|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1309 - April 16, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. AN OPEN LETTER TO OLYMPIC CLASSES - Paul Henderson (Although ISAF President Henderson did not send a copy of this letter directly to the curmudgeon, it's now 'making the rounds' via e-mail.) If you read Scuttlebutt you will find that some of the USA Star Class leaders are continuing their negative assault on Cadiz and ISAF. Their latest concept is that the World Championships of Olympic Classes which are Olympic Qualifiers should allow only 2 entries maximum for all nations. In fact the FD WC used to only allow 1 per nation. Is that what you all want for your World Championships? Should ISAF put that into the new Olympic Classes contract which impacts all your 2007 and 2008 World Championships and 2006 if the wealthy nations get their way? Remember as far as ISAF is concerned the OQ's only qualify nations not sailors. ISAF only qualifies the top countries by nation so the 20th country could be the 50th sailor in the regatta as it is only the top sailor from each country that matters. The number of entries per country does not impact at all the ability of the country to qualify by ISAF standards. MNA's use the Worlds to get their NOC's to send sailors but that is up to each MNA how they select their sailors. Most NOC's are only interested in how you rank by country or once ISAF Qualified have their own trials as does the UK and USSA. How the country selects their sailors is no concern of ISAF. My word from everyone else but these Star Sailors is that Melbourne was great and they can all hardly wait for the interaction of sailors from other classes in Cadiz. Finn and Laser sailors look forward to when they are old enough to sail a Star and Europe and 470 sailors when age dictates graduate to the Yngling. In fact all classes want as many entries as they can get at Cadiz. The success of the multi-class regatta circuit in Europe is the reason, in my opinion, why Europe has become the centre of sailing and North America has deteriorated. The sailors love the interaction especially the Men with the Women. The media is focusing on this ISAF World Cup and Spain is doing a great job. Finally maybe Olympic Sailing will get some publicity as it will be on Eurosport for 1/2 and hr. every night during the regatta with a free feed to all countries. Hopefully it will put a sailing media focus on Sailing like only the America's Cup achieves. I fully understand the inability of those who believe in the supremacy of their beloved Class and have lived by a successful structure to accept the now responsibility of their Olympic Obligations. This means that the MNA's are now partners as decreed by the IOC regulations. They must accept that ISAF is not autonomous and must live with the IOC Regulations which puts the technical aspects plus the integrity of sailing into the hands of ISAF and the athletes in the hands of the NOC and their agents the MNA's who are also ISAF members. Olympic Classes and those who defend class autonomy must face the reality that Olympic Obligations brings with it partners. The alternative is to ask to be removed for consideration as an Olympic Class. That is the choice of the members of the class as ISAF forces no class to apply to be Olympic. - Paul Henderson, ISAF President CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * May 23: Spinnaker Cup, San Francisco and Monterey Peninsula YCs. 90 mile offshore race from San Francisco to Monterey. www.sfyc.org / www.mpyc.org * June 7: Women's Sailing Conference, Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. A series of workshops and on-the-water coaching. Dawn Riley will be featured speaker. www.womensailing.org/ FROM KENNY TO THE KIDS…IT'S KAENON POLARIZED Over the last few days in Long Beach, Kenny Read and Terry Hutchinson won the Congressional Cup wearing the Kore from Kaenon Polarized. Concurrently, the best American youth sailors were tutored and tested in the same waters at the CISA Advanced Racing Clinic. Congratulations Zach Brown, Melanie Roberts, Martin Sterling, Brooks Reed, Parker Mitchell, Kaitlin Hall, Lauren Bernsen, Cameron Biehl, Ryan Lorence, Emery Wagner, Matthew Pies…you're the next generation! Kaenon Polarized is proud to support CISA and serious sailing. Available at TeamOne Newport, Boat Locker, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Sailing Supply San Diego, and West Marine. http://www.kaenon.com OLYMPIC TRIALS The Olympic Sailing Committee of US Sailing has announced the dates of the Olympic Team Trials - Sailing in the nine Olympic classes (eleven divisions) which have been selected for the 2004 Olympic Regatta. The winner of each will be named to the USA's 2004 Olympic Sailing Team. Those athletes, upon approval from the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) will compete in the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad scheduled for August 13-29, 2004, in Athens, Greece. The U.S. Olympic Sailing Trials, open only to athletes eligible to represent the USA at the 2004 Olympic Games, will be held: November 6-16, 2003: Mistrals - US Sailing Center, Stuart, FL November 6-16, 2003: 470 and Lasers - Houston YC February 12-22, 2004: Europe and Finns -Lauderdale YC February 12-22, 2004: Yngling and 49ers - at Key Biscayne YC February 12-22, 2004: Tornados - Miami YC March 18-28, 2004: Stars - US Sailing Center and Coral Reef YC (Miami, Fla.) For the Laser class only, a qualification system will be employed to determine the 32 sailors who will compete in the Laser Trials. Qualified to date are the top-eight sailors from the 2003 US Sailing Team rankings. Also receiving an entry to the Trials will be: the winner of the 2003 U.S. Men's Singlehanded Championship for the O'Day Trophy (scheduled for August 6-10 at the Oklahoma City Boat Club, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma); the top-five finishers, not previously qualified, at the Laser Gulf Coast Championships (June 13-15 at Texas Corinthian Yacht Club in Kemah, Texas); and the top 10 finishers, not previously qualified, from the Laser North Americans (June 27-July 1 at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club in Corpus Christi, Texas). The Last Chance Regatta, scheduled for October 23-26 at Rush Creek Yacht Club in Heath, Texas, will qualify eight finishers, not previously qualified, plus any Laser Trials entry that had previously qualified and was then declined. An athlete who qualifies for the Trials from the Last Chance Regatta will have 24 hours from the end of Protest Time to decide if he will attend the Laser Olympic Team Trials. Any slot declined within that 24-hour period will be offered to the next finisher in line from the Last Chance Regatta during the subsequent 24 hours. The responsibility for remaining in contact with the OSC Representative during that 48-hour period by those athletes next in line at the Last Chance Regatta rests with those same athletes. Any Trials entry that is unclaimed within 48 hours after the Last Chance Regatta will remain unfilled. - Jan Harley Additional information: www.ussailing.org/olympics/ SURVEY SAYS While it might be a little early in the sailing season to think about seasickness, it is always nice to know what others use to ward off this demon. The Scuttlebutt survey last week posted various remedies that were contributed by our readers. For those that battle Mal de Mer, we have both good news and bad news. The bad news is that 45% of our respondents say they have never been seasick. However, the good news is that there are a few remedies that the 'buttheads have used with success. The most popular was Transderm Scop, with Bonine not far behind. Next was Stugeron, which may be the best of the bunch but is unavailable to purchase in the U.S. (but seemingly available everywhere else). Regardless of what you use, administering the medicine early is clearly better than once you begin feeling ill. AROUND ALONE The temperatures are rising on the racecourse as the Around Alone fleet skirt the coastline past Recife with a light easterly breeze and at 7 degrees south are nearing the brutal heat of the Equator. The Class 1 boats averaging 10 knots boatspeed and yet again the leaderboard has been shaken up. At dawn, Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali held the lead as the boat furthest inshore. Thierry Dubois on Solidaires has opted to stay further offshore and so has dropped back in the latest positions. With these two boats on either side, current leg leader Bernard Stamm seems to be displaying his usual tactic of 'if you push, I push harder', as Bobst Group - Armor Lux yo-yo's back up to first place. Alan Paris as his Open 40 BTC Velocity collided with two whales as 7.5 knots boatspeed: "The boat came to an abrupt stop, I got up from the Nav station and again the boat was shaken by the whale moving away, I fell against the nav station on my ribs, but am OK. There was much blood in the water and I clearly saw two whales on the port side. One then followed me as BTC Velocity started moving again, but luckily did not attack the boat." Thankfully, no visible damage has occurred, although Alan will check this thoroughly. Derek Hatfield on Spirit of Canada has just cleared the top tip of the Falkland Islands and Salvador, Brazil is just under 2500 miles away. - Mary Ambler STANDINGS: 2200 UTC April 15 CLASS 1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux, Bernard Stamm, 3498 miles from finish; 2. Tiscali, Simone Bianchetti, 23 miles from leader; 3. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 42 mfl. 4. Solidaires, Thierry Dubois, 59 mfl; 5. Pindar, Emma Richards, 67 mfl; CLASS 2: 1. Tommy Hilfiger, Brad Van Liew, 3558 miles from finish; 2. Everest Horizontal, Tim Kent, 49 mfl; 32. Spirit of yukoh, Kojiro Shiraishi, 118 mfl; 4. BTC Velocity, Alan Paris, 136 mfl; 5. Spirit of Canada, Derek Hatfield, still sailing leg 4. - www.aroundalone.com HONK YOUR HORN "Our team is red hot, your team ain't diddly squat." Any team pride out there, or how about regional pride? Simple question: What part of the world has the most Scuttlebutt readers? Right now are you sailing or shoveling snow? This week's survey is dedicated to our readers, and where they call home. Take a moment to let us know where you are from, and we will honor the area(s) with the most 'buttheads with a little extra love in the newsletter. Vote now at http://sailingscuttlebutt.com NEED CREW? Do you or anyone you know ever need crew to help deliver a boat back from a race such as the Bermuda Race or the Trans-Pac? Offshore Passage Opportunities can help find qualified crew. There is no cost to you. That's right, free crew! In fact OPO can help provide crew for any offshore passage or delivery, often on short notice when the unexpected happens. To learn more please call 1-800-4-PASSAGE (1-800-472-7724) or check out OPO's cool web site that has been up and running since January 1997: http://www.sailopo.com TYPHOON WARNINGS Typhoon Kujira, currently located South of Guam and moving at 280 degrees and 15 knots. has impacted the cruising division boats in the Melbourne to Osaka race. George Shore and Robyn Brooks on Boots and Colin Smith and Adam Manders on Louise anchored near Ulul Atoll to avoid crossing the path of the developing system. Two days ago Tropical storm Kujira (the Japanese word for whale) was generating winds of 30-40 knots, today as it continues westwards at 15 knots now upgraded to a Typhoon it is generating sustained surface winds estimated at 125 knots to 150 knots. Sheltering at Ulul, its just south of typhoon alley, has not always been a good option. In 1971 it was hit by Typhoon Truk and Typhoon Amy only a few weeks apart. It received another heavy blast only a few years ago. - Rob Kothe, Sail-World website, full story: www.sail-world.com/osaka/ NEWS BRIEFS * Devoti Sailing, the new official European Builder for the Melges 24 will unveil the first of its Poland-built Melges 24s at the SNIM Regatta in Marseille over the Easter Weekend (18-21 April). Devoti Sailing expects to build up to two Melges 24s per month, with deliveries to customers starting within a few weeks. - Fiona Brown * The Transpac 52 Class is currently planning its own Hawaiian Island Series after the conclusion of the Pacific Cup in Oahu, Hawaii. It's possible there could be Eight Transpac 52s on the starting line for the 2004 Pacific Cup followed up by an exciting Race Week in Tropical Paradise. It seems mainlanders miss the excitement of racing in the strong trade winds of Hawaii. * Lovers of the traditional who are in the Cape Cod area on 26-27 April may wish to drop by the Woods Hole Model Boat Show, which benefits the Woods Hole Small Boat Museum. The focus this year is on sailing yachts built to the Universal Rule, which includes R, S, M, and of course the incomparable J Class. Seven-foot radio control models of J boats will be on display and will sail on Eel Pond both days, weather permitting. http://www.swcp.com/usvmyg * A Trans Tasman Properties associate has applied to build a vast $30 million office block in Auckland's Viaduct Basin and spread the commercial zone across to an area near the harbour bridge. With the America's Cup gone, developers are focusing on new uses for the land between the Viaduct Basin and the harbour bridge and Trans Tasman's proposal is the first of many expected this year. - Anne Gibson, NZ Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3401257&thesection=business&thesubsection=commproperty&thesecondsubsection=office * Increasing concern about SARS has forced the eleventh hour cancellation of the San Fernando Race from Hong Kong to the Philippines. At the same time permission has withdrawn for any boat from Hong Kong to land at San Fernando. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is in the process of finalizing a replacement race of around 200nm to start at Junk bay on 17-April, but the race will not finish in the sun, sand and palm trees of the Philippines. - www.rhkyc.org.hk / http://asianyachting.com/news/SanFern.htm STAR WARS SHOOT OUT! Held annually on the Chesapeake Bay, the previous year's high point fleet champions compete head to head for top sailing honors. This year's event was held in J/105s; of the nine J/105s selected, only two carried full inventories of Ullman Sails and a third boat had a partial inventory. However, Ullman Sails finished 1st, 2nd and 4th. Of the nine teams competing, all helmsmen were new to J/105s. Are you looking for proven performance? The "Fastest Sails on the Planet" are only a phone call away. Give your local Ullman Sails loft a call or visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL After waiting on the water nearly five hours on Monday, the Princess Sofia Trophy RC abandoned racing. So how did the Yngling team of Betsy Alison, Lee Icyda and Suzy Leech use the remainder of the day? They went to the gym for a workout, took care of some mundane tasks like going to the grocery store, and worked on logistics for transporting the Yngling to France for the next event. This is one of the major issues of the week as the shipping of their Ford Explorer to Europe prior to our departure was fraught with problems and delays. The vehicle is expected in Genoa, Italy around April 25 in the middle of Race Week in Hyeres, but means that they have to find a car to tow the boat from Spain to France on Easter weekend. For all the latest information on Team Challenge US [Alison, Icyda and Leech]: www.challengeUS.org Curmudgeon's Comment: The Yngling racing started Tuesday and Team Challenge US recorded 3-13-4 finishes and is in fifth place in a strong 27-boat fleet: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/ PARTY TIME Those attending the Pacific Sail Expo on Thursday April 24 will be among the first to learn about the new boats to be used for the Musto Scuttlebutt Sailing Club Championship Regatta this coming November. The announcement will be made at the Dry Creek Vineyard Pro Am Regatta party at the Bitter End Yacht Club's booth (#208). Enjoy the show, but join the curmudgeon at the BEYC's booth around 5:00 PM for some complimentary Dry Creek wine. There will also be an opportunity to win a four day/ three night vacation for two at the Bitter End that can be used during the event. - www.beyc.com/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Thomas Newcomb: Thank you Scuttlebutt and Mitch Brindley of the ICSA for stepping up and providing the collegiate side of the Rule 42 issue. Rather than putting collegiate sailing on the defensive, the sailing community should be concentrating on doing a better job of marketing the "rest of the sport" to these great sailors. Prior to being embedded for 4+ years in college programs, these sailors likely enjoyed the luxury of junior yacht club programs. Once they graduate from college, many are boat-less for the first time in their lives. Rather than beat them up for their collegiate style of racing, we need to focus more on encouraging them to continue in the sport. * From T.L.Lewis: The interview with Gavin Brady was heart wrenching. "It just felt like work, every day was such a grind and everything was so difficult." That situation seems all too familiar to me. Mate, you're pulling down what I'm sure was a pretty decent pay packet to go sailing, while the rest of us have to actually go to a job to make money to spend on going sailing. Spend a couple of years in the real world and see if those years with Prada don't look pretty good in retrospect. I hate to quote a bumper sticker, but I know it says "A bad day of sailing is better than a good day of work" * From Alan Montrose: From Gavin Brady's comments on much he enjoyed sailing with his mates at the Congressional Cup and how much he didn't enjoy sailing with his Italian Prada teammates in previous Swedish Match events, perhaps it is a good thing he has decided for now to forgo the European events on the this year's tour. Hark, is that a bridge burning in the background? THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM If a person who plays the piano called a pianist, what do you call a race car driver? |
