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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 550 - April 17, 2000Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features, dock talk, typos and ads. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your personal attacks for elsewhere.
A NEW PLAYER "We are currently assembling a formidable sailing and design team that will bring talent, energy, and new blood to the America's Cup," Belden said. "It seems only fitting that the city that has pioneered the technological revolution would offer us the best chance of winning this extraordinary sailing event." The syndicate has purchased a training boat, Spirit of Seattle, which is expected to arrive at Seattle's waterfront in time for Boating Season's Opening Day festivities May 6, 2000. The 76-foot Italian boat, originally named Il Moro di Venezia V, was the winner of 1992's Louis Vuitton Challenger's Cup, and narrowly lost the Cup to America3 in San Diego. The syndicate has also signed on Helly Hansen and the Seattle law firm of Cairncross and Hempelmann as sponsors. According to Belden, the mission of the Seattle Challenge goes beyond racing. "We hope to make this truly a community effort by sharing sailing and its lessons with local children, and participating in local races and events. By doing this we hope to galvanize our region and focus the world's attention on the Pacific Northwest in a very positive way." The Seattle Challenge for the America's Cup is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to return the America's Cup to the United States and share sailing with the community, especially youth. It is funded by private and corporate donations and sponsored by Helly Hansen and the Seattle law firm of Cairncross and Hempelmann. For more information: http://www.seattlechallenge.org CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: So much for consolidating the US America's Cup efforts.
US OLYMPIC TRIALS In the Finn class, the breeze went down a little for the final races, but seemed puffy. Chop remained steep. Silvestri did what he had to. He will now go to the Finn Gold Cup and qualify the USA to send a Finn Sailor to the Sydney Olympics. Herrmann was consistent getting a first and a second today. He finished ahead of Silvestri in both races today and all in all sailed a terrific second half.
FINAL RESULTS: EUROPE (23 boats): 1. COURTENAY BECKER-DEY (25 points) 2. MEG GAILLARD (26) 3. AMANDA CLARK (53) 4. KRYSIA POHL (59) 5. DANIELLE B. MYRDAL (64) FINN (26 boats): 1.Russ Silvestri (27 pts) 2. Mark Herrmann (30) 3. Darrell Peck (41) 4. Mike Deyett (52) 5. Eric Oetgen (55) LASER (32 boats): 1. JOHN MYRDAL (38 pts) 2. MARK MENDELBLATT (42) 3. BRETT DAVIS (57) 4. PETER HURLEY (57) 5. BILL HARDESTY (70) Full results: http://www.ussailing.org
PARALYMPIC TEAM TRIALS Sonar (Skipper and two crew) -- 1998 World Disabled Sailing Silver Medalists Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I./Palm Beach, Fla.) and Keith Burhans (Irondequoit, N.Y.) with '98 World Disabled Sailing Gold Medalist Corky Aucreman (Dana Point, Calif.) posted five bullets in their seven-race series. With a drop race figured into the scoring, Callahan/Burhans/Aucreman topped the 11-boat fleet with seven points overall. Finishing second was '98 Independence Cup Champion John Kostanecki (Sugarland, Texas) with Hugh Elliot (Alexandria, Va.) and Mike Passaro (Orangevale, Calif.) with 14 points. In third with 16 points: David Trude (Oxnard, Calif.) with '98 World Disabled Sailing Gold Medalist Waldo Esparza and Larry Kutno (both Seffner, Fla.). Mike Strahle (McCloud, Calif.) with Jonathan Hahn (Sarasota, Fla.) and Craig Ackerman (Redding, Calif.) were fourth with 23 points, and '98 World Disabled Sailing Gold Medalist John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.) with Chris Murphy (Annapolis, Md.), and Jim Leatherman (Baltimore, Md.), were fifth with 24 points. Paralympic 2.4 Metre class -- Six first-place finishes earned Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine) the decisive win in the seven-boat 2.4 Metre class. Brown, a member of the 1999 U.S. Sailing Team (able-bodied) in the Soling class, discarded his worst finish - a third - to clinch the series with six points. 1997 North American Paralympic 2.4 Metre Champion David Schroeder (Miami, Fla.) was second with 13 points. John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.), Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), and Tom Franklin (Miami, Fla.), round out third through fifth place with 16, 24 and 31 points, respectively. -- Jan Harley Additional information: http://www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicTrials/ParaTrials/
CONGRESSIONAL CUP - Report by Rich Roberts The victory followed a third place in the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup at Auckland and a second in the Australia Cup at Perth that boosted Barker to No. 6. Now the man Russell Coutts anointed as his successor goes into next month's ISAF World Match Racing Championship, the ACI Cup of Croatia, as a clear favorite. Rivals there will include Mohr and France's Bertrand Pacˇ, who led most of the week but wound up third. Barker's win not only proves that his one-race rocket to fame was no flash in the pan but that Coutts knew what he was doing when he handed Barker the helm for the clinching victory against Prada. "We were a little slack at the Steinlager and Australia, coming right after the America's Cup, " Barker said, "but we came here with a better attitude." It wasn't easy. At one point the Kiwis stood 6-5 after losing three in a row, but they never lost again. Friday, in a heavy chop and winds to 18 knots, they completed the double round robin by knocking the No. 2-ranked Pace' out of first place on a tiebreaker, each at 13-5, for the privilege of selecting their semifinal opponent from among the other three qualifiers. Pace' and Destremau were in, but for more than an hour officials had trouble determining through the tiebreaker system whether Mohr or two-time defending champion Peter Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands would be the fourth semifinalist. Each was 10-8 and they had split their head-on encounters. Mohr thought he was out but then was told he was in. Holmberg appealed and got a reversal, but then the decision was changed back to Mohr. The problem was that Destremau, Holmberg and Mohr were all 10-8 overall, but among themselves Destremau was 3-1, Mohr 2-2 and Holmberg 1-3. That put Destremau in, but Holmberg argued that the tiebreakers should be revisited to separate him and Mohr, whom he would edge by having beaten the highest finisher, Barker. The judges didn't agree, and Holmberg was bitterly disappointed. "The [tiebreaking] rule is a bit vague," he said. "There were two ways of skinning the cat. They skinned it one way and I skinned it another way." As Holmberg watched from his boat, Mohr then outsailed Pace' in two straight races. Destremau led Barker in their first match, but a gust spun him out of control near the leeward mark as Barker powered through his lee into the lead. Barker said later, "I never had to worry about that with the guys I had. The crew work was flawless. It gives you a lot of confidence that you can put the boat in any position and they'll come through." In the first race of the best-of-three finals, Mohr was a few seconds late at the line and Barker pinned him to leeward all the way to the port lay line, then led him around the course to win by a tightly controlled 11 seconds. The second start was almost a replay of the number Barker did on Prada. He led Mohr across the line to a 2-second victory. Pace' recovered his balance to sweep Destremau for third place. The event is scheduled for a 30-minute review on ESPN2 on Sunday, May 14. FINAL ROUND ROBIN STANDINGS -- 1. Barker, 13-5 (wins tiebreaker); 2. Pace', 13-5; 3. (by tiebreakers) Destremau, 10-8; 4. Mohr, 10-8; 5. Holmberg, 10-8, $2,382.50; 6. Wieser, 9-9, $2,087.50; 7. Spithill, 9-9, $1,790.00; 8. Pillot, 7-11, $1,430.00; 9. Dickson, 6-12, $1.195.00; 10. Iehl, 3-15, $957.00. SEMIFINALS -- Match 1: Mohr d. Pacˇ, 0:14; Mohr d. Pacˇ, 0:14 (Mohr wins, 2-0). Match 2: Barker d. Destremau, 0:28; Barker d. Destremau, 0:31 (Barker wins, 2-0). FINALS -- Barker d. Mohr, 0:11; Barker d. Mohr, 0:21 (Barker wins, 2-0). Barker, $5,972.50; Mohr, $3,582.50. THIRD PLACE -- Pacˇ d. Destremau, 0:14; Pacˇ d. Destremau, 0:09 (Pace' wins, 2-0). Pace', $2,982.50; Destremau, $2,620.00.
QUOTES AND NOTES: * Sten Mohr, an engineer by trade: "We sailed so well [in the semifinals] against Pace' that I guess we used it all up before Barker. Now he'll go back with the win and I'll go back to my desk." Event website: http://www.lbyc.org
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) >> From Paul Henderson, President, International Sailing Federation -- The long epistle from Ali Meller is an example of what ISAF should not do. Everyone wants ISAF to do their dirty work so ISAF can be blamed. ISAF should not micromanage Sailing but set the guidelines and allow the various jurisdictions to play inside them whatever way they want. NEW AD CODE: ISAF says they wave all fees payable to ISAF for sailors who wish to advertise on their boats. ISAF NO FEE!! It is up to the sailor to assign their rights if they so wish or not as they wish within their class restrictions. ISAF says the MNA (Member National Authority) can institute a fee if they wish. Not ISAF's responsibility. Nowhere does it stop the 5-0-5 Class from charging a fee if they can get their sailors to agree or to allocate space on their sails if the sailor agrees. It is between the class and their owners and do not blame ISAF. Personally, and not as President of ISAF, I am prepared to put a sticker on the bow or fly a pennant from the backstay (tough to do in a Finn) to promote the event sponsor and lower entry fees for others, but nobody has the right to demand I plaster my sails. I pay for them myself and at full price. >> From Bob Fisher -- With reference to the former nomenclature of the America's Cup...firstly, it would not have been preceded by the definite article but by the indefinite article - viz, an hundred whatevers cup - and secondly, when I was a lad, the well brought up were taught 'Guineas is for Gentlemen, Pounds is for Peasants. >> From Guy Brierre -- The following is from the home page of US Sailing's website: "Our goal is to become the number one source for information and news about the sport of sailing in the United States." The following is from the 4/14/00 ISAF "Breaking News" page: "Once again there is very little information coming from the US Olympic Trials." Putting spreadsheet results on the web is nice, but there are many stories to tell about the US Sailing Trials. What about all the protests in the Europe Class? What about the 1st race finishing score problems in the Star class (the committee supposedly rejected a redress because they were "confused"). The Laser class seems to have some intense competition, but how do we know? NBC Olympics has decent news, but usually 2 days after the fact. If the Olympic Trials aren't important enough for US Sailing to cover fully, what is? Our local paper even paid a stringer to cover the Tornado Trials since we had a local connection (John Lovell) so we had the "complete" story. Why can't US Sailing do this as well? If US Sailing is to be the "number one source" they have a long way to go. The only reports we are getting are ones provided by competitors themselves - some are provided to you, some to ISAF and some are sent to personal e-mail lists. US Sailing is making strides, but they have a long way to go. >> From Helen Johnstone Falk -- It is so refreshing to read an upbeat, positive, and succinct commentary, like the one that Ned Jones wrote in scuttlebutt #548 on the Laser Olympic Trials, being held in San Francisco, CA. He did such an excellent job of writing a compelling piece, that it urges an individual who is into the "healthy, sportsmanship-like, non-petty, fun, sociable, classy, non-political, non-sponsorship, non-accusatory, non-who-has-the most money, all-boats-are-equal (supplied by Vanguard), exciting and GRITTING-TEETH COMPETITION, want to get involved and find out MORE of what is going on - almost like a Clancy novel. Now, if the media could only figure out that the REAL excitement in sailing is in the dinghy classes, where everyone is or has to be a "speed-freak", then the sport-of-sailing would be "made for t.v." (or any kind of media). Big boat sailing is boring (yes, including the America's). As far as I am concerned, out with the "old guard" and in with the "new guard" - the America's Cup should be sailed in boats that are all equal (such as Vanguard supplying a fleet of Lasers for the Olympic trials) and are the equivalent of a large International 14. That would separate the "men from the boys". Maybe there is a designing team out there that is working on some funky, fast boat that will change the face of the "America's Cup" - I can think of a couple of designers who would love to do that...
NORTH SAILS / SOBSTAD
* In Sunday's New York Times, Herb McCormick summarized, "The final
resolution to the matter remains unclear. In the wake of the March 31
injunction, a stay has been granted and North is, for now, back in the 3DL
business. But Sobstad lawyers have filed an appeal asking that the stay be
overturned, and a May 12 hearing has been set to further address damages
and royalty payments, estimated in the millions of dollars. More appeals
are expected. So far, the only certainty in the matter of North vs. Sobstad
is that the legal wrangling is far from over."
OZ OLYMPIC TEAM The Australian Yachting Federation nominated Nicholson and Phillips on April 5 as the best medal prospects in the 49ers. Nicholson is a three-times World champion in the 49er class, Phillips his crew in two of those wins, as well as being a former World champion in 18-footers and the International 505 dinghy. The AYF's decision to nominate Nicholson and Phillips was the subject of an appeal by fellow Sydney sailors Adam Beashel and Teague Czislowski. An independent Appeal Tribunal established by the AYF and subsequently the Court of Arbitration for Sport heard the matter. The appeal was later withdrawn. Nicholson and Phillips are currently still in Australia and will be heading overseas within a month to continue their competition and training schedule in Europe as part of their preparation to September's Olympic regatta. Australia will be represented in all 11 classes as the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with strong gold medal prospects in the 49er class, along with the Star keelboat, Tornado catamaran, Mistral men's sailboard, Laser single-handed dinghy and Europe women's single-handed dinghy classes. -- Peter Campbell BIG Ford Cork Week entries are 433 and rising. http://www.fordcorkweek.com
AHMANSON - DICKINSON SERIES
LAUNCHINGS
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