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SCUTTLEBUTT 1761 - January 25, 2005Powered 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. TAKING THE HELM Charles Leighton of Middletown, R.I has been named the new Executive Director of US Sailing. Leighton will take the organization's helm on January 31, 2005. Leighton has a substantial background in the corporate sector. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CML Group, Inc., a NYSE listed company that specialized in retail and direct marketing. Among many other activities, Leighton is currently a Director of MetLife and a Trustee of the Lahey Clinic (Burlington, Mass.) where he co-chairs their capital campaign. He holds a bachelor's degree and an honorary law degree from Bowdoin College and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a member of the faculty and later president of the alumni council. Leighton is a life-long sailor, having competed in numerous adult National Championships and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, as well as the U.S. Junior Triplehanded Championship (Sears Cup). He has been chairman of an America's Cup syndicate and is a winner of numerous offshore races, including the Marblehead-Halifax race, and currently races his Hinckley 42 Competition, Whitecap. "Charlie brings a unique set of credentials to US Sailing," offered Gary Jobson, well-known sailing author and TV commentator. "As a sailor, he has successfully raced his Hinckley 42 over many years. As an administrator, he is a past Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. And as a businessman has owned and operated major companies across the United States. He is a very personable leader who is used to managing big companies and fundraising at a high level. His many years of experience in sailing, business and philanthropy will be a major asset for US Sailing." Leighton succeeds Nick Craw, who, after more than three years at the helm of US Sailing, is returning to Colorado where he will take over the presidency of the Automobile Competition Committee for the U.S. (ACCUS). - www.ussailing.org ALSO TAKING THE HELM Jesper Bank has today been announced by Deutsche Challenger 2007 AG as the skipper of the German America's Cup challenge, Fresh Seventeen. Bank, 47 from Aabenraa, Denmark is a triple Olympic medallist in the Soling (two golds and one bronze) has seven World Championship titles in one design classes and match racing, as well as European, Scandinavian and National titles and was helm of the Swedish Victory Challenge in the last America's Cup. With Bank comes five further top international sailors - as yet unnamed - adding greatly to the credibility of the campaign. Signing Bank for this period was important for the DC 2007 AG as it will allow the Danish skipper to become the building block for a successful long term campaign. Bank believes that having been at the forefront of Victory Challenge last time will give the team a significant advantage. "From my first Cup involvement, I know what is necessary to get into the semi-finals. We will avoid going down dead-end paths." Finishing fifth with the Swedish first timers in Auckland - what will Bank achieve now he has one Cup under his belt? - Excerpts from a story by Anne Hinton on The Daily Sail subscription website: www.thedailysail.com THE CLOCK IS TICKING Bruno Peyron and his crew aboard the maxi-catamaran Orange II are on their way. They crossed the starting line of the RTW record this Monday January 24 at 11h 03m 07s (10:03:07 GMT). Conditions were good at the start, with 20 knots blowing from the north - north east. Orange II was sailing at 20 knots, under reefed mainsail and staysail. In order to beat the absolute RTW record (set by Steve Fossett on April 5, 2004 - 58d 9hrs 32 mn), Orange II must be back on the line at Ouessant before March 23 at 19:34'52'' GMT. In order to beat the Jules Verne Trophy (set by Olivier de Kersauson on April 29, 2004 - 63d 13hrs 59mn), Orange II must be back on the line at Ouessant before March 29 at 00:01'53'' GMT. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Even after 60 years of sailboat production, Melges Performance Sailboats still gets excited at how well it went at Key West 2005. Not only did the Melges 24 win the Boat of the Week competition - awarded to the winner of the class with the closest, most competitive racing - but the all new Melges 32 came out of the box to win its class and the PHRF Boat of the Week award too. For a view of this all-star line up, along with the brand new Melges 17, race to http://www.melges.com SPOTLIGHT ON MIAMI New talent seemed to carry the day at the 16th annual Rolex Miami OCR in several classes, including the Star. Andrew Horton and Brad Nichol (Newport, R.I./Hanover, N.H.) topped the scoreboard with four points, with Mark Mendelblatt and Steve Erickson officially in second, but also with four points total. For Horton, a winning member of the 2004 ISAF Match Racing World Championship team, and Nichol, this is only their fourth Star regatta together. Mark Reynolds, a four-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medallist, holds third place with crew Phil Trinter, a Star-class Olympian from 2004. Mendelblatt also represented the U.S. at the 2004 Olympics in the Laser class. He plans to launch an official Olympic campaign with Mark Strube but when Strube was not available to sail with him for this event, Erickson stepped in. "I decided I needed mentoring," said Mendelblatt, "so who better to ask?" Erickson has sailed Stars for 24 years and is an Olympic Gold Medallist from 1984. Clearwater, Florida's Paige Railey, a 2003 World Youth Champion, started out strong today, topping the Laser Radial fleet after two races. The 17-year-old has come to get a taste of "Olympic-like" competition and is up against, among others, a real Olympic Silver Medallist (in Europe class), Lenka Smidova of the Czech Republic, who sits in third overall. Smidova gave Railey the nod as one of the competition's top players. "I am not a fan of this class, really," said Smidova, who says she is unfamiliar with the boat while Railey has spent much of her youth sailing it. The Laser Radial is a class newly added to the Olympics for 2008. Other U.S. sailors turning in top performances were Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding (Capitola, Calif./Miami Beach, Fla.) leads the 49ers; Kevin Hall is in second place in the Finn class; Brad Funk in Lasers; Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler in 470 women's; USA's 2004 Olympic Silver Medallists John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree in Tornado; and 2004 ISAF Women's Match Racing World champions Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Deborah Capozzi top the Ynglings. - Media Pro Int'l For more information, including the latest results and photos: www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR GOING, GOING, GONE The lead which Ellen MacArthur has enjoyed for nearly two months over Francis Joyon's solo round the world record pace is gone - replaced by a deficit of 9 hours (-90 miles). MacArthur's 75-foot trimaran B&Q is now faced with an uphill climb, and to make matters worse - the deficit will undoubtedly increase as the light upwind conditions continue to hamper her speed. Worse yet, Joyon was blazing fast on this portion of the 'race track.' The Equator is still 1100 miles to the north and MacArthur must cross it by 0835 GMT on Saturday, 29th January to beat Joyon's passage time. "Things could be a lot, lot worse," said MacArthur. "If someone had told me I was going to be four days ahead at Cape Horn, I would have thought they were mad. But that time buffer has proven very useful in dealing with the complicated weather of the South Atlantic - if we had not had that advantage, things would be a lot worse now." On Sunday Ellen sent back an email from onboard B&Q dealing with the current situation. "I seem to have found some kind of inner peace tonight, and though today has been a very hot and little restful day, I feel surprisingly good," she said "The weather could not be worse for the record, as I sit here we're sailing at 4 knots. But we have what we have, we cannot alter the weather." What is the longer term forecast like? "It's going to be even lighter tonight (Monday) and for the next five days," Ellen said. "We're not going to cross the Equator until the 28th and that's not even passed the Doldrums, and once we pass the Doldrums, the Northern Hemisphere Trade Winds are very light. So we've got light winds for at least the next week. If ever there was a reason not to give up, it is the fact that so many people are behind us - I don't feel like I am alone out here." To break the current solo round the world record of Joyon's, Ellen must cross the line before 0704GMT on Wednesday, 9th February, 2005. - www.teamellen.com GETTING READY Team New Zealand is back racing on the Hauraki Gulf on Tuesday as part of its preparations for Valencia 2007. The America's Cup team starts a new schedule of in-house racing, with one of the black boats up against the German boat the team bought last year. It will put Team New Zealand's two prospective helms - Dean Barker and Ben Ainslie - up against each other. Team New Zealand operations manager Kevin Shoebridge said they desperately need to race, rather than test. He said they can test all they like in a straight line, but they need to feel the pressure of racing from time to time. He said it keeps everyone fresh and thinking. Shoebridge said they have even called in a proper race committee from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Team New Zealand is also tipped to confirm a new addition to their family of sponsors on Tuesday morning. - NZ Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10007956 SEASON STARTERS Without a deadline, we might never get things done. So with the California Midwinters just three weeks away, and Acura Miami Race Week coming in 6 weeks, it's a good time to contact your rig shop or retailer for new halyards, sheets or control lines. Consider Samson's XLS Extra and WarpSpeed - now with the addition of white covers. Apex and AmSteel are Samson's high performance single braids and Lash IT! is "duct tape on a string." To keep your polyester covers from melting on the drum, ask for ICE or Black Ice to cool down your problems. http://www.samsonrope.com HOME STRETCH It's just a matter of hours now before the top trio in the Vendee Globe non-stop singlehanded round the world can take on the long downwind stretch to take them very close to the Eastern side of the Azores. The top trio are likely to make the archipelago on Friday. These leaders may encounter weather that will put them on a fast track back to the Les Sables d'Olonne finish line. If this happens, Mike Golding believes that their finish time could be as early as the 2nd or 3rd February - an elapsed time of around 87 days or six days faster than Vendee winner Michel Desjoyeaux managed four years ago. Golding and second placed le Cam have effectively been following Riou over the last 48 hours but now Golding says there is a possibility of him undertaking his own tactical plan. "You were almost following PRB with no real plan of your own and I didn't like that. And the routing doesn't make me do it (ie head northwest). So I'm not doing it. There is an opportunity for me to do something different. There aren't many opportunities left, so I've got to take it really." Race leader Riou reported, "For the moment the wind is very unstable and you have to remain concentrated knowing that it's not my favorite point of sail. We'll go into downwind, which will be easier, and then gradually the wind will shift round onto the beam. We've still got a week to go, so we mustn't get carried away!" Leaders at 1900 GMT January 24: 1. PRB, Vincent Riou, 2166 miles to finish 2. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 70 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 99 mtl 4. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 906 mtl 5. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 921 mtl 6. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick 2238 mtl 7. Skandia, Nick Moloney, 2804 mtl 8. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, 3063 mtl 9. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, 3451 mtl 10. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 3825 mtl Complete standings: www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ A GATHERING OF THE EAGLES The entry list for the 2005 Star World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina from February 8-20 currently stands at 62 boats representing 19 nations and including a plethora of past world and Olympic champions. The list of Olympic medallists includes gold medallists Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) (2004 and 1996), Mark Reynolds (2000 and 1992) and 2004 bronze medallists Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA). Those who have previously won this coveted title include the aforementioned plus numerous others including Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR), Freddie Loof and Anders Ekstrom (SWE) (2004) and Eric Doyle (USA) to name just a few. Other notable names include double Olympic gold medallist in the Laser Robert Schiedt who will be sailing with Bruno Prada and multiple medallist in the Tornado, Lars Greal. Scheidt will certainly be watched with some trepidation by the Star Class veterans. What can the seven-time Laser World Champion do in the Star and will he be making a bid to compete in this class in Beijing 2008? - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1/Fht6Ar Event website: http://www.starworld2005.com/ SPONSORSHIP Emirates Team New Zealand and Vodafone New Zealand today announced a new alliance that will see the team's global telecommunications needs supplied by Vodafone. Secure data transfer will be key for the exchange of highly confidential information. Vodafone will also supply mobile services including voice, txt, pxt, video pxt, mobile email via BlackBerry and 3G Mobile Connect Card as well as airtime. The team has already successfully trialed Push to Talk. Technical support will be provided to the team by account managers in both Europe and New Zealand. Vodafone will have hospitality opportunities, in New Zealand and Europe, as part of the alliance. SOUTHERNMOST TO SOUTH BEACH Key West 2005 wraps up while Acura Miami Race Week 2005 ramps up! The ocean course hosts the larger PHRF & One Design boats March 10-13, while the Melges 24, Etchells & small PHRF boats are on Biscayne Bay March 11-13. For entry information, planning, logistics and more: http://www.premiere-racing.