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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 764 - March 2, 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 and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. EDITORIAL COMMENT * It takes someone as informed and as universally respected as Olin Stephens to say it before those in a position of any authority will finally acknowledge it. And sadly the words have found the forum at least three years too late. "Simplify IMS". Everyone, aside it would seem, from those managing the rule were aware of the blindingly obvious. The 1998 Rolex Commodores' Cup was one of a handful of 'above-club level' IMS events brave enough to run with single figure IMS scoring. But it worked well there as it did elsewhere. Dual number scoring, recently advocated by Olin Stephens would have been a practical and even better solution. Yet the purists objected to any solution that failed to exploit the IMS VPP to its fullest, most fluid 'potential'. Scientific ego run amok. Yachting Key West Race Week was an even greater success than usual this year, buoyed primarily by the continued growth of one-design classes. The IMS Fleet at Key West, by comparison, was the smallest-ever seen - and of idiosyncratic interest only. Plenty of people were ready to invest in the ORC's premier category of handicap racing a few years ago, but that time has now passed. * It was the wealthy private owners now populating one-design fleets that used to support the experimentation and innovation of the custom sector. The very customers that IMS needed, its lack of transparency has driven away. If the ORC (now a division of ISAF) acts immediately, and with visible commitment to the wholesale change of philosophy, it may still not be too late to salvage the threads of recovery for offshore handicap racing. Unfortunately, I suspect it is already too late. But it would be great to be proved wrong. - Andrew Hurst, Editor, Seahorse magazine. (See Seahorse March 2001 for this article in full.) Seahorse website: www.seahorsemagazine.com THE RACE Not that Grant Dalton is counting his chickens. The fabled skipper himself says, "Our only worry is getting through the Straits. It'll be time to think about Marseilles once we're in the Mediterranean". Crewman Jacques Caraes elaborates, "The sea has got rougher and the weather models are announcing a major gale. We'll be careful, but downwind isn't a problem for us." All of which leaves Loick Peyron, skipper of Innovation Explorer little to console himself with, as he vainly chases the leader - 1,220 miles/1,952km ahead. Still battling with his tattered gennaker as he struggles past Madeira, the Frenchmen maintains a stoic manner saying, "We are sailing not very fast but faster than the days before. No qualms, the objective is to finish." Team Adventure is readjusting itself to the thought of a hard slog up the South Atlantic, after the thrill of rounding Cape Horn. Since that point Team Adventure has crept through the Lemerre Straits that separate Tierra del Fuego and the Estados Islands and has headed off towards the Falklands. Cam Lewis has managed a 24-hour run of 288 miles/460km. - Martin Cross, Now Sports website POSITIONS: 1. Club Med, 845nm to Marseilles, 2. Innovation Explorer +1225, 3. Team Adventure +6004nm, 4. Warta Polpharma + 6420nm, 5. Team Legato +9019nm Full story: SCHMUNDO VENDEE GLOBE Josh Hall (EBP/Gartmore) was spotted on the horizon just 3 hours later, and surfed into Les Sables dÕOlonne with just the storm staysail up in big, gusting winds, and a lumpy sea. He crossed the line at 1159hrs and 2 seconds in 9th place, the last of the three British skippers to finish the course. The first words shouted were: "I just had 70 knots of wind 10 miles from the line!" He was unable to enter the channel due to the tide barrier, until 1730hrs French time, at which time the whole world it seemed had gathered at the harbour entrance, the sun pushed through the storm clouds, the sea had levelled off and the wind eased too. - http://www.vendeeglobe.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON leweck@earthlink.net * From: Bob Fink BobNJoy123@aol.com * From: Mark Jardine mark@yachtsandyachting.com * From: Alex Pline pline@snipe.org The separation between event organizer and RC responsibilities is clear at all levels of the sport. Even at small local events the event chair is rarely (if ever) the PRO, and is more likely a competitor or a club member, and in large events, is never the case. The RC is responsible for producing the results and making them available to competitors and event organizers. From there it is essential that the event organizers have in place a process for getting the results on the web. As was expressed in the first go around, this process spans the spectrum from employing a web-savvy volunteer competitor to a club webmaster to paying a professional. So for all you regatta organizers: put posting results on your list of regatta tasks and take it seriously, everyone (peers and sponsors) will appreciate it in this "gotta have it now" electronic age. * From: Peter Godfrey pgodfrey@glenvilleassociates.com * From: Jeff Bright sabrehawk69@hotmail.com Let's get our heads out of the sand and embrace sponsorship and the media. Money and exposure can do nothing but enhance the sport with the inevitable trickle-down of technology and money. The ultimate goal is to get new people to the sport and put more boats on the line in the local regattas because maybe someone saw a newspaper or magazine article on racing and thought that would be fun to do. As for opting out of USSA because you don't like a particular item like the eligiability "fiasco" (that was easily dealt with by USSA) - Buh Bye! * From: Craig Leweck craig@beachamconstruction.com Just because we might not all be able to travel to all the regattas we would like, the internet can allow us to still participate in the event. By prompt postings on event websites, we are drawn to learn of the events of the day. Just because our lives did not permit our attendance this year, our interest remains high and the internet can be the conduit toward maintaining that interest for future years. Particularly in one-design classes, where the interest is attached to be the class and the event, event websites can keep the one-design class member close to the action. The key, however, is prompt postings on these event websites. If the information is old or not regularly posted, we will stop logging on. The world is huge and our lives are busy. Please Mr. Kamen, allow for the internet to help us all remain close to each other and the action. * From: David McCreary dmccreary@boats.com Clubs look to sponsors to help defray costs (thus keeping entry fees reasonable); sponsors should get exposure for their money. The best bang for the buck is the internet, and in most cases it's the only exposure a sponsor will get other than the flag in the beer tent. RCs should not be charged with webwork. The organizer should pay someone competent to handle media requests and the net. Anyone who thinks that sponsors "need" a public profile from sailing has been smoking ropes instead of pulling them. Ditto with those that every few years talk about writing another set of racing rules independent of the ISAF. What part of the current Racing Rules are "geared to the interests of the sponsor or spectator"?!? Come on Paul, you talked about rewriting the rulebook 5 years ago. Where is it? * From: Norris McNamara NorrisMcN@aol.com AMERICA'S CUP There are three reserve dates in early March. In a change from last time, the last two reserve dates are on consecutive days to bring a faster conclusion to the regatta if it is prolonged by adverse weather. The scheduled dates for the 31st America's Cup Match in 2003 are: Race 1-Saturday 15 February, Race 2-Sunday 16 February, Race 3-Tuesday 18 February, Race 4-Thursday 20 February, Race 5-Saturday 22 February, Race 6-Sunday 23 February, Race 7-Tuesday 25 February, Race 8-Thursday 27 February, Race 9-Saturday 1 March., Reserve 1-Sunday 2 March, Reserve 2-Tuesday 4 March, Reserve 3-Wednesday 5 March. Nine yacht clubs from seven different countries had submitted challenges accompanied by an entry fee of $US150,000 in time for yesterday's March 1 deadline for lodging challenges with the RNZYS. From now until the second and final deadline of March 1, 2002, the entry fee increases to $US300,000. The nine challenges received by the March 1 deadline are: "We are expecting, but have not yet received, a challenge from the Oracle Racing syndicate from the United States," said Peter Taylor, Commodore, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. "And there is still the prospect of at least one other late challenge from a country that has not yet declared an entry for the next America's Cup." "The course areas for the America's Cup regatta and the sharing of the water space between Team New Zealand and the Challengers is similar to the systems established in 2000. The arrangements worked well then and will work well in 2003," said Taylor. - Sailing-online website. Full story: THE REST OF THE STORY NEW LOOK FROM HORSERACING TO THE HIGH SEAS Race organisers, Clipper Ventures Plc, the AIM listed yacht racing and branded sailing event company, are currently running a betting promotion with Ladbrokes on the next race in The Times Clipper 2000, a 950 nautical mile sprint from Yokohama to Shanghai. Visitors to race website will be able to put their yachting knowledge or support for their favourite boat to profitable use and all new bets placed (excludes existing accounts) of £10 or over, qualify the lucky gambler for a Times Clipper 2000 Polo Shirt. The fleet of eight identical 60-ft yachts, each sponsored by UK cities including Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Plymouth, Portsmouth and the island of Jersey, will set sail from Yokohama at 10:00 local time on Monday 5th March 2001. -Sue Warden-Owen Race website: www.clipper-ventures.com ACURA SORC Kilroy's closest competition came from Coconut Grove, FL, skipper George Andreadis who took second place with Atalanti X. Andreadis, one of the top skippers in the highly competitive Farr 40s, won the class last month at Yachting Key West Race Week. An almost total lack of wind caused a considerable delay for all eight classes racing today, but the longest wait of three and a half hours happened on the Acura Circle, where the Farr 40s and 1D35 one-designs were only able to sail one race. There were two races for IMS and PHRF boats and Melges 24s on the Omega Watch Circle, and for multihulls on the Ocean Drive Magazine Circle. When the southeaster finally filled in, conditions were ideal, with the breeze starting at eight knots and building to 14 knots before the last boat surfed over the finish line. In the other classes racing off Miami Beach, there was an interesting mix of return winners and new names scattered through the results. In the 1D35 Class, David Pyles from Easton, MD, in Loose Ruck bested perennial winner Robert Hughes' Heartbreaker from Ada, MI. Ken Read and Makoto Vermatsu campaigned the latter's new Farr 50 Esmeralda to two first places in the seven-boat IMS Class. In the PHRF big-boat class, George Collins, from Fisher Island, FL, scored two second places to lead on points at the end of the first day. - Keith Taylor Complete results: http://www.acurasorc.com/ THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM |
