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SCUTTLEBUTT #334 - June 1, 1999CAL RACE WEEKMarina del Rey staged it's first 'big league' keelboat invitational regatta when California YC hosted the second leg of Southern California's Volvo Inshore Championship. Cal Race Week attracted nearly 90 entries, a plethora of shiny new plumb bow boats and a solid representation of rock stars with their ever-present Oakleys. Five windward-leeward races were sailed on the two separate courses in solid but shifty winds in the 8-13 knot range. Alert crews soon learned there could be payoffs on both sides of the course. In addition to scoring points for the Volvo series, Cal Race Week was a high point regatta for both the Schock 35s and the ULDB 70s. Final results: ULDB 70 (5 boats) 1. Taxi Dancer (R/P 70) Hughes / Richards (9) 2. Evolution (SC 70) Brack Duker (11) 3. Mongoose (SC 70) Bob Saielli (17) FARR 40 (6) 1. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy (7) 2. Orient Express, Peter Tong (14) 3. Blue Chip, Walt Logan (15) J/120 (8) 1. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Larry Harvey (7) 2. JBird, Dave Willke (13) 3. Simply Red, Kelly Vince (19) SCHOCK 35 (18) 1. Mischief, Mike Pinkney / Carolyn Hardy (19) 2. Whistler, Wainer / Johnstone (21) 3. Water Moccassin, Judi Gorski (24) 4. Troublemaker, Jim Long (26) 5. Piranha, David Voss (26) Star (9) 1. Clockwork, Marc Skipwith (7) 2. Incentive, Mike George (12) 3. Nova, Rico Johnson (17) PHRF AA (4) 1. Wasabi (49' Custom) Dale Williams (9) 2. Cantata (Andrews 53) Ron Kuntz (10) PHRF-1 (6) 1. High 5 (ILC 40) Ross Ritto / Tim Lynch (12) 2. Impact (Andrews 43) Melville / Kieding (12) 3. Tabasco (1D35) John Wylie (13) PHRF-2 (10) 1. Pendragon (Davidson 44) Dave Gray (10) 2. White Knight (Farr 40) Phillip Freidman (11) 3. Defiance (B-32) Scott Taylor (16) PHRF-3 (9) 1. Invincible (N/M 30) Thomas Carruthers (6) 2. Nemesis (Antrim 27) Geoff Longenecker (10) 3. James Earle (Dencho 33) Bill Daffron (16) PHRF-4 (8) 1. Molly Brown (J/24) Charlie Kelley (6) 2. Friction Loss (J/30) Shawn Ivie (13) 3. Whisper (S9.1) Al Berg (14). For complete results: http://www.calyachtclub.com NATIONAL WOMEN'S DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP After three days of intense racing, Tufts University won the Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association (ICYRA) National Women's Dinghy Championship. The event, hosted by Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., and sailed on Boca Ciega Bay, began on May 26 with 16 colleges fielding A and B division teams. Each was comprised of a skipper and crew sailing company-supplied Vanguard 420s. On May 28, the event crowned as its winners the A team of Caitlin Macallister (Osterville, Mass.)/Megan Edwards (Marion, Mass.) and the B team of Jen Provan(Toronto, Ont.)/Laurin Manning (Mystic, Conn.). Ranked #2 nationally, the Tufts women dominated the racing, winning 15 of the 30 races (15 in each division) sailed. Top-ranked Dartmouth College finished only 14 points behind Tufts, with Connecticut College sailing an excellent regatta to finish third, 49 points behind Dartmouth. Predominant wind conditions were favorable at 10-15 knots over flat water with little currrent. Slated for the same venue is the ICYRA/Ronstan National Team Race Championship on May 30-June 1 followed by the ICYRA National Dinghy Championship sponsored by New England Ropes on June 2-4. At the conclusion of racing on June 4, the ICYRA/Ronstan All-American Sailing Team will be announced. - Barby McGowan Final results: 1. Tufts University, Medford, Mass., 87, 39, 126 2. Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 90, 50, 140 3. Connecticut College, New London, Conn., 99, 90, 189 4. Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., 117, 84, 201 5. Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 68, 150, 218 6. Boston University, Boston, Mass., 149, 69, 218 7. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.,136, 98, 234 8.University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 143, 93, 236 9. Hobart/William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y., 128, 135, 263 10. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla, 129, 143, 272 11. College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C., 121, 152, 273 12. St. Mary's College, St Mary's City, Md., 108, 185, 293 13. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 139, 177, 316 14. University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 177, 189, 366 15. Miami University/Ohio, Oxford, Ohio, 165, 205, 370 16. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., 210, 183, 393 Full results: http://www.icyra.org/00natls/s99/womens.shtml DON'T BE LEFT BEHIND Winners win because of close attention to all details. A well-dressed crew is much more inclined to perform better. Pacific Yacht Embroidery has an impressive list of winners as clients and invites you to add your name to the list. Call Frank Whitton 619-226-8033 (pacyacht@aol.com) for more information. Frank provides the highest-level apparel at affordable prices. AWARDS At the official awards ceremony for the 1998-99 Around Alone race, overall race winner Giovanni Soldini of Italy was recognized as a sailor who achieved something beyond his amazing record-breaking run around the globe. The 32-year-old solo racer was presented this evening with the US SAILING Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal, to applaud his heroism for the rescue of fellow competitor Isabelle Autissier this February in the Southern Ocean. Mason R. Chrisman (Charleston, S.C.), a former Vice President of US SAILING, presented the Rescue Medal to Soldini at the ceremony, which was held at the Charleston Customs House. Soldini has been recognized around the world for his rescue of Autissier, including his receipt of a commemorative medal from the President of the Italian Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The US SAILING Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal is given to skippers of pleasure boats or race support vessels who effect rescues of victims from the water. The award is made for rescues in U.S. waters, or in races that originate or terminate in a U.S. port. The Rescue Medal has been in existence for some eleven years and is administered by US SAILING's Safety-at-Sea Committee. -- Susan Cook US Sailing website: http://www.ussailing.org TECHNOLOGY "Krazy K-Yote 2" the French Admiraler for the next Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup built by Goetz Custom Boats has been launched last Friday in Portsmouth (USA). She has amazed the harbour with her self standing mast ! This is the artful thrust imagined by her young designer Juan Kouyoumdjian (27) who is also working in the design team of the French America's Cup challenger. "The carbon rig stands without standing rigging and the first tests on water have confirmed the validity of the concept. The boat is fast" said skipper Bertrand Pace. Peter Warren, the boat's manager who has sailed many boats in the Whitbread and the America's Cup was also astound by the final result. It is the first time that a self-standing mast is used in the sailing competition and the french CMAC team hopes it will bring them to the victory in Cowes next summer. Stop whatever you're doing check out a technology marvel on Daniel Forster website RIGHT NOW. And I know you'll enjoy the other photos on this page as well: http://www.yachtphoto.com/currentevents.html 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 Andy Besheer -- I thought Peter Harken hit the nail on the head with respect to his comments on sponsorship and the way it is misconstrued by many sailor's in this country. Sponsorship is clearly not a social progam, a forum for redistributing wealth or an implicit right of any particular sailor or group of sailors. Sponsorship is a corporate marketing function which aims to bring the sponsor company the highest return possible for dollars spent. I have had the opportunity to work on sponsorship for a number of regattas, including several for the Interclub class for which Harken has been very generous in sponsoring. My aim in pitching Harken or any other potential sponsor for a given event is to try and find the synergies between their corporate message and my event and to come up with as many ways of highlighting their participation and support of the event as possible. Peter mentions banners - something that we have always done - other areas are web pages (particularly with links to sponsor sites), e-mail updates to participants and interested parties, mailing lists (e-mail or snail) and timely press