SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1084- June 3, 2002

Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.

THE RACE
With exquisite timing of someone who knows how to spoil a party, France's Bruno Peyron has announced his plans for a successor to The Race, his round the world event for G class multihulls. This comes as Volvo host their Ocean Race in Gothenburg, where they may or may not announce plans for a second race.

Typical of timidity which has marked Volvo's custodianship of the former Whitbread, the original confirmation of a follow-up race has been postponed by Volvo since the Auckland stopover in January. An announcement is expected on Wednesday, if only to say that there will be another race, but boats, course and format are unlikely to be revealed until December at least.

Peyron knows he can now be seen as setting the agenda for fully-crewed round the world spectaculars. In the same way, the Australian organisers of the Southern Ocean-based Antarctica Cup sensed a vacuum created by Volvo's tardiness to launch their own new event.

Peyron set the first Jules Verne record in 1993 and reclaimed it a month ago. The Race in 2000-01, a non-stop dash for multihulls, was the logical extension of Jules Verne record attempts. Peyron has developed that into a four-year schedule.

A successor to The Race will run in 2004, along with a circuit of European events. Jules Verne attempts are pencilled in for 2005, a race tour in 2006, which will be a four-stage event with stops, and then major record attempts such as New York-San Francisco in 2007. . - Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, UK, full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/

SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
SPLIT, CROATIA (06/1/2002)- In a thrilling five match final France's Philippe Presti of Le Defi Areva won the Swedish Match Tour's ACI HT Cronet Cup, the seventh event on the world's premier professional sailing series. Presti opened the first-to-three-wins final by taking the first two matches against fellow countryman Bertrand Pace who now sails for Team New Zealand, and then watched the wily veteran battle back to even the score and force a fifth and deciding match.;; "Its always a street fight when you sail against Bertrand," said Presti. "All the results were very close in each of the matches, we had to work very hard for the win which is not surprising when you sail against someone as good as Bertrand and Team New Zealand."

Additionally, in the petit finals Peter Holmberg and his Oracle Racing team rallied back after losing his opening match to Magnus Holmberg's Team SeaLife to win two in a row and finish in third place. With his third place finish here this week Peter Holmberg clinched the Swedish Match Tour 2001/2 championship.;; The overall championship is the result of a year of consistent success on the Swedish Match Tour for Holmberg and his core match race team of John Cutler (tactics), Brad Webb (bow), Mike Sanderson (trim) and Robbie Naismith (pit). Holmberg and his crew never finished lower than third any of the six Swedish Match Tour events they entered. - Shawn McBride

Final results: 1. Philippe Presti, Le Defi Areva ; 2. Bertrand Pace, Team New Zealand ; 3. Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing ; 4. Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team SeaLife ; 5. Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Marienlyst ; 6. Andy Beadsworth, GBR Challenge ; 7. Tomislav Basic, Croatia ; 8. Chris Law, Great Britain ; 9. Bjorn Hansen, SWE/GOL Sailing Team ; 10. Paolo Cian, Masclazone Latino.

Swedish Match Race Tour Leaderboard: 1. Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing 120; 2. Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team SeaLife 80; 3. Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Marienlyst 75; 4. Gavin Brady, Prada Challenge 62; 5. Ed Baird, USA/Team Musto 35; 6. Jesper Radich, Denmark 33; 7. Ken Read, USA/Team Dennis Conner 27; 8. Philippe Presti, Le Defi Areva 25. - www.swedishmatchtour.com

CHAMPIONSHIP TIME
With the sailing season in full swing, now is the time to evaluate at your sail inventory to make sure you'll have the speed necessary for a podium finish at the important regattas on your calendar. The pros at Ullman Sails will be happy to work with you to help provide those elusive tenths of a knot of boatspeed that make the difference. It's more affordable than you think. For the location of the nearest loft that can provide you with a price quote: www.ullmansails.com

WOMEN'S MATCH RACING
ANNAPOLIS, MD, Saturday, June 1, 2002 -- Demonstrating the well-honed match racing skills that have earned her the number-one ISAF ranking among women match racers around the world, Sweden's Marie Björling and her team, including Anna Holmdahl, Elisabeth Nilsson, and Annika Carlunger, finished off her competition in straight sets in the semi-final and final rounds of the 12th annual BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup women's match racing regatta. The regatta, a Class 1 international match racing event, is hosted by Eastport Yacht Club and was contested in J/22s.

The day opened with little or no wind, but by late morning a sailable breeze of about five knots had arrived on the Chesapeake Bay, allowing the semi-final rounds to begin. Björling, who had finished the round-robin in first, was matched with fourth-placer Liz Baylis. Although Björling lost to Baylis in the finals of the World Championship, this time, in building breeze, she bested Baylis' team 2-0.

In the other semi-final match, 16-year-old Italian sailor Giulia Conti, had beated Carol Cronin in the round-robin, she found the Rhode Island sailor impossible to beat in the semi-final, losing to her rival 0-2.

After the semi-final round was completed, the two winners, Björling and Cronin, met in the final round as the breeze settled in at about 10 knots, while Conti and Baylis sailed the petit-final, or consolation, round. Here again, Björling and her team sailed superbly, winning the series 2-0 and leaving Cronin second overall, while Conti similarly bested Baylis 2-0 in the petit-final for the third and fourth place positions, respectively. - www.santamariacup.org

RULE CHANGES
The following change to the racing rules was approved by the Council at the 2002 Mid-year ISAF meetings to take effect 31 May 2002: Rule A8.2 is deleted and rule A8.3 is renumbered as A8.2. Appendix A8 SERIES TIES now reads as follows:

A8.1 If there is a series score tie between two or more boats, each boat's race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the boat(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.

A8.2 If a tie still remains between two or more boats, they shall be ranked in order of their scores in the last race. Any remaining ties shall be broken by using the tied boats' scores in the next-to-last race and so on until all ties are broken. These scores shall be used even if some of them are excluded scores. The Racing Rules of Sailing on the ISAF Website have been updated: www.sailing.org/rrs2001/

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
leweck@earthlnk.net
(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 or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.)

* From Kathleen Koppenhoefer (mother of Jamie Boeckel): Yesterday we had his memorial service at the Sayville Yacht Club ... it is where he first started to learn to sail. For our family this has been a nightmare of a week that started with the 11:00 PM phone call from the Coast Guard asking the question ...."are you Jamie Boeckel's mom?" For many years I have met people who have asked the same question, and often my answer would be ... hmm, who wants to know!;; He was to use a phrase from another century, a rascal ... he gave so much to all of us, his humor, his love, his joy in simply living a life he loved He has not been recovered, but considering his life and what he so loved, he is now rests, as Jimmy Buffet might say, in Mother Mother Ocean And Jamie really did want to sail on her seas since he was 3 feet tall To all of you who knew him and miss him thank you for the feelings you shared with him and for those of you who didn't ... you missed one helluva guy

To all you sailors: keep yourselves safe. And once again to the crew of Blue Yankee, to Bob Towse and Brock Kallen, my thanks for being there with him and with us to celebrate his life.

* From Campbell Field: Many people have been affected by Jamie Boeckel's death on Blue Yankee. Some of the people who counted Jamie as a mate, friend, drinking buddy etc have been unable to attend any of the gatherings to celebrate his life, due to the Volvo Ocean Race. I would like to propose to everyone who is in Gothenburg who would like to, to get together and raise a glass in memory and celebration of Jamie's life at the Volvo Ocean Race Club in the race village on Wednesday 5th at say 6p.m. Bring your memories, stories, and fake shark tattoos if you like.

* From Ron Baerwitz: For as long as I've been racing finding crew has always been a challenge. Many owners lose interest in the sport due to the difficult task of organizing crew. I recently found myself in need of a crew person but I live in an area not rich with yacht racers. So, I turned to the trusty net and found some good resources.

(1) College Sailing Teams: Almost every college sailing team has a web site with contact numbers for every team member. This is an excellent source for new talent. Many of these young, enthusiastic sailors never sailed before college but have been trained well. I have found that many of them never sail again after season's end because they just don't have the contacts in the yacht racing community.

(2) Local Area Crew Lists: Many areas now have web sites set up for available crews or boats. One such list is the NY Area Racing Crew List (www.walrus.com/~belov/crewlist.html). It's a great resource for beginners to professional crewmembers. I'd suggest that every local Yachting authority set up this kind of crew/boat exchange web site.

