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SCUTTLEBUTT 2929 - Tuesday, September 15, 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 to Team One Newport, North Sails, and J Boats OLD NAVAL BASE IS LONDON'S FIRST MAJOR OLYMPIC SHOWCASE If the doubters, and there are many of them, think the 2102 Olympic Games will be a failure they should look just five miles from the old-fashioned donkey rides, Punch and Judy show, and sand sculptures on the beach at Weymouth south to what is British sailing’s new-fashioned Wimbledon or Wembley. On international parade this week, staging the first major showcase of the London Games, is the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, formerly a naval base. The Olympic objectives of legacy and heritage are already built in. The target for the £15m facility is a cascade of medals in 2012. Flocking to an operational, but still to be completed, venue are over 700 sailors in over 500 boats from 41 countries for the biggest of this year’s World Cup series under the flag of International Sailing Federation. For the Games the maximum is 380 athletes. The paralympic classes are all part and parcel. The 15-knot breeze on the opening day yesterday gave them a brisk welcome. “The conditions were very difficult with a short chop on top of the rollers,” said the 43-year old Paul Brotherton, who, with 29-year old crew Paul Asquith, made a spectacular return to the 49er class by taking silver at the recent European championships. “It was about as difficult as you could get, but we have a fantastic facility down here. It is absolutely world class.” - Stuart Alexander, full story: http://tinyurl.com/qgh9lu Following are the North American teams who after one day of sailing are in the top ten in the respective classes: * RSX Mens: Ben Barger (USA) 6th of 43 * 2.4mR: Paul Tingley (CAN) 5th of 14 and Mark Le Blanc (USA) 7th of 14 * Sonar: Rick Doerr/ Hugh Freund (USA), 1st of 9 * Women’s Match Racing: Ann Tunnicliffe (USA) has two wins an one loss * SKUD 18: Scott Whitman/ Julia Dorsett (USA), 1st of 6 John McRoberts/ Brenda Hopkin (CAN) 3rd of 6 Complete results: http://www.sailracer.co.uk/events/18401/results.htm BREAKING NEW GROUND CHICAGO, September 14, 2009 - In an unprecedented attempt to optimize time, talent, and valuable ISAF Grade 3 match race points, the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) will host two consecutive match race events to close their 2009 competitive season. The first, held over Thursday, September 17th through Friday, September 18th, will feature eight invited teams from around the US, while the second, held over Saturday, September 19th through Sunday, September 20th, will add two more teams for a field of ten. “This was an idea we had to try and get as much bang-for-the-buck value as possible in terms of competitive time on the water and accrual of points on the ISAF Ranking List,” said CMRC Director Bill Hardesty. No other facility has organized and hosted this number of Open-graded America’s Cup-style match race events in the US, and none with the level of opportunity and access to spectators and sponsors as along the Chicago waterfront. The racing venue could not be easier for those spectators, as CMRC race managers plan to position the course immediately adjacent to the entrance of Belmont Harbor, where the stadium-like setting in the lakefront park allows direct viewing just a few yards away from all the action. - The invited skippers are posted at: http://www.chicagomatchrace.org/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Ben Ainslie “My belief is that if you are going to compete in a race or competition then you need to be properly prepared and you need to give yourself the best possible chance of being successful. Too many times you can be talked into a race where you aren’t prepared and it frustrates the hell out of you when you then go on to put in a poor performance. Losing is fine when you’ve given absolutely everything to the cause, but when you know that you’ve been put in an impossible position, that’s when it becomes difficult.” - http://tinyurl.com/p56v4g TEAM ONE NEWPORT IS ON THE RUN… No, the store isn’t running anywhere but the entire staff is running around Newport. The Merchandising team is at New York Yacht Club selling the official NYYC Invitational Cup clothing and you can purchase it online at http://www.team1newport.com/departments.asp?dept=451 Then the Customer Service and Event team is setting up for the Newport International Boat Show where they will be partnering with Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Gill, Slam, Atlantis, Dubarry, Spinlock and Blue Storm. You can take advantage of Team One Newport’s incredible service, selection and expertise by visiting http://www.team1newport.com or calling 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327). TESTING CONTINUES * BMW Oracle Racing's 90ft America's Cup Challenger is back in the water and sailing again after a maintenance period. It was lift off at 9am on Sunday as a 240-ton crane lifted the BOR 90 off the cradle in the boatyard and splashed the trimaran dockside for the start of another testing session in San Diego. Following 10 days on shore for a scheduled round of modifications, the BOR 90 will continue its testing program on the waters off Point Loma. Once the 185-foot rig was stepped into the boat, helmsman