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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 873 - August 7, 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.
THE PROTEST We are sympathetic to Josh's position with regards to the protest. We were as disappointed as he was that his protest was judged invalid on a technicality, rather than being heard. The protest certainly should have been dealt with before any boat finished not just Gartmore. However, there are no grounds whatsoever to the accusations made in the protest against Kingfisher, and the hearing would have without doubt cleared our name and ensured that the issue was put to bed in a timely fashion. The delay cleared raised frustration levels onboard Gartmore, and has helped turn this in to a bigger issue than it deserved. The facts that pertain to the protest against KINGFISHER: a. At no time during leg 3 of the EDS Atlantic Challenge did KINGFISHER, or its crew receive information on gulf streams, routing or indeed any other form of outside assistance. b. Jennifer Clark, expert on Gulf Stream currents, emailed us via our part time navigator Adrienne Calahan, early on the morning of July 14th with some general information for the upcoming leg of the race. This information was received onboard several hours before the race start from Portsmouth (1730 local time), as is legitimate to do so. It is possible that Josh may have misinterpreted this email to be something that happened during the race, as Ms.Clark may have mentioned she had sent information to Kingfisher in a general comment to him. This is the only explanation we can find for his conviction that we rec'd information during the race, when we most certainly did not. c. We did not attempt in any way, by any form of communication, or by any third party to obtain information from Ms.Clark, or indeed any other source, during the race. The rules are very clear on this - no outside assistance. d. In the Gartmore protest document, Josh states that he was trying to contact Ms.Clark to obtain information that he claims was not of a 'routing' type. The Jury gave Josh an opportunity to withdraw his protest, something they are not obliged to do. e. Our reading of the rules would not permit any form of request for outside information that is not in the public domain. f. In the Gartmore protest document, the only witness to support his claims is Jennifer Clark. Jennifer Clark in her report to the Jury made it very clear that Kingfisher only received information prior to the start. We would repeat that at no time during the race has their been any communication with Jennifer Clark by Kingfisher. g. Josh's insinuation in his letter that Jennifer Clark had amended her story to match that of Kingfisher's, should be taken very seriously. There is no one that stands to lose more than her in this, since her professional integrity is being directly questioned in front of a good number of her clients. The fact that Jennifer Clark was Josh's only witness in his protest, yet he is suggesting now that she is lying, rather takes the edge off the protest evidence he submitted. h. We can understand partly Josh's frustration at not having the actual accusations answered. It is with regret that the International Jury have not found a way to re-open the case. A victory that we fought hard for over 3300 difficult North Atlantic miles is being unfairly tainted. We share 100% Josh's concerns about illegal routing, outside assistance and the maintenance of professional behaviour in an ever more competitive and high pressure sport. The assertion that he is continuing his action, now publicly and in a somewhat aggressive manner on this point in order to somehow 'save the sport' could be considered honorable, but is certainly misplaced and mistimed. The team on Kingfisher can without any ambiguity, without any question, with no grey area, swear on oath that they have in no way infringed any ISAF, ORC or GSI at any time. This is 100% backed by Josh's own witness to the protest. It is with regret this has had to be pulled in to the public domain, but the continued suggestion that Kingfisher are in some way bringing the sport in to disrepute had to be refuted. The protestor may want to look carefully at who is doing the damage here. - Ellen MacArthur, Anthony Merrington, Mark Turner, Nick Moloney & Andrew Henderson - the crew of Kingfisher on leg 3 of the EDS Atlantic Challenge
DISMASTING To add insult to injury, the conditions were quite benign with only 10-15 knots of wind blowing, and the beginnings of a short, choppy sea rolling in from the east. It is not clear what broke first, and an investigation might take weeks, however the speculation is that the mast might have been weakened when Sill Plein Fruit lost their forestay on Leg 3. Spectator yachts immediately gathered to lend assistance and some local sailors joined the yacht's crew in the water to help untangle the rigging which had snagged on some appendage under the yacht. Shortly thereafter Sill Plein Fruit took a tow from a press yacht while waiting for a tow from an official emergency vessel. They will be towed into Norfolk, Virginia to assess their options. There appear to be no injuries on board. - Brian Hancock, www.edsatlanticchallenge.com
DON'T MISS THE SUMMER FUN!
AMERICA'S CUP Of the four IACC boats belonging to team Prada, Luna Rossa ITA 45 (winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup 2000) is now being shipped to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, where she will join the celebrations and commemorative regattas of the America's Cup 150 anniversary. At the end of August Luna Rossa will leave directly from Cowes for her long voyage to New Zealand. The shipping dates for Luna Rossa ITA 48 and the two black boats Young America USA 53 and 58, are yet to be finalized. Two Tom 28s, small one-designs used by the team for in-house match race practice, will also be shipped to Auckland. Just over one year is to go before the start of the next Louis Vuitton Cup, commencing October 2002t. The Prada design team has had a wonderful set of tools (four IACC boats) to work with over this period of training, with the aim of testing new solutions, materials and technologies. It will take a few more months before the building of the new hulls - two as allowed by the XXXI America's Cup rules - begins in Italy, and this is the critical phase when the so-called "wish list" for each new boat has to be finalized in great detail. A good part of the crew's sailing program over the last two months has been devoted to testing and carrying out various technical evaluations. Thus, the team has had the possibility of putting the designers' ideas to the tough and severe test of sea, wind and waves. Each new modification on the hulls, rig and sails has been checked almost in real time. The crew alternated these long and tiring testing days with intense match race practice both on the big boats and on the small one-design yachts. Also, three complete Prada crews - with Rod Davis, Gavin Brady and Francesco de Angelis as skippers - switched on the international circuit in Italy and overseas, racing in a completely different environment. "At the beginning of October we will once again be fully operational in New Zealand," said Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis. Our return to Italy is scheduled for mid March 2002".
