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SCUTTLEBUTT 1887 - July 25, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus MORNING GLORY ANNIHILATES TRANSPAC RECORD The Transpacific Yacht Race is no longer Disneyland. Early Sunday morning on a moonlit sea the torch was passed to Hasso Plattner, the man whose team outsailed Roy Disney's and broke his record in the latter's 15th and final Transpac. Although it wasn't a particularly windy Transpac, the German boat's time for the 2,225 nautical miles was 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds, lopping almost a day off the record of 7:11:41:27 set by Disney's previous Pyewacket in 1999. The new Pyewacket crossed the Diamond Head finish line almost exactly 2 ˝ hours later in what was Disney's 15th and final Transpac. Their average speeds were 13.9 and 13.7 knots for the 2,225 nautical miles from California's Palos Verdes Peninsula to the volcanic landmark called Diamond Head just east of Waikiki. Randall Pittman's Genuine Risk, a Dubois 90 with similar lines, also beat the record with an elapsed time of 6:22:02:35, and Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and Doug DeVos's Windquest joined the club later in the day. It was the longest race ever sailed by Russell Coutts, the three-time America's Cup winner who sailed as a Morning Glory watch captain with Morgan Larson and said, "I really enjoyed it. It's pretty easy to go 20 knots." Two boats actually finished ahead of the two maxZ86s---Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 52, Between the Sheets, at 10:22 p.m. Saturday night and the 68-year-old yawl, Odyssey, with Cecil Rossi as skipper, 54 minutes ahead of Morning Glory---but they were Aloha A class entries that got a six-day head start on the big boats. More key middle-of-the-night finishes loomed on the horizon. Kahn's new boat, the Transpac 52 Pegasus, had an ETA around midnight Monday night to secure its bid for the King Kalakaua Trophy for first overall on handicap time, currently holding a 33-minute corrected time edge on Roger Sturgeon's TP52 Rosebud and six hours on Morning Glory. Davis Pillsbury's Ralphie, with a 69-mile lead in the Cal 40s, was due at 2:31 a.m. Monday (The Cal 40s also started six days before the maxZ86s.) -- Rich Roberts, http://www.transpacificyc.org/ BARKOW WINS YNGLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The American team of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi have been crowned World Champions after the final race in the ISAF Grade W Yngling World Championship on Lake Mondsee, Austria. Barkow then adds the Yngling World title to the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship title she won in Annapolis last year. The Sharon Ferris (NZL) secure second place, whilst Vlada Ilienko takes the bronze medal in only her fourth ISAF Graded event in the Yngling, after her move from the 470. Maarten Jamin, Gert Henk Bakker and Jansje Hofstra (NED) won the open event with Torn Otte (NED) taking the silver medal and John Ingalls, Jamey Randall and Bruce Chafee (USA) the bronze. -- http://www.yngling2005.com/ GOLD MEDAL FOR PAIGE RAILEY US Sailing's Youth World Team is celebrating today after winning a gold and a silver medal at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Busan, Korea. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) won the Laser Radial fleet and Californians Megan Magill and Briana Provancha (San Diego) finished second in the 420 Girls. The 18 year-old Paige Railey will enter the record books with this year's win, becoming the first sailor in history to win two Singlehanded Girls Youth World Championship titles (she also won the event in 2003, and won bronze in 2002). The Team placed fourth out of 46 countries for the Volvo Trophy behind the French, Great Britain and Spanish teams. There was no racing on the final day of the Championships due to heavy fog, which was unfortunate for USA's 420 Boys Adam Roberts and Nick Martin (both from San Diego, Calif.) who, in fourth place, were still in the running for a bronze medal. Like the 420 Boys, Laser sailor Royce Weber (Surf City, N.J.) had a strong regatta, finishing fifth overall in a 42-boat fleet. Brothers TJ and Jerry Tullo (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished 7th overall in the 11-boat Hobie 16 fleet. -- Marlieke de Lange Eaton, www.ussailing.org. Event website: http://worldyouthsailingbusan.com IMPORTANT SAIL FACT THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW The best time to buy sails is now. You can get the sail you need at a great price and in time to enjoy it this season. Doyle lofts are still geared from the spring rush, and now that everyone is off sailing, orders slow down. The Doyle Summer Sail Sale is on from July 23 to Sept 1. Contact us at 800-94-DOYLE, or online at http://www.doylesails.com BAYVIEW MAC Port Huron, Mich. (July 24, 2005) - Fifteen of the 268 boats competing in the 81st Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race had finished by early Sunday