|
SCUTTLEBUTT #387 - August 30, 1999STAR WORLDS1999 AUDI Star Class World Championship registered a record of 149 entries from 32 countries from 5 continents, including the greatest number of former Olympic classes world, European and North American champions, Americas Cup sailors, Whitbread sailors, Admirals Cupper and IMS, CHS sailors. This represent the record of entries of ever to a World Champ., for a mono type keel boat and for the "double men keelboat fleet" Olympic discipline Including the Helly Hansen Italian Open Championship (27/31 August) there will be a total of 170 different star crews turning over in Punta Ala. To help the media understanding at the event, first of the Olympic Classes, we synchronized the bow recall number with the last issued ISAF ranking list (i.e. bow #1 will go to the sailor ranked 1 in the ISAF ranking list). A full video will be professionally ( helicopter included) produced and later transmitted by the most important TV circuits in Europe and USA ( eurosport, ESPN, SKY etc..). National and international TV live coverage has been also agreed. This will include logos of ISAF, Star Class and Olympic. A 40 minutes tape, to be ordered on the internet, will be produced in PAL, NSTC and SECAM system at the price of US$ 22, mailing and packging included. A short version will be posted on the Internet for downloading. Due to the importance of the event, the Star Class applied (thanks to the support and help of the Italian Sailing Federation ) for an International ISAF Race Comm.for both these events. PRO at the Italian Open will be Elias Caronis from Greece and PRO at the World will be Charley COOK from USA with Elias Caronis R:O and Hans Highlander RIO.. The International Jury will be chaired by J. Ripard from Malta. - Riccardo Simoneschi US SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS Milwaukee YC, US Men's Sailing Championship (Mallory Cup) Final Results: 1. (Area D) Faget (31 points) 2. (J) Klatt (44) 3. (K) Faude (48) 4. (A) Wilson 8 4 (52) 5. (F) Dyer (53). US Women's Sailing Championship ((Adams Trophy) Final results: 1. (Area B) Hurban (21 points) 2.(J) Spangler (31) 3. (K) Reichelsdorfer (39) 4. (A) Dooley (46) 5. (C) Ingram (51) Event website/complete results: http://www.milwaukeeyc.com/adams/ 1D35 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Macatawa, MI (23 boats) - Dan Cheresh's 'Extreme' was crowned the new National Champion in the 1D35 class Sunday, winning the hotly-contested seven-race series by only one point. The win was the first for Cheresh in 1D35 class racing, and earns him valuable bonus points in the 1999 1D35 Season Championship series. "I'm really happy with the way our crew stuck to it in a really difficult series," said Cheresh in accepting the Tiffany-built perpetual trophy. 'Extreme' started the series well deep in the pack, but in the last four races had no finish worse than third, including scoring a win in the last race. After two days of light air and frustrating racing conditions on Lake Michigan, competitors, race managers, and spectators were all relieved on this final day of competition to have the last two races of the series run in a brisk 10-18 knot northeasterly breeze. The short steep waves accompanying this breeze made for fast and fun sailing on the downwind legs, and the teams that were more aggressive at working these waves made huge gains on their rivals. Garth Dennis' 'Smiling Bulldog' pulled off another remarkable win in the first race today by tacking immediately to the right side of the course after the start and benefiting from a 15-degree right shift. This gave them a substantial lead that was never challenged, even though John Wylie's runner-up 'Tabasco' was always there in case 'Bulldog' slipped. And while Cheresh's win remained unaffected, the final standings throughout the remainder of the scoreboard were shuffled when a controversial jury decision to award redress to five competitors in Race 3 yesterday was overturned by the same jury today. In this race, several of the lead boats overstood a relocated second weather mark whose position had been lost in the fog. - Dobbs Davis Final Top Ten Results: 1. Extreme, Dan Cheresh, (44 points) 2. Windquest, Dick DeVos (45) 3. Heart Breaker, Bob Hughes (49) 4. Avalanche, Sledd Shelhorse (58) 5. Tabasco, John Wylie (60) 6. Smiling Bulldog, Garth Dennis (63) 