|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1659 - September 1, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest 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. OLYMPIC ANALYSIS Two medals in 11 classes equals the worst performance by American sailors in the Olympics since World War II. As recently as a dozen years ago, American sailors claimed a record nine medals in Spain. In 1984, the American team won seven off Long Beach. "We can do better," three-time Olympic medalist Mark Reynolds said yesterday. Reynolds, who lost the Star berth this time around to Paul Cayard, cites a number of factors for the American team's struggle in Greece. "One of the biggest reasons is that the rest of the world is getting better," Reynolds said."And sailing has become a much bigger sport in Europe than here in the United States. That fact has helped lead to European sailors having more sponsors and financial support than sailors from the United States." Other factors include the unusual conditions that greeted the sailors in Greece and the fact that many of this nation's top sailors are off making money sailing in such competitions as the America's Cup. "There isn't one reason, but there are plenty of reasons," Reynolds said. "I remember when I was comparing budgets with the British team before the Sydney Olympics, they had about four times to spend what we had." "Many countries also focus on fewer sailors," Reynolds said. "They decide early who has the best shot in each class and support them as a national team. Here, the United States' way is to have a wide-open trials with the winner going to the Olympics." - Excerpt from a story by Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, full story: www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20040831-9999-lz1s31boat.html WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE - Peter Huston I think the US Sailing Team would benefit from 'butt running a thread on readers giving their top five things they think should be done to help the US get back to consistent, long term medal superiority. Here's mine... 1 - Take a page from the US Ski Team, create a development program that puts less experienced, but highly motivated (notice I didn't say younger, maybe there's some old folks who'd like to this too) sailors in classes with strong US participation where there is also good international competition, Laser Radial, Lightning, J22 Hobie 16, 505, Snipe. Benefit would be alot less money needs to be spent to gain experience in tough fleets because you stay on this continent. Then, a year before the next Games send them to a few big Olympic Class regattas, and of course the US Trials. Basically, start a US Sailing Team Development cmte. 2 - Create a "High Performance Race Weekend" series that travels the country for classes selected for the Development team, Olympic boats as appropriate. Bring in coaches that help anyone who shows up, run drills part of the time, race part of the time. Have fun all the time. 3- Again, take another page from the US Ski Team, and figure out why it is that they have been able to get a high quality group of sponsors. Hint, get Bill Martin to broker a meeting with some key members of the US Ski Team Foundation, like Thomas Weisel and Jack Kemp. 4 - Designate a couple of key clubs as official US Sailing Team Training Centers. These clubs should have ample facilities to host qualified potential Olympians on a long term basis, at no or minimum cost. Benefit to all is a concentration of talent and resources. 5 - US Sailing Foundation should target donations of boats and equipment for development classes. OCKAMSOFT 4 READY TO RACE OckamSoft 4 demo downloads are now available at the Ockam website. OS4 offers a unique combination: powerful but user friendly. All modules may be downloaded at our website - with several components requiring no registration, including the powerful OS4 Driver (logging, control, polar server, special BIF calculations. etc.). Updates include Maptech BSB type chart compatibility, a NMEA translator for interfacing the program directly with a GPS or non-Ockam instrumented boat, "Eye" wireless PDA module and much more. It's all waiting at http://www.ockam.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE Phil (Trinter) and I are truly blessed to have had the opportunity to race in the Olympics and represent our country. With so many people around the world experiencing difficult times, this must not be overlooked. For me, the biggest reward out of this will be if I succeeded in demonstrating to my children how much hard work goes into trying to achieve lofty goals. Afterall, as parents, our biggest job is to set an example, and I hope that my children, 14 and 15 years old, know a little bit more about what it means to work really hard for something. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who supported and followed our efforts over the past few years. I have seen it written in several articles that I spent over $100K of my own money on this effort. This is true but that money was spent just preparing and winning the Olympic Trials. I want to make it known that since I won the Olympic Trials, all my expenses have been covered. These amounted to another $125K. The bulk of this funding came from US Sailing and the St. Francis Yacht Club Foundation with an additional $10K raised around the Lorain OH area, Phil's home town. Also, the New York Yach Club fundraiser in May was a great success and needless to say, all these funds were very much appreciated!!! - Paul Cayard * I've seen other sailors demonstrative at the finish. The Greek 470 girls capsized their boat and stood on the upturned hull. Shirley and the Sarahs jumped into the Saronic Gulf off their Yngling, yet I find it difficult to do these things. You've put in so much effort over so long a period deliberately trying not to get too excited, trying to temper your emotions into some sort of equilibrium, that it's actually hard to suddenly let the brakes off. When I finished I was still numb with shock. I was so focused on the race and on doing the right things. You don't really snap out of that mindset immediately. Physically as well, you use up a lot of reserves. Adrenalin gets you through the aches and pains, so that your body doesn't give up on you. But just how draining and exhausting an Olympics can be is probably something only other athletes really understand. - GBR Finn Gold medal winner Ben Ainslie from a story in The Telegraph, full story, http://tinyurl.com/6mgea RUMOR MILL The UK-based Mariantic website has posted an excerpt from a story by Ed Gorman of the London Times that states, "there is a possibility that Iain Percy, the Finn class gold medal-winner at the Sydney Olympics, may yet join the GBR Challenge after deciding two months ago to work with a new Italian America's Cup team instead. It appears Percy is less than satisfied in Italy and despite their public dust-up with him when he decided to sign with the Italian +39 syndicate, the British team are keen to speak to him again." We are not sure how he can be "less than satisfied in Italy " as he has been at the Olympics since it was announced he was joining +39... Also rather far fetched, we think, is this paragraph; "Even more intriguing is their hope to speak again to Ben Ainslie, the triple Olympic medal-winner who won his second gold medal in the Finn class at Athens and who has joined Team New Zealand (TNZ) for the next Cup as a helmsman. Although Ainslie is thought to be under contract to TNZ, the GBR Challenge has not given up hope of luring him back to Britain." - www.mariantic.co.uk/ac/six.htm WHEW! IT'S BEEN ALMOST 20 YEARS! In January, Team One Newport will celebrate 20 years of helping sailors get the best performance sailing gear! We have had a lot of fun in doing so. We are working on our 2005 Anniversary catalog and looking for anyone who might have their favorite Team One Newport story that we can share with the world. Send the story to martha@team1newport.com and be sure to visit http://team1newport.com or call 800-VIP-GEAR for our latest catalog for the best sailing gear around. See Henri-Lloyd, Gill, Musto, Kaenon, Camet, Railriders, Native Eyewear, Harken, Patagonia, Kavu and more! THE REST OF THE STORY Wild behavior is nothing new to the Olympic Games, where extraordinary performance has never been limited to the fields of play. Part marketing blitz, part political stagecraft and part ritualized battle, the Olympics are also, at their core, a spectacular physical display: 10,000 examples of the perfect human form, in motion. It's the reason the original Olympians in ancient Greece competed nude. The secret of the modern Olympics is that the athlete village, with its tightly packed collection of firm young bodies, 24-hour sports television and all-you-can eat international cuisine, has become the most exclusive VIP club in the world. It's "a two-week-long private party for thousands of hard-bodies," says Nelson Diebel, an American swimmer who won gold twice in Barcelona. Like a mirage, the village appears in the middle of an exuberant host city for two weeks every two years. Open only to competitors, coaches and trainers, it's a wonderland of hormones, glycogen and dance mixes. The free dining hall is open 24/7. Vending machines dispense free soft drinks. Pool halls, cinemas, bowling alleys and discos stay open - and jumping - throughout the night. "It's like adult Disney World for two weeks," says Christo Doyle, a television executive who was the assistant venue logistics manager for Atlanta's village in 1996. "In Atlanta there were private concerts with big music stars, a free video arcade and all these ripped athletes riding around on free mountain bikes that BMW had given them." The latest attraction is free internet service, which Marco Buechel, an alpine ski racer who competes for Liechtenstein, put to good use in Salt Lake City. "You can contact any athlete, even if you don't know them at all," says Buechel. "They give you a list when you get there. Everybody uses it. I saw this beautiful ski racer, from Greece of all places. She had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I saw her at the village and sent her an e-mail, in English. Her reply was very short: 'Not good English. Want meet you.'" According to Buechel, he and the Greek beauty made arrangements to meet soon after. "We tried to talk, which wasn't very successful," says Buechel, "and then we started to drink, which was much more successful." And? "It was very beautiful," he says. "A beautiful international incident." - There is a lot more to this story: http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=814602004 NEWS BRIEFS * Subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, a new Bermuda to Plymouth record has been set by the 43 ft Trimaran Mollymawk sailed by Ross Hobson and a crew of two. Mollymawk sailed the 2870 nm course in 14 days 6 hours 12 minutes 50 seconds for a average speed of 8.38 knots. This betters the previous record set in 1974 by Eric Tarbarly in Pen Duick VI -14d 20h 15m 12s.- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/ * Within hours of arriving home from Greece, Athen's Olympic sailing judge Ralph Roberts was honoured as one of the four inaugural inductees to a new Business Hall of Fame in New Zealand. Roberts was awarded the honour by Auckland-based economic development agency Enterprise North Shore, recognizing business people whose efforts have had a positive effect on the city's economy and community. Roberts, a former Olympic sailor and 1992 chef de mission, and international judge and president of the Takapuna Boating Club, is managing director of electrical company Roberts Electrical, a family firm established 77 years ago. * Devoti Sailing has reason to be proud of their Olympic accomplishments. Having built all of the Finns competing in the Olympics, it was expected Devotis would sweep the medals in that class. However, only five of the Olympic Stars were Devoti Lillia boats, so it was pretty amazing that all three medals in that class were taken by Devoti Lillia boats. And although Devoti is not a licensed builder of the Yngling, GBR Gold medalist Shirley Robertson took delivery of a bare hull from Abbot and asked Devoti to add the final magic. A good Olympic record indeed. - www.devotisailing.com/ * The Transpac 52 Class is sponsoring a logo contest for the mainsails. All Scuttlebutt readers are eligible to win the 1st place prize if their design is selected by the owners. All designs become the property of the TP 52 Class. Successful designs should look to encompass the TP 52 box rule concept. Deadline is Friday September 10th. Winning entry announced after the September 15th TP 52 Owners Meeting in San Francisco. Please submit your finished design to TP 52 Executive Director Tom Pollack at tpollack@msn.com YALE, WHEN THERE'S A LOT ON THE LINE Yale Cordage, official supplier to the US Sailing Team, extends congratulations for an outstanding effort in Athens. Great job by all, with special congratulations to Paul Foerster, Kevin Burnham, John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree for podium finishes-they look great in Gold and Silver! For the fastest line anywhere: http://www.yalecordage.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 Ronnie R McCracken: Michael Moore's letter in Scuttlebutt 1658 appears to be missing the point about discard races. The proposal is not for Club series over a number of weeks but for Championship Regattas that last 6/7 days and have 6+ races in that period. These would include National, Continental and World Championships. What other sport allows you to discard your worst score, not golf, tennis or any other sport immediately comes to mind. Could you imagine the Brazilian marathon runner who was bundled out of the lead by a deranged former Irish Priest and finished third asking for redress and then having the marathon rerun the same afternoon so that the closing ceremony could proceed. There is the need to move with the times and now is the time to experiment to see if it is worthwhile changing the discard system before the 2008 Olympics and the 2009~2012 Rules come into force. * From Nicholas Stark: While obviously extremely athletic competitions, Olympic events like Gymnastics and Figure Skating have to be considered "Spart"....part sport, part art, as art is subjectively judged. Right now, with a drop race, Sailing becomes something like "Spart" because you essentially get a "do over". While Olympic judges are all