olympic sailors will be in Cascais, Portugal for the ISAF Worlds to be held June 28-July 13. As for the next event in 2011, it appears to be “game on” for the cities hungry for a piece of the pie. Already, Scuttlebutt editors have received bid notifications from a group in Perth, Western Australia and in Kiel, Germany. This event brings significant revenue to the host city, but is hugely expensive to run, and likely can only be done with considerable government funding. When you play on this level, you need public support on your side. So if you haven’t yet announced your intention to bid for the 2011 gig, it’s time to get on your horse, as your Google ranking is already behind two other towns. -- Scuttleblog, http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2007/06/poor-mans-olympics.html TEAM NEW ENGLAND ROPES HEADS TO BIRW New England Ropes and Team NER will travel to Block Island, RI for the 22nd Storm Trysail Block Island Race Week. The week will bring together top sailors from around the country to compete for top honors and bragging rights. Look for our on-site partners, Florida Rigging and Hall Spars, for all of your cordage needs. For more information on the extensive line of racing products by New England Ropes, visit on-line at http://www.neropes.com COLLEGE SAILING COMMENTARY Following the comments regarding the new format for qualifying for the college dinghy nationals, the primary purpose of College sailing, per the By-Laws, is "The instruction, training and education of students in colleges and other institutions of higher education in North America in seamanship, safety and the skills and techniques of sailboat racing in intersectional, national and international intercollegiate competition." It has excelled at this, along with High School sailing, by using a good model of short races in slow, stable, and relatively inexpensive boats. Now, by using a semi final system (for nationals qualifying, and attempting to eliminate weaker teams from the National Championship, can we assume that college sailing is trying to raise the caliber of sailors? This seems to fall into (purpose 6) "By means of the foregoing activities, the identifying, developing and training of potential representatives for U.S. Sailing events, Olympic, Pan American and other international competition." If this is the case, will we see college sailing begin to focus on Purpose 6, throughout the school year? If this is the case, sailing higher performance and higher skilled boats would follow. If so, what kinds of boats will be used? Will we see 29ers, International 420's (can't use 470's or Snipes because of a procedural rule limiting the boats to 15 feet), and other high boats in college sailing? This would be good for the US results in international competition, but would completely take smaller, under-funded schools out of the running for all Nationals as they will not be able to afford fleets to practice in let alone compete in. I guess I leave it with this; you can't have it both ways. Either you promote sailing for everyone and give each district a spot at Nationals, sail the same forgiving boats, or you raise the entire level and aspect of college sailing and use it as a platform to enhance upper-level sailing with higher performance boats etc. If it is the later, which seems to be the case, I would imagine the MCSA will continue to sail their 420's, FJ's etc, and not bother coming out to compete at a semi-final regatta. -- Kevin A. Teborek => Curmudgeon’s Comment: This post is in the College Sailing Forum, where additional comments can be made or new threads added (no log-in required) - http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/college SAILING SHORTS * Thanks to Atlantis WeatherGear, the Scuttlebutt Forum has been hosting a thread for Father’s Day. All letters submitted by 12pm PT on Friday, June 8th are eligible to win an Atlantis WeatherGear Grand Prix vest. Post your letter here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/07/FD * The 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race has decided to introduce high definition television (HDTV) feeds as part of its upgraded broadcast coverage for the event. The result will mean enhanced picture quality and an opportunity to engage world-wide broadcasters looking to fill their schedules with HDTV material. The 2005-06 race attracted a cumulative global television audience of 1.8 billion. According to Harold Anderson, Executive Producer of the Volvo Ocean Race, the advent of HDTV will swell that number as HDTV broadcasters seek compelling content. -- http://tinyurl.com/3bbgkl * In an effort to recognize the hard work and dedication of individuals, volunteer groups and government agencies who help keep our waterways clean, the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has awarded its first Environmental Leadership Award to H.P. Sandy Purdon, founder of the “Clean Marinas California Program.” Purdon was presented with the award recently at a California Boating and Waterways Commission meeting held in Dana Point, CA. The BoatUS honor included a $1,000 award to help continue his efforts. -- Full report: http://www.boatus.com/news/releases/2007/june/sandy.asp * This week’ Volvo Sailing Podcast will look at Team New Zealand's stunning victory in the Louis Vuitton Cup, with commentary from key ETNZ team members and Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth. Also this week, John Kostecki discusses his current projects, specifically looking ahead to the TP52 season. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/podcast * Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy (June 7, 2007) Three more races, three more winners and all change at the top of the leaderboard after another tough day at the office for the 21 crews competing for the Rolex Farr 40 Europeans. With 8 knots of breeze, only two boats in the fleet kept all three finishes in the top ten today, while Lang & Sue Walker's Kokomo from Australia stole into the overall lead posting scores of 5, 12 and 1. -- Full report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1630&lang=1 * North U instructor and Seahorse magazine USA editor Dobbs Davis will be joining singlehander Joe Harris onboard the Open 50 Gryphon Solo for the Bermuda 1-2 race that starts on June 9th from Newport, RI. Harris will do the singlehanded first leg to Bermuda, and Davis will join him for the double-handed return trip starting June 22nd from St George, Bermuda. There are 43 boats competing, including 8 Open 6.5 Minis. -- http://www.bermuda1-2.org ‘BUTTHEADS WIN THE AMERICA’S CUP Regardless of which team wins the America’s Cup, their key components will have one thing in common… Scuttlebutt. • Alinghi: North Sails, Harken winch systems, and Hall Spars • ETNZ: North Sails, Harken winch systems, and Southern Spars Scuttlebutt thanks these equipment suppliers for choosing this publication to promote their products and services. Advertising opportunities are limited in Scuttlebutt, and in the realm of online advertising, these companies are full-time ‘buttheads. Available ad dates in Scuttlebutt are nearly sold out for 2007 (and it is only June), and bookings are already occurring for 2008. If you are a company interested in aligning yourself with the leading provider of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, and features in North America, contact mailto:advertising@sailingscuttlebutt.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Jim Thompson, Atlanta, GA: My wife & I just returned from Valencia, which was our fourth time attending the event (1992 & 1995 in San Diego and 2003 in Auckland), and this venue is the most user-friendly for race viewing of them all. It was about a fifteen-minute ride out to the course for the spectator fleet. The AC port is set up really well. Hopefully the service people and systems will not be overwhelmed when the "Auld Mug" is finally contested. We were on the water for both of the Spanish team’s wins over the Kiwi's. Needless to say, it was a happy city on those nights. We give a hearty "Well Done" to Valencia. * From Rick Best: So BMW Oracle was beaten 5-1 by Luna Rossa, and ETNZ took Luna Rossa in five straight races. The last boat to get a piece of ETNZ was the Spanish team, which took two races off of them before ETNZ was able to collect five and move on. Does that mean the Spanish could have beaten BMW Oracle? * From Marc Jacobi: (regarding a report in Issue 2360 about the first circumnavigation by a gay couple) Sorry Larry and Ken, but while an accomplishment, yours is most definitely *not* the first circumnavigation by a gay couple. I personally know of another who did one in the late 80s-early 90s on a Panda 40, starting and finishing in San Diego. Certainly there have been many others before and since! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You might be a sailing bum if your vacation plans center around World Championships. Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises and New England Ropes. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
