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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 792 - April 11, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. AMERICA'S CUP The syndicate has already amassed significant resources, having invested over US$30 million of its original budget of US$80 million. CEO Gary Wright commented, "We're tremendously happy with the strength of the team OneWorld Challenge has put together, including one of the most potent design groups ever to contest an America's Cup. It offers potential partners an extraordinary platform for participation in perhaps the most exciting Cup match ever." Designers Laurie Davidson, Bruce Nelson and Phil Kaiko have already been involved in four of the last five successful Cup teams - Nelson was principal designer for Stars and Stripes in 1987, Kaiko worked with America Cubed in 1992, and Davidson was designer for Team New Zealand's winning boats in 1995 and 2000. America's Cup veteran and former world number one match racer, Peter Gilmour, leads the sailing team - an exceptional group even by the standards of this elite competition. Their scorecard includes ten Olympic medals, three Whitbread Round-the-World race wins, over 60 World Championship titles and 14 America's Cup victories. The core of the Sailing group is seven of the successful Team New Zealand squad; Jeremy Scantlebury, Matthew Mason, Craig Monk, Andrew Taylor, Richard Dodson, Pete Waymouth and Kevin Shoebridge. Another Cup win belongs to sailing manager Kimo Worthington, part of the 1992 America Cubed team. Six of the ten medals belong to US sailors Jonathan and Charlie McKee, Brian Ledbetter and Will Baylis. To this wealth of talent and experience is added the youth and energy of young Laser star and Gold and Silver medallist, Ben Ainslie, and match racer and youngest-ever-Cup skipper, James Spithill. Added to this human resource are two competitive hulls from the 2000 America's Cup. US 51 was campaigned by America True, while IACC hull number US 55 was Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes. The two black boats form the basis of the testing programme required to take the America's Cup yacht to the next level. The on-the-water weather team is in the hands of Hamish Wilcox. Wilcox was with 2000 Challenger Prada, before moving on to work with the dominant British Olympic sailing team in Sydney. Shore-side analysis comes from meteorologist Ken Campbell. With a summer's sailing in New Zealand behind them, on-the-water data gathered over the last few months is being analysed along with the results of the tank testing and CFD programmes, and the final drawings for the new boats are nearing completion. Parties interested in exploring potential sponsorship opportunities or partnerships with OneWorld should contact Bob Ratliffe: phone, +1 425 828 8686; email - bobr@eriv.com MOVABLE BALLAST * The rule itself seems simple enough to follow, the trouble begins when a crew is sent below to "tidy". This produces the ideal opportunity to take advantage of the rule, thus resulting in an action that is not only going to significantly increase the speed of the boat but is also impossible to police and prove. Crews are left facing the dilemma that he who cheats the most could potentially win. Mark Heeley, owner of new Farr 40 says: "The trouble is, not only is it impossible to police but it's also impossible to prove. Nobody is ever prepared to protest and we are all left facing the awful moral dilemma of "playing with the greyness". In my opinion it is a deeply unhealthy and unfair way of running the racing." For some racing however the rule has been written out altogether. The Volvo and the Vendee allow their boats to stack the rail and it is an accepted part of the racing. The TV coverage of Ellen MacArthur showed her shifting all of her kit after each tack to help her gain the optimum speed and performance, a process that sometimes took over half an hour. - Lynsey Thomas, madforsailing website. Full story: www.madforsailing.com/ MORE: But reader Chris Jamies has a different view. He wrote (in part), "No way. What a great scene; the call to tack, and half the crew scurry around down below, picking up heavy turtles, the saloon table, the floorboards, cans of food, 20l containers of water, chucking them across a bouncing boat, dodging the ones that fall back, lashing them down, sweating in a stuffy heatbox; then five minutes later there's the call to tack back and it all starts again." Check it out for yourself: www.madforsailing.com/ GOOD STUFF FOR THE RECORD Note that several press reports have stated the record stands at 655.13 nm. However the detailed ratification procedure has established the distance as 655.12 nm. A word about the ratification procedure. In order to eliminate any questions of error, the ratification board requires to have a series of hourly fixes for 12 hours prior to the claim, for the 24 hours of the claim and then 12 hours after the claim, 48 hours of GPS fixes in all. Additionally, these fixes have had to have been polled from an agency outside and independent of the yacht. Such detailed requirement sometimes takes a while for the claimant to obtain, especially when the yacht is in a race, when a vast number of individual fixes are on file. This explains the delay in announcing some ratifications. Once the WSSRC office has all the requisite information, a ratification can usually be announced (or rejected) within 48 hours. It is a bit regretable that Bernard Stamm's 24 hour monohull record ratification is rather a long time after the claim, but, as in previous cases, there was difficulty in authenticating the Argos positions. These were finally provided to the satisfaction of the ratification committee on Wednesday 4th April. WORLD RECORD - Longest distance run in 24 hours by a Monohull. BoatingOz website: www.boatingoz.com.au/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON leweck@earthlink.net * From Peter Harken - Good for Philippe Kahn, he said it all! How about that? A guy that is not crying about his lost hard work and tons of money to be an Admirals Cup Team member, a guy that is not criticizing everyone until the cows come home, a guy that spends little time on a big personal disappointment and apparently lots of time on the probable positive aspects and then decides to humble himself by giving up the greater recognition he would get in campaigning "Pegasus"; instead just entering the Melges 24 Class where he knows he will probably get a good thrashing from the high talent in that class, BUT it will make him a better competitor in the future! Whaddya know, there are sportsmen like this still on this planet! Good on ya, Philippe! * From David Branigan: Philippe Kahn's article on fund-raising for Sailing is right to a point - when economies are thriving, there is more money for off-the-beaten- track concepts and projects. Recession and slow-down in growth do indeed lead to problems finding sponsorship but this only highlights just how far down the food-chain Sailing is as Kahn rightly points out. However, just because economies do hit problems doesn't mean that Marketing Depts. pack up and hibernate until better times. In fact this is just when the marketeers face their real challenge - to maintain or increase whatever market share they can. To do this, they will closely examine their strategies and the weakest projects will get the chop. But they will also be searching for new opportunities and here is where Sailing has its greatest potential. Unfortunately, this inevitably means that traditional events could be viewed as boring and out-dated, of little interest to mass markets and certain to fail in the big money stakes. Re-positioning the sport to unlock the corporate coffers is fraught with danger, especially when the diversity of sailing and its various personalities is taken into account. Changing the sport to suit fickle markets sounds almost 'apologetic' and for what reason? Definitely a conundrum for the Curmudgeon. * From Peter Carr Simmonds: (Heavily edited to our 250-word limit) - I read with great interest the comments on the cancellation of the Admiral's Cup. This is all to do with big sponsorship money, and the fact that, like so many other sports, it is a professional game. Nonetheless, you have to ask why nobody knows the winner in 1999? The answer is the classic 'Chicken and egg'. Sailing has no exposure in the UK and indeed, there were many more French who knew of our wonderful Ellen MacArthur than ever did in good old England, from whence she hailed! A recent article in the Telegraph newspaper said that some 7,000,000 people took to the water last year, and if you look at that with a view to comparing it to any other participating sport you will find it is miles ahead. In or out of season, and for even the big events, you will see next to no information in either the tabloid or broadsheet newspapers. When Team Philips created their magnificent ground breaking (Water Breaking) boat, the only interest in the British Press was when the bow fell off. They were not writing articles about the bravery of the crew, and the creative efforts of the designers. The sponsos will also have to bring pressure in newspapers to publish daily articles on sailing, and then their money will be well spent. The newspapers will listen, as the sponsors are the ones that pay for all of the advertising they crave! * From Mike Ingham - Enough of the Admirals Cup allready! Its not that we are against it, and I feel bad for the people that put time and energy into it. However, the demise of the Admirals Cup is not the end of competitive sailing as we know it. This effects almost none of us sailors. * From Rod Carr (AMYA Membership #002): When formed in 1970, the American Model Yachting Association (AMYA) organized itself on a one skipper - one vote basis. Association wide issues, as well as specific model yacht class issues are decided by annual votes of member skippers. After 30 years experience with this approach, and now designated as the Radio Control arm of US Sailing, AMYA now sees between 10 and 15% of the membership vote on Association matters, and Class voting is generally in the same percentage range. Election of officers is typically one candidate who has agreed to exchange his enjoyment of the hobby for shuffling papers, registering boats, setting up schedules, or publishing the Quarterly Newsletter. Daily business is effectively carried electronically out by about a dozen individuals who make up the officers and board of directors. The point is that establishing voting by the membership does not necessarily guarantee a dynamic organization that is responsive to the membership. Without the active support and involvement of the membership (10%??) it is difficult to be responsive or proactive. We seem to have wound up in the same place as most special interest organizations do.......propelled by the commitment and energy of a handful who just can't seem to let something die....even though their reward is usually nothing but complaints from the membership. * From Peter Godfrey: 102 'Butt readers have responded with yea or nay votes concerning the question that I posed on 'Butt a few weeks ago about whether or not there is support for an organization that might be called the United States Amateur Sailing Association, with the objective of becoming the governing body for amateur sailing in the US. The results so far are overwhelmingly in favor: 88 for and 14 opposed - and most of the opposed advocated working within US Sailing to fix the problems often discussed on 'Butt. So far, 14 of the 88 yeas have volunteered to be part of a working committee to find a solution, either within or outside of US Sailing. At this stage, ideas are still being collected and collated, and additional input is welcome. Suggestions will be assembled and disseminated to all respondents, following which it is expected that a course of action will be determined through group discussion carried out via email. Anyone interested in participating in this discussion may send suggestions to me at usasa1@optonline.net. CANADIAN YACHTING Great concern has arisen because of the fore-mentioned decision namely because sailors will be racing under "two sets of rules" throughout the season. It has also been suggested that race organizers and officials will have to write two separate sets of sailing instructions. To avoid this, race organizers and officials may use the following in publishing their Sailing Instructions: The CYA/ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing for 1997-2000 will remain in effect until May 31st, 2001 and the Racing Rules of Sailing for 2001-2004 will be in effect from June 1st. As you will see in the new 2001-2004 CYA prescriptions, the System 2 starting sequence (as found in the 1997-2000 rules) can still be used by clubs, if their SI's so state, when the 2001-2004 rules come in to effect. Therefore the 1997-2001 "System 2" can be made applicable in both rule sets, and can be used by clubs on the race course throughout this season. This provision for continuing the old System 2 starting system on a temporary basis has been made so that the new starting system in rule 26 of the 2001-2004 can be phased in over the season. It is strongly recommended that clubs try out the new system since it is hoped that we can all adopt a single starting system around the world rather than having different systems in different places. Canadian Yachting Association website, www.sailing.ca/ HIRING THE RACE This is the second time round for this Ollier-designed cat which was built by the Multiplast yard at the end of 1986/beginning of 1987. In 1993, with Bruno Peyron at the helm, she was the first multihull to sail round the world in under 80 days. * Slava Sysenko, the 47-year-old Ukrainian crewman aboard Tony Bullimore's Team Legato, fractured his leg early today. The highly experienced yachtsman who is a veteran of a previous round the world race, was knocked over by a large wave which broke over the forward netting as he was struggling to reef down a headsail in the strong head winds. "A large wave knocked me off balance." He told the Legato Race Office over the satellite phone. "It pushed me over, but my foot was caught under the headsail and I twisted it badly. According to Team Legato skipper who is also the boat's medical expert, Slava has broken his left Tibia at a point where the bone had been broken in a previous accident some years ago. After being helped back into the shelter of the cockpit, Tony Bullimore applied an anti-inflammatory bandage and splint to the leg, and the Ukrainian is now resting in Tony's bunk in the central god-pod. Tony's first thought was to head directly for Gibraltar just 13 miles ahead, but Sysenko, who has been a key member of Bullimore's team ever since Team Legato was updated in Bristol Docks, will not countenance a stop. Tony Bullimore confirmed "For the moment, I am prepared to bow to Slava's wishes, but if conditions get too bad or I believe that the pain or discomfort he may be feeling gets worse, I will have no hesitation in heading for the nearest port. Event website: www.therace.org THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
