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SCUTTLEBUTT #507 - February 18, 2000

GUEST EDITOR SPEAKS!
Good morning buttheads! The Curmudgeon has passed the scroll to me for 3 weeks while he heads out over the horizon for the Puerto Vallarta and MEXORC races. He's promised to come back and take over on March 6. He'd better. Tom and I go back a ways, and some of you may know me through my work on the ISAF site, Sailing Source and others. I'm now a left coaster myself (recent convert from the frozen Northeast), working on the supersecret boats.com website.

The bad news buttheads is that I don't have the luxury, as Tom does, of getting up at 4 AM, knocking out Scuttlebutt, and then going back to bed. My 3 kids and wife would not permit that (the going back to sleep part). So... Scuttlebutt will be arriving an hour or two later than usual in your mailboxes. And while I'll give it my best effort, it's likely that my efforts will not be as good as Tom could do. He IS the master!

The good news is that for the next 3 weeks, this noted tome will be cluttering your mailboxes SEVEN days a week. Two reasons:

1. The America's Cup. Too important to miss a day.
2. I extract my pound of flesh from the Curmudgeon for adding another 3 hours to my normal 18 hour work day. With any luck his readership will be so used to a seven day a week schedule he'll have to do it on Saturdays and Sundays when he returns. No quite punishment enough for 3 weeks on a boat with no computers (the lucky stiff) but the best I can do.

Please be sure to send your comments, suggestions and contributions to me at scuttlebutt@boats.com -- David McCreary

AMERICA'S CUP
Americas Cup Will Feature Onboard Umpires - Challenger And Defender Agree On Rules

The 30th Match for the Americas Cup will be raced with onboard Umpires (observers) while penalty turns resulting from fouls may be delayed. That was the agreement reached today between Italys Prada Challenge, representing the Yacht Club Punta Ala, and Team New Zealand, the Defenders for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

The 11th-hour outcome resulted from a mediation session presided over by Bryan Willis, Chairman of the International Jury and Chief Umpire for the Match.

The Americas Cup Arbitration Panel, which was to begin hearing an application by the Americas Cup Challenge Committee on Pradas behalf, postponed its hearing and subsequently agreed to the withdrawal of the application after reviewing the revised portions of the Sailing Instructions.

Complete story at http://www.louisvuittoncup.com
Official America's Cup site at http://www.americascup.org

GUEST EDITORIAL: Richard Gladwell, reporting from Auckland:
With the Louis Vuitton Cup now concluded, it is opportune to look at what should happen for future events and to expand and lift the profile of the event.

My thoughts are these:
  • The Challenger Selection series (what is now known as the Louis Vuitton Cup) should be limited to 12 challengers - this being the amount that you can sail on two courses, with three pairs per course.
  • If more than 12 challenges are received then the places are allocated on a geographical quota basis - to be determined, however it may be that there are say three from USA, two from Oceania, one from Asia, three from Europe (incl UK), one from Canada/South America, one from Scandinavia and one other (maybe Middle East). The Defender reduces that region by one (either Oceania or Europe). Numbers may need to be juggled - but you get the idea.
  • The 12 entries in the LVC are restricted to one boat each for the event, but may build up to two new boats. They cannot change boats at any stage of the event - except in the case of catastrophic damage. This should reduce the gap between the one and two boat teams, lift participation and reduce costs.
  • If there are more than the 12 challenges then there has to be sail-offs in the region to determine who makes gets the quota. The sail off takes place in the waters of the region and is determined by mutual agreement (maybe a series of regattas with one round sailed in each of the challengers? waters). The challengers can sail in whatever IACC yachts they own - could be second hand ones they have bought - or a new one they have built for that round of the Cup.
  • The successful 12 go on to compete for the Louis Vuitton Cup in the waters of the Defender as at present. Except that as a result of this qualification process the standard will be much higher and the wheat and chafe will have been excluded - with out the need for posting performance bonds etc.


The advantage of this scheme is that the numbers are capped (Auckland and most other venues couldn?t physically cope with more than 12 challengers).