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Brad Avery: From the comfort of land, it is easy to second-guess the actions of a skipper during an emergency far offshore. Regarding the Bonaire, we know one fact: our skipper did the best he could under the circumstances. He met his primary responsibility, seeing to the safety of our students and staff. We all discuss what we might have done in a particular situation; it's a fun exercise and it can be useful. But unless you were on board, you really don't know what was going on. Just be thankful it didn't happen to you, and that your actions to save the boat and crew were not later regarded in the media as suspicious or inept by those who weren't there. * From Andrew Troup: (re the abandoning Bonaire at sea) I've never 'dropped' a 80' rig at sea. From my armchair I've conjectured about dropping one in stages, hove to - praps a ring of large holes somewhat above mid-height, rig a drogue from a halyard, disconnect the upper caps, then join the holes on the leeward (Leatherman? plastique?) Given someone ready to give it a go, I wonder, shortly after the "Timber!!" moment, what the falling topmast might do to the stump's standing rigging, with our intrepid hero still at the top of it. Perhaps increase the number of stages? What I'm struggling to visualise is how to proceed in a sea with the bottom end of a rig of that height and weight no longer on the step, the step no longer a going concern and the hull around it damaged, all standing rigging slack by a foot, and the deck around the mast (presumably) in danger of buckling. Putting someone up sounds a bit Clooney. Given a calmish day, perhaps the mizzen could be used to moderate the descent of (the majority of) the mainmast in the direction of the bow. Those who advocate dropping the rig might usefully enlighten those of us unable to figure it out. I wonder, in the hypothetical general case, if it mightn't be safer to try to keep the rig in the boat, perhaps lifting it via tackles between the deckhead (near the chainplates) and the foot. Possibly the standing rigging could be got tight enough to motor home. * From Beau Gayner: I can assure all of you that the Captain of Bonaire is a man of great integrity and one of the best sea men I have had the pleasure of spending time with on the water. To speculate on why the Captain decided to unload the crew and eventually abandon her is an exercise in futility. Lets wait for the story from the participants instead of casting doubt upon their actions. * From Craig Fletcher: Message to those folks who are second-guessing the abandoning of the OCC vessel: A LIFE IS NOT REPLACEABLE! * From George Bailey: Leaving aside the current routing protest, the routing rule seems unenforceable. Given today's electronics, one person on a boat could get routing info. using a cell phone from the head without the rest of the crew knowing, then have "brilliant insights" at the chart table. If done with care, this would be virtually improvable unless someone confessed. What is the best way to deal with an unenforceable rule whose violation makes a real difference to the outcome of a race? Is there any choice but to get rid of the rule? * From Ed Sherman (re: Did early settlers ever go on a camping trip?) No Sir! The Mayflower Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, MA in 1620 were too busy with basic survival, which enabled them to establish a new land where YOU would be free to "go camping." Of the 102 original Mayflower ship passengers, only 34 survived the first winter.
JUBILEE * NZL32 was shipped earlier this year from New Zealand to Lorient in France, where she has been chartered to the French America's Cup Challenge. The French syndicate, who had been using it for training and tuning, handed it back to Team New Zealand last week. It will return to France after the jubilee. * New Zealand cup skipper Dean Barker is due to arrive in England this week to head the racing team for the jubilee. - NZ Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz
J/22 MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP Final results: 1. Ray Wulff, 11; 2. Peter McChesney, 17; 3. Nancy Haberland, 21; 4. Scott Nixon, 21; 5. Jim Hayes, 26. Ray Wulff's winning crew consisted of Jason Currie, Nina Beebe, and Kate Meek. Full results to be posted shortly myweb.clark.net/pub/ssa/
ONE-DESIGN
SORRY ABOUT THAT 2) We went to a normally reliable website to copy the names of the sailors on the Meadowlark Lemons team that finished second in the US Team Racing Championships Hinman Trophy. Unfortunately, there was an error in that posting. The actual members of that team were: Peter Alarie, Kevin Hall, Zack Leonard, Katie McDowell, Liz Hall & Caroline Hall.
LASER SENIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Overall standing after the preliminary round: 1. BRA Robert Scheidt, 8, 2. SWE Karl Suneson 23, .3 SWE Daniel Birgmark 29, 4. FIN Roope Suomalainen 42, 5. GBR Paul Goodison 42. Full results: www.laserinternational.org
STAR WORLDS The protest from the jury against the Brazilian team Torben Grael and Marcelo Fereira (3rd in the World's ranking) turned out disappointing to the Brazilians. They were disqualified because of hitting a mark and not doing the then required 360 properly. - http://www.starworlds2001.nl/
Standings after two races:
STEVE FOSSETT The weather is cooperating with Solo Spirit as skies remain clear. "The altitude is holding, there are no thunderstorms in sight and I can't see any for the next few days," said Bill Winkert, assistant meteorologist at mission control. "It looks great from a meteorological standpoint." Fossett, who got about six hours of sleep last night, will be over water for the next four to five days as he heads toward Chile and Argentina. - solospirit.wustl.edu/summary.asp
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