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SCUTTLEBUTT #335 - June 2, 1999HIGH SCHOOL NATIONALSNewport Harbor High School(CA)'s winning the 1999 ISSA National High School Team Racing Championship(Baker Trophy) at Eckerd College(St. Petersburg, FL) last week completed the clean sweep by Pacific Interscholastic SA schools of all three national sailing championships for high schools for 1999. Two weeks earlier at Grosse Pointe YC(MI), University of San Diego HS(CA) sailors topped a 20-team field from all seven of ISSA's national districts in the two-division Fleet Racing Nationals for school sailing oldest trophy dating back to 1930, the Mallory , donated by Clifford Mallory when he was President of NAYRU. And last Fall the 1999 Cressy Trophy competion for the National Singlehanded Championship was won by Andrew Lewis of the Assets School in Hawaii in a field of 30 sailors selected nationwide through district eliminations. Originally sailed in the Spring in conjunction with the Mallory, the Cressy was moved to the Fall to allow more sailors to compete and to relieve the full Spring schedule. Vanguard Sailboats of Portsmouth, RI, a Partner in the ISSA Growth and Development Project supplied the 30-boat Laser fleet for the Cressy Trophy regatta at Texas Corinthian YC last Fall and 12 of the 24 Club 420s used in the Baker Trophy competition this Spring. These boats were supplied at no cost either to the sailors or to ISSA. At the Singlehandeds (Cressy), sailors competed on Galveston Bay in high winds and a steep chop which made the radial rigs welcome. Results: 1. Andrew Lewis - The Assets School(HI)-34, 2. Bryan Lake - U San Diego HS(CA)-60, 3. Danny Pletsch - St. Sugustine HS(FL)-61, 4. Troy Treaccar - Newport Harbor HS(CA)-62, 5. Peeter Must - Lakewood HS(NJ)-75, 6. Brian Baranaskas - Northport HS(NY)-79, 7. Andrew Campbell - The Bishop's School(CA)-87, 8. Stuart McNay - Roxbury Latin(MA)-114, 9. David Hochart - Mission Bay HS(CA)-134, 10. Mark Teborek - Hotchkiss(CT)-138, The top four finishers in the 1999 ISSA Doublehanded Championship(Mallory) were California high schools, the top three within 18 points of each other after 14 races in each of two divisions. Racing at Grosse Pointe YC in FJs supplied by local clubs, the winning University of San Diego HS team outpaced the best non-California school by almost 100 points. Conditions ranged from mild and flat to brisk and choppy, giving a fair test to competitors drawn nationwide from 20 schools representing each of ISSA's seven districts. Uni's Bryan Lake and his crews C. Megla, M Argoud and T March topped A and Newport Harbor HS' B skipper Troy Treaccar with crews Paige Thompson/Gary Grimes earned Regatta Low-Point honors. Results: 1. U San Diego HS(CA) - 71/81 = 152; 2. Coronado HS(CA) - 88/78 = 166; 3. Newport Harbor HS(CA) - 107/63 = 170; 4. San Marcos HS(CA) - 137/92 = 229; 5. Tabor Academy(MA) - 142/101 = 243; 6. Moses Brown(RI) - 152/98 = 250; 7. Lakewood HS(FL) - 167/94 = 261; 8. Williams School(CT) - 128/157 = 285; 9. St. Petersburg HS(FL) - 146/153 = 299; 10. Brunswick School(CT) - 116/183 = 299. Just before memorial Day and two weeks after the Mallory in Michigan, 12 teams from all seven districts met at Eckerd College in St.Petersburg ,FL, for the ISSA National High School Team Racing Championship(Baker Trophy), sailing in 24 Club 420s supplied by St.Petersburg YC(12) and by Vanguard Sailboats of Bristol RI(12), Partner in ISSA's Growth and Development Project. Racing conditions for the most part were ideal for team racing, moderate winds and smooth water, with a few races on each extreme,- flat and listless and pre-thunder squall. Racing was delayed on Saturday while some local violent squalls blew through. Florida has this neat bi-coastal sea breeze conflict which breeds some quite interesting afternoon diversions. A 66-race round robin determined the seeding for the final four double-round championship play-off and the 8-team consolation series. A sail-off between two Florida teams, St. Petersburg and Lakewood High Schools, determined fourth place with Lakewood moving up. The consolation series came within minutes of concluding, with one race to go between St. George's and Redwood HS for fifth place, when time ran out and teams reverted to their first round-robin scores: (5) St. Petersburg HS(FL), (6) Belmont Hill(MA), (7) Redwood HS(CA), (8) Southern Regional HS(NJ), (9) St. George's(RI), (10) Marin Catholic(CA), (11) Grosse Pointe S HS(MI), (12) Bainbridge HS(WA). The final four raced a 12-race double round and carried their first round scores forward. Going in Newport Harbor and Tabor were each 10-1, Jesuit 9-2 and Lakewood 7-4. When the spray settled, Newport Harbor HS repeated last year's performance by winning the 1999 Baker Trophy competition with a final tally of 15 victories with second-place Tabor one point back. Jesuit racked up 10 wins and 4th-place Lakewood 9. The top two teams will race in England in July in the International High School Team Racing Championship organized by the British Schools Dinghy Racing Association(BSDRA), this year also the RYA Youth Team Championship and a demonstration event for ISAF. - Larry White SYDNEY HOBART HEARING The owner-skipper of a yacht which allegedly failed to respond to a distress call from the disabled Sword Of Orion - from which British Olympic yachtsman Glyn Charles was lost in the Sydney-Hobart race - is facing a "gross misconduct" protest hearing. The commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Hugo Van Kretschmar, announced the hearing yesterday during the release of a report by the Sydney-Hobart race review committee. Past commodore Peter Bush said the committee had investigated reports from Sword Of Orion that a yacht failed to respond to its distress signals, and they had passed details of the incident to the coroner and to the commodore of the CYCA for further investigation. The issue circulated as rumour since the race, with a reported punch-up on the docks between members of the two crews after the finish, but had not been officially aired until yesterday. The report identified Margaret Rintoul II as the other yacht. - Bob Ross, Electronic Telegraph, UK For the full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ WORLD RANKINGS The ISAF released new ISAF O'Neill World Sailing Rankings for the Olympic Classes. These rankings always upset the curmudgeon, and only an unexplainable sense of duty compels me to print the top three plus the top two Americans for each of the Olympic classes: 470 Men: 1, Gildas PHILIPPE / Tanguy CARIOU FRA 2, Eugeniy BRASLAVETS / Ihor MATVIYENKO UKR 3. Johan MOLUND / Mattias RAHM SWE 7. Paul FOERSTER / Bob MERRICK USA 37. Steven HUNT / Michael MILLER USA 470 Women: 1 Ruslana TARAN / Elena PAKHOLCHIK 2. Susanne WARD Michaela / WARD DEN 3. Frederica SALVA / Emanuela SOSSI ITA 11. Whitney CONNOR / Elizabeth KRATZIG USA 19. Tracy HAYLEY /Louise VAN VOORHIS USA 49er 1 Marc AUDINEAU / Julien FARNARIER FRA 2. Francesco BRUNI Gabriele / BRUNI ITA 3. Chris NICHOLSON / Daniel PHILIPS AUS 11. Jonathan McKEE / Charlie McKEE USA 21. Morgan LARSON / Kevin HALL USA Laser: 1. Ben AINSLIE GBR 2. Robert SCHEIDT BRA 3 Michael BLACKBURN AUS 41. Bill HARDESTY USA 85 42. Brett DAVIS USA Soling: 1. Stig WESTERGAARD DEN 2. Roy HEINER NED 3. Sergei PICHUGIN UKR 14. Jeff MADRIGALI / Craig HEALY / Hartwell JORDAN USA 15. Tony REY / Dean BRENNER / Tom BURNHAM USA Mistral Men: 1. Aaron MCINTOSH NZL 2. Joao RODRIGUES POR 3. Jon-Paul TOBIN NZL 36. Mike GEBHARDT USA 69. Will JAMES USA Mistral Women: 1. Lai Shan LEE HKG 2. Alessandra SENSINI ITA 3. Barbara KENDALL NZL 12. Lanee BUTLER USA 49. Cara REID USA Finn: 1 Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ POL 2 .Fredrik LOOF SWE 3. Sebastien GODEFROID BEL 63. Russ SILVESTRI USA 65. William C. PARSONS USA Europe: .1 Margriet MATTHIJSSE NED 2. Carolijn BROUWER NED 3. Shirley ROBERTSON GBR 35. Hannah SWETT USA 37. Meg GAILLARD USA Star: 1 Peter VESSELLA /Mike DORGAN USA 2. Colin BEASHEL / David GILES AUS 3. Mats JOHANSSON / Leif MOELLER SWE 5. John MACCAUSLAND / Phil TRINTER USA 6. Mark REYNOLDS / Magnus LILJEDAHL USA Tornado: 1 Mitch BOOTH AUS 2. Darren BUNDOCK AUS 3. Frederic LE PEUTREC FRA 14. John LOVELL / Charlie OGLETREE USA 26. Lars GUCK / P.J.SCHAFFER USA Complete rankings are online at http://sailing.org/iyru/worldrankings.htm HOW DOES IT KNOW? Last week the curmudgeon wore his new Gill dinghy smock on Wednesday night while trimming the mainsail on a Sydney 41, and again during the weekend while doing tactics on a J/120. As expected, spray was never a concern on either boat - the smock is GORE-TEX. How about warmth? Well, doing tactics is not very physical, yet I never got cold. And trimming the big main on the IMS boat is very physical, yet I never got hot. I know that the new GORE-TEX breathes, but how does it know when to do it? Maybe the website explains it: http://www.douglasgill.com AWARDS New Zealands two world boardsailing champs Aaron McIntosh and Barbara Kendall were jointly named Sailor of the Year (and recipients of the Bernard Fergusson Trophy) during the Awlcraft Marine Paint Sailor of the Year Awards dinner held in Auckland on Saturday 29 May. A highlight of the evening was the presentation by ESPN yachting commentator Gary Jobson who made a special trip from Annapolis, USA to Auckland to be guest speaker for the evening. NZs voice of yachting Peter Montgomery was MC. Other nominees for Sailor of the Year were Europe dinghy sailor and member of Tracy Edwards Royal & SunAlliance Jules Verne Challenge SHARON FERRIS (Bay of Islands Yacht Club); the NZ KENWOOD CUP TEAM of Big Apple III, G NET & White Cloud Stackerlee (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron); and yachting advocate BILL SELLERS (Russell Boating Club). Aaron McIntosh is the only boardsailor to win the mens Mistral boardsailing world championship title three times, including back to back wins in 1997 and 98. He also represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Double Olympic medallist Barbara Kendall is New Zealands most successful Olympic athlete, and won her first Mistral womens world title in Brest last year. She was also named New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year in March of this year. -- Virginia Stracey-Clitherow For the full story: http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz AROUND CATALINA RACE Cabrillo Beach YC & Dana Point YC -- PHRF ULDB: 1.Pyewacket, 2. Firebird, 3. Stealth Chicken, PHRF A: 1. Rattle & Hum 2. Eris 3. Rawhide PHRF B: 1. Akyre 2. Whippet 3. Showdown, PHRF C: 1 Poltergeist 2 Wind Catcher 3 Tavarua, PHRF D: 1 Encore 2 True Luff 3 Seaduction, DBL HANDED: 1 Island Starr 2 Star Duster 3 Prima, CRUISE: 1 No Y No 2 Ducky 3 Orrski. Complete results: http://www.dpyc.org/race/results.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected to be printed here are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Mike Guccione -- I think SDYC's idea of using the J 120 is great. There has been far too much participation in this Lipton Cup. Nearly every yacht club can come up with a Schock to race, heck it's only a $40 M boat. Moving up to a $300 M J120 now that will reduce the field to a far more manageable number and return the cup and yacht racing to a more elitist group of sailors. I say nobody takes the helm of these new boats without, at least, a small trust fund, this eliminates the potential MIR problem. -- From Carol Newman Cronin (RE Peter Harken's sponsorship comments) -- "Give the sponsors their money's worth" is something every US Olympic hopeful hears, over and over again. What they don't get is the next step... how that is done. Why are non-US sailors better at attracting sponsorship? Perhaps they are better educated about what sponsors expect from a sponsoree... and maybe that education comes from their sailing federations. I'm sure it would help to educate US sailors if Peter (and others) could provide some concrete ideas on what separates the "good value" sponsorship packages from those that, in the publishing business, are known as "the slush pile." -- From Larry Law -- Peter Harken's editorial was well stated, clear, precisely on the money and certianly too short. It would be nice to read the continuation of his thoughts and knowledge on the subject, and any "guidlines" would be of interest to me and I'm sure a boatload of others - US Sailing as well. Please, someone, disclose the publications we can read and/or start to develop and share the procedures required to successfully attract "sponsorship" so that all of our competitors, current and future can learn. I for one don't buy this concept of "giving" without results and an attitude that says we (Americans) should "get" just because we live here. I am a strong defender of our proud nationality (American) and also of our heritage. We are known as people who work hard for what we achieve - (this should not open up a discussion of the welfare system). I agree, let's stop whinning and figure out how this thing works - after all we are the country who invented major achievement. -- From Eric Wallischeck, Sailing Master, U. S. Merchant Marine Academy -- What we seem to have missed in this sponsorship debate is where is the U. S. Olympic Sailing Committee in all of this? I've got three friends on the US Sailing Team who came out of our program here at Kings Point. The most common thread of complaint or concern I've heard from them is that of funding. "Where's the next plane ticket or sail or mast coming from?". Heck, US Sailing's the NGB of the sport. They should be the ones closing the deals for our sailors, beating down the bushes, knocking on the doors! Maybe we're bound to our Corinthian roots, where sailors support sailors. But wait; before Dennis Conner got involved in the America's Cup, that event was a clubby, chummy affair. Design in the winter, build in the Spring, sail in the summer, and compete in September. We've come a long way since then (Bill Koch notwithstanding), thanks to Dennis, Dawn and plenty of others. Perhaps there's a school of thought that believes that the current situation with our Olympic sailors is okay: "Getting to the top is a broad-spectrum war of attrition, where only the strong survive!" But, if your talent is in the boat and not in the boardroom raising money, you might be outta luck, and we don't get the best sailor. To me, when it comes to the Olympics, our goal is to win medals. Let's make sure we've got the best system in place so that our sailors can do just that. -- From Chris Ericksen -- At the risk of earning the Curmudgeon's wrath by disagreeing with the father of his grandchildren, I don't think as Criag Leweck does that the sending of membership renewal notices by USSA is a "deceitful (sic)" practice intended to boost revenue but just a recurring clerical error that no one on the professional staff of USSA has been able to fix. This does, however, point up one of the other problems the staff of USSA has: figuring out what the priorities are when addressing the issues they face. The root cause of this is, in my opinion, is that USSA tries to serve too many constituencies and has not enough professional staff to do it all. The staff at USSA--and the membership, for that matter-- would be best served if the non-professional leaders of USSA would focus on the few core goals (administering the rules, for example, and how they are enforced) that benefits the core constituency (racing sailors) rather than trying to control all issues for all boaters everywhere. -- From Peter Huston -- Craig Leweck's comments on US SAILING membership renewal procedure - as a former member of the US SAILING General Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over membership initiatives, I am familiar with the process that Craig finds offensive. He's more right than he knows... One can only hope that with the advent of a more focused web initiative by US SAILING, that they will do as many magazines are now doing and make the renew process available directly over the web. It will save alot of money in postage, not to mention the hundreds of trees that get sacrificed to the god of direct mail renewals. -- From Janet Baxter, US SAILING Vice President (In answer to Craig Leweck) -- We send all those notices because it works. Some members will wait until the very last minute to renew, some reply on the first mailing. The early request and repeated notices are a common model for magazines and other organizations. The US SAILING staff constantly reviews the results, and as long as the extra mailings are working, I guess they'll keep coming. You can save yourself a hassle by renewing on the first mailing, but as long as your membership doesn't expire, you can wait as long as you want. By the way, telemarketing works, too, but the US SAILING Board said "no telemarketing" several years ago and we have stood by that. Also- the number one reason for not renewing? bad addresses. We can't find almost half of our non-renewing members. Maybe they got tired of all those mailings! But if you do move and want us to find you - send a change of address. IRIDIUM Iridium World Communications, on the eve of probable bankruptcy, reported on Friday that it had received another extension from its lenders. That means the satellite-phone company has until 30 June to prove that it can meet certain customer and revenue targets. The new 30-day extension is the second reprieve Iridium has received. The first two-month extension would have expired on Friday. If it fails to meet the new deadline, the company will default on its loans. Iridium has struggled to meet the target of 27,000 subscribers required as part of its US$800 million credit facility. Iridium had fewer than 10,300 customers at the end of the first quarter. The company said on Thursday that it was still not satisfied with its rate of customer growth but declined to provide specific subscriber levels. -- Reuters Limited. Full story: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/19936.html SPEED RECORDS * FLASH - Explorer is expected to finish here Miami to New York record run between noon and 2:00 PM ET today. At 02.30 GMT Tuesday Explorer cleared the halfway point between Miami and New York. The boat which has slowed pace since the approach to Cape Hatteras managed all the same 440 miles in 24 hours at an average of 18 knots. They had a bit of fright though, Monday evening, when the big catamaran hit a cetacean. Bruno Peyron : "I think it was a humpback whale. I hope we didn't hurt it. As for the boat, she seems to have come out unharmed. It's amazing the number of times we have hit these cetaceans, since we have been sailing with this boat". Another little incident also happened on board with the tearing out of half the jib track from the boat's main beam. A repair was made without loosing too much time. In the next few hours, Explorer will be sailing along the sandbanks of Cape Hatteras and should accelerate on finding the Gulf Stream current. As for the crew, all is well aboard. During Tuesday's radio session, Bruno Peyron said that he was surprised that the expected climatic change on passing Cape Hatteras happened without too much difficulty. "This meant that Explorer sailed at 5-8 knots for only a few hours, giving us a chance to rest and talk amongst ourselves a bit. I am talking a lot with my brother Stephane and the various film technicians on board, on what we could imagine together for The Race". Coverage of the record attempt: http://www.therace.org * Steve Fossett, sailor - balloonist - adventurer - record breaker, aboard his trimaran Lakota, plans to set off from Newport, RI on route to Bermuda this afternoon. Sailing solo, Steve will be attempting to break the Newport to Bermuda record. The current Newport-Bermuda record is held by Jean-Pierre Mouligne on the Around Alone' monohull CCP/Cray Valley (53 hours, 55 minutes, and 55 seconds) and was set in November 1996. Two months ago Steve and crew smashed the 24 Hour Sailing Record on board the new maxi catamaran PlayStation (580.23 nm). Just two weeks later PlayStation suffered a cockpit fire in port and will be out of action until September. Whilst repairs continue on the 32m maxi catamaran PlayStation in New Zealand, Steve returns to his faithful 60 foot trimaran Lakota aboard which he has already set numerous solo and crewed records since 1993. Meteorologist Chris Bedford has targeted Wednesday as departure date. This autumn and winter Steve will once again be skippering PlayStation when he embarks on the Trans Atlantic and Round the World record attempts. For updates: http://www.playstation-europe.com/challenges TRENDS When you attend a big regatta like Cal Race Week, you quickly find out what's hot, and what's not. And this past weekend it was instantly obvious that the curmudgeon's glowing descriptions of Camet sailing shorts have not fallen on deaf ears. Camet shorts were everywhere. And although everyone loves the advantages of the drying Supplex, and the reinforced Cordura seat patch, I think what's pushed them over the top is the fact that they look so bitchin'. See for yourself: http://www.camet.com/ INDUSTRY NEWS Bruce Farr, OBE, and Russell Bowler announced that they are changing the name of their 18 year-old yacht design company from Bruce Farr & Associates, Inc. to Farr Yacht Design, Ltd. "We have grown over the years into a very strong team with 10 designers on staff, each bringing different talents, experience and education to the table," said Bruce Farr, President of Farr Yacht Design, Ltd. "A design by Bruce Farr is no longer just a Bruce Farr' design, but rather a representation of the entire design team. We have changed our name to reflect this evolution while making a clearer statement of what we do, both simply and concisely. Our old name was clearly too cumbersome and led to abbreviations and confusion." THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS People seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older - like cramming for the finals. |
