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SCUTTLEBUTT 3128 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Morris Yachts, North Sails, and Ocean Racing. AN OPEN LETTER TO EVERY “SAILING” PARENT IN THE WORLD By Wayne Goldsmith (and Tom Coleman) Dear Sailing Parent, Firstly let me thank you for being a sailing parent. Without you - we have no sport. There is no sailing without you. Programs and coaches could not exist without your support. I appreciate everything you do - the early mornings, the late afternoons, the rush to get dinner ready at night for hungry, tired kids, the long weekends of regatta travel. For everything you do, I thank you. I wanted to write and show my appreciation by giving you something in return; to thank you for all you give the sport. I am going to give you some ideas and advice to help you be the best sailing parent you can be and to help you help your kids enjoy their sailing to the extent of their talent and to the limits of their dreams. Your child. Your child is not a sailor. They are a person who sails. And as a person, who they are impacts on every aspect of their sailing. Real progress in sailing comes not from heredity, strength, skill and hard training - it comes from the development of the whole person: the character, their values, their personality AND of course their genetics, strength, skill etc etc. The training alone is not enough - the development of the person is far more important and far more enduring. Speed, strength, endurance, power, flexibility and technique are all important. But not as important as integrity. Or honesty. Or sincerity. Or humility. Or courage. Or a strong work ethic. Or the ability to accept responsibility for their own actions. Or the ability to work cohesively with others to achieve a common goal. Or self discipline. Or the ability to maintain a sense of humor under pressure and stress. These things not only impact positively on your child’s sailing but on every aspect of their life. And not just now, but for the rest of their life and in everything they do. I love sailing. And I would love your child to be a world record holder and Olympic champion. But I would prefer that your kids become better people through the experience of being involved in this great sport. If they happen to also sail fast .. that is a bonus. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2e2go5t NOAA FORECASTS OIL MOVEMENT The Florida Keys, Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas have a 61 to 80 percent chance of being impacted by oil from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. However, any oil reaching these areas would have spent considerable time degrading and dispersing and would be in the form of tar balls, not a large surface slick, NOAA added. Much of Florida's west coast has a low probability - 20 percent or less - of oiling. NOAA used modeling of historical wind and ocean currents to project the likelihood that surface oil will impact additional U.S. coastline. The coastlines with the highest probability for impact - 81 to 100 percent - extend from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, where there has been and will likely continue to be oil impacts. -- Soundings, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2bgdbx7 MORRIS YACHTS BOAT SHOW, JULY 16-18, NE HARBOR, ME You have a little more than a week to make your plans for your Maine weekend! Why? Morris Yachts is hosting their sixth annual Morris Boat Show at their service yard in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 16-18. This event will showcase a variety Morris Yachts from the latest M-Series daysailers to worthy blue water cruisers to classic Justines and other Morrises. Do not miss this once a year opportunity to board the widest selection of Morris Yachts. Show hours 10-6 Friday and Saturday; 10-4 on Sunday. Click here for current brokerage list: http://www.morrisyachts.com/brokerage or a call 1-207-244-5509. WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR Marstrand, Sweden (July 6, 2010) - The wind switched on early for day one of Stena Match Cup Sweden. The 16 teams were separated into Groups A and B with flights concentrated into one morning race session. Five fast flights were completed in a stable 15 knots with stand out scores from Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team and Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar on a clean 4-0. Williams (Tour Champion - 2007, 2008) smiled his way back to the dock, clearly pleased with his wins over Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Ben Ainslie (gbr), Peter Gilmour (AUS), and Johnie Berntsson (SWE). Noted Williams, “It’s a great start to the week - we faced a tough line-up this morning and given that we actually lost 3 out of 4 starts, we are delighted to win all four races. It’s a new team so we are improving race by race. We are looking forward to more competitive racing tomorrow.” The round robin stage at Stena Match Cup Sweden is considerably more pressurized than at previous Tour events. In each group of eight teams only four will go through to the Quarter Finals. -- Daily report: http://tinyurl.com/2f5352s Day 1: Current Round Robin Standings Group A Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4-0 Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 3-1 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 2-2 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 1-3 Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team 0-4 Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team 0-0 Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team 0-0 Jesper Radich (DEN) Rudy Project Sailing Team 0-0 Group B Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 4-0 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 3-1 Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 2-2 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 1-3 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 0-4 Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 0-0 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team 0-0 Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing 0-0 Pairings and Results: http://tinyurl.com/SMCS-P-R-2010 Video player: http://www.wmrt.com/multimedia/video-gallery.html BACKGROUND: The Stena Match Cup Sweden is the fifth stage of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). FREE MATCH RACING DVD: North U. is set to release a new match racing DVD called Welcome To Match Racing and will give away the first 1,000 copies free of charge. Hosted by three-time U.S. Match Racing Champion Dave Perry, who is the author of Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing and the coach of the U.S. Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Women’s Match Race Team, this DVD takes viewers through the basics of match racing from start to finish. To get a free copy (in the USA or Canada), sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/26gm2ft WHAT DOESN’T KILL US MAKES US STRONGER For the Olympic sailing athlete, competing in Europe is a reality. No continent comes close as being the base for as many top competing residents, but that does not necessarily mean that the events in Europe are held at great racing venues. Maybe the adage of ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’ is why there are so many great European Olympians. This week the 49er class is holding its European Championship in Gdynia, Poland, with Americans Erik Stork and Trevor Moore describing the racing from Tuesday, July 6th: “The Race Committee decided to get ahead of schedule today by sailing four qualifying series races on the second day of the event. The wind was coming off the land, and with our course no more than a few hundred yards off the beach, it was very puffy and shifty. The wind ranged through thirty degrees and from 8 up to 18 knots. It was a trying day to say the least, and we came out no worse for the wear. We had an 11-17-10-1 score-line, which moves us up to fifteenth in the standings. There will be two more races Wednesday to fulfill the nine-race qualifying series schedule. “The difference between a 10th and a 1st today was miniscule. We can tell from experience! The wind was at such an angle that the right side would generally have more wind as it was away from the shore, but the left side would have some phenomenal pressure and favorable shifts that were less reliable. It was important to get off the starting line clean and be able to play the wind where you were. That said, one boat could be in 18 knots and pointing almost directly to the mark while another only 10 boat-lengths away might be in only 8 knots and have no way of getting to the more favorable breeze. It certainly made for exciting racing!” Event reports: http://tinyurl.com/49er-Europeans-2010 Stork/Moore website: http://storckmooresailing.com TOP YOUTH SAILORS GATHERING IN TURKEY The world's top youth sailors will be gathering in Istanbul, Turkey for the start of racing at the 40th edition of the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship which takes place from July 8-17. There will be a record attendance at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2010 with 344 sailors representing 63 nations. Racing is held across eight events, with the prestigious Volvo Trophy to be awarded to the top performing nation at the championship. Here are the events to be sailed: One Person Dinghy Boys - Laser Radial - 56 boats One Person Dinghy Girls - Laser Radial - 51 boats Two Person Dinghy Boys - 420 - 35 boats Two Person Dinghy Girls - 420 - 28 boats Windsurfer Boys - RS:X - 31 boards Windsurfer Girls - RS:X - 20 boards Multihull Open - Sirena SL16 - 13 boats High Performance Dinghy Open - 29er - 17 boats France is the current holder of the Volvo Trophy, and is the most successful nation throughout the history of the Championship, winning the Volvo Trophy on a record 10 occasions and holding a record 62 medals. There are eight nations sending twelve sailors (the maximum) to compete in the ISAF Youth Worlds. In Buzios in Brazil in 2009 the French team won the Volvo Trophy for best team overall with Great Britain in second and Italy in third. These three nations plus Australia, Brazil, Denmark and Italy will all be sending a full team compliment with sailors racing in every class. Duncan Truswell, support staff for the British team, notes the experience that lies ahead of the sailors is significant. “The Youth Worlds is quite different to what most of the sailors are used to, it is a huge event and it offers a unique insight and flavour of the Olympic multiclass experience on a large scale. There is no better regatta for youngsters to learn at and it can be a real tipping point for sailors in making that mental commitment to following the Olympic dream.” This will be the first year the high performance 29er will be raced as an Open class. The Laser Radial class is the largest Girl's event, and is perhaps the best chance for a North American medal with Erika Reineke (USA) currently ranked 32 in the ISAF fleet rankings and came an impressive 19th in the ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta in Miami in January. The US team failed to take home any medals last year in Brazil but hopes to make amends this year with a full team attending except for in the Girls RS:X event. A key factor in the increasing number of nations competing at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship has been the ISAF Athlete Participation Programme (APP), which provides funding support to assist sailors attending the championship. This year, 26 sailors from 12 nations will benefit from APP support. The nations to benefit from APP funding this year are: Ecuador, US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Paraguay, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Mexico, Nigeria, Columbia, Bermuda and Samoa. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org/33043.php THINK GREEN, BUY BLUE @ NORTH SAILS As part of North’s 10+ year commitment to recycling/repurposing sails, we are once again going to make it worth your while to THINK GREEN and BUY BLUE. If you buy a new North sail between July 5th and September 3rd, 2010 (in North America only) and recycle your old sail, you’ll automatically receive 25% off the purchase price of your new North sail. We’ll also send you a pre-paid UPS return label with your new sail so you can return your old sail to our recycling center. A free tote bag made from recycled sail cloth will also be sent to you! For complete details, click here: http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/14647/Default.aspx DOMINANT: One of America’s elite one design road warriors is Greg Fisher, who has dominated more National and North American events in more classes than anyone in his era. Here he sits down for a video interview with Tucker Thompson of T2P to discuss his sailing achievements and his working career with North Sails: http://tinyurl.com/2a2yfp5 SAILING SHORTS * The 2010 Intercollegiate Sailing Association/Gill National Championship will air on ESPNU Friday July 9th at 8:00pm (Eastern Time). The hour-long show will feature high-definition coverage of the college dinghy championship that was held in Madison, Wisconsin on June 1-3. The show is produced by Gary Jobson and Jobson Sailing for ESPN. It will also re-air on July 31 (2:00pm), August 1 (1:30pm), and August 13 (9:00pm). -- http://www.jobsonsailing.org * (July 6, 2010) - Charges against the former director of a Fort Myers, Florida sailing school are set to be reduced after a hearing Tuesday morning. Steve Olive was charged with Providing Obscene Materials to a Minor after allegedly sending sexually-explicit letter to a 13-year-old girl. -- Read on: http://www.abc-7.com/Global/story.asp?S=12760925 * CORRECTION: It was reported in Scuttlebutt 3127 that Christopher Williford, twin brother Duncan Williford, and Wade Waddell comprised the winning USA team at the Optimist North American Team Racing Championship. Actually, the Optimist race with five team members, with the two omitted sailors being Harry Koeppel and Richard Schuurmans. This team will also represent the USA at the 2010 Optimist Worlds in Langkawi, Malaysia in Dec. 28 - Jan. 8, 2011, and were racing together for the first time at the NAs. -- Event website: http://optinam2010.org/ LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Cory E. Friedman: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3127) The crew of the Calypso seems to have done everything right, including activating their EPIRB when the decided their lives were in peril, except one thing. If their lives were in peril, as they seem to have been, why hadn't they donned PFD's? * From David Carter, BoatUS Foundation: Regarding the story in Scuttlebutt 3127 ‘EPIRB SAVED THEIR LIVES’, not only did the EPIRB save the lives of all three crew on board, but they nearly left without it. The EPIRB that they had was a rental unit sent overnight from the BoatUS Foundation. When the Coast Guard got the signal, they called the 24 hr BoatUS dispatch service to get emergency contact info and the full float plan filed with the rental. Fortunately, all are safe. Since 1996 there have been 65 lives saved through this nonprofit program. Thankfully, most rental units return unused but in these rare occurrences BoatUS is standing by. * From Andrew Vare: In Scuttlebutt 3127, David Shulman had the following words: "I sincerely pray that the next AC competition takes place in a venue where tens of thousands can see it live from shore, in steady and strong winds, and tactically challenging conditions. The opportunity to have shore based TV coverage and not have to depend upon expensive aircraft would be an added bonus." When John Sweeney set up a regatta for ex-AC warhorses (perhaps 12 years ago) here in the San Francisco Bay, my brother called and suggested I go watch the races during lunchtime. How? I drove over to the Sausalito headlands, parked and got the binoculars out. Front row seats. I also brought a co worker who knew nothing about sailing, and who picked up a little bit about the sport as a result of my non-stop babble during the racing. He sails now. There was a solid 18-20 kts of breeze that day, and significant current/breeze tradeoffs to analyse, yielding a very challenging tactical scenario. The fun part of it was that the tactical information was also available to the spectator, in that one could see puffs and current lines. The spectator was engaged, fully. There were puffs to 25 kts at the weather mark and one boat wrapped a kite around the forestay and another rounded up, all in perfect view of my parked car. Heck that was half way to NASCAR. I felt like saying "dang". There will always be significant tension in the AC between exclusivity and popularity. It's clearly only a game for a very wealthy few, with programs running into the many hundreds of millions of dollars, and technology costs escalating every cycle. There has never been a more critical time to get the public to buy into the Cup as right now. I share Mr. Shulman's prayers. * From David K. Anderson: I would like to comment on David Shulman's letter in 'butt 3127 where he states that he cannot support an A/C series held in Newport, RI: I think he's thinking of past Newport A/C events, days when the A/C Buoy was about 12 miles off Newport and the courses were way out in Rhodes Island Sound, days when Peter de Savary's Victory Club and David Ray's Candy Store would only hold a few people. I think new thinking would make Newport, perhaps, the single best place to hold an A/C meeting. Some new ideas are: The A/C ACT of a few years ago staged in Newport was a tremendous success, so there's history that an event can be held in Newport that gets the action up close. If courses were run off the beaches, perhaps finishing near Beavertail/ Castle Hill, that would allow people ashore great vantage points; A new facility in Fort Adams, and/or perhaps in a former or current Navy installation, could be all-encompassing and accessible, with plenty of space for boats and equipment, restaurants, bars, shops, parking, etc,.; Ferry services, water taxis, viewing barges, shoreside facilities, park-and-ride/ferry areas, 1st, 2nd, 3rd beaches,.... incorporate Jamestown, Portsmouth, Middletown, etc., in the mix. I think, with proper planning, that Newport could easily deliver a world-class event. It has all the raw materials; it just needs to be well thought out. And did I mention there's almost always decent breeze? * From Robert Wilkes: The USA results (in Scuttlebutt 3127) at the Optimist North Americans were the best for many years. The Optimist North Americans are in effect one of two annual pan-American championships with 18 countries from North, Central and South America represented. This year USA sailors took eight of the top 15 places by contrast with the average 3-4 of the last decade, all three open individual medals, gold and silver in the team-racing and girls’ silver. Interestingly, given the nationwide spread of Optimist sailing, seven of the eight were Florida-based. It may just be that we are witnessing an example of a curious phenomenon in the Optimist class, the flowering of a small localised group who raise each other’s level. The best known of these is the “Ainslie generation” which went on to provide at least five Olympic medallists. Another was the flowering in Croatia in the ‘90s which produced a group including Sime Fantela, Tonci Stipanovic and Ivan Kljakovic- Gaspic, and it can even happen in a single club such as the 2001 St. Thomas USVI team who counted three All-Americans this year. The top five USA sailors have a further test at the IODA World Championships in Malaysia at the year end where they will face the talents of sailors such as Noppakao Poonpat (THA), 4th last year, and Carlos Robles (ESP) 10th. They may or may not do well – a heavy Ben Ainslie was only 37th in his fourth and final Optimist Worlds - but they are certainly a group to be watched. WHEN IT COMES TO GOOD STARTS TIMING IS EVERYTHING Optimum Time sailing watches feature large digital displays, pre-programmed ISAF start sequences, synchronization to the next gun, are waterproof and shock-resistant. Ocean Racing's waterproof Offshore Duffel and Backpack utilize heavy-duty waterproof material, waterproof zippers and have seams that are sewn, taped and RF welded so your stuff stays dry. http://www.OceanRacing.com CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The most destructive habit......................Worry Special thanks to Morris Yachts, North Sails, and Ocean Racing. 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