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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 644 - September 12, 2000OLYMPICS(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 SOLUTIONS FROM SAILCLOTH.COM Wish your spinnaker would dry off after dunking, hold its shape after a few heavy air days of sailing, and resist tearing during complicated maneuvers? Next time, ask your sailmaker to use AIRX, a revolutionary new spinnaker fabric from Bainbridge International. AIRX is stronger, lower in stretch and has an ultra water repellent finish. With zero porosity and less tearing, it has a wide range of use for both racing a cruising sailors. AIRX is exclusively from Bainbridge International, where power and performance are cut from the same cloth. For more information, visit http://www.sailcloth.com 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 THE SCIENCE OF COMFORT. At Gill we know the quality of our garments will be measured over years of use. That's why we strive to exceed industry standards in everything we do! From the unique way we work with and listen to the world's sailors to the meticulous attention we give to every garment. 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