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SCUTTLEBUTT 2363 - June 12, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). MAINTAINING THE PARTY LINE It's hard to imagine Alinghi sailing the America's Cup without four-time Olympic medalist Jochen Schuemann. But the German legend was on the crash boat for Saturday's practice session with Luna Rossa. No matter what team Alinghi trots out for the first race of the 32nd America's Cup there's going to be some very talented sailors who find themselves reduced to support crew and spectators. Schuemann would still be a surprising omission, considering he's been in charge of the sailing team for the past seven years or so. During a press function last Thursday, Alinghi sailors Curtis Blewitt, Mark Newbrook, and Simon Daubney were firm in their resolve not to reveal anything about the starting lineup. All three maintained that the team has yet to be finalized, though there's a sense that this is something of a party line and, internally, there's a pretty good idea who will be on the boat come June 23. "At the end, one team's going to race, they're going to pick it eventually," said Blewitt, a midbowman who sailed in the 2003 America's Cup. "It's not really a stressful thing for us. Between the two boats, the level's high enough that we're feeling good about that direction. Blewitt did allow that while there's been a lot of rotation among the sailors, the daily crew lists aren't just drawn out of a hat. "It's not completely random," he said. "We have a squad policy but there's different sort of partnerships within that to allow you some sort of stability training. It's quite intimate work and you're right side-by-side, it's nice to have pairs of grinders, pairs of bow guys. There are some partnerships on the boat. It's not completely random, but it does rotate around." – Sailing World, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/2d4glq AMERICA’S CUP MATCH First team to win 5 races in the 9 race series Challenger: Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 0 Defender: Alinghi (SUI) _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 0 * Race schedule: Racing begins Saturday, June 23rd, with the second race on Sunday before the first rest day on Monday. -- Complete schedule: http://www.americascup.com/en/americascup/program/calendrier.php * Where are they now: Two of the America’s Cup yachts, NZL10 and NZL12 that were part of Team New Zealand’s 1992 campaign in San Diego, are now in Nassau, Bahamas and being used by a new charter company: http://tinyurl.com/2cfkgh * Blood is thicker: The polling booth tipped over hard when we asked which team Russell Coutts would be cheering for to win the America’s Cup match. Once a homey, always a homey. For the final tally and to read the comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/07/0610 GOVERNMENT SPENDING With it's brightly coloured syndicate bases, scenic walkways and bustling bars and restaurants, there is no denying Valencia, the city that had its back to the sea, has done a fine job turning itself around. The America's Cup has turned Valencia's rundown old port into one of its finest attractions. But it has come at a cost. Nearly $800 million to be exact. In Auckland, the viaduct was owned by America's Cup Village Ltd a subsidiary of Infrastructure Auckland. It is believed to have cost around $85 million to develop, to build the yachting facilities and manage the village during the 1999/ 2000 regatta plus another $40 million for storm water drainage. A drop in the pond compared to what Valencia have spent. -- NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=531&objectid=10436716 KIDS GET IT... LET THEM DECIDE WHAT THEY WANT TO SAIL! Fun, speed, simplicity, and no bailing! That's what the kids have been raving about during the O'pen BIC's 2007 Energized Sailing Tour. Currently reaching through Texas, the Gulf States, Florida and the East Coast, this tour is introducing hundreds of new kids to this exciting new boat. As an alternative to more "traditional" dinghies, the O'pen BIC offers a modern look and a real sailing experience in an easily affordable and low maintenance package. Check out the new video and latest news on http://www.openbic.com For more information on Fleet Pricing, Dealer Enquiries, Industry Insider Offers, contact mailto:info@BicSportNA.com Energize your kids today! THESE DUCKS CAN PARTY (Seattle is famous for a lot of things, least of all is the McKee brothers, the Buchan family, good coffee, and edgy music. But don’t forget about the Duck Dodge, now in its 33rd season of Tuesday evening races held between Memorial Day and Labor Day. As committee member Hank Curci notes, "It is the most or one of the most profound excuses to have a killer party." Read on for the report.) She was just a mallard, but she had merganser moves. She'd need them. It was Tuesday, which horrifies Seattle's ducks. They hide their ducklings between houseboats during the Duck Dodge race, as sailboat crews in their distinctive mating plumage (prom dresses, pirate clothes, pajamas) assail their pond -- Lake Union. Drift into open water and you're a sitting duck, or worse, lame duck. The occasional swabbie's disregard for Duck Dodge's inaugural rule -- "Frighten a duck and you must do a 720-degree turn" -- is common knowledge among the ducks. Fodor's travel guide listed the Duck Dodge as one of the top 100 things for people to do in the U.S., not ducks. On a late May evening, the race was playing out under a baby-blue Seattle sky, blemished only by a harmless tease of clouds on the horizon, the glib pessimism of TV weathercasters long forgotten. The sailboats arrived abruptly, in chorus. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, full story: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/318536_duckdodge07.html CHESAPEAKE RACER PROFILE It has been more than 10 years since John Howell was surprised to hear his name called at an Annapolis YC Optimist regatta trophy presentation. He had come to the event from Galesville, MD with his parents, and the day on the water, racing in the Green Fleet, had been fun. It was his first event, and he had no idea that he had won the class. “I had a knack for it from the start, I guess,” he says. As a freshman at Southern High School, in southern Anne Arundel County, Howell, a product of the West River SC junior program, started the school’s sailing team. That fall, he was one of four team members. But in the spring of his freshman year, one of the sailors elected to compete in a different sport, leaving Southern with a short-handed team. Howell’s coaches at Severn SA rotated the Southern sailors through other teams at practice, and Howell learned some strong lessons from a variety of other sailors. By the time he was a senior, Southern’s team was 12 sailors strong and qualified for the High School National Championship and the High School Team Racing Championship. Outside of high school racing, Howell finished second as a skipper at the 2001 420 North American championship. For the past four years, Howell has been a member of the powerful intercollegiate sailing team at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He was part of the team that finished sixth at last year’s Team Racing National Championship but, according to St. Mary’s coach Adam Werblow, Howell’s finest moment in college competition might have come in late April of this year. -- Read on: http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d282000/e280716.asp MONDAY MORNING TACTICIAN (US Laser sailor Andrew Campbell files this report after finishing eleventh in the 155-boat Laser Europeans in Hyeres, France last week.) Plenty often in sports we hear the phrase: “We’re taking it one game at a time.” What does that even mean? Of course you’re playing one game at a time, there aren’t enough players for two games simultaneously, and you can’ t save up runs or points or time around the racecourse for future races. Taking it one race at a time is an understated way of telling somebody that you don’t care to think too far in the future at risk of losing track of the details necessary to win the race at hand. Two examples from the regatta I just finished up in Hyeres, France come to mind. Both have to do with the recovery of one’s composure between races in two different contexts. This week’s column will be the first of a two-week series about taking a sailboat racing series “one race at a time.” We’ll take a look at two cases of recovery, first from a yellow-flag DSQ, and second from an OCS. – Andrew Campbell, complete report: http://tinyurl.com/22lxfa ACURA SPONSORSHIP GOES COAST TO COAST It's now official: Acura presents Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week! The carmaker, already the title sponsor for Acura Key West and Acura Miami Grand Prix, has just announced that it has gone coast to coast to support the West's largest inshore keelboat regatta and the sailing community, as well as to reinforce its commitment to technology and performance. The Long Beach event co-organized by the Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs is scheduled June 22-24 featuring competition on three racing circles, nightly social activity, and free mooring. Racers can still enter on-line at http://www.lbrw.org FINAL PREPARATION Newport, RI; June 11, 2007 -- Newport Shipyard, in the famous seaside sailing town of Newport, Rhode Island, was abuzz with activity today as the 24 boats entered in the 3,500-nautical mile HSH Nordbank blue race continued final preparations for their imminent race across the North Atlantic Ocean. The testing Transatlantic Race will begin this Saturday with the first of two scheduled starts. The majority of the fleet will set sail on June 16th in the waters off Fort Adams in Newport. The largest boats in the race will then begin their offshore adventure a week later, on June 23rd, again off Fort Adams. Both starts will take place at 2:00 p.m. local time. An international fleet flying the flags of six nations - Antigua, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland and the United States - have signed on to compete in the HSH Nordbank blue race. Among them are two high-profile campaigns representing the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), which is helping to organize the pre-race activities. The 50-foot Snow Lion, skippered by former NYYC commodore Lawrence Huntington, will be one of 21 yachts setting out from Newport on the June 16th start. On June 23rd, skipper Ken Read will lead an all-star crew of 19 offshore veterans aboard the 90-foot Rambler, which was recently purchased by Connecticut sailor George David. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/28asx2 SAILING SHORTS * Massasoit Community College said in a statement that it has received a US$425,000 grant from the state of Massachusetts to fund its "Jobs in Boating" project. The college will be partnering with Bristol Community College and the Massachusetts Marine Trades Association to provide skilled workers to the state's boating industry. The statement noted that there are about 1,600 job openings in the marine trades in Massachusetts, with a significant shortage of marine technicians. The marine industry, which has a US$2 billion economic impact, has been identified as a critical travel and tourism industry by the state's Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund legislation. -- IBI Magazine, http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20070511161806ibinews.html * A library has been added to the ISAF Team Racing microsite, which contains ready-for-download information for organizers, umpires, and competitors interested in team racing. -- http://www.sailing.org/teamracing * (June 11, 2007) It's Bob Oatley's 79th birthday, and he could not have celebrated better than he did on the water today during the second inshore race of the 2007 Giraglia Rolex Cup. Taking first place today in both real and corrected time, the Australians move into the top 3 below Favonius and Magic Carpet, who have the overall rank of 1st and 2nd respectively after two days of inshore races. In the much disputed IMS Class Group A, Atalanta II lost her first place position to Edimetra VI, who came in 7th in the second race and who is now leading the overall ranking. -- Complete report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1636&lang=1 * 23 windsurfers and 15 kiters took to the San Francisco Bay for the Ronstan Bay Challenge. Saturday was the long distance race from St Francis YC to the Berkeley Pier and back, with Seth Besse setting a new course record of 53'05" in the windsurfer and Anthony Chavez leading the kite division with an elapsed time of just over 1 hour and 20 minutes. On Sunday, the wind was up to 30k+ on the city front for course racing. The fleet was spread out like a bad case of acne around the course. -- For reports and photos: http://www.stevebodner.blogspot.com SAILute YOUR DAD'S & GRANDDADS! ...by giving them a gift that lasts a lifetime and doesn't need bottom paint and new sails every year! An Onne van der Wal print is a cherished gift that reminds Dad that he passed along his love of sailing AND his excellent taste. Mention you're a 'butthead for 15% OFF your order! http://www.vanderwal.