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SCUTTLEBUTT 1625 - July 15, 2004
Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is a
digest 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
The mast is over the side and along with it your crew's hopes of a leg win.
The priority is to cut it free to stop it making a hole in the hull and
then build a jury rig. Think you'd have time to pop down below to fetch a
handheld camera and catch the action for the viewers at home? Probably not!
It's no surprise then to learn that many of the most dramatic events that
took place on the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02 went unrecorded.
This time around, the race organizers have a new plan for capturing the
unexpected. Although continuous onboard recording facilities are not new,
they have never been popular with crews because of the energy demands they
place on yachts. However, experts have now come up with a much more
energy-efficient way of keeping the cameras rolling and have made power
management an essential design element for the media centers on the Volvo
70 class yachts.
The new design allows the media centre to be run at twenty times less power
than in previous races. Each yacht will now have seven fixed cameras and
possibly a helmet-mounted headcam. And, just to be certain that nothing of
the cheerful banter of the crew is missed, just under the hatch there will
be a powerful gun microphone. - Volvo Ocean Race, full story:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/pages/news/news71.htm
COMING / GOING
* Tracy Edwards has just issued an update on The Oryx Cup - the
maxi-multihull round the world race that starts February 6th from Doha,
Qatar. To date there are six entries in the event, of which three have paid
their entry fees. The event is hoping that three more boats will announce
sponsorship in August/ September.
* The finances of round-the-world yachtswoman Tracy Edwards have come under
scrutiny following two separate moves against her personally as well as two
companies associated with her. The impact on Edwards's ambitious plans to
launch two round-the-world events for giant multihulls and monohulls
remains to be seen. In October last year Edwards unveiled £38 million ($47
million) backing from the Gulf state of Qatar for the non-stop Oryx Cup
2005 and the multi-stage Quest in 2006. The £540,000 ($1million) first
prize for the Oryx Cup was said to be the richest in sailing.
Last week John Taylor, chairman of the sponsorship firm Sports Impact,
started winding-up procedures against Maiden Ocean Racing and Maiden Ocean
Racing Qatar, claiming his firm was owed around £75,000 ($93,000) for work
done. Independently, Andrew Pindar has asked that loans he offered to
enable Edwards to buy the 110ft catamaran Club Med for £1.2 million ($2.2
million), be repaid. Renamed Maiden 2, the big cat had a spectacular
record-breaking season in 2002. Two repayment dates on Jan 5 and July 1
have come and gone. Now Edwards is talking of October. - Tim Jeffery,
Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/6jdl5
TRIVIA QUESTION
How much deeper are icebergs under the surface of the water than is
typically exposed in the air? (Answer below)
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WANNA HOST A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP?
The North American Laser Class Association is accepting bids from yacht
clubs interested in hosting the 2006 Laser Radial Worlds. This event had
170 competitors when it was held in 2004 in Australia, but more are
expected in North America.
The event is actually two events over a 16-18 day time period. The first
event is the Open and Women's event sailed concurrently. The second event
is the Youth event sailed the following week; this event had 55 competitors
in 2004. With a recovery day in between events, this event took 16 days of
racing to complete. As many competitors will come from overseas, you should
expect them to begin to arrive up to seven days before the event. It would
be preferred this event take place between July 15 and Aug 15, 2006. All
bids should be e-mailed to James@Laser.org and must be received by August
15th, 2004.
GETTING READY
Following are two excerpts (reprinted with permission) from a note from US
Star sailor Paul Cayard, who is in Athens training for the Olympic:
"Today the sea breeze filled in at 5 knots around 14:00 and then we had a
nice 10 knots breeze by 1600. We raced with Hagen (GER), Neeleman (NED),
Percy (GBR), MacDonald (CAN), Beashal (AUS). We raced on a short course
about 1 mile up and back and did that about 6 times. We had a practice
start and then the start for the race each time. So 12 starts and 6 races.
All in about 2 hours. Very good training for placement off the line and
boat handling. When the course is so short the boats get to the windward
mark all at the same time and placement relative to the fleet is key to
being first or sixth. We won the first race and generally had a good day.
We had good speed up and downwind. Our coach Austin Sperry took a lot of
picture and video film that we are now reviewing.
"Andy Lovell, who finished second in the US trials is arriving tomorrow and
will spend two weeks training with me. Mark Reynolds, 2000 gold medalist
will arrive Friday for 10 days. So we will have a full two boat program for
two weeks with either Mark or Andy in the coach boat. Austin will crew in
the second boat. We are very lucky to have these great sailors come over
and help us out." - Paul Cayard
STUFF HAPPENS
There is plenty of interest in Mackinac Island this time of year, that
little northern hamlet where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet. Over the
next two weekends, approximately 600 boats will start in either the Bacardi
Bayview Mackinac Race or the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.
Not that we hope anything out of the ordinary happens to any entrants
during their race, but with that many boats, something will. You know, the
kind of stuff that isn't very funny when it happens, but we can all laugh
about afterwards. More importantly, Scuttlebutt wants to hear about it. If
it's good/bad enough, we'll print it. Look for more contest information in
upcoming issues.
Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race (From Lake Huron):
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/eventdescription.asp?ID=137
Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac (From Lake Michigan):
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/eventdescription.asp?ID=139
WHEN THERE'S A LOT ON THE LINE.
Want to upgrade your boat's performance with a winning team? The Yale
Cordage team recently supplied the U.S. Sailing Team with full sets of
performance line to use in Athens. As the official cordage supplier to the
team since 1999, Yale receives valuable feedback for new product
development giving you the performance team advantage. Look for Yalelight
Competition, Maxibraid, and Pulse (Spectra); Vectrus and Vizzion (Vectran);
and Conception (SK-75) in Athens. Ask for Yale at your local chandlery,
rigger or favorite catalog and get on board with these go fast lines!
http://www.yalecordage.com
BRING YOUR CAMERA
The first half of New York Yacht Club's Race Week, which starts on
Saturday, is serving as the second event in the newly established NYYC
Invitational Racing Series for Vintage and Classic Yachts. The move
attracted the attention of the pre-eminent yacht design firm Sparkman &
Stephens (S&S), which decided to coordinate its elaborate 75th Anniversary
Celebration with Race Week. The legendary S&S designed 12 Meters Columbia,
Courageous, Intrepid and Freedom will join other 12 Meters in racing over
the first four days and use the opening weekend as their 12-Meter Annual
Regatta.
Also racing over the weekend will be another group of S&S designed yachts,
including the classic beauty Bolero, a 73' yawl owned by Ed Kane (Concord,
MA). "Bolero won the Classic division at the NYYC 150th Annual Regatta in
June," said Bolero's helmsman Chip Barber (Charlottesville, VA), "and won
the Antigua Classic Regatta earlier this year and the Concord d'Elegance
Trophy just last week for the 75th Anniversary Celebration. What will be
fabulous is seeing classic yachts like the 72' Ticonderoga, the Eight Meter
Angelita and the New York 30 Amorita on the same line as Bolero." - Media
Pro Int'l, http://www.nyyc.org
NEWS BRIEFS
* Thirty-nine 505's sailed in their Pacific Coast Championships last
weekend in Santa Cruz, CA, many of them using it as their final tune-up
regatta prior to the upcoming North American and World Championships in
August, also in Santa Cruz. Conditions were "Classic Santa Cruz," with
winds in the 12-20 knot range and moderate ocean swell. Local sails showed
dominance taking first and third. Final results: 1. Bruce Edwards/ Dave
Shelton 11 pts; 2. Dan Thompson/ Andy Zinn, 13; 3. Mike Holt/ Carl Smit,
15; 4. Andy Beeckman/ Benny Benjamin, 17; 5. Howard Hamlin/ Peter Alarie
19. Full results at
http://www.scyc.org/Racing/2004/11-505PCC/results/2004-505-pccsos.html
* When building sails for the world's largest single-masted yacht (246
