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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 833 - June 11, 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.
US SAILING THE RULEBOOK LESSON - The web has provided us with a valuable, albeit somewhat painful lesson. We have seen the business of our organization become infinitely more complicated than it was even 5 years ago. Our web site started off more to be a tool for communicating volunteer efforts. It is now an integral part of our business operations, as well. Only a few of our training materials were sold through commercial outlets seven years ago. Now commercial store operations distribute many of our training and race administration books. Our customers, whether they are members or not, have come to demand commercial-level service. The web is a contributor to that expectation, but the expectation is not limited to web transactions. If we, as an organization, are to continue to rely upon volunteer efforts to produce and update our products, our volunteers must be as responsive to commercial deadlines as paid professionals must be. Part of the problem may be solved for the future. The ISAF recently announced that it will make the next rulebook available to Member National Authorities six months before the effective date of the rules. * INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIPS - In the past month, renewals have dropped below this time last year (17,209 / 17,788). While the number of members signing up for multiple years continues to increase, it is equally clear from member calls that the delay we encountered in being able to produce the rulebook has adversely affected renewals. Renewals of Keelboat members, who do not receive the rulebook, are ahead of last year (1,351 / 1,145). So are youth renewals (1,285 / 1,233). However, it does not appear that the rulebook delay has adversely affected acquisition of new members. Acquisitions are up overall (4,372 / 4,053), with adult acquisition efforts being the key factor. Full report: www.ussailing.org/exec/DirectorReport/200105.htm
THERE'S A RUN ON OUR NYLONS!
ORACLE RACING * Battling choppy seas, fatigue and homesickness, a well-financed group of sailors, their families and a support crew have been in Ventura for more than two months preparing for the first grueling step in the quest for victory during the America's Cup yacht race two years from now. Since early April, Oracle Racing--owned by billionaire software developer Larry Ellison--has operated a sophisticated $80-million sailing empire from a boat dock off Spinnaker Drive in Ventura Harbor. Amid the dry-docked fishing trawlers and moored pleasure craft at the boat basin, the Oracle operation, with rows of gray portable office buildings and a massive, tarp-covered work area, is hard to miss. Five days a week, two 16-sailor teams with members from around the globe take a pair of massive training boats, the USA 49 and the USA 61, to the churning waters off Ventura County. Each man's goal, whether he is from New Zealand, Australia or the United States, is the same: to make Oracle Racing's final 16-member crew, which will eventually compete in the 2002-2003 Louis Vuitton Cup. The 10-team race is the preliminary event before the America's Cup, which will pit the winner against a two-time defending championship sailing team based in New Zealand. "We have to live up to the U.S. expectations for this to be a big deal," said Paul Cayard, the 42-year-old San Francisco resident who serves as sailing operations director for the Oracle team. Cayard has competed on two previous America's Cup crews. "It will take experience and teamwork. It's a complicated game." Included on the preliminary crews are top-notch sailors who bolted other sailing teams for the lure of Ellison and his wealth--most crew members make well over $80,000 a year and some more than $100,000--as well as a core of New Zealand yachtsmen poised to compete against the team from their homeland in the America's Cup. * "It's much like a football team, where the decision on the final team is not made until the end," said Joanna Ingley, a spokeswoman for Oracle Racing. "No one's position is guaranteed." - Timothy Hughes, LA Times Full story: www.latimes.com/news/state/20010610/t000048527.html
BAD NEWS Everything seems to be working now, but I know some people will be disappointed about what is not in this issue. Sorry about that! - The curmudgeon
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Ralph Taylor - One sailor's view: With the new five-minute starting system, the game has changed - especially the pre-start prep. Finding the favored end and getting a range (or transit) are as important as ever, but now there's a lot less time to get it done and more crowded conditions to do it in. With less time for setting up, starting tactics options have been reduced. Formerly, we could determine the favored end, get the transit and work up a starting plan in the five minutes between the warning and prep. We could also start to locate the competition's In the five minutes of prep, we could hoist the jib and reach the line a few times, picking up windshifts based on the tightness of the reach. We could also use the reaches to get in phase or out of phase with the competition. Now, the line's set, the warning signal comes almost immediately and the time's compressed. The competition is hidden in a cloud of dacron. Nobody reaches the line anymore; all just come in from outside the starboard end and harden up at the one-minute horn. * From Ike Stephenson: No local knowledge on the Swiftsure race on my part. I can tell you that the record I have posted at www.torresen.com/sailingrecords/speed.htm is 14 hours and 35 minutes by Steve Fossett sailing Stars and Stripes. Dragonfly's record on the shorter Cape Flattery course of 9 hours 3 minutes is an average of 11.43 knots. From a record keepers point of view this is not terribly impressive. I give it a sailing record score of 12.87. To see how I figures this check www.torresen.com/sailingrecords/score.htm. By comparison Fossett's slower average speed in the true Swiftsure gets a record score of 16.43. Not terribly high but more impressive than the shorter Cape Flatter course, which also is apparently less of a challenge seamanship wise. One of the reasons I developed the sailing record score is for debates such as these. Generally longer and faster is better.... I don't have a way to judge 'degree of difficulty'... maybe someone does? in that a traditionally upwind route should score a more difficult? * From: Dick Lemke (re drug testing): Based on the recent decision made to refine and identify those who are subject to random testing (as opposed to every breathing sailor), one wonders how much of the "negativity" that was vented in this column contributed to such a quick review and issued amendment? With the decision, caffeine (Starbucks, Diet Coke, or Pepsi) can once again be served before, during and after a weekend regatta, without worry of the consequences - other than maybe a headache or bloated feeling. Once again, the ability to review and comment (both positive and negative) on "suggested" rule changes needs a place in a forum such as you provide. If ISAF and other authorities won't provide it, perhaps this will become the "Sailor's Mouthpiece". CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: As long as the comments and suggestions are made in a constructive manner, we'll always have room for them. However, bashings and personal attacks are not likely to change anything - and will certainly not be rewarded with space in this publication (anymore). * From Fred Schroth: Paul Henderson made a shot that he labeled as "cheap" about joining the Laser Class. Paul is absolutely correct. My belief is that you should put your money where it is used to support and promote your beliefs. Some of us donate to a church, a political organization or a charity when we want to further our goals. I keep up personal memberships in certain sailing organizations because those organizations do good things for my favorite sport. The Laser Class promotes everything we can afford to promote that has anything to do with getting more folks out playing on sailboats. Promotion takes money and labor. The Laser Class will always be training new sailors who may migrate to every other fleet. The boat is a natural training craft for beginners and the very best sailors. The sport can only grow as large as its roots and we are those roots. www.laser.org/join.html
RACING PHILOSOPHY The great thing about sailboat racing is its protean nature-it's possible in so many forms. You can race by yourself, or aboard a boat with a passel of friends. You can compete in a lumbering, decades-old design, or zip across the racecourse aboard an ultra-light craft that'll barely support you when at rest. You can race around the buoys in the sanctuary of your home waters or go point-to-point across an ocean in a distance event. You can sail against competitors in identical craft, or you can compete under a handicapping format against boats of all shapes and sizes. And anyone of almost any age or physical ability can participate. * Sailboat racing, unlike many other organized sports, offers an arena where novices can go head to head with seasoned professional racers. That mixture isn't always popular with everyone in the game, but there's no denying the fact that it promotes learning in a unique way that can excite the participants and accelerate the sharing of knowledge. Isn't it knowledge, after all-or at least the chance to learn incrementally more each time we sail-that ultimately keeps all of us coming back to our respective watery playgrounds whether we're racers or not? If you buy this reasoning, then it's hard to discount the opportunity for accelerated learning that can be derived through racing. I've heard more than a few sailors aver that they never appreciated the many nuances of sail trim and boat performance that exist until they got a little racing experience under their belts. That's not a knock on cruising or non-racing recreational sailing, it's simply a statement in support of the benefits that can be had from racing. Optimizing a boat's capacity to respond to and use wind power is what performance sailing is all about. - Dan Dickison, SailNet website. Full story: www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=ddcksn0333&tfr=fp
MATCH RACING The double America's Cup winner Russell Coutts and the finalist of the America's Cup 2000 Francesco de Angelis will be the hot favourites of an impressive field of competitors. Amongst them, Philippe Presti and Sebastien Destremau will be competing for the French America's Cup Challenge "Le Defi", Kelvin Harrap and James Spithill for OneWorld Challenge, Nicola Celon and Paolo Cian for the Mascalzone Latino Challenge, Morten Henriksen for Illbruck Challenge and Peter Holmberg for Oracle Racing Team. Sebastien Destremau, the Perth based professional yachtsman supported by British Airways starts his European sailing program with the Pedrini Cup event. What a line up!
James SPITHILL - USA - OneWorld
QUOTE / UNQUOTE "Our team with Prada is great. Conceptually, you try to take the good from what you had historically, whether it was attitude, substance, smarts, or motivation, and you try to grab that 60 to 70 percent and retain it. That's your assets. And then you try to bring in what you need-some youth, vision, experience, the grandfatherly voice calming every one of them down, whatever you need. I think we have done a good job, taking the upward steps. Time will tell." - Steve Erickson Full interview: www.sailingworld.com/gps/
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * June 28 - July 5: Optimist North Americans, CORK, Kingston, Canada. www.cork.org/nor.html
PROVEN SUCCESS
PENFOLD'S POINTERS Then with 3 minutes double your regularity and double it again in the last minute. If the helsman asks "Time?" you're not doing your job properly... Biggest tip though is this... Always give a good solid call of the time to run immediately after every tack or gybe, luff or bear-away... That's when a helmsman is thinking of what's going on, getting his bearings and not counting down as well in his/her head... Oh, and right before the go, when it's obvious you're 10 boat lengths late and the back of the bus has got it all wrong... Count down the last 10 quietly - if at all!!! - Penfold, BOATmagic website. More pointers: www.boatmagic.com
COLLEGE SAILING Tufts last won the Coed Dinghy title in 1997, but "wasn't even supposed to be here," according to Coach Ken Legler (Medford, Mass.). The Jumbos secured entry into the regatta through an at-large berth. Legler attributed his team's performance to "better boatspeed in steady air," conditions which weren't present at the New England qualifiers. Peter Levesque (Portland, Maine) and Caroline Hall (Tiverton, R.I.), both juniors, sailed together in the A-division for all but the final race, when senior Laurin Manning (Mystic, Conn.) crewed for Levesque. With 100 points, Levesque, Hall and Manning won the A-division by a slim one-point margin. Deermount and Keith' s 115 point total placed fifth in B-division, but was good enough for Tufts to win the overall title. The three-day event was hosted by the University of Rhode Island at Wheeler Beach State Park in Narragansett, R.I. Final Results: 1. Tufts, 215; 2. Harvard, 217; 3. Dartmouth, 220; 4. Boston College, 230; 5. Georgetown, 231; 6. Charleston, 253; 7. Hawaii, 258; 8. Old Dominion, 286; 9. St. Mary's, 294; 10. Yale, 350; 11. Texas, 369; 12. U/C Santa Barbara, 369; 13. Washington, 391; 14. Kings Point, 450; 15. Michigan, 491; 16. Florida, 513; 17. Texas A&M Galveston, 515; 18. Wisconsin, 531. - Derek Webster, www.collegesailing.org
J/80 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Final results: 1. Kerry Klingler, Larchmont, N.Y., 11; 2. Jay Lutz, Houston, Texas, 23; 3. Marie-Claude Heys, Southampton, U.K., 30; 4. Tinta Arvefors, Stockholm, Sweden, 37; 5. Chris Sass, Newcastle, N.H., 38; 6. Rick Lyall, Wilton, Conn., 47; 7. Geoffrey Pierini, Metuchen, N.J., 49; 8. Martin Kald, East Elmhurst, N.Y., 58; 9. Jason Balich, Beverly, Mass., 60; 10. Michael Lague, Stewartsville, N.J., 62. www.sailnewport.org/J80Worlds/
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
