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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 1106 - July 3, 2002Scuttlebutt 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.
LESSONS LEARNED "The three things that have changed in my thinking are, one, how any boat I'm on is set up for recovery. I look at the man-overboard gear a little closer when I get on a boat and make sure there's a plan in effect. "Two, just the concept of wearing lifejackets or some sort of flotation more often---anything. "And the final thing, always have the radio on [Coast Guard VHF channel] 16. We listen out here, and if we hear somebody calling the Coast Guard about a man overboard we monitor the situation. If it was close, the America's Cup would stop and our tenders would blaze over there. We'd probably sail over there, too. "We're all brothers and sisters out here on the water and we have a responsibility to each other." - quotes from Peter Isler as reported by Rich Roberts in The Log.
ISAF WORLD SAILING GAMES The single-handed men's event - Laser, keelboat men - J/80, and keelboat women - J/22 will sail a qualification series of 12 races followed by a final 6 race series. For these events, during the first 12 races, boats will be re-seeded each day based on that day's total scores, and after the 12 races have been completed crews will be assigned to a Gold and Silver fleet. All other events will sail in a single fleet to complete their 18 races. The events are assigned to the five racing areas with each event men and women racing on the same area, but after each other. Courses are either the trapezoid outer, trapezoid inner or windward/leeward. There are very few US teams at the regatta. Susan Korzeniewski and S. O'Connor, who are in fourth place in the 14-boat women's Hobie 16 class, turned in the best US performance. With pretty strong winds blowing, only four of the Hobie 16 fleet completed both races, with the remaining crew either not finishing Race 2 within the time limit or not actually starting. www.sailing-games.com
TEAM NEW ZEALAND CREW CLOTHING
NEWS BRIEFS * At 13:53 UTC it was officially confirmed that Steve Fossett crossed 116.42.16 east longitude south of Northam, Western Australia making him the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the globe. Bud Light Spirit of Freedom will continue to fly eastward until finding the optimal landing situation. www.spiritoffreedom.com * After having completed exactly ø of their 2,100-mile journey, the Skandia Ocean Row team's British foursome were forced to abandon the attempt to complete an ocean crossing in under 55 days. The crew were still on target to beat this record by more than 10 days. The rudder was damaged in a storm on Sunday night (30th of June). The crew was initially successful in repairing the damage using spare parts kept on board the 30-foot rowing boat. However, it broke again Tuesday at 1400hrs BST. The shore crew was immediately notified, and a recovery plan has been set in motion to rescue the crew. * Nautor's flagship event, the bi-annual Swan Cup, has exceeded expectations this year with over 100 entrants already confirmed. The 8-15 September 2002 will see the 12th edition of this prestigious event, hosted by one of the most exclusive yacht clubs in the world, Yacht Club Costa Smerelda in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. Sally Bellwood, madforsailing, www.madforsailing.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Anna Brooke (Rear commodore, Royal Ocean Racing Club): In spite of the vast amounts of money being spent in Auckland, I hear that race management volunteers for the Louis Vuitton Cup are not being offered any expenses; not flights, food nor accommodation. "The best" in this field are not all self financing. Someone please tell me I have heard wrong. * From Richard Slater: It's time to get this Volvo thing into perspective. It comes down to the key ingredient in getting expensive yacht racing teams around the world - money! The way you get money is through sponsorship and the way to get sponsors to sign up to sailing is to show them that they get a bang for their buck. In my perfect world of Volvo Ocean Races we would all be on the web and see our favourite yacht sailing in real time, with the current material in support. Suddenly the backs of the sailors caps become billboards that just like the way F1 drivers helmets are. It would become sporting reality TV. You then build the boat around the media requirements. Type of Boat? A 40' IOR boat would provide the great footage as they would plough a big hole in the ocean and be regularly wiping out, but try and find crew to sail them. The "big multi's" speed is very deceiving due to the scale of the boat, and someone find me 5 to 6 ports around the globe that can easily take 15 of these big machines. Lets again use some commercial common sense, a boat that can provide live, regular footage that is exciting to watch, a boat that doesn't have the crew as the weakest link in the system and one that isn't too slow so the data transfer costs blow out. So start the design process from here· * From Andrew Howe: I can fully appreciate the comments made by Larry Keating and the possibility of changing the boat from a monohull to a multihull is a very exciting idea. But surely the cost of sustaining a campaign has already seen a decline in the number of teams applying to do the race. The introduction of mutlihulls will increase costs and make it harder for teams to find enough sponsors. This Volvo has been one of the closest in terms of racing compared to previous Whitbread races and I think that this is the greatest draw. These are some of the most technologically advanced monohulls which are capable of phenomenal speeds and that will always create a "wow" factor. The most important feature I believe is seeing the top sailors battle it out. After 26 days at sea for there to be only 10 miles between the top 4 or 5 is truly exciting stuff. Whilst one could step up to multihulls, The Volvo is unique and this step up to multihulls would mean competition with The Race. The Volvo already has awesome machines and it is the sportsmen and women that put themselves At risks that most people would not dream of and compete at the highest level that produces exciting and exhilarating racing. * From Reynald Neron: If we believe some of your readers who posted some messages recently, Team Dennis Connor already has won the AC 2003. I really wonder why some people even bother preparing the Louis Vuitton Cup, as you readers seem to believe that there is no doubt the next AC will be held in the US. Well, you can talk. But lets face it, the idea of sport in general, and sailing in particular, is that there will be surprises on the water. Maybe they will be in favour or Dennis Connor and his team... but maybe not. So before celebrating their victory, let see who is going to cross the finishing line of the AC * From Nicholas Longhurst: While it is difficult to disagree with Peter Harken over the "colorful" history of the A Cup, I for one believe that the empty posturing, legal wrangling and dysfunctional antics of a coterie of overpaid mercenaries actually takes away from the sport and in no small way either. And since my pay check is not tied to the future fortunes of one campaign or another -- I for one will whine as much as I want to!
HENRI LLOYD TECHNOLOGY
HALL OF FAME The Lifetime Service Award, presented annually to an individual who has rendered exceptional service to the sport of inter-collegiate sailing and who has passed his/her 60th birthday, was awarded to Ted Livingston (Bellingham, Wash.), San Diego State University class of 1948. In 1947-48, Livingston helped form San Diego State's first sailing team, which went on that year to win the PCIYRA Championship and also became the first West Coast team to sail for the Morss Trophy at Annapolis. Some years later, Livingston organized and coached the first sailing team at the University of Hawaii. After nine years of coaching, Livingston spent another ten years as team adviser during his tenure as Hawaii's Assistant Athletic Director. Ken Legler (Medford, Mass.) was recognized in the category of Outstanding Service/ Professional for service that includes work as the Schedule Coordinator for NEISA. A member of Sailing World's college ranking panel for many years, Legler regularly contributes "Coaching Tips" to the ICSA membership list. His professional coaching career started at the U.S. Naval Academy, which was followed by a two-year stint at Kings Point during which his athletes won the dinghy and singlehanded nationals. Since 1980 Legler has been the head sailing coach at Tufts and under his direction, Tufts has won seven ICSA North American Women's Championships, five North American Team Race Championships, three North American Dinghy Championships and three North American Singlehanded titles The 2002 Student Leadership Award was bestowed posthumously to Nathan Cowan (Oakville, Ontario, Canada), Queens University '02. Cowan, who lost his life in a tragic car accident earlier this year, left behind an indelible mark on the Queens sailing program. "His creativity and his positive attitude influenced everyone," said ICSA Selection Committee Chair Mike Horn (Cobalt, Conn.), who noted Cowan's enthusiasm and unflagging leadership over a number of years. Holding a variety of offices in the sailing club, Cowan developed alumni events to raise money, was able to motivate sailors to attend practice, and was the team's best and most effective recruiter. All three will be inducted into the ICSA Hall of Fame, and their names will be added to the permanent display located in the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. www.collegesailing.org
VIC-MAUI RACE Today in Division A, "Atalanta" moved up to first on corrected time (and overall). "Icon" is the lead boat in this Division by location however. She has 1267 miles to go. "Renegade" put away another 289 miles today, and is closing the distance between herself and the leaders. "Mojo Riding" is leading Division B. "Greyhound" has switched places in her epic tussle with "Charlemagne" in Division C, and is a squeak ahead of her rival (these two yachts are seventh and eighth overall). "Oriole" has taken over first place in Division D, averaging nine knots, and making 218 miles in the last 24 hours. "Surt" had an unscheduled Man Overboard drill at 1600 when a crewmember (who wishes to remain anonymous) was folding sails on the foredeck, and took a backflip over the guardrail. He was tethered on, so he was easily retrieved, and he is in fine shape. - Peter Bennett, www.vicmaui.org
SWEDISH MATCH CUP In the sail-off to determine top seeding for the tomorrow's second stage quarterfinals qualification series, Coutts defeated Gram-Hansen 2-1, in a thrilling three match series. Coutts won the first match but the scrappy Danish amateurs responded by winning the second. Gram-Hansen then won the start of match three and led for the first three legs before the America's Cup veteran rolled the Victory Lane crew just before the finish and edged them out at the line. - Shawn McBride
ROUND ROBIN RESULTS:
NOSTAGLIA It has been 22 years since Stephens designed his last 12-Meter Cup Defender, Freedom but in his 90s Stephens maintains a special interest in the class. He was aboard Intrepid, which lost to Fred Van Liew's Fiddler, two races to one in the Modern Division. There are 13 12-Meter yachts in Newport but only Intrepid, Fiddler, American Eagle, Feedom and Columbia raced. - Dave Philips, Providence Journal, Complete results: www.moy.org
HOLIDAY
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM |
