|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2314 – April 3, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). ACT 13 ENTRY LIST (April 2, 2007) All 12 teams participating in the 32nd America's Cup officially announced this afternoon what boat they will be using during the fleet races of Louis Vuitton Act 13 that starts Tuesday (through Saturday). Out of the so-called Big Four (Alinghi, BMW Oracle, Luna Rossa and Emirates Team NZ) only the Italian challenger has decided to race with their newest yacht ITA-94. The other three will use instead the first of their two new yachts. The Defender's choice of racing with SUI-91 doesn't really come as a surprise, since that boat has never taken part in official racing so far. As far as the other two challengers are concerned, both boats raced during the 2006 season and presumably they will be used as measure sticks in order to gauge the rest of the fleet. All other teams will race with their newest yachts, even those that have two, as is the case of Macalzone Capitalia and Desafío Español. -- Valencia Sailing, full story: http://tinyurl.com/33qq9h WHO’S ON FIRST (April 2, 2007) The Defender of the America’s Cup, Alinghi, will turn to Ed Baird (USA) to helm the boat in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 13, whilst Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker (NZL) has said he will hand over helming duties to Ben Ainslie (GBR). The revelations came at today’s America’s Cup skippers’ press conference. 'Ed Baird is going to steer the boat,' announced Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth (NZL) at the opening press conference. 'But we might give Peter Holmberg [(ISV)] a shot later in the regatta. We still haven’t decided who’s going to do the Cup so we’re just trying to give the guys as many races to do as possible.' Following the fleet racing Act 13, Alinghi will not race again before the beginning of the 32nd America’s Cup Match on 23 June. Barker says the move to give double Olympic gold medallist Ainslie the helm is part of the normal crew rotation Emirates Team New Zealand has planned into its programme. 'It’s just about continuing our policy of having people available to step in if there’s any sort of illness or injury on the boat,' said Barker. 'Ben has been a key part of this team all the way through and if for whatever reason I’m not on the boat in the Louis Vuitton Cup, Ben needs to be ready to go in and do his best to help the team.' -- ISAF website, http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j12FnA67w&format=popup BETTING ONE MILLION POUNDS Following on last week’s release of odds for the America's Cup in Valencia by Australian and Italian bookmakers, British bookmakers William Hill have annouced their latest odds for the America's Cup. William Hill have Team Alinghi, the Swiss entry and reigning champions, 8/11 favourites to win again. Emirates Team New Zealand are the 3/1 second favourites for the event which gets underway in April, with the US entry BMW Oracle Racing third favourite at 9/2. Hill also offer 6/1 Luna Rossa Challenge, Italy; 25/1 Desafio Espanol, Spain; 33/1 Mascalzone Lationa, Italy; 50/1 Victory Challenge, Sweden; 66/1 39 Challenge, Italy; 66/1 Areva Challenge, France; 80/1 Team Shosholoza, S Africa; 80/1 United Internet Team, Germany; 100/1 China Team. Hill's spokesman, Graham Sharpe said: 'In previous stagings of the Cup we have seen a lively, if somewhat specialised betting market, but with a much larger international audience than ever before likely to have a betting interest, courtesy of the internet, we hope to see a record betting turnover approaching one million pounds (1,967,942.22 USD) industry-wide for the first time.' -- Sail World, http://www.sail-world.com/uk/index.cfm?nid=32138&rid=3 A WINNING COMBINATION! Ockam offers integrated instrument solutions with proven race-winning performance for all boat types. The powerful Tryad processor supplies a smarter, faster & lighter platform that includes built-in RS-232 communications, GPS, NMEA ports and polar information and internal data logging. Your information streams unimpeded throughout the system’s single cable network to provide the most stable, accurate real-time numbers available. Take advantage of the new Matryx II, transflective graphical display that provides a simple, clear way to view information, strip-chart data and control the system. Contact an Ockam system consultant to discuss flexible instrument solutions for everyday use. mailto:Sales@ockam.com RISING COSTS And you thought that sailing in your country was expensive? Consider the amount of planning that needs to go into holding a Sailing School in Zimbabwe in an economic state called hyperinflation? The inflation rate in Zimbabwe is currently at 1193.5% or around 3% per day. Or the current exchange rate is 255.963 Zimbabwe Dollars for ONE U.S. Dollar. The Jacana Yacht Club on Lake Chivero in Zimbabwe is holding a sailing clinic from Saturday, 28th April to Saturday, 5th May 2007. It will comprise of 4 days of teaching and 4 days of race training. The Sailing School will cater for children who want to sail Optimist dinghies, as well as youngsters and adults who want to sail other dinghies, sailboards and cruisers. NOW, here is the kicker, as the organisers say when 'advertising' the Sailing School Costs: “Please note: Due to hyper inflation we cannot budget in Zim Dollars, our biggest expense at Sailing School is fuel, therefore all prices are related to the price of fuel at the time of Sailing School.” -- Complete story: http://tinyurl.com/2xmj9g EMBRACING A NEW REALITY There once was a time, say 30 years ago, when San Francisco's venerable St. Francis Yacht Club had a reputation for being, well, a male bastion full of yachties dressed in blue blazers. Those days are long gone. Today's St. Francis has thrown its considerable clout behind the emerging extreme sport of kite surfing (also known as kite boarding). In front of the club on Marin Green, former surfers can be seen riding their kite-powered boards, launching themselves 30 to 40 fleet in the air, doing mid-air flips and spins, landing it, and riding away. "The St. Francis has given us a warm welcome," former South African surfer and current Sausalito resident Jonathan Buys said. "The real value for kite surfing is that we have the backing of the St. Francis which has such a big reputation for hosting events, which adds prestige to our own events. Without this support we would be dead in the water." This summer, July 25-29, St. Francis will host the first U.S. nationals for kite course racing, crowning the first national champion. A big-air wind jam with kiters jumping off a ramp in the bay in front of spectators will run concurrently. -- by Jan Pehrson, Marin Independent Journal, full story: http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_5539774 38 TROFEO SAR PRINCESA SOFIA The 926 boats and 1,487 Olympic contenders that participated on the second day of the 38 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia – Mapfre had to wait again for the wind, which blew from S-SE between six and fifteen knots, to stabilize in the bay of Palma. The overcast sky that began the day of this important Olympic regatta announced what was going to happen. In some of the eight racing areas, the committees made several attempts to give starts but the wind drop and the important wind shifts resulted in invalid starts and new starting procedures. By days end, all fleets completed either one or two races, with North Americans winning races in the Yngling and Laser Radial classes. Positions of the Top North Americans (over total entrants): Laser Radial - Tanias Elias Calles Wolf (MEX, 1/91), Star - Hammish Pepper/ Brad Nichol (NZL/ USA, 1/41), Laser - Brad Funk (USA, 3/138), Yngling - Sally Barkow/ Carrie Howe/ Debbie Capozzi (USA, 4/33), 470 Women - Erin Maxwell/ Isabelle Kinsolving (USA, 6/68), Tornado - Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (CAN, 8/58), 49er - Dalton Bergan/ Zack Maxam (USA, 11/80), RS:X Men - David Mier y Teran (MEX, 27/112), RS:X Women - Nikola Girke (CAN, 31/67), 470 Men - Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl (USA, 40/116). - Event website: http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/dinghy/index.html MELGES MANIA Looks like over 20 Melges 32's will be racing for the East Coast Championships in the Annapolis NOOD regatta come late April. Many new faces are getting into this hot boat. Did you see the April issue of Sailing World where the Melges 32 is featured? There is a nice interior spread on the new Melges 32. The Melges 24 has the Pacific Coast Championship in San Francisco and then the Full Power World Championship in Santa Cruz coming up this spring. Go Melges. Hot boats, hot racing. Go to melges32.com, melges24.com, Melges17.com or http://www.Melges.com YOUTH MULTIHULL CHAMPIONSHIP Long Beach, CA - California must have cured whatever ailed Alexander Stewart and Evan Miller as the Panama City, Fla. sailors won US Sailing's Youth Multihull Championship for the Arthur J. Stevens Trophy last Saturday and Sunday. Eighteen teams competed on new Nacra SL16 catamarans in conjunction with host Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's annual Olympic Classes Regatta that featured Finns, Lasers and a handful of Stars. Stewart arrived in town last week carrying a stomach flu that was running through his family, and when it hit Miller Friday their participation was doubtful. "I thought we wouldn't be able to do it," Miller said, "but we felt better Saturday, and [Sunday] we were fine. I guess we’ll leave whatever we had in California." The youngsters---boys and girls ages 13 to 18---sailed inside the breakwater while the OCRs ran outside off Seal Beach, and both enjoyed Long Beach's fresh sea breeze of 10 of 12 knots all weekend. Stewart, 18, and Miller, 16, edged first-time catamaran competitors Andrew Mason, 17, and crew Chris Segerblom, 14, of nearby Orange County by half a point. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/3baqp9 SAILING SHORTS * In ISAF’s Centenary year, the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting will take place from 4-6 May in Paris, France, the birthplace of the International Yacht Racing Union. Papers for the ISAF Council and ISAF Events Committee are now available online: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1/FnA67?&format=popup * (April 1, 2007) North Sails One Design announced that Al Terhune has joined the One Design Chesapeake office, where he will be working with Greg Fisher and Brian Bissell as of April 2, 2007. Al was previously the head coach of the JV Offshore sailing team at the US Naval Academy. -- http://www.northsailsod.com/news/alterhune-pr.html * (April 2, 2007) Raul Rios of Puerto Rico leads the 185-boat/ 17 nation IODA South American Championship in Niteroi, Brasil after four races. With his compatriot José Nigaglioni in 4th and Alex Coyle of the US Virgin Islands in 5th, Caribbean sailors are confirming the strength shown in last year’s North Americans where another PUR sailor, now over-age, won gold. Conditions are described as “very tricky.” -- Robert Wilkes, IODA Secretary, results: http://www.optiworld.org/07samres1.pdf * (April 2, 2007) A record 45-boat fleet enjoyed 20 knots of breeze and picture perfect weather for the last day of the 2007 BVI Spring Regatta on Sunday. ABN Amro One, winner of the 2005–6 Volvo Ocean Race, lifted the Racing A Class winner’s trophy, allowing them to take overall honours in the Caribbean Big Boat Series with one event remaining. The Caribbean Big Boat Series is comprised of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta (which ABN Amro One also won), the 2007 BVI Spring Regatta, and the Antigua Race Week, which has yet to be sailed. -- http://www.bvispringregatta.org * This is the second time in the past five years that the Star Western Hemispheres have been hosted by Davis Island Yacht Club, which enjoys an impressive view of Tampa Bay. The starts take place within a couple of hundred yards of the club’s shore, which allowed the fleet today to remain onshore while they waited for the wind to build. Once it filled late in the afternoon, they were easily able to get out to the course to complete two races. Freddy Loof and Anders Ekstrom hold a slim lead after the first day. Complete story by Lynn Fitzpatrick: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/swh * With women’s match racing a hot topic at the recent International Sailing Federation (ISAF) meetings, organizers of this week’s Rolex Women’s Match are expecting a strong showing. From April 5-8, at host St. Petersburg Yacht Club, women match racers will take part in the unique format of half-clinic, half-competition with the winner and runner-up gaining automatic invitation into the Grade 1 Rolex Osprey Cup next October in St. Petersburg. This year’ s intensive clinic will be run by Betsy Alison, an internationally recognized sailing educator, coach, competitor, and five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. -- http://www.rolexwomensmatch.org EIGHT BELLS * Jake Wood, who for more than two decades owned and heavily campaigned the Gary Mull-designed maxi, Sorcery, passed away on Thursday of a massive heart attack. Funeral services to be held on Saturday April 7 at 1:00 PM at the Church of the Epiphany, 5450 Churchwood Drive, Oak Park, California. Burial service immediately following the memorial service at Valley Oaks Memorial Park, 5600 Lindero Canyon Road, Westlake Village. * We're sorry to report that Gary Clifford passed away Saturday morning after a long battle with cancer. Gary, a former San Rafael sales executive, put thousands of miles on his Express 27 Light'n Up - perhaps the most legendary of those miles being the ones he and Jonathan Livingston sailed during the 1984 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Kauai, when the doublehanders kept the 27-ft boat in shockingly close range of the 67-ft TransPac record-holding Merlin. During the 25 years he owned Light'n Up, Clifford entertained - in his words - "gazillions of friends on the boat," giving many their first taste of sailing on the Bay. He and his boat were both well loved, and there's no doubt he will be missed. As fellow Richmond YC member John Dukat noted, "RYC's motto is 'This club was built for fun.' No one at RYC ever made racing more fun than Gary." Plans for a memorial service are still in the works; we'll pass them along when they're finalized. -- Thanks to 'Lectronic Latitude’ for providing this information, along with additional details that are now posted on the Forum, where comments are encouraged: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/07/GC VANGUARD CHARTER PROGRAM Charter boats for the Club 420 North American circuit in Southern California are available. Charters will be available on a first come first served basis for the Pacific Coast Champs (Aug 11-12), Team Race Champs (Aug 15-16), and the North American Champs (Aug 18-21). Additional information at http://tinyurl.com/2oljms LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Jay Brown: (regarding a letter in ‘butt 2313 about the movie WIND) Bruce Parsons asked how do you keep the mast from coming down when the backstay gives..... Well I was in the pit on that shoot and I have to tell you that keeping the mast in the boat was quite a tribute to Gilly and the trimmers that day. More exciting still was the fact that our bowman Bill Bates was up the rig when the backstay went. He was our first priority, but getting him down was made easier by the boys keeping the boat under the mast!!! * From Brad Nichol: (on how cold it is at the Princesa Sofia event in Palma) I grew up sailing in New Hampshire and sailed college in New England! Plus I just got back from Garda where there was snow, so sailing Stars in Palma is a Med paradise! * From Will Thompson: Great interview with Ken Read, and really nice to see him get his turn at running a big-time program. I like comparing it to some of the professional sports clubs in the US that continually seem to be replacing their top managers/ coaches. They can either pull in a retread, or they can bring in someone with some genuine enthusiasm and ability. Ken is obviously the later, and from listening to the audio, appears to be a great spokesman for both his team and the sport. -- Audio interview: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0330 * From Rick Monday: The commentary by Peter Isler really sent home the message in how quick the challenger series might be over for some teams. For those seven teams that will be eliminated after five weeks of racing, the sum of their budgets is well over $300 million. Hope they got an open bar and some good hor de oeuvres for that kind of coin. * From Roy Simons: Too bad the Star and Yngling story was a spoof. I have sailed Stars, and it would be nice to pair up with another class that provides more balance to the nighttime activities. * From George Bailey: The drug issue is thoroughly political. What counts as a drug is a matter of social convention dictated by the politics of the day. If you drink alcohol, you have not right to say otherwise. If you partake of no harmful substances whatsoever, then maybe you can oppose allowing humans the liberty to do things that, while pleasurable, are also harmful. Like racing, for example, that gets people killed, by the way. Do you eat steak to build up your strength? Then the protein in steak is performance enhancer. Do you use strength-building machines? Then they are performance enhancers. If you use them to excess you may win now but you will suffer for it in middle age. It is arbitrary to say that one means of enhancing performance is wrong and another is not. It is not arbitrary to forbid using substances that make you dangerous to others. None the less, some people brag about racing with a hangover, yet we do not ban these disenhanced people from the course. We are inconsistent because it is ultimately politics, arbitrary distinctions (drug, not) and irrational inconsistency (no penality for drinking alcohol while racing, other than its effect on your racing). I do not care to race with drunks or stoned people, though only one is forbidden. But if a competitor builds up his strength using steroids (and is willing to pay the cost later), good for him. I am not even willing to do excessive sit-ups. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Why does your nose run, and your feet smell? Special thanks to Ockam Instruments, Melges Performance Sailboats, and Vanguard Sailboats. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
