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SCUTTLEBUTT 3652 - Friday, August 10, 2012Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Vineyard Race and Point Loma Outfitting. 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES - SAILING EVENTS Weymouth and Portland, U.K. (August 9, 2012; Day 12) - High pressure over Great Britain led to a lack of wind today at the 2012 Olympic Sailing Regatta, forcing all racing to be abandoned. The Men's 470 Medal Race, which had been scheduled, will race on Friday at 12:00 local time before the Women's 470 and the Women's Match Racing Semi Finals. Also cancelled today was the Women's Match Race ranking matches to determine places 5th through 8th. With the abandonment of racing, the overall scores were determined from the earlier rounds. Americans Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi, who were eliminated from Women's Match Racing Quarter-Final round, finished fifth overall. "It's very unusual, especially for match racers as we generally race in anything," said Tunnicliffe of the lack of wind. "The wind was very difficult, we got out to our course and it was 5-6 knots, then it quickly started dying and getting shifty." The remaining North Americans competing in the 2012 Games are Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan (USA), who finished the 10-race series in the Women's 470 in 9th place overall and will compete in the medal race on Friday. FRIDAY/SATURDAY: The race schedule on Friday includes the Medal Race for the Men's and Women's 470, and the Semi-Finals for the Women's Match Race. The sailing events conclude on Saturday with the Finals for the Women's Match Race. As of press time, the winds are forecast from the south, with 12 knots for Friday and over 20 knots on Saturday. MORE SAILING: When the Olympic sailing events conclude on Saturday, it means one thing... the Paralympic Games are soon to start. Racing for the three events - Single-Person Keelboat (2.4mR), Two-Person Keelboat (SKUD18), and Three-Person Keelboat (Sonar) - begins September 1st. - http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/sailing/ MEDAL TALLY: With 7 of the 10 sailing events completed, there are 14 countries that have thus far stood on the podium. Full tally: http://tinyurl.com/2012-Medal-Tally ISAF news: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/news/latest_news.php Results/schedule: http://tinyurl.com/2012-Olympics-Results-Schedule Canada broadcast: http://tinyurl.com/bs5wqoj USA broadcast: http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html BLOODY WAR FOR GOLD The Medal Races on Friday for the Men's and Women's 470 presents the unique situation where the top two teams in both events are near level on points and guaranteed no worse than silver. What does that mean? It means the on-the-water umpires better bring their A game, because it is going to be bloody war for gold. To provide more intrigue, as if it were needed, the Men's and Women's event both include a British team in the battle. And facing them are the finest the southern hemisphere has to offer, with Australia in the Men's and New Zealand in the Women's. Need we also mention there's ancient history among these countries to flavor the battle? Journalist Andy Rice picks up the story with some history of his own... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eight years ago in Athens, Brit Joe Glanfield had also wrapped up an Olympic silver medal with a race to spare. He was sailing in the men's 470 with helmsman Nick Rogers and if they played their cards right against the Americans in the final race, a gold medal might even come their way. They spent the day before the showdown relaxing back at their digs, chilling out and watching TV. They went and raced the Americans, but were ill prepared for the match race that ensued in the pre-start. The wily old dogs from the USA, Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham, stitched up the young Brits and crossed the finish line as Olympic Champions. The 47-year-old barefooted Burnham famously back-flipped off the 470 in celebration. Still only in his early 30s but already retired from competition, Glanfield is now on the verge of becoming a gold medal coach. He finds his athletes, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, in a similar situation to his own in Athens 2004. Glanfield is determined that the GBR 470 girls won't make the same mistake as he and Rogers did eight years ago. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SJ-080912 NOTE: If you can view online, the Men's race is scheduled for 12:00 (local) and the Women's Race is scheduled for 13:00 (local). WHY SHOULD YOU ENTER THIS YEAR'S VINEYARD RACE? Take part in an East Coast classic. Three courses; huge awards party; cruising division; multihull division; race tracking; Corinthian challenge; NORT qualifier and much more. Join Bruce Nelson at our skippers' meeting. Start date: August 31. Register today: http://www.stamfordyc.com. Follow us @vineyardrace SPORTSMANSHIP IN SAILING By Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Here is the good news: sailing is self-policed, allowing the players to oversee the rules of the game. Now here is the bad news: sailing is self-policed, and the enjoyment of the sport is heavily reliant on how well the players follow the rules. At the local fleet level, instances of pushing the rules might be handled by class elders providing advice to the accused at the bar. But as the scope of the event increases, either by geography of its participants or in prominence, the task of managing sportsmanship becomes more challenging. I recall a national championship where I was crossing a starboard tacker, easily, only to be hailed that I failed to keep clear. WTF, I thought to myself. Had I done something to warrant this? Not that I could recall, but how we treat people sets the standard of play. Pushing the rules may trigger a protest, or worse, it could trigger a blindside move like this crossing, for which I had no defense. Hopefully, for most sailing competitors, the activity provides an enjoyable outing. But since the level of sportsmanship is a component, the editors of Sailing World and Scuttlebutt were curious what you think about sportsmanship in sailing. Whether you race once a month in a local fleet or do it for a living, we want your perspective. To do so, we've constructed a survey. It will take a few minutes to finish. But we think the potential reward for getting a better handle on sportsmanship in sailing, and whether it's a problem that should or soon may need to be fixed, it's well worth the time. Thanks in advance for your time. Here is the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q5CQWJ3 A GATHERING OF PROMINENCE Nantucket is best known as a tourist destination and summer colony in Massachusetts, where the population of the island soars to a factor of five during the summer months. But this town in the southernmost section of the state is also known for hosting one of the few remaining full week events - Nantucket Race Week. This week long experience (Aug. 11-19) marshals the entire Nantucket community together to host an event for everyone from young dinghy sailors and families in the household one design to grand prix racers at the very top of their profession. And among the special features for the event is the IOD Celebrity Invitational (Aug. 16-17), where every team will have one of America's prominent sailors aboard calling tactics. Here is the line-up of celebrities for the 2012 contest: Chuck Allen Sally Barkow Andrew Campbell David Dellenbaugh Robbie Doyle Kevin Farrar Cam Lewis Geoff Moore Dave Perry Mark Reynolds Dee Smith Mike Toppa Will Welles Tom Whidden, IOD Celebrity Invitational Chair What adds to the uniqueness of the IOD Celebrity Invitational is the class itself. Twenty-one feet on the waterline, with long, graceful overhangs extending to 33-feet overall, and a powerful 45-foot rig, the IOD resembles a scaled down version of a majestic J-Boat. But rather than each boat being individually owned, the fleet is owned by an association consisting of fifteen syndicates, each of which owns an undivided interest, or share equivalent to one fifteenth of the entire fleet. The boats are identical in every way, and are rotated on a weekly basis. A pair of 2008 Olympians - John Dane with tactician Sally Barkow - won the 2011 edition, while U.S. Senator John Kerry with tactician/US Sailing president Gary Jobson graciously claimed the DFL position. Event details: http://www.nantucketraceweek.org/page/nrw/iod_celeb_nrw SAILING SHORTS * Shoreacres, TX (August 9, 2012) - After light air forced an on shore postponement on the fourth day of the Lightning North Americans, the fleet headed out and got in one race in very shifty winds. After lots of gains and losses on each wind shift, Matt Fisher took the honors, with Jody Lutz's team maintaining their overall lead over the 55-boat fleet. Racing concludes tomorrow. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14270#14270 * San Francisco, CA (August 9, 2012) - After two days and eight races at the 2012 Chubb U.S. Junior Championships, the event leaders continue to be Addison Hackstaff in the Byte CII, Christopher Ford/Daniel Ron in the Club 420, and Michael Madigan/ Jimmy Madigan/ Jack Thompson/ Johannes McElvain in the J/22. Racing concludes on Friday. Results: http://tinyurl.com/USA-080812 * USA Network's new reality series, "The Moment" takes men and women on a life-changing journey by giving them a second chance at reclaiming the career dreams that they put on hold when their lives took an unexpected turn. The show, due to premiere in USA in the fall of 2012, is currently looking for a former professional sailor who due to some type of hardship, were forced to give it up, but are now interested in resuming their career/passion for racing. This also includes former Olympians, etc. If you know of anyone that fits this description, contact K'ia Stone at 310-417-1559 or castingbykstone@gmail.com * A preliminary report found that a 34-foot Silverton powerboat that capsized on Independence Day on New York's Oyster Bay, killing three children, was structurally and mechanically sound. Seventeen adults and 10 children were aboard the boat, named Kandi Won, to watch Independence Day fireworks off Long Island. The boat overturned and sank after the fireworks display. Authorities have been investigating whether overcrowding, a mechanical problem, weather conditions or other factors played a part in the capsizing. -- Soundings Trade Only, read on: http://tinyurl.com/STO-080912 WHEN FOUL WEATHER GEAR IS TOO MUCH There are times when you are out sailing that you really do not need the full protection of foul weather gear, but shorts, or pants just aren't enough from the occasional spray from waves. SLAM has introduced the Force 2 trousers, and they fit right in the middle. Highly breathable, and almost waterproof, these two-layer pants can take the spray with ease. These waist-high pants have reinforced knees and seat, as well as zippered side pocket to keep everything where it ought to be. They come in three shades: black, steel grey and light grey. Check them out at: http://www.pointlomaoutfitting.com/p/S171016160.html?=scuttlebutt PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include innocence, crowd surfing, perspective, duo, limbo, three little pigs, crew gear, August calendar, and indignity. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0810/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK As Olympic sailing seeks to heighten its broadcast appeal, this Irish parody from the 2012 Games might have determined how best to do it. But while this video has been getting massive views online, it also highlighted two unfortunate realities: it is easier to describe how confusing the sport is than truly explain it, and the International Olympic Committee does not have a sense of humor. The IOC has pulled it from several sites, and if it remains online much longer, it might only be due to the IOC finally realizing what a gift it is. But we don't expect them to admit it. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/12/0810/ Bonus Videos: * If you are seeking to cool off from the summer heat, this outing on a Hobie 16 should help: http://youtu.be/_eKCF8CEDG8 * And if you want to live through others, try this video of an AC72 with Emirates Team New Zealand: http://youtu.be/s28FwAQcV1c * This week on America's Cup Discovered Episode 51, we relive team highlights with ORACLE TEAM USA over the past AC World Series race season, including: doing the double, MC Hammer, a crash, crew weigh-in, behind the scenes photo shoot with the athletes....or are they models?! Tune in on Saturday August 11 at approx 0800 PDT 1600 BST for an unorthodox look back over past year with ORACLE TEAM USA: http://www.youtube.com/americascup * Ben gets gold in the August 10 "World on Water" Sailing News Show as do the Swede's, See our London Olympic Games report. Also how to de-ice your boat, Farr 30 Worlds, Phuket Race Week, PWA Fuerteventura World Cup and the Transat Quebec Saint Marlo Race. See it on http://www.boatson.tv/ or download our "boatsontv" app to watch on your phone or tablet anywhere anytime. SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Debi Schoenherr: I have to agree with Connie Bischoff (Scuttlebutt 3651).Why is the Olympics the highest sailing goal? As a sailor I believe we all understand that; any given day at any given time a championship or race may be won or lost. There are factors in sailing that really don't exist in other Olympic Sports...ie: luck, wind shifts, waves and puffs. Does that really happen in the Pool? Most of our US Olympians are in the top 5 in the ISAF World Rankings, which is a more realistic example of the performances at many regattas over the year, like a Golf handicap! One Regatta does not define true excellence and domination in the sport of Sailing. I am so VERY proud of our US Olympic Team, they are true winners in my book....Weymouth just wasn't OUR Place, OUR Time this year! Congrats to all of you...may you hold your heads high and continue to excel! * From Peter Commette: People are wailing and gnashing their teeth over the U.S. Olympic results. Lamenting. Pointing fingers. But whose effort was this? It belongs to those who put in the sacrifice: Dean Brenner, Kenneth Andreasen, our other coaches, our sailors, the ones our sailors beat to get there, and all of their families. It was their effort. Their sacrifice. Not ours. They are the only ones who have a right to be upset or be Monday Morning Quarterbacks. All of them worked their butts off, more than we know or can appreciate. Have you looked at Dean's daily reports (as the wheels were coming off)? Totally upbeat, positive, as a leader's message should be. Anna, Paige, Stu, Graham, Sarah, Amanda, Trevor, Erik, Mark; all of them showed champions' attitudes in their blogs all the way through. I look up to them for what they accomplished and how they handled their abject disappointment. True champions. I finished 11th in the Olympics and left the Games immediately after. I hope no one on our team makes the same mistake. I hope they go immediately to the Olympic Village; live it up; attend the Closing Ceremonies; celebrate with other athletes the end of a hard, well-fought fight. They earned this unique experience and celebration. The US will come back strong in 2016, thanks to their efforts in 2012. It's not that, "We weren't competitive in any class," but rather, "We will improve in every class thanks to the path blazed for us by our 2012 team." * From Gerard Koeppel: Following up on Michael Rudnick's comments (Scuttlebutt 3651) in how there were twelve US teams at the recently completed I420 Worlds in Austria, many of these teams are spending most of their summer in Europe, competing at Kiel Race Week (5 teams), Youth Worlds in Dublin (2), French Nationals (6), Worlds in Austria (12), and the upcoming Junior Europeans in Italy (7): a Five Nation Army in stars and stripes (apologies, Jack White, I couldn't resist). A Greek coach, who has also coached many of these US kids in regattas and clinics, has noted the high numbers of US kids competing in Europe this summer. While the results so far have been disappointing to many of the sailors who are used to doing better, there have been a couple of podium spots (a third at French, a first in the Under-16 category at Worlds) and substantial, invaluable learning across the board. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14268#14268 * From John Morgan: I am one of the technical coaches with the NZ Men's 49er and Women's 470 team, and would like to give the Scuttlebutt readers some facts on Aussie Nathan Outteridge's gold medal winning boat controversy In the early days of our work with the ozzies, we got to use their boats when training or racing in OZ. And twice we found illegal bits on the boat. First was a longer than usual top rudder outrigger which was made by the Bethwaites and signed off by them to use in the world champs, which Nathan won. This provides less rudder drag when heeled. Second was a raised deck/mast step pushing the main up higher power, which equals speed. This came up after the boys used the same rig in Europe as they had tuned with in OZ, and couldn't make any numbers repeat. Last was the replacement of the bottom batten on the jib at the Olympics. You may replace the batten but it must be a class legal one but can be cut from other main battens, etc. Nathan and Goobs are great people and brilliant sailors but got caught up in the Australian 'win at all cost' mentality. The fact that they were the only ones to use an Aussie built boat is interesting. You draw your own conclusions EDITOR'S NOTE: John's closing comment reminded us of Dennis Conner's quote during the 1987 America's Cup concerning the legality of New Zealand's fiberglass KZ7 boat. "Since '78, 12-meters have been built all in aluminum, so if you want to build a glass boat, why would you do it, unless you wanted to cheat?" * From Daniel Meyers, Newport, RI: In Scuttlebutt 3650, Mr Rob Stephan stated that "Ainslie will have to do more than collect medals that include a win made possible by another sailors mistake." We all know that all kinds of things happen on the race course; wind shifts, different pressures, unsquare starting lines and courses, drifting marks and all types of happenstance. People get lucky, unlucky and sometimes the best execution turns into great result, sometimes it all goes to custard. That's why they call it a sport, sport. Ben Ainslie is a great sailor, possibly the best today. No doubt in the world and congratulations to him and what he did in the past and in the future. Paul Elvstrom was a great sailor and role model. Both have positively impacted the sport, and most importantly in my opinion, held the strongest of convictions about the way they compete. You don't have to tear one down to pay respect to the other. Let's just hope they both inspire young boys and girls to work their hardest and enjoy the sport and sailing brings out their personal best whether that results in a Olympic gold medal, an America's Cup, a Volvo race win or just a bunch of memories and smiles of times on the sea. EDITOR'S NOTE: And on that note, this thread is closed in the Newsletter, though continued conversation is welcome in the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14257 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Did you know: watermelons in Japan are grown in glass boxes, making them cube-shaped, which makes them easier to pack and store in Japanese home refrigerators. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - Vineyard Race - North Sails - J Boats APS - IYRS - Ullman Sails - Point Loma Outfitting Need stuff? 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