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SCUTTLEBUTT 2380 - July 3, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). NATIONALITY (The following is an excerpt from commentary posted by Tom Ehman on the BMW Oracle Racing blog.) Without any sort of nationality rule (save for the basic rule in the Deed of Gift requiring that the yacht(s) be built in the country of the club the team represents), a number of the America’s Cup 32 teams have nonetheless had strong national identities. Arguably they have been the most successful here, including ENTZ, Luna Rossa, Desafío Español, Victory, Shosholoza, Mascalzone, and Alinghi. Yes, Alinghi. They, too, have a strong national identity even if they only have one Swiss sailor. You only have to be here in VLC this week and see all the Swiss flags -- and hear the cacophony of cowbells (personally, I prefer their cheese and chocolates, to say nothing of Girard-Perregaux). Clearly a team can have a strong national identity without all their sailors being from one country. And, please, in this modern, rapidly globalizing world, let's not even think about trying to put the designer-nationality genie back in the bottle. It occurs to your editor that one of if not the main reason we have had no major controversies during this Cup is thanks to the relaxation of the nationality rules in the AC 32 Protocol by the Defender and COR. Moreover, is it just a coincidence that this is the first Cup since 1980 without a major controversy, as well as being the first Cup since 1980 without a strict nationality rule? One suspects there is a direct and happy correlation. However, it does seem that some national identity for the teams is good for the Cup. But do we need more rules and regulations? Or are market forces enough? Perhaps BMW Oracle Racing would have fared better had we adopted a stronger American identity. We took a strategic decision to be transnational. Some might say "multi-culti." Maybe that was a mistake. And does it strike anyone else as somewhat strange, and perhaps a bit self-defeating, for a Kiwi team that has an American tactician, an American navigator, and an Australian strategist -- indeed, 75% of their afterguard -- to be posturing in favor of returning to a strict nationality rule? -- Full story: http://blog.bmworacleracing.com/stories/3319098/ MATCH POINT Racing for the America’s Cup resumes in Valencia, Spain on Tuesday, and will continue without any more lay days until one syndicate gets the five wins required to claim the America’s Cup. Alinghi leads the series 4-2, so Tuesday’s race is a ‘do or die’ situation for Emirates Team New Zealand. Scuttlebutt will continue to publish every day there is Cup racing. VERSUS (USA) and TSN Broadband (Canada) will provide live coverage of the Finals from 8:30 a.m.–11 a.m. ET. VERSUS will also have a replay from 6-8 p.m. ET., while TSN Broadband will archive each race for later viewing. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/shows/#6 * Valencia weather forecast: Weak low pressure over central Spain on Monday develops and slides northeast by Tuesday. This coupled with high pressure to the east of Ibiza provides good prospects for Tuesday. Starts southeasterly 10-12 knots early in the afternoon then builds to 15-17 knots and veers to south southeast. Clear skies – Temperature 86 degrees. -- http://tinyurl.com/34k4oj * Photo Gallery: The Louis Vuitton Finals seem like a lifetime ago, but the duel between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa has been recorded forever by professional photographers Thierry Martinez, Gilles Martin-Raget, Jan Pehrson, Ingrid Abery, and Max Ranchi. Enjoy their images here on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/LVF OPEN SECRET It is an open secret that Desafio Espanol is to be the next challenger of record, although it is difficult to understand how it qualifies as a challenger as it is not a properly constituted yacht club holding an annual regatta at sea, as the Deed of Gift demands, but the National Authority. Not that the Societe Nautique de Geneve qualifies either, as it does not hold an annual regatta at sea. If the Spanish group were challenger of record, it would be unfriendly not to hold the next cup in Valencia. Stranger things have happened, but all the pointers are that it will be there and in two years time. That accepted, the structure of the Protocol is already complete and the employment roster is being filled. One feels that there are some notable players in the management that will not be asked to return. Alinghi will be a very different outfit. Ironically, the heart will be ripped out of it in the same way that it was ripped from Team New Zealand following the successful cup defense in 2000, and by the same core group. Russell Coutts has begun recruiting