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SCUTTLEBUTT 1922 -- September 13, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.KOSTECKI (The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to John Kostecki about his return to the Volvo Ocean Race. Here a few brief excerpts.) Having the skipper of last time round's winning boat in your team is always worth a few clicks of boat speed and thus it comes as little surprise that since departing BMW Oracle Racing's afterguard in July several Volvo Ocean Race teams have been seriously courting former illbruck Challenge skipper John Kostecki. Several factors were at stake in choosing the right team to go with this time and aside from minor issues such as money, Kostecki says that in his opinion Ericsson are the team with the best prospects in November's round the world race. This is quite an endorsement. "I didn't want to be involved with any team. I want to win the race again and I thought they had the best chance - a great skipper, excellent crew, a proven management, administration and support team, that is very experienced and that has successfully won the race before and if they haven't won the race they were always in the top." As his arrangement stands at the moment Kostecki is coming on board as tactician for the in-port racing. Under the new make-up of the Volvo Ocean Race this now represents 25% (ie a significant part) of the available points for the race. Kostecki says that he will be available to sail on the offshore legs if the need is there and assuming he is available. "The plan is to have the current crew race around the world, but I could be on stand-by for that." -- Full story: www.thedailysail.com IN FOR THE LONG PULL If you were to look at the scoreboard from the past two Louis Vuitton Acts in Malmö, you wouldn't think there was much encouragement there for China Team. But this is a team playing a very long game, and a team that makes no pretensions at being able to win the America's Cup in 2007. Team head Pierre Mas doesn't underestimate the task, however. "We expect to be as competitive as possible in 2007. But one of the mistakes from the last two French campaigns was stopping everything as soon as the Cup was finished. There was no continuity. After each campaign you had to start all over again, with not enough money. This time we have the feeling from our Chinese partners that we are doing this for the long-term. The aim for 2007 is not to win the Cup but to initiate the process to develop a strong team for the next time." Right now, the name China Team appears somewhat of a misnomer, with just one Chinese sailor competing in Malmö and the other 16 spots taken by Frenchmen from the former Le Défi challenge. Again Mas pleads patience. "Of course the goal is to bring more Chinese sailors into the programme, but everybody in China understands that this cannot be done in a few days or months. It is a long-term process. We have a very ambitious education programme to bring Chinese sailors into the Cup, and there are good sailors coming through the Olympic programme, but we have to do a lot of development work to make them good big boat sailors. Sailing with 17 people on board is quite different to what they are used to." Aside from introducing the Chinese to top-flight big boat sailing, there are surely cultural and linguistic barriers here that few other teams have to contend with. Actually, Mas is pleased to report that in many respects, dealings with the Chinese have been pleasantly straightforward. "The culture is not a problem. They are people with an open mind and with the same sense of humour. We can laugh about the same things," he says. "But communication is more difficult. We are using English to communicate. Some sailors know English but for others they are still learning. I hope over time that we can develop a special way of communicating with each other. We want to work not just with Chinese sailors, but with Chinese designers, boat builders, engineers, in every part of the project. So this is a big challenge for us. But we have some interpreters who help us to communicate with each other at the moment, and this is proving very useful." -- Excerpts from a story posted on the official America's Cup website, full story: http://www.americascup.com/en/ CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar CODE ZERO IS HERE It is time to leave the average T-shirt behind and go with this high performance technical shirt. The double circular knit, lightweight fabric is made for extreme wicking comfort, fast drying, while still offering maximum UV protection. Perfect for single and multiple layering. Features a comfortable crew neck and flatlock seams that move with you. Underarm and side panels allow for a comfortable range of motion. Used and tested by teams in Valencia. Three different color combinations. http://www.camet.com TODAY'S THE DAY The first round-robin series of the ISAF Match Racing World Championship begins today in Calpe, Spain. Only Russell Coutts is missing from the top ten ranked match racers: The skippers for the event are Peter Gilmour (AUS-ranked #1), Ed Baird (USA-2), Mathieu Richard (FRA-3), Philippe Presti (FRA-5), Paolo Cian (ITA-6), Sébastian Col (FRA-7), James Spithill (AUS-8), Ian Williams (GBR- 9), Bjorn Hansen (SWE-10), Staffan Lindberg (FIN-11), Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS-12), and Santiago Lopez-Vazquez (ESP- 568). The twelve competitors will be relying on the expertise of the race official's team to ensure a level playing field. The Chief Umpire will be Gerard Bosse (FRA), a veteran of previous Worlds and America's Cups, who will be joined by nine International Umpires - seven Europeans, a Kiwi, an Aussie … but no umpire from North America. -- http://www.harcom.org BENCHMARK BOAT Only a fraction of AC class yachts can claim to carry their pedigree into another generation. However, when compared alongside the likes of 'Intrepid' and 'Courageous' from the 12 metre era, FRA 60 is now laying claim to a place amongst these true AC legends. FRA 60, in her former life was Team New Zealand's Champion 2000 generation yacht NZL 60. Officially named 'New Zealand' she was the fourth of a total 6 Black Magic's used in New Zealand's custodianship of the Auld Mug between 1995 and 2003. Her greatest claim to fame is her successful defense of the America's Cup on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf in early 2000. Her 5-0 defeat of the original Prada 'Luna Rossa' proved that New Zealand had once again achieved a quantum leap in AC design. The average winning margin NZ achieved was one and a half minutes, with the smallest being 48 seconds in the final race. The black boat dominated the best of 9 series, able to sail in a different gear to ITA 45. NZL 60 also saw the unpredicted 'handing of the reigns' where TNZ veteran Russell Coutts, let his apprentice Dean Barker skipper Black Magic to victory in the 5th and final race. No-one was to know, that less than 12 months later, Coutts truly would be gone, and the future would be in Barkers hands, to defend against his former mentor in the 2003 final NZL 60, and her sister NZL 57 were again the brainchild of the Team New Zealand design group. This group largely resembled that of the 1995 winning combination, losing one member and gaining a new. Gone was Doug Petersen, who chose to work with Prada from Italy, and in came Clay Oliver. Again, the group was strongly lead by Laurie Davidson, with enormous input from Tom Schnackenberg and the sailing team as a whole. The design principles developed by the 1995 team had left them with a formula to success, and two excellent working platforms in NZL 32 and NZL 38. Both yachts were trialed with changes, to come up with a yacht designed specially for the Hauraki Gulf Conditions. It was here that Davidson designed the 'knuckle' bow concept, which became a key factor in future AC class design. This less classic and unconventional design of the bow, allowed the yacht to extend its waterline length upwind, which in practice makes the boat faster. It was visibly obvious that more of the yacht stayed in contact with the water at all times, when comparing her to 1995 previous generation cousins. A more sleek stern section of the hull achieved the same effect at the back end of the boat, making this yacht again a TNZ rocket-ship. -- Excerpt from a story just posted on the Sail Europe website, full story: http://www.saileurope.com/da/13438 EIGHT BELLS There will be a memorial gathering for friends and admirers of Knowles Pittman on Saturday, September 17th. Knowles was the founder of "One Design Yachtsman" (now "Sailing World") and was an important spark igniting the surge of sailboat racing in the 1960's and beyond. The informal get together will be at his home at 9 Greenspoint Road, Ipswich MA, from 1500 to 1800, and hosted by his wife Patience Wales. For those who can't make it, at 1630 hours, drink half your drink and toss half into the sea ... for Knowles, our absent shipmate who deserves your salute. - Donald Macaulay, ex Sail Magazine FREE RACEBOAT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE UK-Halsey has teamed up with 1bigthink on SailTeam Builder, a spiffy way to manage crew contact information, better control your crew roster and position assignments, pull together logistical details for each event, assign and track crew responsibilities, and better manage your sailing schedule. Because we're sailmakers, we've included tools to help you manage your sail inventory in great detail (without any fuss). It's web-based (with reliable security) so you can get at your data from home, office, on the road or onboard. Neat software at a neat price: free. Just one more reason to visit UK-Halsey's website: http://www.ukhalsey.com NEWS BRIEFS * The 2005 Finn Gold Cup got underway in Moscow Monday with two challenging races sailed in near perfect conditions. A complete change in weather overnight saw a healthy and relatively steady 8-14 knots breeze from the south-east. After two races, defending champion Ben Ainslie (GBR) with three points after two races narrowly leads Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE-four pts), with Daniel Birgmark (SWE-5pts) in third place. -- For full results and photos on an English language website: www.finngoldcup2005.ru * The eBay auction for the 18th man on board Team Shosholoza for during Acts 8 & 9 fetched 6350 Euros. And with official chief sponsor T-Systems adding another 5000 Euro to the auction proceeds, a total of 11,350 Euro will be going to the Izivunguvungu Foundation, which runs a sailing school near Cape Town for socially disadvantaged children and young people. After spirited bidding, Andreas Langhoff (40) ultimately came away with the prize. This passionate sailor has lived in Italy for some time and is a provider of catamaran cruises. -- www.teamshosholoza.com * The Black Pearl, official entry in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race was christened Monday at Maritime Walk, Ocean Village in Southampton, England. The Black Pearl entry is part of a unique marketing partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Volvo Ocean Race supporting the July 2006 feature film release of Walt Disney Pictures'/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Skippering The Black Pearl is renowned sailor, Paul Cayard, the first American skipper to win the race in 1998. -- Excerpts from a story on the Yachting World website: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20050812214507ywnews.html * For the first time ever, the J105 North American Championship will be held outside of the United States. Hosted by the Royal Canadian YC and J105 Lake Ontario Fleet 4, racing starts on Wednesday afternoon will be followed by a 10 race series over 4 days. 35 Teams have registered to compete with their J105's traveling from South East US, East Coast and all the Great Lakes. -- www.j105.ca * Most classes at the 123-boat Lands' End NOOD Regatta at Larchmont YC finished the five or six races in the series, and the overall NOOD champion was named, Kevin Grainger's (New York, NY) J/105 Gumption, which won a tiebreaker to take the 17-boat class over frequent champion Eclipse, owned by Damian Emery. Their prize is a week's stay at Sunsail's Colonna Resort in Antigua for the Caribbean NOOD championship, a fun event against all the other NOOD champions in January. - www.sailingworld.com * Correction: The Henri Lloyd ad in yesterday's 'Butt announcing their fall clearance sale had a faulty website link (our fault - not theirs). While the quantities are limited, the savings are fantastic. Hurry to http://www.henrilloydonline.com/scuttlebutt * There are 32 entries in the IRC fleet and a diverse fleet of one-designs that make up the 100-plus entries in the Rolex Big Boat Series is hosted by the St. Francis YC on San Francisco Bay September 15-18. The really big boats include Randall Pitman's Dubois 90 Genuine Risk; Peligroso, the Dencho 70 owned by Mike Campbell and Dale Williams; Morning Glory, the MaxZ86 owned by Hasso Platner with Russell Coutts and Morgan Larson sharing tactician duties; and the R/P 72 Beecom, owned by Isao Mita of Yokohama, Japan with Gavin Brady serving as an alternate helmsman. -- www.stfyc.org * While Scuttlebutt can not vouch for the authenticity of this photo, it does appear that Tiger Woods has traded in his $20 million, 155-foot luxury yacht for a boat that would be more to his liking. With all the sailor/golfers out there, we thought you might like a peak (but please don't send us letters about littering the ocean with golf balls): http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/tiger.jpg SAVE $5,250 ON A COLGATE 26 & GET A FREE INSTRUCTOR! Order a Colgate 26 by 10/31 for delivery by 12/31/05. Get a certified instructor (a $1,000 value!) for two days at your home waters, absolutely free. Plus, the next four buyers get 2 training days plus 15% off! Normally $35,000, your C26 is just $29,750. Don't miss out! 866-842-4355, http://www.colgate26.com/tune_up.html 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Marc Herrmann: Very interesting of note that at this point BMW Oracle Racing outranks all other challengers despite their continued internal politics, unhappy team members and what would appear a dictatorship style micro management approach. Begs the question what stratospheric ranking BMWOR would have if all was well in paradise. * From Paul Kamen: The following is from the book review of "The Lawsuit History of the America's Cup." that appeared some years ago on the America's Cup Free Press website. "...it was the bitter controversies that kept the America's Cup stories on the front page of the New York Times for more than a Century and a half. Without those stories (and the forest of trees that must have died to make the paper to print them on), the America's Cup might have slipped into obscurity." So let's not be too hard on the AC for controversy and scandal. Arguably it's what has kept the America's Cup alive. You can still read the entire review at http://www.well.com/user/pk/ACtmFP.html#lawsuit * From Russell Painton: A comment on Jay Sharkey's letter regarding the cost of running the America's cup regattas. I do not totally share his disgust regarding the high cost of racing in these regattas. They are big boys, and they all know the rules. Besides the spectacle is unrivaled. We traveled to New Zealand for the last cup and it was awesome! It is expensive for sure (so is it expensive to race my own boat)! As an aside, we should draw a firm boundary between professional events and amateur events. This has been a real problem in our sport for many years and in my view, is the main reason for the decline of sailboat racing. I know of no other sport in the universe where pros and amateurs are forced to race against each other in regattas. This does not mean that we have to eliminate professional racing. Have pro-ams! I (and millions of other sailors and non sailors) love to watch Americas cup racing, Contests such as these serve to expose millions of new people to sailing. From these millions, we will acquire, as racers, many new people to sail against, and if they don't race, they will probably cruise. When was the last time anyone was able to watch a nationally televised local sailboat race? A regional one? Any amateur race??? * From Gareth Evans: With apologies to those who feel that the "Western Hemisphere" consists only of the continents of North and South America, I would like to remind you of a couple of small land masses to your East - namely Great Britain and Ireland. As a resident of Britain, I consider myself to be living in the Western Hemisphere - indeed the zero line of longitude runs through Greenwich in London. I believe that Ireland holds the record for the oldest yacht club in the Westen Hemisphere - the Royal Cork Yacht Club, founded in 1720. This club is still very active as those of you who have been to Cork Week will know. If you haven't been - why not? Just ask Roy Disney how much fun it is! The next yacht club on the list is also in Ireland - Lough Ree Yacht Club, founded in 1770. Also prior to the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron we have Starcross Yacht Club (Devon, 1772), Royal Thames Yacht Club (London 1775), Royal Yacht Squadron (Cowes, 1815) and finally my local club the Royal Western Yacht Club of England (Plymouth, Devon, 1827). I can assure you that all of the clubs are also still very active, organising events that include Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race, amongst others. We may talk with a funny accent, but please don't forget your friends across "The Pond"! * From Bob Austin: Yacht club histories are often hard to trace because of name and location changes. A 1956 book "Gulf Yachting" is a source of information. 60 Cornithians from New Orleans, Biloxi, Pascagoula and Mobile met at a Hotel, in Pass Christian July 21, 1849 to form a "boat Club". The first Regatta of the new "Southern Yacht Club" was August 6, 1849. It would appear that Pass Christian Club, Southern YC and Biloxi will all claim roots from the club which was formed in 1849, but Southern YC, appears to be the one whose charter endures. There is good evidence that there were numerous boat clubs holding regular regattas along this part of the Gulf Coast since 1830. The Mobile Yacht Club's origins were "lost in antiquity", but claims its roots as the Mobile Regatta Club organized in the 1840's. The Mobile Yacht Club remained on the Western shore of Mobile Bay since 1865. A massive hurricane in 1916 decimated the Gulf coast and all clubs were again destroyed. The Mobile Yacht Club arose as the Eastern Shore Yacht Club in 1919, which moved back to the Western Shore in 1929 and the name was restored to Mobile Yacht Club. Recreational sailing thrived early in the South because of good year around weather, the presence of many sailing ships for the importation of goods for the frontier, and export of cotton, lumber and fish. CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL To stay young, laugh often, laugh long and laugh loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. |
