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SCUTTLEBUTT 3109 - Wednesday, June 9, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. WEBSITE: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com TWITTER: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt KINDLE: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/kindle RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Hall Spars and J Boats. 2010 STAR EUROPEAN CHAMPS UNDERWAY IN ITALY Viareggio, Italy (June 7, 2010) - 150 boats and crew from all around the world have converged on Viareggio, Italy, site of the 2010 Star European Championship and the largest Star event ever. Racing began June 7 and continues to June 13. After five days of tuning with coach Mark Ivey, Americans Andrew Campell and Brad Nichol were ready to go defend their new ranking: 6th in the world. By end of Day 2, Campbell and Nichol were in 20th place. From his blog, Campbell reports on the racing: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Race 1/Day 1: It's official, our buddies German team Polgar and Koy beat more teams today than any Star class team has ever beaten in the 99 year history of the class. More than 140 boats lumbered around the racetrack in just less than 2.5 hours today. At the starting line only a mile from the beach the seabreeze was a solid 8-11 knots but the further upwind away from shore we got the lighter the breeze became. 2.2 miles later it was a measly 4 knots and after 140+ boats cut through probably less wind than that. We rounded mark 1 in about 18th position but were able to slice and dice or way into a very solid position in the top ten. Race 2/Day 2: After a great start on what turned out to be the wrong side of the course, we ended up fighting for 20th around the first top mark. We broke into the teens only to be swallowed up by a group of boats as we drifted through the finish line 2 and 1/2 hours after we started at 2pm. Light seabreeze was again the name of the game. We waited for about an hour to start the race and even after the wait stumbled through two general recalls. Rumors were floating that a large number of boats were OCS in addition to the handful given the label. We'll take a 20 and move along happy, considering that some very top guys sailed the same 2.5 hours as us but instead have a 145th to show for it. Tomorrow has a better forecast, but we'll believe it when we see it. -- Read on: http://campbellsailing.com/ Event website: http://www.stareuropean2010.it/eng/ THREE IN A ROW FOR ALAN FIELD AT 2010 DETROIT NOOD Zenda, WI (June 8, 2010) - The 2010 Detroit NOOD has concluded, featuring the Melges 24 and Audi Melges 20. Taking its usual spot at the top of the attendance charts, the Melges 24 was the largest fleet in attendance with 18 competing teams traveling from as far away as California and some as close as Detroit itself. Lashing out at the fleet with a stellar performance, Alan Field on WTF won the title by a crushing 29 point margin. Field played the nine races with prowess scoring nothing less than a 1st, a 2nd or a 3rd with the exception of race 3 where he settled for an 8th place finish. He has now won the Detroit NOOD three years in a row and has fully deemed himself as the US team to beat. Fresh off a major win at the 2010 Texas Gulf Coast Championship, it's pretty obvious that Field and team are warmed up and ready to go as they set their sights on the 2010 Melges 24 U.S. National Championship title happening in Newport, R.I., June 25-27. A heated battle for second through the fourth positions raged between newly named USMCA Midwest District Governor Augie Hernandez on High Voltage, USMCA Vice President Paul Hulsey on Hoodlum Racing and veteran Melges 24 Champion Mike Dow on Flying Toaster. All finished overall respectively with Dan Wright on Maggie in fifth. In the Audi Melges 20 fleet, 2009 defending Detroit NOOD Champion Chuck Holzman on Flyer came on strong to win the highly contested division. With a clean string of firsts, seconds and thirds, a fourth in race six was his worst score. With only seven teams attending, Charleston Race Week Champion Michael Kiss on Bacio and especially, Eric Wynsma on Superfly proved to be his toughest competition. In the end, Kiss overtook for second overall and Wynsma settled in for third. -- Full story: http://www.melges.com/?p=news&id=1697 HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALL SPARS Hall Spars turns 30 today. We've built thousands of spars and miles of rigging, but one thing has never changed - our commitment to the highest quality and highest performance products possible. Hall's Seamless, mandrel-molded spars optimize weight and center of gravity and our Seamless Carbon Rigging with the airfoil shape reduces windage to the absolute minimum. The quality of our running rigging products is unparalleled and our service team is the