|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 595 - June 21, 2000IT'S NOT A RUMOR ANYMORESEATTLE - June 20, 2000 - The Seattle Yacht Club, represented by the OneWorld Challenge Syndicate, will officially notify the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron under the nearly 150-year-old rules of protocol of their intention to challenge for the world's most prestigious sailing prize - the America's Cup. Seattle businessman Craig O. McCaw has committed early support to the OneWorld Challenge effort, commenting that it will be different from any other challenger in previous America's Cup campaigns. "Through the OneWorld Challenge we want to focus attention on the global environment with emphasis on the world's oceans," McCaw said. "Water covers 70 percent of the Earth's surface. The oceans literally determine those who bask in blue skies and prosperity and those who will die from famine, flood and hurricane. It affects Africa, America and everywhere in between. It is an issue affecting both rich and poor alike." As the initial sponsor of this challenger, McCaw is seeking others to join the effort and to help draw international attention to the rapid deterioration of the world's oceans. "This challenge is on behalf of the Seattle Yacht Club, but should it be successful in winning the Cup, the location for the defense of the Cup in 2006 will be chosen based upon merit not simple regional prejudice," McCaw. "Further the challenge will be run as a meritocracy where we will be open to better ideas and better opportunities to make the challenge a success. We will constantly be looking for the most qualified elements and people to put forward so we can attempt to do well while doing good." The underwriters being assembled have elected that they will independently underwrite the cost of the challenger so that corporate sponsorship monies are dedicated to environmental efforts. The OneWorld Syndicate was recently formed around a team of proven, world-class professionals. Joining the team are renowned America's Cup yacht designer, American Laurie Davidson, who designed the last two winning boats for New Zealand, composite engineers Kurt Jordon and Wayne Smith, technical director Heiner Melchner, sail designer Mike Spanhake, engineers Ian Mitchell and Niel Wilkinson as well as fluid dynamicist Richard Karn and towing tank technician Richard Whitaker It is anticipated that the OneWorld Challenge will have its two new boats constructed in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States under the direction of the syndicate's construction team lead by cup veteran Peter Sowman. Leading the team as sailing director will be America's Cup veteran helmsman Peter Gilmour of Australia, who brings with him six New Zealand sailors who participated in the last two winning campaigns (Jeremy Scantlebury, Mathew Mason, Craig Monk, Andrew Taylor, Richard Dodson and Pete Waymouth.). The team will be comprised with sailors from around the world including American sailors who are initially represented by Seattle Olympic medalists, brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee, with the goal of developing a truly global team for the OneWorld Challenge. - Bob Ratliffe More information will be available soon: http://www.oneworldchallenge.com MORE AC STUFF SEATTLE (June 20, 2000) - Russell Belden, CEO of the Seattle Challenge for the America's Cup, issued the following statement in response to today's announcement of a syndicate headed by Craig McCaw. "I am encouraged by today's announcement, and I'm glad to see we have helped inspire another team. Seattle is a world-class city very capable of supporting two strong syndicates. "We are clearly two very different organizations, and we each will have our own distinct methods and ways of approaching the America's Cup. We are a Northwest-based challenge that will be funded by the members and businesses of our own community. Our all-American team will train here and will race here. And if we win, we will bring and defend the Cup here. "I don't believe more U.S. syndicates will dilute the American effort, rather it will offer the country more chances to win back the Cup. Our team is currently training here in the Puget Sound area, and I invite their crew to go up against ours in a few friendly practice matches." The Seattle Challenge for the America's Cup is a nonprofit organization dedicated to returning the America's Cup to the United States and to share sailing with the community, especially youth. It is funded by private and corporate donations. - Heidi Belden, http://www.seattlechallenge.org NEWPORT BERMUDA RACE The Newport Bermuda Race principal Lighthouse Trophy has been won by Eric Crawford from Maryland and his 35 year old Phil Rhodes 41 design 'Restless'. This immaculate Pearson built glassfibre yacht has the highest handicap within the 176 strong Newport to Bermuda fleet and suffered least from the light airs at the finish that snuffed out the hopes of the favourites. There is no doubt that the weather conditions which changed from 16-25 knot South Westerlies to zero within a 100 miles of the finish, played into the hands of 'Restless' which is one of the smallest boats in the fleet, but skill also played a part in lifting Crawford and his six-man crew to the head of their class. - http://www.bermudarace.com UBIQUITOUS What do the following have in common: Layline, Sailing Supply, Westin Marine, Dinghy Shop, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Team One Newport and Sail One Design? Give up? Shame on you. You should have known these quality retailers all carry Camet products in their inventories. And