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SCUTTLEBUTT 2686 - Monday, September 22, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. NEW SPEED SAILING WORLD RECORD (September 19, 2008) - With a run of 49.84 knots at the “Luderitz Speed Challenge”, American kitesurfer Rob Douglas beat the outright World Speed Sailing Record over 500 metres today at the speed strip at Luderitz in Namibia in southern Africa. The previous record of 49.09 knots was set by boardsailor Antoine Albeau. Douglas, 37, a former windsurfer who started kitesurfing in June, had already beaten the previous US record earlier this week. Frenchman Sebastien Cattelan reached 49.59 knots, also a great performance, to record the second fastest speed of all time. He was initially credited with an unratified speed of 50.10 knots, but this speed was revised down by the WSSRC Commissioner after careful examination of timing data. Sjoukje Bredenkamp (South Africa) improved her existing world record with a speed of 45.20 knots: a new Women’s Outright World Record over 500 metres. The chase for the holy grail of speed sailing, the elusive 50 knots mark, is still on at the Luderitz Speed Challenge 2008 in Namibia till the 13th of October. -- http://www.luderitz-speed.com DOES SAILING HAVE TO REMAIN AN ELITIST SPORT? By Andrew Hurst, Seahorse magazine Sailing remains elitist. Look at the Olympic entry in the Laser (43) and contrast it with the more expensive Ynglings and Tornados (15 apiece). As the world expands, it is time to take a step back and find ways to introduce more emerging nations into our great sport. Consider the cost of entry-level racing dinghies over the past 30 years. Why does even a Laser, that cost US $600 in the 1970s now can cost up to $10,000? What is the relevance of the wonderful International 14 to a young audience with boats costing upwards of $50,000. Today’s most important task for ISAF is the creation of a new, modern dinghy in the style of original ‘stitch-and-glue’, that new sailing nations can actually get hold of and promote. What better ambition for a sporting governing body? With modern industrial engineering and materials, it must somehow be possible to create an exciting and attractive small boat for under $1,500 using local labor. If India can produce a perfectly workable small car for under $2,500 surely the wit of the sailing world can do something similar, even if the numbers are necessarily smaller? => Curmudgeon’s Comment: While it’s possible to get into a new boat for a bit less ($6k for a Laser, $35k for an I-14), the point remains solid, particularly when you consider a top-end Optimist package is at $4k. Certainly food for thought on where we are headed, and what segment of society we expect to market to. Btw, Seahorse Magazine is extending a special 10% discount for Scuttlebutters who sign up during the week of September 22-28. Details here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2008/09/seahorse-special-offer.html BOND WANTS TO COME HOME (September 21, 2008) - Alan Bond wants to make Australia his home again. The businessman plans to leave London - with his fresh fortune - for Perth within a year. His new wealth is estimated to be at least $265 million. The one-time property tycoon became a folk hero when he won the America's Cup in 1983. But stardom and the heady days of the '80s crashed to earth when his business collapse left thousands of shareholders reeling with losses of hundreds of millions of dollars. The disgraced bankrupt hit rock bottom when he was jailed for Australia's biggest ever corporate fraud. But Mr Bond has clawed his way back, reappearing this year on BRW magazine's national rich list for the first time in 19 years. He was at Fremantle's Maritime Museum yesterday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Australia II winning the America's Cup with other team members, including skipper John Bertrand. The museum is now home to the famous 12-metre yacht with its revolutionary winged keel. The sleek yacht was the centre of attention as her old crew reflected on their triumph - regarded as Australia's greatest sporting achievement. -- Herald Sun, full story: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24377713-662,00.html THE MOST WELL PREPARED TEAMS MAKE GOOD DECISIONS Examples of this are everywhere this week; Jud Smith’s winning Etchells NA Team, Quantum Racing’s dominant TP52, and Ken Read’s PUMA Racing Team. When it came down to a decision on hull coating, PUMA Racing Team carefully tested and evaluated all reasonable options from anti-fouling bottom paints and specialty speed coatings to nano-products. “We’ll be racing around the entire globe with McLube Hullkote Speed Polish on our hull and appendages,” noted Jonathan McKee, PUMA Racing Team crewmember and Olympic Gold Medalist. Learn more about PUMA’s testing and then make your own good decisions: http://www.mclubemarine.com VOLVO OCEAN RACE – 12 DAYS TO GO * (September 19, 2008 – The Volvo Ocean Race Village in the start port of Alicante, Spain opened to the public on Friday evening with a spectacular ceremony before a crowd approaching 20,000 people. Light, sound, hundreds of performers and the best sailing crews on the planet all came together to inaugurate the Race Village. The gates opened to the public at 19:30 and the crowd poured in as the sun set over the purpose-built Race Village ringed around the inner harbour of Alicante. The public was given time to walk around the Village, to test the attractions, and soak up the atmosphere. Among the highlight destinations was the interactive Volvo Ocean Race Experience, comprising of the Ride, the Dome, the Pool and the Grinding Challenge. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3m5g3w * (September 19, 2008) - In preparation for the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, PUMA today unveiled PUMA City at the opening of the race's official port village in Alicante, Spain. A tour de force of architecture and design, the massive 11,000 square-foot structure is made from twenty-four, forty-foot long steel shipping containers, each weighing in at eleven tons. Built in China and designed to be a mobile unit, PUMA City was shipped to Alicante via cargo ship at the end of August and was assembled at the entrance of the race village in just two weeks. It will be open to the general public from today until mid-October when PUMA Ocean Racing's il mostro and the other competition boats depart for Cape Town, South Africa on the first leg of the nine month-long Volvo Ocean Race. Once the boats leave the port of Alicante, PUMA City will be dissembled and make its way across the Atlantic Ocean to await the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in Boston Harbor in April 2009. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SButt092108a * (September 19, 2008) Today in Alicante, Spain the Green Dragon team unveiled their new livery, and Chinese sponsors. The Chinese syndicate is made up of three companies; Shandong Lingong, Weichai Power and Triangle Group who are all part of a consortium of Chinese industrial companies based in Shandong Province, China that joined the team in June. The imagery on the boat reflects the heritage of the Green Dragon project. -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/SButt092108b VOLVO OCEAN RACE SAFETY TRAINING SCHOOL By Rick Deppe, PUMA Ocean Racing team I couldn't say with any certainty how much time had passed since the MAYDAY and subsequent ABANDON SHIP call had gone out. But there I was standing there in my survival suit, waiting to jump into the icy water below, knowing that we would have to form a safety circle and take a head count before swimming crocodile style to our life raft. This was a daunting task and the crew knew that by the time we got to the life raft we would be exhausted. As night fell, one of our big guys, Shannon Falcone was able to right the raft allowing us to climb in as per our training. Skipper Ken Read then called for another head count. “1”, Kenny shouted. “2”, Jerry Kirby bellowed. Then silence...where's 3?...It's Michi someone yelled...Louder Michi!!!...”sree “ (three in his German accent), said Michi in the quietest shout I have ever heard. “4”, from Capey. “5”, said Justin...on and on through the entire crew. Sidney Gavignet is number 10, one before me. When it came to my turn I prepared to belt it out big time but couldn't tell if it came out as a roar or a whimper...11. The noise of the wind inside the raft was deafening. Thunder and lightning was all around us and the sky filled with huge flashes of light. The water inside our raft was already ankle deep from the waves washing in over the side, and the rain seemed to find its way in everywhere. This sucks I thought. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/0919a NEW SERIES CAPTURES IMAGINATION The new regatta being hosted by Team New Zealand and Louis Vuitton is proving so popular syndicate head Grant Dalton is already exploring ways to allow more contestants to take part. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was originally aimed at six teams on a first-come, first-served basis but interest has been so high - with 16 strong expressions of interest - that Dalton is now looking at expanding the competition to eight. "It'd get a little crazy if we went to more than eight under this format," says Dalton, referring to the fact each team will sail Team New Zealand's America's Cup yachts in the match racing series next January-February. "You'd have to say the reception has been far greater than we expected. We appear to be headed for something that will be successful." -- NZ Herald, read on: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10533321 MORRIS YACHTS AT THE GREENWICH HARBOR YACHT SHOWCASE This exclusive event will be held at the Delamar, a small luxury hotel in the heart of Greenwich, CT. Morris will be showing the M36. Sea trials are available by appointment only. Show dates are September 27-28th from 11am-7pm. This event, held twice a year, is a most civilized opportunity to view the M36. If you can’t make it to Greenwich, our next event is the United States Sailboat Show, Oct. 9-13 in Annapolis, Md. See the Morris 48 Cheshire Cat, Morris 42 Seadated, M36 Relief, and M42 Renarderie. For more information, please call 207-244-5509 or visit us at http://www.morrisyachts.com PORTER SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS U.S. MELGES 24 TITLE Charleston, SC (September 21, 2008) – Brian Porter successfully defended his Melges 24 U.S. National Championship title, but he waited until the last beat of the last race on the last day to do so. Simon Strauss led the event through the first two days of racing, which included a 20-25 knot winds on Friday with mostly single digit breeze on Saturday. Moderate winds of 10-12 knots were on call for today, where Porter entered the final two races in third behind Strauss and Chris Larson. Trailing the lead by ten points, Porter made up most of it in the first race when Straus rolled a nine to Porter’s bullet. Now, trailing by a single point, the two teams entered the final leeward gate together, choosing opposite marks, and it was Porter that guessed best to grab the lead and the title. Winner of the Corinthian Division was Reggie Fairchild of Charleston, SC. -- Event website: http://www.m24charleston.com Final Results (Top 5 of 44) 1. Full Throttle, Brian Porter, Winnetka, IL, USA, 2-1-(17)-1-14-7-1-3; 29 2. Team Barbarians, Stuart Simpson, London, UK, 7-4-11-3-1-(14)-2-2; 30 3. Simplicity, Simon Strauss, New York, NY, USA, 4-6-2-(14)-2-2-9-6; 31 4. LIGHTWAVE, Chris Larson, Annapolis, MD, USA, 1-8-5-9-10-1-(19)-1; 35 5. WTF, Alan Field, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 9-2-3-6-(21)-11-7-8; 46 QUANTUM RACING WINS TP52 MEDCUP CIRCUIT Portimao, Portugal (September 20, 2008) - After winning the Audi MedCup Circuit 2008 title with a day to spare, Quantum Racing added victory in the Trophy of Portugal to cap their triumphant five months long season over which they won three of the six Audi MedCup Circuit regattas. Steered by skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA), who started putting the winning campaign together just less than one year ago and has raced on the circuit over each of the three previous years, Quantum Racing won in Cagliari on Sardinia in Italy, at the Breitling Regatta on Mallorca, Spain and now in Portimao on Portugal’s Algarve coast. As well as their three regatta wins Quantum Racing finished third at the first regatta of the season in Alicante. Fifth in Marseille in June was acall to raise their game, according to Hutchinson, and their fourth place last month in Cartagena, Murcia, Spain was enough to keep them firmly on course for the championship title they clinched yesterday. A first and a fourth placed today for Quantum Racing pushed them to the top of the overall Portugal Trophy standings, winning by four points from Matador (ARG) who were let down by a disappointing 11th in the first race. -- Final report: http://2008.medcup.org/news/?id=461 Trophy of Portugal – Final Results (Top 5 of 15) 1. Quantum Racing, USA (4,8,1,6,10,3,1,4) 37 2. Matador, ARG (8,5,10,1,2,2,11,2) 41 3. Bribón, ESP (1,11,12,5,4,10,2,5) 50 4. CXG Corporación Caixa Galicia, ESP (7,3,9,3,13,4,12,1) 52 5. Platoon by Team Germany, GER (11,10,8,2,1,1,9,12) 54 Complete results: http://2008.medcup.org/results/venue.php?trophy=6 Audi MedCup 2008 Final Standings (53 races) 1. Quantum Racing, USA, 252 2. Bribón, ESP, 306,2 3. Matador, ARG, 328 4. Artemis, SWE, 347 5. Platoon by Team Germany, GER, 364 Complete results: http://2008.medcup.org/results/overall.php ALINGHI WINS ISHARES CUP EXTREME 40 CIRCUIT (September 21, 2008) - The America's Cup team Alinghi added a fourth iShares Cup Extreme 40 event trophy to their collection today at the season finale in Amsterdam, also earning them the overall season title. British America's Cup challengers TEAMORIGIN had led for the early part of the season, and the duo went into this final Round 5 tied on equal points. TEAMORIGIN’s hopes of defending the trophy Rob Greenhalgh won last year quickly faltered as Alinghi scored five race wins in a row at the beginning of the final event. Professional sailors throughout the world have raced at the highest level, incredibly close to more than 150,000 spectators, with nearly 2000 corporate guests sailing, over 79 races with 7 spectacular capsizes, producing more than 300 minutes of TV news coverage around the world, a 6-part TV series broadcast in 23 countries worldwide, and five spectacular events staged across UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, on lakes, rivers, canals and occasionally the open sea. Plans are already well advanced for the next three years, as Gilles Chiorri OC Events Director confirms: “We’re close to confirming venues for the European Series in 2009, but are also moving ahead with pathfinder events in the Middle-East and Australasia which have a vision for stand-alone series in those regions from 2010. Over 25 teams have already expressed an interest to compete in next year’s circuit. Overall Results - iShares Cup 2008 1. Alinghi, 46 points 2. TeamOrigin, 41 points 3. BT, 34 points 4. Oman Sail, 29 points 5. Holmatro, 27 points Complete results: http://www.isharescup.com/leaderboard.asp REGATTA GEAR: TEAM APPAREL SPECIALISTS… Regatta Gear introduces its 2009 collection of Men’s and Women’s Yachting Apparel. European styling, High performance fabrics, innovative colors and fit combine to achieve a new level of comfort and fashion for racing, superyacht and sailing enthusiasts worldwide at a price that fits. Shop the new collection online at http://www.regattagear.com SAILING SHORTS * A civil settlement was reached quietly last month in the fatal boat crash on Clear Lake (CA). As was first reported last summer, Lake County Chief Deputy Sheriff Russell Perdock was driving his speedboat at least 40 miles an hour at night, when it slammed into a sailboat. Lynn Thornton of Willows died in the crash and Bismarck Dinius, the man who happened to be steering the sailboat at the time, now faces a manslaughter charge. Prosecutors argue the sailboat’s lights were off at the time, so Dinius is responsible for what happened. The defense has experts and witnesses who say the lights were on. -- Latitude 38, full story: http://tinyurl.com/Lat38-092108 * (September 20, 2008) The BMW ORACLE Racing team today craned the BOR 90 trimaran onto a 340-foot by 94-foot-wide barge for towing down the Pacific Coast from Anacortes, WA, to San Diego, CA. The 1,200-mile voyage is expected to take about a week. The team is preparing for an extended testing session in San Diego to start next month. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SButt092108c * A celebration of the life of Id Crook's, past Commodore of the International Snipe class and the Oakville Yacht Squadron, will be held October 11, 2008 from 2 - 5 pm at the Oakville Yacht Squadron in Oakville, Ontario. Id Crook died peacefully September 3, 2008. Condolences may also be left at http://www.oakviewfuneral.ca * The inaugural Laser SB3 World Championships in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland has attracted 137 entrants representing 11 nations. Racing will take place from September 22-26, hosted by National Yacht Club. Fourteen races are scheduled for the 5 day regatta with a maximum of two discards. -- Event website: http://sb3worlds2008.com * St.Thomas, US Virgin Island - Registration for next Spring's International Rolex Regatta on March 27-29, 2009 has begun, and the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions are now available online. Complete information at http://www.rolexcupregatta.com U.S. MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK * Belvedere, CA (September 20, 2008) - After four days and eleven races, Scott Young (Austin, TX) won the U.S. Sailing’s Mallory Cup for the sixth time (twice as crew and four times as skipper). In second was Ken Kleinschrodt (Mobile, AL) and Pat Toole (Santa Barbara, CA) was third. The round-robin fleet race event was hosted by San Francisco Yacht Club and sailed in J/24 class boats. -- Event site: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usmsc/index.asp * Oklahoma City, OK (September 21, 2008) - Vicki Sodaro (Tiburon, CA) with crew Stephanie Wondolleck, Emily French and Katie Maxim won the 2008 U.S. Women's Championship, maintaining a blistering pace of top three scores through the final three days to beat second place Wendy Roach (Fort Worth, TX) by 25 points. The four day round robin fleet race format for eleven teams was hosted by Oklahoma City Boat Club. This was Sodaro’s third win at the event. -- Event website: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/women/uswsc CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Susie Pegel: Bronze medalist John Ruf (paraOlympic singlehanded class) received a "WELCOME HOME" celebration at his home base Pewaukee Yacht Club in Wisconsin the evening of Sept. 18. Throngs lined the road to the yacht club waving American flags by the flickering lights of Olympic (tiki) torches. A few fireworks exploded in the air above the yacht club as the car pulled up to the clubhouse and the crowd began singing the national anthem. John accepted the congratulations of many, showed off his bronze medal and signed autographs. The evening also heralded the start of the E scow Blue Chip regatta. Dave Ullman is the regatta "mystery guest." Congratulations to John and also Sally Barkow for representing the Inland Lakes Yachting Association and the USA at the Olympics!! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION My mother taught me about time travel: "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" Special thanks to McLube Hullkote, Morris Yachts, and Regatta Gear. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
