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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1194 - November 7, 2002Scuttlebutt 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.
USA EARNING STRIPES The need to cram in as much testing time as possible, stems from Conner's assertion that his team needs to find five to 10 seconds per mile of upwind speed. Stars & Stripes meet GBR in the best of seven series starting next Tuesday, with the Americans keen to shed the image of a team long on reputation but short on performance. The form of skipper Ken Read is such a concern and that Conner and tactician Terry Hutchinson have been given a spell at steering, pays testament to this. Notwithstanding August's sinking, the crew have looked ring-rusty and their sail and mast development is well behind the likes of Team New Zealand, OneWorld, Alinghi and Oracle BMW. -- Tim Jeffery in the Telegraph. Full text at sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
ETCHELLS WORLDS While rain and strong wind was forecast for Day 3 of the 2002 Waiwera Infinity Water Etchell World's in Auckland New Zealand, brilliant sunshine and 16-18 knot westerly produced superb racing conditions this morning. Principal Race Officer John Parish was able to get the fleet away on the second attempt after a shift induced general recall at 10:20 am New Zealand time this morning. The wind was 16 knots from 250. The fifth race was underway at press time, with Gavin Brady leading. -- Rob Kothe in sail-world.com (updated practically live during the racing...)
Top ten standings (preliminary) after 4 races: Event website: www.etchells.org.nz/2002_worlds.htm
AROUND ALONE Further to the north Brad van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America was nursing a tired body. "Last night was one of the worst of my sailing career," he told me in a satellite call this afternoon. "I have always disliked the doldrums, but now I can truly say that I hate the place." Sometime after midnight last night Brad got caught in massive squall. "It was more of a weather front than a squall," Brad said. "The wind started to build and then before I knew it, it was blowing 55 knots from the southeast." I was in a full gale for five hours." Like the Class 1 boats before him, van Liew was finding this area of the doldrums particularly volatile. Both Emma Richards and Thierry Dubois described similar giant squalls that had them careening on the edge of disaster.
Current positions
Class 2 - 50s and 40s
FORESPAR TILLER EXTENSIONS
CLIPPER 2002 Johnathan Brockhouse and the Jersey Clipper crew then raced across the finish line at 23:06 to secure an impressive 2nd place after an intense match between the two lead boats. New York, skippered by the first ever female Clipper skipper, finished just a 5 minutes behind London; a testimony to the closeness of racing between the eight strong Clipper fleet. Racing for the next stage of Leg 1, Portugal to Cuba, will start on Sunday, 10 November at 12:00 with the crews facing their first ocean crossing, a 4,060 nautical mile race to Cuba.
www.clipper-ventures.com
ROUTE DU RHUM There six divisions of boats racing: 60 foot multihulls, 60 monohulls, monohull classes I, II and III -- lengths of 55-58, 50, and 40-45 feet respectively, and Class II multihulls 45-50 feet.
- The start of the multihulls in class 2 is on Saturday 9 November at 13h35 * The Discovery Channel has five minute pre-race features that started November 4, at 8:30 PM in the UK, 8:55 PM across Europe excluding Italy, France and Germany, Africa and the Middle East. There is a listing of repeat times for all the broadcasts at offshorechallenges.com EDITOR'S NOTE: At present there does not appear to be any scheduled time on the Discovery Channel in North America, that was confirmed today by a call to their US office. Normally I'd encourage Scuttlebutt readers to email en masse to see if we can influence programming decisions, however the only method of doing so, at the Viewer Relations section of their website extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations, is cumbersome, requires a lot of information, and their Privacy Policy about this "voluntary information" seemed a bit fuzzy to me. * You won't see anything like this again for another four years: check out the shots of Saint Malo's harbour, the throngs of visitors and dozens of other great shots of the boats, skippers and shore teams on Gilles Martin-Raget's website: www.martin-raget.com/fr/actu/evenement.cfm?THEM_POS=9&detail=1 Event site: routedurhum.org
20 YEARS OF ULTIMATE SAILING CALENDARS
