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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 541 - April 4, 2000NORTH / SOBSTAD LAW SUIT(The following excerpt is from a story on the Sailing Source website.) After waiting over two years since the conclusion of the trial and both sides submitted their findings of fact, Judge Domenic Squatrito of the Federal District Court in Hartford, CT issued his ruling on Friday, March 31 on the smoldering patent infringement dispute between North Sails and Sobstad Sails. According to David Kiernan, Sobstad's trial attorney from the Washington, DC-based law firm of Williams and Connolly, the court ruled in favor of his client, Peter Conrad, in a decision which will have a profound effect on North Sails' ability to produce 3DL, its premier brand of racing sails. According to Kiernan, the court ordered an immediate injunction against the further production of 3DL, effective at midnight Friday night. Furthermore, North has been directed to pay Sobstad a royalty fee of 7% on all 3DL sails produced thusfar - 3DL sails first appeared during the America's Cup competition in the Spring of 1992. Despite having filed and received US patent 5,097,784 on March 24, 1992 for the process and product of 3DL, Conrad brought suit against North and its principals in 3DL - North Marine Group (NMG) Vice President Jay Hansen, NMG President Tom Whidden, and Terry Kohler, owner of NMG's parent company Windway Capital - alleging an infringement against Conrad's collection of patents collectively known as the "Airframe" patents. These provide for the structural reinforcement of sails, though they are actually not the basis behind Sobstad's Genesis line of sail products, which are covered under a different patent. The suit has a colorful history, with a variety of attorneys and court venues involved with the case. Witnesses for both sides include some high-profile names in the business, such as Dennis Conner, who was deposed by Conrad's lead trial counsel J. Alan Galbraith, and Butch Ulmer, who appeared on behalf of Conrad, and whose Tape Drive products are currently licensed by Sobstad under the provisions of his patent. While Conrad may stand to see an estimated $3-7 million on royalty payments with this judgement, some say the purpose of the suit was not about money, but about Conrad's crusade to shut down 3DL. He is rumored to have turned down 7-figure settlement offers, preferring instead to continue his personal grudge match against his former business partner - Tom Whidden and Conrad started Sobstad Sails prior to the 1980 America's Cup, and built the company into a respected rival of North in the 1980's. In what's been described as a "power struggle", Conrad fired his minority partner just prior to the 1987 America's Cup, where Whidden was then picked up by Terry Kohler and hired as president of North Sails. The implications of shutting down production of 3DL are nothing less than staggering: 3DL employs over 100 people at its 59,000 square foot facility in Minden, Nevada, the largest single sailmaking facility in the world. Besides being used by all but one of the participating teams in the latest America's Cup competition in New Zealand, 3DL is the flagship brand for North Sails, a $55 million company that has an estimated 38% worldwide sailmaking market. With the northern hemisphere racing season about to unfold, there are hundreds of customers' millions of dollars' worth of 3DL sail orders that hang in the balance. North will no doubt seek to appeal this ruling to have the injunction lifted and have 3DL production brought back on line, but according to Kiernan, there is a slim chance they will be successful in their attempt: "Because North continued to produce and invest in the production of their product over the last several years, it demonstrates to us a willful intent to violate the patents. Appeals courts have actually awarded treble the amount cited in the original judgement in similar cases as punitive damages, so it will be interesting to us to see how their appeal will be argued." -- Sailing Source Editorial Staff Full story: http://www.sailingsource.com Excerpt from the Judge's Decision on Damages: http://www.sailingsource.com/features/excerpt.html North Sails statement (which was printed in ): http://www.sailingsource.com/features/northresponse.html SOLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (Special report from Ed (Baird), Tom and Dean (Brenner) MURCIA, SPAIN - We finally had Race 1 today, and the weather forecaster got it right. The forecast called for 25 to 30 knots of wind, and we had every bit of that. To make a long story short, we did most things right today and won the race. This race was not without incident for us, however, as Ed's hiking straps came loose near the first windward mark, and he fell backwards out of the boat. Our wily, veteran helmsman kept his wits about him, and held onto the mainsheet, climbing back into the boat without losing too much distance. We rounded the first mark in about 9th place, passed 2 or 3 boats on the first reach, held our own on the second reach, and rounded the bottom of the triangle in 6th. The second weather leg was very good for us. We played the wind shifts by the book and rounded the second weather mark in 3rd, right behind the first two boats. The next leg was a run, and we were the only boat among the lead pack to set our big kite in the increasing breeze. We caught a few waves, jibed once and had a nice sized lead at the bottom of the run. On the final beat we played the shifts to secure the win with the wind hitting 30. That's all for now. 8 races to go, so anything can happen. But this is certainly a nice way to start off. We are using the Bonus Points Scoring System here which gives significant benefit to the top 6. In fact, you get ZERO points for winning. Unofficial results:1. Baird USA, 2 Wallen SWE, 3 Bank DEN, 4 Madragali USA, 5 Beadsworth GBR, 6 Shaiduko RUS, 7 Davies NZL, 8 Presti FRA, 9 Celon ITA, 10 Spitzauer AUT, 11 Makila FIN, 12 Schuman GER, 21 Williams GBR, 33 Bedford GBR. 9 out of 45 boats failed to finish. More: http://www.soling.com/results/world00.htm PARALYMPIC GAMES Young America helmsman and world champion sailor Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) has joined skipper Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I. and Boston, Mass.), tactician/main sheet trimmer Keith Burhans (Irondequoit, N.Y.) and bowman Corky Aucreman (Newport Beach, Calif.), as a coach in the team's quest to represent the United States at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Baird, a professional coach, will lend his expertise during practice sessions on Tampa Bay as the team readies for the Paralympic Trials, which are set to take place April 12-16 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Callahan, who skippered to win a silver medal at the 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championships, believes training with Baird will give his team a mental and physical edge over the ten Sonar teams expected to participate in the Trials. "We are grateful to have Ed aboard," said Callahan. "He joins a long list of people who have assisted in various aspects of this campaign, starting with Dennis Conner in 1997." -- Barby MacGowan THE ELEVENTH HOUR There is a proposal by the Army Corp of Engineers and the California Coastal Commission to create a 37-acre mud island exactly where the weather mark normally sits in San Diego's South Bay. The mud island would be created from material removed from the atomic Carrier Mooring Basin dredging project scheduled to commence in May 2000. The impact on many local races will be substantial, and the impact will be devastating to almost all of the championship level events currently using the South Bay venue. The creation of this island severely impacts the central South Bay as a viable sailboat racing and recreation area. This is due to the significantly reduced area available to run the traditional Windward/Leeward races. Although the existing South Bay course area is just at the minimum size to accommodate competitive racing, many other natural features of the area make this particular location one of the premier "flat water" racing areas in the world. To loose or deface this national and state public asset would be an egregious oversight by the California State Lands Commission, the California Coastal Commission, the Army Corps of Engineering and ultimately the US Navy. Dennis Case, a prime mover in the efforts to stop this project, feels strongly that it's not too late ... but he needs help. To learn more: http://www.cortezracing.com/SBAindex.html OLYMPICS SANTA CRUZ - In the end, John Lovell's strategy wasn't about crossing the finish line first. It was keeping the other guys from doing so. On the final leg of the final race of the U.S. Olympic Trials in the Tornado class Sunday, Lovell and Charles Ogletree blocked the passing attempts of their closest competitors to win the regatta and capture the event's only Olympic berth. The skipper Lovell, an accountant from New Orleans, and crew Ogletree, a sail-maker from Columbia, N.C., earned their second consecutive Olympic berth by finishing third in the last of 14 races, holding off Lars Guck and P.J. Schaffer, who finished fourth. "Lars is an excellent sailor, but we executed our gameplan better than he did," Lovell said. Guck and Schaffer, from Bristol, R.I., had rallied from six points behind to one, shaking the confidence of Lovell and Ogletree, who led from the opening day of the series. It created a single-day showdown for the right to race in Sydney, Australia. Two races were scheduled, but a lack of wind (under the minimum six knots) forced a 2?-hour delay and the second race was canceled because of the late start. So, instead of two races to determine a champion, it came down to one. From the signal start - the six-minute warning until the actual start - each boat began to maneuver. "They started match-racing each other at the start," said competitor Erik Goethert. "We just wanted to stay out of the way," said Brian Sweeney, the skipper of another boat. Each tried to pin each other against the rest of the fleet, but neither fully accomplished the task. "Lars had to win the race, so our strategy was to, if at all possible, slow him down and get other people into the race," Lovell said. "All we had to do was stay between them and the next mark." Lovell and Ogletree found open water early, but Guck and Schaffer evaded them. "They had control for the first two or three minutes, but we backed out," Schaffer said. Lovell and Ogletree, however, were able to regain control at the turnaround by the final weather mark and tried to protect their position. Florida's Robbie Daniel and Enrique Rodriguez took the lead, which was fine for Lovell. Lovell and Ogletree luffed the jib sail, creating bad air for the trailing Guck and Schaffer, allowing Daniel and Rodriguez to sail further ahead. At that point, the result was determined. Even if Guck and Schaffer finished ahead of Lovell and Ogletree by one place to tie the overall score, Lovell and Ogletree had more first places (six to five) and would have been declared the winners. Lovell and Ogletree crossed the line by one boat length ahead of Guck and Schaffer and celebrated with a weary high-five. "It was too close," said Ogletree said. -- David Kiefer, Santa Cruz Sentinel sports editor Full story: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/news/sport/stories/1sport.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Carol Newman Cronin (Re: Star Westerns Results) - Congrats to Eric Doyle AND TOM OLSEN on their win, and shame on those who omitted crews' names from the results. Crews always deserve equal mention, but I'm especially surprised to see this lapse in the Star class; according to one class veteran, you must NEVER piss off your Star crew because he is MUCH bigger than you. And as one of my favorite skippers likes to say... "a fast crew, a good boat... anyone can drive." Curmudgeon's comment: I don't think the Star Class deserves the blame this time. Here at 'Butt World Headquarters, we can only copy and paste what the yacht club's post on their websites so I hope all YC's have heard Carol's comment. -- From Henry Moore -- Just an observation on the article concerning the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Race Management Trophy: the article states that the regatta may have any number of yachts entered but that there has to be at least 40 skipper ballots sent in. If my math is correct, that means your regatta must have at least 40 yachts entered. Also to get 100% participation in completing ballots is almost impossible. If the minimum 60% of the skippers filled out a ballot, your regatta would have to have at least 67 yachts to be eligible. This means that a lot of single class regattas will not be eligible to compete for the trophy. I remember when the number of skipper ballots required was 20. Why the increase? -- From Keith Grzelak, Patent Attorney -- A patent is merely a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling. North is in real trouble. Nothing about this decision surprises me. Now all my sailing buddies are about to get a lesson in "Patent Law 101". CALENDAR * The US Sailing's Championship for the Alter Cup will take place at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club on April 4-8th using Hobie 20's. This event features 20 of the best teams in Multihulls participating off the waters of Long Beach California. -- Arthur J. Stevens Additional information and pictures: http://www.ussailing.org/alter/ * The America's Cup 150th Anniversary regatta will take place at Cowes from the 18th to 25th August 2001. It is bening organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club. A new email newsletter is being issued weekly. Anyone interested in receiving the newsletter can contact the Media Director, David Redfern, Amcup2001@aol.com QUESTION Why would the Fort Worth Boat Club go to the enormous effort required to host the Sundance Cup - a Grade 4 women's match race event - and then fail to post the results on their website? And the same question could be asked of the Women's International Match Race Association, which has posted nothing other than the Notice of Race. TEAM PHILIPS Alex Bennett and Paul Larson are cleaning out Team Philips in preparation for taking her back up the River Dart, to her build shed at Baltic Wharf, Totnes. A cold northerly wind and lashings of rain make for 'bracing' working conditions. All safety equipment and food are being taken off Team Philips and transported by land to the build site for storage until Team Philips is ready to sail again. Meanwhile, Team Philips is safe and secure alongside at Dart Marina, Dartmouth. Paul Larson is on 24 hour call, living on board. Other crew members are helping to keep a close eye on the catamaran at all times. "In windy conditions, it is always important to keep an eye on boats like Team Philips, making sure that the masts have the least amount of surface area to the wind.' Said Alex. Floatation bags remain in the port hull, and a water pump has been installed should it be needed. The build team are on standby as preparations continue to receive their patient. Until she is back in the build shed, it is difficult to progress the investigations into what may have caused the bows to break up during sea trials. Team Philips website: http://www.teamphilips.com/ THE CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS "The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them." - Dave Barry |
