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SCUTTLEBUTT 2983 - Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,
providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and
dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
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Today’s sponsors are Doyle Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and
LaserPerformance.
PINDAR ISSUES STATEMENT ON SAFETY OF SAIL BAHRAIN CREW
(December 1, 2009) - Andrew Pindar, OBE, Chairman of Sail Bahrain, today
issued the following statement: “Last Wednesday, Sail Bahrain’s racing yacht
set out from Bahrain to join the start of the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Race. On
the way, we received a call from the crew stating that they had been stopped
by an Iranian navy vessel. We understood that the crew believed they were in
UAE waters, but due to a fault with the propeller, they may have inadvertently
drifted into Iranian waters.
“As the Foreign Office continue to liaise with the Iranian authorities, our
thoughts are very much focused on the safe return of the crew and in
supporting the families who await their return. The Team Pindar crew members
on board are a close-knit group, who are all qualified sailors and have
extensive experience on board racing yachts. Olly Smith, who was skippering
the crew during the delivery has been involved with the team for many years
and has over 100,000 sailing miles under his belt.
“Through the limited contact we have had with the crew, we are pleased to
confirm that they appear to be in good spirits and have confirmed that they
are being well looked after.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yhg3j7t
KIWI FRONTRUNNER COOL AHEAD OF WORLD TITLE RACE
(December 1, 2009) - Leading the World Match Racing standings heading into the
final event on the tour calendar, New Zealand sailor Adam Minoprio refuses to
let the pressure of being the "hunted one" get to him. The world champion will
be crowned after this week's Monsoon Cup, which beings Wednesday in Malaysia.
The title is well within the grasp of Minoprio and his BlackMatch Racing crew
of Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie and Dave Swete, who hold a 12-point lead over
their closest rival, Australia's Torvar Mirsky. While Minoprio has a fairly
comfortable buffer, Mirsky can still overtake his Kiwi rival in the race for
the world title. The young Australian will need to finish at least two or
three places ahead of BlackMatch Racing to leapfrog Minoprio in the standings.
Despite the high stakes, Minoprio said he is feeling pretty relaxed heading
into the tour finale and believes it is his rivals who should be feeling the
heat. "It's quite comforting to know that we can go into the finals and we've
got a bit of breathing room. At the end of the day everybody's going to be
gunning for us and the pressure is on them.” -- New Zealand Herald, read on:
http://tinyurl.com/yexf49h
* The Monsoon Cup, (December 1-6), the final event of the 2009 World Match
Racing Tour, starts Wednesday on the Pulau Duyong Basin course in Kuala
Terengganu. The WMRT is the leading professional sailing series featuring nine
World Championship events across the globe and the World Tour is sanctioned by
the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with ‘Special Event’ status
alongside such tours which include the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race. --
Event website: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/
2009 World Championship Standings (top 8 of 32)
1. Adam Minoprio, ETNZ/Blackmatch, 100 pts
2. Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team, 88 pts
3. Ian Williams, Team Pindar, 75 pts
4. Mathieu Richard, French Team, 74 pts
5. Peter Gilmour, YANMAR Racing, 71 pts
6. Ben Ainslie, Team Origin, 65 pts
7. Damien Iehl, French Team, 48 pts
8. Sebastien Col, French Team, 41 pts
Complete standings: http://tinyurl.com/m4ltxg
* The World Match Racing Tour has announced the 2010 schedule and invite
policy. The 2010 Tour schedule will comprise of the same nine events as 2009
starting the year in France in April and ending once again in Malaysia. --
http://tinyurl.com/yde33rv
STAR POWER: THE TOP AMERICAN
At the Star South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Mark Mendelblatt
and John Von Schwarz were the top American finishers in the strong 63 boat
fleet including 7 world champions. Mendelblatt and Von Schwartz used Doyle's
latest all around LM-10 Main and new J5-L Jib. The top British team of John
Gimson and Ed Greig also used the same Doyle sail combination. 3D flow
analysis combined with 3D design has enabled Doyle Sailmakers to INSTANTLY
produce out of the bag world class winning sails. Contact Jud Smith or your
local Doyle loft to learn more, or visit: http://www.doylesails.com/news
U.S. OLYMPIC SAILING - ERIK STORK AND TREVOR MOORE
Arguably the most exciting boat among the Olympic events is the 49er skiff.
With the top U.S. 49er teams absent from Olympic competition, the Americans
were not expecting too much success from their top ranked team of Erik Stork
and Trevor Moore during the first year of the new Olympic quadrennial.
Erik had only sampled the class during the 2007 U.S. Olympic Trials, while
Trevor, aside from a decorated college sailing career where he was named 2007
College Sailor of the Year, had never been in a skiff prior to their first
training session in the summer of 2008.
However, Erik and Trevor provided enough highlights on the event circuit in
2009 to supply the U.S. Olympic effort with some realistic hope for good
things ahead. Scuttlebutt checks in with this team as they prepare for their
sophomore season:
* Why did you decide to compete in the 49er?
TREVOR: The 49er was a class in which I never thought about doing an Olympic
campaign in, but after I competed in the ‘07 Laser Olympic trials, I realized
that a single-handed boat was not the class for me. I have always enjoyed
double handed boats, aside from the fact that you have someone to share your
success and failures with, double handed sailing maintains a whole new set of
challenges which is something that really drives me in competitive sailing.
Needless to say, crewing is a position that I have never done so you can
imagine switching from the Laser to the 49er provided an enormous amount of
challenges.
ERIK: I actually thought I was going to get into the 470 at first. In the end,
I didn’t have anyone to sail with who was the right size. I asked my brother
if he wanted to sail the 49er with me. We were about the right size, so we got
into it. That was five years ago. John (my brother) and I sailed the boat
casually through the Trials in ‘07. He went a different direction. I love the
boat; it is an incredible challenge.
* How well did college sailing prepare you for competing in the 49er class?
ERIK: The tactics, strategy, and lessons in preparation learned in college
have proved hugely valuable in 49er sailing. While the boats are obviously
much faster, we sail on relatively short courses and a fleet will usually be
broken down into fleet sizes of no more than 35 to 40. Besides receiving a
college education, making many new friends, and gaining a whole new
appreciation for sailing as a team sport, I truly feel more prepared for an
Olympic Campaign now after having graduated and competed in college sailing.
Complete interview: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/1201
=> Curmudgeon’s Comment: The 49er season begins quickly for Erik and Trevor at
the World Championship on Jan, 2-9, 2010 at Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas. --
http://www.49erworlds.org/
EPA DELAYS DECISION ON ETHANOL WAIVER PETITION
Washington, D.C., (December 1, 2009) - Today, in a clear acknowledgement of
widespread concerns about E15 on the environment, engines and consumers, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will delay a final
decision on Growth Energy’s waiver petition to allow ethanol blends up to E15
until more testing data is available.
The National Marine Manufacturer’s Association (NMMA) has long called for more
testing given the serious concerns about the potential impacts of mid-level
ethanol blends on recreational marine engines and boats, including increased
air emissions, performance and durability issues, as well as warranty
concerns. No recreational marine engines, fuel systems or boats are currently
designed, calibrated, certified or warranted to run on any fuel with more than
10 percent ethanol. -- Read on:
http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17746&sid=3
PASSION AND COMMITMENT
At 23 years of age, American Graham Biehl has now twice competed in the U.S.
Olympic trials for the 470 Mens event, and was selected along with skipper Stu
McNay to represent the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics. They were 13th last summer
at the Games, and are determined to win a medal at the 2012 Olympics in
Weymouth, England. Considering that this goal began in 2001 when Graham first
set foot in the 470, a video interview with him posted by the US SAILING Team
Alphgraphics provides a glimpse of the passion and commitment needed for
Olympic sailing. Here is an excerpt:
“Winning a medal would be the end of all of our hard work, it is really what
we are here trying to achieve. Really what I want to do - it is the biggest
goal in life at this moment. Sailing seems to consume my life at the moment.
Even when I am not Olympic sailing, I am Moth sailing or thinking about
sailing, I think if I wasn’t sailing right now, I probably would be finishing
up my college degree, and probably pursuing a job in marketing and trying to
get my family’s company off the ground.
I think that maybe I should try to be doing some school at the same time, but
then I realize how much dedication and effort it takes to really be successful
at what we are trying to do, and I remind myself that once I accomplish my
goal then I can go on and continue with the other things that I want to do.
But for right now, I am really happy with what is going on and being involved
with the US SAILING Team Alphgraphics.”
Watch the video with Graham and several other American team members here:
http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/Meet_the_USSTAG.htm
MELGES MANIA
The Melges 32 Gold Cup at the Lauderdale Yacht Club this weekend kicks off a
series of spectacular Melges events in South Florida. The Melges 32 remains
one of the most exciting up and coming fleets in the world. The Melges 20
kicks off their Winter Series in Miami next weekend. A three event
championship which promises to grow into one of the premiere series in the
USA. Keep a close eye on http://www.melges.com as well as the individual class
sites for exciting announcements.
* Melges 32: http://www.melges32.com
* Melges 20: http://www.melges20.com
WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF SAILING SPONSORSHIP?
Sports marketing consultant Nick Masson is CEO of Crossinitiatives and a
specialist in strategy, planning and project management. Well known in the
sport of sailing, Masson shares his views on the current state of sailing
sponsorship:
* How difficult is it currently to talk about the sport of sailing to
potential partners? How does it compare with one / five years ago?
NICK MASSON: The market was very strong until the summer of 2007. The economy
worldwide was going well and companies were investing for brand growth. In
September 07, unsurprisingly the lights went out and people stopped answering
the phone (not just for sailing projects: sponsorship in general was
affected). This period lasted until about three months ago, and we are now
seeing much more activity.
* So the mentality of the market has changed?
NICK MASSON: It has taken companies some time to evaluate the impact the
financial crisis would have on their business. They have now by-enlarge
re-planned their business and have a clearer view on future performance as a
result they are again looking for new ideas and projects to stimulate brand
performance. There are a few examples in sailing: Addidas and the
French/German America’s Cup team, the Louis Vuitton Series, Audemars Piguet
supporting l’Hydroptere… And the good news is that more people seem to be
taking the long term view.
* What are the strengths of the sport?
NICK MASSON: The values of sailing tend to fit with a broad range of brand
propositions. The sport also offers one of the strongest hospitality platforms
and the quality of our venues support a strong event experience. Sailing has
many other assets; the environment is becoming one of them and carbon neutral
projects can be very attractive. However to be effective they have to be well
conceived and substantiated. It can’t be just a message: there must be
tangible facts behind the messaging.
* And what are its weaknesses?
NICK MASSON: There are some fundamental issues. To begin with, sailing is not
a mass media sport and there isn’t amass following. A brand that wants to
build mass awareness should probably look at another sport. Another issue is
the cost of running a campaign, especially in the America’s Cup and the Volvo
Ocean Race (though Volvo has made good progress). The cost of an AC or VOR
title deal immediately begs comparison with Formula 1. It is logical that
marketing directors benchmark the potential media returns that they can get
against other sports and it often makes it difficult for sailing to compete on
media alone. Accessibility can also be an issue. Sailing events usually
provide free access to the public but it is logistically very difficult for
people to follow the races.
Complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/yeooqy2
WHY POLITICS AND SAILING EVENTS DON’T MIX
Peter Lester has just completed two weeks of radio commentary at the Louis
Vuitton Cup in Nice, France. A great sailor in his own right, Lester tells
Sailing Talk why he thinks the Azzurra team won, and why politics shouldn't
get in the way of great sailing events taking place:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
“The Italians have this intuitive feel in the light to moderate, fluky
pressure. I thought they were brilliant. On the first race of the finals they
started on the left, were patient, then they got that first left shift and won
the first cross.
“In the second race it was a reversal, they started on the right, split
tacked, were behind, and again waited and waited. When a little pressure came
through they crossed on starboard, the Kiwis dipped, and really that was the
game, set, and match. The Italians are just wonderful sailors in those
conditions.” -- Download podcast at:
http://www.sailjuice.com/downloads/20091122
SAILING SHORTS
* Fifty-nine Opti sailors from across the country made the annual trek to New
Orleans Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed turkey, Café du Monde beignets and
southern hospitality at the Opti Midwinters. Known for potentially being windy
and cold, this year sailors were treated to light air and mild temperatures.
In a tightly fought battle, only one point separated the top 3 boats. Hometown
SYC sailor Jonathan Pottharst beat out Chandler's Landing's Geoffrey Nelson on
a tiebreaker with Houston Yacht Club's Wiley Rogers only one point back. SYC's
Dustin Brennan and Kohl Killeen rounded out the top 5. -- Results:
http://www.southernyachtclub.org>http://www.southernyachtclub.org
* On December 4-6, hosted by the Lauderdale Yacht Club (LYC) in Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla., the International Melges 32 Class Association (IM32CA) will
celebrate the fourth running of the Gold Cup Regatta supported by Henri Lloyd.
A record attendance level is expected with twenty-three teams entered, up
three from 2008. The entry list is clearly a 'who's who' of the sailing world.
-- Read on: http://www.melges32.com/?p=news&id=512
* New England Boatworks in Portsmouth, RI has received permission from the
town to rebuild its manufacturing facilities that were destroyed by fire this
past April. The Town Council, sitting as the Building Code Board of Appeals,
granted a variance to New England Boatworks on Nov. 9 that will allow the
company to rebuild three structures where some of the work on its high-end
boats was done. This granted the company an exemption to flood-plain
regulations that had been adopted after the 60-year-old Quonset hut-type
structures were built at 1 Lagoon Road, in the Melville Marine District. --
Read on: http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/132545.html
* How do you protect a boat from winter weather? You shrink-wrap it, of
course. And how do you do that if the boat's floating on the Ohio River? Well,
that's a dirty job. And if you don't believe it, watch Cincinnati boat dealer
Land N Sea perform the task on the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" show when
the episode is aired on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 9 p.m ET/PT. -- Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/yh9e8oj
FREE GEAR FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
From now through December 31st, buy a boat from LaserPerformance and get a
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LETTERS AND FORUM
Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’).
Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words
(letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject,
and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a
more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum.
-- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com
-- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum
* From James Stevralia (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2982):
To add on to Colin's description of the attractions of team racing for an
international event such as the Olympics, I think it is interesting to point
out a couple of the features that we focus on at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht
Club which has been very active racing as a team and in hosting team events.
Obviously the TEAM aspect is compelling.
However, in setting up a race course the committee will seek to set a course
with races approximately 15 minutes long with at least 3 mark roundings, races
are being running simultaneous (we generally have 2 at the same time) so that
each feature of the course has action at any given time, teams are clearly
identified and judging is recognized and respected by the teams. The action is
plentiful but simple, adjudication is quick and the final results almost
immediate. It really is very entertaining as a competitor, as a committee and
judge and also for the spectator, even a casual viewer!
* From George Morris, Inverness, Scotland (re, ad in Scuttlebutt 2982):
The question posed in the Ultimate Sailing ad whether to describe next year as
'Twenty Ten' or 'Two Thousand and Ten' can be answered by reading Persuasion
by Jane Austen. 1806 (the year after Trafalgar) is referred to as 'The year
six'. The early years of the nineteenth century are all described in the same
way.
* From Neil W. Humphrey, Vancouver, BC (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2982):
What is really sad about the detaining of the British sailors (Sail Bahrain)
is how it raises the stakes with other current Iranian hostages. The most
recent one in the press is that of 3 USA hikers. See statement and their web
site below. The mothers of the three American hikers detained in Iran for
almost four months today sent video messages to their children and made a
direct appeal to the Iranian authorities to release them from Evin Prison,
where they are being held without any contact with their families
(http://freethehikers.org/).
The big question is going to be whether Bahrain is going to get any special
favours being a Middle East country to have their people & boat released. How
is Iran going to explain to the world that some people who accidentally cross
their borders get special considerations when they are from a Middle East
country? Doesn't the detaining of this boat shoot the SNG theory that racing
or sailing near the Iranian border is safe?
CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION
I always get slightly afraid when I notice I've answered more than three in a
row of the same letter during a multiple choice test.
Special thanks to Doyle Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and
LaserPerformance.
Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers
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