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SCUTTLEBUTT 3297 - Monday, March 14, 2011Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Gowrie Group and New England Ropes. TALK IS CHEAP The entry deadline for the 34th America’s Cup is March 31st, after which a team would pay a late fee of US$200,000 if their entry is accepted. Thus far, the list of entries for the 2013 event includes six declared teams and two that have not wanted to announce themselves. Here is the payment schedule to enter the event: By March 31, 2011, a notice of challenge and US$25,000. By April 30, 2011, a performance bond of US$200,000. By June 1, 2011, an entry fee of US$100,000. By December 31, 2011 (or earlier if required by protocol), an additional performance bond of US$800,000. Additionally, each team is required to compete in the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) that will begin this year. The schedule of events is to be announced by March 31st, and there is a financial penalty for any team not competing in the ACWS. To compete in the 2011 ACWS, each team will need to buy at least one AC45 from America’s Cup Race Management, which is the entity established to provide independent, professional, and neutral race management. A 50% deposit to purchase the 675,000 euro (US$940k) AC45 is needed by March 31st to guarantee timely delivery, with the balance due upon receipt. Entering the 34th America’s Cup includes many conflicts. Those teams that have entered either have the funding or hope to gain it. Declaring their entry should help to establish teams but it is done without knowing the race schedule. And they have many financial hurdles ahead of them. The fees listed are only some of the entry requirements. There is a long road from the initial US$25,000 entry fee and the estimated 100 million euros (US$1.38mil) needed to be competitive. As one group who is seeking to enter told Scuttlebutt, “Good luck to those teams that have ‘entered’ so far, but all I am saying is that at this stage, talk is cheap.” -- Scuttleblog, http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2011/03/cash-is-king.html UH, OH At a late January America's Cup press conference, newly elected Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said something a bit odd regarding the city's dramatically hammered-out deal to host the race: "We made a lot of promises. A lot of them have been reported. Candidly, a lot of them have not." In fact, a full 16 pages of the compact had been crossed out and rewritten per then- San Francisco Mayor Newsom between the Board of Supervisors signing off on the deal in mid-December and the deal's official acceptance on the final day of the year. Altering large sections of what is, in essence, a multi-million dollar real estate deal can have some financial consequences. Now we have an idea what they are. An audit of the changes to the America's Cup deal by budget analyst Harvey Rose was released early this evening. While he hesitates to attach a dollar figure to the consequences of the altered deal, Rose notes "the cost could be very significant." Under certain circumstances, it appears the city could be out hundreds of thousands if not several million dollars a year -- over the course of a 66-year agreement. Newsom was entitled to make changes to the Board of Supervisors-approved bid, so long as the "modifications did not materially increase the obligations or liabilities of the City." Reviewing the long list of alterations made to the agreement, however, Rose tells SF Weekly, "If that's not material, I don't know what is!" -- SF Weekly, read on: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/03/americas_cup_1.php GOWRIE GROUP: THERE'S MORE AT RISK THAN THE VALUE OF YOUR BOAT Even a total loss to your boat pales in comparison to the monetary exposure of a lawsuit for serious bodily injury from a boating accident. Many boaters don’t have sufficient liability coverage to protect their personal assets. The experts at Gowrie Group take the time to understand your unique situation and ensure the liability protection on your boat, home and personal excess policies don’t have risky gaps or costly overlaps. Gowrie knows the risks yachts-people face on and off the water, and are committed to getting you the right protection. Read full article: “There is More at Risk…” (http://tinyurl.com/GG-Risk) or contact Gowrie at 800.262.8911, http://www.gowrie.com NEXT SIX WEEKS SHOULD BE INTERESTING It was widely suspected that the 2011 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in St Petersburg, Russia on May 4-8 would grant final approval on the provisional list of events for the 2016 Olympic Games that was tentatively established at the 2010 ISAF Annual Conference held last November in Greece. Now this seems less likely to occur. Sailing is allocated ten events, and it is up to the ISAF member nations and ISAF committees to determine both the type of event, and the equipment (ie, boat type) that will be used in each event. The challenge of this assignment is in the process: what is good for the sport versus what is good for each country. Here is the provisional list: Event - Equipment Men’s board or kite board - To Be Determined Women’s board or kite board - TBD Men’s one person dinghy - Laser Women’s one person dinghy - Laser Radial Men’s 2nd one person dinghy - Finn Men’s skiff - 49er Women’s skiff - TBD Women’s keelboat - Elliott 6m Mixed multihull - To be determined Mixed two person dinghy (spinnaker) - 470 The next six weeks should be interesting as nations begin to disclose their positions, and then work behind the scenes to seek votes for their preferences. New Zealand is the first to distribute their position. “We don’t believe that the provisional slate proposed by ISAF last November was in the best interests of the sport, and so we’ve chosen to promote what we feel is best for yachting, by making this submission to ISAF and publishing it for others to consider,” says Terry Nicholas, Chairman of the YNZ Olympic Committee. Here is the New Zealand list: Event - Equipment Men’s board - RS:X Women’s’ board - RS:X Men’s one person dinghy - Laser Women’s one person dinghy - Laser Radial Men’s high performance two person dinghy - 49er Women’s High Performance two person dinghy - TBD Open multihull - TBD Men’s high performance one person dinghy - TBD (85kg+ sailor weight range) Men’s two person dinghy - 470 Women’s two person dinghy - 470 Full report http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/NewsletterDetail.aspx?NewsletterID=444 LOOKING TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK Having won back-to-back Match Racing World Championships in 2007 and 2008, Britain’s Ian Williams of Team GAC Pindar has since had a comparatively disappointing run of form on the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) however, as his team’s preparations get underway for the 2011 world series Williams is looking to learn from past lessons to scoop a third title. Williams plays his cards close to his chest when asked about previous mistakes however, he pinpoints a lack of training as perhaps the main reason why his team underperformed in 2010. “We’d love to go out and win our third title so we’re closely evaluating how things went in 2010. We are certainly going to do a lot more match racing this year - last year our training was very limited and I think that proved pretty costly. We plan to have a greater focus on team consistency and training this year which will hopefully benefit our results.” “I will also be racing with a slightly different team this year. It’s changing due to a variety of reasons and getting the right balance will be critical. Our strength is the team that we employ. Some teams are very helmsman lead whereas we are very integrated and involve everyone in decision making and I think that approach gets us better result.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-031311 REUNION: Joining Williams for the 2011 season will be American Bill Hardesty, who was Williams’ tactician during 2007 World Championship campaign team. Hardesty is currently the highest ranked U.S. match racer (27th in the world), fitting match racing events in around his professional sailing calendar. HE’S BACK (March 13, 2011; Day 44, 22:00 UTC) - Thomas Coville (FRA) is sailing a faster boat, so it is conceivable that his 105-foot trimaran Sodebo should have no problem erasing the solo singlehanded round the world record set by Francis Joyon (FRA) in 2008 on the 97-foot trimaran IDEC. But like they say, “that is why they play the game.” After struggling with unfavorable weather patterns during his descent down the Atlantic Ocean, and holding a deficit of up to 1300 miles behind when entering the Indian, Coville has finally evened up the score. Now 59.4 nm ahead of Joyon’s pace as he heads north along the coast of Brazil, Coville notes that "mentally, it was an incredible challenge." But the challenge is far from over. With 4990 nm remaining to the finish, the rise of the South Atlantic still seems endless and terribly tactical. “When you come around there after the Indian and the Pacific, we think it's nice and warm,” commented Coville. “But the pressure is not over. The heat exchanges are terrible and brutal break weather systems.” Coville must cross the finish line off Ushant, France by March 28, 2011 at 00:40:34 (UTC) to break Joyon’s record (57:13:34:06). -- http://www.sodebo-voile.com/ ENDURA BRAID PROVES TO BE LINE HANDLERS FAVORITE New England Ropes’ Endura Braid is the Practical Sailor ‘Best Choice’ among braided cover running rigging options. Products tested were compared in the following areas: Rope Elasticity, Durability, and Ease of Handling. Testers also considered ease of application, coating adhesion to substrate, abrasion resistance, and the overall value of the product to the customer. According to the November 2010 article, “Endura Braid proved to be the line-handlers’ favorite.” To find out more about Endura Braid and other high quality products from New England Ropes, visit their website at http://www.neropes.com BACARDI MIAMI SAILING WEEK Miami, FL (March 12, 2011) - For the 472 sailors from 25 countries, conditions on Biscayne Bay were ideal as temperatures in the low 70s and sunny weather combined with shifty breeze to challenge them on the final day of racing at BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank where champions were decided in five one-design classes. In the 89-boat Star class, racing for the 84th BACARDI Cup over six days, today’s sixth and final race opened with the top-two teams separated by just one point. 2008 Olympian Peter O’Leary and David Burrows (Ireland) were leading the 89-boat fleet followed by Guillaume Florent and Pascal Rambeau (France), and, just five points back, Frederik Loof with Max Salmiren (Sweden) and Eivind Melleby with Petter Morland Pedersen (Norway) were third and fourth, respectively, but tied on points. With a 12 knot breeze at the start of the race, the Stars were off on a course covering 11 nautical miles. When all was said and done, 2007 BACARDI Cup winner Hamish Pepper and crew Craig Monk (both New Zealand) were the race winners, followed across the line by Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (Norway) who had led the series early in the week before picking up penalty points in race four. The French team was fourth across the line, and with O’Leary and Burrows crossing sixth, the BACARDI Cup went to Florent and Rambeau with 23 points - edging out the Irish by just one point. Other event winners were Lorenzo Bressani (Milan, Italy) in the Melges 24, Mary Anne Ward (Cocoa Beach, FL.) in the Melges 20, Glyn Locke (Isle of Wight, Great Britain) in the Viper 640, and Brian Kamilar (Miami, FL) in the J/24. Complete report: http://miamisailingweek.com/news.html RESULTS: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=429 PHOTOS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0312/ ATTRITION CONTINUES (March 13, 2011, Day 71) - Fourteen double-handed teams began the Barcelona World Race on December 31st, with one dismasting in the Atlantic Ocean and another in the Indian Ocean bringing the fleet down to twelve teams. But the attrition continued this past weekend for two entries that had rounded Cape Horn, and were on the final stretch north up the Atlantic to the finish line in Spain. After arriving in Ushuaia, Argentina on Wednesday evening, it was announced on Friday that the keel damage on Groupe Bel was too great for the French team of Kito de Pavant and Sebastien Audigane to continue. Then on Saturday, the sixth place Mirabaud was dismasted while sailing in difficult conditions with very rough seas. The yacht skippered by Dominque Wavre (SUI) and Michèle Paret (FRA) were 650 nautical miles east of Argentina and 450 miles north of the Falkland Isles. There appears to be little drama for the leaders on Virbac-Paprec 3. “We are under a bit of a squall with about 20 knots of breeze,” reports co-skipper Loick Peyron (FRA). “Under these conditions we reduce a bit of sail to avoid being overpowered and then we will increase the sail area again. Out ascent up the Atlantic is not so exciting, with some variations of wind pressure and sail changes and so we are making fair progress. Within three to four days we will be back in the Doldrums.” -- Event website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20:01:03) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron (FRA/FRA), 3899 nm DTF 2. Mapfre, Iker Martinez/Xabi Fernandez (ESP/ESP), 347.5 nm DTL 3. Renault, Pachi Rivero/Antonio Piris (ESP/ESP), 1529.0 nm DTL 4. Neutrogena, Boris Herrmann/Ryan Breymaier (GER/USA), 1808.8 nm DTL 5. Estrella Damm Sailing Team,Alex Pella/Pepe Rives (ESP/ESP),1829.8 nm DTL Full Rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking/ BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org APRIL FOOLS The Warning flag is up and the shotgun is fired. It is time to prepare for the April Fools edition of Scuttlebutt. This edition for April 1st is completely written by Scuttlebutt readers who are empowered to seek out all sectors of the sport... and have a little fun with it. Don’t go for the low hanging fruit - there are only so many America’s Cup stories that can be included. The more unique, the better chance the story will be selected. Story deadline is March 30th. Send stories to editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com SAILING SHORTS * This weekend the annual Lightning Southern Circuit was launched at the Deep South Regatta in Savannah, GA, with the procession now continuing south for two more events in Miami and St. Petersburg. Forty boats competed from as far as Colorado, Wisconsin, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Argentina and Australia to see who could master the Skiddaway and Willington Rivers during the day, and the oysters and shamrock-themed adult bevies during the night. Taking the first crown of the circuit was Jody Lutz, Jay Lutz and Derek Gauger (Metedeconk River YC). -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11429 * Sydney, AU (March 13, 2011) - After a controversial morning before today’s race 7 of the Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, the Gotta Love It 7 crew of Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Scott Babbage took the title with an impressive win on Sydney Harbour. Gotta Love It 7 was disqualified after yesterday’s Race 6 win and now trailed Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas) by three points. The final race win tied the teams on final points with the tiebreaker in favor of Jarvin’s team. CST Composites sailed by Americans Howie Hamlin, Fritz Lanzinger and Paul Allen finished 5th. -- Photos/report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0313/ * Sarasota, FL (March 11, 2011) - Strong winds at the 63-boat Flying Scot Midwinters cancelled racing for the final two days on Thursday and Friday, allowing Andrew Egan to take the title and join his father, brother, and uncle in placing his name on the Mary Meno trophy as the winner of the championship division. -- Event website: http://web.me.com/limerun/Site/Welcome.html * Sailing World released its latest college rankings last week, which finds Boston College remaining as the top team in the country, leading the coed rankings and coming second in the women's poll. But Georgetown is close behind, second in the coed and third in the women's. St. Mary's also has both teams ranked in the top 5 as the spring season gathers steam. Full list: http://tinyurl.com/SW-031311 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar EIGHT BELLS John Gerald Driscoll III, Gerry, passed away Saturday evening (March 12th) in his sleep at his apartment in La Jolla, CA. He was 87 years old. His sailing career highlights include winning the Star Class World Championship in 1944 and winning the Congressional Cup match racing championship in 1965 and 1966 with an 18-0 record those years. Gerry’s involvement with the America’s Cup began as tactician for New York Yacht Club Commodore Robert McCullough on the twelve meter Vim12-US-15, which was the trial horse to Columbia 12-US-16 in the 1964 America's Cup trials. He then went on to sail the twelve meter Columbia in 1967 in the America's Cup trials and was skipper of the twelve meter Intrepid 12-US-22 in the 1974 trials. Gerry was instrumental in the organization and fund raising for Rod Davis and the twelve meter Eagle 12-US-60 syndicate in 1987, and in 1992 he was San Diego Yacht Club's liaison to the challengers for the 1992 America's Cup. The Driscoll name is prominent in the San Diego marine industry. Gerry founded the family’s first boat yard in 1947, and now there are multiple repair and maintenance facilities, marinas, and brokerage services throughout San Diego and Mission Bay. BE SOCIAL If you’re among the billions and billions of people that use Facebook and Twitter, getting connected to Scuttlebutt has its advantages. Not only can you share your updates and photos, but you get reports that aren’t published in the newsletter, you get the jump on breaking news, or you might win a pair of Polarized Sailing Sunglasses from Ocean Racing like Jay Vander Wall did last Friday. Look for another contest to be held this week. If Facebook and Twitter isn’t your thing, you can get these same updates as a text message too. If you’re in the United States, send a text ‘follow scuttbutt’ to 40404. Other country codes are listed on the Scuttlebutt Twitter page. Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Rory Paton: (re, Olympic boats) I sail an XOD because it's mentally taxing both and it's our local boat, I aspire to sailing a Moth (I'm going to have a go, this year's resolution). I think to make it (the Olympics) worth watching/winning you need a combination of technical difficulty and big names. The International Moth has both. Whilst bizarrely I'm a fan of the Finn and Star, it's mainly because of the sailors not the boats. The 470 was a good boat 20 years ago perhaps but not that inspirational now. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Scuttlebutt 3295 and 3296 had comments from Larry Suter and Andy Rice that debated the virtues of the monopoly classes, specifically the 49er. Andy had called out Larry on his facts, and while the Letters section of Scuttlebutt is not well suited for this kind of commentary, Larry has posted his rebuttal in Scuttleblog where all the Letters have been posted as well: http://tinyurl.com/Blog-031311 JUST SAY YES TO SAILING Sailing Is Not The Answer. Sailing Is The Question. “Yes” Is The Answer. Scuttlebutt has launched a new T-Shirt with this Curmudgeon’s Observation along with the famous pink ribbon that’s the international symbol of breast cancer awareness. All proceeds go to breast cancer research. Shirts can be purchased at the Scuttlebutt Store: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/store CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION An elephant is nothing more than a mouse built to government specifications. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Gowrie Group - New England Ropes - North Sails - North U LaserPerformance - Mount Gay - Doyle Sails - US SAILING Ullman Sails - Team One Newport - The Pirates Lair - Harken Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
