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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1141 - August 22, 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.
NAUTICA STAR WORLDS Kimberly Birkenfeld, 37, of Miami, would be happy to hear the news. Liljedahl's girlfriend, a member of the U.S. Sailing Team, was critically injured last week by the propeller of a chase boat while sailing her Mistral sailboard in a test event at the 2004 Olympic sailing site. Birkenfeld's family has been with her in Greece after encouraging Liljedahl to sail the Star Worlds with Reynolds, as planned. It hasn't been easy. "One thing about sailing is it makes you think about other things," Liljedahl said. "Now I can send her an e-mail with good news in time for her to speak again." Reynolds, of San Diego, and Liljedahl, who were ISAF's sailors of the year after sweeping the Olympics and the Star Worlds in 2000, are still in 17th place with two races remaining but should move up considerably by discarding their worst finish---Sunday's 78th place---after Race 5 Thursday, barring further missteps. The leaders are still Brazil's Torben Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira with 18 points after Wednesday's ninth place, their worst finish, but England's Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell and San Francisco's Paul Cayard/Hal Haenel are closing in at 27 and 28. . There also may be a sleeper lurking quietly in ninth place. San Diego's Rick Merriman and Bill Bennett have logged a 7-8-4 string the last three days and will discard a 53 after Thursday. Percy and Mitchell, Tuesday's winners, were third Wednesday. If the discards had already been tossed, they would be leading Grael by one point, with Cayard and Merriman 11 points behind despite all single-digit finishes. Percy said, "If you start thinking about points you're in big trouble. We just need to keep sailing well." Consistency hasn't come easily on Santa Monica Bay, although the winds have been steadier the last two days. Wednesday the breeze was 9 to 12 knots. A larger problem, most crews felt, was getting off the starting line when the race committee---forestalling a replay of five general recalls in the previous two days---hoisted the "I" flag for the first start, requiring any transgressors to restart by rounding the ends of the 1,000-meter-long line---a mortal penalty to pay. It worked. Nobody was over early, but most complained later about poor starts. - Rich Roberts The leaders (after 4 of 6 races):
1. Torben Grael/ Marcelo Ferreira, Brazil, (3-1-5-9) 18 points. Complete standings: www.starworlds2002.com
AROUND ALONE Clipper Ventures maintain this qualification passage was invalid for a number of reasons, but primarily because it wasn't 'transoceanic' as stipulated in the Notice of Race. Clipper maintain that the implication of this is that the qualifier should be across an ocean, rather than sailing around always within 500 miles of land. Dalton says that this interpretation only came out after he'd completed his qualifier. "We had all the documentation to prove that Clipper knew of my voyage and they didn't stop us," he says. He has since appealed to an international jury protesting the race committee, but has lost. The upshot of all this will be that the team have an 11th hour panic to reach the start line and their preparation will far from what Dalton had originally conceived for the project. - James Boyd, madforsailing website, full story: www.madforsailing.com
1000 DAYS NON-STOP AT SEA Stowe's 60 ton 70 foot gaff-rigged schooner - the "Anne" - was conceived, designed and hand-built by him in 1978 as the ultimate long distance heavy weather vessel. This ship has been Stowe's expedition platform for 24 years of voyages in the Caribbean, Europe, South Pacific, and around the world. Reid is refitting his boat for the 1000 Days journey in partnership with 1000 Days Non-Stop at Sea, Ltd., a non-profit corporation. The goal is to sail the longest non-stop voyage in history. Using satellite communications and media production, Stowe and the 1000 Days Expedition team will share this adventure with the world. - www.1000days.net
AMERICA'S CUP STORE
NEWS BRIEFS
