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SCUTTLEBUTT 3135 - Friday, July 16, 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: Holmatro and J Boats. AMERICA’S CUP RACING GOES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE With a view towards helping determine if a monohull or multihull is better suited for America’s Cup racing, event planners have scheduled four days of trials in Valencia, Spain to develop methods for making the racing more enthralling for fans, more challenging for crews and better portrayed on television screens around the world. Concept papers for a new monohull and multihull design were issued on July 2 to independent rule writers in the United Kingdom and U.S. The trials, July 22-25, will help confirm certain parameters of the new yacht, including reduced crew numbers to place a premium on boathandling. Not only will the format of racing and type of boat come under scrutiny, but also television production. The America’s Cup Media Evaluation Team has solicited opinions from a wide array of broadcasters, digital media and technology companies in Europe and the U.S. on how to make the racing more dramatic on-line, on-screen and on TV. Accepted standards of Cup racing are being challenged in the trials and no thought will be ignored in the quest to create the most compelling television production and delivering it to the widest-ever audience. “We are testing many different concepts,” said Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing Team. “Would making the first leg downwind instead of upwind be better? Can you have exciting boat-on-boat action with multihulls? Are there alternative race course formats which might provide more overtaking opportunities?” The trials will be conducted with two pairs of X40 catamarans and RC44 sloops. 3D and HD cameras will be experimented with to see if the onboard action is more dramatically portrayed, and the race format testing will include downwind and reaching starts. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2fec7e2 STEEPED IN AMBITION By G. Bruce Knecht When I interviewed Larry Ellison prior to the most recent competition for the America's Cup earlier this year, I put forth the proposition that if he prevailed (which he did) then the first words of his obituary might be focused on the Cup rather than Oracle Corp., the giant software company he founded. Ellison did not disagree. "Oracle could disappear someday," he said. "The America's Cup will not." Sir Thomas Lipton, who died in 1931, created the first chain of grocery stores as well as the enduring tea that still carries his name, but he is remembered most for his epic pursuit of the Cup. Even though all five of his campaigns were unsuccessful, they did much to turn him into the world's first businessman-celebrity - a showman-entrepreneur something like Donald Trump, although Lipton's appeal was far greater and had a different character in that it was most strongly felt among the working classes and he was never criticized for materialistic excess. Lipton's quest for sailing's greatest prize did not begin until he was 50, and Michael D'Antonio does not get around to describing it until near the middle of his captivating book, "A Full Cup." That is as it should be. The book's most compelling passages explore the origins of Lipton's genius as a marketer, not just of products but also of himself. When his Irish-immigrant parents operated a small food store in a Glasgow slum, he told his mother that she should always offer up the eggs because they looked larger in her small hands. When he took on a local bully and kept fighting long after it became obvious to the other neighborhood boys that he could not win, he learned that perceptions are sometimes built on singular demonstrations of character, that it is possible to succeed without actually winning. -- Wall Street Journal, read on: http://tinyurl.com/24xjma9 HOLMATRO EXTREME WINCH HANDLE: EASY, STRONG & LIGHTWEIGHT This Holmatro Extreme Winch handle offers you perfect handling and control. After extensive use in the one design ‘Extreme 40’ class and testing by the best sailing teams in the world, do check out this aluminum Extreme Winch Handle and her different models. By simply grabbing the handle, it can be easily released from your winch. Placing the handle is even easier. Simply place the handle in the socket and the locking mechanism automatically secures the handle. View here: http://www.holmatro.com/marine/en/m1207-1-232/winch-handles.aspx BRING ON THE YOUNG 'UNS Many a junior sailor who has experienced the rush of a high-performance dinghy has dreamed of breaking into sailing's grand prix. For some it's the America's Cup, others the Olympics. But, for those who become mesmerized by the magic of distance racing and the allure of ‘chucking a lap' on the world's fastest monohulls, one experience trumps all. Earning a berth on a Volvo Open 70 requires a combination of outstanding sailing abilities, a multi- faceted skill set and a pinch of luck, as most sailing programmes don't train young sailors for high- end ocean racing. For the most part, individuals must create their own opportunities. Fortunately for younger sailors who dream of standing watch at 40-plus knots in the howling latitudes of the Southern Ocean, new rules for the 2011-12 edition mandate at least three crew per boat to be born after 1 September 1980, to contain team payroll costs and to develop tomorrow's veterans. The concept of involving younger sailors isn't new. In the 1993-94 edition of what was then The Whitbread, an English skipper named Matthew Humphries took the helm of the Dolphin & Youth campaign, leading a crew consisting of disabled and young sailors with an average age of just 23. At 22, Humphries was the youngest skipper in the history of the race, but he already had round-the-world experience, having sailed aboard With Integrity in the 1989-1990 race when he was just 18. While Dolphin & Youth suffered a dismasting and serious bow delamination, the team fought hard to the finish and successfully completed the race. But, how important a role did stamina and youth play? "Ask any university student who can party half the night and still work the next day," Humphries told the London-based newspaper, The Independent, during the race. Prior to the 2005-06 edition, race organisers announced a new design, the Volvo Open 70, to replace the Whitbread/Volvo 60s. The new rules stated that each team could build as many boats as they chose, with the caveat that each boat must be raced. Dutch entry ABN AMRO assembled a top-notch campaign and built two boats. The idea blossomed that the team staff their second- generation boat, ABN AMRO ONE, with race veterans and man their first-generation boat, ABN AMRO TWO, with ‘kids', hoping to capture both overall victory and fantastic media attention. The oldest sailor aboard the ‘kid's boat', the late Hans Horrevoets, was just 31 at the November 2005 start, and the team's skipper, Sébastien Josse, was 30. "It was one hundred per cent the coolest thing I've ever done," said George Peet, a trimmer aboard ABN AMRO TWO. Peet became enamoured with the Volvo when he was 12 or 13 and The Whitbread was on television. "I was intrigued that guys raced 60- foot sailboats around the world," said Peet. "I knew the Volvo was something I had to do." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/342kjeu GRAEL PASSIONATE ABOUT THE OLYMPICS Five-time Olympic medalist Torben Grael, who was voted the 2009 ISAF Sailor of the Year, will be 56 by the time the 2016 Olympics come to his home country of Brazil. While he likely will have hung up his Olympic sailing boots by then, he remains passionate about the future of the Games: “We need stability for sailing to grow and if you make changes you make them for the second next Olympics not the next one, otherwise it just favours the rich countries and it gets harder and harder for countries that don’t have a lot of money,” says Grael. "The Europe dinghy, all the Ynglings - they are all garbage now. And they also kill the class. The Europe dinghy was a pretty nice class before it became Olympic and then it was dumped from the Olympics and the class is dead. They have to be more careful with that. It became very political the decision about the classes. It should be more technical than political. If you just go for votes you are only going to have very simple boats and that is not what the Olympics should be. “To get rid of the multihull didn’t make ANY sense to me. At the other end we have two trapeze dinghies that are basically the same - the 470 and the 49er, one is more modern than the other, but they are the same kind of boat and the same thing with the Laser and Finn. You are not doing good for sailing keeping the same kind of boats in and dumping other boats that are a big chunk of sailing that are multihulls.” -- The Daily Sail, full story: http://tinyurl.com/26aeyhg DELTA LLOYD 470 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The Hague, The Netherlands (July 15, 2010) - Weather off the Hague, or perhaps the inaccuracy of the forecasts, continues to wreak havoc with the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships in The Hague. Today the boats were sent out in the morning only for conditions to prove far too brisk for the majority of the fleet, which were duly sent home. With wind against tide further increasing the severity of the waves in the afternoon, it wasn't until the early evening that the final races of the qualification series could be held and even then this was only possible in the two Women's groups. With theoretically two qualification races left to sail in the Women's class, they managed only one and the winners of the two groups were Italy's Guilia Conti and Giovanni Micol and long term Argentinian 470 campaigner, Maria Fernanda Sesto and Consuelo Monsegur. These results now mean that the Italian duo are tied in first place on eight points with New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, three points ahead of early leaders at this regatta, Americans Eric Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar. A race was attempted on the Men's course, but this didn't get underway until slightly later than the Women and by this stage the wind had dropped off to such a degree that with the counter tide the first boats failed to reach the windward mark within the 25 minute maximum time limit. Despite not completing all the scheduled qualification series, the classes have been divided up into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets for the Men, and Gold and Silver for the Women. Three races are scheduled for Friday with racing to conclude on Sunday. -- Full story: http://www.470worlds2010.com/news.asp?NewsID=219 Event website: http://www.470worlds2010.com Maxwell/Farrar website: http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/ 2010 J/80 WORLDS - SPECIAL FLEET PROGRAM Twelve of the best J/80 teams in the world, including four World Champions, will be racing new US Watercraft built 2011 model J/80s in the J/80 Worlds in Newport, RI October 3-8. Only a few boats are left to purchase at this one-time special package. For more information: http://www.jboats.com/j80 SAILING SHORTS * Istanbul, Turkey (July 15, 2010) - With only one day of racing remaining at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships, two of the eight events hold podium prospects for the leading North American entrants. Antoine Screve and James Moody (USA) are ten points off the lead in the 29er, and have moved up to third overall. In the Laser Radial, Erika Reineke (USA) continues her climb up the standings, and is now in second just four points off the lead. Racing concludes Friday. -- Event website: http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/editions/2010 * The Finger Lakes Boating Museum, Geneva, NY, in conjunction with the Lightning and Snipe Class are collaborating to host the largest one-design regatta for wooden boats of these designs in decades. Already 19 Lightning and 15 Snipes are registered to participate in this show and low-key competition to be held over the July 24-25. The boats will all be wood with ages ranging from 30 to 70+ years, and representative of the early evolution of these two of the most popular one-design family racing boats in North America.-- Details: http://www.flbm.org * New York, NY (July 15, 2010) - World Trade Center construction workers dug up something unexpected this week: an 18th century sailing ship. Plans for the new Trade Center require workers to unearth parts of lower Manhattan left undisturbed during construction of the original buildings. During part of this dig, in an area between Liberty and Cedar Streets, beams of wood rose from the mud. Yesterday, archaeologists confirmed that 20 to 30 feet below street level, a 30-foot ship chunk has rested for more than 200 years. -- Discover, read on: http://tinyurl.com/24dsmq3 * (July 15, 2010) - West Marine today reported net sales of US$233.4m for its second quarter ended July 3, 2010, an 8.4 per cent increase over the same period a year ago. Same-store sales increased by 9.4 per cent, or US$17.3m, and stores opened in 2009 generated an additional US$8.8m. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20100615140450ibinews.html * CORRECTION: The online gremlins redirected the photo link for the 2010 29er Pacific Coast Championship to a Dell website. Here is the correct link to see the action from The Gorge: http://tinyurl.com/2fbr9dl PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include Opti fashion, Caribbean fashion, Skiff fashion, Irish fashion, Alpine fashion, Star fashion, and FIFA fashion. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0716/ FAME: On Sunday, July 11th, Dennis Conner hosted the 100th birthday celebration of FAME at San Diego Yacht Club. This 40 foot schooner has been Dennis’ latest project, saving her from near ruin when he brought her to San Diego from Chicago in March. Fully refurbished, she is perfect now, beautiful really, and ready for her next century. As for his plans for FAME, Dennis only said, “I plan to sail her.” --Photos: http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2010/07/100th-birthday-celebration-of -fame.html 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 Robie Pierce has been a driving force in National and International disabled sailing for nearly 20 years. A life-long sailor prior to his 1985 diagnosis with MS was Robie's impetus to share his sailing experience with the disabled community. Larchmont Yacht Club, in partnership with American Yacht Club, hosted the second annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta for sailors with disabilities. Spanning the four days from June 3 - June 6, 2010, LYC became the home away from home for 18 crews of disabled sailors, plus over 100 volunteers from the two clubs. This week’s video profiles the event and the sailors who have decided to continue living despite their disability: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0716/ * MASSIVE: The Kite Boards For Cancer event is a 6 hour endurance race held at the Gorge July 10-11. As reported by Nick Ward, “The beginning of the day the wind was blowing from 20-30 kts with plenty of holes and gusts. I decided to start with my 10 meter kite and managed to jockey into a position right at the prime spot of the starting line, ducking and dodging 125 other competitors. The race started and it was a drag race to the first mark, with 125 kites all converging into one tiny little area.” Here’s a video of the carnage: http://vimeo.com/13261368 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 Ronnie R McCracken: (re, report in Scuttlebutt 3134) I would like to point out an error in your report on the Laser Radial Women's and Men's Championships where it is stated there were 149 competitors. In the Women's Fleet there was 117 competitors and in the Men's Fleet 103 competitors: a total of 230 competitors. In the forthcoming Under 19 Radial World Championships there are 228 Boys and 91 girls competing: a total of 319. * From Mike Borga, Point Pleasant, NJ: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3132) I fail to see how the U.S. Olympic qualifying process at two International Events will be dramatically different than the competition at a U.S. trial with the possible exception of limited entries that will allow the OSC (Olympic Sailing Committee) to pre-determine who can compete. At an Open trial, to qualify you must finish better than all the other U.S.competitors and at an International Event you will need to finish better than all your U.S.competitors. I can only surmise that 2 events somehow give a better overall performance indicator? If that is the OSC's overriding principle, then why not expand the competition to two Open trials at two differing sites? Of course, such a concept would inconvenience the OSC favorites by asking them to compete domestically rather than on the International Circuit twice which could perhaps compromise their International Rankings? For the privilege of competing for your country that shouldn't be too much to ask, now should it? After all, the OSC is now asking the other potential and non OSC favorite competitors to fund the travel expenses to international events twice for the same privilege? SCUTTLEBUTT SURVEY This time of year there are a lot of National, North American, and World titles being contested. Scuttlebutt receives countless event updates, and find that the use of the word ‘championship’ swings inconsistently between singular and plural. Here is the example that was used: "The 2010 Ultimate 20 North American Championships will be held at Lake Dillon, Colorado on August 2-4." In Scuttlebutt 3134, the ‘buttheads were asked: Should it be ‘Championship’ or ‘Championships’? Looking through all the comments, Scuttlebutt has deducted the following rule: Championship: If only one title is being contested at the event. Championships: If more than one title is being contested at the event (ie, Open, Junior, Master, Womens, etc.). Comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/absolutepm/xlacomments.asp?p=21 CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Why call it a building if it's already been built? Special thanks to Holmatro and J Boats. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
