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SCUTTLEBUTT 1622 - July 12, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. PUMPING ADRENALIN (Following are Impressions from Dean Packer who recently had a ride on the next Australian C Class Challenger for the Little America's cup with Gavin Colby) The boat goes a helluva lot better than it looks. Gav & I only had at best probably 7-8 knots of wind and I'd guess we were doing maybe 17 knots of boat speed at the quickest. There are some minor issues like centreboard humming but generally it went very well indeed. It was interesting for me to actually sail on it because I didn't really have a good idea of how it all works when it was just sitting on the beach, but when you see it from the trampoline in action the concept is much easier to understand and grasp. Looking up from the trampoline with the back flap fully cranked around and reaching the view is not dissimilar to what you see looking out the window of a Boeing as you're coming in to land. You really see how the wing is working which isn't obviously apparent (at least to me) when it's sitting on the beach. The boat is very sensitive to the wrong rig setting or sail position. If you over-sheet it, you know about it almost instantly. Similarly though, when you do sheet it properly and have both sides flowing perfectly then you know about that very quickly too. The increase in boat speed is instantly apparent. From that point of view it will be either very easy or very difficult to sail properly depending on the wind variability I'd say. I can't really see it being a very forgiving boat which is to be expected given that it has a fixed sail shape. We stayed out for around 90 mins and didn't break anything which I think is a good thing since it has to be packed into a seatainer this coming weekend. WHERE ARE THEY NOW A trail that began in the Midwest, passed through the notable naval architectural school of the University of Michigan with the likes of Bruce Nelson, Bill Tripp, John Reichel, and Brendan Dobroth, and then began a yacht design firm that stood MORC and handicap yachting on its ear for most of the 70's and 80's. Later it was the America's Cup, where his involvement has included every campaign since 1987. And now, where it looks unlikely that he'll be providing his skills to the '07 cup, and with his time consumed with top-secret government projects, we thought it was time to ask, "Eric Schlagater … Where Are You Now?" For an answer to that question: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/schlageter/ MUST SEE There's a unique photo posted on the Yachts and Yachting website of former Star world champions Iain Percy & Steve Mitchell. It's from a calendar produced in conjunction with the RYA and Sail for Gold to raise funds for British Olympic Sailing. Both Percy and Mitchell are wearing a smile and a pair of sailing gloves - period. www.yachtsandyachting.com/default2.asp?section=64&PID=3451 THE "ALL IN ONE" SOLUTION You can't be everything to everyone all of the time...or can you? If you were the patented Dryshirt™ you'd be fast becoming just that: the Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter do-it-all gear we've all been waiting for. The Dryshirt ™ material is completely different than Nike Dryfit or Coolmax™. The Dryshirt™ material repels water, is breathable, maintains SPF of 50 whether fully immersed or on deck in the baking sun. Find out why teams with Z-86s, Farr 40s, TP-52s, 29ers and more are selecting the Dryshirt ™. For a list of dealers, call 1(800) 354-7245 or http://www.sailingproshop.com/dryshirt.htm CHANGING TIMES It was in 1958 that Lowell North first opened a sail loft right next door to the San Diego Yacht Club on Anchorage Lane. Now, after 45 years in that location, that loft will be closed when North's lease with the San Diego Port Authority expires in November - and the building will undoubtedly be demolished. With that closure, the production of paneled sails, as well as the North's sail finishing operations, will be shifted to other North facilities outside of California. However, the production of one-design sails will remain in San Diego. North's Vince Brun is hopeful the new one-design production facility can be situated close to their present building on Anchorage Lane, with a service loft and the sales office co-located in the same building. All of the employees involved with the relocated operations have been offered jobs with North. SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Russell Coutts remains the standard by which all elite sailors are judged. The point was reiterated at the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand as the New Zealander defeated Australian Peter Gilmour 3-1 in the final. While Gilmour has sailed with the same core crew for five seasons and claimed this year's Swedish Match Tour crown with an event to spare, Coutts turned up in Sweden for only his second match race regatta of the year with a crew he had never raced with, and still beat Gilmour, just as he had in Elba last month. "The most successful America's Cup skipper of all time could rest on his laurels and protect his reputation," said Britain's Chris Law, who finished fourth in Marstrand. "But he is able to prove himself over and over again because he has enough confidence in his ability to rock up with a bunch he's not sailed with and back himself to win." Not that Coutts' crew were found wanting. They were the talented Danes led by Jes-Gram Hansen. Law, too, was delighted to have claimed some notable scalps in the 16-strong field having been away from grade one match racing for a year. "Frankly I'm pleased with fourth," the 52-year-old said. - Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/24wpw Swedish Match Cup Final Standings 1. Russell Coutts/NZL, 16-3, $37,834.00 2. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team, 11-8, $19,187.00 3. Magnus Holmberg/SWE, SeaLife Rangers, 11-7, $11,755.00 4. Chris Law/GBR, The Outlaws, 9-7, $9,323.00 5. Ed Baird/USA, SKF Racing, 10-2, $7,700.00 6. Lars Nordbjerg/DEN 5-9, $6,756.00 7. Karol Jablonski/POL, Toscana Challenge 5-6, $6,080.00 8. Jesper Bank/DEN 5-9, $4,729.00 Swedish Match Tour Final 2003-'04 Standings (Six best finishes count to final standings) 1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team, 150 points, $60,000 2. Magnus Holmberg/SWE, SeaLife Rangers, 79, $40,000 3. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing, 70, $25,000 4. Russell Coutts/NZL, 60, $20,000 5. Bertrand Pacé/FRA, BMW Oracle Racing, 55, $18,000 6. Jesper Radich/DEN, Team Radich, 43, $15,000 7. Ed Baird/USA, Team Musto, 41, $12,000 8. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark, 38, $10,000 Complete results: http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/ WEST MARINE PACIFIC CUP Unofficial overall and Class E winner of the West Marine Pacific Cup, Winnetou arrived at the finish line at 10:43, Sunday morning. Marin Braun's, Santa Cruz 52 out of San Francisco Yacht Club celebrated July 4, by taking the lead and held it all the way to Kaneohe. All but one boat in the division will have made Kaneohe by Monday morning. With at least at least two dozen West Marine Pacific Cup yachts arriving throughout Sunday and Monday, Kaneohe Yacht Club's facilities are getting a workout from the docks to the bar. Where is Mari-Cha IV? She has already left Hawaii, sailing to Los Angeles. - Ann McDougall, full story and results: www.pacificcup.org MACK ATTACK TIME IN THE LAKES! Mackinac Island can be very far away, particularly without Sailing Angles Padded optional Sailing Shorts and Sailing Longs. Double seats and double knees, optional pads, light weight yet tuff, water resistance and quick-drying are features that make these designs an articulated choice for the Lake voyager. Chicago sailors contact Tracy and Jack Rodgers for shore-side delivery (773-320-4630) or otherwise buy them at APS, Layline, Team One and http://www.sailingangles.com and lets go sailing! IBM VIC-MAUI RACE Jack Shannon's Swan 46 Tranquillite is the Division 3 and overall winner of the IBM Vic-Maui Race. Dwight Jefferson's TP 52 Flash won Division 1 while John McPhail's J/160 Jam took top honors is Division 2. Three of the 19 starters did not make to Lahaina by the time the extended finish deadline expired, and one other boat retired. - www.vicmaui.org/ NEWS BRIEFS * Cork Week 2004, which started this past weekend, is shaping up to retain its title as one of the world's premier sailing events. A total of 550 entries have signed up and yachts have been pouring into Crosshaven all week. Some of the fastest racing machines ever seen at this regatta including the likes of Roy E. Disney's and Hasso Plattner's MaxZ 86s Pyewacket and Morning Glory will ensure there's plenty of excitement on the racecourse throughout the week. - Sue Pelling, Yachting World, full story: www.yachting-world.com/auto/newsdesk/20040609152358ywnews.html * Clipper Ventures plc, which owns the rights to the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Series and the 5-Oceans single-handed yacht race, has announced the proposed acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Zapcat Racing Limited. Zapcat Racing owns and operates the National Zapcat Championships, a strict one-design motor sport involving rigid inflatable boats. The boats are inflatable catamarans with 50hp engines that can reach up to 50mph on the water. The acquisition is conditional on shareholders' approval, which is being sought at an extraordinary general meeting of the Company, to be held on 26 July 2004. - www.clipper-ventures.com * The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has received the first international Application to enter this year's 60th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - from a German yachtsman who is building a new Reichel/Pugh designed Marten 49 to be named Vineta. The Marten 49, described as a sports cruising yacht, is being built in Auckland and is due for launching in November for Felix Scheder-Bieschin. This brings to 14 the number of boats already nominated for the 628 nautical mile ocean classic which starts on 26 December 2004. - www.rolexsydneyhobart.com.au * For the second straight year Parker/Vecrtix a team comprised of employees from Parker Hannifin Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio and Vectrix, Inc. of Newport, R.I. have won Shake-A-Leg's Wall Street and Corporate Challenge Cup (WSCCC), held July 9-10 in Newport, R.I. The 13th annual event brought together business leaders for two unforgettable days of racing aboard the legendary America's Cup 12 Meter yachts and raised a record $300,000 to support Shake-A-Leg-Newport's programs for people with spinal cord injuries and nervous system dysfunction. www.shakealeg.org * The father & son team of Randy and Barrett Sprout (with son Barrett driving) won their third consecutive Coronado 15 national championship at the Highland Yacht Club at Woods Reservoir, Tennessee. Called OCS in the final race of the regatta, the Sprouts dipped, re-started and worked back to a second place finish just behind Jim Claffey and Trish Rutan who finished the regatta in second place - only two points behind the Sprouts. Complete results: http://www.coronado15.org/ * The 2004 Windmill Nationals drew 30 boats to the James Island YC in Charleston, SC June 25-27. Ethan and Trudy Bixby of St. Petersburg, FL won handily in a field that included 6 former class champions. Fourth place finisher Arthur Anosov sailed the first newly manufactured fiberglass Windmill of the past decade and competitors from California and Alaska made the long trip to race in the Low Country! Full results: www.windmillclass.org/scores/2004_nationals.htm * Chris Williams (27 pts, 2 first places) from Philadelphia won a tiebreaker with Drew Staniar to win the US Sunfish masters championship regatta held at the Rochester Canoe Club. Mike Ingham (33 pts) from the host club was third. 36 boats completed 9 races held in 7-18 knots of wind. Complete results: www.sunfishclass.org/results/index.htm "MAN OVERBOARD!" Two 2004 First-in-Class Bermuda Race finishers sailed hard with the peace-of-mind that only a well thought out man-overboard recovery system can provide. Both speedsters, Morning Glory and Zaraffa, outfitted each crewman with SeaMarshall automatic marine beacons. To outfit your crew with SeaMarshall safety gear, contact Chip Barber: admin@chbarber.com, http://www.seamarshall-us.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Gordon W Hall, M.D.: Pat Healy very clearly suggests that one of Kevin Hall's problems in obtaining an exemption for exogenous testosterone use involved myself. He wrote in this very public forum, "Nor did it help when Kevin's injections were administrated by his MD wife and parents." This has also been suggested in less public situations. I categorically and emphatically deny involvement in the setting of any dose or schedule of injections for Kevin. I, further, emphatically deny ever having given him such an injection at any time or place. I hereby challenge anyone who has information or evidence to the contrary to step forward and provide the same to Scuttlebutt. Failing such, I believe a very public apology is due myself. I have no doubt that Pat is one of the "good guys". However, his willingness to state publicly "facts" for which he has no proof points out how difficult this entire process has been. C'mon Pat, evidence or apology. * From Jeff Borland: A correction to your corrections: Paula Lewin is sailing in the Olympics (and almost every other event in life) with her twin sister Peta. Paula and Peta are not only great sailors, they are gracious competitors, and wonderful friends to have. (Melissa Purdy sailed with Paula in a recent Yngling event in Europe, when Peta was, I believe on her honeymoon.) Curmudgeon's Comment: Jeff, I hope you sent a cc to ISAF - they are the ones who compile, publish and distribute the rankings of the competitors to those of us further down on the food chain, * From Andy Rose (Re Paul Henderson's comments): Mr. Henderson may be correct that interest in sailing in North America has declined, but I am not sure that the current America's Cup is a cause if history is any guide. In fact, the days of the "Liptons and Vanderbilts" evidently were pretty interesting to the general public at the time. One of Sir Thomas Lipton's primary motivations for his early challenges was to publicize and sell more Lipton tea. Hard to believe he would spend all that money (or donate many "Lipton Cups" to yacht clubs all over America) on a sport that had no visibility. Heck, just looking at the size and placement of historical news articles on the old Cup matches would make any current America's Cup sailor jealous. As for today, I believe that Mssrs. Ellison and Bertarelli (the new "Liptons and Vanderbilts"?) have actually increased interest in our sport if the recent San Francisco and Newport Moet Cups are any guide. And finally, Mr. Henderson, technology hasn't recently "taken over" the Cup, it did that starting in 1851! Only a very few times in Cup history has the technologically inferior boat won even one race, much less the Cup itself. While we may have problems, but I don't think radically changing or "retiring" the America's Cup is a solution. * From Bob Merrick: Paul Henderson is clearly a fan of the Hobie 16 class. On more than one occasion he has put forth the idea that it would make a great Olympic boat. While he has paid the class a great compliment, and I agree that the Hobie 16 is a fantastic boat, I don't think that going Olympic is in the best interest of Hobie 16 sailors. I have spent eight years racing in the Olympic 470 class and I am in my third year of racing Hobie 16's so I feel somewhat qualified to assert my opinion on this issue. While the Hobie 16 class offers very competitive one-design racing across North America, it is also a class that welcomes those who are getting out on the trapeze for the first time. It is no misconception that the presence of a hard core Olympic elite would drive away all but the most competitive weekend racers. One of the things that make the Hobie 16 appealing is its simplicity and low cost. Success in the class comes down to pure sailing talent. Unfortunately inexpensive boats don't do much to solve the issue of Olympic campaign costs. The cost of the boat is a very small percentage of the total cost of an Olympic campaign. I hope Hobie 16 sailors get a chance to see Paul Henderson out on the starting line some time soon. He wouldn't be the oldest guy out there. * From Jim Stone (Regarding Kyle Burleson's comment about Chicago Mac being a simple sled ride): I've got seven pages of Chicago/ Mac race strategies depending upon wind conditions and projected weather where many tactical decisions have to be made - given to me verbally by Bill Tripp while driving from Allegan Michigan to Chicago prior to my first and his last Mac race. Were he still with us, he and many others would take strong issue with the comment that the race is just a simple sail up the shore. And for some unknown reason, the Detroit newspapers never seem to acknowledge that the Chicago Mac race even exists. * From Gail M. Turluck (mother of two): Going to the international side of the alcohol sponsored sporting activities, what is it about the USA that folks are unwilling to recognize that monitoring children while cooperating with willing sponsors is seen as unseemly? Having been to World's Championships in other countries that are heavily sponsored by alcoholic beverage companies, it's merely a difference of something in culture. I'll be frank, the funds derived from sponsors made for nicer meals, nicer awards, nicer goodies, and some fine refreshing beverages. I don't remember seeing a bunch of kids passed out in the bushes, either. How do we get the USA culture to realize that it's ridiculous to expect kids to think there isn't booze at an event--just think about pro football and the plastic beer bottle rain after that bad call in Cleveland a few years ago. The kids aren't stupid. The continuing "head in the sand" approach only makes the unattainable more desired. Where's the freedom in this whole situation ... ??? * From Ed Cesare: I'd like to associate myself with Peter Huston's cogent comments associated with alcoholic beverage sponsorship of the activities of our National Governing Body, but only if he lets us know where he is getting those $4 drinks! * Capt Bob Buell, (retired Matson): Mike Howard was mistaken when he said that Mari Cha IV beat a Matson Liner to Hawaii - they average 22 kts. What he saw was the Lurline departing San Francisco on Friday when Mari Cha IV left, and she had already arrived in and departed from Honolulu when MC4 docked. But then the sistership Matsomia came into Honolulu from Long Beach. He undoubtedly assumed they beat the Lurline as he could not read the name in the dark. Aloha. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION One of the benefits of growing older is that the things you buy never wear out. |
