|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2104 - May 30, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.JENSEN WINS FOURTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Dorte Jensen (DEN) won a classic Swedish-Danish final at the Dexia Private Banking ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship on her home waters in Copenhagen, Denmark to lift her fourth World title. She defeated Marie Bjorling (SWE) 3-0 to complete a perfect return to the women’s match racing scene. Not since the 2002 Swedish Match Cup has Jensen competed on the ISAF Graded women’s match racing circuit, but she showed she has lost none of her prowess in front of a huge crowd of spectators in Skovshoved Harbour. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6~Fh`z7r Final Standings: 1. Dorte Jensen (DEN) 2. Marie Bjorling (SWE) 3. Linda Rahm (SWE) 4. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN) 5. Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED) 6. Malin Kallstrom (SWE) 7. Sally Barkow (USA) 8. Claire Leroy (FRA) 9. Nina Braestrup (DEN) 10. Betsy Alison (USA) 11. Christelle Philippe (FRA) 12. Silke Hahlbrock (GER) COLLEGIATE WOMEN'S DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP Working their “home-court” advantage, the College of Charleston women sailors kept their heads down for the final day of racing at the 2006 ISCA National Women’s Dinghy Championship. The payoff for three days of consistent sailing – a first-ever win of this championship crown. The best collegiate women sailors in the nation were hosted by the Cougars at their J. Stewart Walker Jr. Sailing Center where 36 races were run (18 apiece for both A and B-Divisions) on the Cooper River. Final results: 1. Charleston (98-109) 207 2. Georgetown (144-105) 249 3. St. Mary's (150-108) 258 4. Stanford (162-97) 259 5. Dartmouth (162-118) 280 Event website: http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/womens.asp Hot photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/icsa-w/ WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICANS Quantum Women's Sailor of the Year: Alana O'Reilly, College of Charleston Women's All-American: Derby Anderson, Georgetown, Annapolis, MD Molly Carapiet, Yale, Belvedere, CA Sloan Devlin, Harvard Mystic, CT Charlotte Hill, Navy Miami, FL Emily Hill, Yale, Miami, FL Alana O'Reilly, Charleston, Charleston, SC Adrienne Patterson, St. Mary's, Newport Beach, CA Katie Whitman, Navy Folly,Beach, SC Women's Honorable Mention: Tinja Anderson-Mitterling, Hawaii, Coronado, CA Evan Brown, Stanford, Tampa, FL Emily East, Dartmouth, Fairhope, AL Blaire Herron, Georgetown, Coronado, CA Andrea Savage, Charleston, Grosse Point, MI Kaitlin Storck, Tufts, Huntington, NY http://www.collegesailing.org/news/2006allamerica.asp IT WAS RIGGED! – TP52 BREITLING MEDCUP Winning the opening regatta of the Breitling MedCup season - the Punta Ala Trophy - the Warpath team must be congratulated on their sensational win, with Mean Machine and Pinta sailing expertly into 2nd and 3rd place. Using different yacht designers, sail designs, and teams, there’s one common denominator: the top three are all rigged by Southern Spars. First to introduce a 3 spreader configuration to the new generation rigs, Southern designed a rig package to utilize the rule minimum weight and center of gravity, minimize windage, increase section stability, and tune-ability. Find out more on TP52 rigs: http://www.southernspars.com OLYMPIC CLASSES Americans Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding took home a Gold medal from the Holland Regatta for Olympic classes. The pair scored a decisive seven point win over Italy’s Pietro Sibello/ Gianfranco Sibello in the 49er class with the USA’s Tim Wadlow/ Chris Rast finishing seventh in that 30-boat class. The only other American team to finish in the top ten of their respective class was Andy Horton & Brad Nichol who finished in fourth place in the Star Class. Canada’s Christopher Cook finished fifth in the Finn Class as countryman Michael Leigh took tenth in the Lasers. Great Britain won the overall prize for the best nation's performance -- their team took home one gold medal, four silvers and two bronze medals. -- http://hollandregatta.org/2006/results/ * A coach, whose identity has yet to be revealed, is missing believed drowned at the Holland Regatta - one of the big three Olympic class regattas of the European season. Race officials noticed a boat behaving erratically at 1.30 Friday afternoon on the Ijsselmeer off Medemblick. It proved to be a coach boat, under way but unmanned. Organizers know the coach's identity. -- Tim Jeffery, http://tinyurl.com/h77ym UNSTOPPABLE Portsmouth, England May 29, 2006 Mike Sanderson’s (NZ) ABN Amro One, powered through Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by Paul Cayard (USA) to win the sixth in-port race, held in Portsmouth today, making it their fourth in-port race victory of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. In shifty conditions, gusting to 25 knots at times, both ABN Amro One and Paul Cayard’s (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean were quick out of the starting blocks, but had two very different theories on the first leg. ABN Amro One headed right up the race course, whilst The Pirates went hard left. The left hand side of the course was the favored side and Pirates of the Caribbean came strongly into the first mark with a good lead, rounding ahead of ABN Amro One. With the wind building, the boats powered downwind, reaching speeds of the 18-20 knots. Halfway through the race, Pirates of the Caribbean ripped their spinnaker during a gybe. Sanderson and the ABN Amro One crew took advantage and nipped past the Pirates as they struggled to regain control of the boat and the Dutch boat took the lead. After that, ABN Amro One took off and won their fourth in-port race by more than four minutes. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org IN-PORT RACE RESULTS 1, ABN Amro One, 02hrs 14 mins 16 secs 2. Pirates of the Caribbean, 02 hrs 18 mins 30 secs 3. Brasil 1, 02 hrs 22 mins 00 secs 4. ABN Amro Two, 02 hrs 24 mins 56 secs 5. Ericsson Racing Team, 02 hrs 26 mins 55 secs 6. Brunel, 02 hrs 27 mins 44 secs CURRENT LEADERBOARD 1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 84.5 pts 2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 59.5 pts 3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 52.0 pts 4. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 48.5 pts 5. movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 48.0 pts 6. Ericsson Racing Team, Neal McDonald (GBR) 45.0 pts 7. Brunel, Grant Wharington (AUS) 8.0 pts ON HIS DAY OFF . . . ABN Amro One skipper Mike Sanderson and Round the World sailor Emma Richards said "I do" to each other on Thursday in the UK. Emma Richards is a 31 year old British yachtswoman who has taken the sailing world by storm. She is a friendly, hugely popular and yet resolutely modest personality whose exploits in the 2002 - 2003 Around Alone solo yacht race proved she has talent, guts and determination in equal measure. Emma’s long term sponsor, Pindar, have recently purchased the eighteen month old Owen Clark design Open 60 for Emma to sail in a series of high profile races over the next twelve months. 2003 ended on a high when Emma was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list in recognition of her remarkable achievements. -- BYM News, full story: http://www.bymnews.com/new/content/view/29858/48/ THE STARS Annapolis YC -- John Dane and Austin Sperry won the Western Hemisphere Championship without winning single race. Rick Merriman/ Rick Peters won the finale -- their second bullet in the six race series, to rocket the Californians up to fourth place in the championship. Final results (six races with one discard - 42 boats): 1. John Dane/Austin Sperry, 20pts 2 Mark Reynolds/Hal Haenel, 23pts 3. George Szabo/Eric Monroe, 35pts 4. Rick Merriman/Rick Peters, 36pts 5. Erik Lidecis/Michael Marzahl, 43pts http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=792 SPRING IS UPON US! New sails, rigging, a refinished bottom. It’s that time of the year again, to start thinking about the improvements you can make to your boat to enhance the performance for the 2006 sailing season. How about your instruments system? Imagine advantages upgrading your older Ockam system to current specs. Since backward/forward compatibility is a mainstay of Ockam’s design it’s easy to do with Ockam’s trade-up program. We offer trade-in credit for your components towards new product. Ockam’s proven performance means your race winning decisions will be more reliable than ever! Cross the fleet, Contact Ockam for more information. mailto:lat@ockam.com WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR. Rovinj, Croatia (May 28, 2006) -- Chuck Berry would be proud of Johnie Berntsson. The 34-year-old Swede was the embodiment of one of Berry’s signature songs, Johnny B. Goode, in winning the 20th anniversary ACI Adris Match Race Cup, Stage 6 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour. Berntsson, from Stenungsunds Segelsallskap, Sweden (near Gothenburg), completed a wire-to-wire event victory with a 3-1 defeat of Frenchman Mathieu Richard in the final. Berntsson won the round robin with an 18-2 record and his semifinal round 3-2 for an overall record of 24-5. Berntsson and his Team Semcon crew -- Johan Bäckman, Johan Karlsson, Björn Lundgren and Martin Strömberg, won the ACI Match Race Cup Trophy, -approximately $25,000-. $63,000 prize purse and joined a five-way tie for eighth on the World Tour leaderboard with 25 points. -- Sean McNeill, http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/ 2006 ACI Cup Final Standings: 1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) 24-5, (approx. $25,000) 2. Mathieu Richard (FRA) 18-10, (approx. $12,500) 3. Peter Gilmour (AUS) 18-8, (approx. $8,200) 4. Paolo Cian (ITA) 13-7, (approx. $6,300) 5. Björn Hansen (SWE) 13-7, (approx. $3,700) 6. Ian Williams (GBR) 11-9, (approx. $3,100) 7. Philippe Presti (FRA) 9-11, (approx. $2,500) 8. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS), 6-14, (approx. $1,200) 9. Dario Kliba (CRO) 6-14 10. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 4-16 11. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 1-19 World Match Racing Tour Standings (After 6 of 8 Stages): 1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) 63 points 2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) 45 points 3. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 37 points 4. Ed Baird (USA) 32 points T. Gavin Brady (NZL) 32 points 6. Peter Holmberg (ISV) 29 points 7. Ian Williams (GBR) 28 points 8. Jesper Bank (DEN) 25 points T. Dean Barker (NZL) 25 points T. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) 25 points T. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) 25 points T. James Spithill (AUS) 25 points COLLEGIATE NATIONALS Charleston, South Carolina (May 29, 2006) –After two days of racing in the ICSA/Layline National Team Racing Championship, leaders are emerging among the 14 schools, who qualified to be here through conference eliminations. In the Team Race Championship, each college's three-boat team goes up against another's in a round-robin series of matches. Divided into Group A and B and having completed the first round, eight of the 14 schools moved into the gold fleet rounds, with six schools sailing in the Consolation Round. After one complete series in the gold round, standings (win-loss record) are as follows: Harvard (6-1); Georgetown (6-1); Hobart/William Smith Colleges (5-2); Tufts (4-3); So. Florida (3-4); Yale (2-5); St. Mary’s (2-5) and Stanford (0-7). Tomorrow’s final day of racing will see the completion of another round robin among these eight schools to determine the final four to race for the championship. -- Media Pro Int’l, http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring06/ SAILING SHORTS * The Pirates of the Caribbean had three special guests onboard for the Solent in-port race -- Lady Gabriella Windsor, Mackenzie Crook, who stars in Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man's Chest and James Cracknell, Olympic gold medal rowing champion. * Dean Barker and the Emirates Team New Zealand crew on the brand new Warpath got the better of Peter de Ridder’s Mutua Madrileña to win the season’s first Breitling MedCup TP52 regatta, the 19-boat Punta Ala Yacht Club Trophy. Mutua Madrileña which finished secondwas also crewed by sailors from Emirates Team New Zealand. Final results: 1. Warpath (USA), Fred & Steve Howe/ Dean Barker, 27pts; 2. Mutua Madrileña (MON), Peter de Ridder, 33pts; 3. Pinta (GER), Michael Illbruck, 41pts; 4. Caixa Galicia (ESP), 42pts; 5. Cristabella (GBR), 42pts. -- http://www.medcup.org/ * Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's Memorial Day Regatta attracted 140 boats in 18 classes, reveling in winds up to 15 knots with gusts past 20 on Saturday and slightly lighter wind Sunday. A-Cat World Champion Pete Melvin continued his dominance in that single-handed multihull -- scoring a four point win over Olympic medallist Pease Glaser in the twelve boat class. The 14-boat Sabot A Class was won by Nevin Snow of San Diego. -- Complete results: http://www.abyc.org/upload/2006Mem_Day1.htm * Defending champion San Diego Yacht Club retained possession of the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup in the annual competition between Southern California yacht club teams. Only four points separated the top four yacht club teams as Bill Hardesty and crew from SDYC sailed ‘Wings’ to a one-point victory over Larry Harteck’s team from Santa Barbara YC on ‘Repeat Offender.’ The Coronado Yacht Club team helmed by Scott Harris was just one point further back in third place. The event was sailed in J/105s off Point Loma. Complete results: http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results06/lipton_res.html * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has officially ratified Dee Caffari’s new World Record for, “Around the World Westabout - Singlehanded non-stop Women.” Caffari’s elapsed time for the initial World Record in this category was 178 days 3 hours 5 minutes 34 seconds. ATTENTION NEWPORT TO BERMUDA RACERS Now hear this! All crew members of the Bermuda Race, report to Johnny Mac’s website to collect the official Limited Edition print “One Hundred Years of Racing to Bermuda.” Give one as a team gift to your boat’s owner and collect one for yourself. That’s all. As you were! http://www.johnmacgowan.com EIGHT BELLS Master craftsman/ restoration virtuoso Dennis Burnett died at 76 years of age due to complications involved with a stroke. I first met Dennis Burnett in the mid sixties when he was doing the restoration of the Q Boat "Virginia" 1913. His engaging grin, ready laugh and exemplary craftsmanship made him a much sought after wooden boat builder/restorer in Newport Beach, CA. Dennis had a quick wit and a gentle way about him and I had the pleasure of working with him on the construction and restoration of some three large boats in our area as well as several Herreshoff "Rosinante" canoe yawls. Dennis loved sailing his 25' "Hampshire Rose" which he built himself. You always knew the boat because it had a big red rose on the main. "Hampshire Rose" once took first in class in the Newport to Ensenada Race. Dennis was born Nov. 20 1929 in Eastleigh England and crossed the bar on May 5. -- Jay Greer 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. 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, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Jim Gardiner: Movistar sinking? How can a Volvo 70 possibly sink? The rules prescribe more than enough watertight compartments to float the vessel with one or more compartments voided and the keel attached, unless the last man to leave failed to secure the water tight compartments. Sans keel, the cored structure and the near empty water and fuel tanks would provide more than enough buoyancy to float with all the compartments flooded. * From Kurt Jordan, Team Alinghi: The failures on Movistar have had all of us in this profession keeping a keen and concerned eye on the developments, for we all know that similar style yachts are here to stay. I would like to commend Russell Bowler for offering "…to put that (engineering) on the table for anyone to look at." As many of us in the industry might admit, the structural design at the highest end of performance yachting is not an exact science. Much of the development and progress comes from the knowledge of evolution of designs, and failures thereof, which we tend to learn the most from. This offer of openness will help others become more knowledgeable and hopefully accelerate the understanding and reliability of the canting keel yacht. I'd like to publicly ask, so other engineers can benefit, how can we gain access to this information which will inevitably help the industry move forward in a more reliable and safe way? * From Adrian Morgan: As a boat builder myself - albeit small, low tech wooden boats - I have to stand up for those who are sure to be blamed for the movistar loss. I can see the way it's going already: designers and structural engineers say that they checked the figures, and righteously agree that everything was fine, implying the builders were to blame. At least that's the inference. Then the spotlight will turn on the builders who had the task of translating the design into reality, in this case a brand new design with a fiendishly complicated and vital bonding process which had to be perfect to succeed. It's not good enough for designers simply to expect the builder to translate plans into reality: they must recognize that their world of computers and finite analysis is a far cry from the human sweat and toil, atmospheric and temperature changes of a building shed, and less than perfect materials (or get the boats built by robots). If in doubt, blame the builder. It has always been thus. * From Donald Brewster: The Finn Class in Europe in the 60's was an especially contentious arena. For the Gold Cup (I think it was in Poland) one year, a high-cost bond was required for filing a protest. This resulted in hand-to-hand battles, actual physical assaults on the starting line (not so easy when you're the only one in the boat). Through the years, it's been my impression that the very best sailors seem to avoid appearances in protest rooms - to avoid arbitrary settlement of what is better solved by sailing, not arguing. * From Ralph Taylor: Steve Taylor's story is an anomaly, which is why it's newsworthy. There are, most often, too few protests than too many. Often, I come off the water to hear sailors complaining about another competitor's violation of the rules. When I ask, "Did you protest?", I get a blank stare; they didn't. The rules are supposed to be enforced by we sailors, not outside authorities. When we don't act to enforce the rules, we encourage their demise. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS Whether a man winds up with a nest egg, or a goose egg, depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries. Special thanks to Southern Spars, Ockam Instruments, and John MacGowan. |
