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SCUTTLEBUTT 1866 - June 23, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest 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. HALL OF FAME Sailing World magazine has named four new inductees to its Hall of Fame. Carl Eichenlaub, Torben Grael, JJ Isler and Valentin Mankin will be added the prestigious roster of the sport's all-time best racing sailors, designers and innovators. * Carl Eichenlaub, 75, joins the Hall of Fame not only because he was an outstanding racer in his day - winning Snipe, Star and Lightning championships, including the Lightning Worlds - but also because he made a career of building boats for these classes, and his boats have been among the best, winning countless championships. From San Diego, the boatbuilder's reputation has continued to grow over the years because of what he's given back to the sport as U.S. Sailing Team shipwright at the Pan Am and Olympic Games since 1979. * Torben Grael, 44, won a gold medal in the Star Class at the 2004 Olympics. The Brazilian sailor has now won five Olympic sailing medals: two gold and two bronze in the Star, and one silver in the Soling in 1984. Grael has also won the Star world championship once and the Snipe world championship twice. Yet outside of those classes, he may be best-known in the United States as the tactician of the winning Louis Vuitton Cup America's Cup boat in 2000, Luna Rossa, which beat Paul Cayard's AmericaOne before losing to Team New Zealand. * JJ Isler, 41, hails from San Diego but went east for college and raced at Yale University, making the All-America Team at a time when it was a rarity for women sailors. Since then, Isler's ability to shift gears from Olympic 470s to J/24s to 50-footers and even America's Cup racers has earned her four titles as Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. In the J/24, Isler won the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship in 1986. Racing in the 470 at the 1992 Olympics with Pam Healy, Isler won a bronze medal, and at the 2000 Games with Pease Glaser, she won a silver. * Valentin Mankin, 67, was born in the Ukraine and raced full-time for the Soviet Union from 1955 until 1988. During that time, Mankin came as close as anyone ever has to equaling Paul Elvstrom's record of four sailing gold medals. Mankin won a gold medal in the Finn class in 1968 and a gold in the Tempest in 1972; he also won a silver in 1976, despite losing his regular crew to injury shortly before the regatta. He came back in the Star class and won his third gold medal in 1980. The Sailing World Hall of Fame was started in 1982. A panel of 11 current Hall of Fame members and international sailing journalists made the selections. For information on all 50 Hall of Famers: http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_resources.jsp?typeID=398&catID=608 CHINESE CALM OLYMPIC FEARS - Edward Gorman The senior Chinese official in charge of the sailing venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympics has said that fears that the regatta site in Qingdao would be a disaster because of lack of wind are misplaced. Initial reports from Qingdao, a large port city in eastern China about an hour and a half's flying time from Beijing, suggest that the average wind speed during August, when the Games will be held, could be lower than eight knots, making sailing as much a matter of chance as skill. But in an interview with The Times in Valencia, Dong Yong Quan, the commodore of the Qingdao International Yacht Club who was in Spain to help to launch the China Team America's Cup syndicate, said that, while wind conditions are not ideal in his home city, he believes that a fair Olympic regatta can be held there. "Although I'm not an expert, I can tell you that in August there will be mild and moderate wind. I think it's good for sailing, but I don't think it's perfect for sailing," Dong said. But he also conceded that research by the Chinese suggested that there might be days during the Games when sailing will not be possible. "Maybe some days there is no wind - there is the problem," he said. "That is why more and more sailing teams are training in Qingdao in August, to get used to the sailing conditions in August." Addressing concerns that the strong tidal currents in the Yellow Sea could make racing in light winds difficult, Dong said that this would not be a problem because the race courses will be situated away from the areas of strongest current. He was convinced, he added, that the event would be a memorable success. "I hope - because we are the best - that we have a safe and wonderful regatta in Qingdao and all the sailors will remember our yacht club and our sailing," he said. Senior figures in British Olympic sailing have privately speculated that the Chinese may be forced to move the sailing venue if the pre-Olympic regatta, which will be staged in Qingdao in August 2007, turns out to be a farce. However, the chances of this happening seem remote. - Excerpts from a story by Edward Gorman in the Times. Read the whole story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-1663542,00.html SIGNIFICANT AND SUSTAINED EFFORT The Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) of US Sailing has announced a new fundraising program to increase support for future U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls. This new Yacht Club Partner Program is designed to encourage sailing organizations nationwide to become involved in top-level sailing by making donations to the Olympic Sailing Program. The program provides two levels of benefits: for the individual donors and for their sailing organization. Supporters of the program will be eligible for exclusive opportunities to interact with the U.S. Olympic program and its athletes. And when an organization's collective support reaches certain levels, it becomes eligible for benefits that include clinics conducted by members of the US Sailing Team and presentations by OSC members and sailing commentator Gary Jobson. "The time has come for a significant and sustained fundraising effort on behalf of our Olympic athletes," said OSC Chairman Dean Brenner. "Our athletes face too many hurdles in their pursuit of Olympic and Paralympic dreams and medals. We need to build a national effort to support our top athletes of today and tomorrow." For more information about the Yacht Club Partner Program: www.ussailing.org/olympics/fundraising Dean Brenner's email: dmbrenner@ussailing.org MATCH RACE RANKINGS After a fantastic two months of match racing, Peter Gilmour (AUS) has toppled Ed Baird (USA) to claim the number one spot in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Behind the leading pair Mathieu Richard (FRA) and James Spithill (AUS) trade places in a move that sees the Frenchman move into third position. A former long time leader of the rankings, Russell Coutts, moves into the top five after his win in Elba. In the women's rankings, Claire Leroy (FRA) has consolidated her position at the top of the ISAF World Match Race rankings despite her nearest rival, Marie Bjorling (SWE), winning the ISAF Grade 1 BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, USA. However, with qualification for the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship up for grabs the real battle for places occurred a little further down the leaderboard. Paula Lewin (BER) would have loved to have automatically qualified for the World Championship taking place on her home waters by claiming a top ten ranking spot. She did everything she could to move up the necessary two place from her previous ranking of twelve, finishing third behind Bjorling and Leroy in Annapolis. However it was not quite enough for the Bermudan who only managed to raise one place up the rankings to eleventh. Attendance counts in the ISAF ranking system, and not counting the maximum of eight ISAF Graded events in their ranking has played a big role in keeping both Lewin and Betsy Alison (ranked 12) out of the top ten. Consequently they were not invited to the World Championship. As the defending champion, Sally Barkow, ranked 17, gets an automatic invitation. The other invitees are the top ten: Claire Leroy (FRA); Marie Bjorling (SWE); Nina Braestrup (DEN); Jenny Axhede (SWE); Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED); Malin Kallstrom (SWE); Christelle Phillipe (FRA); Christine Briand (FRA); Linda Rahm (SWE) and Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN). Additionally, the Bermuda Sailing Association is allowed to select one of the World Championship participants. - Full rankings: http://www.sailing.org/matchrace/mrranking.asp CAL 20 AND SAN JUAN 24 CHAMPIONSHIPS Congratulations to the 2005 Cal 20 and San Juan 24 champions who were powered by Ullman Sails. The Cal 20 Class Championship sailed out of Cabrillo Beach YC was won by Chris Raab/ Sonny Gibson/ Vann Wilson on "Loca in Las Vegas." While in the Northwest, Gil Lund and his team on "Snappy Tom" won the San Juan 24 North Americans, followed in 2nd by Remmert Wolters on "Bandit". Three of the top 5 boats flew Ullman inventories. For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet", world-class service and support, contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com GUEST EDITORIAL (By John Lake, Bryan Lake's dad) Thanks to Scuttlebutt for nominating Jen and Bryan for All American status. While obviously I support your nomination I have to speak for Jen who has now been sailing with Bryan for about 6 years, beginning in high school here in San Diego. Jen deserves All American status in a much larger regatta than the last year of college sailing, Jen is All American in the Regatta of Life, something that the college coaches cannot consider when voting for All American for just the last year. While Jen had misgivings about college attendance, the sailing fraternity successfully convinced her that college and college sailing were worthwhile goals and she attended the University of Hawaii with Bryan, preceding him there by one year. The University so successfully supported Jen, with remedial classes at first, that Jen finished her last year as an A student and was elected "Student Athlete of the Year" at the University of Hawaii. This last year Jen was not able to travel to attend stateside regattas from Hawaii because her student teaching activities precluded this time sacrifice. Jen chose the right path, graduated and was hired to teach elementary school in Maui and only sailed the qualifying regatta and the Nationals with Bryan once she had finished this commitment. This is why Bryan and Jen were not seen around the various college regattas around the nation this last year. Bryan recognized Jen in his acceptance of the A division trophy, but I don't think he was heard. Jen is my nomination and honoree for the All American Sailor of the Last Four Years in the Regatta of Life. She got her priorities right, and while she may have missed All American Status for the year; she won a much larger and more important award. A BETTER PACKAGE Alinghi Helmsman Peter Holmberg pronounced himself, "completely satisfied," with the (Act 4) regatta. "We've been preparing for testing not racing," said the U.S. Virgin Islander. "We only modified our schedule at the last moment to allow for racing practice. I was just comfortable." Alinghi proved that it had a slight speed edge on Emirates Team New Zealand in breeze. After handling Luna Rossa in moderate conditions, Holmberg felt this advantage existed over the entire fleet of challengers. "In the last few months our design team did a better job than the others," he said. "I think our package right now is a better package. That's not just the boat, but the boat, the sails, the set up and how you sail it." - Stuart Streuli, Sailing World, full story: http://www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=37415&typeID=399&catID=0 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? In the topsy-turvy new world of the America's Cup, the first warm-up regatta here under the new points system saw the runaway, unbeaten winner, the defending Alinghi team from Switzerland, promptly have to throw the points they had earned into the bin. Yes, they will count towards a 2005 championship series to be decided over six series of races, but, in the great scheme of things, they will count for nothing when it comes to crunch time, the 32nd cup defense in June 2007. For that, Ernesto Bertarelli automatically has one of the two places in the final. The other will be fought over by the 11 challengers and, apart from the embarrassingly whitewashed South Africans, all of them have to show their new boats. - Stuart Alexander, The Independent, full story: http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/story.jsp?story=648681 REFLECTION Tom Weaver, manager of Mascalzone Latino- Capitalia Team, spent a few minutes reflecting on the Louis Vuitton Acts, Alinghi, and the new era of the America's Cup. Here are a couple of excerpts. "The Acts are definitely commercial. The cost of hosting and participating in the event is becoming so huge that everyone has to find sponsors. The sponsors need to be guaranteed a return on their investment and so the Acts are perfect for raising their visibility. But, you also need to bare in mind that the Acts are fantastic for all the competitors as well. These regattas serve as a wake up call, a testing ground, an opportunity to "check in" on the competition…many things that all improve our teams. The Acts can definitely be viewed as a win-win situation for everyone involved. "If the current regatta format is used, 2 laps with short courses, the starts will be more important than ever, there will not be a lot of time to set up in a passing lane for the trailing boat, the racing will be close and for the first time in almost 15 years I am sure it will not be 5-0." - www.mascalzonelatino.it BEST BOAT STORAGE SINCE THE SAWHORSE Is there so much stuff in your garage there's no room for the car? Go vertical with the Harken Hoister! This pre-rigged lifting system lets you store dinghies, canoes, car tops, bikes, ladders and more, safely at ceiling level. Features include free-rolling Harken blocks for even singlehanded lifting, and a cam cleat that engages if you drop the line - you'll never crash-jibe a boat on your car again. For Hoister and dealer information: http://www.hoister.com GROSS MISCONDUCT For a competitor to be protested under Rule 69, the 2005-2008 rules state that the "competitor may have allegedly committed a gross breach of a rule, good manners or sportsmanship, or may have brought the sport into disrepute…." While the complete details surrounding a Rule 69 protest at the 2005 Laser North Americans are not available, it is known that 2005 US Sailing Team Member Andrew Casey was disqualified under Rule 69. Casey, who is on the US team in the Finn class, was apparently involved in a disruption on land after the races. NEWS BRIEFS * With a complete absence of wind over a swelteringly hot Solent, sailors at the Rolex Swan European Regatta were wondering if there would be any racing. But after a postponement the handicap fleets of Classes A and B started from the Royal Yacht Squadron transit line just after 1300 hrs. By then the wind had picked up to a very respectable Force 3, making for another perfect day's racing in the western Solent. With spring tides running, and the current threatening to sweep boats over the line early, judging time-on-distance was crucial to a successful start. Complete results: http://www.nautorswan.com/rolexswancup2005/index.htm * A recent California transplant took the top prize V15 New England Championship at Larchmont Yacht Club with. Light and variable conditions allowed only two races on Saturday. Sunday morning opened with a strong easterly breeze, and the LYC Race Committee put on eight races. Will Graves (2-time All-American, Navy) and Abby Swann, both of the Treasure Island fleet in San Francisco but recently moved to NYC, beat out 2004 New England Champs Chris Ashley (3-time All-American, Brown) and Alison Berenback for the win. Matt Barry and Andrew Hotchkiss/ Quinn Ziatyk rounded out the top three. - www.larchmontyc.org * North Sails has partnered with Chris Bedford and his experienced team of meteorologists at Sailing Weather Services to provide FREE weather forecasts for all sailors participating in the Lands' End Toronto NOOD Regatta from June 24-26. Forecasts will be emailed to subscribers each morning by 0730. To sign up, simply visit North's online weather center at: http://na.northsails.com/ew/ew_main.taf * The News & Extras section of the Scuttlebutt website has been updated with two new games: Hidden Curser and Snow Plow. Don't plan on either of these games making you feel good about yourself, but they can sure help you forget about any mistakes you made at your last regatta. - http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news 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 Spencer Ogden: I'm not sure I agree with Mr. Tostado about which direction to go, but I do agree that there is no logical distinction between powered winches and powered ballast systems. Both should be allowed or banned. Both use non-human power to indirectly speed up the boat. I think an interesting trade off would be human powered ballast systems. This would make canters impractical for round the buoys racing, but still of interest offshore. How can you tell a dinghy sailor he's not allowed to pump his main and rock his boat (using his own body strength) but guys with the big bucks can fire up their diesel engines to transfer a few tons across the boat? * From Charles J. Doane: Ray Tostado raises an excellent point I have been buttonholing people about for some time. Near as I can see, it makes no sense to allow racing sailors to use powered mechanisms to shift ballast but not to hoist and trim sails. No one has yet been able to explain to me why there should be any distinction between the two in this regard, and yet here we are. The most cutting-edge race boats these days are entirely dependent on powered mechanisms to cant their ballast keels (I have been told, in fact, they must run their engines constantly to maintain their ability to do this) and the guys on deck are grinding sheets and halyards by hand. Why impose limits on the sailhandling technology, but not on ballast-handling technology? The most logical and elegant thing to do would be to make the same distinction across the board. There should be classes of boats where powered mechanisms of whatever type are allowed onboard and others where they are not. That way the guys with the deep pockets can push sailing technology right to the limit, and the poor folk and purists can keep in shape sailing the old-fashioned way. The technologists and the purists both play important roles within the sport, but nothing is gained by mixing the two in an illogical and inconsistent manner. * From John Glynn: Am I the only one who finds it difficult to weed through the America's Cup press spin to find out who the players really are. For instance, would the casual but interested reader be able to identify off the top of their head who was driving Alinghi in Act 4. Or who was calling tactics. Who was driving Oracle/BMW? I know John Kostecki was aboard, but was he driving, calling tactics, or twiddling his thumbs. It seems to be all about the "corporate machine" and not the sailors. Today, the New York Times reported the results of Act 4, and not a single sailor was named. Where have all the personalities gone? It makes one almost yearn for the days of Dennis Conner, Harold Cudmore, and Tom Blackaller. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Did Noah keep his bees in ArcHives? - George Carlin |
