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SCUTTLEBUTT 2387 - July 12, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. TRANSPACIFIC YACHT RACE “Have you imagined yourself a sole survivor of a shipwreck in a small vessel with no power, drifting alone in the Pacific? Do it now." So read the grim e-mail report from Psyche, Steve Calhoun's Cal 40 from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. that started the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii with 22 other boats Monday. Wednesday morning's position report placed them only 54 (Anna Katarina) to 105 (Peregrine) nautical miles offshore, averaging 1.6 (Lady Liberty) to 3.5 (Mysteré) knots in speed in winds described as light to nonexistent. Jorge Morales Mysteré, a Swan 42 from Dana Point, Calif., was farthest along the 2,225-nautical mile track with 2,082 miles to go, while Michael Lawler's North Wind 47, Traveler, had logged only 64 miles after a six-hour re-start because of a crew injury. One boat grew impatient, dropped its sails and turned on its engine. According to the Flagship satellite tracking system, Jim Partridge's Cal 2-46 from Pasadena, Calif. was motoring southwest directly toward Hawaii at 7.5 knots. "They just want to get to Honolulu," a Transpac official concluded. Such was the prospect facing 27 boats in the Divisions 4 and 5, plus nine Santa Cruz 50s and 52s due to start Thursday at 1 p.m. off Point Fermin in San Pedro. The last 23 boats will start Sunday on the same time schedule. -- Full report: http://www.underthesunphotos.com/Press%20Releases/tp07pr26.htm * The 15 Morning Light sailors were selected from 538 applicants with a deliberate accent on youth and diversity and the ultimate goal of creating a documentary film scheduled for theater release next year. Although spanning the ages of 18 to 23, Morning Light won't be the youngest team ever to sail Transpac. After this race that distinction will probably belong to five young men from Hawaii and Southern California who will start the race Thursday on a smaller 1D35 once called Two Guys On the Edge when Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess sailed it doublehanded in previous Transpacs. Now it's called On the Edge of Destiny. -- Full story: http://www.transpacificyc.org/07/news/tp07-press-rel-26.html ISAF WORLDS – DAY 9 Cascais, Portugal (July 11, 2007) Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb And Pippa Wilson (GBR) won their first Yngling World title to push them firmly into pole position in their battle for Beijing with Shirley Robertson (GBR). The American team of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe And Debbie Capozzi came second in the Medal Race to knock Robertson, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor out of the silver medal position. Going into the race just one point apart, the battle between the two British teams looked certain to decide the title, but by the finish it was the Americans led by Barkow who provided the biggest challenge to Ayton. A fascinating Finn Medal Race saw Rafa Trujillo (ESP) join the illustrious list of Finn World Champions. Daniel Birgmark (SWE) originally had control of the race, although he was never in the hunt for medals, whilst overnight leader Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) and Gasper Vincec (SLO) vied for the gold medal spot for much of the first lap. As Postma and Vincec jostled for position, Trujillo sailed a fantastic second beat to lead at the final mark rounding. From there the Spanish Olympic silver medallist looked to control from the front on the final downwind. The medal race for the RS:X Men and Women will be on Thursday, however , the North American contingent has not yet reached a competitive level in the board divisions, and will find themselves on the sidelines for the finale. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j17Fnij/~&format=popup Top Three and Top North Americans Yngling (35 boats) – Final** 1. GBR - Sarah Ayton/ Webb/ Wilson, 2-3-4-2-3-(13)-11-4-6, 41 2. USA - Sally Barkow/ Howe/ Capozzi, 8-5-1-1-(DNF)-12-3-8-2, 42 3. GBR - Shirley Robertson/ Lush/ MacGregor, 1-2-3-9-10-(20)-2-3-9, 48 Finn (73 boats) – Final** 1. ESP - Rafael Trujillo, 3-2-(15)-4-1-3-7-1, 22 2. NED - Pieter Jan Postma, 5-(13)-1-1-1-6-5-3, 25 3. SLO - Gasper Vincec, 4-6-3-2-4-1-(33)-5, 30 7. CAN - Chris Cook, 1-6-3-8-2-2-(DNF)-10, 42 Laser Radial (106 boats) – Final** 1. BLR - Tatiana Drozdovskaya, 6-7-3-6-(15)-5-6-10-2, 47 2. FIN - Sari Multala, 2-5-15-1-12-6-(19)-3-3, 50 3. GER - Petra Niemann, 9-9-2-5-5-6-1-(12)-7, 51 5. USA - Anna Tunnicliffe, 10-13-1-5-9-2-(31)-5-5, 55 Laser (149 boats) – Final** 1. AUS - Tom Slingsby, (21)-1-1-2-1-1-16-9-6, 43 2. NZL - Andrew Murdoch, 23-2-3-1-8-9-(24)-2-2, 52 3. EST - Deniss Karpak, 8-(DNF)-12-1-7-6-8-3-5, 55 29. USA - Andrew Campbell, 13-7-9-(BFD)-7-24-23-13-18 - - 114 Tornado (49 boats) – Final 1. ESP - Fernando Echavarri/ Anton Paz, 9-8-1-(11)-4-3-6-3, 34 2. BEL - Carolijn Brouwer/ Sebastien Godefroid, 5-10-3-3-8-(18)-5-6, 40 3. NED - Mitch Booth/ Pim Nieuwenhuis, (15)-13-2-5-1-15-3-2, 41 10. USA - John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree, 23-2-9-8-17-(25)-15-9, 83 Star (62 boats) – Final 1. BRA - Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada, 2-4-3-1-1-1-(29)-1-2, 15 2. FRA - Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau, 3-1-1-2-3-3-(7)-2-4, 19 3. GBR - Iain Percy/ Andrew Simpson, 1-(8)-2-5-2-2-4-8-1, 25 12. USA - Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel, 5-6-17-11-14-6-(18)-7-14, 80 RS:X Men (113 boards) – Medal race on Thursday 1. BRA - Ricardo Santos, 2-(5)-1-3-1-2-1-1-5, 16 2. POL - Przemyslaw Miarczynski, 1-1-(12)-1-1-11-4-2-3, 24 3. GBR - Nick Dempsey, 4-1-(7)-1-5-3-5-5-2, 26 26. CAN - Zachary Plavsic, 11-18-15-7-14-15-29-4-(32), 114 RS:X Women (73 boards) – Medal race on Thursday 1. POL - Zofia Klepacka, 1-1-6-3-1-(8)-3-2-2, 19 2. NZL - Barbara Kendall, 2-(26)-9-2-2-3-1-1-10, 30 3. ESP - Marina Alabau, 5-2-7-4-6-5-6-7-(24), 42 Note: No North Americans qualified for the Gold fleet 470 Men (112 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. AUS - Nathan Wilmot/ Malcolm Page 1-(6)-2-2-1-6-2, 14 2. GBR - Nick Rogers/ Joe Glanfield, 7-1-1-(DNF)-3-7-7, 26 3. NED - Sven Coster/ Kalle Coster, 6-(14)-2-1-6-3-8, 26 12. USA - Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl, 3-7-5-6-14-11-(17), 46 470 Women (64 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. NED - Marcelien De Koning/ Lobke Berkhout, (4)-2-1-2-1-1-2, 9 2. FRA - Ingrid Petitjean/ Nadège, Douroux, 5-(25)-2-1-6-3-1, 18 3. JPN - Ai Kondo/ Naoko Kamata, 1-6-(10)-4-5-2-5, 23 11. USA - Erin Maxwell/ Isabelle Kinsolving, (26)-19-4-3-13-10-3, 52 49er (78 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. GBR - Stevie Morrison/ Ben Rhodes, 1-2-1-1-4-1-3-1-4-(8), 18 2. AUT - Nico Luca Ma Delle Karth/ Leopold, 2-4-2-(7)-1-1-4-3-6-3, 26 3. ITA - Piero Sibello/ Gianfranco Sibello, 7-3-4-2-1-6-1-1-(20)-12, 37 6. USA - Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding, 1-6-3-4-4-12-4-3-(17)-1, 38 Complete results: http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/home.php?content=resultadoGeral.php ** For classes where the schedule permitted a medal race, the points for the final race are doubled for determining the entrant’s total score. * Sail TV will be broadcasting live coverage of the Medal Races for two hours daily on July 9-13. The channel will be providing two modes of coverage from Cascais, with a daily news update which is free to view, and live programming coverage of the event will be available for a fee. Details at http://www.sail.tv DISCOVER The ultimate Summer sailing combo. Mount Gay & Tonic. Goslings & Ginger Beer. Butterworth & Baird. The Microburst 2.5-layer jacket & Grand Prix softshell vest from Atlantis WeatherGear. High-tech waterproof/breathable protection that works great on the water and looks great on land. You can find them at Team One Newport, and if you buy them both by July 31st, they’ll embroider your boat name and sail number on them for FREE. Call 800-VIP-GEAR or email mailto:martha@team1newport.com Don’t miss this great deal! TOO BIG TO COVER One of the problems with the ISAF idea of bringing all 11 Olympic classes together for their World Championships – as is taking place now in Cascais, Portugal – is that the event becomes too big for the press to cover. There are so many great stories to tell, but when simply posting the results takes a significant percentage of the Scuttlebutt newsletter length, it does not leave room for much more than a weather and schedule report. Due to this limited coverage, we totally understand the frustration of readers like Tim Patterson, who wrote, “How about a mention of Erin Maxwell and Izzy Kinsolving who have qualified for the Gold fleet in Portugal (finishing 18th, I think, as of Tuesday) in the 470s. Izzy was in the last Olympics and finished 5th. They deserve a mention.” Yes, they do deserve a mention, particularly after rolling a 10-3 on Wednesday to move up to 11th overall, now leading the North American contingent in the women’s 470 class. We will continue to provide as much info and relevant website links as we can fit into our format. We encourage all North American Olympic entrants to promptly send Scuttlebutt their daily email updates, and we will persevere to weave them into our Olympic coverage as best as we can. -- Scuttleblog, http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2007/07/too-big-to-cover.html MARBLEHEAD TO HALIFAX OCEAN RACE 120 boats started the 360-mile Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race 2007 last Sunday with hopes of a fast passage to Canada. But early hopes for record passage and downwind surfing across the Bay of Fundy dissolved as a complex weather system challenged sailors with mostly upwind and close reaching conditions for the first 36 hours. Three days later only a handful of boats have finished as a vast majority of the fleet are enjoying classic foggy conditions that is often a hallmark of this famous (started in 1905) ocean race. Bob and Farley Towse's 66-foot Reichel/ Pugh sloop "Blue Yankee" took line honors (and apparent overall corrected time victory), finishing the race in just over 43 hours. Helmsman Steve Benjamin steered the blue sloop into an early lead that Towse's crew of 16 sailors never relinquished. It was hard work for the foredeck crew, as Blue Yankee used its entire inventory of upwind headsails during the race, with straight line jib changes needed every couple of hours as the conditions changed. -- by Peter Isler; for race tracker and updating results: http://www.marbleheadtohalifax.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: July 13-15 - Newport Regatta - Newport, RI, USA July 14-15 - Larchmont Race Week - Larchmont, NY, USA July 14-15 - Leukemia Cup Regatta - High Cliff State Park, WI, USA July 15-20 - Swan American Regatta - Newport, RI, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * (July 11, 2007) It is day 3 for the 185 entries at the Optimist North Americans in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Light winds forced the abandonment of racing on Monday, but conditions have been such to get the ball rolling again for Tuesday and Wednesday. Nicole Barnes of the US Virgin Islands was leading after Tuesday, with results and news being updated at http://www.optinam2007-mexico.org/Optinam2007 * After seven races sailed in Club 420s on Lake Pontchartrain, Emily Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) and Kelly Stannard (Salem, Conn.) triumphed over 35 teams in a hotly contested finale to capture the U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship for the Ida Lewis Trophy. During the three-day regatta, the young women racing at this event were schooled in conditions that try the patience of the very best sailors: the vagaries of light air. Stephanie Hudson/ Laura McKenna (Winnetka, Ill./Palo Alto, Calif.) finished second with Sydney Bolger/ Morgane Renoir (Long Beach, Calif./San Diego, Calif.) in third. -- Full report and results: http://www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2007/usjwdcwrapup.asp * Toms River, NJ - 52 boats descended on Toms River Yacht club for the 2007 Thistle Atlantic Coast Championship held on July 7-8. There were 5 good races over 2 days in westerly winds from 10 to 15, with higher gust and lower lulls. Mike Ingham dominated the fleet with 5 first place finishes. Greg Fisher finished 2nd, Brad Thompson 3rd, Lloyd Kitchin 4th, and Dave Hansen 5th. Complete scores: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/beckysmith/Results.htm VIDEO OF THE WEEK Not every junior sailor is a square peg that easily fits into a square hole, so leave it to the French to come up with an alternative to the pram world, and give the kids something that can simply be fun to sail. The O'pen BIC is now in its second year, and this summer a demo tour has been traveling the US, giving kids a taste of perhaps things to come. Here is Scuttlebutt's 1:29 minute virtual demo... enjoy! Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0709/ EIGHT BELLS S. Trevor Pardee, of Newport, Rhode Island, age 86, passed away peacefully in the presence of his family. Sailing was his life’s passion. He was an intercollegiate dinghy national champion at Princeton for several years, but left after his sophomore year and became a navigator and later a skipper in the Amphibian Command. He commanded a 45-foot staff boat in New Guinea, New Britain, and the Philippines during WW II. He was inducted into the College Sailing Hall of Fame by the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association of North America in 1976. He spent the majority of his retirement with his wife of 53 years, Erdice Rockhill Pardee, aboard their yacht Talaria cruising the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. He is survived by his wife and three children, Lelia Erdice Pardee-Haller of Monterey, CA, Stewart Trevor Pardee, Jr., of Norfolk, VA, and Margaret Trevor Pardee, of Newport, RI. Internment at Woodlawn Cemetery, NY, will be private and the memorial service in Newport, RI, will be announced. 2007 ULLMAN SAILS INSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Ullman Sails’ 3rd annual Inshore Championship Series was sailed over a three-month period and encompassed 4 major Southern California regattas and exceeded our expectations, again! A special thanks to the following yacht clubs for their superb management and support of the regattas: N.H.Y.C.; S.D.Y.C.; C.Y.C.; L.B.Y.C. and A.B.Y.C. Congratulations to the overall series winners: Fast 50's Alec Oberschmidt's "Staghound", Fast 40’s Laura Schlessinger’s “The Doc”, and Sportboats Geoff Longenecker’s “Nemesis”. All are Ullman Sails customers and won their divisions decisively. For the “Fastest Sails on the Planet” and information regarding the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, visit http://www.ullmansails.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Jed Pearsall & Bill Doyle (Owners of Amorita, NY-9): It is with great relief to report that as of 8PM, July 10, Amorita, our much decorated 1905 New York 30, has been rescued from the bottom of Rhode Island Sound and is now safely hauled out and waiting for the next chapter of her life to begin (see story in Issue 2386 about her sinking). Her hull has been damaged but her soul is intact. In her 102 years she has faced her share of adversity and has held on even during times of an occasionally uncertain future. As most sailors know, yachts have distinct personalities and Amorita's has always been patience and perseverance. Whether it is in the form of a come-from-behind-victory or a stubbornness to stand up to the harshest of breezes, she never gives up. Neither will we. Through the last few days, our sailing community has shown us a tremendous amount of love, support, and understanding that to us, she isn't just a boat, she is a part of our family. We want to thank each and every one of our well-wishers for their kind thoughts and prayers as we couldn't have gotten through this without them. Now we have lots of work ahead of us so that we all can, someday soon, celebrate Amorita's graceful return to Narragansett Bay. For Photo's or to read more about Amorita's history -- http://www.ny30.org/amorita.htm * From Rodger Martin: (regarding the story ‘Life-Altering Experiences’ in Issue 2386) Can you please confirm to those of us in the Rest of The World that Timothy Ballard on 'Inspired Environments,' having a crewmate say "Go ahead and cry" is, in fact, from California?! Extracting the Michael; I know exactly what Tim means …great story! * From Chuck Clay: Such a shame as another Transpac race gets underway and it appears that the "little" guys are going to get crushed once again with the wind waiting to fill in for the "big" guys start. Hang in there guys...Mai Tai's are only week's away! * From Michael Lenkeit: Regarding the ‘Last Man Standing’ story in ‘butt 2385, my question is not whether or not Alinghi would have changed the boat if Team NZ had not given them a scare, but would Team NZ have changed the boat had they won. No doubt, they would have changed some things, but would they have changed the design this dramatically. I'm curious if that information will ever be revealed. As for the CBS coverage on July 14th, thanks but no thanks. I'll be watching the Tour de France on the Versus Network. Normally I appreciate any sailing coverage that is offered, but I'll be loyal to the people that brought me the coverage for the best America’s Cup and general sailing coverage that I have seen in many years. Thanks VS! * From Pam Birmingham: Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all (as asked in ‘butt 2386)? As a Park Ranger of many years, I head to the city for the vibrancy, energy, shopping and restaurants, then back to the forest to sleep in quietude again. * From Jennifer Hall: The Marblehead Halifax Race started on Sunday 8 July and as of this morning six boats have finished. I am amazed that the organizers have not even posted news from the finish on the website (or in Scuttlebutt), let alone photographs from the start (or the finish!) of the race. I am all for events being organized by volunteers yet, I feel there is an obligation to provide a minimum level of service to spectators and return on investment to their sponsors. Without generating interest from the general public, our sport remains among the privileged few who participate. Perhaps more user-friendly tracking software could be sourced in the future and a press officer could be recruited to keep those of us not in Halifax interested and informed. Curmudgeon’s Comment: We had been a bit challenged getting info on this great race, but as you can see above, ‘butthead Peter Isler provided a dandy update from his navigator perch on Blue Yankee. Thanks Pedro! * From John Rousmaniere: In her note about regatta publicity (in Issue 2386), Tara Tate suggests that in the age of sponsorship, a sailboat race is like a tree falling in the woods: it doesn’t really happen unless someone elsewhere notices it. Sponsors are hungry for attention, the more frequent and upbeat the better, and the Web can offer a feast. But is there a table set for everybody else? Tara calls the pre-sponsorship era the sport’s “elite/ dark ages.” Yet before the 1980s sailboat racing very often got more detailed coverage than it does today. Sailor-scribes reported on and analyzed races - weekend regattas and major championships alike - in hundreds of newspapers, in boating magazines, and in other publications that followed the sport because it was challenging and (yes) elite. Sure, the Web has ended deadlines in the old sense of the word, and anyone can file a story or photo, and viewer access is potentially universal. Yet this new sponsor-driven medium must still meet the very old, very high, and still very relevant standards of accuracy, independence, and good writing. So while we wring our hands over a race organizer’s one-day delay posting results, let’s expend a little energy demanding that the material that’s sent out make sense and satisfy the participants and others without whom that tree in the forest would never have grown in the first place. * From Mike Esposito: Yeah, I'd rather sail in Holland, Mich. (in reference to Issue 2386) than race around Cowes; my heart bleeds. Which reminds me of the America's Cup: The upside to the class change is the potential for 007-style scuba diver battles as slower challengers try to hang beach towels off Alinghi's keel(s) and/ or rudder(s) -- the defenders wielding their army knives to keep them at bay. It'll be great. Versus should start working on improving their underwater camera technology (tongue-out-of-cheek: mightn't be a bad idea to create a "buoy cam" for mark roundings). * From Frank Ficken: (re: Eric Robbins comments on Rule 16.2 and it's application in the AC) Rule 16.2 certainly doesn't prohibit all course changes by a starboard (privileged) boat, but juries in fleet races consistently interpret this rule as prohibiting a change or "dial down" from a starboard boat's "proper course" specifically to force the port boat to take further immediate action to avoid in fleet racing. Scuttlebutt readers who race in fleets should be aware that the dial down is a violation of Rule 16.2 and is only allowed under match racing rules due to the deletion of Rule 16.2 in C2.5. Curmudgeon’s Comment: Frank also reminded us (man, we have a bad memory) that the dial down was expertly discussed in the Scuttlebutt Forum by match racers Ian Williams and Brian Angel, and US SAILING Senior Judge Art Engel: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4819#4819 CURMUDGEON’S COUNSEL The best way to keep your word is not to give it foolishly. Special thanks to Atlantis WeatherGear and Ullman Sails. |
