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SCUTTLEBUTT 3398 - Thursday, August 4, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ullman Sails and West Marine. ONLY WOMAN SAILOR IN THE 34TH AMERICA'S CUP One of the challenging teams in the 34th America's Cup is Green Comm Racing which represents Real Club Nautico de Valencia in Spain. With the inaugural event of the America's Cup World Series in Cascais, Portugal to begin August 6th, Green Comm had its first sail in an AC 45 on Tuesday. Needless to say, they are a bit behind the curve, but they are already turning heads with one of their early crew selections. Carrie Howe is not only the only woman in Green Comm Racing, she is also the only woman sailor taking part in the 34th America's Cup. Right after the first day of sailing, Carrie talked to us about her impressions, her aspirations and advice to young sailor girls. * You are the only woman sailor in the 34th America's Cup. How do you feel about that? CARRIE HOWE: I feel fantastic and I think it's an incredible honor as a woman to be asked to join a men's team. It makes you realize what women can do, it's just a question of getting an opportunity. I am capable of sailing these boats, I know how they work, I know all the little tricks and I think I can be valuable. I don't know what will happen at the end but it truly is an honor. The AC45 yachts are very tough and physical. Green Comm Racing has onboard the world's best Laser and Finn sailors, some of the strongest and fittest sailors. Do you think a woman could have a full-time place in an AC45 sailing crew? I think the answer to that question comes in two parts. First of all, physically, there are positions for a woman on the boat. There aren't that many women sailors that are that fit and with the adequate weight for that boat. That's why you don't see many women in the catamaran world. However, fitness-wise a woman can do it. The second part of the question is that there are also people important on the team that are better with the finesse and multi-tasking abilities women have. The sailors might be strong and fit guys but someone has to have them going into the right direction and that's another important aspect of the program. * More specifically, during the team's first ever sail on the AC45 yacht what position did you hold? CARRIE HOWE: I had the opportunity to look and learn, to see what I can do in the boat, what I am capable of. I was, obviously, not chosen for being a big and strong person but as a very small person to fit the weight requirements. I am a very small person but also a very strong girl. My position in that first sail was to watch and I think there are three things I can do onboard the yacht. Firstly, I could steer and I have already done on catamarans and Extreme 40's. The second thing I saw I could do was trimming the wing, although I didn't see 25 knots of wind. The third part is that you have a full-time grinder for you and you can tell the other people to do more compared to if I were a man. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/GC-080311 BACKGROUND: Carrie was part of the American crew with Sally Barkow and Debbie Capozzi that represented the U.S. in the women's keelboat event at the 2008 Olympic Games. UPDATE: While details for the online viewing schedule of the America's Cup World Series in Cascais, Portugal (Aug. 6-14) have not yet been revealed, here is the event program: http://www.americascup.com/Documents/story%20docs/Cascais%20Program.pdf LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TEST EVENT Weymouth/Portland, GBR (August 3, 2011) - Russia's Ekaterina Skudina maintained her 100% winning record in the Women's Match Racing competition after another light wind day at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the London 2012 Olympic Test Event. Skudina won gold at Kieler-Woche and narrowly missed out on a top three spot in the ISAF Sailing World Cup series by virtue of podium places with Sally Barkow pipping her to third spot. But the Russian has been in fantastic form since she got to Weymouth and is the only match racer to head into the last day of the Round Robin with an undefeated record. In third is Sally Barkow (USA) who went 3-1 today, losing to the Finish team who they now sit behind with a 5-2 record. The Women's Match Racing Round Robins conclude Thursday as the eight Quarter Finalists are decided. The Men's and Women's RS:X sailors start their fleet racing on Thursday, while the Men's and Women's 470, Laser and Laser Radial events begin on Friday, August 5, and the Finn, Star and 49er classes get underway on Saturday, August 6. The medal races will run August 11-13. Full report: http://www.sailing.org/36407.php Event link: http://www.londonpreparesseries.com/sailing/index.html US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-073111 COMMENT: It was noted in Scuttlebutt 3397 that the results link for Women's Match Racing was not functioning, and 24 hours later it still isn't working. There is some good news though, as we stumbled upon a random link elsewhere on the event site which had a PDF of the results after two days of racing: http://www.sailing.org/uploads/WPIR2011/WMatch_Results.pdf PORTAL: In the one year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, US SAILING has launched a new website that highlights America's sailing athletes' journey to Weymouth, U.K., the location of the sailing competition. Providing historical sailing reference from past Games along with the latest updates from the US team, this site becomes the one-stop-shop for 2012 Olympic sailing information: http://olympics.ussailing.org BACKGROUND: The 2011 Weymouth and Portland International Regatta is designed to test the Olympic sailing venue and its operations in advance of the 2012 Games. Racing for the ten Olympic sailing events is August 2-13, where 325 entries representing 135 countries will compete across five courses on Portland Harbor and Weymouth Bay. Consistent with the Olympic Games, each country is allowed just one representative in each event. "WINGS" CAPTURES J/105 SOCAL TITLE Congratulations to Dennis and Sharon Case and crew on "Wings" who claimed the J/105 Southern California Championships last weekend in San Diego! Fully powered by Ullman Sails, "Wings" secured the 2011 title with 15 total points in five races, including a first in the opening race. Hosted by Coronado Yacht Club, the 13-boat fleet was treated to awesome conditions - flat water and 10-15 knots in San Diego's South Bay. Of the 13 boats on the water, ten competed with at least partial Ullman Sails onboard, including Rick Goebel's "Sanity" and Chris Logan's "Pholly" who placed 4th and 5th respectively. http://www.ullmansails.com ARE THE SACRIFICES OF STADIUM SAILING TOO HIGH? The rage these days is turning sailing events into spectator events. While delivering the fans to the race course is littered with obstacles, the solution has been to bring the race course to the fans. The problem, however, is when you position the race course adjacent to land viewing, the quality of racing changes. When the Extreme Sailing Series brought their fleet of 40-foot catamarans to Boston Harbor in early July, the wind was weaving through the downtown buildings with predictable results. The RC44 tour had a better experience when they hosted a 'stadium' event inside San Diego Bay last fall, but the early prediction next week for the America's Cup World Series in Cascais is for "puffy and shifty" winds. Hmm... The Olympic sailing events have also been trying to flex their media muscle and fan friendliness, but by the description of the course location at the 2012 Games venue, they may also be sacrificing fair winds for spectator convenience. A course area in front of Nothe Gardens where 4,600 ticketholders will go each day to watch the sailing competition is under scrutiny as the main racetrack this year - with many of the early rounds plus all ten medal races set to be staged there. Tickets for the gardens next year, costing between $33 and $90 that include live footage on giant TV screens and live commentary, have sold out and organisers are keen to stage as many dry runs as possible to assess the race course's suitability for spectators, athletes and the media. According to Skandia Team GBR manager Stephen Park, the course area, one of five in Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour, suffers from notoriously light or unstable breezes, which may hinder crucial selection decisions this week if racing is curtailed and hamper the schedule next year. What remains to be seen is whether sacrifices in race quality to achieve spectator convenience will result in a 'show' worth watching. As for the sailors, with Olympic medals or professional salaries on the line, will the randomness of stadium sailing make it a game worth playing? Standing by. Story source: http://tinyurl.com/Telegraph-080311 FRESH BUT NOT TOO FRIGHTENING San Francisco, CA (August 3, 2011) - The first day of the Laser Slalom 2011 threw contenders a relatively easy time, starting in a breeze in the high teens, a flood tide and flat water - conditions that prevailed for the first part of racing. By late afternoon the usual San Francisco breeze was back and hitting the low to mid-20s. While over half the fleet crashed at least once, a handful made the trek around the course look like a walk in the park, including two-time Laser World Masters Champion Scott Ferguson (USA) who ripped through in just five minutes, executing smooth maneuvers that earned him two wins, easily putting him in the winners bracket where he'll go up against Olympic Gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe tomorrow, who also won the one race she sailed today (she also had a bye). Tunnicliffe is the hot contender to win this event. "It was good, I got around the course smoothly, it wasn't as difficult as I thought out there. I got the lighter air, it was fun, I could have done with more breeze though."Tunnicliffe blew spectators away with her flawless action and boat handling skills as she really demonstrated just what a work out these boats are. "I had to, I was behind," she laughed. No-one agrees more that the big breeze is what the event's all about than the event's founding fathers, Don Trask and Bill Kreysler (who also hold the distinction of being responsible for the successful construction of 11,000 Lasers in ten years, 30 Star boats and 300 J/24s during their career in the business). -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SailBlast-080311 ROLEX WORLD SAILOR OF THE YEAR AWARDS Nominations are now being accepted for the 2011 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards, the most prestigious award of recognition in the sport of sailing. Nominations may be made by anyone and the only criterion is "outstanding achievement in the sport of sailing" during the qualifying period of 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011. Nominations should be sent to ISAF by 12:00 (UTC) on Wednesday 7 September 2011 using the Official Nomination Form, available at http://www.sailing.org/36404.php A shortlist of nominations will be drawn up by ISAF from all those received by the deadline and those making the cut will go on to become the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2011 Nominees. The 137 ISAF Member National Authorities will then vote for one male and one female nomination who they believe should win the Award. The winners will be announced at the Awards dinner on Tuesday 8 November in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the host city for the ISAF Annual Conference. The 2011 winners were Tom Slingsby (AUS) and Blanca Manchon (ESP). -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/36405.php WEST MARINE SPECIAL OFFER FOR SCUTTLEBUTT READERS Can you believe it's already August? Seems like summer just arrived. We could tell you about our August specials (which you can view at westmarine.com), but I thought we'd give you something extra to prolong your time on the water. Shop online and get FREE Ground Shipping, no minimum purchase, now through Friday, August 5, at 11:59pm PT. Use coupon code SCUTTLE at checkout. Free Shipping valid within 48 contiguous states only. Offer excludes hazardous, oversized, truck freight and special order items. -- http://bit.ly/WMSB080411 TWO BIRDS - ONE STONE A letter in Scuttlebutt 3397 by Stephen A. Van Dyck, a US SAILING Judge and Umpire, provided critical commentary of what he saw as an imbalance of priorities within US SAILING between the needs of the sport and the needs of the Olympic effort. Steve's stone hit two birds... here is what they said: * From Dean Brenner, Chairman, US Olympic Sailing: Steve's entire point seems to be based on a basic and flawed premise. that the support for the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics somehow takes away from other programs or initiatives within US SAILING. This is incorrect. Thanks to the effort of many people, we fund our Olympic and Paralympic program through the support of the USOC, private donors, and our sponsors who specifically sign up to support the team. As I've written here many times before, membership dollars are not used to support the team. So all the resources here this week to support the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics don't change the realities of the rest of US SAILING's programs by one dollar or one minute of anyone's time. Steve also comments on the growing professionalism of the leadership of our Olympic Program. We are competing against other professional sports teams, some of which are known to outspend us 3 or 4 to 1. It's simply no longer realistic to find highly qualified and motivated people to lead this team full-time, and for free. During these last three years, yes, there has been a transition to professional leadership. But the support for this did not take one dollar away from any other initiative within our Olympic Program nor the rest of US SAILING, thanks to the generous support of a foundation that wanted to help us ease the transition. I think we should be celebrating our team of athletes, and the high level of support that we are now able to provide them. support that aspiring US Olympians and Paralympians have been seeking for many years now. On behalf of our entire team, I'd like to thank our donors, our sponsors (led by title sponsor AlphaGraphics, and our excellent partners at the USOC. * From Jack Gierhart, Executive Director, US Sailing: Steve raises a valid point about the resources supporting competitive sailing that we grapple with daily. We agree that Race Administration, as well as all of our programs could use more hands. Unfortunately resources are limited. Where do we get resources to strengthen these programs? The Board certainly plays a role, but more importantly it is the sailors who can help. I would like to comment on some of the information that Steve presented: While there is one staff director managing Race Administration, there is additional staff - member services, IT, development, and communications - who support the department and volunteers. US Sailing has a full-time staff of 41. Eight of the 41 are Olympic staff whose salaries and overhead are included in the separate Olympic Division budget. The number of sailors participating in Sanctioned events (US Sailing membership needed to participate) is approximately 5,000 across 120 events. Estimates vary, but there are at least 300,000 sailors that participate in some level of competitive sailing annually in the US. Critical to this racing are the volunteers Steve mentioned who rely on our Race Administration training and support, and the Racing Rules that our staff and volunteers work to maintain and improve. Of these sailors, less than 15% - 40,000 - are US Sailing members whose dues support these critical programs. Currently member dues do not support the Olympic program. Sailing and US Sailing rely on volunteers. However, times are changing and so is volunteerism. The 21st century volunteers have less time and cannot contribute in the same manner as in the past. US SAILING is evolving to better support this new paradigm and this requires resources. For Race Administration, more resources will enable us to deliver race official training to more volunteers, develop online training for those in the field, strengthen communications and provide additional support to volunteers and organizations. Our members provide these critical resources. So to those who are members, thank you for your support; to those that aren't and who enjoy racing, please join and help us strengthen racing across the country. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Aug 4-7 - Canadian Eastern U17 Champs - Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada Aug 4-7 - Canadian Western U17 Champs - Gimli, Manitoba, Canada Aug 5-7 - Buzzards Bay Regatta - S. Dartmouth, MA, USA Aug 6-7 - J/22 Mid-Atlantic Championship - Annapolis, MD, USA Aug 6-7 - Lake Sunapee Open Star Regatta - Sunapee, NH, USA Aug 10-13 - Chester Race Week - Chester, Nova Scotia, CanadaView all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Onboard HD Camera * 2011/2012 NMMA Boat & Sport Shows * PUMA Selected as Official Sportswear Partner for the 34th America's Cup * Reichel/Pugh designed Alia 65 Harbour Racer View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Dennis Toews: I read with interest Peter Isler's fun comments in Scuttlebutt 3396. I sailed against him in Soling's in the 70's and sent him this note: "In 1972 Hans Fogh switched from FD's to the Soling and asked if I would crew for him. I said yes subject to a verbal contract. I said 'Hans you are a sailmaker and winning is important to your business, I will do my best to help you but if you feel I am not up to the job tell me and we will remain friends. Conversely I sail for fun and if I find our efforts are not fun I leave as a friend.'" For the better part of a decade our Soling on the water or on shore was a "fun focus". I have the temerity to suggest we had our fair share of success too! * From Dave Krotseng: In regard to the announcement in Scuttlebutt 3397 of the 15 sailors who will make up the first class of inductees into the National Sailing Hall of Fame, I find it interesting that nobody else outside of Buddy Melges from the Great Lakes is deemed worthy of the "Hall of Fame". COMMENT: We suspect that sentiment is being made from the Pacific Northwest and the South which had no representatives among the 15 inductees. However, we can only imagine the challenge of coming up with this list after an entire history of the sport. The Hall plans to have similarly large induction groups in 2012 and 2013 to get 'caught up', and then will induct five people in each year following. For what it's worth, this first class had representatives from the Northeast (7), California (5), Mid Atlantic (1), Great Lakes (1), and Southeast (1). Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/11/0802/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Due to the climate of political correctness now pervading America, Kentuckians, Tennesseans and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as 'Hillbillies'. You must now refer to them as Appalachian-Americans. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - Doyle Sails - Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails SailFast - Morris Yachts - Team One Newport - LaserPerformance Ullman Sails - West Marine - JK3 Nautical Enterprises - Summit Yachts Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
