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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 926 - October 19, 2001Scuttlebutt 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.
MEA CULPA
VOLVO OCEAN RACE While Grant Dalton is surpassing his wildest expectations as his continues to runaway with the lead, the rest are all starting to show chinks in their armour. For illbruck in second position, a top three result into Cape Town will be the only vindication for a win at all costs four-year campaign. In the top three for most of the leg, but now in the cheap seats, the decision makers on ASSA ABLOY must be currently sweating the most. Sponsors who are using the Volvo Ocean Race to develop internal corporate team building and brand awareness will be looking for results. Most of the pressure is being heaped on the navigators, with Ross Field (Team News Corp) likening his job to being inspected by the tax authorities every six hours. "You would have to be a brave soul to be a navigator these days," said one crewmember. Meanwhile, sitting in the cheap seats, the crew of djuice is now coming to grips with their position, but over two weeks of sailing at the rear of the fleet since their initial headboard car failure has been a shock to the system. "Never in my life has my patience been tested harder," wrote skipper Knut Frostad on day ten. Armchair spectators can understand the highs and lows onboard the troubled Team SEB with their 'mood on board' graphic on the syndicates website (www.teamseb.com). To top it all off, out on the track there are now effectively two races with several well financed, no excuses campaigns ironically chasing the two least prepared and hyped yachts in the race from Nautor Challenge. Interesting times lie ahead.
Position report: 1000 hrs GMT October 19: Event site: www.volvooceanrace.org
A COMEBACK FOR ASSA ABLOY ?? Of course, this all turns on the accuracy of the latest MRF forecast and what route AA actually follows. There is a region of light wind predicted around the rhumbline, about half way to Cape Town, and the critical decision for both boats will be to go over or under this "hole" in the wind. Due to their extreme north-south separation, their routing solutions are very different, and the finish of Leg One promises to be a nailbiter to the end. For more details of the computations and graphics showing the predicted routes, boat tracks, etc, see our daily analysis webpage at www.goflow.com/volvoday.htm. -- David Brayshaw Local Knowledge Marine Software
BANG FOR THE BUCK
COLORCRAFT GOLD CUP In other quarterfinal match-ups, Oracle Racing's Peter Holmberg battles Team Stars & Stripes Ken Read in a confrontation of US-based America's Cup syndicates. Peter Holmberg, currently ranked second on the Swedish Match Tour Year 3 leaderboard, is sailing with America's Cup veteran Paul Cayard as his bowman. Coming off an exhausting five-match win over GBR Challenge's Andy Green, Gavin Brady of the Prada Challenge hooks up with Morten Henriksen of the Illbruck Challenge in quarterfinal action. As a subplot to their encounter, both skippers are currently tied for fifth place in the Swedish Match Tour's Year 3 standings. Rounding out the quarterfinal docket is Denmark's Jes Gram-Hansen and his Team Marienlyst match race crew facing American Ed Baird and Team XL Capital. Gram-Hansen, currently in eighth place on the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard draws in Baird an accomplished match racer coming off a hiatus during which he worked with the Volvo Ocean Race team, Djuice Dragons. On the championship round "layday" the event's seeded skippers took to the water in the Tyco Pro-Am Regatta. The Tyco Pro-Am Regatta, which is a fleet race, offers $9,750 in prize money to the skippers and the same amount is matched to each skipper's charity of choice. The big winner of the day was Oracle Racing's Peter Holmberg who took home $3,000 for both himself and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Bermuda, his designated charity. Event site: www.bermudagoldcup.com
INVESTMENT ADVICE
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Campbell Field: Re the '24 hour' rule. This is one of those unwritten rules that is enforced by your crew mates rather than the rule book. A girl that is known for more than 24 hours (and some other qualifications that should remain out of this medium) can be considered a 'Girlfriend', thereby permitted to attend crew dinners and functions, and even utilize the crew accommodation. This prevents those lonely souls who do not have dates for official functions to grab the hand of the nearest female on the way to said event and tell her that she is his date for the night - they simply do not qualify. A whole host of rules apply, that will take years to understand and pages to describe the subtleties of. There is the 3000nm rule, the 'offshore rules' rule, and a whole host of others, only enforced by your peers. These have evolved by lessons hard learnt. Punishment for infringements can vary, ranging from a life long nickname that you detest, to never being invited back. * From Mike Priest: I was first introduced to the "24 hour rule" aboard the maxi SORCERY. Owners of these boats caught on that when they took the crews (some as large as 30 members) to a team dinner, some of the mates would just walk the dock or a bar and see who wanted a free dinner! The rule became that they could only bring spouses, or someone that they had actually KNOWN for more than 24 hours. That has been further refined aboard PENDRAGON IV, the guest also must be introduced by their first AND LAST name! (This applies for both the men AND women of the crew!) * From Abbie Seward, re: Sail For Pride regatta: You had to be there - I still have goose bumps! The best of the best and all of the rest on Narragansett Bay came out to sail together, show our colors and help in our way. A 'sea of sails' barely starts to describe looking back down the bay; a glance back to watch the old AC boats coming around Beavertail under spin before turning north was a huge thrill. Thanks to Sail Newport, New England Boatworks and IYAC for putting this great event together! And a big cheer for all the sailors who raised an amazing amount in a very short time! * From Louise VanVoorhis Gleason, Chairman, Sailor Athlete Advisory Board, US Sailing (edited to our 250 word maximum): To: Mark Bennett: I am glad that you are concerned about sailor representation. That's why I want to answer your last letter to Scuttlebutt. If you have additional comments, I welcome your input to the members of that committee via e-mail. www.ussailing.org/saab/ People complain a lot about US Sailing, and I hope your letter indicates that you are interested in helping to promote change with positive suggestions, not just bashing. I want to clarify a few facts. US Sailing ladder events are not the only National or North American events. Any class with a National or North American event recognized/sanctioned by ISAF or US Sailing qualifies. The only exceptions to that are Championships that are age restricted. For example a youth, "under 18" or masters championship. It is not difficult for smaller class associations to join US Sailing and get the appropriate recognition. In fact many more non-Olympic classes already exist than "elite" Olympic ones. We have tried to be inclusive by allowing any US Sailing members who have raced in any recognized North American or National Championship in the last ten years to qualify as a level C athlete with voting rights. That time frame is five times more inclusive than prescribed in the USOC Constitution Chapter XXIII Section 7 (C)(ii). We have also tried to include keelboat events that do not neatly fit into the USOC picture. I recognize that this definition is not perfect, but it is the first time representation like this has ever existed in US Sailing.
MINI TRANSAT The fleet is now scattering across the oceans as they make their choices towards the south and for the ITCZ ahead. Yves Blevec is immediately seen to be playing a different route to the rest by staying to the east while those around have definately chosen to favour a more westerly track. Despite starting 30 minutes after the rest of the fleet, and after only 24 hours in Lanzarotte, Benoit Parnadeau has continued his remarkable performance by sailing through the fleet to fifth. At the front of the Series class, Oliver Desport continues to lead by the same distance as yesterday while leg one winner, Michel Mirabel, has chosen to head hard south in an effort to repeat his performance to Lanzarote. The wind continues to arrive at about 10 knots from the north-east although this is slightly increased through the Cape Verdes for the back markers. The breeze will lighten during Friday for most of the fleet north of 12N and the ITCZ is currently lying along 8N between 20W and 50W. There are stormy sectors forming between 23W and 30W south of 10N. Boats down here can expect some exciting moments and their courses are likely to vary along with speed when they find themselve under the squalls. -- Offshore Challenges
The patrol boats report the following news from the competitors: Eric Vassard (Macon Lugny), who suffered a blow to the head when he broke his boom, has retired to Tenerife, Canary Islands, and is reported to be under observation in the hospital with plans to fly him back to France this evening. Armel Tripon (2001 Sourires) had an autopilot failure which forced him to abandon the race and is en route back to Gran Canaria. And poor Gregoire Comby on on the patrol boat "Calle Ocho Coffee Cubano": Attacked during the night by a flying fish!! Hit squarely in the head!! -- Kathy Weber, Gale Browning Ocean Racing / Team US Challenge, www.2001minitransat.com (another source of English language race news).
Top Five Places - Prototype Division
Top Five Places - Series Division
English updates at www.offshorechallenges.com
AMERICA'S CUP Whilst the pressure is on the design team to come up with a fast design, it must also reflect what the sailing team want to achieve. For this reason the sailing team must be involved in the design process and any decision will be a team decision based on what is right for GBR Challenge in this campaign. On 1st November, the final design for the first ever British built America's Cup Class yacht will be handed to the Build Team General Manager David Barnes already knows it will be a difficult decision: "This decision is obviously more difficult for a one boat programme, and can be a philosophical one. The bigger teams can build a 'safe option' - probably an evolution of previously successful AC boats - and a more revolutionary boat based on new thoughts and ideas. We can only choose one and we must decide down which route we should go." "All of our designers have worked tirelessly to come up with the best solution to the America's Cup Class Rule and I have been very pleased with the progress they have made." The new boat will be constructed in the build shed at the GBR Challenge Base in Cowes, which is now ready following the completion of the 100 foot long -- Mark Bullingham
QUOTES FROM BOATS - Volvo Ocean Race *From Rudi Rudiger, ASSA ABLOY: We're not sure why some are saying we need help of religious proportions, all we need is a little of what helped propel Amer Sports One in what Dalton intimates is a slow fat boat from fifth to first. In his words,"they're going to need more than a two hundred mile lead to hold us back," because we have a fast boat and a stronger than ever will to win! * From Ross Field, News Corp: With all our Internet communications down we are relying of limited data to assess the weather - up until now we have picked it right but we have our fingers crossed. We're starved on board for information from the outside world and the limited stuff that comes in is discussed at length. Of course the crisis in Afghanistan is high of the agenda and (being an Australian entry in the Volvo Ocean Race) we were all very pleased to hear that Australia is supporting the US and England. We might be hungry, dirty, frustrated and uncomfortable out here, but it's very safe. * From Kevin Shoebridge, Team Tyco: The team are desperately keen to get to Cape Town and take some time out, however this period will be brief, as the job list will be calling. Nothing major just the normal maintenance and replacement required after five weeks at sea. Also plenty of preparation required to be totally ready for leg two. What happened to the good old days when the stopovers were a month or even five weeks long?? * From Arve Roaas, djuice dragons: As our FSP (food saving program) is starting to impact on peoples behavior, we will try to remember all the tips and tricks from our team building sessions but I have a feeling we are going pretty fast down what is defined by Wouter as human lowest level of thinking - food, sleep and sexÊ (for most of us that means no big changes). I want to send a special hello to our phys. Trainer Ronnie who has chosen our drinking powder and chocolate bars - I say no more...
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM |
