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SCUTTLEBUTT 1473 - December 8, 2003Powered 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. AMERICA'S CUP The new (America's) Cup Village (in Valencia) won't be ready for tenants until the fall of 2004 at the earliest (with a projected completion date of 2005 for the entire project) and, for that reason, everybody is looking for an alternative place to train. About thirty miles north of Valencia, the small port of Castellón de la Plana (about 150.000 inhabitants) really believes in its chances. Even if efforts are necessary to host teams with over 100 people each, Castellón has already experienced the America's Cup in 1999 when the Spanish and French crew joint trained there. Caixa Galicia owner Vincente Tirado affirms he was contacted by half of the future challenger. And in particular by Oracle BMW Racing. "The American team will arrive by the end of 2004 with 350 people", he said. "It will have to find a place to settle, but also residences and schools for the children ... and this work already started". - Cup in Europe website citing Masmar, full story: http://www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/2007Oracle-LN4.htm NEW "CRUISING" RECORD At 21:52 local time on Thursday 4 December (01:52 UTC 05 December), the first yacht of ARC 2003 (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) finished, smashing the course record by several hours. Spirit, one of the two Volvo 60's taking part in the ARC, skippered by Hamish Oliphant and his crew of 15, steamed across the ARC finish line under full sail at 18 knots. With a finish time some 10 hours ahead of the previous ARC course record, Spirit now holds the new ARC course record of 11 days, 13 hours, 12 minutes and 20 seconds. The crew remarked that their top speed had been 21.3 knots surfing down a wave, although one crew member commented that the only soft surfaces on the boat were the crew's backsides! It seems the excitement of racing such a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean also means a trade off in the galley department and several cries of joy were heard from the few that had missed fresh fruit and vegetables for the last 11 days as the welcome fruit baskets were loaded aboard. Event website: http://arc.worldcruising.com Curmudgeon's Comment: Am I the only one who thinks that a new elapsed time record for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers sounds like an Oxymoron? RULE 69 … AGAIN Olympic and Team NZ America's Cup sailor Dan Slater faces suspension or a complete ban from the sport after being found guilty of unsportsmanlike behaviour. It is understood Slater emailed sailors competing at the yachting world championships in Cadiz in Spain to gang up on another New Zealand sailor, believed to be fellow Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch, to reduce his Olympic qualifying prospects. Murdoch finished seventh and qualified New Zealand a spot in Athens. Slater will find out his fate just before Christmas but the penalty could be anything from permanent suspension from the sport to a warning. - NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/y6fc DON'T MISS THE BOAT There is still time to order the 2004 Ultimate Sailing calendar and caps, t-shirts, books, note cards, screensavers, and posters for all the active or arm-chair sailors on your list. Check out the details at http://www.ultimatesailing.com MORE FROM LUIGGI (The following excerpt is from Part Two of The Daily Sail's interview with Mr. Race Officer, Peter Reggio.) Reggio is clearly excited about the prospects for having the America's Cup in Europe. "I think having it in Europe is going to be monstrous, I really do. The Europeans really care about sailing. From that standpoint it's going to be spectacular for the event itself. It's going to be much more spectator friendly. Number one, the breeze is going to be there, and number two the Alinghi people and the ACM people are committed to making it a visible and accessible event." Reggio is also hugely enthusiastic about the 'pre-regattas', not just because that's more race management up for grabs. Of the San Francisco Moet Cup he says "one of the umpires told me that he went to a media event that happened to be a sail boat race." - The Daily Sail, full story: http://www.thedailysail.com/ COMMODORES CUP Coral Reef YC - Normally there would be 18-20 Star-boats on Biscayne Bay for the annual Commodore Cup regatta, but because US Star teams are gearing up for the Olympic Trials in March and it is too cold in Europe to sail right now, there were 46 boats on the starting line this for this event. A cold front went through Miami Friday night and not only was it cold for the initial races - 65 degrees, which is cold for Miami - but it was also fairly windy with 18-25 knots from the Northwest. This caused a few breakdowns and carnage in the fleet, with a scattering of broken masts, sail problems and other sorts of casualties. The final day delivered a milder 10 knots of breeze for the last race of the three race series. After two general recalls, race three got underway but eight boats picked up Black Flags, including Mark Reynolds and the regatta leader, Paul Cayard. Final standings: 1. John MacCausland/ Brad Nichol USA; 2. Hans Spitzauer/ Adreass Hanakamp, Austria; 3. Peter Bromby/ Rick Peters BER; 4. George Szabo/ Mark Strube, USA; 5. Ross MacDonald/ Kai Bjrorn,CAN. Sorry - but there were no results posted on the event website at our distribution time: http://www.coralreefyachtclub.org/ WEATHER ADVISORY! Weather you're headed south or braving the winter in the north, improve your inshore and offshore sailing skills in the off-season with the help of www.WxAdvantage.com - a comprehensive weather information resource. Bill Biewenga, a veteran ocean racer and weather router is available to coach you, your crew, or club; provide custom weather routing for offshore passages or to personally oversee the professional delivery of your yacht. Seminars available. Bill brings 320,000 ocean miles and 17 years of weather routing experience to every project. For more information, email billbiewenga@compuserve.com today or visit http://www.wxadvantage.com NEWS BRIEFS * Howard Hamlin, two-time world champion in the Aussie 18's and former 1999 505 world champ, prides himself on being prepared and having his boat ready to race, and has a special tool box that he take with him when he flies to regattas. Racing skippers will be interested a story on the West Marine website that itemizes the tools Hamlin considers essential to keep in his special traveling tool box. http://tinyurl.com/xxvv * The Dragon Class will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2004. Dragons are the largest international class of three-man keelboat in the world, with more active competitive boats than any other. It is particularly strong in Europe, including the UK and Ireland. The Dragon was originally designed as a cheap alternative to the larger yachts of its day and went on to be selected as the keelboat class for no less than seven Olympic Games. Today, more than two thirds of the boats at a typical international regatta are less than 10 years old. - www.britishdragons.org * Russell Coutts could win New Zealand's premier sports award. New rules to clarify who is eligible for the prestigious Halberg Awards have opened the door for Coutts and other New Zealanders competing for other nations. The Halberg Trust has decided sportspeople must hold a New Zealand passport, be a New Zealand citizen or have New Zealand residency to be eligible for the individual awards of sportsman, sportswoman and coach. Coutts was a finalist for the sportsman of the year in 1995 and 2000 for his role as skipper of Team New Zealand. - Sunday Star Times, http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2750756a1823,00.html * The West Marine Pacific Cup - the Fun Race to Hawaii - has over 59 boats signed up so far. The two maxi's are Pegasus 77 and Magnitude 80, three Transpac 52's and three 1D35's so far. On June 28 the smaller boats will start their 2070 mile trip to Hawaii. - http://www.pacificcup.org/ DEFI ATLANTIQUE The single-handed trans-Atlantic fleet of IMOCA Open 60s is separated into two by hundreds of miles, but the front-runners are separated by just a matter of miles and places are changing almost hourly. Watching the developing weather ahead, we will probably see the divided fleet staying divided and the next 24 hours will be crucial to the outcome of the race, as the boats position themselves for tackling the depression north of the Cape Verdes. "Yesterday morning we finally cleared the Doldrums and moved into a steady but gentle beat to windward in flat seas, the vicious squalls have gone and are replaced with relative stability," reported Mike Golding on Ecover. "This has allowed me the luxury of three consecutive 40 minute sleeps which felt like a full night and certainly recharged the batteries. This together with a brunch comprising of cereal, fresh fruit, bacon and eggs all washed down with a Vitamin drink (slightly pointless) and a glass of wine (not at all pointless) and I was feeling like a million dollars. "The stability of the current weather does not mean that we are not all constantly making sail changes, even a change as small as one knot of breeze can warrant a sail change. When this happens on an hourly basis the workload can remain very intense. Missing a change will certainly lose miles against the opposition. Getting the change timing perfect will at best hold your position. One thing is now very clear to me, the best of the well developed last generation boats in the IMOCA fleet are still very, very fast and for those of us blessed with new boats for the Vendee, we cannot expect to get it easy against the best of the current generation of 60's," Golding concluded. Standings at 1700 GMT on December 7: 1. Mike Golding, 2524 miles from finish; 2. Vincent Riou, 16.6 miles from leader; 3. Jean Pierre Dick 25.7 mfl; 3. Alex Thompson 34.4 mfl; 5. Sébastien Josse, 42.6 mfl. http://www.defi-atlantique.org/fr/ THE CLOCK IS TICKING! The first entry deadline for Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004, presented by Nautica, is Wednesday, Dec. 10. Avoid the late fee and submit your entry today. America's premiere regatta starts Jan. 19 in sunny, warm Key West, Florida. Information, forms, and past results: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com 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 Maggie McCormick: The Book List is Awesome! Three cheers to John Drayton for starting the thread and three more to you for making it a sailingscuttlebutt.com feature. * From Enrico Ferrari (edited to our 250-word limit): Mari Cha IV may be sponsored by someone who has more money than most but it is evident that there is a driving force behind the program that is insistent on pushing the envelope. This type of behavior is just good R and D for all of us and the owner should be given kudos for his contribution to the science of sailing. All the hardware, navigation aids, sails, lines, are all state of the art and will assist making the production boats of the future better... If they work out well on this large innovative design. There is always a risk in new ventures but after seeing the ambitious schedule publish in 'Butt 1472 I am sure this owner is organized with a serious agenda and a dedicated crew. A race program of this size and scope is a huge undertaking both financially and organizationally. It will be fun to see this monster hull against the speedsters like Alpha Romeo and other maxis. I hope Mari Cha can salvage line honors due to the huge investment, but it will be fun to see them compete boat for boat. The rating negotiations will make or break the trophy collection process but this is a line honor effort and an honest effort to be the best at mono-hull racing ever. Maybe the 135'(?) former America's Cup contender from NZ will come out to play too? * From Mark Steinbeck: How about that rule 36! It looks like Boat A gets a "gift" second chance because of the general recall, since an incident that results in "serious damage" can't be cleared with penalty turns. (Rule 44.1) I wonder if a sea lawyer could protest Boat A for a breach of Rule 3 (Acceptance of the Rules) since by taking penalty turns in a case where the rules call for retirement Boat A was not "accepting the penalties imposed ... under the rules". (Rule 3(b)) Seems kind of weak to me, but it wouldn't surprise me to see it happen. * From Tom Donlan: Re the rules quiz in Scuttlebutt 1472, in which a boat that violated a Part 2 rule before a start and caused serious damage had its sin washed away by a general recall, and even went on to win the restarted race. This authoritative interpretation by the ISAF apparently has been around since 2001, which only means it should be removed all the more quickly. How about rule 44.2, which says that if a boat "caused serious damage or gained a significant advantage in the race or series by her breach, she shall retire." That means sail home, don't wait around except to help the boat you hit. And how about rule 69, prohibiting a "gross breach of a rule or of good manners or sportsmanship?" It's certainly the latter two. * From Franck Pellerin: With all due respect, I would like to submit that the Rules Question put in Scuttlebutt 1472 leads me to a different conclusion. The fact has been found that boat A was in the process of completing a 720° Turns Penalty when the RC signalled a general recall. Therefore, boat A was in the process of breaking Fundamental Rule 3 - Acceptance of the Rules for not retiring as required by the last sentence of rule 44.1. Furthermore, I submit that breaking Fundamental Rule 3 calls for the consideration of rule 69 and, if so indeed, rule 36 directs that boat A be penalized for her breach of rule 44.1 in the original race. I agree with the balance of the decision which calls on RC to make sure that redress proceedings are exercised under rule 60. Curmudgeon's Comment: Lest there be any mistake, the ruling in "Butt 1472 came from the ISAF website: http://www.sailing.org/page.asp?PageID=jevFhy?B&MenuID=ju2`GXks5BsOe9?7vTvOOQY12`?cxgiicj/DJfoBSia * From Mac Kilpatrick: I, like Chip, am interested in more details regarding the Rule 69 infringements, for the same reasons. It also helps all of us monitor the direction the sport is taking (via these precedents). If not publicly published, would you mind at least letting Chip and I know what really happened? Curmudgeon's Comment: Sorry, but the only information we have about the four Argentinean sailors who had their eligibility suspended for Gross Misconduct was published in Scuttlebutt 1469. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Misers are difficult to live with but they make wonderful ancestors. |