for his new employer, who cannot be announced until after this cup’s course has been run because of contractual restraints, but the open secret is that it will be Larry Ellison. There is one other proviso to that. If Emirates Team New Zealand wins the next three races, and further upsets the Alinghi party, Coutts will not join that team because he has said that he would not take another challenger to New Zealand. -- Bob Fisher, Sail-World website, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/nz/index.cfm?nid=35273&rid=6 QUOTE / UNQUOTE “There is every sign that Russell Coutts will be back in the next Cup. He “has options”. When he recruits, he will be like the Pied Piper, sucking the best out of existing teams.” -- Tim Jeffery, http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/timjeffery/june07/shiftingsands.htm MELGES IS ON THE MOVE We all know how exciting and easy to sail these new Melges Performance Sailboats are. This coupled with the fact that all of the Melges boats are simple to trailer, rig, and launch. No wonder these classes offer some of the best one-design sailing in the USA. They are easy to move and exciting to sail! The Melges 32, Melges 24, and all of the scow classes including the HOT Melges 17 can be viewed at Melges.com as well as melges32.com, melges24.com and melges17.com Check out the excitement and find out why so many are moving to Melges! – http://www.Melges.com CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES American sailor Paul Cayard has been in talks with Desafio Espanol and could be set to become skipper and helmsman of the Spanish team, if Alinghi wins the Cup. Cayard is, however, undecided at present as to whether he wants to compete in the America’s Cup or the Volvo Ocean Race. Cayard skippered Pirates of the Caribbean in the last Volvo Ocean Race and, after suffering many problems with gear failure, managed to steer the Volvo Open 70 into second place overall. If Alinghi were to lose, Desafio Espanol’s future is uncertain, since the team’s main sponsors are Spanish companies, with no interest in the New Zealand market. Desafio is, therefore, waiting to see the outcome of the America’s Cup matches, but has asked key members of the team to retain rented accommodation, in Valencia, until the result is known. -- Santiago Robatto, BYM News, http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=11309 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Valencia, Spain: A replica of the sleek yacht that started it all, New York schooner America, glided into the America's Cup harbor on Monday, lending its sense of history to the race for the oldest trophy in international sports. Not all the winning yachts of sailing's highest profile regatta have enjoyed the same reverence, sometimes facing ignoble golden years as anything from floating fuel dumps to firewood. The original America, inspired by New York's fast pilot boats, trounced 14 of Britain's fastest yachts in an 1851 race around the Isle of Wight, taking home a trophy that still bears its name. That yacht was destroyed when its storage shed collapsed under heavy snow in 1942. In 1967, a full-scale replica was built by the Goudy and Stephen shipyard in Maine, and has sailed since. America is as striking now as it was in 1851, when Britain's Queen Victoria noted that "she is very pretty." The 100-foot (30.85 meter) ship has a gleaming dark hull, polished woodwork and masts, and, with its luxurious appointments, has more in common with the superyachts sharing this harbor than the stripped-down modern racers nearby. -- Associated Press, http://tinyurl.com/yw8mhq PRETTY SCARY STUFF The brand-new Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed IRC 55 Bounder which was built by Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol, Newport Rhode Island lost her keel and capsized on Saturday while sea-trialing off St Catherine's Point in 18-20kts of breeze. Her owner Chris Little (Admiral of the RORC) was not on board at the time of the accident but the 14-strong team was successfully airlifted to safety. According to Jeremy Robinson who was at the helm on Saturday, the crew feel very lucky indeed that it happened where and when it did. "The boat went over so quick I didn't even have time to put on my lifejacket. It was all pretty scary stuff." -- Sue Pelling has posted the compelling story of what happened on the Yachting World website: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070602163021ywnews.html * The Daily Sail subscription website has reported: “Members of the yacht’s crew along with owner Chris Little were able to locate the yacht on Sunday but due to the weather were unable to put any recovery plans into place. It is understood the upturned hull of the yacht is still afloat in English Channel to the south of the Isle of Wight and the Solent Coastguard is issuing navigation warnings to warn other shipping to keep a watch out for the semi-submerged hull.” -- http://www.thedailysail.com MC NATIONALS * Eighty-eight MC scows made it to Torch Lake, Michigan to battle for this year's six-race National Championship in ideal sailing conditions with winds ranging from 10-18 mph. Sailors came from 12 states including Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Torch Lake is 20 miles long and roughly 2½ miles wide with slight changes in wind direction and velocity. Final results: 1st - Jamie Kimball; 35pts; 2nd - Zack Clayton; 76 pts; 3rd - Ted Keller; 77pts; 4th - Bob Currier (1st Master); 83pts; 5th - Dan Fink (1st Single-handed); 83pts: 6th - Steve Avery (1st GM); 84pts; 7th - Cam McNeil; ; 90pts; 8th - Eric Hood (2nd Master), 96pts; 9th - Rob Kimball, 100 pts; 10th - Joe Rotonda 101pts. Complete results: http://www.mcscow.org/fleet33/2007/nationals/ FREE SHIPPING ON NORTH SAILS GEAR N-orth Sails tees, hats, sandals & more! O-rders over $85 receive free surface shipping within the US from July 2-4. R-egatta gloves, surf tops & sailing shorts. T-ote bags, duffels & handbags. H-enri Lloyd & Gill jackets & vests from $69.95. http://www.northsailsgear.com/store SAILING SHORTS * Over 1,600 sailors have shipped their boats to Cascais, found housing, hired coaches and made countless sacrifices to attend the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships. Walking around this spectacular venue, one runs into some of the most accomplished sailors in the world. Racing begins Tuesday. -- http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/ * The Etchells Canadian Championships at the Royal Canadian yacht Club was shortened to just three races: Final results: 1. Bruce J. Burton, 4pts; 2. Hans Fogh, 8pts; 3. Allan Leibel, 17pts; 4. Robert Kidd, 18pts; 5. Ray Harrington (USA), 22pts. -- http://www.rcyc.ca/Portals/0/etchellsCansunday.PDF * Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth is bulldozing a cute 1940s Waiheke Island bach to build a palatial new hideaway home worth more than $2 million. And fellow former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts is also coming home, buying up properties in Whangaparaoa, just north of Auckland, and in Queenstown. While Coutts has an attractive offer to join the US America's Cup syndicate Oracle, he has also not ruled out the possibility of setting up a new New Zealand syndicate and having a defender's series for the next Cup, if Team New Zealand wins the event in Valencia. -- NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10448910 * The Prime Minister has given a strong hint that Team New Zealand could get public funding for a future America's Cup contest. Helen Clark said yesterday she was "well satisfied" with the returns on the Government's $34 million contribution to support the challenge in Valencia. "The constant branding promotion of New Zealand over many weeks of high-profile sailing, the opportunities New Zealand companies have had to leverage off it at the base in Valencia ... I'm very well satisfied with the investment." -- Claire Trevett, NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=531&objectid=10449246 QUOTE / UNQUOTE “There’s a growing movement in world sailing amongst the actual sailors regarding the future of the AC and it's called the ABBA effect - 'Anyone But Bloody Alinghi.’ If the rumours are true that Bertarelli has trousered $50 million and wants $85 million for the next Cup then this is a dire situation. Ignore the puffery and sheen as this competition comes to a close, this has been a terrible, ill thought-out regatta with hapless incumbents who have royally screwed the competition and bled it dry.” -- Magnus Wheatley, there’s much more: http://www.rule69blog.com/archive/2007/july/616 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Roger Vaughan (edited to our 250-word limit): I was surprised at Keith Wheatley's rant about how boring he finds the current America's Cup to be. In 2007 we finally have a Cup Match worth watching. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the first exciting Cup race since 1983 -- 24 years ago? We've got two well-matched boats sailed by two really fine teams. Keith might prefer down-speed tacking duels to drag racing, but with Virtual Eye registering the most minute shifts, watching the positions of the two boats change as they charge up wind with the crew in full concentration is a nail-biting delight to this sailor. As for comparing these wild looking, high-tech machines with their flat-top mains to the lumbering 12 meters, well, there is no comparison. The IACCs tack like dinghies, accelerate like Melges 32s, and sail amazingly close to the wind. Instead of the old finishing deltas of one and two minutes (and more), we're close to thirty seconds most of the time in 2007. We have lead changes, unheard of in most of Cup history. When two boats are separated by 10 or 11 seconds after a three mile weather leg, we have to start looking at minute details to account for that delta. I was in Valencia for an Oyster regatta, and stayed on to watch two races on the water. Since I've been home, I've been glued to the television set. I haven't been disappointed. These guys keep coming at one another. I can feel the tension. * From Eric Hall: Having seen both reportages (just returned from Valencia) the job Versus is doing is excellent and world class. It's well-coordinated and the commentary is expert. Major beef: They still don't show the lead separation in real time. The occasional and usually late look into the "virtual" is a mistake and detracts substantially from the drama. Any one watching in Valencia and elsewhere in Europe can confirm that as leads dwindled and/or changed in front of their eyes, crowd reactions were animated and vocal. Very Minor beef: Reporters' mispronunciation of the defender's name which is spelled Alinghi, not Aling-ee (Alinghi rhymes with the European pronunciation of dinghy (ding-gee), not the American (ding-ee). (But then again what do I know, I'm from Long Island.) Louis Vuitton: It's not about the money, Bruno? I respectfully disagree with what he said about the event. To me its good news and a testament to its success that event has now reached a point where participants no longer need billionaire seed money before sponsors sign on. Yeah, it's big time and big money, but one way or another in relative terms it's always been that way. * From Urban Miyares, San Diego: I'd like to offer a different perspective to the wonderful America's Cup television coverage. For me, it's been the first time I can truly say the announcers are bringing sailing, and especially this America's Cup, in a format that is visual, understandable, enjoyable, and truly exciting. I'm saying this from a different perspective as I am a total blind sailor and, in the past, avoided television coverage of current sailing events due to its dominant visual component, with little explanation by announcers on what others were seeing. Waiting to "listen to grass grow" can be more painful and frustrating than watching it grow. I want to say a special Thank You to Peter Isler and his excellent description of the America's Cup races, and keeping me on the edge of my chair throughout the broadcast. * From Howard Williams: Craig Hummer, the anchor on Versus, is painful to hear before the races. Isler knows what is going on, is relaxed and comfortable with his second banana role, or appears to be. Hummer, on the other hand, sits stiffly, head turned just the right number of degree from his body. The words flow pompously, cliches as numerous as spectator boats. If he is ad libbing during the pre-race hype, he has a long way to go in broadcasting to deserve the lead role. If he is reading a prompter, then the writer gets the blame for stilted language -- as does the producer who lets him get away with it, or tells him how to do it. The race is class. The coverage is beautiful. The hype talk is amateurish. Can they pull aces out of their sleeves? And on it goes. * From Whitney Rugg, Newport (re the current AC as a big ‘yawn.’): I am curious, in what sector of the “trade” is Simon Barrett employed? If he makes his living as a sportscaster/writer -- he is in need of a reality check. This is without a doubt the most scintillating cup since 1987. * From Geoff Phillips, Sydney: It would be a great shame if the stylish presence of Louis Vuitton was to no longer grace the challenger series. Possibly Alinghi would prefer a hedge fund, how about the LTCM Cup? * From Cory E. Friedman, Crown Point NY: (re website deficiencies at US Youth Champs): Why apologize for being right? It devalues apologies. Like Bill Clinton apologizing for slavery. Meaningless nonsense. You apologize for doing something wrong that you're not going to do again, not to people who get bent out of shape when the truth is told. How are you going to mend your ways -- pull your punches? SYC's record of support for sailing is exemplary, but rushing to host the Youths was part of a different agenda. Every result posted is tentative, until the medals are handed out, so the criticism makes no sense. Stick to your guns, make them promptly post results. Save us the PC apologies, unless you want to apologize for something important like world hunger, Darfur, or lack of wind in Valencia. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And RAP music will be the Golden Oldies!) Special thanks to Melges Performance Sailboats and North Sails. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
