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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1095- June 18, 2002Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
KOSTECKI ON VOLVO RACE CHANGES "We need to have more boats out on the race course," Kostecki said. An eight-boat fleet contested the just concluded event. "To do that, the costs need to be controlled. We had nine stopovers and it's expensive to fly the rest of the team and shift compounds." He added: "I think limiting stopovers to four or five would save a lot of money and shorten the race by several months. They could eliminate Sydney, Miami and one of the European stops." Another cost-cutting measure, Kostecki said, would be to cut down on the number of sails the boats were allowed to carry. "You're allowed to race with 17 sails and it's just too many," he said. "Limiting the sails would help control the budgets. One of the reasons we started so early was that we had to go out and build and test a lot of sails." Like many skippers, Kostecki would also like to see bigger boats than the Volvo 60's, which measure about 63 feet, in the event's next edition. "Something in the 80- to 90-foot range would be fine," he said. "Yes, building a boat that's 25 feet longer than what we just raced is going to cost more, but controlling the sail inventories would help." Excerpted from Herb McCormick's interview, on the NY Times website (requires registration, but it's free): www.nytimes.com
NEWPORT-BERMUDA RACE MAN OVERBOARD INCIDENTS
'Morning Glory'
'Boomerang'
'Bright Star' As the man-overboard call went up, Bill Jenkins, who was on the helm, released the safety equipment over the stern, and as one crewman kept his sights on Williams' head, he threw the boat round 180 degrees in a 'Quick-Stop' maneuver. "It's something we've all practiced and everyone knew their role. Chris was wearing a PFD (personal flotation device) and the crew reacted perfectly. It helped that the mainsail was down and only the jib was set. We had the boat turned round within 2 boat lengths. As we came back alongside him, Chris had his boots in his hand and had to decide whether he wanted to save his boots - or himself!" said Walker. Williams took no time to choose, and grabbing a rope with both hands, was safely back onboard within a few minutes of falling overboard. -- Talbot Wilson, www.bermudarace.com
CAMET SHORTS, A NEW FASHION
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR 2002/3 SCHEDULE ADDS EVENT As in years past, the Swedish Match Tour's competition schedule begins with the eighth annual Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race, July 15 - 22, in Ravenna, Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. The event is held at Marina di Ravenna and is organized by Progetto Vela and two local yacht clubs. From Ravenna, the Swedish Match Tour moves on to Newport, RI, for the UBS Challenge, July 31 - August 4, which returns America's Cup-style sailing to Newport for the first time since the Auld Mug left the United States nearly twenty years ago. The Danish Open 2002, August 13 - 18, is the third stop of the year and features teams taking to the waters of Skovshoved Harbor - just north of Copenhagen - and home of the KDY/SKS Match Race Center. The Swedish Match Tour next returns to Bermuda, October 12 - 20, for the newly sponsored ADT Gold Cup. The ADT Gold Cup is raced in International One Designs (IODs) and features an extremely exciting 24 team knockout format as well as, for the first time, a women's competition. At present, the Swedish Match Tour resumes its schedule in 2003 with the Steinlager Line 7 Cup in March. Event dates are still being finalized with the recognition that the event will be coordinated around the America's Cup. The Swedish Match Tour then makes its second visit to the Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA, April 6 - 12, where defending champion Peter Holmberg will undoubtedly be on a quest for his fifth overall and third consecutive "Crimson Jacket" which is awarded to the winning skipper. The Swedish Match Tour resumes in May with the ACI HT Cronet Cup, May 27 - June 2, held in Split, Croatia, on the South Adriatic coast. As the cultural and economic center of Dalmatia, Split is well known for its sailing conditions and tradition. The eighth event on Swedish Match Tour 2002/3 is the Match Race Germany, June 5 - 9, held along the promenade of Langenargen at Lake Constance in southern Germany. With its beautiful scenery and the Swiss Alps in the background, the promenade is a perfect setting to watch racing. Swedish Match Tour 2002/3 concludes the first week of July with the Swedish Match Tour finale, the Swedish Match Cup, in Marstrand, Sweden. The Swedish Match Tour's next and final event of the 2001/2 season is the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand, Sweden, July 1 - 7 -- Shawn McBride, www.swedishmatchtour.com
ISAF AND SPONSORSHIP ISAF is the World Governing Body for Sailing supplying services so as sailors can go to sea to race fairly and to promote Sailing. ISAF is a service organization and is not primarily an Event Organizer. It is also good to recognize what the other sports do who get actively involved in owning and controlling major events. These sports, as does the IOC, have exclusive sponsorship categories which are removed from the Event Organizers ability to acquire the most relevant sponsors for their events. Let me give you an example of which I have first hand knowledge; Toronto is surrounded and its economy sustained by automobile factories of GM, Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota plus others. In our failed Olympic Bid GM offered 60 Cedillas free anytime we wanted them. Ford gave us vans, Toronto ran the IAAF World Indoor Track Championships and the Federation had an exclusive deal with a car manufacturer which is non-existent in Canada. It cost the event organizers over $300,000 US for car rentals. Germany must use their manufacturers and Italy, Japan and France theirs. ISAF does not have exclusive categories!!! ISAF leaves the sponsorship arrangements up to the Event organizers. ISAF is financially solvent due mainly to the support of Member National Authorities and the Olympic revenues. ISAF does charge the high-profile events a fee for the services provided plus a contribution for the development of these services and ISAF feels they should contribute to the development of Sailing. There again has arisen the question of ISAF's protection of the TV Rights which I thought was put to bed a few years ago but once someone has made up their minds it is hard to get it displaced no matter how wrong the thought was. Due to lawsuits especially in the European Union against FIFA and Formula 1 ISAF was advised by the lawyers that a protection for the events, so as to ensure they had their TV Rights, was for the World Governing Body to own the rights and assign them to the relevant event. The reasoning was that when challenged in the courts the major question asked would be: "Who gave the event the TV rights?" If the event could respond: "The World Governing Body ISAF" the case for the event would be stronger and so ISAF responded to superior legal knowledge. The TV Rights are automatically transferred by ISAF. ISAF has over the years limited its sponsorship opportunities to specific properties they have developed and have been very encouraged by the relationship with the quality involvement of Volvo for the Youth and with Rolex with the "Sailor of the Year Award". ISAF also respects and does not want to limit the opportunities of the sailor to get individual sponsorship or for the Member National Authority to get national sponsorship ISAF is encouraged by the positive entry of major sponsors into Sailing. ISAF can and will continue to supply the fair play and integrity for sailing that must be provided if sponsors are going to continue to be attracted. ISAF will address a much needed governance over the scheduling and overlap of events regards. -- Paul Henderson, President, International Sailing Federation LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net -- the Curmudgeon returns for the next issue...) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Jonathan Gravit: As a Kiwi I didn't find either the '95 or '00 Americas Cup boring. In fact I'm quite looking forward to the '03 Cup being much the same! We are lucky to be able to watch these incredibly powerful boats sail out of Auckland on a regular basis. We may be able to spot a few design differences above the waterline but most sailors here leave those details to the syndicates and media to hype and speculate . We have seen the Louis Vuitton Cup, the Americas Cup, and lately the Road to the AC regatta. There have been some incredible sailing sights and I feel fortunate to be able to view it. In training there were often 10 boats out on a daily basis spread over the Hauraki Gulf. We can't wait until they get the new boats racing together. * From Craig Fletcher: I just finished the Bermuda Race, sailing on the Bright Star. The Gulf Stream was some of the roughest water I have ever seen. We had the misfortune to lose a man overboard in the middle of the stream and the good fortune of a successful recovery. This was no thanks to any of our safety equipment. The MOM upon inflation blew away faster than a balloon, the rescue sling line was tangled and unusable. These devices were new and never used. My point is the old man overboard pole surly would not have been skipping off the wave tops. The lifesling looked so cheap it must have come from K Mart. We can do better. Is a life not worth a few extra dollars? Should a boat be slowed by 10 extra pounds of safety equipment? * From Larry Law: RE: Laurie Davidson's spy career. Right! I'm sure Laurie Davidson is so insecure in his ability to design boats that he needs help - now that his boats are nearly complete. Give it a rest! If I'm Davidson, and I'm clearly not, being in the midst of Syndicate Row has to be like looking Christmas straight in the face. Not only can I not wait to open my presents - but I really want to see what everybody else has as well.. Has it escaped us that the curiosity built in us just might be that - not some devious plot. He made a protocol mistake - maybe - get over it and sail.
CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS
VANGUARD 15 PACIFIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIP Winds Sunday morning were light and fluky with only one race complete by mid-day. The predictable westerly sea breeze soon filled in with a vengeance and racing was called off after Race 12 with gusts near 30 knots and much of the fleet struggling to stay upright. Regatta highlights include a 15 boat pile up at the first windward mark of Race 9. Meade and Hardesty tied with 61 points overall and Hardesty won with the one-race discard. -- Matthew Sessions
Top five final places: Full results available at www.vanguard15.net
SCOTIABANK CARIBBEAN OPTIMIST REGATTA Blustery winds blowing 12 to 18 knots, dipping to 10 knots the second race day, blew during the three-day 10-race series, provoking the comment from one New York skipper: "I like it here because it's windy all the time. In Long Island Sound where I usually race, sometimes its 3 p.m. before we can go out". To encourage younger and less-experienced sailors scoring is by age group with a separate novice fleet.
Winners by division: From the ISAF website www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=2539, Full report and results on the International Optimist class site: www.optiworld.org/02scotiabank.html
ROLEX EXTENDS MIAMI OCR SPONSORSHIP Rolex Watch U.S.A. has been a sponsor of the US Sailing Team since 1985 and the US Disabled Sailing Team since 1998. The Notice of Race for the 2003 Rolex Miami OCR will be available Oct. 1, 2002. For additional information, visit www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR/
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