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SCUTTLEBUTT 1430- October 7, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. FOR THE RECORD Robert Miller's 140 foot super maxi, Mari Cha IV, which is currently attempting the west to east transatlantic record has already made its mark on the sailing world. At 07:30 UTC Monday morning, Miller and his crew re-wrote sailing history by becoming the first monohull ever to sail over 500 miles in one day. Mari Cha IV bettered the previous record, of 484 nm, set by John Kostecki's Illbruck on 29th April 2002 during the Volvo Ocean Race, when they sailed an unofficial 505 nm (pending ratification by the World Speed Sailing Council). "What an amazing feeling," said owner Robert Miller. "We have designed and built this fantastic yacht with one aim in mind… to break records, and here we are on our first attempt and we have broken one already! I have a great team consisting of some of the best sailors in the world and together I'm pleased to say that we're really showing what this awesome yacht can do." The 140-foot monster boat, Mari Cha IV is currently on course to smash the west to east transatlantic record. At 00:28 UTC Tuesday, (102:48:19 hours after the official start) their speed over the ground was 21.6 knots and their average speed for the trip so far has been 19.9 knots. Mari Char IV has already covered 1,869 of the 2,925 miles of the course. Curmudgeon's Comment: The crew on the super maxi, Mari Cha IV, pushed the bar a little higher yet when they bettered their 24 hour distance record further at 10:28 UTC Monday morning to 511.4 nm (to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Council). For continuous updates and onboard photos: http://www.mari-cha4.com TRIVIA QUESTION What do Sir Thomas Lipton and Syd Fischer have in common? (Answer below) AUSTRALIA CHALLENGES FOR AMERICA'S CUP It's twenty years since Australia's historical America's Cup victory in Newport USA. Today, OzBoyz Challenge has been announced to contend for the 2007 America's Cup with a new generation of Australian yachting talent, technology and business partners. The OzBoyz Challenge for the XXXII America's Cup has been created with the founding rule of the campaign: that 60% of the team must have been born in or after 1983. The significant date in the America's Cup archives when Australia II defeated Liberty 4-3. Etched in the public's memory are glorious images of the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke demonstrating Australia's jubilation at being the first country in 132 years to defeat the Americans. While most potential syndicates for the next America's Cup are focusing on big budget campaigns, OzBoyz Challenge has a modest budget of AUD58 million. The campaign is based primarily on the youth of Australia. Male and female team members will be selected for their practical and academic talent in yachting, finance, marketing, administration, engineering and business. They will work with experienced mentors in each of these fields as well as legal experts, television, media and PR professionals who all have previous experience in the America's Cup event. - Boating Online, full story: http://www.boating-online.com.au/welcome.cfm WIND STRIPCHARTS WITHOUT A COMPUTER Prior to the introduction of Ockam's 007 Matryx display, "trend" information was restricted to systems running outboard computer programs. Stripchart data is a powerful tool on the racecourse - the Matryx display provides wind and current speed/direction graphs at the push of a button. Ockam's new wireless PDA software package "EYE" provides stripcharting of multiple functions across a wide range of time periods. Predict the future (more) accurately with EYE and Matryx - visit http://www.ockam.com LIVING LARGE Because Peter Harrison, the man behind the GBR Challenge for the 2000/3 Amercia's Cup, is known never to do things by halves, it wasn't too surprising to find that the present he bought for himself, to celebrate 50 years of working life, was an £8.7million carbon fibre yacht. Sojana, the Bruce Farr/ Russ Bowler-designed, ketch-rigged, light displacement, fast cruising superyacht, which has been in creation for the last five years. Dressed overall, lying alongside the pontoon just off the Challenge base, this115ft yacht with her 144ft main mast stood proud, dwarfing everything around her. She's largest boat to be built in Cowes for the last 30 years and certainly one of incredible high quality. Built by Green Marine, the hi-tech structure of the hull, using pre-preg carbon laminate and Nomex honeycomb core, is similar to the technology used in America's Cup yachts, making her strong, light and able to perform well on the racecourse. One of the most fascinating features of this new boat is the carbon fibre rig - the 144ft main mast with 2,982sq ft of sail, a huge 118ft mizzen mast (the same section as Leopard's main mast) carrying a 2,153sqft sail and the 2,379sqft jib. With such a massive, powerful rig, it wasn't surprising therefore to learn that the boat will have to be raced with two crew (28 in total). For cruising however, she'll be sailed by a permanent crew of five. - Sue Pelling, Yachting World website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ncvn NAUTOR'S SWAN (Following are three excerpts from a story by Alan Farnham in Forbes magazine.) Nautor, maker of Swan yachts, won regattas but couldn't turn a profit. Now, with Leonardo Ferragamo at its helm, it's doing both. Nautor, which has been making Swans since 1966, is regarded in Finland as a kind of national treasure--but one whose inefficiencies have led to losses. It suffered in the early 1990s when the U.S. levied a luxury tax on yachts, and by 1997 was losing $2.6 million on sales of $32 million. It has survived only by being taken in as a kind of charity case by a succession of nationally spirited owners, most recently a huge pulp and timber company whose business had nothing to do with sailing. Enter Leonardo Ferragamo, 50. In the mid-1990s, the scion of the Italian shoe and apparel family (and chief executive of Palazzo Feroni Finanziaria SpA, a holding company for the Ferragamo group) grew frustrated by what he saw as Nautor's mismanagement. He had loved Swans ever since buying a 51-footer in 1988, six years after graduating from Columbia University with a degree in business administration and finance. To Ferragamo, Nautor's faults seemed obvious: There was too little specialization of the work force; the same people made a 112-foot superyacht as a more modest 48-footer. Everybody made everything, though very different construction methods were required for big and smaller boats. Worse, says Ferragamo, the company had become complacent: "A yacht, like any other kind of product, has to take advantage of evolution of technology, of taste, of elegance--they're not stable, these things. And they, Nautor, were not absorbing these changes." As an outsider, he found his influence to be limited. "I always made very good suggestions," he comments dryly, "but they never implemented them." He remedied this by buying Nautor in 1998, becoming majority owner with a group of minority investors. He describes acquiring the company--for a price never disclosed--as a "difficult" process that took a year. "A number of times," he says, "I asked myself, did I really want to get involved?" "Despite a certain amount of eyebrow-raising when Ferragamo took over," says yacht broker Robert Rodgers, "the quality and spirit of the company have remained the same. The only thing I notice now is that they're making money." Nautor posted a pretax profit of $440,000 on sales of $45 million in 1998. Profit for 2002 hit $4.5 million on revenue of $79 million. - Alan Farnham, Forbes magazine, full story: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1006/290.html WEB SPECIALS: NOW YOU CAN GO OUT IN STYLE The end of the season is coming-the perfect time to save a bundle of money while picking up some of Henri Lloyd's hottest foul weather gear and lifestyle wear. Check out Henri Lloyd's Web Specials at: http://www.henrilloydonline.com/productmgmt/subcat.asp?nCatID=12 NEWS BRIEFS * Blythe Walker won the Bacardi Cup -- Bermuda's National Match Racing Championship -- on Hamilton Harbour when he beat Adam Barboza 3-1 in the "first to 3" final round. In the petit-final for third and fourth place, Ricki Hornett defeated Pete Ramsdale 3-1. The winner and runner-up of the Bacardi Cup will sail as "Team Bacardi" in the qualifying round and have their entries paid for by Bacardi in this month's Investors Guaranty presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup scheduled for October 18-26 at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. - http://www.rbyc.bm * BoatU.S. reports that losses to recreational boats from Hurricane Isabel (not including marinas, other infrastructure or commercial vessels) will total over $150 million, exceeding the damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Storm surge caused much of the damage in the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River watersheds, far from the storm's North Carolina landfall. - http://www.boatus.com/news/releases.asp View some of the damage courtesy of Claire Bennett: http://members.cox.net/gbennett11 TRIVIA ANSWER Sir Thomas Lipton and Syd Fischer might have shared a love for drinking tea, but on the water they hold the record as five-time losers in challenging for the America's Cup. Had Lipton not died in 1931when planning a sixth challenge, he may well have presently had the record to himself. MINI TRANSAT Tripon and Jonathan have hit the big hole (aka: The Doldrums). Rolland has held the NE breeze longer. But he should be in the doldrums now too. Its total dice roll for the next couple of days - until the morning of October 8th or so. If everyone survives the doldrums equally, then the boat that is farthest to the east (Tripon by 40 miles to Jonathan) should have the best angle and best breeze first when the SE trades kick in - and it turns into a port tack reach. But the Doldrums are not known to be equalizers, so there's a lot of nail biting to be had. - Peter Isler Standings at 15:00 TU Monday: 1. Jonathan McKee, Team McLube, 1407 miles to finish. 2. Pierre Rolland, Extrado, 1408 mtf 3. Armel Tripon, Moulin Roty, 1424 mtf 4. Willy Garcia, Ceylan Diamantes, 1448 mtf 5. Bruno Garcia, Saladino, 1448 mtf 6. Samuel Manuard, Tip Top Too, 1449 mtf Event website: http://www.transat650.org/ ARAMID RIGGING AT FARR INVITATIONAL & KEY WEST PRE-RACE Aramid Rigging is onsite in Miami for all your rigging needs starting November 17th for the Rolex Farr Invitational. For advance orders call 401-683-6966. Onsite contact (401) 345-1907. Look for us at Key West as well! Receive 10% off any rope order when you join our email list at http://www.aramidrigging.com/m/_general/contactus.asp LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (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 Paul Henderson, ISAF President (re Doping and Pot): It is always fair game for sailors to throw stones at ISAF. WADA is the world anti-doping agency which sets the standards for what is illegal for athletes to take. It is funded 50% by governments and 50% by the IOC. ISAF has to accept their list as do all other 35 Olympic sports. ISAF only does the minimum that WADA decrees: no more no less. The governments have pushed to include cannabis which up to now was only banned for the Olympic Games. No matter what side of this issue you are on ISAF has no choice but to comply as the major countries USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany etc. have agreed. ISAF will endeavor to get clarification on this issue as I believe that banned substances should only be "performance enhancing drugs for elite athletes" and that sport should not be expected to clean up all social issues facing the world. Curmudgeon's Comment: Canadian Paul Henderson will undoubtedly enjoy a story we came across which explained why Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien seems to be in such a hurry to push through a law decriminalizing marijuana. Chretien, 69, said in an interview published on Friday that he might give pot a try once it is no longer a criminal offense - presumably after he retires in February. Under the new law, pot users would only pay a fine if caught with small amounts. - MSNBC website: http://www.msnbc.com/news/975443.asp?cp1=1 * From Steve Morrell: I think it is important that pot be included on the banned list of drugs, as if it was acceptable then everyone would be trying to get the other teams smoking the stuff so they could watch all the antics and comedy as a bunch of stoned sailors attempt to do things in an organized fashion. Beating a team of stoned sailors would be easy. Sailboat racing would degenerate to everyone spiking the other teams' brownies and dropping cannabis oil in their meals just before the race. The behind the scenes antics pursuing these attempts would become as disgraceful as some of the America's cup spy chronicles. Cheshire cat-like smiles would give away the stoned teams. Drug-testing would be unnecessary. It would be the end of sailboat racing as we know it, if we kept it off the banned drug list. The real question would be determining who is the guilty party and guilty of what. * From Malcolm McKeag (re Race Organizers' liabilities - edited to our 250-word limit): Everyone worries about law suits from participants or their heirs. Here in UK much the greater danger for race organizers is prosecution by the so-called Health and Safety authorities. While no yacht club has yet been gone after, several other organizations have. On an canoeing expedition school children lost their lives: the proprietor of the activity centre, 200 miles away at the time, spent 18 months in jail. Recently a national first aid organization was fined £30,000 for sending some volunteers on a waterborne first aid course (on which there was a non-fatal accident) without what the court deemed to be adequate briefing on the dangers of falling in the water. Our government requires that port authorities satisfy themselves that activities in their area of control are adequately planned, the PA's pass the buck by requiring risk assessments and safety management plans from organizers, including those of yacht races. Sadly, the advice and assistance available from our usually excellent national authority is in this respect is about as much use as a chocolate teapot - but any club that does not take this issue seriously and act is playing Russian roulette. If something goes wrong, it is not only the race officer who might end up in court, but the paid officials, the general committee and the Flag Officers. Happily, the law still recognizes that accidents can happen - the prosecution will succeed only if it can show that the race organizer did not make adequate provision or acted recklessly. * From Ron Baerwitz: Sorry, but I simply do not agree with Michael Panosh's comments on the America's Cup. We have Olympic Sailing and no one gives a hoot about seeing that on TV. I completely enjoyed the America's Cup this past year and look forward to the next one even more. Whatever it is called, it is the true World Championship of our sport. * From George Bailey: If the general public and hence the media have almost no interest in powerboat races which have many of the features popular sports have that sailboat racing lacks, they how likely is it that the general public can be made to take an interest in sailboat racing? Yesterday, during a hospice sailboat regatta on the Pamlico River, 17 very large powerboats blasted by at around 80-90 kts in their own race down the river. So ask yourself, why aren't you a dedicated powerboat racing fan? I bet most of you reading this are football and basketball fans. Maybe the answer to why you are not a powerboat racing fan explains why the general public never will be sailboat racing fans. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. |
