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SCUTTLEBUTT 3121 - Friday, June 25, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: Summit Yachts and Atlantis WeatherGear. POO BAGS AND DARK 'N STORMYS Aboard the Reichel/Pugh 69 Bella Mente on the Newport to Bermuda Race, Sam Rogers shares the behind-the-scenes story of life at the upper end: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As with any major event, there is a huge emphasis placed on the forecast and the outlook was for a very light, upwind race. Not only did this effect sail selection, rig set up and provisioning, it also meant a few guys on our team would be on the chopping block to help save on weight, me being one of them. I received a phone call from Tomac on Weds night letting me know that I should still hop on a plane to Newport, but it would be a game time decision if I did the race. While there was a huge part of me that was disappointed about not doing the race, there was a part of me that did not mind missing out on freeze dried food and having to use a toilet with the seat circumference fitting of a 5 year old for the next 3 days. The dock was buzzing Friday morning with teams schlepping sails on boats, family members saying good bye and numerous photographers snapping photos of neighboring Speedboat, Rambler, Puma, Ran, Beau Geste and Bella. The "executives" on the Bella (Hap Fauth, Dee Smith, Tomac, Eric Doyle) spent most of the morning having a final weather and gulfstream debrief to make solid decisions on gear and crew, while the rest of the team made endless trips back and forth from the boat to the container to ditch any unneeded gear. As a few of us sat below escaping the sun and going over the equipment list, we nearly had everything checked off; Water for 18, food bags, sail repair kit, crash kit, life rafts...and...mmm...poo bags? Being in charge of the inventory list, I figured this was code for some useful piece of equipment and decided to hold off asking until I couldn't figure it out. We continued to go over everything on the boat and could see the executives returning back from their meeting. Tomac poked his head down the main hatch and relayed the message that the forecast was looking a bit fresher for breeze and we would be going with all 18 guys. I handed my passport to Rob O who put it in the crash bag, loaded my personal 15 liter dry bag with clothes for the next 3 days, and made a final call to Jenny to let her know I would be out at sea for Father's Day. -- Read on: http://42marine.com/bermuda-race-wrap-up/ A KIEL BRONZE FOR TEAM TUNNICLIFFE (June 24, 2010) - Report by Anna Tunnicliffe from Kiel Week, where USSTAG and USSDT athletes took four medals and grabbed two bullets in the Medal Races at the sixth ISAF Sailing World Cup event: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We entered the last day of racing 2-1 in the quarter finals against Australia's Katie Spithill. After losing the first race of the day to tie up the series 2-2, we took control of the last race, and went on to advance to the semi finals against Russia's Ekatarina Skudina. We won the first two races of the semi's in close battles. The third race was a race where the shifts were so big that you had to tack on them no matter what you wanted to do on the race course. We ended up following her around the course, shift for shift and she won that race. In the fourth race of the series, she led off the line, we caught up to her downwind and rounded the leeward mark right on her stern. Up the second beat, we got a bit excited and tacked at her too early, giving her the right side of the course and the next big shift. From that point, she regained her lead and went on to win the race. In the final race of the series, we had an even start. We led around the top mark and held her off at the bottom mark. Up the second beat, we extended our lead until right at the top where we gave her a bit too much leverage into the next puff, and she caught up to within one boat length. On the final leg to the finish, we battled hard with her, and in the last 4 boat lengths of the race, we were in a gybing dual, and she managed to position herself just well enough to slow us and we crossed the line at the same time. We both had to look at the finish boat to see who won the race. Unfortunately for us, they had up the color of the other boat meaning we would go to the petit-finals and race for Bronze. When asking the race committee after the race how close it was at the finish, he told me that it was 5-6 inches between us. It was heartbreaking, but made us hungry in the petit-finals. -- Read on at Anna's blog: http://tinyurl.com/28kc86k SUMMIT 35'S DELIVERED WORLD WIDE The two newest Summit 35's have just been delivered to owners in Japan and Australia, where they will join their big sisters - the Summit 40's - Karasu in Japan and Canute in Australia. Both of the 40's have enjoyed considerable success in their local regattas, and the Summit 35's are expected to continue the Summit success. We still have one brand new Summit 35 available for early summer racing. Check us out at http://www.summit-yachts.com VALUABLE MEDAL EXPERIENCE IN KIEL (June 23, 2010) - US 49'er team of Eric Storck and Trevor Moore report on their results at Kiel Week: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our position goal going into this event was to be top ten and to sail in the medal race. We are happy to have accomplished that goal, and we are grateful for the experience going forward. Doing well in the medal race format takes a particular skill set that can only be developed by getting to the final showdown. There were three medal racecourses, all positioned just outside the harbor. The short courses were side by side and practically on top of one another. There were so many coach-boats, spectator boats, jury, and race committee zipping around the courses that it felt like a washer machine. We started well (last race), and rounded the first weather mark in sixth place. We passed one boat on the first downwind as they had to do a 360 to exonerate themselves from a foul. From there, we made a couple imperfect mark roundings and were caught on the wrong side of a final shift on the last beat. In the end, we finished the race in eighth place, leaving us in tenth overall for the regatta. -- Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/29qramk PEAKS AND VALLEYS OF AN OLYMPIC CYCLE By Dean Brenner I've been around Olympic Sailing for 15 years now: for a while as a Soling sailor and for the last six as Chairman of the Olympics Sailing program. And while lots of things have changed in those 15 years, one thing remains absolutely the same. Olympic and Paralympic sailing athletes are competitive people and competitive people don't like not winning. Hyper-competitive athletes and coaches want to win all the time and when they don't win an event, frustration is often the immediate by-product. But here's the reality. A quadrennium is a long time, and it's impossible and impractical to have your mind, body and equipment at a fever-pitch peak for four years straight. A four-year Olympic cycle is indeed a long period of time, and long periods of time have inevitable performance peaks and valleys. Sometimes you push forward hard, and try to hit a performance peak. Other times, you throttle back, and look to improve some specific aspect of your game. If a good result comes during one of those "throttle back" periods, then great. That's wonderful. But it doesn't change the fact that you are not pushing hard for a peak. No one can peak for an extended period of time, and if we want to peak at the correct times (preferably at the Games), then we need to be smart and strategic in how we approach the four-year cycle. As I look at our team right now, I see a lot of good and hard work happening. Athletes are hitting the gym hard and making undeniable physical improvements. Our team is on the regatta circuit, training and racing hard, and some good results are coming in. So I'm encouraged, because for athletes who react poorly to a non-winning performance, we also need to counsel them to be smart and keep thinking and working for the long term. -- Full story at: http://beta.messagesherpa.com/newsletters/NL_template_2/758/1861045 MINOPRIO MAINTAINS LEAD DAY 2 PORTUGAL MATCH CUP Portimao, Portugal (June 24, 2010) - Day Two at Portimao brought yet more sun and an afternoon wind stabilising later than yesterday, which again swung right into position from the West and generated some waves for the sea sailors amongst the fleet. The race course has changed the fortunes of some of the top runners with surprising scenarios playing out. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team lost 2 matches in a row and now sits at 3-2, with Francesco Bruni (ITA) also finishing on 3-2 having been beaten by Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge with Bruni having a half point deducted after a collision that resulted in damage. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team and Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, the youngest Tour seeds, sit in the most comfortable positions at 4-1 and 4-0 respectively. Minoprio is still the only unbeaten skipper in Stage 4's Round Robin. Richard commented on his couple of losses, "We are still at the beginning of the regatta, we take it match after match. Today we were waiting a long time to get out racing, we had a good first match against Manuel Weiller (ESP) Team Iberdrola and after that we had two bad starts with a big timing mistake in the match against Bruni. With Mirsky we had a problem with a sheet, basically we gave it to him. It's difficult to then come back and not make any more mistakes, that's the game of match racing. One mistake is enough to change a match especially if your competitor is sailing well, but at the moment there is still everything to play for." - Full story: http://tinyurl.com/289wsdg Day 2: Current Round Robin Standings Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 4-0 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 4-1 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 3-1 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 3-1 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 3-2 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra* 3-2 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge* 2-3 Manuel Weiller (ESP) Team Iberdrola 2-3 Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team 1-3 Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 1-3 Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team 1-4 Eugeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Team Synergy 0-4 * Deducted 0.5 points for damage Pairings and Results: http://tinyurl.com/2ftz9hq Tour Standings - Top Five after 3 of 10 tour events 1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Team 2. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch 3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 4. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 5. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Complete tour standings: http://www.wmrt.com/2010-scoreboards.html BACKGROUND: The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). US SAILING CENTER-SHEBOYGAN MATCH RACE RESULTS Sheboygan, WI (June 24, 2010) - The second annual Advanced Open Invitational, a Grade 3 match racing event hosted by the U.S. Sailing Center of Sheboygan, was won by collegiate All-American Stephanie Roble, who defeated an international field that had competitors from Greece and Canada as well as from all over the U.S. Second was Stratis Andreadis from Athens, Greece, and third was Max Moosman from Long Beach, California. Rounding out the top four was Magnus Sandberg from Sweden and now living in Toronto. The event was a five day "clinegatta" run by US Sailing Team Alphagraphics match racing coach and three time match racing national champion Dave Perry from Southport, Connecticut. For the first two and a half days Perry put the nine teams through intensive match race training in Sheboygan's Sonars, getting everyone up to speed on their boat handling, speed and match race tactics. Then the teams raced a regatta for two and a half days, with Perry actively coaching all the teams before and after each race. "This format is really effective," said Perry, "because it gets all the teams sailing and racing their boats well, and provides each team the chance to repeat tactical situations over and over with active coaching and video replay on shore. Then they go right into a regatta when they are well prepared and ready to go, so the level of racing is greatly increased. It is the most effective way I know to quickly raise your level." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2fdyl5r SAILING SHORTS * The largest and most storied sailboat racing tour in the United States will make its seventh stop of the 2010 season, this weekend, when the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) regatta series returns to San Francisco, marking the series' return to the Bay area after a six-year absence. The St. Francis Yacht Club will host the regatta, with a record turnout of 156 boats within 18 different boat classes. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2cadqzr * Despite the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the 2010 Flying Scot North American Sailing Championships will take place Sunday through July 2 at the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club in Bay St. Louis, MS. At least 50 are expected in the fleet. Normally the fleet for this national regatta would comprise approximately 75 boats but talk of the oil spill has deterred some competitors. -- Read more: http://tinyurl.com/28lzfyj * Lake Garda, Italy (June 24, 2010) - At the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships, 2010, Homerus Blind Match Racing regatta, the B2 classified sailors, competing for an IFDS International Championship, have completed their round robin. Race officials plan to sail semi-finals tomorrow. US team of Antony Bersani / Mario Alciati are currently in 6th place. The event continues through June 27. Conducted in conjunction with Homerus Associazione Onlus, the event is using the ISAF Experimental Appendix CBS for Blind Match Racing and the innovative Homerus system of acoustic buoys. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org/32970.php * Chicago, IL (June 24, 2010) - Discover Boating, the non-profit national awareness program for the recreational boating industry, launched today a new online game application, titled Making Waves, to put at-home water sports enthusiasts in the virtual captain's chair to experience all the fun of life on the water. -- Full story: http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17840&sid=3 * (June 24, 2010) - Clover III and Noonmark VI both Swan 56 yachts sailed into winning positions in their respective classes within the Newport - Bermuda Race this year to jointly win the Swan East American Challenge 2010. The Swan East American Challenge is one of six Challenge events held by Nautor's Swan across the globe exclusively for Swan owners. Neal Finnegan won the 39 yacht Cruiser Division onboard Swan 56, Clover III, finishing in a corrected time of 72:04:49. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2clor3j * (June 24, 2010) - The BBC News Channel will show a 30 minute documentary filmed and produced by Digby Fox this weekend, entitled "Geoff's Personal Atlantic", detailing the 3,000 mile crossing quadripelgic sailor Geoff Holt made earlier this year. The program will be broadcast world wide, British Summer Time (BST). Holt is an ex-professional yachtsman who was paralyzed in 1984, and since has committed much of his life to supporting sailing for people with disabilities. -- Read on: http://geoffholt.com/2010/06/bbc-documentary-to-air-this-weekend/ DISCOVER: THE MOST VERSATILE GEAR YOU WILL OWN From Lasers to Etchells to Melges 32s to TP52s, the Aegis line from Atlantis is quickly becoming THE go-to gear for sailors of all stripes. With a killer suite of innovative features, the Aegis line offers world-class performance at a great price. And with the new women's Aegis, we've achieved the unthinkable: sailing gear that women will love to wear both on the water and ashore. Check out the Aegis line at Team One Newport, Landfall, APS, Point Loma Outfitting, Fisheries Supply, S.T. Preston, Boston Sailing Center or at http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com Discover Your Atlantis PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include lots of Lasers, lots of keelboats, lots of Beneteau progress, lots of island youth sailing, lots of BP mockery, and lots of computer beautification. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0625/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta is for IRC rated yachts with a length of 78 feet or more. Held on June 8-12, 2010 in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, events like this bring together the most amazing yachts, and the social gatherings each night spotlight prominent people from around the world. Pretty swanky, both on and off the water. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0625/ 1,152 DAYS: Reid Stowe, 58, docked in Manhattan (NYC) on June 17, 2010 after his 1,152 day voyage, and was greeted by his girlfriend and 23-month toddler who he had never seen. Mr Stowe left in the 70-foot (21m) two-masted sailing boat in April 2007. He originally set off with his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad, 26, until she had to return to shore after suspecting she was pregnant. The couple agreed that he would continue without her, despite it meaning that he would miss the birth of their son. Here is a video of his return: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10347315.stm SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com 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 Ken Legg, Cape Cod: Much time and effort has been expended on exploring how sailing can increase public awareness of our sport. Yet the majority of people only know the sport through spectacles like the Dueling Billionaires of the AC or the reality show driven teenager Abby Sutherland. We distort our sport in the Olympics to make it more "TV friendly" (not likely), and ignore the realities that face us. Sailing is too technical and the rules too complex to ever be a good spectator sport for the masses - except for team racing. Anyone can easily understand what's happening on a superficial level. Short courses, lots of action - what's not to like? Olympic status has never helped a class - only driven away the rank and file and driven up costs. Of course our Olympic Bureaucrats want lots of classes to continue to provide a basis for their own lavish lifestyles - not for the betterment of the sport. As for the future of the sport, it's clearly at the grass roots level - Community Sailing Programs that include families. Demographics and economics are making the Yacht Club driven model extinct. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria." - Ben Franklin Special thanks to Summit Yachts and Atlantis WeatherGear. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
