|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2261 - January 17, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). FOREIGN INVASION North America's largest regatta has experienced a full scale foreign invasion during its 20th year. Entries from Europe are leading four of the largest one-design classes at Acura Key West 2007, presented by Nautica. Meanwhile, an Asian-based skipper has turned in one of the more impressive performances in the 260-boat regatta. Switzerland syndicate Alinghi has seized control of the ultra-competitive Farr 40 class while the Italian contingent on Joe Fly holds a healthy lead in Melges 24. Italian teams are also setting the pace in the Melges 32 and Mumm 30 classes. No skipper has been hotter than Japan's Makoto Uematsu, who has placed first or second in all four races held so far. Tuesday brought another beautiful day of racing with the international fleet enjoying sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures. Early forecasts for light winds were unfounded as Race 3 was held in a 10-12 knot breeze, which increased to 12-14 for the afternoon start. Alinghi strengthened its hold on first in the Farr 40 as skipper Ernesto Bertarelli continued his impressive string of single-digit finishes in the loaded 17-boat class. Tactician Brad Butterworth made a crucial decision to help Alinghi win Tuesday's initial race and the Swiss team added a fifth in the second start to take a commanding 12-point lead over Opus, the German entry skippered by Wolfgang Stolz. Joe Fly continued to distance itself from the competition in Melges 24, largest class in the regatta with 47 boats. Skipper Giovanni Maspero and the Italian team have been getting off the line in the front row and using superb boat speed to stay there. Helmsman Gabrio Zandona and tactician Daniele Cassinari continued to show exceptional chemistry as Joe Fly posted a first and a third on Tuesday to bring its point total to seven. Blu Moon, a Swiss boat skippered by Franco Rossini, is a distant second with 21 points despite having posted a pair of seconds in four races. The second race of the day in the Melges 24 class was won by class rookie, Alan Field from Brentwood, California - a good friend to the curmudgeon, who richly deserves his 15 minutes of fame. Esmeralda, owned by Japanese industrialist Makota Uematsu, is hull No. 2 of the Club Swan 42 one-design that is making its competitive debut at Acura Key West 2007. Early returns are positive as Esmeralda has shown tremendous downwind speed under her huge spinnaker in winning two races and placing second in the two others. America's Cup veteran Ken Read is calling tactics for Uematsu, who despite the terrific start only holds a one-point lead over the Sinergia 40 skippered by Frenchman Stephane Neve. Ken Read talked with Scuttlebutt publisher Craig Leweck who has posted a 2:50 minute audio update after the racing on Tuesday. Read discusses how this new boat was performing after four races: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0116/kr.mp3 Nightly reports on the 2007 Acura Key West Race Week are now available on the internet at the following sites: http://www.premiere-racing.com http://www.jobsonsailing.com ESPN.com: http://tinyurl.com/ysnnra LOOKING AHEAD (In a story just posted on The Daily Sail subscription website, BMW Oracle Racing's Tom Ehman shares some details of the recently released Notice of Race for the Louis Vuitton Cup and some 'blue sky thinking' about where the Cup might go in the future. Here are a few excerpts.) Already occasional meetings are being held to brainstorm what each team might do next time if they win this year America's Cup. According to Ehman the overall consensus is not to go for a new boat. "It has worked well. We have three first time challengers with South Africa, Germany and China. And now we've got the Brits back in. And we have all these boats of which perhaps 25 are competitive." A possible class change after the 33rd America's Cup seems more likely, but Ehman finds this of questionable merit. "Why change? A whole new class is expensive, it is difficult. Why throw away all this inventory? A more radical suggestion of Ehman's is that next time round these Acts should take the place of all or part of the Louis Vuitton Cup with possibly only the America's Cup match itself, or possibly the LVC finals and semi-finals, being held at the Cup venue. The merits of this depend upon whether or not an America's Cup village is considered a good thing. How many potential venues have the space for a village the size of the one in Valencia? Where would you put it in the UK? If BMW Oracle won it and decided to stage the main event in San Francisco Bay where