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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 959 - December 6, 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.
GUEST COMMENTARY - Rod Davis The plain fact is: at least for the time being the world is a uncertain place, so people will not want to travel so much. Flying half way around the world to sail the XYZ regatta will not appeal to many people. This is not the end of world championships or offshore series like the Kenwood or Commodores' Cups, but it does mean less competitors and far less from greater distances. At the same time it could mean increased local participation. Less international grand prix teams means less top end competition. That is the bad news. The good news is more local boats mean more local sailors. That can only be good for the amateurs, the yacht clubs and yachting in general. What we have here is fantastic opportunity and a huge challenge for sailing. One that, if played right, will pay dividends for the next 20 years. I think of it as GRASS ROOTS yachting. I best give a clear definition of "Yachting" and "Sailing", at least the way I use the terms. They include: kids sailing Opti's off the beach, match racing in the America's Cup, local evening races. Not being political, or being too concerned about being politically correct, my definition of sailing does not include "windwackers" (aka windsurfers)! The future of sailing will come from bringing new people into the fold and at the same time re-energizing the local boat owners. New energy in the local sailing scene. This is not the flashy TV stuff, not yachting on a world scale but yachting on the grass roots level. We all, as in everyone, need to go back to sailing the races that we used to. The one around that silly island that we have not done for so many years now. Or that race where you spend the night in the bay 20 miles down the coast and race back the next day. Or sailing as race crew for your or someone else's family, or for local juniors in a one design boat. It's a time and place where the winning is achieved by having fun and making it fun for the people, not by crossing the line first. Put something back into the sport. For the younger sailors with a heap of potential, there is a lot of competition out there coming from other things. Cricket, rugby, baseball, girls, boys, video games, the Internet. For the last three decades life in general has sped up with each passing year. Like a watch getting wound tighter and tighter. It used to be when the weekend came, the family outing was a major thing: sailing, or the famous family drive. Nowadays it's take the kids to soccer (read the paper while watching the game), ask your child who won before rushing to lunch with friends, a game of tennis or golf, a quick dinner and catch a movie. What ever try, just try to pack as much in each hour as possible. Finally the watch spring popped. Now is a good time to "do less, better". Slow down, smell the roses. Spend the time at the club or on the boat just doing little things. Not only do the race but hang around the club after to enjoy the camaraderie of the other sailors. Mental health time, for you, them and the sport. The higher up in the sport you are the more important it is and the more you have a responsibility to give back to the people. In my world ISAF will lose some control over the national authorities and the national authorities will have to give way to local ones and to yacht clubs. I am not suggesting anarchy but I am saying less formal "by the book" racing. If a club wants to, or feels the need to make some different rules then so be it. Take no right of appeal, if it's a yacht club race then fine, no worries. If it's OK to touch marks then that is great too. Let's enjoy what we are doing, not nit pick on who has justification over changes or modifications of the rules. When racing gets to the national level then we need one set of rules and they have to be applied appropriately. But on a Wednesday evening race - nope! I ask what will it take to make this happen? Huge effort by all of us. Us being the people that love this sport. Whether you're a sailmaker, magazine editor, yacht broker, weekend sailor, or professional yachtsman, you are needed. You are needed at your own yacht club, to talk to the kids, teach a new trick to the old salts, or just share a few stories over a drink (beer or coffee - your choice) with some of the members. It's a big thrill for the members, new and old, of the club to rub shoulders with some of the top local sailors. All too often, we, the sailors, are in and out of the club, never talking with anyone personally. Bad deal - for us, and the sport. Maybe you think I am living in a dreamland, thinking to make this sport bigger and better by going back to basics, back to our roots. But we are living in changing times. They require us to take a step back and re-evaluate what is really important to us. The opportunity for yachting is there, the only question is will you take it? - Rod Davis, Seahorse magazine, the official magazine of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, www.seahorsemagazine.com
WEEKEND WARRIORS
CREW CHANGE? Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Hugh Elliot: I was a member of the Executive Committee of the One Design Class Council of [then] USYRU in 1986 and 1987 when we considered the question of National Classes. In addition to the difficulty of defining the criteria, the prospect of being the defendant in multiple lawsuits, filed by aggrieved manufacturers, resulted in a unanimous resolution to repair, immediately, to Clark Chapin's common cocktail party. * From Gary Jobson: I've been reading the comments on Scuttlebutt. Here is some factual information to clarify ESPN's continuing commitment to the sport. Since joining ESPN on a regular basis since 1986 we have aired 400 original sailing programs. This is an average of 25 shows per year. Over the next two weeks we are happy to air the following list:
