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SCUTTLEBUTT #228 - December 2, 1998
AMERICA'S CUP
ESPN Inc will televise the 2000 America's Cup, to be sailed off the shores
of Auckland, New Zealand. More than 70 hours of programming is planned on
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic, with nightly race coverage beginning in
January 2000 with the challenger semifinals, followed by the challenger
finals. (There is no defender selection tournament as New Zealand is
fielding only one team.)
The best-of-nine America's Cup series between New Zealand and the top
challenger -- the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup -- will begin February 18
and will be televised live in primetime. The agreement also includes
special programs before, during and after the event.
ESPN helped to transform the America's Cup from a sport with little
awareness to a cultural phenomenon documented on newspapers' front pages.
In 1983, ESPN interrupted regularly scheduled programming to carry the
seventh and decisive race in which Australia defeated the United States and
received record ratings. Based upon that experience, ESPN acquired the
rights to the 1987 America's Cup from Australia and earned three CableACEs
and numerous other awards with its breakthrough late-night coverage. The
network also televised the 1988, 1992 and 1995 events from San Diego. The
1992 telecasts won a CableACE for directing and a Sports Emmy in the
Technical Team Remote category.
INSIGHT FROM THE TORNADO WORLDS
(A special report to the 'Butt-heads by Charlie Ogletree and John Lovell
from the recently completed Tornado World Championships.)
The regatta is over. We finished in 10th place overall, first North
American boat by 10 places. We finished the regatta with a 20th and a 5th
place in the final two races. The final race was a great way to end the
regatta. We rounded the first mark in 1st place in 18 knots of breeze. We
learned we need to improve our downwind speed as each downwind we would
lose boats and then we would pass them all back upwind. Unfortunately we
finish downwind so our 1st turned into a 5th. Some more hours of training
and testing should solve our problems.
Darren Bundock and John Forbes (AUS) are the new World Champions. Roland
Gabler finished 2nd and Fernando Leon 3rd. The Australian team has set a
new speed standard we all need to work to achieve.
Our next event is the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January. This event
is a qualifier for the 1999 Pre-Olympics in Sydney. Our boats should arrive
from Brazil just in time, hopefully. We just ordered a new boat and we are
planning to spend a great deal of time next spring racing in Europe. --
Charlie Ogletree and John Lovell
THE LAND OF OZ
After a resounding win in the Tornado World Championship in Buzios, Brazil
by Darren Bundock and John Forbes, Australia has three World Champions in
Olympic Sailing Classes. It is the first time Australia has had three
sailing World Champions in Olympic Classes in any one year, and marks the
end of a very successful year for sailing in Australia. Australia finishes
1998 with six world champions:
- Darren Bundock and John Forbes - Tornado Class (Olympic)
- Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips - 49er Class (Olympic)
- Colin Beashel and David Giles - Star Class (Olympic)
- Roger Blasse - OK Dinghy Class
- Kerrie Ireland and Jacinta Tonner - Women1s Hobie 16 Class
- Mark Thorpe - Moth Class
Australian Yachting Federation site:
http://aussailing.org
TRANSPAC
Rich Roberts noted that first three finishers in the '97 Transpac
(Pyewacket, Cheval, and Victoria) will all have different owners/skippers
if they sail in the next Transpac Race. Roy Disney has a new boat being
built and Pyewacket is seriously for sale; Hal Ward sold Cheval; and Mike
Campbell donated Victoria.
Transpac sure is a different game since the IOR 70 rating limit was
removed. We seen the cost of line honors escalate dramatically and the ULDB
70s which for many years raced-level for the Barn Door Trophy, have
migrated in great numbers to the Great Lakes, where they still rule the roost.
HURRY HURRY HURRY
Santa has been seen leaving the offices of Pacific Yacht Embroidery and
Imprintables. Could it be that a lot of racers are going to be surprised at
Christmas? For you appreciative boat owners and crew call Frank Whitton
(619-226-8033) for your holiday needs. He can produce that something
special for you. Time is flying though and don't wait until its too late to
deliver before the holidays!!!
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
Letters may be edited for space (250 words max) and clarity and anything
resembling a personal attack will quickly disappear!
> From Neil W. Humphrey (Vancouver, BC, CAN) - TWO THUMBS UP for Peter
Johnstones Guest Editorial "Growing the Sport" in SB # 224. Great detail on
how to introduce and retain people in our sport. Been there myself as some
30+ years ago my parents enrolled me in a sailing program at Kitsilano
Yacht Club. Basically to keep me off the streets.
I caught the sailing bug then. It was a good time too as KYC was a center
for dinghy sailing in the late 60's and early 70's. The club had teams
sailing in most international and Olympic events. Even the social and
cruising events were a good compliment to the all the racing that was going
on. It was such a thriving and colorful environment to socialize and
compete in.
