SCUTTLEBUTT No. 791 - April 10, 2001

Scuttlebutt 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 and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome.

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE - by Philippe Kahn
The RORC abruptly cancelled the 2001 Admiral's Cup on April 2nd. If this announcement had been made on April 1st nobody in the world would have believed it. Team Pegasus' goal of representing the United States of America in one of the world's most prestigious races evaporated (Together with several hundred thousand Dollars worth of expenditures tied to winning the US trials and preparing for the defunct Cup next summer). Yet, I'd like to thank RORC.

Does this sound strange? Read on.

However, with the Admiral's Cup, the abrupt cancellation of one of sailing's most major events is sending shock waves throughout the whole sailing community. Unfortunately, it also coincides with an unexpected economic downturn; linking both may be a premature assumption. However, it is clear that both the Admiral's Cup event itself and most of the proposed National Teams had great difficulties in finding sponsorship. Lets face it, in a period of economic boom, companies with their stock soaring, as well as successful executives with tens of millions of dollars in stock options, see yachting events as a wonderful way to fulfill their needs for adventure and competition. But when the economy starts experiencing a downturn, these are the luxuries that are cut first, unless they have strong support from the marketing department. This is a harsh reality shared with many non-profit organizations, endowed with stocks that may have seen their value significantly decline recently.

In the case of the Admiral's Cup, we heard the sponsor's logic first hand: sponsors want media exposure in their own localities and the media wants to feel global excitement before it gives global coverage to an event. Much like the chicken and egg circumstance. For the organizers of an event, it takes a major early marketing effort together with the participating teams. Both the event organizers and the competitors are locked in a symbiotic relationship. Events get sponsorship if they attract world-class competition and competitors get sponsorship if they go compete in events that will get worldwide coverage.

There are very successful examples: The Vendee Globe with PRB and Kingfisher, The Race with Club Med, The America's Cup with Prada. The standard is set; nothing less is acceptable to sponsors who want measurable results. PRB Kingfisher, Club Med, and Prada are all delighted with the worldwide exposure, and they are ready for the next adventure regardless of the economic downturn.

On the other hand, The Admiral's Cup was not even close. Who remembers the names of the winners in 1999? Are we surprised that they were not even returning? If you want the beginning of an indication, check any of these events websites. Then ask yourself: if you were a sponsor asked to foot $500,000 to send a Sydney 40 to England would you have footed the bill?

There is a good lesson here to be learned for future events that require major sponsorship money: Strong global marketing of the event with the participants / competitors is essential. Now is an extraordinary opportunity for the Admiral's Cup to do the right thing in 2003. We're all ready to help, we love the event! - Philippe Kahn, skipper of Pegasus, winner of the 2001 US Admiral's Cup trials in the Farr 40 class, www.pegasus.com

TEAM USA
As the Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) of US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, begins the new quadrennium, it is apparent that a wave of fresh faces have come to the fore of the Olympic sailing scene in the United States. The announcement of the 2001 US Sailing Team members, in the Europe, Finn, 49er, Laser, Mistral and Tornado classes, offers an indication of who to watch over the next four years as these Olympic hopefuls prepare for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad. (The 470, Star and Yngling classes will finalize their members of the team in early summer.)

The US Sailing Team, created in 1986 to recruit and develop athletes for upcoming Olympiads, annually distinguishes the top-five ranked sailors in each of nine classes (11 divisions) chosen for Olympic competition. For 2004 those classes (divisions) are: Europe (women); Finn (men); 470 (men and women); Laser (open); Mistral (men and women); 49er, Star, Tornado (all open); and Yngling (women). The 2004 Olympic Regatta is scheduled for August 13-29, in Athens, Greece.

US Sailing Team rankings are based on attendance and performance at a series of qualifying regattas determined by the individual class. Membership on the US Sailing Team identifies sailors as strong contenders for an Olympic berth and provides them with coaching, training opportunities and financial assistance in addition to national recognition. The following members of the 2001 US Sailing Team are listed in ranking order one through five:

Named by the Europe class: 2000 Europe World Bronze Medallist Meg Gaillard (Pelham, N.Y.); ICSA All-American Krysia Pohl (Alameda, Calif.); ICSA All-American Christin Feldman (Grosse Pointe, Mich.); Jaime Mack (Seattle, Wash.); and Lauren Maxam (Coronado, Calif.).

Named by the Finn class: 2000 Olympian Russ Silvestri (San Francisco, Calif.); '98 Finn National Champion Darrell Peck (Gresham, Ore.); ICSA All-American Geoff Ewenson (Annapolis, Md./Newport, R.I.); Eric Oetgen (Savannah, Ga.); and Mo Hart (Santa Cruz, Calif./S. Portland, Maine).

