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SCUTTLEBUTT 1921 - September 12, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.SO SPECIAL (With the start of the Mini Transat a week away The Daily Sail subscription website looks at why this event is so special and what the form is this time. Here's a brief excerpt.) Seventy two 21ft Minis set off in just over a week singlehanded across the Atlantic. One of our favourite events in the yachting calendar gets under way on Saturday week (18 September): the biennial Transat 6.50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia, otherwise known as the Mini Transat. Alongside the Figaro class, the Mini is where many great names in singlehanded offshore sailing have cut their teeth, from Ellen and Mark Turner (1997) to Bruno Peyron (competed in the first Mini Transat in 1977 and who plans to enter again in the 30th anniversary race in two years) to Michel Desjoyeaux, Yves Parlier (winner in 1985), Laurent Bourgnon (second 1987), Isabelle Autissier (third 1987), Thierry Dubois (winner 1993), Yvan Bourgnon (winner 1995), Bernard Stamm (third 1995), Thomas Coville (second 1997)...the list goes on and on. The attraction of the event is not hard to grasp: 21 footers are a lot cheaper than Open 60s - although a full-on Mini program with a newly-built boat is in fact not much cheaper than a Figaro campaign. Yet it places the same demands on sailors who must master the unique skill-set required for solo offshore racing: the racing side (helming, trimming, navigation, tactics, strategy, weather forecasting, etc), seamanship (you have to keep the boat in one piece for the duration of a trans-oceanic race and be able to fix things and improvise if they go wrong or break) as well as managing personal issues like finding time to sleep, eat and drink while continuing to race. -- http://www.thedailysail.com/ CONFUSION REIGNS According to a posting on the blogsite of the AC 32 Challenger Commission, there is confusion among the various America's Cup websites, including ACM's, as to the scoring of the Louis Vuitton CSS ("Challenger Selection Series"). The confusion stems from the fact that, under the 'Valencia Plan,' ties within an Act are not broken for the purpose of awarding Ranking Points. The blogsite sites the relevant paragraphs in the Valencia Plan, and has posted the challenger's accumulative rankings following the Malmo Acts: 1. BMW Oracle Racing (USA), 41 Ranking Points (4 Bonus Points) 2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 40 (3) 3. Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA), 40 (3) 4. Desafio Espanol (ESP), 30 (3) 5. + 39 (ITA), 24 (2) 6. Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team (ITA), 24 (2) 7. KChallenge (FRA), 23 (2) 8. Victory Challenge (SWE), 22 (1) 9. United Internet Team Germany (GER), 15 (1) 10. Team Shosholoza (RSA), 9 (1) 11. China Team (CHN), 6 (1) Alinghi, the true top dog in the Challenger Selection Series at this point, is not ranked … because they are not a challenger. For those who want all of the details: http://www.challengercommission.com/ BRANCHING OUT If Russell Coutts has his way, he may be involved with the America's Cup again. But don't necessarily expect to see him on a boat. Coutts the master helmsman has become Coutts the designer. His first yacht, a pure racing boat, was launched recently in a lake in northern Italy. "I've just finished designing a 44-footer and we've sailed the first prototype," Coutts said. "It's quite a fun new project and I'm going to put more focus on that in the coming years. With the America's Cup, I've had some sort of input into design. But this is the first time I've been chief designer, so to speak. I was a bit nervous the first time I took the boat for a sail but fortunately it all performed as we wanted. I think it's a good product." -- Hayden Meikle, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/djxt9 TRACY The events that led up to Tracy Edwards' personal bankruptcy have left too many tarnished images, too many unanswered questions. It is an issue that has divided the sailing world and this article has been written in an attempt to start a process where the truth will be revealed. Was Edwards, as her fans believe, nothing more than an unfortunate yachting heroine, out of her depth in the world of big business and mega-money, taken for a ride by the State of Qatar, hounded by an embittered Frenchman and a disgruntled ex-employee and ratted on by creditors, who promised to wait and then turned their coats? Or was she, as others believe, the only villain in this piece? You decide -- here's the link to the story on the BYM News website: http://www.bymnews.com/tracyedwards/index.html TRACY SPEAKS TO SCUTTLEBUTT Tracy Edwards has been getting a lot of negative press of late, so we asked her if she would like to replay to some of these allegations. Here's the text of an email we received from her: "The prize money has not been paid because Qatar has not paid us. I will setting the record straight in the near future and will be seeking legal advice regarding the breathtaking inaccuracies in some reports." -- Tracy Edwards TRIVIA QUESTION How many races have been won by Italian boats in America's Cup competition? Answer below. WHEN WE CLEAN UP … YOU CLEAN UP As Henri Lloyd closes out the season and rounds up the remaining stock, you reap the benefits. Tops and bottoms for foul weather and fair, all outstanding quality - but all in limited quantities. Just pick out the ones you want from the sizes and colors we have available and pick up fantastic savings. But hurry! Values like these won't last for long. Go to the website to get what you want now while the selection is good: www.henrilloydonline.com/scuttlebutt TITO GONZALES WINS ETCHELLS WORLDS Richmond YC -- The 2005 Etchells Worlds, sailed on San Francisco Bay finished with a raft of OCSs that turned the leader board on its head. Leader Jud Smith plunged down the rankings with an OCS, and Tito Gonzales, his son Diego, Bill Mauk and Jeff Linton, also had an OCS -- but still won the Championship. Under picture-postcard sailing conditions, with blue skies and sunshine on San Francisco Bay and a light six knot southerly, Smith and second placed Gonzales were two of seven boats over the line early -- but neither was aware of it. Back dockside, Gonzales'jaw dropped when he discovered the OCS situation. The frowns turned to a giant grin when he checked and rechecked the result sheet which confirmed his crew had won in spite of it. Gonzales 46, is a four times Lightning World Champion from Santiago, Chile. Co-owner of the boat Bill Mauk explained, "Last August, we were all sailing together in the Lightning Worlds and I suggested to Tito that we should do the Etchells Worlds together. He said 'why not?' So we bought a boat. In January we sailed it in the Jaguar Series in Miami, NOOD in Chicago, then the North American's. We came here two weeks before this series started. We had a lot of help from Dennis Conner, who did a fabulous job bringing us up to speed, as did Vince Brun and the North Sails people." Final Results: 1. Tito Gonzales, Bill Mauk, Jeff Linton, Diego Gonzales (USA) 32 pts 2. Samuel Kahn, B Lee, Jeff Madrigali, A Finglas (USA) 35 pts 3. Iain Murray, George Szabo, A Palfrey (AUS) 39 pts 4. Hank Lammens, M Lammens, D Sabin (CAN) 44 pts 5. Jud Smith, H Frazer, A Wills (USA) 48 pts 6. Brian Thomas, M Brink, H Schreiner (USA) 51 pts 7 Stuart Childerley, S Russell, R Marino (GBR) 55 pts 8. Vincent Brun, Ben Mitchell, B Terhaar (USA) 60 pts 9. Mark Thornburrow, G Gibson, A Webster (HKG) 67 pts 10. William Palmer III, Tom Corkett, Jr., W Bennet (USA) 72 pts Event website: http://www.sfetchells.org/worlds/index.php Photo Gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/etchellsworlds SPITHILL WINS THE HEAT - LA SFIDA Trieste, Italy -- It was an all-Luna Rosa finals in the The Heat - La Sfida, an ISAF Grade 2 match race series for America's Cup teams. Australian James Spithill at the helm of Luna Rossa 1 beat the Luna Rossa 2 team led by Francesco de Angelis, 2-0. Spithill's name will engraved for the third consecutive time in the Hall of Fame of the Trieste match race series. Final results: 1. James Spithill, Luna Rossa 1 2. Francesco de Angelis, Luna Rosa 2 3. Jes Gram-Hansen, Mascalzone Latino 4. Iain Percy, +39 Challenge 5. Peter Holmberg, Alinghi 6. Chris Law, Shosholoza Event website: http://www.lasfida.it/ NEWS BRIEFS * Last Thursday, Torben Grael and the crew of the Brasil 1 have completed a 20 day, 7400 km passage from Brazil and Portugal, which served to qualify the boat for the Volvo Ocean Race. "The crossing was a success. We had only minimal problems and none that were serious, despite the scare with the whale. The list of tasks to be completed on the boat has grown but that is a sign that we learned a lot about the boat and that we know that we can improve and fine-tune things," said skipper Torben Grael. -- www.brasil1.com.br * Team New Zealand will be able to transfer data instantaneously from its yachts to its shore crew for analysis following the signing of a new sponsorship deal. But Team NZ boss Grant Dalton announced Vodafone New Zealand as the latest addition to the syndicate's list of corporate backers, supplying the team's global telecommunications needs. Financial details of the Vodafone deal were not disclosed. Dalton said the yachting syndicate still has one major sponsor to sign up to meet its planned budget for the 2007 America's Cup. He added that agreement with "an overseas company" could be reached within a month. -- KiwiNews, http://tinyurl.com/8pb7j * Cardiff, Wales is the latest international city to enter the esteemed Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race, joining a fleet that includes 'New York', 'Durban', 'Western Australia' and 'Singapore' on this 10 month round the world race. Each boat has a professional skipper and 17 amateurs some of whom having never set foot on a boat before let alone sailed 35,000 miles around the globe. Having completed their extensive training, the crews set sail from Liverpool on September 18, and return there on July 1 next year. http://www.clipper-ventures.co.uk/plc/news.php?id=85 * The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Porto Cervo, Sardinia, ITA ended on picture perfect day and wonderful sailing conditions - bright sunny sky, flat water and a steady Northwesterly breeze ranging from 15 to 20 knots. You've got to see the images: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/maxirol Event website: www.yccs.it * Discarding a third, and keeping only first and second place finishes, Zack Berkowitz and Mike Martin have won the International 14 US National Championships sailed at Alamitos Bay YC in Long Beach, California in 8-15 knots of breeze. Bruce Edwards and John Vincze took second place -- just two and a half points back with 12.5 points in the seven race, one throw-out series. Kris Bundy & Jamie Hanseler accumulated 16 points and the final spot on the podium in the 23-boat championship fleet. -- http://www.abyc.org/ MIKE MARTIN Who is this guy? An award winning design engineer by day, and former 505 and 18-foot Skiff World Champion…well, by day, too! Last week Martin was back in the saddle with Howie Hamlin to take the 18' Skiff International Regatta on the San Francisco City Front. The week before that, he narrowly missed taking his second 505 World Title in Germany. Martin's most relied upon piece of technology? His own engineering marvel, the award winning Kore, by Kaenon Polarized. At Kaenon Polarized, we work with smart people, so you can look smart. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. http://www.kaenon.com TRIVIA ANSWER The answer is one. To this day, Il Moro di Venezia V (1992) remains the only Italian challenger to have won an America's Cup race. And the manner in which that race was won is worthy of mention in itself. During the second race, while the boats were racing downwind neck and neck at full speed towards the finishing line, Paul Cayard decided to ease out the spinnaker boom, which had the effect of floating the spinnaker far in front of the bow. By Cayard's guile and cunning, Il Moro V took the race win from America3 by a hair's breadth. Suddenly the Italians looked as though they were capable of causing a serious upset at the America's XXVIIIth Cup. But in the end, they were beaten 4-1, although they certainly did not disgrace themselves and Il Moro di Venezia V ITA-25 was never seriously outpaced by America3 USA-23. -- America's Cup website: http://tinyurl.com/decm9 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 neither 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. And please save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Malcolm McKeag: I assume John Rousmaniere means the hemisphere west of Greenland. Eastwards, a number of yacht clubs pre-date 1837. Ireland's Royal Cork claims 1720 as it's date of origin, albeit one has to be fairly lax in historical rigor to recognize in the present Royal Cork Yacht Club of Crosshaven the stop-start Water Club of Cork Harbour, never mind the moribund institution in Cobh that some very astute Royal Munster members took over in 1968 to allow themselves the claim to being the 'oldest yacht club in the world'. The Royal Thames in London can show direct lineage from the Cumberland Sailing Society formed after the first regatta for the Cumberland Cup of 1775, its yachts being known now as then as The Cumberland Fleet. The first institution actually to call itself a 'yacht club' was The Yacht Club founded in Cowes in 1815 and which in 1833 changed its name to the Royal Yacht Squadron. The Starcross Yacht Club in Devon was founded in 1832 and is sometimes claimed to be descended from an eponymous dinner club founded in the same village in 1772. The Royal Northern in Scotland began life in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1824. The Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club was founded in 1829. The list of club's in what those of us closer to the Greenwich Meridian regard as 'the Western Hemisphere' founded before 1837 is thus, in short, quite long. I suppose it's all a matter of geographical, as well as historical, perspective. * From David Redfern Kent, England (Re John Rousmaniere): I would never question John's authority, but did his 'western hemisphere' mean north America? I believe Royal Cork Yacht Club in