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SCUTTLEBUTT 3420 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: Melges Performance Sailboats, North Sails, and Southern Spars. CANADIANS WIN CANADA'S CUP Holland, MI (September 4, 2011) - The hotly contested Canada's Cup match race sailing competition concluded today with Team Vincere of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto, Canada, winning by an overall score of five wins and three losses over Team Heritage of Macatawa Bay Yacht Club of Holland, Michigan. The Canada's Cup trophy returns to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club awaiting a future challenge from US sailors. Teams headed out to the race course knowing the contest would be decided on the last and final day. After three days of competition, Team Vincere had a slim one race lead going into the final day with an overall score of three wins and two losses. The first team to win five races would take home the sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany's. In rough seas and good breeze, the teams split the first two races, and the third race began with a clean start. The competitors tacked upwind on mostly opposite tacks, with Vincere taking a slight lead at the first mark. Heritage sailed to left side of the course, with Vincere choosing the right side of the course for the downwind leg. Both boats were still close together at the downwind mark. Vincere had a strong upwind leg, leading by approximately 30 seconds at the third mark, which proved to be too big of a lead for Heritage to make up. Vincere won the final race by 24 seconds to win the Canada's Cup championship by an overall score of five wins and three losses. Vincere will take the Canada's Cup home to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) in Toronto, Canada. In approximately two years, the RCYC will issue a challenge to defend the Cup on their home waters of the northern shores of Lake Ontario. Winning team: Vincere - Royal Canadian Yacht Club Oskar Johansson, 34, Helm, Toronto, ON Andy Horton, 36, Tactician, Burlington, VT Geoff Moore, 50, Main Trimmer, Toronto, ON Mike Wolf, 40, Trimmer, Port Credit, ON Jeff Brock, 43, Jib Trimmer, Nova Scotia Tony Bowman, 41, Pit, Toronto, ON Ian Hogan, 27, Mast, Toronto, ON Ian "Pedro" Nowell, 40, Mid bow, Oakville, ON Max Bulger, 21, Bowman, Boston, MA Daily reports: http://tinyurl.com/Canadas-Cup-2011 Event website: http://canadascup2011.us/ Photos: http://tinyurl.com/Sail22-090511 NEW TOUR LEADER St. Moritz, Switzerland (September 4, 2011) - Torvar Mirsky is the new 'King of the Mountain' after beating Pierre-Antoine Morvan in the final of the 2011 St. Moritz Match Race. Ian Williams finished in third place to move up into first position in the overall Championship standings going into stage 7 of the World Match Racing Tour. In the end, a count back decided both the final and petit final on Lake St. Moritz. The Maloja breeze had arrived like clockwork all week however on the final day, heavy cloud cover and light rain created much lighter conditions and continual wind shifts that made racing impossible. After a series of race abandonments, the Race Committee decided to end racing with no races completed in either the final or petit final. New Tour leader Williams looked in imperious form during the round robin series only to fall 3-0 against Morvan in the semi-finals. "We're pretty consistent having finished on the podium in the past 3 events that we've competed in and will try and do the same in Bermuda," said Williams. "The pressure is really on the likes of Hansen, Mirsky and Bruni now." Mirsky's win is his first since the Portimao Portugal Match Cup in 2009 and gives his 2011 Championship quest a timely boost to third place overall. The race for the 2011 ISAF Match Racing World Championship continues at the Argo group Gold Cup which takes place in Bermuda on October 3-9. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-090511 Final Standings 1. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat, 45,801.83 USD 2. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Extreme Team Morbihan, 31,806.83 USD 3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, 25,448.26 USD 4. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team, 20,358.61 USD 5. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, 16,538.42 USD 6. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team, 13,994.05 USD 7. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, 11,449.68 USD 8. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing, 7,631.51 USD 9. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing, 6,359.59 USD 10. Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners, 5,087.88 USD 11. Eric Monnin (SUI) Oklays Corum Sailing Team, 3,815.91 USD 12. Jerome Clerc (SUI) Team CER, 2,543.94 USD Note: Prize money converted from Swiss Francs on Sept. 5, 2011 BACKGROUND: The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series, with St. Moritz Match Race as the sixth stage of the eight event circuit sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with "Special Event" status. Prize money is awarded for each event, with event points culminating in the crowning of the "ISAF Match Racing World Champion". -- http://www.wmrt.com MELGES FALL SAVINGS Melges Fall Savings is in full swing. Big savings on all new boats and Melges Gear. Check out melges.com for updates, saving options and new boat pricing. Get geared up for the Audi Melges 20, Melges 24 or Melges 32 Winter Series. New boats can be organized for participation still and at a great big savings! New scows are on sale. Check out http://melges.com EVENT COMMUNICATION: DON'T DO THIS! By Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt We all have our soap box moments, when we're passionate enough about something ... our emotions just can't be contained. These moments are tolerated as long as they are brief. So I will try to be brief. In the report 'Online Expectations' in Scuttlebutt 3414, it warned event organizers to avoid purchasing custom website addresses to use for their event. A case in point is the 2009 Snipe World Championship. When I went to look for some details from that event, I found their domain address (http://www.snipeworlds2009.com/) had not been renewed and all the information that was posted there was no longer available. I have since learned that the entire website for the 2009 Snipe Worlds was moved, and is now an extension of the San Diego Yacht Club website (www.sdyc.org/snipeworlds2009). While it was good to hear that the information has been retained, it still did not change how every media report regarding the event was directed to the original site. And now those links are broken. Whether it is on the ISAF website or the Scuttlebutt website, stories about the 2009 Snipe Worlds link back to an event site that no longer exists. But what really moved me to climb up on the soap box was a press release announcing that the Notice of Race for the 2012 Etchells World Championship was now available online at http://www.etchellsworlds2012.org. Anybody want to take a guess what is going to happen to this domain address in two years? Anybody want to guess what has already happened to the event website from the 2009 Etchells World Championship (www.audietchellsworlds2009.com.au)? Tips to help event organizers with their event communication can be found here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/pr Scuttleblog: http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2011/09/event-communication.html SCUTTLEBUTT TRIVIA Can you imagine approaching the leeward mark in a pack of boats before there was a rule stating when an inside overlap had to be established to entitle a boat to water? Hard to imagine such a civilized society existed to allow for the orderly rounding of such a mark. What year do you think it was when a mark room rule was introduced? FOLLOW THE LIVE ACTION Landing in one of England's most historic and celebrated maritime ports, Plymouth, the America's Cup World Series will run September 10-18 in front of crowds on the world-famous Plymouth Hoe. The nine crews representing seven countries arrive in Plymouth ready to renew rivalries in the new AC45 wing-sailed catamarans. This is the second stage in the America's Cup World Series. In the inaugural event in Cascais, Portugal, last month, ORACLE Racing Spithill won the match racing title, while Emirates Team New Zealand came out on top in the first 'Super Sunday' fleet race to grab the overall win. Here's the current leaderboard for the 2011-2012 AC World Series: - Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), skipper Dean Barker (NZL) - Artemis Racing (SWE), skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA) - ORACLE Racing Spithill (USA), skipper James Spithill (AUS) - ORACLE Racing Coutts (USA), skipper Russell Coutts (NZL) - Green Comm Racing (ESP), skipper Vasilij Zbogar (RUS) - Aleph (FRA), skipper Bertrand Pace (FRA) - Team Korea (KOR), skipper Chris Draper (GBR) - Energy Team (FRA), skipper Loick Peyron (FRA) - China Team (CHN), skipper Charlie Ogletree (usa) The opening weekend will see the Plymouth AC Preliminaries, consisting of four fleet races spread across both Saturday (1410 start) and Sunday (1500 start), as well as the AC 500 Speed Trial, also scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Monday and Tuesday are off days before the Plymouth AC Match Race Championship begins on Wednesday. The teams sail a combination of fleet and match races over three days to qualify for Saturday's match racing finals. The event culminates with the AC World Series Plymouth Championship, one winner-takes-all fleet race for the title on September 18. To follow the live action, viewers can tune in to the America's Cup YouTube channel. Featuring a multi-screen player, viewers can choose from live onboard footage, a graphical overview or an eagle's eye view, as well as from expert sailing or standard sports commentary as part of the daily livestreaming. The racing is also available on demand at http://www.youtube.com/americascup The America's Cup World Series Plymouth is the second stop in the series. Following Plymouth, the teams will next race in San Diego, California from November 12-20, 2011. -- Full report: http://media.americascup.com/pressreleases/?id=244 TOILETS: Sausalito is worried about mega yachts dropping anchor along its shoreline and blocking views. Belvedere is concerned about television helicopters buzzing its tony hilltop homes. In Tiburon, it's much simpler: there could be a run on a limited number of public potties. The communities all expressed their concerns in response to a preliminary environmental impact report addressing the America's Cup, which will land in San Francisco Bay in 2013. -- Full report: http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18816335 SCHEDULE: An update to the America's Cup World Series schedule now includes two stops in Venice, Italy. The city will play host the AC45 wing-sailed catamarans twice, with AC World Series stops May 12-20, 2012, and dates to be determined in April 2013. The current ACWS schedule also includes San Diego (November 12-20, 2011) and Newport, RI (June 23-July 1, 2012). -- Full report: http://media.americascup.com/pressreleases/?id=252 SAN DIEGO: A raffle has been launched to award 4 VIP Experience tickets to the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) San Diego (Nov. 12-20). These 4 VIP tickets grant the winner and 3 friends to an unrivalled hospitality experience. Entry deadline is October 15th. Details here: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-082811 NORTH'S 'BLUE IS GREEN' DEADLINE EXTENDED DUE TO HURRICANE IRENE Because so many East Coast lofts were without power last week due to Hurricane Irene, we have extended our Blue is Green program for an extra week! From now through September 9th, when you recycle your old sail, you can save 20% on a new North sail*. Register on our Web site and we will send you a UPS return label for your old sail (must be returned by Nov 30) and you will be able to download a 20% voucher to be used toward your new sail (must be ordered by September 9th). After your old sail is received, we'll also send you a Sea Bags Inc. tote made from recycled sail cloth. * Some restrictions apply. For more information, visit: http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/14313/Default.aspx BRITISH DOMINATION Schull, West Cork, Ireland (September 4, 2011) - British teams took all the titles at the ISAF World Team Racing Championships. Sailing teams from Australia, Japan, United States, Thailand, Italy, Spain and Ireland competed, with twelve teams participating in the Open World Championship and eight in the Youth Worlds. After West Kirby Youth (GBR3) defeated the host team for the youth title, the West Kirby Hawks (GBR 1) took the open title by beating NYYC Team Extreme (USA1) 3-1. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12461#12461 Coming into the Worlds, the title favourites were the United States, winners of the last four consecutive World Championships. Their number one team - NYYC Team Extreme (USA 1) - included Pete Levesque, who has won two Team Race World Championships, two Wilson Trophy Championships and five Hinman Trophy Championships. The team also included Stu McNay, Michael Hession, Marla Menninger, Zach Brown and Emmet Smith. Here is a final report by Zach: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The ISAF Team Race Worlds came to a close one day earlier than anticipated due to a forecasted weather system for Sunday that called for 30 plus knots of wind. We were expecting to get in some extra sleep and have ourselves a leisurely morning while the Youth portion of the regatta completed their semifinals and finals, but the regatta organizers pushed forward the regatta and racing began at 9:30. Instead of the standard quarterfinals knock out format, we raced a single round robin against the top 5 Open teams and the top 3 Youth teams to determine the final four for the semifinals. Just like the two previous days, we raced against GBR 1 first thing. With light and fluky winds in the early morning, we trumped them off the line and rounded in a 1, 3, 4 at the first mark but failed to convert into a more stable team combination. After getting picked apart downwind, we rounded the final mark heading to the finish in a losing combination of 1, 5, 6, but we managed to break them apart and win with a 1, 2. After winning our hardest race of the quarterfinals round robin, we ended up losing two races due to poor starting which would plague us later in the finals. The losses to GBR 2 and USA 2 seeded us third for the semifinals, which meant we raced USA 2 in a best of 5 series while GBR 1 and GBR 2 matched up. At this point the clouds opened up, the breeze increased, and wind became streaky and shifty. It felt like racing on the Charles River with 8-15 knots of wind. We won our first two races against USA 2 and broke up their 1, 2, 5 combination in the third race to sweep our way to the finals. Team GBR 1 also swept their countrymen GBR 2 to face us in the finals. -- Read on: http://www.mysailingteam.com/blog/?p=333 SAILING SHORTS * Oyster Bay, NY (September 3, 2011) - Laurie Jury and Team Koke Kiwimatch (NZL) were nearly perfect this week in the Oakcliff Grade 2 Invitational. They went 15-3 in the double round-robin and were perfect in the semifinals and finals, with 2-0 wins in each. Along with second place finishes in the Chicago Match Cup and the Detroit Cup, and a win at the Knickerbocker Cup, Jury is the overall winner of the inaugural North American Grand Slam Match Racing Series, and will be given an invitation to the Grade 1 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA in March 2012. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12543#12543 * After gales delayed the start of the Star European Championship (2nd-10th September) at Dun Laoghaire (Co. Dublin, Ireland) on Sunday, a lull allowed two races to be sailed today (Monday 5th September) that saw Italians Diego Negri and Enrico Voltolini deliver two consistent results of a race win and a second place in the 27-boat fleet from 17 nations. A return to stormy conditions is expected for Tuesday with 40 knots forecast for the morning. Top North American team is Richard Clarke/Tyler Bjorn in fifth overall with a 9-1. -- Full report: http://www.rsgyc.ie/stareuro2011/index.php/news/ * Racing begins in Porto Cervo, Italy on Tuesday at the 2011 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup (Sept. 6-10), with the 47-strong multinational fleet as the second largest in the event's history. The Mini Maxis (yachts from 18.29-24.08 metres) make up 17 of this year's fleet and will compete in the second running of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship. Twenty-one Maxi yachts (those from 24.09-30.5m) and nine Supermaxis (yachts in excess of 30.5m) will also compete, which include an array of 14 Wally yachts. Both fleets will compete on windward/leeward and coastal courses. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Rolex-090511 * As Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, the 34-year-old Ben Ainslie will skipper Oman Sail's 'Oman Air' Extreme 40 in the next three Acts of the Extreme Sailing Series in Trapani (Sicily), Nice (France) and Almeria (Spain). The first event for the four-time Olympic medalist will be Act 7 of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series in Trapani on the island of Sicily starting on the September 14 with Stadium racing staged over the September 16-18. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-090511 * The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the ratification of a new Outright Around Britain and Ireland record. The 131-foot trimaran Banque Populaire 5, skippered by Loick Peyron (FRA) and a crew of 12, completed the 1773 nm route on July 8th in a time of 3 days 3 hours 49 minutes and 14 seconds (23.38 kts speed average). The previous record was held by "Oman Air Majan" when Sidney Gavignet (FRA) singlehanded the route on August 10th in a time of 4d 15h 9m 27s. Gavignet still retains the singlehanded world record for this course. -- http://tinyurl.com/WSSR-090511 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar TRIVIA ANSWER It was in 1963 when the two-boat length zone was introduced as the point at which an inside overlap had to be established to entitle a boat to water. Yet another idea originally proposed by Vanderbilt, it is suggested that this incarnation came as a result of a discussion between Paul Elvstrom, on the way to his 4th Olympic gold medal, and Niels Benzon. More rules history here: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2011/08/rules-history-part-1.html BOAT SHOW SEASON Southern Spars is set to bring their passion, design, technology and performance to the 2011 Monaco Yacht Show, stand QJ03, New Zealand Street. Our sales team will be on-hand for any inquiries you have about Southern Spars' products and services, from the new and now proven-in-competition TPT technology to our EC6 composite rigging. Please contact info@southernspars.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 Tyler Carder: Over in the America's Cup world, a whole lot of people bemoan (among other things) the loss of a national identity for the various teams: China Team, the team from Korea, even the US defender's two AC 45s are filled with sailors from other nations than the one the team presumably represents. Are ANY of the current nine teams' AC 45 crews all citizens of their team's home countries? Even the Kiwis, who seem to be very much in favor of re-instituting stricter rules on team nationality, don't currently practice what they preach, with the great multihull expert from Oz, Glenn Ashby, playing such a crucial role on the Kiwi crew. So it was interesting to note that in the Canada's Cup currently being contested, a similar situation exists, with two Yanks on the Canadian boat, and a Kiwi and an Aussie aboard the US team's boat. Apparently there are no team nationality rules in the Canada's Cup, either? One wonders if we will see a similar squawking about this loss of homogenous team identity in the Canada's Cup, same as we have seen in the AC over this issue. Somehow, that seems unlikely - Canada's Cup traditions appear to have been slipping away for some time. Once upon a glorious time, the Canada's Cup was contested in purpose-built, custom-designed and highly lake-specialized yachts. It wasn't simply a one-design event in Farr 40s - a fine design but one that is getting a little long in the tooth these days. Perhaps the old days are just not economically feasible anymore, but it's a pity; some great designs came out of the Canada's Cup. Still, no doubt the current Canada's Cup was a closely-fought battle, and some long-standing traditions do still exist- no one likes to lose! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION There is only one perfect spouse in the world and every neighbor has it. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails - Southern Spars Morris Yachts - Atlantis WeatherGear - LaserPerformance APS - Ullman Sails - New England Ropes - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
