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SCUTTLEBUTT 2604 - May 27, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. AMERICAN TUNNICLIFE WINS OLYMPIC ISAF GRADE 1 EVENT (May 25, 2008) -- Anna Tunnicliffe sailed a stellar week at the ISAF Grade 1 Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland. Going into the final medal race, she knew she was guaranteed gold or silver; all she had to do was stay no farther than five boats behind her closest competition, Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania. By finishing five boats ahead of Volungeviciute, Tunnicliffe confirmed her gold medal and won the 71-boat fleet by 21 points. Over the course of the chilly week the winds and chop grew, though Tunnicliffe remained strong and extended her lead as the conditions changed. Tunnicliffe finished the regatta with six first-place finishes out of 14 races, while the second-place finisher only managed two race wins. Nearly all the North American Olympic representatives in attendance landed positions in the top ten. In the Laser, Michael Leigh (CAN) was 7th with Andrew Campbell (USA) in 8th. Tornado sailors Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (CAN) finished 4th with John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree in 10th. In the 470 Men, Stu McNay/Graham Biehl (USA) finished in 6th. -- Event website: http://www.deltalloydregatta.org/2008v2/ * Next up on the European Olympic circuit is the 470 Open European Championship at Riva del Garda, ITA (June 5-14) and Kiel Week at Kiel, GER (June 21-29). Already training in Kiel are American Star sailors John Dane and Austin Sperry; here is an excerpt from a recent report from Austin: I love this place, but I could definitely live without the cold. John Dane and I are in Kiel, training with Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski. We have our coaches Rodney Hagebols and Hans Wallen, along with Anthony Kotoun with us. For anybody who has not been to Kiel before, here are some things about the city you should know before your trip: 1) It’s cold - bring ALL your warm foul weather gear, if you think you brought enough, pack more. 2) It never gets dark, so to sleep bring your sunglasses. 3) Don’t forget rule number 1. Sailing in Europe is huge! Much much bigger than in North America! The Pinta racing team (Marc and Ingo’s sponsor) has their own press team and they organized a media day. Well, I expected there might be a few reporters asking us a few questions here and there. However, there were more than 25 media reporters on hand; we spent about 2 hours with the TV, newspaper and other invited journalists. After the questions, three tenders full of press followed the two boats out on the water to film us in action. -- Complete report: http://www.austinsperry.com/blog/5696 DOUBLE RECORD FOR PEYRON IN ARTEMIS TRANSAT Loick Peyron on board Gitany Eighty crossed the finish line of The Artemis Transat at 03:15:35 GMT on Saturday, 24th May (00:15:35 local time). His arrival in Boston, USA, marks an historic achievement for this legendary French sailor. He is now the only sailor in history to have won this race three times (1992/1996/2008), exceeding the two-time record he shared with another French sailing legend, Eric Tabarly. Beginning in Plymouth, England on May 11th, Gitana Eighty finished the 2,982-mile course of The Artemis Transat in a time of 12 days, 11 hours, 45 minutes, 35 seconds (based on corrected time including the deduction of the 2.5 hour time allowance awarded by the jury for his rescue of Vincent Riou). In doing so, he has beaten the existing monohull record of 12 days, 15 hours, 18 mins and 8 secs set by Mike Golding onboard Ecover in 2004, by 3 hours, 32 mins and 33 secs. As for the recovery of Riou’s boat, a tug boat left Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 22nd and by May 25th they had PRB under tow back to Halifax, with initial inspection showing no further damage. The top five for the race in the Open 60 class will be Peyron, Armel Le Cléach, Brit Air (2nd), Generali, Yann Elies (3rd), Safran, Marc Guillemot (4th), and Roxy, Sam Davies (5th). In the Class40 fleet, Giovanni Soldini's Telecom Italia maintains a 42 mile lead with 400 miles to the finish. -- Event site: http://www.theartemistransat.com Finish photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/0526 Finish video: http://abe5.com/4aw BIBLICAL CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN’S COLLEGE NATIONALS Newport, Rhode Island (May 26, 2008) - Folks enjoying their Memorial Day parades and picnics could hardly have a complaint with the weatherman’s efforts today. But when the opening round of the 2008 ICSA Women’s National Championship got underway at noon, the blustery conditions that greeted racers were just a hint of what was in store for rest of their day out on Narragansett Bay. Facing water temps in the upper 50s, air temps in the mid-60s, and a southerly breeze around 10 knots, the racers quickly added foul weather protection and layers for warmth as conditions built over the afternoon to a gusty 25-knot southwesterly that triggered the issuance of a NOAA small craft advisory. After six races for both A and B Divisions, the Lady Bulldogs of Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) emerged as the day’s leader, largely courtesy of junior Kate Hagemann (Marion, Mass.) and freshman Liz Brim (New York, N.Y.) who won three of their six races to lead B-Division with 14 points. Junior Jane Macky (Auckland, New Zealand) rotated crew between sophomore Marla Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.) and freshman Sarah Lihan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) over the course of the afternoon and stands second in A-Division with 28 points. Brown University (Providence, R.I.) resides in second overall with both their A and B divisions finishing in third position, while Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) stands third overall, with seniors Kaity Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff (Rosemont, Penn.) winning three races to lead in A-Division with 15 points. Racing continues through May 28th. Daily report: http://foxholefengshui.com/wordpress/?p=15 Results: http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring08/womensresults.asp WHERE DO CATAMARANS IN THE CARIBBEAN HEAD? NORTH! Catamarans are hotter than ever right now and Gunboats are popping up all over the Caribbean and around the world. John and Sue Kwitek, owners of the Gunboat 62 'Lickety Split 2' collected silver at the 1st Annual Caribbean Gunboat Shootout, which was part of the Heineken Regatta and Antigua Sailing Week. Equipped with a full North Sails inventory, North's Mark Sadler from South Africa sailed onboard with the Kwitek's, "I expected it to be a cruising catamaran, but it sails really well upwind and it is a lot of fun downwind..." http://na.northsails.com PHOTO SEQUENCE OF THE BMW ORACLE RACING CAPSIZE By Tim Jeffery, Telegraph One of them is the most successful skipper in America's Cup history, a Kiwi aged 46 and with an Olympic gold medal to his name. The other is a 35-year-old Frenchman, a dominant force in the 60ft trimaran circuit, multiple record breaker and an unwanted star of the television news bulletins at the start of the year when his crew was rescued from their 105ft trimaran Groupama 3 in the Southern Ocean off New Zealand during a round the world record attempt. And still Russell Coutts and Franck Cammas are trying to teach each other how to sail. We're on Extreme 40 catamarans. It doesn't go too well. We have a big capsize, a slow-motion heel from gentle to steep angle and then ultimately beyond the vertical as the whole boat rotates and comes down on our heads in the Mediterranean off Valencia. -- Read on, plus view a photo sequence of the capsize: http://abe5.com/4ax ROSEBUD/TEAM DYT WINS 63RD BLOCK ISLAND RACE Larchmont, NY (May 26, 2008) – In order to take advantage of the northerly direction of the wind, the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race was run counter-clockwise around Block Island for the first time in decades. However, according to overall IRC and IRC Super Zero class winner Roger Sturgeon (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), having to leave Block Island to port rather than starboard wasn't the only atypical thing about the race. "As far as I can figure, nothing is typical here," he said, explaining that this was his team's first time sailing on Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound. "We've done a lot of sailing on San Francisco Bay, where the tricky currents might compare, but the wind changes here are way more complicated." The 186 nautical mile race, in its 63rd running, began late Friday afternoon (May 23) and sent Sturgeon's STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT and 108 other IRC- and PHRF-rated boats off on a course from Stamford, Conn., down Long Island Sound, around Block Island (R.I.), and back. A Northwest breeze of 16-18 knots got the boats off to a quick downwind start and stayed consistent until the fleet got to Plum Gut. -- Full report with results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/0526a CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Photographer Carlo Borlenghi takes us to Rolex Capri Sailing Week, situated on the small Italian resort isle of Capri off the Gulf of Naples. The simple fact that one must take a ferry or a helicopter to get to the island makes the destination seem like an exclusive adventure, and Carlo does his typically magnificent job of providing us with the smell, sounds, and splashes from the event. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/0525 * The Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association hosted the 2008 ISSA Team Racing National Championship (Baker Trophy), where 12 high school teams from across the United States competed last weekend on Lake Minnetonka, hosted by Lake Minnetonka Sailing School/Minnetonka Yacht Club. Final results in the Championship group were: 1. St Georges School (Newport, RI), 2. Tabor Academy (Marion, MA), 3. Point Loma HS (San Diego, CA), and 4. Newport Harbor HS (Newport Beach, CA). Event website: http://www.baker2008.org * The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced a new "Performance Certificate" for the Antarctica Cup course inaugural record from Albany to Albany, Australia. The record was set by solo sailor Fedor Konyukhov (RUS) onboard an 85 ft monohull from January 26, 2008 to May 7, 2008, setting an elapsed time of 102 days 1 hour 35 minutes 50 seconds. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * The 65th annual Swiftsure International Yacht Race had 102 racers complete the event, which started off Victoria’s waterfront on May 24th. Four individual race courses were utilized, including the 140-mile Swiftsure Lightship Classic, the 100-mile Cape Flattery Race, the 75- mile Juan de Fuca course, as well as the increasingly popular Saturday-only inshore races. -- Event website: http://www.swiftsure.org * The 37th Annual Figawi Race last weekend kicked off the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer seasons, with over 200 entrants competing in the pursuit race. -- Event website: http://www.figawi.com * Thirty-five teams attended the 2008 Star Western Hemisphere Championship, hosted by Seneca Yacht Club at Geneva, New York, USA on May 20-23. Winning the event was Rick Merriman/ Phil Trinter (USA), beating out Peter McChesney/ Shane Zwingelberg (USA) on a tiebreaker. -- Complete results: http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=1130 * On Monday May 26, 2008 at 15:00, ICAP Leopard, the Farr designed 100-foot super maxi yacht owned by Mike Slade, crossed the start line at Ambrose Light, New York, intent on entering the record books by breaking the West to East transatlantic speed record currently held by the 246-foot luxury yacht Phocea of 8d 3h 29m that was set in July 1988. This record is a special sub-category for vessels that utilize powered sailing systems. The outright monohull record is held by the 140-foot "MariCha IV"of 6d 17h 52m 39s set in October 2003. -- http://www.leopard3.com * All ten of the 68-foot yachts of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race began the final leg on May 24th that will take them from Jamaica to Liverpool, England passing through New York, Nova Scotia, and Cork en route to their final finish line. However, within a few hours after the start, the fleet stopped racing and began heading towards a rendezvous point in the Windward Passage, midway between the islands of Haiti and Cuba, some 200 nautical miles from the start line. The decision was taken due to extreme light winds, with a better forecast for a restart on Monday, May 25th. -- http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com * May 26, 2008 -- Team Russia’s new Volvo Open 70 yacht made a spectacular entrance into the world today, appearing in public for the first time hovering high over the boat sheds of builder’s Green Marine Lymington (UK). On a day that started extremely wet and blustery, a break in the weather around high water enabled the hull to be safely lowered by a massive 200 Tonnes crane into the Lymington River. -- Read on: http://teamrussia.org/article.asp?id=16021 MELGES WORLDWIDE The Melges 24 World Championship begins this week. The 120+ Melges 24 fleet hits Porto Cervo, Italy for this year’s Worlds! The Melges 24 is the most exciting sportboat overseas too. Back in the US, Melges has many new Melges 24's being prepped for the upcoming US Nationals in Charleston, SC. and then the North Americans in Annapolis, MD. for late October. The 2009 World Championship is in Annapolis - get geared up! Race to http://melges24.com EIGHT BELLS George Frederick "Fritz" Jewett Jr., a prominent San Francisco businessman, philanthropist and sailing buff whose support of the sport led to his induction into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2005, died in San Francisco Friday of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 81.Mr. Jewett had a long career in the forest products industry as a director of the Potlatch Corp. He retired as vice chairman of the board in 1999. He was also renowned in sailing circles for chairing five America's Cup syndicates for three yacht clubs from 1973 through 2000. The campaigns were no small feats - some had budgets that reached into the tens of millions of dollars. Of the boats whose syndicates he chaired, Freedom won the cup in 1980, but lost in 1983, and Stars & Stripes won the cup in 1987, a victory that was celebrated with ticker tape parades in New York as well as San Diego, where the team was based. He was also invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan after that victory. -- San Francisco Chronicle, read on: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/25/BAEF10TKLK.DTL ORIGINAL NORTH LOFT MOVES TO NEW LOCATION The building itself was never much to look at. In fact, its only significant architectural feature was the masts on the roof until the early 1990s. “We heard a lot of jokes about sailing a building,” said Lowell North, the man who launched an empire from the unimposing structure between Shelter Island Drive and the boat storage yard of San Diego Yacht Club. But the little building with its hard-to-find entrance tucked around the corner became something of a mecca in the world of sailing – and one of the more important structures on the San Diego waterfront. The building was the soul of North Sails – until operations of what is now an international consortium officially shifted last week after 48 years at the landmark at 1111 Anchorage Lane to a new headquarters in Liberty Station. “When we built this building, it was exactly 50 feet by 50 feet,” North recalled recently. “The first sails I made were cut on the floor of our (Lowell's and ex-wife Kay's) apartment. I'd take them to be stitched by Martha Baker, who owned a flag shop. Then I had a small loft on the B Street Pier. “When we decided we needed a bigger place, we picked this site.” -- Union-Tribune, read on: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20080526-9999-1s26boatcol.html * While it is sad to see the original North loft moving off the waterfront, it should be noted that their new home remains convenient for another activity: it is only .2 miles from a newly renovated 9-hole golf course. -- http://abe5.com/4ay LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Larry Pierce: Sailing World Editor Dave Reed makes a good point about the value received when one does 60 events a year (http://www.ussailing.org/News/2008/MaySWEditorial.pdf). What about those of us that do 1 or 2 events? Rather than the $5 discount members usually received on the race application, perhaps a more equitable solution would be to forward that discount towards US Sailing? If I'm lucky my personal situation will allow me to do one overnight race this year. That's $60 for US Sailing and $30 for the PHRF certificate before I send in my race application. Mr Reed suggests that if “we want a quality race, regatta, and party afterwards then contribute to the cause". Since when does US Sailing pay for the Mount Gay? After years of racing there are many who prefer to get back to their families than attend the tent parties. When I actively raced I never hesitated to pay my dues and received Sailing World for my contribution. Now it's mandatory and I must pay for the magazine. The whole thing smacks of RI politics. When our legislators decide how to increase revenue in a soft economy the best they can come up with is a tax hike. ie: business is lousy so let's raise prices. If you make membership mandatory, it's quite possible that your membership and revenues won't increase. * From Donald Baxter: US SAILING believes it will no longer have enough funds to perform its core functions. As near as I can tell, its core function consists of taking the vast majority of its dues from people who sail PHRF or IRC and using them to fund trips to the annual ISAF meeting for people who get to stay in a fancy hotel, dine with European royalty, and sit for a few hours in a room and talk about the Olympics. As an added feature, they get to decide that nobody thinks catamarans are real raceboats but that we've all been pining away for the chance to find out who the world's best Yngling sailor might be. Perhaps the reason for their sinking revenues is that they spend too much time and money on the Olympics while relying on only a couple of underpaid guys to actually serve their dues-paying members, all the while treating weekend and beer-can sailors as if their chosen style of racing was a cost center. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Regarding funding for the US Olympic Sailing program, we called Dean Brenner, Chairman of the US SAILING Olympic Committee, for clarification, and he stated that his budget derives no funding from either US SAILING membership dues or any other revenue streams from US SAILING. Rather, his budget is completely dependent on US Olympic Committee funding and corporate and private sponsorship. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION There's more to life than increasing its speed. Special thanks to North Sails and Melges Performance Sailboats. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
