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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 613 - July 27, 2000GUEST EDITORIAL: Bob FisherThe lead time for proposals at the ISAF Annual Meetings, this November in Edinburgh, Scotland, is rapidly shortening and so too is the lobbying time. There is plenty of the latter around the choice of Olympic classes. One of the current eleven has to go to make way for a women's keelboat class, but the choice of which one is not an easy one. If change has to be made, what criteria should be adopted - that of age of the class or its lifespan in the Games? Either presents problems and there are no easy solutions, or there weren't until one suggestion that I heard recently. One of the sources of the problems is the necessity to increase female participation, something most are glad to encourage, but which reduces the available options, particularly if the Laser is retained as the Men's singlehander and the Finn as the Open dinghy. Maybe the other way round would offer the possibility for further female participation - there aren't too many women Finn sailors, but plenty of them sail Lasers and it wouldn't be long before the best of them would be able to match the best of the men. But that is almost certainly not going to happen, at least not at the November 2000 meetings. The Finn is part of the 'may go' equation, as is the Star, the Soling, the 470 and the 49er. There are strong arguments for the retention of all of them. The Finn is generally considered to be the most Olympian of them all for its demands on athleticism as well as sailing ability and it has stood the test of time as well as any class since its introduction to the Games in 1952. It also has a strong lobby within the ISAF, and that counts for a lot. So too does the Star, and one can more readily appreciate that by attending a major event of perhaps the best organised class in the world. The boat itself is positively ancient with its origins going back to 1908, but it has developed along with the changes in sailing and in available materials and while its shape may look old fashioned, anyone who has sailed a Star will appreciate just how responsive it is. It is a class which attracts the best sailors and that should see representatives on the ISAF encouraging its continuation in the Games (only one missed since 1932). The Soling, an Olympic class since 1972, has a strong following but has the fact that it is a three-man boat against it. The numbers of competitors in the Games is restricted and a two-man boat would find greater favor, especially with a women's keelboat coming in as the replacement. Numbers of people are a powerful part of the equation, but it could be justifiably argued that if the women have a three-person boat, so too should the men. The 49er could hardly be chucked out after only one Games, particularly as there will be a spectacular display by the class during the Sydney Olympics. It is the only modern concept class and its popularity among the sailors is undoubted. The class of the future must stay. The 470 is there as a men's and women's class and while it is outmoded by the newer style of racing dinghy, it has worldwide popularity. It was, however, as a man's class, the last to be chosen for 1996 and must therefore be on trial for this year's selection meeting. The argument for its retention as a men's class was that its popularity would diminish for women as the regattas for this class are run at the same time and that this is a major attraction for the women sailors. Why not, therefore, combine the men's and women's classes and have a mixed discipline event? Have a man and a woman in each boat, never mind who does what, and the 470 is retained for the purpose. Cathy Foster showed, back in 1984, that women skippers can compete openly with the men; not only was she selected to represent Britain, but she won the last race at the Los Angeles Games, with Pete Newlands on the wire. A Mixed 470 seems the answer to many prayers. It will have its detractors, but every one of the Olympic requirements would be met, and, I understand, it will receive the blessing of the IOC. It is just how far the 470 class will allow itself to go that may stand in its way. PERFORMANCE GEAR Next time you're at a post race party, check out the duffle bags that the heavy hitters are carrying. These guys understand the relationship between quality sailing gear and performance . so chances are they've got one of the neat looking Camet bags made from Mylar and waterproof Vinyl/ Polyester laminate. If you're interested in quality sailing gear at affordable prices, or if you just want to look as bitchin' as the curmudgeon, check out all neat sailing stuff on the Camet International web site: http://www.camet.com CHICAGO TO MACKINAC After a continual, island-wide power outage shut down the race committee's scoring system, additional information has become available from the recent Chicago to Mackinac Race, presented by Lexus. With nearly 300 boats and over 3,000 sailors, the 93rd edition of this summer classic experienced lighter-than-usual headwinds, making it one of the slowest on record. The Mackinac Race organizers annually present three overall awards, with winners based on corrected time and first-to-finish honors. Sailing in the PHRF Division, Oracle founder Larry Ellison was the first to cross the finish line aboard his 78-foot maxi Sayonara. Sayonara and her crew departed Chicago at 14:00:00 CST on Saturday, July 22, and arrived on the island at 07:17:34 on Monday, July 24, with an elapsed time of 41:17:34. Last year, Ellison suffered disappointment when he missed breaking the course record by two minutes and four seconds (set in 1987 by Richard Jennings' Pied Piper 25:50:44). Mongoose, Robert Saielli's Great Lakes 70 entry, was awarded the first-to-finish honors in the One Design Division. Mongoose started at 13:50:00 CST on Saturday and finished Monday, July 24, at 12:58:30 with an elapsed time of 47:08:30. In the Open Division, Meade Gougeon skippered his trimaran Adagio to win the first-to-finish honors with an elapsed time 49:39:44. For more information on the event, photos, and scores, log on to www.sailnet.com/chicagomackinac. CAT FIGHT Playstation and Club Med are in New York awaiting a favorable weather pattern for a Transatlantic record attempt. Playstation's meteorologist Bob Rice will decide today if a departure from Saturday onwards is possible. This will be the first head to head meeting of the two fastest sailboats in the world. Both carbon fibre multihulls represent the latest in extreme sailing technology - PlayStation, launched in December 1998, set a 24 hour distance World Record of 580 nm in her first ocean sail in March, 1999. The newer still Club Med dramatically raised the bar last month with an outstanding 625 nm day during her Cadiz-San Salvador record run. Playstation's Steve Fossett: "We've had two attempts on the record so far - but both times weather conditions turned out to be not good enough. This will be our last chance for a TransAt record this season, so PlayStation is committed to go next week only if it is a record possibility. If Club Med decide to leave on a non-record/delivery because of schedule commitments, we'll have to wait for a better weather picture." FRERS 33 ASSOCIATION The Frers 33 Class Association is being reorganized. There's been a recent push to get some one design racing scheduled, and an active class association reorganized. For this season there will be one design regattas at the Marblehead NOOD July 29 - 30, Nationals at the Buzzards Bay Regatta August 4 - 6, and Larchmont NOOD September 9-10. There are discussions of regattas at Block Island Race Week and a venue in Newport Rhode Island for next year. For more information contact Kurt Hudson at khudson@shore.net.
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