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SCUTTLEBUTT 2994 - Thursday, December 17, 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 Ullman Sails and The Pirate’s Lair.
EIGHT BELLS
The sailing community lost a great friend on Wednesday when Roy Edward
Disney, nephew of Disney founder Walt Disney and son of co-founder Roy O.
Disney, died in Newport Beach, California after a year-long battle with
stomach cancer.
No one has given back more to the sport than Roy Disney. He had a long-term
relationship with the California International Sailing Association (CISA)
foundation - a relationship that has provided boats, funding and
opportunities for thousands of young sailors to become acquainted with the
sport, improve their skills and to pursue their sailing goals and dreams.
“Junior sailing in Southern California would not be what it is today without
Roy’s support,” said Tim Hogan, former CISA President. Disney’s passing will
not end his involvement with that foundation.
In the mid 1980s, Disney was instrumental in bringing sled racing to the
West Coast. He was the founding president of the ULDB 70 Association and
loved offshore racing. His favorite race? The Transpac, by a huge margin. In
1999, he set an elapsed time record for that race in Pyewacket III, breaking
the record set two years earlier by his son, Roy P. Disney - filling in for
dad who had broken his leg shortly before that race started.
A long time member of the Transpac Board of Directors, he has heavily
supported the organization and the race in an abundance of ways. Scuttlebutt
readers will remember that Disney, along with his wife Leslie, produced
Morning Light, a riveting and inspiring true-life feature film that gave 15
young sailors a chance to sail their own TP52 in the Transpac Race.
Disney is survived by his wife Leslie, four children from his previous
marriage to Patricia Dailey Disney, as well as 16 grandchildren. He was 79
years old. Funeral services will be private, followed by cremation. His
ashes will be scattered at sea. Plans for a Life Celebration will be
announced shortly. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to
CISA (California International Sailing Association, www.cisasailing.org) to
benefit youth sailing. - Tom Leweck
Scuttlebutt Forum thread: http://tinyurl.com/Roy-Disney-forum
Scuttleblog: http://tinyurl.com/Roy-Disney-blog
ROLEX 2009 AWARDS NOMINEES SHORTLISTED
It wouldn’t be December without the annual “year in review” and “best of”
lists, and the release of US SAILING’s shortlist of nominees for the 2009
Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards marks that traditional
milestone for the sport of sailing in the United States. It was an
outstanding year of achievement on-the-water during the 2009 calendar year:
American men won nine world championships, while competitive excellence was
achieved by American women in both fleet and match racing events.
Nominees for US SAILING's 2009 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year award:
Matt Fisher - Lightning World Champion
Bora Gulari - CST Composites International Moth World Champion
Chris Larson - Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis Melges 24 World Champion
David Loring - Sunfish World Champion
Mike Martin - SAP 505 World Champion
Zach Railey - Finn Gold Cup Silver Medalist
Jim Richardson - Rolex Farr 40 World Champion
John Ruf - 2.4 mR World Champion
Matt Struble - DN Iceboat World Champion
George Szabo - Star World Champion
Nominees for US SAILING’s 2009 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award:
Anne Haeger - ICSA/Laser Performance Women’s Singlehanded National Champion
Paige Railey - Kieler Woche Laser Radial Champion
Genny Tulloch - U.S. Women's Match Racing Champion
Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer - Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Champion
Anna Tunnicliffe - Semaine Olympique Française Laser Radial Champion
The mens and womens winners will be announced in mid-January and honored on
February 26, 2010, during a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in
Manhattan, when they will be presented with Rolex timepieces. -- Complete
report: http://about.ussailing.org/Awards/Rolex.htm
“BALANCE” ADDS ANOTHER WIN TO THEIR SCORECARD
As the Australian sailing season gets into full swing, Ullman Sails customer
Paul Clitheroe and his crew on Beneteau 45 “Balance” have quickly proven
their speed and smarts on the racecourse. The “Balance” team recently
captured both the IRC and PHS overall win at Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s
2009 Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship. Fully powered by Ullman Sails,
Clitheroe’s win in Sydney follows their recent victory at Audi Hamilton
Island Race Week in August where they claimed first overall in the IRC
Passage 1 division. Ullman Sails - Dedicated to your performance for over 40
years. http://www.ullmansails.com
US SAILING RECOGNIZES 2009’S OUTSTANDING COACHES
Portsmouth, RI (December 16, 2009) - US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee
(OSC) has chosen three exemplary sailing coaches for the 2009 Coaches of the
Year Awards. Based on nominations from the public, the OSC has named Mark
Ivey (Tiburon, Calif.) the National Coach of the Year, Ryan Minth (New York,
N.Y.) the Developmental Coach of the Year, and Greg Koman (Burlington, Vt.)
the Volunteer Coach of the Year.
These three winners exhibited extraordinary dedication to the sport of
sailing and made an impact on the sailors they coached in 2009. The OSC has
also nominated these winners to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC)
for consideration for the 2009 Coaches of the Year Awards across all Olympic
and Paralympic sports. The awards are a part of the USOC Coach Recognition
Program, which highlights the accomplishments and contributions of coaches
who train athletes at all levels of sailing. -- Full story:
http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Releases/2009_Coaches_of_the_Year.htm
CONDITIONS RULE ON DAY 3 SAIL MELBOURNE
Melbourne, Australia (December 16, 2009) - Shifting winds dominated the
afternoon racing on day three of Sail Melbourne, with the conditions keeping
sailors on their toes and forcing them to work hard for every position
gained. The Australian Sailing Team’s Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page kept
their 100 per cent record intact, moving out to a seven point lead from
American’s Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl with local sailors Sam Kivell and
Will Ryan moving into third position after a strong day.
“The racing was very win orientated today, instead of the fleet based racing
we had in the opening two days,” said Belcher. “It was all about risk
management on the course, you had to be very careful and weigh up all the
consequences before making any decisions, and then after all of that
sometimes you can’t always get it right.”
Canadian Michael Leigh has taken the lead in the Laser class, moving two
points ahead of American counterpart Clayton Johnson. Both Leigh and Johnson
had a mixed day with a 20th and 11th respectively in race one followed by a
one and six in race two.
“These shifty and puffy conditions are a bit of fun as long as you stay calm
and don’t get frustrated by what the wind is doing. At one stage it was
blowing about 20 knots in the first race and then died down to about five so
transitioning well was really important,” said Johnson.
In the Laser Radial women’s fleet American Paige Railey continues to lead
the class, with a win and seventh today leaving her two points clear of
Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands in second with German sailor
Franziska Goltz third.
“Pretty much wherever I went today the wind didn’t,” said Railey. “In the
first race I managed to start at the wrong end but fought back well to win,
at one stage there were less boats behind me than in front. Then in the
second I managed to bang the wrong corner each time and slipped back a bit.”
-- Full story: http://www.yachting.org.au/default.asp?Page=45362
Racing continues through December 19th. After six races (nine races for the
49er fleet), here are the positions for the North American participants:
2. Paul Tingley (CAN), 2.4 Metre
2. Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl (USA), 470 Men
6. Adam Roberts/ Nick Martin (USA), 470 Men
1. Paige Railey (USA), Laser Radial
1. Michael Leigh (CAN), Laser Standard
2. Clayton Johnson (USA), Laser Standard
26. Derick Vranizan (USA), Laser Standard
41. Sean Fabre (USA), Laser Standard
Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/Sail-Melbourne-09-results
Event website: http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au
Clay Johnson blog: http://www.claysails.com/
McNay/Biehl blog: http://www.teammb.org/index.asp
SAILING ATHLETE COMMITS ANTI-DOPING RULE VIOLATION
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced that a sailing
athlete has committed an anti-doping rule violation. The violation occurred
during in-competition doping control on August 26, 2009. The athlete’s urine
sample returned an adverse analytical finding for cannabis, a prohibited
substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.
Cannabinoids are classified as “specified substances” on the Prohibited
List. Under the rules of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP), an athlete
facing a first violation involving a “specified substance” can seek a
sanction reduction from two years of ineligibility down to the lowest
possibility - a reprimand - by satisfying a three-part test. The athlete
must establish how the substance entered his or her body, and must prove
that it was not intended to be performance-enhancing nor to mask a
performance-enhancing substance. Thirdly, corroborating evidence must be
provided regarding the absence of the athlete’s intent to enhance sport
performance. Subsequently, the CCES does a fault analysis to determine the
nature of any ineligibility period.
In response to the CCES’ notification of the adverse analytical finding, the
athlete in question waived the right to a hearing and acknowledged the
commission of an anti-doping rule violation. The athlete satisfied the
three-part test and the fault analysis was conducted. A sanction of a
reprimand and no period of ineligibility has been determined. The athlete’s
individual results were disqualified for competition. Furthermore, the
athlete has been warned that a second violation over the next eight years
will result in a significant sanction of up to four years ineligibility. --
Read on: http://www.sirc.ca/news_view.cfm?id=32912
=> Curmudgeon’s Comment: It is the agency’s policy not to disclose the
person’s name if only a reprimand is issued. They wouldn’t reveal the event
either, but a good guess might be the 2009 Laser World Championship in Nova
Scotia, Canada, which ended on August 26th.
GROUP 2 TO BE ELIMINATED FROM CLASSIFICATION CODE
Following on from decisions taken at the ISAF Annual Conference in November,
the ISAF Sailor Classification Code is changing and starting from 1 April
2010, the category of Group 2 sailors will be eliminated.
The ISAF Sailor Classification Code is a service provided by ISAF, giving
events and classes a cost-free, international system for classification of
sailors. It is incorporated in ISAF Regulation 22. This change follows a
lengthy consultation process with sailors, classes and events which use the
Code.
The current code provided three groups:
Group 1 - Amateur competitor
Group 2 - Not a Group 1 competitor and has not been a Group 3 competitor in
the Qualification Period (see regulation for definition).
Group 3 - Professional competitor
The revised code provides for just Group 1 (amateur) and 3 (professional),
but with the Groups and the Qualification Period among the features that are
redefined.
Full report: http://www.sailing.org/31115.php
Current ISAF Regulation 22 (Page 100): http://tinyurl.com/y9arfc8
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WHY MANY SUCCESSFUL CEOS ARE SAILORS
You are racing for the final spot in the biggest title in the sport, and the
conditions are less than favourable. Suddenly, your headsail explodes.
Pulling down the sail and replacing it means almost everyone onboard is
there on the foredeck, pulling the sail down and stuffing it through one
hatch and bringing up the spare sail through the other - all this without a
guard rail around. This isn’t a hypothetical situation, but what actually
happened during the build up to the biggest sailing event of 1987. “All of
us immediately got to work, and soon we realised that half of us were
stuffing the sail down one hatch, and the other half through the other, in
effect clogging the egress,” says Peter Isler, who was the navigator of the
boat.
It was in the middle of this chaos that skipper Dennis Conner walked onto
the deck. He took in the scene and walked off in disgust at how
‘professional’ his crew was. Later though, he did tell them, “So we had a
problem in that race, but we are the best team this year, I’m sure you guys
will take care of it so that we don’t have this problem again”. The team
recouped, realised that while everyone had been almost too quick to react to
the situation; there was a complete lack of organisation. What it needed was
someone to take charge and call the shots.
“And what do you know, in the next race against Team New Zealand we had the
exact same problem - under far more adverse conditions,” recounts Isler.
“Only this time, somebody took control and we knew exactly what to do. We
managed to fix the situation even before the other team got close to us,” he
says. The Stars and Stripes team eventually went on to win that year’s
America’s Cup, the Holy Grail of sailboat racing. In retrospect, it possibly
wouldn’t have happened had Conner not trusted his team enough to completely
delegate important decisions to them, which eventually affected the outcome.
This is one of the most popular sailing stories that Isler, now also a
motivational speaker and corporate trainer, likes to tell his ‘students’.
“There are a lot of similarities between business and sailing, the constant
rate of change being just one of them,” says the two-time Cup winner and
best-selling author of ‘At The Helm’ and ‘Sailing For Dummies’. -- The
Economic Times, read on: http://tinyurl.com/yeth7kq
SAILING SHORTS
* The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has published the 2010
supplements to the current editions of The Call Book for Match Racing and
The Call Book for Team Racing. The Call Books provide a clear definition,
for both competitors and umpires, how certain incidents will be
called in match or team racing events. Through written and illustrated
examples, scenarios that occur in match or team
racing events are
presented along with the rules applicable to that situation and how and
when they should be applied. -- Read on:
http://www.sailing.org/news/31100.php
*A classy field of 15 yachts, most of them entries in the Rolex Sydney
Hobart Yacht Race, will front the start line of the Rolex Trophy Rating
Series on Thursday. Six of the yachts entered in the Cruising Yacht Club of
Australia (CYCA) organised series, limbered up in Wednesday’s SOLAS Big Boat
Challenge on Sydney Harbour. -- Details:
http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/news.asp?key=4527
* H4 Software has recently released RaceTools Timer, a full function racing
countdown timer application for the iPhone. This app can be configured to
operate in either standard or custom sequences, making it easy to sync up or
down, add and subtract minutes and seconds, and provide several different
sound signals during countdown. -- Details:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8730
* Sail California, Inc. announced that sailing icon Steve Taft has joined
its sales team in Alameda, California. A world-class sailor, Steve has an
extensive background in the industry having been with North Sails for 18
years, and with Bay Maine Boatworks for the last 13 years. Norman Davant of
Sail California stated that Steve’s experience as a competitive sailor,
sailmaker, and boatyard manager give him a complete perspective on the
sport, the yachts, and service required by Sail California. --
http://www.sailcal.com
* Last August, the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures crew along with
nautical historian Andrea Watson, and Matt Meyran, Port Washington Water
Taxi, spent the night at Execution Rock Lighthouse investigating it’s
storied past. The lighthouse got its name during the Revolutionary War, when
the English, who were adverse to criminals’ loud screams prior to their
demise by hanging, took the unfortunate miscreants out to the rock pile in
the middle of Western Long Island Sound, tied them to the rocks and let them
die a slow death by drowning. Watch the show Friday, Dec. 18, 9:00 pm (ET)
on The Travel Channel. -- http://www.travelchannel.com
WHO SAYS THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH?
The Scuttlebutt Event Calendar is a free, self-serve tool that is powered by
the most utilized database in the sport. Use the calendar for event
marketing, and leverage the crew list service to help connect available
people with skippers in need. To view all the events, or to post your own
event, visit the calendar at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
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 Charles J. Doane (edited to the 250-word limit):
Cory Friedman has done a superb job of providing racing sailors with astute
legal analysis through out this long spate of AC litigation, but I have to
disagree strongly with the opinion he voiced yesterday: "Much has been
written about how the [America's Cup] Deed [of Gift] needs to be updated...”
It seems clear to me (as a mere "reformed" attorney) that the Deed of Gift
that controls AC competition has one deep inherent flaw that will forever
threaten the crown jewel of our sport with ceaseless litigation. Thanks to
the Deed, the trustee who administers the trust represented by the Cup (the
Defender) is also required to compete with putative beneficiaries of the
trust (i.e., all those who might challenge for the Cup) for the corpus of
the trust (the Cup itself). This is a gross legal contradiction.
The Defender must on one hand behave like a fiduciary, putting the interests
of the trust beneficiaries before his own, and on the other hand must strive
to gain an advantage over them and defeat them on the race course. The great
miracle of America's Cup competition isn't that there has been so much
litigation, but rather that there has been so little. Until the Deed is
reformed so that the roles of trustee and defender are severed from each
other, the threat of litigation will always be present. All it takes is one
hotshot sailor with an ego and pockets deep enough and it's back to court we
go again.
* From Tyler Carder:
While I wish our kiteboarding brethren all the luck in the world in their
quest to introduce the sport to the world at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, one
might first hope that the ISAF/IOC wake up from their pinheaded slumbers and
get at least one multihull class back in the 2016 Olympics first. Even
better, TWO multihull classes: Singlehanded: A-Cat Class; Doublehanded:
Tornado or F-18.
* From Jeroen van der Beek:
If, as stated by Fred Meyer SNG vice commodore, “Once again BMW Oracle's
strategy to try to win the America's Cup in court” were true and the court
room clashes were a best of 7, by my counting the score is currently 4-0 to
BOR with only the formality of handing the cup over required. Alternatively,
Alinghi could try playing by the rules and meet their legitimate
challengers, BOR, on the water.
CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION
I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower
first and THEN turn on the water.
Special thanks to Ullman Sails and The Pirate’s Lair.
Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers
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