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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 912 - October 1, 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.
FINN GOLD CUP Race one started on time with an individual recall that disqualified American sailor, Russ Silvestri for the second time in the regatta. The wind increased to 25 knots by the second race and 10 boats headed home! The last race of the championship went to Mateusz Kusznierewicz. The Pole could not add a third World title to his collection and had to be satisfied with a Silver. Sebastien Godefroid in second position was declared World Champion! Emilios Papathanasiou, 2001 European Champion, finished in 7th place to get Bronze. Chris Brittle finished in 11th place in this last race. The young British sailor not only won the Finn Junior World Championship title but also performed by taking 4th place overall. First master is Canadian Larry Lemieux in 16th place.
Final results (57 boats):
FARR 40 NAs The day started out clear with the northerly wind that has been blowing the entire event slightly moderated and bright sunshine bathing the racecourse. Only one race was scheduled, so it was up to the leading boats to make their mark early and keep up the pace through the finish. The race committee set another perfect line and the fleet got away with just two recalls. The wind oscillated between 10 and 15 degrees as the fleet gybed downwind. Voodoo keeping a clear head maintained their clear lead and by the bottom mark had only to cover the competition to hold onto second overall. It looked certain that Heartbreaker was not going to allow enough boats between Voodoo and themselves to drop out of first place overall and Revolution still looked secure in third place. That was until Samba Pa Ti turned on the afterburners. Hitting each shift perfectly they sailed through the fleet and into second place for the race. With Revolution dropping back into seventh, Samba Pa Ti did indeed sail their way onto the podium, their DSQ for race 4 keeping them out of contention for the top two spots.
Final results:
NOT A SINGLE THING YOU ACTUALLY NEED
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Tyco and ASSA ABLOY, in first and second respectively, have kept a loose cover over the pursing News Corp, illbruck and Amer Sports One. Distances to the leader (Tyco) are much the same although the spread from east to west of positioning for the next weather system is now a lot wider. Only time will tell which side will pay. Overall speeds have continued to drop off to around 7-8 knots in the same amount of breeze. Should this pace continue, it will once again prompt fears of a longer than expected first leg to Cape Town and call for a rationing of food. Following damage to her mainsail headboard car, the Swedish green yacht, SEB, anchored off the small Island of Porto Santo, 20 miles north east of Madeira Sunday morning, to collect vital spare parts. The logistical challenge to deliver the right parts to the yacht was simply enormous. "We have had eight to ten guys working on this for the last 48 hours," said Pelle Norberg, SEB syndicate head. From the yacht, skipper Gunnar Krantz explained the way the team rallied to support them "Scott McAllister, our shore manager, was woken up at three o'clock in the morning. From his bed in Perth, of course using his Ericsson world phone, with his Swedish mobile number, he communicated with Sweden, Madeira, the UK and the boat. He got hold of a boat in Madeira, he communicated with our office in Stockholm, called our shore team member, Jonas Nilsson in Gothenburg and got him to pick up equipment and jump on a plane to Madeira the next morning. A powerboat was waiting and late at night we had a rendezvous close to the island of Porto Santo. We anchored within one mile of land and the job's done".
Position Report, October 1 , 0400 GMT:
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Bill Menninger: Regarding the notes about the cancellations of regattas in the US, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Although I have donated to the relief fund, we are all victims of the crime perpetrated on the World Trade Center. Job losses, stock losses, and government spending affect all of us in this time of tragedy. The best relief we can all receive is a return to normal lives which includes sailing. The events should go on, and the participants may elect to sail or stay at home. This is an individual tragedy, and all of us need to deal with it on an individual basis. To those writing from the perspective of the sailing industry; they are the victims of these cancellations. Their way of life is threatened. So to dismiss their notes as being insensitive to the victims and their families is being insensitive to them as well. Everyone has got to get through this terrible tragedy, and I can't think of people I'd rather spend some time with right now than my friends who sail and enjoy time on the water. What better way to repair the hurt and move on. When listening to people who deal with this situation more frequently than Americans, they stress the effort they make to lead normal lives and not cower in the face of danger. Be aware, look out for yourself and your family and continue to do the things you love, because that is what defines you! * From Tom McCarthy: To what extent will the tragedies of September 11, 2001, affect our everyday lives? To what extent will we allow the perpetrators of this crime and their co-conspirators around the country and the world change the way we live? For how long will we wait before we venture again into the open? For how long will we be ruled by fear? How strong are we? Will we let them win, or will we fight? These are not easy questions, but they need answers. The whole sailing community is waiting. From sailmakers to boat builders, marine suppliers to marina owners, professional sailors on the grand prix circuit to club racers on an inland lake. There is much more at stake than a single regatta. Every cancelled event and missing participant multiplies itself through our whole industry. There is much more at stake than a party, and we are all starting to feel the pinch. The 6000+ casualties and the heroes of September 11, deserve our deepest possible respect, but if we do not begin to live again soon, we will be mourning our way of life. * From Rogina Jeffries, Finn Gold Cup Co-chairman (edited to our 250-word limit): Shortly after the events of 9/11 we received an e-mail from the International Finn Association saying they would completely support our decision regardless of what we decided to do. I can't tell you how grateful we were to hear those words. There is a strong spirit of international cooperation and camaraderie in sailing, probably more so than in any other sport. As event organizers we were very hopeful that this spirit would prevail; but there were many issues to take into consideration and decisions had to be made within days of the tragedy while airports were still closed, and buildings were still collapsing. After hours of thoughtful discussion with the class, competitors, organizers, and analysis of logistics, etc. we felt our particular event should go forward. In the last days of the Gold Cup that appears to have been the right decision for us, but that does not necessarily make it the right decision for every event. Whether events go forward, are postponed or canceled, let's support the decision makers and the spirit of our sport. Let's remember the lessons we learn from the wind and the water; when the wind shifts against us whining won't help, tacking will. Whether this regatta happens or that regatta doesn't, let's remember the friends we have in our crews and our fellow competitors. Let's make sure it is that spirit of local and international friendship that is reinforced and prevails. That is a spirit against which no terrorist can win. * From Fiona Brown: I work for the International Melges 24 Class Association and have been very closely involved with the long term organization of the Melges 24 Worlds in Ft Lauderdale and recent work to reschedule the event. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about how the IMCA and the Lauderdale Yacht Club have acted in this matter and the fact that they are able to express their opinion is a great example of the freedom we all wish to defend. These are difficult and emtional times and we are in danger of allowing this issue to cause a major divide in the sailing community and become personal and I am absolutely certain this is not something the IMCA or Lauderdale Yacht Club would want. * From Jerry Bidjiewicz: Rube Goldberg has been up to: designing the next Louis Vuitton format. What a great way to broaden interest in our sport, to have a process so complex that I had to read it 3 times to understand it. I'm sure that sponsors or potential sponsors will be delighted to hear that their prospective floating billboards have been consigned to the "You Ain't Likely To Win It Fella" herd ... And what's even worse, these sorts of pious initiatives come surrounded by all sorts of blather about what's good for the sport, how we're going to democratize the event, etc etc etc, when its clear that there has been a big fight to advance the interests of the Big Dollar Two Boat teams. I can almost hear the argument: "Hell, we'd rather practice against our "B boat" than RACE against one of these [perceived to be lesser] one boat teams" - even though last time the America True and Stars and Stripes challenges performed creditably while the twin Farr boats of NYYC ended up on the sidelines early. I tell ya, its dispiriting. It would be like the Baltimore Ravens saying "Not interested in playing the Redskins. We'll scrimmage instead. However, if a miracle occurs and they sweep the last ten games of their season, we'll deign to play them in the Super Bowl."
LOUIS VUITTON CUP FORMAT * The event is better punctuated with high-spots from a sporting point of view. Bigger battles, in terms of eliminations, take place throughout the event rather than towards the end as before. There are also the infrequent but telling races between the top two seeded teams, who after the Round Robins won't meet each other again for more than a month. * When the top teams automatically qualify they will leave the sporting arena limelight to be shared amongst the middle group during the Reperchage rounds. It will also be easier for visitors to plan their trips to Auckland for a particular series or major showdown across the whole four months of the event. * The event will be significantly easier to organize technically, with just one course area required from 19th November. There are of course disadvantages too. * The new event is a fairly complex format to explain to media and the public. * There is an early elimination of two teams. This takes place just one month after the competition starts. * There will be long periods of competition without the top syndicates competing due to early qualification (17th November - 9th December, 14th December - 11th January), along with a complete one month break before the America's Cup itself starts (16th January - 15th February). * From 23rd November onwards there will never be more than two pairs racing at once (in 1999-2000 there were three pairs racing until 11th January). More information: www.LVCup.com
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Volvo Ocean Race " Last nights sailing reminded us all why we keep coming back in spite of all the beating and discomfort. We were reaching along in 16 plus knots with reaching spinnaker, bright moon, warm air, dolphins chuffing all around and gaining bearing on our chiseling competitors. Not bad for a night shift job." - Mark Rudiger, co-skipper /navigator, Assa Abloy "With the breaking of the day all the faint dots on the radar during the night have become reality. Five boats within visual range of each other. Five boats together after 7 days of racing. I guess it does not get any better from a racing standpoint. There is definitely not any lack of focus and urgency onboard. The race is on for the trade winds south of the Canaries and my best guess is that we will also get there within visuals of each other. Then a race to the doldrums, could it be possible that we will all still be together by then? I bet my bottom dollar that we will still be racing boat for boat getting into Cape Town. So I guess, as in basketball, the winning team will be the one that gets to play the last move, gets the last wind shift right." - Roy Heiner, skipper Assa Abloy "We are in the land of clouds and if you get on the wrong side or caught up in one then it can lose you miles," Kevin Shoebridge, Tyco skipper.
SMOKE ON THE WATER
505 WORLDS
Final results - seven races with one discard (105 entries):
ROLEX WOMEN'S KEELBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP
MATCH RACING The top two place-getters in the Nationals are guaranteed "Team Bacardi" entry status in the 2001 Colorcraft Gold Cup and their entry fees are paid by Bacardi. This year, Barboza is unable to compete due to a prior commitment while Bromby has already been named to the unseeded ranks. Dave Juleff who finished the Nationals in third place and Nicky Lewin, who finished fourth, will take their places. - Keith Taylor, www.bermudagoldcup.com
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