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SCUTTLEBUTT 1928 -- September 21, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.TRANSFORMING A CITY Among the unique aspects of the 32nd America's Cup, the 'roadshow' element is perhaps the most exciting change to the Cup format in years. Since the summer of 2004, the America's Cup has held racing in Marseille, Valencia, Malmö and in less than two weeks time, Trapani will join that list. The work involved in creating a successful regatta is immense no matter where it takes place, but in the past the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup were bolted down in one location, making the building and logistics behind the event a one shot deal. Now, for the 32nd America's Cup, Valencia is the host city and 8 of 13 Louis Vuitton Acts will be sailed there. But the three other locations, spread across the length and breadth of Europe, are hosts to substantial events in their own right. And that takes a massive amount of work. In Trapani for example, a team from the organizers of the America's Cup has been on the ground working in the Sicilian port since February. The project is big because it required a massive transformation of the old commercial and fishing port. This is one aspect of the power of the America's Cup. From Fremantle, to Auckland, to Valencia, and now Malmö and Trapani, the Cup has been a catalyst for change, re-developing areas for new uses. "The Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts have been a tool for the city and region to modernise the harbour and show people a different use for this area," said Jean-Pierre Maffe, Director of the Trapani event. "The potential for tourism on a much bigger scale is very real here. But people have to see it, and be aware of places like the Egadi Islands, Erice, Cegesta, the Zingaro Reserve etc. for that potential to be realised. This is a step forwards to that. The area is beautiful, the people are generous, open and kind, the food is wonderful, and everyone has worked incredibly hard to ensure this event is a success and I think it is going to be." Despite the early start, there's still plenty of work to be done in the final week or so before racing begins on the 29th of September. But already the team base area is complete, and the racing boats and team containers have been unloaded and are in the process of being rigged and set up. Teams will start sailing shortly. Meanwhile, roads are being paved, tents and marques are being erected and Trapani is preparing for an influx of visitors on an unprecedented scale. In this sense, the Trapani Acts are already a success! -- Excerpts from a story by Peter Rusch on the America's Cup website, full story: http://www.americascup.com/en/acmag/letter/index.php?idIndex=0&idContent=3557 STEADY AS A ROCK Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and her Team 7 crew looked steady as a rock today, with straightforward victories in two of three races at the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship. With five races now completed after the second of five racing days, Team 7 is showing a total point score (with one discard allowed) of five points. "We might make it look easy, but it's really hard work," said Barkow, who with all but one of her four-woman crew sails an Olympic Yngling in a campaign that takes the team around the world. "We love the J/22. It's easy for us to jump in it and go." There are 42 of the J/22s competing in the biennial event, which for its last three runnings has been sailed on Chesapeake Bay. Directly behind Barkow, with 13 points, is Jody Swanson (Buffalo, N.Y.) , with Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.), aboard Lucy, following in third with 15 points. Swanson and Sertl, as Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award winners, have the clout of Heisman Trophy recipients, and the foreign team sitting in fourth is comprised again of Olympic aspirants, the skipper being Sharon Ferris of New Zealand and her boat name being TeamOneNewport. Ferris represented her country at the 2004 Olympic Sailing Regatta, sailing to seventh in the Yngling class, and has announced her intent to win a berth for the 2008 Olympic Games. Former Olympian Carol Cronin is in fifth place with 20 points. -- For more information and results: www.ussailing.org/riwkc HERE COME THE MINI MAXIS Porto Cervo, 20th September 2005 -- Following the Annual General Meeting of the International Maxi Association (IMA), held at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo at the conclusion of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup on 10th September, the IMA has approved the introduction of a new Mini Maxi Division within the Association. The Mini Maxi Division comes as a result of the minimum length for the Maxi fleet being confirmed at 23.9 metres (78.4 feet). Boats with an LOA below this minimum threshold, but over 60 feet (18.28 metres), will now compete in the Mini Maxi Division with separate starts and results. The move brings the number of divisions within the Maxi class to five: Racing, Wally and Cruising Division Light Displacement will compete this year using the IRC Rating Rule while at the same time an ORC proposal will be evaluated; a performance factor will be applied to Cruising Division Heavy Displacement boats, and the new Mini Maxi Division will use the IMS/ORC Club handicap system. The AGM also appointed Mr. Pete Lawson of the USA as Technical Assistant to the Association. Mr Lawson will also revise rating certificates and will work with an official measurer during IMA events carrying out on-site inspections. -- secretariat@yccs.it HARKEN TAKES ON RACING FOIL MARKET The Carbo Racing Foil is a step forward in headsail foil design. "By using modern engineering resins instead of commodity plastics, we have raised the bar," said Greg Hartlmeier, Senior Engineer-Special Projects. "The material in these twin-grooved foils is stronger than PVC and ultra smooth, allowing fast hoists, douses, and sail changes. The high-strength material dramatically increases resistance to impact from spinnaker poles and burn through from line wear." Check