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SCUTTLEBUTT 2197 – October 9, 2006
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is
distributed each weekday, with America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt
brought to you by UBS (http://www.ubs.com/sailing).
KIWIS PEPPER & WILLIAMS WIN STAR WORLDS
San Francisco, California – In a classic nail biting finish where one
small wave would have made a difference to the points standing between
those fighting to take home a gold star today, New Zealand won its first
Star World Championship. The trophy went to skipper Hamish Pepper and
crew Carl Williams, with 19 points on the board. Racing got underway
just after noon in cold, gray and cloudy conditions, with the breeze a
steady westerly of 10-12, with occasional puffs to 15 knots.
For a country that hasn’t won a world championship in an Olympic class
since 2002, today’s win was a huge victory for New Zealand. Dockside at
the St Francis Yacht Club, the Blue Angels buzzing the club overhead
with ceremonious good timing, an ecstatic Pepper said, “We’re absolutely
excited, it’s fantastic! It’s been our week and we’re fortunate that
it’s the world champs. They are great boats – an old design that have
come through the years well and are challenging to sail. The people
involved in the fleet are fantastic to be with and it’s a great
atmosphere.”
Pepper is a relative newcomer to this fleet deep in talent and has only
been sailing the Star since January. Williams has had a grand total of
35 days in the class but with Australian David Giles coaching the team
they’ve come a long way in a short time. The other Kiwi team Rohan Lord
and Addy Miles, also relatively new to the class, performed tremendously
taking 6th place overall in the 66-strong highly qualified fleet.
The venerable Mark Reynolds, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the Star,
and competitor of well over 20 Star World Championship events, had a
somewhat different ending to the regatta as his crew Hal Haenel left at
4am to join his wife who gave birth to a 9lb baby boy Friday morning.
Stepping in for Haenel was Magnus Liljedahal, with whom Reynolds won the
Olympic gold in 2000. Reynolds finished in 21st place. -- Michelle
Slade, for full story & results: http://www.stfyc.com
Final standings after six races (one discard) -- 66 boats
1. Hamish Pepper/ Carl Williams (NZL) 19 pts
2. Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada (BRA) 22 pts
3. Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 23 pts
4. Andy Horton/ Brad Nichol (USA) 30 pts
5. Fredrik Loof/ Anders Ekstrom (SWE) 40 pts
5. Rohan Lord/ Miles Addy (NZL) 40 pts
6. Flavio Marazzi/ Martin Kozaczek (SUI) 46 pts
8. Mateusz Kusznierewicz/ Dominik Zycki (POL) 59 pts
9. Jim Buckingham/ Mike Dorgan (USA) 61 pts
10. Marc Pickel/ Ingo Borkowski (GER) 71 pts
11. Mark Mendelblatt/ Mark Strube (USA) 72 pts
* Scuttlebutt thanks photographers Chris Ray, Glennon Stratton, Erik
Simonson, Amory Ross, and Sharon Green for their contributions to the
photo gallery on the Scuttlebutt website. Enjoy:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/sw/
OLYMPICS?
Hamish Pepper might be having a quiet word with Team New Zealand skipper
Dean Barker before next year's America's Cup. Pepper, who won the Star
world championships with Carl Williams in San Francisco over the
weekend, has his sights set on a place in the 2008 Olympic Games. To do
that New Zealand has to first qualify a spot in the class, which they
can do at next year's world championships.
The difficulty is that Williams works for BMW Oracle Racing and is
committed until the end of the America's Cup. If Oracle make it to the
America's Cup match, Williams will be tied up until early July, the same
time the world championships are to start. "If Oracle make the America's
Cup, we will jump in a boat a couple of days before the worlds," Pepper
said. "If Team New Zealand knock them out then we'll get a few extra
days or even weeks in the boat together which would be better." -- Julie
Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/kzo6r
D4 ALL
Dimension-Polyant, sole manufacturer of the revolutionary D4 membrane
product, is pleased to offer all sailmakers a fall discount on membranes
ordered throughout October. D4 equipped boats have won races all over
the world, from ocean passages to one-design championships while taffeta
reinforced cruising D4 sails are powering cruisers from 30 to180’. If
you’re interested in investing in performance, from club race to grand
prix or coastal cruising to super-yacht, this is the time to move into
the future of sails. D4 is available from the sailmaker of your choice.
The time is now; ask your sailmaker, he knows.
http://www.dimension-polyant.com
WHAT ARE THE 12 AMERICA’S CUP TEAMS DOING NOW?
