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SCUTTLEBUTT 1502 - January 22, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. THE FRENCH POISED TO GO SHARK HUNTING KEY WEST, Fla. - To those who think Samuel (Shark) Kahn had an off-day at Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004, presented by Nautica, Wednesday with 14th- and 10th-place finishes, think again. The 14-year-old phenom of the Melges 24 class twice spotted his 57 rivals an advantage by having to return to the line after crossing before the starting horn---but finished the day by increasing his lead from 12 to 14 points. "Stuff happens," said Mark Reynolds, coach of the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Team Pegasus. But a moment of reckoning is due Thursday. The worst stuff that happened to most of the 301 boats from 18 countries and 32 states will be forgiven when the discard rule kicks in after the seventh race - a blessed event for especially for the French. Philippe Ligot's P&P Sailing Team, with former European champion Sebastian Col driving, has won half the Melges 24 races this week but remained out of the lead pack while carrying a 59-point burden for failing to return after an overanxious start of their own Monday. If they and the Shark both discarded their worst scores now, the French would lead with 11 points to Kahn's 24. But there is still a lot of sailing to do. Only the Division 1 boats - Farr 40s, Swan 45s and Mumm 30s - must count all of their races of the nine scheduled through Friday, so the Farr 40s especially seem destined to continue as a dogfight. Crocodile Rock, Alexandra Geremia and Scott Harris' defending champion from Santa Barbara, Calif., is the third leader in three days - without winning a race. The secret is that it's the only one of the 23 boats without a double-digit finish, the same formula that won for them a year ago - a title last year and in first place again without running a race the last two years. Fred and Steve Howe's Warpath, the co-leader from San Diego a day earlier, has a clear handle on the situation after finishing first and 19th in Wednesday's fluky moderate winds. Warpath shares third place with Jim Richardson's Barking Mad, Newport, R.I., five points off the pace, with a reborn John MacLaurin, the 70-year-old phenom from L.A., holding Pendragon V on a role only 1.8 points out of first place. A similar scrap is going on among the biggest boats in PHRF 1, where three rivals are within five points of Clay Deutsch's Swan 68, Chippewa, sailing their handicaps for all they're worth against the fastest rated pair---Tom Hill's R/P 75 Titan and Bill Alcott's Andrews 68 Equation - who are running an easy 1-2 boat-for-boat consistently but finding it difficult to cover from so far ahead. With the clock calculations, Roger Sturgeon's San Francisco-based Transpac 52, Rosebud, scored a first and fourth Wednesday to win Mount Gay Rum Boat of the Day honors---extending a sweep this week for West Coast boats, although owner Roger Sturgeon has lived in Ft. Lauderdale the last two years. Other significant performances came from American multihull icon Randy Smyth, who drove Ken Winters' Corsair 28R trimaran Rocketeer II past Bob and Doug Harkrider's Bad Boys into first place by two points, and Rich Bergmann's Zuni Bear, the 2003 Boat of the Week from San Diego that scored two firsts and will toss an opening day 19th Thursday. That will all but wrap up the J/105 title again. - Rich Roberts Complete results: www.premiere-racing.com/04_KW_Results/kw_2004_releases.htm Our Key West photo gallery keeps growing: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/keywest/ AMERICA'S CUP "There is place for only one French Challenge", Loïck Peyron said in May and, two months after Valencia was picked to host the next America's Cup, one can wonder if he was not too optimistic as the three French projects are very far from their initial goals. "Everybody's struggling to raise funds," said Dawn Riley, team manager of K-Challenge. "We're one of the strongest teams, and it's really hard because of the sponsorship market. We're day to day right now, whether we can raise the funds," she said. "Until it's over, it's still going. I check my e-mail every night. 'Do we have a sponsor yet?' " According to the initial plans, the K-Challenge would have to secure at least 50 percent of its total budget (€80 million). "We are finalizing with a partner for 10 to 15 million euros", now explained Stéphane Kandler, K-Challenge General Manager. "We hope that it will be approved quickly because our team members are now free to move. The priority is to start soon the design activities", Kandler added. "Our work will be primarily focused on research and the non-priority activities will be frozen". In a similar scenario, the Loïck Peyron's Team France continuing to work to preserve the hope of launching a syndicate. "We always believe in a winning challenge because we have people with whom we want to work and the assets are still available", Peyron said. "Everybody is waiting for ... but the difference is that I'm not a billionaire and I had to feed my family". The situation is not better for the former Défi Areva. In spite of the last Cup assets, (a base in Lorient temporarily rented to Bruno Peyron, three America's Cup Class yachts...), the economic austerity is the only way forward for the syndicate. - Cup in Europe website, full story: http://www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/2007TF-LN2.htm A ROUND THE WORLD RACE FOR THE MASSES Few opportunities exist for non-professional sailors to race around the world and most are for grand prix designs, requiring grand prix budgets or with the emphasis on the extreme, such as single handed. The Corinthian Challenge offers the opportunity to take a production or semi-production racing yacht, capable of facing the extremes of weather and waves, crewed with experienced amateurs and set off around the globe, pitting oneself against similarly designed yachts and similarly skilled sailors. Starting in the UK in September 2006, the course will comprise 8 legs, heading south to the Canaries and South Africa, before turning east for Australia, New Zealand, finally heading north to South America, the Caribbean and a final dash home East across the Atlantic. Racing for the pride of winning, the Corinthian Challenge is aimed at racing yachts within a TCC rating band of 1.140 and 1.450, with a minimum length overall of 58ft (17.66m). Yachts will be scored using the internationally accepted IRC handicapping system, ensuring a wide range of existing and new yachts are eligible to compete, using a fair and level rating handicap. Following the launch of the concept last year, the early response from the yachting community indicates that the Race has been well received and well timed. No other race offers non-professional sailors the opportunity to race around the world on their own yacht. - ISAF website, http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=6254 Event Website: www.corinthianchallenge.com TRIVIA QUESTION How many oceans are on Earth? (Answer below) ULLMAN SAILS GET A+ FOR SPEED. Ponchartrain Yacht Club hosted 39 A-Class Catamarans for the 2003 North American Championships. Ullman Sails won all five races and finished 1st through 4th overall. Ullman Sails also won the Grand Masters and Masters Divisions. Call or visit your local Ullman loft to get the "Fastest Sails on the Planet." http://www.ullmansails.com GUEST EDITORIAL - Paul Henderson Sailing has always been an exclusive "Olde Boy's Club". That tradition must be broken down because the women are the most important influence on their young in what activities they take up and where the women are you can be sure the men will be there. This means the sport will grow. The chauvinists should know what has happened with the Yngling Class. The class demanded an Open Worlds with men, mixed and women's crews. At the Open Worlds this year, in a fleet of 100, the women's crews were 14 of the top 15 with the first man 8th. It was also amusing at the Cadiz Worlds when on the first day in a 25 kt beautiful breeze the Yngling women were sent out to race and the big boys in the Star were kept on the shore. The comments in the boat park were magnificent. It is shocking that in this day and age that ISAF has to decree that 25% of the delegates must be women. It is reality and the World of Sailing and especially ISAF will be healthier in all aspects for it. - Paul Henderson, President, International Sailing Federation NEWS BRIEFS * The Schroders London Boat Show in association with The Daily Telegraph closed reporting a final attendance of 210,300 visitors. Exhibitors across all sectors at the show are delighted. Sales figures are high for the show duration suggesting the industry is set for another profitable year. Figures for 2003 show that the industry grew by 5.2% overall, providing £1,837 million of revenue from both domestic sales and exports. - Yachting Universe.com, http://tinyurl.com/3ecfc * After a windless day in the middle of the Indian Ocean in which he covered only 148 miles, Jean Luc Van den Heede, sailing round the world east to west on his 84-foot aluminum monohull Adrien, has found some breeze and is rolling along at 10 knots again. However, to avoid some flat spots ahead, VDH is diving back into the 'forties.' Presently, he is enjoying a lead of 18 days and 14 hours on the present record held by Philippe Monnet. - www.vdh.fr * The Avalon & South Seas Hotels have renewed their partnership as official host hotels for the 63rd edition of the Acura Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) regatta, February 25 - 29. The hotels will provide Acura SORC competitors discounted room rates and will host a special hospitality session for their guests. Competitors traveling to the Miami Beach area can book their stay at these hotels through the regatta website: www.acurasorc.com THE GOOD OLD DAYS - Peter Harken My first wild trapeze boat was the great 505 while I was at the Univ. of Wisconsin in 1958. I and a French student friend of mine got a hold of a beat up one, fixed it all up, total new varnish job, added some funny crude ball bearing homemade blocks I hacked together for our iceboats and ripped off for the 505. Classes? What classes? Maybe attend morning classes, just enough to be a student, barely, but then the afternoons were spent tearing all over Lake Mendota in front of the campus yelling our heads off! Foul weather gear? Dry suits? Nah, plastic garbage bags over sweat shirts and Levis was all the fashion we could muster. The 505 grabbed lots of attention because it was the only boat allowed on the lake by the Univ. Life Guard Station when it was hootin' the tops off the waves. Showing off to the girls was an added bonus until we stepped ashore. Looking at a couple of mad, grinning, soaked to the bone, shivering guys wearing shredded garbage bags didn't seem to impress them. So, we slopped beer without them and saved money to boot! The 505, what a super boat, I was hooked! - Peter Harken TRIVIA ANSWER Earth is covered by one hydrosphere or one layer of connecting water. Even though the ocean is broken up into seven ocean parts, all the oceans are connected, one flowing into the other. OCKAMSOFT WITHOUT THE OCKAM? OS4 features a NMEA translator module allowing direct connection of a GPS or other NMEA output instrument system. For the first time, you don't have to have an onboard Ockam system to put (some of) the power of OckamSoft in your hands. Plot courses on Maptech BSB charts, turn your computer's screen into a custom instrument display, and analyze data on multiple function stripcharts. Fully functional modules will run in timeout mode, with easy screen-prompted full registration. OS4 everybody. Get ready for Ockam on your boat - OS4 can be downloaded at http://www.ockam.com/os4 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Stuart Burnett: With regard to the ISAF opinion on the three OCS boats, I would maintain that any race committee that allows the race to continue knowing that they failed to identify an OCS competitor, has not properly utilized the general recall. My rule of thumb is: if I can identify every OCS boat, the race goes on; if I can't identify even one OCS boat, there's a general recall. The entire general recall issue should hinge on identification of offenders, not on the number of offenders. * From Donal McClement, Cork, Ireland: I do not agree that the third person (unidentified) can be scored OCS as a result of a protest lodged and without a hearing. Surely this boat gets the break or the luck of the Irish in that he was not identified. No Race Officer should recall a fleet if there are just a few unidentified OCS's and to suggest someone can be scored OCS after the race has been already scored is preposterous. Someone got it wrong. * From Bob Black <rgblack@verizon.net>: I will be attending the PFD meeting in Miami and am dead set against any rule making that includes mandatory wearing of PFDs. If anyone has a position paper or a short statement they wish to submit, I'll be pleased to hand carry it/ them to the session. * From Patrick Dore: While reaching from Sausalito to the city front as bowman for Loccura 50' driven by Chris Dickson, I was washed over the side. When you first hit the water the cold penetrates your skin, you feel the air in your lungs, and not breathing is your first thought. The bow wave has pushed you well below the surface. You hear the bubbles, see the keel moving away. Your first thought is you need to get to the surface, time stops, the beautiful blue water is suddenly warm. A thought crosses your mind, very nice place. Seconds pass, your next thought is, this is how people die. You struggle harder wanting to break the surface and breath. There are all these boats, fifties, cruisers, windsurfer, yet no one to pull me out. The racing boats are under spinnaker and hard to slow down. One passing Fifty yells "Wave if you are ok". It's 12 minutes before Loccura gets the engine started and sails down. They dragged me over the side like a dead seal, no energy left. The Coast Guard shouldn't need to tell us when we should take precautions. Sailing is dangerous, we should take the responsibility by regulating ourselves. I was not wearing a PDF that day. A year or so later a good friend of mine, Larry Kline drowned after an equipment failure. PDF's can't prevent all sailing accidents but by wearing one it give you a second chance, the life you save might be your own * From Jamie Noyes: Thank you Rich du Moulin and Storm Trysail for not only developing simple safety equipment guidelines, but for backing them up in discussions with simpler logic. So many are caught up in their emotions on this subject that they don't stop long enough to engage their brains. This is not a complicated subject. When you take the emotion out of it you come to some simple conclusions, and The Storm Trysail Club have found some logical compromise in their new guidelines. * From B. Larson: This weekend up in Madison, WI, there will be two iceboat regattas. While PFD'S are not required, Helmets are. Eat your hearts out, KWRW racers, we'll be going five times faster than you. * From James Anderson: Yesterday's Key West story stated, "Shark who stunned the sport last October by winning the Melges 24 Worlds - the youngest sailor ever to win a major world championship, as far as anyone knows." How about Robby Naish was propelled into the world of professional windsurfing by winning his first world championship at the age of 13 in 1976? Securing 22 world titles over the next 16 years sealed his reputation as the greatest windsurfer of all time. A member of the Laureus World Sports Academy jury. The winners are selected by the ultimate sports jury - the 41 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy. Among these legends of sport who will be in Monaco are: Giacomo Agostini, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Sergey Bubka, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Yaping Deng, Kapil Dev, Morné du Plessis, Emerson Fittipaldi, Dawn Fraser, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Miguel Indurain, Michael Johnson, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Dan Marino, John McEnroe, Edwin Moses, Nawal El Moutawakel, Robbie Naish, Ilie Nastase, Martina Navratilova, Gary Player, Hugo Porta, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba and Katarina Witt. * From Mark Eustis: My spirit is willing, but my back sure ain't...so here I sit in the great white North, jonesing for my mid-winter fix and wishing I was back racing in ol' Key Weird. The pics at www.scuttlebutt.com and www.premiere-racing.com are great, but they only feed the need ... I want to see some action. I don't know if you've seen any of their work, but a couple guys from Annapolis have come up with a pretty cool formula...on-the-water video and commentary, edited and mastered into a 1/2 hour "greatest hits" racing show and served up in the party tent nightly. They're a fixture around Annapolis for the Wednesday night races series, and they've done the same for Rolex at a few big regattas on the East Coast. Their production is every bit as good as the ESPN highlight shows that float by every once in a while ... but you see it hours, not months, after the races are over. For those of us up here in the cold, check out the nightly "shows" served up at www.t2p.tv It's a cheap subscription ('bout the same price as a couple Mongo Fluffacino's at your local roastery) but they've got some archive footage available, and it looks like there's more (SORC) to come. Now, granted, they do compress the video a bit, and I did have to right click and use "Save target as..." to store the shows on my hard drive, but it's dang cool to see who's doing what to whom out on the course. CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret. - Henny Youngman |
