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SCUTTLEBUTT 2393 - July 20, 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. AS THE (AMERICA’S CUP) WORLD TURNS There seems to be no shortage of movements, rumors, and theories currently regarding the next America’s Cup. Here is a sampling: * SOUTH AFRICAN CHALLENGE: Team Shosholoza founder and managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno confirmed by telephone Wednesday night that he had lodged a Notice of Entry and submitted the required performance bond and necessary certification with the Swiss Société Nautique Genève (SNG), the defending yacht club of the 2007 America's Cup winners Team Alinghi,' to compete in the 33rd event. While the team is currently without funding, one theory is that perhaps Ernesto Bertarelli has lent/ given the South African team the money to get started in turn for an early entry. This alliance might also prove fruitful if the current Challenger of Record, the CNEV (Club Nautico Español de Vela), decides to step down due to pressure from the other challengers, wherein Bertarelli can cash in on the loan and assign Team Shosholoza as his new partner. -- Additional information at Yachting World: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070619183014ywamericascup07.html * CHALLENGING THE CHALLENGE: Golden Gate Yacht Club has reiterated their position to oust the CNEV, and how they desire to continue building on the sportsmanship and close competition of the latest America’s Cup. Last week, Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) lodged a challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup with Defender Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), and in taking this step, the GGYC also wants to support the competitive position of all challengers. Among the positions stated in this latest announcement is their dispute of the recent Protocol proposed by SNG, their desire for a circuit of races in the current ACC yachts, shared neutral event management, a democratic challenger commission, to remain in Valencia for the 33rd event, and for the challengers and the Defender to start immediately to mutually develop a new design rule to provide sufficient time to develop, design and build their new yachts. Since their submission last week, GGYC still awaits confirmation of acceptance from SNG to become the Challenger of Record for the 33rd AC. -- Full announcement: http://www.ggyc.com/GGYC%20Press%20Release%20July%2019.doc * BOGUS EVENT: Among the pivotal points of dispute regarding Alinghi’s alliance with their Challenger of Record, the CNEV (Club Nautico Español de Vela), is a matter held within the Deed of Gift that all challenger clubs must be legitimate. How the deed’s authors attempt to ascertain this legitimacy is that they require all challenging clubs to host an annual regatta, as they figure that sort of activity would establish such legitimacy. The problem is that the CNEV has never hosted a regatta, which of course they couldn’t because the club was quickly formed to act as CoR for the 33rd event. Apparently, the CNEV has tried to remedy this, and they claimed to have hosted a regatta last weekend. The Valencia Sailing website is now reporting that this event appears to have been nothing more than a photo op involving pre-teen children participating in an Optimist clinic. Here is the report: http://tinyurl.com/34b3u7 * LAST BUT LIKELY NOT LEAST: The BYM News service has received information that the Club Náutico Español de Vela intends to announce its withdrawal as Challenger of Record for the 33rd America’s Cup. The existing challengers have appeared to remain united with their displeasure of the current Protocol for the event, with many claiming they cannot seek funding for another campaign with so few details availablet. However, if the CNEV does back out, the Swiss defender might simply slide to a possible Plan B, which is to align with the South Africans, and remain determined to hold as much advantage as possible. -- http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=12307 ONBOARD TRANSPAC REPORTING With Transpac race officer Rich Roberts in transit to Hawaii, here are a few onboard reports to provide an update from the Pacific Ocean racecourse: * Pegasus OP-50, Owen Clarke Open 50, Philippe Kahn, 6th in Division 2: (July 19th – 1648 mile to go) We are in the trades. Our two on-board barometers show us around the 1019 isobar and that is exactly where we want to be. Those two barometers are a Vetus recording barometer and the Suunto watch that I wear on the wrist. They are carefully calibrated and together give us an objective assessment of the weather forecasting models, gribs and other modern tools. Guess what: there is no single weather model that has been matching our barometers. In fact, according to all the models, we should now be sailing in 5 knots of breeze. I cross my fingers, but I can see that we are sailing with a wind direction of 25 degrees (North Easterly) at 15 knots around the 1019 isobar on a favorable heading to Hawaii. All good things. -- http://www.pegasus.com/log.htm * Denali, N/M 70, William F. McKinley, 1st in Division 3: (July 19th – 1551 miles to go) Well the morning sked came out this 5th day of the race (Thursday AM), and we survived another night and maintained our first in division position. Because there is so much separation between ourselves and the others in our division/class, its tough to really tell what strategy is paying off. So far so good, and we currently like our position on the race track for the next 24 hours. We put our A2 Kite up at 8 pm last night and have only had it down for a brief period to thread a line between 2 rain cells at dawn. It was a dicey position to be in and we were concerned that we were going to get flushed, but we dodged a bullet. The next 2 days are going to really set up the boats for their final 2 or 3 day push into Hawaii. Fortunes will be won and lost over the next 48 hours. I almost wish I was at home watching from the computer terminal because the stakes are much lower than here on the race course. -- http://www.sailblogs.com/member/denali/?xjMsgID=33875 * Locomotion, Andrews 45, Ed Feo Jr., 6th in Division 3: (July 19th – 1712 miles to go) Good afternoon from the northeast Pacific Ocean. We're plodding along down here on the southern road to Diamond Head, sailing most of night under light to moderate north northwesterlies, necessitating the use of reaching sails again, which was not what we had hoped for by this point in the race. Our through the water daily runs of 193, 228, 162, antoday's 208 (noon to noon) ain't too impressive. TransPac 2007 for the Sunday flight has been dominated by reaching conditions and Loco, being the smallest boat in our flight, is at a distinct disadvantage when reaching. This fact, coupled with the stronger, steadier northerlies experienced by the "northern road" racers in our Class (Denali, Ragtime, It's O.K.) produced a dismal relative performance in today's standings. In addition, the southern road is littered with numerous "parking lots" that if entered too frequently result in bad things. Witness fellow southern road "super-boat" Rosebud's stumble in today's standings, as she lost ground to even us on a boat for boat basis, likely due to visting too many parking lots yesterday. -- http://yachtlocomotion.org/tpac07/tpac07r05.html -- Latest positions: http://www.transpacificyc.org/07/tables/tp07-pr-d10.html ULLMAN SAILS DOMINATE 2007 ISAF TORNADO WORLDS Ullman Sails customers swept the top 3 places in the Tornado class at the 2007 Sailing World Championships, June 28-July 13, in Cascais, Portugal. Congratulations to Tornado World Champions Fernando Echavarri & Anton Paz (Spain). The Spaniards won with a full inventory of Ullman Sails, with Carolijn Brouwer & Sebastien Godefroid (Belgium) finishing second, and Mitch Booth & Pim Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) in third. Again and again, Champions select Ullman Sails to deliver the speed and reliability to win world-class regattas. If you are ready for the “Fastest Sails on the Planet”, contact Ullman Sails and visit http://www.ullmansails.com GETTING ACCLIMATED IN RIO Rio de Janeiro (July 18, 2007) -- The American team arrived on site at the Athlete’s Village here for the Pan American Games after a day of processing at George Mason University in DC and a 10 hour flight through Sao Paolo. After resting up and getting settled in yesterday, we hit the boatpark this morning and unpacked a container full with a Lightning, two Lasers, a Snipe and a Hobie 16. The J/24 arrived this evening and the Sunfish was the only provided class. The boardsailors brought their equipment on the airplane with us. Brazil is not as warm as we expected, although we’ve managed to wear shorts the entire time and it is the middle of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. The village lives up to expectations with all the sizes and shapes of athletes you could possibly imagine. The food is a bit bland, but the dining hall is open 24 hours a day. Transportation is a bit of a nightmare with traffic. We take a bus in the mornings to the sailing center and it can take anywhere from a half hour to two hours with traffic. You drive through some very run down neighborhoods to get to the Athlete’s Village, but once on the complex you might think you were in some sort of Utopia with mountain views, pools, lights and everybody in brightly colored uniforms scurrying around from apartment building to dining hall and back. The sailing center is the same as everywhere else in the world, a slab of concrete with boats in it, but this one has a doping control station on site as well as a team trainer and heavily armed guards. Once on the water, it is quite an amazing spot. The skyline of Rio is just up the road from the marina, and you are surrounded by jagged mountain-peaks, Rio’s famous Christ the-Redeemer, and Sugarloaf mountain. We sailed for a few hours today, and it appears as though we will be on a very current-influenced course, but only time will tell. -- Andrew Campbell, http://tinyurl.com/3x85jn PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include the British America’s Cup team taking their new steed (formerly SUI 75) for its first sail, RC 44 racing on Lake Garda, the opening of the “Jobson Sailing Center” in Nantucket, MA, the new Nigel Irens designed 30-meter trimaran Idec, yacht designer Alan Andrews new keel plan for the legendary Alan Gurney-designed 73-footer Windward Passage, Alex Thomson with his new Open 60 HUGO BOSS, plus much more. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0720 YOUTH WORLDS Kingston, Ontario (Canada) – 19 July, 2007 – The weather gods in Kingston, Canada have not been very helpful Thursday at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. They have dished out thunder, lightning and light, variable winds in equal measures, causing the race committee to have several meetings before finally making the difficult decision to abandon racing for the day. Pat Lymburner, principal race officer explained: “There are a number of factors influencing our decision. The wind speed is below the minimum of six knots set for this world championship and, secondly, there is a lot of lightning activity in the area and I do not want to have the kids out on the lake with the threat of lightning.” Racing concludes on Friday. -- Complete report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0719 Top Three plus Top North American 29er Girls (18 boats) 1. USA - Emily Dellenbaugh/ Briana Provancha, 1-(9)-3-1-5-2-(9)-3-1-1-1, 18 2. GBR - Sophie Weguelin/ Sophie Ainsworth, 8-5-2-3-2-(DSQ)-(11)-1-9-2-3, 35 3. AUS - Hannah Nattrass/ Michelle Muller, 2-(10)-8-2-3-5-5-2-6-(10)-2, 35 Laser Radial (34 boats) 1. AUS - Gabrielle King, 3- (25)-1-1- 2-2-(12)-4-2, 15 2. FIN - Tuula Tenkanen, (11)-1-9-4-(10)-7-6-1-5, 33 3. USA - Anne Haeger, 2-8-(12)-10-1-(OCS)-8-2-3, 34 29er Boys (23 boats) 1. DEN - Henrik Sagaard/ Soren Kristensen, 2-3-1-1-3-4-4-3-(6)-3-(9), 24 2. NZL - Paul Snow-Hansen/ Blair Tuke, 1-2-(10)-4-5-3-3-2-(8)-5-6, 31 3. GBR - James Ellis/ Robert Partridge, (17)-(13)-5-6-12-8-6-7-2-9-2, 57 5. USA - Oliver Tool/ William McBride, 7-11-(14)-2-4-11-13-6-9-(22)-5, 68 Windsurfer Boys (21 boards) 1. FRA - Pierre Le Coq, 3-3-3-(5)-2-3-1-1, 16 2. GRE - Dimitris Vlachakis, 4-7-1-3-3-7-(11)-5, 30 3. ISR - Ron Asulin, 2-2-8-(15)-1-12-6-4, 35 6. CAN - David Hayes, 11-11-2-1-6-2-9-(14), 42 Hobie 16 (15 cats) 1. GBR - Richard Glover/ Andrew Glover, 1-1-(4)-4-2-3-2-(7)-3, 16 2. DEN - Emil Landry/ Jacob Dannefer, 2-(4)-3-2-4-2-1-4-(7), 18 3. AUS - Jason Waterhouse/ Michael McCormick, 3-2-(8)-1-1-7-6-(9)-5, 25 6. USA - Eric Raybon/ Jason Bilow, 10-5-10-6-(RAF)-5-(12)-2-2, 40 Laser (38 boats) 1. CYP - Pavlos Kontides, 3-(6)-1-3-3-1-(24)-2-1, 14 2. NZL - Josh Junior 2-(18)-3-6-2-4-4-7-(13), 28 3. GER - Philipp Buhl,1- 7-5-(9)-1-6-11-(OCS)-5, 34 11. CAN - Robert Davis, 13-5-16-15-(19)-7-(33)-11-11, 77 Windsurfer Girls (15 boards) 1. ITA - Laura Linares, 1-1-(3)-3-2-1-3-1, 12 2. GER - Moana Delle, (RAF)-2-4-2-4-2-1-2, 17 3. POL - Nina SZYMCZYK, 3-4-5-4-3-4-(11)-5, 28 13. MEX - Mar Campos, 11-5-12-(DNC)-12-11-9-11, 71 Complete results: http://youthworlds2007.org/results.shtml THE PAPER OF RECORD AGREES “Like a northeaster, change has blown into the world of sailing apparel,” writes gear guru Sarah Bowen Shea in last Thursday’s New York Times. Her article about innovative sailing jackets that combine functionality with style featured Atlantis WeatherGear’s new Aegis waterproof/ breathable jacket. It comes with a high-visibility stowaway hood, generous pockets everywhere, super-comfortable cuffs with double Velcro tabs and Atlantis’ own “watch window” which allows you to see how much longer you’re on watch while keeping your cuff sealed. See what all the fuss is about at http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com or call 877-333-SAIL. Discover Atlantis. SAILING SHORTS * (July 19, 2007) Vicente Tirado's Caixa Galicia leads the TP 52 Regatta Breitling Illes Balearia after three difficult races in light sea breeze conditions on the Bay of Palma (Spain), out from Puerto Portales today. With Roberto Bermudez de Castro steering and John Kostecki calling the tactics, the new Botin Carkeek design showed pace across the wind range, between 5-11 knots, but it was sharp starting and equally acute tactics which gave Caixa Galicia back to back wins from the first two races and a solid fourth to lead the 24 boat regatta by three points from Eamon Conneely's Irish flagged Patches. -- http://2007.medcup.org/news/?idioma=2&id=918 * Newport, RI (July 19, 2007) -- After eight closely fought races at the Swan American Regatta, Andrew Fisher's Bandit retains a five point lead in the NYYC Swan 42 fleet going into the final day of racing tomorrow. However Bandit is under ever increasing pressure from Amelia, with Alexander Jackson's crew recording victories in all three races today to move into second place overall. The defending champions in Classes C and D appear likely to be taking home the honours at tomorrow's prizegiving ceremony, as both Martin Jacobson's Swan 44 Crescendo and Joseph Huber's Reef Points have sizeable leads over the chasing packs. -- Complete report and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0719a * Lightning Sailors from around the World are making their way to Athens, Greece for the 24th International Lightning World Championship that will be held next week. Prior to the World Championships, the European Championships and International Masters Championship will take place at the Yacht Club of Greece in Pireaus. http://www.lightning2007.gr CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: July 20-22 - Newport Bucket Regatta - Newport, RI, USA July 21-29 - 2007 USODA Nationals - Deephaven, MN, USA July 21 - Bayview Mackinac Island Race - Port Huron, MI, USA July 21-23 - Lake Ontario 300 Mississauga/Toronto - Ontario, Canada July 21-22 - Larchmont Race Week - Larchmont, NY, USA July 21-22 - Sunfish Junior North American Champs - Southold, NY, USA July 22-24 - Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge - Solomons, MD, USA July 22-27 - Whidbey Island Race Week - Seattle, WA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Cory E. Friedman: Sail-World's article (in Issue 2392) lays out how outrageous Alinghi and (Spanish challenger) CNEV's conduct is, which the potential challengers have undoubtedly independently figured out. How spending a fortune to participate in such a farce makes any sense is for marketing minds greater than mine (and probably Louis Vuitton's as well). The fact that CNEV is a joke has diverted attention from the absence of any provision of the Deed of Gift which permits a Cup holder to refuse a challenge based upon the pendency of a previous challenge -- especially when the pending challenge is so blatantly collusive and extends well beyond the time frame set forth in the Deed of Gift. Thus, GGYC should simply demand that Alinghi defend against GGYC's challenge, regardless of CNEV's challenge. If Alinghi refuses, GGYC should be in the clerk's office at the NYS Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street the next morning to file its complaint for a judgment that Alinghi has forfeited the Cup. With Alinghi out the picture as a result of litigation or, better yet, a loss on the water, Cup sailing can revert to "friendly competition between foreign countries." ‘Buttheads like to slam courts and lawyers, but neither would be necessary if it were not for individuals like Mr. Bertarelli. * From Jon Guth: After reading the article from Sail-World posted in 'Butt 2392, it is clear that the next America's Cup, if allowed to proceed under the new terms, will be a total sham. How sweet would it be if all prospective challengers "took their business elsewhere"....if not a single one challenged Alinghi for what used to be known as the America's Cup, and formed a brand new America's Cup, relegating Bertarelli to the sidelines in the same way he's done to other key players. * From Chris Dutton, Fort Lauderdale, FL: Reading the Sail-World report, it looks as if Mr. Bernie Bertarelli has read the Bernie Ecclestone book on being the Emperor of their Universe…A/C = F1 NOT Good & Oh SO Sad! * From Andy Rose: Bravo to the Oracle America's Cup Team for disputing the new America's Cup protocol and filing a valid challenge. I hardly have words to described what Alinghi seem to be up to. I see that a number of challengers have joined Oracle in the effort to deter them from a course that would be, in my opinion, disastrous, and I wish the challengers luck. Certainly I would hope that the extreme measures that could happen will not happen but someone needs to make them come to their senses. I hope Oracle, and the other challengers will succeed in doing that. * From Peter Cullum: What would happen if Grant Dalton, Emirates New Zealand, and Louis Vuitton decided to stage a nations match race in AC boats a couple of years from now in Portugal. It seams to me that Alinghi might have banged the corner on this one, and left a hole a bus could drive through! The sailing world and sponsors alike could bank on the momentum, exciting racing of this last edition, with lots of teams participating in boats designed to a known rule. Alinghi and the America's Cup could end up being as relevant as the Little America's Cup. Technically brilliant, but esoteric to the point of obscurity. I might not miss them. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION There is only one word in the English language whose pronunciation changes when you capitalize the first letter: polish. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Atlantis WeatherGear. |
