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SCUTTLEBUTT 1636 - July 30, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. RELIEF Russell Coutts smiles as he considers his future. He is not one to take his dismissal from the Alinghi America's Cup team in any other way. It appears to have come as a relief since he and the team's owner, the biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, were diametrically opposed in their management styles. There is much of the rich kid's approach from Bertarelli - "it's my ball and we will play the game my way" - while Coutts's is the voice of experience. "My style of management and leadership over the years has been formed both by observing how things run within highly successful teams," he says, "and also by participating in that leadership in a key role. Last time it showed that that leadership was successful. I was surprised to see a departure from that style after we had won the cup." Coutts is smarting from the decision of Bertarelli to oust him but there is not the slightest sign of rancour, only ingrained disappointment that things did not work out the way he says he had been led to believe they should. "I had very clear undertakings and commitments from Ernesto at the beginning of all this," he declares, "and during the term of the contract, and I don't believe he delivered on those commitments." It is plain that Coutts regards a rule change instigated by Bertarelli 10 days before his summary dismissal as underhand and directed towards him personally. Bertarelli arranged that America's Cup Management, the group led by his sidekick Michel Bonnefous that is responsible for the running of the event in 2007, altered the sailor qualification so that Coutts could not join another team. "This new rule was issued without prior consultation with any of the senior members of Team Alinghi," Coutts claims. Coutts has plenty to keep him busy. He has been seen in various places around the world together with Paul Cayard, who was "sidelined" by Larry Ellison from his Oracle campaign because of a clash of temperaments, and they have made no secret that they are planning a revolutionary event but refuse to let slip details. "We've been talking about an idea that we have. If the idea comes off, it will be great for the sport of sailing." It does not stop there. Sailing for Coutts has to be fun. "There's a lot of different events in sailing. There's the Volvo Ocean Race and I am really excited about the Open 60s. I am going sailing on one of the big multihulls in October; this sport is a great sport and I can do plenty of things within it." Lack of an America's Cup campaign does not seem to bother this Kiwi. Excerpts from a story by Bob Fisher in The Guardian, full story: http://sport.guardian.co.uk/sailing/story/0,10087,1272446,00.html ALIHGHI Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth admits his relationship with syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli is strained. Former skipper Russell Coutts, sacked this week, claimed a clash with Bertarelli was behind his departure from the America's Cup team. The team said Coutts was fired because he failed to fulfill his contractual duties. However, Butterworth insists he will be sticking with the America's Cup holders as the issue is with Coutts and Bertarelli and that is where it stops. Following the sacking of Coutts, Butterworth says his relationship with Bertarelli needs patching up. He says it is a problem he has to get his head around. He added: 'It is going to take a while to work through it. The situation is still not over.' He expects the other New Zealand members at Alinghi will stay, and that includes Warrick Fleury, Simon Daubney and Murray Jones. - Newstalk ZB, by Courtesy NZ Herald and posted on the Sail World website, http://www.sail-world.com/ AND THE WINNER IS . . . After a slow start in the polling, the Annapolis lobby kicked in and Chris Larsen has emerged as the helmsmen the 'Buttheads think Ernesto Bertarelli should add to the Alinghi sailing team. Paul Cayard finished a close second, and those two were the only nominees to gather more votes than "None of the above." NOTHING ESCAPES THESE EYES Around the world racing requires years of experience, preparation and ocean knowledge. "Covering 32,000 nautical miles around the world can only be done with the very best equipment. That's why we chose Steiner's new Comander V" (John Kostecki, skipper of illbruck, V.O.R. winner). When Annapolis Performance Sailing went looking for the best marine binoculars available, accolades like this were tough to ignore. That's why APS also chose Steiner. Don't just demand more, demand the best. Let nothing escape your eyes. Check out the Commander V and everything that makes Steiner the ultimate marine binoculars at http://www.apsltd.com/scuttlebutt SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Cascais, Portugal - Denmark's Jesper Radich advanced to the semifinals of Stage 1 of the Swedish Match Tour 2004-'05, the Portugal Match Cup, with a 3-0 quarterfinal victory over France's Bertrand Pacé. The Radich-Pacé match was the only one completed in the quarterfinal round. Ed Baird (USA) ended the day with a 2-1 lead over Philippe Presti (FRA). The pair was set to start what could've been the fourth and deciding flight when a large windshift and drop in pressure forced the race committee to abandon racing at 7:00 p.m. Other quarterfinal matches feature Russell Coutts (NZL) against Staffan Lindberg (FIN) and Peter Gilmour (AUS) versus Peter Holmberg (USVI). Neither was started Thursday, but both are scheduled for Friday. Lindberg and Presti advanced to the quarters from the repechage round, which finished this afternoon. Lindberg won the five-flight series with a 5-0 record, while Presti finished second at 4-1. Presti had to defeat Law in the final match to ensure advancement. The Frenchman started to windward of the Briton, and never gave him a chance to shake loose. Law, Michael Dunstan (AUS), Geoff Meek (RSA) and Francisco Neto (POR) were all eliminated from competition after placing 3rd through 6th in the repechage round. - Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com Curmudgeon's comment: We posted a new gallery on the Scuttlebutt website profiling the Swedish Match 40 they are using in Portugal: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/sm40/ TOUR DE FRANCE Typical of a night leg in the Mediterranean, the alternate Tour de France à la Voile leaders, evanescent and unpredictable gusts, all of this punctuated what proved to be a long night with the fastest boats making an average of just 4 knots with the Swiss team Bienne Voile on the water for 25 hours and the latecomers 28. In these trying conditions the American skipper of Groovederci, Deneen Demourkas, saw her lead melt away as the hours went by and has lost her blue leader spinnaker in the process, now a painful third in the General Ranking. There are still two Olympic courses to race off St Maxime on Friday. - Translation by Kate Jennings Standings: 1. Bouygues Telecom, Pierre Loïc Berthet, 1121 2. Defi Partage Marseille, Thierry Bouchard/ Dimitri Deruelle, 1106 3. Groovederci, Deneen B. Demourkas/ Laurent Pages, 1095 Event website: http://www.tourvoile.fr/ NEWS BRIEFS * BMW has joined the nine-event Swedish Match Tour as a Partner in a three-year agreement that runs through the completion of the 2006-'07 Tour season. As the official car of the Swedish Match Tour, BMW will award a BMW 545i Touring to the Tour champion. The BMW 5 Series Touring, valued at Euro 70,000 (approximately $85,000), will be awarded in conjunction with the $60,000 bonus prize offered by the Swedish Match Tour, making the Tour championship worth approximately $145,000. The sixth season of the Swedish Match Tour includes nine events with prize money totaling more than $1 million. - www.SwedishMatchTour.com * Perfect conditions greeted the eleven teams this morning for the continued windward-leeward races of the Rolex Commodores' Cup. To make up for the races lost earlier this week, today's 10-15 knot winds enabled the organizers to regain a further race, sailed this afternoon after the two scheduled. With six races sailed the Irish team now hold a comfortable lead, on 25 points ahead of GBR Black on 29.5 and France Blue, led by the Rolex Commodore's Cup defender Gery Trentesaux, on 31.5. - www.rorc.org/comcup/index.php * The twenty-fifth Anniversary of the 1979 Fastnet Race in which fifteen sailors perished will be honored with a Remembrance Ceremony at Cape Clear Island, County Cork, Ireland on Sunday afternoon 15 August 2004. Cape Clear Island Museum & Archive is organizing the event which includes a book launch, unveiling of a memorial, an exhibition and a ceremony at sea. Cape Clear Museum Archive invites the submission of documentation of any kind relating to the 1979 Fastnet Race. Cape Clear island community invites participants in the 1979 Fastnet Race to visit the island for the Remembrance. - www.placenames.ie/capeclear/news.html * Tivo Time - OLN's coverage of the UBS Trophy series re-airs on August 2, 3 and 4 at 11:00 AM ET/ 2:00 PM PT each day. * We've talked a lot about big waves this week, and if you've been following that thread you'll want to take a look at some real monsters: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/bigwaves/ http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/ * The U.S. Offshore Championship is currently accepting resumes for this prestigious event to be held September 23 to 27. Hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, Calif., this year's regatta will be sailed in Catalina 37's and is sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. Application deadline is August 27, 2004. To download the Notice of Race and the application form: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/lloyd * Saturday, November 13, marks the holding of the ISAF General Assembly, at which the election of the ISAF Executive Committee, President and Seven Vice-Presidents, for the ensuing four year term will take place. At least two of the Vice-Presidents shall be women. In order to be eligible to stand as a President or Vice-President, candidates must receive nominations from five or more full members (Member National Authorities). Member National Authorities may nominate as many or as few candidates as they wish and candidates do not need to be nationals of that country. http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=7722 * A new New Zealand based website was launched this week which offers the opportunity for Kiwis interested in sailing to collaborate online. www.crew.org.nz has forums for cruising, racing, dinghies, crew wanted/available, women's sailing, and selling gear. The organizers say it is the online version of catching up at the clubhouse after a race. The site is designed to be an easy to use resource of sailing information, and is based on formats that have been successful for other sports, such as multisport and mountain biking. * Southern Spars has a new self-contained factory in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland to build "off-the-shelf" carbon-fibre rigs for one-design fleets up to 60 feet in length right down to Olympic class and club dinghy class fleets. John Clinton has been named the One Design General Manager while Matthew Smith is the Projects manager and the Production manager is Ian Matthews. Southern Spars has also acquired the sole agency for Kilwell tubes for marine use for masts in yachts up to 20ft and for booms and poles for bigger boats. - www.southernspars.com * Carlsbad-based Invitrogen Corporation presented Challenged America with a $10,000 donation to help the San Diego-based free sailing program for kids and adults with disabilities make much needed repairs to their fleet of specially adapted sailboats and replace equipment. Today, providing free sailing experiences to hundreds yearly, program participants from around the United States and the world visit San Diego to participate in this year-round program. - www.ChallengedAmerica.org 1 TRYAD UPGRADE = 2 WINNERS The success of Ockam's super performance Tryad system can provide a double benefit. We've upgraded numerous boats, taking their tried and true Unisyn level components in trade: Unisyn equipment helped win the last 2 out of 3 America's Cup matches, so it is safe to say that a Unisyn based system is no slouch! For those on a more modest budget, complete systems comprising these traded-in, bench tested components are available at tremendous savings. Isn't it your time to have great instruments aboard? Contact Tom Davis (tom@ockam.com) and visit http://www.ockam.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Albert Holt: I see the new version of the racing rules covers 2005-2008. In my opinion the rules should not be changed so often. My experience is that the effect of the rules is strongly influenced by the appeals. Four years is not enough time for appeals to occur, then be published, and then be understood by the sailing community. I'd suggest stretching the time between changes to 10 years. Or maybe 25. I suspect there would be some cost savings. It would give the sea lawyers more time to sail under the "new" rules before going back to their meddling. * From Maurice Cusick, Esq: Being a lawyer in Newport, RI, one wonders why Russell Coutts entered into this agreement. It is usually a mistake to chase the big money, and you often end up paying a much bigger price than anticipated. As I have told many people in the past, don't deal with people you do not openly trust. If someone places an oppressive contract on the table in front of you, don't even negotiate. Just politely decline, get up, and walk away from the table. We saw the same situation with Paul Cayard. Had Russell followed this advice, there would be no issue and he would be sailing in the next Cup without any doubt. * From Gonzo Diaz: From afar and from a person that enjoys sailing and is aware of the publicity needed for our sport, I am sorry about the parting of the ways and the publicity about legal issues and not about sailing. But, perhaps, any publicity is good publicity. Also, in my opinion, Russell Coutts is a talent that should be in AC competition. Ironically, soon we will hear of free agency