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SCUTTLEBUTT 1221 - December 17, 2002Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news ofmajor 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. THE LATEST MONKEY WRENCH Team New Zealand yesterday invoked America's Cup rules in an attempt to stop the leading challengers using boats that are said to have copied the black boats' hidden hull design. The off-the-water move came immediately after Swiss challenger Alinghi, skippered by New Zealander Russell Coutts, won a direct passage to the Louis Vuitton challengers' final. If Team New Zealand's claim succeeds it will prevent Alinghi or its nearest rival, Oracle BMW Racing, from bringing out the boats they have been holding in reserve. The hull adaptation, which takes the form of a partial false hull, or outer skin, is said to be one of the most creative circumventions of the design rules seen in 151 years of the America's Cup. The radical second skin effectively lengthens the hull so the boats can sail faster. The design has been hidden under the skirt of at least one of Team New Zealand's new boats. But the innovation has been copied by Alinghi and Oracle, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. In response, Team New Zealand have written to the challengers' management, warning that the rules for the challenger series are in conflict with the America's Cup Protocol and pointing out the protocol has precedence. Under the protocol, they note, it is the "yacht" that wins the semifinals and progresses to the challenger finals that can win the right to sail for the cup. * The claim drew a strong response from challenger series regatta director Dyer Jones, who said Team New Zealand were trying to "stick it to the competitors". "But that's part of the game they play," he said. In a note to the challengers, Jones explained why he thought Team New Zealand's interpretation of the rules was wrong. Jones said that boat substitution between the semifinals and finals was "absolutely" allowed. He had no idea what was going to happen with the Team New Zealand letter, but he considered it was a "stupid" letter for them to have sent. - n.z.p.a., The Daily News, as posted on the Stuff NZ website, full story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dailynews/0,2106,2140851a6649,00.html THE APPENDAGE * Call it a second-skin, a prosthetic underbody extension or even an outer shell but the latest design innovation sported by Team New Zealand, and now replicated by the Swiss Alinghi and Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW team, is one of the most creative circumventions of the design rules in 151 years of America's Cup racing. "We don't really want to talk about our boats. We've got to keep pretty tight on this," says Tom Schnackenberg, boss and design leader for the America's Cup defenders, who had fervently hoped to keep the ruse secret until the official unveiling ceremony on 7 January. - Tim Jeffery, yachting World website, full story: http://www.yachting-world.com/auto/newsdesk/20021116061729americascup.html * The design rule requires the hulls of the America's Cup yachts to be fair, without hollows, creases or bumps that might increase speed. However, two moveable appendages are allowed to be hung from the boat. One, the rudder, is use for steering, while the other, a winged lead bulb keel with a moving trim tab like an aircraft wing flap, is used for stability and lateral resistance. The Team New Zealand designers have realised that the rule does allow further appendages as long as they do not move. After receiving a confidential interpretation from the rules' technical director Ken McAlpine in October 2001, Team New Zealand built their second new boat with a false underbody that is attached to the hull by an appendage. This effectively increases the sailing length of the boat so that it is faster. - CNN.com/inside sailing website, full story: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/sailing/12/16/lvcup.tnz.design/index.html LEARNING CURVE America's Cup challenger Alinghi has been testing the so-called 'false hull' appendage that is believed to one of Team New Zealand's secret weapons. Although the appendage has only been used on the Swiss team's second boat so far, Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts said today it could easily be transferred to SUI-64, the boat that has dominated racing in the challengers' series. The concept of using an appendage to effectively lengthen a boat's hull, and thereby increase its potential speed without violating the rules governing hulls, is believed to be one of Team New Zealand's design innovations for this America's Cup regatta. Team New Zealand, which has kept its boats' hulls completely draped while being towed in and out of the Viaduct Harbour, yesterday sent a letter to organisers of the challengers' regatta saying it believed that Cup rules would not permit challengers to switch boats between the semifinals and final races. There is speculation that the letter from the America's Cup defenders was an attempt to slow development of a false hull system by other teams. It is thought that Oracle BMW has, like Alinghi, been testing the 'false hull' principle. Coutts said today that Alinghi's version of the concept could easily be applied to the boat it has used thus far. That would effectively circumvent Team New Zealand's objections over the switching of boats. - NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup/acstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3047544&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup&thesecondsubsection=challengers SOME BACKGROUND Speaking at a press conference of Tuesday morning Alinghi helmsman Russell Coutts said they were aware of the (appendage) innovation back in September 2000 but did not believe it would be deemed legal by the measurers. "It's something we are well aware of. I think it was an idea that was first mooted during the last Cup. Certainly back in September our design team were on to this. "But we felt, probably unwisely, that the measurers wouldn't allow it." The Alinghi crew are on to it now though, and with just three weeks till the final the pressure is on. "It has been a bit of a rush for us to design it and to get it through the testing programme. But we're out there testing it now and I think there's something in it," said Coutts. "It's all about getting volume into the extremities of the boat, via the appendages. It's a development class not a one-design class and I think Ken McAlpine and the other measurers are trying to encourage innovation and obviously deemed this to be a positive innovation." - Fiona McIlroy, nzoom website, full story: http://americascup.nzoom.com/americascup_detail/0,2523,156285-296-297,00.html HEADING FOR KEY WEST As you dream of sailing on the nice clear waters out of Key West, you can't forget to take your Camet padded Sailing shorts. They are perfect for the nice warm weather, they are fast drying, and the pads are a must for those long hours on the rail. As you check out the Camet web page to order your shorts, add one of the Mylar bags to carry the rest of your gear down to the boat. http://www.camet.com PRADA WINS BATTLE - LOSES THE WAR The Italians needed to sail two races on Tuesday, the last day allocated to the semifinal series, to tie the scoreline and force a sail-off on Wednesday. So with just one farcical race completed, which Prada won by 17 minutes and 46 seconds, taking the scoreline to 3-2, OneWorld as the leading yacht automatically go through to the repechage series and Prada are out. The two syndicates headed out to the racecourse early on Tuesday morning to allow for two races. The temperamental wind out on the Hauraki Gulf, however, had other ideas and fluctuated from one to six knots throughout the day. Principal race officer Peter Reggio kept his officials and the crews on the racecourse right till the 4pm deadline in the hope of getting a race underway, which they did firing the warning gun right on the dot of deadline. But it was a ridiculous and pointless race with the wind shifting almost 360 degrees throughout, and with OneWorld unlikely to agree to alter the rules and sail another race, Prada had lost the series before even crossing the startline. Fiona McIlroy, nzoom website, full story: http://americascup.nzoom.com/americascup_detail/0,2523,156399-296-297,00.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) (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 Greg Siewert: Well, well, well. It seems that the long-speculated "magic" up the Kiwi's sleeve may now becoming revealed to the America's Cup audience. Though it has yet to be proven, the fixed hull appendage appears to be a brilliant tack to the solution of designing a faster boat than the millions of design dollars the challengers have footed. Having the privilege of spending time in NZ, both before the cup (BC) and just recently, I have a mixture of awe and envy to how designers and yachties approach the sport of sailing. It is as if one were a kid again, exploring different ideas, wild as it they may seem. There's sailboat bows sticking out of nearly every available shed, like the way stock cars appear down here in the Carolinas. Just look at what the Kiwi's have brought to the mainstream of boat design, from asymmetric kites and carbon rigs, to easily driven and fast fractional-rig cruisers. After the total domination of NZ 60 last time, naval architects all over the world must be thinking "Awww, why didn't I think of that?" But, the two important questions I have are; first, how did this "secret" get out to the two other Kiwi syndicates (Alighni, and Oracle), and two, why haven't more American designers come with breakthrough designs? Could it be our press for more one-design and equitable PHRF racing, and cruisers designed by marketing departments, stifle the creative development? * From Nelson Weiderman: Dennis Conner was obviously wrong about there being too many rules for the Americas Cup. If a second skin qualifies as an appendage under the rules, then we still have too few rules and probably always will with so many dollars chasing after the loopholes. But unlike the fin keel, the second skin will have no social redeeming value for yacht design and this ruse will go down as yet another tawdry footnote in the history of the AC. * From Grant Braly: Olin Stephens could not be more correct in his statements regarding intellectual property and the America's Cup. The problems are exacerbated by the fact the rules we have were written more because of the advantage it would give the Defender and Challenger of Record (both of whom expected to continue their already existing design programs) than out of a desire to preserve and protect the integrity of the event. This is perhaps no more devious than in past America's Cups, but it may be the first time such actions were cloaked under the veil of integrity. Team New Zealand did not win the Cup in 1995 by hiring a bunch of people with no knowledge of successful America's Cup designs. They in fact hired Doug Peterson, fresh off of his 1992 victory. Doug then went to work for the other author of the protocol, Prada. Making these problems even worse is the fact that the rules were deliberately written to be vague and to require interpretation. It is often difficult for teams to tell what the rules are. Add to this the fact that the Arbitration Panel was basically on strike for months. Activities that were common practice as little as three years ago are now deemed illegal, in some cases where the rules are the same but the interpretation is new. That's crazy. Hopefully one of the five remaining teams (including TNZ) will win this thing and take a long, hard look at the protocol. * From Gregory Scott: Olin Stephen's words are very well said. I am familiar with both the architecture and yacht design applied principle of who owns the design. I have also done work in the technology world. The chasm that exists has only just come clear to me in reading Mr. Stephen's words. The obvious solution to this protracted debate would to have been, Laurie Davidson stepping forward long ago and making the argument offered by both Bruce Kirby and Olin Stephens. As Mr. Davidson is an employee of two of the more influential software / intellectual property players, I'm sure that allowing Mr. Davidson to make those assertions while in their employ would be opening a can of worms that would have been hard to manage. It does however open a line of discussion that will in my modest opinion, impact on future AC campaigns and possibly a far wider range of influence. * From Roger Strube: The response from OLN in the last Scuttlebutt is right on the mark. OLN has improved coverage with every race and is now providing excellent TV viewing for experienced, novice and non-sailors. They are now covering all the critical elements including starts and mark roundings. Supplemented with Virtual Spectator and improved "play by play" commentary, they are giving this spectator very enjoyable viewing. I do not feel ESPN will provide any better coverage and will only offer the viewer more diversity of commercial support. * From Scot Citrin (re: George Schmirnoff's commentary in Scuttlebutt 1220): Here is constructive criticism on how to improve your programming. Get rid of your producer and editor and replace him with a racing sailor. He will be able to produce/ edit the delayed film in a way that sailors will enjoy. By that I mean if you go to break and the trailing boat is all of a sudden leading after the commercials, it needs to be shown how it happened. I must congratulate OLN on it's improved performance in showing mark roundings. And I have to agree with another subscriber's commentary about letting us listen in on the boats much more. We realize you are paying the commentators, and there insight is useful at times, but much less of their interpretations of what we are seeing and much more of what they are saying on the boats I am sure would be more interesting to the viewers. * From Jim Lyndon: I just wanted to pass a word of commendation to OLN for their prompt and detailed response to recent criticisms of the Louis Vuitton TV coverage. While I am the first to agree with many of the sentiments expressed in recent 'Butts on this subject, I must say it's refreshing to see the entity that's the brunt of these criticisms so open and willing to listen to our carping. We certainly don't have the luxury of choice in seeing the racing on TV and there's no doubt that much of the coverage is maddeningly sloppy at times (particularly in the commentating area). But let's support OLN's efforts and be constructive in our criticisms. Every response I've seen from their executives to date displays understanding of our frustrations and a willingness to try to improve. * From Hal Smith: As someone who eagerly waits for 9:00 to arrive every evening (east coast), I cannot believe that I am in the minority enjoying OLN's coverage of the LVC. Many of Scuttlebutt's respondents would have you think that OLN's LVC coverage is so pathetic that it deserves sponsorship boycotts. I cannot imagine where that comes from. I too would like to see more of the mid-leg action when even a failed passing effort happened, but the time and format does not allow for everything to be shown. Let's loosen the leather ties on our topsiders and sit back and enjoy the unique opportunity to watch high-tech sailboat racing for two hours most evenings. Dawn Riley, Ed Baird, Peter Isler and especially Peter Montgomery have been great. I can think of no better way to end the day unless we were on our own boat. * From Derek Paterson (Re- John Rousmaniere playing baseball on a triangle): Home base plus bases 1, 2 & 3 make up a square of some sort. Called a "diamond" down here, but certainly more rectangular than triangular. NEWS BRIEFS * The latest rankings for all Olympic Classes have been released and are published on the ISAF website The next issue of the rankings will be released on 5 February 2002 following the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in USA. - www.sailing.org/rankings/ * Membership has its privileges, and those of you who are members of US Sailing may exercise that privilege by nominating a deserving male and/or female sailor to be the Rolex Yachtsman and/or Yachtswoman of the Year. Nominations will be accepted through January 31, 2003, after which they will be presented to a panel of noted sailing journalists. This panel will discuss the merits of each nominee and vote by secret ballot to determine the award winners. You can make your nomination on-line: http://www.ussailing.org/faces/rolex%5Finfo..htm DIRTY DOGS AT PYACHT.COM We just had 50 pairs of Dirty Dog Zee polarized sunglasses fall into our lap at a very special price. These polycarbonate shades are available to Scuttlebutt subscribers while supplies last for $39.95 plus $10.00 shipping & handling. With sunglasses this tough at a price this low, you can toss them in the sink or sheet bag and not worry too much about it. http://www.pyacht.net/online-store/scstore/dirty_dog_special.htm PFDs The United States Coast Guard's Life Jacket Rule will go into effect December 23, 2002. It stipulates that all children under 13 years of age wear Coast Guard approved life jackets, while aboard recreational vessels underway, except when the children are below decks or in an enclosed cabin. This Rule affects only those States that have not established requirements, by statute or rule, for children to wear life jackets. For the remaining states, the rule recognizes and adopts the existing state regulation, even if it is less stringent. Penalties for a boat operator who fails to have all children under the age of 13 wear a life jacket are similar to those for failing to have life jackets on board. Penalties may be assessed up to a maximum of $1,100 for each violation. - http://www.uscg.mil/news AROUND ALONE The front runners are on the edge of the Roaring Forties and if the wind gods come through, they should be roaring by this evening. The first big wind of Leg 3 is fast approaching from the west and the skippers are preparing for a long night. - Brian Hancock , http://www.aroundalone.com Standings 2200 UTC December 16, 2002 CLASS 1: 1. Solidaires, Thierry Dubois, 6703 miles from finish 2. Bobst Group-Armor Lux, Bernard Stamm, 66 miles behind leader 3. Tiscali, Simone Bianchetti, 122 mbl 4. Hexagon, Graham Dalton, 167 mbl 5. Pindar, Emma Richards, 169 mbl 6. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 183 mbl CLASS 2: 1. Tommy Hilfiger, Brad Van Liew, 6955 miles from finish 2. Spirit of Canada, Derek Hatfield, 5 mbl 3. Spirit of yukoh, Kojiro Shiraishi, 47 mbl 4. BTC Velocity, Alan Paris, 96 mbl 5. Everest Horizontal, Tim Kent, 150 miles behind leader 6. Bayer Ascensia, John Dennis, 180 mbl FROSTBITING Chris Johannessen of Fairfield, CT overtook Philip Hood of Westport, CT to win the Laser Fall Series at Cedar Point Yacht Club . The nine-week, 67-race series for 93 competitors saw eight different daily winners. Final results: 1. Chris Johannessen, 2. Philip Hood, 3.Kevin Kelley, 4. Ryan Minth, 5. Eric Robbins. Complete results: http://170.224.10.44/uploads/laser_series.htm THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM On what part of the monkey do you use a monkey wrench? |
