|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2391 - July 18, 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. POSTCARDS FROM PORTUGAL Leading US Star sailor Andy Horton provides his reflections on the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships that concluded last week in Cascais, Portugal: “For Brad and I, the ISAF Sailing World Championship was my opportunity to get back into the Star. Following our win at the 2006 Olympic test event in Qingdao, China, I had a back injury (herniated disk) in January while training with the Luna Rossa America’s Cup team. I was unable to walk for a while and lost 23 pounds during a lengthy rehab. I finally got back on the ACC boat in April, but with my achy back, I would spend my afternoons chest deep in a bucket of ice to get out the inflammation. It’s slowly getting better, but the real test was going to be Star sailing. If I re-injured my back in Cascais, our Olympic dreams would be out the window. For this regatta, our major goals were to get me back in the boat without hurting myself, and to help qualify the USA for the Olympics. “It was only through Luna Rossa’s loss in the America’s Cup challenger finals that I was even able to even get to the Worlds (I was the wind-spotter guy up Luna Rossa’s mast). It was a real shame that these events were scheduled so tightly, not only for those who missed the Worlds because of their AC commitments, but also for those trying to follow the sport of sailing. For those of us training in Cascais, we struggled each day between our desire to watch the AC matches and our need to practice for the biggest Olympic regatta of the year. For the broader spectating audience, along with the media, overlapping these events strained both interest and resources. Was it really necessary to have the whole world of televised sailing happen in 1 month?” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/pfp/#horton TRIVIA QUESTION ‘Butthead Susie Davies provides the following trivia question when she asks, “Who is the only Olympic contender to have podiumed at every Olympic class event this year?” (Answer below) A SAVORING MOMENT (Tucker Thompson had the play-by-play call for Versus of that final, memorable leg in Race 7 of the 32nd America’s Cup, and has now had a chance to catch his breath and share his thoughts on the experience.) The 32nd America’s Cup is over, and what a regatta it was! Who would have guessed after both of the last qualifying rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup were one-sided blowouts that the Cup match itself would be the closest in America’s Cup history. It was truly unbelievable to watch. Right down to the last second of the last race sailing fans worldwide were kept guessing, and even the competitors themselves did not know who won until the Race Committee hoisted Alinghi’s blue flag. At its best, that is how sailing should be, and that is how we have all hoped the America’s Cup would one day become. Now it has! -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/t2p/#July6 Curmudgeon’s Comment: We wholeheartedly agree with Tucker, but with the current proposal on the table for the next event, we wonder if we will be able to say this again. LINING UP FOR A SHOWDOWN (July 17, 2007) Rosebud and the radically modified Pyewacket---essentially, two new, fast but unknown quantities sailing their first ocean races---appeared to be lining up for a Barn Door showdown on their third days at sea in the 44th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii Tuesday. Morning roll call positions and Flagship tracking showed Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon's STP 65 from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., had ended its dive into the deep south in quest of favorable breeze and turned west toward the islands as Pyewacket, about 200 miles to the north, continued its steady slide directly down the middle of the course, trailed by several other big boats. At mid-day, Pyewacket, although 29 feet longer than Rosebud with a much taller 130-foot mast, was making 9.2 knots, only six-tenths of a knot faster than Rosebud, suggesting that Rosebud was sailing in better breeze---and Rosebud had logged a race high of 297 nautical miles to Pyewacket's 246 in the previous 24 hours. Also, Rosebud could enjoy a stronger sailing angle when it meets the following trade winds in the next day or so. Bill Lee, the entries chairman and design "wizard" of Transpac, explained the genesis of Rosebud, the only STP 65 built so far: "After Transpac’s success with the Transpac 52, thoughts arose for doing the same type of box rule for a 65-footer. The Storm Trysail Club on the East Coast beat Transpac to it and offered an ST 65. When no boats were started, Alan Andrews and Bill Tripp had a conversation and suggested a cooperative effort, the result being an STP 65 (Stormtrysail-Transpac 65). -- Read on for additional details about the STP 65, Jorge Morales' Swan 42 Mysteré, Simon Garland's Hobie 33 Peregrine, Bill McKinley's Nelson/Marek 70 Denali, and Tim and Tom Hogan's Santa Cruz 70 Westerly: http://www.underthesunphotos.com/Press%20Releases/tp07pr32.htm -- Latest positions: http://www.transpacificyc.org/07/tables/tp07-pr-d7.html -- In keeping with the spirit and tradition of the Clark Cooke House in Newport, RI, Gladstone's Long Beach announced that each crewmember of this year's Transpac overall winner would receive a Gladstone's Long Beach Gold Card. The named owner of this card will be entitled to a lifetime cocktail at Gladstone's Long Beach. Additionally, if the elapsed time record is broken, the record-breaking crew will also receive a Gladstone's Gold Card. -- http://www.gladstoneslongbeach.com AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH KEN READ New England Ropes is pleased to present, in collaboration with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of R.I., an intimate evening with Ken Read on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 for the benefit of the Leukemia Cup RI Regatta. Held at the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, RI, Ken will present a talk and multimedia presentation on his latest endeavor as skipper of PUMA OCEAN RACING in the 2008/2009 Volvo Ocean Race. In addition, the public will have the opportunity to go aboard the Volvo Open 70 "PUMA AVANTI" and learn first hand what it is like to live aboard one of the fastest monohulls afloat for 39,000 nautical miles. Details on this event are at the New England Ropes website. SLOWEST MAC IN YEARS (17-Jul-07 - 10:21am) It’s the Tuesday morning of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, normally the day when the preparations for this afternoon’ s awards ceremony are made, and over half the fleet is still on the water. Only 108 boats have finished, and 19 have retired. There are still 172 boats on the lake, and they are trying to catch any puff of breeze they can. This is by far both the fastest and slowest Mac in years. The strong breeze and small craft advisory at the start of the race on Saturday, July 14 was in no way an indication of what was to come, proving the unpredictability of Lake Michigan. The boats flew across the start line with their colorful spinnakers flying in the strong winds. Some boats report going over 25 knots. And then the wind died. 'This is the slowest race in all the years I have been racing since 1962,' Island Goat and past Race Committee Chairman Lloyd Karzen, explained. The Island Goats Sailing Society is a group of sailors who have completed the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac at least 25 times. Only two sections have all the boats finished, Section 1 and Section 2, which are the bigger boats in the fleet. In this situation, after one boat in the section finishes, the rest of the fleet has 24 hours to cross the line between Round Island and Windermere Point. Not one boat from the Cruising Division, Section 8, Section 9, or Section T-10 have finished. The awards ceremony will be short today, as we can only report a few section winners. Due to the handicap system, it is impossible to announce any overall winners until the majority of the boats finish. So we wait. The winds are between 5-10 knots by noon, increasing to 6-11 knots around 5:00 p.m. We’ll see how many sailors make the Mount Gay Rum Party, the annual post race party, held this afternoon. -- Complete updates at http://www.chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac/raceupdates.cfm RAIL MEAT In a sailboat race, serving as 'rail meat' is a bruising, thankless and essential job. The wording might seem odd and slightly scandalous to any purely land-based person coming across the online sailing forums asking for racing crew. "Come here to find a body or donate yours," one says. "I guess I should give my dimensions," someone offers. "I'm 6-3, 200 pounds, but could drop 10 to 15 if needed." But it is the novices, perhaps, who divulge too much. "I'm a newbie, looking for experience," they innocently type, sealing their fate as, in the blunt terms of sailing, "rail meat." Rail meat are those crew members in a race who scramble from one side to the other to sit on the edge of the boat to balance it while tacking, or changing its position into the wind. In high-profile races such as this week ’s 333-mile Race to Mackinac, the captain may get the glory, but it is the rail meat that will keep the boat balanced, even in the windiest of conditions. -- Chicago Tribune, full story: http://tinyurl.com/29axkh TRIVIA ANSWER The answer to Susie Davies’ trivia question on who has been the only Olympic entry to have podiumed at every Olympic class event this year is the British Yngling squad of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, and Pippa Wilson, who last Wednesday won their division at the ISAF Worlds, and will represent their country at the Olympic test event next month in China. THE BRITISH The British system of selecting its Olympic representatives is not based on an Olympic Trials event as is done in the United States, or even by the accumulated results of several events as is done by many other counties. The British system is more subjective, where a selection committee will review the history of each candidate, and base their decision on who they feel has the best chance of succeeding in the Olympics. All the Royal Yachting Association will say about its selection policy is that final decisions will be made sometime between September 2007 and April 2008. The British system is now benefiting Ben Ainslie, who had won the Finn class gold medal at the 2004 Games. Despite his absence from the Finn class due to his America’s Cup commitment, he has been selected to compete in the Olympic test event next month in China, even though fellow countryman Ed Wright is the current European Champion. However, Shirley Robertson, who has won gold at the last two games, feels she is also a special case and should be treated accordingly. "I wanted to start a family just as Ben wanted to compete in the America's Cup. Just because I've had two babies doesn't mean I can't win another gold medal," she said. "I believe we can win the gold medal and we're better than anyone out there." Despite her plea, the selection committee currently has Ayton’s team in the pole position. -- http://tinyurl.com/2e5gf6 SAN DIEGO SUMMER BOAT SHOW What better place to explore the energy and excitement of the summer boating season then the San Diego Summer Boat Show! The show is August 2-5 at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina on Harbor Island, and the JK3 Nautical Enterprises team will be there with the J/124, Hunt Harrier 25, and Delphia 40. Come by to meet the team and check out these great boats. For more information on these boats or similar lines, give our office a call at 619.224.6200 or visit our website at http://www.jk3yachts.com Hope to see you all there! SAILING SHORTS * The Cruising Club of America is seeking nominations for its annually awarded Rod Stephens Trophy for Outstanding Seamanship, a perpetual trophy to recognize an act of seamanship that "significantly contributes to the safety of a yacht or one or more individuals at sea." Last year’s award was made to the crew of the ABN AMRO II for superb seamanship in carrying out the attempted rescue of an overboard crewmember at during the Volvo Ocean Race. Suggestions and candidates from all