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SCUTTLEBUTT #317 - May 5, 1999ISAF WORLD MATCH RACE RANKINGSIssue Date: 4 May 1999
Women's Rankings:
ISAF website: http://www.sailing.org
Of the 15 Challengers originally entered in America's Cup XXX this current list indicates only nine teams with yachts currently under construction. While not as large a fleet as originally anticipated, this would still be a strong showing for Auckland in October. The Abracadabra 2000 entry, from the 50th State of the United States, announced its first-- and very fitting sail number-- as USA 50. With the announcement of the team's second sail number, USA 54, Abracadabra 2000 now becomes one of only three Challengers to date to field a two-boat campaign. With designers and competitors in agreement on the varied weather conditions that will face America's Cup XXX Challengers in Auckland between October and March, having a two-boat program is anticipated to provide a significant advantage in America's Cup 2000. -- DJ Cathcart, Abracadabra 2000 * FAST 2000 is happy and proud to announce the support of another new partner for the Swiss Challenge for the America's Cup: Movenpick Foods Ltd. Movenpick Foods Ltd is market leader in Switzerland and Germany for premium ice cream, while enjoying a quick development on the many other markets it is operating in. Marc Pajot, Skipper and Project Manager: "To greet Movenpick among our supporting partners while we are facing some difficult times is certainly very stimulating. In the name of all our team members, I express my sincere thanks to Movenpick and Mr Gaillard. This support will enable us to keep the yard working at finishing the mold of the hull, a critical step in the production of our racing yacht. Our design team and the EPFL engineers have developed what we consider to be a break-through design and we will do whatever possible to see it realized!" -- Hans U. Bernhard, FAST 2000 * Two previous America's Cup winners -- Rock FERRIGNO and Wally HENRY -- have signed on with the New York Yacht Club/Young America Challenge Sailing Team, NYYC/Young America President John K. Marshall and skipper Ed Baird announced today. Ferrigno is a medical student at Yale University who sailed with America's Cup winner America3 in 1992 and Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in 1995 as a grinder. Ferrigno sailed with Maxi World Champions Matador2 in 1991 and Sayonara in 1997. He has sailed as mastman with the Windquest sailing team since 1992. A resident of New Haven, Conn., Ferrigno grew up in Fairfield, Conn. Henry is a three-time America's Cup veteran and world-class big boat sailor. Henry was with the winning America3 Defense in 1992, the Heart of America campaign in 1987, and Stars & Stripes in 1995. Henry has won two Maxi World Championships, two Southern Ocean Racing Conferences including this year with Idler. In 1997, he sailed with Admiral's Cup winner Flash Gordon. A resident of San Diego, Calif., Henry grew up in Port Jefferson, N.Y. The NYYC/Young America Sailing Team has 24 sailors signed to date, 11 have won the America's Cup. Sailing team members have a range of other world-class experience including Whitbread Round the World Races, Maxi Boat campaigns, and the Olympics. In addition, the NYYC/Young America program includes another 13 past Cup winners working in other facets of the program such as management, shore and technical support, and design and technology. -- Jane Eagleson, Young America NYYC/Young America website: http://www.youngamerica.org * America True, The San Francisco Yacht Club challenge for America's Cup 2000, welcomes Ben BEER as its newest team member. Beer will serve on the foredeck of America True beginning this August, and throughout the Cup races. Beer is a world class sailor who won his first regatta at the age of nine, and he has crewed on scores of grand prix racers around the world, including many with Peter Holmberg. Beer decided to give up his current post with Holmberg and a chance to crew the newly merged VI Challenge with Team Dennis Conner to join America True. "It was a very difficult decision for me," said Beer. "I had to weigh many factors. Peter has taught me a great deal, as well as bringing this opportunity to me. In the end, I had to make the choice that was best for me." Currently, Beer is in Connecticut running the Sydney 40 entry for the US Admirals Cup Team. He will serve as captain and bowman for the team throughout the races in July. Beer will then compete in the Pan American games, sailing his Finn before he goes on to New Zealand to join the America True team. In addition to America's Cup 2000, Beer is pursuing a Finn Class entry for the 2000 Olympic Games. Although Beer primarily serves as a trimmer or a bowman, he has a respectable list of victories as skipper and tactician, including the American Yacht Club Series, the Block Island Race, and two victories in the Rolex Cup Regatta. As a bowman, Beer won the 1998-99 Congressional Cup and the 1998 Bermuda Race. - Grace Kim, America True America True website: http://www.americatrue.org BERMUDA INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL RACE WEEK The Bermuda International Invitational Race Week was sailed April 25th through April 30th out of Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the week offered a variety of wind from 3kts to 30kts. The Etchells Class sailed six races with one drop. Bailey was 4,8,2,1,6,4 and dropped the 8 for a total of 16.75 pts. Andreas Lewin (Bermuda), brother of women's match race champion Paula Lewin, also had 16.75 points with 5,10,1,4,4,3. Bailey's 2nd in the 3rd race gave him first place. Peter Bromby was 3rd with 18.5. Going into the last race four boats had a chance to win the series. Winds were 10-12 with 20 degree shifts not uncommon. Many of the leaders ended the day in the double digits, but Bailey and Lewin held their position by playing the conservative middle. On Tuesday, the 30kt day, an I.O.D. sailed by American Tony Huston sank an Etchells sailed by Bill Steele an Aussie who lives in Hants UK four months per year and sails out of Lymington. Steele was approaching close to the starboard layline for the finish when the crash occured. The jury awarded him n 11th place finish. For races 4 and 5, Steel was given another boat to sail, but it had a sloppy tiller that made the boat dangerous to steer, and he retired. The jury awarded him average points from races 1 and 2. Steele got a 5th in the final race and finished in 10th place with 33.75pts. Bruce Dyson (Marblehead, Mass) dominated the International One Design class. The I.O.D. racing is nine races divided into three parts. The Bermuda Race Week Championship "A" is the first five races. Dyson won this with 7.75 points (one race score is dropped). The Norwegian Series "B" is the final four races. Dyson won this with 10.5 points (no drops). All the races combine in competition for the Vrengen Gold Cup. Dyson won this with 13.5 points (two drops). For the nine race series Dyson had a 2,6,2,1,1,5,4,1 record. Second in the The Bermuda Race Week Championship "A" was Harry Powell (Bermuda) with 14 points and Urban Ristorp (Sweden) was third with 14.5. Second in the Norwegian Series "B" was Jan Petter Roed (Norway) with 11.5 and third was J.C. McAulay (Scotland). Second in the Vrengen Gold Cup series was Jan Petter Roed and third was Harry Powell. - Talbot W)lson For complete scores, commentary and photos: http://www.rbyc.bm UNDER CONSTRUCTION The US Sailing website of the future is up and runningbut certainly not finished yet. Take a peak and let them know what you think -- they are interested in member input: http://ussailing.pshift.com/ ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK It was more than just a squall. The skies opened up during the first race at Antigua, drenching everyone in pouring rain. The curmudgeon smiled as he slipped into his lightweight red rain jacket. Although my mates were unprepared, I was ready. WRONG! My red jacket looked bitchin' but was no match for the downpour. Damn! As I sat there freezing, all I could think about was how Whitbread veteran Joan Touchette described her breathable Douglas Gill Dinghy Smock at last week's Congressional Cup Regatta. "It's my new favorite top," she declared enthusiastically. Right then I decided that as soon as my Social Security check came in, I too would own a Gill Dinghy Smock.! http://www.douglasgill.com SAILING IN THE NOOD This week sailors from Canada, the Great Lakes, and the East Coast will travel to the Chesapeake Bay to usher in the sailing season with a three-day battle for regional honors at the Annapolis GMC Yukon/Sailing World NOOD (National Offshore One-Design) Regatta, a new regatta that has developed into a major springtime opener for the region. Hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club, the Annapolis NOOD regatta has drawn some 1,100 sailors from 18 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The fleet numbers 180 boats, in 16 one-design classes. This participation represents the largest first-year fleet in the history of the NOOD series. The Annapolis NOOD is a new addition to a nine-event national racing circuit sponsored by GMC Yukon and organized by Sailing World Magazine. The circuit includes nine events in: San Diego (CA), St. Petersburg (FL), Annapolis (MD), Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), Larchmont (NY), Marblehead (MA), San Francisco (CA), and Houston (TX). -- Cynthia Goss Event website: http://www.sailingworld.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON We read all e-mail (except jokes) but simply can't publish every letter. Those printed here are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Giles Anderson (re ISAF Meeting report) - Unlimited pumping? Are they nuts? That means that almost every dinghy regatta held in less than 10 kts will just be a pump/rock/scull contest. Imagine the sight, 100 Laser sailors standing in their cockpits, rocking and pumping. The new look of sailing? No thanks. -- From Skip Ely -- A quick note on the Corinthian debate. I am proud to participate in a sport which has a unique word that describes the behavior expected of the participants. Corinthian to me, and my mates, has nothing to do with wealth or breading. It means to me that I will conduct myself in an honorable, moral and honest manner. When I was growing up tennis had a similar set of unwritten rules. However, today, at the top level of that sport these rules have been all but forgotten, why? Probably for two reasons, number one is money (not the lack of it), and, to a lesser degree, it may be because tennis does not have a word that encompasses and defines the expected behavior of the participants. Let's hope that greed, money and fame do not rob our sport of its heritage and steal the true meaning from the word Corinthian. Yacht Clubs have written rules that enforce "Corinthian" Behavior. However in reality if we each don't behave in this manner, on our own, on the race course, in the Yacht club, in the hotel court yard, or where ever we are as sailors then the sport we love will be changed for the worse, forever. -- From Max Rosenberg -- Corinthian, I feel means to be "sportsmanlike-fair-polite-respectful". Sailing is a gentleman/woman sport (hard to believe sometimes at the leeward mark with 5 boats overlapped) but the word never means "barbarick-rude-crude-crass or flagrant" Sailing is Corinthian. -- From Peter Huston -- What's all this fuss about "Corinthian"? Having grown up as part of the TV generation, I have obviously then been under the mistaken impression that "Corinthian" was a type of crushed leather that was so rare it graced the cabin of only mid '70's era Ricardo Montleban signature edition Chrysler Cordoba's. THE GOLDEN AGE StFYC Staff Commodore Robert C. Keefe looks at "The Golden Age of Sailing: The Big Boats 1925 to 1975." at a dinner program at the California YC. However the real stars of this onscreen presentation will be BARUNA, BOLERO, DORADE, GOOD NEWS, GOODWILL, KIALOA, MORNING STAR, RAMONA, SANTANA, ZACA, NAM SANG and other ocean racers of that era. The public is invited to this dinner program which is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Friday, May 14. $25 includes dinner / tax / service / parking if payment recieved by May 13; $30 after that IF any seats available. Reservations and information at CYC, 310.823.4567. IMS A new IMS 40 Association has been formed group consisting of a mixed fleet of IMS racers and cruiser/racers from 39 to 43 foot in length overall that rate IMS 1998 GP of 558-575. At the current time they have 12 members-boats and their center of activity is Long Island Sound (http://www.ims40.org/). -- Jordan Murphy WWW The Mumm 30 class now has their website up and running: http://www.mumm30.org. The site features an owner's forum for open discussion, international regatta schedules and links to regatta websites where applicable, the class newsletter, and class rulebook, along with other features. The website was donated to the class by the owners of Mumm 30 USA 48 - Ed Collins and Barry Allardice. ISAF web-magician David McCreary was contracted for the site design. -- Renee Mehl VOLVO OCEAN RACE The illbruck Round the World Challenge wrapped up its training session after five weeks of testing and training in Sanxenxo, Spain. We are just finishing up the final steps of packing everything up for the next stage of the campaign. This included, going thru all of our newly acquired equipment, looking at and evaluating our 80 sails and begin setting a structure for the campaign so when it is time to become full time we will have everything in place. We were able to conduct over 50 quality tests offshore which will provide our technical team the information they need to make the next step forward from the previous Whitbread 60's. I was able to sail with many new people that I have not sailed with before which gives us a headstart in the crew selection process. We were very fortunate to have 7 people from 7 different boats in the last Whitbread race including Mark Christensen from the winning EF Language and Ross Halcrow, who was on the America's Cup winner Team New Zealand in 1995. With this vast experience we were able to start this session at a very high level gathering everyone's ideas and thoughts on how to improve the boats, sails, spars and other equipment for the next Volvo Ocean Race. Our next step is competing in the Fastnet Race and testing some of our new equipment and ideas from this training session. Then, most of our team will be competing in the America's Cup races in Auckland, New Zealand October-February 2000. We hope to restart our training after the America's Cup in Sanxenxo, Spain in the early Spring of 2000. -- John Kostecki, Skipper-illbruck, Round the World Challenge Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org SMALL BOAT HEAVEN If your thing is performance race boats, you've got to check into the Small Craft Advisories website. These folks specialize in sport boats, the MX-Ray, Lasers, all of the hot multihulls including Hobies, NACRAs and Prindles, and the entire WD Schock line, including the awesome new canting keel Schock 40. The site is loaded with go-fast tips plus price lists for parts and accessories - both new and used. You can order on line or give them a call at their toll-free number: (800) 354-7245 http://www.justsail.com/ INDUSTRY NEWS * Grand Prix sailor and former Project Manager for Farr International, Tom Weaver announced the launch of his new marine project management company, Leave It To Weaver, LLC. Weaver will work with clients interested in building a world class yacht by developing and implementing a management plan based on client interests and needs. He will oversee all phases of project development, from consulting with yacht designers, managing the construction phase to supervising the launch of composite racing and cruising yachts. Weaver joined Farr International as Project Manager three years ago and continues an excellent working relationship with this company. * J/105 sales and fleet growth has been pretty amazing - even better than the J/35 success of the 80's. New boat orders are now out to hull #303 for delivery in January 2000. J Boats/TPI have been building one boat per week for more than a year, and are looking for ways to increase output because of strong demand due to fleet activity in the Chesapeake, San Francisco, Chicago, the Southeast, New England and the UK. Several factors seem to be contributing to this success: an owner/driver rule; only 3 sails (Dacron mainsail on slides, roller furling Pentex #3 jib, and 1 asymmetric spinnaker); sail limitations; plus a J/24 size crew limit of 5 people or 880 lbs. (http://www.jboats.com/) * Tod M. Schneider has accepted a position in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina as production manager for Gleason Sailmakers, a dealer for Quantum Sails. Schneider has been a Sales Executive with the Omohundro Company in Minden, Nevada. THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM If work is so terrific, how come they have to pay you to do it? |
