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SCUTTLEBUTT 2940 - Wednesday, September 30, 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 North Sails, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, and LaserPerformance. SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT By Dan Spurr In the summer of 1983, in the months leading up to the 25th America's Cup competition in Newport, Rhode Island, a storm of controversy gathered over the challenging Australian and defending New York Yacht Club syndicates. At that time, the rules governing the Cup required that each yacht be designed by citizens of the country it represented. The principal designer of Australia II, the eventual winner, was indeed a 'national' - Ben Lexcen. Much of the development work on that boat, however, was performed at the Netherlands Ship Model Basin (now known by the acronym MARIN), in Wageningen, by Peter van Oossanen. On seeing Australia II perform in the challenge trials in Rhode Island Sound, the New York Yacht Club sought to disqualify her on the basis of the rule cited above. But to do so, the NYYC had to establish that Van Oossanen, not Lexcen, had designed the boat, or had made a significant contribution. Though he didn't know how to run a computer, Lexcen maintained an office at MARIN; all insisted he was the team leader. In the end, the issue was dropped. Australia II competed, and won in a stirring seventh and final race. Prior to my visit with Van Oossanen in Wageningen, I'd been warned that he was tired of talking about the famous wing keel, and that his more recent work was overlooked. When we sat down to an interview in his conference room, it turned out that Van Oossanen very much wanted to set the record straight. Despite his long-standing affection for Australia, where he grew up, he wished to clarify the roles he and Lexcen played; in short, to give credit where credit is due. -- Read on: http://proboat.com/winged-victory.html CREATING REAL VALUE FOR SAILING'S SPONSORS By Matthew Gregory To start off the second posting in this series, I want to quickly discuss the partners that make up a Volvo Ocean Race or America's Cup team: The Sponsor: The sponsor is the end customer. The sponsor's key competence is aligned with their core business, whether it be manufacturing cars, writing software, consulting businesses, banking or designing handbags. The sponsor makes decisions on building new factories, hiring employees or launching marketing programs, based on that project's investment yielding a positive Net Present Value (NPV). The Activator: This is typically an events agency such as Momentum, Octagon, or IMG. They work for the sponsor to build all of the auxiliary activities upon the sailing property platform. The Property: This is the sailing team. It provides the base for the activator to build a positive NPV business development program targeted at the sponsor's core business. The end goal of the sailing team is to manage the sporting operations, while supporting the activator's plan. I've read a lot of team sponsorship proposals over the past 5 years: Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup, World Match Racing Tour, European IRC, and Med Cup teams... Most sponsorship proposals lose sight of, both, the customer and the product. When I read most sponsorship proposals, generally, my first thought is "Hey, I'd love to sail for this team. This is going to be fun." The proposals talk about the race, adventure, prestige, competition, sailing team members and the program's management structure - all of the key elements to winning a sail boat race. While this type of presentation does have a place in the sales cycle, it does not focus the product to the customer. The product that we are selling is a platform for corporations to leverage their core business goals. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yemtq6u FREE NORTH SAILS HAT Receive a free North Sails hat with any outerwear purchase from North Sails Gear through Sunday, October 4th. New in North Sails Gear are our Zip Front Hoodies for men & ladies with NORTH SAILS appliqued across the front along with a great line of Henri Lloyd gear including the Octane Light, Atmosphere & Ladies Fusion Jackets. We also have great fleece pullovers, vests & jackets. Mention 'SBUTT' in the comments box during check-out to redeem your free hat. Don't delay - this offer only lasts 6 days: http://www.northsailsgear.com/store/?c=16 STILL A FRIENDLY COMPETITION AMONG CLUBS Under the watchful eyes of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Oyster Bay, NY, the Seawanhaka Cup is the oldest yachting competition originating in America that is still in active competition. Started in 1895 with a challenge to Seawanhaka from the Minima Yacht Club of England in 15-foot keel boats, this is a match racing event that has no aspirations to replace the America's Cup. From reading the original declarations for each event, it would seem that both the America's Cup and the Seawanhaka Cup had the same idea in mind, which was to provide a challenge event for friendly international competition between clubs. However, while the America's Cup has wandered far from its roots, the Seawanhaka Cup has maintained the course. Here are some of the requirements for the Seawanhaka Cup: * All competing crew must be nationals of the club they represent. * Sailors cannot be compensated to participate. * Coach boats are not permitted. * All rule changes/additions by the defending club must be approved by SCYC. * Only the Dragon, Etchells, IOD, J/22, J/24, or Sonar may be used. * At least half of the challenging clubs must be located in countries other than that of the defending club. The forty-third competition for The Seawanhaka Cup was won by Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in a competition among teams from five other international yacht clubs. The winning team from Seawanhaka was David Perry, Chris Museler and Andrew Buttner, Event story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0929/ Event history: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0929a/ Seawanhaka Cup rules: http://tinyurl.com/y8aa4bk America’s Cup rules: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/dog BATTLE FOR THE CLASS 40'S By Elaine Bunting, Yachting World Not another sailing spat? Yes, I'm afraid so. The flourishing of the Class 40 fleet has sparked a clash of rival events, rumours of skulduggery and threats of blackballing that have owners and skippers of the boats looking on in dismay. On one hand, there's a fall-out between Josh Hall and Brian Hancock, who jointly founded the Portimao Global Ocean Race round the world. Earlier this year they parted company. Josh Hall continued running the race until its finish and now each has announced a rival 2nd generation round the world race targeted at the fleet, both starting in 2011. On the other hand is a split partly engineered by the Class 40 Association itself. Irritated by what they regarded as shabby treatment two years ago at the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) race, they endorsed a rival transatlantic race for the class, La Solidaire du Chocolat, which sets off from France to Mexico in a few weeks. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yawekc7 IS YACHT RACING A PRETEND BUSINESS? Can a sporting team be a commercial enterprise? Are there business models that allow for professional sports-teams to compete and make money - or will the need for winning mean that competitive teams will need to be topped up by wealthy benefactors or government sporting grants? Certainly, if you look at the America's Cup, you would have to assume that profit is not a motivator. A sense of (national) pride, the glory of winning and perhaps some R&D that might have a residual value all push wealthy individuals to spend millions of dollars, but without the backing of the team principals would the balance sheet stand up? Is sailing as a sport more akin to a web start-up - a big investment, some great technology but no real business model except for the ability to sell advertising to desired eyeballs? -- Yacht Sponsorship, read on: http://www.yachtsponsorship.com/2009/09/is-yacht-racing-a-pretend-business/ => Curmudgeon's Comment: Interesting article to compare sailing teams to other sports teams. While other sports hopefully see their teams gain value for their owner, sailing teams merely disband when the owner is done, with the sale of their gear being the only means to recover value. J/BOAT FESTIVAL IN SAN DIEGO J Boats came together from all over Southern California this past weekend to celebrate at the J/Fest in San Diego. Perfect racing weather welcomed the J/80, J/105, J/109 and J/120 classes, with camaraderie and J/Boat spirit on full display Saturday night. With this year's theme - 'It's all about the crew' - the Skippers were put to work at the bar and on the grill, and crew got to sit back and receive loads of swag thanks to great sponsorship from JK3's partners. Congratulations to J/80 Sleekit, J/105 Wings, J/109 Electra and J/120 CC Rider who won their classes. For details on how to join the J/Boat family, contact the team at JK3 Nautical Enterprises at http://jk3yachts.com EMPLOYMENT ABOVE PASSION Double Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy has vowed to put his 2012 ambitions on the back burner in a bid to help Britain lift the America's Cup. The Southampton-born Olympic star is one of the most decorated male British sailors having added a second gold to his collection last summer in Beijing. "Olympic sailing won't be a major focus for the next couple of years but when we do come back we plan to do it strong in 2012," the 33-year-old former Peter Symonds College student said. "If they put the next America's Cup in 2012 I would have to choose which I would carry on with. The America's Cup is my job so I take that very seriously, but the Olympics is something more emotional, but fingers crossed I won't have to make that choice." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/yak3ss6 SAILING SHORTS * Visa was announced as the multi-million pound 'presenting partner' in support of Britain's Olympic and Paralympic squads for the London Games. The financial services giant has been a worldwide partner of every summer and winter Olympics since 1988. Estimates suggest the value on the sponsorship may be worth around £8 million. -- http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/blog/?p=2108 * The original boxing kangaroo flag flown on Australia II when it won the America's Cup in 1983 is on its way home to Australia. The flag was discovered recently hanging in O'Brien's Bar in Newport Rhode Island by Australia II crewman John Longley. Last weekend, another Australia II crewman, Skip Lissiman, accepted the flag and presented the bar with a new BK flag signed by the crew who rested the auld mug New York Yacht Club 26 years ago to the day. -- http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=10390 * A new scoring program is being implemented by the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. Developed by former MIT sailing team member Dayan Paez '08, the program is web based for quick online updating and is accessible to hand-held mobile devices. A 'non-online' version will soon be available. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8333 * Chris Snow and his team onboard Bogus from San Diego, CA dominated the three day J/24 U.S. Nationals held last weekend on San Francisco Bay. Snow and his crew of Andrew Kerr, Adam Bennet, Chuck Allen and John Fracisco won 6 of 9 races amid the 20 boat fleet to build a final winning margin of 21 points over Mark Hillman of Annapolis, MD, with Pat Toole from Santa Barbara, CA in third. -- Final results: http://www.sfyc.org/files/09j24results.pdf * Portoroz, Slovenia (September 29, 2009; Day 1) Seven flights took place on day one of the Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup match race event. Karol Jablonski, Jose Maria Ponce, Ray Davies and Paul Cayard came out best of the light and tricky conditions. -- Read on: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2131 * French boatbuilder the Beneteau Group has reported sales of €658.9m for the financial year ending August 31, 2009, with the company's boat business performing slightly better than expected. Boat sales for 2009 have dropped by 42 per cent compared to 2008 sales - a small improvement on the 45 per cent predicted. Beneteau says that the downturn in the boating business is "less marked than initially forecast", reporting sales of sailing yachts down 44 per cent and motorboats down 38.2 per cent. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20090829155614ibinews.html * Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), in its role as trustee of the America's Cup and event organising authority, is working with Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, on fitting out the area for the 33rd edition of the America's Cup and on developing the teams' area on Al Hamra Island. As the challenger Golden Gate Yacht Club has yet to declare whether they plan to oppose the venue, SNG is now actively seeking their intentions: http://tinyurl.com/yef5gxd ATTENTION YACHT CLUBS AND SAILING PROGRAMS LaserPerformance is pleased to announce the 2009 Fleet Builder Program. Get great deals on all the boats and parts you need for your program. Purchase your boats before December 15th and you don't have to take delivery until the Spring! Contact your dealer or go to LaserPerformance.com for all the details. -- http://www.laserperformance.com REASONS FOR FUEL ADDITIVES FOR WINTER LAY-UP By Tim Booth, President K100 Fuel Technology Boaters should be using a fuel additive because both E-10 gasoline and ULSD diesel fuels are different than the old fuels and much more sensitive to water contamination and accelerated degradation. Gasoline: E-10 gasoline will be the national U.S. standard within the next 2 years, and it is already the standard in much of Canada. For the past 2-3 years E-10 has been the only formulation available in certain northeast regions. We have seen that E-10 gasoline has been a real problem for boaters. The ethanol is the cause of the problem. Ethanol attracts moisture. When it has attracted enough moisture the fuel becomes saturated and goes through a physical change called phase separation. Once the fuel separates you end up with low octane fuel on the top and a small amount of water+ethanol on the bottom. The gas on top has no power. Engines running separated fuel may not start. If they do start they will run roughly. They lack power and acceleration. If the ethanol+water get into the engine it may cause major problems short term-burned valves and pistons, and long term corrosion problems. Once the fuel separates the only real solution is to drain the entire tank- tough to do on most boats because the fuel pickup doesn't go right to the bottom of the tank. -- RCR Yachts Racer's News #336, read on: http://psndealer.com/dealersite/images/rcryachts/racersnews092309.pdf LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit 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 Ron Packer, Navigator, 12 KA 4 'Southern Cross', 1974: In reply to Tom O'Brien's letter in Scuttlebutt 2931, a good representation of Twelve Metre crews from 1967 to 1987, including ten of the '74 Southern Cross team, gathered at Royal Perth Yacht Club on Friday, 25 September and raised a glass to Courageous and the other America's Cup crews and the memory of a great era of yacht racing. Quite a few glasses were raised!! * From Gregory Lovekamp, Springfield, IL: Regarding the book 'Saving Sailing' (in Scuttlebutt 2937), boating overall, and specifically sailing, tend to be in decline in my part of the world. I tend to agree that it is less to do with "people not taking the time to teach their kids" and more with the costs and more importantly litigation that is involved. Kids used to go down to the river, beach, lakeshore, etc., find a boat, share a friend's boat, whatever, to get out on the water. Now the waterfront is taken up with people's expensive homes and condos that don't want kids on THEIR property, using THEIR lake, sullying THEIR view, let alone the lawsuits that would inevitably occur if the kid drowned. We are increasingly a country of "whether or not I can afford it, I'm not going to let you have it", and that works both ways rich against poor and vice versa. * From Norris Bourdow: Indeed, the field (for the 2009 Championship of Champions) is stacked this year. Many extremely good sailors. Just an FYI - Skip Dieball is not only the Highlander National Champion, but ALSO the Interlake National Champion. Current rules only allow him to represent one Class. He is 'officially' representing our Highlander Class. But on site will be recognized as both. I know he is chomping at the bit to mix it up with all of these great sailors. * From Tom Sitzmann: You might be interested in making note of the Lake George Club J/22 Northeast Regional Championship. Gracious hosts, and an incredibly beautiful venue. The club is also celebrating its Centennial this year. Would be great to make the press. This regatta, away from the beaten path for sure, attracted more boats (35) than either the J/22 Midwinter or J22 East Coast Championship (Annapolis, MD) this year. So, J/22 one design sailing is alive and well in upstate New York. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/yb8rkvu DEAR ABBY I am 25 and leaving in one month with my boyfriend to do a 2 year circumnavigation. I have been sailing for the past year and working in the marine industry but I still have so much to learn. I am very nervous about leaving my family, friends and home...and living with my partner on a boat for the first time. I was hoping that some of you Ladies may have some words of wisdom or experiences to share to put my mind at ease while I am transitioning into a Liveaboard Lifestyle. -- Ash, post advice here: http://tinyurl.com/ycmdta9 WIN AN OPTIMUM TIME WATCH Did you have a mentor that helped you in the sport? Was there someone that took you under their wing, helped with your learning and opened some doors for you? Scuttlebutt advertiser Ocean Racing would like to recognize these mentors, and raffle off three Optimum Time watches to anyone who posts who their mentor was. Email your submission to the Scuttlebutt Editor, or post it here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8302#8302 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. Special thanks to North Sails, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
