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SCUTTLEBUTT 1647 - August 16, 2004Powered 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 focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. OLYMPIC SAILING After a day of light air sailing on Saturday, the notorious Meltemi wind that howls out of the Athens hills put a little too much air into the Olympic sailing regatta. So much so that at least 30 boats capsized Sunday and the courses looked more like nautical demolition derbies. There also was scattered equipment damage, but no reports of injuries. "It was full survival," said Europe class sailor Meg Galliard of Pelham, N.Y. "You're just trying to stay in control." She did. A lot of others didn't. "They were tough conditions," said 470 skipper Paul Foerster of Rockwall, Texas, a four-time Olympian. "There were a lot of people turning over. We were just happy to finish. It was just totally different than anyone had seen." Foerster and crew Kevin Burnham of Miami were lucky - their 15-foot boat swamped, but didn't turn over, as a nasty combination of the offshore wind and a swell made for a surly Saronic Gulf. Foerster and Burnham moved up a spot to second overall with finishes of second and 15th. Both are former silver medalists. It also was cruel to American Kevin Hall and New Zealander Dean Barker in the Finn class, where it took three attempts in the shifting wind to get in the first of two races. Barker, the hard-luck skipper in Team New Zealand's America's Cup loss last year, led around the first two marks in the first race before the Meltemi and the seabreeze collided, canceling each other and leaving the boats bobbing in the chop. That led to the first abandonment, with Hall in third place. Hall was leading at the first mark after the first restart, but a severe wind shift forced the race committee to abandon it. "The racing was very exciting, but I would have rather kept the first two races we started today," said Hall, of Bowie, Md., who finished 13th and 17th to drop to 13th overall. Barker moved up to fourth by finishing 7th and 11th. - With the wind blowing at about 18 knots - and gusting to 22 - the Norwegian Yngling crew capsized in the whitecaps after crossing the finish line in third. Americans Carol Cronin, Liz Filter and Nancy Haberland had trouble with their spinnaker on the same leg and dropped the billowing sail. They finished last in the 16-boat fleet. Eight Finns capsized on the second leg of the second race, including Hall. Estonia's Imre Taveter rolled over twice. The most impressive performance of the day was by Ainslie, the Finn favorite who needs to sail the rest of the regatta almost perfectly because of a loss in the protest room Saturday night. He did just that Sunday, winning both races to jump from 19th overall to eighth. Ainslie, who won the Laser-class gold medal in 2000 and the silver in 1996, was disqualified from his second-place finish in Saturday's second race because of a right-of-way infringement. - Bernie Wilson, AP, as posted on the website of the Belleville News - Democrat, Standings Mistral Men (After 2 races out of 11) 1 POL, Prezmyslaw MIARCZYNSKI, 5 2 POR, Joao RODRIGUES, 5 3 GRE, Nikolaos KAKLAMANAKIS, 6 20 MEX, David MIER Y TERAN, 36 23 USA, Peter WELLS, 46 Mistral Women (After 2 races out of 11) 1 ITA, Alessandra SENSINI, 8 2 UKR, Olga MASLIVETS, 9 3 NZL, Barbara KENDALL, 10 16 USA, Lanee BEASHEL, 29 25 MEX, Rosa CAMPOS, 48 Europe (after 2 races out of 11) 1 NOR, Siren SUNDBY, 4 2 ARG, Serena AMATO, 7 3 AUS, Sarah BLANCK, 10 10 USA, Meg GALLIARD, 20 Laser (after two races) 1. AUT, Andreas GERITZER, 5 2. BRA, Robert SCHEIDT, 11 3. BEL, Philippe BERGMANS, 13 6. USA, Mark MENDELBLATT, 36 21. CAN, Bernard LUTTMER, 40 Finn (after 4 races out of 11) 1 POL, Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ, 14 2 ESP, Rafael TRUJILLO, 20 3 CRO, Karlo KURET, 26 13 USA, Kevin HALL, 47 18 CAN, Richard CLARKE, 65 470 Men (after 2 races out of 11) 1. GBR, GBR, Nick ROGERS/ Joe GLANFIELD, 18 2. USA, Paul FOERSTER/Kevin BURNHAM, 26 3. GRE, Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS/ Kostas TRIGONIS, 35 470 Women (after 4 races out of 11) 1 GRE, Sofia BEKATOROU/Emilia TSOULFA, 18 2 DEN, Susanne WARD/Michaela WARD, 19 3 FRA, Ingrid PETITJEAN/Nadege DOUROUX, 23 12 USA, Katie McDOWELL/Isabelle KINSOLVING, 43 13 CAN, Jennifer PROVAN/Nikola GIRKE, 45 Yngling (after 2 races out of 11) 1. GBR, Shirley ROBERTSON/Sarah AYTON/Sarah WEBB,11 2. RUS, Diana KRUTSKIKH/ Vladislava UKRAINTSERVA, 24 3, DEN Dorte JENSEN/ Christina BORREGAARD-OTZEN/Helle JESPERSEN, 26 10. USA, Carol CRONIN/ Liz FILTER/Nancy HABERLAND, 38 16. CAN, Lisa ROSS/Deirdre CRAMPTON/Chantal LEGER, 53 Complete scores: http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004/ Olympic photo gallery: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics SARCONIC GULF TO MISSION BAY Kaenon Polarized spans the globe. While Foerster and Burnham, Kevin Hall and Ben Ainslie do battle in Greece this week for the sport's most prized individual accomplishments, Southern California caught a glimpse of the future last week. Fifteen year-old Tyler Sinks of San Diego, dominated the Jr. Sabot Nationals on Mission Bay. The common denominator? Breeze reading enhanced by Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available at Sailing Supply, Svendsen's, TeamOne, APS, Vanguard, Island Sports, East of Maui, Boat Locker, FT Brown's, Boat House, Fisheries Supply, Crook & Crook, Melges Boatworks, Lombardi's, Sport Chalet, Boater's World and Paragon. http://www.kaenon.com SKANDIA COWES WEEK After the carnage of Friday, the final day of racing at Skandia Cowes Week dawned beneath baking sunshine that tipped the mercury to 23 (73F) degrees and moderate South-Westerly breezes that struggled to top Force 3 all afternoon. It was a glorious day for racing in the Western Solent although for the Committee Boat starters down in the Eastern Solent there were postponements and repositioning before the wind finally settled in. Today's entry of 801 yachts got underway on an ebb tide that saw several boats being swept over the Royal Yacht Squadron lines and with the early breezes of just 5 knots, struggled to get back over to restart. The most hotly contested fleet of the week, the 83 strong XOD Class produced a thrilling finish with everything to play for after Stuart Jardine's retirement due to a rigging failure yesterday. His son Mark, sat atop the leader board last night after discard but today was not to be for him as ex-Olympian Stuart stayed cool under fire recording a fourth place to lift a record fifth Captain's Cup as Mark finished a distant 17th. It has been a fascinating week-long battle between the two with Mark stepping out from his father's shadow to challenge hard and point the way to the possible destination of Captain's Cup's in the future. For Stuart, however, it is a remarkable achievement and is undoubtedly one of the stand-out performances of the week. - Magnus Wheatley, www.cowesweek.co.uk SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Skovshoved, Denmark -A bit of luck turned what looked to be a runaway win for Kelvin Harrap into a second championship for Jes Gram-Hansen. The skipper from Aarhus, Denmark, defeated Team New Zealand's Harrap 2-1 to win the 8th annual Danish Open, Stage 2 of the 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour. Sailing with crewmembers Michael Arnhild (Aarhus), Christian Kamp (Copenhagen), Rasmus Kostner (Aarhus) and Chresten Plinius (Copenhagen), the win was Gram-Hansen's second at the Danish Open, and his first on Tour since winning this event two years ago. Already down a race and facing a 2-0 deficit in the finals, Gram-Hansen and crew were gifted the second race. Harrap led by four to five boatlengths approaching the first windward mark of Race 2, and seemed to be well in control of the series. Then they were penalized when the end of their boom hit the windward mark as they were turning downwind. The penalty helped Gram-Hansen win the race and even the score at 1-1, Gram-Hansen got a great start in the third flight and dominated the race to win the event 2-1. With the win Gram-Hansen moved into a tie with Ed Baird (USA) for first overall on the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard. Each skipper has 25 points after the first two events of the sixth Tour season. The Tour champion will win $60,000 and a BMW 545i Touring. - Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com Final Results: 1. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Gram-Hansen Racing, 13-3, ($9,985.02) 2. Kelvin Harrap/NZL, Team New Zealand, 11-5, ($6,656.68) 3. Mathieu Richard/FRA, 8-7, ($4,992.51) 4. Staffan Lindberg/FIN, 9-6, ($3,994.01) 5. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team, 8-5, ($2,995.51) 6. Peter Wibroe/DEN, 5-8, ($1,997.00) 7. Philippe Presti/FRA, le Défi Français, 6-6, ($1,497.75) 8. Chris Law/GBR, 5-7, ($1,164.92) 9. Lars Nordbjerg/DEN, 4-7 10. Ulf Jonson/SWE, 4-7 11. Lotte Meldgaard/DEN, Team Gerimax, 3-8 12. Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Challenge, 2-9 MELGES 24 WORLDS The 2004 Melges 24 World came to a spectacular close today with a final race in perfect sailing conditions. Frenchman Sebastien Col and his P&P crew of owner Phillip Ligot, tactician Christian Ponthieu, Thomas Allin and William Thomas, took second in race ten, beating overnight leader Maurizio Abba of Italy by sufficient places to win the World Championship. Abba's ninth place secured him second overall whilst Flavio Favini, helming Blu Moon for Switzerland's Franco Rossini, took third with Stuart Rix, helming Gill for Englishman Quentin Strauss, fourth and Norway's Eivind Melleby fifth. 