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SCUTTLEBUTT 2128 - July 3, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.KING OF THE HILL Valencia, Spain - Team New Zealand flew past old rivals Alinghi in the final America's Cup warm-up of 2006 today, winning the season but aware that the defenders still have a new boat to launch. The New Zealanders lavished excitement on Act 12 of the America's Cup with tight battles in the semifinals and finals before sailing clean away on the last downwind leg of the final race, steaming over the line 84 seconds ahead of the Swiss team. "We had a flamethrower on us in terms of pressure when it came down to the last race but we didn't crack," said New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson. The team was cool about their win, pointing out that they were racing the new boat they will sail next year while Alinghi were still in the one they used at the last America's Cup. It would be a huge mistake to look much beyond the fact that we beat a guy in a three-year-old tub -- and barely -- while he has a new boat sitting in the shed," Hutchinson said. -- NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/qaygk Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth said losing could be a positive for his team. "If it was the America's Cup it would be a negative ... but, for us, we learn more from the races we lose than we do from the ones we win. "At the moment we rotate our crew a lot. We haven't got down to one final group that will sail the boat for the Cup. "Every time we get to race against the challengers is a bonus for us." -- NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/enz3f The teams were surrounded by an enormous spectator fleet who cheered every tack and gybe. Conditions were ideal for racing again with a moderate sea breeze generated by the sunny skies. And that will be it for 2006. The Louis Vuitton Series racing starts again next spring in Valencia, but there will be a lot of testing going on in the interium. After its win on the water, Emirates Team New Zealand returned to the Port America's Cup where it was scheduled to be presented with the Louis Vuitton Act 12 trophy by Rita Barberá, the Mayoress of Valencia, along with the 2006 ACC Season Championship trophy, from Yves Carcelle, the President and CEO of Louis Vuitton. -- http://www.americascup.com Final Standings - Louis Vuitton Act 12 1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL84) 12 pts 2. Alinghi (SUI75) 11pts 3. BMW Oracle Racing (USA87) 10 pts 4. Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA86) 9 pts 5. Desafío Español 2007 (ESP88) 8 pts 6. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia (ITA77) 7 pts 7. Victory Challenge (SWE63) 6 pts 8. Team Shosholoza (RSA83) 5 pts 9. Areva Challenge (FRA60) 4 pts 10. +39 Challenge (ITA59) 3 pts 11. United Internet Germany (GER72) 2 pts 12. China Team (CHN79) 1 pt COMMENTARY From Alinghi's point of view, perhaps there was more to be gained by pressing the Kiwis than dealing them a thumping 2-0 defeat given that the this would the last time Alinghi would see the Kiwis in a full on match race before the Cup. Surely there would be more to be gained from pressing the Kiwis hard to make them reveal as much as possible. Finding themselves 1-0 down after the first race, a win by Alinghi would ensure that the best of three series would be pushed to the limit, guaranteeing another look at the Kiwis in the final match. Furthermore, Alinghi have admitted that in recent months the team has been focussed largely on their boat development programme, at the expense perhaps of some of the emphasis on crew work. Being able to compare asymmetric spinnaker configurations against symmetrical ones in the heat of battle, close to the wind speed crossover point may have been one example of how the testing programme was taking place on the race course. Being issued a new measurement certificate shortly after their win against Luna Rossa in the semi finals may be another clue as to some of the changes and experiments that may be taking place. -- Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World, full story, http://tinyurl.com/edh3q SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT Three times America's Cup winner Russell Coutts wants to set the record straight. He says he did not tell Swiss paper La Tribune de Geneve he thought Italy's Luna Rossa would win the America's Cup challenger series - meaning Emirates Team New Zealand wouldn't. Coutts said he was misquoted. "I am upset because the story was completely wrong. I never said that, nor I have ever thought it," he said from Geneva. Luna Rossa was looking good, "but even that does not amount to predicting they are going to win".It was too early to say who will win the challenger series to take on his old team Alinghi, he said. "We all have our opinions on who is a contender and I am happy to say that Luna Rossa, Team New Zealand and probably some