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SCUTTLEBUTT 3229 - Tuesday, November 30, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ultimate Sailing, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, and Henri Lloyd. EXPANDING THE TOUR The ISAF Match Racing World Championship, which is in its 22nd year and is now known as the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), is in a period of expansion. The tour has announced they will be doubling the tour’s bonus prize pool to USD 500,000, meaning sailors will compete for a total prize fund in excess of USD 1,750,000 in 2011. The tour also wants to add events, and is currently reviewing upwards of 57 interested venues, with their goal to grow from nine events this year to fifteen in 2013. The genesis of the tour in 1988 was to provide structure and branding to a collection of club events to grow an international professional match race series. The foundation of this model continues today, and while it is understood that current venues provide the fleet of boats used for their events, it came as a shock that the WMRT was looking for the additional venues to build a fleet of boats based on newly revealed boat specifications. Scuttlebutt checked in with WMRT CEO Jim O'Toole concerning the expansion: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Among venues that want to join the tour - which include interest from the United States - a lot of them, according to O’Toole, are venues that need content. “We can provide them with the content, and not only for the five or six days that the tour event is there,” explains O'Toole. “We encourage them to focus on a business model where they can leverage their assets year round. They will have the facility, the race management, the equipment, the race boats, so it is not about using it all for only one week of the year, but rather to build a year round program of activities that will give the return on the investment.” As to what kind of entities can host a tour event, the tour still includes club based events run by the members, but that might not be where the new events come from. “We already have several events that are solely run by professional management companies, and some are a hybrid combining clubs and professional event management companies,” notes O'Toole. “Part of the charm of the current tour is the variety of the events, and the unique and individual personality of the events. But we do see the world is changing, and how the profile of future venues will likely operate under a more event management template.” Regarding the cost of for a new venue to host a tour event, O'Toole was not willing to declare a cost estimate, though he expects the list of prospects to get reduced as they learn what type of facility, equipment, personnel, etc. is needed to run a tour event. One prominent American yacht club puts the total budget, not counting the race boats, at upwards of $2.5 million. While it was understood that venues supply the boats, building a new fleet seems to be an expensive detail. “It is not 100% prescribed that a venue has to buy new boats,” explains O’Toole. “If they have enough of any specific make of boat that is big enough (38 to 48 feet) and is right for match racing, than absolutely they can use it. We look at it from the perspective that if these new venues, which are looking at a blank sheet of paper and want to create an ideal event, our specification are what they should be using. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/1129/ HISTORY IS ON MINOPRIO’S SIDE The spotlight will be burning bright this week at the finale of the World Match Racing Tour - the Monsoon Cup (Nov. 30 to Dec. 5). Now in its sixth year, the Malaysian event offers the highest prize purse on the Tour (approx USD 470,000), with the winner set to earn an estimated USD 100,000. But the Monsoon Cup will also decide the season championship, where five teams are in position to take the overall title of ISAF Match Racing World Champion. Additionally, a $250,000 USD prize pool will be divided among the top nine teams in the season standings, with a $50,000 USD bonus for the outright winner of the World Match Racing Tour. Much has been made of how the top five teams in the Tour standings have prepared for the Monsoon Cup. Four of them - Ian Williams (GBR), Ben Ainslie (GBR), Torvor Mirsky (AUS), and Mathieu Richard (FRA) - competed last week at the non-tour Sunseeker Australia Cup in Perth, Australia. While the event went well for Williams, Ainslie, and Mirsky, who took three of the top four positions, Tour leader Richard finished a distant seventh place. And who didn’t go to Perth? It was 2009 Tour champion Adam Minoprio (NZL), who holds a close second position in the overall Tour standings. “The wind in Perth can be very different to what we experience here (in Malaysia), so it isn’t necessarily the ideal preparation for this event,” Minoprio explains. “We know this venue well - it’s our fifth time here and every year we’ve improved our result, finishing second two years ago and winning last year. To retain the World Championship we have to win this event, with Mathieu not finishing in the top three.” History is certainly on Minoprio’s side. If Richard is to hold onto the Tour lead, he will need to do something he hasn’t done in the last three years: have success at the Monsoon Cup. With finishes of 6th, 8th, and 5th in the Monsoon Cup since 2007, Richard will need to overcome this unique venue. Observes Monsoon Cup entrant Bjorn Hansen (SWE), “The current makes a difference, and the tightness of the course is similar to Marstand (in Sweden). It adds another dimension to have obstacles.” And how did Richard do this year at the Stena Match Cup Sweden (5th Tour event) in Marstand? He was seventh. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor SHOWTIME: Look to the WMRT website for text updates and video replay from the Monsoon Cup: http://www.wmrt.com/ BE THE ULTIMATE GIFT GIVER! A 2011 Ultimate Sailing Calendar, a moisture wicking Technical T, cozy pullover, performance ¼ zip T, caps, bags and custom prints will delight all the Ultimate Sailors on your list. To see our new products and select your 'ultimate' gifts, visit us at http://www.ultimatesailing.com WELCOME TO THE SHOW by Stuart Streuli, Sailing World Crash Davis spent three weeks in The Show once. For the better part of a month, the fictional hero of the Bull Durham hit white balls for batting practice, did his windsprints in modern-day cathedrals of concrete, sifted sand, and precision-cut grass, had someone else carry his bags, ordered room service whenever he was hungry, and made long-legged, brainy women swoon. “The 21 greatest days of my life,” he says, as the Durham Bulls’ team bus, full of hickory, ash, tanned cowhide, bad 80s hairdos, and irrepressible youthful enthusiasm, rolls through a hot, sweaty southeastern summer. Like Crash, I was a catcher once. I spent a few springs behind the irregular pentagon, catching 40-mph heaters from a left-handed classmate who was just wild enough - on the mound and off it - to scare the batters. Then I went on vacation one April, and when I came back I was more afraid of the ball than the hitters. Suddenly, I was turning away from each pitch, which is a cardinal sin for a catcher considering the only armor is right up front. Mercifully, the coaches saw this and brought an end to my catching. My baseball career followed suit shortly thereafter. If I were to make “The Show,” it would have to be in some other sport. You could start a pretty lengthy argument in a sailors’ bar by asking what is “The Show” of our sport. Is it the America’s Cup? The Volvo? The Audi MedCup? The Mediterranean Maxi circuit? The Olympic dinghy circuit? For an amateur sailor, none of those are realistic options. If you’re looking for the circuit toward which most Category 1 sailors currently point their aspirations, I suspect the Melges 32 would come up more often than not. A few years ago, the Farr 40 sat atop this lofty pedestal. I spent 10 days breathing that rarefied air one November. It was everything I thought it would be. I can’t speak to the long-legged beauties with PhD’s - though in South Beach it’s usually a simple matter of looking in the right places - but the sailing was intense. We practiced harder than most people sail. The race management was flawless, the water a perfect shade of blue. And off the water we were treated much better than we had a right to be. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it the 10 greatest days of my life, but had the call come again, I would have tripped over myself trying to answer the phone. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SW-112910 AROUND THE WORLD - YES. SYDNEY TO HOBART - NO. Australian teenager Jessica Watson, who sailed solo around the world earlier this year, won’t be spending the Christmas season competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race because of her age. Watson became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe from Sydney, Australia, departing on 18 October 2009, heading eastbound and returning to Sydney on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday. The annual 630 nm Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which has attracted 102 applications for this year's race, will get underway on December 26th. The race has a strict age requirement, however, and because of that rule, Jessica won't be allowed to compete. Race officials have mandated that all competitors be at least 18 years of age at the start of the race, which means Watson will have to wait until next year. Under-age sailors have been exempt from the race since strict safety rules were enforced after the deaths of six crew during devastating storms in 1998. Cruising Yacht Club (CYC) of Australia Commodore Garry Linacre said he would love to see Jessica take part in the race next year."I would very much like to see Jessica participate in the race and we will do everything at the club to help her qualify and participate but it will need to be 2011, after she's turned 18," said Linacre. When asked if she was intending to participate in 2011, Jessica did not give too much way, but intimated there could be something exciting in store. “I have always wanted to do the Sydney to Hobart race and it may well be 2011, but we will wait and see what happens. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but we may make an announcement on a new project soon,” said Jessica. -- http://tinyurl.com/JW-112910 41 YEARS IN THE SADDLE By Kimball Livingston, SAIL editor-at-large Yes, I thought I felt a trembling in the power of the Force. And there it is, the December issue of SAIL, the first issue in the history of the magazine that does not bear the name Charles E. Mason III on the masthead. “Chip” as his oldest friends call him, was a founding editor. Issue number one hit the stands in February 1970, and I do mean hit. There is a whole generation of sailors now that can’t be expected to know what a revelation was SAIL. The industry standard was Yachting Magazine, fusty and narrow and set in its ways. The name comparison alone tells you something, and long before the decade was out, SAIL led the industry. Via email, Charles E. “Chip” Mason III, former Executive Editor of SAIL, declined to be interviewed here, judging that he preferred to leave his recollections “in the drawer.” In typical fashion, however, he did divest himself of a few suggestions as to stories he thinks I really ought to be writing. Once an editor, always an editor. (Note for that generation that can’t be expected to know: At the time SAIL was launched, One Design magazine had recently morphed into One Design & Offshore Yachtsman, a niche player, and had not yet blossomed into Sailing World.) Absent an interview, we shall say nothing of Mason’s formative experiences in the Navy, serving on a destroyer-minesweeper, his escape from a banking career to the world of sail and voyaging, his ready embrace of every new technology, his encyclopedic knowledge of the industry, his America’s Cup coverage, his transatlantic trips, his daily walk to work from Beacon Hill to SAIL’s Boston office whatever the weather, his gentleman-journalist, buttoned-down, impeccable New England manner occasionally accented with a bow tie, or his youthful reputation as the right guy to have on the bow of your boat. -- Read on: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=5420 J/111 HULL #3 UPDATE JK3 has been having way too much fun with the latest from J/Boats! We have been out racing the Hot Rum Series in San Diego and having fun learning the boat. The J/111 has proven to be an easy-to-handle, comfortable sailboat that accelerates quickly, slices to windward at 7+ knots and hits double-digit speeds downwind, and marks the start of the most exciting one design class J/Boats has seen! For more information on the J/111, contact your local J/Boat dealer, or if you live in Southern California, contact JK3 to arrange for a personal viewing and sail. In San Diego (619-224-6200), Newport Beach (949-675-8053), or http://www.jk3yachts.com => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I was onboard the J/111 for the last Hot Rum race, with Jeff Brown and Kenyon Martin (JK3), Jeff Johnstone (J/Boats), and John Gladstone (North Sails) among the crew. To succeed in the inverted start format, you must be able to weave through the slower boats ahead of you, and the J/111 proved to be a great weaver to win its class. Here is the video from an onboard camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wigXJg7xqxw SAILING SHORTS * Three-time world windsurfing champion and Olympian, Carol Ann Alie was inducted into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame last week alongside hockey legend Mario Lemieux, the Gazette’s Red Fisher, women’s Olympic hockey star Danielle Goyette, and other accomplished Olympic athletes. Alie represented Canada at the first three Olympics with a windsurfing event (’92, ’96, ’00). -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/CYA-112910 * A fire has destroyed about 30 boats and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a marina in Saint-Paul-de-l'Île-aux-Noix. The marina is located on the Richelieu River about 60 kilometers south of Montreal. Witnesses heard an explosion, and a few minutes later, flames could be seen coming out of a building used to store boats on the site. Police said it looks like the explosion was deliberately set. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20101023140243ibinews.html * The Obama administration last week announced a plan to speed up development of wind energy by searching the Atlantic Coast for the most desirable places to build windmills rather than wait for developers to propose sites that could hurt the environment or sit in the middle of a shipping lane. -- Washington Post, read on: http://tinyurl.com/WP-112910 FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent ads: * Swaging machine for sale * Yacht Delivery captain for hire * Job opening for Sailing Center Community Relations Manager View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads BEST YACHTING BAR COMPETITION IS BACK! Due to popular demand, the second annual Wight Vodka Best Yachting Bar competition has commenced. Last year’s inaugural event got off to a roaring start, with thousands upon thousands of votes cast from around the world’s oceans. In the end, the Peter Café Sport in the Azores won hands down and received a trophy and prized bottle of Wight Vodka to celebrate their win. This event is hosted by the team at Scuttlebutt Europe, but North America needs to be represented in this competition. The voting in now open, with the deadline for submissions to be this Saturday, December 4th. Additional details here: http://www.scuttlebutteurope.com/sailors-bars.html EIGHT BELLS Allen Brill, President and CEO of Rolex Watch USA, passed away this weekend, six weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Having worked with Allen at Rolex for 12 years, I can say without hesitation that while he wasn't a sailor, he was an extraordinary friend to sailing. With the company's check book and support of the Rolex US marketing department, Allen understood and believed sailing to be one of the ultimate endurance sports, for sailors and their equipment, and that anything that was "good for sailing" was good for Rolex to be part of. -- Rick Bannerot HENRI LLOYD LIFESTYLE CLOTHING- NOW AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. The wait is over. Everyday clothing with all the comfort and performance that’s associated with the HL brand. Move from work to weekend with our new line of Lifestyle gear, crafted to exceed your expectations, not your budget. Visit www.henrilloyd.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Peter Hinrichsen: With regard to the Melges 32 class rules concerning crew weight (in Scuttlebutt 3228), the first sentence is crystal clear "The total crew weight on board while racing shall not exceed 629kgs." That surely means that if the crew mass is more than 629 kg while racing this rule has been broken. The rest of the rule deals with how the crew is to be "weighed" and it should be noted that 629 kg is a mass and NOT a weight, which is the force with which the earth pulls on them. Therefore the jury can put the crew on a jolly jumper (suspend them on a spring) and measure their oscillation frequency to get their mass. That would not be weighing, as the force of gravity on them does not come into this measurement, which is used in the weightless environment of space. As an international measurer, I have both controlled wet clothing weights and crew weights at a number of Olympic Games and now sail on an Etchells. I think that to most sailors, anyone exceeding the wet clothing limit would be justifiably disqualified, so it seems disingenuous to allow added weight by eating after weighing. A class has to make the serious decision as to whether the social side of their events takes precedence over the crew weight rule, and I see both sides of this, but then if the rule is there the class must enforce it. Lax application of any rule opens a can of worms. Although time consuming and boring to implement, the Yngling class rule, which requires weighing each morning before racing, is the way to implement a crew weight rule at World Championships and the Olympics. * From John Lambert: I write to respond to the report on Nevin Sayre’s suggestion (in Scuttlebutt 3225) that the trouble with youth and early adult (post college) sailing is that the boats being used are dated and not fun. I disagree. In the mid ‘60s, more US children probably raced sailboats than played soccer. The rules and equipment for soccer have not changed and its growth is enviable. Soccer and sailing are at core, forms of play - recreation. As explained by Johan Huizinga in his Homo Ludens - play creates order, is order; play demands order absolute and supreme. It is the constancy of the rules and the equipment that creates a timelessness to a game, hence acceptance and growth. The recent successes in sailing corroborate this observation. Strong one design sailing with little chance for an arms race has experienced growth: Optis, lasers, Club 420s, high school/ college and team racing. These simple options end with college as the cohort that can least afford sailing is confronted with expensive options that reward more money being spent. The loss of simplicity is compounded by the belief that equipment is more important than the need for simplicity and constancy of the rules of the game; the need for order. The error is exemplified by ISAF turning the Olympic paradigm upside down. Normally, the Olympics represent the pinnacle of a large pyramid of participants. With Olympic sailing, classes and events are invented with, for some events, only a few teams competing for the spot. -- Scuttlebutt forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10857#10857 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION No one is ever old enough to know better. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Mount Gay - Kaenon - LaserPerformance - Ultimate Sailing Melges Performance Sailboats - Henri Lloyd - Team One Newport North Sails - J Boats - Ullman Sails - JK3 Nautical Enterprises Summit Yachts - Doyle Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
