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SCUTTLEBUTT 2844 - Thursday, May 14, 2009Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Ullman Sails and JK3 Nautical Enterprises. SPONSORSHIP IS NOT A DIRTY WORD By Bill Sandberg, WindCheck In Europe, sponsorship is de rigueur for both regattas and individual boats, yet it is still an emerging phenomenon in the U.S. Hard to believe that there are still a number of clubs and organizations that view it as a horrid thought that would demean them or their events. I’ve even heard that it might lower volunteerism, as those volunteers would expect to be paid if they know money was coming in over the transom. I have two words to say about that — horse hockey. The reality is that with costs to run even the simplest regatta going up — fuel, boat maintenance, trophies, etc. — additional monies are needed to make it a first class event. Of course, the event organizers can always raise entry fees, but in this economy, with regatta participation down, that will kill your regatta faster than anything. What do sponsors want in return for their investment? Has anyone thought to ask? I know from my days at Rolex that I got a huge number of sponsor requests asking for money. In return for that, they would do “whatever we wanted.” It was the usual spots to watch on a sponsor boat, tickets to parties, etc. Not what we needed. Our customers (jewelers) had no desire to go watch a sailboat race. Truth be known, most of them got seasick. Tickets were equally valueless. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/WindCheck-5-13-09 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: WindCheck is a wonderful magazine that serves the northeastern U.S. region, and is among those included on Scutttlebutt’s list of preferred suppliers and resources. Also included are 48° North, Latitude 38, and SpinSheet. Are there others that should be added? If so, please do so here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7449 MULTIHULL TAKES ONE STEP CLOSER TO 2012 OLYMPICS The 2009 Mid-Year Meeting of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) was held in Warsaw over May 7-11 and hosted by the Polish Yachting Association. The Mid-Year Meeting brings together the ISAF Council, ISAF’s final decision-making body, as well as the Executive, Events and Audit Committees to consider financial issues and follow up on matters deferred from the previous ISAF Annual Conference. The recently-formed Olympic Commission also had the opportunity to hold their first face-to-face meeting, whilst the Equipment Committee met at the ISAF Secretariat in Southampton, Great Britain late in April. Amongst the key issues discussed was the possible inclusion of an ‘11th medal’ at the 2012 London Olympic Games. ISAF expects to hear from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in August whether ISAF’s application for an 11th sailing event for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition will be successful or not. A total of 15 International Federations have asked for 32 additional events adding 815 athletes to the Games Programme that is already close to the limits set by the IOC. Also it seems the IOC wants to leave room for two new sports, a decision which will be made in October. In preparation for the decision on the 11th medal, ISAF recognizes it should let the sailors know as soon as possible what will happen with the selection of class. It was agreed by the Council that the Executive Committee is authorized to make the decision, after ISAF is informed of the IOC’s verdict. The options for the 11th event have also been narrowed down: it will be a Multihull event and the equipment choice is between Tornado and Hobie Tiger. It should be noted that both the Equipment and Events Committee have made recommendations in favour of the Tornado class. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/28261.php SECOND STRAIGHT TITLE FOR PAZ AT SPANISH PLATU NATIONALS Carlos Paz and his team on Platu 25 “Vilagarcia” sealed their victory in the 2009 Open Spanish Championship, May 1-3, renewing their national title for the second year in a row in one of the most competitive fleets in Europe. Despite an 8th place finish, the team maintained their overall position in the final day of racing with breezes gusting to 20 knots. The team was fully powered by Ullman Sails for both national title wins, showing speed on the fleet in light and heavy breeze. Make an investment in your performance - we do. Visit Ullman Sails at http://www.ullmansails.com NO CRUISE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC Chris Bedford looks at a map of the north Atlantic, one slide in a show detailing the (Volvo Ocean Race) leg seven trip to Galway (IRL). The mood in the Ericsson pavilion is light and informal, but his summary is quite stark. "This leg is fraught with danger," he says. Jules Salter, the Ericsson 4 navigator, is reclining into his chair, so relaxed in his general manner that you half expect him to start snoring. "It'll be challenging," he adds. "Pretty rude awakening after a nice, cushy stopover." He sits back in his chair and seems to not have a care in the world. That's just his way. But the preceding half-hour briefing issued by Salter and Bedford, the team's meteorologist, explained why no one will stake their house on the identity of the race's overall winner, even if Ericsson 4 do look comfortable with a 12.5-point lead."You will remember the last edition of the race, we lost a boat and worst yet a man on this leg," adds Bedford. He continues through his slides, making the case that there are all manner of potential obstacles waiting in the 2,550-nautical mile track separating America from Ireland. "This region here," Bedford says, "shows the ice populations. This is very good information, it is updated every single day." He points to a map (see image at right) of the Atlantic waters off Newfoundland, a Canadian province just six degrees north of Boston. Highlighted within is a zone, more than 300,000 square miles in area, that shows where ice has been cited in the water. In a particular one-degree box of longitude and latitude there are no fewer than 48 icebergs. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-5-13-09 * VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Began Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. The next event is the 2,550 nm transatlantic Leg 7 from Boston to Galway, Ireland that starts May 16th and is expected to finish by May 23rd. Seven of the eight teams are expected to compete (Team Russia will not compete). Leg 7 crew lists: http://tinyurl.com/Leg-7-crew-list Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 INTRIGUE ON FIRST DAY OF AUDI MEDCUP CIRCUIT Alicante, Spain (May 13, 2009; Day 1) - The launch of the five event Audi MedCup Circuit for the TP52 Series began today at the City of Alicante Trophy, and it did not commence without the intrigue that is fully expected from this highly professional circuit. With 2008 champion Quantum Racing (Botin/Carkeek 2008) deep in the first race, last year’s season runner-up Bribon (Judel/Vrolijk 2007)with tactian Ross Macdonald (CAN) led around the first lap before the race was abandoned due to fickle winds. The re-start and lone race was won by the circuit’s first ever Swiss team Marazzi Sailing, with 4-time Olympic medallist Jochen Schuemann (GER) calling tactics for Swiss Olympic Star sailor Flavio Marazzi. However, at the crew weigh-in after the race, Marazzi’s team was found to exceed the crew weight limit of 1273 kilos, leading the International Jury to penalize the team three points. Thus, now emerging at the top of the standings is Argentinean helm Guillermo Parada and his team’s new boat, Matador (Judel/Vrolijk 2009), hoping their new stead will elevate them above their third position in the 2008 overall season championship. Racing continues through Sunday. -- Excerpts from event website: http://2009.medcup.org TOP COLLEGE TEAMS HEADING TO NATIONALS The top college sailing teams were have been announced which will be taking part in the three major spring Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) championships to be held in San Francisco, CA and to be sailed in Flying Juniors: Women's Dinghy National Championship, APS Team Race National Championship, and Gill Dinghy National Championship. * May 25-27: Women's Dinghy Natl. Championship (at St. Francis YC) -- Semi-Finals on Monday, May 25: MAISA: Navy, Old Dominion, Georgetown, U/Pennsylvania; MCSA: Michigan, Notre Dame; NEISA: Connecticut College, Rhode Island, Boston College, Dartmouth, Boston University, Brown; PCCSC: Hawaii, UC/Irvine, USC; SAISA: Eckerd, South Florida; SEISA: Oklahoma -- Top 9 Semi-Finalists advance to Finals on May 26-27 with the following