|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2386 - July 11, 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. OLYMPICS TODAY – VOR TOMORROW The Chinese port city of Qingdao, which is hosting the 2008 Olympics Sailing Regatta, was officially confirmed on Tuesday as the China stopover for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race with the signing of an agreement between race organisers and the Qingdao Municipal Government. Qingdao’s selection as the stopover on the marathon ocean race’s new route through the Middle East and Asia follows more than six months of negotiations and evaluation. The race CEO Glenn Bourke and a team of race officials visited Qingdao in April after signing a cooperation agreement in Beijing with the China Water Sports Administration Centre and the China Yachting Association. Race organisers have held discussions with a number of Chinese ports and there is still potential for a second city to be selected as a pit stop before the fleet sails its longest leg, 12,000 nautical miles, to South America. Among the other cities, Shanghai appears the most likely but negotiations are continuing. After its start in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October 2008, the fleet sails via Cape Town in South Africa to the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia before its stop in China ahead of its longest leg to South America. It then stops in Boston on the U.S. East Coast and sails to Galway on Ireland’s west coast on the way to a Baltic port finish. The race now has seven confirmed entries with crews racing aboard the Volvo Open 70. -- Complete announcement: http://tinyurl.com/2cjofz BLISTERING ATTACK As all 130 of Alinghi's winning America's Cup team tour Switzerland following last week's crushing 5-2 defeat of Emirates Team New Zealand, their skipper, Brad Butterworth, has launched a blistering attack on TNZ managing director Grant Dalton. Butterworth said his old adversary held TNZ back and would limit their potential. "I was quite comfortable when Dalts took over the team because he's never done this thing before and it's a little bit out of his reach," the Alinghi tactician said. Where Alinghi tried to outsmart the opposition, Dalton initiated a boot-camp tough regime, Butterworth, himself a Kiwi, claimed…."If you look at Team New Zealand this time, it's run in an autocratic fashion and it's all about how you've got to be tougher than the other teams," Butterworth said. "At Alinghi, we were banking on being smarter, not tougher. -- Telegraph, complete article: http://tinyurl.com/2dfubj LIFE-ALTERING EXPERIENCES Between California and Hawaii, surrounded by at least 1,500 miles of ocean in all directions, there is a special spot on planet Earth. It's not marked on nautical charts, but people who sail through never forget it. Before San Rafael, CA resident Timothy Ballard made his first ocean crossing in the 2004 Pacific Cup race to Hawaii, people told him that a life-altering experience would happen somewhere around halfway. "It's hard to put into words," Ballard said. "On Day 10 I had these alligator tears coming down my eyes. We'd eaten some smoked oysters and fine cheese, the sunset was spectacular, and I had my whole crew on deck. I was thinking about my family, my life. My crewman said to me, 'You can go ahead and cry.' I was touched by how beautiful it was that we were doing this trip. These are important bonds we form at sea. Not a lot of people know this. We have a deep respect for each other that is not spoken, just known." Ballard will revisit this unnamed spot with extraordinary properties in July when he sails his boat, Inspired Environments, with a crew of six in the Transpacific race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. -- Jan Pehrson Marin Independent Journal, full story: http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_6243779 * Progress report: Inspired Environments is among the nine Division 6 racers and 14 Aloha A and B division boats that started on Monday, where it appears to be slow going from a look at the July 10th position report: http://www.transpacificyc.org/07/tables/tp07-pr-d1.html STAR POWER – HARKEN/MCLUBE INTERVIEWS MURRAY/ PALFREY Australian superstars Iain Murray and Andrew ‘Dog’ Palfrey have teamed in the Star for a 2008 Olympic run. With boats on four continents, how do they ensure continuity? Set up the rig for light-air finesse? Would miss most on the boat if they forgot it? For an in-depth interview of this multi-talented duo: http://www.harken.com/sailing/IainMurray_DogPalfrey.php ISAF WORLDS – DAY 8 Cascais, Portugal (July 10, 2007) In a 12-14 knot breeze on Day 8 at the ISAF Sailing World Championships, Tom Slingsby (AUS) won gold in the Laser on a windward-leeward course after recovering from a poor start to finish sixth in the Medal Race. Deniss Karpak (EST) was in the silver medal position until he was called for penalty turns. A brilliant final run lifted Andrew Murdoch (NZL) up to second place in the Medal Race and gave him the silver medal, with Estonia’s Karpak completing the podium. The wind built up to around 20-22 knots during the Laser Radial Medal Race. In an incredible finish, Sari Multala (FIN) was in a gold medal winning position until she underestimated the layline to the final mark and was forced into a double tack. This brought Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) up into contention and the two had a drag race to the finish line to decide the World title. They crossed the line fractions apart but with Drozdovskaya ahead, giving her the World title with Multala winning the silver medal. Petra Niemann (GER), who led going into the Medal Race, took the bronze. 470’s were to have Tuesday as a reserve day, but needed it to complete one more race to finish the 5-race qualification series to determine which teams would race for the Worlds title. The medal race for the Yngling and Finn will be on Wednesday, where the North American contingent will be ably represented by Sally Barkow/ Howe/ Capozzi (USA) and Chris Cook (CAN) respectively. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1fFnij/l&format=popup Top Three and Top North Americans Laser Radial (106 boats) – Final 1. BLR - Tatiana Drozdovskaya, 6-7-3-6-15-5-6-10-2, 47 2. FIN - Sari Multala, 2-5-15-1-12-6-19-3-3, 50 3. GER - Petra Niemann, 9-9-2-5-5-6-1-12-7, 51 5. USA - Anna Tunnicliffe, 10-13-1-5-9-2-31-5-5, 55 Laser (149 boats) – Final 1. AUS - Tom Slingsby, 21-1-1-2-1-1-16-9-6, 43 2. NZL - Andrew Murdoch, 23-2-3-1-8-9-24-2-2, 52 3. EST - Deniss Karpak, 8-DNF-12-1-7-6-8-3-5, 55 29. USA - Andrew Campbell, 13-7-9-BFD-7-24-23-13-18 - - 114 Tornado (49 boats) – Final 1. ESP - Fernando Echavarri/ Anton Paz, 9-8-1-(11)-4-3-6-3, 34 2. BEL - Carolijn Brouwer/ Sebastien Godefroid, 5-10-3-3-8-(18)-5-6, 40 3. NED - Mitch Booth/ Pim Nieuwenhuis, (15)-13-2-5-1-15-3-2, 41 10. USA - John Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree, 23-2-9-8-17-(25)-15-9, 83 Star (62 boats) – Final 1. BRA - Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada, 2-4-3-1-1-1-(29)-1-2, 15 2. FRA - Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau, 3-1-1-2-3-3-(7)-2-4, 19 3. GBR - Iain Percy/ Andrew Simpson, 1-8-2-5-2-2-4-8-1, 25 12. USA - Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel, 5-6-17-11-14-6-18-7-14, 80 Yngling (35 boats) – Medal race on Wednesday 1. GBR - Sarah Ayton/ Webb/ Wilson, 2-3-4-2-3-(13)-11-4, 29 2. GBR - Shirley Robertson/ Lush/ MacGregor, 1-2-3-9-10-(20)-2-3, 30 3. NED - Mandy Mulder/ Bes/ Hendriksen 5-11-8-22-1-2-8-1, 36 4. USA - Sally Barkow/ Howe/ Capozzi, 8-5-1-1-(DNF)-12-3-8, 38 Finn (73 boats) – Medal race Wednesday 1. NED - Pieter Jan Postma, 5-(13)-1-1-1-6-5, 19 2. ESP - Rafael Trujillo, 3-2-(15)-4-1-3-7, 20 3. SLO - Gasper Vincec, 4-6-3-2-4-1-(33), 20 5. CAN - Chris Cook, 1-6-3-8-2-2-(DNF), 22 RS:X Men (113 boards) – Medal race on Thursday 1. BRA - Ricardo Santos, 2-(5)-1-3-1-2-1, 10 2. POL - Przemyslaw Miarczynski, 1-1-(12)-1-1-11-4, 19 3. GBR - Nick Dempsey, 4-1-(7)-1-5-3-5, 19 30. CAN - Zachary Plavsic, 11-18-15-7-14-15-(29), 81 RS:X Women (73 boards) - Medal race on Thursday 1. POL - Zofia Klepacka, 1-1-6-3-1-(8)-3, 15 2. NZL - Barbara Kendall, 2-(26)-9-2-2-3-1, 19 3. AUS - Jessica Crisp, 3-6-4-2-(14)-2-5, 22 Note: No North Americans qualified for the Gold fleet 470 Men (112 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. AUS - Nathan Wilmot/ Malcolm Page 1-(6)-2-2-1, 6 2. GBR - Nick Rogers/ Joe Glanfield, 7-1-1-(DNF)-3, 12 3. NED - Sven Coster/ Kalle Coster, 6-(14)-2-1-6, 15 9. USA - Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl, 3-7-5-6-(14), 21 470 Women (64 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. NED - Marcelien De Koning/ Lobke Berkhout, (4)-2-1-2-1, 6 2. SWE - Therese Torgersson/ Vendela Zachreisson, 3-(5)-3-2-1, 9 3. GBR - Christina Bassadone/ Saskia Clark, (13)-1-1-8-3, 13 16. CAN - Jen Provan/ Carol Luttmer, 9-14-7-7-(16), 37 49er (78 boats) – Medal race on Friday 1. GBR - Stevie Morrison/ Ben Rhodes, 1-2-1-1-(4)-1-3-1, 10 2. AUT - Nico Luca Ma Delle Karth/ Nikolaus Leopold, 2-4-2-(7)-1-1-4-3, 17 3. ITA - Piero Sibello/ Gianfranco Sibello, (7)-3-4-2-1-6-1-1, 18 9. USA - Morgan Larson/ Pete Spaulding, 1-6-3-4-4-(12)-4-3, 25 Complete results: http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/home.php?content=resultadoGeral.php 49ER CARBONIZATION The 49er class has two new carbon fibre rigs on display at the Cascais Worlds as the class looks to move this direction. Julian Bethwaite, who designed the 49er class explained. “The 49er design is 14 years old now. At that time it used state of the art technology and what has happened is that time has marched on, as it always does, and with it, so has technology. The cost of carbon has become more realistic where as before it was astronomical and not a feasibly option. As a material, it’s also becoming much more available across all sectors like cars, aeroplanes etc so it is a logical time to move towards using it for our rig too.” Two prototype masts are on display, one designed by Southern Spas in New Zealand and the other by Australian company, CST. These will be tested by elite and amateur sailors over the coming months with a final decision expected by September and first masts available by Easter 2008. The change in mast design has in turn affected the sail size, which will increase in surface area by about 0.5 meters. Bethwaite explained, “If you kept the same sail but put a carbon rig on it, all the sailors would have to loose about 5kg and that’s a big call. It’s therefore a fine art of how much bigger you make the rig and whilst both proposals initially went too large, then went too small we have eventually found a number which I think has worked well.” The introduction of the new mast will be a phased approached, with Olympic crews adopting it for 2012. LOOK SMART – SAIL FAST Before the 90-foot Rambler blistered the Atlantic to win the big-boat division of the HSH Nordbank race from Newport, RI to Hamburg, Germany, the team made sure they were well prepared for the crossing. Team One Newport’s renowned crew uniform division had outfitted the crew with a Patagonia first layer, Musto and Henri Lloyd second layer, and Gill’s Ocean Gear for the outer layer. When preparing for your next event, seek out the expert advice of Team One Newport to insure your team stays warm, dry, comfortable, and fast. For the best selection and support, call 800-VIP-GEAR (800.847.4327) or visit http://www.team1newport.com OWNERS HOPE TO RESCUE SUNKEN YACHT The owners of a classic sailing sloop that sank last Saturday afternoon after a three-sailboat collision off Beavertail in Jamestown hope to raise the boat Tuesday. Jed Pearsall and William Doyle, both of Newport and co-owners of the Amorita, each said they are optimistic that the New York 30 sailing sloop built in 1905 can be salvaged. "I'm devastated," Doyle said Monday, as he talked about the accident. "We'll use whatever means are needed to get her up. She will be rebuilt. She's not lost, but damaged." The owners said the Amorita went down quickly after the Sumurun, a classic sailing yacht from 1914, hit it. The Sumurun has its homeport in Antigua, in the Caribbean. Also involved in the collision was the Alera, another 1905 New York 30. The Alera is based in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. -- Newport Daily News, full story: http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2007/07/10/news/news3.txt * An independent protest committee of certified U.S. Sailing Judges convened to determine the circumstances of the collision, their decision resulted in the disqualification of Sumurun, a 94', 1914 Fife ketch and the exoneration of Alera and Amorita, both 43-5' Herreshoff- designed NY-30s. -- SallyAnne Santos, Museum of Yachting EIGHT BELLS Trevor Gowland, the esteemed boat-builder and Sydney Hobart winning yachtsman, has died at his home at Point Clare on NSW Central Coast at the age of 75 after a brief illness. Gowland worked for much of his life with the Halvorsen family of yacht designers and boat-builders, and was responsible, as a skilled shipwright, for building such famous yachts as the 1962 America’s Cup challenger Gretel, Sydney Hobart overall winners Freya, Anitra V and Cherana, Admiral’s Cup team boats Gingko and Apollo II and the maxi yacht Ballyhoo which look line honours in the 1979 Hobart Race, as well many prestigious motor cruisers. -- Full announcement: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5171#5171 SAILING SHORTS * (July 10, 2007) Americans Jonathan and Libby Johnson-Mckee maintained their lead throughout the final two races to win the Tasar World Championship in Phuket, Thailand, beating out a strong Australian contingent that made up most of the 58-boat fleet. Robert and Nicole Douglass (AUS) were second with Brett Young/ Kevin Kellow (AUS) in third. -- Event website: http://www.tasarworlds.com * (July 10, 2007) In a nationwide effort to make sailing under IRC more accessible to sailors, US-IRC is recommending the use of 'standard ratings' for all local and 'regular' regional IRC events. Yachts would still need Endorsed IRC certificates to compete for championship trophies. In an announcement today, US-IRC executive Director John Mendez said, "US-IRC now recommends that all Organizing Authorities consider the use of IRC standard certificates for all events other than national or regional championships. We think this will encourage participation at a more grass roots level with our measurement based, international rating rule." – Complete announcement: http://www.us-irc.org/newsfull.cfm?ID=43 * T2P.TV is now hosting online video coverage of the Wall Street Corporate Challenge Cup benefiting Shake-A-Leg: Some of the most famous names on Wall Street compete on some of the most famous 12 Meters in Newport, RI in this event. -- http://www.t2p.tv/guide/wsc07.php CRANKY IN ENGLAND While Americans Alexander Roepers, tactician Chris Larson, and the crew on Plenty were winning the Swan 45 Gold Cup last week in Cowes, England, Tac Boston from Holland, Michigan found himself on a last place team, and based on this report, didn’t care much for the conditions: “Not much good I can say… the weather still sucks; a bunch of us are starting a compilation for a Letterman style Top 10 ‘reasons why I will never come back to this hell hole.’ Yesterday I was beat and came back to the yacht club for a nap, … then I had to go to the sail loft to fix a shattered Code 3 Jib that we used most of the day. …about the time you all are going to bed I have to wake up for a 6:00AM boat call for a round the island race. We are going to go the opposite way that America did all those years ago. It should be an absolute brilliant day for it…you know raining like sh&t and real windy. What fun. That is reason 483 for me never to come back!” -- http://truewindracing.blogspot.com/2007/07/hey-all.html * Photographers tend to go out when its nicer, with shooter Ingrid Abery showing that not every day at the event was miserable, and if you were far enough back in the bus, you might even be able to wear shorts: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0709/ NEW J/80 OWNER WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP It’s not often one can buy a boat and in nine months win a 124-boat Worlds, but Jose Torcida Seghers of Spain just did. The J/80 is rewarding to sail - quick to speed, a dream to drive, and controllable in conditions most other sportboats stay home. Check out this family-friendly class. http://www.jboats.com/j80/ 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 Tara Tate: (regarding the comments about the Opti NA’s in Issue 2385) Several years ago, as an event manager, I gave a seminar regarding media presence for sailing events. My opening statement was, "If you have an event and it doesn’t appear online, did it really happen." This is more important today than ever before. The reality is that few events of significance occur without sponsorship. If you are not creating a portal for people to observe the event, you are letting down your sponsors and discouraging them from retaining an interest. Unfortunately, there still exists organizers who fail to appreciate this. If we want to send sailing back into the elite/ dark ages, then just continue to rain excuses as to why the results or competitor lists were not up in time. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: We did get an email from the Opti NA organizers, and while there are still many features of the event website that are incomplete, they said the lack of results from Monday were due to the racing being cancelled. Better info on the website would have helped to explain this. They also said that the event site had been hacked three times on Monday, so for those interested in a list of competitors, they provided us with a PDF file: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0710 * From Damian Christie, Melbourne, Australia: Just as lawyers once famously remarked that the Deed of Gift read like a mortgage, so Alinghi’s new protocol governing the 33rd America’s Cup can best be described as ‘an act to prevent yacht racing’. By staying silent on the venue (surely Valencia) and the date of the next defence and promulgating rules for a new yacht design which other Cup designers will be denied input, Alinghi is already shoring up the next defence of the Cup in its favour. Existing teams will be unable to begin work on new yacht designs until at least the end of the year, there is only a limited time for teams to recruit personnel and new teams (particularly from the southern hemisphere, such as Australia and Southeast Asian countries) will be discouraged from mounting challenges if they cannot approach sponsors with a dedicated time frame and strategy for funding. Why the need for new boats when we saw some of the closest margins in the Cup match between the current crop of IACC yachts? It wouldn’t be because Team New Zealand was more competitive than the Swiss gave them credit for, and could possibly be a generation ahead of them next time, would it? At the end of the day, this is a typical example of Alinghi, its stooge America’s Cup Management and Desafio Espanol – without a doubt the feeblest Challenger of Record ever – conspiring to ‘waive the rules to rule the waves’, like the US Cup holders of old. * From Geoffrey Emanuel, Southlake, TX: I support the change of yacht for the next America's Cup, simply because it is true to the history and character of the regatta. When the yacht America won the race in 1853, she was considered a design breakthrough. This phenomenon was repeated innumerable times, most recently in 1983, 1995, and 2000. The event truly is both a sailor's and a designer/builders' competition. Given the amount of money and effort expended for this year's event and the resultant closeness of the various boats' performance, it seems to me that the IACC era has been brought to an appropriate end. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?” Special thanks to Harken Yacht Equipment, Team One Newport, and J Boats. |
