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SCUTTLEBUTT 1655 - August 26, 2004
Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is a
digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock
talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press
releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always
welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.
OLYMPIC SAILING
USA's Star team of Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter still sit in bronze-medal
position after today, having made yet another amazing comeback in today's
first race. The duo went from 14th to first on the next-to-last leg of the
course, then turned in a disappointing 15th in the second race, when their
best mark rounding had been a sixth. "We sailed poorly in a race and
finished first, then sailed a good race and finished badly," said Trinter.
"That's just the way it is out there. It's witchcraft."
For US Tornado sailors John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree today's races - in
which they finished sixth and seventh - were good only for knocking them
down one spot on the scoreboard to second overall. "The way these
conditions are, you can't cover another team," Lovell surmised, thinking
about the mere seven points that separate him from the Austrians in first
place. "If you do, you could miss some critical shifts. We trained here for
over a month and never saw this kind of breeze."
Concluding their series today were the Mistral sailors. With Israel's Gal
Fridman taking the gold in the men's division, the Agios Kosmas Sailing
Center was swarmed with journalists, reporting on that country's first-ever
gold medal at any Olympic Games:
Results
Mistral Women - 26 boards (Final results - 11 races with one discard)
1. FRA, Faustine Merret, 31
2. CHN, Yin Jian, 33
3. ITA, Alessandra Sensini, 34
16. USA, Lanee Beashel, 126
23. MEX, Rosa Campos, 220
Mistral Men - 34 boards (Final results - 11 races with one discard)
1. ISR, Gal Fridman, 42
2. GRE, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, 52
3. GBR, Nick Dempsey, 53
16. MEX, David Mier Y Teran, 142
28. USA, Peter Wells, 241
Star - 17 boats (8 of 11 races with one discard)
1. BRA, Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira, 20
2. CAN, Ross MacDonald/Mike Wolfs, 39.2
3. USA, Paul Cayard/Phil Trinter, 42
13. BER, Peter Bromby/Lee White, 67
Tornado - 17 boats (8 of 11 races with one discard)
1. AUT, Roman Hagara/Hans Peter Steinacher, 26
2. USA, John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, 33
3. AUS, Darren Bundock/John Forbes, 37
8. PUR, Enrique Figueroa/Jorge Hernandez, 45
Complete scores: http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004
Updated Olympic photo gallery:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics
QUOTE / UNQUOTE
* "This year I have really concentrated on the details and questioned
myself after each race. I think that is why I came out at the top." -
Faustine Merret (FRA) Mistral Women's Gold Medallist
* "I am very disappointed that the conditions are so difficult and not
stable. Of course it's the same for everyone, but it makes it more
difficult. They are less predictable, you can't sail in a normal way." -
Mitch Booth (NED) Tornado skipper,
http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004/results/news2874.html
ULLMAN SAILS, HAMILTON RACE WEEK
North Queensland, Australia, David Mason's Beneteau 44.7 convincingly won
the 85nm Coral Sea Classic by 22 minutes on IRC handicap. The Beneteau 44.7
had a full inventory of Ullman Sails which included a Cuben Fibre mainsail
and Ullman D4 headsails, all built by Bruce Hollis, Ullman Sails,
Australia. From the Sydney sail loft the crew included helmsman Neville
Witty and trimmer Bruce Hollis. This is the second year that Ullman Sails,
Australia has won this prestigious race. For the "Fastest Sails on the
Planet" contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit
http://www.ullmansails.com
SOOOOO CLOSE
31 short minutes and 12 tiny seconds. Only just 15 miles. These figures,
derisory if you take into account the size of the ocean, represent exactly
by how much the crew of Orange II missed out on the prestigious North
Atlantic record! Forced, as he feared this morning, to come around to get
back on a direct course, Bruno Peyron crossed the finishing line at 43 mins
and 56 secs past 5 this afternoon (CET), in other words, exactly half an
hour after his time was up.
They believed it was possible right up to the end, and it was a great
story. Never easing off, putting aside their tiredness and keeping their
nervous tension under control, the 10 men aboard Orange II will have gone
as far as the weather conditions would allow. Facing up to air flows making
it necessary to make detours, they made up for this with their phenomenal
speed, covering extra miles to remain within the time right up to the final
lengths! Their efforts have been rewarded with a new 24-hour record (706.2
miles, awaiting confirmation from the WSSRC), crowning this pioneering
crew, the first men to go beyond the 700-mile barrier!
Bruno Peyron's reaction: "Looking at it from an overall point of view,
there are more positive things than negative to look back on after this
adventure. The result is beyond our hopes, bearing in mind that we set out
after only a short period of ten days or so on stand-by. We set a new
24-hour record, reached a maximum of 39 knots, and apart from just a few
minutes, equaled the reference time, in spite of a course that was much
less favorable. We know that the boat, which we have learnt to control now,
is capable of smashing the record. We pushed her all the way, and were
ready to take some risks of course, as when you set yourself such a
challenge, that is something you have to do: it is surprising that given
these conditions we didn't break anything at all, except for a key on the
computer keyboard." - Excerpts from a story on the Yachts and Yachting
website website, full story
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/default2.asp?section=11&article=14544
STEVE FOSSETT'S REACTION
(Following is the text of a message that Steve Fossett sent to the 2001
trans-Atlantic record setting crew of his maxi-cat PlayStation.)
"It is remarkable that Bruno Peyron and his Orange crew very nearly broke
our PlayStation TransAtlantic Record of 4 days 17 hours 28 minutes. When we
took over 43 hours off of the prior record which stood 11 years, I thought
that would be good enough to stand for 5 years. The standard of Speed
Sailing is going up incredibly fast. Now in less than 3 years, Orange is
knocking on the door. Their performance is outstanding in every respect:
boat, strategy, and especially the crew. We are honored every time they
attempt one of our records and they are going to be strong contenders in
their next attempts: Marseilles-Carthage then the Round the World. These
are the most exciting times ever in Speed Sailing."
U.S. YOUTH SAILING TEAM
With all of US Sailing's national youth and junior championships for 2004
completed, US Sailing has named the members of the 2004 U.S. Youth Sailing
Team. The team members are considered the strongest young sailors in the
U.S. They each won or were the highest U.S. finishers at a US Sailing
National Championship or are members of the U.S. Youth World Team, which
represented the U.S. at the 2004 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World
Championship held last July in Poland. The following sailors have been
named to the 2004 U.S. Youth Sailing Team.
- U.S. Youth Championship: Michael Scott (Kaneohe, HI) - Laser; Cy
Thompson (St. Thomas, VI) Laser Radial; Erick Storck (Huntington, NY)
Club 420 skipper; Killarney Loufek (Costa Mesa, CA) Club 420 crew
- U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship: Roberta Steele
(Shoreacres, TX) - skipper; Meredith Nordhem (Chicago, IL) - crew.
- U.S. Youth Multihull Championship: T.J. Tullo (Staten Island, NY) -
skipper; Jerry Tullo (Staten Island, NY) - crew.
- U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship: Paige Railey
(Clearwater, FL)
- U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship: Patrick Curran (Moorestown, NJ)
- U.S. Junior Doublehanded Championship: Brian Kamilar (Miami, FL) -
skipper; Simon Sanders (Miami, FL) - crew
- U.S. Junior Triplehanded Championship: Fred Strammer (Nokomis, FL) -
skipper; Dalton Tebo (Sarasota, FL) - crew; Charlotte Sims (Venice, FL) - crew
- U.S. Youth World Team: Reed Johnson (Toms River, NJ) - Laser; Paige
Railey (Clearwater, FL) Laser Radial (also winner of the 2004 U.S.;
Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship); Zach Brown (San Diego, CA)
Club 420 skipper; Graham Biehl (San Diego, CA) Club 420 crew; Leigh
Kempton (Island Heights, NJ) Club 420 skipper; Kaity Storck (Huntington,
NY) Club 420 crew; Nancy Rios (Naples, FL) - boardsailor; Harry Newkirk
(Gulf Breeze, FL) Hobie 16 skipper; Tommy Fruitticher (Pensacola Beach,
FL) Hobie 16 crew.
The U.S. Youth Sailing Team is an honorary team. All members were presented
with official team uniforms at their qualifying event. - Marlieke de Lange
Eaton, http://www.ussailing.org/
FOR SALE: MORNING GLORY
2004 Reichel Pugh 86 is immediately available for sale. Built by McConaghy
Boats, Morning Glory comes complete with extensive racing package. Canting
keel maxZ86 class turbo sled is seriously priced to sell. Based in Palma,
Spain. Contact: Bill Jenkins/ Thoroughbred Yacht Sales at
bill@tysonline.com, 410-267-9419 and Dee Smith at deesmith@deesail.com,
415-883-7227
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
Shipping problems have left the owner of Bob Oatley's brand new Australian
yacht, Wild Oats, with a major logistics problem in getting the boat to
Porto Cervo, Sardinia, in time to contest the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. The
Reichel/Pugh 66 is aboard a ship from Sydney, Australia, that is being
towed by a tug into Hamburg, Australian time, after losing its rudder.
"Hamburg is not the place we want our boat to be this close to the Maxi
World Rolex Cup…. we wanted her to be in the Mediterranean," Oatley said.
He said emergency plans had been made to transfer Wild Oats to another ship
at Hamburg on Friday which would then take the yacht to the Sardinia port
of Olbia, hopefully arriving there by Thursday week. "Our crew will arrive
in Sardinia next Wednesday so we will have plenty of hands, but we have a
big job ahead of us. We have to virtually rebuild the boat, refit the
canting keel, canard and rudder, step the mast and then tune the rig before
the Maxi World Rolex Cup gets under way on Sunday week," Oatley added. -
Peter Campbell
NEWS BRIEFS
* With the Olympic Regatta going on, many of the Olympic Classes work hard
to keep the participation momentum of the last quadrennium and prepare
those who might want to try for Beijing in 2008. Chris Cook (Canada) won
this year's Finn NAs North Cape YC, LaSalle, Michigan in convincing fashion
by winning 4 of the 8 races. In 2nd, Skip Dieball (USA) put together a
string of good races in the breeze to finish in front of 3rd place Derek
Mess (Canada), 4th place Andy Kern (USA) and 5th place Darrell Peck (USA).
For complete results: http://tinyurl.com/4bpuz
* John A MacCausland and Brian Fatih are the new Star North American
Champions - finishing the six race (one discard) Marks Star NAs with a two
point lead over Karl Anderson/ Magnus Liljedahl. Early regatta leaders Ben
Cesare/ Doug Brophy finished third in the 44-boat fleet racing at the
College Park YC in Winthrop, MA. Eighth place finishers Bill Buchan/ Greg
Newhall won the Grand Masters Division with Brian Cramer/ Len Delicaet top
in the Masters Division - http://www.cpyc.org/star/na/index.shtml
* Russell Coutts arrives in Ireland today Thursday for the Affinity Irish
Etchells Championship at Howth Yacht Club that begins on Saturday morning.
The three times winner of the America's Cup, the world's oldest sporting
trophy will be one of 15 helms competing in the inaugural Irish Etchells
class championship over two days off the north County Dublin coastline. -
Bang the Corner, http://www.bangthecorner.com/default.asp?m=da&id=12894
* K-Challenge, French challenger for the 32nd America's Cup, has received
its first boat, FRA 57 (formerly NZL 57). FRA 57 arrived in La Ciotat from
New Zealand, where the team will prepare the boat prior to participating in
the Louis Vuitton Act 1, September 5 in Marseille.
* Kingston Ontario - In a brilliant display of consistency, Calvin Zhi Yang
Lim (SIN) finishes no lower than 9th to win against the strongest Byte
Fleet ever and become the 2004 World Byte Champion. Jake Muhleman (USA)
finished second with Leo J. Kwong Ming (SIN) taking third.
http://www.byteclass.org
QUOTE / UNQUOTE
"Coaching in sailing is relatively new. The coaches I have talked to seem a
little frustrated. They are not allowed cell phones to communicate with
weather forecasters before the start of the race. And they are unable to
talk with their sailors 10 minutes before the start until after the finish.
But American 470 coach Skip Whyte seems to have found the right formula.
The USA men won gold and the women finished a respectable 5th.
"The nice thing about this sport is you can compete your entire life. It is
often asked what the optimum age to compete is. It varies from class to
class. On the one hand, youth is important for physical stamina. But on the
other hand, experience is paramount. Foerster, 40, and Burnham, 47, are
much older than any other 470 sailor here and yet they won the gold medal.
The 42 Laser sailors' average age is 27, while Star boat sailors average 37
years of age." - Gary Jobson,
http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/5049697/detail.html
SPERRY TOP-SIDER HELPS AMERICA BRING HOME THE GOLD
For 18 of America's best sailors, years of sacrifice, dedication and focus
will be put to the test as they go for the gold in the 2004 Summer Olympics
in Athens. To give our men and women every edge, U.S. Sailing has provided
the team with the very best: from the tip of its high-tech sails to the
very soles of their shoes, Sperry Top-Sider Figawi. With anchor-like
traction and active drainage system, the Figawi will keep Team USA's feet
fixed firmly on the deck and eyes on the prize. Grab your piece of Olympic
gold at http://www.sperrytopsider.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
(Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be
edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a
bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best
shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Nelson Stephenson: For years almost everyone has been complaining
about the lack of support and funding for Sailing Development in the US.
Finally, someone (Philippe Kahn) comes up with a positive, creative new
idea and the funding. It is sad, and perhaps a commentary on our "modern"
communication techniques in general, that the initial comments published
question his motivation and whether all Classes will be included in his
forward looking development efforts.
Rather than question his motivations or whether he will be supporting
everyone, it would seem much more appropriate to applaud his example. The
opportunity he is creating for sailing development will make a huge
difference to those selected. Looking carefully at his material and
personal comments he very clearly emphasizes organization, long-term
training, preparation, more international experience, increasing excellence
and overall sailing skills. All that will make a much greater difference in
future results compared to a program centered on winning the US Olympic
Trials once every four years.
Others are free (and probably encouraged by Philippe) to step up and create
similar, competing programs. Perhaps that type of competition will finally
take Sailing in the US to a more competitive international level.
* From Suzy Leech: Why question Philippe Kahn's motives if the result is
beneficial for everyone? Please, please, please let's find more benefactors
who would like to foster excellence in Olympic sailing by supporting teams
100%, 250 days per year!
* From Adam Bovill: I think that it's great that they have them on the
boats, however, they really should have done a better job designing them so
that there was very little chance of ensnaring lines. In addition, I would
hope that they would have provided the competitors with these dummy cameras
so that they could practice and make sure that they wouldn't cause
problems. (Or, if they do, to work around them.)
* From Michael H. Koster: There are dozens, if not hundreds of e-mails
written to Scuttlebutt each year, concerning how the sport of sailing can
be promoted. Is there a better way to promote sailing than by showing
people via an on-board camera on an Olympic boat? Mr. Doyle should also
take into consideration that most of these campaigns are financed by
individuals as well as the competitors. I think we are entitled to see the
action up close!
* From Doug Lord: Thank you for not calling the International Catamaran
Challenge Trophy the "Little America's Cup" as the Euro Scuttlebutt did by
including that part of the press release in their coverage. The inspiration
I've gotten from the Little America's Cup over the years is due 100% to the
fact that it is sailed in C-class cats-among the most awesome sailing
machines on the planet.
Curmudgeon's Comment: The ICCT regatta has become an interesting and
successful international event with its new format using beach cats.
However, in our opinion, the organizers do themselves a disservice by
attempting to link this new format to the days when the trophy recognized
the world's most the innovative and leading-edge C-Class catamarans - and
the event merited comparison to the design and engineering-oriented
America's Cup. With the new ICCT racing format, that comparison no longer
seems appropriate, so you won't see it here.
* From Marc Herrmann (In response to Aaron Housten's comment regarding the
legality of Stevan Johnson's "Whomper"): I was at Whidbey Island that year
when Stevan pulled this (three spinnaker) stunt "between" races due to lack
of breeze. The one thing the picture doesn't show is how fast they are
motoring backwards to get this setup to fly. Having raced against Stevan on
a number of Whidbey Race Weeks, I can assure you that he would not consider
flying this arrangement when the breeze is up, never mind during an actual
race.
* From Bill Christopher: Anyone else notice how the Tornado results on the
Olympic sailing website address is linked to a site hosted by Hobie Cat? If
you click on the Tornado results, the browser jumps to an extention of the
'haveahobieday.com' website. This happens with a few other classes on the
site as well. Does the Olympic status of the Tornado have anything to worry
about regarding this apparent liaison between ISAF and Hobie? For a sample,
click on the race results on the Tornado page:
http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004/EventHome.asp?id=tornado
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?
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