of the other teams including Oracle are looking strong." -- Julie Ash, NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/rrrrt IRELAND THWARTED A SECOND TIME Against all odds, Géry Trentesaux’s France Bleu came from behind to win the Rolex Commodores’ Cup 2006, beating twelve other nation teams in the process, including three powerful ones from Ireland. The Irish, led by Ireland Green, had been on top since the beginning of the week and come the start of the final offshore race appeared to have the event all but sewn up. But ultimately, and despite on this occasion fielding three teams, Ireland was pipped at the post for the second consecutive time. Ironically, France Bleu had been out of the running for the Rolex Commodores’ Cup after Wednesday’s coastal race when all three of their boats were disqualified for sailing the wrong course. Following a request for redress hearing the boats were reinstated and a strong showing in Friday’s inshore race had moved them up to fourth place within 17.5 points of Ireland Green, leader since the start of the event. With the offshore race counting for double points, between them the three boats in France Bleu had to finish a total of nine places ahead of Ireland Green if they were to win. In the event they far exceeded this - Cyrille Legloahec’s Batistyl won Class 3. Ireland Green’s No Naked Flames had been leading the class earlier in the day, but ended 11th, by some distance her worst result of the series. In Class 2 the story was the same where Stephane Névé’s Paprec Recyclage finished second behind France Blanc’s Guyader L’Esprit de la Mer, while Blondie in Ireland Green was also 11th of 13 boats – another surprise result following a solid week otherwise. The only redeeming performance for Ireland Green was Tim Costello’s Mills 40 Tiamat which ended up third in class one. However, even her performance was not enough to beat Géry Trentesaux’s Beneteau First 44.7 Courrier du Coeur, second behind France Blanc’s Codiam ENSP. Final Team Positions: 1. France Bleu, 76; 2. Ireland Green, 98.5; 3. France Blanc, 115; 4. GBR Red, 117.25; 5. Ireland White, 117.25; 6. Ireland Orange, 117.5; 7. GBR White, 131; 8. Belgium, 158.5; 9. France Rouge, 159; 10. Russia, 164.25; 11. GBR Black, 164.75; 12. The Netherlands, 165; 13. GBR Scotland, 186.5. -- Trish Jenkins, http://www.rorc.org/comcup/index.php * Cowes Online has posted a Rolex Commodores' Cupvideo report plus audio interviews with the winning team captain, Gery Trentesaux; RORC's Commodore, David Aisher; the owner of the top individual yacht, John Shepherd; and David Atkinson - one of the RYA British team selectors. http://www.cowes.co.uk/cb/zone?p=story2;story_id=1782;cp= GIVING BACK TO THE SPORT (Southern California sailor Steve Schupak provides the following commentary about how his local sailors were able to help one of their own, and in the end, experience the thrill of giving back to the sport.) Olympic fundraising has always been a challenge for aspiring sailors. Most young sailors know how to sail a boat well, but to get up in front of a group of older adults, tell them a convincing story about how they should open their wallets to help the aspirant live their dream is a huge hurdle to overcome. But the funds are necessary whether you make it to the games, or just get to the trials. Last week I attended a special fundraiser for a unique and not so young Olympic aspirant who's shown that through his love for sailing, we all need to stop and help out our juniors and local Olympic aspirants when the come asking for help. This particular story is especially personal for me, but the needs required for training and international competition are the same and how we need to selflessly give to help those few try and enable them to live their dreams of making it to the Olympic Games. -- To read Schupak’s story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/0629/ THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD There is a piece posted in the Scuttlebutt forums about the use of computers to help generate a winning route in the recent Bermuda Race. Matthew Gregory maintains that the only thing computers do better people us is crunch numbers. Thus routing programs have not replaced the strategic sailing brain that the modern day navigator brings to the race. They are algorithms that amalgamate wind, current, course and boat performance polars to derive situation analyses based on those assumed inputs. They do not give a four day long yellow brick road that leads to OZ (Bermuda in this case) guide for the team to sail the boat along. Instead they give strategists the computational power to play out all of the ‘what if’ scenarios that they can dream up. -- To read Matthew Gregory’s analysis to what worked and what didn’t: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2709#2709 SAILING SHORTS * They’re off -- Bruno Peyron and the crew of Orange II maxi-catamaran left New York on Sunday morning