competent and dedicated, they aren't as immersed in their field of endeavor as are Olympic athletes, who tend to live their involvement in the Games on a 24/7/365 basis. Therefore, being human, and less perfect in the specialty than the athletes, judges are going to make mistakes, and athletes have to accept this fact as one of the variables that makes up the winning or losing equation. Don't you think the Marathoner who was attacked as he was leading the race would like a do-over so he could get a chance at his Gold instead of the Bronze he won? Beyond the Olympics, getting rid of the throwout in other regattas will tend to lessen the aggressiveness on the race course and the last race match race. Why do some sailors want to debase the value of our sport by insisting that it be a "spart"? * From Bill Gladstone: (re Michael Moores' comments on keeping throwouts in Olympic scoring to protect against bad luck and misfortune): I wonder if we should take it a step further: In a long regatta, throw out the high and low scores to reduce the impact of good luck and bad. * From Colin Davis: The arrangements for spectators at Agios Kosmos were appalling. Having traveled half way around the world to view the sailing and finding no chance of viewing the racing even with the most powerful binoculars. Entry was denied to the sailing centre on the pretext of security requirements. However I was able to enter Athens with out having to show a passport. One spectator craft requiring $A198.00 to visit 4 sailing areas is simply unsatisfactory. ISAF should explore these issues and unless the host country can offer reasonable access they should be told to go and jump as far as sailing is concerned. This fact is also the more remarkable when watching the television coverage of other events there were very few spectators. One can only assume we were not welcome. * From Dan Tucker: The British sailing accomplishment at the Olympics is impressive, while the US's results are disappointing. That takes nothing away from either team, but I think Chris Buydos misses the point. Experience and dedication are tremendously important, but there is no questioning the dedication of US sailors who devote years trying to get to the Games. Money is a tremendous obstacle to success. It is a constant, draining hurdle each sailor must overcome. The costs for equipment, travel and coaching are large and never ending. Finding a source to fund the US Sailing Team at a comparable level to GBR would remove that hurdle for the sailors, allowing the sailors to devote 100% of their available time to training, rather than 20%-40% to fundraising. It's as simple as that. Congratulations to every athlete worldwide who dreamed and trained to be an Olympian whether you won a medal or didn't win your Trials... to even try is a tremendous undertaking to be proud of. * From Mike Blecher: I agree with Chip Pitcairn (Butt 1658)--It's really not "sailing" in the Mistral class, as I see it, but more like "air rowing." I also thought it was odd that Gary Jobson in his broadcasts referred to the racers as "boats." I suppose Gary's the expert so I won't question him, but they sure don't look like "boats" to me. These "boats" have the same relationship to yacht racing as gin has to ginger ale. And the game itself...it's OK to hit the marks? Sheesh! Like kite boarding, kayaking or swimming, they are certainly serious and competitive athletic endeavors that take years of training, but they are separate sports. Just because they take place on the water, they should not dilute real yacht racing's precious few moments on the airwaves. * From Victor Fragola: I am sorry to say that Scuttlebutt never ever mentioned Lange & Spinola in commentaries about the Tornado races in Athens. They had won the World Championship this year and they finally won the bronze at the Olympics.- I do think they deserve some attention.- I must also say that "Camau" Spinola won in Athens his third Olympic medal in a row: silver in Mistral (Atlanta) Also silver again Mistral (Sydney) and now bronze Tornado. * From Morgan Reeser: I have enjoyed reading your Athens Olympic coverage. One amazing athlete that has sailed under the radar of the press deserves recognition - Ruslana Taran of Ukraine. Ruslana has now equaled the record for the most Olympic Medals for a female in sailing (Barbara Kendall also has three - one of each color). Silver Medal - Yngling 2004 Bronze Medal - 470 Women 2000 Bronze Medal - 470 Women 1996 Ruslana has now won one more medal than Theresa Zabell, JJ Isler, Margriet Matthysse, Natalia Via Dufresne and Shirley Robertson. Yet where is an interview and where are the photos of this most decorated Olympian? Even if the press have missed out on the opportunity recognize Ruslana's achievements, I do not want to - Well done Ruslana! THE CURMUDGEON'S OXYMORONS Same difference |
