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SCUTTLEBUTT #491 - January 27, 2000LOUIS VUITTON CUP FINALS"America's Cup racing at its finest," Paul Cayard said during today's second race of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals. Sarcasm dripped from each word, the result of a frustratingly light and shifty day on the inner Hauraki Gulf. Cayard, who has skippered a challenger and defender in the last two Cup Matches, relied on luck more than experience today to win Race 2 of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals by 1:33. Although Luna Rossa seemed to be faster on two different occasions today, AmericaOne squared the best-of-nine series at 1-1. The Americans' victory was hardly convincing. They trailed by a whopping 1:49 at the first windward mark after Luna Rossa found a nice wind shift with pressure. AmericaOne reduced Luna Rossa's lead to 19 seconds at the second windward mark, and then the Italians made the fatal decision not to stay in touch with AmericaOne on the second run. They let the Americans get to the left side of the run and, with more than 1,500 metres of separation, AmericaOne swooped past to take the lead, which it held to the finish. The start was delayed 65 minutes while the race committee waited for the wind to settle. The strength was above the minimum of five knots -- just -- but the direction kept swinging through a wide arc, making it difficult to set a course. The start was finally held at 2:20 p.m., with a windward leg set at 120 degrees. The huge wind shifts, up to 80 degrees, reigned today, reminding many observers of the light and fluky conditions off San Diego in '92 and '95. Despite the victory, AmericaOne should be wary. Twice Luna Rossa sped away from even with AmericaOne. On the first beat, Luna Rossa turned a half-boat length deficit into a huge lead. On the second beat it stretched out to a 19-second lead after being bow-to-bow with AmericaOne. The speed differences were likely due in part to wind pressure differences and positioning, but were so great that there'd better be concern in the AmericaOne camp, or skipper Cayard won't be competing in his third successive Cup Match. -- Quokka Sports America's Cup website, http://www.americascup.org/ TV Television coverage for today's Louis Vuitton Finals race seems geared for insomniacs and VCR junkies. Race 3 will air on ESPN2 on Friday, January 28 at 2:00 AM Eastern time, which is Thursday, January 27 at 11:00 PM Pacific time. This program will be two and a half hours in length. JUST FOR YOU I don't care what kind of sailing you do -- Douglas Gill's line of foul weather gear and gloves is soooo huge they'll have EXACTLY what you want. And their gear is the most comfortable you can buy. The stuff is so good that Gill guarantees all of it against defects in material and workmanship for the lifetime of the product. You can shop online, and one look at their website will make you a believer, just like the curmudgeon. Now tell me again - what are you waiting for? http://www.douglasgill.com MIAMI OLYMPIC CLASSES REGATTA The first day of the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta was sailed at the Coral Reef Yacht Club. EUROPE: 1. Soren Johnsen, DEN, 3 points; 2. Lenka Smidova, DEN, 10; 3. Courtney Dey, USA, 14; 4. Krysia Pohl, USA, 14; 5. Linda Wennerstrom, USA, 16; FINN: 1. Mark Herrmann, USA, 5 points; 2. Richard Clarke, CAN, 6; 3. Mike Milner, CAN,11; 4. Darrell Peck, USA, 17; 5. Michael Deyett, USA, 21; LASER: 1. Mark Mendelblatt, USA, 7 points; 2. Peer Moberg, NOR, 18 ; 3. Serge Kats, NED, 19; 4. John Torgerson, USA, 24; 5. Michael GIles, RSA, 25; TORNADO: 1. John Lovell / Charlie Ogletree, USA, 6 points; 2. Robbie Daniel / Jacques Bernier, USA, 8; 3. Lars Guck / P.J. Schaffer, USA, 13; 4. Richard Feeney / Jon Farrar, USA, 19; 5. Doug Camp / Corrie Jones, USA, 23; STAR: 1. Mark Reynolds / Magnus Liljedahl, USA, 4 points; 2. Marc Pickel / Thomas Auracher, GER, 4; 3. Jose Van Der Ploeg / Rafael Trujillo, ESP, 6; 4. Mark Neeleman / Jos Schrier, NED, 10; 5. Ross Macdonald / Kai Bjorn, CAN, 15; MISTRAL: 1. Kazuyoshi Sazuki, JPN, 6 points; 2. Keisuke Ogawa, JPN, 7; 3. Ben Barger, USA, 9; 4. Patrick Downey, USA, 10; 5. Mark Powell, USA, 13; Complete results: http://www.ussailing.org/News/mocr00/ WAY COOL Photos have been posted on the International Moth web of the foil-borne moth that turned heads at the recent world championships. This was the first instance where a foil-borne dinghy competed head-to-head around a triangular course against "conventional" boats (if 50 pound hulls that are 13" wide can be called "conventional"). One photo, in particular, is interesting as the foil-borne boat rounds the jibe mark with nearby traffic. International moths have made a quantum leap: http://www.freeyellow.com/members7/imca-wa/WorldImages/index.