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SCUTTLEBUTT 1860 - June 15, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest 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. FEEDBACK (In a follow-up to our story yesterday regarding Bryan Lake and Jennifer Warnock winning A Division at the College Coed Dinghy Champs but getting left off the All-American team, we polled the opinions of several past collegiate competitors. Here are some the replies we received.) * Brad Read ('86 College Sailor of the Year): The Inter-Collegiate Sailing National Championships are the premier events on the Collegiate Calendar. Dominating the Coed A Division at the Nationals is more than enough to warrant All American Skipper and All American Crew Status for the winners. Period. Same goes for Coed B Division, Women's A and Women's B. The Winners of the Sloops and Single-handed Championships should also receive All American Status. Those teams who rise to the top of those events are to be considered the cream of the crop for that Collegiate Season. * Gary Jobson ('72, '73 College Sailor of the Year): On the flip side, there have been sailors who have made All-American but did not get a chance to sail in the Nationals. Participating for a full year should certainly be encouraged. * Terry Hutchinson ('89, '90 College Sailor of the Year): Three times winning A division is a pretty good effort that should be rewarded with at least an All-American recognition. I can appreciate the selection process looking for all a4round performance but would suspect in the case of a team in Hawaii that travel and time would be tough…. there are exceptions and sounds like Bryan is one of them. * Ken Legler ('77 All-American, Tufts University coach, former member of All-American selection committee): This is not a new issue. Bruce Mahoney won Singlehandeds for Texas but didn't make All-American. I never liked the idea of someone stepping in and taking an All-America honor from someone who performed well all year, perhaps with less talent. As a committee member I voted against (my own guy) Mark Mendleblatt as College Sailor of the Year because he just didn't have the quantity that Tyler Moore had. Though it is possible to make All-American in only one season (fall or spring), it is not possible in one or two outstanding events. Curmudgeon's Comment: It should be noted that Bryan Lake was included on the All-American Honorable Mention list. STFYC MAKES ADJUSTMENTS Both Genuine Risk, the Dubois 90 owned by Randall Pitman, and Morning Glory, Hasso Platner's MaxZ86 will be sailing at this September's Rolex Big Boat Series at the St. Francis YC. As a result, for the first time in its 41-year history, the event will take competitors out of the San Francisco Bay, past the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean as part of an extended racecourse. "Due to the size, speed and draft of the maxis, we need to take them outside the Golden Gate Bridge," said John Craig, StFYC's race manager. "Ideally, we're trying to get an 18- to 24-mile racecourse and that's hard to do on the San Francisco Bay." Craig also noted that special docking arrangements are being set-up at the city's Pier 45, on Fisherman's Wharf, next door to the ferry terminal for Alcatraz, as the basin aside the StFYC is too shallow to accommodate the maxis. Racing on San Francisco Bay is considered a premiere inshore venue but not the typical maxi boat arena. And taking the boats through of the Golden Gate introduces some interesting new challenges. Up to 335 feet deep and only a mile and a quarter wide, the Golden Gate is the largest California coastal opening -- a portal into which the Pacific Ocean surges. Powerful currents also flow in the opposite direction, as water from many of Northern California's freshwater rivers and streams rushes into San Francisco Bay. This freshwater flow collides with the incoming Pacific, creating complex and violent currents. At 2.3 million cubic feet per second, these currents pump one-sixth of the volume of the San Francisco Bay through the Gate and into the Pacific Ocean every day. - The 2005 Rolex Big Boat Series is scheduled for September 15-18 and is expected to draw over 100 boats in 12 one-design and IRC handicap classes. - Media Pro Int'l, www.stfyc.org QUOTE / UNQUOTE (Following is an excerpt from a story by Andy Green on The Daily Sail subscription website about the Wilson Trophy (team racing) and the Admiral's Cup.) "I think one of the major reasons for the demise of the Admiral's Cup is the sheer proliferation of alternative, good quality, niche events for boats to actively campaign. However professional the team is their focus is primarily on their own boat 'team' events as such have inherent problems with organization, politics and the different wishes of wealthy owners. (They have to be!) The Commodores' Cup by contrast attracts much smaller budget teams, a wide variety of boats, largely amateur, for whom winning the Commodores' Cup is an achievable and very impressive feat. I somehow think that in these days of Volvo, AC, World Records and Transatlantics, the Admiral's Cup it no longer sexy. Certainly in the UK boats are opting for the Admiral's Cup's younger sister, with a lot more bang for your buck, the Commodores' Cup." - Andy Green, http://www.thedailysail.com B&G DOMINATES TP52 CHAMPIONSHIP B&G's run of dominance continues apace with 6 out of the 7 TP52's at the recent TP52 Championship at Punta Ala using B&G electronics and software. This included winners Caixa Galicia and second placed Atalanti XV, both exclusively using the full suite of B&G's high performance products including the WTP processor and Deckman software. "It's good to see that people with these high profile yachts know exactly where to come to get the best systems, software and support," comments Richard Acland, Managing Director of B&G the Performance Sailing division of Simrad. For more information email mailto:racing@BandG.com or http://www.BandG.com SCULLING REDEFINED Sculling is now defined as "Repeated movement of the helm that is either forceful or that propels the boat forward or prevents her from moving astern." You are never allowed to scull except for two very specific times that are described in rule 42.3 (Exceptions). The first exceptions (42.3d) is when you are sailing above a close-hauled course and either stationary or moving slowly (as when starting). In this case you are allowed to scull to turn to a close-hauled course. The second exception (42.3e) allows you to move your helm repeatedly to reduce speed. No longer are you allowed to scull the boat through a turn. -David Dellenbaugh, Sailing Breezes, full report, http://www.sailingbreezes.com/Sailing_Breezes_Current/Articles/May05/dell.htm IT ALL STARTS AGAIN ON THURSDAY On Thursday, 12 teams will take to the water off Valencia as the 2005 racing season for the 32nd America's Cup kicks off with the Louis Vuitton Acts 4 & 5. This marks the first time the full 2007 line-up will be racing, and with the new scoring system assigning bonus points to the challengers based on their results in the Acts beginning this year. For those who want to keep track of the results and standings, the CupInfo website has developed a special Excel spreadsheet. It should help organize the Louis Vuitton Act 4 match race pairings, record the results, and calculate rankings. To download the 133k file: http://www.cupinfo.com/en/lvactfour-tracker.php CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar NEWS BRIEFS * North Dakota and West Virginia are the only US states where no one has signed up (yet) to participate in this weekend's 5th annual Summer Sailstice. This June 18-19 celebration of sailing provides the most daylight hours on the water regardless of where you are in the northern hemisphere. Those who sign up become eligible to win prizes awarded by random drawings, including a one-week BVI charter from the Moorings, a $200 West Marine gift certificate plus over 200 other prizes from many of the world's best sailing companies. - http://www.summersailstice.com * After four races in the 62 boat Tornado World Championship in La Rochelle, France., Johannes Polgar/ Florian Spalteholz. (GER) with 29 points have opened up a seven point lead over Leigh McMillian/ Wm Howden (GBR). Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (CAN) in 14th place are the top North American team and American Olympic medallists Johnny Lovell/ Charlie Ogletree have moved up to 18th place with finishes of 14-3 on Tuesday. - http://tinyurl.com/86fv8 * With an elapsed time of 5:53:52, Mari Cha IV took line honors in the Rolex Race Around the Isle of Wight. This is an epilogue to the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, although there are still three yachts that have not completed this Transatlantic crossing. The 100-foot Maximus retired when an electrical problem prevented them from canting their keel. Nokia Enigma was the corrected time winner of the Grand Prix Class while Oystercatcher XXV was the Performance Cruiser winner. www.regattanews.com * The final day's racing at the ISAF Grade C1 470 European Championships in Gdynia, Poland was abandoned due to lack of wind. Defending Men's champions and Athens Olympic silver medallists Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (GBR) will be particularly disappointed, dropping the ball for the first time on what was to be the penultimate day of racing, giving the series lead to Javier Conte/Juan de la Fuente - the newly crowned winners - with no opportunity of reclaiming the lead. Rogers/Glanfield had to settle for second place, with Gideon Kliger/Ehud Gal (ISR) third. - http://www.euro470.pl * At least two of the World's major players in the competitive big boat arena have confirmed their intention to race at this year's Skandia Cowes Week. The Australian owner/ skipper Grant Wharington is shipping in his 98ft Super Maxi Skandia Wild Thing next month whilst the latest generation Super Maxi, the New Zealand-built 100ft Maximus has already arrived in Cowes. - www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk * West Marine, Inc. has announced that President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Everett is resigning to pursue his other interests. In addition, Mr. Everett is resigning from the Company's board of directors. Mr. Everett will remain with West Marine for an extended period to assure a smooth transition. Chief Executive Officer Peter Harris will assume the additional title of President and Mr. Everett's duties will be assumed by other senior executives. - http://www.bymnews.com/new/content/view/13917/57/ * The maxi trimaran Geronimo has arrived in Sydney getting ready for its anticipated June 18 circumnavigation of Australia. It is the first time that a maxi multihull will make an attempt for this 6500 mile record; a very complex and complicated voyage with tropical weather, trade winds and a dangerous southern passage. Geronimo will be the first to have its name associated with this title. www.superyachting.com * The latest photo gallery on the Scuttlebutt website is of Sail Newport's Optimist Challenge. Looking at the photos, we're reminded of the recent discussion regarding the virtues of the Naples Sabot and the Optimist. While the Naples Sabot excels in the small marinas of Southern California, where a t-shirt and a pair of surf trunks are the de rigueur sailing gear, this Optimist event shows a much different view of junior sailing. Competing in Narragansett Bay, battling the conditions in 10-15 knots, fully outfitted in spray gear and technical clothing. Nice contrast. - http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/oc WEATHER ALERT! Inshore or offshore, playing the shifts requires an understanding of what the weather is going to do. Ignorance is seldom an asset. Whether you're delivering boats or racing for line honors, improve your sailing skills with weather know-how. Veteran racer/router, Bill Biewenga will coach you or your crew; provide routing for passages or personally deliver your yacht. Books, CDs and seminars are available. Bring over 340,000 nautical miles and 19 years of weather routing experience to your project. E-mail mailto:billbiewenga@cox.net or visit http://www.weather4sailors.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 Jesse Andrews, Assistant Coach, University of Hawaii (regarding criteria for collegiate All-American team; edited to our 250 word limit): I agree that the selection process is about quantity and not consistency or so much quality. You can race in 20 East Coast Intersectional events, finish consistently mid-fleet or worse, but still make All-American if you have five top five finishes. I think it would be fairer to have a computer program that gives points to certain Intersectionals and Nationals. 1/4 of the points to the top three of four pre-designated Intersectional events in different districts, 1/6 to Sloop N/A's, 1/6 to Single-handed NA's, 1/6 to Team Racing N/A's and 1/4 to Dinghy N/A's. More emphasis should be put on Dinghy Intersectionals and N/A's because college sailing is almost all about dinghies since that is what 9/10ths of the regattas are sailed in. A Division should also be given an extra 10 to 20 percent of points at the N/A's and Intersectionals. In this system the entire country has the chance to prove themselves at these designated regattas. Take out the human factor so that no one can feel as though there is any sort of prejudice. Crew All-Americans are even more subjective. Maybe a written and physical assessment could be factored in for the final 30 or so applicants for crew All-American? We get penalized for not sailing in as many Intersectionals as other schools. So yes, life is not fair and neither are these selection committees. * From Blake Middleton (re the story in 'Butt 1859 - Dominance without Recognition): The statement "neither sailor was elected to the 2005 All-American teams" is not quite correct. Lake was recognized as a member of the 2005 All America Team as an Honorable Mention. Before a storm of Scuttlebutt readers start editing "They got robbed!" replies in response to the article, I encourage everyone to check out two key links on the ICSA web site. The first is an article written by former ICSA President Mike Horn in 2001 called "How All Americans Are Selected." The second document is titled "ICSA Board Approved All-American Selection Criteria": http://www.collegesailing.org/00awards/index.shtml My four years as Chairman of the All-America Selection Committee (1992-95) showed me just how challenging the selection process can be. It appears that Lake may be the first ICSA Dinghy Champs A Division winner to not earn All-American status, but as noted in Mike Horn's article, there have been other past examples where NA winners were either awarded Honorable Mention, or no honors at all. I believe Jesse Andrews is correct about the spectacular accomplishments of the Lake/Warnock team over the past 4 years being unique in the history of college sailing. Individual Honors are the frosting, but College Sailing is a team sport, and as such, the top honor is that Lake and Warnock helped lead their U. Hawaii team to win the entire event last year, and come in 2nd this year. Fantastic job! * From Scott Ferguson All-American '82, '83, '84 - Designer, Luna Rossa Challenge '07: Shocking, is this a joke? I cannot believe the A-Division winners at the college nationals are not All-Americans. Is the hair too long? The committee should add the names to the list today. None-the-less they should be proud of their accomplishment, it speaks for itself for anyone who has been there. Well Done - Wow - 3 times ... very, very, very impressive! * From Greg Felton (Re: Jim Mahaffy's letter re: Ellie Doyle's letter that in turn called AOPA the AirLINE Owners and Pilot Association then the AirPLANE Owners and Pilots Association): The correct name for our organization begins with the word AirCRAFT. * From Jack Hilditch: Senator Santorum's Bill would do nothing to augment the products provided by the NWS. In fact, all it does is hand over a perfectly functional and publicly funded NWS weather product distribution system to Senator Santorum's political patrons. We taxpayers have already paid for the NWS products and their distribution. The beneficiaries of Santorum's political largesse simply get to use the NWS products, put their own interpretative spin on them, and force the general public to pay a second time for distributing the NWS core products. Commercial weather services are excellent augmentations to the core NWS product line. I use them on a regular basis but I disagree with Senator Santorum on crippling the NWS. Commercial services function in numerous fields where additional interpretation is desired or specific, dedicated service is required. They should continue to function in that capacity and build their markets where they find them. They should not be factored into any discussion on the continuation of services provided by NWS or NOAA. More specifically, Senator Santorum's reference to private sector weather company inability to compete with the NWS is inappropriate. Private sector weather companies use NWS core products as do we all. They should be free to build their client bases, but not at cost to the taxpaying public. Those of us who choose not to purchase their services already have the NWS/NOAA product line and a distribution network that we like just fine, thank you! * From Dave Stringer: Although former America's Cup defenders could never tune up against potential challengers, virtually all (I can't think of an exception) AC Regattas in the USA had a defender as well as Challenges series, and so the eventual defender boat was competition tuned. The winning skipper of the defender series could even, as in '95, swap their boat for what they believed was a faster American boat! * From Stephen Wells: While I have totally lost interest in the cup it was interesting to read the AP (story in the New York Times (Little Things Mean a Lot). One really wonders how someone who could amass the necessary $300 million could spend it so foolishly. We are really lucky on the other hand that they didn't decide to spend it on running for president. The weight issue is really stupid. With over 50,000 pounds on the starting line and they are willing to risk a breakdown for a few ounces? I'll bet a statistician would tell them that it's worth at least 1,000 pounds extra to significantly reduce the chance of a breakdown. Remember a breakdown is a loss 100% of the time There are four changes that a syndicate could make that could drastically increase the chances of winning at no cost: - Get the English majors out of the tech decisions - Make sure your driver has an IQ over 80 and isn't an alcoholic - that's really hard. - Hire a statistician to evaluate your major decisions - Don't give your designer final authority over anything - let them deliver the drawings and go away - hire an engineer to review the design - why be forced to deal with another big ego. - Make your driver practice against the instruments. You'd be amazed at how much there is to gain in speed and distance to the mark by applying a little calculus to the basic maneuvers - it's an ego problem for some really dumb people who don't want to take tacking lessons. The final answer is that match races are not lost by seconds they are lost by finishing second. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "Do you know why they call it PMS? It's because 'Mad Cow Disease' was already taken." - Author unknown, presumed deceased. |