The other benefits are:
  • That the Cup Family and Event becomes much more spread and this experience is taken to the public in the challenger?s home waters, and of course there is more media and sponsor interest as a result.
  • The Main Event is still sailed in the waters of the Defender and there is the prize still of taking the next event to your home waters.
  • The Challenger and Defender organizations stay separate as they are now - but still work co-operatively.
  • The exposure of the event is much greater because it is now at a local level and international level - once a team has qualified then it has a good excuse to go to new sponsors, with certainty of success behind it and it?s credibility established.
  • TV and marketing can be handled by a central organization, or on a regional basis.
  • You have a two level Cup competition - at a regional level and at an international level - which reduces costs for new countries/clubs/teams and increases exposure.


For the LVC itself the format needs to change so that there is a Quarter Final (as suggested by Bruno Trouble) so that the top three boats from the first two rounds go straight into the semi-finals, and then the third round is sailed between the remaining nine challengers, and the top three go into the rest of the semi-final fleet. Or, there are three Round Robins as at present but there is a carried forward score in the Semi-finals based on your placing in the Round Robins (therefore there is no incentive for a boat to drop out). The Final consists of three boats who sail out a nine or ten race series for one point a race, with maybe a carried forward score from the semi?s. They would race on a two days on, one day off basis - with racing scheduled for every day. TV coverage will be enhanced because the LVC will be more representative geographically.

The Host Broadcaster should provide a free to use one hour/ 30 minute/ ten minute package option to any broadcaster in the world, to further improve the audience for the Cup.

Internet stays the way it is except that the coverage is rolled across all the qualifying events plus you have the advantage of Virtual Spectator on all races.

There is no change to the way the Defender runs it's affairs.

Food for thought?

HISTORY THE PRIZE FOR CUP RIVALS
THIS is New Zealand's biggest event - ever. Sir Peter Blake, who memorably captured the America's Cup in 1995, is already the most prominent Kiwi of the last century and he is not even sailing this time. It is, frankly, hard to appreciate fully quite how much the 30th match for the trophy means to this nation.

With a 149-year history, milestones embroider the America's Cup. The prize for Russell Coutts and his Team New Zealand crew this time is that if they successfully defend the cup they will be the first nation other than the United States to win sport's oldest trophy more than once.

For Prada, the Italian challenger who meet Team New Zealand tomorrow in the first-to-five-win series, their goal is to be Europe's first holder of the Victorian ewer.
The America's Cup is what it is precisely because of its flaws and idiosyncracies. So the two crews line up tomorrow without any decent indications of their respective merits. Prada's two Luna Rossa yachts have come through five months of trials against 10 other challengers from six nations with a 38-7 win-loss record. Team New Zealand have raced no-one but themselves. There is no form guide as such. -- Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK

Full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

GREEN & COOL- HEINEKEN REGATTA NEAT STUFF
Come join us in Paradise...meet artist, Jim DeWitt at the upcoming Heineken Regatta 2000 in St. Martin, March 3 - 5th. For official Heineken Regatta merchandise designed by Jim (t-shirts, tanks, embroidered polos, embroidered hats, posters) , take a peek at www.heinekenregatta.com or call 800-758-4291. For other great DeWitt merchandise, take a peek at www.jimdewitt.com Hope to see you at the party!

KINGFISHER LAUNCHES
On 18 February 2000 at 1100hrs (NZ time) in Auckland, New Zealand, 23 year old Ellen MacArthur, UK BT/YJA Yachtsman of the Year 1998, and Lady Pippa Blake, wife of Sir Peter Blake, will officially launch the new Open 60 Grand Prix raceboat 'Kingfisher' for the solo, non-stop, around the world Vendee Globe yacht race.

Kingfisher will be skippered by Ellen MacArthur, a young English woman who has already achieved near rock-star status in France, having won the admiration of both the yachting press and fellow single and double-handed sailors from her successes in the Route du Rhum adn Mini Transat races.

The launch will be live on a webcam (for left coasters, NZL time is "subtract 4 hours and call it tomorrow" so if I have it right, it's today (friday the 17th at 3 PM PST). Go to http://www.kingfisherchallenges.com. Marcus Green (brother of match racer and America's Cup tuneup skipper Andy Green) handles this website, it's a gem.

NYYC / ROLEX TRANSATLANTIC CHALLENGE
George M. Isdale Jr., Commodore of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), has announced that the NYYC/Rolex Transatlantic Challenge will begin on Saturday, May 18, 2002, off Sandy Hook, N.J. The event, inaugurated in 1997, challenges superyachts of 85 feet and longer to break the 185-foot (56m) Atlantic's 1905 racing record (12 days, four hours, one minute, 19 seconds) from Sandy Hook to the Lizard off Cornwall, England. Additions to the 2002 event include an extension of the race beyond the Lizard to the Needles on the western end of England's Isle of Wight. For yachts of modern design, a Performance Cruising Division has been added, reserving the event's Classic Division for yachts with design dates of 1950 or earlier and Spirit of Tradition Division for yachts with design dates of 1951 or later. Also new, the Royal Yacht Squadron has partnered with NYYC to assist with organization of the event, including activities at the finish and a June 6 race for the fleet around the Isle of Wight.
Complete story at http://sailing.org/today/whatsnew.html

BIGGER, BETTER, BRIGHTER
Who do you call when you want custom sail graphics to make a statement?? Easy. See who the leaders in racing like Sagamore, Sayonara, Samba Pa Ti, Playstation and Stars&Stripes have in common. They entrusted their sail graphics to North Graphics. And better yet, they can do the same for you on your Catalina 27, 1D35 or J/105. Try calling Whitney Gladstone and find out how affordable it is to put custom sail graphics on your boat:. (619) 224-8667, http://www.northsails.com/graphics/

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (scuttlebutt@boats.com -- note temporary address for guest editor....PLEASE SEND MORE!)

Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree.

-- From Chris Stomberg, on the Curmudgeons efforts in getting the Virtual Spectator available for download for 'buttheads...

I believe I speak for many 'Buttheads when I say thanks for arranging the Virtual Spectator deal. However, I'm not sure how pleased they are going to be to find out how excited you are to "work" them again. :-)

-- From Chris Ericksen on sponsors:

I could hardly agree more with anyone as I do with Art Kamisugi on the subject of supporting sponsors. As one who has both sailed in and been chairman of major sponsored sailing events, I always cheerfully and appreciatively support sponsoring organizations.

I have had the pleasure of sailing in and working on the what is now known as Boatscape.com/North Sails Race Week run by Golison and Golison in Long Beach. I always make a point to find someone in authority at the host hotel and thank them and their staff for their hard work. And when out-of-town sailors ask for a place to stay, I always recommend the host hotel--and ask them to mention the Golison regatta when they are checking in.

Being nice to sponsors is easy to do and pays us dividends far beyond the cost of being nice.

-- From Bruce Kirby -- Of course Ross Macdonald is right about the Code O headsail the Kiwis have in their arsenal, and he makes a good case for its value in a luffing situation. When I asked PRADA designer Doug Peterson about it after the story had appeared he said "We have one of those too, and it's better than theirs."

-- From Sandi Svoboda -- Hi, substitute 'butt editor! I quoted the curmudgeon in the story that appeared today at the link below...Just trying to make the buttheads famous... http://www.toledoblade.com/editorial/sports/0b18cup.htm

Guest editor: Curmudgeon owes Sandi a huge dinner, complete with round trip airfare to Los Angeles and a suite at the Four Seasons. Let's be sure to remind him when he's back. Heck, let's commit him to dinners and plane trips for all contributors (and editors).

-- From Scott Murray: "All races will be carried live and will be two and a half hours in length" I hope someone let ESPN know about postponements ,light air etc. or maybe we'll get an example of why sailing isn't live T.V's most popular sport.

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

Note: Nelson Weiderman has created a "Curmudgeon Server" at http://noeticharbor.com/curmudgeon/. It randomly pulls Curmudgeonly wit from a database loaded with past 'Butt Observations, Counsels, etc. Great way to waste an hour or so of your employers' time. Be sure to surf at work!

Submissions, comments, etc to:
scuttlebutt@boats.com