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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 703 - December 5, 2000AMERICA'S CUPThe Swiss Challenge for the 31st America's Cup has been validated by the America's Cup Arbitration Panel. The decision was released today by Sir David Tompkins on behalf of the five man international panel. The panel had been asked by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Swiss yacht club, the Societe Nautique de Geneve, to ratify the validity of the challenge. The RNZYS had also sought an interpretation of the Deed of Gift. "The Panel will deliver its reasons for its decision, and its decisions on other matters raised in the application, in due course," said Sir David Tompkins in a brief written statement. The decision has been welcomed by Peter Taylor, the Commodore of the RNZYS, who says the Swiss Challenge has now been accepted. The RNZYS as the current holder and trustee of the America's Cup, is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Deed of Gift which governs all matters relating to the historic event. - Peter Taylor, Commodore, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron OPEN 30 CLASS Over the past two months a group of like minded individuals have come together using the Internet as a virtual conference room to form the Open 30 Class. This group, which include designers, builders, sailmakers and sailors, believe there is a real need for a class of offshore racer that is bigger than the 6.5 mini's yet not as expensive as the Open 40s and 50s. The overall concept behind the Open 30 Class is "Fast and Free." It is the intention of the Open 30 Class to create fast new innovative designs for the new millenium with the ability to be free to choose the designer, builder and material, without many of the restrictions that are currently dominating the sport of sailing. The objective behind the Open 30 Rule is to encourage shorthanded offshore and inshore racing on small moderately priced monohull raceboats. The rules are also intended to promote the research and development of performance oriented sailboats. One of the primary goals of the Open 30 Class is to emphasize seamanship, safety at sea, and solidarity between competitors. The Open 30 Rule arose from a sincere effort to design and develop the ultimate 30 foot sailboat with international appeal. The versatile nature of the Open 30 will generate widespread access to this new and exciting Class, whether it's a sponsored campaign or a grass roots effort. Basic Dimensions: * Maximum LOA = 9.144m (30ft) * Bmax = 3.5m (11.48ft) * Max Draft = 2.5m (8.2ft) * Average Freeboard = 0.90m (2.95ft) * DSPL = No minimum displacement * Bottom of keel to the top of the highest sail = 17.5m (57.41ft) * Materials - No material with a density greater than lead is allowed * Grandfather clause for existing 30ft designs that fit within the stability requirements For more information: www.open30.org EXPERIENCE COUNTS For over 28 years Sailing Supply has helped the best sailors in the world prepare for big events. Having a very experienced staff helps. This year alone our staff has won the Etchells 22 world championship, Key West, SORC, Big Boat Series, Santana 20 Nationals, Volvo Inshore Championship, SD Yachting Cup, plus many more local regattas. Our staff is on the water, year round, trying new products and rigging ideas. Please give us a call and let us help you rig your boat to win. 1-800-532-3831 or visit our website at www.sailingsupply.com WORRELL 1000 - Report from Mike Worrell Based on the number of registered entries and team efforts underway but not yet entered there will most likely be well over 30 teams on the starting line in May 2001. There are serious efforts underway in South Africa, Australia, Germany, the UK and probably 10 or so teams here in the states. In fact, in the past two weeks I've received email from current world champions in Europe and the South Pacific. Hardly a day goes by that I don't receive an email or phone call from someone who has been working for months on a team and are just now contacting me. The largest number of teams on the starting line was 1998 when 21 started and seven finished. (http://www.worrell1000.com) ESPN Worrell 1000 coverage will air on Gary Jobson's "2000 International Year in Sailing" on ESPN-2 at 1pm, Saturday, December 30 and again at 2pm, Thursday, January 11, 2001 on ESPN. (http://jobson.softstone.net/tvsched.html) Last year's Worrell 1000 seminar was so successful we have scheduled another in Virginia Beach for the weekend of January 13/14, 2001. This is a "don't miss" opportunity for anyone entered in the 2001 race, or considering a future effort, volunteering as a race official, or networking for a position with a team. Presentations will cover Rules, Inter 20 by Performance Catamarans representative, Sponsorship, Team Organization, Safety, US Coast Guard, Media, and others. Excellent opportunity for networking, meeting other teams, race officials staff and volunteers. No charge for registered teams (4 per team) $100 per person all others. A 434 page booklet (22 color pages) of newspaper and magazine reprints is now available. Video - Footage includes a 6-minute race promo and a 5:46 min 2000 race video. CD ROM - Same as the video. It looks like the Worrell 1000 will be well represented in THE RACE scheduled to start on December 31, 2000. To my knowledge there are 4 Worrell veterans participating. Randy Smyth (7 Worrells) is sailing with Cam Lewis (Worrell-1985), Tom Weaver (Pyacht/Worrell-2000) is on Playstation, and Rick Deppe (Pyacht/Worrell-2000) will be with Cam and Randy. - Mike Worrell, MWorrell@worrell1000.com, http://www.worrell1000.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) (Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) -- From Philippe Rogge (progge@glo.be) [edited heavily to our 250-word limit] - As an active sailor and (outgoing) Events Committee member I agree with Mark Reynolds that it would be good to get more active sailors involved. The biggest problem however is that it's difficult to get active, mostly full-time sailors to contribute. Their time (and budgets) is simply limited. One should also not just look at ISAF, but look at your own yacht club with its relatively lower entry barriers and its active sailing representation. ISAF has always been eager to get active sailors involved. Paul Henderson and his Executive (as well as the respective National Authorities) have in the recent past however been able to actively involve the likes of Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Michaela Ward in ISAF. My advice is to talk to your national Sailing Association and get them to nominate one or more of their active sailors to ISAF Committees. As they will find out, one is not always best served saying what you think to get your most important points across. Also, we all don't enjoy the luxury of proficiency in English and eloquency. And that's a second problem. There is some procedural skill, which takes a while (and patience) to master, which would also disqualify most newcomer world-class sailor from immediately being an effective committee member. And that's exactly what most of these (quote)'nice but clueless' gentlemen excel at. As long as they use that to steer and guide the rest of us towards the right goal, we have a winning combination of talents and skills. -- From Carol Newman Cronin (Cansail@aol.com) - Jeff Martin comments that at the ISAF annual meeting "There were no submissions for a mixed gender 470 class therefore this could not be considered." There were no submissions for women's fleet racing, either, because at the 1999 ISAF meeting match racing had been declared the women's keelboat discipline. The only submissions were to choose the equipment and number of crew. So why was fleet racing not only considered, but pushed through? -- From Peter O. Allen, Sr. (PQUORUM@aol.com) - Unfortunately, Mark Reynolds's report of the actions of the IOC's Events Committee (Butt 701) is a pretty good allegory for what goes on all the time in many corporations and government bodies. We honor those with experience, without ever considering that they may be out of touch with current events and current practice. It's also been called the Peter Principle, although I take umbrage with that label. For reference see "The Emperor's New Clothes" by HC Anderson. -- From Scott Ridgeway (yachtracer@lycos.com) - Exactly one year ago, the Pacific Cup Yacht Club was holding 90 entries for their July 2000 race to Hawaii . . . plus they had a handful of boats on their waiting list. 2001 is the year for the Transpac YC to hold their biennial July race to Hawaii. However, they have not even published a Notice of Race on their website, nor have they completed the rules for their highly-touted new Transpac 50 class. Go figure! MORE AMERICA'S CUP One of Australia's most experienced America's Cup yachtsmen, Grant Simmer, has been appointed the Design Coordinator for the Swiss challenge for the Cup in 2003. He was invited to join the syndicate by its skipper, two-time Cup winning helmsman Russell Coutts. The challenge is headed by Swiss pharmaceuticals company executive, Ernesto Bertarelli. While this new contract requires Simmer to move with his family from Sydney to the challenge headquarters near Lausanne, Switzerland, he will maintain his strong business association with the North Sails sailmaking operation in Australia. He will also continue to campaign on the international ocean racing circuit with Australian owners. Simmer, who was navigator for Australia II's historic America's Cup win in 1983, has been associated with four subsequent Cup campaigns. His role with the Swiss syndicate involves the overall management and coordination of the design and research functions for the