* From Bob Smith (Regarding Bruce Cambell (et. al.)that politics and other "non-positive" comments should be left out of Scuttlebutt): I'm bored of living in a world of the "least common denominator": Walmart's everyone-buy-the-same-thing instead of stores that know something about their product, Subway manufactured sandwiches instead of crafted food, and our government's attitude that unless you are a "patriot" according to their definition of the word, keep your mouth shut.

It seems this dumbing-down of sailing in particular and Scuttlebutt in general is possibly what is causing the sport's ills: Only one type of person participating, Only one opinion is correct, Only first place is worthwhile, Only press releases are news. Come on, this country is founded on diversity. Keep sailing diverse and interesting or we are all going to be playing with the same tiny group.

* From Richard Jepsen: As a sailing professional (owner of OCSC Sailing, a San Francisco Bay sailing school), I appreciate Mr. Tostado's concerns about abandonment of a crew in the water. I too was appalled at the descriptions of lack of responsiveness from some at the Moore Nationals. However, I believe he tars sailing schools unfairly with that brush when he asserts, by extension, that traditions of "consideration of another's life, or safety"... "is not taught at sailing schools". There are extremely few community, commercial or yacht club junior sailing school programs that fail to emphasize as a keystone of their curriculum the tradition of mariners helping other mariners in distress. (As well as the applicable Col Regs...) (I know of none in the US SAILING family)

Person overboard recovery is the cornerstone of any sailing school's program, both for its obvious importance and for its use as a boat handling development tool. I hope that clarification of Mr. Tostado's position on that issue was edited for space considerations. I refer anyone concerned about sailing schools who fail to promote the traditions of safety at sea to refer to US Sailing's training web site. Not only does it does a good job of identifying the importance of safety at sea, the traditions of seamanship and the critical importance of complying with the international regulations in its standards for its Small Boat and Keelboat training and certification programs, it lists schools who comply with and promote those standards. www.ussailing.org/training

NEWS BRIEFS
* Sailing World magazine celebrates their 40th year of publication with a special June issue that provides a look at the past four decades of performance sailing. First published in Chicago, in 1962, as One-Design Yachtsman, Sailing World is now published in Newport (R.I.) by the Miller Sports Group. It is the oldest sail-only magazine published in the United States. - www.sailingworld.com

CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS
Not much is truly custom made anymore - but Ockam Instruments has quietly provided custom products since the early 1980s. A few examples from our "099 Custom " series: Depth Below Keel that changes with centerboard height, Yanmar engine RPM, oil and water warnings on Ockam displays, enemy tracking by laser gun or radar screen "pinging", dual depth sounders (fore and aft for BIG boats), weather boat systems, race committee boat systems, and more. To discuss your custom application email Tom Davis (tom@ockam.com). Visit www.ockam.com

CHALLENGE TRANSAT
Six skippers, and six mates have been selected to compete in the inaugural Challenge Transat 2002 yacht race. - Trish Shaw

Ian Buchele, 33 from Southampton will team with first mate Duncan Jubb, from Edinburgh Scotland;
David Melville from St. Albans will team with 29-year-old Steven White;
Mark Taylor from Dartmouth will team with Peter Scoggins;
36-year-old Scottish skipper, Duggie Gillespie's has Jasper Heikens, who originates from the Netherlands, as his first mate;
John Burfitt, 42, teams with 28-year-old Laurence Marriott;
Scottish skipper Alex Johnston will be joined by the only woman in the group, 34 year old.

Full story: www.challengebusiness.com

ICSA WOMEN'S NORTH AMERICANS
HONOLULU, HAWAII (May 30, 2002) - Leading from start to finish, the Old Dominion University (ODU) Monarchs won the 2002 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women's North American Championship with 168 points. Defending champion and regatta host, University of Hawaii placed second with 177 points. St. Mary's College of Maryland followed in third with 195 points. Old Dominion emerged with their third Women's Championship, having previously won the title in 1982 and 1987.

In addition to winning the overall title, ODU won the A-division with a 62-point total. Senior skipper Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), a returning All-American, teamed with sophomore crew Cara Gibbons-Neff (Annapolis, Md.) and junior crew Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.). The Monarchs placed fifth in B-division with 106 points. Junior skipper Corrie Clement (Metarie, La.), who received Honorable Mention distinction last year, sailed with freshman Anna Tunnicliffe (Perrysburg, Ohio) and junior Elizabeth Bower (Fairport, N.Y.)

FINAL RESULTS: 1. Old Dominion, 168; 2. Hawaii, 177; 3. St. Marys, 195 4. Brown, 233; 5. Yale, 238. - www.collegesailing.org/2002

LE DEFI
Two weeks ago the first sail of the Defi Areva's brand new ACC boat FRA-69 was put on hold following action and eventually damage caused by the Greenpeace anti-nuclear protesters in Brittany, West France. Following a four day repair operation to replace the damaged skins of the hull over the site of the impact, the French had to sit out a further week of delays, this time due to inclement weather. LE DEFI - FRA 69.

Finally on Saturday in light winds the most recent boat to be built in France hoisted sails and sailed for the first time from home port Lorient. On board Pierre Mas, Luc Gelluseau and the rest of the crew hoisted and lowered sails, loaded the boat up, tacked, gybed, adjusted and calibrated instruments, all standard early sea trials exercises. The first reactions are all positive. "Compared to our last boat FRA-46 which was very tweaky and difficult to keep in the groove and moving quickly all the time, this boat is much easier to keep sailing at target speed," said sports director Pierre Mas. The boat will continue trials over the following six weeks before it is shipped to Auckland, where it is due to arrive in mid-August. - Luis Vuitton Series website, story and images: www.lvcup.com

LASER/RADIAL NATIONAL
The Laser/Radial National Championships held at Richmond Yacht Club, Pt. Richmond, CA. Ten races held on San Francisco Bay in 15-25 kts of Olympic Circle chop. Much "drilling for oil" and "death rolling" while finding the way around the mostly windward/leeward and trapezoid courses. Final results - Lasers: 1. Nathaniel Stoffelsma 25pts, 2. Andrew Lewis 28 pts, 3. Stephen Bourdow 41 pts. Radials: 1. Greg Helias 22 pts, 2. Frank Inmon 36 pts, 3. Bobby Noonan 39 pts.; Compete results: www.Richmondyc.org

WATTS TROPHY REGATTA
The Los Angles YC hosted 15 Farr 40s this past weekend for the Watts Trophy Regatta. John Kilroy and crew on Samba Pa Ti won convincingly, taking 4 of 5 races. David Thomson with Peregrine took the only race not picked up by Samba Pa Ti. Final results: 1. John B. Kilroy, Jr, Samba Pa Ti , 16; 2. Alexandra Geremia, Crocodile Rock, 20 3. Pete Stoneberg, Shadow, 25; 4. Deneen Demourkas, Groovederc, 26; 5. Mike Condon, Endurance, 31. - Complete results: www.pacedgesys.com/LAYC_Watts_2002/Watts_Final.htm

SAILING IN THE NOOD
The Sailing World Detroit NOOD (National Offshore One-Design) Regatta--the season's first major sailing regatta in the region, hosted May 31 to June 2 by Bayview Yacht Club--was all about perfect timing. First, there was the weather: the pace of weather patterns moving over Lake St. Clair was right on target to deliver an opening day of racing with strong 15- to 20-knot winds, temperatures in the 70s, sun, and a near-cloudless sky. Winds on Saturday, Day 2, softened to 8 to 12 knots. On both Friday and Saturday, winds were generally consistent in direction but varied in velocity throughout both days, making headsail choices for the larger boats a big part of the game. Sunday's wind started at 10 knots, but deteriorated into a light, shifty breeze.

Lake Michigan racer Rich Stearns (Wilmette, Ill.) won the largest class in the regatta, the 25-boat Tartan Ten class. Stearns sailed his LS 10, New Ten, with a pick-up crew of sailors who had not raced together before. According to one crewmember, the only spinnaker practice this crew had was a quick set and a few gybes, in 20 knots of wind, before Friday's first race. - Cynthia Goss

Other class winners included Ultimate 20 (12 boats) Paul Hulsey, Dynamo Humm; S2 7.9 (10 boats) Bill Jenkins, Crime Scene; Melges 24 (10 boats) Mike Dow, Flying Toaster; Level 35 (14 boats) Ed Bayer/Mike Welch/John Bayer, Falcon; J/105 (20 boats) David Lattie, Patriot Cal 25 (20 boats) Dale T. Marshall, Clytie; Crescent (10 boats) David Hume, Utopia. - For complete fleet results and daily race reports: www.sailingworld.com

THE CURMUDGEON'S DEFINITIONS
Blamestorming - Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.