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SCUTTLEBUTT #477 - January 7, 2000
NATIONAL SAILING LEAGUE
Successful businessmen like Doug DeVos have a knack for making things
happen. Take for example, the One-Design 48 class, which although somewhat
short-wicked, filled an important niche outside of the America's Cup where
mostly professional teams could regularly battle in big, one-design boats
at major sailing venues. The 48s have been collecting dust since their last
gathering in Baltimore last spring, but DeVos has devised a loftier
plan-the sport's first National Sailing League. Could this be sailing's
equivalent of the NFL, the NHL, or the perhaps NBA?
Others involved with NSL organization include its president and CEO, Linda
Lindquist. Linquist's consulting company will lead the formation of the
league and its organizing body. Hartwell Jordan, serves as vice president
of operations and industry relations.
According to Jordan, the league's 2000 circuit will feature eight teams
competing on 1D48s. Three of those teams, which will be announced in the
coming weeks, have already signed three-year deals. The deals, organizers
say, will provide the continuity necessary for the league's long-term
growth. -- Dave Read, Grand Prix Sailor
CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: If I print any more of this story, Sailing World
editor John Burnham will undoubtedly take me off of his Christmas Card
list. However, this is a story you want to read in its entirety, and you
can. It's up now, or will be soon, on the grand Prix Sailor website:
http://www.sailingworld.com
BTW -- I've already taken Hart Jordan off of my Christmas Card list for not
sending 'Butt a release on this.
OPEN CLASS
In the 1996/7 Vendee Globe Challenge there were three instances when boats
capsized and remained fully inverted with their keels intact. So what were
the factors involved in these last three capsizes? Why did they occur? And
what can be done to help prevent it happening again?
For their length the Open class boats (either Open 60s or Open 50s) are the
most powerful monohulls afloat. The most high tech examples are built
completely in carbon fibre/Nomex sandwich. The lightest, Yves Parlier's
Aquitaine Innovations, is said to weigh just 7 tonnes (compared to 13.5
tonnes for a Whitbread 60) and their acreage of sail is huge - Aquitaine
Innovations flys around 280sqm upwind and 480sqm downwind, compared to
200sqm and 417sqm for the Whitbread 60s.
The hull forms and keel arrangements of the top boats are also very
'powerful' with beams of up to 6m and drafts of up to 4.5m (compared to
5.25 beam and 3.75m draught for a Whitbread 60). In addition to this Open
class boats derive a considerable amount of additional horsepower from
their movable ballast. The Open class has pioneered the use of this - be it
the recent hydraulically-operated canting keels or water that can be pumped
up to large tanks in the boat's beam ends. Again the Open class has allowed
more extreme use of this: the 7 tonne Aquitaine Innovations can have 4
tonnes of water pumped up to weather while a 13.5 tonne Whitbread 60 is
only allowed 2.5 tonnes.
Open 60s are unquestionably more powerful than Whitbread 60s, but this in
itself does not make them more dangerous. They are lighter and therefore
the loads are less than on a Whitbread 60 and considerable work has also
gone into making the deck layout suitable so that they can be handled with
relative ease by one person. However saying this, in Formula One motor
racing, there came a point in their history when the cars became too
powerful, too uncontrollable, too dangerous and so to prevent further
deaths, the organisers behind the sport decided to limit their power. There
is a strong argument that this moment has arrived with the Open classes. --
Yachting World magazine
Full story: http://www.yachtingworld.co.uk/
LOUIS VUITTON CUP SEMIS
If you're looking for close racing, go no further than Race 4 of the Louis
Vuitton Cup semifinals. Fantastic weather conditions returned to the inner
Hauraki Gulf today and produced two excellent match races featuring tacking
duels, lead changes and penalty turns. Revelling in the 10- to 12-knot
winds, today's matches -- AmericaOne vs. Nippon and Prada vs. Le Defi
Bouygues Telecom-Transiciel -- were decided by a total of 41 seconds.
AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard has made a living out of turning slim
margins into big wins, and did so again today with a 23-second victory
against Japan's Nippon Challenge. AmericaOne's third win of the semifinals
moved the team from San Francisco into a tie with idle Team Dennis Conner
for the top spot in the semifinals. Both teams have three points.
In the day's other match, Italy's mighty Prada Challenge returned to the
winners' circle after a two-race losing streak, with its come-from-behind
victory against Le Defi BTT. Prada overcame two penalties and a 14-second
deficit at the second windward mark to keep alive its chances of advancing
to the Louis Vuitton Cup finals. The Italians evened out their record at
2-2, pulling into a tie with Nippon (whom they are scheduled to race
tomorrow), while France remains winless in four races and saddled with a
negative .5 total after being penalised by the international jury last night.
Amid the exciting action on the water, Team Dennis Conner remained backed
into its shed on syndicate row as repairs to the transom scoop continued.
Although AmericaOne pulled even points-wise, Team DC still has an
undefeated record at 3-0. The two teams are slated to square off tomorrow
for the outright lead. -- Quokka Sports website, http://www.americascup.org/
AMERICAONE BEAT ASURA - DELTA 00:23
This was a great match, especially early on. After the traditional dial-up,
Peter Gilmour on Asura (JPN-44) led Paul Cayard's AmericaOne (USA-61) on a
reach away from the Committee Boat. Gilmour broke back for the start line
first to start on the left side, but Cayard hit the line with more speed.
It was a real fight to the top mark with neither boat able to cross clear
ahead. AmericaOne carried a small lead around the weather mark by virtue of
tacking on the layline earlier. On the first run, Gilmour pressed hard, at
times establishing an overlap, but he couldn't close enough and Cayard
still led at the bottom mark. AmericaOne benefited from a small left shift
on the second upwind leg and stretched a little further downwind. The final
circuit was more comfortable for Cayard, who was never really threatened,
although he never pulled more than 30-seconds ahead.
LUNA ROSSA BEAT LE DEFI - DELTA 00:18
Bertrand Pace on Le Defi (FRA-46) and Francesco de Angelis on Luna Rossa
(ITA-45) had an almost even start. Bertrand Pace started on starboard tack
to windward of Luna Rossa. On the first beat Luna Rossa defended the left.
At the top mark the Italians led by 13 seconds. On the first run the French
showed better speed and after a split gybe converged clear ahead, gybing to
windward of Luna Rossa. The Italians then came up from leeward, and clear
astern, creating an overlap with both boats on starboard tack. De Angelis
luffed Pace but he had no rights, and the Umpires assessed a penalty under
rule 17.1 to the Italians for holding the French from gybing for the bottom
mark. Luna Rossa was given a second penalty in accordance with rule C10.3b
because they gained such a big advantage from the first incident. Luna
Rossa had to take one penalty turn immediately allowing Bertrand Pace to
take the lead.
The French defended that lead on the second beat with success. It was still
a very close race, the French defending their lead by 14 seconds at the top
mark. On the next run Luna Rossa did a good job of fighting the French
downwind speed advantage. The Italians stayed close and at the bottom of
the third beat Luna Rossa split to the right of the course. At the next
cross Luna Rossa, with the right of way, was in the lead by half a boat
length, the French suffering from trim tab failure. Torben Grael, Luna
Rossa's tactician, picked the shifts well and with Le Defi damaged, the
Italians showed superior boatspeed. He first defended the right and later
switched to the left side, increasing his lead significantly. Three
quarters of the way up the final beat, Luna Rossa had enough of a lead to
unwind its second penalty turn. On the final run to the finish the French
were unable to really threaten Luna Rossa, despite Bertrand Pace's best
efforts. -- Peter Rusch, Simon Keijzer, Louis Vuitton Cup website,
http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/
INTERNATIONAL JURY -- Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes won the first race of
the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals with a rudder built in Australia, the
International Jury learned at a protest hearing last night.