releases. A priority for an event organizer (or a sponsored racing campaign) that wants to maintain its sponsor relations must be to find as many appropriate and inventive ways as possible of getting the sponsor's message out. Peter is right, its a job which requires hard work, but when its treated as such and done right, there are clear benefits to all parties. -- From Chip Evaul - Great comments by Peter Harken. I would be interested to know what, if anything, a sailor would have to be prepared to do to persuade Harken to fund a sailing campaign, rather than spending an identical amount on a magazine ad. How can a competitor create that 1000-times marketing benefit which is important to this corporation? * Set up a booth and sell Harken gear at regattas the sailor attends? * Appear at Harken's booths at boat shows? * Visit existing and potential Harken dealers while traveling the circuit? * Write articles about using Harken gear? -- From Keri Shining -- On a positive note, American Airlines has been a solid and extremely generous supporter of U.S. Sailing's North American Challenge Cup (and also the Independence Cup, the U.S. Sailing Disabled Sailing Championship for several years). American pays for flights for 36 disabled sailors plus much more at this top notch regatta. With its partner sponsors, American was (and I believe still is) committed to providing the finest regatta in the world for disabled sailors, both on-the-water and off-the-water. As a former secretary of this excellent event, I can vouch for American's honest enthusiasm for this event and these sailors! -- From Craig Leweck, USSA Member -- I think the manner of how USSA repeatedly sends membership renewal notices has been previously voiced in Scuttlebutt, but Janet Baxter's comments has reminded me again of this horrid practice. Maybe someone from USSA can tell the Buttheads why they desire to annoy us so much with these repetitive mailers. This is not about the value of USSA. I consider USSA's practice deceiptful in that it alludes me to submit payment before my renewal is due. Please send me one notice 45 days prior to the expiration of my membership, and I will pay it in a timely manner. To me, USSA is no better than all the corporate groups that choose to solicit me by phone during my evening meal. It is my good heart and Sailing World subscription that keeps me a member of USSA. Without that, I would have disposed of my USSA membership long ago. -- From Seth Radow (re Peter Huston's editorial) -- Sailors in European and Austrailasian countries are national heroes. Sailors, Cyclers and Skiers are national heroes throughout the world... except here in the US. The US on the other hand worships Baseball, Football and Basketball player. Nothing wrong with that... it's just the way it is. The US maintains an entirely different culture and as such promotes different sports to its youth. I recall a story in Scuttlebutt about Chris Dickson in Grand Central Station. The average New Yorker could pick out the entire Yankee lineup along with the Giants, Jets and the Knicks! I doubt that the same crowd could pull a sailor... any sailor if they stood there all day! Therein lies sailing's problem in the United States. Sailing has no recognition with the public at large. Until that changes, sailing will not receive the wide scale promotional support it desires. Sailing needs to create national heroes with whom the GENERAL PUBLIC can and does relate. -- From Jim Champ, UK (re Peter Huston's editorial) -- There's one point that occurs to me that also affects sailing, and its a lot to do with the special nature of the sport. In Bike racing in the UK at the "entry level" most sponsorship was by enthusiasts who could no longer race themselves for one reason or another (usually age) and wished to remain involved with the sport. This then moved up to "enthusiast owned" and bike business related companies, which again aren't operating on the full sponsorship model described, and only at the top level do we see the full business relationship where the deal is evaluated with a full business case. Now of course in sailing the superannuated enthusiast pretty much doesn't exist. If you're too old to go dinghy sailing but have cash you take up leadmine sailing, and as the Coffs Harbour race demonstrates few people ever really get too old to do that. And those that do may well be past the age where they have businesses to support their sponsorship. This takes a huge amount of potential sponsorship of third parties out of the sport, because if you're an enthusiast your company sponsors your own boat, not someone elses! The best thing about our sport is that, unlike most others, the vast majority of interested people can participate actively. I suspect that's another reason why so many people run after so few sponsorship deals... I'm 40+. If the price of not being able to get sponsorship to run a top class boat when I was 18 is that I can still sail now, I consider the exchange well worthwhile! SPEED RECORDS The 86-foot sailing catamaran Explorer set a blistering pace today as she covered 440 miles in the first 24 hours of her bid to set a sailing record from Miami, FL, to New York, NY. Co-skippered by former shipmates and world record holders Cam Lewis, from Lincolnville, ME, and Bruno Peyron, from Paris, France, Explorer crossed the start line off the Miami Sea Buoy at 2:29 pm Eastern Daylight Time, yesterday, Sunday. These two sailors, on the same boat, were the first to break the 80-day Around the World barrier when they won the Trophee Jules Verne in 1993. They also set the Los Angeles to Honolulu sailing record in 1995. They are joined on this attempt by a crew of eight. At noon today, Explorer's navigator Larry Rosenfeld, from Marblehead, MA reported: "Things are going great here. We've averaged better than 20 knots since leaving Miami." Two and a half hours later, he reported Explorer's location as 55 nautical miles due east of Charlestown, SC. Her position was 32 deg 36 min North, 78 deg 46 min West. The breeze had lightened. She was sailing at seven to ten knots. "We had an incredible night last night," Rosenfeld continued. "Clear skies, a perfect moon, and an easterly wind coming over the beam for fast sailing. During the night we recorded 32.7 knots boat speed on our satellite Global Positioning System unit. We were doing a steady 27 to 28 knots before we had to put a reef in the mainsail to slow the boat down. We shook the reef out in the dark hours just before dawn as the wind lightened." Television cameraman and ocean racing sailor Rick Deppe is sailing on Explorer and is filming the voyage for the television production and distribution company TWI which will produce a video news release and a feature after the boat arrives in New York. - Keith Taylor SPONSORSHIP * Iridium North America, in conjunction with its parent Iridium LLC, has come aboard as primary sponsor of the 40th TRANSPACIFIC YACHT RACE. On Nov. 1, 1998 Iridium became the world's first global telephone and paging company. Through a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites circling the globe, customers can make or take calls and receive pages in the most remote regions on Earth. "Over the Pacific Ocean, crew members are isolated from traditional communications," said CarolAnn Gorden, vice president of marketing for Iridium North America. "The Iridium System and equipment are designed for this type of rugged environment and will be a tremendous help with safety, security and reporting for the crew members." The Transpac joins a group of other sports and adventure endeavors sponsored by Iridium, which are natural partners for technology designed to communicate from remote parts of the world. Roy Disney's new maxi sled Pyewacket and a few other boats will carry Iridium equipment in this summer's race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. The Transpac Race now has 21 entries in the racing divisions, two double-handed entries, eight entries in the cruising class and two have multihulls entered. - Rich Roberts For a list of entries and other information: http://www.traspacificyc.org * Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc., and the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) have announced that Rolex will be the exclusive presenting sponsor of NYYC events through 2002. The sponsorship agreement extends the relationship that was established between the two entities in 1994. "This relationship has helped create unique events such as Race Week at Newport and the Atlantic Challenge Cup," said Walter Fischer, President and CEO of Rolex Watch U.S.A. "We expect to build on these and other events in the future." Highlighting NYYC's schedule this year is the 145th New York Yacht Club Regatta presented by Rolex. Set for June 18-19, the seasoned competition precedes the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week. The New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport will establish itself as a biennial tradition when it is presented by Rolex for a second time in July of 2000 and a third time in 2002. Rolex also will sponsor NYYC's America's Cup Jubilee Cowes 1851- 2001. As a symbol of the partnership between NYYC and Rolex, a 10' 6" Rolex pedestal clock has been installed on the club grounds. -- Barby MacGowan, Media Pro Int'l VOLVO OCEAN RACE Aucklander Lorrel Chapman announced that she had secured a yacht for her Heart of New Zealand campaign for the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean race (formerly the Whitbread). Chapman is putting together an all-women crew for the race. She said yesterday that she had a signed a contract to use a Bruce Farr W60 boat which sailed around the world in the last Whitbread. What she would not say, however, was which boat it was. There are three W60 boats still in the Hamble from the last race - Lawrie Smith's Silk Cut, Dennis Conner's Toshiba and Grant Dalton's Merit Cup. Dalton said yesterday that he had not sold his boat to Chapman. So far the Heart of New Zealand syndicate has not signed up a major sponsor. Chapman has been in Britain, Asia and the United States for the last five weeks, working on finding a backer. Chapman is hoping that there will be enough money in the syndicate coffers to build a new boat for the race. She also announced the first of the crew members - Helena Dela Gandara Lopez-Alonso - last year's Spanish matchracing champion. Chapman said it would be an international crew with three or four Kiwis on board, including herself. -- Suzanne McFadden, New Zealand Herald For the full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nzherald99/ RIGHT STUFF All of your rigging needs are right at your fingertips, with experts standing by to make sure you don't make a mistake. Harken, Samson, Yale, Douglas Gill, Forespar, Lewmar, Ronstan, KVH, Spinlock, Marlow -- Sailing Supply not only has it, they'll ship it on the same day you call. You get the good stuff and the price is right. They'll even pay for the call (800) 532-3831. http://www.sailingsupply.com/ SPA REGATTA The SPA Regatta has become one of the biggest Olympic Class sailing events world wide, celebrating its fifteenth edition from 26-30 may, in Medemblik, The Netherlands. This year the event attracted 1400 competitors from 55 different countries! Top three final places plus the top two America entries: STAR: 1. AUS Colin Beashel 2. NED Mark Neeleman 3. USA Peter Vessell / Mike Dorgan 25. USA Claude Bonanni / Arthur Anosov; FINN: 1. POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz 2. GER Michael Fellmann 3. SWE Frederik Loof 44. USA Geoff Swenson 65. USA Andrew Kern; SOLING: 1. NED Roy Heiner 2. AUS C. Miles 3. DEN Jesper Bank 19. USA Andy Horton 35. USA John Gochberg; 470 WOMEN: 1. UKR Ruslana Taran 2. ISR Shani Kedmi 3. ESP Natalia Via Dufresne 11. USA Tracy Hayley / Louise Van Voorhis 12. USA Whitney Connor / Elizabeth Kratzig; 470 MEN: 1. POR Alvaro Marinho 2. GER Michael Koch 3. SWE Johan Molund 16. USA Steven Hunt 18. USA Paul Foerster; EUROPE: 1. NED Margriet Matthijsse 2. NED Carolijn Brouwer 3. BEL Min de Zillie 31. USA Meg Gaillard 35. USA Danielle Myrda; 49ER: 1. ITA. Bruni Fransesco 2. AUS Chris Nickelson 3. FRA Marc Audineau 12 .USA Jonathan & Charlie McKee 21. USA Andy Mack; MISTRAL WOMEN: 1. HKG Lee Lai Shan 2. NZL Barbara Kendall 3. ITA Alessandra Sensini 14. USA Lanee Butler 51. USA Mariel Devesa; MISTRAL MEN: 1. NZL Aaron McIntosch 2. POR Joao Filipe Rodrigues 3. ISR Gal Fridman 38. USA Michael Gebhardt 42. USA Will James; TORNADO: 1. AUT Roman Hagara 2. AUT Andreas Hagara 3. AUS Mitch Booth 8. USA John Lovell / Charlie Ogletree 24. USA Erik Goethert / Mike Ingham; LASER: 1. GBR Ben Ainsley 2. BRA Robert Scheidt 3. FIN Roope Suomalainen 8. USA Brett Davis 14. USA Bill Hardesty. For complete results: http://server3.sparegatta.org/1999/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS This is a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off. |
