SCUTTLEBUTT No. 712 - December 18, 2000

EVERYWHERE

They are absolutely everywhere. They're in Norway, Japan, Spain, the UK and Canada. There are two each in Australia and Mexico. Italy has three and there are 10 in the USA. That's 22 in all, and every one of these Ullman sail lofts will give a quote on a new sail to show you just how affordable improved performance can be for your boats:

http://www.ullmansails.com/

THE RACE
* December 16 - For the first time Loick Peyron's maxi catamaran Innovation Explorer went head-to-head with Club Med, co-skippered by Grant Dalton and Frank Proffit. On, Saturday, Dec 16th, the two giant catamarans came face to face for the very first time off Antibes in the Mediterranean. Innovation Explorer was ready and waiting in Antibes as Club Med came to join her from Monaco. "There won't be an official race." announced Innovation Explorer's skipper Loick Peyron before putting to sea this morning. For all that, the crews couldn't resist a long beat, racing along side by side against the backdrop of the Massif de l'Esterel cliffs.

The northeasterly that was blowing this morning eased off after midday, gradually giving way to the stiffening local mistral wind which increased rapidly from 8 to 15 knots. This provided a great opportunity for these giant cats to show what they can do. As they thundered along in the distance, side by side, the two cats simultaneously lifted a hull as they turned towards Barcelona. "We are going to take an indirect route in order to fulfill the qualifying criteria."

* Off Portugal: PlayStation was this morning 140 miles NW of Cape St Vincent. All is well on board. When the boat was located, she was sailing at 16 knots on a heading of 190 .

Warta Polpharma, stopped over in Gijon after being caught in an enormous squall in the Bay of Biscay. A complete check-up of the sails, rigging and the new mast revealed nothing untoward and the Polish crew skippered by Roman Paszke headed back to sea this morning offering themselves two surfs at 33 knots. Pure pleasure if you could hear them! Team Legato (Tony Bullimore), was located last night along the Portuguese coast, and is continuing on her way to the Catalonian capital. - http://www.therace.org

* The big American catamaran Team Adventure entered the Mediterranean on Saturday afternoon, and tonight local time was sailing at 14 knots 16 miles south of Cartegena, Spain. Skipper Cam Lewis reported that his entry in The Race of the Millennium, was about 280 miles from port in Barcelona.

At daybreak Saturday, Team Adventure was roaring past Cadiz on the southwest corner of the Atlantic coast of Spain after a fast and furious passage from La Coruna. Spirits were soaring along with the boat speed.

The weather had improved so much since stage one of this delivery and qualification passage from Cherbourg that finally Team Adventure was able to find her stride and tick off the miles. Co-navigator Larry Rosenfeld was so enthusiastic about the speed that he suggested bypassing Gibraltar in an attempt to set a new 24-hour distance record.

Fortunately cooler head prevailed knowing that in the next two months there will be many opportunities to set records. Team Adventure's short-term objective is to get to Barcelona and the start of The Race, and with that in mind they turned the corner and headed for the Straits of Gibraltar.

Shortly after lunch the mega-catamaran steamed through one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and without incident entered the Mediterranean. A very upbeat Cam Lewis checked in via satellite phone. "We have ideal sailing conditions and have had a very exciting day gybing downwind in 16 to 20 knots of wind," he reported. "We are on course averaging a shade under 20 knots. Our next rendezvous will be a fly-by of Palma de Mallorca." - Keith Taylor, http://www.TeamAdventure.org

MATCH RACING
In a superb display of sailing New Zealander Gavin Brady, who is sailing for the Prada America's Cup Challenge, defeated Murray Jones, who is with the Swiss America's Cup Challenge, 2 - 0 in the final of the Fremantle International Regatta. Brady and his crew were masterful on the starting line, in the 20 knot winds, and rarely threatened thereafter, in sharp contrast to their form early in the regatta.

Brady had scraped into the semi-finals on a count back with another ex-pat Kiwi, Chris Dickson, after only winning three races on the first day, then losing half a point for causing damage to another boat. This was his first match racing event since March, having been concentrating on an Olympic campaign in the Start class, "I'm a bit rusty," he commented at the beginning of the regatta.

The battle for third place went all the way to the wire, with local skippers Sebastien Destremau and Simon Sutherland slugging it out through three races, before Destremau got the upper hand. - John Roberson

RESULTS: 1. Gavin Brady, Italy, Prada Challenge 2. Murray Jones, Switzerland, Swiss Challenge 3. Sebastien Destremau, Australia 4. Simon Sutheland, Australia 5. Chris Dickson, U.S.A., Oracle Racing 6. Xavier Destremau, Denmark 7. Ben Dunstan, Australia 8. Luca Antonini, Italy

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.)

From Malcolm McKeag 100527.3303@compuserve.com The arguments about making the rescued pay for rescue if their journey wasn't wholly necessary seem to come up every time there is a high profile rescue of a high profile yachtsman or crew. They are well-rehearsed, as are their rebuttals. As Robo and others suggest, it is dangerous territory at the top of a slippery slope: once we start to make laws based on (vaguely defined) value-judgements of the moral merits of one seafarer over another the lower reaches of that slope take us quickly into the realm of different fuel prices for different sorts of boat user and right-of-way rules that require all recreational craft to keep out of the way of all 'commercial' craft. In fact in UK the former has recently been advanced by the present Government (and for the moment at least successfully rebutted by the RYA), while many years ago I recall as a member of the Harbour Board on one of the UK's most popular recreational rivers having to argue - happily successfully - against the latter. (Many ports, of course, have rules that require manoeuvrable boats to keep out of the way of less manoeuvrable boats - that is a different matter to defining rights-of-way on the criterion of why the boat and its mariner is there in the first place.)

From: Tom Moulds MouldsTE@navair.navy.mil In reference to John Alofsin's suggestion to only save the cautious, I for once have to agree with the NRA. Once you agree that AN act of sailing is dangerous, you are risking that others will declare that ALL acts of sailing are dangerous. If we are going to not to save the leading edge adventures than maybe we should leave some of the idiots out there too. Like it our not society protects the weak and the daring equally, that is just the way it is. Maybe like those we leave stranded, this thread should also be left to die.

From: "Hansen, Charles" HANSECH@tc.gc.ca I am appalled that some readers think that the high seas has a free tow truck/taxi service! You should be aware that under international agreements, the worlds oceans are divided up into search and rescue zones. These zones are allocated to various nations who agree to provide and fund a given level of service under certain conditions. With limited resources and risk management philosophies ruling the day, some of these nations may begin to prohibit high risk activities (high performances sail racing) in their zones during historically heavy work load seasons... which likely coincide with good sailing conditions.

In Newfoundland, trans-Atlantic rowers are regulated. (bad record of survival?) In New Zealand, you require an inspection and a permit before you can leave the country on a vessel under a certain size. (SAR resource risk management?) Consider a recent trans-Atlantic Windsurfing program. It included an extensive self funded event assistance capability. (marketing?)

How about we propose that anyone making use of a publicly funded marine assistance service be prohibited form sanctioned events for 5 years or until they realize that they should be dead? (modified Darwinian theory?) We owe it to our sport to look after ourselves while we push the limits. We owe it to the rescuers to not call upon their services while we play on the edge. (How can someone get a good rant going in less than 250 words?)

From Romey, Dustin Dustin_Romey@sra.com [Heavily edited to our 250-word limit] - While I know John Alofsin to be an experienced and knowledgeable sailor, he betrays a number of the misconceptions many sailors have about the Search and Rescue (SAR) system in place in this and many other countries. The case that brought up his discussion, the rescue of the Team Phillips crew, cost very little to complete. It was almost assuredly completed using a system called the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER).

Basically most countries and shipping lines agree to put a daily position report into a database. If an EPIRB is detected, or a distress call received, the SAR agency can call up the names and positions of vessels closest to the victim and contact the ship via SSB or INMARSAT. The Team Phillips crew was most likely helped by a vessel in this system.

Secondly, our own SAR experts, the US Coast Guard, have come out strongly against charging anyone for a rescue. After Steve Fossett's balloon went down off Hawaii, there was a similar suggestion to John's in the national press. The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Loy, responded in the Washington Post. He basically pointed out that once anyone is charged for a rescue, the first rescue that is not performed or suspended for legitimate reasons (too dangerous for the searching crew, been searching longer than it is possible for the crew to have survived, etc.) will be questioned on monetary motivation.

SAILING JOBS
The US SAILING Job Bank, previously open only to US SAILING certified instructors, is now an online member benefit. Any current US SAILING member looking for a job-sailing instructor, program director, race administration, or otherwise-can visit the job bank site and post their "position wanted" listing. They in turn view a list of clubs and schools that have positions open. This service for individuals is free of charge. Those who possess US SAILING certification will have their listing posted in bold face type.

Member clubs or other organizations may visit the site, and for a $15 fee, may post their "help wanted" listing. They then view a list of individuals searching for jobs. This listing, which can be edited at any time, will remain posted on the job bank web site for six months. Once an instructor or club enters their ad in the system, they are free to check listings any time.

In order participate in the Job Bank, a US SAILING Member number is required. Instructors need their individual numbers, and the clubs need the club's Member number. - Penny Piva Rego

For more information: http://www.ussailing.org/jobbank

LEARNING
(Betsy Alison discussed the Rolex Women's Match Racing Worlds at length on the SailNet website. Her story concluded with the following summary.)

Learning is a part of any activity, but it's especially important for sailboat racers since there are so many things to understand about this sport. Here's a few of the lessons we took away from this year's World Championship:

* It is critical to make time to practice prior to the event, regardless of how busy your schedule is. Relying on time at the event is poor management of an important schedule.
* If it means taking the time to go to another match-racing event before the worlds, even if you have to travel abroad, do it.
* You cannot rely on what you know, you have to rely on how you apply that knowledge.
* Stay positive and upbeat. Be proactive in situations, not reactive. If you feel that you are in control of the situation, it's more likely that you will be in control.
* If you make a mistake, learn from it and move on. The next race is just around the corner.

Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=alison0006&tfr=fp

BIG
A record number of more than 300 contestants will be competing at the Yachting Key West Race Week 2001 - Jan. 15-19. The boats will come from five continents, 32 states and 20 nations. It also includes 18 entries from Chicago, by no coincidence the city hit hardest by recent storms.
The entry list has soared well past the record of 271 boats in 1999. Peter Craig and his staff are still recording a flood of late filings that cleared the Dec. 8 deadline.


Competition in the Farr 40 class, which currently numbers 34, will be intensified by infighting for an American berth in next summer's Admiral's Cup in England. Key West will be the second and last phase of trials, following this month's Miami Regatta won by Philippe Kahn's Honolulu entry Pegasus.

Other notable class turnouts include the Melges 24 (53), Mumm 30 (27), J/80

(25), J/105 (24), 1D35 (20), J/29 (17), along with nearly 100 PHRF competitors and a dozen grand prix IMS entries. - Jeanne Kleene, www.Premiere-Racing.com

THE CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS
"Each day, do a little more than is expected of you. Soon, more will be expected of you." - Alan Cundall