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SCUTTLEBUTT #522 - March 6, 2000
THE CURMUDGEON RETURNS
I'm back, bronzed and four pounds overweight. (Beer sure goes down quickly
after racing in 80+ degree weather.) My sincere thanks go to David McCreary
for sitting in while I was gone -- insuring that every 'Butthead had access
to America's Cup news and other racing stories.
My two-part Mexican racing adventure started on a sour note, but turned out
to be wonderfully successful =85 and incredibly enjoyable. Sour note? For
most of the first three days of San Diego Yacht Club's race to Puerto
Vallarta we were sailing on the wind, mostly with a #3 genoa. Not exactly
what you'd expect on a Mexican Race. In fact, I've never experienced that
much beating on any of my previous 52 Mexican races.
About the time I was beginning to question why I was doing this, the wind
turned around and I quickly remembered why I've spent more than one year of
my life racing down the Baja Peninsula. We had day after day of spinnaker
running and reaching with winds in the mid-twenties and following seas
building into the 10-12 foot range. And it got warmer each and every day.
No question about it -- I'll keep racing to Mexico as long there are owners
willing to take me along.
For this race I navigated Jim Madden's shinny new J/160, Stark Raving Mad.
Although this was the boat's first race, it was well set up and prepared.
Everything worked, and nothing broke. Not all crews can make similar
claims. In fact, five boats were forced to retire and limp to shelter. Taxi
Dancer (R/P 70) and Quantum (Andrews 50) both broke their mainsails;
Sorcery (Mull 82) broke a running backstay tang; Mongoose (SC 70) destroyed
their headfoil system (which is an essential part of the boat when you're
beating into 35 knots of wind) and Ariel (SC 52) abandoned the race for
some reason that I never learned.
On Stark Raving Mad, the race ended in the only light air we saw on the
996-mile passage. Thankfully, we were still able to hang on and claim
second place by a thin 10-minute margin over Fred Howe's very well sailed
Santa Cruz 52, Warpath, with Whitbread navigator Mark Rudiger aboard.
First place was totally out of reach. Winslow Lincoln's new Andrews 45
Locomotion was never seriously challenged. After starting prematurely and
doing 'donuts' for a pre-start foul, it only took them about 12 miles to
work their way through the entire 14-boat class and disappear over the
horizon. They weren't just in another Zip Code or another Area Code -- they
were in another Time Zone. Literally.
PHRF dramatically underestimated the downwind potential of this
ultralightweight design by Alan Andrews. This 45-foot boat is only 12 feet
wide and weighs something like 12,000 pounds. Off the wind, it flies huge
masthead A-sails from a penalty pole that is seriously oversized.
Locomotion corrected out on us by seven hours and 21 minutes -- more than
26 seconds per mile. Although its rating was obviously wrong, take nothing
away from the great job done by the superb crew that included Keith
Kilpartick, Craig Fletcher, Mark Gaudio and designer Alan Andrews. Winslow
is going to have a lot of fun with his new hot rod=85 no matter what rating
PHRF ultimately gives Locomotion and her sisterships that seem sure to
follow. (No I'm not opening the PHRF thread again -- it still is tightly
closed.)
James McDowell's Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion was the overall winner of the
996-mile sprint, correcting out on Brack Duker's sistership, Evolution, by
just 23 minutes.
There were 37 boats in the race, the largest fleet to do a long distance
Mexican race in many, many years. Why the big turnout? Certainly the fact
that it's the only Mexican race we've had for 12 months, and the only
Mexican race there will be for the next 12 months, had a lot to do with it.
Apparently 'natural selection' has weeded out the less attractive and
unworthy races. Let's hope the Mexican race calendar stays uncrowded so we
don't revert back to subdividing the fleet with competing events.
Stark Raving Mad did not participate in the MEXORC Regatta, but happily Dr.
Kelly Vince had invited me to call tactics for the regatta on his J/120,
Simply Red. Kelly put together a strong crew to do battle in Class D
against a small but talented fleet that included a handful of J/120
sisterships, a J/130 and a pair of the new Schock 40s. Fortunately,
Locomotion was not put into this 'sprit-boat' class.
The racing in our class was much closer than the results would indicate,
but we still clinched the top prize with a day to spare. Dr. Vince was
rewarded with nine trophies plus a Rolex Submariner watch for our
1-2-2-1-1-1-1 series. Mike Campbell's new Schock 40 took second place, 12
points behind us.
Perhaps the most fun part of this regatta for all of us on Simply Red was
the final race. With the series already sewn up, Kelly let the crew steer
the boat as he rode the rail. I got to drive the start and the first
weather leg before Rob Moore, Jim Catrell and Daniel Casal took their
turns. However, when the wind built into the high teens, we needed these
guys back doing their sail-handling chores, so Kelly took over for the
final two legs and guided Simply Red to another class win.
It appears that a couple of Simply Red's class victories were a bit too
one-sided because the 'Boat of the Regatta' trophy (winner in the most
competitive class) went to Rogilio Partida's venerable N/M 41 Seata from
Acapulco, with Lowell North calling tactics.
MEXORC is truly a great regatta blessed with warm temperatures, wonderfully
reliable wind conditions and thanks to the experience and skill of Mike
Wathen, flawless race committee work.
FINAL RESULTS - SDYC Puerto Vallarta Race (37 boats):
CLASS A: 1. Grand Illusion (SC 70) James McDowell, 2. Evolution, (SC 70)
Brack Duker, 3. Pegasus (Andrews 70 TurboSled) Philippe Kahn, 4. Pyewacket,
(R/P 73) Roy P. Disney, 5. Magnitude, (Andrews 70 TurboSled) Doug Baker.
CLASS B: 1. Locomotion (Andrews 45) Winslow Lincoln, 2. Stark Raving Mad
(J/160) Jim Madden, 3. Warpath (SC 52) Fred Howe, 4. Cantada (Andrews 53)
Ron Kuntz, Falcon, (Tripp 50) David Janes.
CLASS C: 1. Wild Thing (1D35) Chris Busch, 2. Black Knight (Farr 39) Philip
Freedman, 3. Bravura (Farr 44) E & D Pennell, 4. Simply Red (J/120) Kelly
Vince.
PERFORMANCE CRUISING CLASS: 1. Novia del Mar (Beneteau 405) Mike Busch, 2.
Everfit (Catalina 36), Steve Jackson, 3. Amazing Grace (Farr 55) Allen=
Puckett
MEXORC Results (30 boats):
CLASS A: No entries; CLASS B: 1. Locomotion (Andrews 45) Keith Kilpatrick;
CLASS C: 1. Ole' (J/V 45) Antonio Elias; CLASS D: 1. Seata, Rogilo Partida;
CLASS E: 1. Simply Red (J/120) Kelly Vince, 2. Cincos (Schock 40) Mike
Campbell, 3. Veloce (J/120) Andreas Baptista CLASS F: 1. Dreadnought (Capri
37) Mike Daniels.
Event websites: http://www.sdyc.org/
http://www.mexorc.com.mx/
POSTSCRIPT -- This was obviously a very good trip, and I haven't even
mentioned my seven new shirts, the Kahala shorts or the new fleece vest.
And now that I'm back, letters to Scuttlebutt should once again be sent to:
leweck@earthlink.net
OLYMPICS
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (March 2, 2000)--The Olympic Sailing Committee of US
SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has announced the twelve
sailors who have qualified for the upcoming Laser Trials. A limit of 32
entries for the Trials necessitated a series of qualifying events for
sailors in that class. The Trials which will select the Laser
representative on the U.S.A.'s 2000 Olympic Team - Yachting are scheduled
for April 6-16, 2000, at San Francisco Yacht Club, Belvedere, California.
Qualified to date for the Laser Trials are the 1998 and 1999 winners of the
U.S. Singlehanded Championship for the O'Day Trophy who each received
automatic entry to the Laser Trials. They are, respectively, Paul
Zambriski (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Mattia d'Errico (San Antonio, Texas).
The Laser East event qualified Brett Davis (Largo, Fla.), Mark Mendelblatt
(St. Petersburg, Fla.), John Torgerson (Annapolis, Md.), Bill Hardesty (San
Diego, Calif.), Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.), John Myrdal (Kailua,
Hawaii), Charles Meade (San Francisco, Calif.), Will Glenn (Orlando, Fla.),
Dave Perkowski (Toms River, N.J.), and Andrew Scrivan (Riverside, Conn.).
The two remaining opportunities for sailors to qualify for entry to the
Laser Trials are at the Laser West - March 2-5, 2000, at Alamitos Bay Yacht
Club, Long Beach, Calif.; and Laser Final - March 9-13, 2000, at California
Yacht Club, Marina del Rey, Calif. (Visit www.calyachtclub.com for
additional information on the Laser Final.)
The Laser West and Laser Final events will each qualify the top 10 U.S.
finishers not previously qualified. At the Marina del Rey event, however,
sailors who qualified at either the East or West event are not eligible to
compete, and entries will be restricted to U.S. citizens. Complete details
are available by calling Katie Richardson at 401-683-0800 ext. 621, or
online at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/olympictrials/lasqu1.pdf.
The remaining Olympic Team Trials are as follows: Tornado - March 23-April
2, 2000, at Santa Cruz Yacht Club, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Europe - April 6-16,
2000, at San Francisco Yacht Club, Belvedere, Calif.; Finn - April 6-16,
2000, at Richmond Yacht Club, Pt. Richmond, Calif.; Star - April 6-16,
2000, at St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, Calif.; and Soling - June
1-11, 2000, at St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, Calif. -- Jan Harley
The Trials Notice of Race and entry form are available online:
http://www.ussailing.org/Olympics/olympictrials/nor.htm
COMMENTARY -- Angus Phillips
This was the first match in the event's 150-year history that included no
U.S. entry in the final. American yachtsmen are embarrassed and have
embarked on an ambitious plan to form a "super-syndicate" financed
initially by donations from such corporate icons as Rich deVos (Amway),
John Thomson (Thomson Ball Bearings), Jim Clark (Netscape) and oilman Bill
Koch (Koch Enterprises).
The plan is to bring together top yacht clubs from across the country,
starting with a coalition of New York Yacht Club and Saint Francis in San
Francisco uniting behind one team with the best American sailors and boat
designers. But such cooperation among yacht clubs will not be easily
accomplished, veteran Cup observers said.
Al Van Metre, the Alexandria housing magnate, has been working to assemble
the group. A key figure appears to be Paul Cayard, the veteran Cup skipper
who made it to the challenger finals with AmericaOne before being
vanquished by Prada, 5-4. But can Cayard work with Conner of Stars &
Stripes, America True's Dawn Riley and the leaders of New York's Young
America Syndicate? "There are a lot of egos to deal with," Van Metre
admitted. "It's a political minefield," said Chris Coffin, the Midwestern
businessman who backed America True.
One thing on which all contenders agree is that time is short to mount a
challenge. With the start of the next Cup season only 2 1/2 years away,
serious competitors will need to be in Auckland next October, testing and
training and developing boats. -- Angus Phillips, Washington Post
Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
AMERICAONE PLANS
Currently, there are about 25 of us left here in Auckland. That will be
down to five by March 10. Our core shore team - Brad, Donnie, Ted, Coz and
Sting - will stick around until about March 20. Most of us will be seeing
some of New Zealand's South Island before we head home (its amazing - I've
been here for six months and have not been out of Auckland yet!). With Team
New Zealand winning the Cup, we are making plans to operate again in
Auckland. Our landlord, the America's Cup Village, is finalizing approvals
to extend our lease on the Base at reduced, "off-season" rates. This is
very smart on their part as it will make it much easier for us to compete
in the event again. Hopefully, we will simply pack up the boats and
condense our base into our big boat shed and several containers stacked
next to it. Our portable office block and retail shop will be broken down
and returned. We will keep one office unit with the primary electrical and
telephone connections coming up through the wharf as well as the video
surveillance system (which will remain active). Again, this will provide
for rapid and efficient remobilization.
Speaking of the boats, we have taken advantage of our great facility and
talented shore team. The hulls are off their keels and have been stripped
of all hardware. All the appendage parts and deck hardware has been
meticulously cleaned and treated with protective coatings and packed away.
The topsides and decks have been sanded down and given new paint jobs - a
clear seal for the topsides and new white nonskid for the decks. The boats
will be all ready to go when we reactivate them.