out the complete details on Harken's latest racing innovation: http://www.harken.com/furling/carbofoil-details.php OPTIMISTIC Just 157 days of training on an America's Cup class yacht but plenty of sheer hard work is beginning to pay off for the crew of South Africa's Team Shosholoza as they enter the second half of the 2005 America's Cup racing season in Europe. "In Sweden we managed to beat two out of the other 11 teams entered for the Cup in 2007. This is very exciting and very rewarding for us. Our crew is doing a great job. They have worked extremely hard for it," said sailing manager Paul Standbridge at a press conference in Cape Town at the weekend. "When we launched South Africa's maiden bid for the America's Cup in April last year only two of us had ever raced on an America's Cup class yacht. These 24 metre, 24 ton hi-tech racing machines with their 35 metre masts, vast sail area and huge loads of some 20 tonnes on the rigging are complex to sail. Our crew were mainly club sailors - so we had to start at the very beginning with the most basic of things like learning to hoist the main sail. Now just over a year later we are racing against the best teams in the world and proving competitive. "We are half way through our training programme and still very inexperienced in comparison to the other teams but I believe we have come up to about 75 to 80 percent of the skills of the other teams. With the kind of dedication our crew gives we should be up to 90 percent, maybe 100, by this time next year - but there is still a lot of hard work to do," said Standbridge, a world class yachtsman and veteran of two America's Cup's, who was specially hired to train the team. Standbridge, skipper Geoff Meek and fellow crew members Solomon Dipeere and Marc Economou are in Cape Town for a short break following the Malmo-Skane Louis Vuitton Acts in Sweden recently. They rejoin the rest of the crew in Sicily for the start of next week's Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts 8 & 9 which conclude the 2005 America's Cup racing season in Europe. Meek was optimistic that the team could win at least four races in Sicily. -- Excerpt from a story on the Yachting Universe website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/8yg8l TECHNOLOGY (The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to designer-builder-sailor Tanguy de la Motte about the design his Mini. We particularly enjoyed these excerpts about the keel design.) For starters the keel now slides fore and aft on plastic rather than metal track, that is not prone to corrosion. He has also moved the pivot point of the canting keel down to the hull exit. "That wasn't the case with the Rogers boat - they had side to side movement and a big hole in bottom, which was not easy to fair. Mine is right on the bottom so it is only a 80mm gap, so it is pretty slick at the bottom," he says. While the hole in the bottom of the boat to allow the keel movement is narrower sideways it is longer fore and aft as he has increased the distance the keel moves in this direction - the keel forward and aft positions are now almost a metre apart. The 1.2m long hole is partially covered by a plate on the outside of the hull and the underside of de la Motte's Mini also has a better shape to keep this plate fair with the hull. However the remainder of the aperture is filled by what he describes as 'lips'. "They curl inside the keel box rather than stay flat under the boat. A block and tackle system is used to move the keel sideways, while the lines controlling the fore and aft movement of the keel are led to the cockpit where while sailing they are operated from a winch - the keel can be moved fore and aft by hand when the boat is at standstill but not when it is loaded up. -- www.thedailysail.com MORE CONTROVERSY It was revealed yesterday that the Government has chosen Ricardo Perez Casado, a former Socialist Mayor of Valencia as the High Commissioner for the Americas Cup. Almost immediately after his naming there was considerable controversy as one year ago he had stated in an interview that Valencia 'would never be ready' to stage the Americas Cup in 2007. Commenting on the appointment, which is expected to be ratified by the Spanish Cabinet this coming Friday, Miguel Dominguez the Valencian Town Councilor for Security stated that Mr. Perez Casado was not really the ideal man for the job, as he had to alter his stance from one of severe criticism to one of optimism and support. In the meantime, and despite the visit of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to the City last June, during which he promised at least 935 million Euros to Valencia for the Americas Cup, not one penny of these funds has arrived from any ministry, and nor has the City had any Ministerial visits, which was another promise made by the Prime Minister. -- Valencia Life Network, publisher@valencialife.net BRISK PACE FOR MINI TRANSAT The 21-foot 6.50m Minis are trucking across the Atlantic at an average of 8/9 knots of boat speed. In real terms this is synonymous with peaks of boat speed over 15 knots; concentration, vigilance and presence of mind a prerequisite for the solo sailor with the leaders racking up 200 mile days since racing began on 17 September. Corentin Douguet (E. Leclerc-Bouygues Telecom), Sébastien Gladu (Armor Lux) and Phil Sharp (Le Gallais) continue to set the tone, separated by 20 miles in longitude, 140 miles off Cabo Mondego in Portugal. There are just 11 miles between 1st and 3rd place, though the tail of the fleet stretches out some 250 miles. -- Yachting Universe, full story: http://tinyurl.com/a3v28 COLLEGE SAILORS - STAY WARM THIS WINTER Team One Newport is getting ready to send out their College Program with special deals for Collegiate teams. Team One has special deals for College sailors - you can be put on our College Sailing Program list by sending your email address and mailing address to mailto:Barbara@team1newport.com. For everyone else, check out the Specials page at the Team One Newport website. You can also call 800-VIP-GEAR to request a new Fall/Holiday catalog. Good luck to all the women racing in the Rolex