feet), Doyle Sails found the size and loads of Mirabella V's sails dictated
a new approach to construction sail methods. In this design, the mainsail
is composed of seven separate yet interdependent sections. Six full-length
battens join the segments at their top and bottom edges to form the
complete sail. Building Mirabella V's sail in segments made construction,
transport, and service significantly easier, as the largest of the sections
did not exceed 315 square meters (3,389 square feet). See for yourself:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/mirabellasails/
* On Martha's Vineyard, the 66th anniversary sailing of Edgartown Yacht
Club's 'Round the Island Race on Saturday, was won by Frank and Tom
Selldorff's Baltic 52, Kinship. Second place was taken by Chuck Parish's
1928 12 Metre, Onowa, with John Nugent's Swan 51, Godspeed in third. After
sitting on land for decades, Onowa was lovingly restored two years ago, and
the moderate conditions in this year's 55-mile race around Martha's
Vineyard were ideal for the wooden classic. The Yacht Club Team Trophy
(3-boat teams) was won by New Bedford YC. Complete results:
http://www.rtirace.org/results-2004.htm
* After 14 matches at the Nations Cup match race regatta in Trieste:
Italian Challenger (Paolo Cian) with four victories and one defeat, Luna
Rossa (James Spithill) with four victories and one defeat, the Russell
Coutts team with three victories out of three regattas, Emirates Team New
Zealand (Kelvin Harrap) with two victories and two defeats, Mascalzone
Latino (John Cutler subbing for Vasco Vascotto) with one victory and four
defeats and at the bottom, Toscana Challenge (Roberto Ferrarese) with no
victories out of four regattas raced. - http://www.lasfida.it
* There are fewer and fewer sailing "race weeks" these days, some having
fallen to lack of sponsorship and others having dried up due to work-place
trends that allow little time for indulging in hard-core competition over
five consecutive work days "just for the fun of it." The New York Yacht
Club's Race Week at Newport, however, is back with a bang this year,
scheduled to begin its fourth biennial edition this weekend with over 170
boats signed up and with Rolex returning in a presenting sponsorship role
that it has held since the event's inauguration in 1998. - http://www.nyyc.org
TRIVIA ANSWER
The ratio of the submerged iceberg mass to the total mass equals the ratio
of the density of ice to that of water. This ratio is approximately 7/8, so
a ten-foot tall iceberg is hiding about eighty feet of its mass under the
surface.
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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 Andrew Bray, Editor, Yachting World, UK: I do not know which
hemisphere Kris Anderson (Scuttlebutt 1624, July 14) writes from when he
talks about the sport of sailing waning, but for many of the rest of us in
the (non-American) northern hemisphere, sailing is booming on most fronts.
Perhaps if he looked outside his own front door at the global picture he
might have more reason for optimism.
* From Geoffrey Emanuel: I want to commend Kris Anderson's letter. Spot on!
Sailboat racing has never been or will be attractive to a wide audience. I
don't think the sport is broken or even cosmetically marred. I do think
people's lifestyles and priorities have changed leaving less time to
participate. Let's celebrate the many continuing successes rather than
dwell on the intermittent failures!
* From Hunt Stookey: As a competitor I can attest to the quality as well as
quantity of racing at the Volkswagen Newport Regatta at Sail Newport. They
don't just get off races, they get of good races with square lines and true
windward - leeward courses … and they don't shy away from changing course
mid-race if conditions warrant. Absolutely first rate race management with
no sitting around - its hard to beat that formula! And oh yeah, there is
plenty of cold beer.
* From Eric Wallischeck, ICSA Secretary: I'll contrast all the good words
about college sailing with this disturbing quote from Ben Ainslie in the
May 2004 issue of Seahorse: "US college sailing turns out tactically sharp
sailors but it is different from Olympic campaigning. The choice these
sailors have to make is whether to go to college and try for the Olympics
afterwards, or save the studying for retirement; sailors worldwide are
taking the second option..."
Can college sailing expect the same phenomenon as college football and
basketball, with players going straight from high school to the pros? What
should college sailing's position be in this debate?
* From Ted Livingston: Thanks for the lead article on College Sailing. Many
memories. At San Diego State in 1947-48, we were encouraged by guru Bob
Allan to enter a team in the Pacific Coast Championship at NHYC. We did,
and with the force of Freshman Lowell North leading the way, defeated Malin
Burnham and his Stanford Team in the finals. San Diego State paid our entry
fees of 30 dollars and our insurance of $4.50 ($1.50 for each of the three
Int. 14s-- borrowed through Dick Fenton). SDSU got a good bang for their
$34.50, and our team became the first West Coast team to journey to the
Nationals, held that year at Annapolis. Twenty years later it was my
privilege to organize and coach the team at the University of
Hawaii--which, in 2004-- under present Coach Andy Johnson, won the Coed
North American Championship at "the Gorge" in the Columbia River. What goes
around comes around.
* From Chris Cunningham: I was surprised to read some of the negative
commentary on alcoholic beverage sponsorship in sailing. Mount Gay is
arguably one of the sport's biggest promoters and, in my opinion, a sponsor
who has done it right. They have invested in sailing events carefully over
time, building a strong brand identity and creating a loyal following.
Their association with US Sailing is a natural. In all my years of sailing,
I have never seen Mount Gay target kids and to suggest that they would is
ridiculous. I, for one, applaud Mount Gay's association with US Sailing.
Sailing would be in a different place today if we had more partners like
Mount Gay.
* From Clark Chapin (re ISAF Events Committee Minutes 4-Jun-04): "It shall
be prohibited to carry on board coach boats any electronic devices except:
A marine VHF radio. Accredited coaches or support personnel shall only be
allowed to use VHF radio for an emergency and for immediate rescue
operations; any device for time keeping only; hand-held devices for wind
measurement; (electronic) compasses; photo camera(s); video camera(s);
tape/digital voice recorder(s); Electronic stabilized binoculars; Any
electronic equipment strictly related to the safe operation of the boat and
engine."
Gee, then I guess the following devices are prohibited: Handheld weather
instruments that include a temperature or barometer functions (i.e. Kestrel
3000, or 4000); GPS units to assist in navigation; Pacemakers; and Hearing
aids. I'm sure that Scuttlebutt readers can think of more.
* From G. Brooks Sperry: Paul Henderson's comments about the Star Class
have really got my blood boiling. I have been a member of the Star class
since 1991. The Star has been in existence since 1911, which says something
about the boat itself, but more importantly, about the sailors themselves
that make the Star class one of the strongest sailing organizations in the
world. Henderson says that "the Olympics should be about talent, not
technology." Paul Cayard didn't win the Olympic Trials in Miami on
technology; he won convincingly on talent as a great sailor. Try convincing
any of the Star class members that Mark Reynolds, Vince Brun, Ian Percy,
Ross Macdonald (along with a hundred other Star sailors) don't have
"talent." Our class is strong because of the sailors in it. It's more than
just about sailing. I have met and become friends with some of the nicest
people in the sailing.
* From Paul Henderson, President, ISAF: As I come to the end of my time and
I listen to the assessments of that period which I had the privilege to
lead ISAF there are many observations both positive and negatives. Canada
had a Federal election recently and one TV interviewer asked the Chief of
the Okanagan First Nations Tribe in British Columbia what he thought of the
leaders of the political parties in Canada. His reply was very profound:
"We have no leaders. We have politicians. Politicians say what they have to
so as to get re-elected. Leaders do what they believe in." Nobody ever
accused me of being a politician, which I consider a compliment.
Curmudgeon's comment: It's only appropriate that Paul should have the final
word, so this thread is now officially dead (again).
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
Have you noticed how many people have contracted the dreaded 'furniture
disease,' which causes their chest to fall into their drawers?
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