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 John Bell: Am I the only one who get a little irritated with any mention of a round the world record attempt that mentions the Jules Verne trophy first and Steve Fossett's five-days-faster absolute record second? If you only beat de Kersauson's time, you're still in second place. Beat Fossett's, then you can brag. * From Alan Peterson: I wish to correct information below regarding Ragtime. I, Alan Peterson, was bidding on Ragtime with partners Chris Welsh, Jon Richards and Scott Zimmer. Ragtime returns to Alamitos Bay, not Newport Harbor. Thank you for covering the auction and following Ragtime's destiny. She'll be in good hands. * From Chris Welsh: to correct a few items, Scott Zimmer will likely be sailing with us on Ragtime, and we will be glad to have him aboard when he can sail with us - but he is not in the new ownership group. Somehow, Alan Peterson's name was incorrectly reported as Allen Donald. To make a plug, Alan is Commodore of the Wooden Hull Yacht Club, http://www.whyc.org, if anyone is interested. To answer one of the letters, we are optimistic about having Ragtime on the line for Transpac 2005. That, along with Ragtime's heritage, was the reason for our purchase. We're looking forward to going to work on a bottom job, clean up and race prep as soon as Ragtime is released by the court. Ensenada should be our first race. * From J. Gordon: The recent saga of Ragtime has been fascinating and educational. Having not been able to attend in person, I eagerly awaited Monday's issue of Butt for the news of last week's auction (Yes, I would have been just a "looky-loo"). Now hearing the outcome, I have to ask, what was the point? If Zimmer was able to gather a group of wealthy friends nice enough to help him retain access to the beautiful yacht, why endure the publicity, much of it imparting a negative impression of his financial practices, of holding a public auction? In the Scuttlebutt issues prior to the auction, the descriptions of Ragtime's physical condition at the time she was repossessed, auctioned, and now re-acquired by Zimmer, combined with his comment that if she went for $80,000, he would simply buy her back himself, I am sad to say that in the future when I come across Ragtime in the harbor or under sail, any thoughts about her beautiful lines and accomplished sailing history will be marred by the knowledge that she now also actually represents the clichéd stereotypes of an exclusive, closed and unattainable yachting community that so many of us racer/cruisers tirelessly work to dispel! * From Edward Matus: Paul Larsen's excerpt in 'Butt 1959 about the 'ultimate sailing speed' included, "We are all in a race to be The Fastest and right now everyone is focusing hard on being the first to 50 knots. The designer can't build a boat that can't be sailed and the sailor can't make a boat defy physics." I wonder if 50 knots presents a barrier similar to the sound barrier for aircraft. To provide both excellent subsonic capability and supersonic capability swing wing designs (e.g., F14 Tomcat) and modified deltas (e.g., FA-18) were developed. I wonder if either a two stage configuration jettisoning the low speed portion above say 35 to 48 knots or a modified delta type of foil with variable wing section airfoil will emerge to break the 50 knot barrier. What say the Witch Doctors of Wild Velocity? * From Alun James: There has been a lot of discussion about the design and materials of the yachts Scandia (nee Wild Thing) and Konica Minolta (nee Xana). I too, have spent time as an aircraft engineer and was pleasantly surprised when the Safety Factor of 2 was mention by Eric Hall. As I recall commercial aircraft are built to a SF of 1.5 and military aircraft typically 1.25. But, we are missing the point. The yachts broke. The yachts broke and endangered the lives of some 50 husbands, fathers, and boyfriends. Had this been the 98 Hobart where even rescues were a heroic effort these people may not be with us any longer - at a time where the last thing the world needs is more death. * From Jordan J. Dobrikin (re Ryan Hamm's letter in 'Butt 1759 with respect to One Design and Handicap Racing): Granted that One Design is the way to go; you also state the rationale for Handicap Racing. The difficulty in getting five (5) or more boats on the line, consistently, from race to race, Locally, Regionally, let alone, Nationally or Internationally. It is also apparent that a talented, dedicated, well prepared Team, Boat, Skipper & Crew, will score well, no matter what the venue is, One Design and/or the various Handicapping Rules. PHRF is as good as they come, better than most, but far from great, and could use some improvement. It is very difficult for the average Racing enthusiast to see a technical/scientific rationale in a system that allows the same boat(s) to have different Ratings in adjacent Areas/ Regions. What big boat racing needs is a good computer based Race Management/ Scoring System that will allow Races to be scored using all of the more popular Rating and Handicapping Systems so as to gather data for some in depth study and analysis. The Holy Grail, of course, is a good Rating/ Handicapping System that lets Boat Design, Size, and, Weight, drop out of the equation; leaving skill, talent, preparation and luck to determine the out come of a/the Race. The computer is essential and they are common enough now that we should be able to put to rest one of PHRF's irrational quests, to the KISS principal, to use only paper and pencil and a stopwatch on the Committee Boat. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION This really is a 'cat's world' - we're just here to open cans. |
