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SCUTTLEBUTT 1254 - February 4, 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. SUPER YACHTS AND ROCK STARS America's Cup skippers and sailors are signing up for the New Zealand Millennium Cup Superyacht Regatta 2003 which starts on 10 February. Fifty sailing and motoryachts have now confirmed their entry for the second running of the regatta, inaugurated three years ago on the eve of New Zealand's successful defense of the America's Cup. Organizers are anticipating up to ten late entries from overseas superyachts visiting Auckland, and from last minute charterers. Dennis Conner will take the helm of the Ed Dubois-designed 134-foot Destination Fox Harb'r. San Francisco's Paul Cayard will steer the 97-foot yacht Canon Leopard owned by Briton Mike Slade. Francesco de Anglis will be the helmsman of the 105-foot Italian fast cruising sloop Ulisse, while British skipper Ian Walkerwill take the helm of the oldest yacht in the Millennium Cup, 100-foot marconi gaff cutter Moonbeam, designed and built in 1914 by William Fife. Britain's Peter Harrison, founder and chairman of the British challenge for the America's Cup, chartered the visiting yacht for the Millennium Cup. America's Cup sailors are spread throughout the fleet, including Prada's Gavin Brady, steering the 80-foot sloop Innovision and Prada's Brazilian tactician Torben Grael aboard the 112-foot aluminium performance sloop Ipanema. Kiwi sailors Kelvin Harrap and Matthew Mason, who sailed this time for OneWorld, and Robbie Naismith who sailed with Oracle, will join together in crewing the 111-foot high performance cruiser Silvertip. Other Kiwi Cup sailors, including Richard Dodson and Kevin Shoebridge, will be aboard the 108-foot Imagine while veteran American Stars & Stripes afterguard Tom Whidden will sail with Kiwi owner Neville Crichton on the 90-foot Sydney Hobart race winner Alfa Romeo. - Keith Taylor, www.millenniumcup.com THE OPERATIVE WORD IS, 'SUBTLE' Don't expect to see significant changes to Alinghi's race boat, SUI64, when it is unveiled next week. That's the advice of Oracle's New Zealand tactician, John Cutler. SUI64 spent a week in the boat shed immediately after Alinghi beat Cutler's Oracle BMW Racing 5-1 to win the Louis Vuitton Cup and the right to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup. It was put back in the water last week and, although it is not known whether Alinghi have attached a hull appendage, it is understood the Swiss team have made some subtle adjustments to the boat's bow. "They are in a tough situation," said Cutler. "There probably isn't enough time to try a hull appendage - and take it off if they don't like it - between now and the America's Cup." The hull appendage, which Team New Zealand has on both the black boats, adds volume and length to the hull, and therefore potential speed. Alinghi's modifications are probably aimed at increasing their boat's length to try to combat Team New Zealand's possible speed advantage. Alinghi would not comment on exact modifications yesterday but said they had made "a few adjustments everywhere" and "all would be revealed on unveiling day" when Team New Zealand and Alinghi drop their skirts next Tuesday. While adding a hull appendage is still an option for the Swiss, who have tested it extensively on their second boat SUI75, Cutler - whose syndicate also experimented with it - can't see them pursuing it. "It is not a small task. There are several levels you can go to. One is the full level that Team New Zealand has done, where the whole boat is built with this thing in mind. "I think any time you put it on a boat that hasn't been fully developed for the concept it is going to be a compromise," said Cutler. - Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup/acstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3099298&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup&thesecondsubsection=challengers COMING SOON The America's Cup racing begins on Valentines Day in the US - which is February 15 in Auckland. The racing will be covered live on ESPN2, and the network has also scheduled a bunch of other sailing programs to set the stage. Here's their schedule: - February 10, 7:00 PM (ET): America's Cup Jubilee (ESPN Classic) - February 11, 2:00 AM (ET): America's Cup Jubilee (ESPN Classic) - February 13, 11:00 PM (ET): America's Cup Preview (ESPN2) - February 14, 5:00 PM (ET): America's Cup Preview re-air (ESPN Classic) - February 14, 7:00 PM (ET): Race #1 (ESPN2) - February 15, 7:00 PM (ET): Race #2 (ESPN2) - February 17, 7:00 PM (ET): Race #3 (ESPN2) http://www.jobsonsailing.com/tvsched.html SAIL FASTER WITH GREAT GEAR! Team One Newport has some really cool gear like the Sailing Equipment Australia hiking pants and thermo neoprene tops! Then keep all your sailing clothing dry with the new Watershed dry bag! Be sure to check out the brand new Harken leather shoes from Italy to enhance your sailing attire! Find out about the latest from Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Gill, Patagonia, Harken, Extrasport, Railriders, and much more. Team One is known worldwide for having the latest in sailing clothing and regatta crew uniforms! Call for personalized service 800-VIP-GEAR or check out their website at http://www.team1newport.com JULES VERNE TROPHY * The breeze has continued to elude Ellen MacArthur and the crew on board Kingfisher2 today: "There is basically a light patch of air approx 300 square miles