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SCUTTLEBUTT 2942 - Friday, October 2, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Doyle Sails and e Sailing Yachts. IN NEED OF A NEW PARADIGM Participation in sailing is declining in America, down more than 40% since 1997 and 70% since 1979. In the book 'Saving Sailing', author, researcher, and avid sailor Nicholas Hayes explains why. The book shows how generational changes among Americans have affected the decisions on how time is now getting spent, and builds a case for choosing to spend free time better, using it to seek quality experiences with families and friends through lifelong pastimes like sailing. Here are some comments that Hayes shared with Scuttlebutt: ------------------------------------------------------------------- * Was there a defining moment that motivated you to write this book? NICK HAYES: "I'm an avid sailor, and most of my own experiences contradicted what I was reading and seeing. When the data from research did too, the idea for the book was born. What needed refuting? Myths like: kids are lazy, it's only for the wealthy, crew recruitment is hard, it's not family-friendly, there aren't enough programs, media events create interest, there isn't enough time...." * You noted that the decline in sailing had more to do with available time rather than available finances. Is this an example of how we value things based on our commitment to them? NICK HAYES: "Yes. I've never met an avid sailor who doesn't deliberately make the time for sailing. It's our key common trait. And there is no disparity in eagerness or commitment from sailors who do low cost sailing vs. those who do high cost sailing. The vast majority of sailors structure their lives around it: where they live, what else they spend their money on, even whether they will take one job vs another." * Do you feel that the increasingly competitive nature of our sport, or the cost to compete, has squeezed people out? Please explain. NICK HAYES: "While I love to race, and prefer to take home a flag when I do, the unstated fact is that sailing competition is essentially meaningless, except in the good memories that it might create, the personal confidence that it might build and in the friendships that might develop from it. I take issue with "cost to compete" being framed as an issue. If the financial burden is too great in one venue, I find that sailors who still want to race but have less means will create their own venue. Racing always starts with two people saying "let's go here to there and see who gets there first." Of course, there has always been a "cater to the big spenders" tendency in sailing, and this leads to trophies for sale... but this has, as evident by the resurgence of informal dinghy leagues, all-women PHRF series, and community sailing centers, never been what drives the sport." -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/1001/ MELGES 32 WORLDS - TURNING POINT Last week at the Melges 32 World Championship, Pieter Taselaar's Bliksem (USA) team steadily worked their way up the rankings, ultimately winning the event with a race to spare. Their final hurdle had been Claudio Recchi's Team 93 (ITA), who had led the event from the first day. A protest between these two teams in race 9 (of the 10 race series) proved pivotal. As Taselaar described it, "On the first leg, 93 tacked inside three boat lengths (of the weather mark) and forced us above close hauled and then hit us so we had no choice but to protest because of contact. The jury found those facts too. That gave us an extra six point lead, resulting in a 17 points lead so we didn't need to sail the last race." Team 93 tactician was American Jonathan McKee, who offered his side of the incident. "We put ourselves in a position where the onus was on us," noted McKee. "Even though we thought we were right, and the jury members who saw the incident seemed to agree with our version of the events, in the end the jury thought we had not proved our case so we were chucked out." "The most interesting aspect of the case was that Bliksem chose to protest at all, since we would have moved ahead of them in the regatta if we had won, which was certainly a possibility. So there was some risk on their part, perhaps more than they thought, but in the end they were vindicated." Regarding Taselaar's claim that he was forced to protest due to contact, McKee added, "In the end the jury concluded that there probably was contact, otherwise they would have disallowed the protest. I did not personally see the contact, but there probably was, so in that case we probably should have just done our circle. However they certainly could have prevented the contact, but it worked out for them, so my bad, and certainly no disrespect to the Bliksem team who sailed very well and deserved the title." On putting it all in perspective, McKee notes, "I felt we deserved better than fourth, but the results are what they are and life goes on. One thing I learned (or relearned): you are never as good as your best day, but neither are you as bad as your worst day! It was quite a disappointing regatta for us in the end, going from sailing very well to not sailing well, and ending just out of the money. It hurts, but life goes on. I had a great Moth sail this week on Lake Washington, so now my mind is a little less obsessed." Final results: http://www.yccsresults.com/melges32_09/melg32.htm WEEKEND SWEEP Spike Boston won the S2 7.9 Class Championship, the 11th time the Boston family has won the event. Tac Boston won the Ultimate 20 North Americans, the 6th time the Bostons have won that event. Boston wins continued with Brad Boston taking the Viper 640 North Americans. For the second time, Bill Abbott won the Soling Worlds. And still in the same weekend, Marvin Beckmann sailed to victory in the Etchells North Americans. The common denominator? Doyle sails. When one designs come down to one, it's Doyle. Visit us at the Annapolis Boat Show. http://www.doylesails.com/sweep IT'S TIME TO SELL THE SPONSORSHIP By Matthew Gregory The key to a selling a sponsorship proposal is the in-depth focus on designing activation programs for the sponsor. Before going into talk to a sponsorship opportunity I research everything that there is to know about the company that I'm presenting to. I read every annual report, SEC filing, analyst call, and executive interview that I can get my hands on. I study the strategies of their competitors as well. If they are growing into a new market, then I design it into the activation. If they are having employee retention or recruiting problems then I design the solution into the activation. Launching a new product? Want to demonstrate a technology? Purchasing a company? Launching a philanthropy project? Need a voice for a PR campaign? Redefining their brand? Whatever and where-ever the company wants to go I build the platform to catalyze their core business goals and relate it all to the property attributes of the sailing team. The sailing project is not the focus of the presentation; it is, instead, the base that the entire business case is built upon. It is also critical to show the sponsor that their investment's returns will be both measurable and also be independent of the sporting outcome of the races. Ericsson Racing's VOR 2005-6 project is the perfect example of a measurable activation strategy, that was wildly successful, even though the sailing team was, arguably, not. -- Part 3, read on: http://tinyurl.com/MG-Part-3 Part 1: http://tinyurl.com/MG-Part-1 Part 2: http://tinyurl.com/MG-Part-2 SEEKING TO TURN THE TIDE Following the steady decline in participation of the TP52 MedCup Circuit, the organisers, stakeholders and boat owners involved in this prominent and highly professional series are committed to making further savings to reduce participation costs for teams while stepping up the performance and competitiveness of the TP52's, while seeking to improve the return for team sponsors. The savings which apply to the TP52 Series are principally the reduction of crew numbers and costs, limiting the number of pre-regatta training days allowed, and a further cut in the TP52 sail allowance for the season. According to Audi MedCup Technical Director Nacho Postigo the net savings over the season for a typical top team would add up to around Euros 200,000. -- Read on: http://2009.medcup.org/news/index.php?id=1487 SAILING SHORTS * Heath, TX (October 1, 2009; Day 2) - Phil "Flip" Wehrheim of Rochester, NY maintained his lead at the J/22 North American Championship at Rush Creek Yacht Club, but only by one point heading into the final day of racing on Friday. Scott Young of Austin, TX placed in the top three in each of Thursday's races, including a first in the last race of the day. With one throw-out coming into play, Wehrheim's team now sits with 15 points to Young's 16. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8347#8347 * Registration is now open for the 2009 Canadian Yachting Association National Qualifying Regatta taking place at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on October 1-4. This fall regatta is the Canadian Sailing Team qualifier for the Laser, Radial & 470 classes. This event is also significant for youth athletes in the Laser/Radial classes vying for a spot on the 2010 Youth World Team. -- Details: http://tinyurl.com/ybbv2ua * Portoroz, Slovenia (October 1, 2009; Day 3) - Following the match racing segment of the Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup, four fleet races took place in a southerly breeze ranging from 8 to 15 knots. BMW ORACLE Racing, with Ian Vickers now at the helm and Russell Coutts calling the shots, started the day with two bullets and finished it with two premature starts. Thanks to a great come-back in race four, BMW ORACLE Racing leads the provisional ranking ahead of Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis and Pieter Heerema's No Way Back. -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2140 * The cities of Barcelona and New York, through the Fundacio Navegacio Oceanica Barcelona (FNOB) and the New York City Sports Commission, have announced a new transoceanic sailing event to take place in April 2010, the NY-BCN Transoceanic Sailing Record. Aimed at strengthening the sporting and cultural bonds between New York and Barcelona, this is the first transoceanic sailing race between the two cities, and the record will be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). -- Full story: http://www.sys-con.com/node/1127916 * US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) seeks nominations from the public for the 2009 Coach of the Year Awards in Sailing. The awards are a part of the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) Coach Recognition Program which highlights the accomplishments and contributions of coaches who train athletes at all levels of sailing. The OSC will nominate sailing coaches in five categories: National Coach of the Year, Developmental Coach of the Year, Volunteer Coach of the Year, Paralympic Coach of the Year and the "Doc" Counsilman Science Award. The OSC will accept nominations from the public until October 23, 2009. -- Details: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/2009_Coach_of_the_Year.htm SAIL AN e33 WITH THE DESIGNERS The e Sailing Yachts design team of PERSAK & WURMFELD will be hosting e33 test sails at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis next week. Experience the e33's unique combination of performance, comfort and easy handling, and try out the new square top mainsail, which offers impressive performance across a broad range of wind speeds. Designers Carl Persak & Jeremy Wurmfeld will also be on hand to present their innovative designs for the new e27 daysailer and e44 performance cruiser. See you at the show! Reserve at test sail at: http://www.esailingyachts.com/testsail AMERICA'S CUP WATCH * The Swiss Defender of the 33rd America's Cup docked in the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah on Wednesday morning after a 12 day, 4,400nm voyage aboard Rickmers Singapore, a cargo ship. The 193m ship left Genoa, Italy, on 18 September with the giant catamaran, Alinghi 5, two masts, seven support vessels and approximately 20 containers on board. It travelled across the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and Gulf, across the Red and then Arabian Sea before docking in Saqr Port, Ras al Khaimah in the Arabian Gulf at 06:30 CET on Wednesday 30 September. -- Read on: http://www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/index.php?idIndex=200&idContent=20551 * Back in July 2007, following the initial challenge by BMW Oracle Racing where they submitted the proposed dimensions of their vessel, the Deed of Gift required that "a custom-house registry of the vessel must also be sent as soon as possible." The challenger has postponed this submission, saying that they would do so when they had completed their vessel. This day has now come, with the certificate stating the length of their vessel is 113.3 feet, its breadth is 89.9 feet, and depth is 7.5 feet. The certificate also includes gross and net tonnage, neither of which is a measure of the vessel's displacement, but rather are references to its internal volume. The challenger's Certificate of Documentation is posted here: http://www.ggyc.com/USA%20Certificate%20of%20Documentation.pdf PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include the Alinghi team arriving in the Persian Gulf, a creative t-shirt, crew member walking the plank (not really), a serene San Francisco, a snotty team race, and a righteous sailing event for injured war veterans. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1002/ * Hosted in Saint-Tropez, France, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez is an amazing rendezvous of yachts, bringing together the most extraordinary modern sailing boats alongside the most beautiful traditional yachts. Here are the images this week from Guilain Grenier and Sally Collison: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1001/ VIDEO OF THE WEEK Australian Julian Bethwaite, who has been riding the skiff wave with his 49er and 29er class designs, must be pretty sick of all the attention that hydrofoiling boats are now getting. Somebody must have said how cool the foiling Moth class is to him one too many times, so he decided to stick some foils on a 49er just to silence the noise. This video shows the 49er flying around in Sydney Harbour in about 11 knots. As Julian says, "This is what we are up to these days. It'll be interesting to see where we are at in another 25 years." Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/1002/ * If you have a video you like, please send your suggestion for next week's Video of the Week to mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Dennis Toews, the old bald headed crew of Paul Henderson: I have been very fortunate to be able to crew for some great people and fine sailors. Ron Ormiston, Don Barnes, Hans Fogh, Peter Hall, and Paul Henderson. It will likely come as a great shock to many that Paul was likely the quietest in the boat (note I said in the boat). The night in London when we were celebrating after Paul was elected President of IYRU (now called ISAF), Paul was not "in the boat". With the size and weight differential I was able to wrest the microphone from his hands and say, "Oh boy! Instead of President I wished they had made him Cardinal and then I would only have to kiss his ring." Paul being Paul, who in any situation looks to improve upon it, and knowing I held him in high regard, ascended the ecclesiastical ladder that evening, his vision having been somewhat blurred by much consumption of medicinal products out of the Loire and Burgundy. * From Kathy Weishampel: More that 25+ years ago Hank Schofield named Lowell North "The Pope." As far as I know that has not changed. So imagine my surprise when Paul Henderson says he is called "the Pope!" Lowell is still The Pope but perhaps Paul Henderson could be a Cardinal. * From Matthew Lindblad, Head Coach, MIT Varsity Sailing: Thanks for picking up the email I sent to the ICSA e-mail list (in Scuttlebutt 2940). I have received a tremendous amount of emails from outside the college arena inquiring about the program, far too many to respond individually to each one in the height of the fall college racing season. The "Techscore" Program was created by Dayan Paez MIT '07 explicitly for scoring college regattas. In fact, the program is directly linked to the ICSA sailor registration database and it is very difficult to score regatta's that are not college teams with registered sailors. The "Techscore" program uses collegiate procedural rules for scoring and loads all regatta results into a single database which will allow us to track individual sailor's results, etc. This link to the ICSA Sailor database makes it not only inconvenient to use for personal events, it also corrupts the regatta result database in an undesirable way. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8348#8348 * From Bob Black: Stuart Johnstone's piece is interesting (in Scuttlebutt 2941). The information remained locked tight for the rest of the summer--at least from the press. I believe the first press person (at least first American press person) I think to dope it out was Dave Knickerbocker of Newsday. Knickerbocker, a very curmudgeonly type himself, was on a press boat following the Aussies in training mode and, he said, the sun and shadows were just right to see through the water right down to the winged keel. Few believed him, but his eyesight was right on. * From Jonathan B. Luscomb, Palm Beach, FL: I just finished Stuart Johnstone's story of the summer of 83. Pretty funny that those young bucks were such sneaks! I found it interesting that he could not believe that Dennis and Tom did not protest! I would not have protested either to be found out that I was a sneak! Say what you want about the last race and Dennis not covering to throw the race, but the same mistake was made by Dave Dellenbaugh and the girls on "Mighty Mary". I do not think that Dave was "throwing" that race, he just blew it. In 1983 Liberty blew it. I miss those days in Newport! * Paul Grimes, Portsmouth, RI: In response to Dan Spurr's article "Setting the Record Straight" and Warren Muir's response (Scuttlebutt 2940, 2941), "Now we will see the supporters of the Auld Mug wanting the cup back at the NYYC for breach of the America's cup rules that were in affect at the time." Right you are, Warren, Dan Spurr has taken a huge step toward proving that the '83 Cup match was invalid. And the timing is perfect! What a fun solution to the current mess! If the '83 America's Cup victory can be declared null and void, (at least on paper, get it??) then all the races since then are also meaningless (on paper), and . . . Alinghi is not the rightful defender. So, the Cup goes back to NYYC, and we in Rhode Island will be happy to welcome the world back to Newport. How about the summer of 2012, using the same IACC rule that led to such close racing last time? And best of all, we'll welcome our Aussie friends back to have a go at repeating history. (You can't skip this one, guys, and bring the boxing kangaroo flags!) As for all the money already spent on the multihulls - no problem, we'll call that economic stimulus. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate." - Sigmund Freud Special thanks to Doyle Sails and e Sailing Yachts. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
