SCUTTLEBUTT No. 716 - December 22, 2000
AMERICA'S CUP
Olympic gold medallist Jesper Bank has changed tack and decided to venture
into the cut-throat world of the America's Cup. Denmark's sailing superstar
yesterday signed up with the Swedish Victory Challenge to sail in Auckland
for the 2003 Cup.
Bank, the world Soling matchrace champion and gold medallist at the Sydney
Olympics, was initially not interested in the Cup. "What made me change my
mind and join Victory Challenge is that it's not all about committing
myself to sailing," he said. "I'm also going to be part of the management
group for the syndicate and I will be able to influence the design of the
boat, and the recruits. It will be just as interesting for me if I'm
skipper, helmsman or tactician."
At this stage, Bank has no idea which he will be. The task of steering the
boat is up for grabs between himself, campaign manager Mats Johansson and
top Swedish matchracer Magnus Holmberg.
Bank was also impressed by the syndicate's healthy bank balance. "I would
not have agreed to this either if it were a financially uncertain project,"
he said. "The financing has been secured very satisfactorily, in a way that
almost no other syndicate can claim."
The Swedes, who are training in the former Team New Zealand boat NZL38,
have yet to officially enter the Cup. - Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald
Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/
TEAM PHILIPS
A business jet from Dutch electrical giant Philips took Pete Goss and other
key members of his team and sponsors to locate the 120ft catamaran
abandoned in the North Atlantic 12 days ago. Team Philips has been located
and Goss will make a statement Friday morning.
The giant multihull's condition is not known but, conspicuously, Goss did
not land last night and announced breezily: "She's OK - tell you more
tomorrow." Instead, a statement was drafted on the return leg of the flight
some 650 miles out over the Atlantic, to a position level with Northern
Ireland.
This could amount to no more than legitimate caution on the part of Team
Philips' sponsors and a desire to release information in an orderly
fashion. Interest in the boat remains high.
Team Philips' transponder stopped 'pinging' at 20.48 GMT on Monday, by
which time it had drifted some 160 miles to the NNE. There could be many
reasons why the boat went off air, among them a capsize or washing away of
her big satcom C dome resulting from the battering she's endured from big
seas and winds up to Force 11. Other explanations could be a more
straightforward loss of power or even someone boarding her.
Goss's team know from the satcom service provider Inmarsat that they are
the only ones to have been remotely polling the satcom, making it
substantially harder for anyone else to have found the boat. Public support
for a project which has failed in the three times she went to sea remains
overwhelming. Such is the desire to see this ambitious project succeed that
Goss has set up a separate account to cope with donations to the salvage
fund. - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK, http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot
December 21 - As the Southern Ocean string of low pressure systems roll in
one after the other, albeit with varying intensity, the Vendee Globe fleet
is pressing through each system with only a short respite in between.
Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) in leading position, was just on the brink of the
depression ahead of him early this morning and thus uniquely able to
benefit from the winds generated by this system to maintain normal boat
speeds for a longer period of time. His closest rival, Roland Jourdain
(Sill Matines La Potagere), on the other hand, had been held up in the
following anticyclonic dorsal. The most recent positions, however, confirm
Desjoyeaux's prediction, "I'll get held up in it this afternoon or
tonight", as he is now clocking under 10 knots of boat speed.
It's clear to see that the chasing boats, lead by Thomas Coville (Sodebo),
are benefiting from the effects of the next depression already. Ellen Mac
Arthur (Kingfisher) and Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) are outperforming
Coville by 4 - 5 knots, which should soon diminish yet again the gaps
between each boat, following the regular concertina pattern. Yves Parlier
(Aquitaine Innovations) has increased the sail area on his jury rig. He
reached 8.6 knots early this morning.