Named by the 49er class (skipper and crew): 2001 ABYC OCR Champions Andy Mack and Adam Lowry (Seattle, Wash./San Francisco, Calif.); 2000 ICSA College Sailor of the Year Dalton Bergan and Zach Maxam (Seattle, Wash./Coronado, Calif.); '97 ICSA College Sailor of the Year Tim Wadlow and ICSA All-American Pete Spaulding (San Diego, Calif./Boston, Mass.); brothers Sean and Brendan Couvreux (both Petaluma, Calif.); and ICSA All-American David Fagen and Bora Gulari (St. Petersburg, Fla./Detroit, Mich.).

Named by the Laser class: ICSA All-American Brett Davis (Largo, Fla.); Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.); Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.); Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.); and Andrew Scrivan (Greenwich, Conn.).

Named by the Mistral men's class: ICSA All-American Peter Wells (La Canada, Calif.); Ben Barger (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Steve Bodner (Toledo, Ohio/San Francisco, Calif.); Jon Azevedo (Indian Harbor Beach, Fla.); and Phillip Muller (Ft. Pierce, Fla.).

Named by the Mistral women's class: Kimberly Birkenfeld (Myrtle Creek, Ore./Miami, Fla.); Laura Chambers (Indialantic, Fla.); Beth Powell (Cocoa Beach, Fla.); Ericka Kofkin (Melbourne, Fla.); and Heather Hertel (Erie, Pa.).

Named by the Tornado class (skipper/crew): two-time Olympians ('00, '96) John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree (New Orleans, La./Newport Beach, Calif.); '99 Miami OCR Champions Lars Guck and PJ Schaffer (both Bristol, R.I.); Robbie Daniel and Jacques Bernier (Clearwater, Fla. and Daytona Beach, Fla./San Diego, Calif.); ICSA All-American Richard Feeny and Jonathan Farrar (Ithaca, N.Y./Niantic, Conn.); and ICSA All-American Mike Ingham and Erik Goethert (Rochester/Irondequoit, N.Y.). - Jan Harley, www.ussailing.org

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THE RACE
The Polish catamaran Warta Polpharma should cross the finish line of The Race on the 100th day of the event sometime between midday and 16h00 on Tuesday. As the wind dropped for several hours last night, the Poles only covered 200 miles in the last 24 hours and they still have 282 miles to go before the finish. The Mistral wind weakened a little today and Warta Polpharma should run into some nice sailing weather for the hours of her race.

Now within 150 miles of sighting the Rock of Gibraltar, Tony Bullimore predicts that he and his Team Legato crew will pass through the Straits into the Mediterranean early Tuesday on the final stage of their circumnavigation. For the moment, their finish looks like Thursday or Friday.

Having been beating non-stop since the Falklands, the Bullimore Boys can't wait for a change in wind direction. Any direction other than on the nose will do, but for the moment it looks like more of the same as they continue to beat up the North African coast.

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON leweck@earthlink.net
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.)

* From Bill Elmer: As the sage announcer for the Seattle Mariners says: "my oh my" what hath St Francis wrought (#790) thinking they could just slip in Americap? I bet we at least will have something new to read about in Butt.

But I say "right on." PHRF may to some be a grand system, but politics get in the way of ratings and it (PHRF) can't account for wind and course. I will agree that no rating system is perfect, but lord help us as for politics. Take a look at the rating differences of a J-125. Rod Johnston who builds these things and is probably biased a bit on the high (slow) side says -3, while PHRF NW says +12. Go figure that one out! As for the naysayers, if US Sailing can get most stock boats rated under Americap, then the IMS boys have little to gripe about when it comes to measurement, as they would be doing it anyway.

* From Dick Lemke: Darn it Curmudgeon - you keep posting these missives that just keep the blood boiling. US Sailing has posted a list of ten (10) major championships. Of the 10 - only one (1) is multihull related - the Alter Cup. Does this indicate only one of ten sailors in the U.S. is a multihull owner? Is only one tenth of US Sailing memberships a multihull membership? Would be interesting to see actual percentages - as I recall some time ago, the multihull membership was a much larger percentage.

CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Publishing this letter about multihulls does not mean we are reopening the US Sailing thread.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF TEAM PEGASUS
(The cancellation of the Admiral's Cup necessitated a dramatic shift of plans for Team Pegasus. Philippe Kahn provides some insight into the current plans of this energetic program.)

For the last year, Team Pegasus has been focused on three events for 2001: Transpac, the San Francisco Big Boat Series, and The Admiral's Cup. For Transpac 2001 and the BBS, Team Pegasus built a brand new Reichel-Pugh designed Supersled, Pegasus 75, USA 50008. For the Admiral's Cup Team, Pegasus trained and competed hard to win the US Farr 40 trials after fifteen inshore races and one eventful windy offshore race.

Both Transpac 2001 and the San Francisco Big Boat Series promise to be the most exciting in ten years. Team Pegasus has made the right decision. The cancellation of the Admiral's Cup came as a big disappointment. We had to search for a new challenging International event for 2001.

The question: Is there an event on the 2001 International sailing calendar that would truly challenge our team? After a careful search, we came up with the answer: The Melges 24 Worlds in Fort Lauderdale in November 2001. They are expecting 100 boats from all over the world with some of the greatest sailing stars, driving their own boats. It is an owner-driver class, all right! However, unlike in the Farr 40 and the Mumm 30 classes, the owner-drivers are super stars like Vince Brun, Dave Ullman, Mike Toppa, Buddy Melges, and many others. Should we do it? Is it realistic to go and sail against these superstars?

On a Saturday afternoon in April, our team met at our house after some epic sailing in 25 knots and big waves, and we talked it over. I already knew Mark Reynolds' opinion: "In the Farr 40 class, it's reasonable to expect to be top 5 most of the time, but in the Melges 24 class, it's going to be the fight of your life each and every time." Morgan Larson says: "Philippe, there is no other type of sailing that will make you a better sailor, if you can stand to lose for awhile!" Zan Drejes responds: "Heck these little Melges rockets are just basically Micro-Supersleds. I'm ready. Let's go make you a better sailor!"

These guys said it all. It was decision time. For 2001, we have it all figured out: The Melges 24 and the new Supersled. For 2002, there are no hesitations: The Kenwood Cup in Hawaii. There is no better place to sail in the world. At the moment, I better stop typing and go practice sailing that Melges 24! - Philippe Kahn, www.pegasus.com

US OPEN 60
On Saturday 7 April, Bruce Schwab's new racing Open 60, Ocean Planet, was launched at Schooner Creek Boat Works, in Portland. A crowd of about 200 of Bruce's supporters and sponsors showed up to watch the first and only state-of-the-art Open 60 built in the U.S. make her first splash. Kevin Flannigan, Ocean Planet's primary private sponsor, spoke to the crowd on the environmental message Ocean Planet will carry with her as she participates in over 100,000 miles of ocean racing in a program involving 3 global circumnavigations, a series of transatlantic crossings as well as transpacific crossings. The majority of races will be sailed by Bruce single-handed.

A Tom Wylie design, Ocean Planet will among the lightest and fastest in its class ever built, with speeds capable of 30 knots. Constructed at Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland, Oregon, of a wood/epoxy, carbon-Kevlar amalgam, she features a radical hull shape for Open 60 racers, more narrow than her European peers. With a very high "AVS", Ocean Planet is optimized for high-speed controllability and can safely sail at angles sometimes risky on the wider Ocean 60's. The design includes a free-standing carbon fiber rig with a unique unstayed mast - a round, rotating braided carbon fiber tube configuration fitted into titanium butt collars. The sailplan is a fractional rig with the jibs on free luff roller furlers, extremely light weight, much lighter than current rigs on other Open 60's - Ocean Planet weighs 3000lbs less than Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher.

Bruce and crew including Bill Colombo from Doyle in Alameda and Steve Rander of Schooner Creek, leave Portland Monday to head down the coast to San Francisco, arriving in time for Ocean Planet's official christening by Ellen MacArthur at Pacific Sail Expo next week. Ocean Planet will be on display at Pacific Sail April 18-22. - Michelle E. Slade, www.oceanplanet.org

EASY TRANSITION
Most of Charlie Ogletree's sailing for the past couple of years has been hanging from a wire as he and Johnny Lovell campaigned a Tornado catamaran for Sydney Olympics. Recently however, Ogletree drove Mike Stone's Melges 24 in a talent-laden 23-boat fleet at the San Diego NOOD - and they won the event. Convincingly! How did a relative newcomer in this tough class find that kind of boat speed? It could be the complete inventory of Ullman Sails. Get an online price quote for your boat now. Improved performance is more affordable than you think: www.ullmansails.com

BVI SPRING REGATTA
Tortola, British Virgin Islands, April 9, 2001 - The 30th annual BVI Spring Regatta concluded as the most successful ever with a total of 98 races run for 13 classes in the three day event.

The multi-course course, multi-start format using separate start and finish lines on the spinnaker course enabled the race committee to run 12 races for the spinnaker beach cats; 11 races for the big boats, Melges, Racer/Cruiser I and Racing I; 9 races for Racer Cruiser II and the non-spinnaker beach cats and 8 eight races for Racing II.

Bob Phillips, regatta chairman and ISAF race officer was delighted at the success of the format: "We achieved what we set out to achieve - three days of non-stop racing and plenty of it. It's been such a successful format that I've heard that visiting yachtsmen from the States competing here are already thinking of using at regattas such as the Detroit NOOD and Block Island Race Week."

Adam Gosling owner of Yes! a Sydney 60 from the UK and winner of the big boat division: "I think it was great, I think it's the first time I've ever done 11 races in a regatta let alone over three days. At a regatta like Cowes Week you do 7 races in 7 days and we did more than that in a long weekend so it was fabulous. Great fun and really exciting racing."

Mick Schlans, owner of Blade Runner, a national championship-winning Express 37 from San Francisco was equally impressed: "The problem that so many regattas have is that they can't get many races off and people sit out and wait a long time but this was excellent being able to immediately return to the starting area and then restart. I thought that this was the nicest regatta format that I've ever been involved in.

CLASS WINNERS - Beach Cat Spin: Claims Paid, John Holmberg; Beach Cat Non-Spin: Rush, Bruce Merced; Class A (Melges 24): Orion, Efrain Lugo; Class B (Racing I): Noonmark Vi, Mike Gilbert; Class C (Racer/Cruiser I): Hinano, Mr. Dik; Class D (Racer/Cruiser II): Pipedream, Peter Haycraft; Class E (Racing II): Blade Runner, Mick Shlans; Class F (Cruising): Keep It Simple 3, Jerry Ficks; Class G (Bareboat I): Carnival, Phil Otis; Class H (Bareboat II): Island Fling, Andrew Thompson; Class I (Jib & Main): No-See-Em, Chris Thompson; Class J (Big Boat): Yes!, Adam Gosling; Multihull Division: Triple Jack, Richard Woolridge.

Full results and photos: www.bvispringregatta.org

WOMEN'S MATCH RACE INVITATIONAL RESULTS
Karen Johnson and her crew Cynthia desBrisay and Cathy McPherson captured the inaugural Women's Match Race Invitational for the Bettina Bents Memorial by winning the last race in the best of three finals over Pease Glaser. Johnson's margin of victory was seven seconds in a tightly contested match. Glaser's crew included Ruth Paulling and Beth Marangola.

Dawn Riley and her crew of Krysia Pohl and Ashley Perrin defeated Casey Hogan and crew of Erin Collins and Gretchen Loufek for third place. The semi-finals and finals took place Sunday in 6-10 knot winds in the ocean off Newport Beach.

Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Balboa, CA) hosted the four-day event with sponsorship provided by First American Trust. A double round robin was conducted the first three days in winds ranging from 6-15 knots. A cold front on Saturday moved the racing inside Newport Bay, and the tight quarters created very close racing and exciting maneuvers between the boats.

In the round robin portion of the regatta (which consisted of 14 rounds and 56 total races), Glaser lost her opening race to Johnson, then reeled off 13 consecutive wins to top the round robin. Johnson was next with 11 wins, followed closely by Dawn Riley with 10 wins. Casey Hogan made the semi-finals by winning 7 races. Charlie Arms was 5th with 6 wins, Katie Pettibone 6th with 5 wins, Sandy Hayes 7th with 2 wins, and Liz Hjorth 8th with 2 wins. - Scott Mason, www.nhyc.org/

Final results: 1st: Karen Johnson, Cynthia DesBrisay, Cathy McPherson--Kitsilano YC, Vancouver; 2nd: Pease Glaser, Ruth Paulling, Beth Marangola--Newport Harbor YC, Newport Beach; 3rd: Dawn Riley, Krysia Pohl, Ashley Perrin--America True, San Francisco; 4th: Casey Hogan, Erin Collins, Gretchen Loufek--Newport Harbor YC, Newport Beach; 5th: Charlie Arms, Colleen Cooke, Stacie Straw--Southwestern YC, Vallejo; 6th: Katie Pettibone, Suzie Leech, Eleanor Hay--Port Huron YC, Port Huron; 7th: Sandy Hayes, Sue Walsh, Molly McCloud--Scituate YC, Scituate, MA; 8th: Liz Hjorth, Carla Thorson, Kristen Lane, California YC, Hermosa Beach.

THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
Why do people who dig themselves into a hole insist on calling it a tunnel?