|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 777 - March 21, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. COMMENTARY The demise of the Admiral's Cup in its present form can be no real surprise to anyone who has watched the evolution of so-called "offshore racing" over the past few years. While true blue-water events such as The Race, the Vendee Globe and the Volvo Ocean Race prosper, recreational big-boat sailing has become more of a dash round the cans or a sprint down the coast. For sure, the classic offshore races such as the Fastnet or the Sydney-Hobart still attract a big following, but the nature of the competition has changed. No longer are these events at the forefront of competitive sailing. For most crews they have become an adventure and a life-forming experience in the same mould as the BT Global Challenge. Offshore racing has become inshore racing. Even though boats are designed with bunks and cookers, the only time they are used is on passage from one event to the next. Three or four short races, each of 60 to 90 minutes duration is the order of the day. When they do stay out after dark, races will most likely last only 18 or 24 hours. The performance penalty incurred by even so much as a single crewman off the rail is enough to ensure there is no sleep and no hot food. The boats may have become faster and more fun to sail but they are also less seaworthy and, if we are honest, anything more than 12 hours at a time in most modern "offshore" racing boats is sheer unadulterated misery. * Slowly the event transformed itself into a full-on professional championship with paid crews and even more highly paid professional skippers, tacticians and navigators. Cost spiralled ever higher. Sponsorship crept in. Yet despite determined efforts, the full force of commercialism never took hold. The reality was that the returns simply did not match the investment required. The professional sailors started to look elsewhere to sell their talents. Finally an owner-driver class was introduced. No longer was this the pinnacle of ocean racing - the Admiral's Cup had lost its way. The Admiral's Cup now has to answer the most basic question of all. Is it a concept from a previous era that is past its sell-by date? Maybe, just maybe, there is already enough competitive international racing elsewhere. Perhaps the world simply no longer needs a three-boat international team event. - Peter Bentley, madforsailing website. http://www.madforsailing.com/SAIL/Articles.nsf/LookUp/F770299FD6F2FA4180256A1500394DE9?OpenDocument AND THERE'S MORE It's official. The Italians are not coming to the Admiral's Cup. They took a decision last week and informed the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC). Paolo Gaia a long time supporter of the Italian efforts in the Admiral's Cup and who was chartering a Sydney 40 for Italy was very sad that the decision had been to pull out. "It is a great event and it was a difficult decision we took" said Paolo this morning "The Yacht Club of Italy felt that there would not be enough teams to create a high quality event and all the owners supported this decision." Without the Americans, Italians and the holders, The Netherlands and with the Germans, Australians and French looking very doubtful, the RORC will most likely be forced to take the painful decision in having to cancel the event this summer. Having competed in the Admiral's Cup since 1983 I cannot imagine an odd year summer without the world's best sailors coming to the Solent to compete in what has always been regarded as sailing's Offshore World Championship. Can the event be revived in 2003? Paolo Gaia was adamant that the event would have to change and that the world's owners and sailors are pointing out the flaws to the RORC by not wanting to compete. He felt that the event had sufficient worldwide reputation to be revived but maybe in a different form but would this mean an alteration to the deed governing the event. * The correct formula is going to be crucial to the future success of the Admiral's Cup. There are a lot of very good international events trying to attract owners and their crews who have a limit to the amount of time they can spend racing. The RORC should look very carefully at the successful events, mimic the plus points and forcefully market the event worldwide. Every sailor knows about the Admiral's Cup the problem for the RORC is that they cannot change the British summer weather! Eddie Warden Owen, SailSail website. Full story: http://www.sailsail.com/news/news-article.asp?Articleid=4428 NEW AND AWESOME THE RACE * The sad news Warta Polpharma had to withdraw from The Race seems to have heightened the desire of the remaining two crews to complete their own passages without delay. Team Adventure, embodying skipper Cam Lewis' free-spirited personality, is setting a blazing trail towards Marseille, determined to prove her third place is not an accurate reflection of her ability. A 24-hour average speed of 22.7 knots has allowed Adventure to wipe off 545 nautical miles (nm) to the finish line in the past day. With a relatively small 1,050nm left to conquer, the American-led outfit should reach the Old Port by 23 March. Team Legato continues to plough a lonely passage up the South Atlantic,
battling into northerly winds. However, the wind is forecast to veer east
later today, which should see the Brits pick up speed. With the demise of