By tomorrow, the top five boats are expected to have passed the longitude
of the legendary Cap Leeuwin, in the South West of Australia. As they near
the half way mark (another 1000 miles to go), the average pace in this
Vendee Globe seems to be on a par with the 1996 edition. Michel Desjoyeaux
in fact holds only 40 miles advance on the mileage of Christophe Auguin at
the same point in time. Despite witnessing certain unbelievable averages,
the overall pace this year remains the same. As the new generation boats
are now capable of higher average speeds, the reason can be put down to the
weather conditions. - http://www.vendeeglobe.com
Standings on December 21 at 12:00 UT: 1. PRB (Desjoyeaux) 2. SILL Matines
La Potagere (Jourdain) 70 miles behind leader, 3. Sodebo (Coville) 254
miles behind leader, 4. Kingfisher (MacArthur) 291 miles behind leader, 5.
Solidaires (Dubois) 438 miles behind leader.
THE PERFECT GIFT
Just what every racing skipper wants for Christmas - a little extra
boatspeed. Probably no one will remember to put that gift under your tree,
so while the rest of the family is off shopping the after-Christmas sales
at the malls, why don't you go online and give yourself this holiday bonus.
Here's the URL:
http://www.ullmansails.com/
SYDNEY TO HOBART RACE
* Thursday 21 December - Sports Tab, the New South Wales betting agency,
has listed the maxi yacht Shockwave as one of the shortest priced
favourites in years to take Line Honours in the 2000 Telstra Sydney to
Hobart Yacht Race. In betting odds released yesterday, the projected
dividend for a $1.00 bet on Shockwave, the 80-footer owned by Neville
Crichton, the international yachtsman and former production racing car
driver, is only $1.30.
Nicorette, the Swedish 80-footer skippered by Ludde Ingvall, is listed as
paying $4.00 while the Grant Wharington's extended Wild Thing from
Melbourne, now an 83-footer, is $9.00, the same as Australia?s best known
maxi yacht, George Snow's Brindabella.
Xena, Sean Langman's spectacular Open 60, appears a good bet with a
dividend of $21.00 for Line Honours. Nokia, the Volvo 60 from Denmark which
last year shattered the race record, is listed as paying $26.00, but then
the weather conditions in 1999 were the best in 25 years for the fastest
race in the history of the 630 nautical mile ocean classic. Her four
sisterships, former Whitbread round the world racing yachts now being used
as training boats for the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race (which replaces the
Whitbread) are at even better odds. Assa Abloy, illbruck and Team News
Corporation are all listed as paying a dividend of $51.00 while Tyco is
$67.00. - Peter Campbell, Media Director - 2000 Telstra Sydney to Hobart
Yacht Race, http://www.syd-hob.telstra.com.au/index.cfm
* A Sikorsky S-76, which is normally based at the RAAF in Williamstown,
will follow the (Sydney to Hobart) fleet down the east coast of Australia,
across Bass Strait and then onto Hobart. The purpose built helicopter with
day/night search capabilities is fully equipped with the necessary
personnel and technology to implement an immediate search and rescue
operation should the need arise.
The features of the twin engine Sikorsky S-76 include a radar system and
systems that permit automatic approaches and hovering over water. The crew
can perform Mark On Target (MOT) profiles, which is where the helicopter
flies a computer-determined circuit to hover about 200 metres down wind
from the nominated target. - Peter Campbell
* Mark Rudiger, who knows ocean sailing, thinks The Race may be too
risky. He also takes issue with the Coroner's Report lambasting the
Australian overseers of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race that took six
sailors' lives.
Rudiger sailed as navigator on Larry Ellison's victorious maxi Sayonara in
'98. When this year's race starts in Sydney Harbour next Tuesday, the San
Francisco veteran will be navigator and co-skipper with Roy Heiner on the
Swedish Assa Abloy team's Volvo Ocean 60 training boat, the former Chessie
Racing.
"It's a bit of a shame to see the Coroner's Report come out so hard and
heavy right now, just before the start," Rudiger said. "In reality, I
thought the [Cruising Yacht Club of Australia] did an excellent job all the
way around, more than most yacht clubs around the world, and the weather
bureau in Australia is the best. We did get warnings, and we saw this thing
forming. It was a bit of an anomaly. They don't mention that this was an
unusual storm that formed in a short period of time in an area that just
happened to be bad timing for where all the boats were going."
When Sayonara's crew realized how bad it was, they were too far ahead to
seek shelter or turn back.
"The winds actually were ahead of the satellite pictures," Rudiger said.
"That's one reason the weather bureau was unable to warn [in stronger
terms]. Basically, we went right through the middle of it. There was no way
around it. It formed around us. It happened so fast." - Story by Rich
Roberts, for Quokka Sports
To read Rudiger's comments on The Race:
http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1221_rudiger_WFC.html
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words
max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a
bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so
give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish
anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.)
* From Malcolm McKeag 100527.3303@compuserve.com Bruce Van Deveter asks
how to shorten course at a leeward gate. The answer is to put the committee
boat between the two leeward marks, moving one of them to give enough room
to do so, if necessary. This way, boats simply follow both the course
instructions, leaving one or other of the marks on the required side, and
at the same time finish between the committee boat and the mark. The
downside is that one needs two teams of line recorders, one for each side
of the committee boat. If the SIs define the finishing line as being
between a staff bearing an orange flag on the committee boat and the course
side of the buoy, then one might need two staffs with flags, also.
An easier way might be to have a Sailing Instruction that says: 'Shorten
Course - Leeward Marks. If flag S is flown from a committee boat at the
leeward marks, boats shall finish between the leeward marks. This changes
Race Signals.' One then anchors the committee boat outside one of the marks
and one the transit of the two.
* From Vince Cooke vecooke@gulftel.com In response to the query by
Bruce Van Deventer re shortening course at a gate, absent any comment in
the race SI it would seem that the RC is compelled to anchor the finish
boat between the gate marks. In races which I conduct where a gate is to be
employed, I insert a clause stating that if one of the gate marks is
missing, the other remaining is to be rounded to port. This gives me
flexibility, something that all Race Officers seek to ensure that the race
can be completed despite a condition where one mark is missing from the
gate. The insertion of such a clause also happens to obviate the necessity
to insert an RC boat between the two gate marks in order to shorten in
strict accordance with the rules, i.e. simply lift one of the marks and
then properly position the RC boat. There are probably other ways to
accomplish the situation as well and one which comes to mind might be to
state how the finish line would be laid out if the course was shortened at
the gate. All of the foregoing comes under the heading of good race
management which translates to anticipating this kind of problem when gates
are employed
* From Dick Roberts 71621.130@compuserve.com [Reply to Bruce Van Deventer
concerning gate marks and edited to our 250-limit] - 1. Set up the
committee boat outboard of one of the gate marks. Let's say it is to
starboard of the starboard gate mark. It displays code flag 'S'., which
means (per Race Signals): 'Finish between the nearby mark and this boat.'
The port gate mark, not being 'the nearby mark', is not involved. The
finish line is between that mark and the committee boat. The definition of
finishing says I'm to cross that line in the direction of the course from
the previous mark, so I'd better go directly across.' Hook-around finishes
are not permitted.
2. The finish definition issue can be avoided by positioning the committee
boat between the gate marks. But then the approaching competitors may have
trouble discerning which of those gate marks is intended to be 'the nearby
mark.' (Gate marks should be 5 to 8 boat lengths apart.) To make it clear,
you could remove one of the gate marks, positioning the committee boat
there or perhaps nearer the other, to make the line a little shorter. Code
Flag 'M' is not appropriate because a mark is not missing - you have
replaced a gate with a finish line and the gate no longer meets the
definition of a mark.
3. Or, you could plan ahead and incorporate in the Sailing Instructions a
change to the meaning of Code Flag 'S' in Race Signals written to provide
additionally that, where the course is shortened at a gate, finish between
the two gate marks.
* From Larry Ehrhardt, American Yacht Club Lwesr@aol.com In reply to
Bruce Van Deventer's question about shortening course at the leeward gate,
for a number of years we have successfully followed the last option he
described wherein a race committee boat takes the place of one of the gate
buoys and flies both "S" and "M". Gates should be narrow enough that the
signal can be seen from the other end. This procedure is carefully spelled
out in our Sailing Instructions and preserves the gate structure in a
multi-class regatta where the "S" may not apply to all classes.
* From Al Field, Race Committee, New York Yacht Club Albiri@aol.com To
the question of Bruce Van Deventer. The race committee should strive to
keep it simple and not cause confusion. In shortening course at a gate the
tactical purpose for a gate is eliminated. Therefor the only tactic at the
finish is to sail the shortest course to the new finish line. To make it
simple for the racers it would be best to set up the finish so the finish
mark is rounded in the same direction as the other marks. If the other
marks are to be rounded to port, the race committee would instruct the mark
boat to remove mark to be rounded to starboard and anchor the signal boat a
proper distance from the remaining mark, keeping the finishing line square
to the previous mark. Firing two guns or clearly audible sounds with
displaying the "S" flag should make the intention of the race committee to
shorten the course quite obvious. To remove one mark and fly the "M" flag
would only serve to confuse the competitors.
* From Charles Schmeckle CSchmeckle@aol.com [Regarding Carol Boe's
question] - No, there weren't any females' names on this trophy, and I
personally don't think Everett B. Morris had intended this to be. But,
those that were chosen had the best performances, and in this case they
were male sailors. So what? Is Ms. Boe advocating a female sailor be chosen
because she might not be the best, just female?
We have worked long and hard at the college level (as well as the younger
years) to prepare and educate especially the female sailors. Again, let
them aspire as "equals," and take out the sex stigma. My question to Ms.
Boe is: How much do "you" get involved with furthering the education of any
junior sailor? Should we really just push education towards females, or be
unchauvinistic and help any boy or girl that aspires to become a better sailor?
SPONSORSHIP
SAS Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo have become partners in ASSA ABLOY's Volvo
Ocean Racing Team. "There is no sailing event in the world where freight
and logistics are as vital for a team's success as in the Volvo Ocean
Race," said Richard Brisius, ASSA ABLOY Racing Team's Project Manager. "A
new sail that gets delayed one day can make the difference between winning
and losing."
The ASSA ABLOY Group is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of
locks and associated products. SAS Cargo is the leading Scandinavian air
cargo carrier, while Lufthansa Cargo is the airfreight and logistics
company of the Lufthansa Group. - http://www.assaabloy.com
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
In Barcelona, New Zealander Grant Dalton, hot favourite for The Race has
new reason for hoping that his Club Med can complete the event in 60-65
days. That is because construction has just started on his second round the
world race project for 2001, a boat for the Volvo Ocean Race.
This raises the modest number of confirmed entries for the Whitbread's
successor event from six to seven with there being a fresh glimmer of hope
that Britain's Lawrie Smith could yet secure funding for his own boat.
Smith and Dalton are already part of the Whitbread/Volvo furniture, having
both been involved since the early Eighties.
Dalton has neither announced his sponsor nor informed Volvo Ocean Race HQ
that he is now a definite starter but construction of the German
Frers-designed boat is underway at La Ciotat near Marseilles with a second
boat a distinct possibility.
This, and the second boat for the Roy Heiner-skippered Assa Abloy team, are
both `spare' yachts that Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Helge Alten wants
to see in the hands of new teams. This would raise entries to eight, each
one a top-flight competitive programme. - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK,
http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
DON'T MISS THE BOAT!
Sail into the new year with the 2001 Ultimate Sailing Calendar. 24
brilliant, dynamic and exciting images by Sharon Green. Highlights from the
America's Cup, Louis Vuitton Cup, Kenwood Cup and much more. $15.95. Order
the calendar and other Ultimate Sailing products at our web site:
www.ultimatesailing.com
CHRISTMAS
I saw three billionaires sailing in
On Christmas day at dawn.
Afloat on liquid assets all,
Bertarelli, Ellison, McCaw.
Cell phones, drugs and software
Made them what they are today,
The new nobility of the sport,
And who'll stand in their way?
Yet there's some racing to be done,
In pursuing the ugly ewer,
And many hopes have fallen short
When boats went down the sewer.
Can money buy the Cup Down Under?
Only time will tell.
But it won't be under a Christmas tree,
They'll have to sail like hell.
--- R. Roberts, 2000
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
The four stages of life:
1. You believe in Santa Claus.
2. You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3. You are Santa Claus.
4. You look like Santa Claus.
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