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SCUTTLEBUTT #395 - September 13, 1999VOLVO OCEAN RACEThe Oceanic syndicate to be headed by Jim Close, has officially registered for the 2001-2 Volvo Ocean Race, over two years before the start in Southampton, England. Two state-of-the-art Farr VOR 60 yachts will be built side by side, tested and fine-tuned together and both yachts will compete in the race. Oceanic is an extremely exciting and ambitious project, set to achieve three world firsts: 1. A high-speed 300 foot catamaran passenger / car ferry will be used as OCEANIC'S support vessel for the entire race. It has the ability to break world speed records in it's own right, and provide a filming platform in the middle of the ocean, at the same time providing storage of equipment and function as the team's media, hospitality and sponsor trade show centre in the stopover ports. 2. An IMAXO film shot over three years will tell the compelling and dramatic story of OCEANIC - from the boat building, crew selection and the ultimate challenge of man against the sea in the most grueling of team sport events. The film is an original and exclusive idea of this syndicate. 3. It will be the first Australian entry in the 25-year history of the race. Jim Close, is a highly respected yachtsman having an impressive total of 160,000 nautical miles of international ocean racing including three Whitbread round the world races (most recently as watch captain on Kvaerner in 1997-8) and two America's Cup Campaigns. At 31, he displays a professionalism and talent beyond his years. He will lead a crew of up to 30 of the world's best professional sailors. Skipper of the second yacht is 30 year old Nick Moloney, sail maker and sailor with the 'one Australia' team in the last America's Cup and aboard Toshiba in the 1997-8 Whitbread race. The first and only person to cross Bass Strait non-stop on a windsurfer, he is currently preparing for the Mini-Transat single-handed race across the Atlantic. The impressive team includes Andrew Cape, one of the world's best navigators. He was the navigator on 'Toshiba' in the 1997-8 Whitbread, 'One Australia' in the 1995 America's Cup and 'Tokio' in the 1993-4 Whitbread. A highly talented man, he is also entered in the Mini-Transat on a yacht of his own design. Roger Badham, world renown meteorologist for the previous race's winning yacht;, has in the past advised teams in 5 America's Cup's, 3 Whitbread's, 8 Admiral Cup's and 4 Olympics. Colin Beashel and David Giles, Olympic medallists in the Star Class (Colin was also mainsheet trimmer aboard the victorious Australia II in the 1983 America's Cup) will be the coaching team. Twenty-five other crew members will be selected on merit from a pool of young Olympic and America's Cup sailors over a 6 month period and 20,000 miles. Oceanic's training ground will be the formidable Southern Ocean and headquarters will be in Melbourne, Australia. -- Flip Shelton Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.com MAXI ROLEX CUP (Once again, 'Butt has a report from each of the top two maxis racing in Porto Cervo.) -- From Mark Rudiger, navigator, Sayonara - - On the last race day here in beautiful Sardinia, it was "Do or Die" in the ILC Maxi fleet. With only a one point lead on Boomerang, we on Sayonara had to beat them boat for boat to secure a victory from any tie breaker scenario. The race committee selected a Windward/Leeward course and in 14 to 17 knots of NE breeze, we would be pretty well matched with Boomerang in these conditions. Chris Dickson and Tommaso Chiefe set us up for a perfect start after a pre-start dogfight with Boomer and Larry Ellison guided Sayonara efficiently across the line and never looked back. Well not quite, Boomer and Alexia brought up some breeze on the run and gave us some bad air. And then there was the final beat to the finish when after rounding the leeward mark and tacking to starboard to cover Boomerang our port sheet flew off and we had to do a downspeed tack back and then back again. But Tommaso picked the shifts from there and we gained back again. Which was a good thing because five minutes from the line "BANG!", the jib halyard breaks! Jib down, new halyard on, jib back up. Expert crew work saved the day and we glided to safe victory. Sagamore finished 2 feet ahead of Alexia just 40 seconds behind us. Close racing. My hats off to Boomerang and Paul Cayard for providing a close regatta that could have gone either way in the end. For more details and audio reports on this and Big Boat, tune into http://www.teamrudiger.com and www.yccs.it -- From Paul Cayard on Boomerang -- Today was not the best of days for Boomerang. The 16-20 knot winds with choppy seas suited Sayonara better than it suited Boomerang. Sayonara won the race with us taking second. John Coumantaros, steering Boomerang, won the start over Larry Ellison and forced him to tack to port even before the starting signal. We thought the left side would be good but when Sayonara went out to the right for two minutes and then tacked back to starboard they seemed to be pointing higher over the next few minutes. When we tacked to port and the two boats converged, Boomerang had to bear away and cross behind Sayonara. Sayonara led at the first mark and never was threatened. On the second beat to windward, Boomerang tried several tacks but it seemed that Sayonara gained with that exchange. Boomerang had the better score on the windward-leeward races but lost the series by two points due to worse scores on the "coastal" races. Final results: 1. Sayonara (14) 2. Boomerang (16) 3. Alexia (24) 4. Sagamore (27) Event website: http://www.yccs.it/yccs/index.htm STAR WORLDS PUNTA ALA, ITALY (Something like 149 boats) - Final results: 1. Doyle / Olsen, USA, 24 points, 2. Macdonald / Bjorn, CAN, 26, 3. Reynolds / Liljedahl, USA, 37, 4. Hoesch / Fendt, GER, 40, 5. Hagen / Witt, GER, 60, 6. Johansson / Moeller, SUI, 64, 7. Walker / Covell, GBR, 68, 8. Dali / Colaninno, ITS, 70, 9. Van Der Ploeg / Trujillo, ESP, 71, 10. Shiebler / Peters, USA, 73. The event website does not seem to be working: http://www.ouverture.it/ycpa/mondiale.htm ENUF OF THIS RACING To hell with it -- let's go cruising! Let's take off the headfoil and put on a furling system. Which system should we buy? How much will it cost? These and other questions are answered on the Sailing Supply website. Even the curmudgeon could figure out that if the headstay is 33.5 feet, a Harken system was only going to cost $807.50 plus shipping if you bought it from the very competitive Sailing Supply website. But if you have questions and need to talk with a knowledgeable human, Sailing Supply can help there too. (800) 532-3831 / http://www.sailingsupply.com/ LARCHMONT NOOD When the 93 boats competing at the GMC Yukon/Sailing World NOOD Regatta motored to the starting line this morning to sail the final races at this two-day regatta, many class leads were riding on thin points margins: Points ties settled the top-three standings in six out of eleven classes, and racers only hoped for the right weather conditions to give them the horsepower they needed to move ahead of their opponents. But if wind velocity was what they needed, the weatherman never complied. If a strong tactical game in light, shifty air was what they wished for, that wish was certainly granted. The fleet at the Larchmont NOOD, hosted September 11-12 by the Larchmont Yacht Club, finished this regatta in a light four- to five-knot easterly that clocked into the southeast. Once the breeze settled into the southeast, it still contained oscillations of approximately 20 degrees and became a tactician's nightmare or a tactician's delight-depending on what side of the shifts you found yourself on. The three championship classes of J/105s, J/44s, and J/92s began racing on Friday, September 10, and completed one light-air race in 3 to 6 knots. The balance of the fleet began racing on Saturday, September 11, in northwesterly breezes that ranged 4 to 11 knots. The three championship fleets completed four races. All other classes sailed a three-race series. -- Cynthia Flanagan Goss Complete results: http://www.sailingworld.com YES -- IT'S FREE! To subscribe to Scuttlebutt, or to add a new or different address, just send a blank email to: join-scuttlebutt@earth.lyris.net LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Graham Kelly -- I enjoy the report from the NZ Times regarding the Olympic campaign mounted by Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith. I was also interested by the tone of the NZ Times article, which suggested that there is something "wrong" or unpatriotic in the fact that the three Olympic hopefuls are working for the Italian PRADA AC challenge. The article ignores the fact that the services of these individuals were presumably available to the NZ defense, which chose not to employ them. It also seems to take the archaic "prince or pauper" perspective of the movie "Chariot of Fire", that sport should be the realm of rich men who can afford to dedicate their entire energy to sailing, or those who are willing to forego their economic interest in pursuit of sailing, and are therefore paupers. As one who sailed for several years in the latter category, I say more power to Rod Davis and company. I doubt that many of their NZ countrymen are happy to sell either their assets or their services to the lowest bidder, and these three, and their families should not be forced to live in poverty to support an illusory vision of patriotism, especially in view of the rumors regarding secret payoffs to highly placed NZ sailors after the last America's Cup, in breach of the "vow of poverty" which was a factor in assembling the NZ team, and the substantial revenue stream generated in NZ by the upcoming AC. -- From James Nichols (Regarding Tom Ehman's comments in 'Butt #394) -- Ohhh . . . good one! I never thought of it that way, but yeah: getting a whole NFL team dressed at the same time is WAY more technically and logistically challenging than an AC campaign. And the other team has to get dressed too! And the referees! And when was the last time a whole stadium full of fans showed up buck naked? Mind boggling. To continue apace, I agree wholeheartedly vis a vis the heartbreaking spectacle of guys like Dennis and Paul passing their tin cups to scrape together enough spare change to do another Cup. Sayyyyyy . . . why don't we put another box to check off on the Oh, wait; you're saying that the problem is, there's only a Cup every three years. Well we could have the same box on the tax return, but file a return every month, and then there would be money coming in every month, and none of those guys would ever need real jobs again. I think we're on to something here. MAJORICA ONE TON CUP, COREL 45 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SPAIN - It's Faster K-Yote II the winner of the solid silver trophy first awarded 100 years ago by the Cercle de la Volie de Paris. The red Corel 45 owned by German Ortwin Kandler (with a French crew) won the Majorica One Ton Cup - Corel 45 ISAF World Championship - in the last day of races by scoring two second places in two very demanding and tough races. Races 10 and 11 have been sailed in a southwesterly sea breeze building up to 15 knots. Playing different tactical options in the first windward leg of first race Atalanti X and Faster K-Yote II rounded first mark respectively first and fifth with British Babbalas being in second position. Just after mark rounding La Casera could get in front of Atalanti X as the Greek boat hadn't her spinnaker sheet tied after a sail change and had to drop it to recover the accident. On the second beat the first four boat went on controlling each other: at that moment the wind was increasing a little bit and the right side of the sail area proved to be better so Babbalaas and Faster K-Yote rounded the windward mark one in front of the other while La Casera and Atalanti X finished respectively third and fourth: the four boats kept on controlling each other and they finished in the same order. After the tenth race Atalanti X was still 2 points ahead Faster K-Yote II: The race starts with a with circling between the two and goes on with a tight control: for most part of the race the German Corel 45 in in front of the fleet while La Casera and Indulgence take advantage of the situation and can round the marks between the two. At the finishing line British Indulgence is in front of Faster K-Yote II while La Casera in in front of Atalanti. The two contenders scored the same points. But the winner is Faster K-Yote II because she could break the tie thanks to the two second place finishes - they both had three first places. - Laura Jelmini Final results: 1. Faster K-Yote 2, Germany, O. Kandler/B. Pace (France), 1-5-6-5-4-7-4-1-1-2-2, (26 points) 2. Atalanti X, Greece, G. Andreadis/J. Schuemann (Germany), 5-1-5-4-1-3-1-5-3-4, (26) 3. La Casera, Spain, E. Jaudenes/G. Weisman (USA), DSQ-2-7-3-5-1-3-6-5-3-3, (31) 4. Babbalaas, Great Britain, D. McLean/E.Warden-Owen, 7-6-9-2-2-2-8-4-6-1-7, (36). 5. Investor, Sweden, T. Blixt, 3-3-3-6-7-5-5-7-2-6-6, (39) 6. Indulgence, Great Britain, T.Buckingham, 2-10-10-9-84-6-3-10-5-1, (48) 7. Cavale Bleu, France, M. Duquenne/F. Brenac, 6-9-1-1-6-6-7-8-8-8-8, (51) 8. Bounder, Great Britain, Chris Little/J. Robinson, 9-4-2-10-10-9-2-7-7-9, (51) 9. Aifos, Spain, Armada Espagnola, SAR Felipe de Borbon, 4-8-4-7-3-8-9-9-4-9-5, (52) 10. Mallorca Yachting, Spain, J. Jaudenes, 8-7-8-8-910-10-10-19-10-DNS, (79) http://www.sailing.org/corel45/ GUEST COMMENTARY -- Ewan McEwan I have just been judging at the Corel 45 World Championships in Mallorca, which this year was also designated as the class event for the 100th One Ton Cup. The event was unusual in that the Spanish national federation, the class association and the organisers arranged for the International Jury to provide a Direct Judging system. This provided for all protests between competitors for rules in RRS Part Two, - When Boats Meet, to be resolved on the water using a hybrid of the RRS Appendix C - Match Racing Rules and RRS Appendix D - Team Racing Rules, selecting the relevant rules to compile a Direct Judging appendix. This was then added to a relatively normal set of fleet Sailing Instructions. The five member International Jury, plus appointed class measurer, included three International Umpires with considerable on-the-water decision making experience. The judges, based in three power-boats, pursued the fleet selecting potential incident points around the course. In all nineteen protests were dealt with by the Direct Judging system with a total of seven penalties awarded as a result of those protests. Both the number of protests 'lodged' and the number of penalties awarded were fairly evenly distributed across the fleet with no particular competitor overly 'lodging' protests or receiving penalties. At the initial skippers' briefing there was some concern voiced by competitors who where not familiar with forms of on-the-water protest decision making systems. By the end of the championship, however, even the most sceptic agreed there were at least some merits of Direct Judging. Some soundings were taken, using a few evaluation questions, on the views of competitors of the Direct Judging system at the end of the event. There was overall satisfaction with the system although there were several suggestions for improvements including; more jury boats, better signalling systems, and ensuring that all jury members were well versed in tactical scenarios, race strategy and on-the-water decision making for protests. A summary of the pros and cons for Direct Judging are as follows: PROS 1. Competitors know where they stand after each incident. 2. Results on the water are rarely changed, allowing for spectators, sponsors, and the press to be confident of those results. 3. Evenings are generally free of protest hearings, allowing for more palatable activities. CONS 1. The judges will not necessarily see every incident. 2. The judges will occasionally make errors resulting in either an incorrect 'dismissal' of a protest or the issuing of an incorrect penalty (although using the two judge decision-making method these are generally reduced to Type I errors - 'dismissal' rather than incorrect penalties). 3. Event costs are increased with expenses incurred on judge boat provision. Overall the feeling of competitors was very positive towards the use of Direct Judging. Luc Pillot, French Olympic Gold Medallist in the 470 class, sailing as tactician at the event commented: "It [the Direct Judging system] is much better. All competitors are more careful on the water. We do not loose time for protests [hearings] after sailing. The answer for the protest made on the water is more consistent than a protest made after sailing in the protest room. As a competitor I would not like to come back to a normal system." Obviously Direct Judging systems are not for all. Each class and event should make their own decision, but I believe the system does offer several advantages that may appeal to some. I would welcome comment from both competitors and officials on the issues of Direct Judging and I would be pleased to provide information to anybody who would like further information. Please contact me at ewanmcewan@compuserve.com -- Ewan McEwan, GBR, ISAF IU/RYA NJ AWESOME NEW STUFF One of the latest designs to leave the Camet International testing waters is the Camet 4000 Breathable Smock. Its features include a water-resistant material that allows moisture to escape, while keeping the wind and water out. It has an adjustable elastic waist strap and a soft form fitting Polartec collar with a LycraR velour inner surface. The smock is lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear in any type of condition. This one you gotta see: http://www.camet.com AMERICA'S CUP * AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND (12 September 1999)-Today US President William J. Clinton met members of the five American syndicates who are in Auckland, New Zealand vying for the right to challenge the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for the America's Cup. This is the first time since President John F. Kennedy visited the America's Cup Races held off Newport, R.I. in 1962 that a US President has met competitors on-site. -- Heather M. Pike, ACCA, http://www.louisvuittoncup.com * The Swiss IACC yacht, Be Happy, touched down at Auckland Airport last night, after the Russian Antonov aircraft carrying her was given special permission to land during the logjam of Apec. The massive freight plane had to make a quick turnaround to avoid getting in the way of VIP aircraft taking international leaders home. Fast2000's yellow boat was put straight on a truck and driven to Westhaven late last night, where it will be finished off in a boatyard. Hawaii's boats arrived by more conventional method, on the back of a container ship. The uncovered hulls moved through downtown Auckland in a motorcade to rival Clinton's, showing off the whale and dolphin murals on their sides. -- Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ * Eric Steinberg called our attention to some great photos of America True posted on the website listed below. These are big images, and big jpg files, so it will take a while for you to download them all but it's worth the wait: http://sportdrinker.net/enzedsail.html. SNIPE WORLDS SANTIAGO DE LA RIBERA, SPAIN - Final results: 1. Nelido Manzo / Octavio Lorenzo, CUB, 24.75 points, 2. Andre Fonseca / Rodrigo Duarte, BRA, 31.75, 3. Fernando Rita / Javier Sintes, ESP, 36, 4. Aureliano Negrin / David Martin, ESP, 45.75, 5. Carlos Martinez / Alberto Vadell, ESP, 57.25, 6. Ricardo Fabini / Ignacio Saralegi, URU, 68, 7. Bruno Bethlem / Fernando Krahe, BRA, 73, 8. Valery Ushkov / Mikhail Vedenev, RUS, 77, 9. Augie Diaz / Gonzalo Diaz, USA, 78, 10. Damian Borras / Juan Magro, ESP, 79, 11. George Szabo/ Eric Wiscox, USA 93. Complete results and photos : http://www.arrakis.es/~snipe/worlds99 FARR 40 WORLDS SAN FRANCISCO, CA-World Champion Jim Richardson scored two wins in the three races of the second day, but Italy's Vincenzo Onorato was the day's top skipper, scoring first, second and third places in the Farr 40 World Championship. This performance lifted Onorato's Mascalzone Latino from fifth to equal second in the overall standings, but Richardson's Barking Mad is still four points clear in the lead. It was a day with a full test of weather conditions in the Berkeley Circle area of the Bay where the races are held - an increasing south-westerly, with a tendency to back, gave winds of from 10-32 knots as the day progressed. Yet, it was the same crews who produced the top results on the majority of occasions, although there were opportunities for all to shine, as they proved, and for the 'stars' to stop shining. - Bob Fisher Results: After five races: 1. Barking Mad, Jim Richardson (USA) 1-2-8-1-1 13 points 2. Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato (ITA) 5-6-1-2-3 17 3. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy (USA) 3-1-2-6-5 17 4. Southern Star, John Calvert-Jones (AUS) 7-5-3-8-2 25 5. Blue Chip, Walter Logan 6-4-7-4-6 27 6. Flyer Doug Mongeon, 4-7-6-11-11 39 Compete results: http://www.stfyc.com/race-office/99race/99raceresults.html WEB MAGIC You can tune in right now for an audio report from the Farr 40 Worlds taking place at St Francis YC. Matt Jones will be updating the action directly from the course, and making it available on Mark Rudiger's website: http://www.teamrudiger.com/frame.html THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Just what is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free? |
