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SCUTTLEBUTT 2253 – January 5, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). AT LEAST TWO CAMPAIGNS Any doubts the British public had about interest in the America's Cup have been quashed today with the announcement of a new British America's Cup team. At a press conference held this morning in London Sir Keith Mills announced he is to create a British Challenge for the America's Cup. The team to be named Origin will, according to Mills and Rod Carr (CEO of the RYA), comprise some of the world's leading sailors, boat designers and builders from the UK and beyond. Mills, who was founder of the Air Miles business, and who was appointed International President and CEO of London 2012 in 2003 - the company that successfully bid for the 2012 Olympics - talked confidently this morning about how he and his new team (yet to be announced) hopes to make history by becoming the first British team ever to win the America's Cup. It was revealed that Origin will participate in at least two America's Cups likely to take place in 2009 and 2011 respectively. However, despite spending over a year in the initial planning stages Mills said he was unable to divulge any information about the team, designers, builders, host club and location of team base. But what is clear, once the 32nd America's Cup is 'put to bed' in six month's time, team players will be announced and a strong base established in order to proceed with the next British America's Cup Challenge. – Yachting World, full story: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070004142416ywamericascup07.html QUOTE / UNQUOTE “It’s always been an ambition of mine to race for Great Britain, but like all the other sailors in this year’s America’s Cup, my mind is fully focused on racing with Emirates Team New Zealand in Valencia.” -- Ben Ainslie, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-2532361,00.html USING RAW COMPUTING POWER (Juan Kouyoumdjian talked to thedailysail subscription website about Volvo Ocean Race winner Mike Sanderson's new Open 60, Pindar. Here are a few excerpts from their story now posted online.) With his company's decisive win in the last Volvo Ocean Race, maverick designer Juan Kouyoumdjian is soon to see his first Open 60 creation, Pindar, launched in New Zealand for Mike Sanderson. Juan K is excited about the design - having developed a reputation as a rule beater following his work within the constraining IMS and the America's Cup and more recently the Volvo, the openness of the IMOCA 60 class is more suited to his fertile mind and we can expect a boat that will definitely be different, even if this isn't immediately evident from the latest CAD depictions of the new boat. Using raw computing power, Juan K's team ran 24,000 race simulations for different Open 60 designs over Vendee Globe, Transat Jacques Vabre, Route du Rhum and Transat race courses. The upshot is a boat that, in the virtual world at least, will only be slower than the VO70 upwind in medium to heavy airs. "Any other time it will be faster than the VO70," says Juan K. She is anticipated to be one of the most beamy of the new designs and will have a chine, although the chine won't be as pronounced as it was on ABN AMRO One, where in retrospect Juan reckons they overdid it. The twin rudders on the new Pindar will be fixed as transom hung ones just don't work in Juan K's opinion and while the lifting rudder set up on the new Farr boats is refined it is too complex and, in his opinion, heavy to work up a similar system from scratch. – Full story: http://www.thedailysail.com GARY JOBSON ON TOUR Gary Jobson will be teaching 4 North U Tactics seminars this winter. Other top instructors will lead seminars in 20 additional locations. Tactics and Trim Seminars back-to-back, with top instructors plus books and CDs to take home. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can come to North U and accelerate the process. Learn more. Visit http://www.NorthU.com COACH CAYARD While the racing for the Louis Vuitton Cup - the series that determines the America’s Cup challenger - doesn’t begin until April 2007, the accumulation of ranking points already began occurring in June 2005. Since Act 4, teams have been earning points that will ultimately decide which top four teams proceed to a Semi Final, with all others eliminated from further competition. So which team is currently sitting in fourth? None other than the hometown favorite Desafio Espanol, which made the surprise announcement three weeks ago with their signing of American Paul Cayard. A week later, the Spanish team received their newest boat (ESP 97), and are giving ever indication that they are determined to remain within the final