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SCUTTLEBUTT 2893 - Friday, July 24, 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 JK3 Nautical Enterprises and O’pen BIC DEAN BARKER The world's sailing elite have gathered in the land of ‘simple tucker,’ Sardinia, for the latest serving of the MedCup, a five-race series sailed in TP52s. While the America's Cup remains becalmed in a legal imbroglio, Team New Zealand has migrated to the self-styled "world's leading regatta circuit". Earlier this week, on the first day of the regatta, Team New Zealand helmsman Dean Barker made mince-meat of a fleet. His soothing patter to reporters excited by his feat was polite but lacked any meat to put on the bones of what was an amazing story. It was, when boiled down, Ramsay-like: We tuned the boat. Picked the right sails. Won the start. Controlled the all-important first beat. Sailed for home. Won. And that was that. He's been doing that, winning, so much lately that the reluctant hero is unmasking himself as arguably the world's foremost skipper. Shouting from the rooftops is not Barker's thing, says his boss Grant Dalton, who is under no illusions about Barker's talent. "We think he's the best in the world," Dalton says. "He hates it being put that way. It's not what he's about he's just a simple, modest guy and we are lucky to have him." An unspoken truth in the sport is that Barker has attracted the attention of sailing's biggest spenders. If Russell Coutts can command a fee of about 5000 (NZ$10,750) a day to sail in a MedCup, then the market rate for Barker can't be too far behind. As his reputation grows, he, like Coutts, will find the temptation of jumping ship a big test. He has already moved overseas. During New Zealand's winter he, his wife, Mandy, and their three daughters live in Valencia. Last year he helmed the King of Spain's yacht in the MedCup. Although Team New Zealand cannot pay his market rate, he chooses to sail for them. Why? The reasons are many. Loyalty undoubtedly plays a part: Team New Zealand is a tight unit. But let's not forget he is still handsomely compensated by Team New Zealand, who also allow him to freelance at various regattas. - Greg Ford, Stuff.co.nz, full story: http://tinyurl.com/kt9bck AUDI MEDCUP "It couldn't have gone much better," said a smiling Paul Cayard after Sweden's Torbjorn Torqvist's Artemis won the 25-mile coastal race in the Audi MedCup Sardinia Trophy. As tactician, Cayard had to avoid some traps in the wind but perhaps his best decision was to see the pile-up at the top turning mark, give it, and all the boats hampering each other, a wide berth, and sail into second place. Ahead of him, the Argentinian boat Matador had looked as though it would continue the bid it had made to be overall leader the day before. But Matador navigator Steve Hayles flirted too enthusiastically with a windless coastline and that left Cayard the simple job of holding off the overall leaders, Emirates Team New Zealand. It also meant that ETNZ's lead at the top, which had been one point over Matador, increased to 3.5 over Artemis. The defending champion Terry Hutchinson in Quantum continues to struggle for pace. A sixth in the coastal race pushed him down to fifth overall, one and a half points behind the King of Spain's Bribon. - Stuart Alexander in Cagliari, Sardinia, The Independent, full story: http://tinyurl.com/q3ofyw TP52 Series - Overall after Day 3 1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 1 1 1 5 4 3= 15 points 2. Artemis (SWE), 2 2 7 3 3 1 5= 18.5 points 3. Matador (ARG), 3 3 4 1 2 7 5= 20.5 points 4. Bribón (ESP), 5 6 3 7 8 4 5= 33.5 points 5. Quantum Racing (USA), 7 4 8 4 6 6= 35 points Complete results: http://2009.medcup.org/results2/venue.php?trophy=3&class=tp52 DIFFERENT STROKES From Andy Rice’s SailJuice Blog (http://sailjuiceblog.com/): Interesting quote from Michele Ivaldi, the navigator on Torbjorn Tornqvist’s TP52 Artemis, about the difference between sailing with Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard, who’s Coutts’s stand-in at this week’s Audi MedCup in Cagliari. “Paul is more analytical. He is more focussed on the numbers. We have established a good work on analysing the performance every day. Russell is a lot more instinctive. Russell’s style is very different and he talks a lot to Torbjorn, he has taught him a lot and made Torbjorn learn a lot, it is always great with Russell on board. Paul tends to let them (the crew) do the speed work themselves and talks a little less with Torbjorn.” I’ve had some interesting chats with Cayard over the years. He has some great, simple advice. Here’s one on how to make difficult decisions quickly. A good lesson for sailing, but a good life lesson too. I’ve opened up access to this article from my membership site for just a few days only, so read it quick before it the shutters come down again: http://www.sailjuice.com/articles/Cayard-decisions JK3 NAUTICAL ENTERPRISES, INC. The San Diego Yacht and Boat Show is July 23-26, and JK3 will be showcasing some new boats for the summer season. Look for the J/122, a growing one design and an IRC friendly versatile 40-foot performance sprit boat with comfortable live-aboard accommodations; the Santa Cruz 37 is a full carbon fiber racing machine from the ‘fast is fun’ Santa Cruz Yachts; and Back Cove 29 & 37, two amazing midsize powerboats famous for their quality, design, and great value. Check in with our brokers, Jeff Brown and John Zagorski, to show you around and answer questions. For tickets or more information: 619.224.6200 or http://www.jk3yachts.com “AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE” Le Bouveret, Switzerland (AFP) - America's Cup holder Alinghi on Thursday promised one of the most exciting races in the regatta's history if US rivals Oracle drop repeated legal challenges ahead of the race next year. The appeal by billionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli came after the Swiss team promised a technical free-for-all in the next America's Cup, following the first sailing on its giant high tech catamaran. "It's the most exciting boat I've sailed or I'll ever sail, it's an awesome experience," said New Zealander Murray Jones, who skippered the 90 foot yacht on its first trials on Lake Geneva in recent days. It was a great experience to lift off and fly on that very first time on the boat, it's incredibly wide and long. I think everyone had a huge smile on their face," he said as the twin-hulled craft was presented here. It carries a ream of technology, including foils that lift the hulls out of water. Bertarelli pronounced the first days on the calm waters here a success. “For me it was possibly if not the best day, one of the best days in my life as a sailor," he said. - Yahoo Sport, http://tinyurl.com/ld99ju SAILING SHORTS * San Pedro, Calif. (July 22, 2009) - Although Holly Tullo, 15, from Staten Island, N.Y did not arrive at the US Girls Optimist National Championships hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in time get in any practice, she was a runaway winner and the only one to score single-digit finishes---5-4-1-9-2---in all five races. Her 21 points left her 14 points better than the runnerup, Adele Whitmyer, 12, of Stamford, Conn. Four other girls scored the other wins: Ceci Wollman, 11, from Bermuda; Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick, 14, Darien, Conn.; Haddon Hughes, 12, Bellaire, Tex., and Sarah DeSilva, 13, Kansas City, Mo. -- Complete scores will be posted at http://www.usoda.org/ * The 49 competitors sailing in their Laser Radials managed to sneak in two races before storms haulted action Thursday on Moriches Bay. Defending champion, Arielle deLisser (Miami, Fla.) made the most of her day on the water by taking a six point lead in day two of the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship, sponsored by LaserPerformance and hosted by the Westhampton Yacht Squadron. deLisser finished third and second today. She has 14 points, including a 17th place discarded. Molly McKinney (Sarasota, Fla.) moved up from third to second today following a second and fourth place finish, which gives her 20 points. - http://tinyurl.com/lzx7nx * BMW Oracle Racing, the current leader of the iShares Cup Series, will not compete in the iShares Cup at Cowes Week due to a clash with the team’s testing program for the 33rd America’s Cup in San Diego. Helmsman James Spithill explained: “Testing with our newly modified BOR 90 trimaran is at an important phase and we need to focus on this right now. With the America’s Cup only six months out, we have much to do to be prepared. We hope to rejoin the circuit in Kiel.” - BYM Sailing, full story: http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=57838 * The light air sailing conditions of the 101st Race to Mackinac meant strategy and teamwork were keys to winning the Race, held July 17-22, 2009. The skippers of Zoom, Asylum, and Nice Pair share their winning strategies for this difficult race that took the 337 boats entered an average of 80 hours to complete. Those strategies are now posted on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/raceupdates.cfm * The Australians hit their stride after the second day of finals at the 29er Worlds in Riva del Garda, Italy - now occupying the top three positions. Steven Thomas (AUS) and Blair Tuke (NZL) have nine points and a 20 point lead over fellow countrymen Lauren Jeffries and Nathan Outteridge 29pts) followed by younger sister Haylee Outteridge and Iain Jensen (32 pts). Americans Judge Ryan and Matt Noble started off well with a 7-3 but finished 23rd in race four after Ryan fell out of the boat, and were OCS in race five, dropping them to 11th overall. -- www.29erworlds.org * North Sails and Sailing Weather Service have partnered to provide free weather forecasts for the 2009 Pure Michigan Bayview Mac Race, which starts Saturday, July 25 (one forecast will be sent out on Friday, July 24th) and the Sperry Top-Sider Marblehead NOOD Regatta from July 23-26, 2009. To sign up, visit North’s online weather center: http://na.northsails.com/tabid/7240/Default.aspx * The Hobie 16 North Americans at CORK in Kingston, Ontario had to light to moderate races on Thursday with winds again out of the east. Puerto Ricans Enrique Figueroa and Victor Aponte extended their lead with two race winds. Americans Geoff Becker and Krista Hankins suffered an OCS but remain in second going into the last day. South African expatriate and New Jersey resident Mark Modderman sailing with American Sandra Tartaglino have moved into third. The final day of racing will take place on Friday and the forecast is for more typical thermal breezes. - http://www.hca-na.org/ * A fleet of 40 Swan yachts ranging from 36 to 65 feet went to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, for the 14th Swan European Regatta. With eight courses set in total, in wind speeds of up 35 knots, the three classes were fully tested. The class winners, after five days of racing were: Class A - Swan 53 Sassenach (GBR), Ian Laing, Vice Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron; Class B - Swan 48 Elan (GER), Harald Baum; Class C - Swan 41 Moustique (GBR) Alan Major. - Complete results: http://96.238.1.60:8686/ NEW AGE SAILING Sailing Programs & parents world-wide are discovering something modern to keep the YouTube Generation excited about sailing. Find the kids' choice at NewAgeVideo (link below) and see why fleets and events are happening everywhere. The O'Pen BIC uses new-age design and recyclable materials in a rocket-ship hull and contemporary rig. Just two minutes to rig, completely self-bailing, no maintenance, and less expensive. Capsizing is part of the fun! The bottom line? Kids can't wait to sail O'pen BICs. Contact info@bicsportna.com to find out about the 2009 Energized Sailing Demo Tour sponsored by The Black Dog, Ronstan, and North Sails. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMqtkjALQVg *The Tinaroo Sailing Club in Far North Queensland, Australia decided to take a fresh look at junior sailing in their region and if required, choose a completely new direction. After extensive research of the dominant international options, they chose the O'pen Bic. Here are the details of how they arrived at this decision: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/tsc_openbic.pdf 'BUTTHEADS SAY NO TO STORED POWER The latest debate in the soap opera otherwise known as the America's Cup has to do with the appropriateness of the non-manual power being used to sail the boat. In short, it is the elegance of pushing electric buttons versus the brutality of turning handles in order to trim the sails and make other adjustments. For the 33rd America's Cup in February 2010, the Alinghi team wants to use an engine-powered system on their catamaran. Said Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, "The Cup for me has always been a design race. Now, it's an unlimited design race." However, their challenger, the BMW Oracle Racing team (BOR), finds the use of stored power both illegal to the racing rules, and inconsistent with the history of the event. Said BOR CEO Russell Coutts, "The big boats, the big loads, that's part of the physical challenge of sailing any of the Cup boats I've sailed on. If you take that aspect out, you're changing the game dramatically." Coutts also believed that the vast majority of people would also be against the use of non-manual power in the America's Cup. This seemed to be a pretty risky statement, so Scuttlebutt took him to task, and hosted a survey where it was asked: "Should the America's Cup allow for stored power to help sail the boats?" After the vote, over 91% of respondents agreed with Coutts. Here are a couple of the comments: "Sailing is sailing, not application and diversion of power from a different source. Pumping up a hydraulic system through engine power is just plain wrong." "Are you kidding, why don't we just race turbo'd Perinis and sip martinis on the bridge to keep everyone 'safe'. After all, it's 'difficult' to have all those athletes running around us old farts as they might knock out my swizzle stick...and that would be 'horrendous'." Scuttlebutt Question: Should the America’s Cup allow for stored power to help sail the boats? Yes - 8.8% No - 91.2% Complete comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/09/0721/ PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include PUMA Moths to Oregon, light winds to Mackinac, big boats to Newport, motorized catamarans to Switzerland, OK Dinghies to Sweden, youth match racing to California, and colored carbon rigging to the planet. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0724 * Photographer Michael Walker provides images from Kingston, Ontario of the Hobie 16 North Americans: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0723 * At another multihull event, the F18 World Cup in Duinbergen, Belgium provided plenty of action imagery for Pierrick Contin's camera: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0723C/ * What do you get when you have 27 Quarter Tonners competing in a ten race series that leaves the top two boats separated by a half point. and that these skippers are married? Luckily shooters Paul Wyeth and Paul Todd were there to provide the answer: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0723a/ * The Bucket Regattas are open to yachts over 90-feet, providing an opportunity to sail in a fleet of magnificent sailing yachts with full focus on performance as well as safe seamanship. These events are to be fun, and are set in the Corinthian spirit. How come it seems like this is what all yachting used to be like? Photogs Leighton O'Connor, Emily L. Ferguson, and George Bekris share images from the event: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0723B VIDEO OF THE WEEK The Robie Pierce One Design Regatta for Sailors with Disabilities was held for the first time at American Yacht Club, Rye, NY. Co-hosted by American & Larchmont Yacht Clubs,June 5-7, 2009. It was show case of 22 teams moving beyond disabilities for fun and competition in Ideal 18' sailboats. Both physical and sight impaired raced in the event. Winning team was Mark Leblanc, Alex Streb & Tim Angle. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/0724 * If you have a video you like, please send your suggestion for next week's Video of the Week to mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.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 Tom Webster: I have read with some interest that the America's Cup Match continues to have legal issues concerning what rules they will race under. What I cannot understand is why an International Sports Federation, ISAF, was and is a party to a secret agreement with Allinghi and SNG. and even after judge's ruling that both syndicates will be allowed to see said secret agreement, why would they both have to sign a confidentiality agreement about said papers. This is an interantional sports body. what would they have to gain from secret agreements?. Under the past ISAF president, Paul Henderson, everything was quite open and in the public domain. You may not have agreed with Mister Henderson on some issues but he was quite open about where he stood and what positions ISAF had on the controversies of the day. Why would sailors everywhere not be able to have open access to what rules their sport's premier event would be sailed under? * From Dieter Loibner: Good on Anthony Howarth to give solar a shot at a round-the-world record by sea (‘Butt 2892). But he’d better hurry up, because it’s getting crowded under the sun–and in the record books: Sun21, the swiss-built solar catamaran that crossed the Atlantic under solar power only in 2007, www.transatlantic21.org The Power of One, world distance record of a solar powered car that’s zigging and zagging across North America. www.xof1.com Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered fixed-wing plane. It's a project of Bertrand Piccard, grandson of Auguste and son of Jacques Piccard, who's credited with the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight. www.solarimpulse.com * From Doug Robinson, s/v Nemesi, US20837: I know little of the rule concerning the use of Wenches on board, but I am aware that the Royal Navy allowed them for some 150 years. HMS fleet had some measure of success as long as they kept clear of the Americans. As for movable ballast, we have always welcomed them on board as long as they didn't wear high heels. => Editor’s Note: Our story in yesterday’s issue (2892) about power WINCHES unfortunately had a typo in the headline … which probably generated some confusion - and lots of letters to the editor. We’d like to thank all of our readers who wrote to share their comments, but to save us any additional embarrassment; we will end this thread - right now. Have a nice weekend. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Speaking about healthcare, did you see the story about the confused congressman who thought an ‘Outpatient’ was a person who had fainted? Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises and O’pen BIC Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