would 13 teams put their bases? In addition to this Ehman is against the idea of teams having to go to the expensive of building a large base that ultimately ends up being handed over to the host city. -- http://www.thedailysail.com FOR THE RECORD Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 will be the biggest and fastest boat in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th biennial race to Puerto Vallarta next month, but its toughest rival may be a ghost boat from the past. The Alan Andrews design from Long Beach is inherently bigger and faster than the boat that holds the record, but the same could be said for a lot of others over two decades since the late Dick Daniels and his wife Camille sailed their MacGregor 65, Joss, 1,125 nautical miles to the Mexican mainland resort in 4 days 23 hours and 4 seconds in 1985. Roy E. Disney's third Pyewacket, a Reichel-Pugh 75 that had swept away all of the other major West Coast ocean racing records, came close in 2003, less than five hours over Joss's time. Then in 2005 his bigger, faster maxZ86 Pyewacket dropped out with a broken topmast as Magnitude 80 went on to miss the record by only three hours. The downfalls have been light winds in the last 290-nautical mile run across the Gulf of California followed by tricky conditions in Banderas Bay. Baker said, "For the last few races it's been slow across the gulf, and then you have to get all the way through that bay because you have to finish at the beach." -- Rich Roberts, full story: http://pv07.com/releases/011107_mdr.php NICE GUYS DO FINISH FIRST! Doyle One Design is led by two nice guys: Jud Smith and Dave Curtis, who just happen to have both been named US sAILING Rolex Yachtsman of the Year: Jud Smith in 2006, Dave Curtis in 1981 and 1983. They're both renowned for their sportsmanship as well as their skill as sailors and sailmakers. For more about Jud and Dave go to http://www.doylesails.com THE VALUE OF AN EDUCATION There are 39 people on the Victory Challenge's sailing team. Out of these, 21 have completed some form of tertiary education. This is the equivalent of 54 percent. The level of education is highest among the British sailors - 100 percent of the five on the team have a university or college degree. Among the Swedes the equivalent figure is 67 percent. Sailing at this level is complex and requires a versatile mind," says Magnus Holmberg, skipper and helmsman, and holder of a Master's in Engineering. "Sailing experience and merits can never be compensated for by theoretic education, but it means that you find it easier to understand complicated associations and that you can therefore develop more rapidly as a sailor." Several of the team's grinders, the physically most demanding job on the boat, are well qualified. (Many people believe that the position of grinder is simply about being big and strong and that all you need to do is to be able to turn the handles fast and for a long time. But the truth is that a grinder also has to be smart and a quick learner. Two of the British ginders have B.Sc.s related to physiology, Ian Weighell as well as David Carr. American Matt Smith, grinder/pitman, has a B.A. in Psychology. American Mark Strube has a B.Sc. and an MBA in Business management and worked as a broker when he completed his education. He also sailed a lot and was finally forced to choose. He chose to be a professional sailor. "I prefer to wear shorts and a t-shirt to work, not a suit," he says. -- http://www.victorychallenge.com HE'S BACK Sir Robin Knox Johnston has restarted the Velux 5 Oceans race 3 days behind the other competitors. Having worked round the clock to resolve major issues last Saturday night, Saga Insurance joined the fleet on the start line with Sir Robin vying for 1st place across the line. Within hours of the start he was forced to return to Fremantle suffering from wiring problems. After sitting out the obligatory 48 hour penalty and resolving the wiring problems, Sir Robin restarted this morning, 12 miles from Fremantle, off the coast of Rotnest island. Sir Robin is some 700 miles behind Bernard Stamm's Cheminees Poujoulat, who leads Kojiro Shiraishi's Spirit of Yukoh by 145 miles . with more than 13,000 still to go to the Norfolk, Virginia finish line. Weather-wise the boats are now all in the grip of a giant Southern Ocean depression. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ FIRST SAIL Auckland, New Zealand -- USA 98, BMW Oracle Racing's new race yacht for the 32nd America's Cup, sailed for the first time Tuesday after being launched at the team's training base here. The first sail consisted of structural and technical tests on the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland. The team will first confirm the structural soundness of the new boat before race training begins. "The report card comes when we sail with the boat fully-loaded in race mode but for sailing right out of the box, 98 feels pretty special," skipper Chris Dickson said. "We will start putting USA 98 through the paces later this week." Both USA 87 and USA 98 represent collaboration between two of the world's leading yacht designers - Bruce Farr and Juan Kouyoumdjian. The design team's strategy called for each boat to have its own special strengths and distinct features rather than building two identical boats. COMPARISONS Team New Zealand got further affirmation their black boats are the benchmark yesterday when arch-rivals (BMW) Oracle Racing took their new yacht USA98 sailing for the first time on the Hauraki Gulf. Sporting a fuller bow similar to Team New Zealand's boats, the BMW-sponsored USA98 appears a little more slab-sided and narrower than the syndicate's first 2007 generation boat, USA87. Last year, Oracle skipper Chris Dickson described USA87 as the "most innovative America's Cup-class boat built". But it is believed USA87 has had major surgery - having its bow and stern replaced and keel shifted. Now, USA98 appears to be more in line with Team New Zealand's boats. The key similarity is more volume in the bow, despite there being differences in the profile. But it's thought USA98 and NZLs 84 and 92 are similar under the water. - Julie Ash, NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/36r534 * Check it out for yourself - we have photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0116.jpg SAILING SHORTS * J/24 East Coast Champion Will Welles has joined North Sails as a sales representative working in the Portsmouth, Rhode Island, office. Welles, a native of Southwest Harbor, Maine, has been working in the sailmaking industry for ten years, including a six-year apprenticeship at the North Sails loft in Salem, Massachusetts. * The ISAF has cancelled the 2007 ISAF Team Racing World Championship. The appointed organizer has found it necessary to withdraw as host and no other host has been found. However the 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Championship will be held in Perth, Australia in February 2009. Preliminary bids are sought for hosting the 2011 World Championship. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=ju,FnAB1r * All primary school students in Singapore could soon try their hands at sailing. "This plan is aimed at having all primary school kids, during their six years in school, spend at least four days doing sailing. In addition to that, within the curriculum itself, we will have the kids learn a little about oceanography, weather, tides, currents and winds," says Low Teo Ping, president of Singapore Sailing. Some 10 schools are already part of the programme, which will be funded through sponsorship. The various sailing clubs is Singapore will help run the programme. -- http://tinyurl.com/22k3h4 * The 2007 Bermuda One-Two is ahead of recent past enrollments with six registered for this year's premier shorthanded race on the East Coast. They are expecting upwards of 40 boats. This year's race starts from Newport on June 9 with the singlehanded leg. The doublehanded race back starts in Bermuda on June 22. The Open 6.5 Minis are expected for the race - probably six to ten of them. leg in the Doublehanded Ocean Racing Trophy for those that provide Endorsed IRC certificates. All boats will tracked again by iBoatTrack satellite tracking devices provided by Horizon Marine, Inc. -- http://www.bermuda1-2.org * Finishing sixth, Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and Dave Hughes were the top US boat at the 27-boat 470 North American Championship at the US Sailing Center, Miami. The event was won by Sven Coster/ Kalle Coster (NED) who scored a one point win over Australians Nathan Wilmot / Malcolm Page. The 18-boat women's 470 NAs were won by Christina Bassadone/ Saskia Clark (GBR) with the USA's Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler taking the bronze. -- http://tinyurl.com/ywh36l LEARN SMART & FAST FROM JOBSON Bicycles. Bobsleds. Sailboats. No matter what you race, you've got to be FAST to win. If you race sailboats then you can learn the latest FAST at a North U TRIM Seminar. Strategy, Tactics, Rules. Upgrade your Smarts at a North U Tactics Seminar. Gary Jobson and a team of North U instructors will lead Trim and Tactics seminars, back to back. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better sailor or you can accelerate the process at North U. Act Fast. Be Smart. Call 800-347-2457 or Visit http://www.NorthU.