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON - dmccreary@boats.com * From Christian Fevrier: John Rousmaniere writes: "She won a trophy called variously "the Squadron Cup" or "the 100 Pound Cup" (that's what it cost)." This would suggest that the amount was the price paid to the Garrards by the RYS and not the cash prize that John Cox Stevens received with the trophy during the presentation ceremony at the Castle, on the 22 August 1851. It surprizes me a little bit as John has confirmed the fact a long time ago in his excellent book "The Low Black Schooner, America 1851-1945" : "Historians have long interpreted the financial ingredient in the name as a reference to the price charged by its London manufacturer, Robert Garrard. Rather, the amount mentioned was a cash price that accompanied the Trophy. In an article summarizing the 1856 yachting season in the 9 November 1856 issue of Bell's Life, William Cooper wrote : "The great race was, as it always is, that for the Squadron Cup, or rather for a prize of 100 guineas, subscribed to by members of the RYS" Since a guinea was 13 shillings, 1 shilling more than a pound, and since a pound was worth US$ 5, the cash prize was the equivalent of US$541." * From Larry Law: Regarding comments in the most recent Butt issues (1192 & 1193) concerning the "most in touch boats", I have to laugh. Have we become so focused on each of our little corners of the sailing world that we would now try to debate this level of detail? Let me suggest, as a sailor who has only enjoyed racing / sailing for the past 35 years, that the argument ends when you consider an 8 year old in his/her first dinghy regatta, 20 boats on the start line, in any kind of conditions. Now there is a skipper who is "in touch" and frankly probably overwhelmed by it all - there's your "in touch" winner. Whether it's a Sabot dinking through the harbor, Pyewacket surfing on its way to Hawaii at 20+, an Ausi 18 with its mast on fire - a couple sailing away for the weekend - we are all the "most in touch" with our experience and the boat. Sailing is one of the most "in touch" things I could possibly imagine - no matter what the boat in question. I suggest that everyone sail this weekend and get more "in touch". * From Bob Kiernan (edited to our 250 word limit): It is my pleasure to watch yacht racing, match or fleet. I crew and skipper, and when the America's Cup or more correctly the build up to it is on I am excited to watch or view any possible means to witness the event. Last weekend I watched the Rolex Women's Matches where Betsy Allison out-sailed all participants. I watch the water ahead for possible puffs and try to read if it is a lift or knock. Watch the timing if tacks as compared to the breeze and waves. That to me is a challenge and to watch match racers navigate the course is actually fun. The competition is always trying to jam you up or benefit from something you didn't. Another challenge is reading bickerings from people who want crashes or general damage from the course to make the race more interesting. If you people knew more of what was going on you would see the great challenges and the fear of having to pass your opponents stern or give way at a mark rounding. Racing is fun and a sport to those doing it. If you feel the need to see carnage go elsewhere for it * From George Backhus: I had a chuckle at Rich Robert's comments in 'butt #1193. "Maybe Bertelli knows something about boats as well as upscale fashion accessories". Yea sure, and next season supermodels in Paris will be sashaying down the runway in sexy Doug Peterson designed apparel. * From Ian Hickling: I enjoy reading the history of the AC debated. One issue I've not seen mentioned is how the name changed from the 100 Guineas Cup to the Americas Cup. Is it a matter of possession conferring naming rights, and if so, could we Kiwis now change the name to the Kiwi Cup or Aotearoa Cup (Maori name for New Zealand)?
SAILORS QUALIFY U.S.A. FOR 2004 PARALYMPIC GAMES 2.4 Metre - Placing second in the final two races of the nine-race series moved Maine sailor Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor) into medal position and qualified the U.S.A.'s berth to the 2004 Paralympics in the 2.4 Metre class. Sonar - Skipper Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), and crew Tim Angle (Marblehead, Mass.), Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) and Richard Hughes (Philadelphia, Pa.) placed fourth overall in the 23-boat fleet. While these sailors have qualified the U.S.A., they may not be the ultimate representatives at the 2004 Paralympics. In sailing, the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials are a winner-takes-all event - with only the first-place finisher in each event earning a spot on the team. Team Trials will be held at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in November of 2003. For more information visit: www.ussailing.org/olympics/Paralympic/
LATIN RASCALS HEAD TO THE BAHAMAS "I took immediate action because we enjoy sailing and we love the Farr 40 class," said Onorato, who finished second at the 1999 Farr 40 Worlds and won both the IMS Worlds and the Mumm 30 Worlds in 2000. "I'm happy to be back." Onorato, who will charter a boat for both the MeesPierson and the Rolex events, owns two Farr 40s but logistically could not get either to the Bahamas in time. Complete information on the star-studded fleld of sailors is at farr40.org/racing/2002worlds/default.htm
BREAK-IN AND THEFT AT TEAM DENNIS CONNER Goods worth around $12,000 were taken from the US syndicate's gift shop in a burglary last night. Stolen items include two dozen pairs of sunglasses, five Citizen watches and 10 blue Nautica jackets. The jackets have a Stars and Stripes logo on the front left breast and a Nautica emblem on the upper left arm, and are valued at $7000.00. -- xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3762-1900167,00.html
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM |
