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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 627 - August 17, 2000DANISH OPEN 2000- AMERICA'S CUP AND OLYMPIC SKIPPERS HEAD DANISH LINE UP(Skovshoved, Copenhagen, Denmark)- Bertrand Pace of France, New Zealand's Cameron Appleton, Englishman Andy Green, Peter Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Ed Baird, all know the thrill of America's Cup racing, and they are all at the Danish Open 2000. Australian Neville Wittey and local hero Jesper Bank both have Olympic gold medals on their mind, and they are at the Danish Open too. Add to these such veterans of the match racing scene as Sweden's Magnus Holmberg and Sten Mohr, another Danish sailing hero. Then for good measure throw in rising young talent like Denmark's Jes Gram Hansen and Jesper Radich Johansen, plus Swedish "wild card" entry Mikael Lindqvist, and you have a potent line up. Just like the six previous events on the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour, there will be no easy matches at the Danish Open, which starts off the Copenhagen suburb of Skovshoved on Thursday 17th August. For the two Olympians, this is the last international match racing event before they do battle on Sydney Harbour in the Olympic Games, which start in less than a month. For the America's Cup skippers it is either part of the on-going battle to prove their credentials as they position themselves for the Cup in 2003, or for those already signed with a team, a vital part of their training. For all the skippers it is about grabbing the maximum share of the prize money, the US$25,000 on offer here in Denmark, and the US$150,000 for the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. With only one more event to go in the first year of the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour, Bermuda's Colorcraft Gold Cup, the points situation is critical. Under most pressure are Bertrand Pace and Cameron Appleton, the Frenchman because he can grab the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour first prize, and the Kiwi, because he has to stop him, and keep the door open for a Team New Zealand win. A good, or bad, result for Neville Wittey and Jesper Bank could have a big effect on their mental attitude, when they launch their boats for the first race of the Olympic regatta in Sydney. To pick a favourite for this event is difficult, on current form Bertrand Pace, Sten Mohr, Magnus Holmberg and Peter Holmberg are all strong. Jesper Bank won this event last year, and always gets a boost from the home crowd, as will the other two young Danes, Jes Gram Hansen and Jesper Radich Johansen. More on this over the next few days. MILLENIUM SHORTS !! Imagine a pair of shorts that keeps you organized with giant cargo pockets to store everything, parachute chords just in case, flashlight holders, and plenty of places to keep those whatzamacallits that can open, chop, slice, dice everything. While Camet hasn't created the Swiss Army Knife of shorts, they have bomb-proofed and engineered their highly popular quick drying Camet sailing shorts for their crews to feel cool and comfortable on the weather rail. For the Etchell World's, Key West, Hawaii, BVI, Antigua, these are a must have... Check them out : http://www.camet.com ROLEX COMMODORE'S CUP- CHANNEL ISLANDS AND ENGLAND BLUE TEAMS IN LEAD (Cowes, Isle of Wight)- The Offshore Race of the Rolex Commodores' Cup 2000 ended almost as dramatically as it had begun 20 hours earlier, when the fleet beat out of the Western Solent. With the small boats on a shorter course than the rest of the fleet, it was the 1D35 4Walls4Sale.com who took line honours at 06.32 hours this morning near Hurst Point. In fact, the finish line was not so very far from the place where the 1D35's big rival Roaring Meg lost her rig the day before, just when the brand new Ker 10.7 Metre was beginning to overhaul the bigger Farr 40s boat for boat. But while Mark Campbell-James steered 4Walls4Sale.com home nearly an hour before the next boat, Mumm 30 Easy Oars, it was the Ker 9Metre Quokka V which sneaked home four and a half minutes ahead of the 1D35 on corrected time. The last 300 yards to the finish line were perhaps the most crucial of the whole 139-mile race, with Easy Oars becalmed while she could only watch her rivals sail up behind her in 15 knots of breeze. But even Quokka had it tough, according to an elated owner Peter Rutter: "We had to put in 17 tacks in the last 500 yards." His victory for England Blue and Easy Oars' last minute demise to fourth place for the Channel Islands has helped set up a fascinating two-horse race for the Cup at the halfway stage in this regatta. England Blue had agreed before the start of this high-scoring race that the key strategy at the start would be to break away from the Isle of Wight shore over to the mainland side of the Solent to escape the worst of the tide and make the most of the Force 4 breeze. "We had discussed this in the England Blue Team," said Rutter. "We actually made a rubbish start, but we followed through with the plan and we took 400 yards out of the similar-sized boats who went up the Isle of Wight side." England Blue's big boat, Tony de Mulder's Farr 40 Victric 5, followed the same tactic and was rewarded by leading the fleet out of the Solent yesterday, ahead even of the big Farr 50 Chernikeeff. But some navigational errors later in the race saw her relinquish the lead and allow the other Farr 40s to make up the ground they had given away in the Solent. But one Farr 40 that could never get back into the race was the Commonwealth Team's Warlord, which got stuck on the rocks as she short-tacked up the Isle of Wight shore yesterday, less than an hour after starting. Whilst a hoisted spinnaker eventually provided the power to pull her clear, helmsman Ian Williams was unable to climb higher than fourth on corrected time. This, along with a disastrous last place by the Commonwealth big boat, Peter Harrison's Chernikeeff, has seen the early series leader's challenge hit the rocks. The best the Commonwealth Team can hope for now is to overhaul England Red in the fight for third place overall. As predicted, the navigational talent in the Channel Islands Team was a telling factor in their success. At the start off the Royal Yacht Squadron yesterday morning, all but one boat fought it out to get the best of the famous back eddy on the Cowes shore, whilst the Farr 40 Dignity made a beeline for the far shore by Beaulieu. For the first 20 minutes, Steve Hayles' decision appeared suicidal, but it had paid off handsomely by Hurst Point when the fleet reconverged. The veteran of two Whitbread Races who navigated for Lawrie Smith aboard Silk Cut commented: "We always wanted to go for that shore, we were sure it was going to work." However, Dignity had to work hard to overhaul Victric. "It was a very tricky race," said Hayles. "We made a mistake in our rig set-up which would have been right for about 14-15 knots." As it was, the windspeed peaked at 28 knots and gave the big boats some rough sailing, especially near Weymouth. Dignity's team mate, Tony Buckingham's Farr 40 A Bit of a Coup, had more work to do after opting for the Isle of Wight side of the Solent and finding herself some minutes adrift of the leaders as they passed The Needles. But navigator Ian Moore, who has won the Fastnet and came third with Tony Buckingham's Easy Oars team in the recent Tour de Voile around France, made some key calls at two of the windward marks. Tactician Mike Lennon admitted: "We had it all to do after our start. The big gain came for us at East Shambles where we did a straight hoist and found ourselves pointing straight at the next mark with good VMG. Victric made two big overstands on the windward legs which lost her ground. And then at East Shambles she gybed off towards Weymouth Bay, I suppose to get out of the tide. But it didn't work for them and we caught them up at that point." By the finish, A Bit of a Coup had passed her team mate Dignity, who finished three boatlengths behind after 155 miles of racing. More importantly for Buckingham, England Blue's big boat Yeoman of Hamble could only manage fourth place. France began to show their first form of the series when the J125 Magic Wind Yota found herself up near the front of the fleet in the Offshore Race of the Rolex Commodores' Cup 2000. She chose the right side of the Solent at start and capitalised on this with some good upwind sailing. But then they hit trouble, according to mainsail trimmer Frederic Dignef. "We got a fishing buoy caught up in our rudder when we were under spinnaker. We lost 15 minutes while we tried to get clear." In the end all the French boats finished fifth in their respective classes, which has lifted them off the bottom of the overall rankings for the first time this week. With the European Team's one star performer, Roaring Meg, dismasted they appear rooted to the bottom of the table. But there is a glimmer of hope. Undaunted by having seen two carbon rigs destroyed in less than two weeks of sailing, Roaring Meg's joint owner John Manley was determined to get the rig repaired and ready for the two inshore races scheduled for tomorrow. "We have got this boat going so fast - we were reeling in the Farr 40s before the mast broke yesterday. We've got to go for it. If we can get this mast fixed and back in the boat for tomorrow, we'll be there." MAKING MONEY There is never a reason for a race organizer to lose money on regatta apparel. Period! In fact, Pacific Yacht Embroidery has a program to supply race organizers with quality regatta apparel at a guaranteed profit. Call Frank Whitton (619-226-8033) for details on how to offset regatta costs while supplying high quality, affordable apparel to the racers. No event is too small to quality for this program. mailto:pacyacht@aol.com ROLEX THOMPSON CUP LIVING UP TO HIGH EXPECTATIONS (OYSTER BAY, N.Y.)- The Rolex Thompson Cup, presented by Conde Nast Publications and Self magazine, is making good on its promise to attract a dozen of the world's best female match racers for an August 24-27 competition on Long Island Sound. Skippers received invitations based primarily on their placing on the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world match race ranking list. As a grade one event, the Rolex Thompson Cup will count significantly toward world match race rankings, making an invitation to this event extremely attractive. Profiling a rapidly growing segment of women's competitive sailing, especially with the inclusion of a women's match racing event for the 2004 Olympic Games, the Rolex Thompson Cup will pit the 12 teams of four women in one-on-one competition. Racing will be held in 23-foot Sonars supplied by host Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (Oyster Bay, N.Y.). Five Americans will skipper in the event, with Dru Slattery (Marblehead, Mass.) being the top-ranked U.S. woman. Currently ninth on the 131-strong ranking list (all rankings as of July 18), Slattery finished sixth at the 1999 Women's Match Race World Championships. Working to outperform Slattery will be 1995 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.), who is ranked 13th. Sertl, two-time winner of US SAILING's revered U.S. Women's Sailing Championship for the Adams Cup, hopes to gain a rung or more on the ranking ladder. On these skippers' radar will be three rising stars on the match racing scene: Hannah Swett (Jamestown, R.I.), ranked 25th, who qualified for this event with her win at the grade four Rolex Alpena Invitational in June; Sandy Grosvenor (Annapolis, Md.), ranked 27th ; and Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif.), ranked 30th. Baylis, who finished third to Swett at the Alpena event, was extended an invitation when 1999 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Dawn Riley (San Francisco, Calif.), ranked 23rd, withdrew to crew for Swett. Great Britain's Cordelia Eglin (ranked fourth) leads the list of international entrants. She will take on the U.S. stars as well as Bermuda's Paula Lewin (sixth), France's Christine Briand (eighth), Germany's Nadine Stegenwalner (14th), New Zealand's Sharon Ferris (17th), Denmark's Lotte Melgaard Pedersen (21st) and Italy's Sabrina Gurioli (22nd). "All the skippers entered are ranked among the top 30 in the world," said Event Chair Bruce Cook (Seawanhaka). "That is a good indicator of the caliber of competition we will see. In addition, we're pleased to have as sponsors Rolex, Conde Nast Publications and Self magazine, insuring that this regatta a high-profile success. It's exactly the kind of support and exposure women athletes need to become household names." Cook explained that within the race committee's intricate game plan is conducting a double round-robin, wherein each team sails against each other team twice. "Within a round-robin, it will be necessary to run 11 flights of six matches each. That's a total of 132 races for the two full round-robins." The round robins will be followed by a best of three semi-finals and finals (first to score two points in each). The planned tight windward/leeward courses will place a premium on tactical skills. Full crew lists, as well as race results, will be posted by the Seawanhaka Yacht Club at www.thompsoncup.org. U.S. JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS FIRST DAY RESULTS (Newport, RI)- New York Yacht Club is hosting this national event for youth sailors. Three races have been completed in each division. More news later. -Smythe Results 1.Andrew Campbell, San Diego YC 2.Clay Johnson, Toms River YC 3.Brian Lake, San Diego YC -Bemis Results 1.Joey Pasquali, Rory Giffin, St. Francis YC 2.Michael Anderson-Mitterling, Tyler McKay, San Diego YC 3.Reed Johnson, Andrew Perry, Toms River YC -Sears protests pending |
