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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 612 - July 25, 2000GUEST EDITORIAL: Bob FisherWhile the merry-go-round of America's Cup crews has slowed down, albeit, I suspect, temporarily, there is a deep groundswell of objection to the hired guns coming from nations other than those of the challenging yacht club. It's not surprising because few, if any, have any allegiance to the clubs and countries that they will represent at the event in 2002. And while ultra-rich owners may delight in having bought the "best team in the world," like so many owners of sports teams, the crews themselves have changed from representing anything with which they can honestly associate and are in it for nothing but the money. While I do not grudge them an honest and good living, I do feel that the traditions of the event are being destroyed -- and there is no use pointing to the Scandinavians who crewed on American boats over 100 years ago as they were all part of the melting pot that was America at the time. The answer is there; one which could have the billionaires' lawyers hurriedly rewriting the contracts of the hired help. It is there in the Regulations of the ISAF. Item 7.13 clearly states, "When participating in an ISAF event a competitor must be a national of the country which enters the competition or the competitor represents as determined under the guidelines set out below ... The following wording shall be included in the notice of race and sailing instructions: 'Any competitor in the championship must be a national of the country of the MNA which is entering him/her or which he represents.' " It goes on to add that the ISAF Executive Committee shall resolve applications and disputes. Item 7.14 deals with the guidelines for Nationality Criteria and is based on that used by the IOC for the Olympic Games. The guidelines are widely known and require the permission of the athlete's nation of first representation for a change to be made inside the four-year period. New Zealand, with the most to lose, could, I suppose, block the moves of the Team New Zealand sailors, if the ISAF decided to impose these regulations. Also within item 7.14 ISAF policy states that a sailor who has changed nationality or acquired new nationality shall not represent his new country until three years after the nationality change or acquisition. Will the New Zealand Yachting Federation act to block the moves of its former heroes? I doubt it, because it would be seen as sour grapes, but the NZYF's grip on the America's Cup could be tightened by judicious use of the ISAF regulations. QUESTION If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do you suppose the OFFICIAL videotape of the Sydney-Hobart Race is worth? Of the 115 starters in this race, only 40 made it to Hobart. After a pleasant start, the race quickly became a battle for survival -- a battle six men would ultimately lose. Eighty-foot seas and 80-knot winds -- something you never want to see in person. Footage from cameras on the boats documents the bravery and the extraordinary rescue efforts. This videotape is now available online, but supplies are limited. It's only $29.95, plus postage and handling: http://www.titanaustralia.com.au/ CRYSTAL CUP AT ATLANTIS International big boat racing returns to the Bahamas this December with the first running of the Crystal Cup at Atlantis, hosted by the spectacular 2,300-room Atlantis Resort and Casino on Nassau's Paradise Island. There will be four days of competition, December 7-10, 2000. There will be racing on short windward-leeward courses off Nassau for ocean racing one-designs, IMS and PHRF classes and a feeder race from Fort Lauderdale is currently under discussion. The Notice of Race will be published in early August. Competing boats will berth in the protected lagoon of the new $15-million Marina at Atlantis, with direct access to Nassau Harbor. The Marina features 63 megayacht slips. A 100-foot-wide channel, located to the west of the northbound Nassau/Paradise Island Bridge allows for unrestricted mast height. Controlling depth in the channel and the marina is a minimum of 12 feet at low tide. Within the harbor, the largest of the 63 slips are 160-foot finger piers with a 37-foot beam, plus several lay-along-side berths with no beam restrictions. Racers can look forward to memorable hospitality including special marina and hotel prices. The incomparable, 1,201-room luxury Royal Towers opened in December, 1998. The Coral and Beach Towers are also available. There are 38 restaurants, bars and lounges, an entertainment center with a uniquely designed casino, and an impressive collection of luxury boutiques and shops. The resort features the largest marine habitat in the world, second only to Mother Nature and home to 40,000 live sea animals in exhibit lagoons and displays, including The Dig, a maze of underwater corridors and passageways providing a journey through ancient Atlantis. Guests also enjoy 11 swimming areas with 11 million gallons of fresh- and saltwater swimming pools; amazing water slides hidden in life-sized Mayan ruins; and other gentler water rides, cascading waterfalls, and a seemingly endless stretch of beach that has been called the most beautiful in the world. Land-based recreational opportunities include championship golf at the resort's Paradise Island Golf Club and the Sport Center, with tennis, basketball, volleyball, a four-lane lap pool and an 18-hole putting course. The Crystal Cup at Atlantis is managed by Octagon Marketing, Stamford, CT (organizers of The Swedish Match Grand Prix world match racing circuit), the Colorcraft Gold Cup in Bermuda, and the Acura SORC in Miami, FL. For more information, including a Notice of Race, contact Kacey Meagher at (877) 520-2508. -- Keith Taylor US SAILING SINGLE HANDED NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP The US Sailing Single-handed National Championship got under way July 21, hosted by the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. Chris Raab of Huntington Beach, CA, waited 8 years to qualify for this event and didn't waste any time making up for it as he sailed 1, 1, 1, 8, 4, 1, 3, 6 to win the O'Day trophy. Nineteen competitors from across the country participated in this event sailed in Lasers. Friday's conditions were anything but Santa Barbara's usual westerly, providing a challenging day for both the race committee and competitors. Saturday saw a slight improvement in conditions as the wind filled in from the west. On Sunday, July 23, racers enjoyed a typical day in Santa Barbara as the fog bank lifted to greet a blazing sun and breezes of 10 knots. One of the race committee boats stationed at the weather mark landed a 15-pound halibut before the first gun went off, but the day belonged to Chris Raab who won the series. For a list of competitors and complete results, check out http://www.sbyc.org. ILLBRUCK ROUND THE WORLD TEAM TO TRAIN IN SOUTHERN OCEAN In an effort to be as prepared as possible for the unknowns of the often treacherous Southern Ocean, John Kostecki and his Illbruck Round the World Challenge crew will train in the tumultuous waters below Australia later this year. The Illbruck Round The World Challenge will ship one of its two Volvo 60s to Fremantle, Australia. From a base in the one-time home of the America's Cup in Western Australia, Kostecki and crew will test a new carbon fiber rig and prepare for a Southern Ocean training leg from Fremantle to Auckland, New Zealand, in late November. From there, the crew returns across the Tasman Sea to Sydney in December to prepare for the 2000 Sydney-Hobart Race. In the meantime, the Illbruck team continues in its second summer of full-time training off the coast of Spain for the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race. The team's schedule includes daily fitness training, sail testing, and offshore overnight training runs in the Atlantic off the Galician coast. This session will conclude in August and the team will deliver one of its two 1997-98 generation Volvo 60s to Amsterdam to participate in Sail 2000. The second boat will be shipped to Fremantle in August. As the crew is training in the Southern Ocean, construction of the new Volvo Ocean 60 racing boat will be underway in one of the Illbruck plants in Leverkusen, Germany. -- Jane Eagleson http://vmc.illbruck-pinta.com GRAPHICS There is no reason the great graphics on your boat can't be exactly replicated on your crew shirts and other sailing attire. But if you want it done right, you should really talk with Frank Whitton at Pacific Yacht Embroidery. Whether you need T-shirts, polos or jackets, Frank is the man. Get in touch with him now and find out how affordable it can be. Frank delivers! Pacyacht@aol.com (619) 226-8033. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON NOTE: today, Wednesday and Thursday, please send emails to sailingproducer@boats.com, the Curmudgeon is off until Friday. Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room -- you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. -- From Peter Allen Ken Read's comments, as reported in Herb McCormick's NY Times story, aren't really about the IMS Rule as much as they are about any handicapping rule. These rules attempt to level the playing field. It really can't be done. Think about how one design racers get spread out during a race. It those "identical" boats can't finish a race in a dead heat, how can we expect boats of often radically different design to be effectively rated under some formula? Without any consideration for the differences between crews, rating formulas are an attempt to create some appearance of parity. If the participants in handicap racing often feel that parity has been achieved, then the rules, whether IMS, PRHF or other, have probably worked. In both one design and handicap racing it will usually be true that all other things being equal [crewing and preparation] the team with the ability to invest the most money and the most time will probably have the best chance of winning the most races. Now go out and practice gybe sets and roll tacks! -- From Tony Castro I was surprised to hear both David Pedrick, the ITC Chairman responsible for the IMS rule development, and David Lyons in his Seahorse article claim how well the IMS is working! Both of them stated at different occasions that they were impressed how a mix of Racers and Cruisers were sharing the results! So this I am led to believe is what the Grand Prix sailors have all been waiting for?? Despite being warned that the Cruiser Racer allowance, not to mention a few other bits, were flawed last year, the ORC seems to have done nothing about it (or not enough) and so this year we have the ridiculous situation of a couple of new influential owned boats being built as "Cruiser Racers" non-overlap rigs, etc., making the rest of the IMS Grand Prix fleet obsolete overnight!! Now I thought the priority was to make IMS a system that could cope with Grand Prix Sailing, that is exciting "racing boats", innovative, built with modern materials and sailed by the top sailors of the World. Do we want to see real one-off Race boats designed and built or just a nice fleet of GRP production Beneteau's?? Without a healthy Grand Prix Circuit designers have trouble getting Owners to commit to one-off building, racing will continue to lose its appeal and soon One-Designs or production boats will be the only ones around. IMS only exists in Europe thanks to the support of His Majesty The King of Spain. Without him, within a year, there would no IMS racing fleet worth talking about, of that I am 100% sure. Long may he continue. The IMS is not doing very well, it is living on borrowed time and survived so far despite major blunders, and the sooner those ITC/ORC guys get a wake-up call from someone they will listen to, the better. THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess. |
