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SCUTTLEBUTT 2195 - October 5, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with America's Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt brought to you by UBS (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). THE RANKINGS After an outstanding display at the Olympic Test Event in Qingdao, Great Britain confirm their current status as top nation in the Olympic Classes with an equally emphatic performance in the latest release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings. After finishing the last two Olympic Sailing Competitions top of the medal table, Great Britain spelled out their intentions for 2008 at the recent Olympic Test Event in Qingdao. The Brits left China with eight medals, including four gold, and the latest Ranking release that this was not a one off performance. Three other second places and a third give the Brits seven top three positions across the eleven Olympic events, over twice as many as the next best nations France and the USA. After over a year at the top of the Laser Radial Rankings, Paige Railey (USA) loses the number one spot in the rankings to Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) - dropping all the way to third place even though Railey won the Qingdao event with a day to spare. Canada's Lisa Ross is ranked eighth and Mexic's Tania Elias-Calles is ninth. George Szabo and Eric Monroe (USA) took the Bronze Medal in Qingdao but still fell off the top of the Star class list, behind Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada - who did not compete in the Qingdao event Other North Americans in the top 10 of the Star rankings include: 5. Mark Mendelblatt/ Mark Strube (USA) and 9. Mark Reynolds/ Hal Haenel (USA). Other North Americans in the top ten include: 2. Finn, Chris Cook (CAN) 2. Laser, Michael Leigh (CAN); 7. Finn, Bernard Luttmer (CAN); 10. 470 Men, Michael Anderson Mitterling/ David Hughes (USA); 8 470 Women, Amanda Clark/ Sara Mergenthaler (USA) 9. 470 Women. Jennifer Provan/ Carol Luttmer (CAN); 6. Tornado, Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (USA); 6. Yngling, Sally Barkow/ Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi (USA). -- http://www.sailing.org/rankings/ BEST SHOT AT WINNING New boats NZL84 and NZL92 are Team New Zealand's best shot at winning back the America's Cup, managing director Grant Dalton says. And he doesn't foresee any big changes to them between now and next year's event. Emirates Team NZ's second and final boat, NZL92, was delivered to the team's base in the Viaduct early yesterday. The appendages, hydraulic and electronic systems and deck hardware will be fitted over the next couple of weeks and the boat will be launched this month. It will be shipped to Valencia just before Christmas. "It is an important milestone for us because it is the beginning of the end of the story," Dalton said. You are starting to lay your cards on the table now. If you are wrong by much, you are pretty much stuffed. NZL84 and NZL92 are our best shot. I don't see any big changes to them between now and the cup." Team NZ's first boat, NZL84, was launched last December. A narrow yacht with a full bow and slab sides, NZL84 is different from its rivals. However, it has plenty of pace as shown in the team's victory in the final match-racing pre-regatta in July which clinched the 2006 season championship for the team. "You wouldn't want to suddenly think you had a rocket ship on your hands - we haven't," Dalton said. "We have got a competitive boat, that is sweet and doesn't seem to have any bad vices. NZL92 is no more than proof that we are happy with NZL84 and we believe a development of NZL84. We think we have improved things that we thought needed improving." NZL84 would now be brought into alignment with NZL92 to ensure the boats kept leap-frogging each other in terms of speed gains. "That will allow us to sail either boat in the competition, then we just have to decide which one we want." -- Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/olnyq TUNING FOR NEED 2005 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Nick Scandone is now in Newport, RI, where he is preparing for the 2008 Paralympic Games Pre-Trials in the 2.4mR class. With Nick's disability being ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), his condition continues to evolve, which has slowly affected his ability to handle the sail controls. This past summer he found the need to switch to a jib boom system, as launching the whisker pole for downwind work had become too challenging. However, the jib boom system has its pitfalls, and Nick has arrived early in Newport, RI in hopes of working out the bugs before the racing begins later next week. Nick is a good friend of Scuttlebutt, and we have learned that his team is in need of some immediate help, as they are seeking a small RIB or similar boat to help with their training before the Pre-Trials. If you can assist them, please contact Clarence Yoshikane at 949-302-0292. ULLMAN SAILS CUSTOMERS FEAST AT J/FEST!!! Congratulations to our Ullman Sails customers at the SoCal J/Fest Regatta hosted by Long Beach YC. J/Boats with full Ullman Sails inventories won 5 of the 7 classes: J/120- John Laun "Caper"; J/109- Tony Wetherbee "Commotion"; J/105- Gary Mozer "Current Obsession"; J/29- David Randle "Coyote"; and J/24- Susan Taylor/Warner Horn "Take Five". Ullman Sails swept the top 3 places in 4 of the classes (9 boats had full Ullman inventories). Major event winners choose Ullman Sails! If you and your crew are ready for the "Fastest Sails on the Planet," contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com CORRECTING THE RECORD- Larry Leonard A recent press release distributed by Quantum Sail Design Group painted an inaccurate picture of the events surrounding my separation from the company. It said that "Larry Leonard is stepping down and relinquishing his role in the day to day operations of the company." This is simply untrue. I received the surprise news of my termination via letter without warning, and would never have dreamed of stepping down from the company I founded 10 years ago. The press release featured another confusing statement that I will "continue to be a minority shareholder" in the company. To set the record straight, I am the largest shareholder of Class A stock in Quantum. Doug DeVos, as the company's largest investor, is the sole shareholder of Class B stock and owns a controlling interest in the company. As of today, I have yet to receive a plausible explanation for being fired, and my requests to meet with Quantum's remaining three partners have been rejected. In addition, my many friends and associates in the sailing community have received vague answers and negative innuendo from company representatives about my departure. While it's no fun defending my reputation, these inaccuracies by the company must be refuted. My heartfelt appreciation goes out to the hundreds of people from around the world who have called and written with their support. It's been a great source of comfort for me and my family in these difficult times. I look forward to seeing my many friends at this week's U.S. Sailboat Show in my hometown of Annapolis. RAIN, COLD AND LIGHT AIR San Francisco, California - Hamish Pepper and crew Carl Williams (NZ) stole racing today, leading the rock star fleet around each mark to finish in first place overall in Day 4 of the Wells Fargo Private Bank Star World Championships. Fellow New Zealanders Rohan Lord and Miles Addy, while taking 11th today, move up the ladder to 2nd place overall. Sailors were presented with the most challenging day thus far in the competition with gray skies, flat water, occasional rain and the lightest of air. The start was delayed while the St Francis Yacht Club race committee was forced to move marks to adjust for some significant shifts. The breeze never realized more than 8 knots from the west with lows of 3-5 knots during racing - tricky sailing even for the local guys. With much at stake in this competition, there have been some serious disappointments during the starting sequence. Today saw a general recall at the first start and the second a Z-flag start. A number of teams were over early and penalized, subsequently knocking back some of top guys. Notably, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR) whose request for redress related to an over early on Day 3 was denied; today they received a Z-flag penalty, dropping them to 31st overall. Andy Horton and Brad Nichol (USA) also received a Z-flag penalty and sending them from first to 6th overall. Veteran Star sailor John Kostecki, in a coaching role this regatta was on the docks at the St Francis Yacht Club at day's end. "It's been unusual this week with the weather. It's not typical for San Francisco so there's been no real local advantage unfortunately," he laughed. "But you're still seeing all the good guys at the top." Head of International Jury, Ralph Roberts, commented, "The biggest thing is that San Francisco is losing its image as a heavy weather venue. Everyone measured in their heavy weather sails because it purportedly never blows under 20 knots here. It's just been challenging for everyone however this is the best fleet I've ever seen. While it's been difficult, at the same time this contest is made for those who are training for Beijing." - Michelle Slade Standings after four races (no discard) -- 66 boats 1. Hamish Pepper/ Carl Williams (NZL) 26 pts 2. Rohan Lord/ Miles Addy (NZL) 26 pts 3. Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 26 pts 4. Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada (BRA) 28 pts 5. Flavio Marazzi/ Martin Kozaczek (SUI) 34 pts 6. Andy Horton/ Brad Nichol (USA) 44 pts 7. Jim Buckingham/ Mike Dorgan (USA) 59 pts 8. Daniel Stegmeier/ Beat Stegmeier (SUI) 69 pts 9. Afonso Domingo/ Bernardo Santo (SUI) 71 pts 10. Fredrik Loof/ Anders Ekstrom (SWE) 71 pts Event website: http://www.stfyc.org LIGHT AIR & FIERCE CURRENT CHARLESTON, South Carolina-The Charleston wind gods nearly took a powder today as 96 Sunfish World Championship sailors waited out on the harbor for two and a half hours before a light southeasterly breeze finally filled in and the competition ensued. The race committee staged two five-leg, windward-leeward contests today, the first with a fierce two-knot ebb moving across the course, and the next one with a burgeoning flood tide that caused the fleet to get unusually spread out, with many sailors finding it difficult to lay the weather mark. With the breeze ranging between 6 and 10 knots all day, and relatively flat water for most of the afternoon, the conditions on the racecourse were none-the-less demanding. Not too surprisingly, it turned out to be a very good day for regatta leader David Loring, who consolidated his spot at the top of the leaderboard by posting two top-three finishes (2nd and 3rd). Back on shore after the races, he looked spent but elated. - Dan Dickison, complete standings: http://www.sunfishworlds-2006.com/SCORES.htm SAILING SHORTS * Two days of heavy winds have beached the fleet of 36 boats from 10 countries at the Snipe World Masters in Nassau, Bahamas. But that hasn't stopped the infamous Nassau parties and hospitality complete with calypso music by the Bahamas Police Band. The RC will attempt two early morning races Thursday before the predicted breeze fills in for the afternoon. http://www.snipe.org & http://www.bahamassailing.org * The photos are from Kos, who is as much an artist as a photographer. Her images can be found soon on the 2007 Ultimate Sailing calendar, but the Scuttlebutt website has now posted a gallery of images that Kos provided from the Voiles de St Tropez in Saint Tropez, France. The boats are definitely old school, and if the photos were in black and white, it would be easy to mistake the century for when they were taken. Enjoy: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1004 * Visualize if you can, a container ship that is 1,300-ft long and 183-ft wide, and you'll have an idea of the Maersk Emma which is currently under construction for the world's biggest shipping company. How many containers will she carry? The highly-secretive Copenhagen-based company considers it a trade secret, and is doing all it can to prevent competitors from finding out. According to the Financial Times, it is often times less expensive to ship a container from China to Europe than it is to truck it from the arrival port in Europe to some other destination 100 miles away. - 'Lectronic Lattitude, http://tinyurl.com/pceby * Ockam Instruments of Milford, CT announces the opening of its new Ockam Support Center located on the second floor at the Newport Shipyard in Newport, RI. The new location will contribute to the support that Ockam can offer to their clients, and provide improved opportunity to display their products. Lat Spinney, VP, Sales & Marketing, will be based in their new location. - http://www.ockam.com AT THE CENTER OF THE ACTION Safe, durable, stable, reliable; all the while staying economical. No wonder Ribcraft is the preferred choice for yacht clubs, sailing coaches, and race professionals around the country. Whether you're looking for a durable, stable, and versatile platform for coaching or setting marks, or an easy to tow RIB for traveling to regattas, Ribcraft has the perfect boat. Now's the time to find out more about how the Ribcraft line of professional grade RIBS, ranging in size from 15' to 30', is ideally suited for the wear and tear of junior sailing programs and race committees alike at www.ribcraftusa.com/sailing LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or space (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, there are no word or frequency limits on comments sent to the Scuttlebutt Forums. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Michael Levesque: Most clubs rely on volunteers to provide web service. Apparently, sometimes folks need to be reminded that these same clubs typically have to balance a limited number of volunteers to also staff the RC, beach support, etc. Long ago, I observed that sailors complaining about RC after the races have started have no positive effect on the outcome. But, a few individuals caring enough to train themselves, then to take the time to share with others before regattas, makes all the difference. Publicly bashing volunteers will never improve the results. If the intent is to improve, it is far more productive to give assistance. Examples of good websites, a basic list of requirements, etc. could help. The Hobie Class Association has done an impressive job with its website (hca-na.org), and the expectations have risen through the years for major event web coverage. Our fleet recently hosted the H16 NAs, with real-time web updating (mark roundings, scoring), with simple links from the HCA website. This was only possible because we had the volunteers, equipment, and prior great examples to follow. I submit that a more productive thread would be to list great sailing club websites, and "wishlists" of visitors. Even better would be a listing of what is required to pull this off, from people who have done it well. We all want positive PR for our clubs, sponsors, etc. Sometimes the hosts need our help to understand how to get it done. * From Tim Kent (edited to our 250-word limit): We have been prescribing a potion similar to Bob Johnstone's for a fantastic end-of-season event here on Milwaukee Bay for the last eight years: - Two parties - a "skipper's meeting" on Friday night (a thinly disguised party) and a bash at the end of racing on Saturday. - A race to temporarily interrupt the party. In honor of our host for the event, the Milwaukee Ale House, the race course is shaped like a beer keg. This also keeps upwind and downwind traffic separated, which is good because of the large number of entries, many of whom are doing one of their few races of the season. - Invite everybody - no yacht club affiliation is required, we poster and mail up a storm to make certain everyone knows they are welcome - Make the sailing fun - the sailing instructions make it clear that the goal is to have fun and play nice. We had 131 entries this year, which is roughly 100 more boats than race on weekends. - Raise money for a good cause - the sailors at Louie's 8th Last Regatta raised an eye-popping $120,000 for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin This has become The Event of the sailing year in Milwaukee - docks thronging with sailors from local Laser hotshots to little daysailers to an IRC 50 to cruising boats of all sizes. Everyone has fun and can go to sleep Saturday night knowing that, in addition to having had a great time, they have helped a great cause. * From Rick Franke, Public Information Director, Annapolis Boat Shows (In response to Chris Erickson's note about the "Oldest Boat Show"): I'd like to explain the basis for our claim. The Annapolis Sailboat Show began in 1970. It was the first in water all sailboat show. We have continued to operate that way since the beginning - in the water, sail only, no brokerage. The distinction is not really that important, but I'd be interested if anyone has a prior claim to the title. * From Bob Staniec (re: not the oldest boat show): I remember selling Islander sailboats several careers ago in the 1968 Long Beach boat show. Back in those days we would show a plug from where a thru-hull was installed to a prospective buyer that was solid 3/4 inch thick glass/resin (mostly resin in those days) for a 32 foot boat. I guess that's why these boats still fill a lot of slips. * From George Bailey (re Annapolis being the oldest boat show): The 70's? No way. I have no idea what the oldest is, but I attended the Miami Boat Show in the late 1950s - perhaps in the early 1950s. * From Guy Doran (re: difficulty accessing race information on the StFYC website) I, too, had difficulty accessing race information on StFYC's website. But it was because my browser (FireFox) was set to not allow cookies. After momentarily switching it to allow cookies, StFYC's race information pages became accessible. * From Steve Gregory: (regarding the story in 2192 about the Coast Guard using the Great Lakes as a firing range) Please tell me that the public outcry regarding the ill-thought idea of using the Great Lakes as a dumping zone for their ammunition will be significant. Please tell me that people out there care about the environmental impact of filling these fresh water lakes with the steel trash that is fired from the Coast Guard weaponry. The safety concerns are significant too, but with proper announcements, that can be managed. But not the waste. Document your concerns by sending a letter to: Commander, Ninth Coast Guard District, 1240 E. Ninth Street, Room 2069, Cleveland, OH 44199 (and send a copy of the letter to your Congressman). * From Cliff Bradford: A useful comment regarding the right whale protecting speed limits would be to have it changed from a length limit to a tonnage limit. Considering that, even with ballast, your typical sailboat is quite lighter than the same length powerboat/ ship it's likely that if the rule were changed to the speed limit applying to boats with displacement over some value typical for a 65 foot powerboat that it would apply to few sailboats. The other alternative is to sail a smaller boat. * From Jim Stevralia: Sorry, but I tried to access the link St. Francis web site provided by Chris Boome and was told by the computer that. "The page cannot be found". CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If your best shoes are Topsiders, there's a good chance that you're a sailing bum. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Ribcraft. America's Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt is brought to you by UBS. |