hull, sails, spars, engineering, hardware and electronics. He will work with a highly talented design team which includes Rolf Vrolik as principal designer, Dirk Kramers, Manuel de Ruiz and Mike Schreiber. - excerpts from the Sailing Online website. Full story: http://www.sailing-online.com.au/welcome.cfm VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) and Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) have crossed the 40th parallel South, the threshold of the unforgiving Southern Oceans; the largest expanse of water in the world, where waves are born, take their force and spin round the earth relentlessly, without even the smallest mountain of land to break their power. Once the skippers have entered this vast sea, a privilege in itself, their lives are changed forever by the experience. To feel the boat under your very feet charging ahead in breath-taking movements for days at a time certainly marks you for life. And so Parlier and Desjoyeaux have arrived at the frontier: the wind is still manageable, 25 - 30 knots, and the swell not too long. In racing mode, the throttle has been opened up as they head full on into the heart of this Vendee Globe at speeds of a multihull. At an average of 18 knots, these two skippers are pacing out their lead. Further North, the other competitors haven't got into this wind yet and are sailing one octave higher. - http://www.vendeeglobe.com Standings at December 04 at 13:00 UT: 1. Aquitaine Innovations, Yves Parlier 2. PRB Michel Desjoyeaux (+94 miles) 3.Sill Matines & La Potagere, Roland Jourdain (+194m) 4. Kingfisher, Ellen MacArthur (+340m) 5. Active Wear, Marc Thiercelin (+344m). VOLVO OCEAN RACE * John Kostecki and the illbruck Challenge Volvo Ocean Race team arrived in Auckland, New Zealand Saturday after an exhilarating 3,270-mile training run from Fremantle, Australia. With a top speed of 30.6 knots and a peak 24-hour run of 414 miles, the fast ride through the rugged Southern Ocean provided a true test of the team, the sails, rig and equipment. "Sailing 12 days in 30 knots, that's when you get a really good test," said Kostecki after arriving in Auckland. "We achieved everything we wanted to and more. We had excellent wind until we got to New Zealand when we got gobbled up by high pressure and really light breeze. But for 3,000 miles we had great breeze." The Southern Ocean session offered the environment to learn lessons about sails, equipment and each other in preparing for the Volvo Ocean Race. "We were able to look at every single sail except one. We tested the mast, the deck hardware, a new winch design. We broke a lot of stuff but we were able to rally and keep racing - it was good to break it." Without the pressure of competition, the team had to set their own pace. "We were all pushing hard and sailing like it was a race. It was great to put the new guys under some pressure. The watch captains did a great job of pushing it. I rubbed both of my thumbs raw from steering so much as did Crusty (Mark Christensen) and Stu (Bannatyne)." With the many lessons learned, Kostecki said it is difficult to isolate the most valuable. "The biggest single thing? I'm really glad we did it. It's something I remember Paul Cayard (last Whitbread Race winner) told me: 'If I were to do it again, I would spend more time preparing in the Southern Ocean.' Kostecki agrees on the value of the Southern Ocean training. "This has been our biggest jump in the program. We have moved the program forward and are a step closer to being race ready." - Jane Eagleson, www.illbruck-pinta.com. * On Monday night local time, December 4th, ASSA ABLOY's training boat arrived in Sydney. The team, led by interim Skipper Mark Rudiger took 27 days to deliver the V.O. 60 training boat ASSA ABLOY Semcon R&D from Hong Kong. ASSA ABLOY's co-skipper and navigator for the Volvo Ocean Race, Mark Rudiger, was skipper of the training boat during the delivery from Hong Kong to Sydney. Light and predominantly Southerly winds meant the team arrived one week behind schedule. Despite this the delivery was extremely valuable for crew training, sail-testing and boat preparation. "This has been a very successful sail as we have learned a lot about the boat, the sails, systems, watches, nutrition and steering," said Mark Rudiger in Sydney. "These are the kind of things you can only really figure out by getting on the water, and sailing some serious miles. Now we are looking forward to implementing what we have just learned, and putting it into practice during the upcoming Sydney to Hobart Race. A lot of it is just getting familiar with sailing the most complex ocean racing machine ever created, and learning how to work together as team no matter how tough the conditions get." "After crossing the equator, our training crew of 11 sailors continued to battle the light airs and stagnant heat. With our deadline to get to Sydney looming, we had to put the pedal down on the diesel. But we finally picked up some wind and several large, intense squalls kept us busy reefing and doing quick headsail changes - good for practicing the crew work!" "Once below 20-degrees South latitude, the Easterlies finally filled in and we were able to start making some miles. We had one particularly great downwind sleigh ride ahead of an active front coming off the Australian coast. We were averaging 20 knots over the bottom with a little help from the southbound current! Shortly afterwards, a large dark cloud hit us just after we dropped the spinnaker in the black of night and we were immediately hit with 35-knots out of the South." SOLING UPDATE The recent Soling Class North American Championships were won using a new prototype spinnaker fabric. AIRX-650N is the latest addition to Bainbridge Internationals revolutionary range of spinnaker fabrics and sets new standards in one-design cloth technology. Having proven itself on the racetrack (AIRX-650N was also used by the 2nd and 3rd placed J24's at this years World Championships) production batches are now being made and will be available from your Sailmaker soon. For more details visit http://wwww.sailcloth.com RECOGNITION Did your yacht club run an outstanding multi-class regatta this year? Is there an exceptional person at your club who was responsible for making your fleet grow? US SAILING wants to hear about it. US SAILING, the National Governing Body for the Sport of Sailing encourages nominations for their One-Design Awards. The award categories are Service, Leadership, Club, Regatta, and Creativity; each highlights role models of creative leadership in one-design sailing. Deadline for nominations is December 31, 2000 - http://www.ussailing.org/odcc/award_nominations.htm THE RACE - By Jason Holtom 04 December 2000 18:16:00 GMT - Team Philips is sailing up the eastern side of Orkney, Scotland and will pass between Orkney and the Shetland Isles within the next two hours. She will then truly the North Atlantic swell. Stronger winds of up to 40 knots (Gale Force 8-9) are forecast this afternoon. The sea state is rough with a 4-5 metre swell. Once through the Shetland - Orkney gap this is likely to increase to approximately 7 metres. Team Philips set sail from Dartmouth, Devon at 1100 on Saturday 2nd December for sea trials. Fifty hours later she is off the North coast of Scotland. The intention now is to head in a north westerly direction until the winds which are currently from the South move round to the South East. Then Team Philips will start heading due West deeper into the Atlantic. Overnight the winds are expected to move round to the East when Team Philips will start heading further South. At this stage, the trials are delivering everything that we hoped of them with a mixture of light winds and some truly heavy weather in gale force conditions. Both crew and boat are performing superbly and everyone has been impressed by Team Philips in all conditions. "We wanted a stern test of Team Philips before setting off for the much more settled conditions of the Med, so we really have dived in with both feet by heading to 60 degrees North. It's wickedly windy and very rough, but we have grins from ear to ear. Team Philips is doing her job brilliantly." said Andy Hindley, Pete Goss' second in Command. - Jason Holtom, Sailsail website Full story: http://www.sailsail.com/news/news-article.asp?Articleid=2808 BOOK REVIEW My wife finished Rick Tomlinson's new book, 'Shooting H20' before I even started it. Huh? Barbara never reads sailing books, but she blazed through this one in less than two days. And her smile was as big as the Hollywood sign when she talked about it. Then I read the book and found out why. 'Shooting H20' looks like a magnificent coffee table book filled with gorgeous sailing photographs. It certainly is all of that, but it's also much more. It's a collaborative journey led by two top-drawer pros - sailor-photographer Rick Tomlinson and sailor-writer Mark Chisnell. The storyline is simple - it traces Tomlinson's career as a professional photographer - in words and in dramatic images. It follows him on four Whitbread Races, on sailboat races inshore and offshore from the Caribbean to the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean. But the book is about more than just racing sailboats. There are yachts, and lifeboats, monohulls and multihiulls. And there is an exceptional collection of wildlife images from both poles through the equator. You get up close and personal with leaping dolphins, broaching whales and feeding bears, and you even go inside of an Antarctic ice cave. It's a captivating journey with a happy ending. It's a journey I highly recommend taking. FACTOID The AC webcams in Auckland harbor are still active. To take a peak at what's going on: http://www.thepoint.co.nz/thepoint.htm THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers. |