that we had no choice but to sail through it," said Ellen. "We hope to get to the other side soon and find more breeze but right now we are only making 9-10 knots of boat speed and it is very frustrating." The wind is expected to strengthen overnight to 17 knots from the NE which will give Kingfisher2 about 20 knots of boat speed. The only strategy is to keep sailing south and hope the breeze fills in. Based on the current forecast and boat speed it is not expected that Kingfisher2 can better Ushant (start) to Equator record of 6 days, 11 hours, 26 minutes, 21 seconds set by Geronimo. For Kingfisher2 to beat the existing record, she must cross the Equator 1 second before 18:15:09 GMT on Wednesday 5.2.03. - Comparison to record: 9 hours 25 minutes behind Orange's pace - Day 4 24 hour run (point to point): Kingfisher2 374 nm, Orange 501 nm, Geronimo 472 nm - End Day 4 distance to go: KF 23094nm, Orange 22947nm, Geronimo 22852nm. http://www.teamkingfisher.com * Geronimo has just had her best day at sea since beginning her Jules Verne Trophy attempt. The Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran covered 550 nautical miles over the last 24 hours, at an average speed of nearly 23 knots. Some time within the next 15 hours, Geronimo will be caught by an extremely fast-moving front traveling at around 50 knots, which could bring some very difficult and turbulent seas with it. "This front could create such a sea that we might not be able to hold our current heading. The very direct route that we've been able to take since we passed south of the Kerguelen Islands has helped us to gain a three day advantage over Bruno Peyron's record time," saidOlivier de Kersauson. - http://www.grandsrecords.com ISAF RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Auckland's notorious sou'westers swept through the Team Racing World Championships today and turned the leading nations on their heads. The two teams who have dominated world Team Racing for the last four years - New Zealand and the United States - struggled to get wins on the board as the winds gusted to 30 knots on the Waitemata Harbour. When racing was abandoned early this afternoon, defending champions New Zealand 1, from the Kerikeri Yacht Club, had scored three wins from five races. The day turned out worse for their archrivals, United States 2, who had been unbeaten in the first two days of the regatta, but today slumped to a 2 win-3 loss record. None of the eight teams in the gold league got through the windy morning session unscathed, but the best performer of the day was the USA 1 team, led by Patrick Hogan, one of America's top college sailors. The team from New England notched up four wins and one loss. The experienced Great Britain 1 is also near the top of the leaderboard with four victories and two losses. Racing began in a tricky 18 knot breeze, but when sails began to tear in the 30 knot gusts, the race committee called it a day. Regatta organizers were not too concerned - they had managed to squeeze in 35 races during the short day and are well ahead of schedule. The world championship final will be raced on Friday (NZ time). GOLD FLEET ROUND ROBIN: USA 1, 4 wins 1 loss; Great Britain 1, 4-2; New Zealand 1, 3-2; USA 2, 2-3; Australia 1, 2-3; Great Britain 2, 2-1; Netherlands, 1-3; Ireland 1, 1-4. SILVER FLEET ROUND ROBIN: New Zealand 2, 4-0; India 1, 4-0; Czech Republic, 4-1; Japan 2, 2-2; Australia 2, 1-3; Japan 1, 1-3; Ireland 2, 0-3; India 2, 0-4. - www.nzteamracing.com AS VIEWED BY JOHN BERTRAND (Julie Ash of the NZ Herald discussed the match up between Alinghi and Team New Zealand with Australian John Bertrand, winner of the 1983 America's Cup. Here are some of Bertrand quotes from her story.) "Alinghi have done a very good job. Technically, they are sailing their boat well and they are very tough competitors. They have always looked very good on paper with the team that Russell Coutts assembled both on and off the water. "They have got some good technical people involved, such as Grant Simmer, who was with Australia II, strategist Jochen Schuemann, who is probably the most successful modern-day Olympic racer, with three Olympic gold medals, and Russell and Brad [Butterworth]. They have performed accordingly" "I think Dean Barker and Co have put together a very strong team - world-class. I think their boat is very innovative. The design team have thought outside the box. The hula [hull appendage] is a creative solution to the rule. It has created a lot of controversy from various challengers primarily because, one would assume, they didn't think about that themselves. But that is the America's Cup." "Nobody knows (who will win) - which is a wonderful aspect of the America's Cup. The challenger and the defender have never gone head-to-head. That will only be the case on February 15. It gets down to: is there a difference in speed in the two boats? If there is, then the crew with the faster boat will have a strong advantage. If the boats are similar it is going to be one great contest. But in sailing on the Hauraki Gulf the wind conditions are extremely unstable and that makes many opportunities for a slower boat to win the regatta - unlike most other places in the world." Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup/acstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3098724&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * March 14-16: Sailing World National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta, San Diego YC. Upwards of 15 different classes of sailboats, ranging in size from the Martin 16 to boats greater than 36 feet in length. - www.sailingworld.com * June 30-July 4: Thunderbird International Regatta, Corinthian YC, Seattle, Washington. http://www.thunderbirdsailing.org/ MORE FUNCTIONAL THAN DUCT TAPE When you attend a big regatta like the Miami Olympic classes, you quickly find out what's hot and what's not. This week in Miami it was instantly obvious that the Camet Neoprene Hiking Pants and Camet shorts are everywhere. Everyone loves the advantages of the fast drying Supplex and the Cordura seat patch in the Camet shorts, but we think what's pushed them over the top is the fact that they look so bitchin'. Check them out at: http://www.camet.com AROUND ALONE Leg Four of the Around Alone Race starts on February 9. At 7,850 nm, this is the longest and perhaps the hardest leg of the entire race. On leaving New Zealand, the sailors head straight toward the 50th parallel and into the Southern Ocean to round Cape Horn on the southern tip of South America. The first boats are expected to finish in Salvador, Brazil about a month after the start. http://www.aroundalone.com WINNERS ANNOUNCED We are very grateful to all the websites that provide Scuttlebutt as a feature to their visitors. To recognize those that have gone above and beyond, here is this week's list of favorites: - Yacht Club: http://www.wyc.org/ - Sailing school: http://www.jworldsf.com - Retailer: http://www.sailingproshop.com - Distributor: http://www.atlantisweathergear.com/ More awards and categories coming. If you don't think we know about your site, or if you want to provide Scuttlebutt as a feature on your web pages, go to http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/affiliate. NEWS BRIEFS * All eight Clipper 2002 crews have now finished the three week leg from the Galapagos to Hawaii. The overall standings are for this round the world race are: 1. Jersey 34; 2. London 28; 3. Bristol 27; 4. Liverpool 22.5; 5. New York 21; 6. Hong Kong 20; 7. Glasgow 19; 8. Cape Town 7. - http://www.clipper-ventures.com/ * With only four days remaining to the official cut-off time, it seems highly unlikely that any of the remaining yachts still to finish could pose a serious threat to Baleka's handicap victory in the Cape to Rio Race. - http://www.pmg.co.za/capetorio/news.php3?a_id=706 * Explaining where the money goes in an America's Cup campaign is a tricky business, but totting it up is easy. Even a conservative guess would put the total amount of money spent on this season's America's Cup campaigns at a staggering US$550million. - Matthew Sheahan, http://www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story1813.html * The number of pirate attacks rose to 370 last year, up from 335 in 2001 according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Indonesia continues to record the highest number of attacks with 103 reported incidents in 2002. Piracy attacks in Bangladesh ranked second highest with 32 attacks and India is third with 18 attacks. Nigeria and Malaysia recorded 14 attacks each. Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guyana have shown a marked increase in attacks. It appears that piracy is on the increase in South America. - http://www.mgn.com/ * Alan Sefton, who has taken over Blakexpeditions following the murder of his friend on the Amazon, told the Sunday Star-Times he found the attacks on Blake "unseemly". The two men were trying to shift the blame, he said. Sefton said Butterworth and Coutts should take responsibility for leaving the team, rather than blaming people in the team for forcing them out. - Tony Potter, Sunday Star Times, http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/0,2106,2234146a6444,00.html * CORRECTION: The 18-foot Skiff Class Association corrected the world ranking list they sent to the media yesterday. Here are the corrected top five: 1 Rob Greenhalgh, GBR; 2 Howie Hamlin, USA; 3 Tony Hannan, AUS, 4 John Winning, AUS; 5 Andy Richards, GBR. - http://uk18footer.org 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 James H Stevralia; It is a little unfair for John Diggins to compare the NYYC dress code in 1975 with that of the RNZYS in 1999! John's experience would be similar in the NYC business world as well as the club world. 1975 walk into any investment bank, law firm, accounting firm (even Arthur Andersen) or corporate headquarters dressed "inappropriately" and - guess what! Do it in 1999 - can't tell the professionals from the support staff. * From Ken Wallingford: In reference to the story reported in Scuttlebutt #1251 "Fine Tuning." Presuming the nationality rules are the same (or equivalent) for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup regattas, how would it be possibly for Rod Davis to meet them as an Italian in one regatta and a New Zealander in the other? Will we be seeing other talented sailors lining up to reinforce the ranks of Alinghi & Team New Zealand? * From Mark Green: Is it only me or does Coutts' and Butterworth's sudden "tell-all" seem suspect? They had three years to leak this story out, plus the last six months of time in NZ and they choose now, two weeks before the Cup to go public? Seems like a tactic designed more to mess with the heads of the TNZ than to suddenly set the record straight. It will be very interesting to see what the alledged irrational tyrant, Richard Green has to say. THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire? |
