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SCUTTLEBUTT 2180 - September 14, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt brought to you by UBS (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). ERICSSON’S BACK Ericsson Racing Team was confirmed Wednesday as the first official entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. The decision to commit to the next edition of the race comes a mere three months after Ericsson finished the 2005-06 event. In doing so they join a select band of repeat entries in the race’s 32-year history. Ericsson is the first of five entries the race organizers will announce over the coming weeks. The identity of one of those syndicates will be revealed as early as next week – an illustration that interest in the race among ocean racing competitors and their corporate partners is now at unprecedented levels. Following the 2005-06 event, the race organizers took the decision to bring the race forward by a year – to 2008-09 – thus breaking a four-year cycle which had existed since the first race (The Whitbread Round the World Race) in 1973. The route for 2008-09 will also feature ports of call in Asia and the Middle East for the very first time. – Volvo Ocean Race website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/j8xgs TRENDSETTER Much has been made of the recent launch of Tom Perkins’ Maltese Falcon, the 289-foot Perini Navi "clipper yacht." But before there was Perkins, there was Alain Colas, who in 1976 launched the 4-masted 246-foot yacht named Club Mediterranée. Originally built for the Observer Single Handed Transatlantic Race, she has since traded hands a couple times, is now named Phocea, and has benefited from several extensive upgrades. Today, Phocea is truly magnificent in all her splendour, and has taken her place as one of the most prestigious and luxurious superyachts in the world. Enjoy her photos and story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/phocea/ PART 4: BLOODY MARYS AND THE BOOT The Scuttlebutt team went to the French Polynesian islands this past summer, and has been providing their log this week from the bareboat charter. In Part 4 of the five-part series, the group decides its time to get off the boat, and attempts to rent bikes around Bora Bora. Well… it almost happened that way. It’s all good though, as dinner that night will be at the world famous Bloody Marys restaurant. The next day sees the painful upwind slog from Bora Bora to Tahaa, and when the adults attempt to enjoy some five-star swim-up bar hotel cocktails that evening, things don’t go quite as planned. Here is Part 4: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/tahiti BRAND NEW DAY JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc. invites you to come to Yachtfest 2006 at the Shelter Island Marina in San Diego to see some of the world's finest luxury and super yachts. Come see the flagship for J Boats, "Brand New Day," the 65-foot custom luxury racer/ cruiser that is currently for sale. Don't miss your chance to step aboard a truly one of a kind sailing yacht. For more information on this and other listings call 619-224-6200 or visit http://www.yachtworld.com/sailcalsandiego/index.html MANATEE VERSUS MANKIND The Broward County (Florida) Environmental Protection Department has revised a proposed manatee-protection plan that will permit 5,000 new boat slips in the county. According to a story in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, the original draft of the plan alarmed the boating industry by proposing to sharply restrict marine development along the Dania Cut-Off Canal, South Fork of the New River and other southern Broward waterways. Those areas are where the industry expects the greatest waterfront growth to take place. The original draft also would have halted the approval of new boating facilities if the number of manatees killed by watercraft passed a certain level over five years. Donald Behringer, a county natural resource specialist who is working on the manatee plan, told the paper that the "marine industry lobbied hard" for the changes. He said Broward County commissioners requested that the industry's objections be taken seriously. "We were directed to make them happy, and they didn't want anything to suspend permitting," he said. Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said even the revised plan didn't do enough to deal with the county's shortage of dock space. "Boating is a major industry in Broward County," she told the paper. "We need to talk about how to maintain that industry in Broward County." - IBI News, full story: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20060813154914ibinews.html LASER WORLDS (The Laser Worlds began Wednesday, and we found American sailor Andrew Campbell’s blog to provide some interesting comments on day one racing) Jeju, Korea - September 13th, 2006 -- After fighting its way around the racecourse today off Hwasun beach, the fleet racing the Laser World Championships surprisingly was sent in early due to extremely windy conditions and massive seas. We raced one 85+ minute race in a building 18-22 knot breeze that topped out in the upper twenties and thirties in puffs. What made the racing increasingly difficult was the 5-7 foot groundswell running downwind with just under a knot of foul current. I found myself on the wrong side of a left hand shift on my first beat and rounded the weather mark in 35th. After passing a couple of gravestones on the top reach I managed to hold it together for another run and a beat. Despite turning over twice on the second run in a massive wave and a blistering puff, I somehow still had a net gain over the leg and passed two more up the final 1/4 mile beat into the finish to take 29th in the race before being signaled to head in. The back portions of the fleet seemed to struggle in the extreme weather, and nearly 40 boats did not make the time limit of 20 minutes after the first finisher, thus the large numbers of DNF’s on the score card. I, for one, was surprised by the decision of the race committee to call the day on account of weather. The forecast is only for breezier weather tomorrow and the following days and it may realistically be hard to race if they are not willing to let us sail in 25 knots. No less, I’m a bit off the pace from the front of the pack. Brad (Funk) sailed decently and took a 19th in his race, and unfortunately none of the other Americans put up scores because of the time limit problems. We will have to step it up a bit to ensure that we earn a berth for the US at the Games (a number of berths are up for the top group of countries here, more will be given out at the Cascais Worlds in Portugal next year as well). – CambellSailing.com, http://tinyurl.com/h4nm5 Results at http://www.laserworld2006.com BBS Considered the grand finale event for sailboat racing on San Francisco Bay every summer, the Big Boat Series is one of the most established sailing regattas held annually. "Getting ready for Big Boat is like getting ready for graduation," said Paradise Cove's Kristin Lane, one of the few female skippers entered in this year's series that kicks off Thursday at 11 a.m. and runs through Sunday. "It's the last dance for the year so you make sure everything is in the best shape it can be - the hull, the sails, every little piece of equipment. People take it pretty seriously." The series is synonymous with world class Marin sailors including Paul Cayard, John Kostecki, Dawn Riley and Dee Smith, all of whom cut their teeth and honed their skills racing in the bay's most famed sailing regatta, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club since 1964. Although this year's event is light on local fame due to their participation in international events on different continents, it opens the hatches of opportunity for other established local sailors as well as up and coming racers to set their sights on Big Boat success. - Michelle Slade, Marin Independent Journal, full story: http://marinij.com/sports/ci_4329244 I-14 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Long Beach, CA.-- Archie Massey and crew George Nurton heard two sounds that that made their day Wednesday. At the start of the fourth race of the International 14 Class World Championship, Massey said, "We stayed around the committee boat so we knew right where the line was, and we actually heard them shout, 'All clear!' "---meaning that all 67 boats started properly, unlike Sunday when Massey finished first by two minutes but forfeited his runaway win because of a starting violation. And at the end of Wednesday's race, sailed in light winds similar to Sunday, they heard an even sweeter sound: the horn for the winner, which was painfully silent for the British sailors earlier. But Massey expects they'll need more help than that to overtake leaders Howard Hamlin and crew Euan McNicol, who finished second Wednesday. - Full report: http://www.abyc.org/upload/I14worlds06pr7.doc Standings (71 boats; after 4 of 7 races): 1. Howard Hamlin/Euan McNicol, Long Beach, 1-4-2-2, 9 points. 2. Michael Lennon/Jon Blackburn, Great Britain, 4-8-3-5, 20. 3. Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Paul Allen, Aptos, Calif., 5-2-1-14, 22. 4. Lindsay Irwin/Andrew Penny, Australia, 9-1-9-11, 30. 