|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2948 - Monday, October 12, 2009Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors, providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are JK3 Nautical Enterprises, PredictWind.com, and LaserPerformance. LESS OPPORTUNITY TO "BUY" SUCCESS Fast boats, less gear, sometimes less people, and less opportunity to buy success was the recipe for the world's best round the world racers today as a raft of measures to cut costs, but no overall budget cap, was announced by Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Knut Frostad. For the next event, starting again in Spain in 2011, the number of sails which can be made at all has been considerably reduced and is down to 17 for the race itself. No two-boat campaigns, or even two-boat testing, will be allowed. There will be plenty of grumbles from syndicate bosses with fat check books. Although plans to reduce the total racing crew from 10 to nine have been dropped, the number of under 30s has been raised from two to three, putting an even bigger premium on experience. And no extras will be allowed for the inshore races which will be staged at every stopover. An announcement about the course is targeted for next March. An all-woman crew would be allowed three extra and the mandatory media reporter will be allowed to perform some extra minor duties like running the water maker or charging the batteries. But the area in which he or she works will be full of sails, as stacking them on deck will no longer be allowed. At least the high-risk job of bowman will be made easier at times as the sails he had to try and change while waves tried to wash him off the deck will now often be on roll-up furlers. The old headfoils into which they used to be fed have been exchanged for even older hank system, though with new technology. Frostad wants to keep the competition more open by preventing a big budget from being the be all and end all, and he wants to make it easy to modify boats from the last race to go round again and be competitive. He also wants to try and halve a top spend of 30m euros (US$44m+) a boat and still give a team with a lower budget a chance of winning. - Stuart Alexander, The Independent, full story: http://tinyurl.com/yffmo2y Volvo Ocean Race press release and link to the new rule: http://tinyurl.com/ygr3pwx NO MORE MR. NICE GUY The Golden Gate Yacht Club has posted a copy of a letter on their website from GGYC Commodore Marcus Young, to Fred Meyer, Chairman of SNG America's Cup Committee. Using verbiage like "reckless disregard", and "unfounded and irresponsible assertions", Young minces no words regarding GGYC's feelings about racing for the America/s Cup in the Ras Al Khaimah. See for yourself: Dear Vice Commodore Meyer This letter is in reply to your letter of October 4, 2009. I again refer you to our letters of May 20, 2009, May 23, 2009, June 19, 2009, July 8, 2009, and July 28, 2009, as well as our most recent letter of October 1, 2009. In those letters we made it clear to you, repeatedly, that SNG must choose a Deed-compliant venue for the 33rd America's Cup, and that we do not view Ras Al Khaimah as Deed-compliant. In the face of those letters, that SNG and Alinghi proceeded to set up shop in Ras Al Khaimah is no one's fault but your own. To repeat, any expense SNG or any of its affiliates, Ras Al Khaimah, or any other party, has incurred in pursuing RAK as the venue remains solely your or their own responsibility. We reject each and every one of the unfounded and irresponsible assertions made in your October 4, 2009 letter regarding GGYC, BMW Oracle Racing, Russell Coutts and Tom Ehman. Moreover: * The fact that there has been yacht racing, or other sports events, in Dubai, or that companies including two of our team's title partners do business in the UAE, is well documented. RAK, however, is not Dubai. For you to suggest that it is indicates that you have been badly briefed or worse. * Your assertion that we have relocated personnel and equipment to RAK is false. In a good-faith attempt to evaluate RAK, we sent a few team members and recon-related equipment to RAK, temporarily, to conduct our due diligence on whether we could mutually consent to RAK as a Deed non-compliant venue. * The closing assertion in your letter of October 4th that GGYC must "race the match at the selected venue, or forfeit" is yet another disheartening example of SNG's reckless disregard for the America's Cup Deed of Gift and the Judgment and Orders of the New York courts. To read the rest of this GGYC letter to SNG, just click here: http://tinyurl.com/yzvat6h JK3 NAUTICAL ENTERPRISES BROKERAGE SPOTLIGHT: J/160 The J/160 offers ultimate combination of cruising luxury and comfort along with performance sailing. There are three of these world class J/160 blue water cruising yachts currently available: Indigo has just returned to California from cruising Alaska and British Colombia; Hana Hou! is in Hawaii, waiting to continue her South Pacific adventures; and Syren is at our docks in San Diego and available for a test sail. Call Jeff Brown at (619) 224-6200 to make an appointment to see one of these outstanding J/160s. Additional details at http://www.jk3yachts.com ANOTHER GOLD FOR BEN Hamilton, Bermuda (October 11, 2009) - Ben Ainslie got the gold he's been chasing all week. In the Argo Group Gold Cup final today, the three time Olympic gold medal winner (plus one silver), Ben Ainslie (GBR) took the finals 3-1 against Kiwi Adam Minoprio. He has finally etched his name on the coveted King Edward VII Gold Cup along with a host of match race sailing legends. Ainslie and Team Origin also take home the first place prize purse of $50,000. Ainslie sailed for Team Origin with his crew of Matt Cornwell, Iain Percy, and Christian Kamp. "We had two good races at the beginning today," Ainslie commented. "There were big splits out there and the crew was helping and we got it right in those two races. Ian Williams (GBR and Eric Monnin (SUI) matched up earlier in the Petit Finals. For winning two races out of two, Williams took third place in quick order and his $10,000 prize while Monnin stands in fourth and has a cheque for $7,000. Overall Results 1st Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 2nd Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch 3rd Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar sponsored by Argo Group 4th Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Race Team 5th Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 6th Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 7th Blythe Walker (BDA) 8th Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team Complete report: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/100433 ANOTHER WATCH FOR ANNA Rochester, N.Y., USA (October 10, 2009) - 2008 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) and her team of Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.), Liz Bower (Rochester, N.Y.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) have won US Sailing's 2009 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, the perpetual Bengt Julin Trophy and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Stainless Steel & Gold Datejust. "My team did a great job in putting us in the right position, and staying alert no matter what our situation," Tunnicliffe said. "I'm excited to sail with them again in two weeks in St. Petersburg, FL, for the Osprey Cup, a Grade 1 Women's Match Race event." Light air forced cancellation of racing on Friday, so the 35 teams racing J/22s had only one day of racing and three races completed going into Saturday's finale. However, with 10-18 knots of wind blowing, the Rochester Yacht Club was able to run three races for that final day. Tunnicliffe's team won the first two races of the day giving them an unbeatable margin - which allowed them to sit out the final race of the regatta. Second overall went to Cory Sertl, who has raced in this event 11 times (including two wins in 1985 and 2001). Sertl clearly relished having the regatta on her home waters at her home club. With strong finishes of 2-2-3 on the final day, Carol Cronin from Jamestown, Rhode Island, took third place - winning a three-way tie-breaker from Dominique Provoyeur (Cape Town, South Africa) and Jennifer Provan (Canada). Final Results - 35 boats; six races with one discard 1. Anna Tunnicliffe 3-6-1-1-1-[36/DNS]=12pts 2. Cory Sertl [13]-1-5-5-4-7=22pts 3. Carol Cronin [11]-8-10-2-2-3=25pts 4. Dominique Provoyeur [10]-2-2-4-8-9=25pts 5. Jennifer Provan 6-3-3-7-[15]-6=25pts Full results: http://championships.ussailing.org/Adult/RIWKC.htm Daily highlights videos: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/riwkc09.php SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar MATADOR WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ON TIEBREAKER Palma de Mallorca, October 11 2009 - It could not have been much closer when the Argentine crew on Matador lifted the TP52 World Championship on the waters they call home in Europe, the Bay of Palma, this afternoon. They won the title on tiebreaker ahead of Terry Hutchinson's 2008 world champions Quantum Racing (USA) who also finished on 23 points after seven races. Quantum Racing (USA) may rue missed opportunities, and in effect the 2008 title holders came within a few meters of defending. In Race 5 it was down to just one second on the finish line, when the eye-blink judgment for third went in favor of Matador, and in today's final race the black and green hulled 2008 Audi MedCup champions were just 12 seconds shy of passing Valars 3 as they ran out of runway at the line with extra pace. But, as Quantum Racing's skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA) noted, "That is sailboat racing. A day late and a dollar short. In the end we were a length and a half from winning the regatta. This one is disappointing because we let it get away from us." TP52 World Championship Final Results 1. Matador (ARG, Alberto Roemmers), 3+4+8+1+3+3+1= 23pts 2. Quantum Racing (USA, Terry Hutchinson), 5+1+3+6+4+1+3= 23pts 3. Artemis (SWE, Torbjorn Tornqvist), 8+3+1+2+8+4+4 = 30pts 4. Synergy (RUS, Sergey Pichugin), 2+5+7+7+2+2+5= 30pts 5. Bribón (ESP, Gonzalo Araujo), 7+2+2+3+1+11(DSQ)+9= 35pts Complete story: http://tinyurl.com/yh9o8mn PREDICTWIND - NEW FORECAST SITE -! PredictWind is fast becoming the marine forecast of experts. With unparalleled accuracy, champion sailors from around the world are using the PredictWind forecast system. Read for yourself at http://www.predictwind.com/Customer+Feedback.html With the launch of their new forecast site, it is now seamless to obtain a PredictWind forecast of your local area. Faster download speeds, a simple table format, rain maps and a new user interface - combined with the propriety wind prediction technology from PredictWind, to get the edge in your next yacht race. Check out these new features by signing up today for your FREE 1 month trial at http://www.PredictWind.com and experience a PredictWind forecast for yourself! SAILING SHORTS * Goran Petersson, President of the International Sailing Federation, has been elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee. The election for new International Olympic Committee (IOC) members took place during the final day of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark today. The current IOC Members elected Goran Petersson as one of six new members by 76 votes to 12. Petersson joins the IOC in his role as President of the International Sailing Federation and will serve an eight-year term. - http://www.sailing.org/30000.php * Sailing World's Podcast Series has posted an interview with Alinghi's Ed Baird, who explains that driving the most advanced catamaran every built is, "like being a very small child on a very big horse." As for the legal maneuvering of opponent BMW Oracle Racing, Baird likens that to guerrilla warfare. With his team's boat in the United Arab Emirates the winning helmsman from the 32nd America's Cup talks about the proposed venue for the 33rd Cup, the team's progress in developing the catamaran, and what it's like to sail such a magnificent and powerful boat. To listen in: http://tinyurl.com/yjc6gk6 * Jessica Watson's sojourn around the world, in a 34-foot pink sailboat, should begin as early this week from Sydney, Australia. Jessica, 16, intends to become the youngest person to solo-circumnavigate the world in a sailboat. But Jessica, although she's a skilled and experienced sailor, also suffers from seasickness. Last Tuesday, after a five-day sea trial, she posted this statement on her blog: "Since I stepped off Ella's Pink Lady yesterday afternoon my head has been spinning and I've been doing a bit of stumbling into things! Getting my land legs again has taken a while. http://tinyurl.com/ykepuh5 * Long Island's Sayville Yacht Club hosted the Mid-Atlantic Championship this past weekend. Saturday was challenging with winds that steadily built to 18-22 during the fifth and final race of the day. Sunday produced steady 10-12 knot winds which allowed the race committee to get in three more races. Jordan Factor and Mathew Wefer with 13 points were the champions. Markus Edegran and Teddy Mark were second with 22 points and Brady Stagg and Jack Ortel rounded out the top three with 23 points. - Complete results: www.club420.org * Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two people following the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's (CYCA) 92 nautical mile race from Sydney Harbour to Flinders Islet and return. The owner/ skipper of Price Waterhouse Coopers, Andrew Short and crew member Sally Gordon had perished when the 24.4 metre yacht hit rocks and ran aground. Eighteen people were aboard Short's yacht, which was formerly known as Shockwave 5, prior to Short's purchase of her last year. Sixteen survived with minor injuries after swimming and walking ashore from the stricken yacht. Being a cold night, some were suffering hyperthermia. LASERPERFORMANCE'S FREE GEAR PROMOTION IS ON! From now through December 31st buy a boat from LaserPerformance and get a dolly or covers PLUS a Ronstan Race Watch or Gill Dry Bag and Floatable Sunglasses - for free! It's that simple. It's that great a deal. Some restrictions apply. Contact your local dealer or go to http://www.LaserPerformance.com for all the details. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Dr. Stefan Zlot I would like to suggest a new topic for discussion after reading your lines concerning the "Boat of the year" issue. According to my understanding, the biggest problem of the regatta sport, beside the negative publicity through the mess ot the America's Cup is, that we get many new boat classes every year. Decades ago, few gifted naval architects developed their designs and many existing boatyards produced the marvels. Today this is reversed. Every architect interested in sailing will one day or another, with some additional training, develop his own 1-design or whatever class to be launched. So you get every time a nice new class of maximum 10 boats on lake Where-ever-it-is, taking 10 times X crews away from the existing classes, the fields in the end get slower and slower. The technical progress is one thing, but tell me, what can you do more on a three-men boat that you were able to do on a Soling or a 5.5m? It boils down to smart sailing and having fun with the sport. And my last question - In which other sport do you find something comparable to the too-many-classes-disaster? This is a hot political issue, for ISAF as well as for NMA's, but I think crucial for the development of our sport! * From Paul Henderson There is no more worthy contributor to sailing than Bill Bentsen to receive the highest recognition that ISAF can bestow on a volunteer, The Beppe Croce Trophy. Bill won Gold 1972 Soling and Bronze 1964 FD Medals leading Buddy Melges across the finish line. Buddy nicknamed his erudite crew "Hemingway". The reason was the Bentsen read all the rules while Buddy always believed that when you are well ahead you do not need to know the rules just where the marks are. Bill left Melges behind and dedicated two decades to constantly tweaking the Racing Rules so as sailors, all over the World, could sail fairly. Well deserved old friend! * From Ted Sensenbrenner, Annapolis, MD in response to Will Baillieu #2946. Perhaps GGYC should write a letter to SNG and announce "we forfeit!" That's right. Throw up their hands, and quit. This may seem dishonorable, unconscionable and unforgivable, and the legacy might very well be "The America's Cup that the Americans walked away from." But, with good reason, good cause, and most of all - with honor and pride. The honor is that GGYC has made the best effort to make this a competition stressing integrity and transparency. My pride and loyalty remain with all members of the GGYC effort, right down to the lawyers that tried to get the competitors to the water and the grinders who lost their jobs because SNG changed the rules to allow power assist. The Americas still have their boat, have the resources build another and can go sail somewhere else, as Will Baillieu suggested in #2946. There'll be another America's Cup; it may not be called the America's Cup. It may not be in catamarans. And it may not be against SNG. But the Americans will show up, with pride whenever, wherever, as long as it's a friendly on-water competition among nations. Nice sounds nice. * From Russell Painton Will Baillieu has a great idea! ('Butt 2949) I like it!! Why should Oracle continue with this joke? Just don't show up, and make the current affair be shown to be what it really is...and, when Ernesto asks for challengers for the next cup event, everyone agrees to not challenge. So, the cup goes into dishonorable retirement and Ernesto gets no kudos, to the contrary, he but must live with the embarrassment of being known as the person that killed the cup! In the meantime, the LV event becomes the next "Cup". Down the road, a new America's cup type event can get organized along the lines that Cayard has suggested. Then, we can actually put some teeth in the local (national) build and crewing requirements! This omission in the current cup events is one major thing missing. It has become a joke (along with the other aspects of the current situation). * From Katrina Johnson Mr. Liniger may indeed be right (Scuttlebutt 2946) in his assertion that many Swiss sailors do not support Mr. Bertarelli and one would certainly hope so given that Swiss reputation generally is at stake. However, the world can only judge on the silence from this group and witness the SNG apparently dancing at the end of the puppet masters strings. If there is genuinely support against Mr Bertarelli then let the world hear it and let the world see action against the club and its supporters. Remember, you cannot have it both ways and silence says a great deal. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Do you think it's a coincidence that when you put 'The' and 'IRS' together, it forms, THEIRS? Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises, PredictWind.com, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
