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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 615 - July 31, 2000SAILING WORLD NOOD AT MARBLEHEAD RACE WEEKSailors who competed in the, held July 27-30 off Marblehead, crowded under a big-top tent at Boston Yacht Club to celebrate the winners of this four-day regatta. During the presentation, fog and rain swept in from the harbor and through the open-air confines of the big top. But the gray skies did not dampen the sailors' mood and spirits ran high as some concluded yet another chapter in the history of this 111-year-old event. A fleet of 201 boats with 600 competitors from the U.S., Canada, and Ireland competed on Massachusetts Bay at the Sailing World NOOD (National Offshore One-Design) at Marblehead Race Week. John Russell of Marblehead was presented with the Leonard Munn Fowle Trophy for an outstanding performance at Race Week. Russell, with crew Ron Geddes on SECOND WIND, captured first place in the Town Class by winning every race in the series. Shan McAdoo of Salem (Mass.) was awarded with the Norman E. Cressy Trophy, an accolade created for "good sailing skill and a good sailing spirit in a competitive fleet," said presenter Ken Adam. McAdoo, and tactician Doug Trees (Hamilton, Mass.), won the 45-boat Rhodes 19 class--the largest class competing at Race Week and the largest class to ever compete at a NOOD regatta. The Norman E. Cressy Trophy was created by Cressy's family in 1998 to commemorate this local racer's 50th consecutive Marblehead Race Week. Cressy, who competes in the Rhodes 19 class, finished in fourth place with coskipper Doug Buell. Four classes used this regatta as a championship series. Russell also won the Town Class New England Championship. Stewart Neff and Henry Brauer (Wenham, Mass.) topped the 34-boat Sonar class to win the Sonar New England Championships; the Sonars were the second-largest class at Race Week. Rick Lyall of Wilton (Conn.) was winner of the J/80 New England Championships. Coskippers Robbie Doyle (Marblehead) and Ben Richardson (Gloucester, Mass.) topped a competitive fleet of Etchells to win the Etchells Atlantic Coast Championships; Doyle and Richardson will continue on to the 2000 Etchells World Championships, to be held in San Diego this August. The NOOD at Marblehead Race Week was hosted by the Boston, Eastern, and Corinthian yacht clubs. - Cynthia Goss Complete results: http://www.sailingworld.com THE BIG BOYS Due to the the lack of wind in the last twelve hours,Club Med haven't passed the 5 knots marker. Grant Dalton and his team have decided to turn around and retrace their steps back to Newport. Club Meds electronic display unit certainly doesn't lack precision : since the boats' departure from New York on Friday, its' progress has been ridiculous. Hence the decision to turn the boat around was taken, with one condition : to reattach both propeller shafts thus permitting the return by engine. It took, Nicolas Pichelin and Jason Carrington, the two divers chosen on this occasion approximately two hours to carry out the delicate task. During which the fin of a shark appeared disturbing the operation for a few moments because the two divers were compelled to climb aboard. A shark and also some whales acompanied Club Med in the everlasting calm waters. Club Med are actually headed in the direction Block Island to stock up on provisions both food and fuel. " If the conditions improve, we envisage coming back to pass the line at "Ambrose light", Grant Dalton explains," but I'm waiting for the new weather reports before taking a decision." - http://www.therace.clubmed.com/press/news.phtml Skipper Steve Fossett advised that PlayStation and her crew were back to Code Red status, with no likely TransAtlantic record attempt departure from New York for at least 4-5 days. The skipper has decided to wait for a more suitable weather window; "August is a perfectly good month for moving frontal patterns such as we need to get the TransAtlantic record, and I have told (meteorologist) Bob Rice we will hold out for a reasonably good pattern." http://www.fossettchallenge.com/ DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT Gill have been the market leaders in boating boots for many years. Whilst performance marine clothing has developed in leaps and bounds over the years: boots had not until now! During the past two years Gill has worked closely with WL Gore to develop a completely new and revolutionary marine boot. Style 910 Features include: waterproof, breathable, and light weight. Cordura and Kevlar tough upper. Unique rear lacing system. Superman grip with wrap around 3D sole unit. Reflective strip near to the ankle support. No offshore sailor should leave home without a pair. For more information: http://www.gillna.com OPTI WORLDS Sime Fantela from Zadar, Croatia is the millennium Optimist world champion. As the day started the situation was complex. If the two possible races were sailed then Sime could discard a 10th and would have been in a strong position. But, with a 1430 cutoff time this was never likely and without that discard he had a real battle with Lucas Calabrese (ARG). As it turned out the second race would have been almost academic. Sime led from the start and finished at least eight boat-lengths ahead of the fleet, while Lucas could "only" manage a 10th. 14 year-old Sime has already had a distinguished Optimist career. Bronze medallist in 1998, his 1999 Worlds was disappointing with OCSs and DSQs pushing him down to 12th. This year he made no mistake. Final results (252 boats): 1. CRO, SIME FANTELA (32)2. ARG LUCAS DAMIAN CALABRESE (35) 3. ITA, JARO FURLANI (54) 4. ITA, FABIO ZENI (67) 5. CRO, IGOR MARENIC (87) 15. USA, MITCH HALL (123) 29. USA PAT CURRAN (157) Complete results: http://www.optimist2000.com/en/competicion/day08/resultados-1.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. -- From Dee Smith - IMS is not a measurement rule, it is a VPP. The fact that the ORC is still changing the VPP every year will always cause problems because the IMS is a succession of VPP's. It is and will always be impossible to rate all boats equally under multiple VPP's when each boat is designed to a different one. This is the only problem with the IMS, they keep changing the VPP every year. STOP!!! The IOR never worked when they changed the rule, only in the later stages when the rule was frozen, was there equality in boats over years. The ORC has been told to freeze years ago. They have been told that the dynamic allowances were too great. They were told that the mast credits were too much. The ORC is not making racing better by promoting a changing VPP. One year old 50' has to spend an average of $250,000 per year to stay competitive because of a changing VPP. This money does not make the boat go faster, just rates better with a current design. I do like racing under the IMS, it is a good way to rate boats, but you just don't have to change the VPP every year. Why not freeze for 5 years. At the end of 3 years come out with the change for the 5th year. This way, owners will know what they are buying and getting into. They can plan when to modify and when to build new. -- From Dobbs Davis - I just wanted to add a few comments to the string on the IMS Worlds in Newport. Firstly, the moniker 'Worlds' given to this event reminded me of baseball's 'World Series' where only US teams are allowed to play. The scheduling of the event in midsummer rather than during one of the shoulder seasons inhibited most of the active IMS players in the Med from participating. The IMS Europeans in Italy last month had 30% better attendance than the Rolex event - to exclude this group in my view seriously limited the event's credibility as a 'world championship'. Secondly, while the light weather certainly didn't help race managers, neither did their insistence on one-lap windward-leeward courses. On board Bob Towse's R/P 66 'Blue Yankee', even our bow team grumbled at having only one set, one gybe, and one takedown to prove their skills in most of the three inshore races. In contrast, the PHRF fleet had seven races in 3 days: who do you think had the better bang for the buck? Perhaps the NYYC race managers could have had more flexible scheduling options in their NOR, but I confess I don't know if there are constraints for them doing that in a 'World Championship'. Thirdly, Geoff Staggs's comments in Quokka relayed in 'Butt 610 which lamented that the newest designs would win in IMS should be balanced against the fact that he sailed on 'Gaucho', a 9-year old boat which still managed to get 3rd in class and 4th overall in the racing division: not too bad for the old girl, and maybe not too bad for the Rule either. -- From Donal McClement - IMS is known as the International Mystery System here in Ireland because you would need to be a Sherlock Holmes to decipher it. Ford Cork Week had almost 400 boats sailing under IRC (formally Channel Handicap) and in each of 8 classes (More than 40 boats in all bar Class 0) sailing on a different type of course each of 5 days the results were extremely close. This system which is administered by the Royal Ocean Racin Club and the French UNCL has been in use since 1984 and in my view provides the best handicap racing in the world. In Class 0 last week boats as different as Pyewacket, Barlo Plastics (a custom 41.5 footer designed to the rule), Corel 45, Farr 40 and Carrol Marine built Farr 60 all had superb racing with results of less than 45 seconds separating the top 5 or 6. IRC is an inexpensive non-performance based rule that measures Sail area, Weight, waterplane length and type of rig. It also takes into account the type of hull and keel and costs about $ 100 per year to the Owner. -- From T.L. Lewis (In reply to Bob Fisher's guest editorial.) - So Bob, you are willing to concede that it was OK for the Scandinavians to crew on Cup boats all those years ago, because they "were part of the melting pot that was America at the time". How about the possibility that today's breed of AC sailors is carrying on that tradition, and is similarly representative of the "melting pot" the world is becoming right now, you have perhaps heard of the Internet, the European Union (and its common currency), the fact that one does not need a passport to cross many international borders, etc. As you said, the sailors are representing clubs who are challenging for the Cup, all they should need to prove is that they are members in good standing of the club they are representing. Let's be sure they have all paid their dues, and spent their monthly minimum at the bar or in the dining room. -- From Tom Roberts - (hastily edited to our 250-word limit) I feel that another view to the Americas Cup Nationality issue is worth considering. Is it that the sailors are free agents out looking for the highest bidder as suggested in the recent guest editorial? Or, might it be that they are looking for the most realistic opportunity to be on the winning team? How about that this is a natural development when people with considerable means decide to play this game and like to develop the best chances of winning? One more possibility, the participants enjoy working with a professional organization that provides the support needed to excel at their sport? I think the real answer is a combination of the above and other reasons that I have not thought of while quickly pecking this e-mail out. This line of thinking leads me to the next question. Whose event is this? It seems to me that people could have one of two theories. 1) The event belongs to a group of people that tightly controls the event through a series of creatively crafted contracts and organizations. Each struggling for control. Each looking for dollars for their own honorable objectives. Each taking great bows for their efforts. 2) The event belongs to itself. By its nature, the event is fluid and constantly evolving. The event itself will find its own path shaped by the players, those interested in assisting its continuation and the people who follow it with fascination. -- From David Shore - In Scuttlebutt 614 it was claimed that the Felker Cup (A Scow Invitational) was the oldest trophy in North America." How old is it? I have heard of a few trophies with that claim. -- From Rick Peters - In regard to Bob Fisher's Olympics guest editorial, when describing our boats, Star sailors would prefer you use "timeless," instead of "positively ancient." I am sure you will receive a lot of feedback on this topic. The Star got 'the boot' in favor of the 49er last time, only to get in through the back door by the IOC creating an 11th event. ISAF liked this - it makes it easier to get women's match racing in this time. It is ridiculous to have the Finn as an open class, I have never seen or even heard of a woman sailing one. It should be the men's dinghy with the open dingy being the Laser. The mixed 470 idea could be a less painful solution but could cause other problems to arise off the racecourse! Personally I think there are too many trapeze boats in the Olympics, although the Star and Soling are the only boats I know of to allow droop hiking. There does not seem to be a lot of keelboat fleet racing in the Olympics, maybe because its just too popular. Possibly something with lifelines so it's more like the racing most sailors do! One thing I am sure of is that whoever gets chucked at the meeting will not expect it. Maybe it should be the Star again. Then there might be a chance of getting a 12th Olympic sailing Event. -- From A. Huggler (Re: Olympic classes) - Vandevanter's suggestions reflect my own wishful thinking: A lightweight myself, the Europe certainly attracts me more than a Laser and would offer a real alternative for men whose producers lacked the genes creating 6'-4"/190lbs bodies. Besides I consider the Laser's rig outdated if not to say primitive. The Soling wouldn't be missed much either, enthusiasm for the class seems rather limited and in some countries (i.e. Switzerland) the 5.5 they replaced maintain larger fleets and are more actively sailed. Keep the Star! MATCH RACING Aspiring match racers have a chance to sail against the world's best at the Colorcraft Gold Cup to be raced in Bermuda in October this year. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) is currently inviting amateur and professional skippers to register for the annual event that has already attracted many of the top racers from this year's America's Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup. Sixteen unseeded skippers will be invited to race in preliminary rounds, with the eight best going forward to race against eight seeded skippers in Round One of the Colorcraft Gold Cup." Now in its 52nd year, the Colorcraft Gold Cup is raced in 33-foot International One Design sloops on short windward-leeward courses inside Hamilton Harbor. Sailed by a skipper and three crew, the boats fight around tight courses that take the contestants almost up to the bows of the cruise ships moored along the city edge on Front Street. The event starts on October 22 with the registration of unseeded skippers, and finishes with a prize-giving on October 29. While the names of the eight seeded skippers won't be confirmed until mid-August, the group will include five-time Gold Cup winner and America's Cup champion Russell Coutts from New Zealand, and last year's Colorcraft winner, Briton Andy Green. New Zealand's World Match Racing Champion Dean Barker will be there, and Italy's Louis Vuitton Cup winner and unsuccessful challenger for the America's Cup Francesco de Angelis has been invited. Australian Peter Gilmour, a three-time world champion and the 1995 and 1997 Gold Cup winner, has confirmed he will join the seeded group. Altogether, the club is inviting 24 skippers, comprising the eight seeded and 16 unseeded entries. The latter group will include the top two Bermudan skippers from the Goslings' Black Seal Cup for the national match race championship, and the winner of the York Cup match race event sailed in Toronto, Canada. - Keith Taylor Event website: http://www.bermudagoldcup.com NEW TRANSATLANTIC RACE George M. Isdale Jr., commodore of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), and Gunther Persiehl, president of the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) in Hamburg, Germany, announced today a new transatlantic race: the Atlantic Yacht Club Challenge 2003. The race is open to seaworthy racing and cruising vessels, not less than 40 feet LOA. (The precise size limit will be determined in mid-2001, as will the handicap system.) The transatlantic race, to begin on June 14, 2003, will start from the site of the Sandy Hook Lightship just outside New York Harbor. The finish line will be off Cuxhaven, Germany, a distance of approximately 3,500 nautical miles. Sponsored yachts are eligible. The precise minimum-size limit will be determined in mid-2001, as will the handicap system. In addition to individual entries, all yacht clubs are invited to form teams of two yachts each to compete for a new yacht club blue-water racing championship. The Committee plans to arrange for shipping to be available for yachts coming from Europe for the start and yachts returning to America after the finish. - Michael Levitt, communications@nyyc.org. THE PERFECT GIFT FOR BUTTHEADS EVERYWHERE Looking for the perfect nautical gift for the Butthead in your life? Try InternationalCrew.com. This new nautical web site has everything from hand-embroidered photo albums to "Chum" snack mix gift baskets-- all at the click of a button! Definitely not your everyday maritime merchandise! What more could any Butthead ask for! For more information call toll-free (888) 835-8880. Shop International Crew online: http://www.internationalcrew.com Email: sales@internationalcrew.com CALENDAR * August 9-13: 505 North American Championship, Santa Cruz YC. NOR: http://www.int505.org/usa/NOR/2000NAsNOR.htm * August 12 &13: 24 Hour Snipe Regatta, Mission Bay YC * August 24-27: Rolex Thompson Cup, Seawanhaka YC. http://www.sailingsource.com/wimra * August 25-27: Schock 35 National Championships, Alamitos Bay YC. http://www.abyc.org LARRY ELLISON SAN MATEO, CA - Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison is not only savoring this week's win in the Chicago to Mackinac Race aboard Sayanora, but also in a San Mateo courtroom according to the San Jose Mercury News. There, a jury took less than two hours to decide that Ellison dealt fairly with a Florida yacht salesman during a 1996 purchase of his first mega-yacht, the $10 million October Rose. Despite conflicting testimony from several witnesses, jurors had no problems deciding that no contract had been broken by Ellison and plaintiff Michael Rafferty of Gilman Yacht Sales. Rafferty was suing Ellison for $490,000 and damages alleging that Ellison bypassed Rafferty for another broker, Merle Wood, to buy the boat. Wood has since sold the October Rose for Ellison and sold him two additional super-yachts, both worth more than the first. - SailNet website. Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/news/index.cfm?news_list=ddcksn0280,ddcks n0281,ddcksn0282,ddcksn0283,ddcksn0284,matthe0564,matthe0565,matthe0566&tfr=fp LOWELL NORTH There has been some bum dope floating around about Lowell North's health. Not to worry - Lowell did NOT suffer a stroke - the Pope is doing just fine. Doctors in Ketchikan, Alaska, where Lowell and his wife Bea are cruising, detected an occasional slowdown in Lowell's heart rate. As a precautionary measure, Lowell went to the Scripts Clinic near San Diego for complete testing. The tests uncovered nothing major. However, because of North's fluctuating heart rate it was decided to install a pacemaker. That's been done, and Lowell is now back in Alaska with Bea, continuing their cruise. THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? |