James Spithill (AUS) and crew docked out Sunday afternoon for a short systems check. Sea trials continued on Monday. - http://bmworacleracing.com * Sunday, more than one hundred people went out on the water aboard the ferryboat 'Suprema' to watch the last Alinghi 5 training day in Genoa, Italy. the sunny weather and a gentle breeze, propelled the giant catamaran to fly on one hull, reaching speeds over 20 knots, giving all the Alinghi guests an incredible show. On Wednesday, September 16, Alinghi 5 will put to sea en route to Ras al-Khaimah, in UAE, where the team will continue with their development of Alinghi. http://www.alinghi.com/en/ FOR THE RECORD The UK based Vestas Sailrocket team are to return to Walvis Bay in Namibia for one more assault on the outright speed sailing record. The 28 day record period will commence on the 2nd of October. This will be the final record attempt. It has endured a long and eventful life to reach its current level of performance and its structure bears the scars of many a hard earned lesson. Already, since committing to this final attempt, the bar has been raised by the mighty French Hydroptere. In fact the outright record has been broken 6 or 7 times by 3 (and nearly 4) wildly different craft since Sailrocket was first launched in 2004. Vestas Sailrocket has already beaten the record as it was when she was launched, but now she needs to go almost exactly 4 knots faster again to achieve the new outright record of 51.38 knots (Hydroptere’s records are still subject to WSSRC ratification). The team will be on full standby at Walvis Bay Yacht Club throughout the whole record period. Regular updates and live feeds will be streamed from the new website throughout the attempt http://www.vestassailrocket.com ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL Following are excerpts from the latest posting on Anna Tunnicliffe’s newsletter. We have been in Weymouth, the site for the 2012 Olympics, for three days now training for the Sail For Gold Regatta, the final leg of the ISAF World Cup. I am match racing this event instead of Laser Radial, even though the World Cup is not wrapped up. There are 24 teams competing here in the match racing, and we are racing in Elliot 6m’s. Racing for the event starts tomorrow and runs through the 19th. After the Detroit Cup, I went to Sheboygan, WI for a three-day training camp in the Elliot 6m’s and met my team, of Molly Vandemoer and Alice Manard, up there. We started training on Monday morning at 9 am, which was quite early after getting in very late, but we wanted, and needed, the time on the water in the boats. The breeze during this camp was still on the lighter side, as it had been during the last camp with a max of around 8-9kts, but it was consistent for most of the days. We did a lot of work on our boat handling. It was nice to have light air for this because it made us be that much more precise with our smoothness of maneuvers. We wrapped up the end of our camp doing some match racing with international teams that were there for the women’s regatta starting the next day. The people at Sheboygan YC were fantastic to us again. Whenever we needed something, someone was there to help us out; it was awesome, so we could just focus on our training and get the most out of it. We flew to England on Thursday. We have had two days sailing the boats here in Weymouth and now have had the chance to sail in some breeze. Although it hasn’t been super windy, it was nice to be able to sail the boats whilst being overpowered and in waves. - Full report: http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/ CHARISMA WINS SWAN 45 WORLDS! Congratulations to Nico Poons and crew aboard CHARISMA for winning the Rolex Swan 45 Worlds in Italy last week. Powered by North 3DL upwind sails, Poons and crew finished 3.5 points ahead of RW Bol and team on NO LIMITS. Rounding out the top five (all powered by 100% North sails) were Christian Nagel & Hendrik Brandis on EARLYBIRD finishing 3rd, Yukihiro Ishida and team on YASHA in 4th and Grant Gordon & Klaus Diederichs and crew on FEVER finishing 5th. For more information on North’s Swan 45 Class Sail Development Program, click here: http://na.northsails.com/tabid/1985/Default.aspx SAILING SHORTS * Malletts Bay Boat Club, Colchester, Vermont - Conditions for the Lightning World Championship on Monday were beautiful. The wind built throughout the first race with white caps making a brief appearance. However, the wind started dying during the second race causing the RC to shorten the course at the second leeward rounding. With finishes of 5-2, David Peck of Old Lyme, CT, with crew Neal Fowler and Debbie Dudas, moved into first place for the regatta with 14 point in three races. Jody Lutz from Brick New Jersey and Allan Terhune from Arnold Maryland round out the top three. For complete results see http://tinyurl.com/mp4nyc * William I. Koch, founder of the Oxbow Group, philanthropist and world-renowned sailor, has been named the recipient of the America and the Sea award which is presented annually by Mystic Seaport. Koch will receive the award Thursday, October 29, at a gala held in his honor in New York City. The annual award recognizes an individual or organization whose contributions to the history, arts or sciences of the sea best exemplify the American spirit and character. Previous winners have included Olin J. Stephens II, respected author and historian David McCullough and the President and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corporation Thomas B. Crowley, Jr. * 2009 IRC certificates issued after 30th September 2009 will be charged at only 50% of the standard rate. This discount will apply to both new applications and to revalidated certificates from previous years, but only to certificates which will expire on 31st December 2009. This offer is timed to coincide with the start of major Autumn Series in the Northern hemisphere. Certificates issued under this scheme will still expire on 31st December 2009 and will be subject to the standard 2010 fees for revalidation in 2010. - http://www.us-irc.org * Tough times - Aviva, the UK’s largest insurance group, announced a new partnership with Dee Caffari as the racing team’s founding partner. Following four successful years as title sponsor of the world record-breaking yachtswoman, Aviva will be reducing its investment but retaining a close relationship with Caffari who will continue to act as a brand ambassador for the company. Dee Caffari is now actively searching for a new title sponsor to support her next Vendée Globe campaign. * ShowBoats International, a US-based superyacht magazine that has been struggling with diminishing page counts in recent months, has been acquired by Boat International Media, which plans to merge its own Boat International USA title with that of ShowBoats in what industry insiders have described as the only way either magazine could survive. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20090807165021ibinews.html * It’s unclear if it’s in spite of the bad economy, or maybe because of it - but for whatever reason, the 780-mile October Baja Ha Ha sailboat rally from Southern California to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico has already attracted a record number of entries. 186 paid entries have been received for this “nothing serious rally to where the water is warm in the winter” - topping the previous record of 183. Now in its 16th year, roughly 2000 boats have completed previous Ha Ha rallies down the Baja Mexico Peninsula. - http://www.baja-haha.com/ DEBUT Two New J Designs at Newport & Annapolis Making their USA boatshow debuts are the 31’ J/95 - a sporty, keel-centerboarder that daysails eight, sleeps four and draws only 3'; and the J/97 - the first modern J under 35 feet combining 6’ cruising headroom with a high-performance design (winner of Black Fleet at Cowes Week). See you there! http://www.jboats.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Kelly Robinson Bob Allan’s extreme generosity enriched our sport and the lives of many individual sailors. As a kid growing up in Monterey, California, I and many others sailed on Bob’s boats (notably the Cal 29, “Red Head Too” and the Ericson 39, “November”). Bob’s instrumental role in forming the Shields Fleet in Monterey helped bring hundreds of new people into the sport … especially through boats donated to the recreational programs at UC Santa Cruz and the Naval Postgraduate School. I will always remember him with gratitude. * From CDR Jeffrey A. Bennett II, USN Bob Allan was a terrific supporter of sailing, and I knew him from his support of Navy sailing. More than financial support, he was an advocate and mentor for a wide range of Navy sailing programs - from the Fales committee to the Robert Crown Sailing Center to watching over many individual programs - he and his family are terrific. I got to know Bob when I was in Monterey and he would put the screws to me, Navy sailors, and our Admiral to keep our program healthy (we did during our tenure there). Thanks Bob for the lessons you taught us, and for delivering leadership and seamanship through sailing to countless Naval officers. "...immer eine hand breit Wasser unterm Kiel!" * From Chris Ericksen I was saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Allan ('Butt 2928). I fondly recall a wonderful night some years ago at the United States Sailing Center in Long Beach where they celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the first-ever intercollegiate regatta on the West Coast, held in 1941. Bob represented Stanford at that event, held in Newport Harbor within weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor; I think I recall that Stanford won the regatta and Bob's wife was his crew, but I'm not certain. Regardless, I absolutely recall the sweet look on his face when, during his speech at the event, he looked over at his wife and said to the one and all, "I married my trophy wife the first time." * From Michael Walbolt (re the NYYC Invitational Cup - Scuttlebutt 2928) So Ken Read is an amateur? => Curmudgeon Comment: Great question Michael. Although the NYYC’s press release stated the purpose of the Invitational Cup Regatta was, “for the purpose of reviving amateur racing on these shores and around the world,” the regatta does, in fact, allow one Group 3 (professional) sailor on each boat. However, that Group 3 sailor must be is a member of invited yacht club and cannot steer the boat. Methinks Ken Read is a pretty choice for the host club. CURMUDGEON’S QUOTATIONS “My mother’s menu consisted of two things: take it or leave it.” - Buddy Hackett Special thanks to Team One Newport, North Sails, and J Boats Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
