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SCUTTLEBUTT 1356 - June 23, 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. DAIMLERCHRYSLER NORTH ATLANTIC CHALLENGE The entire crew of the yacht Monsun are safely aboard a ship, after being rescued from a liferaft yesterday in the Atlantic Ocean. The 46-foot, double-masted ketch was competing in the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge at the time of the incident. A mayday report from Monsun, confirmed by the fleet duty yacht, stated that it was "encountering 40-knot winds from the south and taking on water." The crew was forced to abandon their yacht and deploy a liferaft. The British Army yacht Discoverer, which was in second place overall and some 400 miles away, reportedly received Monsun's call as part of a general safety call and passed it on to the rescue directing center in Falmouth, England. The U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center, in Norfolk, Va., was contacted and coordinated the rescue. Polaris and Salute, two of the 57 yachts competing in the race, were in close position to Monsun and assisted in communications with the Canadian Coast Guard aircraft en route to the location. The crew spent approximately three hours in their life raft. Monsun is owned by Peter Flügge of Bremen, Germany and five of the six crewmembers are family members. Monsun has crossed the Atlantic four times. * Five of the world's most exotic yachts departed Newport Saturday at 2:10 p.m. (EDT) in the final group of entries in the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge: Zephyrus V, owned by Robert McNeil of San Francisco, Calif.; Windrose, owned by Chris Gongriep of the Netherlands; UCA, owned by Klaus Murmann of Germany; Team888, the re-named Kingfisher, chartered by Mark Denton and Jonny Malbon of the U.K.; and HSH Nordbank, the re-named and chartered Morning Glory. The five speedsters started the race in 10-12 knot winds under cloudy skies on Newport Harbor and within minutes Zephyrus V quickly charged ahead, leaving the large spectator fleet behind in its wake. The first group of 57 yachts started on June 14 in this 3,600 nautical mile race across the Atlantic Ocean to Cuxhaven, Germany. * Following is an excerpt of a report filed by Sail magazine's deputy editor Josh Adams crewing aboard the 66-foot Zaraffa that started a week ago: "Welcome to the North Atlantic of my dreams. Our latitude is 55 N. Sea temperature is 49 degrees; the air can't be much warmer. The low to the northwest has settled in, pushing us along in 25-knot winds from the southwest. The seas are big enough to surf Zaraffa; big enough to make me feel queezy at this keyboard. Step into my foul-weather gear and imagine being just warm enough for the conditions, save 10 cold toes. I have on a silk base layer, a layer of capilene, and heavy mid layers underneath new Musto offshore smock top and pants. I have on a balaclava, Gore Tex gloves that leak, and thick woolies underneath my Dubarry boots. Next watch I'll add a Gore Tex sock layer and hope they do the job. Winches and tether clips are cold to the touch. Judging by the waiting line at the winch grinder, the boys can't be much warmer than I. There are upsides to this weather. Skip's oatmeal is so warm and good it could be eggs benedict. Today's snack-beek jerky-goes down like hot slices of pizza. The heads are now to leeward, a big improvement compared to the battle against gravity in the Gulfstream. Most satisfying is the sailing. Being at the helm of Zaraffa today is reason for being. Surfing with our power-reaching setup (jib top, staysail, full main) is effortless in the right wave pattern-the helmsman might as well be Longboard Larry riding a Santa Cruz swell. - Josh Adams, Sail magazine website, full story: http://www.sailmagazine.com/ IMPROVED COVERAGE The organizers of the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge have added a new feature to the event's website. The provisional results of the fleet are instantly now available by clicking on a link on the homepage titled "ranking list." Information on each boat's position (latitude and longitude), speed, distance to the finish line, distance to the leader, elapsed time and preliminary overall rankings based on IRC and IMS ratings are listed. The data can be sorted alphabetically by boat name, by elapsed time and by handicap to find the overall leader and each boat's projected time and distance to the leading boat. There is also a link to download the data into an Excel spreadsheet. All of this information is updated hourly by polling each entry's InmarSat D+ tracking device. - www.dcnac.de MUSTO SWAN AROUND IN COWES AND NEWPORT, RI For the second year running, Musto have been appointed official clothing supplier to the Nautor's Swan European and American international regattas. Musto's connection with Nautor is further strengthened by their appointment as official clothing supplier to the Swan 45 Class. Why did they choose Musto? Few sailing brands are instantly recognized as representing the best in their fields of technology. Nautor's Swan is one and Musto are another - a perfect fit. Musto's range of Swan branded clothing is exclusively available to those participating in Swan Racing Events in 2003. http://www.musto.co.uk JOE SCHULZ-HEIK Thursday night while en route to Block Island Race Week in thick fog, the J/105 Hilaria was hit by a 122' chartered motor yacht, Mariner III. Hilaria sank in 85' of water almost instantly. All three crew were recovered by the motor yacht and fortunately two of them suffered very minor injuries. I am extremely saddened to report that my good friend and long time sailing companion Joe Schulz-Heik was not so lucky and perished in route to the hospital. A heroic effort was made by the Yacht's crew, the Coast Guard and paramedics to resuscitate Joe but without success. I have sailed with many but none like Joe. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to be his friend and shipmate. He will be missed by many. - David Florence Story in the New York Post: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/36963.htm Mariner III website: http://www.marineriii.com/index.html WOMEN'S MATCH RACING WORLDS Sundsvall, Sweden - Local sailor Malin Millbourn from Sweden won the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship by dispatching Marie Bjorling, ranked first in the ISAF Women's Match Race rankings, 3-1 in the semi-finals. Millbourn then and faced Lotte Meldgaard Pederse in the finals. After going 2-2, Millbourn won the final race by the smallest of margins and with it took the World Championship title. Final standings: 1. Malin Millbourn SWE 2. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen DEN 3. Marie Björling SWE 4. Liz Baylis USA 5. Betsy Alison USA 6. Nina Braestrup DEN 7. Marie Faure FRA 8. Gwen Joulie FRA 9. Deborah Willits USA 10. Sabrina Gurioli ITA 11. Linda Rahm SWE 12. Ines Montefusco ITA Event Website: www.matchrace.gegga.com NATIONS CUP Twenty three year old Australian sailor and two times America's Cup helmsman James Spithill led his OneWorld team to a comprehensive 2-nil win over team Alinghi, skippered by triple Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schumann in the final round of the 2003 La Sfida Nations Cup sailed at Yacht Club Adriaco, Trieste, Italy overnight Sydney time. The ISAF Grade 2 match race invitational event is open to Americas Cup sailors only and featured six teams from AC2003. The winners circle is becoming familiar territory for Spithill who has added his name to an elite list of America's Cup skippers who have won this event; Russell Coutts (2000), Paul Cayard (2001) and Dean Barker (2002). - Sail-World website, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=10116 Overall Placings 1. James Spithill - Team OneWorld 2. Jochen Schumann - Team Alinghi 3. Magnus Holmberg - Team Victory 4. Vascco Vascotta - Team Mascalzone 5. Tomassi Chieffi - Team Oracle 6. Andy Beadsworth - Team GBR FOR SALE Pegasus 77, the ultimate Turbo Sled, winner of Transpac 2001, is for sale. Launched in 2001, she is the very best in every aspect. Designed by Reichel-Pugh as the next generation Turbo Sled, Pegasus 77 will be available August 2003 right after Transpac. Details and photographs are at http://www.pegasus.com/pegasus77 NEWS BRIEFS * The 'Site of the Month' on US Sailing's website focuses on On-Line education - from knot tying to navigation. There are calculators to give you estimates on Maximum Hull Speed, Capsize Formula, Angle of Vanishing Stability, Sail Area/Displacement, Motion Comfort, amongst seven others. Contained on the site are five boating courses with over 269 pages of narrative text and pictures; a Rules of the Road Java program, 18 animated gifs demonstrating docking and boat handling techniques; and 37 videos on sailing, windsurfing, and knot tying. Each course has a test and if passed awards an online-course certificate. www.ussailing.org * Jim Andersen, a 20-year marine industry professional from Jamestown, R.I., has been named Chief Operating Officer of USWatercraft, located in Portsmouth, R.I. At USWatercraft, Andersen will oversee the construction of several lines of boats including the International J/24, International J/22 and the Herreshoff Alerion 26. His goal is to add more products and improve the current product lines. SAUSALITO CUP San Francisco Bay - Larry Ellison and a crack team aboard USA-76 handily dispatched a fleet of 1992-vintage (IACC) boats in three days of racing, Friday through Sunday. As regattas go, this was more of a pageant - unless you were racing for second, where things did get very back and forth between ITA-1 (Farr 40 Shadow skipper Peter Stoneberg) and NZL-20 (Karie and David Thomson, who in addition to NZL-20 own the Farr 40 Peregrine). With finish-line deltas of 5-15 minutes (over second place, mind you), little was proved about state-of-the-art IACC racing. - Sail magazine website, full story: http://www.sailmagazine.com/news/NEWS/ Event website: http://www.challenge-series.com/ RESCUE AT SEA Around Alone competitor Tim Kent was sailing with Rick McKenna in the Bermuda 1-2 race on Friday, June 20, when his keel bulb fell off Kent's Open 50, Everest Horizontal, causing the boat to flip upside down 110 miles from Bermuda. The two clung to the upturned hull of Everest Horizontal as the winds reached 30 knots and waves swept over them at 10-15 feet. Fortunately, they were both rescued by the Nordic Empress, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Knowing that the boat is Kent's livelihood, Alan Paris and Brad Van Liew - Kent's fellow skippers from the Around Alone Race - have started research to salvage the boat. Read the full story which is posted on the Yacht Racing website: http://www.yachtracing.com/PressReleases/rescue/062203.htm GREAT GEAR…BEST TIME ZONE Life's short and the most valuable thing you have to spend isn't money, it's your time. That's why the Sailing Pro Shop only carries the finest gear in the industry at competitive prices. Dubarry, Camet, Spinlock, Steiner, Gill, Maui Jim, DirtyDog, Rudy Project, Mustang, Wichard and much more. When it's 7:00PM on the East Coast and everyone is closed for the day, we're still open and can ship you what you need overnight anywhere in the US! Stop by our special Scuttlebutt page and find out how to get our new $80 PRO gear bag for $39.50. 1(800) 354-7245 www.sailingproshop.com/scuttlebuttsummer.htm CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS October 14-15: US Sailing Judge Training Workshop and test, Adams Mark Hotel, St Louis, Missouri. The principal instructors are Tom Farquhar and Ted Everingham. Details are cleverly hidden at: http://www.ussailing.org/judges/workshops/stlouisjudgeworkshop.pdf 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 or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Ned Glenn: While Sea Cliff may have abandoned the C-Class, the "Little America's Cup" will still be raced in C-class Cats. "The race known as "The Little Americas Cup" will be sailed off Rhode Island in September 2004. Australian Catamaran Challenge syndicate will come up against previous winner Steve Clark's Cogito and the British Invictus team to decide who can build the fastest boat on the planet." For more information: http://www.lacaustralia.com * From Stephen G. Kasnet: Sailing in virtually any type of craft has always captured two elements: a constant effort to improve one's skills both against competitors and the elements and enjoying sailing with and against like-minded mates. The thrill of participating in the higher levels of our sport: Admiral's Cup. Onion Patch Series, 12 metres doesn't change whether or not payment for services is involved. Nor does the simple enjoyment of spending a few days cruising. In short, the camaraderie and knowledge that one gains through our sport is not affected by the owner's checkbook and its use. There is a great deal of truth in Jim Kilroy's statement regarding one rich owner and 25 less well-off happy crew members. The follow on, however is more important: those 25 crew are now enjoying the friendships and benefiting from the experiences gained. * From Geoffrey Emanuel: Team Voodoo played by the rules at the Chicago NOOD and won what must have been a very competitive regatta. I'd like to point out that our sport remains one of the only ones that pits amateurs directly against top-level sailors. I always revel in the opportunity to compete against the pros and while usually losing to them, always benefit from the experience. * From Bruce Bates: I would like someone to explain to me what the fun is owning a racing boat and having a crew of professionals sail it? I have been racing and sailing my own boats and crewing on others for more than 40 years and I have never felt I needed a professional on board to do my sailing for me. I can't understand the guy that buys a boat and sits in the companionway while somebody else makes all the decisions. Is getting a silver pickle dish that much of a thrill? * From Cole Price (Regarding participation by professionals): One of the great things about racing sailboats is that you have the opportunity to square off against the pros. Since they set the bar, it gives you and your crew a real gauge on your progression as an effective team. Additionally, by competing against teams partially staffed by professionals who set a higher standard, you and your team improve your own performance. If you want to limit or restrict participation by professionals in some regattas, you can add words to the Notice of Race, and Sailing Instructions. You can even have a local regulation like the "MIR Rule" adopted by PHRF of Southern California that establishes some limits on participation by professionals. But, leave it to the locals to decide whether they want to play with the big boys (and girls), or just with themselves. Curmudgeon's Comment: This looks to me like a good spot to end this thread - it's officially dead. * From Sandi Carl: I have enjoyed this thread about whether coaches or parents should be allowed on the course, but have resisted adding any redundant comments, however when it was suggested that "parents should not be allowed on the water" I have to speak up! Have you lost your mind? Coaches and parents are much needed assets of junior racing. There will always be a few who do not act properly (in any sport!), but for the vast majority who do behave, we want to be there and our children want us there. I whole heartedly agree with Ginny Lovell that the more support boats available, the safer the kids are. The reason we have encouraged racing is that it is a sport that includes the entire family. How many times have you heard "the problem with sail boat racing is that it is not a good spectator sport", not junior racing! * From Thomas Newcomb: Can we stick a fork in this coach debate? Anyone who has spent an afternoon at a youth baseball field knows that days of just "messing around" are over. Those that want to hold down the standard of athletic ability might want to go live on another planet. For better or worse, our world has changed. Not just sailing, but all sports. These are competitive events that are attracting competitive kids. Blame the parents if the kids burn out from too much pushing and pressure. Parents need to insure that the proper balance exists between work and play. However, let's give the coaches a break. Curmudgeon's Comment: Good idea - this thread is now also officially terminated. * From Chris Welsh (Re: Philippe Kahn & sailing courtesy): A story was relayed to me yesterday about a coach's seminar for little league baseball. The leader stood up and asked the assembled fathers why they were coaching. Various answers were given along the lines of teach the sport, spend time with the kids, etc. The leader then said sorry guys, you've missed it - it's not about baseball - we're out here to teach the boys to be responsible members of society and to treat women well. * From Carl Hancock (re Philippe Kahn's Rules of the Boat): About 30 years ago, a crewmember of Jack Sutphen's Scorpion, gave him this framed saying, which now sits on a cross-member in the PC we race: "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity offers a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water. |
