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SCUTTLEBUTT 2426 - September 6, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. GUEST COMMENTARY When Michel Hodara, Chief Operating Officer of America’s Cup Management (ACM), says "it was reasonable that the Defender [i.e., his boss, Ernesto Bertarelli] could take part in the Challenger series, otherwise, the Defender would have no opportunity to race an opponent while the challengers raced in the Challenger Series," he has a good idea -- but he doesn't take it far enough. Why not just drop the archaic notion of a challenger series that allows the previous winner a free pass into the next event's final match? Can Italy sit out the preliminaries of soccer's next World Cup awaiting the determination of its championship opponent? Can the Indianapolis Colts kick back this NFL season waiting to see who they'll play in Super Bowl XLII? No, they'll both have to earn their way back. While other sports have the sense of competition and fair play to avoid such absurdities, one AC defender after another go their greedy, gutless way to assure themselves of every advantage the next time around. The hallowed Deed of Gift --- 120 years old on Oct. 24 -- does not appear to mandate such an approach. In fact, the deed, in its ageless wisdom, allows that "The Club challenging for the Cup and the Club holding the same may, by mutual consent, make any arrangement satisfactory to both as to the dates, courses, number of trials, rules and sailing regulations, and any and all other conditions of the match. . . ." Think the challengers would have any trouble with everyone having an equal opportunity? Of course not. But the only "mutual consent" is between the defender and its appointed puppet: the Challenger of Record. The America's Cup does not need an independent commission to tell it how to conduct proper competition. All it needs is a winner with the vision, principles and courage to do the right things for the sport. Alas, like the others before him, Ernesto Bertarelli does not seem to be that person. And so, after a brief interlude of entertaining competition, sailing again blows a chance to create a true world championship and descends back into its familiar status as the laughing stock of the sporting world, if the mainstream takes it seriously at all. -- Rich Roberts ONLY ONE RICH GUY WILL BE RIGHT (Sailing World magazine’s Editor-at-large Herb McCormick forecasts a bleak future for the America's Cup. Here are a couple excerpts to give you the flavor of his rant.) Good bloody grief: Here we go again. Who does one root for in this mess? On one hand, you have to hand it to Bertarelli and Alinghi. In back-to-back Cup finals, they have taken names and kicked butt. During that stretch, Brad Butterworth has established himself as one of the great Cup sailors of all time. But Bertarelli also seems like a fellow to whom "no" is a very foreign word. Alinghi has already hijacked the traditional Challengers series, giving the Defender unprecedented access to its competition, and it's still not enough for him. (And, why, by the way, is there no uproar over Louis Vuitton's decision to bail from the event? If ever there was a canary in a coalmine…) On the other hand, you have the twice-vanquished Ellison riding over the prairie like the Lone Ranger, and while you can make the case that he's truly acting on behalf of the health of the Cup, it's also hard to dismiss the fact that there's something pretty self-serving about the timing, and the largesse, of his altruism. Where all this is ultimately leading is, of course, absolutely impossible to predict, with one exception. When and if it again comes to a Supreme Court ruling, one rich guy will be right, and the rest of us, the sailors who love the America's Cup, will all be wronged. -- Full story: www.sailingworld.com ON BOARD FOR THREE YEARS Renowned sailor and sailing commentator Gary Jobson has just been named to US Sailing’s Board of Directors. Jobson, 56, is a world class sailor who has competed in, and won, numerous major regattas, including the America's Cup. Jobson has been ESPN's sailing commentator since 1985, has authored 15 sailing books and is Editor at Large of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines. Jobson was nominated y US Sailing’s President Jim Capron. Following the organization's bylaws, the President gets to nominate one select Board member who "is a high profile individual whose personal involvement on the Board of Directors is likely to elevate the sport." Jobson's term on the Board is for three years. The Board of Directors consists of 15 positions, 11 of which are elected by the organization's membership. EVENT UPDATE: NEWPORT SHOW AND SONAR WORLDS Newport, RI -- The boat show season launches next week at the Newport International Boat Show on September 13-16, and Team One Newport will be in several locations providing expert advice on sailing gear. Their team members will be staffing the Atlantis WeatherGear booth, the Henri Lloyd booth, the Gill booth, and in addition, will have the premiere of their own “mini-store” showcasing products from Musto, Dubarry, Slam, RailRider, Spinlock, and more. The Team One Newport website also has event merchandise, and can still take orders for Sonar Worlds gear (or from any of the other events listed). Go to http://www.team1newport.com/departments.asp?dept=121 CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? With litigation pending, Alinghi and its yacht club, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), is to hold talks with BMW Oracle Racing and the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC). Hamish Ross, the General Counsel for Alinghi, confirmed as much in a conference call with media Wednesday afternoon. "We've said to them repeatedly that we're happy to sit down with them, discuss their concerns with the Protocol, and try to answer their questions and resolve their queries as we have with the other five challengers, who have now entered," Ross told the media. We're having a discussion very shortly (Wednesday evening) about their Protocol concerns and there are no preconditions to that. And we would dearly like to be able to answer their concerns and for them to rejoin the America's Cup community as a fully entered competitor." Despite the more conciliatory tone today, the issue is still before the courts, with a preliminary decision on an injunction filed by GGYC on several issues to come as early as the day of the first hearing on that motion, September 10th. These injunctions are primarily procedural; the meat of the issue, regarding whether the Spanish Challenger of Record is entitled to be accepted as a challenger under the terms of the Deed of Gift, will be heard at a later date. -- Yachting World - Peter Rusch, full story: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070805180356ywamericascup07.html MEANWHILE . . . Defending champions Alinghi said Wednesday that they would forge ahead with plans for the next America's Cup by meeting the official challengers from next week to draw up new boat rules. Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth and legal counsel Hamish Ross were adamant that a legal challenge to the defender's plans by team BMW Oracle would not derail preparations for the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia in 2009. "We will continue to plan and hold the pre-regattas and the America's Cup, we're not stopping anything and the court is not stopping that," Ross told journalists. Butterworth called on the US team led by billionaire computer mogul Larry Ellison to join the growing list of official challengers, thereby allowing them to take part in defining the new, bigger, "class" rule. "If Golden Gate entered now, and got on with the game of the America's Cup, they'd be accepted. We want them to be in the next America's Cup," Butterworth told journalists. The first of a six week series of meetings with the five official challengers so far to consult them about the new design rules will take place on September 15, Butterworth, the Geneva Nautical Society (SNG) and Americas Cup Management announced. "These new class rules will be released on October 31, 2007, 18 months before the first pre-regatta with the new boats and two months earlier than initially planned," Butterworth said. The Supreme Court of New York is due to hold a preliminary hearing on September 10 on part of the legal challenge by BMW Oracle. -- AFP, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2w79za BIG BANG Porto Cervo, Sardinia: Australian supermaxi Wild Oats XI, the record holder for the Sydney to Hobart race, was dismasted in dramatic fashion during Race Three of the Rolex Cup Maxi Yacht World Championship off Porto Cervo today. Incredibly, only one crewmember, Sydneysider Peter Shipway, was slightly injured when the 42-metre high carbon fibre mast exploded into three pieces and crashed over the side. Shipway was taken to hospital with suspected broken ribs. Four other crewmen were hurled into the water during the incident. They either managed to swim back to the yacht and were dragged aboard or were picked up by support boats. The yacht’s 79-year-old owner, Bob Oatley, was aboard but escaped injury. Even before the yacht had reached port Oatley declared to his 24-man crew that no effort would be spared in trying to have the 30-metre long yacht repaired and on the start line for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race on December 26. Wild Oats XI will be shipped back to Australia from Italy almost immediately while plans are put in place for a new rig and sails to be made. It appears that the mast broke as a consequence of the failure of rigging supporting it. Crew reported hearing one relatively small ‘bang’ then what was literally an explosion as the hollow carbon fibre spar broke into pieces and crashed down around them. With