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) * Bruce Parsons: Who was the last boat to win a race against TNZ? It was OneAus, and it was after the sinking at that. Their last rebuilt boat appeared to have equivalent boat speed to TNZ, but it came too late. The sail program was still winding up, but coming back from the sinking took a lot of physical and psychological resources, not mentioning the sails that were lost. They lead TNZ a few more times. Only OneAus ever saw the front of TNZ, and no one has taken a race off them since. I too agree they were that close to taking the thing to Australia. * From Richard Endean, NZ: I have a fair bit of time for what Garry Jobson has done for the sport of sailing through the medium of television. However his comments on Team NZ's chances missed the mark. Believe it, it's not the size of the dog in the fight that counts it's the size of the fight in the dog, especially in a smart , wounded one. * Seth A. Radow: I agree with Mark Rudiger 100% in that the twice a day roll call is imperative for safety and audience participation. Mark's reasoning was explicit. Two more points: Improving on-water competition. This year's VOR proved that with four roll calls/day that competition wouldn't be diminished. Competition was exceptional and close. Even with four roll calls, brilliant tactical decisions could and were made on the racecourse. There were plenty of opportunities for the competitors to "get away". In Transpac 2001, Turbo Sleds were navigated by world-class sailors (Mark included). It was no coincidence that they all went the same way. On-water competition was thrilling in numerous classes with the final results not being known until the very last hours of the race. Corporate sponsorship: Most major events are seeking dollars from sponsors. I am told that the Transpac website had in excess of three million hits during the race. Apparently someone was interested in the race. Give our sponsors a decent opportunity to for a return on their investment and they will surely be interested in participating. The more we are willing to update our positions on the water for our friends, family and interested parties on land, the greater the opportunity for our sponsors to generate a decent return on their investment in our race. If Mark was able to update his position four times a day during the Volvo, we should have little problem doing so twice a day. * From Charlie Beven: As far as public interest is concerned, Mr. Rudiger is 100% correct. I was attending college during the Volvo Ocean Race and I logged on to the VOR web page from my school's computer lab every day between classes, just to see if anything interesting had transpired. I realize this might not have been the best use of my time, given the cost of my education, but it was interesting to me. While I may not be in the key demographic of the TPYC, I encourage them to increase, rather than decrease their internet and overall coverage of the 2003 transpack.
AC LEGAL LANDSCAPE You start with the 1887 "Deed of Gift". It is only three pages long. But, that archaic document needs 16 pages of interpretations and New York court rulings to update it - for example, to allow the races to be sailed in the Southern Hemisphere and to prescribe modern nationality requirements. Then there is the famous "Protocol' between the Defender (New Zealand) and the Challenger of Record (Prada), which governs the event and has the restrictions on spying and stealing design information from competitors. With two amendments (so far), this adds another 33 pages to the pile. Next comes the America's Cup Class Rule - 55 pages. This is mostly about how the yachts are to be measured and constructed, but also includes modifications to the Racing Rules of Sailing and other provisions that can end up in race-day protests, including the colour of the 17th man's clothing and his or her experience in yacht racing. All this is before the heavily negotiated Notice of Race and Conditions and the Sailing Instructions - a full set for the America's Cup and the Louis Vuitton Cup, about 30 pages each. So, now you have over 150 single-spaced pages (about an inch thick) of often ambiguous and conflicting documents. Then add dozens of interpretations by the Technical Director and the Jury, and you truly have a lawyer's playground - or nightmare! It is no wonder that for this America's Cup event, which is still a month away from a starting gun, there have already been 19 matters referred to the Arbitration Panel, plus two lawsuits - adding yet another 18" of documents to the file cabinet. With more to come, no doubt. - Excerpt from a posting on the GBR Challenge website, full story: www.gbrchallenge.com
FASTEST J/105 SAILS ON THE PLANET, PERIOD!
RECALL
ATHENS PRE-OLYMPIC REGATTA He also pointed out that the Agios Kosmas venue will remain as a legacy for the Greeks, and he praised the volunteers who, as he said, are doing a splendid job. The Athens 2002 Regatta continued today with the races of Day 6. The wind was not blowing as needed by the athletes, resulting in the cancellation of the Mistral and Tornado classes. Only 7 of the 16 scheduled sessions took place (the 470 class was also having a break). Top North American regatta performers so far:
Hannah Swett/ Joan Touchette/ Melissa Purdy, USA, 2nd place in Yngling class Full results: www.athens.olympic.org
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM |
