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SCUTTLEBUTT 1638 - August 3, 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. THE US OLYMPIC TEAM Chris Bedford, chief meteorologist at Sailing Weather Services, first assisted the US Sailing Team in 1989 when he traveled to Barcelona to better map the conditions for the '92 Summer Olympics. Bedford accompanied the Team to the '91 Olympic test event and '92 Olympic Regatta, briefing the sailors each morning before racing, and reviewing weather factors with them at the end of the day, a role he repeated as the Team prepared and participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. His work with the US Sailing Team has continued through both the '97-2000 and '01-2004 quadrenniums as he provides the sailors with daily weather data at international competitions and the Olympic Games. His first job after college was forecasting for Dennis Conner's 1987 Stars and Stripes team in Fremantle, Australia. Since then he has worked on every America's Cup as a team meteorologist. Here he gives his overview of weather for the upcoming Olympic Regatta in Athens. Stiff international competition isn't the only challenge our sailors will face in Athens. Complex and extreme environmental conditions will challenge the skills and patience of the most accomplished Olympian. Extreme heat and winds ranging from strong and shifty to light and fluky make for race courses filled with pot holes which can quickly change anyone's fortunes. The courses for the Olympic Regatta are located in the Saronic Gulf, just south of Athens and in view of the historic Parthenon - an area renowned for its tricky winds. The most famous and dramatic wind is a strong, hot northeasterly breeze known as The Meltemi. This wind blows out of the mountains north and northeast of Athens, bringing daytime temperatures over 100 degrees along with wind gusts in excess of 30 knots. The Meltemi can last from several days to a week. This offshore breeze is by no means consistent. Random shifts and sudden surges of wind are common when the Meltemi is in force. - US Sailing website, full story: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/OlympicGames/2004/Info/weather.asp COMMENTARY In yachting, there are a lot of guys - such as Chris Dickson, Magnus Holmberg, Dean Barker and James Spithill - who are capable of going out and sailing those boats very well. But they don't have that extra dimension Coutts has. He has such good intuition and feel, he can talk to the designers and technicians at their level. That's the difference. To be blunt, I don't know if Coutts is a hell of a lot better yachtsman per se than other very good sailors. But in the complexities of the America's Cup I think he holds the key because he understands the geometry of the boats and how they work. I also applaud the general philosophy Coutts has for the development of the cup regatta, getting away from the slow-moving, heavy boats, getting more speed and more visual appeal. It is a shame for the event it has not happened. The split between Coutts and Bertarelli does not surprise me. Nothing ever surprises me with the America's Cup. - Peter Lester Is high performance manager for Yachting New Zealand and a respected commentator, full commentary: http://tinyurl.com/547am GBR CHALLENGE Peter Harrison, chairman and backer of Britain's America's Cup team, will pull the plug on the GBR Challenge unless another sponsor willing to invest up to £30 million is found by the end of August. GBR Challenge have five prospective backers for the 2007 event in Valencia with whom they have been in talks since the of end of last year. Representatives of some of them will come to Skandia Cowes Week next week for talks. But if deals are not signed, Harrison is unlikely to carry on. He spent around £22 million on the first challenge in 2003 and another £3 million in Britain on funding research, tank testing, renting a temporary base in Valencia and maintaining a small core team. This has twice been topped up, but at least £20 million more will be needed at the end of August if GBR are to compete in the second and third of this autumn's three America's Cup class regattas. In recent weeks GBR 70 has returned to sailing in the Solent under Adrian Stead. Several overseas sailors have visited the British set-up, including Ed Baird, skipper of Young America in the 2000 Cup. He had been in talks about the possible team leader/skipper role. Cameron Appleton, one of Dean Barker's Team New Zealand tune-up helmsman, has been sailing on GBR 70. - Excerpts from a story by Tim Jeffery in the Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/4ac4z SPERRY TOP-SIDER HELPS AMERICA BRING HOME THE GOLD For 18 of America's best sailors, years of sacrifice, dedication and focus will be put to the test as they go for the gold in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. To give our men and women every edge, U.S. Sailing has provided the team with the very best: from the tip of its high-tech sails to the very soles of their shoes, Sperry Top-Sider Figawi. With anchor-like traction and active drainage system, the Figawi will keep Team USA's feet fixed firmly on the deck and eyes on the prize. Grab your piece of Olympic gold at http://www.sperrytopsider.com LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT Prior to Mirabella's launch, we had the opportunity to sit down with her designer, Ron Holland, for a little technical talk, and came away with a deeper understanding of just how groundbreaking this yacht is, and what a design and engineering challenge she had been. There were the many little things not ordinarily in a yacht designer's brief. As an example, custom watchmaker Arnold & Son is handmaking Mirabella watches, one model for the charterer and a different one for his guests. The design, of course, required input from Holland and his approval of the finished product. - Excerpts from a major story by Dudley Dawson in Yachting magazine about the $50 million, 246 feet megayacht Mirabella V, the largest composite- structured yacht in the world. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/4zbey THE TAXPAYERS ARE PROTECTED No taxpayers' money will end up in the pocket of Ernesto Bertarelli as Emirates Team New Zealand repay the Swiss billionaire millions of dollars for keeping their America's Cup campaign afloat. America's Cup Minister Trevor Mallard confirmed through a spokeswoman yesterday that the $34 million of public funding for Team New Zealand had been "ring-fenced" from the loan set up with Bertarelli, the owner of its arch-rivals and cup-holders Alinghi. Team NZ syndicate head Grant Dalton confirmed that the loan, estimated at tens of millions of dollars and needed to ensure a challenge could be mounted, was unsecured and had to be paid back. He indicated on Radio Sport that might be at the rate of a 10 per cent cut out of sponsorship dollars raised. "It's unsecured. It's a progressive payment as we go towards our total budget. From now on if we raise $5 million we give him [Bertarelli] $500,000 back or whatever. It's a percentage, so as we finish off our money we proportionately pay him back." Just four syndicates have so far confirmed entries for the next (America's Cup) regatta, while others, including Team Dennis Conner, have said they will struggle to be there because costs have rocketed. On Radio Sport, Dalton had little time for critics of his funding plan, including Conner, a four-time cup winner. After being told Conner was "furious" at the arrangement, Dalton said that reflected sour grapes. "Maybe he should get off his fat arse and see if he can raise the money. Maybe he shouldn't eat so many pies and get on with bloody working a little harder." - Excerpts from a story by Helen Tunnah, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/6nmvu ACE ETCHELLS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Mooloolaba, Australia - After the first two races of the Ace Etchells World Championship, Australians control the top 11 places, with Dennis Conner being the one to break that the string with his 12th place in the standings. Sydney sailmaker and international yachtsman Michael Coxon won the first race. "We had a terrible start and decided to go right in the hope of gaining some ground and we got that lucky break when the wind swung our way," he said afterwards. With six races remaining, Peter McNeill is the regatta leader with 10 points - four ahead of Julian Plante who won race #2 sailing with a crew of four, and Andrew Hunn who also has 14 points. The fleet of 85 boats has enjoyed exhilarating but testing sailing in 12 to 17 knots of breeze. - www.mooloolabaetchells.com/etchells2004/2004home.htm TIMES HAVE CHANGED Now you have a choice. Bartspars is a spar-related service organization founded by Ron "Bart" Bartkoski. Bart has the experience and knowledge to tune, survey, refit and maintain your carbon fiber spars. Find out more about this exceptional service at http://www.bartspars.com LIVING LARGE * The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Sardinia September 5-11 will once again be a big boat showcase. Entries include Harry Macklowe's his 112-foot yacht, Unfurled, Hasso Plattner's R/P 86 Morning Glory, Roy Disney's R/P 86 Pyewacket, Robert Oatley's R/P 65 Wild Oats and Neville Crichton's 90-foot Alfa Romeo. The entries in the separate class for Wally-built boats include the 89-foot Tiketitan and Alberto Roemmers' brand new 98-foot Alexia. The Spirit of Tradition class will showcase classic yachts, including George Lindemann's 180-foot Adela, Francesco Micheli's 178-foot, Shenandoah of Sark, and Ferruccio Fiorucci's Alejandra. - www.yccs.it. * Grant Wharington's 98 footer Skandia (formerly Wild Thing) lifts the skirt on some recent modifications to his high-tech canting ballast super maxi. Launched in October 2003, Skandia promptly took line honors in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart 2003 race. Now feeling the need to up his game, he has added a 6m long canard forward of the ballast strut and a 3m long bowsprit. The canard is fitted with a trim tab, which together is expected to improve upwind performance. For offwind, the canard can be removed to reduce drag. - Check out the photos in the Scuttlebutt gallery: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/skandia730/ NEWS BRIEFS * If you love America's Cup controversies, you must read Terry Maddaford's story posted on the NZ Herald website that recalls and outlines a great number of them. - http://tinyurl.com/54fae * US Sailing has launched an e-postcard program which allows the user to send brief e-mail notes and support the US Sailing Team at the same time. Visitors to the US Sailing site can select from a variety of images of Olympic boats and sailors who are competing in Athens this summer, and add a personal note to create an unusual email message. For each e-card sent, the Sailing Team's sponsors and suppliers will make a $0.10 contribution to the Team. To send an e-card and support the US Sailing Team: www.ussailing.org/olympics/e-card * The Global Challenge fleet recently completed their last training session before they set sail to circumnavigate the globe. They spent three days at sea fine-tuning race sailing techniques and practicing maneuvers. Each team had different scenarios presented to them without warning to test their responses in emergency situations, including loss of steering, man overboard drills, medical exercises and taking charge of the yacht in the case of the skipper becoming incapacitated. Teams will now concentrate on land based team building and personal preparation before they meet up in September to prepare the yachts for departure. - www.globalchallenge2004.com *Two of the sailors on the USA's 2004 Olympic Sailing Team -- 49er skipper Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and crew Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.) -- will appear live from Athens on NBC's Today show Tuesday morning. The live interview is set to air between 0800 and 0815 EDT. Wadlow and Spaulding, who have been members of the US Sailing Team since 2001, won the Olympic Trials in the 49er class last February. They will compete in their first Olympics when racing starts for their class on Monday, August 16. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar NO MATTER WHAT TACK YOU ARE ON, YOU ALWAYS LOOK GOOD. Camet International has the outstanding reputation of always being the best, in design, quality and service. The Camet sailing shorts are the leaders in technology and comfort. They are made out of a breathable, fast drying Supplex with a UV rating of 40+ (blocks 97.5% of UV rays) and reinforced with a Cordura seat patch, to insert an optional foam pad. Camet has a variety of men's and women's shorts, pants and colors. Coolmax shirts, Neoprene Hiking pants, Mylar bags, Belts, Boardshorts etc. Ask your dealers for the Camet products or visit the new Camet website at http://www.camet.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 Adrian Morgan: It must be April 1st. The boss of Alinghi lending Team NZ money to attend the America's Cup? That's like Ferrari lending money to Toyota to fund their new Formula One bid. Alas, this is symptomatic of the madness that is AC. Is Mr B so worried that he'll turn up in Valencia with no-one to race that he's bank rolling the opposition? If I were boss Peter Harrison I'd get on the phone to Bertarelli right now and ask for a few million quid to get Team GBR off the mark (and that goes for the South Africans, Italians, French...) * From Howard Paul: When I first started reading about Article 13.12 I checked my calendar to see if it was April 1st and the Curmudgeon was playing his old trick. No such luck. Mr. Bertarelli along with his partner in crime