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SCUTTLEBUTT 2875 - Monday, June 29, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Annapolis Performance Sailing, Southern Spars, and Gladstone's Long Beach. MAUREEN MCKINNON-TUCKER NOMINATED FOR ESPY AWARD For the best in movies, there are the Academy Awards. For the best in television, there are the Emmy Awards. Music has the Grammy Awards, and theatre has the Tony Awards. For sports, there are the ESPYs. Hosted by ESPN, the ESPYs gather top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. The 2009 show is on July 19th. Among the 37 categories, 2008 Paralympic sailing gold medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker is one of the four nominees in the "Female Athlete with a Disability" category. There's not another sailor in any other category. Maureen and teammate Nick Scandone overcame long odds to reach the Paralympic Games, let alone dominate the event. Nick lived with ALS just long enough to win the gold, while Maureen balanced her paralysis with training and attending to her 2 year old son’s battle with his brain tumor (he’s now 9 months post-treatment and currently cancer-free). The recognition each nominee receives during the televised awards show is immense, but to see Maureen on the same stage as the elite athletes of the world would be epic. The winner in each category is determined by online voting. Time for every sailor to support their sport in the easiest way possible…. GET OUT THE VOTE. Online voting is done here: http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/specialsection/espys2009/#/vote/ ROLEX FARR 40 WORLDS Porto Cervo, Italy (June 27, 2009; Day 4) - You cannot ask for much more. Tremendous racing conditions with a building Mistral and a lumpy sea, made worse by the constant attention of the spectator fleet. Two races were sailed on the final day in winds from the northwest that gusted to the mid-twenties and stretched the already tired crews on the last day of competition. The scene was fit for a Championship finale and the two leading contenders made sure the curtain did not fall on the regatta without a flourish from those on stage. Nerone put her marker down to win the first race of the day and set up a winner takes all, second and final race - the tenth in this intensely fought series. Mascalzone Latino, the three times World Champions won the race, but the all-too significant result was Jim Richardson and Barking Mad crossing the line ahead of Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone to secure the title for a third time. The first time an American boat has won outside of their home waters. -- Complete report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100102&lang=1 Final Results (top 5 of 25; boat name, skipper/tactician): 1. Barking Mad (USA), Jim Richardson/Terry Hutchinson, 1-6-4-1-6-6-3-3-6-2, 38 2. Nerone (ITA), Massimo Mezzaroma/Vasco Vascotto, 5-1-13-2-4-2-1-8-1-8, 45 3. Joe Fly (ITA), Giovanni Maspero/Franceso Bruni, 4-5-5-4-1-19-2-6-2-5, 53 4. Mascalzone Latino (ITA), V. Onorato/A. Stead,2-10-2-9-8/ZFP-1-13-13-7-1, 66 5. Flash Gordon (USA), Helmut Jahn/B. Hardesty,20-4-3-11-ZFP/11-20-4-2-3-3, 81 Complete results: http://www.yccsresults.com/farr40_09/farr40.htm Farr 40 Worlds website: http://www.farr40worldchampionship.com * Thanks to Stefano Gattini and Kurt Arrigo for the riveting photos on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0625 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SPECIAL Warm winds, watermelon, and the 4th of July, if there's one thing you're not thinking about right now it's probably drysuit sailing. But, "Lord, what fools these mortals be!", now is the time to think about it! Why? Well, because we've got a killer midsummer special on them - that's why. While winter isn't really just around the corner, APS, the World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors, is offering more than $150 on select Gill Breathable drysuits. So crank up the AC to its frostbite setting, think ahead, and click here for details: http://tinyurl.com/mju9nf TELEFONICA BLACK IN THRILLING VOLVO OCEAN RACE FINALE (June 27, 2009; Day 3) - It was an historic moment tonight in St Petersburg, Russia, when as the White Night turned to dawn the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, led by Telefónica Black in a thrilling climax, crossed the tenth and final finish line of this nine-month, 37,000 nm race around the world. Spanish skipper, Fernando Echávarri said, “It’s a prize for all the crew and all the shore crew. We have been trying to do it in all the legs but couldn’t; this was our last chance. We had a nice battle with PUMA in the last 100 miles. We are really happy. "It has been really difficult. We prepared the boat for light conditions and the first 150 miles we had more wind than expected so we suffered a lot. Then it got lighter and we got faster. We have been fighting with PUMA, Telefónica Blue and Ericsson 3 for the last 250 miles. It has been really close. It has been like a match race. I don’t know how many tacks we have done! It is a great way to finish the Volvo Ocean Race. I am really proud of everyone in the group. They have done an excellent job." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-6-28-09 Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Leg 10 standings 1. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Finished June 27,00:41:25GMT 2. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, Finished June 27, 00:42:48 GMT 3. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, Finished June 27, 00:51:55 GMT 4. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, Finished June 27, 01:04:48 GMT 5. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, Finished June 27, 01:31:49 GMT 6. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, Finished June 27, 02:57:56 GMT 7. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, Finished June 27, 03:00:57 GMT Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, Did Not Start Final Standings 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 114.5 points 2. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 105.5 3. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 98 4. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 78.5 5. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 67 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 58 7. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 41.5 8. Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, 10.5 Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 * VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2008/9: Began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. The next race is planned for 2011/12, with the Notice of Race and revised Volvo Open 70 design rule to be released on September 25th. The course route will be announced beginning in March 2010. -- http://tinyurl.com/VOR-11-12 * (June 28, 2009) - Rick Deppe has won the overall Inmarsat Media Prize for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. The 10,000 euro overall prize money were presented to the Puma Ocean Racing Team media crew member onboard ‘Il Mostro’ in St. Petersburg, Russia by Perry Melton, COO, Inmarsat at the final award ceremony. Deppe was judged to have made the best overall contribution to race coverage over the 37,000 nautical miles of racing and 143 days at sea in one of the world’s toughest sporting adventures that has taken in eleven ports in ten countries. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/News/08/Inmarsat/leg10.asp BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK XXIII Block Island, R.I., USA (June 26, 2009; Day 5) - A single race on Friday decided the fate of 153 boats entered in the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week XXIII presented by Rolex. The event, which began Monday, hosted 1500 sailors on the tiny land mass of Block Island, which for five days in every odd-numbered year becomes the epicenter for sailing in New England. Of the 17 victors named in as many classes, three were new leaders since Thursday, illustrating best how the tough got going when the going got tough. In the J/122 class, which was using the event as its North American championship, Doug Shaffer’s (Bayview, Texas) Gambler had three points to make up on yesterday’s leader Flying Jenny VI, skippered by David Askew (Annapolis, Md.). Gambler accomplished that at the first weather mark when all the boats converged at the same time. “Everybody was ducking boats; we were in fifth place and jibed out to the left and picked up three boats (to finish second),” said Shaffer. “That was the regatta right there. Flying Jenny had to take more boats at that mark (and finished eighth for second overall).” Shaffer, who has owned a number of different J boats over the years, says this is the first time he has won a regatta on a national level and gave credit to his crew, which included co-helmsman Eric Olving (Long Branch, N.J.) and tactician Jay Lutz (Seabrook, Texas). -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/BIRW-6-28-09 * Additional reports, photos and videos at http://tinyurl.com/kj8dhp * Scuttlebutt photo gallery provided by PhotoBoat.com and Dan Nerney: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0624 ULLMAN SAILS LONG BEACH RACE WEEK Long Beach, CA (June 28, 2009) - Sailors from these parts will tell you that San Diego 100 miles to the south is not the windiest venue on the West Coast. "That's why we enjoy coming up here," Chuck Nichols said late Sunday afternoon. And when Acura presents Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week with weather conditions like 132 boats in 18 classes found this past weekend, Nichols and his border-area peers tend to make the most of it. Nichols, Chris Snow and Mark Surber came on strong in the last two races Sunday to win, respectively, the J/120, J/24 and PHRF-1 classes, reveling in winds of 15 to 20 knots. It was so windy that even the local Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs that organized the event were impressed by the benevolence of nature that blessed the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta. The winds blew light building to brisk the first two days, but Sunday the fleets were greeted by a carpet of whitecaps as they sailed out of the Alamitos Bay jetty to the three race courses. -- Read on: http://www.abyc.org/upload/lbrw09pr5.doc Final results: http://www.lbrw.org/2009_Results/LBRW_Overall.html RIGGED TO WIN 37,000 nautical miles, five oceans, 10 distance legs and seven In-Port races……Southern Spars wishes to acknowledge the Ericsson 4 team for their outstanding performance in the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race, along with runners-up PUMA. This is also another great achievement for Southern with 5 teams utilizing Southern Spars and 7 teams carrying its EC6+ rigging. Racing round the world presents one of the greatest challenges in sport, taking crews and yachts to their limits. No other sparmaker can match Southern Spars’ round the world record having supplied product to the 2009, 2006, 2002, 1994 and 1990 race winners. -- http://www.southernspars.com SAILING SHORTS * Crystal Beach, Ontario, CAN (June 28, 2009) - Over 215 sailors competed in the 2009 Laser, Radial, and 4.7 North American Championships June 24-28, where steady breeze and sunshine mingled with thunderstorms and squalls. Chris Dold (CAN) won a tie breaker with Lee Parkhill to win. Clay Johnson, David Wright, Luke Ramsay, Bernard Luttmer, and Rob Crane rounded out the top 7. In the Radial fleet, Lisa Ross (CAN) won by a narrow margin over Jen Spalding followed by Alexander Heinzemann who was a distant 3rd. Brad Shaw (USA) won the 4.7 division. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/LNA-6-28-09 * The 2009 U.S. Youth Sailing Championship, hosted by Indian Harbor Yacht Club and nationally sponsored by Gill and LaserPerformance is in full swing following three days of competition for the field of 78 boats. Large leads have opened up in the Laser and 420 fleets, with Chris Barnard and Stephanie Hudson/Rebecca King holding a 10 point and 14 point advantage, respectively. Racing in the 29er fleet is much closer as Antoine Screve/ James Moody have a narrow one point lead, with Nevin Snow and Anne Haeger tied in the Laser Radial fleet. Racing continues through June 30th. -- http://championships.ussailing.org/Youth/US_Youth_Champs.htm * The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) recently acknowledged the contributions of five individuals to the sport of college sailing by inducting them into the ICSA Hall of Fame. Austin Dias (San Diego, Calif.) received the Student Leadership Award; Joe Kirk (West Falmouth, Mass.) was honored with the Lifetime Service Award; Bryan McDonald (Monte Sereno, Calif.) received Outstanding Contribution/Volunteer; and Michael Segerblom (Costa Mesa, Calif.) was recognized with the Graham Hall Award for Outstanding Service by a College Sailing Professional. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0628 * Pensacola, FL (June 26, 2009) - Augie Diaz and Kathleen Tocke dominated the Snipe U.S. Nationals, winning the final race to finish with a 17 point margin over Ernesto Rodriguez/ Megan Place. Tied for second, but losing the tiebreaker was George Szabo/ Carol Cronin in third. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/Snipe-6-28-09 * The World Speed Sailing Record Council announced the ratification of a new crewed monohull and women's record for sailing around Britain and Ireland by Dee Caffari (GBR) and crew onboard the Open 60 Aviva. The record was set on June 15-22, 2009 for an elapsed time of 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes, and 53 seconds for the 1,787 nm distance (avg. speed: 11.5 kts). -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * San Diego, CA (June 26, 2009) - David Spira and Dennis Martinelli (CO/AZ) paired together again and repeated as champions at the 39th Annual Buccaneer North American Championship. In second were 2007 BNAC Champion Jim Daus and crew Susan Swisher (CO/CO), who were out of the lead by only a point coming into the final day, but Spira/Martinelli closed out the event with one race remaining. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7717 * The U.S. Senate passed S. Res. 199, introduced by Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), declaring July 1, 2009 National Boating Day. The resolution recognizes the important role recreational boating and the boating industry play in the lives of the nation’s 70 million boaters and the U.S. economy. -- Full report: http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17682&sid=3 * This week the World Match Racing visits Marstrand, Sweden for the Match Cup Sweden, where fourteen teams will be competing in the highly maneuverable DS 37’s for the $125,000 total prize purse. Led by 8 Tour regulars who have their 2009 Cards and attend nearly all ten events on the circuit, they will be joined by 6 teams invited for their ranking and past performance at this and other international match race events. Held alongside the Tour event will be a Women’s event sailed among eight teams, led by ISAF #1 ranked women’s match racer Claire Leroy (FRA). -- http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/98643 * The final results from the 2009 Original Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) are now posted online. The 2,800nm race to Newport, Rhode Island started in Plymouth, England, on May 25 with 31 competitors. -- http://www.ostar2009.co.uk/newsFull.php?id=112&start=0 * Kiel, Germany (June 28, 2009) - Racing today amid the offshore and international one design classes concluded the nine day Kiel Week 2009 event. Among the classes was the 168 boat International 420s, wherein nine American teams represented the North American continent, with the top team being Sydney Bolger and Caitlin Beavers in fourteenth position. -- http://www.kieler-woche.de/eng/sailing/index.htm CLUB TRANSPAC IS OPEN It's taken 30 years, but leading maxi yacht skipper Neville Crichton (NZL) has returned to the Transpacific Yacht Race at the helm of his Reichel/Pugh 100-foot Alfa Romeo, and he's determined to win. The 2,225-mile (4120 km) course from Los Angeles to Honolulu is USA's answer to the Rolex Sydney to Hobart, but it’s nearly four times longer and heads out into the Pacific Ocean with nowhere to come ashore in case of problems. Become a fan of the race and follow all the action online at http://tinyurl.com/Transpac-Pier * Come see this magnificent yacht up close and enjoy a great meal and "Celebration Libation" at Gladstone's Long Beach: http://www.GladstonesLongBeach.com * The boats in Divisions 6 and 7 will parade away from Transpac Pier at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach and head out for the first of three starts in the 45th running of the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. The first start is scheduled for 1300 on Monday, June 29th. The remaining fleets will start on July 2nd and July 5th, with the arrival time of finisher to be sometime between July 12 and July 15, depending on the weather conditions that the fleet encounters during the 2,225 nautical mile race. -- http://www.transpacrace.com WHEN BAD WEATHER IS GOOD Over the next few days in France, Pascal Bidégorry and Marcel Van Triest will keep a close eye on the weather in the United States. Bidégorry, the skipper of the ocean racing trimaran Maxi Banque Populaire V, and Van Triest, its navigator, will monitor the long-range forecast, hoping for a low-pressure system that will enable them to chart a course across the North Atlantic from New York. Once the low-pressure system is three days from its desired position, they and the rest of their crew of 12 will hop a flight to New York, board their trimaran and attempt to set the record for the fastest sailing time from New York to England. The Maxi Banque Populaire V docked in New York on Saturday, after a nine-day sail from Loriant, France, to prepare for its record-breaking attempt. The boat, designed by the boat design firm Van Peteghem-Lauriot Prévost, is the largest ocean racing multihull trimaran in the world, with a center hull that is roughly 131 feet and floats that are about 121 feet, a beam of 75 feet across, and a mast measuring about 155 feet high. -- NY Times, read on: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/sports/29yacht.html?_r=1&ref=sports CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get one letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Gary Bodie: (re, Steve Hunt's team racing tips in Scuttlebutt 2874) Thank you for the nod in the development of team racing, but I cannot take credit for concept of stable combinations. Ken Legler was teaching that idea to Tufts sailors as early as 1985. Somehow Hugh Hallawell had a copy of Ken's handout, which Hugh passed on to his brother Rob, and Rob passed it to me (at Navy). For me, the proverbial light went on with that idea, and led to a whole host of other concepts. Rob Hallawell went on to lead the Navy team to the 1987 Collegiate National Team Racing Championship. And btw, the 1-4-5 vs 2-3-6 is a pivotal combination, but the 1-4-5 is not one of the stable winning combinations. My definition of stable winning combination is too long for this letter, but the simple version is that the 2-3 of this losing combination need not chase anybody in front of them, and can attack one-on-one against the opponents astern to achieve a winning (and stable) 2-3-4. Tim Wadlow and I have a running debate about whether the 1-3-4 is a standalone stable winning combination. It meets my definition, but not Tims. What do you think? CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A bird in the hand is always safer than one overhead. Special thanks to Annapolis Performance Sailing, Southern Spars, and Gladstone's Long Beach. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
