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SCUTTLEBUTT 2046 - March 8, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.TP52 GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP Miami, Fla., USA -- At the conclusion of the first day and three opening windward-leeward bouts at the Rolex TP52 Global Championship on the picture-postcard waters off Miami Beach, Philippe Kahn's all-star team on Pegasus 52 is tied on eight points with Thomas Stark's Rush. With an offshore westerly breeze, conditions in the otherwise immaculate setting were shifty in the extreme, fluctuating in speed throughout the day between 12 and 20 knots. On board Rush, Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird said the shifts had been in the order of 30-40 degrees. "The key today wasn't to try and win the race, it was to make sure you didn't lose it. The problem when it gets shifty like this is that if you get forced away at the wrong time, you can't come back because you have missed that shift. We just tried to stay in the top group and not get flushed out." Rush's 2-4-2 scoreline was the most consistent on a day when consistency was hard to achieve. Pegasus 52 scored a disappointing sixth place in the first race, but was able to tie with Rush at the end of the day by posting first places in the final two races. For Pegasus day one of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship started slowly. Despite being third at the weather mark, tactician Ken Read said it had become really flukey and they dropped in a blink to sixth, a position from which they were unable to recover. ~ Media Pro Int'l, full story: http://tinyurl.com/kwsuq Standings after three races with on discards: 1. Pegasus 52, Philippe Kahn, Honolulu, HI, USA, 6-1-1, 8 points 2. Rush, Thomas Stark, Newport, RI, USA, 2-4-2, 8 3. Patches, Eamon Conneely, Galway, IRL, 1-6-3, 10 4. Beau Geste, Kark Kwok, Hong Kong, CHN, 4-3-6, 13 5. Stay Calm, Stuart Robinson, Royal Thames YC, UK, 3-7-5, 15 6. Sjambok, Michael Brennan, Annapolis, MD, USA, 7-2-8, 17 7. Bambakou, John G. Coumantaros Newport, RI, USA, 5-8-4, 17 8. Glory, John Buchan, Hunts Point, WA, USA, 9-6-7, 21 9. Braveheart, Charles Burnett, Seattle, WA, USA, 8-9-9, 26 GATHERING OF THE CLANS (James Boyd is in Miami and took a look at the form for the Rolex TP52 Global Championship for a story posted on The Daily Sail subscription website. Here's an excerpt.) Unlike the TP52 racing in the Mediterranean the Rolex TP52 Global Championship adheres to class rules in being owner driver (or technical ISAF Cat 1). Thus all but three of the boats are being owner driven - the exceptions are Patches, where former Etchells World Champion and 'top' amateur Stuart Childerley is behind the wheel, Beau Geste where similarly talented Harry Dodson (of New Zealand's famous Dodson family) is steering and Charles Burnett's Braveheart where Herb Cole will behind the wheel. Aside from the owner's there are no limitations to the degree of professionality of the crews and some boats read like the Who's Who of international yacht racing. The prize in this respect goes to Philippe Kahn and his Pegasus 52 team. Kahn, we are told, was considering selling his boat, but then changed his mind and perhaps to make up for this indecision his team includes top US keel boat sailors Ken Read, Morgan Larson and Chris Larson, Soling medallist Jeff Madrigali, Rolex Sydney Hobart winning navigatrice Adrienne Cahalan and Alinghi's former Team New Zealand trimmers and supreme team Simon Daubney and Warwick Fleury. Also from Alinghi is helmsman and Florida resident Ed Baird sailing on Tom Stark's Rush. Other top America's Cup sailors taking part are Gavin Brady, back once again with Karl Kwok on Beau Geste. From the Olympic arena, Ben Ainslie has sidled into the afterguard of Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm. Meanwhile double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker is running Patches. ~ James Boyd, www.thedailysail.com BACARDI CUP - DAY THREE Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Seven-Time Bacardi Cup Champion Mark Reynolds, sailing this week with Swedish crew Christian Finnsgard, took the overall lead at the 2006 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta with a 12th-place finish in Tuesday's third race. Sailing out of San Diego, California, Reynolds currently shares his record seven Bacardi Cup titles with legendary Star sailor Ding Schoonmaker of Naples, Florida. Andy Beadsworth and crew David Carr of Great Britain won Tuesday's race, well ahead of second place finishers Xavier Rohart and crew Pascal Rambeau of France. With today's performance and a third place finish on day two, Rohart and Rambeau, the 2005 Star World Champions and number-one ranked Star tandem in the world, move from seventh to third in the overall standings. Joseph Londrigan and crew David Giles of Springfield, Illinois, finished less than a boat length behind Rohart in third today and move to 14th overall. A total of 14 boats were black flagged and disqualified Tuesday for early starts. The casualties included Marc Pickel and crew Ingo Borkowski of Germany and Two-time Bacardi Cup Champion Peter Bromby and crew Bill McNiven, the overall third and fourth place teams respectively going into today's race. Tuesday's race was sailed in winds that escalated from 15 to 25 knots out of the Northwest and followed a combination triangle and windward-leeward course on the waters of Biscayne Bay. The former Olympic-style course is not sailed regularly in the Stars, and the addition of two reach marks caught many of the sailors by surprise. ~ Janet Maizner, complete story and results: http://tinyurl.com/p2c6r Standings after three races - 92 Stars: 1. Mark Reynolds/Christian Finnsgard, 18 points 2. John Dane/Austin Sperry, 21 3. Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 22 4. Afonso Domingos/Bernardo Santos (POR) 29 5. Rick Merriman/Rick Peters, 32 6. Mateusz Kusznierewicz/ Dominick Zycki (POL) 37 7. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada, (BRA) 42 8. Iain Murray/Andrew Palfrey (AUS) 42 9. Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube, 42 10. Peter Vessella/Darrell Hiatt, 54 Curmudgeon's Comment: 2005 Star North American George Szabo is competing in the Bacardi Cup, and is sending his personal event reports to Scuttleblog. Read George's reports at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog HARV AND THE HARKEN TECH TEAM! - ACURA MIAMI RACE WEEK Sound like a band? In a way they are! Harken's experienced technical team is dedicated to making your regatta experience better. Winches or furler need a tune-up? Looking to optimize systems on your boat? Just want to visit with the Harken boys? Our full-service mobile workshop is powered up with a drill press, grinder, hand tools, cork screw, and a complete inventory of Harken spare parts. Find us at Monty's Parking Lot in the Miami Beach Marina and on the water with our Tech Team RIB. http://www.harken.com/company/Harken_Tech_Team.php SNAKES AND LADDERS It's been a difficult few days for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, now in the closing stages of leg four of the race from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro, and it will only get harder, as the approach to Rio is notorious for being difficult. It's a game of snakes and ladders according to Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN Amro One. Snakes and ladders is a simple game where you work your way towards the finish, taking turns throwing dice. If you land on a ladder and you climb closer to the finish. If you land on a snake, you slide back towards the start. One of the largest scale games of snakes and ladders that can be played is happening out on the race track right now. "Yesterday," explains Sanderson, "we slid down a nasty snake and lost 29 miles on the fleet and 39 miles to Brasil1 (Torben Grael). We made our play to the west again that we had tried earlier in the day and had chickened out due there just being no wind, then, over the hours of darkness during last night, we gained back all that we had lost plus some nice interest on a good ladder as we shot out to the biggest lead we have had for the whole leg. No champagne cork popping sounds going through our heads here though, we are about to slide down another nasty ladder as we charge into a light spot and we just know we will lose miles." There will continue to be some big gains (ladders) and losses (snakes) in the fleet as all the teams fight to stay in the hunt to win this leg. At this level of professional racing, every boat is sailed extremely well and while tiny little gains can be made by sailing the boat well, the winner will be the team who gets it right with the weather (a ladder) and that is going to take a lot of hard work and a little bit of good luck. Aside from the frustrations with the weather, Simon Fisher from ABN Amro Two says life is good. "It is a far cry from the rigours of the Southern Ocean. Although the stress of racing is inevitably going to increase, the quality of life on board is increasing at the same rate as we reach slightly more tropical latitudes. Everyone now is back in their shorts, a few had a shower off the back of the boat today and the interior is finally nearing a state of dryness. The only thing that could threaten our comfort factor now is either it getting too hot or parking up and running out of food!" ~ www.volvooceanrace.org Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Tuesday 1. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 649 miles to finish 2. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +60 miles 3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +92 miles 4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +112 miles 5. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +164 miles 6. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +1205 miles TRIVIA QUESTION Introduced in 1991, this $1.5 million, sixty-five foot prototype sailboat was on the cutting edge of marine technology. Innovations included automatic winches that furled or unfurled sails at a finger's touch without crew assistance and a ninety-foot bipod mast made of lightweight carbon fiber straddling the boat, thus allowing for better airflow and more sail power. What was the name of this boat? (Answer below) MONOHULL VS MULTIHULL A recent post on the Scuttlebutt Forums was inquiring about the pros and cons of monohulls versus multihulls. Apparently, this sailor has a 40-foot monohull, but after chartering a multihull, and experiencing faster passage times with no heeling, it has opened the lid on his/her curiosity. Post your advice/ comments here: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2268#2268 NEWS BRIEFS * Racing sailors from 22 states and 10 foreign countries are converging on the waters off Miami Beach for the 2006 edition of Acura Miami Race Week. The 'SORC Renaissance' will feature more than 140 boats racing on four courses. The forecast calls for 75-80 degree temperatures and winds ranging from 12-20 knots every day. Ten races are scheduled. Star-studded, international Farr 40, TP52 and IRC fleets are the big boats on the ocean divisions that begin racing on Thursday. The Melges 24, Etchells and J/24 classes begin racing on Biscayne Bay on Friday. ~ www.Premiere-Racing.com * The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is now playing on www.t2p.tv * Alessandra Pandarese (ITA, Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team) was elected today as the new Challenger Commission Chair, succeeding George Clyde (USA, K-Challenge) who had served since April 2005. When he agreed to succeed founding Chairman Tom Ehman (USA, BMW ORACLE Racing) last year, Mr Clyde said then he wished only to serve through 2005. Despite the CC's best efforts to twist his arm, at the CC Meeting at San Francisco in December George asked nonetheless to be relieved, but agreed to serve until this week's CC meeting by when a nominating committee could recommend a new Chair. ~ AC 32 Challenger Commission Blog, http://www.challengercommission.com/ * K-Challenge, the French team for the 32nd America's Cup, is preparing its new base in Valencia. The team will soon leave their training base in Gandia to join the other competitors in the America's Cup port. The shore team worked all winter in Gandia, continuing to make modifications on FRA 60 so that the boat is ready to sail for the next set of Louis Vuitton Acts which begins in May. On April 2nd, the team will be fully operating out of its new base in Valencia. ~ www.k-challenge.org TRIVIA ANSWER The name of the sixty-five foot prototype sailboat introduced in 1991 was The Amoco Procyon. Two people could rig her despite her size in about five minutes, an improvement over the normal crew of eight accomplishing it in half an hour. She could sail up to fifteen knots, which was about fifteen percent faster than conventional yachts her size. (This trivia question came courtesy of the book, "Name That Boat" by Carol Lea Mueller. Book details are available at http://tinyurl.com/jbjeh) NAME CALLING At starts, around marks, and sometimes in the protest room, there can be a lot of name calling in sailboat racing. It's part of the game, but it should also be part of your "pre-game." During race and boat preparation, shout out these great names: Yale Crystalyne, Conception, Ultrex, Maxibraid Plus, VMG, Yalelight, Vizzion. when you can settle for nothing but peak performance from your lines. For cut lengths or one-day custom rigging by Yale certified riggers, call Annapolis Performance Sailing. Yale Cordage - when there's a lot on the line, ask for it by name at APS: http://www.apsltd.com/sb.asp 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. 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, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Chris Ericksen: I could not agree more with anyone than I do Terry Bischoff, who said in 'Butt 2045, "trying to gimmick up our sport to boost TV ratings is a mistake." I fear that trying to "tart up" sailing to mollify the media is a bit like the old tale of riding a tiger: both staying on and getting off is dangerous. I see little upside to courting the media in the short run and see considerable long-run downside: at what point will the traditions and practices of our sport be set aside for the benefit of those who don't watch it, don't care about it that much anyway and probably wouldn't take it up regardless? * From Ian Duff (edited to our 250-word limit): I'm not sure why we need to get sailing onto the tube. For those of us already trying to see the latest images of the Olympic regatta, or those crazy young men in their flying VOR machines, who cares whether it is on TV or the Internet? Case in point was that fabulous online clip of Pirates going into hyperdrive. Never would have seen that on the tube. For those who have not yet discovered the joy of sailing, live participation is more likely to turn them into converts than watching it on TV. So why is it so important we figure out how to make sailing attractive to those who determine what gets on TV? There might be a third cause. The multi-sport events like the Olympics, who might be trying to generate significant revenue from TV licensing, must have eye candy sports to entice the TV budgets. If that is why we are struggling so hard to figure out why to make sailing TV-attractive, might not ISAF and the IOC have lost sight of their mission? Is not athletic excellence the driver, and not megabucks TV licensing deals for the various organizing committees to crow over? TV viewing of events such as the Olympics is declining, at least so I seem to be hearing. Let's encourage the international sailing and Olympic powers-that-be to take a careful look at online viewing, and reach their spectators in a far more personal and engaging manner. * From Roger Marshall, U.S. Editor, The Yacht Report (edited to our 250-word limit): With all the discussion about more sailing on TV, many readers appear to have forgotten one thing, advertisers. Without advertisers no TV program is going to see the light of day, be it golf, motor racing, or even football. Unfortunately, the sailing business is a fractured industry with many, many small businesses that cannot afford to spend three or four minutes on a TV commercial. There are a few large businesses, West Marine for example, that can afford a commercial, but sailors are competing against the might of NMMA and their Grow Boating campaign that is aimed squarely at powerboat users. When a sponsor can aim at half a million new powerboat owners or aim at four thousand new sailboat owners (according to year NMMA new boat figures), who do you think they will want as viewers? If sailors want to see more sailing on TV, there is no need to make it crash and burn TV, that's been tried (ProSail and others), what is needed are more sponsors willing to buy advertising time and a television company that is willing to spend the time to cover all the angles. Golf for example, is boring when just one pair of golfers are covered, but as soon as one golfer has taken a shot the camera angle changes to another golfer. Similarly, crew work on a boat tacking or coming to a mark and a cut immediately afterwards to another boat, can get viewers sitting on the edge of their seats. * From Ryan Hamm: OK. Thanks Mr. Bischoff. You heard it from the horse's mouth. Sailors don't show up to watch sailing. If we won't do it why should we expect the American public. We need to quit putting so much energy towards getting sailing on TV and worry about getting youth in sailing so they can enjoy this sport in the future. Sailing will have a future with or without TV but it will not have a future without our youth. For the umpteenth time, let's close this thread. * From Gunther E.Hering: I fail to comprehend the voluminous discussions about sailing on TV. Sailing is one of the few sports left where participation and fun is the prime mover. It is essentially not a spectator sport. Yes, we like to compete and race , too, but that is not the essence of sailing. If TV picks up one of our events, tant mieux! Therefore we do not need TV coverage to provide sponsor money to pay a million bucks to professional sailors. They are the oddity in our sport, not the mainstream. So let us end this thread. Curmudgeon's Comment: I hear you, but I need one more day. I promise you this thread will go away tomorrow. * From David Branigan: I cannot understand how Elaine Bunting extracts confirmation of Volvo's intentions from Mike Sanderson's passing remarks and also how such her blog musing made it into the Curmudgeon's normally measured selection. This type of rambling commentary may well be free speech but presenting it with Scuttlebutt's 'stamp of approval' by featuring it as 'editorial' blurs the line between informed comment and idle speculation. The net result is that we continue the slide towards talking our sport to death. Curmudgeon's Comment: For more than 2000 issues we have clearly stated that, "Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . ." We have never suggested that the material carried in this newsletter has earned anything like our 'stamp of approval,' and we trust that our readers understand that we will always have room for well thought-out opinions and commentary. (Recent commentary from David Pedrick, Magnus Wheatley and Terry Bischoff come quickly to mind.) While you may take exception to the conclusions drawn by Ms. Bunting in issue 2044 about the emerging importance of the short-handed sailing circuits, certainly many others will agree with her. Both points of view are welcome here. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. It could be a right number. Special thanks to Harken Yacht Equipment and Yale Cordage. |
