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SCUTTLEBUTT 2467 – November 2, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. A LOOK AT THE NEW AC90 RULE by Britton Ward & Bruce Farr (November 1, 2007) For the past few weeks we have been involved with the other members of the Desafio Espanol technical team in the review of the AC90 Class Rule and its many preliminary drafts. The AC90 Rule issued yesterday is the product of a series of meetings between the Defender and Challengers and embodies the experience and input of a large number of people. In the next few weeks the rule will be given close scrutiny by many more people and that spotlight will highlight areas of the rule that need further refinement and clarification. These additional refinements will be addressed through minor rule amendments by December 31st. These amendments will not change the fundamental concept of the AC90 Class which we feel reflects the need for a new, exciting, technologically advanced and exceptionally high performance yacht to contest the America’s Cup. Despite its quick gestation, the new AC90 Rule does a nice job of balancing the demands of design freedom and closely matched performance for good match racing. The complex trade-offs between length, sail area, stability and rated length of the past are gone in favor of a set of fixed limits – a 27.4m (90ft) overall length limit, an essentially fixed displacement, set upwind sail area of 475 m2 (5100 ft2) and rig dimensions [mast height of 37.4m (123 ft) above the sheer] and a maximum beam of 5.3m (17.4 ft) and draft of 6.5m (21.3 ft). At 23,000 kg (50,700 lbs) these boats are very light for their length, more in-line with a VO70 or an Open 60 than the former V5.0 AC Class. Combining the light displacement with a substantial sail area increase, particularly downwind where spinnaker area is unrestricted, and the result is a much more powered-up boat both upwind and down. These boats will be challenging to sail to their maximum potential, but promise some spectacular performance that will be very exciting to watch. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1101a NOT QUITE THERE YET Just when you thought that the rain would stop, that the sky would clear, and that the garden would bloom again, America’s Cup linguistics took another turn. When the defender published the new AC90 Rule on Wednesday of this week, a rule that was created with input from the defender and the five challenging teams, on the surface it seemed like the fulfillment of a significant demand by those teams that have been opposing the planning for the 33rd America’s Cup. Amongst this group, no team looms larger that the Golden Gate YC/ BMW Oracle Racing team, which is seeking the litigious route through the NY Supreme Court to settle some of the problems the American team finds with the Swiss approach. On October 25th, the GGYC issued a statement that said, in essence, show us the rule and we’ll drop our lawsuit and join the party. However, on November 1st, GGYC released an announcement that was intended as a reminder of the primary point from their earlier statement. In essence, while GGYC is pleased that ACM has published the rule, a move that was earlier intended for only entered teams, what is most important to them is for the defender to prove that the AC90 Rule wasn’t cooked months ago, thus providing the Swiss with several months lead-time ahead of challengers to design and build a new boat. On this point, Tom Ehman, the club’s spokesman said, “This will be easy to determine once we compare Wednesday’s document with what they started out with and we continue to ask Alinghi to provide this. When our designers can verify that we are all starting from the same point, we hope to see all other issues resolved quickly as agreed recently with the challengers.” -- GGYC announcement: http://www.ggyc.com/071101-GGYC%20Press%20Release.doc WORTH THE TRIP - TWO SPECTACULAR SOUTH FLORIDA VENUES Key West in January and Miami Beach in March. Ideal conditions, professional race management, world-class competition and shore side fun that only Key West and South Beach can deliver. New in 2008 - the Acura Miami Grand Prix offers a second IRC class. The preliminary lower handicap limit for the IRC 2 class is 1.085. Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica (Jan 21 – 25) and the 2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix (Mar 6 – 9). Notice of Race, Details, and Online Entry for both: http://www.premiere-racing.com TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE PREVIEW by Tim Kent, Harken US Sales Manager This weekend will be the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, a 4,300-mile doublehanded ocean race from Le Harve, France to Salvador, Brazil. This race is has traditionally been dominated by over a dozen of the wonderful ORMA 60 trimarans, followed by the Open 60 monohulls, a scattering of 40 and 50 foot tris and Open 50 monohulls. However, the ORMA 60s were devastated by a tough Rhoute du Rhum solo race in which only one boat finished without stopping and several boats were lost following capsizes or other severe damage. This year, only five of these greyhounds will be on the start line. Replacing them as the marquee class this year is the seventeen-strong Open 60 fleet. Most of the boats are brand new or extensively refitted, with skippers such as Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeoux, serial circumnavigator Mike Golding, French ocean racing vet Loick Peyron, and others taking to the course in new boats. Two-time winner of the Around Alone/Velux 5-Oceans Bernard Stamm is in the boat that won this race two years ago, the ex-Virbac, and Jean Le Cam, the runner-up in the last Vendee, is in his extensively refitted boat. One of these skippers is a likely winner of the TJV. The new 60s are notably wider and more powerful than the previous generation of boats, and the doublehanded crews will be able to push them to the limit. The big question is whether these new boats will make the trip without running into teething problems. Every one of them is planning on the Vendee Globe nonstop around the world race that will start in the fall of 2008; the TJV is the beginning of the tune-up period for that race. Most of the skippers planning on the Vendee will be participating in a solo return race after the TJV to qualify for Vendee. The bulk of the boats in the race are from the Class 40 fleet. Thirty-two boats from this relatively new class will take the starting line – fully one-half of the Class 40s that have been built! -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1101 Event site: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en/s01_home/s01p01_home.php ISAF DROPS WORLD CUP CONCEPT The ISAF has dropped the concept of a World Cup of Sailing, following failure to agree the format with the Grade 1 event organisers. Instead the Executive Committee is to prepare a proposal to hold the ISAF Sailing World Championships every two years (compared to the current every four years). They felt that holding the event every two years would offer sponsors, the sport and the media a more comprehensive, easily understood and attractive event. They also recognized that there was support from sailors and classes to holding the combined ISAF Sailing World Championships every two years. This marks a considerable U-turn from the ambitious plan to run a series of World Cup events through each year - a so called Formula 1 format - culminating in a World Cup grand final event. Apparently the Member National Authorities (MNA) and class associations were not happy with the format, and without the event organisers agreement, the ISAF was forced to back down. -- Sail World, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2h4tun THE 470 COULD BE ON THE WAY OUT With the voting method that has been proposed for the forthcoming November ISAF meeting to decide the categories for the 2012 sailing events in Weymouth, the 470 could be on the way out. With the solitary keelboat category likely to remain, the inclusion of two, two person dinghy categories would be vulnerable to one being dropped. And, with the men's existing Skiff category almost certain to be mirrored with a new Skiff category for the women, the existing two-person dinghy category could be dropped, removing the 470 from the event for the first time since 1972. While the vote at this meeting is to decide the categories and not the actual classes used, the removal of a category such as the 2 person dinghy, would remove the 470. Voting in the Men's categories will involve the choice of six from the existing seven - Board (RS:X), 1 person Dinghy (Laser), 1 person heavy Dinghy (Finn), 2 person Dinghy (470), 2 person Skiff (49er), Keelboat (Star) and Multihull open (Tornado). In the Women's categories, the choice is four from six - Board (RS:X), 1 person Dinghy (Radial), 2 person Dinghy (470), 2 person Skiff (new class), Keelboat (fleet) and Keelboat (match). In theory the Multihull category is open to both men and women and should be safe. The Boards are safe and the 1 person dinghy. Also the 2 person Skiff (49er) and a women's Skiff (class to be decide) seem solid. That leaves the 1 person heavy Dinghy, the 2 person Dinghy and the keelboat categories. As it is unlikely that the final keelboat representation will be dropped from the Games, it seems that they will survive in some form, the keelboat (Star) in the men and a choice between keelboat fleet racing or match racing for the women. This leaves the 1 person heavy dinghy (Finn) and the 2 person dinghy (470). -- Sail World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/yqnmkd MELGES MANIA The famous Melges Winter Series is about to kick off for the Melges 24 and Melges 32 classes. The Melges 24 Atlantic Coast Championship will be held in Jacksonville, Florida in a few short weeks. The Florida Yacht Club puts on an annual elite Melges event. For the Melges 32, the Lauderdale Yacht Club's Tune Up Regatta starts in late November. A unique event to the Melges 32 class. Championship racing each day with coaching provided along with evening instructional seminars each night. Great opportunity to get your Melges 32 up to speed and crew work coordinated. Get into it – Go Melges! Melges32.com, Melges24.com, http://www.Melges.com THESE DAY ARE OVER Scuttlebutt thread subjects often discuss how the sport has changed, but there is a thread in the Forum that shows how far the work place has changed too. While not sure what the status is outside of the US, this story took place years ago in California, and it is safe to say that if it occurred anywhere again in the country, there would be lawyers involved. Read on: “I worked for Burke Sawyer in the repair loft of Sails by Watts in the early 1970s. Around that time, the porn movie “Deep Throat” was released, creating quite a social stir. Burke thought it would be great fun for everyone at the loft to see it together. So he chartered a bus that picked us up after we clocked out at 5 PM on a Friday afternoon and drove us up to Hollywood to see it. Every employee went - from the young guys in the repair loft, to the shy English secretary, to the little white-haired seamstresses. We had a blast. Talk about team building in the work place. Burke laid the groundwork for that concept 35 years ago.” -- Guy Doran, Forum thread: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5427 J/105 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP BEGINS SLOWLY Annapolis, MD (November 1, 2007) - Big breeze forecast for today’s opening events of the 17th annual J/105 North American Championship never fully materialized, and actually dropped off to disappointingly light levels on Thursday, leaving regatta managers able to successfully complete one set of round-robin races for the record 69-boat fleet, but having to abandon a second in dying and shifting air. “Welcome to the Chesapeake,” said Principal Race Officer Chip Thayer. “I think we’ll have breeze tomorrow, so we’ll do our best to get the races in.” The regatta, which is being sailed on the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, is hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club and J/105 Fleet 3 of Annapolis. Racing is scheduled to continue through Sunday. Thayer said he hoped to rack up three races on Friday, to complete the round-robin phase before starting the championship round on Saturday morning. – Complete report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1101b/ Results after 1 Round-Robin Race 1T. Mopelia, Denis Seynhaeve, Annapolis YC, 1 pt. 1T. Le Renard, Steve Phillips, Annapolis YC, 1 pt. 3T. Morning Glory, Carl Olsson, Larchmont YC, 2 pts. 3T. Inigo, Jim Konigsberg, Annapolis YC, 2 pts. 5T. Katana, John Huhn, Carlyle YC, 3 pts. 5T. Perseverance, Bennet Greenwald, San Diego YC, 3 pts. 7T. Coltrane, Jay Schachne, New York YC, 4 pts. 7T. Gumption3, Kevin Grainger, American YC, 4 pts. 9T. Masquerade, Thomas Coates, St. Francis YC, 5 pts. 9T. Freedom, Peter Schellie, Annapolis YC, 5 pts. Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/ys8oln SAILING SHORTS * Seattle, Washington -- For the 2007 ISSA High School Singlehanded National Championship last weekend, 36 competitors were greeted with fabulous but chilly sailing conditions throughout the regatta. In the full rig division, David Hernandez, Zeke Horowitz, and Luke Lawrence, all from the South Atlantic division, completed Saturday in that order, and despite Zeke needing to retire from a race on Sunday, finished in that order. The scores in the Radial fleet after Saturday sailing were equally tight, but it was the consistent sailing by Chris Barnard on Sunday that moved him to the top, with Mateo Vargas in second, and Ian Heausler finishing third. -- Complete report and results: http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org/NationalsResults/08CressyResults.htm * (November 1, 2007) After 7 years, the RORC has decided that the IRM rating rule will be withdrawn with effect from 31st December 2007. Although in the past the IRM fleet has seen some highly competitive racing, it has been used by a steadily decreasing number of boats. In 2007, 19 IRM certificates were issued, but in recent years there has been no dedicated mixed boat IRM fleet racing. This does not in any way reflect any deficiency in the IRM rule itself; rather it reflects the success of IRC and the proliferation of racing under IRC around the world. -- http://www.rorcrating.com * Ernesto Bertarelli, listed by Fortune and Forbes magazines as Switzerland's wealthiest person, is moving his main residence and his family to Gstaad from the Lake Geneva region. His sister and mother, who have also been based in Vaud, will do the same. The family's departure, which follows the sale of their company, Serono, at the end of the 2006, has involved high-level negotiations with tax authorities. -- Complete report: http://www.genevalunch.com/genevalunchrethink/2007/11/switzerlands-ri.html * Edson International announced that Chuck Gilchrest has been promoted to National Sales Manager of their Marine Division. Mr. Gilchrest will oversee Edson’s Sales initiatives in North America of the company’s complete Marine product line including Sailboat, Powerboat, and NavCom products. Mr. Gilchrest will also direct Edson’s US and Canadian sales force and representatives. -- Full announcement: http://www.edsonmarine.com//media/gilchrest.php * Sailing World's College Rankings as of October 31, 2007 has Boston College and St. Mary's retaining their grip on the top spots in the Coed and Women's collegiate sailing rankings. Complete list: http://tinyurl.com/yquwb5 SCUTTLEBUTT OFFER - WIN LINE 7 GEAR Line 7 is teaming up with Scuttlebutt and giving away a new Line 7 Offshore jacket and Aquatec 2 pants ($600 USD value) to a new e-Newsletter subscriber who has signed up between Oct 22 and Nov 15, 2007. If you are not already an e-Newsletter subscriber, or would like to help out your sailing pals, spread the word and join the Scuttlebutt community to earn a chance at winning some new gear from Line 7. Based in New Zealand, Line 7 has been the official clothing supplier for the past twelve years to Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup, and just recently became the official clothing supplier for the World Match Racing Tour. Complete free subscription details at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/subscribe PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include a rendering of the new AC90, a 505 aerial photo, action in Annapolis, snow-capped racing in Seattle, J/109 North Americans, the last look at Loki, and the first look at the Veolia Oceans round the world racer. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/1102 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 Rich Roberts: An easy and socially acceptable way for ISAF to drop the Olympic classes from 11 to 10 and not only keep everybody happy but make women even happier would be to combine the 470s into an open class, like the Tornados, instead of separate classes for men and women. The results of the US Olympic Trials would suggest that makes sense. Sailing in a combined fleet, women finished first and fourth in the 470 Trials (although it probably would have been second and fourth if men winners McNay and Biehl had chosen not to sail the last day). Then forget the women's match racing and skiff classes and open the 49ers to both genders, also. That would offer each gender 11 potential slots, determined by skill (now only 11 and 9), and allow sailing to offer equal opportunity in the Olympics. * From John Rumsey: In the Harvest Moon regatta Andy Green aboard his home built, carbon, 34' trimaran "Blue Moon" was first to finish in 19.2 hours - 3rd in class and 4th in fleet. Andy was the builder of many fast boats at Plastrend of Ft Worth, TX in the 60's and 70's and is still going strong. * From Steve Pyatt: (regarding the AC90 Rule) So they won't be flying these around the Acts or back to NZ for the northern winter! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong. Special thanks to Premiere Racing and Melges Performance Sailboats. |
