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SCUTTLEBUTT #517 - February 28, 2000

AMERICA'S CUP: RACE LOST BUT COUTTS CLOSES IN ON VICTORY
Russell Coutts won the America's Cup in 1995 with five straight wins and now will almost certainly complete his defence with the same emphatic margin after Team New Zealand's crushing defeat of Prada on Saturday.

With yesterday's Race 4 lost to lack of wind, Coutts aims to have his squad out in both boats today for a short morning's work-out of starting practice and to check a few sails. "We haven't done anything for a day. Sitting around doing nothing doesn't do you any good,' said the Kiwi skipper whose work ethic runs right through the team.

Yesterday, the colossal spectator fleet swelled to 2,500 vessels and a TV audience of over 1 million tuned into a six-hour live broadcast for a race that didn't happen. The breeze briefly spiked at seven knots but otherwise hovered around 4-5 knots as the opposing sea breezes from the north-east and south-west cancelled each other out.

Unable to assert themselves in the start, Prada have yet to cross Team New Zealand's bow in 54 miles of racing. After limbering up in Race 1and Prada's woes in Race 2 with debris on the keel and a gashed head for Max Sirena, Race 3 removed any suggestion that Team New Zealand would be vulnerable to Prada in breezes under 10 knots.

The stark truth for Prada is that there are a maximum of six races remaining. The Italian challengers have to win five before the Kiwis win two, and that is inconceivable. -- by Tim Jeffery in Auckland, www.telegraph.co.uk

POLISH SKIPPER FIRST TO QUALIFY FOR THE RACE
The Polish catamaran Polpharma-Warta crossed the finishing of her transatlantic passage from Cadiz (Spain) to San Salvador (Bahamas) at 14:41:30 GMT on Sunday Feb. 27, 2000, with a lead of 1 day 09h 01mn 23 s over the time limit to qualify for The Race.

After 3885 miles covered in more than 14 days at sea since his departure on Feb. 13, skipper Roman Paszke thus becomes the 1st challenger to officially win the right to line up at the start of The Race, on Dec. 31, 2000. Polpharma- Warta achieved this feat despite losing her mast on Friday, Feb. 25, due to the failure of a chainplate which forced the Poles to cover the last 544 miles of the passage under jury rig.
See http://www.therace.org for updates (in English and French)

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (scuttlebutt@boats.com -- note temporary address for guest editor)

Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree.

-- From Whit Davis
Another race day lost to weather. And they said San Diego was BAD. So much for the experts. Comment: George Middleton was right on in his comment about which boat was speaking English. And I know a number of people on each boat team personally.

-- From Drew Curran
Assuming the Kiwi's win the Cup this time, will they conduct their defense trial the same way next time, meaning Team New Zealand will be the only defending syndicate or will they allow other New Zealand defense syndicates to form to defend the cup? Who would run the Team New Zealand Syndicate since Peter Blake will be leaving to run the Costeau society immediately after the Americas Cup?

-- From Doug Holthaus
Talk here in Auckland is that arrangements have already been made to cancel one of this weeks' races due to "insufficient wind". Conventional wisdom is that the Viaduct Village needs a third gala sales weekend to justify their tenants' investment and make-up for penurious patronage. It seems a shame if either hypothesis proves true, especially after so much effort has gone in to designing a boat and training for the very conditions Harold Bennett has found twice lacking.
PS: Please send my R/T Concorde tix to me care of the Media Centre!

INVESTMENT ADVICE

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FRONTRUNNER MID-WINTERS
The Front Runner Class Association is proud to announce that on March 10 - 12, 2000 Chesapeake One Design will debut the 2000 Front Runner at the Front Runner Mid-Winters hosted by the Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, Florida. This will mark the one-year anniversary for Chesapeake Composites as the builder of the Front Runner and complete the transition from the original manufacturer, Front Runner Boat Works. Class site: http://www.chesapeakeonedesign.com/frhome.html for Front Runner updates, racing schedules, and class association information

NEW ZEALAND SOUVENIRS??
Yes, amazingly huge stuff. Incredibly deep. You can only say you found it here...check out AmericasCupStore.com: Souvenirs from New Zealand - without the expensive airfare! The official store of the America's Cup is online with the widest selection of Official America's Cup 2000, America's Cup, Team New Zealand, and America One merchandise. This exciting event is only every four years -- shop the store and melt that card today!! Go to http://www.americascupstore.com

FLORIDA ETCHELLS CHAMPIONSHIP
The Florida Etchells Championship was taken out this weekend by Toronto's Alan Leibel, sailing with Dave Caesar and Ed Steeves. Second overall (and also from Toronto) was the 1998 World Etchells Champion, Dirk Knuelman. They topped a strong 23 boat fleet, representing three countries (USA, CAN, GBR).

This Event is a forerunner to the Etchells American Midwinter (East) Championship, which forms part of the SORC. The SORC runs from Next Wednesday to Saturday. In a four race (no discard) series, Leibel was very consistent in scoring placing's of 1, 4, 3 and 5, to finish with 12.75 points. Knuelman was six points further back, but only a quarter of a point ahead of Newport's Bryson Hall, who finished third overall.

FOLLOW THE LEADERS
The lads at the top end of our sport got to where they are by insuring nothing was left to chance. And Laser champ John Torgenson recently summed up the feelings of a lot of top sailors with this observation, "It's the best thing I own for sailing. It's awesome." Awesome indeed -it's Camet's new breathable Neoprene Neo-Thermal top. This breakthrough technology senses how hard you're working to insure that trapped vapors (like sweat) disappear quickly. Just one look at this hot new item will sent it directly to the top of your wish list: http://www.camet.com

THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM:
What was the best thing before sliced bread? -- George Carlin

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!