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SCUTTLEBUTT 1237 - January 10, 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 emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. SAILING'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Rich Roberts Sailing does not have a world championship. The America's Cup? It's come down to Alinghi against Oracle for the right to meet what's left of Team New Zealand---strictly match racing between corporate giants. The Volvo Ocean Race? Long-distance racing among the same. The Admiral's Cup? Close, but blurred vision reduced what once was the unofficial "world championship of fleet racing" to ordinary rank. Dozens of classes of boats have their own world championships, but none encompasses the world's best talent and technology. Of all the above, the America's Cup is the best hope to achieve ultimate status. It has the tradition, the talent and the technology. All it needs is noble, unselfish leadership and a major overhaul to rid the game of self-destructive ingredients. First, deep-six the Deed of Gift. It's the Dead Sea Scroll of sport. It was written in a far different era that had no application to the global dynamics of the 21st century. Let this abused relic of tradition die a gentle and quiet death so the event can move on. A "box" rule for boats is better than going one-design. It leaves room for technology to come into play. But let's quit splitting hairs and put some teeth in the all-powerful Protocol by saying, "Any attempt to circumvent the spirit of the rules shall merit disqualification." Then let the designers go for their clip-on false hull skins and take their chances. Of course, that means having . . . Rules overseers with the authority and guts to properly punish those who push the box too hard---and I don't mean the absurdity of obsolete computers with design information left forgotten in a garage. The nationality rules, as described by veteran John Cutler, a New Zealander sailing for the last Americans standing, are, in his word, "bogus." Yet, nationalistic rivalry is critical. It takes rooting interest to build a following, but who can root for software and pharmaceutical companies? Sailors should be allowed free agency, but with a stronger measure of commitment. Like the Olympics, if they want to switch countries, make them sit out one America's Cup. The foundation of an America's Cup is the venue, and for maximum impact it must be at or near a major media market. Of course, that means the reigning champion would not necessarily enjoy the home-waters advantage. And why should he? Auckland has been wonderful, but the event will not grow in New Zealand. Let the world's great cities bid for it, as they do for the Olympics and soccer's World Cup. Where better to do business than where the money and the people are? Furthermore, there should be no defender, only a defending champion competing with everyone else with no special privileges or advantages. Should the Los Angeles Angels be allowed to sit out next season with an automatic seed back into the World Series? There would be fleet racing and match racing, providing tests for both of sailing's disciplines. A series of 10 to 20 fleet races would determine eight quarterfinalists. Those eight would be seeded (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc.) in a best-of-seven match-racing elimination series. The decisive America's Cup Match would be best-of-nine between the final two survivors. And, please, no wimpy wind limits. Boats that can't handle whatever nature normally delivers don't belong at the pinnacle of the sport. How to achieve all of this? By mutual agreement among current principals, if that is possible, hire an independent authority to manage the event in perpetuity, without bias, like a benevolent dictator. Formula 1 or soccer's FIFA come to mind. The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) does not. The next winner would be required to selflessly sacrifice customary control of the event for the sake of its success. Does Larry Ellison have that level of vision and commitment to the sport? Ernesto Bertarelli? Team NZ? How many winners have made the America's Cup better than it was before they won it? One will soon have that opportunity. Or is it more important to their egos to embrace an ornate silver pot, their zealous and self-serving pursuit of which has made it the laughingstock of modern sport? - Excerpted from a story by Rich Roberts in The Log. Full story: http://www.thelog.com/ THE JULES VERNE SHOWDOWN (Tim Zimmermann, a correspondent for Outside magazine and author of 'The Race' has posted an interesting and comprehensive story on the Yacht Racing website about the Jules Verne Trophy Race and the two challengers who are now preparing assaults on that record. Here's a brief excerpt.) Ellen MacArthur and De Kersauson (whose wife is a descendant of Mon. Verne himself - are settling into stand-by mode in Channel ports, waiting for a favorable weather system to launch them on non-stop voyages that will take them south through the Atlantic, eastwards around Antarctica through the Southern Ocean, round Cape Horn and home again. Peyron reclaimed the Jules Verne Trophy last year in the 110-foot maxi-catamaran "Orange," which now sports MacArthur's "Kingfisher 2" colors, with a time of 64 days, 8 hours and 37 minutes. That dropped De Kersauson's 1997 record by more than a full week. De Kersauson and MacArthur aim to do even better. But first they have to survive some 26,000 miles of spectacular high-speed The Jules Verne is mostly a race against time and a battle to keep the boat together, but MacArthur versus De Kersauson is an intriguing match-up nevertheless. After a spectacular win in her beloved Kingfisher Open 60 last November in the Route De Rhum, MacArthur is moving full-time to multihulls and this Jules Verne attempt is part of a transition that will eventually see her racing her own 60-foot trimaran. This will be her first serious voyage in a maxi-multihull, and first experience running a large crew, which will number 14. De Kersauson, in contrast, has made more Jules Verne attempts than any sailor alive, and has built a 110-foot trimaran, named "Geronimo," to challenge the maxi-cats that came out of The Race. MacArthur is fresh-faced and De Kersauson is grizzled. MacArthur is English and De Kersauson is French. MacArthur loves to share her adventures with the world, while De Kersauson made his name by playing the Jules Verne game with a provocative flair that included a penchant for confounding the opposition with radio silence or position reports that seemed suspiciously advanced. Both are great sailors and great personalities, however. And with the massive media suites aboard both vessels it will be possible to follow the action closely. Just as intriguing will be the match-up between boats, potentially the first successful head-to-head contest between a maxi-cat and a maxi-tri (De Kersauson set off on a Jules Verne last year but had to retire due to rudder problems, leaving Bruno Peyron and "Orange" to make the running alone). When the two primary design teams working on The Race crunched through their VPPs early in the design process, they raced virtual catamaran and trimaran designs against one another on the Jules Verne course. Both concluded that trimarans would be faster in the upwind and light air segments of a round the world voyage, but that a catamaran would be better (and likely safer) in the massive seas and downwind running of the Southern Ocean. In the end, all the designers for The Race opted for cats, leaving the sailing world and the racing crews to speculate on how a giant trimaran would fare in the new era of high-performance offshore multihulls. - Tim Zimmermann, Yacht Racing website, full story: http://www.yachtracing.com/regattas03/julesverne/zimm-010803.htm WIRELESS, SOLAR POWERED SAILING INSTRUMENTS We've all been thinking, "Why hasn't someone designed wireless instruments?" "Why should I buy repackaged '80's technology?" Tacktick Instruments is delivering the dream with their new Micronet system. Big displays, easy interfacing, no wires, driven by lithium batteries charged by solar cells just like Tacktick has been doing for years! Layline is the exclusive US importer of Tacktick. Dealer inquires encouraged. Click on the Micronet logo at the Layline website or call for more information: 1-800-542-5463. See you in Key West ... Walt. http://www.layline.com LVC BRIEFS * Racing between Alinghi and Oracle BMW Racing begins today, the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final to determines who will Challenge for the America's Cup. Russell Coutts' Alinghi team has the better racing record at this event so far, sitting at 21-3 to Oracle BMW's 20-8. At the pre-race press conference Oracle skipper Chris Dickson said, "The sail number of the boat that we are using is same, but after that the similarities disappear quickly. The boat is significantly different. We've found boatspeed in a lot of different areas and I don't think we've compromised any other areas to get it." - http://www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/ * The two teams will be without the laser range finders, which have been used throughout the competition so far, in contravention of the event rules, to help work out how fast opposition boats are going. This round the teams have decided to abide by the rules, concerned after the issue came up towards the end of the semifinal repechage, primarily because of the mysterious goose-shaped object on the back of Oracle's boat. In answer to a series of questions at the time, the America's Cup jury said laser range finders and radar were capable of receiving or transmitting communications or signals, and such equipment was prohibited from being carried on board while racing. ". - NZ Herald, complete story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup/acstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3050746&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup&thesecondsubsection=challengers * The Louis Vuitton Cup final between Alinghi Oracle BMW Racing will see on-board umpires for the first time in America's Cup history. Chief Umpire Bryan Willis told the press conference on Friday morning the on-board observers will access when an overlap is established or broken, and immediately pass the information on to the skippers. They will also relay certain information such as when a tack is completed from the umpire boat to the afterguard. - Fiona McIlroy, Nzoom.com website, complete story: http://americascup.nzoom.com/americascup_detail/0,2523,160629-296-297,00.html * The International Jury has determined the procedures for any team wanting to protest Team New Zealand's controversial hula appendage and says clear and compelling evidence that it touched the hull outside of the permitted attachment zone during racing would be required. That begs the question whether it would be up to Team New Zealand to prove there had been no contact, or whether the Challenger would have to prove there was contact. The answer from the International Jury puts the onus of proof on the Challenger. - Ivor Wilkins, Louis Vuitton Cup website, complete story: http://www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story1622.html * For the last series, Oracle BMW Racing's Eric Doyle wore strange sunglasses with a tiny control pod on one side that produced information. "That's the heads-up display unit we developed with the help of our partner, BMW," Doyle said. Technically, it's a BMW Wireless Microdisplay System that can display wind readings and boat performance on Doyle's shades. It was originally developed for Ralf Schumacher's Formula 1 helmet so he wouldn't have to take his eyes off the road. - Rich Roberts, LA Times, complete story: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sail7jan07.story * The so-called Kiwi clip-on, the radical appendage that could seal another Cup win for Team New Zealand, came not from a Kiwi but from a stalwart ex-U.S. Navy officer, Clay Oliver of Annapolis. Oliver, a naval architect and 1973 graduate of the Naval Academy, has been working as a designer for Team New Zealand since 1996 and was a member of the design group that drew up NZL 60, the black boat that successfully defended the Cup three years ago. He had offers to move to other camps but chose to stay, and late in 2000 came up with the offbeat idea of attaching a horizontal appendage to the bottom of the next generation of race boats to increase waterline length, and thus speed. - Angus Phillips, Washington Post, complete story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30102-2003Jan8.html 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 or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Zachie J de Beer: So, TNZ and Clay Oliver have extended the legacy of rule bending that was started by the NYYC, built on my Michael Fay, Dennis Conner, possibly by Alan Bond and now Clay Oliver. I was pondering over all this last night and somehow it did not make sense for a New Zealander to have found the loophole, it needs a certain mindset. I was not surprised this morning when I read that Clay Oliver is from the USA. On the other hand, does the Cup not live from all the controversy? Would it be the same spectacle if it were sailed in One Designs? I think not. Maybe the journalists are funding the attorneys? * From Robert Middlemas: Moral and sportsmanship issues aside, the "hula" is a fascinating and inventive solution, no doubt about it. TNZ has done it again. From this amateur's point of view, anything that is allowed by the judges or umpires, is legal. Does that make it fair? What's this about intent? Don't make me laugh! The changing of tunes by the syndicates is comic. If it is allowed and it is faster, you do it. This is, after all, the America's Cup. Additionally, everyone knows how much the mental state of a competitor plays into winning and losing. Head games are as much a part of sport as ability. With this in mind, perhaps there is another side to all this that TNZ seems to fully understand. Even if their bustle is not faster, (and as long as it isn't slower) what they have effectively done is provided the challenger with a viable reason to lose. I love this sport. * From Roger Marshall: The America's Cup has always been about pushing the rule to the limit. Reliance was one of the first examples, the largest J class boat ever built. The Park Avenue boom, luff groove devices, the separate "rule cheating" keel and rudder on Intrepid, the radical stern on Mariner, Australia II's winged keel, the list goes on. It is innovation of this nature that helps develop boat designs so that every sailor benefits. Not every idea is successful and some are only there to fool the rule, for example, bumps on IOR boats and the hula, but because of designer's ingenuity these ideas get tested and lessons are learned. Lets not restrict the America's Cup rule to eliminate innovative ideas; somebody might come up with a concept that will make every sailing boat go faster. * From Roy P. Disney (Regarding the "hula"): I wonder if anyone has raised the question of whether the water flowing through the gap between the appendage and the hull will, in fact, be accelerated by unintended venturi effect. If so, this would be a violation of the propulsion rules. Also, how will it be