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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 922 - October 15, 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.
COLORCRAFT GOLD CUP The annual match racing championship hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club is the third event on this year's Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. Today was the first of two day's racing by unseeded skippers to select eight teams to race against seeded skippers in the Championship Round of the Colorcraft Gold Cup that starts on Wednesday. Bermudian skipper Peter Bromby, New Zealander Gavin Brady, Americans Andy Horton and Ken Read and young British skipper Mark Campbell-James each won all their races in difficult, gusty and shifty west to south west winds that ranged from 15 knots in the morning to five knots by late afternoon. America's Cup challengers amongst the seeded ranks include Conner, Sweden's Magnus Holmberg who sails for that country's Victory Challenge, Peter Holmberg who races with Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing Challenge from San Francisco, and Briton Andy Green, a former Colorcraft Gold Cup champion and starting helmsman for England's GBR Challenge. -- Keith Taylor Event site: www.bermudagoldcup.com
VOLVO OCEAN RACE "The south Atlantic high is currently at 38 [degrees] south which means simply that we have two options that are incredibly even, to sail over the high or below it," explained ASSA ABLOY's Richard Mason. Both options have their merits and downfalls. To sail below the high pressure system will add an extra 400 miles to the course. To race over the top maybe a shorter rhumb line distance, but it is upwind all the way and leaves the yachts open to the prospect of the system moving north and blocking their path. Illbruck and ASSA ABLOY, currently sitting on eight and seven points respectively for the leg, will be watching Team News Corp, Tyco and Amer Sports One with nervous anticipation. "It would make sense to stay with the opposition. If this turns out to be the case then it is going to be an intensely close race into Cape Town," continued Mason. This dilemma is sure to be the hot topic of debate over the next day. "A lot will happen in the next 24 to 48 hrs, so donât go away," added Team News Corp skipper Jez Fanstone. Illbruck's lead over ASSA ABLOY is now 31 miles while, at the rear of the fleet, Lisa McDonald's all female team on Amer Sports Too have pulled away from djuice by two miles.
Position report: 1600 hrs GMT October 14:
NOT A SINGLE THING YOU ACTUALLY NEED
US SAILING GIVES RULE 64.1 THE HEAVE-HO This prescription was introduced in April 2001. At that time the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) introduced a rule (Regulation 21.2.1(h) in Appendix 2) that required all members of every crew in every race to be either a member of their national authority (US Sailing for sailors in the USA) or a member of a club or other organization affiliated to their national authority. The prescription to rule 64.1(a) is no longer needed because the ISAF has revised Regulation 21 and, in the revised version, Regulation 21.2.1(h) has been deleted. The revised regulation now requires such membership only for a limited number of major international championships. The revised regulation is part of the ISAF Eligibility Code and is now numbered Regulation 19.3. It can be found on the International Sailing Federation's web site (www.sailing.org) Of course, the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club had this problem solved a while ago, see sailingsource.com/scuttlebutt/ssc.html
A DIFFERENT ASPECT ON SAILCLOTH?
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Don Zinn: Friday would have been the start of U.S. Sailing's Championship of Champions regatta at Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, San Pedro California. The yacht club had ordered 20 Cal 20 jibs from Ullman Sails for the regatta to be delivered October 1st. On September 17th it became evident that the regatta was in trouble for a lot of reasons. We called Charlie Ogletree to let him know the regatta was going to be postponed and he put us in contact with Pease and Jay Glazer in Newport Beach. The long and short of it was, many of the sails were completed and more were already in production. After a meeting with Jay and Pease, Ullman Sails refunded 100% of the deposit and cancelled the order. This, of course, let Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club out of a huge financial obligation that they could not recoup. Thanks Charlie, Pease and Jay and Ullman Sails from all of us at C.B.Y.C for your understanding and support of our sport. We owe you a big one! * From Dick Katz: I'd like to thank George Bailey for the great tip on using a camera for a range finder!Ê What a simple, inexpensive idea and you actually could use any old camera -- simply focus on "the enemy" and then read the distance on the lens... * From Gareth Evans: In my opinion it doesn't matter how much fancy equipment people have on board their boats.Ê At the end of the day, if you're not a good sailor it won't help you in the slightest. You could give a bad sailor a boat laden with all the goodies, and he'll still come last.Ê A good sailor on a bare boat will be well up the fleet, but give him the toys and he'll pull through to the front.Ê You still have to use your brain - many would say it makes the racing more complicated as on some boats you can have too much information coming at you!Ê I believe that the margins at top level sailing are now too close for seat-of-the-pants sailing.Ê Just look at how close together the Volvo boats are.
MINI TRANSAT Position report, top five in the Prototype Division, 1200 GMT October 14:
Place - Skipper - Boat - Distance to Finish
Series Division Official site is in French only: www.transat650.com, regular updates in English are on www.madforsailing.com
QUOTES FROM BOATS - Volvo Ocean Race A big area with no wind seems likely to develop south of as we turn the corner at the island. How do you get around or through that area? We all have in our memory the way illbruck outsmarted the rest of us, moving southeast to get around the high ridge after Canaries. She just took a planned, calculated, temporary bad gybe south east to gain big time in the long run. Will this pay also this time? * From , Amer Sports Two: Great change. We have just taken the lead (over djuice dragons) I cannot quite believe we are into day 21 and are match racing in the middle of the night. What a hoot. * From Richard Mason, ASSA ABLOY: Everyone on board seems to be losing some weight now, which I am sure will please the wives of the boat, but we are also becoming incredibly hairy, as we are yet to locate a razor on board. Clean underwear is also becoming a highly cherished item. * From Knut Frostad, djuice dragons: We have been chased by girls day and night. Doesn't seem too bad does it, in the middle of the ocean? But these girls are different. After we had them clear behind us before the island [Fernando de Noronha], having gained more than 100 miles on them the last couple of days, they were obviously out for some revenge. We had them only one mile away after losing five [miles] during our pit stop, and since then they have been clever making our lives miserable. You pray before your off watch that Jonas [Wackenhuth] or Arve [Roaas] will not start the generator for charging and water making during your sleep, as it raises the temperature even higher (right now about 32 degrees). Some of the guys went for their second pair of underwear today. What else can you ask for after nearly three weeks at sea?
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
