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SCUTTLEBUTT 2377 - June 30, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). THE DRAMA CONTINUES Alinghi beat Team New Zealand by 19 seconds in the one of the most dramatic races of the America's Cup today to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-nine series. The 32nd America's Cup has been one of the most exciting ever and Friday added yet more color to the edition as Team New Zealand chased Alinghi out between the spectator boats at the start then ripped their spinnaker in two half an hour later. The pre-start dogfight left guests on the VIP and media boats open-mouthed as the sleek 24-metre boats sailed by within spitting distance. The Kiwis crossed the line first and led up the first beat to turn the top mark 12 seconds ahead. But as they were heading downwind, they spotted a hole in their bright red spinnaker. Just as they were getting ready to hoist a new kite, the 500-square-metre spinnaker ripped in two and flew into the air. The second spinnaker turned out not to be tied on properly so as it went up, it also flicked out, fluttering from the top of the mast like a flag. Number three came out of the sail store in the belly of the boat but as they hoisted their final spinnaker, this one got tangled half way up, turning into a big "wineglass". Amazingly, the Kiwis kept their heads, eventually untwisted the third spinnaker and cut the other two free, dropping them in the water like a huge blood spill. "That was an important race and it wasn't one we should have lost on a mistake on a move we've practiced time and again," said Grant Dalton, managing director for Team New Zealand - which won the Cup in 1995 and 2000 but lost to Alinghi in 2003. Team New Zealand chased Alinghi back and quickly closed down a lot of the gap but by that stage the Swiss crew were in control and led the rest of the race. -- Reuters, http://tinyurl.com/3x9uhf AS SEEN BY GARY JOBSON What a heartbreak! Just as the critical jibe on the second leg was about to take place, a disaster struck Emirates Team New Zealand. It was painful to watch as the Kiwi crew scrambled to recover from a blown spinnaker change. Switzerland's Alinghi was close behind and setting up to blanket New Zealand's wind after the jibe. Could NZ break through with clear air after the turn? It was blowing 20mph, the seas were confused, and the sailors were tense anticipating the sequence. With the dreadful sight of a tear on the Kiwi's spinnaker luff, the sail cloth looked too light to hold together. NZ knew they were in trouble, hence the need for sail change. But before they could prep for the change, the spinnaker blew out! To make it worse, the crew did a terrible job cleaning up the mess. It was an awful reminder of the equipment problems that plagued NZ in 2003. Alinghi's tactician made a great call to sail away from NZ. Alinghi took the lead, easily won the race. and now lead the series 3-2 But New Zealand is very much alive in this regatta. Winning is a question of mental toughness. For the first time we witnessed races in the upper wind ranges, and guess what, the speeds of the two boats appear to be even. NZ helmsman, Dean Barker, gave Alinghi's helmsman, Ed Baird, a real clinic during the start today. Once again, Alinghi entered the starting box late. Baird was on the run and was forced to use spectator boats as picks. Barker was in control and easily won the start. Alinghi would do well to abandon their passive, stay out of trouble strategy, and go at NZ with a vengeance. The pressure is on NZ tactician Terry Hutchinson. He must sail the races of this life. At 39, he has the ability, experience, and drive to get the job done. Hutchinson knows he can defeat Butterworth, 47, in smaller boats like Farr 40s and J/24s. Even though the stakes are higher now, it is still a sailboat race. Hutchinson should treat these like any other races. The heat is on Butterworth too. He has an owner who does not want to lose control of this event. After all, the America's Cup is now the Billion Dollar Cup. -- To read Gary Jobson's full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/gj/#race5 * America's Cup racing will continue on both Saturday and Sunday, with a single lay-day scheduled for Monday . if the Cup's winner has not be decided by that time. Scuttlebutt will continue to publish every day until the winner is decided. VERSUS (USA) and TSN Broadband (Canada) will provide live coverage of the Finals from 8:30 a.m.-11 a.m. ET. VERSUS will also have a replay from 6-8 p.m. ET., while TSN Broadband will archive each race for later viewing. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/shows/#6 QUOTE / UNQUOTE -- Grant Dalton "We have always emphasized reliability as an essential element of our campaign. Today that small tear in the spinnaker cost us the race. We had a little nick in the spinnaker which must have been a result of hoisting it. Just as we went to do a standard peel it blew out so that was the first problem. Then we starting hoisting but I don't think we had the tack on so we ended up with no spinnaker. That was a mistake." WASTE OF TIME? Alinghi today described Team New Zealand's protest against the mainsail release system on their America's Cup yacht as a "a waste of time". But Team NZ boss Grant Dalton said a minority of the five-person international jury in Valencia thought differently and his syndicate simply wanted a level playing field. In a majority decision, the jury, chaired by Briton Bryan Willis, dismissed a protest which was lodged by Team NZ, rather than the measurement committee. Despite the decision being ruled in his team's favor, Alinghi syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli told reporters the protest was "frivolous and a waste of time". Alinghi design team coordinator Grant Simmer said it was the measurement committee that was charged with making sure the boats complied with the rules. "If a competitor can put in a protest basically disrespecting the role of the measurement committee, we're going to end up with anarchy in this sport." Simmer said the issue under protest would not have affected the result of any of the four races sailed so far. -- NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/2q8hqr IT'S UNIQUE After 156 years, the America's Cup still evokes an image of wealth, elegance and luxury. For luggage, bag and accessories maker Louis Vuitton, principal sponsor of what sailors call the Auld Mug, this aura is crucial to the unique appeal of sailing's most coveted prize. The luxury brand draws a parallel between the innovation that drives the development of the America's Cup boats and Louis Vuitton's products, in areas such as technology and new materials. The brand's cup director Christine Belanger told Reuters, "If tomorrow, the long life we shared with the Cup came to an end, I'm not sure we'd look for another sporting event because it would be very difficult to find something with the same spirit, background, history." -- Alexander Smith, The Guardian, http://tinyurl.com/2c4xz6 THE YANKS (Following are excerpts about the two Americans on ETNZ is from a story by Christopher Clarey, New York Times, posted on the PilotOnline.com website.) How do you take two proud Americans like Kevin Hall and Terry Hutchinson and turn them into something that might pass for Kiwis? "First of all, no high-fives," said Ray Davies, a strategist with Emirates Team New Zealand. The next phase involves mastering the essentials of rugby union and cricket for those bonding sessions around the big screen. "I figured it all out with the rugby. Occasionally I ask questions," said Hutchinson, a two-time collegiate Sailor of the Year at Old Dominion in the 1980s. "Cricket, on the other hand... " Before joining the Kiwis, Hutchinson and Hall had sailed in two America's Cups in New Zealand. They began with Paul Cayard's AmericaOne team in 1999 and then were part of different American syndicates in 2002. Hutchinson called tactics for Team Dennis Conner, and Hall navigated for the Seattle-based OneWorld Challenge. Hall and Hutchinson have known each other since 1984, when they both competed in a national youth regatta in Milwaukee. They were sometimes rivals in college, when Hall was at Brown and Hutchinson was at ODU. Both have been among the best and brightest American sailors for years, with Hutchinson winning three world championships and Hall competing in the 2004 Olympics in the Finn Class. But with American options and influence much more limited during this Cup cycle, both decided that after living in New Zealand it was time to sail for New Zealand. Hutchinson joined the team in June 2004 after becoming frustrated with the pace of negotiations with BMW Oracle Racing, the San Francisco-based challenger owned by software mogul Larry Ellison and run by New Zealander Chris Dickson. "We went back and forth, probably two phone calls and probably six e-mails from April to the end of May," Hutchinson said. "I was asked to write what I perceived as a job description, so I did all that and they dragged their feet. I went back to them and said, 'I've got an opportunity with Team New Zealand and my first choice would be to sail for an American team.' And Chris Dickson came back with a response that, 'We'd like you to hold off, but we can't make a decision right now.' So as far as I was concerned, there was my answer." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2bfp2j MARK YOUR CALENDAR - ACURA KEY WEST 2008 IRC, One Design, and PHRF sailors are making plans for winter's premiere keelboat regatta - Acura Key West 2008. World class competition, Premiere Racing's professional management, Key West's brilliant sunshine, dependable winds and shoreside attractions all make this a must do. January 21 - 25, 2008. Invited classes and details: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com SAILING SHORTS * America's Cup officials have dismissed Team New Zealand's protest with a majority decision. The oldest international sporting event in the world has had more than it's fair share of protest and controversy. The New Zealand Herald has assembled a list of some of the 'highlights.' -- http://tinyurl.com/39vo7x * Hollywood golden couple Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas were joined by Prince Albert of Monaco in admiring the proceedings of an international sailing competition in the Spanish coastal city of Valencia. The Hollywood royals spent the week with real-life royals, as they watched the world's most challenging sailing competition, the America's Cup, from a luxurious VIP boat. -- opodo, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2kayds * Big winds forced race organizers to cancel racing on Friday at the Etchells World Championship in Cowes. Although the sun shone for much of the day the wind rarely dropped below 25 knots with regular gusts up towards 30 knots. This combined with a strong ebb tide made for a particularly nasty Solent chop and racing was never possible. Saturday's scheduled reserve day will now be used in the hope of completing one final race. -- http://www.etchell sworlds2007.org. GAME ON (T2P.tv's Tucker Thompson is in Valencia, Spain as part of the Versus television team of experts providing coverage of the America's Cup. Here is the latest posting to his America's Cup diary.) The 32nd America's Cup in Valencia has turned out to be one of the closest America's Cups in history. Who would have thought after Alinghi wiped out Team New Zealand in 2003 and remained strong throughout all of the ACTs, Luna Rossa disposed of BMW Oracle, and the Kiwis demolished the Italians, that the final match would be such a close fight. Fortunately for the whole world, we are in for quite a treat! -- Full commentary: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/t2p/#June28 BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES It's become a tale of two races. At the front of the pack, leading the 21-boat main fleet of competitors that began the HSH Nordbank blue race on June 16, the 52-foot Outsider has pulled away from the pack and may cross the finish line sometime this weekend after a textbook passage across the North Atlantic. The second story is no less dramatic. Several hundred miles astern of Outsider, the 90-foot Rambler - owned by Connecticut sailor George David and skippered by America's Cup veteran Ken Read - is also leading her closest competitors, the 3-booat fleet that started the race on its second, June 23 start. But they are doing so after battening down the hatches over the last day while dealing with a fierce North Atlantic storm that reached Force 10 status with winds up to 57-knots. Read elaborated on the storm: "One of the largest low-pressure systems I've ever seen engulfed the Atlantic and pretty much blocked our path to Scotland. So we've been fighting massive seas and up to 57 knots of wind for the last 24 hours. We believe the worst of it is over but it will still be in the high 30-knot range for the next 24 hours as well. The extreme conditions, however, have provided moments of brutally fast sailing, Read said. "We've nudged old Rambler from time to time," he said. "For example, watch captain Chris Nicholson got the boat going 40 knots yesterday with a triple-reefed main and a #4 jib. It's a pretty wild scene out here. Hopefully our friends on (the 80-foot) Bon Bon have buckled down and just tried to safely get through, as we have. We haven't really been racing for the last 12 hours. Just surviving, so to speak." -- Herb McCormick, http://www.hsh-nordbank-blue-race.com 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 Leslie Valmadre: I read with much interest, Gary Jobson's comments regarding the dismissed protest by ETNZ against Alinghi and if there is a rule that the mainsail be able to be lowered without a man aloft several questions come to mind: 1. When is a rule not a rule? I would guess when the rules committee arbitrarily decides not to apply it. 2. If it was not important why did the committee request that the boats lower their sails without a man aloft? I guess they were just kidding and really just wanted to create some tension not really see if the boats complied. 3. If there is no advantage to be gained from fixing your mainsail in such a way that it can't be lowered from the deck why did they (Alinghi) have it fastened the way they did? I can't think of any good reason for this one even the view from aloft doesn't really explain it. 4. Why did the official on board Alinghi allow the boat to send a man aloft so the mainsail could be lowered? Was the official Swiss or Kiwi? 5. What other non-rule rules are there that wont be applied or adhered to because the Race Committee doesn't think they are necessary? Finally for Gary Jobson to intimate that the Jury will consider a previous protest in any future protest is at least a disservice to the professionalism of the jury and at most an insult to them. * From Cliff Bradford: I got the impression at the end of Race 3 that the Versus producers were deliberately using deceptive camera angles and not going to Virtual Eye to enhance the drama of TNZ downwind pass. So maybe not having a continuously superimposed "virtual racecourse" isn't in the producers best interest in building drama is what are (compared to other sports) slowly evolving scenarios. A lot has been made about Bertarelli's comments re the wind and the decision to start Race 3 but how many times has any of us heard (or made) similar comments about an RC's decision to start a race in light shifty breeze just before the time limit. In most regattas I've been to if it gets to within 15 minutes of the deadlines people start heading in, gunning their motors etc to "persuade" the RC to call it off. Of course we're anxious to head back to the post regatta party... * From Brian Watkins, Seattle: I understand that Versus is following the coverage in Scuttlebutt, so I would like to humbly offer some suggestions: 1. Thank you for the coverage. 2. At the starts you can cover better with less effort, more like during LVC. Stand off a bit and fix the camera in one position from above so we can see the relative position of the boats change over time. Mixing it up with close-ups is OK, but need the ongoing steady shot as baseline about 80% of the time during starts. 3. Need to do something about the uncanny ability to insert ads during the interesting moments. Not sure how you can do this live. You could address on the replay. They're all the same ads anyway, so we'll buy up the products even if you don't show them so much. Ad strip on the bottom or picture in picture may work. 4. We can't hear the on-board commentary, which would be priceless, especially when you're telling us how excellent the on-board commentary is. 5. Thank you for the coverage. * From Tony Strickland, Perth, Western Australia: Now that we in Australia have joined the sailing world with live telecast of the AC, can someone please tell FOXTEL that the serious action in match racing commences on entry through the start gate. The first 2 races coverage only commenced at about -90m seconds, by which time the start approach was well established. It's like covering a basketball game only after the "tip-off". * From Nick Jako, Canada: The glowing hockey puck does NOT make hockey more watchable on television North of the border. It ruins the telecast. * From Peter Wuerr, Vancouver: Wow - Stan Honey is responsible for the glowing blue hockey puck? I always wondered who was responsible for that sacrilege - tough now to be as indignant as I'd hoped to be when I located the perpetrator! * From Dale Adams, Wellington, New Zealand: Doesn't Bertarelli and his 'colleagues' realise what a joke they are? Whining about having to sail in bad wind? Isn't this what sailing is all about? Next they'll be moaning about having to sail in water because they're getting wet! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -- Oscar Wilde Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