evening (July 24), having started off Port Huron, Mich., the prior Saturday morning with thousands of spectators bidding them farewell and fair winds. Though the start had to be delayed by 55 minutes due to light winds, the Bayview Yacht Club's tracking system reported that 120 boats had rounded the halfway marks on the race's 254 nm Southampton Course and the 204 nm Shoreline Course by Sunday mid-morning. Massive storms crossed Lake Huron in the early morning hours, which brought several hours of significant breezes, sustained at 30 knots. "That's unusual for this race, and the direction was good for many of the boats to be reaching or running toward the finish," said Bayview Yacht Club's Ted Everingham on Sunday as he pondered the position of the remainder of the fleet, "The problem now is that the wind is beginning to die, and it's more westerly now, so those same boats are beating into the finish. I don't expect a stampede of finishers anytime soon, although the whole fleet is within 60-70 miles of Mackinac Island." Taking line honors--at 12:45 Sunday afternoon and nearly one and a half hours before its closest competitor--was Ray Howe's (Rochester, N.Y.) Earth Voyager in Open Class A. However, by the time four of the boat's class mates had completed the Southampton Course, the speedy Formula 60 trimaran had fallen to fourth overall on corrected time. With three boats yet to finish, Nice Pair, a 38' Crowther owned by Bruce Geffen (Ann Arbor), led the fleet. Nine of 11 IRC Class A boats had also finished by early Sunday night, with Allan Fletcher's (Alpena, Mich.) Santa Cruz 70 Colt taking a seven-minute lead on the class on corrected time. Two of nine IRC Class B boats had finished, with Bill Alcott's (St. Claire Shores, Mich.) Andrews 68 Equation leading on corrected time. - Media Pro In'l, Bayview YC offers real-time results, race updates by email, and a web cam at the finish line for those who visit: www.byc.com/mack05 SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Cascais, Portugal -- Peter Holmberg and crew Rodney Ardern, Murray Jones, Lorenzo Mazza and Matt Mitchell have won his first Swedish Match Tour event in more than three years when he captured the 2nd annual PTPortugal Match Cup. Holmberg, of the U.S. Virgin Islands and a helmsman for America's Cup champion Alinghi, defeated Ben Ainslie (GBR), of Emirates Team New Zealand, 3-1 in the final. Holmberg lost the first match, but then won three straight. When the score was tied at 1-1, Ainslie and crew made a fatal error. They entered the pre-start on port tack at the pin end. They won the right side of the start line and worked the right side of the beat to lead by more than 20 seconds at the windward mark. They led all around the track but when they got to the finish the race committee didn't raise the blue flag signaling victory. Ainslie and crew had sailed the wrong course. When they entered the pre-start box the race committee signaled a course change to the second windward mark, the one with a black band. Two marks were set because the wind was shifting through about 20 degrees, and the race committee was choosing the mark at the 4-minute gun based on the wind direction. Entering the start box from the far end Ainslie and crew failed to recognize the course change. "That was a pretty frustrating way to lose that race, and it kind of turned the tables," Ainslie, the double Olympic gold medalist, said. Holmberg and Ainslie advanced to the final by beating Peter Gilmour (AUS), Pizza-La Sailing Team, and Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Gram-Hansen Racing. Both scores were 3-1. In the Petit Final, Gilmour beat Gram-Hansen 2-0. This was the first event on new 2005-06 Swedish Match Tour, which Holmberg now leads. Holmberg was the 2002-'03 Tour champion. -- Sean McNeill, www.swedishmatchtour.com. 1. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 12-3, (approx. $42,200) 2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 9-7, (approx. $24,100) 3. Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 8-5 (approx. $18,100) 4. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Gram-Hansen Racing, 7-6 (approx. $9,600) 5. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Team Finland, 6-4, (approx. $8,400) 6. Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws, 8-6, (approx. $7,200) 7. Bertrand Pacé (FRA) BMW Oracle Racing, 5-4, (approx. $6,000) 8. Michael Dunstan (AUS), 5-9, (approx. $4,800) 9. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Musto, 6-4 10. Hamish Pepper (NZL) Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, 3-7 11. Afonso Domingos (POR), 3-7 12. Manuel Marques (POR), 0-10 A CAUSE FOR SAILING Sperry Top-Sider steps aboard for its third year as the leading footwear sponsor of the Ally Foundations Flip Flop Regatta, a US Sailing sanctioned race and the first major PHRF regatta to originate in Boston Harbor. The regatta was created in honor of Alexandra Nicole Zapp, whose life was tragically taken by a convicted sex criminal in July 2002. The Foundation, with support from Sperry Top-Sider and others, aims to create a national template for the repair of a system partially based on misconceptions and inconsistencies. The race symbolizes Alexandra's love of sailing and the water. http://www.sperrytopsider.com JUNIOR MATCH RACING The winds picked up Saturday at Balboa Yacht Club (in Southern California) the final day of racing in the Governor's Cup crowned Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club of Australia champions for the second straight year. The team, which was in fourth place going into the semifinals, defeated Nylandska Jaktklubben from Finland, which only lost one match in the round robin and three at the conclusion of the competition. Royal Prince Alfred and Balboa Yacht Club (USA) each had six wins in the round robin, but a tiebreaker gave the Australian team the last position in the top four. In the semifinals, Murray Gordon, Hamish Roughley and Thomas Spithill of Prince Alfred fell to Southern Yacht Club (USA) in the first match, but came back to win the next two, advancing the team to the finals. It was a similar story in the finals after the team gave up the first match to Nylandska, but battled for the victory in the final two matches. -- Natalie Venegas, Daily Pilot, full story: http://www.dailypilot.com/sports/story/19534p-27538c.html Final Results: 1. Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club 2. Nylandska Jatklubben 3. South of Perth Yacht Club 4. Southern Yacht Club 5. Balboa Yacht Club 6. Newport Harbor Yacht Club 7. Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 8. Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 9. Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron 10. King Harbor Yacht Club 11. San Francisco Yacht Club 12. Seattle Yacht Club Event website: http://www.balboayachtclub.com NEWS BRIEFS * The Youth and Women's Hobie 16 North Americans concluded on Friday with a third day of good racing and winds of about ten knots. Guatemalans Jason and Alexander Hess ended the series with a perfect score of all first place finishes. Last years champions, Michael Siau and Trey James finished second. Canadians Andrew Robins and Trent Freeman were third. In the Women's fleet the win went to former World Champion Annie Nelson and Kathy Kulkowski. Worrell 1000 veteran Sandra Tartaglino and Eileen Haubl finished second, with Mary Lindsay and Barbara Roettger were third. -- http://tinyurl.com/8mfey * Following her launch on Tuesday 19 July 2005, 99-foot Kiwi super maxi 'Alfa Romeo' set her sails for the first time, tested her canting keel and bettered 19 knots in a light breeze during a highly successful maiden voyage around Sydney Harbour on Friday 22 July 2005. 'Alfa Romeo', the second yacht built by New Zealand skipper and owner, Neville Crichton, to carry the name of the Italian car maker, was penned by leading American yacht designers, Reichel/Pugh and built in Sydney by McConaghy Boats. -- www.alfaromeo.com.au/maxiyacht * The 43rd Optimist World Championship starts registration today Monday on the beautiful Silvaplana lake in the Swiss Engadine. Following three days of practice and measurement the first races are on Thursday 28th. 52 countries are expected to enter a total of 242 sailors, each country being allowed five sailors. This establishes a new record for a " normal" championship (in 2000 the Class ran a special "Millennium Worlds" with 59 countries but many of these were given free entry). It is a long way from the last time Switzerland hosted the championship in 1974 when just 20 countries were represented. -- www.optiworld.org WANT A PROVEN WINNER? The Vanguard Club 420 has won every major C420 Championship in North America this year. Champions Adam Roberts/ Nick Martin, Emily Dellenbaugh/ Leigh Hammel, Megan Magill/ Briana Provancha, Becca Dellenbaugh/ Leigh Hammel all use Vanguard equipment. You have a choice, Vanguard has the results. http://www.teamvanguard.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Graham Kelly: Looking at the Transpac positions for today, I see that over the last 24 hours, The Cone of Silence, the Reichel/ Pugh 30 footer 'on steroids', has averaged 10.5 knots, more than a knot and a half faster than the next fastest boat in her class, and as fast as all but two of the boats in Division 2, which includes the Transpac 52's and all the old-style sleds. They must be having a spectacular ride for any size boat, much less a 30 footer. Despite the fact that Morning Glory, Pyewacket, and the other "giant sleds" are getting almost all the press attention, I think Cone's performance is one of the most noteworthy achievements of the past 24 hours. Talk about high amp sailing, and (especially) "bang for the buck", Cone takes the cake. * From Steve Washburn, TPYC Member: Transpac YC appears to be in a time warp -- speaking as a somewhat dissatisfied member from a modern technology standpoint, we still require the use of SSB's for fleet communications and sextants for navigation. Time for some new blood in the organization to shake things up! Check here for the real-time tracking device on the Transpac competitior, The Cone Of Silence: http://www.sail-world.com/yachttracker.cfm?SEID=71 * From Phil Dickey: Thanks for the great photos of the IMS Worlds on the Scuttlebutt website. Esthetics aside, for the life of me I can't understand the bad rap IMS has gotten. We sailed my Sydney 41 intermittently for a few years in the Long Island Sound IMS 40 Class and we had a blast! The sailing was highly competitive with a mixture of old and new boats crewed by both amateurs and professionals. Although there were the usual controversies, we always thought that the ratings were both fair and precise, and that the best sailors won. Perhaps the newer boats have become ugly and even a little less seaworthy, but for coastal distance and buoy racing at a moderate investment (for an older boat), it was hard to beat. It's difficult to imagine that single-number handicap systems will generate as much satisfaction among competitors in venues where wind velocity can vary substantially during a single race. Maybe after a few years of experience with IRC, we'll conclude that the death of IMS in the USA was a bit premature. * From Blake Middleton: After reading former Olympic Sailing Medalist Kevin Mahaney's daily reports from the Tour de France ('Butt 1866), all I can say is WOW. I am truly impressed how this sailing athlete (and cancer survivor) has held up in the world's toughest bike race venue. As a recent GIST cancer survivor and new MS patient myself, I am incredibly proud of how Mahaney has stepped up to the plate. I made my own contribution today in support of his goal. Bravo to Kevin! * From Sarah Ashton, (On the expense of US Sailing Events): The South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association had a dedicated female sailor Helen Hanley who wanted to help women go the Adams cup and juniors to the Sears, Bemis and Smythe championships. She spent hours with women and juniors, helping them improve their skills and preparing them for the next level. Her family started a memorial fund in her name the Helen Hanley Memorial Fund. Through the generosity of the SAYRA clubs, members and sailing supporters, this fund has grown to a substantial amount that has been expanded to support SAYRA sailors attending any US Championship from the Association level to the Finals. The support includes such expenses as transportation, housing and social fees. The fund also supports training efforts by it members and juniors. The goal is to be able to finance the grants with interest income only. We in SAYRA feel extremely fortunate and grateful to be able to support our sailors. To get an idea of how the HHMF is managed and operates go to http://www.sayra-sailing.org/pages/hhanley.htm * From Ralph Taylor: Mike Ingham asks, "Are all the US Sailing Championships this expensive?" Sadly, Mike, for the most part, yes. I have a problem with the expense, too. I think the entry cost is a prime factor in the lack of participation in US Sailing's ladder events. It isn't that anyone is making a profit off the events. They really do cost that much, what with the insurance, catering, etc.. It's just that the events have been designed to a high-overhead-cost model. As anyone who's planned regattas knows, most of the costs are fixed; they're the same no matter how many competitors; 6 racers cost about the same as 12 or 18. One way to get entry fees down is to have sponsors pick up part of the tab (not "in-kind" contributions). Another would be to expand the number paying the entry fees. But, this idea has little traction. In the meantime, most talented amateur sailors are opting for one-design class championships. The costs aren't as high -- if you bring your own boat & have it ready for that level of competition. Plus, you get camaraderie with the same folks year after year. * From Gary Morgan: Along with our "Downtown Racing Series" in Seattle on Elliott Bay, there is also a long standing race each Tuesday night on Lake Union, called the "Duck Dodge". The same type of rules apply, don't hit anyone. One of the most sacred rules though, thus the name of the race, don't make a duck change their course! There are fleets for fast, half fast, cruiser and dinghies. There are boats out there from ID 35's and such to Columbia 26, to home made "things" to lasers, all racing and having a great time. The lake is full of boats every Tuesday night during the summer. Most nights have themes too, and we are looking forward to "Prom Night" next Tues.! * From Jack A. Spithill: A 'golf handicapping' system for intermediate sailors and their boats makes a lot of sense. It provides incentive to improve and advance to a higher level of competition without becoming totally discouraged by early disappointing results. If a sailor gets into competitive sailing to pick a load of trophies he'll probably be disappointed anyway. CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM What disease did cured ham actually have? |
