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SCUTTLEBUTT 1698 - October 27, 2004Powered 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. GUEST EDITORIAL Reorganization described by new Bylaws and changes to improve the democratic process have little to do with solving the problems and improving the effectiveness of under-funded volunteer organizations. US Sailing's problems have little or nothing to do with the particular form of government it has used. It has been run by many wonderful people for many years. The problem is the lack of young new enthusiastic replacements for the bountiful crop of dedicated sailors who began serving in the seventies or before that. From local race committees, to fleet captains, to ISAF judges, to one design class management, to regatta hosts, there is little presence of sailors born after 1960 and zero presence of those born after 1970. My solution comes with an understanding that there will be some bad choices and failures. It must be done before the current crop of dedicated volunteers is too old to advise or even to jump back in and pick up the pieces. Each officer of US Sailing who is currently over the age of fifty or who has served in the organizational part of sailing for fifteen years should find himself a young enthusiastic replacement. Many of those who manage sailboat racing at the highest levels no longer race and only see their "sailing friends" at meetings and other management functions. Those lifelong friendships are invaluable. We must find other reasons and places to visit one another. Those of us who are too feeble to play the game have no business running the sport, and quite frankly, we have already done our fair "life share" of the work. We need people at the helm of the sailing world who will still be participating in 30 years and therefore have a selfish personal interest in the future of sailing. Sailors should spend the necessary time in boardrooms and conference halls simply and selfishly because that effort contributes to more enjoyable interaction with friends on the water. - Fred Schroth OOPS An embarrassing crash into Sydney's Opera House today took the wind out of the sails of a British newspaper's marketing campaign. A former America's Cup yacht crewed by experienced locals today struck rocks below the Opera House, tearing off its keel, causing it to capsize and throwing several people overboard. The mast on the 22m yacht Spirit, which contested the 1992 America's Cup as Spirit of Australia, then smashed a light on the Opera House walkway before the yacht came to rest. No one was hurt, but the mishap provided a sinking feeling for British newspaper the Financial Times (FT), which had chartered the yacht as part of a marketing campaign following its launch in Australia five weeks ago. The accident forced the FT to postpone a promotional media and photo session on the yacht, scheduled for tomorrow. - Kim Arlington and Tara Ravens, The Australian: http://tinyurl.com/5xj5d You gotta see the photos: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/spirit/ DAWN Dawn Riley just ended her two year term as president of the Women's Sports Foundation by presiding over the 25th Anniversary of the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Monday. 108 of the best female athletes in the world were presented in the Grand March and the sold-out dinner raised more than $1 million to help advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity. Awards were given to athletes for their significant contributions to the development of and achievement in women's sports. Over the past two years Dawn's leadership has helped drive the foundation toward significantly higher levels of impact including the launch of 'GoGirlsGo' a multi-faceted program created to help promote physical activity among girls in the critical 8-18 year old developmental stage, in order to decrease the physical and psychological risks that result from inactivity. The goal of the program is to get one million girls active over the next three years and to keep one million currently active girls from dropping out of sport and physical activity. - www.womenssportsfoundation.org ELLEN At the trimaran base in Lorient on the north-west coast of France, the Ellen MacArthur's 75-foot multihull 'B&Q' is undergoing final preparations for the round the world record attempt. Last week the shore team downed tools to host a series of media days and now the team have their own race against the clock to finish their work and get B&Q to the UK standby port. "We have opted to start this record attempt by crossing the line between Ushant on the French coast and the Lizard," said Ellen. "This is the traditional start and finish line for the crewed Jules Verne round the world record attempts although for a solo attempt you can, in fact, choose any starting point." Current solo round the world record holder, Francis Joyon, started his record from a start line off Brest which actually added another