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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 536 - March 28, 2000COMMENTARY -- Dobbs DavisThe nascent National Sailing League (NSL) has just announced that they have chosen to cancel its inaugural circuit in the 1D48 Class. The news comes just 5 weeks prior to the League's first scheduled event at the Baltimore Waterfront Festival, where the four committed teams fell short of the minimum of six required for the event to go forward. Some impressive world-class talent was planning to attend this event, including Russell Coutts and the members of Team New Zealand, John Kostecki, Ken Read, John Bertrand, Terry Hutchinson, and numerous others. The League's chosen sailing platforms, the Reichel/Pugh-designed 1D48's, had proven over their five years of competitive life to be both exciting and challenging for Grand Prix-level teams training for the America's Cup, Whitbread, and Volvo Ocean Race competitions. So, with great boats, sailors, event venues, and a newly-created brand, what happened? What was the missing element to the league's success? There are no clear answers, but it's useful to examine the NSL model to decide if the US is ready to support such an ambitious scheme. The stated goal of the League was to "create sustainable business structures for livelihoods in the sport and to deliver long term sponsorship equities." Without an advanced degree in marketing, this could be translated to mean that pro sailors could have a stable source of income and opportunity in a similar manner to professional athletes in other sports. While this sounds like a good idea, according to NSL CEO Linda Lindquist the failure was due, ironically, to the lack of support from the sailors themselves. "During our initial presentations to corporations for sponsorship, dealings with the sports business industry and mainstream media we found support for the concept, economic structure, and promotion deliverables of the League. Yet in order to achieve this there was a need for the sailors themselves to embrace an opportunity to create their futures." Certainly pro sailors are, like all other career professionals, interested in having sustainability to their livelihoods. And while in the official release, sailors like Chris Larson and Gunnar Krantz were hailed for their pursuit of this vision, with both having gotten close to securing enough sponsored support to meet the League's minimum commitments, its also interesting to note that two prominent alumnists of both the 1D48 Class and the America's Cup did not share this vision, and have opted for other marketing and promotion strategies. Dawn Riley of America True fame and Paul Cayard of AmericaOne are both clearly interested in carrying forward with their own brands, are certainly interested in creating opportunities to support their own livelihoods, and so the NSL would have seemed like a perfect match for their programs. Yet neither felt there was value in what would easily cost them a half million dollars per year to have their teams play in the League. And this is what is revealing, since even the prominent pro sailors who were committed to sail in the NSL - Coutts, Read, Kostecki, and the like - were actually not travelling around the corporate boardrooms of America, hat in hand, looking for sponsored support. These and most other pro sailors are actually supported in the old-fashioned way: namely, through the generous support of loyal individual patrons. Coutts, for example, was to sail in the NSL not with the support of the sponsors of Team New Zealand, but due to the generosity and enthusiasm of "Numbers'" John Risley. Read was to sail with help from "Starlight's" Jay Ecklund, Hutchinson for "Abracadabra's" Dr. Jim Andrews, and Bertrand for "Windquest's" Dick and Doug DeVos. And while these patrons are to be lauded for their support, there is still a sizeable leap to be made from this to the corporate-sponsored sports marketing legitimacy that the NSL model suggests. Certainly pro sailors shouldn't be faulted for not sharing the vision of the NSL, because they will simply go where the money is to maintain their livelihood. Here in the US that's usually coaching owner-drivers in their Farr 40's, 1D35's, and the occasional Maxi. There's probably not a one who wouldn't prefer going head-to-head against their peers in open and unrestricted competition. Besides the America's Cup and Volvo Race, it seems the only other venue left for them to do this is in the Swedish Match Grand Prix tour of match race sailing. But our hats off to Dick and Doug DeVos, whose tremendous devotion to the sport has helped push forward the vision of pro-level sailing here in the US. Without their contribution of enthusiasm and resources we would not know what might be possible in this arena, and even Doug admitted "we found that we may be way ahead of our time with regards to evolution of the sport." Brother Dick also points out that "It has worked in other countries and we feel it will one day be feasible here." -- Dobbs Davis, Sailing Source website Read additional commentary by Dobbs Davis: http://www.sailingsource.com/davis/default.html ISAF EVALUATION TRIALS QUIBERON, France-The last day featured more less-than-desirable weather, There was a cold drizzle all day and the wind stayed under 10 knots-except for a couple puffs around noon-and then faded away into the afternoon. The goal was three races, plus a tacking session-10 tacks upwind. Interspersed throughout the day was continued testing and evaluation sailing. The end result was a 'practice' race with evaluators sailing the boats, a ten-tack upwind session, and one final race in fading breeze. The Marstrom 20 finally got out on the water. It had hit an underwater steel cable early in the week and was out of action pending repairs. In the only race it sailed, it walked away from the fleet. At 20 feet by 10 feet, its numbers are similar to Tornado, but it's a uni-rig-like an A cat on steroids-and carries a spinnaker. It is a double-handed, double trapeze boat. The most significant number; it is 240-pound all-up sailing weight. The testers who sailed it came in awed by the speed. In the one race with more wind, except for the awesome performance of the M-20, the Tornado was, again, unbeatable. It gained such huge margins upwind that it was able to easily overcome the spinnaker boats' downwind advantages (after being first among the sloops at the windward mark, it was sixth at the bottom, and back in first to stay at the second top mark). As the wind faded later in the afternoon the Tornado's advantage went with it. Based on observations, as ISAF President Paul Henderson himself noted, the "Tornado is still competitive." In fact, nobody has come close in a sloop rig to the Tornado's upwind ability, and the only way anyone has been able to go faster is to pile on the sail area and pray for light wind and downwind finishes. All the uni-rig cats showed really well. The custom-built, carbon M-20, M-18, and A cat were all spectacular, and the production Inter 17 is faster than anything on one hull. And even more importantly, the testers all had genuine fun sailing these boats. Speed is thrilling, but the fun can sometimes get lost in the quest for extra velocity. Bottom line: this was a great week, a great gathering, and a great show of the strengths of modern small catamaran sailing. If the goal was to beat the Tornado on the water, then this event was definitely a disappointment. If the goal was to replace the Tornado, then we'll have to wait until November for a decision. If the goal was to show how good multihull sailing is now, the event was a rousing success. -- Jim Young, Sailing World website. There is much more to Young's report: http://www.sailingworld.com/2000/03/isaf5.html MELGES 24 NATIONALS Charleston, SC - After a frontal system moved through the peninsular city, Day 1 of the regatta featured a regional anomaly of rock-steady, 14-knot breezes out of 090 on the compass. The following day dawned nearly breezeless, and a long, shoreside postponement provided a welcome break for those crew who had overindulged in the previous evening's "knots and shots"-a quasi-competitive blend of drinking and knot tying. The race committee managed to get in three windward-leeward contests that day, which took the fleet directly across a building ebb tide toward the shores of James Island where an 8 to 10-knot breeze came off the land in fits and starts. By the time the racers got out on the course for the final day's activity, the wind had switched once again and the fleet now faced a shifty, six-knot northwesterly. Charleston's showing of 45 boats for the Melges 24 National Championship represents an increase of 13 boats from the previous national regatta in Traverse City, MI. -- Dan Dickion, SailNet website FINAL RESULTS: 1. Morgan Reeser, M-Phatic 9-1-3-1-6-2-6-2 (30) 2. Scott Elliott, White Loaf 7-5-2-2-4-17-2-3 (42) 3. Harry Melges, Full Throttle 1-3-9-4-3-13-14-4 (51) 4. Argyle Campbell, Rock 'N' Roll 2-7-1-8-14-3-16-1 (52) 5. Colin Smith, Loaded 3-18-6-6-510-1-6 (55) 6. Mike Toppa, Buzzard 4-9-5-91-9-21-10 (68) 7. Dave West, Chippewa 6-10-14-3-13-20-22-13 (101) 8. Tony Wetherell, Snicker's 5-6-10-10-15-19-18-18 (101) 9. Brian Harrison, No Name 17-2-7-20-21-18-11-8 (104) 10. Routt Reigart, Suzanne 17-2-7-20-21-18-11-8 (104) * Argyle Campbell won top honors as the best amateur owner-driver in the fleet. Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=ddcksn086 WOMEN'S MATCH RACING There seems little question that the US women's match racing circuit is a lot more active than comparable opportunities for men. This week's Sundance Cup at the Fort Worth Boat Club sailed in J/22s has attracted a talented field for around the country: Charlie Arms, Vallejo, California; Elizabeth Baylis, San Rafael, California USA; Lynette Edenfield, Fort Worth, Texas; Arabella Denvir, Irvington,Virginia; Nancy Haberland, Newport, Rhode Island; Sandy Hayes, Scituate, Massachusetts; Kathy Irwin, Heath, Texas; Robin Johnston, Heath, Texas; Karen Lynch, Scituate, Massachusetts. Event website: http://www.fwbc.com/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Chuck Riley America True -- There's no question that the America's Cup Defense needs a Commissioner or other type of professional management. Problem is, that decision lies with the defending Club. Other than drafting recommendations, little can be done until we win it back. -- From Bill Cook -- Unfortunately, Drew Fernandez's proposal for sharing technology among America's Cup syndicates is completely illegal under the protocol authored and signed by two syndicates from countries which are likely to field only one team. The new protocol, which has widely been described as "clearing things up", in fact obfuscates quite a few important issues. For example, suppose you are hired as a designer and then the syndicate defaults on the contract. As I read it, you are out of a job - unable to seek employment "in any other capacity" with an AC syndicate for the duration of the event. Sounds like a good way to make some talent unavailable to other teams. Drew is entirely correct that the America's Cup needs a "commissioner" or some other independent third party to run it. That is the real advantage that the Volvo RTWR has over the AC. The organizing authority doesn't care who wins, as long as it's exciting. It is unfortunate that the idea of an American "superteam" is so impractical, but as I see it there is more chance of it producing another Young America than a winner. A lot of American designers and sailors would simply be forced to work for foreign teams, like Italy and New Zealand. The new protocol can be temporarily downloaded from: http://www.viperowners.com/protocol/protocol.zip It is, unfortunately, a zipped Word file containing scanned images of the original document. -- From Chick Pyle (Re: Charlie Shumway's point about fleet racing vs. AC racing) -- In 1994 in San Diego some of the IACC World Championship fleet races were held IN THE BAY. Spectators lined the waterfront and the broad spectrum of the non sailing public were exposed to a magnificent display of what is admittedly a relatively obscure sport by comparison to pro sports in the U.S. I hadn't seen such interest from the non sailing public until I went to NZ in January. By comparison the average San Diegan didn't know that the 1995 AC races were being held. The difference: bay race venue vs. ocean; and fleet racing action vs. match racing boredom. For the sake of our sport let's hope that the NSL succeeds. -- From Adrian Morgan -- Talk about whingeing poms; make that whingeing yanks. Cayard et al put together a formidable, well-funded challenge to TNZ and were eliminated fair and square. It' seems to onlookers that it's only boring to Americans is they're on the losing side, it appears. As for dirty tricks, you lot invented the game. Get behind an American challenge and go win it back. Curmudgeon's comment: As I learned a last year, whingeing is a down-under term for whining. -- From Mike Posey -- As someone on Team NZ mentioned, the total cup effort includes management, talent on the water, boat and sail design and raising money. If the effort fails, the reason will be a weakness in one of the above areas. If one complains about lack of funds, there is no essential difference between that and say lack of talent on the water. All the parts go together. Second, as we denigrate the AC concept and call it boring, lets also remember that the LV regatta was exciting and that many of our design and build innovations have come from AC efforts and money. If one looks at it as sort of a moon shot that has great fallout for the average sailors, such as winged keels and 3DL sails, we have benefited enormously at no expense to ourselves. -- From Katie Pettibone (Re: Ted Ferrarone's comments on the Cup being boring and non reflective of the sport) -- Perhaps the Cup itself was one sided, but you obviously did not keep up with any of the Round Robins, Semi Finals or Louis Vuitton Finals. Never has been racing at this level been so close or exciting! I was in a hospital in NZ surrounded by patients of all walks of life and from different countries on crutches, wheel chairs, casts, ect who were glued everyday to the TV rooms or rented TVs for the Finals. My own catscan was postponed so that we all (myself and medical workers) could watch the Louis Vuitton Finals! Boring? I don't think so. -- From Tucker Strasser -- Now that the Butts, during the last few months have solved all of the problems with the Wild and Wooly Wire to Wire events of the America Cup It time to get back to the real problems with sail boat racing. During the last few months I have taken my boat to some large events and at the parties afterward they usually give out free beer. This is great, but I am the designated driver after these events and when I go up for a soda they send me over to the bar where I have to pay a 1.50 for a watered down soda.What's up with that? I am doing a community service and get charged for it. Lets all unite, protest, chant, or what ever it takes to solve this inequity. -- From Ron Baerwitz (Re Tim Prophit's comments about European' sponsorship their amateur racers) -- During my Olympic campaign with, Tom Pollack, we spent a lot of time racing the European Olympic Classes Circuit. The US Team was maybe the only country that did not offer significant sponsorship of its sailors. Many European racers had nationally sponsored boats and vehicles as well as year round living expenses. It was intimidating as well as depressing to think how much time we had to spend on fund raising instead of training as compared to our European competitors. The results of European national sponsorship are now showing up on the world racing circuit. Regattas previously dominated by USA Sailors, including and beyond the America's Cup, are now being won by countries that have strong National sponsorship programs for their amateur sailors. US Sailing feels that making our sailors work harder to fund raise builds better competitors and works as a filtering mechanism to keep those without resources from crowding the field. They feel that better competitors are made from spending time doing public speaking, writing letters and begging for YC members donations. Olympic athletes in any sport would not agree. What about corporate sponsorship at the amateur level? Individual sailing teams can't produce sufficient monetary return to justify such sponsorships. The USA has tremendous resources and tremendous yacht racers. Unfortunately, we lack any type of cohesiveness for the growth of our sport. It's all dollars and sense! If we use both we can bring the USA amateur and professional yacht racer back to the forefront of world competition! TORNADO OLYMPIC TRIALS (A report from Charlie Ogletree and John Lovell) SANTA CRUZ, CA - Today was day three of the US Olympic Trials. We finished with a 1, 1 today after a tough battle. The first race today was sailed in 18 to 20 knots and very steady wind. The right side was heavily favored and we got and excellent start to lead from the start to the finish. The second race started in the same conditions, but we had a bad start to round the first mark third. We sailed hard to close the gap and sailed the next two laps in second. On the final beat, the wind became very shifty and puffy. We sailed the shifts well to round the last mark first and held it to the finish. After three days and six races, we have a 2,1,1,2,1,1. We have a total of six points with a discard race now in effect. Lars Guck and PJ Schaeffer are in second with eight points. With five days to go and ten more races the battle has just begun. Complete results will ultimately be posted at: http://www.tornado.org/ SUBARU GORGE GAMES HOOD RIVER, Ore. - "Weekend warriors" and professional athletes alike will compete head-to-head for $100,000 July 8-15, 2000 as the Subaru Gorge Games returns with over 2,000 competitors attempting to tame the wild. A variety of Olympic and outdoor adventure competitions will take place in mountain biking, kayaking, 49er sailing, windsurfing, outrigger canoeing, climbing, kiteboarding, as well as an off-road triathlon during the week-long sport and lifestyle festival. Above the crisp waters in Port of Cascade Locks, the 49er sailboats and crews battle it out for $10,000 in prize money. Already committed to the Subaru Gorge Games are Seattle's McKee Brothers, who recently won the Olympic trials. National television coverage is provided by NBC Sports. Racing Components: Fleet division if more than 25 boats register, otherwise three-to-six fleet races. Race Director expects to race six for each fleet per day. Qualifying: July 8 & 9; Finals: July 10. Courses: Windward-Leeward course with a middle and leeward gate. Possible slalom racing (wind dependent). NBC plans to air its telecasts Sept. 3 & 10, 3-4 p.m., showing many of the Subaru Gorge Games' athletes honing their skills before heading Down Under in their search for gold. -- Audrey D'Onofrio Event website: http://www.gorgegames.com INDUSTRY NEWS SailFirst.com, Inc., the Internet retail and service company for the sailing and boating industries, announced that veteran America's Cup Skipper John Kolius, has joined them as the company's official spokesman. In this role, Kolius will endorse and promote SailFirst.com at various racing, teaching and coaching engagements as well as provide content on their website. -- Jennifer Jensen CALENDAR The International Disabled Midwinter's will be held in ST. Petersburg, April 7-10, and the Paralympic Trials will be held afterwards from April 12-16. VOLVO LEUKEMIA CUP SERIES Volvo Cars of North America announced the expansion of the Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta series from 32 to 40 events in 2000. Volvo is the first national title sponsor of the Leukemia Cup regatta series, which was first established in 1993 as a single, local fundraising event in Annapolis, Maryland. The event was strong success, prompting founding committee member Gary Jobson to establish a national series of events at yacht clubs throughout the country. More than 15,000 people participated in Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta events in 1999, raising more than $1 million for the fight against leukemia, lymphoma and other blood-related cancers. Former Americas Cup winner and National Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta Chairman Gary Jobson has announced he will again participate in at least 10 of the 40 scheduled 2000 Volvo Leukemia Regatta events taking place throughout the United States this summer. -- Lauri Berkenkamp Event website: http://www.volvoleukemiacup.com/ THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Since light travels faster than sound, is that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak? |