Mr. Ellison have in the last America's Cup and now the next one, kept two of the best sailors in the world from competing. Together they have stacked the deck so much in their favor that it has become almost impossible for anyone to compete. It has become so bad that Mr. Bertarelli is now offering financial support to a competitor so he has a regatta! How sad. To Mr. Coutts and Mr. Cayard let me know when I can buy pay for TV of your event. Not only will I buy it, I'll help sell it. To Mr. Bertarelli and Mr. Ellison, don't call me, I'll call you! * From Rex Riley: Sailing has joined the ranks of Pro-Racing to wit: campaigns, sponsorship, media coverage and legal rights. Professional racing is advertised-sport but its competition must be recognized as a money-sport. Sponsorship money wants control; the money wants exposure; money wants their time in the spotlight; etc. Professional car drivers have learned to accept this competition as their race and manage it as required to keep the money in the game. Sports fans never get whiff of the decisions that go into race day that ultimately determine the winning car, sponsor, driver, etc. Buttheads are witnessing the degree of professionalization to racing that amateurs would never subject themselves for money. * From Fred Roswold, Hong Kong: So Russell Coutts, as great a sailor as he is, had ideas about his rightful position in Alinghi management that were not shared by Bertarelli. It was apparent back in 1999 that he had similar visions of his role on the NZ team. Peter Blake smoothed it over then and kept Coutts and Butterworth and their mates onboard for the 2000 cup, but after Blake left, no one in NZ had the diplomacy to manage the apparently temperamental helmsman. He left, and he took his mates with him. Now Bertarelli has proven himself to be equally incapable. He owned the best sailing team in AC, and because he couldn't control a few egos, including his own, he allowed it to be broken up, and sailing, including all of us fans, are the losers. Bertarelli and Larry Ellison both passed up top sailing talents who probably had the best chance to help them win, and now they make the whole sport look like a bunch of dilettantes. * From Cory E. Friedman: If, in return for a substantial paycheck, Russell Coutts signed a contract with covenants that bar him from sailing for anyone other that Bertarelli, that is unfortunate for him and the sailing world, but, nevertheless the bed he made and will have to lie in. However, changing the rules retroactively to affect only him in a backroom deal between Bertarelli and Ellison is an outrage. The vast majority of participants will probably keep their heads down and continue working to pay the rent. Most sailor spectators will probably shake their heads and go on as if nothing happened. Given the exemplary job the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department and the New York Court of Appeals did when last called upon to enforce the Deed of Trust, if this rule change violates the Deed of Trust, or the equitable principles governing trusts, in any way, Coutts should immediately seek relief, if he wants to sail. Talk about Bertarelli's "wall of lawyers," is just who has the biggest dock talk. * From Bruce Thompson: US Sailing's decision to call a moratorium on new rating rules looks prescient given Dick Neville's comment that "PHRF is a very good system for entry level racing". Those who fail to study the past are condemned to repeat it. What's needed is a thorough review of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing ratings systems. You don't know how to fix that which you don't truly understand Let's start with how PHRF fails the average entry level racer who typically owns a small boat. PHRF is based on a theoretical scratch boat with a zero rating (e.g. a Farr 40). A Catalina 22 has an LMPHRF of 276 sec/mi. It's total elapsed time per mile is equal to the elapsed time of the Farr 40 plus 276 seconds. From a study of IMS racers, I have concluded that the GPH of a PHRF boat with a zero rating is 555 sec/mile +/- 10 sec/mile. Therefore, the Catalina 22's handicap is based on it taking 831 sec/mile, a 50% bonus relative to the Farr 40. Does anyone seriously believe that a Farr 40 is only 50% faster than a Catalina 22? To try and encourage the small guys back into the fold, invite them to a two-for-one day, where everybody's handicap is doubled! That tilts the handicaps in their favor to even things out. THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUMS If you shouldn't drink and drive, why do bars have parking lots? |
