|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 914 - October 4, 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, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
AMERICA'S CUP Mr. Taylor says he has heard that a Japanese syndicate is trying to raise money to charter the two boats owned by the former Nippon syndicate (Asura & Idaten, JPN-44 & JPN-52, were bought by the challenging British syndicate, which may be trying to lease them to the proposed Japanese syndicate). Speculation was rife about the unnamed Japanese syndicate at the Cowes anniversary regatta in August, Murray Taylor says. - Hauraki News website, (source: Quentin Clarkson on stuff.co.nz) www.hauraki-news.com/LatestNews/Miscellaneous-LN.htm
VOLVO OCEAN RACE During eight hours last night, Illbruck gybed 16 times, trying to gain on every wind shift. Assa Abloy and Tyco eventually split after Assa Abloy gybed to find her own way 20 miles further to the east. Grant Dalton on Amer Sports One is positive how things are going for him, as he is able to keep up with the narrower Farr designed yachts with larger sails. Before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race, he expected to have a slight disadvantage in the conditions the fleet experiences for five days in a row. Amer Sports Too Crew and djuice made more big gains on the leading group and are now just 60 miles away and closing. Team SEB still sails her easterly course along the African coast. "What The Hell Are We Doing Here?," asked Gurra Krantz, SEB skipper. "What can I say? Everybody is asking what the hell we are doing out here. To be totally honest, so are we at times. We have been chasing our own tail for days now. I do not know what the information says to the rest of the fleet, but in a position such as ours, the best escape is to catch the wind that should be in the south and east of us. There simply is no door open for us to go more west, and take my word for it, we have been looking for one." "It seems like the reality of the weather is a little bit early all the time compared with the forecasts. We are running to the station to catch the train with a standby ticket, but the train has already left, some 30 seconds early," Krantz concluded.
STANDINGS - October 4 @ 0400 hours:
CODE GREEN Due to the recent attacks on NYC there are restrictions on civilian craft in New York Harbour. PlayStation plans to leave Chelsea Piers before 2 pm on Thursday to beat the 4 pm cut off time at Verrazano Narrows and be ready to head to the start line at Ambrose Light when the winds are right. - www.fossettchallenge.com
SOG STAINLESS STEEL POWERLOCK MULTI TOOL
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Dave Millett (Re Malcolm McKeag's comments on late entries in Butt 914): As an event organizer and as a participant let me wholeheartedly second his motion. In the countless events I have run or been a committee member on, the worst thing in the world is always the flow of entries. Inevitably, no less than 50% of the entries show up during the last 24 hours before the deadline. Then, everyone complains that they don't like the class splits or there isn't enough food at the post parties or we ran out of Rum to soon. Duuuuuuuh people. It's pretty hard to plan and budget and staff an event when you have no clear idea two days ahead of time how many people will show up. It's also pretty hard to get good crew when you don't decide until a week ahead of time you want to do a regatta. If your normal crew is halfway decent they're gone. Run a good program - plan well in advance and you've got a good start. Want good regattas - be courteous and enter well in advance and help the organizers give you what you want.
JULES VERNE TROPHY After a 12-month build at the Multiplast yard, the Van Peteghem/Prˇvost designed Geronimo will now embark on her record chase, starting with the Jules Verne, held until 2000 by ODK's SportElec. He believes the boat can complete the course in as little as 55 days. In the few short weeks since her launch, the boat has completed over 7,000 ocean miles of sea trials, ranging as far afield as Ireland and the Canaries. At no stage did the breeze exceed 30 knots, but impressions so far are entirely favourable. - Chris Beeson, Yachting World website. Full story: www.yachting-world.com/
COMPASS CALIBRATION
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Volvo Ocean Race "It looks like we have a bit better breeze than the boats to the west of us. We didn't think of the move as a gamble, we just looked at our weather information and figured there would be more wind in the east. Just wanted to get a little gap and it seems to have paid off for us." -John Kostecki, illbruck skipper "I went on record with (the crew) saying your odds were better of winning in Vegas than trying to second guess the weather for the next few days. The long-range forecasts show more potholes all the way through the doldrums, and the winners will look smart, but probably luckier." - Rudi Rudiger, Assa Abloy co-skipper /navigator "It's like a mine-field. We're trying to get into the Trades, but meanwhile, we're ducking around huge black clouds that bring wind pressure on one side of them, but nothing at all on the other. A couple of times, we've unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of a cloud and been hung. Nick and I have been constantly on the go." - Ross Field, Team News Corp skipper "illbruck seems to have done the nicest job tactically but are only the same speed as the rest of us most of the time. Which believe me is very encouraging as before the start I was worried that they may have an edge in general particularly over us. 3.5 years of testing is an awful lot. So there is not much more that we can do other than try to keep the boat going as fast as possible. The opportunities to reposition over the next 24 hours are very limited now and as they say we have made our bed and now we must lie on it." - Grant Dalton, Amer Sports One skipper "It's getting to be a bit like the movie Groundhog Day out here. 1800 miles to go to the first island and we are experiencing Transpac (Pacific ocean) type weather - same gybe, same sail, same wind strength and same forecast for tomorrow!" Jon Gunderson, Team News Corp " It's quite frustrating trying to sail in so little pressure. It's a bit like driving your Porsche down the motorway stuck in second gear. We have a boat that can easily top 20 knots and here we are pootling along at 6. We are all hoping that soon we will have an opportunity to gun it and show you what we can really do." - Ian Moore, illbruck
RANKINGS
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
MUMM 30 WORLDS Crowded mark roundings and photo finishes prevailed in this highly competitive international fleet. No less than seven boats surged across the finish line together at the end of the second race. Due to the close proximity of the boats, several protests were also filed. The wind was very steady from the southeast at 15-17 knots, with choppy seas for the amateur and owner drivers to contend with. The British boat Panther AMG is at the top of the leader board after scoring a second and sixth in the two races today, with helmsan Mike Budd competing in his first ever Mumm 30 event. Second placed Alina was "very fast" on the water, according to a fellow competitor, with Norwegian Olympic medallist Herman Johannssen calling the shots for owner Maurizio Abba.
Standing after two races:
MINI TRANSAT The first leg's winner is Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com) finished at 20hr 26 Min UTC. Second is expected to be Arnaud Boissieres(Aquarelle.com 2). - Leo Voorneveld, www.transat650.com
THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL |
