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SCUTTLEBUTT 1603 - June 14, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. AMERICA'S CUP * Team New Zealand head Grant Dalton announced a $21 million sponsorship deal from Dubai-based Emirates Airlines that will make possible the syndicate's challenge off Valencia, Spain, in 2007. Sports Minister Trevor Mallard also confirmed Monday that the New Zealand government would provide an additional $18 million that was contingent on the syndicate finding substantial corporate sponsorship. Dalton also announced the addition of Americans Terry Hutchinson and Kevin Hall to Team New Zealand. American Rod Davis is a coach for the Kiwis. The design team also has members from Britain, Italy, Spain and Japan. - Sports Illustrated, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2wov2 * Team Alinghi today launched its campaign for the America's Cup 2007 with a full team presentation at Newport Shipyard, Newport, Rhode Island. Following the formal proceedings, SUI 64, sporting new graphics, was lowered into the water and set sail for the first time on Newport Harbor. New members of the sailing team are Matt Mitchell (New Zealand), Mike Drummond (New Zealand), Mark "Sting" McTeague, (Australia), Matthew Welling (USA), Peter Holmberg (USA), Mark Newbrook (USA), Jordi Calafat (Spain), Yann Gouniot (France), Nicolas Texier (France), and Lorenzo Mazza (Italy). New members of the design team are Michael Richelsen (Denmark), and Kurt Jordan (USA). - ISAF website, full story: www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=7335 RACE ORGANIZERS FACE CHARGES Key West, Fla. - The organizers of a sailboat race from Key West to Cuba have been indicted on two counts of providing unlicensed travel services to the Communist island nation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday. Peter Goldsmith and Michele Geslin ran the race in violation of the Trading With The Enemy Act, federal officials said. The most serious count of the indictment carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Crews competing in the Key West Sailing Club Conch Republic Cup departed May 22, 2003, for Havana and several Cuban shore communities after receiving pre-race warnings they would be violating U.S. Department of Commerce licensing regulations. About 20 boats took part in the race, which was then in its third year. Participants brought Cubans humanitarian aid, including medicine, educational supplies, books and food. Geslin said last year that when the sailboats returned to Key West, customs officials confiscated crew members' cameras, trophies and paperwork. She contended the boats were covered by a humanitarian license held by an aid group that takes medical supplies to Cuba. - Associated Press, full story: www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/8893839.htm?1c WOMEN'S MATCH RACING WORLDS Annapolis, Maryland, USA - Although only four flights of the semi-final stage and none of the final matches of the BoatU.S. 2004 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship could be completed after the breeze died early in the afternoon, the new world champion, American Sally Barkow, has been crowned. Wisconsin native Barkow, who came into the regatta as a relative dark horse, ranked 27th by the International Sailing Federation in women's match racing, at the bottom of the list of the 16 top international contenders, has sailed strongly from the beginning, and emerged from the double round robin phase yesterday in first with scores of 11-4 in the first round and 12-3 in the second. Sailing with Barkow were the other two members of her Yngling team, Long Islander Debbie Capozzi and Carrie Howe from Detroit, along with Briton Annie Lush; this team also had won last year's Rolex International Keelboat Championship here. Barkow went on Friday afternoon to knock out fellow American Elizabeth Kratzig in two straight races to win her quarter-final series, then defeated French sailor Claire Leroy in their first match of the semi-finals. The remainder of the semi-final series was postponed until Saturday after a member of Betsy Alison's team was hit by the boom before the start and was rushed to the hospital late yesterday afternoon; fortunately, she was not seriously injured and was able to rejoin the team for more semi-final racing Saturday morning. As the semi-final action unfolded, Alison defeated Bermuda Olympic sailor Paula Lewin in the remaining match of the first flight. In the second flight, Barkow again defeated Leroy, while Lewin bested Alison. In the third and fourth flights, Barkow lost to Leroy, while Alison and Lewin again split, leaving the scores even at two points each for all four contenders. The series had been scheduled as a best-three-of-five; the wind died off shortly after 2 p.m., however, and no further racing could be completed. Final standings among the top eight skippers were determined based on a complex series of calculations of tie-breakers and points earned throughout the regatta, while the lower eight remained in the positions they earned during the double round robin. Final Standings: 1. Sally Barkow, USA; 2. Betsy Alison, USA; 3. Claire Leroy, France; 4. Paula Lewin, Bermuda; 5. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, Denmark; 6. Katie Spithill, Australia; 7. Liz Baylis, USA; 8. Elizabeth Kratzig, USA; 9. Jenny Axhede, Sweden; 10. Carol Cronin, USA; 11. Deb Willits, USA; 12. Christelle Philippe, France; 13. Sabrina Gurioli, Italy; 14. Linda Rahm, Sweden; 15. Nina Braestrup, Denmark; 16. Marie Faure, France. - www.santamariacup.org BRYAN LAKE, ANDREW CAMPBELL, MIKEE ANDERSON-MITTERLING Swept the podium at the Inter-Collegiate North American Championships. Each relied on Kaenon Polarized to read the breeze. A-Division winner, Bryan Lake, wore the Kurb, Campbell the Kore and Mikee the UPD. The SR-91 lens, by Kaenon Polarized, is like no other. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available at TeamOne, APS, Vanguard, Island Sports, East of Maui, Boat Locker, FT Brown's, Boat House, Sailing Supply, Svendson's, Seattle Sunglass Company, Fisheries Supply, Alain Mikli NYC, Paragon NYC, Crook & Crook, Melges Boatworks, Sunglass and Optical Warehouse, Lombardi's, Sport Chalet, Cabela's and Boater's World. http://www.kaenon.com HAZARDS TO NAVIGATION US Military officials are testing a system for jamming signals from navigational satellites - an experiment that could disable boaters' GPS devices and force them to rely on dead reckoning. The test began Friday and will run through June 20, as part of a NATO training exercise along the Atlantic Coast. The Coast Guard said GPS signals will be unreliable or unavailable in waters up to 60 miles off North Carolina and along the coast of northern and central Florida. Officials said the testing may affect cell phones as well as GPS navigation devices in boats, airplanes or cars. "What we kind of foresee happening is some confusion on the mariners' end," said Petty Officer 1st Class David Christensen. - AP, http://tinyurl.com/25v8d THE TRANSAT At 04:18:08 GMT Sunday British skipper Mike Golding, on the Open 60 Ecover, crossed the finish line of The Transat at the entrance to Boston Harbour to claim victory in the Open 60 monohull class. Golding raced the 2800 mile course in 12 days, 15 hours, 18 minutes and 8 seconds at an average speed of 9.23 knots. In doing so, Golding has set a new solo transatlantic race record taking 2 days and 43 minutes off the existing record set by Frenchman Yves Parlier in the 1992 race on board Cacolac D'Aquitaine of 14 days, 16 hours and 1 minute. In winning this historic solo Atlantic race, Golding has notched up the first major solo offshore race victory of his career. He managed to protect his narrow lead of 21 miles ahead of Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre (Temenos) right to the finish line. Wavre finished three hours and three minutes later with Mike Sanderson from New Zealand taking third place in Pindar AlphaGraphics just two and a half hours further back with a broken daggerboard. From the first day of racing, Golding lost the ability to manoeuvre his canting keel using the hydraulics on board and had to manually cant the keel. In the storm-force conditions of the North Atlantic this involved laying the 60ft boat flat on its side and letting gravity swing the keel before securing it into position. 72-year-old Canadian skipper, Mike Birch who was competed in his sixth Transat race, officially retired from race after completing nearly 2000 miles of the course. Both his autopilots on board his 50ft multihull Nootka have failed and Birch has been unable to repair the pilots forcing his retirement. A total of 37 boats, included 15 IMOCA monohulls, started the race at 1300 GMT on 31st May and to date six boats have abandoned the race. Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm and the crew of salvage tug have located the upturned hull of Open 60, Cheminees Poujoulat-Armor Lux. The team will now attempt to cut away the mast before righting the boat and towing her to St John's, Newfoundland. Plans are being made to ship the boat to France on a cargo vessel. And at 10:45 GMT Sunday morning, The Hatherleigh spotted Jean-Pierre Dick and his dismasted Open 60, Virbac. Two of Virbac's shore crew were transferred by RIB to the yacht and Dick is now onboard the converted trawler. Dick is reported to be in very good physical shape considering what the skipper has endured since his dismasting nearly 10 days ago. Standings @ 0300 GMT on June 14: ORMA 60 Multis: 1. Geant, Michel Desjoyeaux, finished; 2. Sodebo, Thomas Coville, finished. 3. Groupama, Franck Cammas, finished IMOCA Open 60 Monohulls: 1. Ecover, Mike Golding, finished. 2. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, finished; 3. Pindar Alphagraphics, Mike Sanderson, finished Open 50 Multihulls: 1. Trilogic, Eric Bruneel, 147 mile to finish; 2. Great American II, Richard Wilson, 219 nm to leader Open 50 Monohulls: 1. Artforms, Kip Stone 338 mtf; 2. Wells Fargo - American Pioneer, Joe Harris, 237nm to leader Event website: http://www.thetransat.com/ NAVY SEAL BOAT SHOE You may never get to shimmy down from a hovering 'copter into a snakepit of enemy fire, but you can wear the same shoe today's Navy SEALS wear to maximize traction and torque in extreme amphibious combat situations. It's the Figawi Zip, $69.99. For a list of stores, visit http://www.sperrytopsider.com SWEDISH MATCH TOUR - MATCH RACE GERMANY Langenargen, Germany - Gilmour and the Pizza-La crew, including Mike Mottl (AUS), Kazuhiko Sofuku (JPN), Yasuhiro Yaji (JPN) and local German sailor Carsten Kemmling, Bertrand Pacé's French crew in the final of Match Race Germany, the penultimate event on the Swedish Match Tour 2003-'04. (Gilmour clinched the Swedish Match Tour Championship for 2003-'04 with his second at Croatia a few weeks ago.) And by becoming the first skipper to win 10 straight races at Match Race Germany, he also won a Mercedes Benz SLK 200 roadster valued at Euro 40,000 (approximately $48,000). In the Petit Final, Gavin Brady's BMW Oracle Racing crew defeated Jes Gram-Hansen's Team Denmark 3-1 to capture third, and place Team Denmark fourth. - Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com Match Race Germany Final Standings: 1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team - 15-2 - €4,800 ($5,700) 2. Bertrand Pacé/FRA - 10-7 - €2,800 ($3,300) 3. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing - 12-4 - €2,400 ($2,800) 4. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark - 10-6 - €2,000 ($2,400) 5. Luc Pillot/FRA - 7-6 - €2,000 ($2,400) 6. Mathieu Richard/FRA - 4-9 - €1,600 ($1,900) 7. Eric Monin/SUI - 5-8 - €1,400 ($1,600) 8. Tino Ellegast/GER - 2-11 - €1,200 ($1,400) 9. Karol Jablonski/POL, Toscana Challenge - 1-4 - €1,000 ($1,200) 10. Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Challenge - 2-3 - €800 ($960) 11. Lars Nordbjerg/DEN - 1-4 12. Ray Davies/NZL, Team New Zealand - 0-5 Swedish Match Tour 2003-'04 Rankings (After six of eight events): 1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team - 142 points 2. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing - 70 points 3. Magnus Holmberg/SWE, SeaLife Rangers - 64 points 4. Bertrand Pacé/FRA, Team France - 55 points 5. Jesper Radich/DEN, Team Denmark - 43 points 6. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark - 38 points 7. Russell Coutts/NZL, Team Alinghi - 35 points 8. Ed Baird/USA, Team Musto - 31 points MEDALS FOR USA 470 SAILORS Both the USA's men's and women's 470 Olympic teams picked up bronze medals at the just concluded 470 European championships in Warnemünde, Germany. Katherine McDowell and Isabelle Kinsolving finished just 10 points behind regatta winners Susanne Ward and Michaela Ward from Denmark and tied with Russia's Vladelina Ilienko and Natalia Gaponovich in the 35-boat women's fleet. It was even tighter in the 68 boat men's fleet. American's Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham were just four points behind the new European 470 champions Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) and a single point out of second place, which was taken by Russia's Dmitri Berezkin and Mikhail Krutikov. - http://euro2004.470er.de/ UV PROTECTION! IT'S IMPORTANT! Sailing Angles Sailing Shirts and our Lycra Farmer Johns are form fitting, very breathable, quick drying and block the Ultraviolet A & B rays. We use a special Lycra knit to create this protection. Our royal blue fabric carries a rating of 50, meaning that it blocks more than 99% of the ultraviolet A & B rays. Wet or dry, these great shirts and farmer johns offer unencumbered movement for both the big moves and small ones. Buy them at APS, Layline and at Sailing Angles and let's go sailing! 800-666-3616, http://www.sailingangles.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Hugh Elliot: In 2001, I sat down to plan a second Paralympic campaign. After doing the budgets for time and money, my conclusion was that the Medal Podium in Athens would still be a neat place - but not that neat! So I retired from top level competition. In my three year budget of nearly $250,000, to get a three person team through the USA Trials, equipment cost was less than $50,000 which included a new boat. The remaining $200,000 was the cost of competition, coaching, and training. Top level competition requires an enormous commitment of time, money, and emotional energy. Anything less is a waste. Given that excellence is the goal, attempts to impose controls on time and costs will be futile. * From Robert Wilkes (Re "personal junior sailing coaches training 13 year old Optimist sailors" -Geoffrey Emanuel Scuttlebutt 1601): Your readers may wish to note that at Optimist international championships only one coach per team of at least five sailors is allowed in a (shared) support boat or the official accommodation. * From Eric Wallischeck (Re: Jim Kelly's Comments in 'Butt 1601): I was heartened to see a familiar name come to the defense of ESPN's sailing coverage. The 1987 America's Cup was certainly a high point, bolstered by America's then-fascination with the Land Down Under. It's not ESPN's fault that "the general public" never showed more interest in our sport. To paraphrase Joe Friday, "It's just marketing, ma'am." There's got to be another model out there for non-traditional sports to successfully cross over to the mainstream; we just haven't found it. While I don't know Mr. Kelly, it is nice to see that he has stayed engaged in our sport, to the point of becoming a fellow 'butthead. * From Tom Cain: Back in the early to mid 70's Warren Miller made a film called "High Speed Sailing" it featured the famous Pacific Catamaran (P-Cat) in large outside surf off Oceanside, CA. I will never forget this scene (probably shot from a helicopter): The 18.5 foot ultra light cat starts it's run in the whitewater surf just off the beach and heads directly offshore, then accelerates to over 20 knots just before reaching an incoming 6-8 foot swell. When the cat goes over the top of the swell, the perfectly balanced boat becomes completely airborne (more that 3-4 feet in the air) and literally fly's parallel to the water with two crew double trapezeed at full extension. That is Warren Miller. * From Mark Pickard: Sailing's Warren Miller was... Warren Miller. Miller's "Hot Yachts - Cold Water" is a masterpiece, although now rather dated, that captures sailing the way he captured skiing. My favorite line from the film - 'Once you hit the line at the gun at full speed for the first time, you'll never mow your lawn again' * From Guenter Balford-Suppemende: I'm appalled by the press reports in Spain, that Mr Bonnefous (CEO of AC Management) is playing politics in Spain, just 5 days before the European elections, with his reported talks with Mr Maragall (president of Catalonia) in Barcelona. According to the reports, Mr Bonnefous is being "seduced" by Mr Maragall to move the America's Cup from Valencia to Barcelona, while he is putting pressure on Mr Camps (president of the Valencia Region) and Mrs Barbera (mayor of Valencia) in order for them to be ridiculed and lose the elections. As a result, AC Management is being used as a pawn by the Socialist Party, Mr Maragall and his radical ally Mr Carod-Rovira. If Mr Bonnefous decides to switch to Barcelona, the Socialist Party would score an immense victory in Catalonia while the Popular Party would suffer a humiliating defeat in the Valencian Region. I find it childish, amateurish and extremely reckless to spoil this prestigious event by supporting the Socialist party in Madrid and Barcelona against the local governments of the city and region of Valencia, both of the Popular Party.If such talks did indeed take place, the only word to describe them would be ridiculous! Even if there were organizational reasons to move from Valencia to Barcelona couldn't AC Management see them just a few months ago? It is all too curious that AC Management has not officially denied these rumors. * Curmudgeon's comment: We told AC Management that we planned to run the story and offered them a chance to comment. They responded with, "Thanks for the opportunity but ACM doesn't need to comment." OK. Still, I don't think it is ever wise to believe everything you read in the news - and I include Scuttlebutt in that admonition. * From Doran Cushing: What's wrong with this picture? Osama's still out there spending his Saudi wealth; Corporate executives with multi-million dollar salaries are bankrupting companies along with thousands of employees and investors who are dragged down in the process; consumer credit card interest rates are at an all time high while the cost of money for the rich is at an all time low; and the U.S. Attorney General finds time to prosecute two sailors who organized a regatta and carried humanitarian aid to Cuba. Peter Goldsmith and Michele Geslin are facing up to 15 years on felony charges of "trading with the enemy" due to their role in a sailing event from Key West to Cuba and return. The U.S. government has spend hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing grand jury indictments and now criminal prosecution against Geslin, a Key West sailmaker, and her partner Goldsmith...and they likely will spend their life savings defending themselves against a politically-driven show of force which panders to the wealthy extremist right wing element of Cubans living in South Florida. Ironically, it may just be a case such as this which forces legal review of the anti-Cuba policy and ultimately ends the failed embargo. * From James Stevralia: I just want to pass on a memorable sailing experience from a few years ago. We were sailing at the NOOD in Newport RI on a Sunday afternoon - the last day of racing so we were in the charge to the hoist at Ft. Adams. It also happened to be the Newport Jazz Fest. The harbor around Ft. Adams was jammed with boats of all kinds, including the QE2. Partying all around, kids, adults. Barbeques, bikinis and beer bellies everywhere. People crawling all over Ft. Adams. We sailed into range of the giant speakers on the bluffs of the park. There was a stage on the hill too, with a piano. As we got closer what we heard and saw was beautiful - America the Beautiful to be exact - performed by Ray Charles. It was followed by Georgia. Sailing at its best. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION It isn't the principle of the thing, it's the money. |