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Marcos Weinstein: The Hoag Cup was a great event this weekend in Newport Beach, CA, and I especially enjoyed meeting the crew from Morning Light, the Disney Transpac team. What an articulate, confident, inspiring group of our country's finest young sailors. They are living a dream and I cannot wait to see it unfold on the water and the big screen. Thanks Roy Disney for heading up this awesome task. * From Paul Jacobs, Saunderstown, RI: Numerous times during the Versus showing of the Louis Vuitton racing one of the otherwise excellent commentators would state that "the trailing boat has an advantage on the downwind leg if they are not more than about 50 - 70 meters behind, since their wind shadow can then blanket the spinnaker of the boat ahead". I am not so sure. Modern IACC boats are sailing at over 9 knots in about 8 knots of true wind! The apparent wind on their asymmetric chutes is probably near abeam, and in some cases may even be slightly forward of the beam. In that case, the lovely Versus computer generated "wind blanket graphics" notwithstanding, the "trailing" boat would need to be abeam or even slightly ahead...in which case of course they are no longer "trailing"...in order for their wind shadow to blanket the other boats spinnaker. Perhaps in stronger winds, when sailing a bit "deeper" towards the leeward mark the wind shadow of the trailing boat "might" then blanket the boat ahead, but in all five races between Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand that probably was not the case. As the old song says: "It ain't necessarily so". => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Maybe they should say that the trailing boat holds a few more cards sailing downwind when compared to their upwind options. The trailing boat can pick when they want to gybe, whereas the leading boat upwind is more in control of that decision. Also, as you pointed out, the trailing boat downwind has the ability to blanket the leading boat when the angles and wind strength permit. Probably the biggest advantage of the leading boat downwind comes on the first run, as they can choose which gate they prefer to round. However, in an oscillating wind with no clear advantage, the gate does provide the trailing boat with the split needed to gain the lead. * From Steffi Williams: Just back from Valencia after 2 years of being there on and off with one of the teams. I think it's a shame that it seems ETNZ is losing public support because a win would mean the cup would leave Europe. Certainly, Valencia has been a great host and has provided superb infrastructure and the city and its people have evolved tremendously over the years in terms of their willingness and ability to host this event. However, to be fair, this has to remain at least a little about sailing. True, the sponsorship situation for some teams would benefit from another go in Europe, but how can we deny a country of enthusiastic fans and their hardworking team the opportunity to race without basically telling them that if they win it would be bad for the sport? As we saw from both the Semi's and Finals of the LVC, psychology and mindset have a lot to do with performance on the water. I think this round has changed the cup for the better, and I'm sure if the Kiwi's won they would work to continue the broader appeal and marketability of the cup. In the meantime, just let them do their thing! * From Andrew A. Yeager, Wilmette, IL: In Scuttlebutt's piece "The Battle for Europe" (in Issue 2361), an interesting point was made about who is cheering for the Kiwis - worthy of more discussion or a 'Butthead poll such as: "Who do you want to win the Cup?" or better yet, "Would the America's Cup returning to New Zealand be good for the AC event/racing?" As a sailor who has spent a fair amount of time in NZ including the AC event in 2003, I found it interesting that the US is second only to NZ for Team NZ store shipments - according to recent stats from the TNZ store released last week. My observation: Americans greatly respect the nearly 100% national effort by the Kiwis, perhaps cheering on Yank afterguard TNZ members Terry Hutchinson and Kevin Hall as well. What American AC fans do not enjoy (as much) is the fact that land-locked Switzerland are even in this event with scant "Swiss" nationals involved in a team that bares the Swiss flag. I hope the Kiwis win, getting the vindication they deserve as great sailors, then bring real nationality rules to the event. I want a real U.S. team to battle to world's best again. * From Stephan Mueller: Regarding the new regulations for LA Harbor (in Issue 2362), it is always revealing to see the politicians try to solve complicated problems. And of course, these short-timers are long gone when it is discovered that all they have done is slam a round peg into a square hole. Nice to see our tax-money so well spent. * From Roger Clark: I was LOL when I read that Mike Gebhardt was jumping back into the Olympic windsurfing world. If this isn’t testament of how far North America is removed from the medal podium, what is. As for the other classes, it looks like the continent is on its usual path of becoming competitive just in time. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You know you're a redneck when you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say "Cool Whip" on the side. Special thanks to O'pen BIC, Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week, and Onne van der Wal. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
