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SCUTTLEBUTT #347 - June 23, 1999ED BAIRD -- by Rich Hazelton, 48 Degrees NorthIf Young America's skipper Ed Baird were running for office, his slogan would be "Baird is prepared". When Ed Baird says they will win the America's Cup, you believe him. His relaxed candor is refreshing and his enthusiasm infectious. World Champion of Match Race Sailing in 1995, and second in '93, '96, '97, Baird's success in match racing is exceptional, but he doesn't believe that will be the difference in winning the cup. "We're going to win the cup because we'll be the best prepared team there." Baird says. He believes having a technological advantage will be the key. It was for New Zealand in '95. "Even though the America's Cup is a match race, it's very different from the usual match racing format. In those, the races only last about 20 minutes, so tactics, crew work and sail handling are everything. But in the America's Cup you're talking about a race which lasts two and a half hours, so even a minuscule difference in boat speed develops into a tremendous advantage. You need to have a faster boat." To have a faster boat you've got to have the latest technology which costs lots of money. The escalation of money and technological involvement has put many people off the America's Cup, saying it's not truly a sailor's event, but Baird quickly puts that in perspective. It's not about sailing, it's about winning the Cup," Baird candidly admits. "It always has been." And he's right. The history of the America's Cup has never been about out-sailing your competition but in winning the Cup. The secrecy and controversy that's been played up so much in the last few Cups has been going on since the yacht America sailed to England with the first challenge. Baird makes the comparison between the NBA and NASCAR. Where the NBA concentrates on it's individual stars, NASCAR focuses more on the machines and the rivalries between the factories. In the case of the America's Cup, it's boats and countries. If organization and preparedness is the key, Baird already has an advantage. Teamed up with nine time America's Cup veteran John Marshall, legendary yacht designer Bruce Farr and the daunting presence of the New York Yacht Club, it's an intimidating team to say the least. With Marshall at the helm on shore, Baird can spend less time with administrative tasks and concentrate on the sailing end. Young America has spent over 200 days on the water with two boats testing, testing and testing. This is where they feel they have a real advantage. All this real data has been continually fed into developing the final designs, cutting down on the theoretical performance hoped for by those who have put their chances in the hands of the computers. America's Cup competition starts in only four short months, and when the horn goes off for the first round of racing, Ed Baird, his crew and his boat will be ready. All the details will be in place. And, despite all the talk of technology, in the shifty and uncertain wind and weather of New Zealand, the sailors will make a difference. Ed Baird will make a difference, he already has. -- Richard Hazelton, 48 Degrees North To read Hazelton's full story: http://www.48north.com/ BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK BLOCK ISLAND, RI, --Looking for clear trends in the 20 classes racing at the Storm Trysail Club's 18th biennial Race Week at Block Island is about as easy as hitching into favorable shifts in the light weather that has prevailed now for two days. Seven boats have doubled their points lead over their nearest competition after two races on Tuesday in five to eight knot southwesterly breezes. Two of those seven have perfect records of three bullets each. Greg Morash of Tiverton, RI, has a perfect score with his J/80 Adrenalin, from Tiverton, RI. In the PHRF (84-96) Class, perennial winner Iris Vogel from New Rochelle, NY, has also recorded three first places with her Soverel 33 Deviation, moving well clear of the 14 points recorded by her nearest competition, John Coughlin, Jr's Thirsty, from Milford, CT. Coughlin's boat is also a Soverel 33. In the hotly-contested Farr 40 Class, Edgar Cato from Coconut Grove, is in first place with six points with his Hissar, continuing the class dominance he showed earlier this month at the Newport Gold regatta. Cato made the most of a wild start in the second race when half the fleet charged the line and were called over early (OCS). The Blue Fleet, situated to the northwest of the island, experienced breeze and current effects that resulted from sailing closest to the North End of Block Island. An aggressive J/105 Fleet pushed the starting line hard enough to cause a general recall. "There were 8-10 boats over -- half of the fleet," said PRO Charlie Cook. Eclipse continues to dominate the J/105 fleet with skipper Damien Emery's excellent mastery of the pin-end start. Emery, from Shoreham, NY, has four points, with a clear lead over the 11 points of Thomas Coates of San Francisco, CA, sailing Masquerade. -- Keith Taylor Standings: FARR 40: 1. Edgar Cato, Coconut Grove, FL, Hissar, Farr 40 (3-2-1), 6 pts; 2. John Ryan, New York, NY, Swordflounder, Farr 40 (5-4-2), 11; 3. George Carabetta, Meriden, CT, Diana, Farr 40 (6-7-4), 17. J/105: 1. Damian Emery, Shoreham, NY, Eclipse, J/105 (1-1-2), 4; 2. Thomas Coates, San Francisco, CA, Masquerade, J/105 (6-2-3), 11; 3. Andrew Skibo, Ocean City, NJ, Plum Crazy, J/105 (8-6-1), 15. 