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SCUTTLEBUTT 1439 - October 20, 2003
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SHARK BITES!
St. Francis YC, San Francisco, CA - Fourteen year old Samuel "Shark" Kahn
sailed into the record books becoming the youngest person ever to win a
Melges 24 World title and probably the youngest open international class
world champion as well.
The final race proved to be a real nail biter. Firstly the sea breeze was
late arriving putting John Craig's Race Committee under pressure to get a
race in before the 2pm cut off. By 1.30pm there was just enough wind from
295 degrees and after two recalls they started on the third attempt with
just minutes to spare. On all three starts Kahn and second placed Harry
Melges, helming for Jeff Ecklund, were match racing for position. Although
Melges got the better of the deal in the first two starts which were
recalled, he was bested by Kahn on the third.
Kahn seems a little bemused by his success and the enormity of his
achivement, but is keen to pay tribute to his crew of Team Captain Mark
"Crusty" Christensen, Tactician Richard Clarke, Spinnaker/Jib trimmer Brian
Hutchinson and Bow Brian Lee, Shark's 20 year old cousin who is also his
29er crew. Asked about the future he confirmed "I've got some more 29er
sailing coming up and I'm going to be doing the 505 Worlds and the Melges
Nationals which are both in Santa Cruz and long term I'm aiming to do a
49er Olympic campaign."
Kahn had the advantage of sailing with three of the World's top
professional sailors, but in a fleet of this calibre, which includes more
Olympic, America's Cup, one-design, Volvo and big-boat champions than you
can shake the proverbial stick at, this alone is not enough. Since making
his Melges 24 helming debut at Key West Race Week 2003 Kahn has spent more
than 60 days out on the water learning his craft in the Melges 24, many of
them on San Francisco Bay. Along side Shark's personal development he also
has the full support of his father - a big advantage when your father is
Philippe Kahn, the softwear mogul, and you get access to all the facilities
of his mighty Pegasus yacht racing organisation. - http://www.melges24.com/
Final results - 9 races with one discard (68 boats):
1. Pegasus 24-1 Samuel "Shark" Kahn, 20
2. Star, Harry Melges, 29
3. Full Throttle, Brian Porter, 44
4. Joe Fly, Luca Santella, 61
5. P&P Sailing Team, Phillipe Ligot, 66
6. Ebrex Logistic, Babbi Egidio, 78
7. USA399, Dave Ullman, 80
8. Black Seal, Jamie Lea, 95
9. Unprotected, Robert Greenhalgh, 100
10. Ian Cleaver, 108
LUTZ WINS J/80 WORLDS
Fort Worth Boat Club, Texas, USA - Jay Lutz never missed a beat during the
week and had four 1st place finishes and a final score of 32. Sailing with
the 2003 J/80 World Champion were Joe Taylor, Derek Gauger, and Alex
Crowell. Lutz said, "For us, we were lucky when we were well in the back to
be able to work our way back up and have good finishes and we were back
there plenty of times," Lutz said. "Our competitors struggled when they
were back in the cheap seats."
Final Results - 10 races with one discard (48 boats):
1. Jay Lutz, Perigee, 32
2. John Kolius, USA585, 51
3. Christer Faith-Ell, Swedeshipping, 53
4. Kerry Klingler, USA352,64
5. Scott Spurlin, Boomerang, 66
http://oemsites.com/OEM/oem.cfm?event_id=7
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HIGH SEAS ROBBERY
(Bruno Peyron, founder and organizer of The Race and current record holder
of The Jules Verne Trophy, responds to the announcement made by sailor
Tracy Edwards regarding the organization of two round the world races
directly inspired by The Race and The Race Tour concepts.)
Tracy Edwards has just announced that she will organize, in partnership
with Qatar, two round the world crewed sailboat races: the first in 2005,
without stop-overs and reserved for maxi multi-hulls; the second scheduled
for 2006 and open to both maxi multi-hulls ( over 100 feet) and maxi
mono-hulls ( over 110 feet ). These two projects are thinly disguised
copies of the concepts from The Race and The Race Tour, which were
imagined, conceived and developed by The Race Event.
Bruno Peyron: "I am astounded by the contempt, hypocrisy and especially the
dishonesty of the project's promoters. Tracy Edward's team regularly
attended all of the challengers meetings that we organized for The Race and
The Race Tour in Paris for two years with a view to her participation
therein. I am forced to acknowledge that these people, who had our complete
confidence, were provided all the benefit of our work, know how, data
bases, expertise, and our help, have taken advantage of all this in order
to launch theses events which, more than competing with our own, are a
virtual counterfeit of our ideas, concepts and our accumulated work for
over 10 years.
"I find this attitude no less than shocking, dishonest and unworthy of the
values that The Race has defended since its inception (openness, tolerance,
humanity, respect, exchange…). This project is all the more improper as it
was led without the slightest consultation with the principal challengers,
in the most suspicious secrecy and under the initiative of persons having
no prior competence in organizing international events of this dimension.
Moreover, in regards to the proposal to endow the Jules Verne Trophy with a
cash prize, Tracy Edward's team has launched this project without any prior
consultation with the founding members of the Jules Verne Trophy (including
me) and in contempt of the spirit of the association which owns the rights.
The association asserts its entire liberty with respect to sponsoring and
has always refused to associate a brand with the event!
"This behavior is completely irresponsible and inadmissible. Needless to
say, The Race Event, owner of The Race and The Race Tour events and related
intellectual property rights, reserves the right to pursue this matter by
all legal means available."
Full story: www.therace.org
COMMENTARY
French yachting impresario Bruno Peyron is considering legal action
following Tracy Edwards's announcement last week of a £38 million deal with
the Gulf state of Qatar for two new races in 2005 and 2006. Peyron is the
man who dreamt up the 'no limits, non-stop' concept of The Race, which
started on Dec 31 2000, spawning a new generation of giant multihulls.
Two weeks ago, he was forced to postpone The Race's follow-up due to start
next March. According to Peyron, Edwards's non-stop Oryx Cup, with its $1
million first prize, and the subsequent Qatar Sports Global Challenge "are
thinly disguised copies" of his own races. He believes that Edwards has
lured the owners of big boats - like Ellen MacArthur, Steve Fossett, Cam
Lewis and Olivier de Kersauson - from his events to hers. In reality, most,
including Edwards until last week's deal, were struggling to find
sponsorship for these expensive circumnavigation attempts. - Tim Jeffery,
The Daily Telegraph, http://tinyurl.com/rjec
NEWS BRIEFS
* US Sailing has named its first woman president: Janet C. Baxter of
Chicago, IL. Immediate past president Dave Rosekrans passed the helm to
Baxter at the organization's annual general meeting in St. Louis Sunday.
Baxter first joined the US Sailing's Board of Directors at age 30, making
her one of the youngest Board members at the time. She has worked with the
organization's finance and membership committees and is a certified judge.
She is also on the Audit Committee of the United States Olympic Committee
(USOC).
* Cold War scientist Ivan A. Getting, generally considered the visionary
behind the Global Positioning System, died on October 11 of undisclosed
causes at his Coronado home. He was 91. "He was a true patriot and he
viewed the contribution that science and technology could make to national
defense as something that he could help with and work on," said George
Paulikas, Aerospace Corporation's retired executive vice president. -
http://tinyurl.com/rebb
* As the (America's Cup) selection process is in its final phases, the
rumors mill is turning over-time and, according to a Web rumor floated days
ago, the probability of America's Cup regatta in Valencia is now very high.
Which rumors are true and which aren't? Nobody knows, except those who've
signed confidentiality agreements barring them from talking. Nevertheless,
in its October 17 edition, the Italian newspaper La Citta di Salerno cited
leaked information and, under the heading "Napoli, addio Coppa America",
the newspaper affirmed that the host of the Cup will be Valencia. - Cup in
Europe website: http://www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/Where8.htm
Curmudgeon's Comment. We find it very interesting that the Spanish city of
Valencia has a very professional and good looking America's Cup 'bid-city'
website up and running, in both Spanish and English (www.valencia2007.com).
Even more interesting, Valencia is already calling for volunteers, and
there is a sign-up page on-line for those interested - "if" Valencia is
selected. The official announcement of the venue for AC 2007 is promised by
December 15.
* Sunfish World Championship, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, final
results, Gold Fleet: 1. Malcolm Smith, Bermuda, Master, 17; 2 Hank Saurage,
USA, Master, 31; 3. Diego Zimmerman, Peru, 32; 4. Cor Van Aanholt, Curacao,
Master, 34 5. Erwin Veldman, Holland, 54. - http://tinyurl.com/qygr
STAR NAs
San Francisco, CA - Tough day for sailing on San Francisco Bay. The wind
did not cooperate for until about 1400 today and then was on the light
side. However, this coupled with a relatively weak current made for the
most "open course" racing that you can have on SF Bay. Normally, racing on
San Francisco Bay, especially along the city front, is a one way street. He
who wins the start and gets control of the race rarely looses as the others
have to follow his track. This was not the case today. With the starting
line just west of Alcatraz and the windward mark just north of Presidio
Shoals, the shoreline was not a factor. The wind shifted back and forth and
the pressure was also inconsistent. So it was a heads out of the boat race.
- Paul Cayard
Standings after two races (40 entries) : 1. Howie Shiebler/ Will Stout, 3;
2. Paul Cayard/ Phil Trinter, 7; 3. Mark Reynolds/ Magnus Liljedahl, 7; 4.
Terry Hutchinson/ Andrew Scott, 8; 5. Frederik Loof/ Anders Ekstrom, 11; 6.
Eric Doyle/ Rodrigo Meireles. - http://stfyc.org/
BEHIND THE SCENES:
Time and time again, the Raider RIB from Aquapro proves itself. From
holding its own at the Mega Yacht Show in San Diego earlier this fall, to
J-Fest, to being support boats for luxurious performance cruisers, Raiders
are on the water and proving themselves. Arriving in the immediate future
is the new 12 meter version RIB. A fast, sleek and strong boat, powered by
twin 300 HP engines, this boat can meet a variety of needs on and off the
race course. Call Jeff Brown at (619) 709-0697 or check it out today at
http://www.raiderboat.com
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
Thirty two matches were raced on Hamilton Harbor Sunday in the Investors
Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the second event on
Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004, and the Bermuda International Women's Match
Racing Championship. American Ed Baird of Team XL Capital remained the only
undefeated skipper in the unseeded men's competition of this match racing
classic, while Bermudian Paula Lewin of Team Ace Group maintained her
spotless record and position atop the women's standings. With only the top
three finishers from each Group advancing to the main draw, as well as the
finalists from the Bermuda International Women's Match Racing
Championships, the action on Monday will be furious. -
Bermuda's Paula Lewin/Team ACE continued her winning ways in the Bermuda
International Women's Match Race Championship, an ISAF grade 1 event.
Despite spending the past year traveling the world with her Olympic Yngling
campaign, Lewin proved that she is still at the top of her match racing
game by defeating two of the world's most accomplished skippers, Betsy
Alison/Team Challenge US (USA) and Jenny Axhede/Team Panorama (SWE). -
www.swedishmatchtour.com
Unseeded Skippers - Group 1: 1. Cameron Appleton, NZ/Team Triangle Riggins,
4-1; 2. Cameron Dunn, New Zealand, 4-1; 3. Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di
Rimini Sailing Team, 4-1; 4. Staffan Lindberg, Finland, 3-2; 5. Kelvin
Harrap, New Zealand, 2-3; 6. Adam Barboza, BER/Team Bacardi, 1-4; 7.
Matthew Gregory, USA, 1-4; 8. Maxim Taranov, Russia, 1-4.
Unseeded Skippers - Group 2: 1. Ed Baird, USA/Team XL Capita,l 5-0; 2.
Peter Bromby, BER/Team ACE Group, 3-2; 3. Scott Dickson, USA/Dickson Racing
Team, 3 2; 4. Bill Hardesty, USA, 3-2; 5. Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team Stena
Bulk, 2-3; 6. Blythe Walker, BER/Team Bacardi, 2-3; 7. Andy Green, GBR/Team
Renaissance Reinsurance, 1-4; 8. Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team Continental
Airlines, 1-4.
Bermuda International Women's Match Racing Championships: 1. Paula Lewin,
BER/Team Ace Group, 4-0; 2. Jenny Axhede, SWE/Team Panorama, 3-1; 3.
Deborah Willits, USA, 3-1; 4. Sally Barkow, USA, 2-2; 5. Elizabeth Kratzig,
USA, 2-2; 6. Betsy Alison, USA, 1-3; 7. Sandy Hayes, USA, 1-3; 8. Klaartje
Zuiderbaan, Netherlands, 0-4.
MINI TRANSAT
Twenty-eight year old Armel Tripon sailing Moulin Roty, a 1995 Finot-Conq
design with a fixed keel has won the second leg of the Mini Transat,
beating Alex Pella by over 60 miles. He crossed the Salvador de Bahai
finish line at 15hrs, 40mins, 04secs (French time) Friday afternoon taking
not only the second leg win but has won the overall Mini Transat 2003. He
managed to sail his boat consistently all the way swapping places with
Jonathan McKee and Sam Manuard all the way. However, dismastings for McKee
last Friday and Manuard on Thursday, left Tripon ready to pounce and make
the most of his rivals' misfortunes.- Sue Pelling, Yachting World, Full story:
http://ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20030917173749ywnews.html
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com)
(Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be
edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a
bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best
shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Andrew Mason: Regarding the comments from Hank Evans on the number
of rating rules that he has seen in 50 years of sailing. The scary thing is
realising that the never ending turnover in rating rules goes back well
over 100 years.
In 1886, the predominant rule in the U.K. changed from the Thames Tonnage
rule to the Length/Sail Area rule. This was followed by the first Linear
Rating rule in 1896, the second Linear Rating rule in 1901 and the first of
several incarnations of the International Rule in 1906. 5 major rules in a
20 year period is at least equivalent to the changes we have seen since the
days of IOR.
It is entertaining to open a magazine from the period such as The Rudder,
Hunt's Yachting or The Yachtsman - it seems like the vast majority of
letters to the editor in those days dealt with criticisms of the current
rule and suggestions for new ones. Seems like nothing much has changed.
* From Magnus Wheatley: Wow what a girl! If Tracey Edwards had been in the
Spice Girls, she would have been Never-say-Die Spice. I wholeheartedly
applaud her for squeezing £38 million out of Qatar when the rest of the
sponsorship world is so resolutely flat and looking to 'spread its
investments.' Tracey is one of those people willing to do it the hard way
if that's what needs to be done and her leave-no-stone-unturned attitude is
utterly commendable. All girl crew? No problem. Mortgage the house? Here's
the deeds. Need a race to attract the big boys? How about a £1 million
prize purse. Did you slam that door closed? Meet my bulldozer. No money in
Europe and America? What's that dialing code for the Gulf again?
She is quite simply staggering and what she's doing singlehandedly for
British yachting and the world-wide industry is immeasurable! Whilst
pampered pros run around spending billionaire fortunes (no names mentioned
but we know who they are) and can hardly raise a smile, what a breath of
fresh air Tracey is. I reckon even David Blaine could learn a trick a
two...shall we start with the 'rabbit out of the hat' trick? You go girl...!
* From Robert C. Johnson (Re: Bruce Thompson's comments regarding Certified
Club Race Officers): If one is interested to see how many CCRO's there are,
and there are several, go to US Sailing's web site - Racing - Find a Race
Officer and the truth shall be known.
* From Cory E. Friedman: Where a class has a choice of venues for a
championship, it is remiss if it does not consider PRO quality in making
the venue choice. If ISAF PRO's are superior, why doesn't ISAF go out and
find funding for its PRO's (without diverting any other sailing funding)
and offer ISAF PRO's to the classes for free (including transportation).
Where ISAF chooses the venue, it should supply the PRO, again, free.
Compulsion would be unnecessary. A win-win.
* From Roger Strube: (Re: Tom Lihan comments on PROs and International/
Olympic event management) Playing the game does not translate into being a
good coach, race manager, judge or umpire. Although the knowledge base of
and experience in the sport is similar, race management, judging, umpiring
and instruction required a broader understanding and a different approach
than sailing/racing. I have been racing since 1957 but recently have
transitioned to cruising and volunteering on our local race committee. I
took the US Sailing Instructor Level One course last spring to qualify for
our local community sailing center and actually, to my surprise, learned a
thing or two. Early in November I will be attending a US Sailing training
Judges Workshop in Miami. After looking over the course materials, it
appears I have a few things to learn, even after 46 years of sail/race
experience.
US Sailing training serves to elevate the level of knowledge and
standardize the programs managed by volunteer or paid "administrators".
This facilitates a basic level playing field for participants in the sport
and increases their enjoyment. The issue of requiring certification of race
management participants is academic at best and probably counter
productive. In reality, if a nationally recognized certification (by US
Sailing) is available, liability carriers will ultimately demand that the
administrators are certified or they will not insure or will charge
excessive rates to cover liability for the club or event organizers. The
core issue will remain just as it does in medicine. Knowledge and
achievement may be attained and certified; judgment is a more elusive ability.
CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
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