|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 583 - June 2, 2000DENNIS CONNERGeorge M. Isdale Jr., commodore of the New York Yacht Club, announced today the club will field a challenge to America's Cup XXXI, to be sailed in New Zealand in 2002-2003. Dennis Conner will run the Stars & Stripes team that will represent the NYYC. Conner, a four-time winner of the America's Cup, has been a member of the NYYC for 20 years. It is expected that many key players from Conner's challenge in 1999-2000 will rejoin the team, including tactician Tom Whidden, a club member since 1985. "I have unfinished business when it comes to the America's Cup," said Conner referring to his loss in 1983. Tom Whidden, Conner's tactician since 1980, put it this way: "We certainly enjoy winning the Cup. We would really love to win it back for the New York Yacht Club." Talks with leading designers and other prospective team members will commence immediately. Rear Commodore Lawrence S. Huntington said, "Time is of the essence." He has turned to David K. Elwell, a trustee of the NYYC, to represent the club. Elwell, a successful America's Cup sailor in his own right, chaired the America's Cup Challenge Association, the challengers' organization to America's Cup XXX. - Michael Levitt LAURIE DAVIDSON Davidson, who was primarily responsible for the hull shapes of NZL57 and NZL60, made no secret of his frustrations at having to share equal billing with Americans Clay Oliver in 2000 and Doug Peterson in 1995. Declaring he was "too old for that crap," the septuagenarian insisted that he have full and final design control this time. Discussions with Team New Zealand's Tom Schnackenberg did not prove fruitful, so Davidson is packing up his design pencils and joining the Seattle group. "This time there is no question about it," he said. "My contract says I have Final Authority, capital F, capital A." His authority will extend over a design team he describes as very competent and which is understood to include Phil Kaiko, who was involved with Bill Koch's America3 campaign and who was chief designer for Dawn Riley's America True syndicate in 2000. Davidson said his contract commences on August 1 and he expects to have models tank testing in September or October. Davidson confirmed that he already has post-NZL60 designs, which he is convinced are faster than the black boats. "I am quite sure we can improve on NZL60," he said. - Ivor Wilkins, Grand Prix Sailor There is much more to this story: http://www.sailingworld.com A NEW PLAYER SYDNEY-A $AUD60 million Australian challenge for the America's Cup has been forced to the surface as a result of the international poaching activities around Team New Zealand over the past two weeks. The Australiafirst syndicate, headed by Sydney yachtsman, former test pilot and successful businessman Michael Jones, is scheduled to lodge a challenge in Auckland on June 23. Jones decided to announce the campaign so his syndicate could be recognized as a serious player in the 2003 America's Cup match. Jones has spent the past month finalizing preliminary deals with some of Australia's most experienced America's Cup campaigners including Iain Murray, helmsman Peter Gilmour, Grant Simmer (head of the design team) and Ian Burns. * Veteran Australian America's Cup campaigner and ocean racing legend Syd Fischer has already signaled that he plans to challenge in 2003 through the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. It will be his sixth Cup campaign. - Rob Mundle, Grand Prix Sailor Full story: http://www.sailingworld.com AUSTRALIA'S CHANCES Former America's Cup helmsman Ian Murray believes Australia will face an uphill battle to regain the America's Cup. Murray said a number of off-shore syndicates were lining up to poach the country's best yachtsmen and designers. -- NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ WOMEN'S ROLEX SWITCHES TO J/22 Big changes at US SAILING's biennial Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship. For the first time, the regatta will be sailed in the J/22s - replacing the J/24s which have been used in the previous eight regattas. The changes were implemented by US SAILING's Women's Keelboat Committee after analyzing extensive questionnaires and conversations with= participants. Scheduled for September 22-28, 2001, a Rolex timepiece will be awarded to the winning boat for the first time in the regatta's history. Another change - the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) will be taking the helm from Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, R.I., which has hosted the event since its inception in 1985. "Changing to the J/22 will allow the teams to sail with four crew instead of six," said 1995 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.), who finished third at the Rolex Women's event in 1997 and was second in '95. "The boat will be that much more manageable, from owning to trailering to sailing it." The Rolex Women's event typically attracts between 30 and 50 teams representing eight to 12 countries, with foreign teams finishing consistently in the top five. The regatta does not require qualification for entry, only that each team become a member of its country's national governing authority for sailing. For more information: Denise MacGillivray, P.O. Box 1172, Newport, RI 02840; 401-849-5492; email: JWRLD@aol.com. US SAILING will have a Notice of Race available online in the coming weeks at: http://www.ussailing.org THE RACE On Thursday, the maxi-catamaran Club Med cast off from her dock in La Trinit=E9 to set off on her first offshore sail heading for Cadiz (Spain). Club Med should reach the Andalusian port sometime on Sunday, where she will go on standby from June 6th ready to attack the East/West Atlantic crossing record between Cadiz and San Salvador (Bahamas), one of the qualifying courses for The Race. Website: http://www.therace.org/english/actualite/index.