Today, walking bye the old club is sad and unsettling to me as I can see
how the sport of sailing has NOT GROWN as the club looks like it is just
surviving. Looking back from now to the late 60's has our sport grown in
numbers or in being marketed to the public any better? I don't think that
in NA we have kept pace with our counterparts in Europe, Australia and New
Zealand. Do these countries have a better understanding of Youth Programs,
Sport Growth & Retention, Amateurs Vs. Pros, Amateur to Pro Farm Systems
and Marketing to Big Business? We should take a look and see what is
different rather than keep dragging the above story on.
>> From Mike Benedict -- Thanks for the sad news on Hugh's passing. I spent
many hours on the phone with Hugh during the development of cruising class
schemes and rating ideas. We shared his results and ours at SDYC in our
Mexican races to refine these ideas. In Hawaii last summer, he saw one
more culmination of his hard work in the first Cruising Class in the
Transpac. He was as happy then as I've seen him. He was always fun to chat
with, and always had the right goal - how to get more people, in more
different boats, with more different perspectives involved in our sport. I
hope someone will pick up his mission.
>> From Randy Smith -- Now I know why Terry Harper is the Executive
Director (of US Sailing). His guest editorial is accurate, well spoken, and
puts all the complainers in their place. If you guys spent as much time
wet-sanding your bottoms or doing crew practice, the joy of winning more
races would far outweigh the burden of wearing live saving gear. Thanks,
Tom, for signing the death certificate for this subject!
>> From Derek Webster -- Last weekend, I was down in Texas for the Bruce
Cup. Interestingly enough, the Byte rep was down there hawking his
wares... notably the 29er. I didn't have a chance to sail it, but a friend
did. What I hear is this: The boat will sell for around $5000... not bad,
considering that's what a new 420 or FJ will run. The 29er has a
self-tacking jib, set on a traveller. The spinnaker halyard is run like a
Laser 2 with bow launcher When you pull on the halyard, the sprit goes out
as the spinnaker launches.
The early problems with the boat getting up to speed have been corrected.
Many of the features are the same as on the 49er. The vang is above the
boom, The sail splits at the tack to go around the vang. There is an
asymmetrical chute with a sprit. The stern is open and self bailing. -
Noticeable differences: Single trapeze instead of two. The wings don't go
as far out. The 29er is distributed by Byte Boats, while the 49er comes
from Vanguard.
My friend came back stoked, and said the chase boat couldn't keep up, and
they were clocked at 17 knots... in 15-20 Knots of breeze.
SYDNEY - HOBART
Entries for the Telstra 54th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race officially closed
today with a total fleet of 116 yachts, including entries from Great
Britain, Switzerland, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and the USA, as well
as well as Australia and New Zealand. Despite some late withdrawals from
the original list of yachts applying to enter, it is still the largest
fleet for the blue water classic since 1989, other than the 371-boat fleet
that contested the 50th Hobart in 1994.
Entries by State and country: New South Wales 62, Victoria 20; Tasmania 12;
Queensland 5; South Australia 7; Western Australia 1; Australian Capital
Territory 2; Papua New Guinea 2; Great Britain 2; USA 1; Finland 1; New
Caledonia 1.
The race record is 2 days 14 hours 07 minutes 10 seconds set by the German
maxi yacht Morning Glory in 1996.
For more details:
http://www.syd-hob.telstra.com.au
TIP O' THE WEEK
Things You Can do to Stay Focused:
1.Think clearly... think ahead. If you feel yourself getting tense or
nervous prior to the start of a race, simply take a few deep breaths, note
the tension in your muscles and relax them, clear your head by
concentrating on your next move.
2.A quiet boat is a fast boat. Yelling commands, and other forms of nervous
energy only detract from the team's focus.
3.A little positive reinforcement goes along way.
4.Imagine yourself executing your next move perfectly.
5.Ask what comes next. Keeping a running dialogue based on this question
will focus your thinking on the next best move and will steal your
attention away from negative thoughts. -- Contributed by the Coach at
Sailweb.net.
YOUR BOAT PICTURE GOES HERE
Would you like a MasterCard with a picture of your boat on it? Would you be
more interested if there was no annual fee for the card? Well, you can get
one through the North Sails fall catalog. And you can order this catalog
online: -- it too is free:
http://www.northsailscatalog.com/
AROUND ALONE
Brad Van Liew, skipper of Balance Bar, the youngest and one of two U.S.
entrants in Around Alone 1998-99, will be the guest at a live online
conference/chat this Thursday, 3 December. Conference participants may ask
questions of Van Liew and race officials.
Access to the conference can be obtained in two ways: either through the
standard forum chat/conference link in the CompuServe Sailing Forum, or via
the Internet (http://go.compuserve.com/sailing) and try out the new
CompuServe Web Forum Chat.
The conference is scheduled for 1800 GMT (2000 Cape Town Time, 1300 EST,
1000 PST, 1900 Paris Time, 0600 Auckland Time). -- Dan Miller
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
It is always the right time to do the right thing.
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