SCUTTLEBUTT No. 826 - May 31, 2001
Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
SPLIT, CROATIA (May 30, 2001) - Two champions were crowned today in the sleepy, Adriatic seaport of Split, Croatia. Team New Zealand's Dean Barker defended his title at the ACI Ronhill Cup, beating Prada Challenge's Gavin Brady two wins to one loss in the championship final. Also, Magnus Holmberg and Team StoraEnso, by virtue of their third place finish at the event, clinched the Swedish Match Tour Championship with two events remaining.
The 15 points Holmberg picked up in Split eliminated his closest competitor and defending Swedish Match Tour champion Bertrand Pace of Team New Zealand. Pace will not be contesting the next event on the Tour, the Match Race Lake Constance presented by Volvo, due to America's Cup obligations and will not be able to close the point gap even with a victory at the Swedish Match Tour's final event the Swedish Match Cup.
Holmberg and Team StoraEnso don't plan on slowing down and look forward to some unfinished business in the next month. "We still haven't won the Swedish Match Cup which is in our hometown and we look forward to winning that event as the icing on the cake."
Due to the lack of wind event organizers decided to shorten the semifinal round to first-to-two-wins which resulted in Brady and Barker advancing to the event final by virtue of their two wins to zero victories over Bertrand Pace of Team New Zealand and Magnus Holmberg of Team StoraEnso, respectively.
In the petit final defending Swedish Match Tour Pace symbolically passed the crown to his Swedish opponent as Holmberg defeated Pace two wins to one loss. - Shawn McBride, www.sports.com/sailing/swedish_match/
FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Dean Barker (Team New Zealand), 2. Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 3. Magnus Holmberg (Team Stora Enso), 4. Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand), 5. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 6. Rod Davis (Prada Challenge), 7. Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 8. Jesper Radich (DEN).
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
(At the grand old age of 30, Matt Humphries is embarking on his fourth round the world race as a watch leader on the Volvo Ocean 60 Team SEB (right). In an interview on the madforsailing website, Bob Fisher talks to the former Dolphin & Youth skipper about his new campaign. Here are two brief excerpts.)
Matt Humphries: "Each time that I have done it, it has become more and more refined and now it is Formula 1. Certainly in the way that we are looking at it and the way we are setting ourselves up, it is a Formula 1 yacht race. I don't believe there is any adventure attached to it today for the competitors, although from the outside it is still seen that way. For us, it is absolutely full-on. I don't think we would have treated, 12 years ago, an inshore race as seriously as we are treating this race. That's how refined it is."
madforsailing: Is there anything missing from this campaign?
MH: Sanity probably, but that got flushed away a long time ago. It's hard to explain, even for the fourth time, just what it is like and how enormous the whole event is. Missing? I'm only looking at the race from a professional perspective and I think we could claim that we are not missing anything.
Full interview: http://www.madforsailing.com
STEINER ADMIRAL GOLD BINOCULARS ON SALE
If you're after the brightest optics for night or low light conditions, consider the brightest binocular made: the waterproof Steiner 7x50 Admiral Gold. You'll get images so brilliant it1s almost like turning on a spotlight. Now on sale at Yachting Essentials for only $769 plus FREE ground shipping. www.yachtingessentials.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
leweck@earthlink.net
(Only signed letters will be selected for publication, and they may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. Constructive criticism is welcome, but we never publish bashing or personal attacks. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Malcolm McKeag (edited to our 250-word limit): Since it's forbidden in 'Butt for a correspondent to squeak more than once on any thread, Peter Johnson is presumably prohibited for replying to Paul Hansen. I stand, therefore, in defence of the gallant Knight.
I don't think Peter's letter implied what Paul has inferred. Notwithstanding the publicity (hype, dare one say?) which seems inevitably to accompany 'standing start' record attempts, the fact is that most 24-hour run records, and many point-to-point records, are actually set in the course of passages which have a raison d'etre other than specifically breaking the record. It's not hard to see why: one waits for a weather window, one goes, the weather does not oblige, the attempt is blown. But out there, doing something else which takes longer, the weather suddenly obliges and - bingo, you're skelping along quicker than you ever imagined possible.
What is surely to be deprecated in the record-breaking industry is this plethora of categories, many artificially created to exclude any boat which might be able to go quicker, created so that everyone can claim a record. Thus we have records claimed for 'monohulls sailing without mechanical aids' and other such nonsense. Most deplorable of all is the attempt, still often seen, to dismiss the passages made by multihulls as being somehow unfair, or less meritorious, than those achieved in monohulls. A record is a record is a record. There can be only one record for any given distance, place-to-place passage, or 24-hour run. All others are merely Personal Bests.
* From Tak Uchino (re Ralph Taylor's letter in #825): The "number of eyeballs" is important. However, the number of people who watch the finals, which New Zealand and hence SAP will be a part of, is much greater than the people who pay attention to the preliminary rounds. It is difficult to get coverage of the preliminary rounds in the United States while the finals are (I believe) live broadcast. Plus, during the more extensive coverage of the finals the spinnakers will get more airtime, which is also important. There are benefits to sponsors outside of reaching the finals, but the AC finals are the hope of every sponsor.
If I was advertising, my money and logos would be on New Zealand. SAP has a better guaranteed deal in that they will be in the finals. Oracle has to earn that right on the water. That said, I don't think that Larry Ellison is trying to maximize his advertising dollars by campaigning for the cup.
SLOW
Halfway to La Rochelle, France, on Leg Six of the BT Global Challenge, the fleet has ground into the dreaded doldrums and "slowed dramatically," according to Race Headquarters manager John Keating.
Midway through the 5,820-mile leg, Race Headquarters reported spot speeds from four to nine knots as the yachts converged on the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). "Don't be fooled," Keating pointed out. With the fleet entering this area of sporadic wind, the higher speeds most likely represent a burst of acceleration during a squall. Daily averages are creeping lower, he said, and course made good towards La Rochelle has dipped to 133 miles in the past 24 hours.
It has taken the Challenge fleet nearly two weeks to get up to speed, with conditions so light race organisers took the unprecedented measure of delaying the start of the Leg Seven.
And the best 24-hour runs were still roughly 20 miles short of expectations. With the fleet falling further and further behind schedule, and continued light air forecast, race organisers decided on 21 May to stall the start of Leg Seven to 26 June, when all the boats were likely to have arrived in La Rochelle. - Betsy Crowfoot
Full story: www.btchallenge.com
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Jim Kilroy
"Maxi boat racing is really 'Marxi' boat racing - it redistributes the wealth." - Said to the curmudgeon, just 90 minutes ago.
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
* July 14: Mackinac Race, Chicago YC. www.chicagoyachtclub.com
* July 21: Mackinac Race, Bayview YC, www.byc.com
* September 15-21: HP Sonar World Championship, Noroton YC, Darien, Connecticut. www.sonarworlds.org
BIG
Wanna see a rudder blade with a span of 14 feet - plus the shaft? GMT has a photo on their website of the 'monster' they made of carbon fiber for a Holland-built 145 foot ketch designed by Dubois: www.gmtcomposites.com
POSITION AVAILABLE: DIRECTOR, J24 CLASS
Position available for motivated, organized administrator with good communication skills to manage J/24 Class Association Office. Duties include: the publication of the Class magazine and newsletters and the maintenance of class membership and measurement records. This position also serves as and the liaison between the US and International J24 Classes. For further information, see USJCA web site at www.j24class.org/usa. Interested parties, please send resume to: Executive Director Position, c/o Nadine Franczyk, USJCA President, 1643 Kansas Street, Redwood City, CA 94061
FINN MASTERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Kingston, Ontario, Canada - After five races: 1. LEMIEUX, LARRY (CAN) 5.00; 2. 4.00 OKKER, HEIN-PIETER (NED) 13.00; 3. BIEBERITZ, EBERHARD (GER) 14.00; 4. NADY, LOUIE (USA) 17.00; 5. VRDOLJAK, DAMIR M. (CRO) 22.00.
Complete results: www.cork.org/FIM.HTM
COLLEGE SAILING
The Dartmouth College Big Green finished the second day of the 2001 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association North American Women's Championship in first place with 138 points. St. Mary's College of Maryland trails closely in second with 139 points, followed by the University of Hawaii with 142.
The three-day event is being co-hosted by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the Charles River in Cambridge, MA. Today's wind consisted of a shifty northwest breeze ranging from 5-15 knots. Two squalls passed through the racecourse, forcing sailors, spectators, and regatta organizers to work hard to adapt to changing condition. Seven races were completed today, and thirteen of eighteen planned races have now been completed. For the first nine races, the A-division sailed Johnson FJs, while the B-division sailed Parker Larks. After nine races, the divisions switched fleets. - Derek Webster
STANDINGS: 1. Dartmouth College, 138; 2. St. Mary's College, 139; 3. Univ. of Hawaii, 142; 4. Connecticut College, 60; 5. Tufts University, 164; 6. Boston University, 180; 7. Old Dominion, 191.
Much more at: www.collegesailing.org/2001/
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
If aliens are smart enough to travel through space, why do they keep abducting the dumbest people on earth?
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