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SCUTTLEBUTT 1902 - August 15, 2005
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LITTLE GUY
Jean-Yves Chateau and his six crew on his Nicholson 33 Iromiguy -- one of
the smallest yachts in the fleet -- has won the Rolex Fastnet Race on
handicap. For a race traditionally dominated by big boats, Iromiguy's
victory is a dream come true, proof that just occasionally the Corinthian
weekend enthusiast can prevail in an unremarkable boat. What is remarkable
is that you have to go back 30 years, to 1975, for the last time that a
yacht less than 40 feet long won this offshore classic. And the boat that
won it then was Golden Delicious, a Nicholson 33, the very same design as
Iromiguy. This is Chateau's fourth Rolex Fastnet Race. In the previous race
two years ago, he came second in his class.
For a while it looked as though the 98-foot ICAP Maximus would win the race
on IRC handicap, but she still takes home the trophy for line honours and
Class Super Zero, where she beat the TP52 Patches by over four hours on
handicap. In Class Zero, Robert Boulter's Mills 37, Thunder 2, beat Steven
Blom's Grand Soleil 45 Satori by an hour and a half.. The IRM overall
winner was Nick and Annie Haigh's Farr 40 Too Steamy,
Full Results: www.rorc.org
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
Skovshoved, Denmark (Aug. 14, 2005) -- To the delight of the home crowd,
local hero Jesper Bank won his first career Swedish Match Tour event when
he captured the 9th annual Danish Open. Bank and crew Henrik Blaksjaer,
Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl and Jan Schoepe of United Internet Team
Germany, defeated Gavin Brady (NZL), BMW Oracle Racing, to win the
championship, but they didn't do it in the final. Bank relied on the
fortune of his undefeated first day and a head-to-head victory over Brady
in Flight 1, Match 3 last Thursday to secure the championship. The first to
3 points series ended in a 2-2 tie when the fifth and final flight was
abandoned due to lack of wind and the 4:00 p.m. time limit. Bank's first
win on the Swedish Match Tour earned him DKK DKK112,500 (approximately
$18,600) of the DKK375,000 (approx. $62,000) prize purse. -- Sean McNeill,
www.swedishmatchtour.com
Danish Open Final Standings
1. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 13-7, (approx. $18,600)
2. Gavin Brady (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 12-8, (approx. $12,400)
3. Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 13-6, (approx. $9,300)
4. Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 11-8, (approx. $7,400)
5. Henrik Jensen (DEN) Team Jensen, 9-4, (approx. $5,500)
6. Lars Nordbjaerg (DEN) Team Nordbjaerg, 7-6, (approx. $3,700)
7. Jesper Radich (DEN) Desafío Español, 6-7, (approx. $2,700)
8. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge, 6-7, (approx. $2,100)
9. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 4-7
10. Chris Law (GBR) Team Shosholoza, 4-7
11. Pierre Mas (FRA) China Team, 2-9
12. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia, 0-11
(*USD amounts based on 8/14/05 exchange rate of 1 DKK = 0.166669USD)
Swedish Match Tour Leaderboard (After 2 of 9 stages)
1. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 25 points
T. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 25 points
3. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 20 points
T. Gavin Brady (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 20 points
5. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 15 points
T. Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 15 points
7. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Gram-Hansen Racing, 12 points
T. Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 12 points
DIFFERENT SAILING COMBINATIONS
Team New Zealand will try out some different sailing combinations but are
still looking for results in the next phase of America's Cup pre-regattas
starting in Sweden in 13 days. With the regattas now counting towards the
2007 challenger series, Team NZ are the top ranked challenger after the
opening two-race series in Valencia in June. With work having already begun
on the syndicate's first new boat, Team NZ's attention in this year's
remaining four regattas turns to crew development. The afterguard will
remain the same in Sweden - Dean Barker will helm, Terry Hutchinson calls
tactics, Kevin Hall navigates and Adam Beashel and Ray Davies will be
strategists.
Syndicate boss Grant Dalton said changes would be made in other positions.
"In my mind I am not settled on the rest of the boat at all and frankly we
shouldn't be," he said. "If someone gets injured we have to be able to
switch guys and we have to give them match time so we can switch them.
"Although we are focused on results, we have also got to be focused on
2007." Sloppy crew work has never been an issue with the new-look Team NZ,
although Dalton admits they have never really been under pressure,
especially at a mark rounding. "It is not so much about crew work. For me
it is probably more about afterguard development and the trimming of the
boat and learning to mode the boat." -- NZPA, Full story:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3376023a1823,00.html
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THE CHAMPIONS
* Split, Croatia -- American Paige Railey sailed an impressive
1-1-2-1-1-2-4 series to dominate the Women's Division of the Laser Radial
European Championship -- scoring a 14 point win over Sarah Steyaert (FRA).
Finland's Sari Multala took third with the USA's Anna Tunnicliffe finishing
in eighth place in this 42-boat championship. -- http://www.euroradial2005.com/
* Ben Ainslie was simply overpowered the 73 Finns gathered for the Finn
European Championship in Kalmar, Sweden. Ainslie won the first five of the
seven races and used a four as a discard to score a 25-point win over New
Zealand's Dan Slater. Gasper Vincec (SLO) took third place, two points
further back. The USA's Zach Railey was the second place junior, finishing
16th overall. The sailors will meet again in Moscow in 3 weeks for the Finn
Gold Cup. -- www.eurofinn2005.org
* With victory assured, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR) sat out the
last race of the Ringhals Star European Championship in Varberg, Sweden
while the class world champion Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA)
dueled for the second spot on the podium with former world champion
Frederik Loof and Anders Ekstrom. Loof/ Ekstrom won that duel to take
second place, five points ahead of the Rohart/ Rambeau, while class
newcomer Mark Mendelblatt sailing with Mark Strube (USA) finished fourth in
the 67-boat fleet. -- http://www.vss.org.se/em/res/seriesstanding.html
* Twenty three teams from Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Florida
& Oklahoma made the journey to the Gorge for the Santana 20 National
Championship. After 7 race series (with one throw out) in 8 and 28 knots of
breeze, the defending National Champions - Bruce Golison, Steve Washburn,
Stevie Washburn & Anika Olsen on Mini Me won the championships on a tie
breaker with four time national champions Chris Winnard, Andrew Kerr and
Bill Ramacciotti on Disaster Area. The Sea Bear team -- Lance Purdy,
Patricia Purdy & Jay Majors -- were just one point behind in third place.
-- http://www.s20.org
* Newport Beach, Calif. (August 14, 2005) - After three days of exciting
races and hard-fought competition, US Sailing has crowned the nation's
junior sailing champions in single-, double- and triplehanded events of
2005. The winners have been named to US Sailing's U.S. Youth Sailing Team:
- U.S. Junior Singlehanded Champion: Cameron Cullman (Rye, N.Y.),
representing American YC
- U.S. Junior Doublehanded Champions: Cole Hatton/Blair Belling (both from
Newport Harbor, Calif.), representing Newport Harbor Yacht Club
- U.S. Junior Triplehanded Champions: Ted Hale, Evan Aras, and Joe Morris
from Annapolis Yacht Club, Md. -- www.ussailing.org
* Barrington, Rhode Island, USA -- Sailors from four different continents
finished in the top ten the Laser 4.7 worlds where 25% of the skippers in
the 46-boat fleet were females. Joaquin Blanco Albalat from Spain emerged
as the World Champion with a ten point lead in the ten race series (two
discards) over Adam Simms (GBR). Dany Stanisic (SLO) took the third spot on
the podium and fifth place Stephanie Roble (USA) was the top female as well
as top North American. http://www.barringtonyc.com/2005laser4.7worlds.htm
* Chris Draper/ Simon Hiscocks (GBR) bested Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding
(USA) in the super-final sail-off for the top ten crews to win the 86-boat
Schenker 49er European Championships in Vallensbæk, Denmark. Third place
went to Peter Hansen/ Søren Hansen (DEN) ahead of Jan Peter Peckolt/ Hannes
Peckolt (GER) and Iker Martinez/ Xabier Fernandez(ESP) who took fifth.
http://tinyurl.com/8ybka
* Cartagena City, Murcia, Spain -- Brazil's Olympic Gold Medallist Robert
Scheidt dominated the Laser European Championship with a string of
consecutive single-digit finishes that provided him with a 15 point cushion
over Great Britain's Paul Goodison, who as a European, was awarded the
European Championship. Mate Arapov (CRO) took third place in the event.
Canada's Bernard Luttmer was the top North American in 19th spot, while the
USA's Andrew Campbell took 28th in the 65-boat fleet. --
http://www.rcrct.net/~laser2005/
* Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (ESP) sailed to a convincing victory in
the Tornado European Championship in Västervik, Sweden to complete a
fantastic year for the Spanish pair. Back in June they claimed the World
title and rose to the top of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings and Saturday
they completed their fourth victory of the year, beating Olympic Champions
Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher (AUT) by an impressive 16 points.
The USA's John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree finished the 60-boat
championship in sixth place. -- http://www.multihullsweden.com/results.htm
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WORLD LEADER
Great Britain's status as the world leader in Olympic sailing, which goes
back to before the Sydney Games of 2000, has been underlined over the past
seven days with British winners in no fewer than four European
Championships. First Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell ran away with the Star
Europeans at Varberg in Sweden, winning with a race to spare, then Paul
Goodison took the same title in Lasers in Cartagena, Spain.
Then, on Saturday, it was the turn of Ben Ainslie to hammer into submission
the Finn class in Kalmar, Sweden, while Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks
became the 49er European champions in Copenhagen yesterday after winning
the super-final sail-off for the top ten crews. These victories follow a
European title this summer for the Olympic silver medal-winners in the 470
class, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, giving Team GBR five European titles
in one summer. -- Edward Gorman, The Times, full story:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4-1735680,00.html
NEWS BRIEFS
* ISAF are about to issue those athletes in the ISAF Registered Testing
Pool who have not completed their Sailor Location Form with a Second Formal
Warning, which if not responded to could lead to an Anti-Doping violation.
The top thirty crews (helm and crew) in each of the eleven Olympic events,
as detailed in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings released on 1 June 2005, are
in the ISAF Registered Testing Pool. This pool of 529 sailors are liable to
out-of-competition testing and are required to submit Sailor Location Forms
to the ISAF Secretariat detailing their whereabouts. --
http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6lFh5~q?
* Farr Yacht Design has formed a new company - Farr Yacht Sales, LLC. - to
focus on the sales, marketing and brokerage of performance racing and
cruising yachts. This new entity will seek to expand contacts with existing
and new customers, while Farr Yacht Design can remain focused on the design
and engineering of the fastest performance yachts in the world. Heading up
the brokerage will be Bill O'Malley, a long time member of the performance
sailing industry with 22 years of race boat experience as a member of sail
making teams. - www.farryachtsales.com
* The New York 30 'Carlita,' hull #8 of the original 18, is available for
sale. Built by Herreshoff one hundred years ago, she is more than halfway
through a keel-up restoration. This vessel is the closest to re-launch of
the remaining hulls, ready to join her seven sisters now gracing the
waters. This is a significant piece of America's maritime heritage. Serious
offers for purchase will be considered. Please direct queries to
mailto:ny30@nomenon.com
* This year the California YCs King of Spain Regatta served as a warm-up
for the Star North America Championship which begins at the same venue on
Wednesday. John Dane III began the last race tied with Mark Reynolds, and
was able to hold off the former Star World Champion in that race to finish
fourth - just in front of Reynolds, to win this regatta. Eric Lidecis
captured third place ahead of Iain Murray (4th) and Eric Doyle (5th) in the
five race event that was sailed in 7-15 knots of breeze. --
http://calyachtclub.com/cms/RaceResults/Series150.htm
* The World Sailing Speed Council has ratified the Performance Certificate
of Olivier de Kersauson's passage from Sydney to Tahiti (Papeete) of 13
days, 08 hrs, 25 mins, 56 secs aboard the trimaran, Geronimo. The average
speed for the passage was 10.29 knots.
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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 neither 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. And please save your bashing,
whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.)
* From Tommy Mercer: I would like to take this time to send my condolences
to Lise and all the Merryfield family. I new John and Kim in the early
eighties and was always amazed how far ahead John was in the boat building
business. Hiss knowledge was so superior to others and would always take
the time to chat with you know matter who you were. I meant John at Newport
offshore when I was on Kialoa and was always helpful in answering questions
of boat building. John will be greatly missed and his legacy will continue
as being a great boat builder. My Dearest Condolences to Lise and the family.
* From: Tyler Carder: I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of John
Merrifield, who was so movingly remembered by Kim Roberts in Scuttlebutt
1901. I first met John during the construction of the Peterson 50 Artemis
at Newport Offshore in the early '80s; and I was running Blue Yankee
(Judel-Vrolijk 43) in 1988 when Merrifield-Roberts undertook a fairly major
rebuild/new keel addition to the boat. Blue Yankee shared the shop floor
with a gigantic sculpture by Klaus Oldenberg called "Spoonbridge And
Cherry" that are now on display at the Walker Art Museum Sculpture Garden
in Minneapolis. John would have to switch from the problems inherent in
designing and building our new web-frame, to figuring out how to get a huge
cherry to balance in an enormous spoon! But both projects turned out
beautifully...
John was always a pleasure to work with. Despite being severely tested at
times, his patience with demanding owners and pesky BNs generally remained
intact; and when problems arose, he was quick to find a solution. And as
Kim noted, John loved his golden retreivers! John Merrifield won a lot of
people a lot of trophies, thanks to the great work he did, the great boats
he built. He was a class act, a real gentleman, and sailing has lost a true
innovator..
* From Blue Robinson, Sydney: I never met John Merrifield, but he sounded a
hell of a bloke. Well done Kim Roberts to write such an excellent piece as
a tribute (scuttlebutt 1901) to a man who knew his stuff, and made things
happen. Good on ya.
* From: Scott Kaufman (Re: Scuttlebutt # 1899 and interview with Carl
Eichenlaub, US Sailing Team Shipwright0; Carl mentions Dirk Knuelman, the
Canadian team shipwright and indeed a very skilled and technically advanced
shipwright operating some years before Carl. In the 1968 Mexico Olympics (
sailing in Acapulco) the Australian 5.5 meter was struck by a landing craft
early one morning at the dock and began to sink. After the jury gave
permission to haul the boat ( not a minute too soon). Dirk showed up with
his assistant and a variety of hi- tech material and asked if we needed any
help. The port bow was stoved in midway between the sheer and waterline
with five or six frames broken.
Carl levered it back into approximate position supported by some wooden
props. He then covered the damaged area with fiberglass and a resin mix so
hot I'm surprised the boat didn't catch on fire. Sanding and fairing with
micro baloons soon produced a reasonably smooth surface. The boat was
re-launched and towed out to the starting area able to race that day. His
three or four hours of work lasted the remainder of the series without us
even having to use the pump and I think we finished 6th overall.
* From Rex Riley (edited to our 250-word limit): John Sweeney writes,
"While it's simple to say that there can be no exception to rendering
assistance to someone in need, there are some points that are worth
discussion. " With all due respect to the admiral value in reasoned
judgment any discussion that pretends to trade on human intellect over the
value of human Life is false reasoning which breeds poor judgment and lost
Lives.
All rescues by definition are chaotic events with random outcomes. They
defy prediction, reason, logic and expectations. Not all rescues I've
participated have been happy. The worst are sailor's not in harm's way
deciding the fate of those who are. At the point that you decide "not to
render assistance", you are playing both God and Idiot, at the same
instant. I've seen hubris and decadence when those decisions were happy
outcomes. And I've seen hubris and decadence when those outcomes were not.
Why people, who could have helped but did not, feel vindicated in the face
of the loss of a life, is a question without answer.
Safety review of 'fatals' show they should not have died. The endless list
of those who died because someone stopped to think first, instead of act
cost them their lives. Experienced sailors know the Sea does not respect
human judgment, safety equipment or seasoned experience. No exceptions
isn't science, but if you want to try to save lives, it beats review
hearings, funerals and sometimes the odds.
* From Bruce Thompson: I agree with Gary Wood that "Man Overboard" is the
traditional and most familiar term, therefore it should be the preferred
term of art. But the U. S. Coast Guard might disagree. When I made a
distress call reporting a MOB, Coast Guard Calumet City responded with a
question about my "PIW". Evidently this means "Person In the Water". It was
confusing and in an emergency seconds can make the difference. I'd support
the triumph of tradition over political correctness, simply for the sake of
clarity.
* From Geoff Phillips (Re Tack or Cross - Brad Read): A very good summary
of the tactical options. It's important to clearly designate who on your
boat is going to communicate with boats on port tack. Most skippers will
have experienced an over-eager crew member yelling "Starboard" when the
last thing one wants is a lee bow situation.
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
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