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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 905 - September 20, 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, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
AMERICA'S CUP Next door at Oracle (Base 2), a second IACC boat shed is being built (alongside the first and is of similar dimensions) and a new Stars and Stripes had been raised on the flagpole at the apex of the former American Express yacht club moored at the front of the base. For the first time, the yacht club was occupied on a normal operational basis. The lights were on and a meeting appeared to be in progress on the upper floor. The former Swiss base (Base 3), which is now occupied by Mascalzone Latino remains empty. Further along syndicate row, OneWorld Challenge (Base 4) is currently extending the length of one of its boat sheds by about two-thirds. The shed is adjacent to the double shed in which USA 55 and USA 51 are stored. At this stage, it appears that the shed will no longer serve as an IACC boat shed for the "roof to ground" gap at the front for doors is absent. Construction materials litter the forecourt. The exterior of the Alinghi "dream box" (Base 5), which include two tall IACC boat sheds, appears to be substantially complete although finishing details and the interior remain to be completed. It extend the entire width of the double site (the former Nippon and Le Defi bases) from hard on the boundary with TNZ to the OWC base at the other end, The exterior top half of the building is covered with a pink translucent cladding which changes in tones of pink according to the light. The official opening is scheduled for December. Nothing to indicate about the Team New Zealand base (Base 6). A priori, it should stay such as during the previous edition. Construction of the GBR-Challenge buildings (Base 7) is now complete. The buildings comprise a single IACC boat shed with a large GBR signage (about the same dimensions as the old America True shed) and a separate adjacent one storey sail loft. Adjacent to the GBR base, the exterior of the Swedish Victory Challenge building (Base 8) is now complete and are currently painted black with the sides a light grey. It comprises a tall IACC boat shed with the roof sloping down on one side to incorporate an administrative area and sail loft. Bases 9 and 10 - illbruck Challenge and Stars & Stripes - are currently being utilised by ACVL for hardstand and haulout for local and visiting boat owners. The western end of the island is to start development of marina facilities for three berths. A base for Le Défi Français ? - Haurake News, www.chez.com NAUTOR CHALLENGE (Sue Pelling interviewed the Nautor Challenge's Grant Dalton for the Yachting World website. Here are just three of those questions with Dalton's answers.)
Q: When do you think you are going to achieve optimum performance from the Frers?
Q: Was Lisa McDonald involved in the choice of boat?
Q: How would you describe the living accommodation on board the Frers?
Full interview: http://www.yachting-world.com/
CALIBRATION
RULE CHANGE McDonald argued that the women were disadvantaged on physiological grounds. "The average weight of one of the guys in a male crew is 80kg and the average for a girl is 65kg. That's a lot. It's a person, all their food, personal and safety gear. This is a race where all the little things add up." McDonald approached the race committee last week to see if they could carry an extra person. Race chief executive, Helge Alten, said the committee were open-minded if McDonald got the signatures of the other skippers. "We don't have a problem with changing the rules,"said Alten, "if everyone agrees and it benefits the race." Though they signed McDonald's request, fellow American John Kostecki of Illbruck and Norway's Knut Frostad of djuicevoiced dissent. "No one was going to be the first to refuse, so it went through," said Frostad. "But yes, it is an advantage. Having an extra crewmember is always good. If it was a male team who asked for an extra crew member, our answer would not have been the same." Kostecki holds similar views: "The rule is 12 people, so my reaction? Kind of happy, but not really. I was a little disappointed that this came about at the last moment. The future perhaps is a rule where there is a maximum weight and you can bring in as many people as you like up to that weight." It is the last-minute timing that rankles. Alten confirmed that when the class rule was reviewed after the race four years ago, the women in the EF Education campaign wanted no change, even though they had made a similar request to carry 13 people in the last Whitbread. - Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, UK Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Mark Findlay: Mr Ouellette 'enhancements' to the Etchells weight rules have a few problems: Point no.1 (Any crew within 20% of the weight limit will be subject to reweighing during the regatta) is actually part of the class rules anyway and the idea of having everyone reweigh is I believe to stop any illegal change of crew. Point no.2 (Each day, choose 10 crews to reweigh) was what happened at the worlds and the list was posted in the morning as that made weighing crews in the morning easier. Point no.3 Re-weighing in the afternoon brings us back to the thread that ran a while ago on dehydration. I have never done a regatta where I have been underweight leaving the dock and over weight after the race. The reverse however would be able to be applied to many crews in many classes. Point no.4 Why reweigh the prize spots after all this. It would have been a bigger gamble to try and get through the regatta over weight! What would happen with a protest situation? How long would you wait to know who were the winners were? Maybe the winners could stand on the scales whilst receiving their prizes. I quote Mr Ouellette "I think that this system ensured that all boats raced within the crew weight limits". He is referring to the system used at the worlds in Lymington. One really has to question his reasons for these attempted 'enhancements'. Don't fix what already works. * From Rolf Gyhlenius: As a member of the design team and responsible for the 11:Metre One Design Class rule I have noticed the trouble with managing the weight rule both for race organizer and crews. It has to be easier both to organize regattas and race the boats. Therefore I have proposed a rule change in the 11:Metre One Design Class rule for next year. "If a crew is found to be overweight in a regatta the boats shall be penalized with 1 % for each kilogram at all races sailed before the weight checkup which can be done at every given time during a regatta. This crew shall then meet a new legal weight by either change of crewmember(s) or reduce the number of the crew". With this rule it is not necessary to have a weight in procedure for all sailors and it makes no sence hurt yourself with either food or drinks prior to a regatta.
AROUND ALONE Around Alone is due to start on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean in September 2002, with stopovers in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and South America before returning to the start port. Originally known as The BOC Challenge, Around Alone was first staged in 1982-83 and has been held every four years since.- Dan McConnell, www.aroundalone.com
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Paul Cayard on the Volvo Ocean Race
ONE-DESIGN
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * September 21-23: R.W.Baird & Co. J35 North American Championship, Bayview YC. www.byc.com/bychost/j35index.htm * Because of the 'chaotic nature of air travel,' US Sailing's 2001 Championship of Champions regatta, originally scheduled for October 10-14, at the Cabrillo Yacht Club has been postponed until sometime early next year. - www.ussailing.org/championships/CofC/
VOLVO OCEAN RACE "The race rules require the person in charge to give reasonable access to other syndicates to satisfy themselves that the boat complies with the race rules. The exercise yesterday was to give a bit of structure to it," commented the Volvo Ocean Race's Director of Race operations, Michael Woods. It was feared that this opening of the doors might be taken in the wrong spirit with irate crews filing protests with their newfound knowledge, but thankfully no disputes have resulted - for the moment at least. - James Boyd, Volvo Ocean Race website Full story: www.volvooceanrace.org
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The events management team for the Volvo Ocean Race - formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race - has been booked into the Somerset Grand Metropolis all-suite hotel while it is in Auckland. Helicopters and planes are being laid on for visiting journalists. Auckland City chief executive Bryan Taylor has refused to divulge the hotel accommodation budget, except to say ratepayers will not be picking up any meals, mini bar or entertainment costs. Auckland ratepayers are already ploughing $1.5 million into the 24-day stopover and the council has contributed the full $600,000 it received from Team New Zealand to promote the Viaduct Harbour and help run the next America's Cup. That leaves a funding gap of $2.77 million. Volvo project manager Virginia Terpstra told the city attractions committee yesterday that the cost to ratepayers would not exceed $1.5 million but provided no revised figures to back it up. - Bernard Orsman, NZ Herald Full story: www.nzherald.co.nz
SONAR WORLDS
IWKC Defending Rolex IWKC champion Pat Connerney (Middletown, R.I.) will return to try and reclaim her crown. Among the skippers she will face are two of her winning '99 crew: Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.) and Melissa Ferdinandi (Jamestown, R.I.). Connerney's other two crew from '99, Kim Hapgood (Newport, R.I.) and Louisa Boatwright (Providence, R.I.), will sail with her again. Rounding out the team is 1988 Olympic Gold Medallist and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Lynne Shore. Five-time Rolex IWKC champion and five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) also will return to competition after sitting out the '99 event. She will serve as tactician aboard West Coast sailor Deneen Demourkas' entry. Demourkas (Santa Barbara, Calif.) has already made an impression in the ultra-competitive Farr 40 class helming her Groovederci. This will be the first international regatta for her aboard J/22s and in such distinguished company. In addition to Alison, there are six other Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year in the fleet, making this one of the deepest talent pools of any regatta, anywhere in the world. For a boat stacked with talent, look no farther than Cory Sertl's team. The 1995 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Sertl from Rochester, N.Y., has recruited one of 2000's most celebrated sailors, Olympic 470 women's Silver Medallist and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Pease Glaser (Long Beach, Calif.), as her tactician. Rounding out her team are 1987 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Susan Dierdorff-Taylor (Annapolis, Md.) and accomplished coach and one-design sailor Dina Kowalyshyn (Annapolis, Md.). Returning for her second time as skipper in the Rolex IWKC is 1996 Olympic Europe Bronze Medallist and two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Courtenay Dey (Westerly, R.I.). Hers is another boat packed with hot names including America's Cup competitor Suzy Leech (Avon, Conn.) and Adams Cup champion Linda Wennerstrom (Key Biscayne, Fla.). They will be joined by Clemmie Everett (Greenwich, Conn.), who, at 17, is making her debut in international women's competition. - Dana Paxton, www.annapolisyc.com/rolexkeelboats, www.ussailing.org/riwkc
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
