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SCUTTLEBUTT 3352 - Tuesday, May 31, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: North Sails and Lewmar. VICTORY FOR BRAD VAN LIEW American ocean racer Brad Van Liew sailed over the finish line of the VELUX 5 OCEANS on May 27, 2011 (2053 local time, 1853 UTC) and into the record books, winning all five legs of the 30,000-mile challenge for the second time in his solo sailing career. Not only is the 43-year-old now the only sailor in the 29-year history of the VELUX 5 OCEANS to have taken clean sweeps in two races (having also won each leg of the 2002/3 edition in class two) but he is also the first American to race solo around the world three times. By completing his historic third circumnavigation Brad has surpassed the previous record set by his mentor Mike Plant. Having taken part in the 1986 edition of the race, then known as the BOC Challenge, and then the inaugural Vendee Globe in 1989, Plant was lost at sea en route to his third round the world race in 1992. "This win won't mean a whole lot to a whole lot of people but it means one hell of a lot to me and a few others," said Van Liew. "It is something that I have done and can take to the grave that no-one can deny me it. That's why people climb mountains, sail solo round the world or even go to the moon. It's one of those kind of moments." Thirty-six year old Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski (POL) crossed the final leg finish line May 29th in third place to secure second place on the overall and to become the first Pole ever to do so. Canadian Derek Hatfield secured third overall honors when the 58-year-old finished the leg on May 29th in fourth. Brit Chris Stanmore-Major completed all five legs to finish fourth overall, while Belgian Christophe Bullens was forced to withdraw from the race on January 3 during leg 2. The 2010-11 edition was sailed in Eco 60s (Open 60s built before 2003) and featured five ocean sprints over nine months. Five entrants set off on October 17 from La Rochelle to Cape Town, and then to Wellington in New Zealand, Punta del Este in Uruguay and Charleston in the U.S. before returning back across the Atlantic to France. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ COLLEGE FINALS The Intercollegiate Sailing Association's three national championships, ICSA/Sperry Top-Sider Women's National Championship, ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship, and the ICSA/Gill Dinghy National Championship commenced Monday, May 23 with the Women's event, which lasted for four days immediately followed by the Team Race Championship and the Dinghy Championship consecutively each lasting for three days. All of the events are being sailed in Club Flying Juniors (CFJs), on Cascade Locks, OR. WOMEN: (May 27, 2011) - Following the win by University of Rhode Island at the ICSA/Sperry Top-Sider Women's National Championship, the Intercollegiate Sailing Association announced the 2011 Quantum Women's College Sailor of the Year is Annie Haeger, a junior and A-division skipper from Boston College. Haeger is from Lake Forest, Illinois but grew up sailing on Lake Beulah in Wisconsin. In addition to this prestigious award she was also named an ICSA All-American Women's Skipper, an award she has won twice previously in 2009 and 2010. Megan Magill ('11) of St. Mary's College of Maryland was also a finalist for the Sailor of the Year award. Complete list of All-American and Honorable Mention skippers here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11955#11955 TEAM RACING: (May 29, 2011) - The final day of racing at the Columbia River Gorge for the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship has ended with Roger Williams University coming out on top to win the Walter C. Wood Memorial Trophy. Today was the culmination of three days of racing which included six round robins. The fourteen top collegiate team race teams in the country, representing the seven districts in the ICSA, gathered to compete for the championship. It was Roger Williams' first appearance at the APS/ICSA Team Race National Championship and therefore the school's first win. The winning team included skippers Cy Thompson '11, Alec Anderson '13, Sean Bouchard '12 with crews: Kelly Stannard '12, Sophie Bellacosa '13, Bianca Rom '13, Tyler Wilson '12, Cameron Pimentel '13, Joshua Saltmarsh '11, Haley Powell '13 and Alyssa Seifert '13. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11978#11978 DINGHY: (May 30, 2011) - Continuing a theme that has prevailed during the 2011 Spring Nationals, the windy conditions that have made the Gorge famous for extreme sailing remained in hiding for the first day of the ICSA/Gill Dinghy National Championship. The top 18 teams from throughout the U.S. were dealt a long day with strategic postponements to allow the wind strength to provide sufficient power to overcome the strong currents of the Columbia River. After over eight hours at the race venue, only four A races and two B races were completed, with Hobart and William Smith Colleges holding a three point lead on Boston College. Racing continues Tuesday and concludes Wednesday. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11986#11986 ARETHUSA WINS SWAN CARIBBEAN CHALLENGE Phil and Wendy Lotz and crew onboard their Swan 42, Arethusa , have won the Swan Caribbean Challenge after placing first at the 2011 Antigua Sailing Week, 2nd at the Heineken St. Maarten Regatta and 3rd at the International Rolex Regatta in St Thomas. In addition to winning the Swan Caribbean Challenge trophy, team Arethusa also won the titles of 'Best American Yacht,' 'Best Swan,' and 'Best Team - USA 2.' Arethusa races with a complete North Sails Class Sail Development Swan 42 inventory. When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com BRUNI WINS...FINALLY! Langenargen, Germany (May 29, 2011) - Francesco Bruni has claimed his first ever victory on the World Match Racing Tour after defeating four-time World Champion Peter Gilmour at Match Race Germany on Lake Constance. The win means his Bruni Racing team trail Damien Iehl's French Match Racing Team by just two points in the World Match Racing Tour standings after two stages of the 2011 series. Bruni was in consistent form throughout Match Race Germany, winning Qualifying to earn a direct ticket to the Semi-Finals which he won against Phil Robertson's WAKA Racing team on count back. In the Final against Gilmour, he upped his game even further and benefited from a series of great calls by his tactician Massimo Bortoletto to win 2-0. Bruni, who has several America's Cup and Olympic campaigns to his name, said after his first Tour victory: "I believe our races against Peter Gilmour in the Final are the best we've sailed. After 12 events we finally won one. My guys have been brilliant and patient with me to give them a win. We're a bunch of friends with a great team spirit." -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-053011 Results (top 8 of 12 won prize money) 1. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing, $10,000 2. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, $8,000 3. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing, $7,000 4. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Team Synergy, $6,000 5. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team, $5,250 6. Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners, $5,000 7. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, $4,500 8. Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Okalys Corum, $4,250 NEXT: The Korea Match Cup, sailed in KM36s on June 7-12, is the next event on the 2011 Tour. Mathieu Richard (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team crew won the 2010 Korea Match Cup defeating two time World Champion Ian Williams 3-1 in the Final. -- http://www.wmrt.com/world-tour/korea.html CANCELLED: The World Match Racing Tour announced that the Kongelig Danish Yachtklub, organisers of the Danish Open and a longstanding member of the Tour, are unable to fulfill their requirements to host the 2011 Danish Open. The event, which was the sixth stop of the nine event Tour, has been cancelled. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/DO-053011 IN THE WORLD OF SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS The Extreme Sailing Season is embarking on its fifth season, with last week's event in Istanbul, Turkey (May 25-29) as the third stop for the nine event tour that will travel through Asia, Europe, and North America this year. Teams sail the one design Extreme 40 catamaran in events that combine 'open-water' racing with 'stadium' short-course racing in front of the public. The 2011 ESS has grown in part due to the multihull format planned for the 34th America's Cup in 2013, with the next stop coming to Boston, USA on June 30-July 4. American Terry Hutchinson helmed the winning Artemis Racing team in Istanbul... here is his report: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Forty-three races. That is four and a half years of Key West Race Week packed into five days of sailing and as fate would have it, it came down to the last run of the last race. Going into the double points race we had a slim lead over Gitana and ETNZ. With one-minute to go before the start we made an aggressive call to start on port and go for the port tack cross of the fleet. It did not work but a crisp tack underneath Gitana kept Artemis with her nose poked and still in the hunt. ETNZ benefited from a slight right shift as the fleet extended left and would quickly extend out to a commanding lead. We rounded the weather mark 4th comfortably ahead of Alinghi who copped a penalty for hitting the weather mark. At this moment the points were in favor of ETNZ. We needed a "break"! As fate would have it, our break came with Pindar sailing the wrong course as we rounded the last top mark for the run to the finish. Did we get a break from somebody else's mental mistake? Yep. Were we lucky? Probably, but I can also look at about 50 other opportunities that we were equally unlucky so in the world of swings and roundabouts I would say we were fairly even. Either way we kept ourselves in the hunt the entire regatta, no quitting, just determination from a great group. My hat's off to Julien, Rodney, Morgan, Dog, Nick and Brad for the great effort in getting Artemis Racing around the race course. It was a great "team" win. Race report: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-053011 TESTING THE SYSTEM (May 27, 201) - Emirates Team New Zealand is asking the America's Cup jury to clarify the method of selecting the Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup. Mascalzone Latino, the original Challenger of Record, announced on May 12 that it could not proceed with its challenge. Golden Gate Yacht Club appointed the Swedish team Artemis to fill the role which involves representing all challengers in negotiations with race management. Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said that with so much public money and sponsorship involved in the New Zealand challenge it was reasonable to seek clarification on how Artemis was selected. Dalton likened the move to a rugby team going to the referees' association to get clarification of a change to the rules of rugby. "We can see circumstances arising where the smaller commercial teams could be disadvantaged by the marriage between these two 'super powers' - Oracle as the Defender and Artemis as the Challenger of Record. "The team is seeking clarification now rather than waiting for that to happen." -- http://www.emiratesteamnz.com/ COMMENT: While I doubt much will come of Dalts inquiry, it seems to be a wise move if just to test the system. Considering that the race organizers will not provide an update on how many of the 13 teams have been disqualified for not meeting the $200,000 bond payment on April 30th, I would be concerned too. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor NO THIS ISN'T A WIND UP! For a limited period, Lewmar is offering a free award-winning OneTouch winch handle with every EVO winch purchased at participating US retailers. The intuitive simplicity of the OneTouch handle combined with the EVO winch is the ideal addition to your deck equipment for the 2011 season! Click on http://www.lewmar.com for your nearest retailer. A LONG ISLAND CLASSIC Larchmont, NY (May 30, 2011) - Even though it moved along at only five knots for several hours and briefly "parked" three times when the wind switched off completely, Rambler 100, George David's (Stamford, Conn.) rocket ship built for speed, broke - by 42 minutes and 45 seconds - Boomerang's 2002 record in the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race. The 186 nautical mile race, a Long Island classic that has been held annually for 66 years, started on the Friday afternoon of Memorial Day Weekend and sent 59 boats in eight classes (six IRC and two PHRF) on a course from Stamford, Conn. (where host Stamford Yacht Club is located), down Long Island Sound, clockwise around Block Island (R.I.), and back. Rambler 100 finished early Saturday morning after sailing for just over 15 hours and 43 minutes, while the last boat finished Sunday afternoon just before 2 p.m. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11984 SAILING SHORTS * Esteemed yachting journalist Stuart Alexander, who writes for British publication The Independent, lost his son - Marine Sam Alexander - last week when he was killed by an IED bomb in Afghanistan. Stuart shares his feelings in this report: http://tinyurl.com/Stuart-Alexander-053011 * Long Beach, CA (May 30, 2011) - Jeff Janov's Dark Star dominated the ten boat fleet to win the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship. After taking the lead with a 1-1-5 on Saturday in 11-14 knots, Janov charged through strong winds and big seas Sunday to pad the lead with a 3-1. And if anyone had plans to overcome the eight point lead on the final races today, Dark Star tactician Morgan Larson slammed the door shut by rolling three bullets. Full results: http://tinyurl.com/F40-NA-053011 * Bermuda (May 27, 2011) - In the House of Assembly on Friday Minister of National Security Wayne Perinchief said that Cabinet has approved a revised policy to extend the time for visiting yachts. From 1st June visiting yachts and their crews will be granted a maximum 90 day stay on arrival in Bermuda. It was estimated that visiting yachts and crew spent over $10 million in Bermuda in 2010, and that this extension will increase this contribution to the local economy. -- Full story: http://bernews.com/2011/05/visiting-yacht-crews-maximum-90-day-stay * Medemblik, Holland (May 29, 2011) - Despite many athletes focusing their training for the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta (June 6-11) in Weymouth, UK, site of the 2012 Olympic sailing events, 532 entrants competed last week at the Delta Lloyd regatta, the fifth stop of the seven event ISAF Sailing World Cup. All ten Olympic events and the singlehanded Paralympic event saw mostly strong winds for the six race days. Top finishers among the North Americans was Canadian Zachary Plavsic (2nd - RS:X Men) and American Anna Tunnicliffe (3rd - Women's Match Race). -- http://www.deltalloydregatta.org/ * Steve Girling, Ched Proctor and David Lutian dominated the Zhik Etchells Long Island Sound Championship hosted May 21-22 by Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. Girling's team ended the seven race, one discard series with nine points, six ahead of Jeff Siegel, Jeff Madrigali, Sarah Callahan and Sean Couvreaux with Rob Hitchcock, Barry Allardice and Greg Hefler in third, Jay Mills in 4th and Scott Kaufman rounding out the top 5. Results at: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=509 * Chicago, IL (May 29, 2011) - Violent thunderstorms, fog and tornado warnings kept all boats in the harbor today, prompting race organizers to use Saturday's results to proclaim local skipper Don Wilson and his team of Steve Hunt, Sam Rogers, Mandi Markee, and Eric Shampain to claim victory in the CMRC Spring Invitational. Wilson's undefeated 8-0 record in the incomplete Round Robin earns him valuable Grade 3 points for the ISAF World Ranking list, and a jump start to an active season of upcoming Grade 3, Grade 2 and Grade 1 events at the Chicago Match Race Center. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11980 * The 777-mile Charleston Bermuda Race wrapped up this past weekend with their awards ceremony taking place on the verandah of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club on Sunday. Eleven boats are listed as having started the event on May 21, with five listed as finishing. Winning both IRC and PHRF was Tucana, the Shipman 63 chartered by Hank Hofford and Susan Ford. Finishing second place in both divisions was the Farr 65 Spirit of Juno, skippered by Sarah Rose and including comedian Stephen Colbert among the crew. Results: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=438 FREE AD SPACE RAFFLE The Scuttlebutt newsletter is donating an advertisement space to a business or organization eager to promote something to the Scuttlebutt readership. Would you like a free ad? Details here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11901 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 may be 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 Jack Gierhart, Executive Director, US SAILING: Thanks for including the piece on Peter Jones in Scuttlebutt 3350 ('TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION'). In an effort to support the vision and activities of folks like Peter and strengthen the race official network, in 2008 US SAILING established a scholarship fund to encourage younger sailors (under 35) to get involved in officiating. For more information on how you can take advantage of this program, visit: http://donations.ussailing.org/Race_Officialships.htm One challenge we run into is scheduling seminars at times that are convenient to students and/or recent graduates. Peter and others have made progress by hosting seminars around events, but there is certainly more we can do. If you have an idea or would like support in organizing a seminar in your area targeting younger sailors, please contact Chris Petracco at chrispetracco@ussailing.org. * From Chris Boome, San Francisco: (re, U.S. youth sailing thread) Andrew Campbell made a lot of good points in his article (in Scuttlebutt 3348) about how to keep junior sailors "in the fold". Since I am 64 years old, I did not grow up in the "coaches for kids" generation of sailors, but I was lucky enough to grow up at a wonderful place for sailing small boats, the Palo Alto Yacht Club, at the south end of San Francisco Bay. The PAYC has long since met it's demise because there was a snail that apparently could not withsatnd dredging the harbor again so now this beautiful family sailing venue is just a big pile of mud. When we were kids, the "racing" boat was an El Toro, certainly not a performance boat, but as Andrew points out, the boat does not matter (as long as they are all the same). The most important ingredient to the extremely successful program was the fact that the kids had a lot of fun and also became friends outside of sailing, so they wanted to keep coming back. The competitive juices will surface in most any group of 10-14 year old kids, without much pushing from adults. As I look back on it, the key ingredient that allowed these friendships to flourish was the tremendous amount of time and effort put forth by club members, both parents and non-parents. The parents were always there keeping an eye on us from afar, making sure that we were OK and coming up with all sorts of things we could do to keep moving along in our sailing. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11985#11985 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION There aren't enough days in the weekend. 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