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SCUTTLEBUTT 2447 – October 5, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. BACK HOME -- TEMPORARILY Ernesto Bertarelli brought the America's Cup back to the New York Yacht Club today, placing the silver chalice on its original pedestal for the first time since the longest winning streak in sports ended in 1983. The billionaire yachtsman also brought along a defense of his side in a court fight brewing over control of the race between two of the world's richest men. Bertarelli, 42, who successfully defended the Cup for landlocked Switzerland in July in the waters off Valencia, Spain, sat by the limestone fireplace in the club's Model Room explaining why he'd like to change the rules for the world's oldest sporting championship and is willing to fight for those changes in an Oct. 22 court hearing. “When we thought of the vision of the 33rd America's Cup, a very strong underlying theme -- that maybe is not shared with some disgruntled competitors -- was to reduce cost,'' Bertarelli said. ``I think a lot of people see what we're trying to do. We have five competitors entered and more that are coming. But we're not pleasing everyone and that's unfortunate.'' Bertarelli said that his changes -- which include enlarging the boats used in the race and reducing the time between competitions to two years from four -- will make the 156-year- old event more marketable and profitable. Oracle Corp. chief Larry Ellison, one of Bertarelli's competitors, says Bertarelli is manipulating the rules in his own favor. “All of us are just astonished by what is taking place here,'' said Tom Ehman, head of external affairs for BMW-Oracle. ``We don't understand what was wrong with what was done last time.'' -- Excerpts from a story by Aaron Kuriloff posted on Bloomberg.com, full story: http://tinyurl.com/33rh96 MEANWHILE * Team New Zealand will continue to prepare for an America's Cup in Valencia in 2009, despite organizers considering postponing the event. Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton said America's Cup Management have only said they are concerned at the feasibility of organizing the cup in 2009 and are considering all options. They intend to consult the challengers and other interested parties over the next few days. "For us, today is no different than yesterday," Dalton said. -- NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/ytu2x3 * With the new Head of Team Jochen Schümann, Team Germany is on schedule structuring its team for the 33rd America’s Cup. Schümann: “We have accepted the challenge to race in a new boat class, the AC90 class, in the summer of 2009 in Valencia. Our new designer team is forming within the next few days at the team base in Valencia in order to design the first 90ft America’s Cup Yacht according to the new rules and to then build it in Germany.” Team Germany registered on the basis of the recent protocol in July 2007, which was concluded between the Yacht Club Societe Nautique Geneve (SNG) representing Alinghi and the Spanish yacht club CNEV. Michael Scheeren, CEO of the German Challenge: “We are expecting more protocol details from the America’s Cup Management in the next couple of days. We are prepared to accept changes. Everybody has to aim at the creation of attractive rules for all participating teams and sailing fans.” Team Germany is convinced that the America’s Cup is strong enough to solve all problems in the established bodies with the defender Alinghi, all other teams as well as with the event organizer ACM. -- Valencia Sailing, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2sgrm2 REACTION Have a read of the German press statement (above) regarding the canning of the Cup in 2009. I think it's a very interesting release from the team and if you read between the lines you can see that these poor guys are in a really tricky situation. Obviously they've signed up their sailors and sponsors on the promise of a regatta in new boats in 2009 and now they've got all the indecision and massive financial commitments to try and keep the team together for an as yet undertermined regatta date. I would imagine that all the other syndicates who have pressed the "go" button way too prematurely are also in the same situation. -- Magnus Wheatley, Rule 69 Blog, full story: http://www.rule69blog.com/archive/2007/october/870/ IN ANNAPOLIS, SAILORS ARE LEARNING ABOUT SAILKOTE PLUS Racers and cruisers have been asking about Team McLube Sailkote PLUS anti-mildew formula. Cruisers like the idea of keeping their sails clean and mildew-free for more than six years. They also want to upgrade to larger sails or heavier cloth that rolls up within the same circumference. Racers from skiffs and one design keelboats to Open 60s like the fact that Sailkote PLUS greatly reduces friction, sails roll up 35% tighter, and 50% less water absorption means lighter sails and faster drying. If you’re not in Annapolis this week, you can learn more about Sailkote PLUS by clicking here: http://mclube.com/sailkote/sailkoteplus.php CONFLICTS CAUSE SHRINKAGE There will be fewer classes next year at US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR. The event will provide competition in just four of the Olympic classes (Laser, Laser Radial, Star, and Yngling) and all three Paralympic classes (2.4mR, SKUD-18, and Sonar) chosen for the 2008 Games in Qingdao, China. However, there will not be racing for another seven of the Olympic classes (49er, 470 Men & Women, Finn, Neil Pryde RS:X Men & Women, and Tornado) due to near-direct conflicts with their world championships held overseas. "The 2008 Rolex Miami OCR will be abbreviated, yes," said US Sailing’s High Performance Director Gary Bodie, "because it is critical, especially in an Olympic year, for sailors to attend their world championships. For those classes without conflicts, however, it’s business as usual, which means full-on competition among the best sailors in the world and even more excitement because we are so close to the Olympics and Paralympics." Bodie explained that the Rolex Miami OCR traditionally is the only International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade-One ranking event in the U.S. for competition in all 14 Olympic and Paralympic classes. Last year, it hosted more sailors -- 855 from 49 countries -- than it ever had before, with a whopping 71 percent of the athletes having traveled from abroad. -- http://http://www.rolexmiamiocr.org/ BEING PROACTIVE COUNTS BIG TIME IF YOUR BOAT GOES DOWN With the way this summer had been going it was an auspicious call. “Hey, hammer,” said my friend Ed. “A bunch of us are going out tonight. A full-moon cruise. Just the guys and a three-hour trip to nowhere and back. You up for it?” I looked at my wife who had just changed our then-smelly-now-rose-smelling grandchild, and like a dutiful husband/ grandfather, told Ed I’d see if I could make it. There’s something about the maternal instinct that can work to a grandfather’s advantage, and my wife shooed me out of the house, even mentioning I “needed to relax.” Before that glowing mood past, I was gone and down at the docks about 10 minutes later. “Whoa. Thought you were blowing me off,” said Ed. I related the entire tale and we pulled lines, disconnected land power, stored fenders and back the 40-foot Jersey out of the dock. “Hear what happened at the town dock?” asked Ed. We live in the Peconic Bay area, nestled between the “fish tails” of eastern Long Island, New York. “Town dock” in this case means the newly refurbished docks of the town of Riverhead, located at the head of Peconic Bay and home to the only saltwater-front Mickey D’s in the world. Apparently, a boat just up from Florida had tied up, blown a shaft seal and sunk at the dock. -- by Capt. Gary P. Joyce, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5358 RAISING THE ANTE (Following an intense racing season on the TP52 Artemis, where his team won the Med-Cup Series and the TP 52 Global Championships, Russell Coutts takes a look at the TP52 Class. Here’s an excerpt from his report now posted on-line.) I was amazed at the improvement in performance from last year. When we first went sailing I asked our navigator to correct the boatspeed calibrations as it appeared to be over-reading. In fact, I was told it was slightly under reading. The boatspeed was 4/10's of a knot faster than most of the 2006 generation boats! That sort of improvement is simply amazing and shows the effect of a series of subtle refinements. I suspect (and hope) the differences next year will be less dramatic although it is already pretty evident that some of the new 2007 boats will already be uncompetitive in 2008. Owner Torbjorn Tourqvist has sold Artemis but will build a new boat for next season and in all honesty, it will be very difficult to achieve the same results. To read the full report: http://www.russellcoutts.com/en/news/index.php?idContent=409 TOP 10 STUPID BOAT NAMES A while ago, I came across the Top 10 Boat Names according to Boat US. Many of them are plain stupid, not least the #1 boat name, ‘Aquaholic’. Pu-lease! In doing a bit of digging around, I found some other dumb names for a boat. How about ‘Ship Happens.’ Imagine calling Mayday on your VHF in this boat. Bernie Ebbers, the jailed former CEO of Worldcom's yacht was called ‘Aquasition’. He deserved time for that alone. I thought it might be a good wide to come up with the top 10 Stupidest Boat names. Let me know your favorite stupidest boat names. I will send a Top 10 Sailing CD to the best 3 submissions. -- http://messingaboutinboats.typepad.com/sailing/2007/09/top-10-stupid-b.h tml OPEN SESAME MORRIS YACHTS OPENS A NEW BUILDING! At least a month ahead of schedule and on budget, Morris Yachts opened their new M-Series production hall on Monday, October 1. Company founder Tom Morris did the honors and drove the first boat hull in it was particularly appropriate because the M42 he moved in belongs to him. The new hall will provide 9,000 square feet of state-of-the-art workspace. The project in Trenton, Maine also includes massive renovations and space efficiencies throughout the 2.75-acre facility. All utilities will be upgraded to include energy efficient lighting, an upgraded waste treatment system, and in-floor heating. http://www.morrisyachts.com/news SAILING SHORTS * The Volvo Ocean Race has marked the one-year countdown to the start of 2008-09 event in Alicante, Spain, with the launch of a new free on-line TV channel. The race’s further leap into the multimedia age is in line with the race’s commitment to using the latest in media technology to give a worldwide audience access to the race any time, anywhere, during its 39,000 nautical mile odyssey around the globe. Six boats from the US, Russia, Spain and Sweden have now confirmed for the 2008-09 event that stops in at least 11 ports over a nine month period. -- http://www.thenewsmarket.com/volvooceanrace * According to a report published on the Valencia Life Network, Rita Barbera, the Mayoress of Valencia, stated that staging the races at a date later than 2009 represented no problem whatsoever for the City. * Cruising World and Sailing World magazines have announced the nominees for the biggest annual honors in sailboat building, the Boat of the Year awards. Cruising World nominated 26 boats in six categories: Small Cruisers, Mid-size Cruisers, Mid-size Luxury Cruisers, Full-size Cruisers, Unlimited Cruisers and Multihulls. Sailing World is considering 15 boats for its awards. For the complete list of nominees: http://www.sailingworld.com/ & http://www.cruisingworld.com/ * On a new list of the world's richest people. Larry Ellison is ranked 12th at $18.7 billion, while Ernesto Bertarelli is listed as number 51 with $7.4 billion. -- http://tinyurl.com/yquxfp * This week marks 10 years since Australian Sailing Team (AST) Head Coach, Victor Kovalenko, arrived in Australia and subsequently labelled 'Medal Maker'. In total, he has lead crews to twelve 470 world titles and six Olympic Games medals. Victor will once again lead the Australian Sailing Team into yet another Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) The database for the Scuttlebutt event calendar is shared by several media outlets, with the online information being relied on to both market the sailing events and then to later report on them. Be sure that your event is included on this widely viewed sailing calendar. View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Jim Klein: I've just discovered Cory Friedman's America's Cup commentary and write to congratulate him. Not only is he unbiased and accurate, but he's funny as hell. Tell him I'll buy the first one when he gets to San Francisco. Curmudgeon’s Comment: Cory has proven to be a blessing, as he is the only neutral source providing information on the NY Supreme Court actions, and his knowledge of the legal system cuts through the B.S. that the teams have gotten so skilled at providing. His reports have gotten the attention Alinghi owner Ernesto Berterelli, for whom he had lunch with on Thursday. Look for more on that next week; here is the link to Cory’s commentary: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/ * From Paul Henderson: I have tried to keep out of the America's Cup controversy but I would like to throw in my Canadian two cents worth which is now equal to a USA two cents. I have never been actively involved in the AC until this year when asked by Luca DeVotti to help with +39 as I was a FD/Finn/Star sailor. I thought Valencia was a great promotion for Sailing especially since AC is the one event non-sailors relate to. The AC had the chance to sit along side the great events such as the Masters Golf, Wimbledon, Monaco F1 and the few other quality events. But again the egos of the AC players has gone before their responsibility to our beloved sport and dragged it down invoking lawsuits, self-serving protocol and governance issues. No one is right in fact all sides are wrong. I implore that all the "Big Boys with Big Toys" to forget the courts and get together for the good of sailing and insure that fairness and integrity prevail building on the great successes of Valencia and Auckland. * From Michelle Slade: Maybe time-out is a resolution for the current Cup mess. As much as I enjoy the America’s Cup when it’s “on”, it’s sad to see where ACM is taking the event in an attempt to exercise its control over the event. I doubt today’s announcement suggesting that ACM may postpone the 2009 Cup was any more than an attempt to garner some much needed support which they are unlikely to get with pathetic news releases such as this directed at the GGYC. People will sit up and listen to them when they actually have something meaningful to impart. This is one of many unnecessary releases that ACM have distributed recently - I’m not sure who they consult to help them with public relations but it’s time they considered a more constructive strategy. * From Fred Lewis: Postponing the AC past 2009 would be the swan song. With today's attitude of "here" "now", oh, I can watch it there sometimes, why worry, why bother...as far as an international market. The coverage this last series was spectacular, kudos to Tucker &crew. I had non-sailors talking to me after every race - they got the dynamics, now we lose it all in court???!!! * From Dave Davis (re the flying boat video of the week): Hey; seen these things all over Panama City Beach, Florida. So they're legal at least one place in the U.S.Sugar sand beaches, spring break, and ridiculous watercraft ... don't get no bettah than that. * From Ken Guyer: The flying boat has been around in the U.S. for years. I first saw it during the Miami Boat Show in 2000. Check out Gus's Incredible Flying Boats, Panama City, Florida. http://www.flyingbeachboat.com/ * From Bob Bausch: In Scuttlebutt 2446 you have a great video of a new version of aircraft. If what you say is true, we would not be able to fly in the US. Well, it's interesting that the Brazilians have developed a new flying machine. Turns out they have been there before. Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian, was one of the most famous early pioneers of aviation. Wikipedia has a good review of his accomplishments. * From Lenore Goldman: I have been volunteering on race committees for 10 years. All sailors tell me that they come out to race. I've never heard a complaint from any sailor in any fleet if the racing starts at 10 or 11am and gets competitors back to the dock between 3:30 and 4:30pm. In my experience...the number of races per day relates directly to the age of the competitor and size of the boat. For example...the young sailors who race opti's or lasers want more races per day than the 50+ year old racing on a Beneteau 40.7 or a GL70. That being said...it's the RC's job to give the competitors fair racing. It should always be quality over quantity. If the RC asks the competitors what they want...the competitors will be happy to tell them...not just number of races per day...but length...configuration...etc. Every fleet has different requests...and the RC should be willing and able to accommodate them within the guidelines of running fair races. * From Gregory Scott (about the Curmudgeon’s comment regarding the number of races are affected by the travel time to the venue.): Around here the reverse is more likely .... If we travel we want the most out of each day .... 1st gun at 10am ..pack in a bunch of races ... on the dock between 4-5 .... beers on the boat while we motor in and clean up the boat .. a chat at the dock .. decide where for grub etc ... back at it the next day. At home ... 1st gun at 10am two races or a chase or geography race.... on the dock 3-4 get the kids on board .... BBQ at the club.... I think the issue that likely divides the ranks is how you move the boat ....on it's own bottom or trailer ... The trailer types want to pack and go .... so do the own bottoms but it usually takes longer to get the boat out of the water and packed up compared to the own bottom group ...that group doesn't have Sunday traffic as an issue.... around here is like Long Island Sound .. we are going 3 - 5 - 8 or 20 hours to the clubs that host events ... If we move the boat down the lake, it' likely going to stay there for 2-3 events and then come home .. At the IMS Worlds in Newport, I shared time between a Brendan Dobroth PHRF boat and an IMS boat..... at the end of the event the PHRF boats had way more races in and were envied by the IMS clan .. If you come from Italy ..you want to be racing. races in and were envied by the IMS clan. If you come from Italy. you want to be racing. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION "There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage." James Holt McGavran Special thanks to Team McLube and Morris Yachts. |