Saturday, December 22 at 4:00pm on ESPN2 the Volvo Ocean Race - Leg 2 (please note the above times are eastern time zone) For anyone interested, our complete list of programs over the years is listed on my website at www.jobsonsailing.com. We will continue with an additional nine shows throughout the winter on the Volvo Ocean Race. If you register on our website, we send out regular notices of very upcoming show three days in advance. * Steve Glassman: For the record, Outdoor Life Network reports some 40 million subscribers nationwide (a combination of satellite and cable) and, from personal experience, OLN is available on Directv's second level subscription service at approximately $30/month (satellite system free or $50 according to recent promotions). Whether anyone would watch, of course, is a completely different story, but I have enjoyed events such as the Tour de France and sailboat racing on OLN. Maybe sailors who complain about a lack of coverage would find their sport getting more attention if they praised the network carrying it and did their own promotion of that fact rather than damning it and the other networks that don't or won't. And a letter to OLN thanking them for the coverage in the first place might, at the very least, assure them there is someone out there watching and encourage continued exposure in the future. * From Michael Rosenauer: I have yet to hear the wails of despair from the various sponsors to the recent decision to air the AC races on a largely unavailable cable channel. This decision fundamentally guts the sole reason why these sponsors decided to pour their money into the project. They expected to receive literally thousands of exposures to sails bearing their respective logos. They will instead receive virtually nothing. Sponsors should be outraged at the decision; disappointed with the programs they have supported. It's difficult to convince me that the nation that sits in front of the television more than any other in the world cannot use their market power to insure that the largest number of homes benefit from this "friendly competition". This decision not only deprives the majority of the sailing public in the United States from enjoying literally months of racing, it seriously compromises the ability for programs to raise money in the future. Why would Cadillac or American Airlines spend millions of dollars when their exposure is significantly constrained within their target market? Notwithstanding the involvement of individuals with untold numbers of dollars, these patrons may not be present in the future and business looking for advertising opportunities is the only alternative short of governmental sponsorship. With the exposure to their investment choked, business which wishes to place advertising dollars will most assuredly look elsewhere. Until the Mug returns to the United States, it will be extremely difficult for the various programs to raise money in the United States. * From Paul Meisel: The most involved people in our sport tend to focus on the more competitive venues, and developing junior sailing. This is good and is consistent with their experience, skill, and competitive personalities. However, not all that many people are exposed to junior sailing, and many juniors either lose interest or opportunity as they move into adulthood. For the sport to really grow, there must be opportunities for non-sailing adults to get involved and have fun. Our local fleet is very competitive, and a new boat owner figures to be in the back half of the fleet for awhile -- but the friendliness and camaraderie of the group makes the fun of participating more important than success in competition. It seems to be that most of the experienced and competitive racers will be involved in the sport somehow, although their choices of venue may change over the years. The growth will depend on luring the curious to participate at the casual levels. * From Mike Blecher: Cheers to Susan Daley on her editorial in Butt 956. To run a quality junior program, one needs to have qualified sailing/racing instructors, run serious teaching and training programs that are age and skill-set appropriate, and use syllabus materials and guides as provided by US Sailing. But the most important feature of all is to have that enthusiastic, special person, the favorite "teacher,"-- that special someone who is able to keep it all, in the end, just plain fun. If kids are having fun, they'll stick with it, and will go on to do great things with this special sport. If not, history shows they'll drop out. * From Gareth Evans: In the UK, media coverage of our sport has increased vastly in recent years. I believe this is due to people like Ellen MacArthur, who inspired everybody with her stunning performance in the Vendee Globe, and Pete Goss who, despite failing ultimately, ran an openly public campaign and even selected a journalist as one of his Team Philips crew members. Our stunning performance at the Olympics (sorry to rub it in guys!) will also have helped a lot. And the coverage appears to be working. When I moved to Plymouth 3 years ago, two old ladies I met in the theatre, who had never sailed in their lives, asked me if I had been to see Pete Goss' boat being built. And my grandmother probably knows as much about Ellen MacArthur's exploits as any of us. Meaghan's comments on the French trimaran scene are indeed correct. Over there the top sailors (including our Ellen) are treated as rock stars by the public. This is the way that the our best sailors should be seen. Unfortunately, in the UK, TV coverage of sailing still seems to be relegated to the early hours of the morning, when most sensible people are in bed. However, the Sydney Olympics coverage had more sailing in it than ever before, maybe due to the very accessible location in the harbor there. * From Stuart Scott: I too was impressed by Don Becker's summary (Butt 955) of the basic yacht racing rules. It has taken me a few days to sort out in my own mind the main element of this summary that made things so clear. Don's summary of the basic rules was written in plain, easy to understand English! For Example - using ISAF rule 13. *Don's summary - "A boat tacking keeps clear of one that is not." My comment:- Great, nice and clear and immediately understandable. *The ISAF rule - "After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a closehauled course. During that time rules 10, 11, and 12 do not apply. If two boats are subject to this rule at the same time, the one on the others port side shall keep clear." My comment:- Read this at least three times to understand. Why use one word where four will do. Is passing head to wind different from tacking? (and many other comments of a similar nature) As I see it the challenge to ISAF is to rewrite the rules using plain, simple, easy to understand English
QUOTE / UNQUOTE "Yeah, ...I'm absolutely going to drive the boat. Some people on the team are horrified to hear about this, but this boat is so fast. I'll say it two ways. I certainly won't drive if I'm going to hurt the team. I'm not going to drive any starts. I went down to (Ventura) and drove a start, and, uh, I clearly can't drive any starts, but I don't think DeAngelis is going to drive any starts for the Prada team either. But, yeah, I might drive a weather-leg every now and then, yeah, why not. I'll be spending my Christmas vacation with the team in New Zealand, practicing with the guys. So, I'll kinda learn as I go. In the Louis Vuitton Cup, just hand me the wheel and I'll kinda learn during the races...just shout 'tack!' and I'll go. Paul Cayard did not accompany us to New Zealand. Paul has made a tremendous contribution to the team. He's a first-rate driver and a first-rate leader in the sport of sailing. We are very deep in talent - Chris Dickson, Peter Holmberg. We feel that we have a great team, and we're grateful for all the work that Paul did for us. I think he's done a lot to help this company do well in the race. But Paul is not on the sailing team, but he is rooting for us to bring the Cup to San Francisco. I'll say Prada (is our main competition), though I'm in the minority on the team thinking that Prada will be the most difficult team to contend with. They got into the sailing early, ...they've been very disciplined, ...they've been at this for awhile. Team New Zealand was out sailing first, then us and then Prada. I think they'll be in the finals with us. I think Prada would have no chance (against TNZ). This is what I said to my dear Italian friends when Prada won that ninth race in the Louis Vuitton Cup; ...I said they did a brilliant job, and that everyone in Italy should be enormously proud of what they've done. Well done. ...But they will lose five straight races in the America's Cup, they will be slaughtered in every race, they will not get to a single mark first, they will lose every start. It will be a humiliating experience, ...but it's great they got there. Prada has no chance at all against New Zealand. One of my commitments to this sailing team is to try to use this America's Cup, and if we're fortunate enough to win; it's defense, to really professionalize the sport much more thoroughly than it's been. Our role-model is Formula One. Oracle expects to have a co-sponsor on the team that's a Formula One sponsor. We'll have an announcement very shortly. We want to have better television coverage from the boats, the same as the cameras on the F1 cars. We want to make what's going on clear and more exciting to the non-sailing audience through better coverage." For the full report on the 2003ac website: isuzu21.webcrossing.com
UPGRADING 15 YEAR OLD INSTRUMENTS?
MEDICAL REPORT Dalton, taken off his boat by stretcher at the finish of the second stage here, was told by doctors yesterday he had broken four ribs. Field was walking gingerly having taken a bang to an area made tender by a motorbike accident last January in which he broke five ribs and punctured a lung. Both are confident they will be ready on Boxing Day for the start of the next leg, which goes to their home town of Auckland and incorporates the Sydney-Hobart race. Dalton was injured below deck 24 hours from the finish as Amer Sports One came through the Bass Strait. "I was just making some food and I got launched. I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time," he said. For a man whose idea of retirement work is running marathons and entering iron-man triathlon competitions, Dalton downplayed his evident pain: "It's nothing you wouldn't get in a rugby scrum." Field, a former policeman in one of the New Zealand service's tougher units, was sluiced off the wheel 10 days before the finish in the Southern Ocean. Travelling at 20 knots and with no protection offered by the near-flat deck, Field and watchleader Jeff Scott were knocked off the helm by a 30mph wall of water within an hour of each other as the boat buried her bows into the waves. This was a relatively easy Southern Ocean leg, but the toll of knocks, twists and bruises was high. Boats and sails hung together but with the fleet close, the tempo was punishing. - Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, UK Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
NO PAIN - NO GAIN Dalts (Grant Dalton) agrees that the pace has increased. "The fleet is pretty reliable now. That's why you're not getting the big separations between the boats. You go back a couple of races and you had days and days between the boats in the second leg. Two would break away that would be reliable and the rest of the fleet would fall apart. But they don't fall apart these days. The level is such that people can keep the boats together and know how to keep them together and sail them really hard. No quarter is given to the boats at all. The human is the vulnerable part of these boats now, not the boat itself. Which is kind of neat in some respects, but it just makes it hellishly hard out there." - James Boyd, Volvo Website Full story: www.volvooceanrace.org
SEEN ON THE HAURAKI GULF
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Standings at end of Leg 2: 1. illbruck, 16 points; 2. News Corp, 12; 3. Amer Sports One, 11; 4. SEB, 10; 5. djuice, 7; 6. Assa Abloy, 7; 7. Tyco, 6; 8. Amer Sports Too, 3 pts.
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
