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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 907 - September 24, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
THE START In the 240 seconds it took the women to prevent the damaged sail from sliding over the side and around the rudder, haul it back onboard, set up a replacement and hoist it, their seven rivals had powered up and gone, bows aimed down the Solent and at Cape Town, 7,350 miles away. To add frustration to heartache, they then had to punch through the churned-up water of the spectator fleet. At 4pm, just an hour after the start, the leaders sped past the Needles, reaching hard under asymmetrical spinnakers in the 15 knot north-easterly. Though Gunnar Krantz's SEB was first off the start, it ceded the lead to Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, with Knut Frostad's djuice third. They were the very conditions Dalton would have wanted; medium winds, but still with enough strength to make a boat's power tell. Remember Dalton selected the Mani Frers-designed boat over the Bruce Farr-designed alternative, which team-mate McDonald and five other crews are racing. "It's not about a fast boat or a slow boat," Dalton said. "But a belief of what the weather will be. Both are capable of winning." By Dalton's reckoning, Frers has "got his numbers quite nice" in creating a longer and bigger boat, without making it sticky in light airs. "It's like a racing car with fat tyres," Dalton added. "If you can put the power down, it's an advantage; if you can't, it's resistance." The first leg will need to unravel further to see if Amer Sports One has got more horsepower, and to test the widely held belief that the eight boats in this eighth race (formerly the Whitbread) would need a feeler gauge to separate them. The evidence of a handful of miles in a race around the world is worthless. What is telling, however, is the quiet confidence of Dalton's crew. And they are the only ones to have an in-depth assessment of a Frers and a Farr boat. - Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, UK Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
THE FIRST DAY As Roger Nilson, Navigator on Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One explained, the first twelve hours were plain sailing for the fleet with: "not one single gybe yet and only one sail change". At 04.00hrs GMT, the yachts were sailing at just 5 knots average in 7 knots of north easterly breeze. Overall positions are currently deceiving. From djuice in the North to SEB in the South, the yachts are now spanned over a 17 mile line with Amer Sports One opting a smart middle route, putting her in a useful position to cover what ever breaks are made. SEB have fewer miles to sail to Cape Town but the next few hours will tell which yachts are in the best position for the first set of breaks.
Position Report 24 SEP 01 04.00 GMT:
PUBLIC JUSTICE As a past Chairman of both the Olympic and Americas Cup juries, Willis has had a policy of openness allowing both observers from other crews and members of the press to attend hearings. As the third event in the International Sailing Federation's triumvirate of 'Special Events', to adopt the policy the decision will almost certainly have a wide influence on sailing in a broader arena. - Peter Bentley, Volvo Ocean Race website, www.volvooceanrace.com/news/prerace/n0_010922_openjury.html
SMOKE ON THE WATER
BROKEN BOAT "After analysis and expert assessment," say the experts at Multiplast, "the boat has been declared perfectly repairable, we are researching the best technical solutions to bring the maxi catamaran back up to scratch. She should be shipped by cargo to a yard in Southern Europe because Multiplast is too busy at the moment to take in Team Adventure." - SailNet website, www.sailnet.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Jeff Leeuwenburg, Melbourne, Australia: As an aging but devoted 120 Kg yachtie, I find the Etchell the perfect boat to sail in - fantastic performance, good cockpit, high boom; sadly I and my friends cannot normally race against other Etchells, because of the weight rules. This is not fair, as there are plenty of boats smaller people can excel in. I would rather the rules changed to having as many or as few people on board as you please. To have fun we sail in stern-chaser non-Etchell handicap fleets, which we do with a lot of enjoyment. In my youth I did the trapeze stuff on a Flying Dutchman, with extra layers and a pre-race dunking to get the weight well up. In light winds we came last. In heavy weather we got a place, broke gear, or got swamped. Seemed fair. * From Geoff Ewenson: Peter Godreid asks where is the trim, 190-225lb sailor-athlete supposed to compete in the Olympics? I invite anyone with the same question to sail a Finn. The US fleet is presently hosting the World Championships with Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead MA. There are 63 boats registered. The ideal size for the Finn is 220lbs and over 6 ft tall. Please visit the website www.easternyc.org and check it out. My e-mail is gewenson@yahoo.com. I can get you information if you want. * From Scott Mason: The state of the art chess game that eight of the world's best offshore navigators play against each other might become low-tech if meteorology sites go down and GPS accuracy is degraded. Adds credence to a few distance offshore races that still require sights during their races, and to the navigators that are skilled taking sights. I don't think the US military will hesitate to reshuffle communication frequencies to protect national security--nor should they. The information zone that navigators and their teams rely on for advantage will become smaller--and perhaps the race refocuses on the skippers and crews. * From Sean Jeffery Auckland, NZ: In Butt 906 Rich Roberts mentioned in his report on the eve of the Volvo, that he didn't know what dragons had to do with the djuice Dragons. Last race Knut Frostad headed Kvaerner Innovation which too had a dragon as its mascot, it was a outline of a dragons head on the bow of the boat. This concept has carried on to be the djuice dragons. The origin of this is from the early Norwegian airforce, which had a squad called the flying dragons. This I believe had some connection to the first Norwegian Whitbread attempt. So dragons has nothing to do with djuice itself, but the two have been put together to create a name and a team.
CREW LIST AMER SPORTS ONE (Nautor Challenge) Grant Dalton (New Zealand) Skipper Roger Nilson (Sweden) Navigator Phil Airey (New Zealand) Bouwe Bekking (Netherlands) Jeff Brock (Canada) Claudio Celon (Italy) Keith Kilpatrick (United States of America) Chris Nicholson (Australia) Peter Pendleton (United States of America/Canada) Pepe Ribes Rubio (Spain) Steffano Rizzi (Italy) Dee Smith (United States of America) AMER SPORTS TOO (Nautor Challenge) Lisa McDonald (United States of America/Great Britain) Skipper Genevieve White (Australia) Navigator Anna Drougge (Sweden) Emma Westmacott (Great Britain/Australia) Katie Pettibone (United States of America) Bridget Suckling (New Zealand) Keryn Henderson (New Zealand) Sharon Ferris (New Zealand) Abigail Seager (Great Britain) Eleanor Hay (Great Britain) Willenien Van Hoeve (Netherlands/Ireland) Klaartje Zuiderbaam (Netherlands) Melissa Purdy (United States of America) ASSA ABLOY Roy Heiner (Netherlands) Skipper Mark Rudiger (United States of America) Co-skipper/Navigator Magnus Olsson (Sweden) Richard Mason (New Zealand) Jason Carrington (Great Britain) Guillermo Altadill(Spain) Jules Mazaris (France) Michael Joubert (South Africa) Sidney Gavignet (France) Klabbe Nylof (Sweden) Neal McDonald (Great Britain) Stuart Wilson (New Zealand) djuice (djuice dragons) Knut Frostad (Norway) Skipper Jean-Yves Bernot (France) Navigator Espen Guttormsen (Norway) Arve Roaas (Norway) Mickael Lundh (Sweden) Jonas Wackenhuth (Sweden) Stig Westergaard (Denmark) Jacques Vincent (France) Steve Gruver (United States of America) Peter Doriean (Australia) Wouter Verbraak (Netherlands) Christen Horn Johannessen (Norway) ILLBRUCK CHALLENGE John Kostecki (United States of America) Skipper Juan Vila (Spain) Navigator Ian Moore (Northern Ireland) Navigator Stuart Bannatyne (New Zealand) Mark Christensen (New Zealand) Ross Halcrow (New Zealand) Dirk De Ridder (Netherlands) Ray Davies (New Zealand) Richard Clarke (Canada) Jamie Gale (New Zealand) Stu Bettany (New Zealand) Tony Kolb (Germany) TEAM NEWS CORP Jez Fanstone (Great Britain) Skipper Ross Field (New Zealand) Navigator Nick White (New Zealand) Navigator Jon Gunderson (New Zealand) Damien Duke (Australia) Justin Slattery (Ireland) Joe Spooner (New Zealand) Barney Walker (Australia) Steve Cotton (Australia) Jeff Scott (Australia) Craig Smith (New Zealand) Alister Pratt (Australia) TYCO Kevin Shoebridge (New Zealand) Skipper Steve Hayles (Great Britain) Navigator Brad Jackson (New Zealand) Tim Powell (Great Britain) Jim Close (Australia) Robert Salthouse (New Zealand) Jonathon Swain (South Africa) Gerrard Mitchell (Great Britain) David Endean (New Zealand) Jan Dekker (France) Guy Salter (Great Britain) Damion Foxall (Ireland) SEB Gunnar Krantz (Sweden) Skipper Marcel Van Triest (Netherlands) Navigator Rodney Arden (New Zealand) Tony Mutter (New Zealand) David Rolfe (New Zealand) Matthew Humphries (Great Britain) Magnus Woxen (Sweden) Gareth Cooke (New Zealand) Tom Braidwood (Australia) Glen Kessels (Great Britain) Scott Beavis (New Zealand) Santiago Lange (Argentina)
AUDIO ANALYSIS
49er WORLDS USA's Andy Mack and Adam Lowry had several top 10 finishes despite not getting their favored conditions, but a DSQ and OCS hurt them and resulted in a somewhat disappointing 13th placing. The other up-and-coming US teams sailed quite well in a very competitive silver fleet, with Dave Fagen/ Bora Gulari 3rd, Tim Wadlow/ Pete Spaulding 7th, Dalton Bergan/ Zack Maxam 10th, and Pat Whitmarsh/ Paul Allen 12th.
Final results:
SONAR WORLDS The regatta was the first world championship for the Sonar Class, which was given International status last year. There were 37 boats competing, with entries from Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. There were several cancellations due to the interruption in air travel caused by the terrorist attack in New York. The regatta had been scheduled to start on Monday, the 17th with a nine race program, but was delayed one day out of respect for those lost in the New York disaster. - Bruce Kirby
Final results:
WEBSITES
www.noaa.gov
SAILING WORLD NOOD ON GALVESTON BAY After two days of racing in light and shifty winds--with characteristic up-and-down performances in the changeable breeze--racers' last chance to secure a trophy in a final deciding race never came. On Saturday afternoon, September 22, an oil tankship and a towing vessel with a barge collided in the ship channel. The resultant oil spill at Barbour's Cut in La Porte caused the final day of racing to be cancelled. The results of the regatta, which was presented by the Farmers Insurance Group and Mount Gay Rum, are based on two days of racing. A fleet of 109 boats in 11 classes competed.
Class winners included:
MORE NOOD
505 WORLDS
Series standings:
LASER MASTER NAs
J35 NAs
FREEDOM "Sailing for freedom," Clarke said. - Herb McCormick, New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2001/09/23/sports/23BOAT.html
NATIONAL PRIDE
THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL |
