|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3182 - Wednesday, September 22, 2010Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Morris Yachts, North Sails, and LaserPerformance SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE By Bruce Kirby, yacht designer, author The 12-Meter reunion in Newport late last week was a blast - scores of old friends, hundreds of lies and half truths. Thinning hair, fading memories pot bellies and lame backs. There was lots of pomp and ceremony, gallons of booze flowed, and in general the New York Yacht Club's Harbour Court staff and facility produced an ongoing nautical party equaled only - and just barely - by the 2001 celebration and regatta in Cowes marking the 150th year of America's Cup competition. But almost lost in the reporting of events on the weekend was a sailboat race. On Saturday afternoon, before the huge party to mark the induction of this years America's Cup Hall of Fame newcomers, eleven 12-Meters did battle on Narragansett Bay outside Newport Harbor. The word on the dock was that this would not be a serious yacht race. The boats carried more than regulation crew - some of them a lot more - and the theme of the weekend was recreation and nostalgia, not yacht racing. But can you really send Ted Turner, Bill Ficker, Robbie Doyle, Dennis Conner and so many others of that ilk out on a race course and expect them not to be "serious?" I was watching from the penthouse of a friend's Grand Banks 46 and among many others aboard was my pal Buck Margold. Buck and I shouldered our way into the best spot on the boat and settled in to watch many old friends and competitors play the game. Unfortunately the eight-knot wind was from the east, blowing out of Newport Harbor and across Narragansett Bay. So to get an upwind start the committee had to set the line out in the main channel with a weather mark right off the entrance to the harbor - a leg of about two miles. The fleet would beat to the mark, leave it to starboard, and then reach out of Narragansett Bay and round R4 south of Castle Hill. Then back up the bay, under the Newport Bridge, around a government mid-channel buoy and back to the finish at the harbor mouth. Unfortunately the starting line heavily favored the pin end - maybe the wind had changed after they set it up??? But to make matters worse, there was a flood tide running down the line towards the pin end. So if you wanted to start at the very favored end of the line you were faced with being barely able to cross on starboard, and you were being pushed towards the pin by the current. Been there before? Who would try to get the perfect start at the pin in that band of grey haired, no haired, super experienced hot shots? Read on for the rest of the story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0921/ ISAF WOMEN'S MATCH RACE WORLDS Newport, RI (September 21, 2010) - Despite a lackluster morning with a flattening northerly and a glassed-off bay, a spectacular 16-knot seabreeze unfolded where the cream started to rise to the top of the ISAF Women's Match Race World Championship. Precisely predicted by principal race officer Dr. Robin Wallace, the wind darkened the mouth of the bay as the tide began to flood, and with the entrants evenly divided into two fleets, the Red Group from stage one of the event finished off their four flights with head-to-head battles. Tied atop the Red Group leader board is Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and Katie Spithill (AUS). It would be simple to call these two rivals, but any spectator today would have seen that in a steady wind, rarely shifting off 232 degrees, lead to even starts and finishes with teams broaching together on the line. New Zealand's Samantha Osborne had one such finish rolling Anne-Claire Le Berre of France within a boat length of the finish. "We started setting up for that move at the top mark, and it took the whole leg," said Osborne who is competing in her first match race worlds. "Match racing is like a fast chess game. You have to be thinking two to three steps ahead all the time." In the Blue Group that did not start racing today until around 3 p.m., the top ranked sailors in the fleet all won their first two races setting the stage for someone to fall. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and her team were the first of the top group to drop a race. A close loss to her US Sailing Team Alpha Graphics teammate Sally Barkow was a bitter pill to swallow but all sailors acknowledged today that these are very early stages. Australia's Nicky Souter, who recently won her last two events here in the States and in England, finished the day undefeated along with double world champion Claire Leroy. The results are showing no light between most of the teams in each race. If today is any sign of things to come, the rest of the week will be filled with photo finishes and daunting climb towards the finals as the weekend draws near. -- Event website: http://nyyc.org/ISAFWOMENS/ Competitor blogs: Lucy Macgregor (GBR): http://www.matchracegirls.com/ Samantha Osborne (NZL): http://www.silversailsracing.com/ Genny Tulloch (USA): http://getsailing.org/ Anna Tunnicliffe (USA): http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/ MORRIS YACHTS AT THE DELAMAR YACHT SHOWCASE OCT 2-3 After concluding a very successful Newport boat show, Team Morris has the week off before heading south to Greenwich, CT. Morris Yachts participates in this invitation-only event, held annually at the Greenwich, CT Delamar Hotel. This fall we plan on showing the M29, M36 and M42. Show hours on Saturday and Sunday are 9-5pm and admission is $15. Please call or email to confirm boats on display. From Greenwich, the team will load up and with the M29 in tow, head to Annapolis where the M29 will join the M36 and Morris 42 Rejoice! on display. 1-207-244-5509, http://www.morrisyachts.com ANOTHER BIG STEP The Chicago Match Race Center, which was founded in 2009 to promote and grow the sport of match race sailing, is taking another step in its mission to provide the highest-level match racing training facility for professional and amateur sailors in the US. The CMRC has expanded its range of Open match race events for the 2011 season. Next year's schedule will consist of eight events in total, including 5 two-day and 1 three-day ISAF Grade 3 events; a three-day Grade 2 event; and for the first time ever, a four-day Grade 1 event with a projected US$75,000 prize money purse. This is the most match racing offered at these grade levels than at any other facility in the Western Hemisphere. "Admittedly, this is an aggressive schedule of events." said CMRC Director Bill Hardesty. "But our success this year has encouraged us to keep growing. We feel like we're providing good quality match race sailing for teams not only from around the US, but from overseas as well. This is why we're taking the plunge with the new Grade 1 regatta in late September." The move to host a Grade 1 event represents not only a substantial commitment for CMRC, but also a vote of confidence from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and US SAILING that CMRC can meet or exceed the stringent requirements for prize money, media presence, caliber of competition, and number of international teams agreeing to compete at this event. As such, this will be one of only two events at this level held in the U.S., the other being Long Beach YC's venerable Congressional Cup. -- CMRC website: http://www.chicagomatchrace.com GRADING: The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) guidelines for event grading can be found here: http://www.sailing.org/3845.php LARGEST EVER When the Melges 32 class commences its second ever World Championship event on Wednesday, it will be greeted with a record-breaking 32 entries. Hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA, the fleet is naturally dominated by 23 North American entrants, 3 from Japan, 2 from Great Britain and one each from the Czech Republic, France, Italy and New Zealand. To no one's surprise, a quick glance down the Official Event Crew List gives every indication that not only is sailing's elite present, but the racing will be tight, competitive, fast and seriously fun. Here is the full entry list: Boat Name (Country), Skipper/Tactician Arethusa (USA), Phil Lotz/ Rick Merriman ARGO (USA), Jason Carroll/ John Baxter Banshee (USA), Derek Campbell/ Dalton Bergan Black Mamba (CZE), Martin Knetig/ Martin Trcka Bliksem (USA), Pieter Taselaar/ Jeremy Wilmot B-lin Sailing (ITA), Luca Lalli/ Lorenzo Bressani Bronco (USA), Michael Dominguez/ Anthony Kotoun Bros. (JPN), Naofumi Kamei/ Kan Yamada Celeritas (USA), Malcolm Gefter/ John Mollicone Dark n' Stormy (USA), Ed Tillinghast/ Charles Enright Full Throttle (USA), John Porter/ Jonathan McKee Goombay Smash (USA), Doug Douglass/ Russell Coutts Heartbreaker (USA), Bob Hughes/ Chris Rast Leenabarca (USA), Alex Jackson/ Rob Greenhalgh Ninkasi (USA), John Taylor/ Andrew Campbell Pegasus-MotionX (USA), Philippe Kahn/ Mark Christensen Q (USA), Jim Swartz/ Gavin Brady Ramrod (USA), Rod Jabin/ Chris Larson Red (GBR), Joe Woods/ Paul Goodison Rougarou (USA), Andy Lovell/ Johnny Lovell roXanne (USA), Kip Meadows/ Andy Horton Samba Pa Ti (USA), John Kilroy/ Stu Bannatyne Shakedown (USA), Geoff Pierini/ Brad Read SLED (JPN), Takashi Okura/ Francesco de Angeles STAR (USA), Jeff Ecklund/ Nathan Wilmot Taboo (USA), Stephen Pugh/ Mark Ivey Team Barbarians (GBR), Stuart Simpson/ Nigel Young Teasing Machine (FRA), Jean Francois Cruette/ Christian Ponthieu Tirade (NZL), Stefan Goldwater/ Andrew Wills Viva (USA), Don Jesberg/ Zarko Draganic Warpath (USA), Steve Howe/ Morgan Larson Yasha Samurai (JPN), Yukihiro Ishida/ Hamish Pepper Complete crew lists: http://www.melges32.com/?p=news&id=672 WIND: A look at the Predictwind.com online forecasting website shows a five day outlook to die for. Conditions are expected to be remarkably consistent, building to approximately 17 knots from the west for each of the four race days from Wednesday through Saturday. -- http://www.predictwind.com/ VIDEO: There will be live video coverage of each race at the Melges 32 Worlds. The video stream brings you every start, every mark rounding and every nail-biting finish, live from the water. Sailgroove's Chris Love and St. Francis Yacht Club Junior Director Mike Kalin will be doing the commentary. Details: http://www.melges32.com/?p=news&id=673 GRAND PRIX YACHTING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Cagliari, Italy (September 21, 2010) - Their Region of Sardinia Trophy Regatta lead after Day 1 on the Gulf of Cagliari may be the smallest possible, but the Dean Barker (NZL) skippered Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) proved why they are so firmly on course for their second successive TP52 Audi MedCup Circuit title today when they stretched their overall Circuit lead still further over 2008 champions Quantum Racing (USA) who entered this final circuit event in second. "In the first race we finished eighth," explained Barker. "We had a chance early on and we were very close with Cristabella on the first beat, and they tacked. We were going to tack to leeward and we didn't. We went straight and might have gone around at the top mark second, but we went round eighth. It's just the way it is sometimes. You miss an opportunity and you can't recover. But it was nice to bounce back with a nice second and first and get ourselves back in contention." The Kiwis are tied for first with the Jochen Schuemann (GER) skippered Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) but leading on countback. However, the bonus is that they added another eight points to their Circuit lead over Quantum Racing (USA) whose 9,3,7 for the day finds American Terry Hutchinson's team in 8th position. -- Full story: http://www.medcup.org/news/?id=4004 SHOWTIME: Audi MedCup TV is offering live racing action from the race course including real time 3-D tracking with VirtualEye Interactive. Details: http://www.medcup.org/home/ FUTURE: While the tectonic plates which support grand prix yacht racing can be heard groaning and shifting with the recent announcement of a multihull America's Cup, what is already certain is that the Audi MedCup will be back next year. To replace the GP42 class, which is moving on (and never mentioned in Scuttlebutt due to horrid participation), there are two options for a one-design fleet of identical 40-footers. "We had envisioned that next year would be a difficult year for two reasons," said Nacho Postigo of MedCup circuit organizer World Sailing Management. "First is the continuing background of a difficult economic climate and second is because we have been a haven for some America's Cup teams as that event was being sorted out and re-organised. "But there is a very positive side as some people who may have been a bit daunted because the level of competition is so high can now join more confidently. We expect the numbers to drop in 2011 but then to grow again in years two and three of this cycle." -- Stuart Alexander, The Independent, full story: http://tinyurl.com/The-Independent-092110 NORTH-POWERED BOATS RULE ROLEX BIG BOAT SERIES North Sails-powered boats were FAST at Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco last weekend. Special congratulations to: 'B-Lin Sailing' for winning the Melges 32 class; 'Dayenu' for winning the J/120 class; 'Arbitrage' for winning the J/105 class; 'Soozal' for winning IRC-B and 'Wasabi' for winning IRC-C. All five winners were powered by North sails. "Our North sails were simply excellent," said J/120 winner Don Payan. "The boat was sailing higher and faster than any other boat in our class and our performance upwind and downwind were unmatched." When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com SAILING SHORTS * Hoorn, the Netherlands (September 21, 2010) - It was a good start for Canada following the first day at the 2010 2.4mR World Championship. Winds were light for most of the races with dense fog occasionally limiting visibility. After three races, 2008 Paralympic gold medalist Paul Tingley (CAN) is in second place, equal on points with Swede Stellen Berlin. The forecast for Wednesday is 6 to 10 knots and there are three races scheduled. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.ca/features/2010_24_world_championships/ * Larchmont, NY (September 19, 2010) - Past North American champion Jamie McCreary, with brother Pierce as crew, won the 2010 Ideal 18 North American Championship, held September 18-19 at Larchmont YC. Peter Beardsley with crew Gabe Jostrom finished second, three points ahead of two-time North American champions Shane Olney and Chris Dorsey from Rochester YC. Sailors from eight clubs in Long Island Sound joined six savvy and seasoned teams from Rochester in the 22-boat fleet. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10543 * The 40th Newport (R.I.) International Boat Show saw an estimated 10 percent increase in attendance, according to show manager Nancy Piffard. The Newport show, which ran Sept. 16-19, started the fall show season in a big way, featuring new sailboats and powerboats from U.S. and international manufacturers. A big draw was the America's Cup 12 Metre Legends Reunion panel, held Sept. 16, that featured Gary Jobson, ESPN's yachting commentator and co-chairman of the reunion, as the moderator. -- Soundings, full story: http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/home/506407-newport-show-sees-attendance-boost * This week the cream of the North American Melges 24 Fleet will gather at the Rochester Yacht Club (NY) on Lake Ontario for the 2010 Melges 24 North American Championship on September 23-26. Crews from across the US and Canada will compete in the Open and Corinthian divisions, with eight of the top ten ranked North American Melges 24 crews attending. Reigning US National Champion Alan Field, who also claimed the 2009 Melges 24 Gold Cup and the 2010 Gulf Coast Championship, as the number one seed at this event. -- Event website: http://www.myyc.org/site/2010melges24NA EIGHT BELLS Dave Kirby, who won his class in the St. Francis Big Boat series two years in a row with his J-122 TKO, died on Saturday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He had just turned 56. Dave was president of The Kirby Organization (TKO), one of the most successful band booking agencies in the world, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he grew up racing International 14s and then Lasers at the Britannia Yacht Club. When he moved to the U.S. and worked in New York he raced on Long Island Sound and cruised in his 35-foot Nightwind. The music agency business took him to Los Angeles where he immediately became a force to contend with in Southern California racing. He leaves two teen-aged sons, his wife Christine, his mother Betty and three sisters. His father, also David Kirby, one of North America's finest International 14 sailors of the 50s and 60s, died in 1970 at the age of 42 of melanoma. Dave was the nephew of Laser designer Bruce Kirby. GREAT END OF SUMMER DEALS WITH LASERPERFORMANCE Regatta fees and boat maintenance hitting your wallet hard? Check out the great end of summer deals, only at the LaserPerformance online store. 15% off C420, Sunfish, Laser and Opti covers, Laser Harken block sets, Sunfish wood daggerboards and much much more. Check out all the deals at http://shopna.laserperformance.com Sail Legendary LaserPerformance.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter are limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Paul Henderson, former ISAF president: The sport of sailing has always had a conflict between "Talent" and "Technology". Over the years ISAF has slowly but consistently moved the Olympic Events more and more towards "Talent" and away from "Technology". Once there were 8 and 6 Metres, and now there are Lasers and Windsurfers. The reason the Tornado was displaced is because of the cost and I am sure that for the 2016 Olympics in Rio a new and more simple one-design Cat will be installed. The America's Cup has always had a high level of cutting edge technology and the new concept keeps up that tradition. Sailing has a very broad spectrum of equipment and formats. During acute times of trying to govern our wonderful diverse sport, I wondered how easy it would be to lead a sport like Hockey where everything was the same. Once Ernesto Bertarelli said to me that sailing was a pyramid and the AC was at the pinnacle. I responded to him that the sport of sailing was more like the Himalayan Mountains with many challenging peaks to climb all important. Let's revel in the unique diversity of sailing for it will never be monolithic. * From Peter Harken: I was at the marvelous historic America's Cup 12m Reunion event at the NYYC in Newport. Most of all the famous now gray hairs and crews were all there and it was fantastic - huge credit to the NYYC and Herreshoff organization. The crowning point for me was Simon Daubney's Hall of Fame induction speech. I have attended several or more of the Hall's inductee events through the years, and Simon's speech was the best I have ever heard. It's simplicity and 'Man of the Earth' ego-less honesty describing himself as a "basically uneducated" grunt "making a career out of pulling the jib onto the top spreader and watching it" left me in tears of laughter! Simon talked without notes, just all from the heart! Everyone must read this speech from a highly talented very modest man, "grunt" as I'm honored to know him and his "mates"! => Curmudgeon's Comment: Thanks to Stuart Streuli at Sailing World for transcribing the speech for Scuttlebutt 3181, and for providing additional event details on the SW website. If you had problems with the URL in #3181, here it is again: http://tinyurl.com/23v7fpb * From Leslie Valmadre, Western Australia: I mean no disrespect to the current and prior inductees into the AC Hall of Fame but for me the Americas' Cup Hall of Fame will never truly be a recognition of America's Cup sailors until all the crew who sailed and won the America's Cup in 1983 on Australia II are inducted. Sure there are those who will say it was going to be won by someone else eventually and the Hall of Fame has honoured the skipper, the designer and one of the crew from that series but that is simply not good enough. The 1983 Australia II crew actually won it and they did it the hardest way possible and even in victory were only reluctantly accepted by NYYC as the great sailors and worthy winners they were. An AC Hall of Fame can honour all the competitors and designers it likes from recent and past campaigns but there was only one first winner of the cup after America won the cup in 1851 and the crew that made that win a reality is what started the AC as we have known it since 1983. A crew of 11 sailors. That the AC Hall of Fame is US and NYYC centric helps, in my opinion, to explain this anomaly and oversight. After all, why honour those who took from you what you have coveted and attempted to retain at all cost for 130 years? * From Rives Potts: A memorial service for Hans Zimmer, of Essex, CT, who passed away in August after a long bout with cancer, will be held at Brewers Pilots Point Marina, South Yard Clubhouse (Westbrook, CT) on September 25th at 4:00pm. Hans was an important member of our family at PPM for the past 30 year, with many of our current journeyman craftsmen owing their trade education and mentoring to him. Hans was bigger than life and was the leading force in many of the more notable projects on America's Cup keels and the restoration of many famous classic sailing and motor yachts. Hans' passing marks the end of an era. * From Cameron McIntyre Two interesting articles in #3181, "Facebook or Flintstones" and "What will happen in 2011?" made my mind wander. I am not sure I am onboard the America's Cup for the Facebook generation concept; that idea seems like "New Coke" to me. I suppose if the powers that be have done the marketing research that indicates there is a new audience out there, so great, but I have a hunch the strategy is more of "If I build it, they will come". My ponderings continue with the MedCup, which is still seeing strong international focus despite economic conditions. This leads me to reiterate comments that have been made before: are the Cup holders really reinventing the wheel to improve the AC and international sailing, or are they creating a platform that benefits their experience and technology? Has the AC become a custom regatta to be designed and redesigned by the current Cup holder? If the "Cat Cup" is a bust, what's next? INDUSTRY NEWS The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services, with updates included in the Thursday edition of the Scuttlebutt newsletter. Here is the link to view and/or post Industry News updates: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/INDUSTRY_NEWS_C15/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not one named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding in a car, whereas dogs love a nice ride? Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'? Special thanks to Morris Yachts, North Sails, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