1D35: 1. John Fisher, Peabody, MA, Jazz, 1D35 (1-1-3), 5; 2. Victor Cribb, West Palm Beach, FL, Victory, 1D35 (2-2-2), 6; 3. Roger & Garth Dennis, Ithaca, NY, Smiling Bulldog, 1D35 (5-5-1), 11. J/120 1. Thomas Lee, Essex, CT, Ricochet, J/120 (4-1-1), 6; 2. Larry Taitel, Bounton, NJ, Rebel, J/120 (1-4-7), 12; 3. Robert Carballal, Centerport, NY, Sunday Driver, J/120 (2-2-8), 12. J/35 1. Peter Scheidt, Highland, MD, Maggie, J/35 (1-3-1), 5; 2. F. N. Sagerholm, Jr, Ocean City, NJ, Aunt Jean, J/35 (2-2-2), 6; 3. Guy Collins, Hockessin, DE, Quicksilver, J/35 (5-1-3), 9. IMS 40-FOOT: 1. Blair Brown, S. Portsmouth, MA, Sforzando, Taylor 40 (5-1-4), 10; 2. Steven M. Loeb, New York, NY, Sirena, Tripp 43 (2-6-5), 13; 3. William Felton, Westport, CT, Montana, Tripp 41 (3-4-6), 13. Complete results: http://www.blockislandraceweek.com IMS 40 website: http://www.ims40.org ADECCO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP -- Report by Bob Fisher KIEL-Ludde Ingvall's Skandia (EUR) won the 186 mile Fehmarn Race by just over a minute from Ross Field's RF Yachting (NZL), but the attitude of all the crews is one of apprehension after Gunnar Krantz' Team Henri-Lloyd was dismasted. 'I have just come down from checking everything on our mast,' said Field, two hours after the yacht had finished, 'And I do mean everything.' The Fehmarn Race was the first in the Kieler Woche series, the second event of the Adecco World Championship for the Maxi One Designs, and the 80-foot yachts averaged 11.55 knots around the course. At times, according to Pierre-Yves Jorand aboard Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghimax (SUI), 'We held 18 knots under spinnaker in 27 knots of wind.' Event website: http://www.adecco-championship.com TEMPORARY HALT TO MAXI RACING KIEL-Following the dismasting of Gunnar Krantz' Team Henri-Lloyd in the Fehmarn Race early yesterday morning, and the subsequent inspection of all seven other masts of the Maxi One Design fleet racing in the Adecco World Championship, it has been decided, for safety reasons, to call a temporary halt to racing. 'We were most fortunate that no one was injured when the mast of Team Henri-Lloyd came down,' said the Maxi One Design Class President, Pierre Fehlmann. 'We cannot possibly put anyone at risk,' he added, 'until we are perfectly certain that the accident will not be repeated.' Fehlmann spoke in the knowledge of the inspection of the masts which had revealed some slight structural anomalies in the carbon fibre spars. These, while minor, have raised cause for some concern and it is considered fundamental to the success of racing in this exciting class that they are rectified as soon as possible. Further, more detailed, inspections by technical experts will be made today and estimates of the time needed to make effective remedial action will be assessed. Only then can a date for the restart of racing be announced. - Bob Fisher Event website: http://www.adecco-championship.com
SIMILARITY
VANGUARD 15 PCCs
MATT JONES' TRIVIA QUESTION Errol Flynn's yacht was named? A. Santana B. Athene C. Zaca D. Orient Answer at the end of this issue of 'Butt. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Chris Ericksen -- As a die-hard one-design guy, I listen with barely suppressed boredom to people complaining about handicap systems. Seth Radow's clever guest editorial ('Butt #346) seems to shed more heat than light on this issue. Listing most of the other handicap systems did remind me, however, of a saying attributed, I believe, to Winston Churchill (and I paraphrase): "Democracy is the worst form of government in the world--except for every other form of government." PHRF may be obsolete, as Seth says, but it is apparently better than every other form of handicap system: it remains the most successful system out there. PHRF has outlasted CCA and IOR; is more widely applied than Americap, IMS or Portsmouth; and is the philosophical if not statistical basis for IR2000. I suppose that more sailors race under PHRF than all the other handicap systems combined. There is another favorite aphorism that comes to mind: "Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." Everyone wants a better handicap system, but hardly anybody wants to serve on handicap boards except in their own interest. Unless and until sailors pitch in to create, support and work on a better system--or, God forbid, sell the Whatchamacallit. However-Long-it-Is and buy and race a one-design boat--then nothing will change (except another generation will complain). -- From Peter Johnstone -- How can anyone find fault with PHRF, never mind take it seriously? It is the world's most successful handicap system. Perfect for fun beer can gatherings. Probably the most successful racing format anywhere of all time, based on boat and people participation. It only falls down when folks approach it as a grand prix campaign. Nothing like beating up on the masses who are just trying to have a good time on the water. For folks taking themselves a little too seriously, they should play elsewhere, and let the PHRF folks have fun. -- Glenn McCarthy -- I can't agree with Scott MacDonald in Butt #343 that sponsorship is the solution to Sailing's participation problems. Right now, don't all club's blow ALL of the money that they get through sponsorship? For example, do the clubs use excess sponsorship money to discount the cost of their sailing school? Discount entry fees? NIMBY they don't. Ken Signorello made a report comparing Golf to Sailing. A synopsis is that the USGA had its net assets increase from $10M to $113M in the past 10 years. The number of courses has increased 18% since 1986 from 13,353 to 15703. New golf courses open in the U.S. at a rate of 400 a year. The financial growth of the USGA can be attributed to TV revenue. I still can't see our sport being a TV media event. So how can we increase sailing's financial worth? In my Regional Sailing Association, we have taken the bull by the horns. In the past 5 years, we have grown our endowment fund from $50,000 to $300,000. It's a drop in the bucket compared to golf, but we are working at it (and hard I might add). The interest earned off of the endowment is granted to sailors in our area to get their US SAILING certification so they teach sailing school. Other grants are made for youth sailors to make it to the US SAILING ladder championships away from our area. --From Bob Little (in response to Jennifer Golison's comments) -- Thank you for making an intelligent observation, "Flam, Matzinger, Little, etc. qualify as amateurs, period, and have said "no thank you" to money offers to maintain that status." The Farr 40 class will have huge problems if their class "rules"are subject to arbitrary interpretation] Based upon the rules as I understand them l am baffled as to why I am not allowed to be an alternate helmsman in the Farr 40 class. The sailing community is small and I can say unequivocally that I have never been 'paid to sail'. Having said that, I would hate to see the demise of "good" amateur sailors due to uninformed opinions about my work schedule and others. If these sailors are treated like pros then eventually they might as well sail as pros. That means no more "good" amateurs in sailing. What was it that we were trying to accomplish?? -- From Rich Matzinger-- Last Friday I was offered money to race on a Farr 40 for the rest of the season. Again, I passed so as not to lose my amateur ranking and thus be ineligible to sail in some of the more fun classes. Maybe you can help me out, is that a Catch-22 or circular reasoning? Regardless, it seems like advertising in Scuttlebutt is very effective! -- Eric Wynsma (Re Nick Gibbens' insurance claim) -- OF COURSE they tried to deny your mast claim! They get paid incrementally more money by finding reasons to deny claims. Went through the exact scenario with my IOR 50 two years ago; and heard the same BS from our insurance guy. Insist on complete coverage for all related expenses (sails, halyards, cabling, shrouds,etc), and allow them to "negotiate" you down a bit for depreciation. Have an expert (spar manufacturer?) write a letter stating that the reasonable life expectancy is __ years and use it aggressively. -- From Scott Truesdell -- Nick Gibbens recently lost is Express 27 mast and his insurance adjuster is claiming wear and tear as the cause of the failure thus denying coverage for a new mast. If, as he says, the mast is otherwise intact, wouldn't it be cheaper than the deductable to buy a raw extrusion with any required welding already preformed and transfer the hardware over himself? The tools required are a drill motor, saber saw, rat-tail file, 50-foot tape measure, a couple of saw horses, and pop-riveter. Takes 2-4 hours. Given: Gibbens is handy with power tools. Paint extra. -- From Jeff Martin -- ISAF President, Paul Henderson, writes in Scuttlebutt #346 22 June about ISAF discussions on World Championships. Some reading his letter might assume that I was making a case for the Laser of which I am the Executive Secretary. This was not my intention as you can see from the transcript of my presentation. I was invited by the ISAF Secretary General to make a presentation to ISAF Council in favour of not limiting World Championship. I was grateful for the opportunity and applaud ISAF for their initiative and openness. There is currently a wide spectrum of opinion amongst ISAF delegates ranging from only having World Championships in Olympic classes to a complete free for all. I do not support World Championship titles for classes that are essentially national championships with a token non national or two. However I do feel that events that can attract a reasonable