The office equipment and files are going into a container to be shipped to
San Francisco. I tried to persuade the office staff to go in the container
also. We have been given permission to set up a temporary office trailer at
the East end of the St Francis Yacht Club for three-four months. That will
be home when we move in on March 27.-- Bob Billingham,
http://www.AmericaOne.org
YOUNG AMERICA PLANS
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, March 6, 2000 -- The Young America Foundation's
President John K. Marshall announced today that the Prada Challenge has
purchased Young America's yachts USA 53 and USA 58 and their racing
equipment. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"After extensive consideration of all the options, the Young America Board
of Trustees voted unanimously to accept Prada's offer," Marshall said.
"During this campaign we asked our supporters to stretch to the limit to
help fund an effort dedicated to winning," Marshall said. "While we know
many would love to try again we concluded that the demands that would be
placed on all our supporters to finance a winning challenge in 2003 would
simply be too great. Accordingly our board concluded that Young America
would not field a team for the next America's Cup match."
"Many experts would agree that Young America's two IACC yachts, USA 53 and
USA 58, were among the fastest in the Challenger fleet," Marshall said.
"Unfortunately the circumstances never gave the Young America team the
chance to optimize these magnificent racing yachts. We are pleased to know
that they will now be used by a very serious challenger to advance their
program for America's Cup XXXI." -- Jane Eagleson
PRADA PLANS
DESIGN TEAM -- A series of meetings are being currently held at Prada's
operations base in Auckland in order to determine the new lay-outs and
programmes. In the first meeting there has been consensus on the themes and
the projects for the future.
SAILING TEAM -- The team is holding meeting to discuss the training
sessions, the racing schedule and the sailing team structure for the next
three years. The start of the next training session in Punta Ala, Italy,
has been set for June 2000. The team will probably return to Auckland in
October/November to train, once again, throughout the New Zealand summer.
The sailing team, in collaboration with the sail loft staff, has began the
long process of checking and storing the sails and the equipment. The work
on the two Luna Rossa yachts has begun, in order to get them ready for the
shipping to Italy (5 weeks of sailing approximately) which will take place
by April.
LOGISTICS -- The operations base in Auckland will be temporarily shut down;
it will be neither subleased nor dismantled, and it will be ready to
receive the team according to their training calendar. -- Alessandra Ghezzi
OLYMPIC CAMPAIGNS -- In line with its commitment in sailing, Prada will
support the Olympic Campaigns of some sailors within the team. The Olympic
campaigns for Sydney 2000 of the following Prada team members have been
finalised in detail: Torben Grael (Star class, Brazil), Pietro D'Al=EC (Star
class, Italy) and Rod Davis (Soling class, New Zealand).
Syndicate website: http://www.Prada-americascup.com
TEAM NEW ZEALAND PLANS
For Russell Coutts, the long sea journey that has brought him fame,
fortune, Olympic gold -- and now, for the second time, the America's Cup --
began at the helm of a touchy little P-class dinghy off the windswept coast
of Dunedin on New Zealand's rugged South Island.
Now, at 38, Coutts may face his greatest challenge yet. For, after
skippering Team New Zealand to a 5-0 sweep of Italy's Prada Challenge in
its first defense of the America's Cup, Coutts is expected to at least
partially fill the power vacuum left by the departure of Sir Peter Blake,
the Kiwi legend who spearheaded the syndicate's fund-raising and shoreside
efforts.
Blake is off to head up the Cousteau Society, and the reins have been
passed to Coutts; his lieutenant and tactician, Brad Butterworth, 40; and
the navigator and design-team supervisor, Tom Schnackenberg, 54. "It's
their turn," Blake said.
"My biggest fear is that Coutts and Butterworth care more about themselves
than they do about the longevity and well being of the event," the American
cup veteran, Paul Cayard, said in a recent interview. "But we have to hear
their plans and, more importantly, see what they actually do about them,
not what they say they're going to do."
Thus far, Coutts and the others have kept their intentions to themselves,
insisting that they first had to tend to the business at hand. It does
appear they will continue to operate under the auspices of a single defense
campaign. "Certainly we'd have to have good reason to change anything,"
Coutts said. "It's obviously worked pretty well."
Immediately following the cup finals, Coutts said he'd like New Zealand to
hold the trophy for the next two decades or more. After their Prada
deconstruction, the notion may not be far fetched. The Kiwis' intricate
local knowledge of the Hauraki Gulf proved to be a devastating home-court
advantage. And their design program, now riding the crest of consecutive
5-0 whitewashes in the last two cup regattas, seems exponentially ahead of
anything the challengers have created. -- Herb McCormick, NY Times
Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/
LASER OLYMPIC TRIALS QUALIFIER SERIES
Alamitos Bay YC (50 boats - 10 races w/two throwouts): 1. CHARLES MEADE
(19 points) 2.ANDREW CHILDS (28) 3. ANDREW SCRIVAN (33) 4. PETER HURLEY
(47) 5. GREGORY SKIDMORE (48) 6. ANDY LOVELL (54) 7. MARC JACOBI (66) 8.
KURT TAULBEE (70) 9. MATT MCQUEEN (77) 10. CHRIS RAAB (82).
Complete results: http://abyc.org/2000REGATTAS/
SORC
MIAMI BEACH - Gordon Schiff from Tampa, FL won The Florida Governor's
Perpetual Trophy at the Acura Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC),
without even raising sails of his Mumm 36, The Wall.
Forecasted Northwesterly winds never materialized for the final day of the
five-day regatta, and after three hours becalmed off Miami Beach, entrants
in the 59th SORC returned to Miami Beach Marina where Schiff accepted his
trophy for the eight races sailed over the previous four days.
The Tampa Bay skipper was one of seven owner/skippers to take home first
place silver. Schiff won the Performance Handicap Ocean Racing Fleet (PHRF)
Division 2 with a very consistent record that included two first places,
five seconds and a fourth. His performance also won him the Governor's
Trophy for the best-scoring PHRF boat.
Italian skipper Massimo Mezzaroma who won the hotly-contested Farr 40
Class, and the SORC Trophy for the best performance by a series yacht, was
another first-time entrant. Sailing the chartered Farr 40 Dawn Raid with
his co-charterer Antonio Sodo, Mezzaroma opened the week in third place. On
Thursday he tied for first place with Atalanti XI, sailed by George
Andreadis of Athens, Greece. On Saturday Dawn Raid turned in a strong
performance as Atalanti XI faded, leaving the Italian boat with an almost
unassailable points lead.
It was the first time that Mezzaroma's crew, which includes veteran
tactician Vasco Vascotto, had raced a Farr 40. "We decided to have a bit of
fun," said the 28-year-old skipper. "We've won the Italian J/24
championships and the Mumm 30 Championships in Italy and Europe, so this
was a logical progression. We had some tough sailing. I was surprised at
the high standard of competition in the class."
Bache Renshaw of South Dartmouth, MA, won the series' third major trophy,
the Mark H. Baxter Perpetual Trophy. Skippering his Nelson/Marek 48 Virago,
Renshaw led the International Measurement System (IMS) Class all week with
a solid record that included five first places. The Baxter Trophy is
awarded to the top scoring boat in the IMS fleet. -- Keith Taylor
Event site: http://acurasorc.com/
HEINEKEN REGATTA
The 20th annual Sint Maarten/Saint Martin Heineken Regatta,with 256
entrants, is now the largest regatta ever in the Caribbean. The
participants raced in 17 classes under the CSA (Caribbean Sailing
Association) rating rule, and represented 22 different countries. Although
the regatta ended Sunday, its web page did not have the final results at
press time: http://www.heinekenregatta.com
WD SCHOCK MEMORIAL REGATTA
Newport Harbor YC -- Nasty weather shortened this event to just three races
for most classes. Class winners: SANTANA 20 (41 boats) Yumio Dornberg;
SANTANA 30-30 (5) Redline, Bob Marcus, SCHOCK 35 (16) Wings, Dennis and
Sharon Case; THISTLE (10) Chris Gedrose; HARBOR 20 A (10) Reprise, Arthur
Strock; HARBOR 20 B (6) Sail 'n Win, Win Fuller; LEHMAN 12 (10) Cara
Harries; LIDO 14 A (14) Marc Barra; LIDO 14 B (6) Greg Bougreaux.
Complete results: http://www.nhyc.org
THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
Note: Nelson Weiderman has created a "Curmudgeon Server" at
http://noeticharbor.com/curmudgeon/. It randomly pulls Curmudgeonly wit from
a database loaded with past 'Butt Observations, Counsels, etc. Check it out!
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