7. RoXanne, Kip Meadows (65) 8. Northern Bear, Steve Pfeifer (69) 9. Sotet Lo, Phil Kubat (70) 10. Hippy Chick, David Bowen (71) 1D35 website: http://www.1d35.com Action photos of the event: http://www.waltercooperphoto.com DON'T BE LEFT BEHIND Winners win because of close attention to all details. A well-dressed crew is much more inclined to perform better. Pacific Yacht Embroidery has an impressive list of winners as clients and invites you to add your name to the list. Call Frank Whitton 619-226-8033 (pacyacht@aol.com) for more information. Frank provides the highest-level apparel at affordable prices. AMERICA'S CUP * Training for the Young Australia 2000 challenge for the America's Cup shifts to Italy this week when four crew members will compete in Europe's top match racing event, the 1999 Trofeo Roberto Trombini. Skipper James Spithill (NSW) and crewmen Ben Durham (WA), Andy Fethers (WA) and Paul Spencer (WA) will compete for the $60,000 in prize money while also honing their skills as a team in preparation for the first races of the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland in October. In a tough field including some of the world's top-ranked sailors, the crew will compete in a double round robin format on one of 10 matched purpose built TOM 28" yachts. Spithill has sailed against most of the competitors previously. In the Cento Cup in June he beat Markus Weiser (ranked 6th) and Morten Henriksen (9th). The main competition is expected to come from Sten Mohr who last week won 3rd place in the world match racing championships, and Francesco DeAngelis who is skipper of the Prada America's Cup challenge. "For the first time, Young Australia has the luxury of a hand-picked crew of individual match race specialists well oiled from weeks of intensive training on Sydney Harbour," Spithill said. "These guys are all experienced on the world circuit and we're working well together as a team. "We're hoping this will provide us with the edge in this race, as well as helping us to gain further experience sailing together before we reach Auckland." -- Julie Sheather * Charter boat operators are "ecstatic" over winning a prolonged battle to retain their operating base in the New Zealand Cup Village. Initially, America's Cup Village Ltd ordered the charter boats out of the village area, but the new chief executive, Ian Collinson, has taken a more pragmatic approach and an agreement has been reached to accommodate the six-boat charter fleet. Geoff Parsonage, who operates two of the bigger boats in the village, said the charter operators had always been fighting for a right that was enshrined within their lease agreements and detailed in the management policy. -- America's Cup 2000, http://www.americascup2000.org.nz/fs.html * A replica of the schooner America, which began the Cup saga by winning the Royal Yacht Squadron's race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, is among the yachts that will visit Auckland during America's Cup 2000. The America has taken up a booking in the AMEX Cup Village and will turn heads as its joins the spectator fleets watching the current class of America's Cup campaigners waging their battles on the Hauraki Gulf. Another recent booking at the Cup Village is the 45m Mari Cha III, which is the current holder of the trans-Atlantic sailing record. Mari Cha III was built in New Zealand and this is its first time back since it was launched in 1997 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Matt Jones -- Oops! Kimo was the A3 coach and the guy who put the boat together. He did not sail, but he was a vital part of that winning team. -- From Richard Cosgrove -- Yes I believe Con Finlay did in the Double Sculls (2X) but I don't remember at which games it occurred. I know he did win the gold and there has been only one other US 2X crew to repeat that feat. In 1984 Brad Lewis won the gold with his partner (can't remember his name) and Lewis was also a grinder in Perth on 'USA' (Blackaller's boat), but of course we know they did not make it to the Finals. Lewis wrote a couple of good books that are very popular in the rowing circles... 