Semi Final group. Like the skirts that hide the hulls, Desafio Espanol seems to use their language barrier to keep us gringos out. When the Cayard announcement was released, everyone scurried for their translators to learn the news. The team’s website remains steadfast in Spanish, so who better to join this team than the multi-lingual Cayard, who is nearly as proficient speaking various languages as he is in winning yacht races. Scuttlebutt caught up with Cayard during the holidays, where he kindly filled us in a bit more on his new assignment. Said Paul, “The team is fighting to be one of the four semi finalists; they are a good team. I enjoy the technical aspect of the America’s Cup and am looking forward to seeing where the game has progressed to in the last four years, and to helping the Desafio Espanol team understand what makes these boats tick. Reichel-Pugh are the principal designers, and I like to work with them.” On the timing of his appointment with the team, Cayard replied that he was asked to join near the end of the VOR, and has “committed to work with Desafio Espanol for approximately 30 days during February and March 2007. My primary role is to help the team optimize their new boats, as well as provide general input and advice.” Regarding the possibility for his term to extend beyond March (racing beings again April 3rd), Cayard admits that anything is possible, but that it would have to be discussed later. Cayard is not worried about language barrier, commenting that “Spanish is the only language I actually studied in school…but that was a few years ago. My Italian is pretty good, so I usually end up mixing in a lot of that. However, I am told English is the language onboard.” Paul also has heard that English is coming to the team website soon, so as the skirts will drop April 1st for all teams, so to will the language barrier for the Desafio Espanol team. VIDEO OF THE WEEK This week's video was produced by Harken, who are celebrating their 40-year anniversary this year, and have created a tightly edited celebration of 'all things sailing'. Footage includes landsailing, iceboating, scows, skiffs, offshore mulithulls, and pretty much anything else that floats and sails. There are also some pretty cool segments of winch machining and robotics assembly. The 6:07 minute video provides a handy reminder of how many types of sailing there is, and how much fun it can be. If you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0101 SAILING SHORTS * Singapore has won the Optimist Team Racing World Championship, the first time ever for an Asian team. After an easy victory over Puerto Rico in Round 1, they beat successively the strong opposition of New Zealand and Japan before overcoming three times gold medallists Peru in the final. In the repechage following the surprise victory of the Netherlands over strong favorites Argentina, Germany beat Japan to take bronze. -- http://www.optiworld.org/ioda-news.html * Sydney sailor Michael Blackburn has added a sixth Australian Laser National Championship to his 2006 World title. Sailing on Hobart’s River Derwent, Blackburn, at the age of 36 qualifying for the Laser Masters (if he chose to do so) won the Australian Championship by two points from 22-year-old Tom Slingby with the title being decided in the last of 11 races. Third place overall in the Australian Championship went to World Masters Champion Brett Beyer from Sydney on 33 points, but in the overall fleet standings that included international competitors, the Canadian sailor Michael Leigh placed third with Beyer fourth.. -- Full results: http://www.ryct.org.au/results * The International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) and the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) will partner on an orientation program this January in an effort to strengthen outreach to current and prospective employees on training and career opportunities in the marine industry. In a January 10 orientation session, to be held at CCRI's Newport County Campus, both schools will overview training programs available for a broad cross section of individuals—from those with no prior experience in the marine field, to current employees looking to strengthen their skills in specialized areas. – http://www.iyrs.org * Goetz Custom Boats, which made a name for itself building cutting racing boats and America's Cup contenders, may soon have a new home. Officials from the Broad Common Road boat builder will appear before the Bristol Zoning Board of Review Monday, Jan. 8, to ask permission to build a new 43,000-square-foot plant at the corner of Broad Common and Ballou Boulevard. If it's approved — the plan needs a variance on the number of parking spaces provided — the business's manufacturing space will increase two-fold. Goetz's current home, which the business has occupied since 1979, is about 20,000 square feet. -- http://www.eastbayri.com/story/323318840468338.php * A record turnout of 400 young sailors representing 89 teams from 30 colleges from every corner of the country and 59 high schools from throughout California will be racing for the 22nd annual Rose Bowl Regatta Saturday and Sunday. Hosted by the eighth-ranked USC sailing team, this is the nation's largest combined collegiate and high school regatta, organized and conducted by the US Sailing Center of Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. Top-ranked Dartmouth will not compete but Stanford and Georgetown, ranked second and third, head a college lineup with nine of the top 17 teams racing. * JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) will be the title sponsor of double gold and silver Olympic sailing medallist Ben Ainslie’s fourth Olympic campaign -- Beijing 2008. Ainslie will be competing in the Finn class, although his America’s Cup commitments with Emirates Team New Zealand potentially will not finish until July 7, which is after the ISAF World Championships in Cascais, Portugal -- July 2–13 -- a qualifying event for Skandia Team GBR sailor’s to gain selection to the 2008 Olympics. * On Thursday, Victory Challenge began its winter training in Dubai with Örn (SWE 63) and Orm (SWE 73). There are now 70 people from the team in the United Arab Emirates, where wind conditions in the Persian Gulf are said to be ‘identical’ to those which the America’s Cup teams can expect in Valencia for Louis Vuitton Cup, which starts on April 16. (Historic weather data shows there are few days when it is possible to carry out high-quality sailing training in Spanish waters.) The team’s new boat, SWE 96, is now ready for transport to Valencia.—http://www.victorychallenge.com EIGHT BELLS Wallace Toby Emmett Tobin III, passed away peacefully on Dec. 31, 2006, after a valiant struggle with brain cancer. An avid and passionate sailor since childhood, he was the youngest amateur to sail in the 1958 America's Cup defense aboard Columbia, with such sailing legends as Olin and Rod Stephens and Halsey Herreshoff. Tobin's experience catapulted him into sailing in major ocean races - Bermuda and Europe on Windrose and Good News with Jakob Isbrandtsen, the Admiral's Cup series with Jakob, followed by another on Figaro III with Bill Snaith. He participated in two more America's Cup races aboard Intrepid in 1967 and Valiant in 1970. According to his colleagues, his skills as a navigator were unparalleled. Tobin served with great dedication as an overseer of Sea Education Association, contributing his knowledge to the safety of the sail-training vessels; as a board member of American Friends of Cambridge University; and as a member of the Fales Committee at the U.S. Naval Academy, which supports the sailing program there. He was also an avid supporter of the sailing program at Yale Corinthian Yacht Club. He has been an active sailor with his Hood 37, Elizabeth, and since 2001, a McCurdy & Rhodes 46, Froya. In retirement, he indulged his passion for sailing by delivering friends' boats to the Caribbean and back, as well as summer cruising and racing in the Gulf of Maine aboard his cherished Froya. Condolences can be expressed at http://www.brackettfuneralhome.com -- Marcy Trenholm WINNING MORE THAN THE WORLDS Doyle Sailmakers is proud that Jud Smith won the 2006 Etchells Worlds using Doyle sails. But we are most proud of who Jud is. In words from voting sailors in the Scuttlebutt poll for Yachtsman of the Year: "He ...inspires everyone who sails with him and against him... and will help anyone at anytime tune a boat, tell exactly why he did what he did on any given day, and all around help(s) fellow racers." "Simply put, one of the finest people you will ever meet." For more: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/06/1217 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Bruce Bates: Is it just me being a Curmudgeon (II)? Or am I the only one who thinks sending a bunch of High School kids on a long ocean race alone is not a swell idea? I have sailed all over the world in many ocean races and cruised extensively and I have found when the going gets really rough offshore nothing beats having someone (calmly competent) aboard who really knows (from experience) what's going on. I have been in a Bermuda Race where hot shot one design sailors totally freak out in a storm. Who are these kids going to rely on if the bleep really hits the fan? Are their fathers and mothers going to trail them in another TP 52 like the British kid sailing from Gibraltar to Antigua? * From G. H. Schirtzinger: With regards to Robyn Riley's comment on abandoning the Sydney-Hobart race because it is too dangerous, then what else, following that line of reasoning, shall we also abandon? Sailing in rain might catch someone their death via pneumonia. Not to make light of the losses, but who is Robyn to decide for Mike Freebairn that the loss of Koomooloo is a "total waste"? If Robyn had money or his neck on the table, I would be more understanding. However, she didn't. She is a watcher, not a doer. Everything is too hard for watchers. That is why they watch. * From Richard Clark: (Re Guy Doran’s rant): I am reading W.H.Murray's Rob Roy McGregor, for those of us with Scottish blood coursing through our veins, this is our heritage, this is who we are. Kilt wearing, caber raising/ tossing, whusky swilling warriors :) In New Zealand even the 'Woman' are acknowledging they have made "wusses" of men. We have 'Women' as Prime Minister, ex-Govenor General, Attorney General and more, is it a better country than when the men ran it, violence is up, binge drinking is rampant and we even sank our America's Cup Boat last go round, my jury rests. I respect Robyns right to her opinion but ask her to respect the right of those who go to sea in ships. * From Bob Leslie: As an expat Aussie, after reading the article by Robyn Riley I'm just sick. In the land of "She'll be right, Mate! " and " No Problem Sport " we have this reporter suggesting we shut down our race to Hobart. I'm just sick. Finally the attitude of "It's too dangerous, please stop," has seeped into the Aussie psyche. * From Scott Simmons (Regarding "Sinking the silly Race"): The taxpayers of Australia are getting value for their money spent on providing SAR for this supposed silly race. For every dollar spent they are receiving it back ten fold on free publicity. The City's of Sydney and Hobart reap the benefits of the privileged few that yes want to and volunteer to race in these conditions. If one could make an argument for canceling this race then they must order a world wide band on mountaineering, parachuting, surfing, etc.... If a risk to life or limb is involved or the chance that the taxpayers will have to provide any resources all superfluous sports should be canceled. We could all start playing shuffle board. We just had our club's new years day hot rum race and although not quite as existing as the Sydney-to- Hobart it was still and adrenaline rush for all involved and we could only wish to get that type of publicity. I'm sure the chamber of commerce would luv that. Maybe next year we will sink a boat or two during the race (as long as its not my beloved Kirby 30 Strawberry Express). * From Roger Dobronyi: I am not a sailor yet, or a soldier, but I am a taxpayer. I don't feel that any sport should be subsidized by the government. I also don't believe that a race should be shut down simply because it is dangerous. I didn't see anyone in favor of the race, come up with a solution so I will: If a person causes a forest fire they are responsible for all the fire fighting costs. Therefore if a sailing association is responsible for sponsoring a known dangerous event, then they should be totally responsible financially for any rescue costs! So if a person feels they are a soldier and needs to prove their courage in a sailboat rather than in a military uniform, then maybe the sailing Assn. could collect a $20,000-30,000 bond from each boat to help defray rescue costs. * From Bill Elmer (Responding to Mr. Fleming’s comments regarding Orange Bowl): As a parent that travels from Seattle to Florida for Orange Bowl, we have two basic goals, one to enjoy the area, and two, see to it that our Opti sailor gets as much large fleet experience as possible (difficult on the west coast) to prepare for various large regatta’s as the year progresses. We have found that since the regatta is always the week between Christmas and New Year that arriving early and doing a “clinic” the week before if school/job permits, and then enjoying a three day Christmas holiday in the area before the start of the regatta works well for us. We would not support a lay day in the middle of the regatta as it would limit the experience part that does a pretty good job mimicking the future hard core regattas. * From Ted Jones: I am shocked and saddened by Peter Lorson’s passing as reported in Scuttlebutt. My heartfelt condolences go out to Pete's widow, Sally, and their children and grandchildren. Our paths have crossed infrequently, but I know that a finer gentleman sailor than Pete Lorson never lived. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true." - Robert Wilensky Special thanks to North U and Doyle Sailmakers. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