in AC sailing and shortly after it will be salary (expense) cap and revenue sharing. Will it be good for the sport? I think so. It will not affect the Sunday sailor such as myself, but it will raise the profile and make many take notice of our wonderful sport. * From John Glynn: If I were Alinghi and Oracle's sponsors (UBS, BMW, etc.) boy would I be upset at this point. I'd be asking out of my contracts. Bertarelli and Ellison may be the bosses, but they need to remember that they have signed on others to help fund the program, to whom they have a responsibility to provide maximum return. Coutts is an icon in the America's Cup world. Without him, many will tune out, and the America's Cup will just become another Match Race event, and we all know how much attention those get. But I suspect Bertarelli does not care (and apparently neither does Larry Ellison since he bought into the protocol change). Let Bertarelli and Ellison have their ego trips in 2007, but UBS, BMW, and others should be demanding their money back, and these two billionaires are clearly not looking out for the best interests of the event and sailing in general. First Ellison benches Cayard, so now Bertarelli one-ups him and tosses Coutts. What a joke the America's Cup has become. * From Ian Bruce: What an extraordinary state of affairs! Arguably the two best helmsmen in the world have put out to pasture by arguably the two top teams in the America's Cup game. Firstly it was Paul Cayard being sent to the beach. That was a pity for all of us watching because the Farr boat was clearly faster up and down the course. If you have any doubt, run your Virtual Spectator coverage of the races at 10x speed and you will be amazed. As a result, we watched a superior boat with an inferior team go down to defeat. Now it's Coutts' turn. Notwithstanding any of the altruistic claims of the syndicates that float by from time to time, the America's Cup is driven by the egos of the owners. Trouble is, the skippers have their egos too. He with the money wins. * From Pete Sherwood: Read between the lines people... Bertarelli is a very smart individual. He would have realized long ago that he was pushing Coutt's buttons and the chance of a split highly likely. One has to wonder if Bertarelli is merely paving the way to introduce an owner driver rule for the next cup, a move that the challenger of record would certainly support. Scary times for the AC. * From Skip Doyle: The America's Cup - lawyers love it! * From John Edwards: In December 2000 the European Union initiated a scientific project called MaxWave to confirm the widespread occurrence of rogue waves, model how they occur and consider their implications for ship and offshore structure design criteria. Information from that project can be accessed by going to their website at http://w3g.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/. The problem has been getting wave measuring devices out into mid ocean where these waves occur. One of the new tools that was used in the MaxWave project, and one that will help mariners and scientists learn more about these waves is wave radar. This system uses the output from a standard marine X-Band navigation radar to measure wave spectra, surface currents, and individual waves in real time. For more information: www.oceanwaves.de * From Kim Roberts: I was waiting for others to speak first, but I can't wait any longer, I have to howl at the moon, crying, "Russell Hoyt is dead, Russell Hoyt is dead". An American Icon of Sailing and a friend has left us alone on the race course, sending a chill of loneliness across the water? Russell had a huge influence on me, and thousands of others in global yacht racing. He showed us leadership, commitment, seamanship, and was a true yachtsman. I started sailing with him in 1980 on "Destination" and through the years he has shown me what loyalty, generosity, friendship, and the Joy of Life are. He lead sailing with action, personal and immediate. He built classes like the PJ46's. He did a bazillion SORC's and Bermuda Races. He built camaraderie through underwriting social events, pulling sailors together. He was a leader and an innovator. He has been a major contributing factor in Newport Yachting. Recently, he is most responsible for the flowering up of the Newport Shields Fleet to 60, to see 32 boats on the starting line. When Russell spoke we all listened. He usually had us laughing, but when he said it should be this way, he was right. He knew yachting, where it should go, and was first in line to give money and his precious time. He loved the sport and made it better for all. What will we do without this man? THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "Anger is only one letter short of danger." - Ben Franklin |