seven miles to the round the world distance. Ellen hopes to be on standby from mid-November with the trimaran in Falmouth. The team will then be ready for departure within 72 hours as soon as a weather window appears that can quickly propel B&Q to the start line. Only five sailorS have attempted a solo round the world record on board a multihull. Only one made it non-stop. - www.teamellen.com CAMET ARUBA SHORTS The new design of Camet shorts is a plain front style, gusset design for full range of motion. A roomy right side cargo pocket with Velcro® closure flap, an internal phone pocket, two deep side pockets, as well as Velcro® waist adjustment straps. Made of fast drying Supplex® nylon, with a reinforced Cordura® seat patch for an optional foam pad. Fabric has a UV rating of 40, blocks 97.5 % of UV rays, and provides excellent skin protection. Check out the Camet shorts in the different styles and colors and the Coolmax shirts on their web page at http://www.camet.com ARMS WAR At 140ft long and with her towering schooner rig Robert Miller's Mari Cha IV rules the waves when it comes to singlehulled speed under sail. However the first serious challenger to this mantle is soon to go for her inaugural sail in the form of the 118ft long Juan Kouyoumdjian design Maiden Hong Kong belonging to Hong Kong-based industrialist Frank Pong. Like Mari Cha IV this boat is another rules-be-damned ultimate speed machine. While Mari Cha IV is a giant with a canting keel, her design is relatively conservative in many areas, particular her rig. No such claims can be made of Maiden Hong Kong. Frank Pong's new craft although shorter in overall length sports not only a canting keel, but a sloop rig comprising a rotating wingmast that can be canted up to weather - in effect an enlarged version of a 60-foot trimaran rig. Kouyoumdjian investigated ways of making the bulb heavier without increasing its size. With no class constraints it would have been possible to create a bulb made of gold or packed with spent uranium, were they not ridiculously expensive or almost impossible to obtain. In the end they opted for a bulb made of tungsten with a density of 18.2 tonnes/ cubic metre, compared to lead at a mere 11.25 (or gold at 19.3 or platinium at 21.4). While the bulb is tungsten, the keel fin is equally exotic, made of a particularly superior grade of steel called 15-5PH, normally used exclusively in military aircraft. "We waited for one year to get the raw material," says Kouyoumdjian. - Excerpts from a comprehensive story on The Daily Sail, www.thedailysail.com/ SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Marylanders, tourists and students gathered today at Baltimore's Pier 1 to wish USS Constellation a safe voyage under tow for a week-long visit to the U.S. Naval Academy. Her departure is the culminating event in a year-long celebration of her 150th anniversary that included the U.S. Postal Service's release of a commemorative stamp honoring the ship. This historic voyage marked the first time Constellation has traveled beyond the Key Bridge since her arrival in Baltimore in 1955, and her first return to the Naval Academy in more than 110 years. While the sloop-of-war USS Constellation would proudly serve the U.S. Navy for 100 years, the vast majority of her time would be as a training ship at the Naval Academy from 1871 to 1893 and at Newport, Rhode Island from 1893 to 1933. The ship continues to educate more than 100,000 visitors per year and Naval Academy Midshipmen still visit USS Constellation today as part of their plebe summer training. ROUND THE WORLD A new yacht promoting Liverpool as European Capital of Culture was unveiled Tuesday to officially launch a new round the world race fleet. The 68-foot boat, sponsored by Liverpool City Council, has been built to compete in the 35,000 mile Clipper 05-06 Race, which sets sail from Liverpool (UK) on 18, September 2005. Designed by Dubois Naval Architects and built by Shanghai Double Happiness Yachts in China, the new yacht is one of a ten-strong fleet to be raced by international teams of 17 non-professional crewmembers and a skipper. The fleet of ten identical yachts, termed Dubois 68s and all built from a single mould, will provide their crews with the fastest round the world ocean racers in the non-professional field. At the same time Clipper Ventures plc has awarded Fast Track Sailing a new eight year agreement to act as their exclusive global commercial and media partner for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Fast Track Sailing, a dedicated division of Sports Marketing Agency Fast Track, will continue to raise sponsorship revenues for the Clipper Races and advise on global media strategy. Having raised in excess of £3.5 million to date for the Clipper Races, the newly announced partnership specifies Fast Track's objective to raise £27 million in associated sponsorship revenues over the course of four Clipper Races. The city sponsorship formula has given Fast Track Sailing the platform to work with international cities identifying key commercial and tourism centres and translating their objectives on the global events stage.