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SCUTTLEBUTT 1347 - June 10, 2003Powered 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 and personal attacks for elsewhere. TRAGEDY In the pre race day of the European Championships tragedy strikes the Tornado Fleet. During the practice race, the German team of Jo Jo Polgar and Andrew Landenberger were practically killed and their boat destroyed after one of the race committee boats hit them broadside and ran over them. The accident happened half way up the first windward leg. A race committee boat was taking pictures of the Australian team going up wind when they suddenly turned off, and sped broadside into, and over the German Tornado. The boat hit the German team from the leeward side at a 90 degree angle while the team was both trapped out on the wire. The power boat proceeded to go right thru them, the boom, the sails and the mast before coming to rest on the windward hull (the hull on the opposite side of where they hit). Both of the team members went flying and Andrew grabbed Jo Jo and tried to cling on to the rudder of the Tornado to try and protect themselves against the high speed propeller of the motor boat. Andrew ended up dislocating his shoulder and the two fortunately suffered only minor cuts and bruises. The only thing both Andrew and Jo Jo could keep saying was it was unbelievable to think that someone involved in the race could be so careless. A second boat came to the rescue of the two boats. It took quite a while to get the wreckage under control where they could be towed in. Once into the beach, Andrew was able to pop his shoulder back into place with some help and work was frantically begun to try and salvage the wreckage and put a boat back together for the start of the first race in the morning at 12PM. It will be a race against time as there is much work to do. The hull will need to be repaired, mast replaced and re rigged, boom built and re rigged, sails dramatically repaired, since the power boat went thru the window of the main sail and wounds healed. - Jill Nickerson, Suncoast Sailing Campaign Event website: http://www.yachtclub-cagliari.com/tornado/default_tornado.asp THE TEAM The Olympic Sailing Committee of US Sailing has announced the team which will represent the U.S.A. at the 2003 Laser Radial World Championships scheduled for July 25-August 9, 2003, in Riva del Garda, Italy. Through a sponsorship initiative created by and funded by Vanguard Sailboats (Portsmouth, R.I.), the five athletes will receive a grant to offset the expenses associated with attending the championship. In addition, the funding provides for a coach to accompany the team. Bern Noack (Belmont, Mass.), sailing coach at Harvard University, will reprise his role as team leader/coach. The grant recipients, determined by the Laser Class Grand Prix Ranking System, will compete in the youth division of the championship and will not have reached their 19th birthday in 2003. Named to the team are: Pat Curran (Moorestown, N.J.), Todd Hawkins (Ocean Gate, N.J.), Greg Helias (Santa Monica, Calif.); Bobby Noonan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.); and Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.). Regatta details can be found at: www.laserinternational.org/wrad2003/ IN SIGHT, IN MIND Hiking for many hours on the rail is tiring on your legs, which affects your performance. The Camet Padded Shorts make the difference; new for this year are the Bermuda length shorts, the Aruba shorts and the women's Ocean shorts. Made out of fast drying Supplexฎ which has a UV protection of 97.5 % and a Cordura seat patch, which holds the optional foam padding. Several styles in seven different colors. Made in California, USA. Go to the Camet web site for more information on the Shorts, Hiking Pants, Coolmax shirts and more performance gear. http://www.camet.com SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Jesper Radich and his Danish teammates wiped the floor on the final day of racing at Match Race Germany on Lake Constance today. Confident starting, superior boathandling and a little bit of luck saw Radich dispatch American Ed Baird of Team Musto 2-0 in the semi-finals, and France's Luc Pillot 3-0 in the finals. The in-form 27-year-old has now won two Swedish Match events in a row. Last week he rode his luck to win the ACI HTmobile Cup in Croatia, but this week he proved Croatia was no fluke with a confident display throughout each round of a frustratingly light-wind Match Race Germany. Radich often made life hard for himself with a pre-start penalty or a premature start, but such was his boat speed in the three-man Diamant 2000 yachts that he seemed able to overtake his opponents at will. In the Petit final, Baird defeated Jochen Schumann 2-0 to claim third place. - Shawn McBride, http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/ Final Standings - Match Race Germany 1. Jesper Radich (DEN/Team Radich), 4,800 2. Luc Pillot (FRA/Team Pillot), 2,800 3. Ed Baird (USA/Team Musto), 2,400 4. Jochen Schumann (Alinghi Team), 2,000 5. Mikael Lindquist (SWE), 2,000 6. Markus Wieser (GER), 1,600 7. Henrik Jensen (DEN), 1,400 8. Jes Gram Hansen (DEN/Team Victory Lane), 1,200 9. Mattias Rahm (SWE/Team Stena Bulk), 1,000 10. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 799.99 11. Andreas Willim (GER) 12. Chris Law (GBR/"The Outlaws") QUOTE / UNQUOTE Fairly early on, you sit there and say 'our sail budget involves a new jib for every major regatta'. I have a friend who doesn't believe sails are capital expenditure. He says 'when I used to go motor racing, I bought cans of gasoline before I went to the track. I buy sails and they are just bags of gas. I might as well throw them in the dumpster once I leave the venue, because I am never going to use them again'". - Steve Clark, Chairman, Vanguard Sailboats, from an interview on the Daily Sail website. http://thedailysail.com/ THE J/24 CLASS TURNS TWENTY-FIVE Join the celebration at the Silver Anniversary Regatta July 15-19 in Newport, RI. On tap: a Legends day including Dave Curtis, Ken Read, Terry Hutchinson, Dick Tillman, plus four days of racing fun. Sailors can support the event by purchasing a $100 raffle chance for a new J/24. http://www.j24silver.org ICSA GILL NORTH AMERICAN COED DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) crushed the competition during the second day of the 2003 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) / Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship at Bayview Yacht Club. With 108 points, they have a 48-point lead over second place St. Mary's College's (St. Mary's City, Md.) 156 point tally. University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii) is in third place with 173 points. Puffy 12-15 knot winds made for excellent sailing on Lake St. Clair. 8 races were completed in each division today. 14 A-division and 12 B-division races have now been completed. 18 races are planned in each division for the series which ends tomorrow. - Derek Webster Leaderboard: 1. Harvard University 62 + 46 = 108 2. St. Mary's Coll. MD 80 + 76 = 156 3. Univ. of Hawaii 86 + 87 = 173 4. U. Southern Calif. 102 + 86 = 188 5. Coll. of Charleston 100 + 101 = 201 Event website: http://www.collegesailing.org/2003 NEWS BRIEFS * In view of concerns on the possible effect of SARS and the desire to ensure full attendance by ISAF representatives at the 2003 ISAF November Conference, after discussion with the Singapore Sailing Association, it was agreed to change the venue of the 2003 Conference from Singapore to Barcelona, Spain. The dates remain the same, 6-17 November. http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=4578 * Cameron Appleton, relief helmsman for Dean Barker in the 2003 Americas cup, along with Peter Merrington and Paul Gudmunson won the 66-boat Australian Winter Etchells Championship off Mooloolaba. - http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=9992 * With whitecaps on the Santa Monica Bay for the first day of the California YC's Star boat King of Spain Regatta, George Szabo was obviously in his comfort zone. He looked unstoppable with a pair of bullets. However the wind turned very light on Sunday, and Szabo got caught on the wrong side of some major shifts. That opened the door for Erik Lidecis, who won the regatta with a consistent 4-2-2-1 series. Rick Merriman took third in 26-boat Star fleet. http://www.calyachtclub.com/cms/RaceResults/Series115.htm * Founding Editor Rob Kothe is standing down as Sail-World Editor. "When we started Sail-World.com in July 2000, we did not imagine that it would become the major sailing news source for so many southern hemisphere sailors," Kothe said. With Di Pearson's appointment as Editor, Kothe will spend more time on event coverage and further expansion of the site. http://www.sail-world.com/ * Correction: In last Friday's issue, the correct name for the institution searching for a new president is the International Yacht Restoration School. http://www.iyrs.org SPRING SPARES It's the middle of a regatta or distance race, and your masthead unit's printed circuit board just packed it in, or you damaged the boatspeed paddlewheel running over a crab pot, or the old display with dim lighting just went dark, or the mast cable that might have been (probably was) damaged during haulout last Fall has begun to act up. No problem. Why? Because you contacted Ockam and put together a sensible spares kit for your boat. Smart! Email Tom Davis (tom@ockam.com) or see the Ockam website for your local dealer. http://www.ockam.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (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 or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Kay Voss: Scuttlebutt readers we need your help, ASAP! I know that many of you famous and not so famous have over the years enjoyed racing at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The City of Miami is proposing to take over the CGSC clubhouse to run a new expanded marina anchorage. This will result in the death of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, and the end to a major stop on both the Snipe and Lightning winter circuit, plus many other events. Please call, write or e-mail the City of Miami Commission in support of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club urging the city to renew our lease and allows us to continue a successful 58 year partnership with the city. It would really help if you can send letters of support or it could be too late. It is all happening fast. Information about our lease situation is posted at http://www.cgsc.org * From Olin Stephens: This morning I have just read your quotations of Gary Jobson piece referring to professionalism, and was rather shocked with " All they think about is money". If I actually said that it was in the heat of discussion and as a reaction to present conditions which I don't like but there many sailing professionals who share the same love of the sport that I feel and to whom I would wish to deny that direct accusation. * From Angus Phillips: Gary Jobson's plea for sailors to ease up on pay demands for racing big boats is timely, but it would be remiss not to point out that he's the very one who started the snowball rolling. After Courageous in 1977, he concluded the only way he could keep sailing full time was as a paid hand organizing and leading professional crews for rich owners. Dennis Conner himself applauded the move as long overdue. Gary was probably right then and right now, but it's certainly ironic that he's the one making the plea. * From Terry Hutchinson (edited to our 250-word limit): I feel compelled to comment on Gary Jobson's story from the perspective of a professional sailor. Gary writes that the reason there are not new boats being built is because of increased crew cost and he implies that professional sailors lack passion and competitiveness as we are just earning a paycheck. I can assure Gary that aboard the Farr 40 I compete with we sail to win, but we also recognize our responsibility to make certain the owner is enjoying himself and working toward his goals. Heading into each situation it is a matter of asking the person who hires you about the program's goals. Once the goals are clear it is our job to contribute to achieving them. There are custom boats being built--the Transpac 52 class and the new 86 class will produce incredible racing. There are established big boat classes where the class organizations recognize what their owners want. The Farr 40, for example, limits the number of pros to four. The upcoming Farr 40 world championship has 37 confirmed entries. The idea that the high cost of pros is driving owners out of the sport is simply not true. It seems that owners have shifted their focus ... they're driving their boats, having more fun, and still sailing with their friends. The pros that I have sailed with understand that alongside good results our responsibility involves coaching, teaching, and helping people become better sailors. That is our job and I am passionate about my work. * From Bruce Hyland (edited to our 250-word limit) : The Sir Peter Blake memorial saga is surely a tempest in a tea cup. The proposed memorial site of Kaikoura Island is about 45nm from central Auckland across a sometimes very rough Colville channel. It is lies alongside Great Barrier Island and forms a terrific natural harbor. Visitors to the area, other than sailors are quite thin on the ground, even in the summer months. Ferry service is now erratic, slow and sometimes not for the faint hearted (or weak stomached). Paying NZ$10 million for the Island is only a start of what it might cost to provide a suitable memorial for Sir Peter, and would run a substantial risk of lack of public visibility and accessibility. Surely, the comprehensive plan to have a full museum quality exhibit in the National Maritime Museum is more fitting. Forget the theatrics about the boat in the glass, and think of the content inside fully depicting Sir Peter's life, his love for adventure, the sea and the environment. This will be seen by many magnitudes more people who will see and understand first hand about this exceptional New Zealander. Lady Pippa no doubt supports the idea because it makes such good sense. For the rest, please apply to the New Zealand Hydrographical Survey to have the name of Kaikoura Island changed to Sir Peter Blake Island - be on every yachty's chart, and at absolutely no cost to anyone. Maybe we can have our cake and eat it here! * From George Backhus: Further to Auckland City councillor Scott Milne's comments about the proposed memorial to Sir Peter Blake. Mr. Milne refers to Kaikoura, an absolute jewel of an island in the Hauraki Gulf, as a "stretch of land." Yes, Mr. Milne, and Peter Blake was just a yachtie and the America's Cup is just a knick-knack. While Kaikoura Island is slightly detached from Great Barrier Island, which receives daily ferry and air service from Auckland (just 50-odd miles away), it is still enjoyed by thousands of Aucklanders, many of whom have boats and spend their summer holidays at "the Barrier," relaxing, swimming, diving, fishing and hiking while anchored in the scenic little bays in the lee of Kaikoura. It is becoming apparent that an increasing number of New Zealanders are in favor of the purchase and preservation of Kaikoura, in the name of Sir Peter Blake, instead of the construction of a glass mausoleum for an America's Cup yacht (which could be sailing IACC class racing!). I wonder if politicians agenda would be different if they were spending their own money instead of that of the taxpayers. Mr. Milne, what you buy with your $10 million, an ugly glass box or a beautiful Gulf island? * From Ken Redler (Regarding Vangaurd's Steve Clarks's comments in 'Butt 1345): It is no surprise that the chairman of a dinghy manufacturing company is lamenting the U.S.'s lack of embracing new designs. However, as an avid dinghy sailor I feel I need to counter his argument. I am 37 years old and mostly sail Snipes and Lasers. Most of my competitors are around my age or older. We have forgone big boat sailing because we enjoy the excitement of competitive and affordable one design sailing that only dinghies can offer. In the last two consecutive weekends I sailed my Snipe and then my Laser in regattas that had over 20 boats each. These large turnouts on a regular basis are why I have chosen these fleets (and the parties aren't too bad either). It bothers me every time I see a new 15' boat design. Does the world really need another 15' boat? All that these new designs do is dilute the existing classes. I agree that both the Snipe and Laser are dated designs and that there are many improvements that can be done to both. However, to me it is the number of competitors that is the most important part of racing (and socializing afterwards). I prefer to have to choose from 5 fleets of 20 boats each then from 20 fleets of 5 boats each. As for Portsmouth, I dread the day when dinghy racing gets embroiled in the handicapping fiascos that I always read about in Scuttlebutt. * From Enrico Ferrari: As an owner of two dinghies, an International Moth and a Windmill, in the Seattle region, I totally agree with the 'leftout' feeling that is the result of local yacht club racing programs. If you do not have an accepted class boat then you are not racing. There is not one yacht club in the area that uses a Utility Start that handicaps using the Portsmouth rating system. If there are enough unique dinks that have a speed rating to make a start what would the problem be? I say make it friendly and promote the fleet to run what you brung. You average yacht club will gain by increased participation and eventually those small boat sailors might turn into big boat sailors. I understand the measurement issues for each class might be in question if there are 15 different designs out racing in the Utility class but just assign the Portsmouth rating and call it good to allow participation. If I run a trapeze wire on my Windmill, I know that is illegal in class competition, but that is only on the boat for a thrill ride. For a utility race start I would stay within the design parameters of the class to keep the rating accurate. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without. |
