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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 944 - November 14, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
I'M BACK While I was gone, a lot of letters to Scuttlebutt stacked up in my mailbox instead of being sent to David McCreary who was ably at the helm during that period. I'll try to work some of them into the next couple of issues. - The curmudgeon
DEJA VU USA 49 was out trailing with sister yacht USA 61 on the gulf, when the boat, helmed by Chris Dickson, suddenly fell onto its side. The boat had been sailing in 14-knot winds and moderate seas when its keel suddenly snapped off, around 10.30 AM (NZ time). Last year, on November 21, USA 61 suffered the same fate when its 21-tonne keel sheered off at the hull. Dickson was also at the helm that day. Back then, the crew dived into the water fearing their safety. But yesterday, the sailors managed to stay on board the boat, and successfully battled to save the mast before it was submerged. Only a handful of the Oracle crew got wet this time, after diving in to secure the mast immediately after the mishap. Three Auckland coastguard vessels went to the rescue of the boat and crew, and a floating crane was towed out to the site of the incident, near Waiheke Island in the eastern part of the Hauraki Gulf. Pumps were used to drain water from the hull in an effort to right the boat. The boat was towed to a sheltered bay on nearby Motuihe Island, but with winds gusting to 40 knots, it was unlikely that the boat would be towed back to Auckland before morning. A group of Oracle sponsors visiting Auckland were in a helicopter overhead when the accident happened. In a statement released by Oracle, 'all crew were said to be safe and the sailing and support teams were working together to rescue the hull. Once the boat is back at the base the shore team will be able to better access the time it will take to get USA 49 back on the water.' USA 49 is one of the two boats previously acquired from AmericaOne's 2000 Cup campaign. Last time, Oracle salvaged the fin and bulb two months after it fell off. It has been a rugged spring in Auckland - with OneWorld and Team NZ losing masts in the last two months. For additional details: www.nzherald.co.nz/
THE BIG PRIZE Ellen MacArthur was nominated for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2001 in recognition of her extraordinary successes in the 2000-2001 VendŽe Globe single-handed circumnavigation. She proved that size doesn't matter by trouncing all except the winner to become the fastest single-handed female circumnavigator (second fastest sailor ever), completing the VendŽe on her Open 60 "Kingfisher" in 94 days, having sailed 25,780 nautical miles, breaking the previous record by just over 30 days. After the VendŽe, Ellen went on to be co-skipper on "Kingfisher" to win the EDS Atlantic Challenge (a five-leg race including transatlantic) and navigator on the winning 60 foot trimaran "Foncia-Kingfisher" for the Challenge Mondial Assistance (a 2700 mile race from Cherbourg, around the Azores, to Tarragona on the east coast of Spain). The renowned Brazilian Laser sailor, Robert Scheidt was acclaimed with the ISAF Rolex World Sailor title in the male category. He has dominated the Laser Class over the years to such an extent that any sailor would be hard pushed to match across any other class, winning his fifth Laser World Championship title in 2001 (1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001), alongside bullets at other major championships during the year, including the Central and South American Championships. These successes sit alongside his collection of Olympic Medals, a Gold in 1996 and Silver in 2000. Robert aims to continue his domination to achieve a further Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Regatta in Athens, prior to aspirations towards the America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race. The nominees in the respective female and male categories were: FEMALE: Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa (GRE) Ellen MacArthur (GBR) Sari Multala (FIN) Lee Lai-Shan (HKG) MALE: Grant Dalton (NZL) Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) Torben Grael (BRA) Heiko Kroger (GER) Fredrik Loof (SWE) Yves Parlier (FRA) Robert Scheidt (BRA) - Luissa Smith, www.sailing.org
GUEST EDITORIAL - Paul Henderson, ISAF President When the dominate aspect of Windsurfing is pumping then the sport is "Air Rowing". Anything that can be done to ensure winds over 8 kts and equipment which melds together all aspects should be explored. Since ISAF controls the Olympic Venues we may even go as far as finding a special Windsurfing venue in the same region where the winds are more predictable or since the Games has 16 days available have the races scheduled on all 16 holding the competition only on days when the wind is over 8 kts hoping that 5 out of 16 days reach that level. If it does not ISAF has picked the wrong venue and then can receive the criticism being always thrown at us from those who sit outside the tent. There is a place near "Marathon" in Athens where the winds are said to be like "The Gorge" in Oregon and hopefully the IOC will move the dates of Beijing from late July to late September because of the over 100 degree heat and no wind to a time when the temperature is better and more wind. The Chinese asked for this in their bid so all is not lost. The position of the Windsurfers that there is some conspiracy to get them out of the Olympics is pure paranoia being spread by those who commercially benefit from the sport and yes I am committed to ensuring that pumping does not override sailing talent. The Olympics are for the Youth of the World. Thanks Nikos for putting the issue forward so clearly. Also, Peter Bentley has again put his finger clearly on two issues. 1) Offshore Racing Committee: Hopefully that will move positively ahead with the ORC becoming an umbrella ISAF Offshore Committee with an IMS section providing the needed services for their IMS clients as partners in the total area of offshore racing with the other sections or Rating Rules which sailors have chosen to compete with. 2) TheYngling weight limit I predict will go through at 205 kilos (550 lbs) which is exactly what the women have been sailing with in their Match Racing events. Windsurfers have been called by me "Air Rowers' which is really quite profound if I do say so myself. "Rowers sit on the posteriors and look backwards". If ISAF could get them to look forward to the future they would not keep the "status quo': for 2004 and not wait till 2008 to push for what they know will happen with the Formula Board. That appears not possible and we will be boxed in again with the Mistral. Does it not seem unbelievable to everyone that it is "The Silly Old Men of ISAF" who are endeavoring to be progressive and it is the establishment Windsurfers who are being so reactionary? The industry has pointed out that Windsurfing has regressed in all aspects to the level of 1980 and ISAF is the one endeavoring to give what was such an exciting new discipline a much needed shot in the arm. Oh well we cannot win them all!!! - Paul Henderson
AC JUBILEE
IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Tom Hubbell, US Sailing Inshore Committee Chair - Fellow advocates for peppy resolution of protests, simplification of starts (including more gate starts), and "enforcement" of fun provisions have a captive audience at US Sailing's Inshore Committee, among others. A bunch of enthusiastic sailors worked on these issues at the recent Inshore Committee meeting in St. Pete. We are very interested in collecting ideas, especially on what does work for all these topics. A condensed version of 4 days of talking in and out of meeting rooms can be accessed at the US Sailing website (which is also being redesigned.) Please join us in the continuing process of improving the sailing experience for sailors. Send your comments to me or make plans to attend the Spring meeting. * From Dave Rosekrans, President, US Sailing: In #936 Mike Turner's suggests we do away with the requirement to "immediately display" a protest flag and refers to the current rules. This is sure to create some confusion as the current rules for 2001 to 2004 are changed to "inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity" and remove the requirement for a protest flag for boats with a hull length under 6 meters. (Rule 61.1) Seems as if the rules writers thought the same way as Mike and fixed the problem already. * From Fietje Judel (re Peter Bentley's comments in 'Butt 943): It is very inappropriate to compare the ORC volunteers with Josef Stalin. It should not forgotten that it was up to ORC to take the ball for creating an international offshore handicapping rule because at that time IYRU was not willing to deal with offshore racing. A great number of people from all over the world have volunteered since then to keep an international handicapping rule running. Most of them have been working parallel in ISAF committees. Times have changed, but there is still the need to have one international offshore handicapping rule and this rule has to be established on a democratic basis within the international yachting community and has to be governed by an international body, else it would throw us back 40 years. The contract between ISAF and ORC from November 2000 outlined clearly the future cooperation between both organizations and was approved by both Councils with great majorities. The contract specified clearly the tasks of the new ISAF Offshore Racing Committee ranging from One-designs to IMS or other appropriate handicapping rules. It seems that a few have not understood that a contract is a contract and that you need both parties to change it. * From Nicole Christie (edited to our 250-word limit): Why would we want to make the protest procedure "fun"? The sport is sailing not litigation and there are better ways of learning the rules than by testing/breaking them on the race course (risking damage or injury) and then seeing if the protest committee agrees with you. The rules exist to place structure on racing and help sailors avoid collisions. At the amateur level most sailors would do better to focus on sailing fast and safe than on stringent defence of their rights in marginal situations.
My philosophy is: 2. If you are protested and you think you may be wrong, take a penalty. It doesn't take long to do a couple of circles (especially if you practice) and is better than risking a DSQ. Best of all it allows you to refocus on the rest of the race rather than be distracted thinking about whether you were right or wrong. 3. If someone fouls you, by all means ask them to do a penalty, fly your flag, talk to them afterwards, but think carefully about whether it's worth following through on the protest - how much difference does it really make? * From J. Joseph Bainton (edited to our 250-word limit): I listened with interest to Gary Jobson's recent television interview of Larry Ellison, who stated that his superior technology tested 500 potential boats a day to the competition's five to ten. I think that Mr. Ellison genuinely believes that his technology will build a boat so much faster than all of its competitors that, like Bill Koch before him, he will at times have the opportunity to drive it -- not because he earned the right, but rather because he bought the boat. As an American who would like to see the Cup come home and agrees with Mr. Ellison's observations about what a great venue S.F. Bay could make, I hope he is right. If, however, he produces a boat that is only slightly faster than his opponents, or only equal in speed, then I suspect he will deeply regret shuttling Paul Cayard aside bound in "golden handcuffs" from competing in an event in which his personal stature is exceeded only by that of Dennis Conner. The apparent exile of Paul Cayard from this A/C materially diminishes the event. Unless Ken Read tragically gets run over by a bus in the near future, there is probably no ride available worthy of Paul Cayard at this late date. While Mr. Ellison certainly has a legitimate chance of winning the Cup based upon his ability to master technology, it will be interesting to see if history judges him to have been good for the Cup whether or not he wins it. * From Alexander Meller: In response to the people disagreeing with ISAF President Paul Henderson's opinions on kinetics... My recollection is that he was writing about sailboat racing in general not just Board Sailing. I don't sail a board, so don't have a strong opinion on how that is sailed. But if you allow "full on" kinetics in dinghies, I am going to rock my Laser straight to windward while standing in front of the mast in anything under five knots... and dinghy sailing is quickly going to become a very different sport, perhaps with very different boats designed to exploit the full-on kinetics. This would not increase the number of people racing, and would not make racing better. I do not have a problem with classes carefully altering the rules governing what they want to allow in their class, but a blanket removal of all rules limiting kinetics is a recipe for disaster. And as Jim Champ wrote, be thankful that the President of ISAF lets sailors know his opinions, and has ensured that ISAF meeting submissions and minutes are available on the web so we can at least follow what is happening, or maybe you'd prefer to be kept in the dark? * From Eric C. Larsen: Windsurfing began in the late 70's and early 80'şs. The pioneers were athletic, young, personalities that were ripping it up in beautiful places like the beaches of Hawaii, California, France, the Caribbean, etc. Early events drew crowds of attractive and fun loving people to colorful venues to experience this radical happening. This exciting energy caught most of the world's attention and got mass media exposure. The "average" person wanted in for the ride. Board producers made hulls in molds and suddenly several equipment companies were manufacturing large volumes of introductory set-ups. Local retail windsurfing outlets popped up everywhere. ĘFrom 1984 to 1987 it became "the" fad (like roller blades would later). It seemed that everyone had either been windsurfing, or wanted to try. The majority of people found their initial forays into the sport tiring, expensive, and without good instruction. Instead of flying off waves near tropical beaches the 'average' person found that they could barely up-haul sails or stand on boards in backwater ponds. Overcrowding swimming beaches and focusing on planning contributed. The huge demand quickly faded, and only the hardcore remained. Thanks to greats like Nevin Sayre, a legend, who now teaches thousands of kids a year; better equipment; a huge used board market; and most importantly simplified and perfected teaching methods, we will see healthy growth in windsurfing going forward. My vote: 3 pumps then sail. Brethren leaders of the kite surfing industry take heed.
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Positions on November 14 @ 0400 GMT: 1. TYCO, 5985 miles to finish, 2. Assa Abloy, 1 mile to leader; 3. Team SEB, 4 mtl; 4. Amer Sport One, 8 mtl; 5. djuice dragon, 10 mtl; 6. illbruck, 20 mtl; 7. Amer Sport Too, 25 mtl; 8. News Corp, 41 mtl. www.volvooceanrace.com
QUOTE / UNQUOTE
J/24 EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS Final results: 1. Brad Read, 20 pts; 2. Tim Healy, 30; 3. Will Welles, 53; 4. Tony Parker, 63; 5. Max Skelley, 63; 6. Scott Nixon, 72; 7. Rudy Wolfs, 78; 8. Stu Challoner, 78; 9. Mark Hillman, 86; 10. Mike Ingham, 91. Top amateur: Tony Parker. - myweb.clark.net/pub/ssa/Results/2001/2001_J24EastCoast.html
FINN GOLD CUP
IMS MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP
TORNADO NAs
SNIPE MASTERS
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