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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 866 - July 27 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; 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.
ROLEX FASTNET RACE Many records are at stake. The main focus will be on the 2 days 6 hours 9 minutes and 56 seconds set by the George Coumantaros' American maxi Boomerang in 1999. It is vulnerable, as are all the others for water-ballasted yachts and multihulls. Leading the charge will be three superyachts, Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory, the winner of the Sydney to Hobart Race in 1996 in his previous boat. Plattner is a major backer of the Team New Zealand defence of the America's Cup in Auckland in 2003 and he will have on board some members of that squad as they take time out from preparing for the 150th anniversary America's Cup Jubilee Regatta which kicks off in Cowes on 18 August. Stealth, owned by that prince of the Italian motor industry Giovanni Agnelli, and Skandia Leopard, the new American-designed 92-footer campaigning in its first season for British property developer Mike Slade will provide Plattner with a serious test. And the man who was first home last time, Sweden's Ludde Ingvall in the 80-footer Nicorette, is keen to add the handicap prize to all the international trophies he has already won. He was also first to finish in the 2000/2001 Sydney to Hobart Race. All of them know that the Sydney to Hobart record was obliterated by a Volvo 60-class yacht in 1999 and there will be a clutch of them using the Rolex Fastnet Race as their last chance to weigh each other up ahead of the start their round the world race on 23 September. At least half of the eight in that race, Illbruck Challenge skippered by John Kostecki, Djuice Dragons, skippered by Knut Frostad, Team SEB, led by Gunnar 'Gurra' Krantz, and Assa Abloy, with the Dutch Olympic medallist Roy Heiner in charge. There are other 60s keen to make a point of their own. Bernard Stamm, who recently set a transatlantic record in his Open 60 Bobst Group, will be rivalled by Vendee Globe singlehander Catherine Chabaud. There are entries from 11 countries - Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. - http://www.rorc.org
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Nautor Challenge's head of sportive and technical organization Grant Dalton wants to keep the boats sailing from dawn to dusk every day between now and the start of the race off Southampton, England, on September 23, but the boats must first be readied to leave La Ciotat on Thursday. "We will have a busy few days as we balance sailing time and the need to sort out the on-board systems on both boats to make sure that they are 100% reliable before we leave here." The yachts will sail the 230 nautical miles to Porto Cervo, Sardinia, where they will be officially named on Monday, July 30. Immediately after the ceremony the yachts set sail to complete a 2000-mile voyage to qualify for the Volvo Ocean Race. The yachts will arrived at the testing base at Sanxenxo, Spain, about August 8 for three weeks of extensive sail testing and crew training. http://www.VolvoOceanRace.org
AVOID THE VAN GOGH BOATSPEED SENSOR
AMERICA'S CUP
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Douglas Holthaus: Given the Deed of Gift's specification that America's Cup Matches be sailed in waters "free of headlands," Oracle should be mindful of the doomed recent attempt by the Swiss syndicate to rewrite 150 years of America's Cup history and tradition by seeking elimination of nationality rules. One anticipates with confidence, however, that the eventual southern European victor of the Match, will designate an appropriate Mediterranean venue based upon its competitive qualities and characteristics rather than reasons of economic benefit return. * From Sandy Purdon: John Sullivan's suggestion in Scuttlebutt #865 that an America's Cup regatta in San Francisco can only happen if a club in San Francisco wins the Cup is a little short sighted. There is a scenario where a successful challenger and winner of the America's Cup could bid the event as many major sporting events (Super Bowl, Olympics, etc.) are now handled. The Deed of Gift does say that a challenging club has to have run an annual regatta and be on "an arm of the sea" presumably to illustrate their ability to handle a sailing event in their waters. The "arm of the sea" issue has been challenged and debated a couple of times. Don't be shocked if a challenger wins in Auckland in 2003 and then the winning club asks for bids from interested cities. San Francisco, as well as other cities, may elect to bid on the event even though the new trustee of the Cup is a club from another area. This action could provoke another interesting legal review of the Deed. * From Georges Bonello Dupuis, Malta: (re John Sullivan's note regarding the Americas Cup in San Francisco): I do agree with him that it would make a great location and the spectator's positioning in the bay area would be very advantageous. However, don't you think that you are being a bit too optimistic. Didn't you watch the last Americas Cup Final.. Were there any American Teams/ I doon't think so. Lets see what happens, then decide where to host the Cup's next edition, could be coming to Europe you know. Wouldn't the Bay of Naples be a great location or any other location in the Mediterranean. I am booking a berth for my boat somewhere on the southern coast of Italy. CIAO BELLO * From John Roberson: What a great suggestion by Doug Wall, - rule 90: Have fun - I think ISAF should introduce it immediately. At the same time it should ensure that we never have to have more than 90 rules, which is more than enough. * From John Mendez: As Chair of the New York Yacht Club Race Committee I was most appreciative of your comments in Scuttlebutt this morning. A great report to wake up to. Yes, there are many traditions that we still like to keep alive, amongst them a little formality and good race management. We also have a new one, being a user friendly committee and hopefully keeping all competitors in the loop and aware of what is going on. This isn't always easy on the cruise with some members racing infrequently and not as familiar with procedures as others. However we try to make it exciting but also enjoyable for all. I am very pleased that you had a good time with Chris and Trice and perhaps you will join us next year when we return to Maine. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: I'm ready - when do we leave? * From James Marta: I have been most interested in our nation's perspectives re the hosting of the Olympic Games in China. Many of us in the United States have placed entirely the wrong emphasis on the Olympic Games. They Games are not about the inhumane treatment of people, even though we all may find it disgusting, or political structure of the host country, but about athletics and athletes. Don't any of you remember President Carter's boycott of the Moscow 1980 Games because the U.S. made a political statement? Hundreds of American athletes were put on the sidelines, some never able to complete at that level again, after years of training for the satisfaction of a political agenda--one that has been resolved naturally. In fact, is any country blameless? The Olympic Games are about athletics, period! They were designed to this model, and should be conducted as such. The world has a very diverse political structure; we may not agree with this, but meddling with the opportunities of our young athletes, who can ultimately affect other countries' future leaders, is a very poor means to a misplaced-end. * From R. Geoffrey Newbury (re NZ housing shortage): As an aside to this particular problem, there is also the dock space problem for the syndicates. I am surprised that no syndicate has yet used a floating compound: purchase an old freighter and convert it into the compounds storage/repair/office facility, and maybe even the dry dock. An old bulk lake freighter sold here in Toronto for scrap a few years ago, at about $400,000 Cdn. I had a chance to go aboard. The interior space was about 35' deep underdeck, about 55' wide and 525' long.. Five tennis courts end to end! Almost 30,000 square feet. Add some interior decks in half that space at 15,000 square feet each, and the space requirements of a compound could be met fairly easily. And the whole thing can be moved (or sold) along with the boats, etc. The sunk costs involved in these campaigns are ridiculous. More should be recoverable or re-usable. Now I'm not sure that too many of the campaign's workers would want it, but some would even be interested in living aboard.. Living and office accomodations wouldn't be too hard to add. * From Steve Schupak: I'd like to point out to Mr. Kotoun that at this years Balboa Pram Champs that the top five spots went to Naples Sabot Sailors. But that's beside the point that I'd like to make. The past few days show that the point is being missed by the over emphasis of the tool being the determiner of one's future sailing potential. As the Balboa Pram Champs are designed to do, they bring together representatives of the four major junior trainer designs. I'll say it right now that each one of them is a goofy 8 foot square boat. Each has their own peculiarities and oddities. This is a test of who can master a new piece of equipment and venue. The main point that we all need to remember is that it's the sailing programs that are building future champions and not the tools they use. A good sailor can use the skills he's learned in their own home to adapt to the current location no matter where or what boat they are sailing. I think the call should go out to every parent out there interested in their kid becoming a good sailor to invest in the quality of their junior program and staff it with the best instructors as possible. Focus more on filling the kids heads with knowledge and experience and put less emphasis on which particular tool is underneath their butts. Remember it's not the tool that makes the champion, it's the operator. * From Quentin McGown: Nothing wrong with the Opti. After 40 years of involvement with junior sailing, my criticism of the class is that it is overly "little league", teaching the "win at any cost" philosophy which I and many others abhor. Parental involvement has it's limits, which has been exceeded in the Opti class, as anyone who has been to an Opti regatta can attest to. I like Rule 90. * From Gordon Fletcher: I can't agree more about the Optimist as a great junior training boat. Having grown up in South Africa, most of the clubs would use the Optimist as the primary training boat, out of which came a lot of talented juniors, easily transferring their experiences into different classes. Not living in the US, I didn't hesitate to consider the Optimist as the entry-level boat for my kids. After doing a little research, I did find the boats to be rather expensive and second hand one's hard to find. Obviously due to the popularity. I opted to build an Opti and was amazed at how a simple looking boat can get rather complicated in a hurry. With approx 60 measurements and tolerances from 5-10mm, I can vouch that this class does promote a strict one design concept, that helps to produce identical boats from many builders, even the home builder. My cost including hardware and sails from Vanguard, Seitech dolly, etc., totaled approx $2,200. * From Ron Hopkins: As Principal Race Officer for this year's Optimist Nationals, hosted by Barrington Yacht Club (August 5-10th) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, let me invite Mr. Wells to be my guest at the Opti Nationals to see how wrong he is. Opti racing provides pure "basics", plus fun events to keep kids IN racing and interested enough in sailing to move to other classes as they mature. My son started in Jr. program Opti sailing and now I have the pleasure of sailing with him in anything from Bermuda races to One Design dingy events, because he remained interested in sailing after learning the basics. * From Steve Madeira: Are we really going to get into a debate over the merits of one learning platform over another (Optis vs. El Toros vs. Blue Jays) ? I hope not! There are a number of factors that influence success in other boats and I submit that the boat in which you start is far down the list. Access to good teaching, a supportive family, quality local competition, etc. are all far more important. And the choice of teaching platform is normally (rightly) made in response to local conditions. How deep/windy/cold is the local environment, for example. I grew up in a cold environment not suited (it was thought) for centerboard boats of any kind, so we sailed Cape Cod Mercuries. Did any good sailors come from there? I sailed with and against at least one Olympic/AC veteran (Kevin Mahaney), one Paralympic medalist (Tom Brown, 2.4 meter, 2000), and have collected a pickle dish or 2 myself over the years. Sailing is sailing: find a boat you like and go do it!
EDS ATLANTIC CHALLENGE "We were sailing upwind in a moderate wind force. Everything was fine onboard, when suddenly the forestay fitting snapped," he recalled. "The helm immediately bore away, and that's what saved the mast. Then the whole crew went to work in order to take the Solent off the forestay and fix it with bits of Spectra. Well, it's happened now. We can't sail with the Solent any more, it's gone back into the sail hold." The boat was brought to a full stop for more than four hours while the crew worked to repair the forestay. A search of the boat failed to find a spare clip of the type that broke, so a jury-rigged clip was devised and installed. The forestay was then successfully reattached. Le Cléac'h said they were now back under full sail, with one reef in their main and a solent headsail up. He did not say whether they mended the mainsail or not, only that the mainsail was no longer a problem. - Stephen Pizzo, http://www.edsatlanticchallenge.com/en/
STANDINGS:
WINNING WEATHER QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Dee Smith (In an interview with Grand Prix Sailor, Dee Smith compared the Nautor Challenge Syndicates two new V.O. 60s) "The Farr boat's a stock Farr boat-fine in the front and big bumps at the waterline tanks. It's a skinny-waterline, lots-of-rocker boat. The Frers boat is a boat designed around the beams of the tank so it's fatter on the waterline and shallower on the rocker. There's definitely a lot more power in the hull itself. A lot more. When they're sitting next to each other, the Frers boat is stable in the water and the Farr boat's jumping all around. So, in any type of power sailing I would guess that the Frers boat will kick the Farr boats around. It's going to be a lot easier to sail in a big breeze on any point of sail-especially in breeze downwind. I like the bulb design a lot better, too. It's longer, more like an AC bulb." - Dee Smith, Grand Prix Sailor Full interview: http://www.sailingworld.com/gps/
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
SPONSORSHIP
NOOD During the day's racing, the strong morning breeze waned to nothing, shifted as much as 40 degrees, and played havoc with sailors' minds and hopes for a win in this venerable regatta. This evening, sailors came home under their own steam: the lucky ones got a motorboat tow; the unlucky ones paddled in; but all agreed that the crazy conditions are part of a long tradition in this 112-year-old event. As Timmy Dittrich, an IOD skipper from Swampscott, said of the conditions: "That's Race Week!" Daily race reports and results: http://www.sailingworld.com
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS |