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Tom Priest: David LaPier suggests that anyone who has yelled at their crew; yelled at a competitor; given the finger to a passing motor boat; trying to get their way at mark rounding, knowing that they would foul another boat; pumping or rocking on purpose; or trying to intimidate a competitor with words or deeds is as guilty of a rules 69 violation as is Brodie Cobb. I may well have done all those things at one time or another ... but . I can assure you. ... I have never laid a hand on any of them! Not once, Not ever! Nor were any of the 'recipients' of my outbursts a minor! Your list above is comparing apples to oranges relative to physical violence... Two suggestions come to mind: Anger Management and Humility (ie: knowing when to 'fall on your sword' when you've obviously stepped over the line.) * From Chris Ericksen (In response to Davie LaPier - 'Butt 2260): Yes, I have yelled at my crew and my fellow competitors, have yelled at and gestured at a passing motor boat and tried to intimidate a competitor with words or deeds. But I never boarded another competitor's boat and assaulted him or her. Let's keep our eye on the ball, folks, and remember what really did happen. * From Rick Best (Regarding David LaPier's questions in Scuttlebutt 2260): I generally crew on boats in the top half of the fleet in Long Island Sound, and was on the fourth place boat in Division A in the last ARC. I have flipped off motorboats, and yelled at crew and competitors, although very rarely, if ever, in anger. (I mean yelled in anger, I confess to anger at powerboats.) This is, after all, sailing! I have never been on a boat which knowingly tried to foul another boat or seriously tried to intimidate a competitor. (Rocking or pumping keel boats does not have any affect, as far as I know.) I know enough to trust very little of what I read about any "facts" of a quasi-judicial proceeding without reading the actual record. But if this represents Mr. Cobb's crowd, he is paying the price of being the one who went just a little further and was "caught." My advice is to take the time out to find some new friends who play nicer. Maybe my lack of experience in Lasers has left me with a rosy view of sailing competition, but I sail to have fun, and test my skills, not to intimidate or scare people, particularly other sailors. I would also say that there is a world of difference between what David LaPier describes and what Brodie Cobb is alleged to have done. Those two worlds are the non-criminal behavior world and the criminal behavior world. Adults are responsible for knowing the difference. Curmudgeon's Comment: With this bit of advice we now declare this thread officially dead. * From Scott MacDonald (Regarding shortening the cup interval): I would think shortening the interval from four to two years would create less of a financial valley prior to some recoverable revenue for team sponsors. While the road to achieving dominance would then possibly involve multiple event milestone performances by the team, the financial commitments from sponsors may be relatively easier to acquire. This then would generate more exposure and interest in the sport, developing a larger spectrum of sponsorship interest. * From Chris Museler: I noticed a Daily Sail excerpt you published on your site talking about changes for the next Volvo Ocean Race. It's exciting to see the media/environmental slot onboard the boats but this will not be the first time the race has exercised this. The option was open in 2005/06. I sailed aboard Pirates of the Caribbean on the Baltimore to New York leg which led to seven articles in the Times. I was not a "crewmember" and was not allowed to assist in any way. Curmudgeon's Comment: In case any of the Volvo syndicates are wondering, I'm busy the weekend the boats will be sailing around Cape Horn. * From Jeff Borland: Today's Scuttlebutt had a press item from Women's International Match Racing Association touting the work done by myself and Erik Hedin. While it is true that Erik and I worked on the WIMRA site to bring a new look and feel to it, the release totally leaves out the driving force behind the revamping of the site, and the rejuvenated WIMRA organization- Liz Baylis. Liz has always been a tireless promoter of match racing, and has now jumped in with both feet to push harder for WIMRA to step up and take a larger role in promoting and organizing women's match racing. So, Liz should get most of the accolades for this new and improved WIMRA site. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION All generalizations are false, including this one. Special thanks to Doyle Sailmakers and North U. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