on their latest attempt at the crewed Atlantic record. Hardly an hour after crossing the starting line the machine was already advancing at more than 30 knots. To smash the Atlantic record, Peyron and his men will have to finish within 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 06 seconds. They will therefore have to cross the finishing line off The Lizard at the southwestern tip of England before Friday 7th July at 04h, 28mins and 12 secs GMT. -- http://www.orange-sailing-team.com * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and city of Estoril, Portugal formally signed the agreement for the ISAF Centenary Celebrations to be held over the weekend of September 1-2, 2007. Estoril bid to host the prestigious ISAF Centenary Celebrations against 35 global cities, securing the exclusive rights to host the 'Sail the World Festival' and 'Sailor of the Century Awards'. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1/Fh`~Cw * New free software is available that helps sailors determine optimal tacking routes. SailTimer is a simple software program available as a free download that allows route planning before the trip begins. -- www.TheCruisingDVDs.com * Magnus Woxen (SWE) / Damian Foxall (IRL) bested thirty-one Formula 18 catamarans that took part in the 500 mile Archipelago Raid 2006 on June 26-30. The unique course in the beautiful Stockholm, Åland and Finnish Archipelagos is drawn among 100,000 rocks and islands, wherein competitors have to find 20-25 checkpoints located on islands (pontoons, beaches, boats, lighthouses) as described in the "Archipelago Raid Book" (latitude, longitude). Photographer Thierry Martinez followed the fleet, and his images from the event are now on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/ar * ACC Technical Director Ken McAlpine informed the teams via email that he has allocated sail number 92, meaning that a team has commenced construction of a new yacht. Notably, 92 is a pentagonal number, and the atomic number for uranium. -- http://www.challengercommission.com/ * Newport, RI -- Hawk, a 1948 Knud Reimers designed cutter has been added to the Museum of Yachting’s classic yacht collection which already includes the oldest remaining Wianno Sr., a gaff rig sloop from 1914, and a 1931, 30ft Wicks built Powerboat, each donated during the 2006 season. Visitors are invited to see the collection at the Museum and watch them participate in the Best Life Classic Yacht Regatta and Parade on Labor Day weekend. http://www.museumofyachting.org * Insightful and fun - that’s the way I’d describe the blog that Len Bose posted about the recent 2.4 Nationals in Connecticut. It’s a good read: http://tinyurl.com/eoofs * After active and successful campaigns in the Pacific Ocean, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran Geronimo will summer in San Diego. The program will continue in September. -- http://www.superyachting.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. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From H. P. "Sandy" Purdon: It seems that Agua Limpia in Valencia is bringing some awareness to the public on how to be good stewards of their waters where they enjoy to sail. It all starts in that interface area as we approach the water via our vessels. To that end we have developed the only non-government administered or regulated Clean Marina program called Clean Marinas California. We have no payroll and the marina industry underwrites the small cost of this program. I would invite Aqua Liimpia to expose the program to the marina operators in Valencia and maybe we can add to our already 41 certified marinas (one is in Mexico)in the last 26 months. We share our manual at no cost or oversight. Check out the program at www.cleanmarinascalifornia.org * From Gerard Wolf: I miss the VO70 buzz and excitement. For a long time it was fun getting up in the morning and checking to see what had happened and postulate on what might happen. The coverage was good (not spectacular) but it was at times, riveting. Perhaps the delay added to the mystique of the actual drama. In any case, the "Acts" pale in comparison and I can't wait for the real AC action to start. Cheers to the VO70 publicity campaign as they made my winter much more interesting. I am very much looking forward to ABN Amro Two arriving in Chicago for this year's CYC Chicago-Mac race. * From Barry Carroll: Russell Bowler probably does not need anyone to defend him from the comments of Gilles Ollier, but having worked with Russ and his engineering team at Farr Yacht Design for many years, I was amazed. Russ Bowler is not only an extremely talented structural engineer, but he is one of the best hands-on practical deisgners in the world. In dozens of projects, and hundreds of boats, Russ was the first guy to get out in our shop and get dirty. He was always there with equal measures of technical ability, hands-on boatbuilding skill, and innovation. We were only one of