the balancing pressure of the rig then gone and the massive 12-tonne canting keel at its maximum tilt to windward Wild Oats XI rolled to windward so violently that the four crewmen were thrown over the side and Shipway was injured. Wild Oats XI was only four minutes into the 65-nautical mile race when the mast broke. What is confounding the crew is that there was only 11 knots of wind and small, choppy seas at the time while for 45-minutes prior to the start there was no sign of problems when they were sailing upwind in 14 knots of wind and a considerably more severe sea state. -- Rob Mundle FULFILLING OBLIGATIONS? The Vuelta de España a Vela (Spain Sailing Tour) started on Monday in the city of Ceuta. This reggata is supposed to be the one the CNEV has to organize in order to fulfill its obligations according to the Deed of Gift. It is a 770-mile long regatta with ten boats starting in southern Spain and ending just north of Barcelona. The first leg, apparently started on Monday, at 6pm, and the boats arrived on Tuesday in Cadiz 70 miles to the north. Boats were also scheduled to have started their second leg, from Cadiz to Malaga, earlier today but there is no information on that. The official website of the regatta doesn't provide any information at all, despite the fact we are into the third day of the event. There are no press releases; no photos, not even the standings after the first leg. -- Valencia Sailing, full story: http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com SAILING SHORTS * An agreement was signed between the Madrid Government, the Valencian Government and Valencia City with Americas Cup Management over the staging in Valencia of the 33rd edition of the Americas Cup, but disagreement still remains on the Spanish side over the presidency of the 2009 Consortium that will handle the day-to-day running of the event. Under yesterday’s accords, the Madrid Government will immediately make 42 million Euros available to undertake improvements in Valencia Port. -- Valencia Life Network, http://www.valencialife.net * An aircraft with state-of-the-art imaging technology joined the search for aviator Steve Fossett on Wednesday, two days after a plane flown by the adventurer vanished over a rugged region of Nevada. A squadron of planes and helicopters resumed operations over a 600-square-mile (155,000-hectare) region of mountain terrain after failing to find any trace of Fossett during searches. Officials have described the task of locating Fossett's possible whereabouts as "like searching for a needle in a haystack." -- AFP, http://tinyurl.com/23uryf 2007 J/24 ‘THREE-PEAT’ EUROPEAN CHAMP WITH ULLMAN SAILS Congratulations to Ian Southworth and his J/24 team on “Hedgehog” upon capturing for the third year in a row, the 2007 J/24 European Championship. Hedgehog scored five first place finishes and two seconds. Ian’s crew included: Andrew McLelland (cockpit), Mike Kyte (spinnaker), Chris McLaughlin (tactics), and Mark Hayman (bow). Their sails: 100% inventory Ullman Sails designed by Max Skelley of the Ullman Maryland loft. If you and your crew are ready for an inventory of world class performing sails that deliver the speed and reliability to win major championships, contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK American Morgan Larson has had a busy 2007 season balancing his time between the America’s Cup, his Olympic 49er campaign, and his other professional sailing commitments. It was three years ago that one of his favorite classes the 505 made life a bit simpler for him by hosting their North American and World Championships on his home waters: Santa Cruz, CA. Morgan teamed up with Trevor Baylis, and prior to winning both events, they provided commentary in a 5:49 minute video that has great footage of the high performance one design on the event race track, plus profiles the inner workings of their team and gives great insight into the boat, the class, and what it would take to succeed. This is far from a tired classroom lecture, but rather an entertaining tour of the class, with the winds and waves of Santa Cruz allowing for the boat to really show her heels. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0903 * The 2007 505 North American Championship will be held October 15-19th on the Chesapeake Bay, hosted by the Severn Sailing Association. Warm water, pleasant air temperatures, and great wind is expected for the event, where event organizers hope to mix great racing in with vital evening functions that will include the famous Naptown pub crawl and bike ride. Register by September 15th for the early bird discount. Details at http://www.usa505.org/usa/regattas/2007/NorthAmericans CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: Sept 4-8 - U.S. Women's Match Racing Champs - Detroit, MI, USA Sept 7-15 - IFDS Disabled Sailing World Champs - Rochester, NY, USA Sept 8-9 - Jimmy Fund Regatta - Newport, RI, USA Sept 8-9 - Sailing World NOOD - Larchmont, NY, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Gregory Scott, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (edited to our 250-word limit): We had a fun dialogue about Farr 40's as an Olympic Class. While reading the names attached to the entries at the recent worlds, and then considering the comments today about the TP52 being the likely platform for AC boats to develop programs, I wonder if I'm that far off. Think of the money that the owners of the Farr campaigns will bring to the table. Consider the sponsorship exposure of an Olympic program for Oracle (not yet a player). As more and more crews on Pro Circuit boats come from Olympic campaigns, I think the synergy would be quite something. Looking at it from a very different perspective ... You brought up issues about cost and body numbers ... I think if the hook was baited, the AC/TP52/Farr40 crowd would pony up the money at levels that would likely pay for the whole sailing event. Think of the money spent on venue costs for the AC. I think I read that Peter de Ridder or someone of that ilk was developing high end marine projects. Get that rolling and Olympic Sailing probably would create considerable post event wealth opportunities as well as be self supporting. The 1976 Olympic sailing event happened here. We still generate mooring revenue - trade show dollars - and continue to host CORK as well as about six other events each year. Tying up your fifty footer at a former Olympic venue seems to be an attraction. * From Pete Wilson: The Alinghi team can continue to contend the independence of ACM, but one need only look back to the 32nd event when ACM employee PRO Peter Reggio decided to proceed with Race 3 after a two-hour postponement, and the events that transpired afterwards, to question this Chinese wall”. The race was a light and fickle affair, and Alinghi lost their lead and the race on the final run. The post-race press conference was filled with sound bites of poor sportsmanship and bellyaching from the Alinghi crew, led by Ernesto Bertarelli. In fact, it is well known that Bertarelli called Reggio after the race, and following a complete ass-chewing, asked him to resign. Now, near as I can tell, that would have been a matter to bring up with the event’s Arbitration Panel… unless of course, you own ACM, and don’t give a crap about fairness and equity. Ernesto, you are going to have to do a hell of a lot more than you are right now before we get a “feel good” sentiment about how you are handling the 33rd Cup. * From Dave Ellis: Regatta information for timely publication is a continuing challenge. I write a sailing column for the St. Petersburg Times newspaper in Florida. After six years of never missing a deadline, most local clubs are quite happy to get me information on time. It usually involves finding the actual person who has the info. On the other hand, sometimes a significant event goes unreported. The Sarasota Labor Day regatta has historically been very slow to get the scoring done. Many of us remember waiting around for hours after racing had finished. Great regatta, but sort of puts a damper on it. Despite asking for the results in advance, the deadline passed long before anything came up on the web site. A reporter cannot physically be at every local event. (I was just back from CORK.) By the next column it will be old news. * From Amory Ross: Just caught up and read the Rolex/Farr 40 bit you commented on. Well said and it's something I've often thought of approaching an editor for an article; not necessarily focused on Rolex, but just on the general benefits of a well run media program (and good photography!). It is something that I think only sailors and media who spend time out of the country really witness. They just do everything so much better in Europe and it in turn draws sponsorship and that just makes the regattas even better. The whole thing kind of grows on itself and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. In the US there's no media attention which drives sponsors away and as a result it keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller... * From Tim Patterson: How great that so many different people stepped up to echo your consistent plea to sailing venues for media coverage and information to be done in a more timely and readable fashion. Maybe those people who have been not paying attention will do so now [i.e. the people who were carping recently about your coverage ]. * From David Redfern (Re Brad Butterworth): Don't be surprised at a New Zealander not turning up for a press conference when they have lost. Its a national characteristic. They do it in Rugby as well. I call it poor sportsmanship. I think they call it pride. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION There are those who compare marriage to a three-ring circus: Engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. Special thanks to Team One Newport and Ullman Sails. |