best in the field. The Hall performance legacy has been thirty years in the making, but we're just getting started. Learn more at http://www.hallspars.com GUEST COMMENTARY Modern society seems to be obsessed with things large and grand. We celebrate the biggest, fastest, tallest, strongest, most expensive, and so forth. But sometimes good things come in small packages too. The large yacht clubs get plenty of attention, and deservedly so, because they have the means, facilities and personnel to host major events. Their place in sailing is important and assured, and in many cases they are the guardians of the yachting tradition. However, for every one of the large clubs there are a number of smaller ones with memberships just as dedicated and enthusiastic, mostly run by tireless volunteers. These clubs don't get the same billing in the yachting press, but they are an indispensable connection to the sport for the average sailor. Some clubs don't even have clubhouses or a physical plant of any sort, they exist as "paper" entities. One prime example in our area is the Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club, an organization that has prospered for over 30 years providing an extensive sailing program for minimal dues. It is all about the people. There are many examples of small clubs in harbors that do not have the population to support large fleets, yet their sailors are just as keen as the rest of us. Instead of bellying up to a mahogany bar after the race they might gather at a picnic table, but the war stories are the same. The same thing applies to the types of boats we sail. Some classes are well known and grab the headlines. If the boat has the name Melges or Farr attached to it, for example, chances are you will see the results well publicized. But there are many more sailors whose "yacht" is a 30 year old PHRF warrior, maybe not even designed as a true racer, but to that owner and crew it is the warhorse they can't wait to go to battle on every Wednesday night. So let's not get all wrapped up in the bigger is better thing, enjoy what we have, and respect our fellow sailors regardless of where they are from or what they sail. Excellent sailors are all around us, in boats of all descriptions, and in places large and small. -- Don Finkle, RCR Yachts, http://www.rcryachts.com/ HUGHES WINS CHICAGO OPEN B REGATTA Chicago, IL (June 7, 2010) - Reigning Canada's Cup champion Bob Hughes and his team of Torvar Mirsky, Michael Hestbaek‚ and Kyle Langford have claimed victory at the Chicago Match Race Center's (CMRC) Chicago Open "B" Regatta. This ISAF Grade 3 event was the second of two held here over 4-7 June, with eight teams competing in each. Over the weekend, US Virgin Islander Taylor Canfield, recently crowned Collegiate National Champion, and his crew of Charlie Enright, Matt Clark, and Tod Reynolds won the CMRC Chicago Open A Regatta losing only one match in two days of competition. Being an active and successful competitor in classes such as Melges 24's, 1D35's, Farr 40's, and Melges 32's, Hughes, from Ada, MI, is accustomed to tough competition. But his 5th place finish in the Chicago Open "A" Regatta was disappointing to him, prompting him to explain that the first three days were a process of "getting the rust out" after a long hiatus of competitive sailing. No better way to do that then with the help of last year's runner-up in the World Match Race Tour, Australian Torvar Mirsky and his team member Kyle Langford, who helped Hughes climb the learning curve in the TOM 28's used in the "B" Regatta. Hughes was he first to defeat the previously undefeated Taylor Canfield who had been on fire with 10 straight victories behind him. -- Read on: http://www.chicagomatchrace.com/PressRelease/article.asp?p=10040 WINDSURFING EXTRAVAGANZA What's it like when hundreds - maybe thousands - of windsurfers converge on San Francisco Bay and all go Windsurfing at the same time? We are going to find out this Saturday June 12th! Windsurfing Magazine, in conjunction with San Francisco Boardsailing Association, has been working to put on an event slightly inspired by the Le Defi Wind Event in France and it's going to be amazing! The idea is make a call to arms to windsurfers everywhere to come sail and party together at the same time in order to create photo-op that is an enormous spectacle on San Francisco Bay. Windsurfing Magazine editor Josh Sampiero has arranged for a helicopter, sporting a pro photographer, to go airborne to capture the events images from various locations around The Bay. The SF Bay day goes off the same day as the Ronstan Bay Challenge Kiteboard and Windsurfing long distance race centered at Crissy Field so the action on the water will be rocking! -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/28ccha7 FORGET VERSUS AND ESPN: THE FUTURE OF BROADCAST SAILING IS ONLINE By Tim Zimmerman I don't usually pay much attention to the sailing world's endless navel-gazing about how to make sailing more attractive to a wider audience ("What we really need is yachts that sail at 90 knots and blow up when they cross the finish line!"), or how to Save Sailing. I don't really give a damn about trying to appeal to disinterested, video-obsessed teens or NASCAR motorheads, particularly if it means turning the sport inside out or groveling before the Great Gods of TV. I love to sail. I know lots of other people who love to sail (including kids). So we sail. And I feel pretty confident that sailing's essence, teamwork, the outdoors, mastering wind and weather, is appealing enough to keep a sufficient number of people coming out on the water, so I can sail with them and against them. But I do care about my options, and the quality, when it comes to following and viewing sailing, from the America's Cup to the Moth World Championships, say, that I myself am not lucky enough, or good enough, to be doing. And despite all the pessimism about sailing's future that somehow manages to penetrate my cocoon of indifference, I am quite certain that we are in fact on the cusp of a Golden Age of Viewing. It starts with abandoning the idea that sailing will ever really work on TV (at least in America). The weather is too unpredictable, and racing is simply too complex for the average viewer. Listening to television dumb it down for a mass audience often has me whimpering with pain. We are a complicated, niche sport. Get over it. The BASE jumpers don't whine about whether they are a television sport. They just go out and make incredible videos. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2anpljw 2010 J/80 WORLDS - SPECIAL FLEET PROGRAM Twelve of the top international J/80 teams, including several J/80 World Champions, will be racing brand new 2011 model J/80s in the J/80 Worlds in Newport, RI on October 3-8. The boats will then be available on a special one-time package program through the J Network. Please visit http://www.jboats.com/j80 for all the details. SAILING SHORTS * Tallinn, Estonia (June 8, 2010) - Tuesday bought the raciest sailing conditions so far to Pirita in Tallinn where the European Championships & Trophy 2010 are being held for Laser Standard and Laser Radial. Wind was blowing from the shore at 16-24 knots throughout the day, gusty and shifty. Two-time Laser Standard world champion Tom Slingsby from Australia was enjoying the challenging conditions in Pirita, achieving a third and a first place in his group races, making him the overall new leader. American Paige Railey sits in 10th place after Day 2. Racing continues through June 11. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/23pkmsx * John Ruf, current 2.4 meter world champion and 2008 US Paralympic bronze medalist won the US National Championship sailed at Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT this past weekend. Over 3 days of racing conditions varied from 3-5 knot south-easterlies to 12-18 knot south-westerlies with strong ebb current. In winning the US National Championship, John was awarded the Nick Scandone Trophy which the US 2.4 meter class introduced last year to honor Nick's accomplishments as a former 2.4 world and US National Champion. Full results: http://tinyurl.com/27gze38 * Gyeonggi, Korea (June 8, 2010) - Skippers are gearing up for tomorrow's Korea Match Cup opening ceremony, which will see 3,000 guests attending the celebration for the first day of Korea's biggest sporting event, Stage 3 of the World Match Racing Tour. The Tour also parallels with the start of Korea's largest marine industry event, the 3rd Korea International Boat Show. Racing runs through June 13. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/28e6rfs * Detroit, MI (June 7, 2010) - A Ferndale man's death following a bizarre accident Saturday at the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, which hosted the 2010 Detroit NOOD regatta over the weekend, has been ruled an accidental drowning by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. Mike Badendieck, 44, suffered multiple injuries aside from the drowning, but officials said it wasn't clear if he sustained those injuries when a 68-year old SUV driver suffered a stroke and jumped a curb at the club Saturday night. -- Full story: http://www.freep.com/article/201006071546/NEWS01/100607050 EIGHT BELLS Michael Worrell passed away June 5, 2010 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 67. He was, among many things, a son, a brother, entrepreneur, adventurer, and great friend. Most of all Mike was a loving husband and father. He was born in South Norfolk but spent his adult life in Virginia Beach where he and his brother Chris were lifeguards and innovative restaurant owners. They were best known for the popular restaurant Worrell Brothers. Michael was also the founder of Worrell's Steamed Shrimp. Sailing was his passion. He was the founder and director of the "Worrell 1000," a 1000- mile ocean race for small catamarans that stretched from Miami to Virginia Beach. The sailing world recognized this event as one of the most grueling races ever organized. It was immortalized in a National Geographic documentary that drew the attention of every major sailing publication around the globe. Michael also proudly served in the U.S. Coast Guard. Michael is survived by his wife of 10 years, Mendy, and adult children, Barron and Elizabeth of Virginia Beach. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, June 9, at 4 p.m. in Spring Branch Community Church, 1500 N. Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach. -- Obituary at: http://tinyurl.com/3xgqnlb LETTERS AND FORUM Please email 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 Jim Katz and Atmo Zakes (re, Scuttlebutt 3108): Are you crazier than usual? You want to argue for LESS sailing? We were in heaven being able to have a late night snack or early breakfast in bed and watch sailing with the erudite commentary provided, and sometimes call in late for work not to miss the whole show. Due to my own lack of technical sophistication, it took me most of the regatta to try out all the various interactive elements of the website, and to scare up four computers to have all feeds and back stories accessible and covered at once. I had a riot of a time and would not have given up a second. If it had gone on for another week I would have worked out a system of fans strong enough to tear holes in the bedsheets and dump a bucket of salt water over us at random intervals for virtual reality! Thanks for keeping us up to date on all things sailing. * From Candace Porter, (re, Scuttlebutt 3106, edited to the 250 word limit): A correction on the two women in charge of the ICSA Collegiate Nationals - the event was chaired by Wisconsin sailors Carrie Bargren (South Shore Yacht Club) and Christine Porter (Lake Beulah Yacht Club). Both Carrie and Christine were involved in the three years prior to the event that culminated in the purchase of 12 new boats for Wisco with the additional 6 boats purchased by Notre Dame. Thanks to Terry Kohler and North Sails for a $10,000 cash donation plus the donation of 18 new sets of sails to allow all new equipment for the event. In addition, the Inland Lake Yachting Association members gave $21,000 in cash plus the loan of 18 inflatables to run the event. Summerset Marine of Oconomowoc donated a beautiful 23 ft inflatable for 12 of the boats' rotation use along with a new Harken blue boat for the remaining six teams requiring rotation. Thanks to Buddy Melges who was keynote speaker for the Co-ed portion of the event. Anna Tunnicliffe led a women's two-day clinic and spoke movingly at the Women's Clinic. Keynote speaker at the banquet was Peter Harken, who regaled the Team Racing sailors with a speech full of Harken humor. Full credit goes to the Wisco team who all arrived each day at 6:45 AM to rig boats and launch the required inflatables and left most evenings at 8:00 after gassing the boats, mooring the inflatables and de-rigging all the boats. * From Toby Cooper, Menlo Park, Calif (re, Scuttlebutt 3108): Dan Knox and others have got it wrong when they shove a negative spin on the chances of San Francisco pulling off an AC bid, not to mention the AC itself. First, there is tremendous unanimity behind the project. Supporters include the Mayor (who immediately gave Ellison the proverbial Key to the City), the Board of Supervisors, the Port Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, the Recreation and Parks Commission, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and (I believe) the Coast Guard and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Second, the examples of failure Knox cites, the Presidio and Treasure Island, are more totally open-ended questions (OK, folks, what do we do with this property), and the Bay Bridge of course is not a project of the City. Third, don't underestimate the B-factor when big bucks billionaires get involved in a public project. Maybe we remember 1986 when a then-youthful Donald Trump stepped in to renovate the NY Central Park skating rink "ahead of schedule and under budget" as he was fond of boasting, after NYC had spent about 6 years and 12 million dollars fumbling and failing to get it done, and a year later reported a profit. I for one am rooting for SF to win the bid, admittedly an Olympics-type crapshoot, and if successful, staging a world class event in a world class sailing venue. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION I don't have an attitude; I have a personality you can't handle. Special thanks to Hall Spars and J Boats. 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