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SCUTTLEBUTT 1929 -- September 22, 2005
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
MID-WEEK MAGIC
Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and her Team 7 crew are getting close to an
untouchable score at the 11th biennial Rolex International Women's Keelboat
Championship (Rolex IWKC), hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club. With 11
races planned and eight completed after Wednesday's three-race run, Barkow
has posted five victories and no finish worse than a third. She claimed two
of the victories today in 10-14 knot breezes on Chesapeake Bay, where the
42-boat Rolex IWKC fleet is competing.
"Basically, it looked like they (Team 7) had been sailing full time, and
the rest of us hadn't," said Pease Glaser (Long Beach, Calif.), crew for
Lucy's skipper Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.), who has proven to be Barkow's
closest competition. Although Glaser laughed, she admitted that her crew
could only claim the recent J/22 East Coast Championship as their
preparation for this regatta, "and that was three totally drifter days."
Nevertheless, the Lucy crew looked slick today, leading the second race
until Barkow picked them off on the first downwind leg of a two-lap
windward-leeward course. Sertl finished second in the race and added
seventh- and sixth-place finishes to her scoreline to move up to second
from third in the overall standings. There is now a 20-point spread between
Sertl and Barkow.
"That was a huge jump for Sally today," said Glaser, who along with Sertl
is a Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and crewed with Sertl in 2001 to win
this regatta. Barkow is the defending champion and is sailing with her two
Olympic Yngling teammates Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi, and an additional
crew member Annie Lush.
Standings after eight races with one discard:
1. Sally Barkow, USA, [3]-1-1-2-1-3-1-1, 10
2. Cory Sertl, USA, 1-[9]-2-9-3-7-2-6, 30
3. Jody Swanson, USA, 2-2-[17]-4-5-4-10-7, 34
4. Sharon Ferris, NZL, 7-11-3-1-6-2-8-[14], 38
5. Carol Cronin, USA, 6-6-6-[11]-2-8-9-2, 39
www.ussailing.org/riwkc
DAVIDSON'S FINAL MASTERPIECE?'
ESP 67 was the culmination of many years of Design Experience in the
America's Cup by New Zealander Laurie Davidson. Davidson had tasted victory
in the event before, with his successive Team New Zealand 'Black Magic'
campaigners in 1995 and 2000. Feeling restricted within the Team New
Zealand camp, Davidson already had new ACC designs of his own in
development when he departed Team New Zealand in 2000.
Davidson was recruited by the Craig McCaw's Seattle based 'One World
Challenge' and set to work on a two boat programme. USA67 proved lightning
fast in RR1 of LV2002, being the form boat at the round's conclusion.
However, from this point on, both Alinghi's SUI64 and Oracle's USA76
developed new speed rapidly, and gained more ascendancy going into each
battle. Slowly the tide turned against USA 67, and a combination of
tactical errors, and opposition superiority saw them finish an excellent
third ranking in the Louis Vuitton Cup. It is important to note that the
two boats that finished ahead of USA67 are two of the three top ranked
boats at present, so she shares excellent pedigree. At the conclusion of
the 31st America's Cup, USA 65 & 67 sat in limbo for over a year, until
rescued by Desafio Espanol. Looking back on the pedigree of this yacht, and
the track record of her designer, it's hard to see the Spanish getting a
better 'AC starter kit'.
It was a hurried effort by Augustine Zulueta and his team to get the yachts
into version 5, and ready for ACT 4 in Valencia. The yachts were modified
in Tarragona under the design eye of Reichel Pugh, who most recently
designed USA/ITA 77 for the 2003 event. Considering the hurried
preparation, Luis Doreste and his compatriots made an excellent effort of
extracting the best from ESP 67 in ACT 4, showing sound potential, and
winning their fair share of encounters. The yacht performed well, and the
crew work and tactics were definitely of an acceptable standard considering
the baptism of fire they had taken on.
The pedigree of ESP 67 is now well proved, and with Reichel Pugh's next
development of AC racer having a well funded development budget, the future
for this Spanish Challenge, looks better than any ever before. -- Excerpts
from a story on the Sail Europe website, full story:
http://www.saileurope.com/da/13438
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine)
Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
A MASSIVE INTRODUCTION TO SAILING
Have a Go @ Sailing is a Yachting New Zealand project that has been made
possible by the Team NZ 2000 Trust. It is the common vision of the Trust
and of Yachting New Zealand to establish nationwide opportunities for young
people to experience the pleasure of sailing in a safe and well managed
environment. Yachting New Zealand aims to enable their transition into
yacht clubs and encourage their continued involvement in the sport.
Olympians Barbara Kendall and Dean Barker have offered their support as
Ambassadors to the programme and The Sir Peter Blake Trust has given
Yachting New Zealand permission to use the images and quotes of Sir Peter
as inspiration for our young participants.
Each region will have six Optimists and three Cadet dinghies which will be
transported together with one coach boat in an enclosed trailer to a
participating Yacht Club. This will give twelve intermediate school
children the opportunity to participate at any one time. Have a Go @
Sailing will offer a number of programme structures delivered by a
qualified instructor but the one day 'challenge' should prove the most
popular. The day will be full of sailing games and activities which will
focus on having fun but also teach team work, discipline and give self
confidence.
The scheme aims to introduce approximately ten to 15 thousand into sailing
over the next five years and while not all will be retained, it is
anticipated that many can be encouraged to join a club and the sport for
life. The response from clubs and schools has been very positive and we
already have bookings for February and March 2006. -- sabra@yachtingnz.org.nz
KEVIN GRAINGER'S "GUMPTION" WINS LARCHMONT NOOD REGATTA!
Congratulations to Kevin Granger's J/105 "Gumption" and his crew for
winning the J/105 class and the Overall Lands' End 2005 Larchmont NOOD
Championship. "Gumption," powered by a full set of Ullman Sails, topped the
J/105 class, and was named the overall NOOD champion at Larchmont YC's
123-boat regatta held September 10th and 11th. Time and again, Ullman Sails
continue providing the speed and durability champions have come to depend
on for capturing national and international titles. If you and your crew
are ready for the "Fastest Sails on the Planet," contact your nearest
Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com
A GATHERING OF THE EAGLES
Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, Italy -- Pisco Sour, the Breitling Medcup TP52
circuit leader, skippered by Vasco Vascotto (ITA), won the opening race of
the final event of the 2005 season -- a coastal race. Patches a new Irish
TP52 on the 10-boat circuit, with Ben Ainslie (GBR) driving and Ian Walker
in the afterguard, took second just ahead of the Russell Coutts-driven
Lexus/Quantum. Another new player on the circuit finished fourth -- Sjambok
driven by Gavin Brady with Dee Smith calling tactics. Fifth place went to
Caixa Galicia skippered by Volvo Ocean Race sailor Roberto Bermudez de
Castro with John Kostecki (USA) as tactician. Bribón, skippered by HM Juan
Carlos of Spain, the circuit leader in the Corinthian category of the
Breitling Medcup TP52 circuit, took sixth with Augie Diaz (USA) reinforcing
the afterguard. -- www.medcup.org
MELGES 24s
Three races in 4-8 knots of breeze were sailed on Wednesday in the Ocean
BMW Melges 24 European Championship in Torquay, making eight of the twelve
scheduled, and just three points now separate the four leading boats.
Stuart Rix, helming Gill for Quentin Struass, and Gabrio Zandona, helming
Joe Fly for Giovanni Maspero, are tied in first on 40 points. Andrea
Racchelli sailing Altea is on 42 points and Francois Brenac, sailing with
Phillipe Ligot's Partner & Partners Sailing Team, is on 43.
Tuesday evening the Race Committee reported the Joe Fly Team to the Jury
for infringing the rules controlling support boats in the race area. The
Jury found that the Joe Fly support boat had broken the rules and imposed a
20% penalty to the result of that race (race 5), which cannot be excluded
from their overall score. As a result Joe Fly's score in race five went
from 5 to 15 points. -- www.melges24.com
NEWS BRIEFS
* All eyes are on Hurricane Rita in the Gulf of Mexico, which was elevated
to a Category 5 storm Wednesday afternoon by the National Hurricane Center,
and now was packing maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (265 kph). The
latest extended forecast predicted that Rita was expected to make landfall
Saturday, most likely in Texas but anywhere from southwest Louisiana to
northeast Mexico. Weather service provider Sailflow.com has provided
Scuttlebutt viewers with a complimentary link from their website to track
the storm: http://www.sailflow.com/rita
* Pirates of the Caribbean update: Maja Elien, the wife of Freddy Loof,
gave birth to a baby boy Monday night in Oslo. They have yet to name the
third, and youngest, baby Pirate in the Black Pearl family. Freddy made the
quick dash to the airport from Sanxenxo as soon as we docked. Good thing we
were on a Volvo 70 and not a 60. -- Paul Cayard
* Jobson Sailing, Inc. has made a documentary of the Rolex Transatlantic
Challenge, which will be aired on the Outdoor Life Network on Wednesday,
September 28 at 9:00 pm EDT (6:00 pm PDT) and again at midnight (9:00 pm
PDT on September 28). The documentary is entitled "Chasing Charlie Barr's
Record: the 2005 Transatlantic Challenge," and is sponsored by Rolex. Times
and links to OLN at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/shows/
* Sea Cliff Yacht Club, Sea Cliff, NY (www.seacliffyc.org) is preparing to
host the United States Optimist Dinghy Association (www.usoda.org) Atlantic
Coast Championship this weekend, September 23-25. With 245 boats already
registered expectations are for almost 300 boats and a great weekend of
Optimist sailing on Western Long Island Sound. The event will be run out of
the Town of Oyster Bay's Harry Tappen Beach on Hempstead Harbor. The
current entry list and other regatta information is posted at
http://www.seacliffyc.org/usodaacc.htm
* The Swedes became the first America's Cup team to sail off Trapani on
Tuesday afternoon. The wind has come to Sicily this week, with strong
breezes blowing across the western tip of the peninsula where Trapani sits.
In fact, the wind has been reasonably strong since Sunday. When Victory
Challenge was sailing, the breeze was in the 12 to 16 knot range, but there
were big, aggressive swells on the sea; if these conditions persist into
the racing, there will be some incredible downwind spinnaker runs ahead. --
America's Cup website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/76noq
* After four races 6-12 knots of wind at the American Express Farr 40 North
American Championship at the Chicago YC, Robert Hughes has logged a 2-1-2-3
series for 8 points and an eight point lead over Helmut John in the 12-boat
field. Jim Richardson is in third pace - two points further back.
Tomorrow's weather is looking less than desirable with the winds going from
south to northeast over the course of the day and the seas kicking up as
the winds shift onshore. Two races are scheduled
* The head of the Mini Transat fleet has passed the longitude of Lisbon and
is preparing to pass Cape Saint Vincent, the final headland off SW
Portugal. Conditions are ideal for the Mini 6.50s, though the rich seem to
be getting ever richer.To make good progress downwind in a Mini in 10/15
knots means numerous manoeuvres and long sessions on the helm, none of
which are synonymous with sleep. Corentin Douguet (E. Leclerc-Bouygues
Telecom) is still firmly in the driving seat of this Transat 6.50
Charente-Maritime/Bahia 2005, ahead of Sébastien Gladu (Armor Lux) and Phil
Sharp (Le Gallais). -- Yachting Universe, full story: http://tinyurl.com/dyqa4
* Jonathan Harley (Middletown, R.I.) has been named Race Director for the
American Sail Training Association (ASTA) in charge of running its Tall
Ships Challenge® Race Series. Harley has spent his entire adult life in the
sailing industry. From 1984 to 2004 he was US Sailing's Olympic Director.
ASTA organizes the Tall Ships Challenge®, an annual series of sail training
races, rallies and maritime festivals, hosts an annual conference on Sail
Training and Tall Ships, and publishes Sail Tall Ships!, the definitive
guide to sail training and adventure at sea. --
http://tallships.sailtraining.org/
* International match race sailing will come to Annapolis when America's
Cup helmsmen Gavin Brady and Chris Law square off against one another for
three days of competition during the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis at the
3rd annual Annapolis Volvo Senator's Cup Regatta. From Thursday, October 6
to Saturday, October 8, these 4-time America's Cup veterans will compete in
matched Swan 45 Class One-Design yachts on courses set by the Storm Trysail
Club on the Severn River within sight of the Show. All proceeds from
Senator's Cup are used to support local charities. -- www.senatorscup.com
* The Agendas, Supporting Papers and Submissions which will be discussed at
the 2005 ISAF Annual Conference, 3-13 November 2005 in Singapore, have now
been published on the ISAF Meetings Microsite. A total of 138 Submissions
have been received. For ease, there are various options by which you can
download papers - by papers for a specific Committee, by Submission, by
Agenda, by Supporting Paper - and the papers can be downloaded individually
or as a bulk zip download,. Set for significant debate in November will be
the nine submissions proposing changes to the event format for the 2008
Olympic Sailing Competition. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j19Fh0B`w
THE BOAT SHOWS ARE UPON US
It's that time of year again so get ready for the boat show browse. First
up is the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, the biggest sailboat show in the
country. Samson will be there with a fine display of running rigging and
dock and anchor products. Stop by our booth to talk about line selection,
splicing and new products with reps and factory people. Find out why
WarpSpeed is the line of choice for sailing on the bay or crossing the
oceans. See you there! http://www.samsonrope.com
EIGHT BELLS
On National Pirates' Day, Sept. 19, 2005, tugs in Hampton Roads lowered
their flags to half-mast to honor one of their own -- one of the saltiest
men alive, Capt. Lane Allen Briggs, an icon on the Norfolk waterfront,
revered from Canada to Key West, sailed to the other shore. Bigger than
life, Briggs was always an innovator. As a founder of the Great Chesapeake
Bay Schooner Race, Capt. Briggs kept schooner sailing alive on his beloved
Chesapeake Bay. The Schooner Race has raised more than $73,000 for the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation since 1990.
Capt. Briggs was instrumental in the modern rebirth of his adopted city of
Norfolk, as one of a handful of visionaries who cleaned up an urban
wasteland through such entities as Nautical Adventures, The Norfolk School
of Boatbuilding, Harborfest, Festevents, the Hampton Roads Navy, Sail
Assist International Liaison Associates, Norfolk School of Fisheries and
Seamanship, Town Point Yacht Club and the Schooner Virginia.
Capt. Briggs possessed a rare gift for forming lasting friendships with men
and women from every strata of society, young and old. The beneficiaries of
this gift each felt Lane was their best friend. And they are legion. Some
are gathering to raise a toast to the good captain at Rebel Marina on
Saturday at 1 p.m. (This will be an informal celebration of his life - no
ties, please.) In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to ASTA for the
creation of a Capt. Lane Briggs Sail Training Fund, c/o ASTA, P.O. Box
1459, Newport, RI 02840. -- The Virginian-Pilot, full story:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/obits/details.cfm?obitID=26918
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
(Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be
edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is neither a chat room
nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your
best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing,
and personal attacks for elsewhere.)
* From Bruce Munro: Anyone who thinks that this summer has been unusually
hot or prone to light airs should have been in San Francisco this summer.
Foggy, chilly and windy was the order of the day pretty much all summer
long. Just ask the participants in the 29er Worlds, the 470 Worlds and the
just concluded Big Boat Series. No global warming here!
* From Dave Irish: We had better than average wind this summer in Little
Traverse Bay of northern Lake Michigan. Warm too!
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
A small town is a place where there is little to see or do, but what you
hear makes up for it.
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