|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2281 – February 14, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE, AND IT’S WONDERFUL! The Curmudgeon is a lucky guy. During the past 60 years I’ve had a chance to race in major events on both coasts of the United States; in the North and in the South, on the Great Lakes and even on a number of the inland lakes. I ’ve also raced in some huge regattas in the Mediterranean, on the Solent and the Hauraki Gulf. And after 60 years, I’ve formed some pretty solid opinions about the ingredients that are necessary for a great event, and I suspect that my list is not much different from the preferences of Scuttlebutt readers. Many sailors list parties first, and while I agree that it’s nice to have great regatta parties, it helps if the event provides something special for everyone to celebrate…something like good winds in addition to warm water and temperatures. With apologies to my friend Keith Musto, and to my sailing buddies in San Francisco, racing is just more fun without foul weather gear. But it takes more than that. An event also needs a solid infrastructure before it can be properly categorized as ‘special.’ I’m talking about stuff like an experienced, energetic, and friendly race organizer with appropriate equipment and support boats to insure that the veteran race committee never runs out of options. And yes, there also must be an appropriate place to throw fun parties, plus have an abundance of nearby housing, restaurants, bars and liquor stores for ‘life’s little necessities.’ Well, I’ve just returned from a regatta that had all of the above and so much more. Let me tell you about it: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0213/ GILMOUR TALKS ABOUT 2007 AND BEYOND (Diane Swintal posted an interview with Peter Gilmour on the Sail World website, where we have provided the following excerpt below.) Match Racing champion Peter Gilmour minces no words. He is a veteran of five America's Cup campaigns. His prolific use of the protest flag while at the helm of Kookaburra, the 1987 America's Cup defender, prompted the writing of a separate set of Match Racing Rules. Alinghi have appointed the 2006 World Match Racing Champion Gilmour as coach to bring a new perspective to the team just four months ahead of their defence in Valencia. Just before his Alinghi appointment he showed he had some definite ideas of who's got it right and who might have it wrong as the 32nd America's Cup approaches. As sailing director and skipper for OneWorld in 2000, Gilmour came to the decision he feels many teams have to make - does one man run the entire show, or does he split duties so he can focus his entire concentration in one area, be it the sailing team or team management? Gilmour stepped away from the wheel of OneWorld just days ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup, making Australian phenomenon James Spithill the team's helmsman, and he believes that is the best plan of action. “I believe it is extremely difficult for somebody to be in a position of running a campaign, making the design decisions and trying to skipper the boat,” says Gilmour. “Yes, the Cup has been built on a foundation of charismatic leaders, but it's become so similar to something like Formula One racing, where it is too great a responsibility to put onto one person. That became obvious to me during the OneWorld campaign, when I put James Spithill in charge to run the sailing for me. When you examine the psychology of the teams, it seems to me that probably Alinghi is doing the best job at the moment of insulating the skippers away from that role of management,” hypothesizes Gilmour. “The other campaign I look at is Oracle, where Chris Dickson is doing it all from what I can see. Knowing what you go through and knowing what you experience, it's going to be very difficult if he can’t pull himself out of that role somehow or hand over the responsibilities.” -- Complete interview: http://www.sail-world.com/index_n.cfm?nid=31152 BEST COLLEGE SAILING TEAM This week, the Scuttlebutt Forum asked the question, “Who were the best College teams of your day.” Reading the posts are like turning back the clock to a time when work and responsibilities meant little more than staying in school long enough to use up your sailing eligibility. If you haven’t done so already, join Dennis Bartley, Andrew Campbell, Brad Dellenbaugh, Kelson Elam, KC Fullmer, Terry Hutchinson, Tom Keogh, Ken Legler, Pete Levesque, and Hannah Swett and post your opinion here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/07/bestever CHESAPEAKE RACER PROFILE (The following excerpt is from an article that appears in the February issue of SpinSheet Magazine, and is part of a monthly series where they profile noteworthy Chesapeake Bay sailors.) Joe Morris is a 17 year old junior at the Severn School in Severna Park, MD. He had been a top junior sailor for several years before signing on with Ted Hale and Evan Aras in a campaign that ultimately brought the Sears Cup, U.S. Sailing’s prestigious three person junior championship - to the Annapolis YC in 2005. Since then, Morris has continued to thrive at the top levels of the sport. In late October, he won the Cressy Trophy, the High School Sailing national championship for singlehanded sailors. The Cressy win came at the Indian Harbor YC in Greenwich, CT against more than 30 top sailors from around the nation. Morris grew up in Sherwood Forest, just up the Severn River from Annapolis where he comes from a large and active family full of doctors, medical professionals, and lacrosse players. He says, “I started sailing with one of my good friends when I was about 7. He comes from a sailing family, and I come from a lacrosse family. Ironically, he ended up becoming an awesome lacrosse player, and I stuck with sailing.” -- Read on for the full interview: http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d273000/e272355.asp SAIL FASTER AND SMARTER If you want to improve your results on the race course, you should read Speed & Smarts. This bi-monthly newsletter, written by winning America's Cup tactician Dave Dellenbaugh, has been praised by racing sailors worldwide for more than 12 years. Each colorful issue has 16 pages full of race-winning tips on boatspeed, tactics, strategy, rules and more! Whether you are a skipper or crew, on a one-design or big boat, Speed & Smarts will improve your performance. To see a sample issue or sign up for a subscription, visit our website at http://www.SpeedandSmarts.com LESS WIND – LESS RAIN The winds that blow near the surface of the Earth have two beneficial effects: They provide a renewable source of clean energy and they evaporate water, helping rain clouds to build up. But aerosolized particles created from vehicle exhaust and other contaminants can accumulate in the atmosphere and reduce the speed of winds closer to the Earth's surface, which results in less wind power available for wind-turbine electricity and also in reduced precipitation, according to a study by Stanford and NASA researchers. "These aerosol particles are having an effect worldwide on the wind speeds over land; there's a slowing down of the wind, feeding back to the rainfall too," says civil and environmental engineering Associate Professor Mark Z. Jacobson, co-author of the study with the late Yoram J. Kaufman from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who died in May 2006. "We're finding a reduction of rain, and that can lead to droughts and reduction of water supply." Jacobson and Kaufman's study, based on NASA satellite data of aerosol accumulation, measurements of wind speeds over the South Coast Basin in California and in China, and computer model simulations over California as a whole and the South Coast Basin, was published online Dec. 27 in Geophysical Research Letters. The researchers used both the model and data to study the effects of aerosol particles on wind speed and rainfall. -- Stanford University, full report: http://tinyurl.com/2h68at SCUTTLEBUTT POLL: SPORTSMANSHIP When it comes to hitting marks, we've now got it easy. One 360 turn and we keep on racing. But it wasn't that long ago when hitting a mark meant you had to drop out of the race. This was the case at the 1964 Olympics, when American Peter Barrett, who was heavily favored to win in the Finn class, hit a mark. No one saw him hit the mark, and if Barrett dropped out of the race, he would surely lose his chance to win the Gold medal. What did he do? He dropped out of the race. Put yourself in Barrett's place, and honestly answer the question: Would you have dropped out of the race, if it meant losing out on your dream of Olympic Gold, or would you have continued, knowing that your misstep did not provide you an advantage, and did not hinder a competitor? Mark your reply here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/07/0212 SAILING SHORTS * A tribute celebrating the life of Mitchell C. Gibbons-Neff, who passed away on February 4, 2007, is being held at the New York Yacht Club on Friday, February 23 at 1600 in the Model Room. The sailing community is encouraged to participate in the celebration, and to share stories about Mitch. Event organizers are asking those with any photos of Mitch, or great Mitch quotes, to email them to mailto:info@sparkmanstephens.com * The International Lightning Class Association has announced a new boat-grant program that will award two young teams with a competitive boat, substantial regatta subsidies for a season of racing, as well as mentoring and coaching. "The Lightning has everything to offer young sailors: great competition, a three-person crew, and an easy-to-transport performance boat," according to class president Steve Davis. "The only drawback is that it can be a challenge to campaign a competitive boat when you're just starting a job out of college. That's where this program comes in, helping bridge that gap." -- Program details: http://www.lightningclass.org/Boat_Grant/GrantProgramIndex.htm * Focus Home Interactive announces a licensing partnership with the organisers of the 32nd America's Cup and Alcatel-Lucent, Official New Media Provider to the 32nd America's Cup, for the rights to create a new Virtual Skipper title featuring all the best facets of America's Cup racing. The next Virtual Skipper, in development by Nadeo studio, which will be released on PC in April will be known as 32nd America's Cup – The Game and is the first time a computer game has been dedicated to the most prestigious sailing competition in the world. -- Complete report: http://home.nestor.minsk.by/game/news/2007/02/1313.html * It was reported last October in Scuttlebutt that the International Laser Class Association-North America (ILCA-NA) had their website domain name (laser.org) hijacked by someone outside of the continent. The class is now pleased to report that the ILCA-NA has gained back access of their URL. While they plan to maintain the temporary address they attained during this retrieval process (nalaser.org), their primary website address will again be listed as http://www.laser.org * Augie Diaz teamed up with Federico Englehardt to beat out 39 teams this past weekend to win the 2007 Zag Star Masters Regatta, hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, FL. This event has a long tradition of the current class stalwarts coming to support long-time class members, with guys like Olympic gold medalist Mark Reynolds and Bacardi Cup champion Peter Bromby donning droop suits and harnesses for the event. Winning the Grand Master division was Bill Mauk and Brad Nichol, with Reynolds helping Harry Walker win the Exalted Grand Master division. -- Complete results: http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=1125 * NZL84 sailed into the Waitemata Harbour under spinnaker Tuesday to mark Team New Zealand's final day of sailing in Auckland before the America's Cup in Spain. NZL84 will be loaded into a giant Russian Antonov early next week with its sister yacht NZL92. The team will resume training in Valencia on March 5, ahead of the start of the challenger series on April 16. -- http://tinyurl.com/27f9lz * Weymouth and Portland, the venue for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, are making waves to become one of the first venues ready for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The latest plans to regenerate Osprey Quay and the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), which will host the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events during the Games, were unveiled last week. The plans include a new permanent slipway, more race-boat parking, and lifting and mooring facilities, all of which will deliver new and improved sailing facilities for use during the Games and in legacy. -- ISAF website, full report: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1vFnAp1~&format=popup * Additional information about the Shredda Advanced Steering System that was mentioned in Issue 2280 (story titled ‘Surfboard Revolution’) can be found at http://www.shredda.com/about_us.htm COLOR IT RED Earn your summer sailing points today. Do something special for someone you love. Check out Doyle Sailmakers' Valentine's Day special offer at their website. And remember, everything goes with red! -- http://www.doylesails.com EIGHT BELLS Leo Robbins, a pioneer youth sailing instructor and founder and namesake of the city of Ventura's award-winning sailing program, has died in San Jose at the age of 90. Robbins started Ventura's sailing program in 1972 with five little boats and six students, said Judy Devine, the city's recreation manager. The city had no program, and Robbins asked for the job. Twenty-five years later, he retired as sailing director at the age of 80, and the city rewarded his years of service by naming the program after him. Last month, the United States Sailing Association awarded the Leo Robbins Sailing Center with its Outstanding Year-round Program Award for 2006, said Dave Lumian, chairman of the association's Community Sailing Council. "It's considered a pioneer program," he said. "Leo started the center when few cities offered sailing classes." Former students include Olympian sailor Kevin Hall, who was 5 when Hall's mother brought him to Robbins for lessons, and is currently part of the Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup team. -- Ventura County Star, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ywv95q LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From the Forum: (regarding the US only being able to field on Yngling Olympic team) There sure seems something is broken in our Olympic sailing program if we only have one team that can even make it to the starting line! -- Complete thread: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4309#4309 * From Donal McClement, Crosshaven Boatyard, Cork, Ireland: Further to your piece about the Rolex Commodores Cup at Cowes (in Issue 2280), I can assure all US Sailors that it is an event well worth considering for the 2008 season. Furthermore, Cork Week (12th to 18th July 2008) will offer some of the most competitive and exciting IRC racing to be had anywhere in the world. With very tight Class Bands, upwards of 300 boats of all types, racing under the well proven IRC System and Classes of between 30 & 40 competitors, there is no Event on this planet to rival it. Add to the outstanding racing the legendary Irish hospitality, and boy do you have a ball. * From Ralph Kelley: (reply to Peter Barrett story in Issue 2280) For a while he was sailing Thistles and I can say, from personal experience, that Peter would drop out of any race if he had violated a rule. I know -- he was in contention for 1st place, fouled me, and dropped out. He was a first rate person. * From George Bailey: (reply to ‘Magic Box’ thread that started in Issue 2271)“ But, you have got to meet the future!" Not a problem. Get two 400 HP turbo-charged gas engines. Then you will at least be in the present. You cannot tell exactly where red turns to blue on a color wheel. This does not mean you cannot tell red from blue. It is not all that hard to decide where to draw the line between no aids at all and merely being an appendage to a computer that makes all the decisions for you. We can have it any way we want. Some people still race Beetle Cats, you know. And what fun to beat a boat enslaved to electronics with nothing more than a compass and a wind indicator on the top of the mast. * From Jim Welch: I agree with Steve Morrell, Editor, Southwinds Magazine on the notion of "Let's not give law enforcement another excuse to stop you" (from Issue 2279). On the Great Lakes, it seems a practice where officials under the guise of being friendly attempt to engage a skipper in a floating conversation. Then turning to the dark side of let's find something wrong. However, Steve's use of Boot Key Harbor fits his definition of "poor behavior on the water." That place is approaching the scrap yards of Bangladesh for life styles of down and out. I could see inspections of what really floats and what is abandoned. * From Rick Kirby: Valentine’s Day is a chance to celebrate the loving relationship with your mate. However, the day is not always well-timed for some, and if this year’s holiday finds you without a special someone, these poems might be for you: The Gal’s Valentine’s Day Poem: Love may be beautiful, love may be bliss But I only slept with you because I was pissed. I thought that I could love no other Until, that is, I met your brother Kind, intelligent, loving, and hot This describes everything you are not I see your face when I am dreaming That's why I always wake up screaming My feelings for you no words can tell Except for maybe "go to hell" … And now for the Guy’s Valentine’s Day Poem: I love your smile, your face, and your eyes- Damn, I'm good at telling lies! Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. But the roses are wilting, and the violets are dead. The sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. I want to feel your sweet embrace But don't take that paper bag off of your face My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife: Marrying you has screwed up my life. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all (Happy Valentines Day!). Special thanks to Speed & Smarts and Doyle Sailmakers. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