The Jury convened after Japan's Nippon Challenge lodged a protest alleging
that Stars & Stripes had contravened Article 19 of the America's Cup
Protocol which essentially requires that appendages be constructed in a
challenger's country of origin, or in New Zealand.
Nippon Challenge's Asura, skippered by Peter Gilmour lost the opening match
to Stars & Stripes. The same night, the Jury was told, Conner's shore team
exchanged the offending rudder, which had been installed after the end of
the Third Round Robin, and replaced it with one of American manufacture.
The rudder was built at McConaghy Boats in Sydney Australia, to a design by
Stars & Stripes designers Reichel/Pugh, with materials shipped from
America, the Jury learned. It was originally intended to be used during
Round Robin Three, but it did not arrive in time
Addressing a press conference this afternoon, Bryan Willis, Chairman of the
International Jury said: "We will handle the procedural matters in relation
to whether the protest is valid. If there is a matter to be interpreted, we
would pass that to the Arbitration Panel. I have been informed that they
will act expeditiously in getting a quick answer. All the members happen to
be in town."
Gilmour refused to be drawn on whether he wanted a point for the disputed
race, or whether he wanted it resailed: "We're not sure what will come out
of that," he said. "We really just want to find out what the situation is
going to be. It is up to the Jury themselves to decide what the outcome
will be."
Questions about the changes to Stars & Stripes first emerged a day after
the boat had been remeasured. Afterguard member Peter Isler deftly parried
media questions then by saying: "We knew this question might come up so we
had a couple of flippant answers but the real answer is you have to talk to
DC (Dennis Conner). It's a very subtle change and hopefully it will pay off
in the long run."
The question now before the Arbitration Panel, and ultimately the
International Jury, revolves around Article 19 of the Protocol. It reads:
"Providing a Challenger's yacht arrives in New Zealand with appendages
(including foils, bulbs, canards, etc.) designed by a national and
manufactured in the country of the Challenger, further appendages may be
constructed in New Zealand for that yacht provided they have been designed
by a national of the country of the Challenge." -- Keith Taylor, Louis
Vuitton Cup website, http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/
SEMIFINALS STANDINGS (1 point per win)
3 pts - USA 55 (Stars & Stripes)
3 pts - USA 61 (AmericaOne)
2 pts - JPN 44 (Asura)
2 pt - ITA 45 (Luna Rossa)
1 pts - USA 51 (America True)
-.5 pts - FRA 46 (6eme Sens)
NEXT SCHEDULED RACES:
Prada / Nippon
AmericaOne / Team Dennis Conner
France / America True
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250
words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject,
so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree.
-- From Bill Menninger -- Love the Americas Cup Coverage, as far as the
coverage goes. The photography is great. It's also great to hear the
onboard comments from the sailors. I wish we could hear more. Gary Jobson
could ad a little more color on the match racing rules. For instance, there
was no comment on the leeward mark rounding with Stars and Stripes and the
French. Did the Stars and Stripes force it's way into the mark outside of
two boat lengths on port tack? The issue was never brought up.
I agree with David Voss that the A Cup ads could be an exciting montage of
the actual racing highlights. A little frustrating as the producers cut
away from the racing at critical times.
Something that would be interesting in my view would be to hear from some
of the crewmembers of the boats. Ie. what sort of sacrifice they made to be
there in New Zealand for the last year and a half. Are they bored or
excited? Just how hard are these boats to sail. Where has their sailing
improved, what sailing will they do after the cup, what are the lodgings
like, do they stay together as a team off the water, etc. If they spent a
little time with the crewmembers, they wouldn't have to screw up the
coverage at 2 minutes before the start with a list of the crew names
emblazoned on the screen blocking the most interesting maneuvers of the race
-- From Stacie Straw -- I agree with Dave Voss' comments about ESPN's
promo, it's truly embarrassing! Non-sailing friends of mine have laughed
outright at it. I was inspired by Dave's message and sent ESPN my comments
this morning -- a montage of the Hauraki Gulf carnage -- sails blowing out,
collisions, masts breaking.
-- From Anna Stockel -- Thank you so much for saying something!!! It's
worse than dumb, it's ignorant too. How about showing some of the great
match racing sequences where the boats are smacking each other? There has
been so much great action that there is plenty to chose from.
-- From Alan Trimble -- Two quick notes from the ESPN compound in Auckland:
First, many of us here working hard to deliver our best work cringe when we
see the ads that David Voss mentioned. Big companies often have very
different groups building different things; the team down here builds all
the show elements live - and works very hard on blending the NZ culture and
feel into the racing. Our daily "tease" blending the Maori haka with daily
racing highlights is a three hour project from 5-8pm each race day... for
less than two minutes of air time. The advertisements came from another
group back in the States - and we saw them for the first time after we got
down here to work. There is no connection between how this event is covered
and how it is promoted. Second, we will air a short feature tonight showing
the kids down here, in their P Class boats, crawling all over the Team NZ
ACC boats in an impromptu chance of a lifetime. We sailors in the US should
look at this and think very hard about how we need to change our junior
programs; Team NZ provided complete access to their top secret boats to a
huge crowd of very, very happy young sailors as a spontaneous act of
goodwill on a race day where everyone was floating around with no wind.
-- From Joe Dervin (re 'Do people in Australia call the rest of the world
"up over"?') Yes, they absolutely do. Having traveled to Oz for both
business and pleasure, and having had the good fortune to be able to get
out on a race (or at least an evening sail) on every visit, I count many
friends down there. I communicate with several regularly by e-mail, and
usually begin my messages "Greetings from Up Over".
VENDEE GLOBE 2000
Record breaking, round the world yachtsman, Mike Golding, and 1998 BT/YJA
Yachtswoman Of The Year, Ellen MacArthur, have both confirmed their entries
into the Vendee Globe 2000, single-handed, non-stop, round the world yacht
race, the most extreme yachting challenge known to man. They are up
against top professional skippers such as France's Catherine Chabaud, but
both MacArthur & Golding are favourites to win.
The first Vendee Globe was in 1989/90. Since then the race, held every four
years, has been dominated by French yachtsman and yachtswomen. On 5th
November 2000, in Les Sables D'Olonne, France, twenty of the world's top
professional skippers from 6 different countries will set sail,
singlehanded, to race non-stop, around the world, attempting to beat
Christopher Auguin's existing record of 105 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes set
in 1996/97.
Mike Golding, 39, has a sailing career spanning more than 20 years. In
1993/4 he beat Sir Chay Blyths solo, non-stop, circumnavigation record by
125 days, setting a new and still existing world record of 161 days. In
1996/7, as skipper of Group 4 in the BT Global Challenge round the world
race, Golding and his crew won five out of the six legs and took the
Princess Royal Trophy for winning the race overall.
Golding will compete in the Vendee Globe 2000 on board Team Group 4, a
state-of-the-art Open 60', designed by Groupe Finot and built of pre-preg
carbon and Nomex sandwich by JMV Industries in Cherbourg. Most recently in
October 1999, with co-skipper Ed Danby, Golding competed in the
Transat-Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre to Cartagena, Columbia finishing
in third place overall and beating the existing record by over four hours.
Ellen MacArthur, 23 year old, 1998 BT/YJA Yachtsman of the Year, will be
the youngest and only British female entering the Vendee Globe with her
Kingfisher Challenge 2000 campaign. Her yacht, the principal designers of
which are the Owen Clarke Design Group, will be the last and most awaited
Open 60 footer to be built for the Vendee. Named 'Kingfisher', Ellen's Open
60' is currently under completion at Marten Marine in Auckland, New
Zealand, and due for launch in the Spring.