number of competitors, from a reasonable number of countries and two or more continents should be allowed to use the title especially if they are already proven events. This applies whether they are age, gender, weight or other denomination (fire, police, university to name a few). Just for the record the Laser class has never declared 15 World Champions even though we have two popular rig options and active multi country/continent support in youth and masters racing. WALL STREET AND CORPORATE CHALLENGE CUP Wall Street and business executives, along with disabled sailors and celebrity skippers and crew, will recreate the glory days of America's Cup racing when they compete in Shake-A-Leg-Newport's 1999 Wall Street and Corporate Challenge Cup (WSCCC). The two-day regatta, scheduled for July 9-10, will be contested in vintage America's Cup 12-Meter yachts. Seven corporate sailing syndicates will raise a minimum of $30,000 each to benefit Shake-A-Leg-Newport, a non-profit organization that provides post-trauma rehabilitation and progressive activities for people with spinal cord injuries. A firm may field up to 10 members of a 14-person 12-Meter crew. At least two able-bodied sailors will be assigned to each boat, with top sailors from Shake-A-Leg's adaptive sailing program rounding out the numbers on each team. Stephens to Sail Honored guest Olin J. Stephens (Hanover, N.H.), one of the world's most influential American yacht designers, will co-helm Intrepid, his 1967 design. Northern Light (1938), another of Stephens' designs, also will set sail in the WSCCC. Other guest skippers for the event are: Halsey C. Herreshoff (Bristol, R.I.), president of the Herreshoff Marine Museum; Ted Hood, Sr. (Portsmouth, R.I.), successful defender of the '74 America's Cup; 1993 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and world record holder Cam Lewis (Lincolnville, Maine); and America's Cup veteran Andy MacGowan (Middletown, R.I.). Other sailing notables participating are 2000 Paralympic hopeful Paul Callahan (Newport); Mick Harvey and Gary Lash (both of Newport); and Billy MacGowan (Middletown, R.I.). Racing will take place on Narragansett Bay just south of the Newport Bridge between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Spectators may view the racing from the west side of Goat Island or Fort Adams State Park. -- Shannon Weisleder, Media Pro Int' Results and livestreaming video of the event will be available at: http://www.shakealeg.org http://www.wsccc.org AUCKLAND UPDATE (Reprinted with permission from DEFENCE 2000, which is available for US $48 per year from John@roake.gen.nz) * Very little is being said about the new generation of IACC yachts. We do know, however, that two of the 1999 vintage, Prada's Luna Rossa and the French 6e Sens, are considerably narrower than those that competed in San Diego. They are designed, we learn, to handle the anticipated windy conditions they expect to experience in the Hauraki Gulf. * Are the Russians coming? "I don't know if we are going to see them in Auckland, or not." That statement from Dyer Jones, president of the America's Cup Challenge Association (ACCA) has only added to the speculation that there is definitely some doubt as to whether or not the Russians will make it on October 18. NON-RACING NEWS Nine years after his conviction for illegally spilling oil in pristine Alaska waters, Capt. Joseph Hazelwood has started his punishment on the litter patrol. Hazelwood, former skipper of the tanker Exxon Valdez, spent Monday loading up a truck with abandoned auto parts and assorted junk thrown along the roadsides of Anchorage. The work was the beginning of his month in Alaska doing litter patrol and other cleanup tasks as punishment for his 1990 state conviction for his part in the nation's largest oil spill. This will be the first of five summers Hazelwood will spend laboring in Alaska. His sentence calls for 1,000 hours of community work, broken out as 200 hours each year. An Anchorage jury found Hazelwood guilty of negligently discharging oil in the waters of Prince William Sound in March 1989, when the Exxon Valdez drove up onto a charted reef. -- The Associated Press HOT WEBSITE Certainly one of the reasons for the success of the J/105 class in San Francisco Bay has to be the fleet's impressive website. Guy Rittger, a crew member on the J105 'Walloping Swede' does it without charge. Now there's a fella who deserves a crew shirt from every boat in the fleet. See what I'm talking about: http://www.sfj105.org/ MUMM 36 WORLDS With three races remaining the championship promises a close finish. 1. Thomas I Punkt, K. Jablinski (21 points) 2. Moby Lines, E. Cheffi (23 pts) 3. Barlo Plastics, A. Stead (25 pts) 4. Breeze 1, Terry Hutchinson (30 pts) 5. New Yorker, Chris Larson (30 pts) Event site: http://www.kyc.de/regatta/mumm-wm/index-e.html TRIVIA QUESTION ANSWER Errol Flynn's yacht was named: C. - Zaca THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUMS After eating, do amphibians need to wait an hour before getting OUT of the water? |