International Keelboat Championship! - http://team1newport.com PAIRING LIST ACM have issued the Provisional Pairing List for Trapani Louis Vuitton Act 8, and a copy is now available on the BMW Oracle Racing blogsite. Tom Ehman from the BMW Oracle Racing syndicate explains the seeding for these matches: The teams are "seeded" into the pairing list according to their rank in the current 2005 ACC Championship standings such that teams of similar ranking meet toward or at the end of the round robin. We (BMW Oracle Racing), of course are second in the standings behind Alinghi and, hence, are the #2 seed. Note that our first and second matches scheduled the first day of racing (Flights One and Two) are against the #10 seed United Internet Team Germany and #11 seed Shosholoza. Our last two matches are against the #4 seed Luna Rossa (Flight Ten) and then, finally, #1 seed Alinghi in Fight Eleven. -- Full story: http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/stories/991141/ NEWS BRIEFS * Bill Lynn and Ed Keller dominated the 43-boat Sonar NAs held at Boston and Eastern Yacht Clubs in Marblehead last weekend. Boats came from as far away as Florida and Texas for the eight race (one discard) series that was sailed in a variety of conditions, including some left-over bumps from Hurricane Ophelia. Steve Cucchiaro in Sleuth II took second place in the championship with Spring sailed by Dave Franzel taking the third place hardware. Recognizing the importance of teamwork, the Sonar Class awards four trophies to each of the prize winners. -- Complete results: http://www.marbleheadsonar.org/naindex.htm * The Lands' End NOOD Regatta staff, Race Committee, and Houston Yacht Club have jointly decided to postpone the Houston NOOD Regatta due to the possibility of Hurricane Rita passing over or very close to Galveston Bay. Hurricane Rita is currently a Category 2 hurricane and was located just south of the Florida Keys Tuesday evening when a final decision was made. It is the hope of everyone involved that the regatta will be rescheduled for later this fall, but new arrangements will not be confirmed until next week. -- www.sailingworld.com * Clipper round the world race -- As news from the boats slowly filters through, we get some idea of life on board since the start. Seasickness has been a problem throughout the fleet as the crews get used to the Irish Sea, Victoria Skipper Ewan Hind has lost his voice which he says makes coordinating foredeck work very interesting, and New York Skipper Jonathan Bailey reckons that he actually got airbourne as the boat flew over a wave. He was in his bunk at the time! Australia is leading the 10-boat fleet -- six miles ahead of Liverpool and Durban. -- http://www.clipper-ventures.co.uk/ * Waveland Miss. -- The 86th annual Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup was scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Hurricane Katrina made sure that did not happen. The competition and the trophy are gone - victims of the powerful storm that came ashore slightly west of Waveland and wreaked havoc along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. Of the nearly 30 Gulf Yachting Association Clubs, typically 25 compete each year. The Lipton Regatta started in 1920 after the founder of the Lipton Tea Company donated a silver cup to the Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans. -- http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/12662998.htm * This year's Ficker Cup match race series at Long Beach YC attracted only three boats. After a double round-robin elimination, the team lead by Brian Angel defeated Bill Hardesty's team 3-1 in the regatta finals to earn a spot in the 2006 Congressional Cup. -- www.lbyc.org * Racing for the fifty competitors in the Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship got underway on time in 7 knots which built to 12 knots by the end of the day. Overnight leader Jamie Lea, sailing Stuart Simpson's Team Barbarians, had a mediocre day scoring 31, 29, 4 pushing him down to 9th overall. Stuart Rix, helming Team Gill for Quentin Strauss, had an excellent day and their 7, 3, 1 gives them a three point lead from Italy's Andrea Racchelli who sailed consistently for an 11, 8, 3 scoreline to hold second overall. -- www.melges24.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is neither 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. And please save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Deanna Wilson: The money requested by Valencia mayoress Rita Barbera, for improvements to the city, will benefit the city and the country for many years after the America's Cup is gone. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain yet it barely makes it onto the map in travel books. There are several modern museums as well as the largest Oceanographic Park in Europe located in Valencia and yet many of the neighborhoods surrounding the museums and the beach areas are in decay. I live here and have seen it first hand. Regardless of the America's Cup, what is happening in Valencia was sorely needed and inevitable. All major cities in the world experience the redevelopment of run down neighborhoods in key locations. One day, Valencia will be as popular, if not more than Barcelona and Madrid, as a destination for foreign tourists but this will not happen without the improvements being requested. * From John Sherwood: Reports from many of the major events carried in Scuttlebutts this summer seem to reveal a broad, even world-wide, pattern of light to moderate winds. That has certainly been the case here on the Chesapeake, admittedly a light air venue -- but not this light! Numerous hurricanes notwithstanding, do others agree with my observation? Curmudgeon's Observation: I really can't speak for the total planet, but my personal observations certainly do not support that conclusion. And I think that a review of the galleries we've posted on the Scuttlebutt website this summer may also cause you to soften your position. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If at first you don't succeed, maybe you should try doing it like your wife told you to do it? |
