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SCUTTLEBUTT #201 -- October 14, 1998AMERICA'S CUPSouthampton, United Kingdom -- The International Sailing Federation, met with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club along with their respective organizing authorities for the America's Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup in Southampton today. Major progress was made with regards to the payments to be made to ISAF with respect to the event and ISAF's involvement in it. The process is near completion and the organizations expect to finalize arrangements by early November 1998. "The neg otiations were tough but productive, as you would expect", said ISAF President, Paul Henderson. "We look forward to completing them in short order and then towards a very successful event in New Zealand." THE CURMUDGEON GOES SAILING On Monday the curmudgeon went sailing on the new 1D35 with Southern California dealer Chris Busch and others. Designed by Nelson/Marek, and built by Carroll Marine, this is a very slick, high quality package. In fact, it's a pretty amazing little sailboat. Actually, it's only "little" when you go down below. The cockpit is HUGE and incredibly user friendly. I have no idea who laid out the deck plan, but it's PERFECT. Perhaps I've sailed on too many racer/cruisers lately to realize how slick the deck layouts are on "real" race boats. All the control lines are buried neatly under the deck and exit exactly where you want themwith just the right amount of purchase. The boat only weighs 6550 pounds and has plenty of sail area. The mainsail has a ton of roach made possible because the boat does not have a permanent backstay. It doesn't even have running backstays. Dramatically swept-back spreaders hold up the carbon-fiber fractional rig. When you want to flatten the headsail or bend the mast, just pump up the hydraulics connected to the head stay. It works great. Like so many of the new one-design keelboats, the headsails have only small overlaps -- 110 percent of the "J" measurement. Although we probably had 16 knots of breeze on Monday, it felt like the boat would do just fine in light air. Happily, the high freeboard kept the water off the deck so the boat was surprisingly dry. Easy to sail? You bet. The curmudgeon steered the boat upwind and downwind--both were a delight. Outside the Long Beach breakwater flying the standard oversized kite, the knotmeter jumped easily and frequently to 11+ knots with fingertip control. Great fun! I also trimmed both the main and kite--an easy chore, even for a senior citizen. The huge cockpit and enlightened deck layout seems to makes every job on the boat very comfortable. The 1D35 makes little concession to cruising or long distance racing. The galley is considerably smaller than the one I had on my Cal 25 a quarter of a century ago. And while there is no hint of a chart table, there are four nice fixed berths and an option for two pipe berths -- certainly adequate for an overnight race or a weekend at the islandbut that's not what this boat is really about. PHRF rates the boat somewhere in the mid-30s but that too is not what this boat is about. The 1D35 has a solid set of class rules that specifies on the very first line, "The helmsman shall be a Group 1 sailor as defined by Appendix R" And if the helmsman is also the owner, only half of his or her weight is counted towards the 1400-pound crew weight limitation. The base boat list price is $139,995 but by the time you get a trailer, a full inventory of Ullman Sails, a quality electronics package and sexy graphics, you'll probably spend something like $185,000 plus tax and tip. I understand that 30 1D35s have been sold already -- five of which will soon be heading to California. And I'm sure that's not the end of the story For more information: http://www.1d35.com MATCH RACING Where will six of the world's top ten ranked skippers, representatives from seven America's Cup teams, a harbor full of past and future Olympians, the winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, and the world's top ranked woman be beginning this Saturday? The answer is that this amazing group of sailing's top talent will be on the island of Bermuda to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Gold Cup. And what better way to celebrate the 50th running of the oldest match racing regatta in one design boats than to compete for the 1998 championship and $60,000 in cash prizes? One of the most sailor-appreciated innovations is the creation of the 24 team field, in which eight skippers are seeded, leaving 16 teams to be split into two groups which compete in round robin races. The top four teams in each group advance into the championship rounds against the eight seeded skippers. This years seeded skippers are: Peter Gilmour (Australia, ranked #1, representing Nippon America's Cup Challenge), Chris Law (Great Britain, #2), Peter Holmberg (U.S. Virgin Islands, #3, Team Caribbean), Gavin Brady (New Zealand, #4), Russell Coutts (New Zealand, #6, Team New Zealand), Markus Wieser (Germany, #8), Neville Wittey (Australia, #14), and John Cutler (New Zealand, #428, America True). Among the non-seeded skippers are: Paula Lewin of Bermuda, ranked number 1 in the women's rankings and number 19 on the combined world rankings; Paul Cayard, winner of the recent Whitbread and skipper of the AmericaOne America's Cup Challenge; Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Italy's Prada Challenge; James Spithill of Australia representing his country's America's Cup Challenge; and three highly ranked British skippers in Andy Beadsworth (#32), Ian Williams (#33), and Andy Green (#36). Besides Coutts, two other sailors from Team New Zealand will be heading teams in the Gold Cup: Dean Barker (#39) and Murray Jones (#46). Rounding out the non-seeded skippers are: Bermuda's Peter Bromby and Glenn Astwood, Marten Hedlund of Sweden, Canadian Peter Hall, and three U.S. sailors in David Whelan, Glen Foster, and Bill Buckles. Representing Bermuda's Team Black Seal are Lewin and Astwood. Round Robin racing begins this Sunday, October 17 in International One Design yachts, the boat used in all but five of the previous Gold Cups. The Qualifying Series is expected to end Monday evening or Tuesday morning, leading into the Bermuda Commercial Bank Challenge. With $5,000 on the line, this series of races provides the seeded skippers an opportunity to be involved in competition before the Championship Rounds begin on Wednesday. -- Paul Larsen Event website: http://www.sailing.org/goldcup
STITCHLESS TECHNOLOGY
--Reduced seam distortion
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON >> From Frank Gleberman, Staff Commodore, California Yacht Club -- Kudo's to you, Tom, on your 200th Scuttlebutt, a memorable milestone. Butt beats the Wall Street Journal into my noggin over breakfast and is a delightful lifeline when traveling 'round the world away from home waters. >> From Mike Guccione-- Congratulations on number two hundred. You have created something of real value to the racing community. Curmudgeon's comments: I gotten a lot of other nice notes for friends -- both new and old -- about 'Butt #200. It's hard to believe I've been doing this for just over a year. The first issue was distributed to probably less than two dozen friends on September 29, 1997. Today's issue will be emailed to 579 people on the initial distribution, and Lord only knows how many get it second or third handor read it off one the three websites that carry 'Butt each day. It's been fun. >> From Frank Whitton -- (Response to Paul Henderson in Scuttlebutt #199) I regretfully say that I have dissatisfaction with the IMS Rule. As a West Coast "unqualified" measurer of 25 years, I participated in field testing the "MHS" system 22 years ago when the IMS machine was a bench test model designed and built by MIT graduate students. Unfortunately, that same bench test system is what is used today to measure multimillion-dollar boats in the US for IMS. The man-machine interface is the single biggest contributor to error in the data in that all measurers are forced to adapt what is given us to make it "User" friendly. Another dissatisfaction I have I will put forth to you in the form of a question based on the dilemma I was faced with as a race committee official in MEXORC. Why does the Yacht Zephyrus, a 74 ft. Reichel/Pugh turbo sled, GET 22 seconds a mile from Pyewacket a 68 ft. Lee turbo sled, in an 8 kt breeze windward/ leeward course? I asked this same question to US Sailing, Greg Stewart (IMS) Committee), Peter Reichelsdorfer (IMS Committee Chairman), and John Reichel. My words here are not to attack, but to put on the table a valid issue that needs to be addressed for the purpose of acceptability to gain confidence by the end users -- the boat owners. Confidence and perceived fairness or the lack thereof is what killed IOR, and is the single biggest reason for the retardation of popularity of the IMS Rule. When we can gain their confidence in a measurement system we will all be winners. MISTRAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Brest, France -- Defending world champion Aaron McIntosh showed the world what he could do today by running away with Race 5 and Race 6 in Day 3 of the 1998 Mistral Boardsailing World Championships, ending up 1st overall at the halfway mark, up from 7th. McIntosh just sailed away with from rest of the fleet, demonstrating the sort of sailing that earned his current world championship crown. Barbara Kendall shrugged off injury worries to score 3rd and 2nd in her two races, maintaining her lead over the womens fleet with a healthy 9 point lead over 2nd place Olympic gold medallist Lee Lai Shan (HKG). Weather conditions have not improved in Brittany with pouring with rain for the whole of the days racing, with visibility down to 200 metres by the end of the day. There will no further racing until Thursday, October 15. -- Yachting New Zealand
RESULTS / WOMEN -- 1 discard: It's still three months away (January 17-22), but website for the GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week is already alive with activity. There are already a bunch of boats posted on the entry list, and there is a similarly sized list of people looking for a ride. It's a very complete website -- they even have a link to Scuttlebutt. Check it out: http://www.yachtingnet.com/calendar/race-week99/ NATIONS TROPHY Record-breaking sailor Cam Lewis announced today that the International Professional Circuit for Sailing Champions has invited him and his crew to represent the United States of America in THE NATIONS TROPHY, a sporting spectacle of sailing stars, on October 14-18, 1998, in the Water Sports Stadium of Cadiz, Spain. Each team will race identical 25-foot catamarans designed exclusively for use in THE NATIONS TROPHY.. Seven nations will be represented by world-famous champions, including the American team -- Rolex Yachtsman of the Year (1993) Cam Lewis, Sailing World magazine Multihull Sailor of the Year (1991) Pete Melvin, and Olympic Silver Medalist Jay Glaser. -- Keith Taylor MORE AMERICA'S CUP STUFF (The following is an excerpt from New Zealand's DEFENCE 2000 - ISSUE NO. 73) Prada Challenge (Italy) have signed with Heritage Auckland Hotel (formerly the Farmers Trading Company's department store) for accommodation and facilities for their team headquarters. A multi-million dollar investment for the Italians. The almost completed refurbished building in downtown Auckland is only 800 metres from the Cup Village - a downhill walk in the morning and an uphill trek in the evening after a day on the Hauraki Gulf. Aldo Tomasina, Prada's general manager is already in residence. Prada is committed to a variety of units, from studios to two bedroom apartments as well as leasing the old Farmers dining room as a function area. They are to set up a gym on the ground floor. This signing is a major boost to the Heritage project. But the most popular area for team headquarters has been identified as Ponsonby which is just 1.5 kilometres from the Village. We are aware of several syndicates that are in the process of securing team headquarters and apartments in this trendy Auckland suburb. The Virgin Islands syndicate have a make or break fund raising plan that may resolve their precarious financial position. So if you are invited to the New York home of famed author George Plimpton on Thursday, don't come without your cheque book. The guest list reads like a Who's Who in business, sports and entertainment. "Our financial situation will be simply stated," said Steve Morton, vice-president of marketing for Team Caribbean. "We need to raise between $5 and $10 million to complete our design work, build and equip what we believe will be a very competitive boat, set up our New Zealand compound, and house and feed our personnel. This fund raiser is an important step towards meeting our goal." Track Marketing, the New York event and sports marketing firm has been presenting the Team Caribbean program to corporate decision makers. "The response to date has been positive," said Morton. "They've only been working with us for about six weeks, but they've covered a lot of territory in that time. Our program has been received well, but when you're talking this kind of money, the process is a long one." -- John Roake AROUND ALONE Weather -- Tradewinds on the increase for the back half of the fleet. Leaders in Class II are moving through scattered showers and isolated squalls associated with the Doldrums. The leaders in Class I are moving into the SE tradewinds of the Southern Hemisphere.
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