Ellen shot to fame when she won her class in the 1998 Route du Rhum
transatlantic race in an Open 50' monohull 'Kingfisher', the same boat
raced by Pete Goss in the 1996/7 Vendee Globe. Honoured in France and in
the UK as 1998 BT/YJA Yachtsman of the Year, in 1999 Ellen won the Round
Europe race with French solo professional Yves Parlier, and competed in the
Fastnet, Laser 4000 Eurocup and Transat Jacques Vabre. -- Mark Turner
Websites: http://www.kingfisherchallenges.com or
http://www.offshorechallenges.com
BOTY
Newport (R.I.) January 6, 2000 - On Wednesday, January 19, the winners of
the 2000 Boat of the Year (BOTY) Awards--the "Academy Awards" of sailboat
design and construction, presented annually by Sailing World and Cruising
World magazines--will be revealed at an evening gala at the Ocean Life
Center at Historic Gardner's Bay (Atlantic City, N.J.). For the first time,
a website splash will simultaneously announce the BOTY Award winners. The
2000 BOTY presentation takes place on the eve of the opening of Sail Expo,
an all-sail boat show held January 20-23 at the Atlantic City Convention
Center.
Beginning last fall, an independent panel of experts conducted a rigorous
round of sea-trials and dockside inspections to select the standout designs
launched this year. Candidates ranged from 12 to 55 feet in overall length.
On January 19, the 2000 Cruising World Overall Cruising Boat of the Year
and the 2000 Sailing World Overall Performance Boat of the Year will be
revealed to gala attendees and website visitors. Eleven other designs will
also be recognized as the best of the year.
To follow the awards announcements via the web, visit
http://www.sailingworld.com or http://www.cruisingworld.com on Wednesday,
January 19, beginning at 8 PM. -- Cynthia Goss
RACE INSIGHT
Mark Rudiger, winning navigator in the 1997-1998 Whitbread Round the World
Race, will share his racing experiences as they happen during the upcoming
3545 mile from Capetown, South Africa to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil ocean race.
The start is scheduled for January 8th, with Mark calling into his
TeamRudiger website every day as he navigates onboard the 75-foot sailing
yacht 'Zephyrus IV'.
Reporting while racing across oceans has become Mark's trademark, telling
it like it is, whether he is winning or losing. During last summer's Los
Angeles to Honolulu Transpac race there were over 2500 TeamRudiger website
accesses daily, with viewers listening to Mark explain why they had lost
the lead and how they were battling back.
Mark and TeamRudiger have been tuning up their website for visitor
enjoyment, not only for the audio reports, but also as the online
headquarters for Mark's official challenge in the next Volvo Ocean Race
Round the World (formally the Whitbread). To follow Mark on the 'Zephyrus
IV: http://www.teamrudiger.com
Official race website: http://www.capetorio.com
QUOATE / UNQUOTE
Peter Gilmour, skipper of Asura, on AmericaOne's starting abilities:
"AmericaOne, we have noticed, has a very good style in the pre-start and
they can accelerate very easily from a slow speed up to full speed very
quickly. That's the nature of their boat."
Francesco de Angelis, on the advantages of onboard Umpires: "I believe in
some situations they can help. At least you know what the Umpires are
thinking. So, you can play in the most conservative way. Also sometimes,
the situations happen so quickly that it also takes time to receive the
point of view from the Umpire on the boat. And maybe the time you have to
make a different choice is already gone."
Bryan Willis, on Umpire review sessions: "After every day's racing the
Umpires come in and prepare a computer program which describes all the
interesting incidents of the day and then we invite all the representatives
of all the challengers and the defenders to come and attend that debrief
when we run through those scenarios and we answer questions, and so on. The
defender's representatives have been there since the beginning of Round
Robin One. Part of that agreement is that when we umpire the defender
races, albeit practise races, that we will do the same thing, we will put
the scenarios up and both challengers and defender will be debriefed in the
same way."
More quotes on the Louis Vuitton Cup website: http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/
FITTING TRIBUTE
Here's a website that pays fitting tribute to Laser Great Grand Master
Peter Milnes who passed away last July:
http://www.roostergraphics.com/drlaser/indexPM.html
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUMS
Why do they lock gas station restrooms? Are they afraid someone might clean
them?
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