2003 World Champion Shark Kahn, who turned 15 the week before the championship, had a mixed regatta but finished in sixth overall just ahead of Luca Santella, helming Joe Fly for Giovani Maspero. In the Corinthian World Championship, for amateur helms and crews, the title goes for a record third time to Finland's Kenneth Thelen, sailing with Henrik Thelen, Jolle Blassar and Jari Bremer. Thelen dominated the Corinthian division this week and finished 14th overall in the open championship. - Fiona Brown, www.melges24.com STRATEGIES FOR OLYMPIC GOLD Why do so many Olympic Sailors rely on Sailing Angles designs as components of their strategies for Gold? Flexibility, comfort, and protection are requisites for achieving optimal performance on the Athenian battleground and Sailing Angles delivers it! Our designs can also deliver the same to you whether it's the Wednesday night races, the Bermuda, Mac, Honolulu race or the ultimate test, the Olympics. Get comfortable, focused and start winning today. Find Sailing Angles great designs at APS, Layline, Team One or http://www.sailingangles.com 505 CHAMPIONSHIPS A total of 84 boats from all over the world took part in last week's 505 North American Championship Regatta at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club. Sailing conditions were varied, with brisk 18-25 knot winds on Tuesday, followed by 2 days of light to moderate 8-12 knot breezes. First place went to local Santa Cruz sailors Morgan Larsen and Trevor Baylis, who put together an impressive 3-1-1-1-3-3 record to dominate the one-throwout event with 12 points. Mike Martin and Jeff Nelson were second with 23 points, followed by class veteran Howie Hamlin and crew Peter Alarie with 25. On Sunday, the LightSurf 505 Worlds began in the same venue but with 14 additional boats. And the three teams that finished 1-2-3 at the NAs are in the same order after two races in the Worlds - 1. Larson/ Baylis, 3 pts; 2. Martin/N Nelson, 4pts; 3. Hamlin/ Alarie, 6pts. - http://scyc.org/505/ NEWS BRIEFS * Jody Swanson (Buffalo NY) and her crew of Skip Dieball and Tom Starck won the 103-boat Lightning North American's Buffalo Canoe Club in Ridgeway ON Canada. The conditions ranged from drifting to 25+ knots. Second place went to Michael Gooch-Breault (New York NY), while Tom Allen, Jr. (Kenmore NY) finished third. Thirty-nine boats qualified for the Championship flight; they completed 5 races, no throwout. David Helmick (Longwood FL) won the President's Cup, followed by David Werley (Pittsburgh PA) and James Taylor (Hamilton OH). Steve Constants (Edgewater MD) won the Governor's cup. www.buffalo2004.org/Buffalo2004/Buffalo2004MainFrame.htm * Last week twenty-eight teams sailed 4 days and 4 nights on Formula 18's to participate in the Archipelago Raid, navigating among the 100,000 islands of the Baltic archipelagos to find 20-25 checkpoints located along the nearly 500 mile course. The stunning scenery and high performance make for a spectacular photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/araid * The tenth annual Edgartown Yacht Club 12-Metre Regatta took place over the weekend of August 7-8, with eleven boats competing in modern and classic fleets consisting of Grand Prix, Modern, Classic Traditional and Classic Vintage classes. With the exception of 2001, when the boats went to Cowes for the America's Cup Jubilee celebrations, the regatta has been held in Edgartown annually since 1994. The Edgartown Yacht Club will be hosting the twelves again in 2005, when the club celebrates its 100th year. Results: www.lighthousetechnologies.net/edgartown2004 Great photos of the 12s racing: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/12meters/ * As the Olympic Games returned to its spiritual home last night in a breathtaking opening ceremony that brought the myths of Ancient Greece to life through the magic of 21st century technology. Windsurfing history was made. Nikos Kaklamanakis (GRE), 1996 Olympic windsurfer Gold Medallist was the torchbearer who lit the cauldron at the Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony of the 28th Olympic Games. This is probably the first time that such an honor has been bestowed upon any sailor. * Michigan City (Indiana) Yacht Club played host to the 2004 Thistle Nationals. Seventy-nine participants from all over the United States sailed in everything from a drifter to near 30 knots. Eric Gesner (Rochester, NY) with crew Judy Gesner and Dave Hansen won the event by winning the last race and edging out Bruce King (Indianapolis, Indiana), Skip Dieball (Toledo, Ohio) and Mike Ingham (Rochester, NY). For full results: www.thistle2004.com * Only two points separated the top three boats at the eight-race, 28-boat Santana 20 Nationals hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. Bruce Golison, sailing with co-owner Steve Washburn as trimmer and Washburn's young son Stevie as bowman, returned from an OCS in the final race to finish third in the race - two points ahead of Chris Winnard, Andrew Kerr & Bill Pamacciotti who took second in the championship, after winning a tie-breaker with Willem Van Waay, Travis Wilson & Peter Van Waay. Complete results: www.abyc.org/2004REGATTAS/s20Nationals/results.htm J/105 MANIA CONTINUES Up to 50 J/105s are expected at this year's North Americans in Marion, MA (Sept 16-19) as the J/105 one-design train keeps rolling. What started as a family-friendly daysailer/racer now boasts 640+ boats worldwide, 17 active fleets in North America, and a thriving owners association and website. Wow! http://www.jboats.com/j105 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Sean P. Downey: I don't know if you've seen ISAF's Olympic site, but it echo's ISAF's long-standing promotion of European sailors and not the U.S. In one, the USA team is mentioned, but they are one of the farthest boats in the photograph! There were 11 out of 15 of GBR, however. * From Andrew Mason (Regarding 'Wind'): I had the pleasure of spending several days on the Utah set working on computer graphic sequences for 'Wind'. I have to say that in addition to the excellent cinematographers, in my opinion there is one person who deserves an enormous amount of credit for making the film watchable, and in particular making sure that the sailing footage followed a logical sequence. That person is Lisa Blackaller (Tom's daughter), who did an outstanding job as assistant to the director, and helped to prevent the film degenerating into an unwatchable disaster. * From Manfred C. Schreiber (re:"Wind"'s tank test scene in the desert creek was certainly more interesting than..."): I was holding my breath when I read about the negative comments about the movie but with a lot of positives coming in lately I´d like to throw my 2 cents in. First of all a great movie about sailing even for the educated racing sailor. On a big cinema screen you have to wear your foul weather gear in the front rows, otherwise you are getting wet... And actually you might not believe but "tanks testing" in a creek had been reality, at least in Germany. The late German designer Karl Feltz, who designed the 1/4 ton WC "Listang" which also nearly became 1/2 ton WC with small alterations did his tank testing in a creek of the River Elbe near Hamburg. He did the same with his extreme 12mR around 1982/83 before going into real tank testing at the Kiel facility. His design proved to be superior against the ´83 designs at least in a tank but the VAC Challenge of Germany failed due to lack of money though entry fee for Fremantle had been paid. The movie "Wind" captured exactly what it was about to go Cup sailing before the B days. Real good sailors can smile about the the inaccuracies and exaggerations. Peter Gilmour as the sailing expert did a real good job. Think about the scene when the "great couple" are "sniffing the wind". Is this not what you all want to do before your competition when racing? * From Scott Dinhofer: Simply put, 'Wind' is probably the only movie that has quality cinematography bringing real sailing action to the public. Sitting on the couch with a beer and this movie is a bit more exciting than watching the drifting matches in Auckland last year. If the '07 AC trials & cup matches can bring this level of excitement to the screen (and the public) it would be great for the sport. * From Bob Fisher (Re "Wind"): The best improvement Hollywood made in this film was the quality of the sound. It was sensational as was the I-14 footer racing that Bob Billingham remembers. Maybe the television producers should view it as a guide. * From Mike Esposito (re the movie "Wind"): If someone wanted to do an accurate America's Cup movie, wouldn't it have to be a courtroom drama? * From Janet C. Baxter: I had an opportunity for a brief visit to China last year. When I got to the hotel I turned on the TV to see what English they had. They were showing Wind, not with subtitles, but with Chinese voices dubbed in. I watched to the end. Curmudgeon's Comment: I think we have now generated enough business for the video stores, so we will declare this thread official dead. BTW - those of you who are going out to rent the flick may want to stick around for the credits at the end. You'll see the curmudgeon's name (misspelled) just before Buddy Melges. * From Jordan Murphy: It is great to see such names as Sinks, Barnard and Buckingham in the Sabots, it is a testament to the Sabot and the So. Cal sailing scene. Many of the sailors are multi generational and to see what it can bring to peoples lifes and families confirms how important sailing really can be. The rivalry in the senior sabots still goes on and is exemplified by two names in today's 'Butt. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you're in education you may believe in aerial spraying of Prozac. |