'Assault on Lake Casitas' which is about his pursuit of the '84 games, and 'Confessions of a Grinder' which is about his AC experience in Perth. - -- From Annie Becker (Re: your list of Olympic medal winners and A Cup winning sailors) Here's one more : John Marshall -- 1972 Bronze medal in the Dragon class plus AC 1980 sailed on Freedom; AC 1987 sailed Challenger trials on Stars & Stripes and managed design team; AC 1988 managed Stars & Stripes design team. Not sure how you want to count that, but those are all his winning campaigns. He's currently on his 9th America's Cup campaign with Young America. -- From John Rumsey --Conn Findlay won 3 Rowing medals, 2 gold and a bronze, plus one sailing silver medal with Dennis Conner in the Tempest. -- From Chris Tutmark -- Don't forget Carl Buchan on this list. Gold in the FD in Los Angeles ('84) and crewed for DC on the catamaran against the NZ K boat. -- From James Nicholsn -- Laser John Bertrand, of Annapolis, MD won a Finn Silver Medal and the Cup with Dennis Conner in San Diego; to my knowledge, the other John Bertrand (Australia) does not have an Olympic medal under his belt. 49ER EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX Despite coming 7th overall in the Swedish round of the 49er European Grand Prix, Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips take the title prize for the series to add to their world championship victories in the 49er. The Bruni Brothers of Italy (TNT) were second overall, having been tied in second palce with Jonathon and Charlie McKee (McLube) going into this event. The McKees didn't finish in the top ten in this event, hence gained no series points. Event winner Marucs Bauer and Philip Barth (Volkswagen) nearly repeated their previous disaster in the last race, but the point cushion was sufficient to support a 15th position. This was enough to secure 3rd position overall. Sunday's racing continued to be a very closely contested final stage, despite the light and sometimes shifty wind. The large number of spectators have been entertained in the brilliant sunshine of Goteborg by this spectacular racing. The Canadian team of Tina & Trevor Baylis have maintained their overnight lead to win the Silver Fleet, despite only scoring a 4th and 9th. Having only qualified in 11th place, they finished 2 points ahead of top qualifiers for the Silver Fleet Christopher Rast and Bruno Zeltner from Switzerland. - Edward Stevens Websites: http://www.eventsbandol.com and http://www.gkss.se I 14 CHAMPIONSHIPS The 1999 I 14 US Nationals and West Coast Champs were held as a combined event at Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge Aug 18 - 22. The West Coast Champs were held on Wednesday and Thursday with a five race series with one throwout. The Nationals were held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with ten races completed and two throwouts. The Gorgeo Bastardo Trophy was presented for both events with all races counting. 20 boats made the trek to the Gorge for this event including two Canadian boats with a 40 hour journey from Toronto, as well as Chris Turner from Britain and Grant Bourke from New Zealand, who came over to see what the fuss about the Gorge was all about. They were not disappointed as we were rewarded with five days of great weather, great scenery and great wind. It was neither too hot nor too cool and only one race was held in wind less than 18 kts. That race was held in a comparatively light 10 to 15. This was a breezy regatta, Windcall.com had the wind at Stevenson averaging 20 with gusts over 25 for every day and on Big Friday for the long distance race, also known as the day the River kicked Pete and Ron's ass, the wind was 20 to 30 ave. 22 at Stevenson and 20 to 35 ave. 25 at the next recording station up river, right near the bottom mark. The level of skill in the fleet is getting better and better, it was anybody's regatta, and more that one race finished with three boats overlapped at the finish. Gone are the days when you could sit back in safety mode and wait for everyone to crash to collect a win. Now you must push it. Two wire down wind until it gets silly. Boats completely airborne was an everyday occurrence. Needless to say it was relatively flat, but the waves did stack up a bit in the current and at the bottom mark, especially at the bottom mark for the long distance race, near where the name for the Windcall.com site is called swell city. I am pretty sure that we went faster at this regatta than anywhere before. We were calling it turbo mode, and it was unbelievable. Another great experience was twin