This is a time of work on multiple fronts for each of the teams. If
you’re the defender, Alinghi, you’ve been training with two boats in
Valencia, in addition to finalizing the design and beginning to build
your second of two new Cup boats. As you sail out of the Port America’s
Cup each day, you can see the competition working hard alongside you.
In fact, over the past few weeks, nine of the 12 Cup teams have been
sailing in Valencia, up to six days a week in some cases. The three
exceptions have been China Team, Emirates Team New Zealand, and +39
Challenge. But that doesn’t mean these three have been idle.
Crew members from Emirates Team New Zealand have been tearing up the TP
52 circuit, with Kiwi team members spread across several boats, and
competing against dozens of other Cup sailors. The Kiwis have also
shipped NZL 84 to Auckland, where they’ll begin sailing shortly and
their second new boat (NZL 92) arrived at the base just this week.
Meanwhile, +39 Challenge sailors have been busy in several Olympic
classes, with Rafael Trujillo claiming sixth place in the Finn European
Championships. The skipper of the Italian team, Iain Percy, is sailing
in the Star Class World Championships this week in San Francisco. At the
Port America’s Cup, the shore crew has been putting the finishing
touches on the brand new ITA 85, which the team plans to sail for the
first time this month.
In September, China Team held a ‘Sailing Camp’ in Qingdao, China. In
addition to announcing a new partner, China Team worked hard in Qingdao
to promote the America’s Cup and explain the intricacies of match racing
to its home town. The Chinese are also in the process of constructing
the first ever America’s Cup Class boat to be built in China and expect
to be sailing it early in the new year. --
http://www.americascup.com/en/newsletter/012/newsletter.html
RC 44 UPDATE
(The Daily Sail subscription website talked with Russell Coutts about
the new RC 44 class. Here are some excerpts from their story which is
now posted online.)
The RC 44, a boat Coutts conceived with designer Andrej Justin, was
first launched just over a year ago (read more about the boat here) and
aside from his intense racing schedule, Coutts has been busy
masterminding the forthcoming RC 44 circuit while carrying out some
yacht broking. Coutts is happy with the way the class is developing but
expresses some frustration over the pace at which boats are being
produced. To date all the RC 44s have been built in a facility in
Budapest, Hungary, by a composite spar manufacturer called Pauger. "They
wanted to do this project and in some way they were one of the only ones
crazy enough to do it - with full-on carbon infusion, female moulds and
no filler and no paint required - a full-on, carbon-finished boat. So
they were prepared to do it and have done a really good job," says
Coutts.
Production was also to have started at composite boat builder V1 in
Dubai in March but Coutts says they are way behind schedule there. To
date V1 have completed the female tooling and the class measurer and
Andrej Justin have been out to Dubai to give them the thumbs up but have
yet to produce a boat. "With the five boats we have got out racing here,
the carbon component of the boats are all within 1kg of each other,
which is amazing for a 44ft boat." One suspects this is the reason the
builders are struggling to churn them out. --
http://www.thedailysail.com
OCEAN RACING IN STYLE
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sailing. Come see the Synergy 350 RL at the Ft. Lauderdale boat show.
http://www.synergyachts.com
SAILING SHORTS
* Dave Perry from Pequot YC defeated defending champion Brian Angle
(King Harbor YC) in the fifth and final race to win his second U.S.
Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl. Sailed at the
Fort Worth Boat Club in J/22s, Perry’s crew was Terry Flynn and Chris
Museler. The Petit Finals also went the limit as past champion Nathan
Hollerbach (Bayview YC) defeated Benz Faget (New Orleans YC) for the
third place spot. -- http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usmrc/
* Augie Diaz clinched his third Snipe World Master Championship, this
time with Pam Kelly as crew. Augie won three of the five races and
placed second in the other two, finishing 22 points ahead of second
place Bibi Juetz of Brazil. 36 competitors from 10 nations enjoyed the
Bahamian hospitality, sunshine and pristine waters as well as the
excellent sailing (once the breeze calmed down.) Terry Timm and Mandi
Smith of the US were third overall. -- For results: http://www.snipe.org
and http://www.bahamassailing.org
* Twenty-five Lightnings showed up at the annual "Sno Ball" regatta at
Buckeye Lake in Ohio to help George Fisher celebrate his 80th Birthday.
George Fisher is renowned as a great sportsman and gentleman, having
been recognized by US Sailing as the winner of the National
Sportsmanship Award (W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Trophy). A past president
of the International Lightning Class, old friends, Jim Dressel, Tom &
Anne Allen, Bruce Goldsmith, David Starck, Jody Swanson, Skip Dieball
(winner of the regatta), and scores of others honored him during the
celebrations. Sons Greg and Matt Fisher hosted the event.
* Swiss lawyer, Professor Henry Peter, has been appointed as the fifth
Jury member for the 32nd America's Cup. He replaces Prof. Gabrielle
Kaufmann-Kohler who resigned earlier this year, when she was appointed
to the board of one of the Defender's main sponsors. Prof. Peter sat on
the permanent arbitration panel in place during the 31st America's Cup.
He is a partner at the Lugano law firm Bernasconi Peter Gaggini, and is
also a Professor at the Department of Commercial Law of Geneva
University and heads the Master in Business Law program of the
Universities of Geneva and Lausanne.
* Late last week, the first Club Swan 42 in North America had a chance
to do some sailing, and photographer Peter McGowan sent Scuttlebutt
images from the outing:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/swan42
* Although there were 1788 boats on the starting line of the Barcolana
regatta in Trieste, many eyes were focused on the match race between on
Neville Crichton’s 30-meter Alfa Romeo 2 and Lorenzo Bodini’s
Maximus-Alikč. Alpha Romeo 2 won the race while Maxi Jena skippered by
Mitja Kosmina was also able to beat Maximus-Alikč in the struggle for
second place in winds between 20 and 23 knots with gust to 30. Alpha
Romeo sailed the course in one hour and 23 minutes - nearly seven
minutes ahead of Maxi Jena. Crichton also won this race in 2003 and
2004.
* 287 yachts and 3,000 sailors competed in Modern and Tradition
Divisions in the just concluded 2006 Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. Perico
Villalonga-Hook’s So Fong, a 26 metre (85') dark-blue hulled schooner,
had the lowest score for the week of racing of all the classic division
yachts over 16 metres and was awarded the Trophee Rolex and a Rolex
steel Submariner timepiece. Dennis Conner magnificently restored wooden
Q boat Cotton Blossom won Epoque Marconi - Class B. -
http://www.snst.org/ (Curmudgeon’s Comment: There were some glorious
sailing days this past week in St Tropez, and we’ve posted some great
photos by Kos, Daniel Forster, Carlo Borlenghi, and Gilles Martin-Raget
to prove it: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1007)
* BMW Oracle Racing’s America’s Cup Class yacht USA 71 arrived in
Auckland overnight on a container ship from Germany. The yacht and some
of its related equipment was shipped directly from Kiel following the
German Sailing Grand Prix event there in August. USA 71 arrived in
readiness for the New Zealand summer crew training session that will
start in November in Auckland. BMW Oracle Racing will take the
opportunity while in New Zealand to compete in the New Zealand Match
Racing Championships in November hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht
Squadron. -- Valencia Sailing, http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/
WATERPROOF TRAVEL GEAR & ACCESSORIES
Ocean Racing’s new waterproof Offshore Backpack features a cushioned
neoprene laptop sleeve fitted to an internal pocket. Even with a
computer inside, the main compartment still has plenty of room for
foulies, boots, and is comfortable to wear. Add the matching Offshore
Duffel for a great, waterproof travel set. http://www.oceanracing.com
EIGHT BELLS
Gary C. Comer, who founded the Lands' End sailing equipment supplier and
turned it into a successful mail-order clothing business, died of
prostate cancer Wednesday in Chicago. He was 78. An indifferent student
growing up on Chicago's South Side, Gary Campbell Comer learned to sail
as a young man. He became a world-class sailor, winning a number of
competitions, including the North American Championship in 1959 and a
bronze medal in the Pan American Games the same year. Comer started
Lands’ End in 1963, selling sailboat equipment, hardware, duffel bags,
rain suits and a few items of clothing.
Comer stepped down as president in 1990. He remained chairman of the
board and the majority shareholder until the company was sold to Sears,
Roebuck & Co. in May 2002 for $1.9 billion. Known for their
philanthropy, Comer and his wife, Frances, donated more than $84 million
to the creation and expansion of Comer Children's Hospital at the
University of Chicago. In addition to his wife, Comer is survived by a
son, a daughter and three grandchildren. -- Los Angeles Times, full
story: http://tinyurl.com/e94y3
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may
be edited for clarity or space (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, there are no word or frequency
limits on comments sent to the Scuttlebutt Forums.
-- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com
-- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum
* From John Oliver: This new wind and weather measuring service sounds
really good, just what I always need, a glimpse of the wind on the side
of the course I have just tacked away from, anther bad call, but
seriously how does this jive with rule 41.(d) ? Or are we going to have
to increase entry fees to cover the cost, let the RC distribute the data
to all? Wasn’t there a similar dispute a few years ago at one of the AC
regattas in Auckland NZ? What happened to the old back of the neck feel
for the wind?
* From Alan Field: Have we, or are we going to take away all the
elements that have made yacht racing such a fun challenge by allowing
for the use of another aid..."buoy technology" as referenced in Butt's
Oct 5 issue? First came electronic instruments, then came GPS's, then
the ability to hook up a computer to all of those to help with the
analyses of the data and even the ability to know where you are in
relation to any mark with a quick glance at a multi colored screen.
How far are we going to dumb down one of the most interesting and
hardest too master aspects of what we do? Will we all have to break out
our check books just to keep up with the Jones's, just to level the
playing field? For what purpose? So we can just focus on boat speed as
we will all know what the wind and current will do, what's left? We need
to stop this progression before it's too late.
The Farr 40's have. Their fleet does not allow race enhancing
communications from a coach boat, or other outside communications, once
the boat leaves the dock. I suggest that all buoy racing fleets adopted
a similar view and not allow 3rd party communications/data that would
help them with their on the course decision making. If not, I see the
future of our sport loaded with robots as Drivers and or Tacticians!
Wait... that may not be all that bad!
* From John McNeill: To enjoy the results of the various regattas
presented at St. Francis Yacht Club, one need merely go to
www.StFYC.com, which brings up a very clean page on which is ‘Regatta
Information’. One click on that listing takes you quickly to a page
listing the events, one of which is the Wells Fargo Private Bank Star
Worlds. Clicking on that event presents a page loaded with the results
and a serious array of documents chronicling the regatta mark by mark.
One of those pages, for the literate, is ‘Preliminary Overall Results’.
The mark rounding is posted as the event is in progress. The results are
updated as soon as the day’s scores are available, pending disputes.
Photographs are posted as provided by the shooters.
I surely hope this might be of service to the Navigationally Challenged,
as this sequence described above can be executed in a matter of seconds
on a reasonably good ISP. Of course, if you are on dialup or trying to
do this with a PDA it could taker a greater degree of technical skill
and time.
Please try to remember that we are all volunteers with real jobs, and
this stuff is put up by the efforts of our ‘free’ time.
* From Dick Enersen: I am a member of StFYC and certainly don't want to
be defensive, but I am confused by the complaints about the Star Worlds
information posted on our web site. I stayed off the water yesterday,
owing to a cold, and checked out the site during the afternoon. I was
able, without logging onto the members' section, to obtain mark rounding
data within an hour of "real time" and provisional results at about the
time the boats arrived back at the yacht club. The process seemed pretty
straightforward: http://www.stfyc.com, Regatta Information, Star Worlds.
Voila: Press Releases, Mark Roundings and Results. I have no special
equipment (Microsoft Internet Explorer running on Windows XP) or skills,
and no popups were encountered. I am not sure how the system could be
much more efficient, nor do I understand what the winghers expect.
Curmudgeon’s Comment: I have no idea how this thread started, but do
know that has now officially ended.
* From Bernard L. Eddy (Re: Steve Gregory’s comments): The firing range
on Lake Erie has been in use since I remember -- which dates back to the
early 1960’s. It is clearly marked on all navigational charts. I recall
racing in and around the islands during Bay Week and hearing the reports
of shots booming in that area. If you are outraged … better late than
never.
* From Sharon Benton, (re Video of the Week): Great action courtesy of
VOR machines. Excellent editing and a music track that paces with the
action. (It's a) Pity that high-end event organizers with substantial
media budgets can't provide the same coverage to the rest of us mere
mortals who also want to share in the adrenaline rush. And the res
wasn't even that great, but it doesn't matter! Please sir, may we have
some more?
* From Skip Dieball: Thanks to you and Don Finkle for circulating that
great video. Here at our loft in Toledo the guys were throwing
high-fives after watching it. If you told me POD and Sailing would be in
the same video, I wouldn't believe you, but it looks & sounds really
cool! -- (Video posted at:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/#media)
CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION
Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.
Special thanks to Dimension-Polyant, Synergy Yachts, and Ocean Racing.
America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt is brought to you by UBS.
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