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) 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 Craig Fletcher -- Does the word 'cover' not translate well into Italian? -- From Bob Keim -- A friend, born and raised in Venice, Italy went home for Christmas. I asked her if she'd heard anything about the LVC? She said, "I am so sick of hearing about that thing. That's all they're talking about over there. One of the government TV stations was continually showing Prada's races 24 hours a day." Well, I guess they have a history of sailing in Venice. -- From Sandy Purdon (In reply to Steve Morton's comments on the next venue for the America's Cup) -- While I wish Paul Cayard and the St. Francis YC the best, I am concerned that San Francisco Bay would not be able to hold a fair event for the next defense. The bowl effect for spectators would be fantastic and the winds would be terrific. The town is exciting and would offer much to the AC fan. But there are problems: 1. The bay has huge tidal changes that would make it a parade to the city front or elsewhere depending on the direction of the current that flows so dramatically. Instead of looking for shifts and opportunities to cover, the race would be for the current. 2. Sailing in the South bay would be difficult because of the SF airport. In San Diego we had to have a lot of air space reserved for helicopters, blimps, etc. That is why we sailed in the ocean off Point Loma among other reasons. 3. The commercial shipping into San Francisco and Oakland is a steady stream of freighters. How will they be diverted during the 5 months of challengers and AC racing? There are many pluses for SF Bay but I don't see the negatives being addressed. -- From BRIAN TRUBOVICH -- INTERESTING TO READ YOUR SUMMARY OF THE FIRST RACE IN THE LOUIS VUITTON FINAL-YOU MADE IT SOUND LIKE GAME SET AND MATCH TO PRADA, WELL DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS JUST YET, LETS WAIT FOR A FEW MATCHES BEFORE WE DECIDE ON THE CHALLENGER, I THINK YOU MIGHT JUST HAVE GOT IT WRONG, I THINK IT'S CALLED "JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS" Curmudgeon's Comment -- Perhaps you missed the fact that the summary you referenced was not ours. As is frequently the case, we pulled it off Quokka's official America's Cup website, http://www.americascup.org -- From DJ Cathcart, Abracadabra Syndicate -- Are we that quickly forgotten???!!! Wyland painted our yachts, right down to the humuhumunukunuku apua'a (state fish of Hawaii) on the port stern quarter of USA 50. -- From Ray Pendleton, Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- Uh...sorry, but the artwork on the topsides of Abracadabra 2000 was done by Wyland, not DeWitt. -- From Aaron Lee -- I think you may be confusing Dewitt and Wyland. I'm not sure this is flattering to either. Curmudgeon's comment: While our erstwhile copywriters beavering away in the catacombs of our garage operation sometimes get carried away in their enthusiasm, we are happy to acknowledge that John Kolius's AC boats were indeed painted by the extraordinary talent of Wyland. Jim Dewitt at http://www.jimdewitt.com of course is renowned for creating collectible paintings for those who appreciate the grace and beauty of the seas and its many creatures. And you should see the embarrassed expression on the face of 'Butt's new advertising manager. SAILING ON TELEVISION Russell Bowler, Vice President of Farr Yacht Design, will be appearing on Discovery Science Live this evening, January 26, 2000. This weeks show, entitled "The Science of Yachting," will take place from 8-9 PM EST and will be featured live on both the Discovery Science Channel (where available) and at www.discovery.com - Science Live link (audio only). -- Amy Fazekas If you wish to submit questions prior to the broadcast, fill out the "submit a question" form on: http://www.discovery.com/news/sciencelive/sciencelive.html QUOTE / UNQUOTE (The following quotes were found on the Louis Vuitton Cup website, http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/) Paul Cayard, on choosing the right side: "We had equal votes before the start - left or right. John wanted the left but it wasn't real strong. I thought it would be better to start full strength on port. The first cross we were ahead, we could have had the left and the instantaneous decision based on some input before the race was wrong." Torben Grael, tactician of Luna Rossa, on not covering AmericaOne at the start of the second run: "It was too late for us to go back to a normal set so we just gybe set. We were not unhappy with that because we were going away from all the spectator boats that were on that side of the course." Torben Grael, on differences in windward boat speed: "I think it was just the positioning of the boats that made that happen. We were to leeward and we were overstanding the mark as well." Paul Cayard, skipper of AmericaOne, on boat speed differences: "Obviously today it was mostly shifts. There was a time we looked fast, out of the first leeward mark, then when we both tacked to port I thought we were going to roll them and they survived and hung onto the lead. I couldn't believe they could do that from there. The wind is fanning out like a cat's paw, so depending on where it's located you might have the wind more on your nose and the guy to leeward could have it more from his windward side." Torben Grael, tactician of Luna Rossa, on not covering AmericaOne at the start of the second run: "It was too late for us to go back to a normal set so we just gybe set. We were not unhappy with that because we were going away from all the spectator boats that were on that side of the course." Paul Cayard, on splitting away at the second weather mark: "We switched to a bear-away set when we saw the wind going right as we approached the mark. We started comprehending that the whole day was changing from whatever that was this morning to a sea breeze day. When that happens, the wind is way left at the bottom mark. We were struggling with the torn sail and dodging spectator boats." Dyer Jones, Executive Director of ACCA, on spectator fleet control: "The wind shifted a lot. It's a tough job, not only for the sailors to sail under the conditions we had today but also for a Race Committee to set up a course and keep that course as square to the breeze as possible, both upwind and down. Paul Cayard on spectator fleet influence: "I think we got the worst of that on the second run when the fleet was way to far on the right side and we sailed in between some of the boats - the fleet was actually on the course. I'm not sure if that's challengable or not - in the Whitbread you've got boats all over the course." Still more race quotes: http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ SAFETY AT SEA With the continual development of US Sailing's website, the Safety at Sea Committee has been adding documents:
US Sailing website: http://ussailing.org AS SEEN BY JOHN BERTRAND Wow -- what a day! The wind moved from 130 degrees at the start to 015 degrees. I make that a 115-degree left rotation during the race. Thrown in with that was a large spectator fleet which didn't know what the hell was going on. When Prada came around the bottom mark for the second beat to windward, still with a lead of more than a minute, it sailed smack into the spectator fleet, which was scattered way beyond the leeward layline because of the massive wind shift to the left. Prada had nowhere to go but to tack away into less air, and as the gods shone down on Paul Cayard and John Kostecki in AmericaOne, the spectator fleet melted away to allow AmericaOne to continue sailing on its existing starboard tack. Within five minutes, the lead had changed -- and that was halfway through the race. Before that, Prada's Brazilian tactician Torben Grael was in perfect harmony with the wind, and positioned Luna Rossa to take advantage of the freshening and lifting breeze up the first beat, taking his team into a seemingly insurmountable lead of 1:49 at the first top mark. So then on to the second square run, halfway through the race. Prada had worked back into a three boat length lead when AmericaOne split its spinnaker whilst spearing off into the spectator fleet, with nowhere to go but to hang on until it could change spinnakers. But Kostecki had called that initial port set at the 11th hour before going around that top mark. That was a key decision point in the race. That's why he's considered so good. Prada, meanwhile, had committed to a gybe-set onto starboard. AmericaOne finally gybed, inadvertently hoisted the wrong gennaker, reset a new sail and pow! It was in the lead! And not a small lead: with the further rotation of the wind to the left, Kostecki had positioned AmericaOne beautifully to extend its lead to 1:27 at the bottom mark. Amazing stuff, amazing place. We did see some drag-racing between these boats today, and Prada is certainly slippery upwind. This must be a headache for Cayard and Kostecki. Hard to kill Prada off -- it doesn't seem to be down and out too often. -- John Bertrand, Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ CHRIS LAW'S PERSPECTIVE What a comeback. Halfway up the first beat, AmericaOne's supporters were groaning. The onboard cam showed the dire emotion on Paul Cayard's face as he trailed by 1:49 at the windward mark. Not a good set of cards to be dealt on a light, fluky day. The breeze seemed to forever be going left, and there were enormous wakes from spectator boats. But AmericaOne crew members kept their cool and showed why they were labelled the pre-race favourites. I have to say I gave the start to Cayard's steel-grey yacht, but it seemed obsessed with going right. If you looked up the course its sistership, practising, was high on port tack, indicating a left-hand breeze. And if I saw it, surely those on board the race yacht saw it. Easy for me to say. Anyhow, when Prada and AmericaOne met for the first time, Prada couldn't cross and elected to dip. But AmericaOne's tactician John Kostecki wanted the right and elected to lee-bow, which I don't understand. If AmericaOne had let Prada dip and get to the right, it would've walked into the left-hand shift and led around the top mark. As it was, it suffered the indignity of a large deficit and held in there down the run and started the second beat with quite a good gain. Then the outside influences came into play. Prada, well ahead, had to negotiate a misplaced spectator fleet. As it was, Prada elected to do a hitch to clear the offenders and AmericaOne was left with an open door to bank its second profit of the race. Walking into yet more left-hand pressure, it must have felt as good as several Red Bull and vodka cocktails. AmericaOne sailed into a better position, put out its right-hand indicator, tacked and took aim at the lunar module from Italy. Somewhat fortuitously, the breeze had gone so far left that Luna Rossa could tack to leeward of AmericaOne and lay the top mark. Now came the key decision of the race, and I put this race success down to the foredeck of AmericaOne. Fourteen seconds, or two and a bit boat lengths, behind coming into the top mark -- with the breeze still going left but fading in intensity -- AmericaOne waited until Prada was committed to a gybe-set. An expensive manoeuvre. And to quote Peter Gilmour, it's one you don't carry out unless you're sure it's a fetch to the leeward mark. I hadn't thought about that, but it's right. The foredeck of AmericaOne was uncommitted about how to round the windward mark. The pole was back off the foredeck. The team quickly switched to a bear-away set, but tore the spinnaker during the hoist. Unnerved, the crew took the jib down and then peeled to a new gennaker. Then the call came to gybe and, just to show off, AmericaOne gybe-peeled to the third spinnaker of the leg and took the lead. It's enough to make you vomit. Now I know why the spinnakers are green. Very impressive. It's the foredeck crew of AmericaOne who won this race. Cool, calm and collected, and ugly-pretty. From then on it was a sleigh ride. A huge lead at the bottom increased to nearly 500 metres, as the breeze just wouldn't give up going left. AmericaOne skied in powder snow all the way home to level the score at one-all. Prada must be kicking itself because to go up two-nil would've been such a star. Now it's back to square one and the series is reduced to a best-of-seven. It's still first to five and all to play for. In the vital ingredients of speed, tactics and crew work, you couldn't tell speed differences today. Tactically, both boats made good and bad calls. But to me, it's the crew work of AmericaOne that won the day. To put it another way, if the team hadn't been good it could have lost the day. -- Chris Law, Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.americascup.org/ PERFORATED TOE-RAILS The huge perforated toe rail on modern boats is a bonafide 'butt bruiser.' These days, crews have learned how to cope with the pain by sailing wearing Camet sailing shorts with the optional foam butt pads. They work, no blue toes, no sleeping legs You get the idea: http://www.camet.com/ INDUSTRY NEWS Forsaking terra firma in favor of life on the open seas, Bernadette Bernon is leaving her post as editorial director at the The Sailing Company, the unit of Miller Sports Group LLC that publishes Cruising World and Sailing World magazines. Effective April 1st, Herb McCormick is promoted to editor of Cruising World; John Burnham retains his title of editor at Sailing World. Executive editor at Cruising World since 1992, McCormick has worn a number of editorial hats since joining the company in 1979. The co-author of "Out There," a book about the first BOC Challenge, he is also the sailing writer for The New York Times and is currently on assignment in New Zealand for the America's Cup competition. An experienced sailor who has logged more than 25,000 offshore miles, including voyages across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and from Australia to Antarctica, McCormick is a native of Newport, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Williams College. The Sailing Company is a unit of New York-based Miller Sports Group which also publishes TENNIS magazine. -- Pamela Rutt THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why are builders afraid to have a 13th floor but book publishers aren't afraid to have a chapter 11? |
