SCUTTLEBUTT No. 645 - September 13, 2000

THE REST OF THE STORY

You need a lot of things to win a world championship, and boatspeed is at the top of that list. Boatspeed was not a problem for Giorgio Zuccoli when he won the recently completed Melges 24 World Championship - he used Ullman Sails. Of course he did - Giorgio is a licensee of Ullman Sails International and has been with Dave Ullman for years. But more importantly for Ullman customers, Giorgio is also a major player on the sail design team that Dave anchors. Wouldn't you like to have this design team working for you? You can:

http://www.ullmansails.com/

AT THE OLYMPICS
(The following report is from US Sailing's Olympic Director, Jonathan Harley.)

Team Leader Hal Haenel announced the winners of the USOC Opening Ceremonies ticket lottery. At previous Olympics USOC provided every US athlete with two complimentary tickets to Opening Ceremonies. For Sydney, however, USOC was only able to come up with 300 tickets and chose to hold a lottery for 150 pairs of tickets. US Sailing Team members who were lottery winners were: Courtenay Dey; Paul Foerster; Mike Gebhardt; Pease Glaser; Hartwell Jordan; Magnus Liljedahl; Jeff Madrigali and Charlie Ogletree. Eight winners out of 18 team members is a pretty good percentage, but it also means that none of these athletes will be eligible for Closing Ceremonies tickets, for which USOC has another 150 pairs of tickets.

The press requests have begun to pick up with NBC Sports.com wanting pictures of the entire team, while NBC-TV filmed a number of "Postcards from Sydney". Another film crew got some footage of Foerster/Merrick on their way to the racecourse, and Bob Ross of Yachting Australia interviewed Hal.

Hal and I spent an hour over lunch with Gary Jobson to find out what he wants to do, and how best to maximize his coverage of the US athletes. He will come to the team meeting Thursday morning to outline what he feels is best. He will interview each athlete and increase coverage following each days racing.

The sailing coverage will be carried on CNBC at 7:00 p.m. each evening (i.e. 7:00 p.m. eastern; 7:00 p.m. central; 7:00 p.m. mountain; etc.). It will follow 2 hours of boxing coverage and will be the lead story. Gary estimates about 5 minutes each race day and more as medals begin to become apparent.

Measurement continues and more and more boats are seen sporting the Sydney 2000 graphics. All boats/sailors will have some specific ways to ensure easy visibility. Sails will sport the three-letter IOC country code, along with the skipper's name and national flag, and will leave no doubt as to what country is leading. Each sailor will wear a bib with the three-letter code on front and back. Fleet leaders each race day will wear a gold bib and have a gold dot on their hull and sails. Second will carry blue bibs and dots, and third red. These will be changed every day as series leaders change. - Jonathan Harley

Full report: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/2000/diary.htm

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
Letters selected to be printed are edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.

-- From Mick Caldwell - (Edited to our 250-word limit) Well, the time has come for the straw hats to look over the sailing landscape and see just who is the "best" sailor we have here in the USA. I'm sure that they will wait for the Olympics to finish and then rush off to pick the person that has won a Gold medal and we have the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year.

It seems that over the last decade the choosers have gone the easy rout and decided on the guy that has won the J/24 Worlds or the Star worlds when they didn't have it real easy and there was and Americas Cup skipper to make their live less complicated. Well it is time they we looked at the big picture and really find the BEST sailor we have from "Sea to shinning sea".

Over the last 5 years there is only one person in the whole world who has won 5 world championships. He has done it in 4 different classes and has done it all over the world in all kinds of conditions. He has trimmed on the Americas Cup campaign, won now nine Worlds and called tactics for most of the best helms men and has promoted American sailing world wide as a gentleman. When we get down to it there is nobody better than Vince Brun and we are long past due in recognize it. Let the boys on the East Coast know that we are watching.

-- From Chris Ericksen - Bob Merrick's article at SailNet (excerpted in 'Butt #644) was great and mentioned many multiple medallists in Olympic sailing. But here is a trivia point for you: I think that both Rod Davis and Hans Fogh share the distinction of being medallists for multiple countries! Rod earned a gold in Soling in 1984 in Los Angeles for the US and then a silver in Star in 1992 off Barcelona for New Zealand; I'm not certain about Hans--I think the classes were Soling both times and the countries were Germany and Canada.

-- From Scott Rohrer - A small point. Mr. Merrick fails to note that Paul Elvstrom's total of four Olympic gold medals has been equaled by only two other athletes in history, in any sport: Al Oerter in the discus and Steve Redgrave in double sculls. Redgrave goes for an unprecedented five golds this year in Sydney.

OLYMPIC INSIGHT
(The following report from Sydney is from Virgin Island Olympic Finn sailor Ben Beer.)

Well, I went out today with the Russian. We were the only ones out. It was blowing at least 28 to 30 knots with gusts to at least 35. We had a great time until he broke his mast so I say that as an omen and went in as well.

We went blasting out of the harbor on a broad reach just hauling butt and jumping in and out of the boat to try and keep her flat and fast as the heavy wind turned the mast into some strange curved modern art piece. It looked like some sort of contortionist model. Blasting down wind as fast as you can and getting blasting with waves and water to the extent that you have to hold your breath while hanging on or just revert to swallowing a lot of water. All the time praying for the bottom mark to come so you can stop this out of control blasting from wave top to wave top.

Finally the bottom mark comes and you breath a sigh of relief as you turn up wind and drop your butt over the side. Every wave dowses you with water but at least you can start breathing and breath you do as your legs start to tense up and you shift from one to the other and your arm is steering wildly through the waves as you remember to hike harder on those sore legs. Finally your legs and arms are hurting so much you start to pray for that top mark to come so that you can relax. YEAH RIGHT - remember the last paragraph.

I am not sure which is harder but damn it sure is a lot of fun. I only wish I had some old spare gear and just go crash around without worry. But then again when upside down the water is cold and you remember that you are in a full black wetsuit and you look a lot like an afternoon meal.

I had a great day sailing and thought that a good finish would be to go to the gym. I walked in to the Gym here at the Olympic village and I tell you if you ever needed inspiration this is where you would get it. I cannot even begin to describe the energy level in that place. It was amazing.
I must have worked out for an hour and a half. When you walk in you are met with 50 or 75 of the world's best athletes. All of them perfectly designed and tuned for there particular sport. The energy and intensity in the room are only matched by the desire and determination in the athlete's faces. Never in your life will you find more of the best in the world in one place.

STILL MORE OLYMPICS
The ISAF chief measurer at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games sailing regatta, Jean-Pierre Marmier, confirmed Tuesday a decision by the Tornado class measurers that the trampoline of the Australian catamaran does not comply with international class rules.

The ruling means the Australian crew, Darren Bundock and John Forbes, must either change the trampoline to a more conventional one or successfully appeal to the International Jury against the measurer's decision. Bundock and Forbes said after returning from sailing on Sydney Harbour that they would make a submission Wednesday to the Chief Measurer and, if this was not successful, would lodge an appeal with the International Jury.

In their report on the trampoline (which is fitted between the two hulls of the catamaran and its main cross beams) the Tornado class measurers said a sailor had requested interpretation of rule 10 (a) relative to the trampoline he desired to use. In their reply to the unnamed sailor, the Tornado class measurers said: "The trampoline is a net and does not comply with Rule 10 (a) since the warp and weft are treated by using a plastic coating, which spaces the warp and weft apart." - ISAF website: http://www.sailing.org/today/whatsnew.html

GIVING SOMETHING BACK
In a heartfelt statement, Roy E. Disney cited his desire to "give something back to the sport we've been privileged to be part of," as his primary motivation for donating $500,000 over five years to the California International Sailing Association, known as CISA. Disney has pledged these funds, which will be acquired by CISA in increments of $100,000 per year for five years starting in 2000, to support the organizations' youth-oriented sailing programs throughout California and Hawaii.

Specifically, the money donated by Disney will help fund the annual CISA sponsored advanced racing clinics, which are the top junior clinics in the country and are attended by 100 junior sailors each spring. Additionally, the money will help support the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association (PCISA) through travel grants and the purchase of equipment, provide for community sailing programs in Southern California, fund travel grants and the purchase of new equipment for high school sailing programs in Hawaii, and contribute to a pre-Olympic development sailing fund which supports Olympic bound sailors.

Disney is an avid sailor and has been involved with sailing in Southern California and Hawaii for more than 40 years. He set a course record of 7 days in the 1999 Trans-Pacific Yacht Race (Transpac) from Los Angeles to Honolulu and is now actively campaigning his 75-foot ocean racer, the Pyewacket, having just returned from Ireland and Sardinia.

CISA is a non-profit organization that was established in 1971 to help amateur sailors compete successfully in West Coast, national, international and Olympic sailing events. To support amateur sailors, CISA strives to provide travel grants to such events as America's Cup, the Olympics, national regattas, and collegiate and high school sailing events; sponsor national and local sailing programs; and fund sailing and racing clinics across the country. This is in addition to being a primary source of education and guidance for junior sailors nationally.

PERFORMANCE GEAR
Next time you're at a post race party, check out the duffle bags that the heavy hitters are carrying. These guys understand the relationship between quality sailing gear and performance . so chances are they've got one of the neat looking Camet bags made from Mylar and waterproof Vinyl/ Polyester laminate. If you're interested in quality sailing gear at affordable prices, or if you just want to look as bitchin' as the curmudgeon, check out all neat sailing stuff on the Camet International web site: http://www.camet.com

SNIPE PCCs
Alamitos Bay Yacht Club - The conditions for the Snipe Pacific Coast Championships were 'perfect' with warm temperatures, moderate to strong breeze and square courses.

Final results (Seven races with one discard): 1 Bill Hardesty/Jessica Amen (15.5) 2 Augie Diaz/Brain Janney (17.75) 3 Henry Filter/Lorie Stout (24) 4 Kevin Funch/Watt Duffy (25.75) 5 Doug Hart/Jeff Baker (26.75) 6 George Szabo/Clay (27.75) 7 Rick Arneson/Clare Lyon (33.75) 8 Jim Grubbs/Ruth Paulling (43) 9 Chris Raab/Nick Scandone (51) 10 Lee Griffith/Carol Merriman (59)

Complete results: http://abyc.org/2000REGATTAS/SNIPEPCC/RESULTS.HTML

E-SCOW NATIONALS
Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club (38 boats) - Andy Burdick of Zenda, Wisconsin won his second E-Scow Nationals in a row. The wind was medium 5-12 except for the 5th race when it blew about 20.

Final results (seven races, one discard) - 1. Andy Burdick (13 points) 2. Bill Allen (20) 3. Tom Burton (24) 4. Brian Porter (30) 5. Mike Darrow (34) 6. Taylor Neff (35) 7. Dave Magno (44) 8. Geo Welch Jr. (47) 9. LA88 Paul Magno (58) 10. Had Brick (65)

Complete results: http://www.E-Scow.org

TEAM RACING
The New York Yacht Club won the United States Sailing Association's U.S. Team Race Championship for the George R. Hinman Trophy, held September 2-4, 2000 at the Chicago Yacht Club in Chicago, IL. The event was raced in Vanguard 15s and was sponsored by Rolex and Vanguard. Twelve teams competed in conditions that changed throughout the first two days from glassy 2-knot zephyrs to 20 knots in 2- to 4-foot waves. Lake Michigan mustered its fiercest forces for the final day of racing: 25 knots from the northeast, from Chicago the lake's longest fetch, which made for wild rides in 6- to 8-foot waves for the Vanguard 15s and umpire boats alike.

It was in these conditions that the 1999 Hinman champs, representing New York Yacht Club (Mike Zani/Mike Huang, Chris McDowell/Brandon Prior, and Karl Ziegler/Chris Museler) faced off against Cape Cod Whishbone (Tim Wadlow/Ery Largay, Tim Fallon/Karen Renzuli, Graeme Woodworth/ Mimsey Gordon), the silver medallists at the 1999 ISAF Team Racing Worlds. With strong starts and excellent boat speed, New York Yacht Club defeated Whishbone 3-1 in a best three of five finals.

The highest placing United States team will qualify to represent the U.S. at the 2001 Worlds in Romania. The second highest placing will also qualify for the Worlds if the United States is permitted two entries. - Linda Christofersen

Complete results: http://www.ussailing.org/hinman/2000/results.htm

ACTION PHOTOS
In 'Butt 643 we reported on the I-14 Nationals that took place last weekend on the San Francisco Bay. For some great action photos of that event, check into the Latitude 38 website: http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat

THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL
If you're riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with you.