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SCUTTLEBUTT 3147 - Tuesday, August 3, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and LaserPerformance. FOUR DIVISIONS CLASH IN DAY 1 US YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS San Pedro, Calif. (August 2, 2010) - Sunny skies, flat water, and plenty of breeze set the stage for day one of the U.S. Sailing Youth Championships (USYSC), hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club. On Monday, four classes including Lasers, Radials, C420s, and 29ers competed in the Port of Los Angeles for the first of three highly competitive days of racing. Competition is tight in the Radial Division. US Sailing Development Team (USSDT) member, Mitchell Kiss (Mascatawa Bay Yacht Club), clings to a one point lead over Mateo Vargas (St. Petersburg Yacht Club). Both Kiss and Vargas each won a race. Kiss tallied an impressive line of, 1-2-3-3. Vargas posted two second place finishes over the final two races to keep it very close atop the leaderboard. Michael Zonnenberg (Davis Island Yacht Club) won the final two races of the day to stay within striking distance. He is four points back. There was a battle on the water in the C420 fleet. The team of Graham Landy (Norfolk Yacht Country Club) and Colin Murphy (Shelter Island Yacht Club) have a one point lead over Chris and Daniel Segerblom (Newport Yacht Club) through four races. The Segerbloms scored two bullets in the final two races of the day to cut into the deficit. These two teams have distanced themselves from the rest of the fleet with plenty of racing to go. -- Full story: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/Day_One_2010_USYSC.htm CAMPAIGN SUPPORTS KITEBOARDING FOR 2016 OLYMPICS Berlin, Germany (August 2, 2010) - The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) is launching a campaign to gain inclusion of Kiteboard Racing as an event on the Olympic Sailing program for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. The IKA believes that kiteboarding can make a significant contribution to Olympic sailing and help to promote the sport. Kiteboarding can be found on every beach worldwide and is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people globally. "Kiteboarding is visually exciting to watch and attractive for young people. It can be done all over the world and brings youth, action, color and popularity back to Olympic Sailing," states Markus Schwendtner, Executive Secretary of the class. "Kiteboarding fits the spirit of what the Olympics were created to achieve more than any other sailing class. In my opinion Kiteboarding is the future of Olympic Sailing", he concludes. The International Olympic Committee stated at the 2009 Olympic Congress in Copenhagen that the Olympic Movement must strive to reach out to youth around the world. Kiteboarding is universal and has a strong following among women and youth on the highest levels. It is inexpensive to practice and enjoys a strong following as a recreational water sport. Already the campaign is carrying a lot of momentum. Personalities such as Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson (GBR), double Olympic Medalist Michael Gebhardt (USA), 9x Kiteboarding World Champion Kristin Boese (GER), Neil Pryde (NZL) and many more are supporting the effort with full force. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2cmb9ku TEAM 'FLYING JENNY VI' ENJOY SUCCESS ON GREAT LAKES Dave and Sandra Askew and their Annapolis, MD-based team (many of whom are family members) are enjoying success this summer on the Great Lakes. Starting with the Great Lakes IRC Championship, where 'Flying Jenny VI' scored 3 bullets to win their class, they went on to win their 12-boat class in the 2010 Pure Michigan Bayview Mackinac followed by a win in their 19-boat section in the Chicago YC Chicago to Mackinac. "The key to success is having a good boat and being well prepared," said Askew. "We like the J/122 class and use North (sails) exclusively." When performance matters, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com AMERICA'S CUP STYLE RACING RETURNS TO SOLENT Cowes, England (August 2, 2010) - The America's Cup Defenders have arrived in town with the iconic solid silver America's Cup they won earlier this year. BMW Oracle Racing, with the British America's Cup TEAMORIGIN headed by Sir Keith Mills, will race the 1851 Cup event set up to celebrate the first ever America's Cup match on the Solent between England and the USA in 1851. The two boats TEAMORIGIN's USA-87 and BMW ORACLE Racing's USA-98 went out training for the first time this afternoon with a course set up in the mid-western Solent, allowing the crews to re-acquaint themselves with the boats, short courses and to practice starts. The following was published today on BMW ORACLE Racing's blog: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - This week, our team squares off against Team Origin in The 1851 Cup, a match racing regatta on the Solent between the two teams in our V5 Cup sloops. Racing begins tomorrow and runs through Friday. The highlight of the regatta is a race around the Isle of Wight on Thursday, retracing the famous 53-nautical-mile course of 1851 that started a legend. The regatta features two of the youngest, most talented skippers in yacht racing: our very own Jimmy Spithill (31), the youngest winner of the America's Cup, and Team Origin's Ben Ainslie (33), a triple Olympic gold medalist. We'll save the superlatives about "sparks flying" and "chomping at the bit" for later and instead present Jimmy's take on the week ahead: On transitioning from multihulls back to monohulls: It's been harder than I thought it would be. You expect to come back to the same level quite fast but it takes time. It's the small details that matter. It's why this 1851 Cup series is so good for us. TeamOrigin is a fantastic team with some of the best sailors in the world, and I have no doubt that they will be right up there challenging when the next America's Cup comes around. On racing in the Solent: It'll be difficult because I've not sailed a whole lot at Cowes. It's not just Ben and TO we've got to deal with, it's the tides, the winds, the tankers, the other classes. So many different elements make it such a challenge. But I was brought up sailing in Sydney harbor so I'm good at dodging ferries, which is something. Plus our navigator, Ian Moore, lives on Cowes. Along with him, JK (John Kostecki), Rosco (Ross Halcrow), Cheese (Dirk de Ridder) and the rest of the crew we have a group that has spent countless hours on these waters, so we won't be lacking experience. -- Read on: http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com/ IAN WALKER TO LEAD ABU DHABI IN NEXT VOR Alicante, Spain (August 2, 2010) - The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority announced today that two-time British Olympic medallist and past Volvo Ocean Race skipper, Ian Walker, will take the helm for the emirate's debut in the next edition of the race. British Olympian Ian Walker (40), most recently skippered Green Dragon in the 2008-09 race and his career spans two decades in sailing and coaching including Olympic campaigns, the America's Cup and TP52s. Walker will also be design consultant on the specially-designed Volvo Open 70, capitalising on his years of experience to guide the campaign through the preparations and the race. ADTA, which was behind the emirate's successful bid to become a 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race home port, considers Walker's appointment to be a major coup for Abu Dhabi's first foray into the race. "Ian is the lynchpin in the dream team we are determined to secure," explained Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General, ADTA. "His high profile sends a signal of the seriousness of our ambitions in a sport which will help us build international awareness of our long maritime pedigree and exceptional coastline and surrounding waters." Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race is very pleased to have Ian Walker back in the race. "We believe he will be an excellent skipper and leader for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing," he said. "The host city is an excellent venue for sailing and hopefully this project will encourage and ignite passion for sailing within the region." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/29n3p84 * The next Volvo Ocean Race will start in the Spanish port of Alicante in the fall of 2011 and finish in Galway, Ireland during the summer of 2012. LITTLE AMERICA'S CUP HEADS TO NEWPORT AUGUST 22-28 Six, possibly seven - pending dramatic repairs, of the fastest, lightest, highly innovative 25-foot catamarans will compete on America's Cup courses off the coast of Newport, RI, on August 22-28, when the New York Yacht Club will host the International C-Class Catamaran Championship, also known as The Little America's Cup. Nine fleet races will seed the match racing contenders for actual Cup racing. With speculators reviewing monohull and multihull options for the (Big) America's Cup, this C-Class event provides all of the technology, sportsmanship and spectator highlights that favor a multihull design. "The boats are the most efficient sailing machines on the water," maintain Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke. Winners of the 2007 trophy at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, in Toronto, they will unveil their new boat, Canaan, in Newport. Designers are free to experiment. There are no weight or material restrictions. The boats are custom built by the teams to be extremely light - to the edge in fact. With wing rigs they are capable of twice the wind speeds seen on most race courses. "We can fly a hull in less than five knots of breeze while double trapezing in just six knots of wind," says Clarke. They can sail fast, but can their repair skills match their boatspeed? A wing was destroyed by a 30-knot gust during mid-July sail trials. "The mast and control system look intact, and it seems that many of the moldings are OK as well. This wing is not dead, it's just pining for the fjords!" commented Steve Clark in an online review of the photos. His optimism sums up the technological camaraderie of the fleet. Clark, along with three longtime multihull champions from Bristol, RI will race the new Aethon, and Cogito, the former gold standard C-Class Cat. The regatta will be as much about twist control as it will be about the latest in pre-impregnated unidirectional carbon, laminate strength, Autoclaves and thermal coefficients. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/237tnrf MELGES ONE DESIGN RACING IS SUPER HOT THIS FALL Hard to believe but the Fall Championship racing season is already here! The 2010 Melges 32 National Champs just finished and it was a huge success in Harbor Springs! Teams had a blast at such a beautiful venue! Look for more cool places, new faces and hot races as the 2010 Audi Melges 20 U.S. National Championship kicks off in Macatawa Bay, Michigan on August 27-29, the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship and Melges 24 North American Championship happens in late September. Stay close to all the class websites and melges.com and watch the entries and excitement build! -- http://www.melges.com VELUX 5 OCEANS HITS SILVER SCREEN (August 2, 2010) - The VELUX 5 OCEANS has hit the big screen with a starring role in a Hollywood blockbuster based around sailing. The race, dubbed The Ultimate Solo Challenge, was chosen to be the round-the-world yacht race central to the film Charlie St Cloud, starring teen heartthrob Zac Efron, released in US cinemas on July 30. The film is an adaptation of the best-selling Ben Sherwood novel The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud, in which the eponymous hero falls in love with a young sailor days before she is due to go to sea in a challenging solo round the world yacht race. Film producers chose to base the film on the 35,000-mile VELUX 5 OCEANS race, the oldest regularly held ocean race in the world, for its rich heritage spanning 28 years and reputation as one of the toughest sporting challenges known to man. Fittingly the yacht used in the film is none other than VELUX 5 OCEANS skipper Brad Van Liew's old boat Tommy Hilfiger, believed to be the fasted 50ft boat in the world. Van Liew sailed the yacht, now called Gryphon Solo, to victory in class two of the 2003 edition of the race, winning every leg. The yacht will appear in the film with full VELUX 5 OCEANS branding on its hull and sails. The timing couldn't be better, as Charleston-based skipper Van Liew is once again returning to the race, which sets out from La Rochelle on October 17 this year. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2azc2ak EIGHT BELLS Hans Zimmer, of Essex, CT, passed away last night at his home with his family and dogs after a long bout with cancer. Hans was an important member of our family at Pilot's Point Marina (Westbrook, CT), for the past 30 years. His presence touched us all, and he will not be easily forgotten. For those of us who worked with him side by side for the past three decades, Hans' passing marks the end of an era. Hans was bigger than life and was the leading force in many of the more notable projects on Americas Cup keels and the restoration of many famous classic sailing and motor yachts. Many of our current journeyman craftsmen owe their trade education and mentoring to Hans. He was a very, very special person. He is survived by his mother, Irmtraud, who at 100 yrs, lives in Germany, and his wonderful wife, Anke and daughter, Brigitta, and his two companion Labradors, Sailor and Rosie, who have always been by his side. A memorial service will be held at a later date, details to follow when appropriate. -- By Rives Potts, Managing Partner and Principal in Brewer's Yacht Yards, Manger Pilot's Point Marina SAILING SHORTS * (August 1, 2010) - The Canadian Youth Nationals U19 National Sailing Championships got underway on Sunday August 1 from the Nepean Sailing Club in Ottawa, Ontario. The renowned event has sailors entered from 8 provinces. The events being sailed through to August 4th are: Laser - males Laser Radial - females & males 29er - open 420 - females & males The event is the first qualifier for Canada's 2011 Youth World Sailing Team. -- Follow event at: http://www.sailing.ca/ * (August 1, 2010) - In results from the 2010 Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy Regatta held at the St Francis Yacht Club over the weekend, first place in IRC (9 boats) went to Soozal (Dan Woolery); first place in J120 (8 boats) - Chance (Barry Lewis); and first place in J105 (16 boats) - Blackhawk (Scooter Simmons). -- Full results at http://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=377 * (July 29, 2010) - A newly completed $8 million expansion of the San Diego Yacht Club in Point Loma includes new rooms for junior sailors, places to store their gear and a room to archive the club's century's worth of artifacts and documents. Dedicated Sunday, the Malin Burnham Sailing Center and related buildings is named for the club member long active in yachting as well as real estate locally who donated to the project. It was designed by Hanna Gabriel Wells and built by DPR Construction. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2dexen8 CATCH THE LASERPERFORMANCE BUG, AND GET OUT ON THE WATER The versatile LaserPerformance Bug has a Dacron sail for easy furling when storing or in heavy wind sailing. A race Mylar sail with power curved top section and larger sail area for higher performance is also available. Accessories for the Bug include oars, wheel kit (no dolly necessary) and engine bracket. Check it out at http://www.laserperformance.com/bug/home LETTERS AND FORUM Please email 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 Robert Wilkes (re, Scuttlebutt 3144, edited to the 250 word limit): I suggest Al Johnson's comments in Butt 3144 have got it the wrong way round. The large and increasing number of participants in Optimist events is, at least in part, the result of sailing organisations creating the LEAST expensive game possible. Some of his remarks show how little he has studied the realities of these events and the efforts "sailing organizations" make to reduce costs. For example: - Participants DON'T have to send their boats thousands of miles. At all three named events (and many others) fully competitive charter boats are available from as little as USD 300. - The cost of sending coaches is reduced by the fact that only one coach per ten sailors at the North Americans and one for the entire team at the Europeans is allowed on the water, and each coach must share a support boat with another coach thus halving the cost of same. - Entry fees at these two events are kept very low, providing racing, lodging and all meals for under USD80 per day. My guess is that this is a lot cheaper than many summer camps. - The IODA calendar is normally scheduled so that it is impossible for the same sailors to participate in both the N. Americans and the Europeans, so no parent has to pay for both for the same sailor. And kids who go to the Europeans are not allowed to go to the Worlds. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/272s9qw * From Scott Truesdale: Re racing for spectators (America's Cup for TV): The BEST yacht racing spectating I've experienced has been at the Congressional Cup Match Race in Long Beach, California. The starting line is 100 meters or less off the public pier and the odd shape of the pier allows the starters to use the pier tactically as a obstruction. There are many pre-starts where you can actually reach out and touch the spreaders of the competitors. You can hear what the tactician is saying to the helmsman. You can talk to the helmsman yourself if you were to be so bold. You can see the entire course from the pier and having three matches occurring simultaneously means there is always something interesting to see. It's addictive, action-packed, and the beer and food is right there. The boats used are low-tech but it absolutely does not matter; the crews and skippers and the venue make the race. Granted "the scene" isn't up to Valencia or Newport or Auckland standards; we'll have to work on that... * From Dean Dietrich, Tiburon, CA (re, Scuttlebutt 3146): Bill Reilly's comment that the AC should be designed for sailors, not a landlubber TV audience is understandable. But Bill, consider this: the AC is the only sailing event in the U.S. that can potentially attract a large non-sailing audience. Who cares? Well, it is well documented that sailing is attracting fewer and fewer youngsters and that doesn't bode well for the sport. The elitism implied by the comment that "let non-sailors watch auto racing" is singularly unattractive. As for the comment: " it's all about greed and making money, at the expense of ruining the sailing", I agree that Alinghi's conduct was reprehensible though I don't think either Ellison or Bertarelli made money on the last AC. But Ellison seems committed to a level playing field and broadening the appeal of this event. Let's give him a chance to make this happen. * From John N. Dennis: Re America's Cup, please make the racing fair and competitive for all challengers and the Cup races themselves. Forget about trying to get millions of viewers who normally don't give a damn about sailing. Sailing and yacht racing interests sailors! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Entropy has us outnumbered. Special thanks to North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