5. Kris Bundy/Jamie Hanseler, Seattle, 3-25-7-6, 41 Complete results: http://www.abyc.org/upload/2006_I_14_Worlds1.htm ULLMAN SAILS POWER J/105 REPEAT AT NOOD Congratulations to Kevin Grainger and his crew aboard the J/105 “Cyan” who won the 2006 Lands' End Larchmont NOOD regatta at the Larchmont YC, September 9-10. “Cyan” was powered by a full inventory of Ullman Sails in the hotly contested 17-boat fleet, and was joined by three other Ullman Sails customers in the top ten. This was a repeat performance for Kevin, who won the 2005 NOOD regatta at Larchmont, NY. If you and your crew are ready for the “Fastest Sails on the Planet”, contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com SAILING SHORTS * 250 people had already reserved moorings in Valencia Port next year for the America’s Cup before the moorings themselves have been completed. Sources have also indicated that the majority of these requests came from French, Italian and Scandinavian yachting enthusiasts. Construction is still continuing on the Port area, which will be the center of operations for the Americas Cup Races next year, and when the works have finally ended, there will be over 700 moorings available, at an average price of 4,000 Euros a month ($5,147.38 USD/month). - Valencia Life Network, mailto:publisher@valencialife.net * (Honolulu, HI) The Waikiki Yacht Club has announced the plans for the Inaugural Waikiki Offshore Series International Team Race in 2007. The Waikiki Offshore Series is run every year following the Transpac, Pacific Cup and Vic/Maui Races, and the 2007 event will also host a reunion of all Pan Am Clipper Cup and Kenwood Cup series skippers, crew’s supports at a special function during the first bi-annual series. The event will feature IRC, One Design and PHRF classes with courses including: 10-mile windward/leeward races, the 145-mile Molokai Channel Race, a 40-mile intermediate distance races, and the Kauai Channel Race. - http://www.waikikioffshores.com * Photos of the second GP42 built, designed by Shaun Carkeek and built/ launched in Croatia, are online from its first test sail: Valencia Sailing, http://tinyurl.com/fhreu * US Sailing will have its Annual Meeting in Newport, RI from November 15-19. All sailors are able to meet the sport's leadership, attend and participate in numerous committee meetings, as well as attend the Awards dinner, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 18. Also, the meeting will provide US Sailing members one last opportunity to cast their votes in person for the new Board of Directors (online voting is open from Oct. 18 to Nov. 8; printed mail-in ballots are accepted from Sept. 19 to Nov. 8). Details and registration information at http://www.ussailing.org/events/meet06fall/fall_2006.htm * The 3rd annual Hugh Fletcher Memorial regatta was held at Noroton Yacht Club, Noroton, CT on September 9-10. This open 2.4 event honors the memory of Hugh Fletcher, a disabled sailor from Stamford , CT who raced 2.4 meters, radio control CR19's, and other boats in his lifetime. Rolex Sailor of the Year Nick Scandone dominated the event, winning 6 of the 8 races. Light winds dominated the event, which had competitors from Vermont, Colorado, California, New Orleans, and Canada. Results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/hfm.txt * After four fiercely competitive races at the 14th Rolex Swan Cup between the Swan 601s that are crewed by some of the most famous names in sailing, Torbjorn Tornquist’s Artemis is leading the fleet. With Russell Coutts calling the shots, the Swedish entry posted two second places and one victory. In the Swan 45 Class otherwise dominated by the American entries, Danilo Salsi’s DSK Comifin (ITA), tops the leaderboard after four consecutive top four finishes. In the Grand Prix fleet, Filip Balcaen’s Aqua Equinox (BEL) leads the fleet, with three points from two coastal races. – Complete report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1505&lang=1 * (Rizhao, China) The 470 World Champion Titles for 470 Men and Women were decided Wednesday in shifty breeze of 4-8 knots during two thrilling Medal Races. Marcelien de Koning/ Lobke Berkhout (NED) finally manage to hold their Title and Nathan Wilmot/ Malcolm Page (AUS) miss Gold by taking a penalty, handing over the Title to Nic Asher/ Elliot Willis (GBR). Top North American mens were Mikee Anderson/David Hughes (USA) in 9th and Amanda Clark/ Sara Mergenthaler (USA) in 11th. -- Race Reports: http://470.rz.gov.cn/ -- Complete Results: http://470.rz.gov.cn/sfsjg * (Narragansett, RI) Day three of the Hobie 16 North Americans began with a whimper as the morning start was postponed, but soon the wind started to build in the early afternoon and the RC called everyone off the beach. Much to the sailors surprise the starting line was about 50 yards away, with the race course being more common to college racing than international class racing, with flat water and shifty winds. - Complete report on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/h16na/d3.htm * Correction: In Issue 2179, the link to read the wonderful tribute to Morty Engel (recently deceased) by Ken Slater was faulty. Here is the correct link, which will also allow you to submit your own bit of remembrance for Morty: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3250#3250 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or space (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and please save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, you can post your comments on the Scuttlebutt Forums, wherein we may include your submission in the newsletter. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Art Ahrens: (edited down to our 250 word limit) Regarding commentary on the decline of sailing activity, here in Florida one only needs to look at the infrastructure. Sailing is thriving where the infrastructure is there to support it. Elsewhere, the marinas, anchorages, and available land to support sailing centers are being swallowed up by developers building huge condos. When those facilities are available, the fleets will thrive. In West Palm Beach in the late 90's, we were fortunate to have a J-24 sailor become the yard manager for a large marina. He had the guts to convince his management that the J-24 could be fork lifted into the water. The fleet quickly grew from 3 to 10+ boats, flourished for a few years until the yard was sold, he was dismissed, and they could no longer dry sail. In 6 months the fleet was dead. If you look at areas of the country where racing is thriving, you’ll find the needed and enthusiastic infrastructure to support the sport as in Newport, Chicago, Miami, San Diego, Annapolis, etc. It really isn't much; we don't need fancy yacht clubs. Just a hoist, a fenced-in paved parking lot, and a house trailer on an unused part of a park, city block, anything that happens to be next to deep water. How can this happen? Sailors need to get their community leaders and board of directors on their side, showing them that sailing facilities are good for the community. They bring in dollars by hosting competitions. They are sponsoring a clean sport. * From Richard Clark: I am in agreement with George Bailey (letter in Issue 2179); definitely attraction rather than promotion is a concept that needs to be looked at here. As others have said, more kindly than my thinking, lighten up folks, make it fun, make it available, but don't use or resort to the race card. There is no need; build it and they will come. If every boat owner made an effort to invite one new person each time they went sailing, problem solved. If only the Sailing Clubs . . . no, I won't go there :-), those who know what I mean, know what I mean. I had a picture of my days of sailing out of Larchmont on an IOD, bring back an unwhite, unamerican, unnattily-attired sailor. No way Jose. Larchmont and Gilligan's Island, the 'good' ole days. Not too many Blue Blazers in Tijuana. Cheers from a landlocked but happy grapegrower and SSC burgee flyer, must send a photo of how a Massey Ferguson 135 looks like sailing between the rows, ah, there is a sailing connection, of healthy vines. Just imagine rolling North Atlantic swells that produce profound Riesling and Chenin Blanc and . . . you get the picture. * From Ralph Taylor: When printing an opinion – such as Sailing as I Sea It, THE OLYMPICS IS A TV SHOW (in Issue 2179) -- does it matter who’s stating the opinion? I think it does. “Consider the source.” Some people have opinions that no amount of reality can sway; the rest of us need to take that into account. I did go to the URL and see that the author didn’t put his/her name on the piece – unlike the replies, which were attributed. I urge Scuttlebutt to be wary of publishing anonymous opinions. Curmudgeon’s Comment: Sorry we didn’t include the author’s name alongside the article, but we figured that Scuttlebutt readers would recognize the blog’s website address contained the name of frequent contributor Peter Huston. * From Roland Schulz: Thank you Bryan McDonald for posting the links to the photos of 2005 Hinman US Team Racing Championship (in the Letters section, Issue 2179). What a superb regatta that was in 20 to 30+ knots of wind, with amazing boat handling. Check out the other links to photos of the championship. The smiles tell it all! * From Chris Ericksen: Once again, a West Coast yacht club creates a new paradigm (regarding the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy mention in Issue 2179). I note the 19 entries for the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy are from only 13 yacht clubs: two have submitted two entries each and one a probably unprecedented four entries. I guess the fact that the California Yacht Club posted multiple entries in 2005 (three, to my recollection) and won the trophy for the third time in nine years has shown the rest of the country how to game the system. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name. Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises and Ullman Sails. America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt is brought to you by UBS. |