wiring down wind in formation with one or two other boats, 20 kts boat speed twenty feet apart is mighty interesting. We were sailing right next to guys watching them and thinking, they are going to die. Then we realized we must look exactly the same. The program went like this, out on the water at 11:00, try for three races, back to the shore for lunch and repairs, then back on the water at 3:30, if it wasn't too crazy, to get a couple more off. Then back to the shore to tell stories and drink beer. We were all pretty beat up, Nurse Nan used up half or her new first aid kit patching sailors. She said we were just a bunch of whiners and what did we expect anyway. Interestingly, the only major boat failures were two old rules metal masts that failed. One overbent up wind and one failed spreaders and overbent downwind. All of the carbon stuff is finally getting sorted out. -- Pete Mohler, USIFA President Final results: WEST COAST CHAMPS: 1. Bundy/ Hansler, USA 2. Boehm/ Mohler, USA 3. Mitchell/ Bourke USA/ NZ/ 4. Henderson/Schmidt -USA 5. Goodson/ Derricks USA. NATIONAL CHAMPS: 1. Berkowitz/ Baldoff USA 2. Berridge/ Turner USA 3. Bundy/ Hansler -USA 4. Macaulay/ Lemieux - CAN 5. Mitchell/ Bourke USA/ NZ. GORGEO BASTARDO TROPHY: Bundy, Hansler AUCKLAND UPDATE (Reprinted with permission from DEFENCE 2000, which is available for US $48 per year from John@roake.gen.nz) * The 36 metre Yanneke Too, currently sailing around Asia, will be one of the first superyachts to dock in Viaduct Harbour. It is expected during the first week of September. Meanwhile, Mari Cha III has announced that it will cross the Tasman to join in Cup mayhem after competing in this year's Sydney Hobart race. This New Zealand built (1997) 45 metre yacht currently holds the Trans Atlantic Crossing record. The schooner America, a replica of the boat that the actual cup is named after, will also be occupying one of the mega yacht berths in the AMEX Cup Village. It was in 1851 that the original America won the 100 guineas Cup, earning it the right to rename the trophy - hence the America's Cup. The yacht is an immaculate replica of the original which the American yachting press proclaim is 'breathtaking." * The Auckland City Council has budgeted to spend an addition NZ$100,000 to keep Auckland streets clean over the Cup regatta. Meantime, the North Shore City Council have cancelled their annual inorganic rubbish collections between October and March so visitors will not see unsightly roadside dumps. CAN WE TALK? It always helps when you can talk about your problems with someone who really understands. And when those problems involve sailing hardware and rigging, no one will be more understanding and helpful than the experienced staff at Sailing Supply -- the only call you ever need to make for quality solutions and equipment at competitive prices. Sailing Supply has all the good stuff, and when you love what you do, you do it better than anyone else. (800) 532-3831. http://www.sailingsupply.com/ EIGHT-METER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The International Eight-Meter Association completed its World Championship competition this past weekend at Rochester, New York. Rochester Yacht Club was the host club, and six days of competition among a dozen gorgeous meter yachts produced a new champion for Eric Voss's Golden Feather, the winner of the 1985 championship, designed by Peter Norlin. Although Sarissa was the tough boat to beat for the first three days, Golden Feather picked up her skirts and ran after that. The Sira Cup, for the best performance by a vintage Eight Meter yacht (one built before 1960 to the traditional Eight Meter rule) was won by C. Gyles Sr.'s Norseman, built in 1930 as a Canada's Cup contender to designs by William J. Roue, who designed the famous yacht Bluenose. Norseman was absolutely unbeatable--six races, six bullets. - Robert Bethune, Pictures, results, stories and lots of photos: http://www.freshwaterseas.com VIRTUAL CUP The curmudgeon has lowered his 'personal best' time to 11:37 minutes. Who can top that? Those who don't know what I'm talking about should download the game (it's free) and start wasting time like the rest of us: http://www.stars-stripes.com THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION No one cares about the storms you've encountered, but only if you've brought the ship in! |
