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SCUTTLEBUTT 2579 – April 21 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. FINAL DAY PROTEST DECIDES FARR 40 WORLDS Miami, FL (April 19, 2008) -- Miami Beach, Fla. USA - Vincenzo Onorato and his Mascalzone Latino are the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 World Champions, achieving a first in the sailing world - three back-to-back victories in this ultra-competitive one design class. What makes this accomplishment even more remarkable is that Onorato had not one, but two substitutes for regular tactician Adrian Stead in Morgan Larson (on Wed.) and John Kostecki (on Thurs-Sat). The final day lined up as an all-Italian battle pitting defending champion Mascalzone Latino (ITA), the leader of the series since the first race, against Joe Fly (ITA), the second-place, well-sailed boat. The pivotal moment came early, with the first weather mark rounding on race 9 between Joe Fly and Barking Mad (USA) looming large in the end. Barking Mad tactician Terry Hutchinson explained, "From my perspective, we were fouled by Joe Fly at the top mark. We did not protest them because we did not want to be... It is tough racing, It's hard enough. You get into these situations and I think Mascalzone and Joe Fly were having a good regatta against each other. Mascalzone Latino witnessed the infringement (against Barking Mad) and they were within their rights to file a third party against them in the situation. That leaves the umpires to decide the decision." Rather than play it safe and exonerate themselves with a 720 penalty, Joe Fly took their chance in the protest room, where the international jury - chaired by Tom Ehman - decided in Mascalzone's favor and disqualified Joe Fly, giving the win to Mascalzone, and dropping Joe Fly to second overall for the championship. Next year, the Class will travel to Europe to Porto Cervo, Sardinia for the 2009 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. -- Complete wrap-up report: http://www.farr40worlds.com/content/view/90/34 Final results (Top ten of 33; no discards permitted) 1. ITA, Mascalzone, Vincenzo Onorato, 3-12-1-14-3-5-6-3-7-9, 63 points 2. ITA, Joe Fly, Giovanni Maspero, 9-1-8-15-6-2-5-2-34(dsq)-5, 87 3. MON, Mean Machine, Peter de Ridder, 24-3-9-9-14-1-14-9-2-17, 102 4. DEN, Nanoq, HRH Crown Prince Frederik, 13-15-16-20-17-9-4-13(scp)-3-4, 114 5. ITA, Calvi Network, Carlo Alberni, 6-9-12-33-26-14-7-7-4-2, 120 6. SUI, Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli, 8-14-6-6-7-20-9-4(scp)-32-15, 121 7. USA, Ramrod, Rodrick Jabin, 22-8-17-3-10-21-10-19(scp)-1-11, 122 8. USA, Barking Mad, Jim Richardson, 23-5-3-2-16-6-2-24-23-22, 126 9. GER, Opus One, Wolfgang Stolz, 15-16-21-1-5-23-22-15-12-1, 131 10. ITA, Nerone, Mezzaroma/Migliori 19-19-2-29-1-25-13-21(scp)-5-6, 140 Results: http://www.farr40worlds.com/content/view/70/1/ * By all witness accounts, Joe Fly seriously overplayed their hand at the weather mark situation. They were on the port tack layline, with Barking Mad ahead and to leeward, also on port. Barking Mad tacked to starboard on layline, with Mascalzone near but slightly overstanding the mark on starboard. As Joe Fly approached Barking Mad, the Italians delayed their tack to make sure they were on layline, but ended up tacking too close to the Americans, who then luffed hard to avoid collision. Barking Mad didn’t want their protest to decide the Worlds, but offered to witness when Mascalzone did file a protest. The Pro Sight Sailing website has a great audio explanation of the situation by commentator Matt Ciesicki: http://tinyurl.com/4aoqxw Complete event audio archive: http://www.pro-sight-sailing.com * Thanks to photographers Daniel Forster, Kurt Arrigo, and Thierry Martinez for contributing to the Scuttlebutt photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/farr40 SOLO TRANSATLANTIC RACE LOSES STAR ENTRIES * Defending champion Mike Golding (GBR) has pulled out of The Artemis Transat, a race from Plymouth to Boston that is to start on the May 11, 2008. This is due to his Owen Clarke designed Open 60 ECOVER 3's replacement carbon keel blade not being ready sufficiently early to safely allow the team to compete in this tough transatlantic event without compromising the campaign's goals. The double IMOCA world champion continues to focus his attention on the Vendée Globe, the single-handed, non-stop round the world race which starts in November 2008. -- Full story: http://www.mikegolding.com/?pg=article&storyID=13952 * The Juan Kouyoumdjian designed Open 60 Pindar announced its withdrawal from the Artemis Transat, with skipper Brian Thompson (GBR) stating that the team’s preparations have been severely hampered following delays in the design and build of the new mast. With the mast installation set back until later this week, it leaves only a matter of days for Thompson to undertake the 1,000-mile qualifier and make it to Plymouth for the May race start. Thus far, the boat remains unproven in competition since it was launched in July last year, with a dismasting during Cowes Week and again ahead of the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre. Additionally, the team says their commitment to the Vendée Globe is dependant to them securing additional funding to participate. -- Full report: http://www.pindar.com/teampindar/news.asp?navID=150&d=921&i=4 HIGH MODULUS SEEKS INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER If you are passionate about sales and sails, read on… High Modulus is currently looking for an International Account Manager to sell composite materials and solutions to sailing and power boat builders around the world. The role is based full-time in our New Zealand office, although some international travel will be required. Candidates need outstanding project management skills, should be driven to achieve excellent sales results and high levels of customer satisfaction, and have knowledge about all aspects of the composite boatbuilding process. Please send your CV by 2nd May to: mailto:careers@highmodulus.co.nz Company website: http://www.high-modulus.com HYÈRES, FRANCE - THE OLYMPIC TRAIL (April 20, 2008) The 40th Semaine Olympique Francaise got underway Sunday with a total of 920 boats from 58 countries on the starting line. This is the first ISAF Grade 1 sailing event in the European calendar for the 10 Olympic classes and two Paralympics events (no Star and SKUD 18), which will compete in the six day regatta using the Olympic format. With the Olympic Games only four months away, the top teams are all eager for light air “Qingdao-like” conditions. However, the fleet was greeted with 25 knots and deep short waves that focused on survival over finesse, and prevented all classes from completing both races. The heavy conditions caused casualties amongst Americans, with Tornado crew Charlie Ogletree suffering an arm injury during a radical pitch-pole, and 470 Mens skipper Stu McNay getting pulled out of the boat in a big wave. There was also some good news within the North American contingent. In the Finn, Christopher Cook (CAN) is winning; Laser, Michael Leigh (CAN) is in 3rd; Yngling team Sally Barkow/ Debbie Capozzi/ Carrie Howe (USA) is in 4th; and Tornado, Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle(CAN) is in 9th. The online results are not completed, but they do report that 470 Women Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler (USA) won the first race, and 49er teams Gordon Cook/ Ben Remocker (CAN) and Tim Wadlow/ Chris Rast (USA) were in the top five for the first race too. -- Regatta website: http://sof.ffvoile.net CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar CHARLESTON RACE WEEK Charleston, SC (April 20, 2008) – For the third straight day, weather gods smiled on a fleet of nearly 150 racing sailboats on 70-degree water in and around Charleston. Sailors basked in the sun for a short postponement this morning as they waited for the sea breeze to fill – and fill it did, just like clockwork. Both the offshore and harbor courses raced their final race in 10-14 knots of cool ocean air, and unpredictable shifts forced the overall winners of this marquis event to earn every hard-fought point. Travis Wiesleder and his all-pro crew on Carloan.com won the coveted Charleston Race Week Cup Perpetual Trophy for winning the most competitive One-Design class – this year, an easy choice for the 27-boat Melges 24 division. Carloan.com started off this morning in a tie with Kristen Lane's Out House, from Marin, California. “We needed one good start today, and we got it,” said Carloan tactician and top OD sailor Scott Nixon. This talent-laden class is always competitive, and at a big event like Charleston, it's doubly so. Even with a crew that included Nixon, Justin Chambers, and the Skip Dieball, Wiesleder was “just one piece of sea breeze away from 2nd place,” but they took that sea breeze and turned it into the top prize at the event, which included a Raymarine electronics package worth over three thousand dollars. -- Complete wrap-up report: http://tinyurl.com/3l6ojn * Curmudgeon’s Comment: Morgan Larson had a busy weekend. Besides helping Kristen Lane's Melges 24 crew earn second place at CRW, he was in Miami on Wednesday, filling in as tactician for eventual winner Mascalzone at the Farr 40 Worlds. PRE-SEASON REFRESHER COURSE FOR SAILING Competing is more fun when we are prepared, and with the season soon to go into high gear, here are some quick exercises to best prepare yourself: * Sit on a bench with large metal fixtures cutting into your legs, stare straight up into the sun for 2 hours. For a more robust workout: invite 4 friends to come over and yell at you the whole time. * Go out and get very drunk, sleep 4 hours, then stand on a rocking chair for 6 hours. * Go to bank and withdraw as much cash as you can - then set it on fire. * Sit in front of a commercial fan and have someone throw large buckets of salt water on you. * Cut limb off nearby tree, tie ropes to it, stand on rocking chair with tree limb and ropes - hold them over your head for 3 hours...at 5 minute intervals drop on your head - more robust version: have friends yell at you in 6 minute intervals. * Pour cold water in your lap and give yourself a wedgie, now alternate between sitting and running around bent over. * Tie ropes between 2 trees and sit on a hard barstool tipping yourself into the ropes and balance - push your body against them as hard as you can for 6 consecutive hours - don't stop for pain or bruising until the pins and needles in your feet make it impossible for you to walk. -- Scuttleblog, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2008/04/pre-season-tips.html SPRING FRESH ON BOTH COASTS THANKS TO MCLUBE HULLKOTE If you’re on the west coast you may have seen our new Team McLube Hullkote Speed Polish at the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show. If you’re on the east coast racing the Farr 40 or Star Worlds, you were probably using it! Star Worlds competitors reported that the CRYC boat park smelled like fresh citrus oranges instead of the usual odor of older petroleum based polishes. Word around the docks is that Hullkote is easy to apply, stays cleaner longer, and yes...it's very fast. Did we mention that it’s citrus-based and environmentally friendly? Coming soon to retail stores near you: http://www.mclube.com/sailkote/index.php SAILING SHORTS * Actress Salma Hayek will be in Boston, MA on May 12 to christen the Puma Volvo 70, skipper Ken Read’s ride for the Volvo Ocean Race. Why Hayek? Her fiance, Francois-Henri Pinault, is CEO of the French luxury goods and fashion conglomerate PPR, which is Puma's parent company. -- Boston Globe, http://tinyurl.com/53y3c8 * Ellen MacArthur has been awarded the Legion d'Honneur by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The award, a French order established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1802, is the highest decoration anyone can receive in France. MacArthur is a founding patron of The Ellen MacArthur Trust, which takes young people aged between 8-18 sailing to help them regain their confidence, on their way to recovery from cancer, leukemia and other serious illness. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/3vxehv * The biennial double-handed Figaro class race, the Transat AG2R, began on Sunday, April 20, 2008, and will take the 25-boat fleet of 33 footers from the start in Brittany, France across the Atlantic to St Barts in the Caribbean. -- Event website: http://www.transatag2r.com * The final two teams in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race are expected to arrive at the finish in Santa Cruz, CA on Tuesday, where all ten of the identical 68-foot entries will prepare for the start of the next leg, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, April 24. The next leg takes the fleet through the Panama Canal and finishes in Jamaica. -- http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com * The Storm Trysail Club (STC) has announced the establishment of a new perpetual trophy, the Paul Hoffman Trophy, which will be awarded to the winner of the organization’s annual fall intercollegiate regatta. The trophy will be presented for the first time at the STC’s 2008 Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta presented by Prestige Toyota, which is scheduled for Columbus Day weekend (October 11-12, 2008) and hosted at Larchmont Yacht Club (Larchmont, N.Y.). -- Full announcement: http://www.stormtrysail.org/Pages/safety-at-sea/Safety-at-Sea-08-PR-1.html * World ARC, the flagship event in the global portfolio of World Cruising Club (WCC) rallies, is building on the success of the 2008 Rally with the announcement that the entry list has opened for a second edition, the 2010 World ARC Rally. Billed as an adventure of a lifetime, World ARC 2010 will leave the Caribbean in January 2010, cruising across the World's great oceans on a circumnavigation of the globe, returning to the Caribbean 14 months later. -- Event website: http://www.worldcruising.com/worldarc * The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) has announced a bipartisan, geographically diverse group of 17 U.S. Senators has co-sponsored The Clean Boating Act of 2008. The legislation, first introduced by Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), ensures recreational boaters and anglers will not need a federal permit to operate their boats, and restores a longstanding, commonsense regulation that excludes recreational boaters and anglers from the federal and state permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act designed for land-based industrial facilities and ocean-going commercial ships. -- Complete update: http://www.boatblue.org/news.aspx?id=17278 IT’S SPRINGTIME AND THE BUG IS OUT! LaserPerformance has launched the new Bug and it’s hitting our shores now. The latest thinking in dinghy design -- a blast to sail, modern design, and features out the “wazoo”. The Bug is a shot of adrenaline that is equally potent for beginners and experts. Check it out at http://www.laserperformance.com * Curmudgeon’s Comment: The Bug is among a new line of boats now available, with this video profiling the boat with designer Jo Richards explaining all its unique features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwuugqfBZ8c 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 Paul Warren Redington Beach, FL: First, US SAILING wants to make membership mandatory for anyone wanting to race -- an elitist position if I ever heard one. Now, Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) wants to exclude would-be racers from SCYA-sanctioned events because they don't pay yacht club dues. Message: you can't play in "their" sport, if you can't afford to play by their rules. These two "policies" work wonders to reinforce our sport's continuing image as being "only for the elite and the rich." No wonder sailboat racing is declining! Is it time for a "sailors' revolt" that brings "power to the people" and more people back to our sport? * From John Tormey: Name another sport where to compete, you have to be a member of a club? And when the Curmudgeon creates Scuttlebutt Sailing Club back in 2001, and pays the $$$ to US SAILING every year, a regional sailing authority and a race organizer are in cahoots to block its members from competing. Are we all pulling the same way? * From Craig Fletcher: Paper clubs should be welcomed by SCYA and their members should be able to race in SCYA regattas. Should paper club members have reciprocity with larger dues paying Yacht Clubs? This is another question. Paper club members must understand you have to pay to play. I spend a lot of time in Hawaii. There is a very prominent club on the beach which has reciprocity with a YC which I am a member. They grant me a weekly membership for a fee and greater prices for food, etc. for the privilege of a great sunset. I do not believe it should be mandatory for a full service SCYA club to grant reciprocity to a PC member. The full service clubs may at their discretion grant limited membership to paper club members for a fee. * From David Redfern, Kent, England: (re, story 'More F1' in #2578) How about contacting Geoff Willis? Geoff was with the Peter de Savary team that I was associated with for the controversial Michael Fay/ DC America’s Cup match in San Diego. Here is a mini biog of Geoff posted on the Formula 1 website: “Red Bull confirmed on Tuesday (July 2007) that former Honda technical chief Geoffrey Willis is to join the company as technical director. Willis, who will take up his post with Red Bull Technology on July 23, will report directly to chief technical officer Adrian Newey. Willis's first sporting role was with the British America's Cup yacht team back in 1987, when he developed hull and keel designs using computational fluid dynamics. He moved into Formula One racing soon after, joining the Leyton House team, before a five-year stint with Williams, where he worked for a period with Newey and eventually rose through the ranks to become chief aerodynamicist.” -- http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/7/6476.html * From Mark Reynolds: (re, letter and comments in Issue 2576) Why does Bob Webbon (and apparently the Curmudgeon) feel the US vote on the Olympic events should be any different than last time? Was it the huge Tornado turnout for the US trials (6 boats) or the huge international turnout at their World Championships (consistently the lowest of Open and Men classes)? Take a look at the ISAF ranking list as well and you’ll find that there are less than 100 Tornado’s racing in a great deal fewer countries than any other class. In fact there are more Star sailors and countries represented last week at the Star World Championship. Unfortunately, one event has to go, and it’s pretty hard to argue which event/ class clearly should go. Certainly the keelboat/Star would be a huge mistake if keeping the top sailors in the world in the Olympics is important. Like Henderson said the other day (in the full version of his letter), the Star is where the “Hero’s” are. After past problems the events were required to be chosen last November, an agreed upon procedure was followed, and a decision was made. I didn’t vote for Bush and strongly disagreed with the decision of the voters, but I didn’t get a revote the next day. Like Henderson also said, we all have a bias, and as a Star sailor, this one is mine! * From Jim Champ: (re, letter in #2578 on the importance of Olympic medals vs World championships) I don't think an Olympic gold medal is worth very many more than 10 to 12 Star, Snipe, or E22 World Championship first places. There's absolutely no comparison, mate. Two events with very limited geographic distribution and one Champs where everyone is mainly concerned that they shouldn't peak at the wrong time for the main event... * From John Rumsey: Right on, Craig Fletcher! Sailing would be much better off without the Olympics and the political intrigue. The classes would live or die on their own merit and the championships would be sailed at the best venues. Perhaps there could be a lay day where the contestants could enjoy the local attractions and sailing could be fun again. * From Cliff Bradford: (re, Artemis Transat story in #2577) What I'd like to see one of the ocean races do is prevent the sailors from knowing where the other boats are for the whole race. It seems to me the satellite communication systems the boats use could be configured so that the only information the sailors receive would be weather information from restricted sources and vetted communications from their support teams, but they wouldn't know where another competitor was unless they could see them or be within VHF range. As it is now, the races have a strong aspect of covering that tends to cluster the fleet rather than encouraging the wild flyers that used to make the races more interesting. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM If brides wear white at weddings to represent happiness, then why do grooms wear black? Special thanks to High Modulus, Team McLube Hullkote, and LaserPerformance. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