nations and in all aspects of boating are welcome. Deadline for nominations is October 15, 2007. -- http://www.cruisingclub.org/pdfs/news_rod_stephens_release_07_07.pdf * The Second Dennis Conner International Yacht Club Challenge will be held in New York City, August 22-25, 2007. Eight foreign teams are coming from Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Bermuda, France & Australia, but the event is still seeking 8 teams from the US for the defense. The competition will be held on J/24 sailboats. If your club would like to field a team, please contact Julie Smith at mailto:julie@myc.org or 917.656.0557. Details are at http://myc.org/iycc/default.htm * (July 17, 2007) In a dominant performance on the first day of racing in the Swan American Regatta, Andrew Fisher's Bandit took the honours in the NYYC Swan 42 fleet with two victories in the new one-design fleet. Lying in second place with five points is Tsunami, after two podium finishes. In Class A, Leonardo Ferragamo's Italian Swan 601 Pioneer Investments by Cuordileone lies in first place overnight after victory in the second race. Jim Swartz' American entry Moneypenny is equal on three points, but second on countback behind the fellow Swan 601. In third place is Martin Fisher's Swan 70 Strabo. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/2c5rwc * Contrary to what you may be hearing from US Department of Homeland Security officials lately, recreational boating has never been safer. According to the latest available statistics for 2004, more people died in bathtubs and swimming pools (847) than in recreational boats (676). Operating a boat is far safer than riding a bicycle, motorcycle, or off-road vehicle. In fact, you have a much greater chance of perishing from a fall involving a bed, chair, or furniture (838) or falling from a stairs or steps (1,588) than you do in falling from a boat. --Full report: http://www.boatus.com/news/releases/2007/july/safety.asp * Eight of the world’s top women sailors will pair off July 18 through 21 at the third annual Mayor’s Cup presented by St. Mary Medical Center, in Long Beach, Calif. Heading the lineup is Australia’s Katie Spithill, ranked sixth in the world by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). Spithill lost last year’s title to Claire Leroy, France in a brutal tie-breaker. The Mayor ’s Cup is a Grade Two event sailed in Catalina 37s with a crew of seven. -- http://tinyurl.com/2r786w * Kingston, Ontario, Canada (July 17, 2007) The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship is at the halfway stage, with the 220+ entrants enjoying a layday before facing the final three days of the event that concludes on Friday. The American 29er duo of Emily Dellenbaugh and Briana Provancha are currently leading the North American contingent in second overall. -- Complete results: http://youthworlds2007.org/results.shtml 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 Pedro Vozone: (edited to the 250-word limit) After reading both Morgan Larson’s and Brad Funk’s comments on the conditions in Cascais (in Issue 2390), I wanted to comment as an active member of the Organizing Club. I was part of the race committee one day for the Star class on Race Course 3 and the wind was shifting around, coming in and then stopping, shifting 40 and 50 degrees each time, which was unlike anything I had ever seen with a North or Northwestern breeze. Seldom does the North wind have such a short and unstable reach. What usually happens is as soon as the North wind settles in, usually after noon, the direction is stable and the speed gradually increasing throughout all of the areas used as race courses. In normal conditions, we would have decent conditions in all the race courses, a bit shiftier in races courses 2 and 3 due to the proximity to land, but nothing like this. The only explanation I find for this is due to our late summer this year. Only about three weeks before the championship’s start did the weather stabilize. Before this, we had sunny days with a lot of wind alternating with rainy days with no wind. These conditions didn’t allow the water’s temperature to rise like it usually does which cause the wind to skip along the surface instead of running close to the water. * From Michael Moradzadeh: Well, as a sailing lawyer, I appreciate the cup returning to an arena where I'd even have a shot at scoring a few points. Kame Richards kindly decoded the boat description as I boggled over the 90-foot beam. "It's a catamaran." Of course, Oracle and GGYC are no fools. I have no doubt that the description of the boat matches exactly the one already adjudicated in favor of Dennis. Heck, maybe it's even the same (renamed) boat. This all reminds me of what my old law professor said. "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be times in the comings and goings and other vagaries of your practice when large amounts of money change hands. Be there." * From Joe Dervin: Re "Blistering Attack" (in Issue 2386), following the just completed AC, what's wrong with this picture: Dalton (loser): “All credit to Alinghi. They kept it close when we got past them on the first run they just kept on sailing the way they do and beat us fair and square in the end. I don’t think the margin today really matters. They still won it.” Butterworth (winner): “I was quite comfortable when Dalts took over the team because he's never done this thing before and it's a little bit out of his reach. If you look at Team New Zealand this time, it's run in an autocratic fashion and it's all about how you've got to be tougher than the other teams.” While Team Alinghi is "touring Switzerland, it's "leader" is spewing sour grapes. As a New Zealand AC supporter since '92 in San Diego, including riding with Peter Isler and Suzie Nairns on the ESPN announcer boat during '95’s AC Race 3, following Black Magic while it ran away from Conners, I'm terribly disappointed in Brad's focus at a time when he should be enjoying his life and his team's hard fought win. The politics have gotten ridiculous. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards.” - Benjamin Franklin Special thanks to New England Ropes and JK3 Nautical Enterprises. |