Ireland has the title as oldest club. I just looked up the history on their webpage (http://ww.royalcork.com/Club/History.aspx) and it notes that".. In 1660 after his restoration to the English crown and return from exile, King Charles was presented with a yacht called "Mary" by the Dutch, which he sailed enthusiastically on the Thames. Soon several of his courtiers followed his example and we feel pretty certain that one of them was Murrough O'Brien, the 6th Lord Inchiquin (Murrough of the Burnings). We know that not only had he attended the court of King Charles from 1660 to 1662 but also that he had been created 1st Earl of Inchiquin by Charles in 1664. We also know that private sailing started to become popular in Cork Harbour shortly after his return, quite possibly because of his direct encouragement. By 1720, interest in the sport had progressed so much that his great-grandson, the 26 year old William O'Brien, the 9th Lord Inchiquin, and five of his friends got together to formalise their activities and in so doing established "The Water Club of the Harbour of Cork. In 1831 King William IV granted the club the privilege of using the prefix "Royal" and it became known as the Royal Cork Yacht Club, and is the oldest yacht club in the world. * From Kett Cummins: The debate over which yacht club is the "second-oldest" has raged for years on the Gulf Coast. There is no debate, however, that yachting in this region led - along with that other population & commerce center of the day, New York - the popular explosion of yachting throughout the country in the latter half of the 19th century. There is also no question that yachting can be traced back to the early 1840's in both Mobile and Biloxi - years before there were races held on Lake Pontchartrain. At that time, organizations named the Mobile Boating Club and Biloxi Boating Club were formed to host yachting contests, the records of which were prominently reported in local newspapers. However, there are no records linking these early organizations to the current Mobile and Biloxi Yacht Clubs. The records of the Southern Yacht Club, so named, clearly exist (or at least, did until last week!) back to its founding in the resort town of Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1849 (it relocated to the New Orleans lakefront several years later). This, we feel, makes Southern, not the second-ever yacht club in the U.S., but the second-oldest. Or, as we like to say, the Secanolas Yacht Club. For the record, the New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club, Boston Club (men's social) and Tally-Ho Club (hunting & fishing) are each among, if not, the oldest clubs of their kind in the country. * From Matthew F. Reid: I can't believe the negative press about the America's Cup. Ernesto has a grand vision of bringing the event to the forefront of the public's eye. He is doing a wonderful job of keeping interest during the 'down' years between the actual events. In fact, he has been growing the audience since Act 1. Let's face it, the promotion of sailing has never held a high spot on anyone's list (except some sailors). I also think it is sour grapes talking when money in mentioned. Yes, exorbitant amounts are being spent to finance the programs, but I believe that this is money well spent within the industry. Jobs, companies, prosperity. 12 teams, over a billion dollars pumped into local economies and all of the ancillary industries that spin off from the yachts and teams. These teams are awesome! I am working hard to be able to create my own team! * From Tom Smith: Chris Bouzaid has hit the layline on this one. Once you get these rich owners in the AC changing the rules and keeping the top skippers from competing in 2007, they're damping the skill level at one of our highest event, the Super Bowl of sailing the America's Cup. Like Augusta without a Tiger, a World Series that didn't include the Red Sox or the Yankees, or the Lakers without Shaq. What needs to be done quickly is to throw out the ruling and welcome the highest level of competition as we know it back. The sport needs both the rich owners and great competition. * From Paul Fuchs: I would take exception to your comment in Butt 1919 that "buttheads don't row". I may have a unique perspective as I started my rowing career (I was already a sailor at Bayview Yacht Club) at the Detroit Boat Club. The Detroit Boat Club has continuously been in existence since it was established in 1839 as a rowing club and soon after (1842?) became a sailing club as well. I have both defended the America's Cup (1977) and medaled a few times in the World Rowing Championships. Actually the list of sailors who are rowers, and vice versa, would probably make a fairly impressive list. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." -- Mae West |