there soooo many more outlets - in the US, Europe and South America too. When you look for sailing shorts, hiking pants, spray tops, bags, bubble tops or other quality sailing products from Camet, start with the complete list of Camet retailers listed here: http://www.camet.com BLOCK ISLAND The big winner in the second day of racing at Boatscape.com Block Island Race Week is Scherherazade, Hugh Chandler, of Boston. Scherherazade,a Taylor 40, won the Town of New Shoreham Boat-of-the-Day. In the first race of Scherherazade's Class C, PHRF 2, the first and the fifth place finishers were just three minutes apart, a narrow margin for such a flukey day. In the second race the margin narrowed to 2:33. Scherherazade's cumulative success in this tightly contested class won her the high honor for the day. The current and picking the lifts was the story for the top boats of the 137-boat fleet, racing in two divisions and 12 classes during Tuesday's two light-air races. The boats that got to the right side of their courses did well as did those who made the most of the Sound's contrary currents. "In the first race we got to the right quick. The breeze filled in and away we went," said Tim Woodhouse, whose Thompson 30 Rumours won first place in Class B, PHRF 1 with two bullets. "In the second race we got across the narrowest band of counter current and really got a jump. We could see the current on the water, a big bell of it. We cut across it at the neck on the upwind leg and jibed into it on the down wind leg. We gained a 1.5 knot advantage from the current downwind." In the Soverel 33 National Championships, three-time America's Cup winner Dennis Conner, Menace XX, trounced the six-boat fleet in the first race but took second to Gryphon, Peter d'Anjou, of Wickford, RI in the second, yielding cumulative points to d'Anjou. Conner picked up the pressure to the right in the first race but said he didn't find the current to be a factor in his lane in the second, which might explain his loss to local sailor d'Anjou. Playing the current paid off for Damien Emory, of Mt. Sinai, NY, whose Eclipse took first place overall in the 30-boat J/105 fleet. Like Rumours, Eclipse took a right in the first race and rode the current in the second. "Tuesday presented a very different day for the race management team," said Premiere Racing Inc.'s event director, Peter Craig. "The breeze was light. The current came on strong, although wind direction wasn't an issue. We saw it pretty steady most of the afternoon. It was challenging racing for the tacticians." "It appears we will see a change over the next couple of days," Craig added. "Boat handling will come into play as we go from a light air mode to moderate to heavy breezes. The end result will be that the best all around boats and crews will end up in the winner's circle Friday." - Gail Scott Complete standings: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. -- From Capt. Matthew L. Thomas (re Open 60's and stability) - While it is easy to come up with ways to limit these boats, we must remember that this form of racing is about pushing the limit. Every competitor is well aware that to win, you do have to finish the race and therefore you have to have boats that are easy to sail and basically enormously stable and difficult to flip. If we try to enforce limits on the "Open" (as in experimental) classes, we will limit development and innovation. It would be akin to banning multihull racing due to their inherent stability while inverted. Regulation always stifles the sport! How do you think rock climbers would react if we insisted on them having safety nets? While Bruce Farr's comments are informed and well thought out, he has not designed in this particular discipline of sailing and the comments that have been made by designer's at the forefront of this discipline are the one's we need to listen to. (I'm not knocking Bruce's skill at all, I would say the same about Mssrs Finot, Conq & Lombard if we were discussing a W60.) Their recommendations have been noted by the skippers and the new designs have been built to be less susceptible to inversion, without any loss of speed. Have a look at the technical details incorporated in Kingfisher and read the comments on the Finot site (www.finot.com) Remember: this is an Open Class and we need to admire and be awed by the sailors who compete in these events! -- From Brian Macomber - (regarding Whale Collision / Noisemakers) - I can vouch for the fact that whales can't hear you coming . In the 92 Sugarloaf Race On Board the Schock 35 "Rivalry" off San Diego we T-Boned a California Grey Whale at 6.5 Knots. I was on the rail when I noticed the water under the boat started to "flatten out" as if we were in the shallows. I Knew we were in 300+ ft. of water so this was confusing to say the least. I figured it out & was able to shout out a warning for my crew to brace for impact just as we slammed into him. The boat came to a dead stop. The skipper was off watch & was ejected from his bunk below. The whale dragged himself out from under & layed up along side the boat. He did a slow roll & took a long look at us with a dinner plate size eye. I estimated him at 25-feet, which would make him a yearling & curious. He blew and dove away . We quickly pulled the floorboards & checked the keelbolts & thru hulls for leaks. The only damage was our knot meter didn't work any longer & had to be replaced later. An hour later a full grown 50 footer surfaced not twenty feet from us. That one would have really hurt. A device that let them know you were coming would not be a bad thing (providing it didn't slow you down any) -- From Peter Newlands - In Bill Lee's note to 'Butt, he described the Ultra 30 class that we have been racing in the UK for the last 10 years. Designed for TV, tight one design, lowish-tech racing, spectacular looking for spectators (at times) and fun. DENNIS CONNER (Rich Roberts interviewed Dennis Conner for The Log about his new America's Cup alliance with the New York YC. Here's an excerpt from that story.) With the entry into the game of a half-dozen free-spending, ego-driven billionaires-Conner calls them "the Bees"-the ante has skyrocketed. "We certainly envision a two-boat program," he said. "While we won't have a hundred million dollars like the Bees, I don't think you need that to have a shot at winning. Once you have enough, you have a chance to win." Also, a big splash of cash will boost the prestige of the America's Cup. People are drawn to money. "It will raise the profile of sailing," Conner said. "It's certainly going to be good for the marine business, with more technology and more money pumped into the system. And why should the best sailors in the world be scratching to make their house payments when the best athletes in other sports are wealthy? How many guys do you know that got rich out of sailing?" - Rich Roberts, The Log Full story: http://www.thelog.com/ CALENDAR * June 24 - Channel Islands to Marina Del Rey, Channel Islands YC & Santa Monica Windjammers YC, http://www.smwyc.org/ * July 1- Marina Del Rey to San Diego Race, Santa Monica Windjammers & Southwestern YC clubs, http://www.smwyc.org/ * July 13th - 16th - USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - California, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach, California; Laser, Radial, CFJ, 420. - http://www.USSAILING.org * December 27, 2000 to January 26, 2001 - Sail Melbourne 2001 International Regatta. 45 regattas to include 3000 competitors, coaches, officials and supporters from Australia and throughout the world; Dinghy and Catamaran Classics, Open Ballasted Keelboat Regatta, Trailable Regatta, the Southern Ocean Multihull Regatta and the Sail Melbourne Keelboat Regatta. - http://sailmelbourne.vyc.com.au EUROPE 1 NEW MAN STAR After Ellen MacArthur1s historic Class One monohull victory Monday morning, nearly fourteen hours elapsed before the second boat came into view of the finish line. But then second, third and fourth followed home over the following two hour period. At sunset Monday Roland Jourdain brought the red-hulled Sill Beurre le Gall across the finish line under genneker. A closer inspection of his boat showed a destroyed staysail hanging from the inner forestay and the assembled crowd were soon to hear about a myriad of other small but troublesome technical issues. Next to arrive some 70 minutes later, was Mike Golding (Team Group 4). This was the boat that had been hounding Jourdain for the past few days and had been sailing in sight of the red boat for a lot of the last day. And finally, just forty minutes later, Thierry Dubois brought the blue and white-striped hull of Solidaires to the finish. Italian skipper Giovanni Soldini profited from Catherine Chabaud's troubles (broken starboard rudder) and managed to pass her and take 5th place. - Marcus Hutchinson, http://www.europe1newmanstar.com/uk VANGUARD 15 PACIFIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIP Bart Hackworth and Becky Jonas topped a competitive 24-boat fleet to win the 2000 Vanguard 15 Pacific Coast Championship. Hosted by the SF Bay V15 Fleet and sailed out of the Treasure Island Sailing Center, competitors were treated to two days of warm, breezy conditions inside the cozy confines of Clipper Cove. A total of 16 races were completed. FINAL RESULTS: 1. Hackworth / Jonas, 46 points, 2. Adamson / Fourek, 54 points, 3. Sellers / Norris, 90 points, 4. Murison / Moore, 104 points, 5. Horsch / Horsch, 109 points. THREE AND COUNTING When the maxi-catamaran Club Med beat the East-West Atlantic crossing record between Cadiz (Spain) and San Salvador (Bahamas) she became the third boat to qualify for The Race. Also qualified at this point are American Steve Fossett (PlayStation) and the Pole Roman Paszke (Polpharma-Warta). The Race is a non-stop round the world sprint that starts in Barcelona (Spain) on 31 December 2000. - http://www.therace.org WOMEN'S MATCH RACING Work is progressing on the selection of a boat (or boats) suitable for use in the Women's Match Racing Discipline in the 2004 Olympic Games and Olympic Classes Events prior to the 2004 Games. A request to suppliers of suitable boats and outline procedure for selecting the class(es) to be used has now been published. For full details: www.sailing.org/matchrace/womenmrevent2004.html IT TAKES ALL KINDS The man jailed for bashing the America's Cup is out to do the same to someone from the team that holds it. But this time Dargaville's (NZ) Ben Nathan wants to do it properly - inside the boxing ring. Nathan, who has had boxing training for about three months, makes his ring debut next month and wants someone from Team New Zealand to be his opponent. "I'm issuing a challenge to Team New Zealand to send someone up to get in the ring with me - bring it on," he said. Nathan's coach, boxing writer and commentator Jim Mahoney, said he was "absolutely" serious about getting a Team New Zealand challenger for Nathan. However, a Team New Zealand spokeswoman said they had "more important things to organise" and would not take up the challenge. "The past is the past, though, and we wish him well in his new career." - NZ Herald Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Trouble is a private thing; don't lend it, and don't barrow it. |