dozens of yards that benefited from his skill and experience. He in turn learned a bit from each of us. I don't know the full story of the Volvo 70's development issues. I don't think anyone fully understood either the potential performance of these boats or the incredible drive of their crews to push them to their limits and beyond. But I would be very careful before I made a statement that the problems were possibly due to lack of boatshop experience on the part of Russ Bowler. * From Michael LaBella (regarding the trivia question in 'Butt 2127): Sorry Curmudg'. But OpSail 2000 was organized in honor of the new millennium, not America's 224th year of Independence. The good folks at the Customs Web site the answer was linked to missed the mark. All you need to know can be found at http://www.opsail.org/web/index_opsail2k.asp * From Bill Sandberg: It was with great sadness that I received a call from my longtime shipmate that our skipper and good friend Frank Snyder had passed away. Commodore Hinman of NYYC had said that if there was one word to describe Frank, it would be visionary. But one word or set of words could never describe this man. Great shipmate. Devoted husband. Lifelong friend. Unparalelled seaman. Renaissance man. These are but a few that come to mind. Frank was a talented artist, a bass in his church's choir and a raconteur par excellence, as most of his crew will delight in telling you of his endless list of sea stories. I did 5 Newport-Bermuda races with Frank and no one appreciated safety at sea more than he. I've always said that I would sail around the Horn with Frank in a Dyer Dhow-- he was that able a seaman. One shipmate upon learning of Frank's passing said to me that we'll always have his stories. Now he has a whole new audience for them. The world of sailing and the world in general has lost a great man. I will miss him. * From Neil Fraser: Jim Champ is correct that Johan Valentijn, the Dutch National in question, designed 12 meters for international syndicates prior to drawing Liberty and Magic in 1983, but I think he got the country wrong. Valentijn helped draw Australia 1 in 1977 and is also credited for France 3 in 1980. He also drew Eagle for the Newport Harbor Syndicate in 1987. However, I am unaware of Valentijn collaborating on any British designs. * From Peter Huston: The ironic part about my friend Craig Fletcher’s comments on nationality in the America’s Cup is that he has served as helmsman for our mutual friend Andy Rose over thousands of miles of sailing aboard two different “It’s OK” teams. Andy is the US citizen who was tactician for the Australian challenger in 1977, after which the “Andy Rose Nationality Rule” was created within the America's Cup. The composition of the US based Golden Gate YC team is more a reflection of the human resources that were obvious and available to the decision makers and with which they were most comfortable forming a long term relationship, all based on the current rules, than anything else. To think that the America’s Cup is not about international commerce in some sense is naïve and opposed to the sense of all that sailing has been historically. One need only to look at the cover to Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” to see that he understands the value of sailing as it related to the growth of the world economy over time. Let’s celebrate the internationalism in the America’s Cup as one benefit this event provides for the sport on the world stage. What aspect of society has ever grown emotionally or expanded economically through isolation or protectionism? Thankfully for the world back in the 1400's, Queen Isabella wasn't too particular about what nationality of sailors she hired to explore the flat earth in the ultimate match race for the world's riches. * From Bill Menninger (Regarding Craig Fletchers observation): Patriotism is in the eye of the beholder. I think it is great the US has a participant in the Americas Cup and a solid contender to boot. I commend the corporations that contribute to our spaort, as this is also the "American way". If we relied on government sponsorship we would either be living in a communist state or we would be paying even higher taxes. Thank God for corporations, free enterprise and Larry Ellison. * From Bob King: Regarding Tim Patterns letter. It is interesting to see that despite the alleged rule infringement Stuart Childerly and crew are still posted as the British and European winners. I would have thought that if they have cheated in the way it has been reported they should not only have their title removed but they should be banned from sailboat racing for a reasonable period. It looks like the Brits have hushed this one up - ISAF should be involved in this. Tim Pattern also mentions that old boats have won the Europeans and Worlds, is he not referring to the same boat that has been found to be illegal? CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry |
