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SCUTTLEBUTT 1499 - January 19, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. KEY WEST Key West Florida - More than 3,000 sailors have come from 18 countries and 32 states to this quaint little island town that is the southernmost point in the continental United States for Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004. The schedule calls for nine races in each of the 10 one-design and 11 PHRF handicap classes. Four race courses are spread out over 10 miles along the south side of the island between the beach and a reef five miles offshore that minimizes the influence of the Gulf Stream flowing west to east. The water temperature is 70 degrees. The quick read on the weather for the first races on Monday is Wind 15, gusts to 20; possible showers/ squalls morning through early afternoon, then lulls to 10. At the North Sails weather briefing for Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004, meteorologist Chris Bedford offered this week-long synopsis: "The cold front marching east across the Gulf of Mexico Sunday night is forecast to move through during the day on Monday. After an unsettled day with multiple shifts and an increase in pressure from the NW on Monday, conditions should settle with high pressure moving north of Florida Tuesday through Wednesday. After moderate winds continue through Tuesday, lighter conditions are forecast for Wednesday and most of Thursday before the next front arrives and brings potentially strong NW winds on Friday." This year's event, will mark the debuts of the Swan 45s and C&C 99s, who have massed enough boats to rate as classes of their own. As in the Farr 40 and some other one-design classes, owners must drive. The crew lists of the nine Nautor-built luxury racers are sprinkled with talent such as Ed Baird, Brad Read, Murray Jones, Dee Smith, Howie Shiebler, Butch Ulmer, Steve Benjamin, Kevin Burnham and Leonardo Ferragamo, the Nautor Swan chief who is skipper of Courdileone. That world-class name-dropping rivals the lineup of tacticians in the Farr 40s, which includes, besides Brun, Robbie Haines, Terry Hutchinson, Adrian Stead, Chris Larson, Kimo Worthington, Eric Doyle, Tom Whidden and John Cutler. Hutchinson will be working with his right arm in a sling after suffering an elbow injury in his Star boat last weekend. Also, two America's Cup principals---Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth and Oracle helmsman Peter Holmberg, now with Alinghi---are tacticians for Daniel Meyers' Taylor 49, Numbers 97, in PHRF 2 and Tom Hill's R/P 75, Titan 12, in PHRF 1, respectively. With 58 entries from 10 nations the Melges 24 fleet will once again be the largest competing at Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004. Alongside the overseas entries boats are traveling from all over North America. Among the hot favourites for the 2004 Key West Melges 24 title are reigning World Champion Shark Kahn, 2002 World Champion Harry Melges who is helming for Jeff Ecklund, 2001 World Champion Flavio Favini with Switzerland's Franco Rossini, Silvio Santoni with Franco Maria Rao's crew from Italy, France's Sebastian Col with the P&P Racing Team and Norway's Kristian Nergaard. - www.Premiere-Racing.com FOR THE RECORD (David Scully, watch captain aboard Steve Fossett's 125ft super-cat Cheyenne, has filed the first of his regular yachtingworld.com news stories as the team prepares for the imminent Jules Verne Challenge. Here's an excerpt.) The weather picture we have been watching with such confidence started to lose its allure on Thursday night. The idea was to shoot down the coast of Portugal while the Azores High had its back turned, get into the Trades, and on to the Equator. It now looks like the high will not shift to the west as planned, but stand sentry over the route south with all its normal vigilance. There is still wind to reel off 600 miles or so on the first day, but we will grind to a 24-hour halt opposite Lisbon. If we miss this one, we will be stuck for at least a fortnight. And then what? At the end of January we will be half way through the 2004 circumnavigating season. Will February bring the ideal pattern, or is this as good as it gets? - Yachting World, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2hl2e LOOKING FOR A PICTURE? The world's largest water-related image library is now searchable online. Established 20 years ago and representing over 30 top yachting and marine photographers from the USA, Europe and Asia, Kos Picture Source is now offering film footage for commercial use. This is in addition to over 500,000 digital and transparency images covering international sailing events and all aspects of the yachting and boating industry. A team of four professional researchers, each with international sailing experience, is on hand to address your needs. View and order on-line for immediate delivery of high res by ADSL or courier. http://www.kospictures.com ROUND THE WORLD In one of the most entertaining presentations at Schroders London Boat Show, Chay Blyth announced his plans for Challenge Business' Corinthian Challenge. If the Global Challenge was Challenge Business' recreation of Blyth's westabout singlehanded non-stop around the world record passage, then the Corinthian Challenge is attempting to recreate the first Whitbread Round the World Race in which Blyth campaigned Great Britain II. * Blyth summed up his concept for the Corinthian Challenge. "What we are trying to do is go back in time and have a race where the fellow who has got a boat can go off and sail around the world and take part in it, as opposed to having to be in one of these hi-tech, very very expensive races. I would expect exactly the same to happen this time as it did last time. They will come from private owners. Grand Louis was a classic example. The chap there [Andre Viant] was about 58 and took early retirement. He had all his family crew, the husbands or wives of his sons and daughters and they would do various legs all around the world on his cruising boat." Blyth also expects yacht club team and other groups. Among the first entries expected of this type is Girls for Sail who will charter a boat their crew paying their own way. There will also be sponsored yachts although Blyth expects the money to come from smaller companies with more limited means than one would find in professional races. - The Daily Sail, full story: http://www.thedailysail.com BRAD VAN LIEW After seven years of campaigning and racing in the Around Alone circuit, American Brad Van Liew has announced plans to retire from solo racing in the Southern Ocean. Logging nearly 100,000 miles on the water and more than 327 days alone at sea since setting his sights on the Around Alone race, Van Liew has achieved his goal of victory. The 2002 Around Alone class II champion has satisfied all his goals in this arena of the sport. He now wishes to employ the valuable lessons learned offshore and onshore with the launch of Van Liew Ventures, a new full service marketing company. "Van Liew Ventures is an exciting new project that will allow me to blend my knowledge of the competitive sports world with my wife Meaghan's expertise in event sponsorship and PR," Van Liew said. "Meaghan and I will use our collective experience to help others achieve their dreams." Located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, Van Liew Ventures and subsidiary Van Liew Communications will focus on assisting companies, race organizers and teams with a variety of tasks - including product development & marketing, sponsorship, public relations, race management, training, and non-profit fundraising. Among Van Liew Venture's clients are the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation, Raymarine Gryphon Solo Campaign - 5-Oceans entrant of 2006-7. http://www.oceanracing.org/ SPEAKING OF LUXURY From Dupioni silk accent pillows and elegant 14k gold jewelry, to Danish teak galleyware and finely etched barware, our entire nautical luxuries collection is now on sale. Shop the International Crew Nautical Luxuries Semi-Annual Sale online, or request a catalog by phone:(888) 835-8880, email: sales@internationalcrew.com or online: http://www.internationalcrew.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE - HOWARD HAMLIN " It's hard for us because the Australians and the Europeans race all the time, and we check in with the fleet a few times a year-in Europe, in San Francisco, in Australia. The weird thing is that we've never been good at starting before, but this year we were getting good starts, and if our finish positions had been as good as our first-mark positions, we would have been second for the regatta." - Howard Hamlin discusses his disappointing 2004 J.J. Giltinan skiff championship regatta in an interview on the Sail magazine website, full story: http://www.sailmagazine.com/news/NEWS/ NEWS BRIEFS * Two retired America's Cup boats have recently resurfaced on the U.S. cable channel MTV's Real World San Diego show. This is the fourteenth edition of the reality show, where the producers corral seven college-aged strangers to live and work together, and film their every move. This season's work assignment finds them crewing on Stars & Stripes (USA-34) and Abracadaba (USA-54), which are used for day charters on San Diego bay. You may have to tolerate some show content suitable for mature audiences before seeing the sailing footage. The show airs Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, 9:00 p.m. CT. http://www.mtv.com/onair/realworld/season14 * Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) would be feeling quite confident right now. The pair today won the 470 Olympic class at the Sail Melbourne Regatta. Coming straight from their 420 World title win just short of one week ago. The pair finished this regatta with two first places, five seconds and other top placings to finish the 11 race series with 18 points, seven in front of the second placed Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (GBR), the latter pair will represent Great Britain in Athens in August this year. Six of the top ten sailors in the world were in the fleet. Sail-World.com, http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?SEID=397&Nid=12370 * North Sails UK has announced the appointment of Ian Simkins as One Design Production Manager where he will be responsible for all aspects of the manufacture of a wide range of dinghy and one design sails, as well as after sales service and customer support. Ian brings with him some 16 years of sail making experience. Prior to joining North, Ian was based at the recently closed Hyde Sails Keelboat loft in Hamble. Ian started at Hyde after the company brought the UK assets of Ullman Sails, which he both ran and co-owned for 14 years. * At a prestigious evening ceremony at the Dusseldorf Boat Show on the opening night, the Shipman 50 won the European Yacht of the Year award. The 50 foot performance cruiser also won the award for the most innovative boat of the year. - Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World, http://tinyurl.com/2lofq * Funeral Services for Dick Pennington who passed away Wednesday night at his home in Huntington Beach will be held Monday at 1:00 PM at Inglewood Cemetery/ Mortuary, 3801 West Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305, (310) 412-6811 2004 REGATTA CATALOGS ARE IN! PLAN NOW FOR GIVEAWAYS! The new Pirate's Lair printed clothing catalogs are here for the taking. If you plan regattas, organize junior teams or need gear for your boat…give us a call. As usual, the first fifty requests we receive get some kind of complimentary widget with shipment. Usually a past regatta t-shirt. Call (888) 724-5286 or log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/sailing LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Craig Fletcher: We should all be saddened by the passing of Dick Pennington. He was a great and most of all generous person. He never hesitated to help a young sailor with a dollar or pull out his wad of $100's and shout a round. The stories of Dick are to numerous or over the top to tell in the Butt. I'm confidant heaven has a track, sailboat race and most importantly a few beautiful girls to keep Mr. Pennington comfortable for eternity. * From Ray Tostado: Here's to you Dick Pennington. May your next voyage be as glorious as this one past. Thank you for the hundreds of smiles you cast my way. Never a bad start, never a bad race, never a bad finish. Always a great smile. Cheers, mate. * From John Riise, Managing Editor, Latitude 38: Soon or later, arguments over things like motorcycle helmets and lifejackets always degenerate into the same old cliches: "The Man" is "Taking Our Freedom Away." I enjoy word games as much as the next guy, but I hope the reality of choosing whether or not to wear a PFD doesn't get lost in the silly "live free or die" banter. In 20 years in the sailing magazine industry, I have interviewed people who watched husbands, children and best friends drown in front of their eyes because they weren't wearing lifejackets. Some were so traumatized they told me they might never sail again. I've also written about recoveries of people who survived because they did choose to wear PFDs, or require someone else to - often times at the expense of being laughed at or made fun of. No one whines anymore about the "dangerous precedent" of requiring us all to wear seat belts. And we all know people who survived because that decision was made for them. The Man also requires lifejackets for kids under 12 and I don't hear too many complaints there, either. What's that? Kids aren't qualified to make that choice? Stuff happens and they could fall off the boat? Well, guess what, folks: so could you - every one of you. If you're too stubborn to see that or too manly to be bothered, you just keep talking the talk. Maybe this summer it'll be your grieving relatives I interview about what a tough individualist you were. * From Chris Ericksen; John Sherwood's letter in 'Butt 1496 referred to the letter written by ISAF President Paul Henderson that was excerpted in 'Butt 1490. He pointed out the sentence that appeared in that letter: "The latest debates have shown how important the Olympic Regatta is to the World of Sailing." I can't imagine how Mr. Henderson came to that conclusion: the latest debates about Olympic sailing - notably the no-discard decision that was revoke - mostly riled up the world of sailing. And, as Mr. Henderson said in a somewhat petulant letter in another issue of 'Butt, the rest of the world didn't understand that this did not affect them but affected only Olympic sailing. Mr. Sherwood is right when he said, "The Olympics are important to ISAF, but most sailors could care less. This is one reason why the average sailor with his/her typical boat has difficulty relating to ISAF." I'll carry that further: I think ISAF's involvement in Olympic sailing is ultimately damaging to the sport of sailing. I can't help notice that the majority of paragraphs in Mr. Henderson's letter that appeared in 'Butt 1490 was about Olympic sailing, as is in fact most of what Mr. Henderson seems to discuss in these pages. I fear that Olympic sailing has become the tail of our sport that is wagging the dog. * From Bill Crane: Though an individual can place advertisement on the side of his boat or applied to the sails can claim to have not received any payment for the 'advertisement,' any sea-going-lawyer could lead the interested parties to the conclusion that with the advertisement reaching out to the general public spreading news of the existence of the business venture the logo represents will generate some business & therefore increase the income of the owner of the boat making the 'payment' for the 'advertisement.' Also, one could presume that the boat owner could also be getting consideration for use of the boat as an advertising expense making it easier still to link the boat to a 'payment' for the use of space for an 'advertisement.' * From Bruce Thompson: The Rules Quiz in 'Butt 1497 highlights a problem with inconsistent judging and rules. Readers may have been surprised by the answer because juries have adopted the position that miscreants must be presented with an equal opportunity to exonerate themselves. Clearly, this was not the original intent of the rulemakers. How else could they have provided Rules 60.4 & 61.1 (c) for example, protest by the protest committee? If the committee does not even convene until after the racing is finished, there can be no exoneration. The current protest form and juries have established a distinction between a valid protest and a legitimate protest. A valid protest requires that the perpetrator had immediate notice and opportunity to exonerate. You must make sure all the boxes have been checked. It surely is simpler to dismiss a protest than to resolve it. A legitimate protest would be where the facts will establish that the protestee violated the rules and was accorded due process (written notification of the charge and a hearing to defend himself against the charge). We ought to go back to this original intent. If he did it, throw him out. The demands of justice are to protect the innocent, not the guilty. * From Don Bedford: One note on Peter Harken's kind words, "Augie Diaz, the best - and he did it all himself!" I'll add that he did it all with his wonderful family right beside him. Father Gonzalo (aka "Old Man"), mother Carmen and brother Gonzo have brought their energy to Snipe and junior sailing in Miami for decades. Their love and support for each other and the rest of us Snipe sailors has truly been an inspiration. * From Augie Diaz: I just have to respond to Peter Harken's guest editorial. Peter's account of my disastrous iceboating adventure is mostly true, but he failed to include a minor detail. Turns out that the good iceboaters like Peter have a knot on their mainsheet so that you cannot let it out more than a foot or so. This is because the good sailors keep their apparent wind so far forward that they don't need to ease their mainsheets at all. Needless to say this did not work very well for a turkey like me and this is why I crashed and totaled Peter's iceboat; sorry about that Peter! I think Peter was just happy that I was alive when they came and got me- I was too. * From Tucker Strasser: Possibly I read more into Jerry Kaye's letter than there is, but It appears that in recent years the tone of sailing has changed from a friendly self regulating honest sport to where many suspect and vocalize that there are many, many cheaters on and off the water. If someone does well they must have cheated on the course or they are sailing on an illegal boat. The "Basic Principle" of the RRS are Sportsmanship and the rules --Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors bread a rule they will promptly take a penalty or retire. Nowhere do I read that everyone must be cheating and there must be a vigilant monitoring of everyone on and off the water. Maybe it is time to rewrite the "basic Principle" reflecting this new attitude. I hope not and I hope this attitude changes. Call me simple but I still believe in my fellow man/ woman (most of the time) CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS "A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong." - Milton Berle |