nearest rival Warta Polpharma, Team Legato is now in a solitary race
against the clock. The required daily rate has risen to 345.7 miles a day
to reach Marseille by the cutoff deadline of 2 April. - Martin Cross, NOW
Sports website, LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON leweck@earthlink.net * From: Tom Ehman TFE@compuserve.com * From: Vernon Stratton, Isle of Wight StrattonV@aol.com * From: Mark Gaudio gaudio@pacbell.net I was surprised to hear that Royal Thames YC in jolly old England has a remedy to the one minute dilema in cases where more time is needed. You see in bigger boats 1 minute may not be time enough for the crew to get a clue (sails up etc.) An 'F' flag with a horn will signal a 5 minute sequence, preparing you for a subsequent 5 minute sequence. How brilliant! Is there something in this puzzle that I'm missing? Are they telling us that they have ingeniously mastered a way to amend this sequence in their SI's so it resembles the one we are currently using? This is truly a breakthrough, both Winston Churchill and Prince Charles would be proud... * From: "Lewis, Rory" rory@FMUSA.COM * From: Stephane Kandler stephane@k-yachting.com But some people try to move the problem on the IC45 class with wrong arguments. The IC45 (ex-Corel 45) has an organised circuit since 5 years now with regular events and different nations sailing together. The winter series in Spain have drained the best sailors for 3 years in a row with participation from 7 to 10 boats at each event. The World Championship (now the One Ton Cup) has gathered between 7 and 12 boats for the last one in Marseille since the start of the class. Times changed and people are not racing only for prestige or fun. Even in North America where the Corinthian spirit is stronger than anywhere else, you find fewer people ready to open the wallet for high costs campaigns such as the Admiral's Cup, America's Cup, Kenwood Cup or Volvo Ocean Race. With so many races around the world owners and sailors have to make some choices. When it comes to high budget and sponsorship funding, event organisers shall offer more than only history, but also return on investment thanks to media coverage. * From: "Jonathan Gravit" jonathang@highmodulus.co.nz It is not only the US that has this problem. In New Zealand for instance the number of 45s - none, although there was one once, number of Farr 40s - nil, number of Sydney 40s - nada. Likely number of Kiwis sailing on other boats - heaps. There's nothing wrong with the boats. From the 45 begat the Farr 40. The Sydney 40 is really solid, if damn tweaky. I was happy to sail the Fastnet on one - not so sure I'd want to on some of the other boats mentioned. Different countries have different classes. J Boats and Melges haven't made it to the Southern Hemisphere and the Mumm 30 has struggled at best. Remember the Admirals Cup is a European regatta with the best sailors from Europe. It is because they appreciate the prestige of the event they have owners wanting to own and campaign the selected boats. The rest of the world can and does compete. But we can't expect to impose our own rules on them. From: Aidan S. Bolger AIDANSEAN@aol.com CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: The only thing missing is money - big piles of it! * From: Bob Eger Bob_Eger@HaleyBros.com * From: "Bob Kiernan" bobk@worldmarine-ltd.com Radio calls went out as a warning to others of its position and drift factors as we passed. Calls came back with thanks and the rest of the last real SORC '87 were afraid for bumps in the night heading for Nassau. Web Chills wasn't so lucky in relatively the same area some years later. He lost his boat and got to float with just a life jacket for 15 hours before he was spotted north east of Ft. Lauderdale. They do float and they are there! Solution desired! SWEDISH MATCH TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD: 1. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) 68; 2. Bertrand Pace (NZ) 49; Ed Baird (USA) 36; 3. Sten Mohr (DEN) 32; 4. Peter Holmberg (USVI) 27; 5. Chris Dickson (USA) 26; 6. Russell Coutts (SWI) 25; 7. Gavin Brady (ITA) 20. VIRTUAL SPECTATOR VS uses publicly available weather information, but overlays it on the globe and the fleet, as well as animating the forecasts, making it a simple tool for visualising the weather systems and effects on each boat. "The Virtual Spectator page was the most visited page on the Club Med internet site after the homepage," Dalton said. Those same feelings were echoed by Ellen MacArthur, who said she used Virtual Spectator every day, a routine she began in June during the Europe 1 New Man STAR race that she won. "The program enabled me to visualise where the competition were immediately without having to plot out all the positions. It would be difficult to imagine a race without Virtual Spectator now." - Maria Ryan, http://www.virtualspectator.com HUH? TURN YOUR PASSION INTO YOUR CAREER CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS SNIPE MIDWINTERS Next stop on the circuit is the Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Miami for the DonQ Rum Keg regatta, starting Friday March 23, then on to Nassau for the 2 regatta Nassau Series followed by the 3 day/6 race North American Championships. - Alex Pline, http://www.snipe.org/circuit2001/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Philippe Kahn THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
