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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 644 - September 12, 2000
OLYMPICS
(Following is an excerpt from a report by US Olympic coach, Skip White)
Opening ceremonies are now only four days away. The first boats have been
through measurement and the remaining practice sessions can now be counted
on one hand. It's almost time and we are ready.
After all of the hard work here and in Europe it is hard to imagine that we
could squeeze more blood out of the stone, but we have. Both teams have
made significant strides in the last few days. The endless strong
westerlies have given us opportunities to refine our heavy air, flat water
technique. The final tweaks to our sails have been very successful as
well. We have new jets!
Two days ago we were racing on course B in the shadow of the Opera House in
another strong westerly that was gusting into the high twenties. I was
running races for the masses and we sailed our first trapezoids in many
days. The ferry, commercial fishing, and pleasure boat traffic was
intense, so the normally flat B course was a pretty bouncy place, but there
were still plenty of flat water, high speed opportunities. The successful
teams were able to shift gears instantly to compensate for the radical
changes. Both US teams were hot, but many teams were racing in fine form.
It is going to be a terrific contest.
Yesterday we were on course C with a southeast wind blowing across the axis
of the harbor at 12 - 16 kts. Lots of shifts and pretty flat water, except
for the massive amount of chop created by the overly eager coaches and the
constant ferry traffic. Those disturbances will be missing once the games
begin. The Kiwis had a big day, but we were solid.
Today we were scheduled to race in the ocean, but the high wind warnings
prompted a change to D course, which is located just inside Sydney Heads.
JJ and Pease took the day off to do some final pre-measurement
preparations, but Paul and Bob were there with training partners Steve and
Mike. Also on hand were Kevin Teborek and his new crew. They have made
the long journey to Sydney to capitalize on the unique opportunity to sail
with the best in the world on the eve of the Olympics.
Paul and Bob were absolutely dominant upwind all day. The wind was in the
high teens all day with frequent very strong gusts into the high twenties.
They were first or second at every weather mark. Downwind was a bit of a
lottery. With the weather mark close to shore, it was impossible to see
the big puffs that would dominate the leg. If you guessed wrong with your
opening jibe, you were screwed. Despite a few missed puffs and one
spectacular crash in a 30 knot blast, Paul and Bob easily won the day. They
are ready!!
AMERICA'S CUP
Since 4 September, after the short summer break, team Prada has been
training again in Punta Ala with the two IACC - International America1s Cup
Class boats - Luna Rossa and Young America. The tests at sea will continue
until November. From mid January the team should start sailing again in
Auckland, New Zealand, throughout the southern hemisphere summer. -
Alessandra Ghezzi
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THE RACE
Cam Lewis, CEO/Skipper and team leader of Team Adventure, today announced
the schedule for the launching, sea trials and qualifying voyage for his
team's 110-foot catamaran. Team Adventure is entered in The Race, a
non-stop 27,000-mile sprint around the world that will start from
Barcelona, Spain, on December 31, this year.
The giant Gilles Ollier catamaran will be launched in Cherbourg, France in
mid-October. Larry Rosenfeld, Executive Director and Co-Navigator noted
that precise dates are not yet available. "Time in the yard is valuable to
us," he said.
"Every extra hour we can spend working on the boat ashore will save us
three hours work once it is in the water. However, we are anxious to get
sailing as soon as possible." - Keith Taylor
* Mid-October Launch and final outfitting
* Late October Sea Trials and crew training, two weeks
* November 1 Around Britain Record Attempt - qualifying run for The Race
* Mid-November Return to builders yard for final tuning, one week
* Late November Delivery and training voyage to the Mediterranean, one week
* December 2-3 Monaco
* December 8-30 Barcelona (Training, Celebrations and Final Preparations)
* December 31 Start - The Race
Team Adventure website: http://www.TeamAdventure.org
WOMEN'S MATCH RACING
The Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) of US SAILING, national governing body
for the sport, has announced that Hannah Swett (Jamestown, R.I./New York,
N.Y.) will receive the automatic U.S. entry to the Rolex 2000 ISAF Women's
World Match Racing Championship. As host country for this year's event, the
U.S. received an automatic entry in addition to the invitations issued to
the top two Americans on the women's match race ranking list (Betsy Alison
of Newport, R.I., and Dru Slattery of Marblehead, Mass.).
Swett and her crew of three (to be named) will be one of 24 all-women teams
racing in Sonars on Tampa Bay in Florida. Host St. Petersburg Yacht Club
(St. Petersburg, Fla.) will conduct 218 matches over seven days to
determine the world champion. The addition of a women's match racing event
for the 2004 Olympic Games has driven interest in this annual event - now
in its third year and organized by the International Sailing Federation
(ISAF) - to an all-time high with over 40 teams expressing interest in
competing.
To determine the automatic U.S. entrant, the OSC solicited sailing resumes
from interested skippers and appointed a three-person panel consisting of
one member each from US SAILING's Board of Directors, OSC and Women's
Committee to review the resumes. In making their decision, the panel
considered heavily the criteria outlined in the call for applicants:
resumes emphasizing match racing experience; sailing results from the last
two years, as well as any campaign plans for the 2004 Olympics.
Swett, has launched her plans for the 2004 Games with a mission to improve
her placement on the ISAF ranking list (25th as of August 22). She
recently won the grade four Rolex Alpena Invitational (June), and the grade
one Rolex Thompson Cup (August). She was fourth at the Boat U.S. Santa
Maria Cup in late May. An Intercollegiate Sailing Association All-American
in 1989 and '91 while at Brown University, Swett was a port trimmer aboard
Mighty Mary in the 1995 America's Cup. She undertook two Olympic campaigns
in the Europe class, finishing second out of 19 boats at the 1996 Europe
Olympic Team Trials and sixth out of 23 boats at the 2000 Europe Olympic
Team Trials. - Jan Harley
Event website: http://www.spyc.org
MORE OLYMPICS
(US Olympic Sailing Team member Bob Merrick has a fascinating series of
reports on the SailNet website leading up to the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Here's an excerpt from his latest.)
During the 1968 Olympic Games in Acapulco, Mexico, on the way out to the
racecourse for the Star Class, Lowell North and Peter Barrett suffered a
near catastrophe in the form of a broken main halyard. Too far away from
shore to return and make repairs, the two sailors dismantled their massive
rig and brought it down on deck in order to tie the main to the top of the
mast. In an unbelievable feat of determination, they raised the mast with
the main attached and re-rigged the boat in time for the start. Barrett and
North went on to win that race and the gold medal. It wasn't a first for
either of them since both sailors had won medals in previous
Olympics-Barrett had won a silver medal in 1964 in the Finn Class, and
North won bronze in the Dragon at the same games. However, winning a gold
medal in Mexico meant that both sailors joined Herman Whinton-the '48 and
'52 gold medalist in the Six-Meter class-as the only American sailors to
win multiple Olympic medals.
A few American sailors have since followed in the footsteps of these great
Olympians. Buddy Melges and William Bentsen were on the US Team with North
and Barrett in 1964 and won a bronze medal in the Flying Duchman. Melges
and Bentsen returned to the Olympic games in 1972 to win a gold medal in
the Soling Class, along with teammate William Allan.
When Whinton, Barrett, North, Melges, and Bentsen won their second Olympic
medals, they joined a short list of multiple sailing medallists. At the top
of the list is the Great Dane himself, Paul Elvstrom of Denmark. Elvstrom
dominated the world of single-handed sailing for over a decade. In 1948,
the Olympic single-handed sailing competition was held in Firefly dinghies;
it was Elvstrom's first Olympics and his first gold medal. The Olympic
single-handed class changed to Finns for 1952 and Elvstrom went on to win
three successive gold medals in this physically demanding class. The Great
Dane still holds the world record for the most gold medals won in
sailing-four. - Bob Merrick
Full report:
http://www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=merric0006&tfr
=fp
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