- www.clipper-ventures.com NEWS BRIEFS * Bryan Boyd won the 22-boat US Finn Nationals out of the Coyote Point YC in San Mateo, CA on San Francisco Bay, by scoring a seven point victory over Darrell Peck in the six race, one discard event. www.cpyc.com/finn/default.html * A decades-old collaboration between the Storm Trysail and Lauderdale Yacht Clubs materializes again in 2005 as the 30th anniversary running of the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race. The annual 160-nautical mile race begins January 12 and runs south along the Florida Keys to Key West, serving as an unofficial feeder to Key West Race Week, which begins five days later. With 40 plus teams having participated in 2004, organizers are preparing for one-design, multihull, PHRF and IMS racers. New this year will be the addition of classes for sailboats rated by IRC. - www.keywestrace.org * The German Offshore Racing Committee has discussed the future of German offshore racing and unanimously agreed that IMS will remain the principle handicap rule used in Germany. Their press release stated, "While not ignoring the problems associated with IMS, it is fact that IMS has provided good racing over the last decade on several levels. Most of the Baltic states are using IMS as their principle handicap rule and a move to a different rating system would only make sense, if the whole Baltic area would do so, but such a change seems most unlikely in the next future." - Deutscher- Segler- Verband * There is a new game in the Scuttlebutt 'News & Extras' section. It will test your ability to park a car … and your patience. The curmudgeon's high score never got out of double digits before he quit playing the game forever. Try it yourself: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/games/parking/ * For the Global Challenge fleets, it's a drag race down the South American coast at the moment - a great days sailing, blasting along under spinnaker at full speed. At last report, Vaio holds a 14 mile lead over Samsung with Barclays Adventurer just two miles further back. - www.globalchallenge2004.com/en/ * The Waikiki Yacht Club has announced dates for the 2005 Waikiki Offshores Series - July 31 to August 6, 2005. The dates allow the Transpac boats to participate in the Series and still make it to San Francisco in plenty of time to compete in the annual Big Boat Series being race September 15 to 18. - www.waikikioffshores.com JAMES A. ROUSMANIERE James A. Rousmaniere, a leader in junior and inter-collegiate sailing for more than six decades, died on October 22, in Southbury, Conn., at the age of 86. As a professional fund raiser and volunteer community activist, he made a difference in countless ways, ashore and afloat. A top-ranked sailor, he won (among other events) the 1938 intercollegiate championship in a crew that included his Harvard roommate John F. Kennedy. He had important roles in Long Island Sound junior sailing, the Blue Jay Class, and the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, for which he headed the Afterguard, raised money, and established the ICSA Archives at Mystic Seaport. In 2001 the ICSA awarded him its Lifetime Service Award. My brother Arthur (a Snipe champion), our six siblings, and I can testify to his power as an exemplar of sailing and living with skill, enthusiasm, pleasure, and deep concern for fairness. His funeral will be held Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, Woodbury, Conn. Contributions may be made in Jim Rousmaniere's name to the ICSA College Sailing Hall of Fame, Robert Crown Center, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21402. AVAILABLE NOW Raider RIBs has a 22-foot Raider 665 that is ready for delivery. The ultimate tender for a yacht club, a sailing program or a sail coach, the 665 has a center console, deep V hull with a 115 horsepower 4-stroke Yamaha engine, a galvanized trailer, towing post, and it even has an enclosed head. The Raider 665 is available for immediate delivery with special financing for a non-profit or yacht club junior program. Call for details at 1-877-7RAIDER, or check out the Raider 665 at our website. http://www.raiderboat.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 Blake Middleton: I was disappointed to hear John Sweeney's comments ('Butt 1696) about poor sportsmanship, but wanted to share some positive feedback from another regatta. I was PRO at the College North American Men's & Women's Singlehanded Championships this past weekend in MN. Although the regatta was marred by the outrageous theft of one of the new Lasers in the middle of the event, the sailors simply shined. Head Judge Bruce Martinson and I both marveled at how outstanding their sportsmanship was. They showed respect for each other; avoided pushing the envelope rules-wise, and did 720s for every observed foul (there were very few to begin with). The Jury only had to call two on-water yellow flag penalties in early races for violations of RRS 42 (Kinetics). In both instances, the sailors took the penalty turns immediately, and thanked the judges afterwards. Special kudos go to Harvard's Genny Tulloch. In one 20+ knot race, she found herself the victim of a multiple capsize during a leeward gate rounding. After the race, she was told her capsized sail had touched the buoy, and came to Bruce and I asking to retire (RAF). She earned big points in my book for showing such class! 32 of the best and the brightest young men and women put on a terrific display of sportsmanship, and deserve recognition for it. I also give credit to their outstanding coaches for setting the bar high, and asking their sailors to rise to that level. * From Ray Tostado: Bravo for John Sweeney's effort. Sportsmanship is a socially evolved standard of performance developed as a self discipline. It involves self sacrifice and dignity, along with modesty and pride. To the practitioners it is a matter of tradition. Funny thing about tradition, once you lose it there is no going back. * From Jack Spithill: In 'Butt 1697, Grant Simmer was quoted as saying, "What I do know is that we need more exciting boats for the cup." "Exciting" for whom . . . the designers, the builders or the sailors? Certainly not the fans of competitive yacht racing. What makes it exciting for the fans' perspectives is parity among a broader range of competitors. In its current state the America's Cup has become a competition of the "deepest pockets." * From Jerry Norman (re Grant Simmer's comments and other articles re more exciting boats -edited to our 250-word limit): It seems to me that an important aspect of sailboat racing that may be being overlooked or at least de-emphasized in the quest for our sports highest profile events to become more appealing to the general public. As I see it that aspect is what might be called a more cerebral aspect of sailing. That is sailing "relatively" low performance boats in conditions that are less than all out planes around the course. In this form of racing, the potential for gains and losses are much less from a boatspeed/ distance standpoint and as such forces one to think much more about strategy re one's placement on the race course both in the present and more importantly in the future and looking up the course and into the next legs to make gains. There is certainly strategy in high performance boats and conditions but very detailed strategy sort of flattens out and takes a more subservient position to boat-handling/ kinetics and athleticism simply due to increased effort and lack of time. Now no one aspect of these two sailing styles are better than the other, however they are quite a bit different and really take a different mind set on the part of the participants to do well. If all our top events should "evolve" into the latter, I think we will miss out on a lot nuances going on out there on the course, that make sailing very satisfying both as a participant and as a spectator. * From Peter Huston: Brooks Magruder makes an excellent point about Ford's move from golf into sailing via Volvo. While Volvo had bought the Whitbread Race prior to Ford acquiring Volvo, the sharp pencils at Ford would have thought nothing of killing Volvo's involvement in sailing if they believed there wasn't adequate return for their money. To further refute the notion that sailing doesn't work on TV, one only needs to look at BMW's initial, and now increased, association with Oracle Racing. There are multiple reasons why BMW re-upped with Oracle Racing, TV coverage being a part of it. The summation is that sailing, and the America's Cup in particular is now extremely good value for a sponsor offering multiple platforms for reaching consumers. Having long been a sponsor of Kiel Week and recently taking a major position in the Swedish Match Tour, BMW has made a major commitment to the sport. Thanks to the Quandt family for seeing the value in the sport that we all love so much. I'll be buying more of your product soon. * From Tom Hovey: I can not think of a more worthy recipient of the Gay S. Lynn Trophy than Robbie Pierce. I have known Robbie since long before he was afflicted with MS and he has always been an outstanding contributor to all of sailing. No one has done more to advance the sport of disabled sailing from his introduction of sailing to Shake-A-Leg in 1986 and his input on the design of their boat, the Freedom 20. He has not only established and promoted disabled sailing but he has won the national championship and competed in the Championship of Champions in Northeast Harbor against 14 able bodied class champions in IOD's. Kudos to Robie, he is a superb ambassador for the sport of sailing. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS As every child has learned, no matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. |