possible for a competitor to "prove" contact between the appendage and the hull when the downhill or underwater side of the appendage will be the side subject to the pressures necessary to press it against the hull? * From Peter Huston: Given that the Kiwi's are 0-2 in matter which pertain to equipment tricks and the Cup (see '88 and '92 series), everyone shouldn't be so quick to just hand them a wrench to tighten the bolt that holds the Cup in place at the RNZYS. There have been plenty of other examples where a measurer has given a boat a certificate, only to have a Jury take it away because it was ill-gotten. The Hula isn't an appendage, it's more like a sacrificial mucous membrane. Too bad, because if they had stayed within the confines of the generally accepted meaning of the word "appendage", they probably would have come up with a boat that would have been very hard to beat. Now, they run the very real risk of losing the Cup forever in the room. * From Seymour A. Friedel: It seems that the current America's Cup rules make for legal work and rule interpretation. I do like the Kiwi approach of "lets draw a fast boat and then figure a way around the rules." At least they started with the premises of making a boat fast. That they had to do this is, of course, nuts. Sailing is just a small microcosm of life itself. Why can't the sailing community can't make the rules into a one-page affair that will clearly benefit the vast majority of sailors, designers and manufacturers? We can start the revolution! A one-page rule! Of course if we do that we won't be able to argue about the rules, just about boat and team performance. * From John Mandeno: Meantime, whilst the world has been focusing on the three sets of appendages, I see Prada out there every day suitable for sailing, two boat testing. Does this mean they are convinced that the Cup will stay in Auckland? LIGHTNING FAST STICKS Do you ever find yourself wishing your tiller extension were just a little longer? How about a little lighter, stiffer, and more responsive? So did the British 470 Olympic team. Their answer was to team up with Holt Allen and develop Lightning Sticks. Constructed using ¾" carbon fiber tubing with lightweight foam grips, they're stiffer, lighter, more responsive and now the only carbon extension available in a telescopic model. Team up with Holt Allen and Annapolis Performance Sailing to discover the difference you can feel. Check them out on APS' hot new items page. http://www.apsltd.com/scuttlebutt.asp AROUND ALONE When Class 1 leader Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group - Armor Lux, crossed the Around Alone finish line for Leg Three at 11:24:43 local time on Thursday Jan 9th (22:24:43 GMT Wed January 8th), he knocked nearly two days off the old record for this leg set four years ago by Giovanni Soldini on Fila. Stamm will now have a full month in New Zealand before the start of Leg four on February 9. STANDINGS 2200 UTC January 9 CLASS 1: 1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux, Bernard Stamm, Finished; 2. Solidaires, Thierry Dubois, 136 distance to finish; 3. Hexagon, Graham Dalton, 626 dtf, 4. Tiscali, Simone Bianchetti, 652 dtf; 5. Pindar, Emma Richards, 895 dtf; 6. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 978 dtf. CLASS 2: 1. Tommy Hilfiger, Brad Van Liew, 912 dtf; 2. Everest Horizontal, Tim Kent, 1694 dtf. 3. Spirit of Canada, Derek Hatfield, 1904 dtf; 4. Spirit of yukoh, Kojiro Shiraishi, 2092 dtf, BTC Velocity, Alan Paris, 2738 dtf. - www.aroundalone.com JJ GILTINAN 18 FOOT SKIFF TROPHY Showing form similar to the racing that gave him the JJ Giltinan title in 2002 Howie Hamlin and crew Mike Martin and Rod Howell on GE/US Challenge won their second race in heat 5 of the JJ Giltinan International Trophy on Computer Associates day. The finish line was extremely crowded with GE managing to finish one second in front of the next two skiffs that saw a dead heat for second place between Trevor Barnabas and crew Matt Felton and Trent Barnabas on Omega Smeg and Rob Greenhalgh, Peter Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson on RMW Marine. The fleet sailed in a southerly breeze of 15-20 knots that had a constant battle for first place between the top four finishers. It was exciting sailing for the spectators onboard the ferry that followed the racing. Standings after 5 heats, no discard: 1. RMW Marine, Rob Greenhalgh GBR, 22 points; 2. General Electric, Howard Hamlin USA, 34.7 points; 3. Omega Smeg, Trevor Barnabas AUS, 36.7 points; 4. Total Recall, Tony Hannan AUS, 39.4 points; 5. Express Post, Hugh Stodart AUS, 50 points. www.uk18footer.org CLIPPER 2002 The fifth stage of the Clipper 2002 Round The World Yacht Race, part of the second crew leg, will get underway on Friday, 10 January. The fleet of eight identical 60-ft yachts will set sail on the "Ko Olina Cup Race," a 4,105 nautical mile journey from Galapagos to the Ko Olina Resort and Marina in Hawaii. They are scheduled to arrive on February 2. - www.clipper-ventures.com THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Whatever happened to Preparations A through G? |