teams: MAISA: St. Mary's, Hobart/WmSmith; MCSA: Wisconsin; NEISA: Yale, Harvard; NWICSA: Western Washington; PCCSC: Stanford; SAISA: Charleston; SEISA: Texas A&M Galveston * May 29-31: APS Team Race Natl. Championship (at Treasure Island Sailing Ctr) GROUP 1: Georgetown, Yale, Harvard, UC/Irvine, Charleston, Michigan, Tulane GROUP 2: Boston College, St. Mary's, NY Maritime, Stanford, U/Washington, Wisconsin, South Florida * June 1-3: Gill Dinghy National Championship (at St. Francis YC) Boston College, Boston University, Charleston, Eckerd, Georgetown, Harvard, Hobart/WmSmith, Navy, NY Maritime, Old Dominion, U/Pennsylvania, Roger Williams, South Florida, Stanford, St. Mary's, Tufts, Washington College, Yale ICSA website: http://www.collegesailing.org FEATURED J/BROKERAGE If you have a passion for speed, the J/65 BRAND NEW DAY is in a league of its own. The J/65 is the flagship passagemaker in the J Boat line - the ultimate private sailing yacht for dedicated J Boat enthusiasts. The J/65 has exceptional performance under non-overlapping headsails, double-handed ease of operation, minimum on-deck maintenance, luxurious accommodations, stunning aesthetics, and great value. Built in 2006, she has been lightly sailed, finished 2nd in Class in 2008 STC Bermuda Race and enjoyed the NYYC 2008 cruise. Please contact: Jeff Brown at JK3 Enterprises for more information (619-709-0697, http://www.jk3yachts.com). Also, here is a link for pictures & specs: http://tinyurl.com/J-65-BND SAILING SHORTS * Fort Walton Beach, FL (May 13, 2009) - After two days of racing at the A-Cat North American Championships, reigning champion Las Guck picked up where he left off and currently leads the 42-boat field after five races. With fickle winds and lightning storms on Tuesday, Guck stumbled to a ninth place in the lone race. However, today’s 8-13 knots provided Guck with the stability he needed to rattle off four straight bullets. Currently in second is Matt Struble with Pete Melvin in third. Racing continues through Friday with six more races planned. -- Complete results: http://www.fwyc.org/Regattas2009/acatna/results.html * North Sails and Sailing Weather Service have partnered to offer free weather forecasts for the Sperry Top-Sider Seattle NOOD from May 15-17, 2009. Details at http://tinyurl.com/Seattle-NOOD-09. Additionally, North Sails will host a tide, weather & tactics seminar at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Seattle, WA on Thursday, May 14, 2009 starting at 5:30pm. Free pizza, salad & dessert provided to all attendees. Bruce Hedrick will begin speaking about Tide & Weather at 6:00pm, followed by a Tactics Seminar led by Jeff Madrigali of North Sails at 6:45pm. RSVP: Ann Christiansen, 206-632-5753 or ann@office.northsails.com * (May 13, 2009; Day 3) - For the 24 teams of Formula 18s and Nacra 20 One Designs competing in the Tybee 500, the third leg (of six legs) from Jupiter, FL to Cocoa Beach, FL would be the second longest of the event. The current elapsed time leader of Mischa Heemskirk/Eduard Zanen of Team Whike did today what had yet to be done in the first two legs by winning the leg on elapsed time despite the Nacra 20s owing time. Tomorrow’s leg takes the fleet to Daytona Beach, FL, with the final leg finishing in Tybee Island, GA on May 16th. -- Event website: http://www.tybee500.com * Venice, Italy will host the opening event of the 2009 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series on May 15-17, during which 10 world-class international teams will battle it out in six prime European venues. Ten Extreme 40 catamarans will race within metres of the shore with outstanding viewing from the Riva dei Setti, crewed by an unprecedented world-class line-up of 40 sailors totalising 50 World Championship titles, 17 round-the-world navigations and 27 America's Cup participations between them. -- Full report: http://www.isharescup.com/container.asp?id=20828 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: May 15-17 - Laser Masters North Americans - Wrightsville Beach, NC, USA May 15-17 - Seattle Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta - Seattle, WA, USA May 16-17- 2nd Annual Joe Manganello Memorial Regatta - Madison, CT, USA May 16-17 - Stone Cup Invitational - San Francisco, CA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get one letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Will Baillieu, Crewman, Australia II 1983: The America’s Cup has seen its fair share of “rule bending” since the original event in 1851. When the Cup was finally unbolted from its case in the NYYC in 1983, we hoped the event might finally be allowed to breathe; to live up to its reputation as the pinnacle of sailing. How disappointing then to see the event descend into a farce, with lengthy Court Challenges and an on again off again multi-hull Deed of Gift events. Challengers are currently on hold, while some petulant Billionaires hold the event to ransom. For some teams, the delay will be fatal, as finances dry up. Unfortunately, the integrity of the event will always be this risk while the holder of the Cup controls the process. Louis Vuitton had done an outstanding job organising the Challengers. Why not hand them the job of organising the Cup itself? On the other hand, I never thought I’d say this but I actually rather liked the April 1st report of the event going back permanently to Newport R.I. with the NYYC as perpetual trustees of the event. At least we knew where we stood back then. Maybe a case of “better the devil we know etc…” Of course there is an underlying assumption here that the NYYC may not agree with. Here is a link to the April Fools edition of Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0401/ * From Ted Pike, Port Townsend, WA: Pat McCormicks great letter (about Transpac in Scuttlebutt 2843) made me laugh out loud and remember that night. I was sailing on Jim Dennings Cal 40 Montgomery Street. We had a great crew that were just fun and good sailors that all had nicknames in the first few days, and that night they were used. It was quite on the edge and you were sweating to keep under the chute and 1/2 hr was a long time. The next morning when things settled down a bit and roll call came, we went from sixth to first or second in class only because we kept the rig in the boat. It was a great race and because of that sail I own the well known Lapworth 45 ‘Annie Too’ that sailed on the Bay for 35yrs * From Kees Wijnstekers: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2842) I am surprised that no other Dutch speaking sailors have chimed in about “The Onzin Institute”, which translates as the Institute of the Ridiculous and Dr. Hijgen Krachtig might be better known as Dr Heavy Breathing. FICKER IS QUICKER When Bart Beek commented in Scuttlebutt 2843 about the mustache story in Issue 2842 (which theorized how the better sailors had, as Paul Cayard described, “fairing strips”), Bart said how a true scientist probing this subject would want to examine the non-follicles on the skinhead who took advantage of lucky shifts, inept race committee work, and bumbling opponents to win the Ahmanson Cup, the Congressional Cup, the Star Worlds, and a little known trophy called the America’s Cup, all with no visible hair whatsoever on or around his head. Since Bart did not disclose the person’s name, we did the most dangerous thing that can be done at Scuttlebutt World Headquarters… we asked the ‘buttheads to send us an email on who they thought Bart was referring to. That kept us busy for awhile, and while nearly everyone knew it was Bill Ficker (aka “Ficker is Quicker”), some of the other responses should also be noted: John Kostecki, Bouwe Bekking, Ed Baird, Gerry Driscoll, Bus Mosbasher, Tom Whidden, Gary Jobson, and the very un-bald Paul Cayard and Dennis Conner. From all the correct responses, the raffle winner for the Scuttlebutt University t-shirt was Robin Sodaro. SCUTTLEBUTT AUCTION An auction section has been now added to the Scuttlebutt Forum, to help facilitate the transfer of a few items: * Level Regatta 2008 Mount Gay Hat - free * Battened Hiking shorts - 40% discount * Autographed t-shirt from Volvo Ocean Race - Charity The autographed Scuttlebutt University t-shirt was signed by all the skippers competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/9 at the Boston stopover. This is a one-of-a-kind item, and 100% of the proceeds for this item will go to a sailing charity to be named later. View all items here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/auction CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Transvestite: A guy who likes to eat, drink, and be Mary. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and JK3 Nautical Enterprises. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
