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SCUTTLEBUTT #479 - January 11, 2000MATCH RACINGThe 2000 Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour was announced at the America's Cup during the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. The Tour features eight of the world's most highly regarded events from the match race circuit, spanning eight countries from March through October 2000. Swedish Match AB, Octagon Worldwide, and the Match Race Association (MRA) partnered to combine these leading professional sailing events into an overall championship series. In addition, this group is working closely with The International Sailing Federation (ISAF), which will provide support services at each Tour event including the Umpire Program, the Racing Rules, event grading criteria and the World Ranking System. The Grand Prix Sailing Tour will begin with the first race on March 21, 2000 at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup in Auckland. In addition to over USD 400,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Grand Prix will award USD 150,000 to the top eight sailors on the Tour. The overall winners will be determined by a point system that is based on a sailor's best six finishes during the eight Grand Prix Sailing Tour events, with the first-place skipper netting USD 50,000. Top skippers are expected to compete in the Grand Prix Sailing Tour including Paul Cayard (USA), Russell Coutts (NZ), Peter Gilmour (JPN), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Bank (DEN), Magnus Holmberg (SWE) and Gavin Brady (HK). New, talented skippers including Andy Green (UK), James Spithill (AUS) and Dean Barker (NZ) will also have the opportunity to gain experience and compete for points and the overall prize purse. The Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour venues are: Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, Auckland, New Zealand; Sun Microsystems Australia Cup in Perth, Australia; ACI Cup/Match Racing Worlds, Split, Croatia; Lake Constance Match Cup, Lake Constance, Germany; Swedish Match Cup, Marstrand, Sweden; Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini, Ravenna, Italy; 2000 Danish Cup Open, Skovshoved Harbour, Denmark and Colorcraft Presents The King Edward VII Gold Cup, Hamilton, Bermuda. In addition to 30 hours of host broadcast television coverage, the Grand Prix Sailing Tour will distribute eight, half-hour programs worldwide through a partnership with Octagon/CSI (a leading global distributor of sports and entertainment programs). "We are very excited about launching the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour on the heels of the Americas Cup," said Scott MacLeod, Tour Director. "The Tour uses the same format as the Americas Cup races; however, sailors compete in identically supplied racing yachts on short courses close to shoreside venues with spectators at each event. Many of the top skippers here at the America's Cup will be frequent participants on the Tour." -- John Roberson 2000 SWEDISH MATCH GRAND PRIX SAILING TOUR:
COASTAL & INSHORE SAILING They're absolutely ideal for coastal and inshore sailing. And they look and feel great onshore too! Check out Gill's new Tradewinds Jacket and coordinating Trousers. As part of Gill's "O2" line of breathable foul weather garments they feature lifejacket/safety harness attachment tabs, a peaked hood that stows in the collar pocket, a fleece-lined collar, and internal and external cuffs. The Tradewinds Trousers have a high cut back, reinforced seat and knees and Velcro ankle adjustment tabs, wide braces, an inner pocket and elastic waistband. http://www.douglasgill.com THE FRIENDLY COMPETITION BETWEEN NATIONS The forecast heavy weather didn't arrive, so the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals continued in perfect conditions for racing. The wind was from the East, and ranged from 12-15 knots. The sky was bright and high cloud provided a break from the full intensity of the sun. But there was definitely no break from the intensity of the Louis Vuitton Cup. After today's results, the teams under the most pressure are Luna Rossa and Team Dennis Conner. Luna Rossa lost a brutally intense match against the series leader, AmericaOne. Stars & Stripes beat Le Defi in another close match to climb within one point of the second place Italian boat, but the Americans have an extra race to sail. It is possible that the second position for the Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup will be decided in a sail-off with either two or even three boats. AmericaOne looks secure in its bid to qualify for the Finals. By beating Luna Rossa, Paul Cayard's team is assured of at least a sail-off and by winning one more race, AmericaOne guarantees its position. Today's victory will surely be a morale booster for the Americans who held off a hard charge and two lead changes with Luna Rossa on a memorable final run to earn the victory. Asura keeps alive its hope to move to the next stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup with its victory over America True. The Japanese still need some help however from the teams in front. Asura needs to win its two remaining matches and have the teams ahead stumble a little bit for the Japanese to stay alive. ASURA BEAT AMERICA TRUE - DELTA 01:20 This race featured one of the most action-packed prestarts we've seen in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Peter Gilmour on Asura (JPN-44) and John Cutler on America True (USA-51) came at each other like tigers, and Gilmour, needing a win to keep his hopes alive came out on top. Asura escaped a dial-up by diving below America True and Cutler was forced into chasing Asura below the line. After circling below the Committee Boat, both boats turned up towards the start line early, and Gilmour was able to hook to leeward of Cutler, forcing America True to cross very early and bear off above the Committee Boat. Gilmour maintained control to leeward holding both boats away from the line until nearly 20 seconds after the start gun fired. Finally Asura circled back to start late, but with a two boat length lead. Tactician Chris Main did a nice job of picking the wind shifts, and Asura extended on every leg but the final run to win comfortably. STARS & STRIPES BEAT LE DEFI - DELTA 00:19 Ken Read on Stars & Stripes (USA-55) executed a perfect dial-up during the pre-start. He was to the right and behind Bertrand Pace on Le Defi (FRA-46). He forced Bertrand Pace to the left on starboard tack and decided to take the left side of the start. Ken Read tacked to starboard just before hitting the line, Le Defi continued on port. The start line was biased and the Committee Boat end was favoured. The French were in the lead. On the first cross the boats were even. The next cross Stars & Stripes led and swapped sides. The wind went left and the French regained the lead, three quarters of the way up the beat. At the top mark the advantage was to the right again and finally Whidden was rewarded for staying on that side. Stars & Stripes pushed Le Defi over the lay line and Bertrand Pace could only follow. The lead was nine seconds at the first mark. On the run Le Defi stayed in touch. The next beat was close, with the boats even near the top mark. Having the starboard tack advantage gave the Americans the edge. On the second run the pair stayed close again, but the lead did not change. Le Defi was on Ken Read's transom at the bottom mark. On the last beat Stars & Stripes finally pulled away. With a 50 second lead Ken Read started his last run to the finish. The French did not give up and took 31 seconds out of that lead. Stars & Stripes finished first and are still in the hunt for a spot in the Finals AMERICAONE BEAT LUNA ROSSA - DELTA 00:08 AmericaOne (USA-61) skippered by Paul Cayard won his start and the favoured left-hand side of the course against Francesco de Angelis sailing Luna Rossa (ITA-45). The American boat led by 1:02 at the first weather mark and dominated the first four legs. Later, after a bad call on the correct jib, the Americans were fighting to hold the advancing Luna Rossa off on the last weather leg. The Italians grabbed the lead only metres and one tack before the weather mark. With the course heavily skewed, it was a starboard gybe fetch from the weather mark to the finish and the two boats were never more than five metres apart as Cayard fought to overtake the Italian. With the boats overlapped, Cayard had only to hold his course to the finish. The shouting between the boats and Umpires never ceased through at least nine protests that were green-flagged plus one penalty against each boat. Cayard got the first penalty against Luna Rossa, a Rule 11 protest for windward boat failing to keep clear. With a need to shed or neutralise the penalty de Angelis wasted no time. Moments later, he initiated a savage gybing duel with three rapid gybes in which Cayard was penalised under Rule 12, for overtaking boat failing to keep clear. At the finish gun Cayard had eked out a one-boat length lead and all but secured his place as a finalist in the Louis Vuitton Cup. - Peter Rusch, Keith Taylor, Simon Keijzer, Louis Vuitton Cup website. Full story http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ CURRENT STANDINGS:
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Scott Truedel -- ESPN is doing pretty well at censoring out bad language onboard the racing yachts, but an incredible amount slips through. At first I didn't notice it, but when you hear it once, it's like your ears become atuned to it and it starts popping up more frequently. I am not bothered by crude language, but I'm not so sure our sport wants to get the reputation of being the only place on TV where you can hear the "s" word and the "f" word shouted out routinely. Last nights coverage (Jan 06, Pacific Standard Time) wasn't too bad, but the race day before, those guys were cursing like sailors! I agree with Bill Menninger that the coverage cuts away from or obscures the action frequently at critical times. At least last night they started staying on the boats during tacking duels. And I would certainly like to hear more about "close encounters". (2-boat length circles, overlapped, leeward boat, etc.) Another example of an unanswered question was when AmericaOne wiped around the R/C and Prada moved to block, but then backed off. From my TV seat, it looked like Cayard stuck his boat where it didn't belong and Prada demonstrated that she could have blocked, but then turned away to avoid a collision. Prada's protest was green-flagged. From my view, first Cayard violated port/starboard, then gybed too close. Cayard definitely deserves snaps for huevos grandes, but it still looked like two rule violations from my seat. -- From Mike Fahle, Toledo We subscribed to cable just to be able to watch the AC races. We try to be understanding of the compromises that have to be made to produce the shows but still experience frustration. Specifically we would like them to know they do not have to speak all the time - listening to the conversations on the boats is probably more interesting most of the time than the dumbed-down sailing terminology that they feel compelled to use exclusively (and why all the redundant phrases like "beat to windward", "hoist up", "downwind run", etc?). The best action usually occurs in the period from warning to start and at marks, so show all of that and show more action from above so that we can see the maneuvering in relationship to the line and the marks. Let us see sail track more often during the races, especially in the close ones (what fantastic technology!). Do features about the lives of the sailors instead of about golf courses. The feature about the Kiwis sharing their AC boats with the kids was perfect. We like the reporting from Peter Montgomery, the Kiwi announcer. I suspect they think that diehard racers like us will watch no matter what and they have to produce a show that someone who can't spell sailing could follow, but they could produce a show that would satisfy both with just a little more consideration. I can only imagine the battles that Gary Jobson must fight to get a racer's perspective -- From Doug Holthaus (Re Chris Welsh's comments in issue 478 - "the ugliest part is the lawyers") -- I submit that if Team Dennis Conner had consulted a capable lawyer before deciding to build their rudder in Australia, there would never have been a protest. The result: a penny saved (on fees) and a dollar lost. A lawyer's advice is best taken as an appetizer and not an antacid. -- From Helen Johnstone Falk -- From After reading the most recent "butt extra" on the ongoing soap-opera at the America's Cup in New Zealand, I must say that it is very disappointing to observe the entirety of the "events" taking place at what once use to be one of the "most prestigious" yachting events in the world. I am in no position whatsoever to point fingers, make judgements and analyze the situation in New Zealand, but I am in a position to say the I HOPE that some sort of secondary "International America's Cup" committee is formed, after the event is over, to discuss how the America's Cup can once again become exciting and fair racing ON THE WATER instead of ludicrous racing IN THE JURY ROOM ON LAND. -- From Dave Few -- I am not cheering primarily for TDC, being a SF Bay sailor, however in my view the penalty assessed against them was excessive and Article 19 was contrived to bring business to New Zealand at a time when home country mods would be less practical and further to deprive them of going anywhere else. TDC has so far been the best functioning team on the water so why did they let this happen? Ignorance? It makes no sense if they knew the rule----The home country only rule was largely ignored in the past, at least so I read. Did they think, as I do, it was just more bureaucratic garbage of minor significance?---There seems so very much of it. The whole affair and how it was handled has lessened my interest in the America's Cup and reduced any admiration I held for Mr. Gilmore "the one man band " as Montgomery & Kelly refer to him. -- From Steven Schwartz -- This incident was pure STUPIDITY. I want to know, if the compounds have such high security how did the Japanese find out about the rudder? Do they have a Pokemon spy camera? Everyone thought that once NYYC lost the cup the sport would change for the better. But the unsportsmanlike conduct and pettyness has only increased. Heck, curling or lawn-bowling is more exciting then this Americas Cup. -- From Dick Squire -- As a point of information, although it isn't water ballast, the term "sandbagger" came from the 19th century race boats, primarily in the New York area, which were so wide as to be unstable (does it sound familiar?). They moved sandbags from one rail to the other on each tack. The method probably goes back further than that. -- From Neil W. Humphrey -- Distressing comments by Rich Roberts, Quokka Sports today on the possible scenarios coming into the final races of the semi's. He states in his article, "Perish the thought, but sure to surface is the prospect of an ugly American conspiracy to torpedo Prada in favor of an easier opponent wearing red, white and blue. The jury all but gave its blessing to such shenanigans in response to a recent request for an interpretation of the rules from America True. 'There is absolutely nothing wrong with a team 'throwing' or not participating in a race,' the jury responded, while cautioning competitors not to do so in collusion." I'm totally shocked that in our great sport whether amateur or professional that not showing up for a race is a consideration when it may change the outcome for the LVC finals. Completely a nonevent in any other sport so why ours? Something's wrong here if this takes place as it will truly demonstrate our sports immaturity and outdated Corinthian nature (protests, politics, egos, lawyers & toeing the thin blue line). As well this is poor timing as the sport is getting some well needed coverage only to have possible seagull droppings on our face that may have a major tickle down effect on possible sponsorship funds and the sports growth. BTW great coverage by the crew at Quokka!!!!! -- From Kevin Gault.-- With all due respect to Mr. Moshayedi, PHRF was never intended to be a Grand Prix, measurement handicap. Maybe he can afford $300-500 for a certificate, but I have a "real" blue collar job. It seems to me the guys that want race Grand Prix should set up there own system (or use IMS or Americap) and leave PHRF as simple as possible. After all, PHRF's strong point is that it allows many people to get out on the water and race, with the lowest possible investment. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Enough already. We killed this thread months ago, and I can't imagine thinking people want to see open it up again. NEW SYNDICATE SPONSORS * Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., a leading financial services firm, today announced its sponsorship of AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based challenger for Americas Cup 2000, on behalf of the St. Francis Yacht Club. As a first time sponsor of an Americas Cup contender, Schwab's decision to become involved in this unique sports marketing medium was motivated by significant ties to its established business in the Pacific Rim marketplace. The sponsorship includes prominent Web exposure and branding opportunities onboard AmericaOnes two racing yachts USA 49 and USA 61. -- Gina von Esmarch, http://www.americaone.org * America True, The San Francisco Yacht Club challenge for America's Cup 2000, announced today that it has entered into a sponsorship agreement with DLJdirect, the online brokerage service of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc. DLJdirect's bold green and gold logo appeared on the mainsail of America True, USA-51, this past week during the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. It is the largest logo on any mainsail in the competition. The DLJdirect logo also appears on the crew's shirts and caps and America True's afterguard (consisting of the helmsperson, tactician and navigator) proudly display DLJdirect on their jackets and vests. As part of the sponsorship, new customers who open and fund accounts with DLJdirect through America True's website will receive a free America True jacket. -- Grace Kim, http://www.americatrue.org ARE YOU READY FOR INSPECTION? The riggers at Sailing Supply are constantly asked to perform inspections of rigging. Inspections are really paramount in keeping your rigging in good order -- to prevent the loss of a mast. But you can do a lot of this yourself, and there are some great hints on the Sailing Supply website: http://www.sailingsupply.com/articles/ You'll have no problems if you follow their simple instructions. But if you uncover some trouble, just give Sailing Supply a call. They're all sailors there, and they'll be able to fix you up in a hurry: (800) 532-3831 SPEED SAILING 11.01.00 Newport RI, USA PlayStation and her crew are back on standby for a Newport-Bermuda record attempt/delivery. They were scheduled to leave Newport at 0100 local time on Tuesday 11th January, but strong winds prevented a start. Skipper Steve Fossett explained: "We needed the wind to drop to 15 knots to get PlayStation out of its confined dock safely. We were pinned to the dock by winds of 20-25 knots. We waited from 11 pm to 3 am, but the wind stayed above 20 knots." Mission Control spokesperson Kate Edge added: "This Newport-Bermuda weather window has now expired, so Steve and his crew will be consulting with our meteorologists on the next opportunity for departure." -- http://www.fossettchallenge.com/ LUCKY ME I'm not sure what the mailman brought you today, but I got Sharon Green's brand new Ultimate Sailing calendar. And it's even more bitchin' than the 1999 model it replaces. Check it out on the Ultimate Sailing website and eat your heart out. Or better yet, order one for yourself: http://www.ultimatesailing.com OLYMPICS Adam Beashel and Teague Czislowski are appealing against their failure to be nominated for the 49er slot in Australia's sailing team at next year's Olympics. The Australian Yachting Federation announced yesterday that Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips would get the spot despite Beashel and Czislowski finishing on top of the points table after three nomination regattas. The AYF said it took the regatta results into account but it had decided to invoke rule 2.1 in its selection criteria, which allows it to select the crew which it believes is most likely to win a medal. Chris Nicholson currently holds the 49er world title and has won it twice before. But he has trailed Beashel/Czislowski this year in two of the three nomination events. Beashel/Czislowski won two of the three regattas while Nicholson and Phillips took out the last event, the Sydney International regatta, earlier this month. Beashel/Czislowski finished the series three points in front. The AYF's decision now goes to the Australian Olympic Committee, which normally rubber stamps the nominations. But Adam Beashel said yesterday the AYF had been notified that an appeal would be lodged against the decision. The appeal will be heard by the AYF's Appeal Tribunal. If it fails there, the pair can go to the final tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They now have five working days to prepare a submission. Beashel, whose brother Colin won the nomination along with his crewman David Giles in the Star class, said: "We hope by then that the AYF will provide reasons why we have been excluded. "We are absolutely stunned, we put absolutely everything into this financially, physically, mentally. We knew what had to be done and the rules and we have abided by them. "We became the No. 1-ranked 49er sailing team in the world and then won the Australian Olympic nomination series. "It is our understanding that the overriding consideration in all of this is for the YHA to nominate the team with the best prospects of winning medals for Australia at the Olympics. We believe the results of the nomination series were a true indication of Australia's best medal prospects." MTN CAPE TO RIO RACE "Still no spinnakers!" a frustrated Lynnath Beckley, navigator on board Maxtec Wizard, reported yesterday as participants in the MTN Cape to Rio continue to struggle upwind. Greenwich Warrior's Rick Nankin added that conditions were unusual and unexpected. The American maxi Sagamore (Jim Dolan) decided to head west and made the quickest progress as a result. She became the new leader yesterday after covering 256 nautical miles since her last position report. Zephyrus IV (Robert McNeill) is sailing on 33.42 South, a little north of Sagamore (on 32.14 S). Greenwich Warrior (31.45 S), Maxtec Wizard (30.37 S) and BP Umoya Omusha (30.54 S), are all moving closer to the traditional route of moving further north. -- http://www.capetorio.com/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. |