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) and to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Russ Lenarz - I feel that the decision to make the Corel 45 the big boat choice has reduced the status of the Admiral 's Cup. It has taken the design element out of the picture. There is nothing wrong with one design racing, but part of the whole team concept of the regatta was the different design approach each team took. Not only should the team win on its sailing ability, but it should have the opportunity to design and develop its own boats which as history has proven leads to new innovations in design which has a trickle down effect on the rest of the sailing world. Now the door has been closed on this aspect and does not give any room for new ideas to occur. This can have a negative affect on the sailing community and the industry I agree that at least one boat from each team should be a one design, but all three will essentially put an end to what was a premiere showcase for designers as well as sailors. -- From Diane Swintal - Wow. The dispersal of Team New Zealand sure has everyone talking, and since controversy breeds publicity, maybe the more the better! However, if people really are still living in the days of 'friendly competition between nations,' they haven't been paying a lot of attention in the past 20 years. That would be the same as bemoaning today's baseball salaries, and how everything was "better" in Lou Gehrig's day. Things were very different, yes, but were they really better? I'm not so sure. I for one am enjoying the "who's doing what to whom" since, really, the America's Cup is often more interesting off the water than on! More interesting activity came out of the Louis Vuitton Cup jury room than came out of the Hauraki Gulf during the AC Finals. All of this interest, and all of the guys going to various teams, will only make the sailing more exciting. The time WILL actually come for sailing, won't it? -- From Frank M. Gleberman, Marina del Rey -- Alas, alas, America's Cup is gone, Its attraction of the past is no more. Wait a moment, that might not be right, The controversy on 'Butt's now a loud roar. Far from falling off the edge of the world, The next competition will be clear as a bell. Design, money and mercenaries, I believe you'll see, Will weave an oft story to tell. Tired of the BS about AC you see on the 'Net? We don't see anyone shutting his/her computer down. Come 2003, America's Cup is likely to be One of the most discussed contests in town. Did our Yanks get finessed out of the Year 2000 hunt? Unfortunately, that is a cold and sad fact of life, some call it a sin. But at the end of the day, most of us would say There was still enough to keep most of us tuned in. VOLVO OCEAN RACE With only 16 months until the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002, preparations are at high speed for the illbruck Round the World Challenge. Both crew training and research and development for a new Farr Yacht Design 60-footer are well underway. The team, under the leadership of skipper John Kostecki (USA), is now training from a base camp in Spain. With the announcement this week of two additional international sailors to the team, Kostecki has named seven of the 12 permanent positions. He intends to have his complete sailing roster in place by August. Later this year, the building of the Volvo Ocean 60 racing boat will start in one of the illbruck plants in Leverkusen, Germany. Stu Bettany and Ray Davies, both from New Zealand, are now confirmed as part of the race crew. In addition to Kostecki, they join four New Zealand born sailors - Ross Halcrow (helmsman, trimmer), Mark Christensen (helmsman, trimmer), Jared Hendersen (bowman) and Stuart Bannatyne (watch captain). Stu Bettany, 27, joins the team as an all-rounder from Auckland, New Zealand. From the foredeck to the helm, this Whitbread and America's Cup sailor is multi-talented. He sailed the last Whitbread Race on "Innovation Kvaerner". Ray Davies, 28, and also living in Auckland, gathered his ocean experience aboard "Merit Cup". With Kostecki, he reached the Challenger Finals of the America's Cup "earlier this year on AmericaOne." Davies will be one of six helmsmen and a sail trimmer. After intensive work with the two training boats in autumn, one of the two 1997-98 generation racing boats will be shipped to Australia. At the end of the year, "illbruck" will take part in the legendary Sydney-Hobart Race which will be also part of a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002. - Jane Eagleson ICYRA HALL OF FAME The Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association (ICYRA) of North America will recognize six individuals for their service to ICYRA and induct two individuals into the ICYRA Hall of Fame. Winners of the Lifetime Service, Outstanding Service and Student Leadership awards will be presented at the ICYRA Afterguard Reunion and Hall of Fame Dinner at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y. on June 3, 2000, just prior to the ICYRA North American Coed Dinghy Championships. The first-ever honorees for the new Lifetime Service Award are the six most influential people in the establishment, growth and development of college sailing during the 20th Century. Three of the inductees are true "pioneers" and founders of college sailing: - - Leonard M. Fowle, Jr. (Harvard '30), recognized as the "Father of Intercollegiate Sailing," who steered the organization from its beginning in 1934 until his death in 1974. - - Walter C. "Jack" Wood (MIT '17), Sailing Master at MIT from 1935-65, who brought together big boat and dinghy interests in a reorganized ICYRA. - - Robert M. Allan, Jr. (Stanford '41), who organized the Pacific Coast District. The additional three subsequently built upon the foundation created by the pioneers: - - Harold "Hatch" Brown (Boston University '59), Sailing Master and head coach at MIT from 1967-96 and Graduate Secretary of New England from 1975 - 87. - - George H. Griswold (Wooster College '61), Graduate Secretary of the Midwest District from 1961-94. - - Ann Campbell (Annapolis, Md.) Graduate Secretary of the Middle Atlantic District since 1975 and ICYRA Intersectional Coordinator from 1989 to the present. Outstanding Service Award recipient George "Doc" Wood (University of Richmond '67) was chosen for his accomplishments while serving as head sailing coach at the College of Charleston for more than two decades. ICYRA Hall of Fame inductee Peter Beardsley (New Rochelle, N.Y), a junior at Amherst College in Mass., is the second collegiate sailor to receive the ICYRA Student Leadership Award. For more information: http://www.collegesailing.org CALENDAR June 19-25, Seattle Yacht Club, US SAILING's USA Junior Olympic National Sailing Championship. The championship is considered the foremost event for youth sailors in the country and is expected to draw nearly 150 young sailors, ages 15-20. They will sail in Laser, Club 420, 470, and Europe dinghy classes. Over 250 applications were received. CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS Doug Peterson. David Egan and US lawyer Doug Holthaus were recently sighted in Italy dining with Patrizio Bertelli of the Prada challenge. They all appeared to have big smiles on their faces while being treated like prodigal sons returning to Prada Family fold. WOMEN IN SAILING (Katie Pettibone, co-founder of Team Waterfront for the Volvo Ocean Race, argues that women sailors need more experience to compete on an equal footing with men. Here's a brief excerpt from here story on the Quokka website.) What women lack right now is depth in the field - depth at the top levels of racing in tactics, navigation and skippering. The only way that is ever going to improve is by getting them out, learning hands-on. That requires money to hire coaches, the time to train as a team, and the belief that women can do it. It may not happen overnight, but Rome wasn't built in a day. And neither was Paul Cayard's crew of race winner EF Language. Do most of us want to sail coed? I used to think so until I realized that coed doesn't necessarily mean that you are sailing with good people or enlightened people. I think most of us want to race with good sailors. Hard-core, bloodthirsty and talented people, no matter what the gender. I have to say that I've really enjoyed some of the all-female teams I've been on because many of the women had those qualities, whereas some of the men I've sailed with haven't. What we would like to do with this team for the Volvo race is take good women racers and bring them up to the next level. Make them ready to go on to compete with Dawn Riley's or any other America's Cup team because they are good enough to be there. As Viper tells his "Top Gun" class: "We will make you better." Meat eater is not a gender-specific term. I don't think that, on average, women will be as physically strong as men. Trust me, I've spent many hours in the gym trying to get my arms to look like America True grinder Al Palewicz's, and it's not going to happen. I won't dispute the fact that strength has great advantages, and that an equal number of women as men will have trouble with power ratios in the upper half of the body. Maybe the answer is to give all-women's teams an extra crewmember. We certainly could use the extra body in the overall crew weight area. However, there always will be whiners who say that isn't fair. - Katie Pettibone, Quokka Sports Full story: http://sailing.quokka.com/stories/05/SLQ__0531_s_women_WFC.html ALAN THOMA Capt. Alan Thoma, 55, died unexpectedly May 27 in Puerto Vallarta of complications of undiagnosed diabetes. Al was a professional captain, world class navigator, and consumate seaman who competed successfully in all phases of buoy and ocean racing from Clipper Cups aboard CHECKMATE, to numerous Sauza Cup victories on FRONT STREET, and two double-handed Pacific Cups on his Olson 30 OA OA. Most recently, Al was captain aboard the Matson container ship LURLINE and was using his vacation to sail his new J-120 JADE to Hawaii with his devoted wife Marie. Al was a best friend and great shipmate. His ashes will be scattered Sunday, June 4, off Diamond Head followed by a memorial at the Waikiki Y.C. - Skip Allan OUTTA HERE The curmudgeon is off for a long weekend at Catalina Island. Consequently, there will not be a 'Butt on Monday, but I plan to return in time to put together one for Tuesday morning. THE CURMUDGEON'S COUNCIL Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it. |
