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SCUTTLEBUTT 3233 - Monday, December 6, 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: Ultimate Sailing, West Marine, and Henri Lloyd. OLYMPIC SAILING - IS THE MEN'S KEELBOAT ERA OVER? Among the ten sailing events that will be held at the 2012 Olympics, none is more senior than the men’s keelboat, and no class has been in more Olympics than the Star. But when the tentative list of events for the 2016 Olympics was voted on at the ISAF Annual Meeting last month (to be finalized in May 2011), the men’s keelboat event was gone, possibly ending a history of Olympic keelboat competition that began when sailing was included at the 1900 Games in Paris, France. Intimately familiar with the Olympic Games is American Mark Reynolds, whose four appearances earned him a Silver and two Gold medals, with his Star accomplishments in 2000 earning him ISAF’s highest honor - World Sailor of the Year. Scuttlebutt checked in with Mark about ISAF’s decision: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Is the exclusion of the Star about how sailing now fits into the Olympic scene rather than how the Olympic events represent the sport? MARK REYNOLDS: The Olympic events are supposed to represent the sport. The bottom line is the IOC wants the best athletes represented in each Olympic sport. One reason baseball was dropped is that the best players were not at the Olympics. The best men sailors are currently sailing in the keelboat. Look at the entry list at the Olympics, or for last summer's "Sail For Gold” World Cup event. The men’s keelboat athletes were undoubtedly the most accomplished. It was pointed out to me before the Annual Meeting in Athens that ISAF’s measure of the best sailor, the Rolex Sailor of the Year award, has been won 6 times in the last 11 years by sailors that are currently competing in the Star. Some people are currently arguing that the Olympics are for the youth, and it's better that former medalists move out of the Olympics to other challenges. For me the Olympics have always been the pinnacle of sport regardless of age, and I know my contemporaries that did leave Olympic sailing did it for nothing other than financial reasons. Today, Olympic sailing has more financial support, enabling more at the top to stay in Olympic sailing. A keelboat class will keep the top sailors in the Olympics, either before they do the Volvo/AC or to get them back after those events. The IOC wants the Olympics to be the "pinnacle" of each sport, and a keelboat will keep the best sailors competing in the Olympics. * Olympic sailing began with all keelboats events. When the Star joined in 1932, it fit cleanly into that group. Now it stands alone as the only fleet racing keelboat event. Was it just a matter of time before the keelboat event was completely eliminated? MARK REYNOLDS: One of the seven evaluation criteria for the International Olympic Committee is "history and tradition" and so the Keelboat/Star makes a significant contribution in this area. Keelboats make up one third of the ISAF internationally-recognized classes, so this seems to be a good argument, that at least one men’s boat should be a keelboat. Many make the mistake of thinking that the Star is what it was in the 1932 Olympics, but like other Olympic equipment it has evolved slowly over the years to become the modern boat that it is now. There's a reason that a sailor such as Juan Kouyoumdjian, undoubtedly one of the world’s most innovative yacht designers, sails a Star and it's not for historic reasons! Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/1205/ LAST CALL TO BE THE ULTIMATE GIFT GIVER! Order by December 15th to ensure Christmas delivery of the 2011 Ultimate Sailing Calendar by Sharon Green. For additional gift ideas, we offer many fantastic items; new splashy technical T’s, cool Dry Tech performance ¼ zip T’s, new cozy pullovers for men and women, colorful environmentally friendly recycled shopping bags with Sharon’s signature images -- ultimate gear for the Ultimate Sailor. All can be yours with the click of a mouse. http://www.ultimatesailing.com BRITAIN'S BEN AINSLIE WINS MATCH RACING WORLDS Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (December 5, 2010) - Britain's Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN has won his first ISAF Match Racing World Championship title by winning the Monsoon Cup on a day of high drama in Malaysia. The three-time Olympic gold medalist was in imperious form at the deciding regatta having staged a stunning late season charge to snatch the title from the clutches of long time series leader Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team. In what was the most enthralling ever finish to the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) the Ainslie v Richard duel went to the very final day of the final event of the season. Having turned the screws on Richard all week, Ainslie knew that if he won his Semi-Final and Richard failed to win his play-off race then the title would be his. Ainslie's illustrious crew has been in such pressure situations many times before and the experience clearly showed. Their 2-0 victory over Bjorn Hansen (SWE) sparked celebrations among the TEAMORIGIN crew, which includes two-time Olympic gold medalist Iain Percy, Christian Kamp, Mike Mottl and Matt Cornwell. Ainslie’s finale against Torvar Mirsky (AUS) proved to be a greater test for the new champions, but the TEAMORIGIN crew overcame the Aussie squad 3-2. Mathieu Richard reflected: "Obviously it’s a huge disappointment to have finished second in the Championship, having been first all season. Ben has a very strong team and they really deserve to be World Champions. I was happy with our preparation for this event and we sailed a fantastic season, making the podium five times. It’s a year we can be really proud of." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-120510 NOTE: Overall Tour standings are based on the Monsoon Cup results, plus each team’s best five results from the eight events that preceded the Monsoon Cup. Ben Ainslie’s overall World title is remarkable in that his team competed in only five events, thus having to keep all their scores. Finishing in second through fourth in the Tour standings was Mathieu Richard, Torvar Mirsky, and Adam Minoprio respectively, with each of these teams having sailed in the maximum number of Tour events, thus able to drop their three worst finishes. Final standings: http://www.wmrt.com/results/scoreboard.html Monsoon Cup Quarter Final Results Bjorn Hansen defeated Ian Williams 3-1 Jesper Radich defeated Francesco Bruni 3-2 Ben Ainslie defeated Mathieu Richard 3-1 Torvar Mirsky defeated Peter Gilmour 3-0 Monsoon Cup Semi Final Results Ben Ainslie defeated Bjorn Hansen 2-0 Torvar Mirsky defeated Jesper Radich 2-0 Monsoon Cup Final Results Ben Ainslie defeated Torvar Mirsky 3-2 Monsoon Cup Petite Final Jesper Radich defeated Bjorn Hansen Monsoon Cup Final Standings 1. Ben Ainslie, GBR (TEAMORIGIN), 98,694.68 USD 2. Torvar Mirsky, AUS (Mirsky Racing Team), 68,449.54 USD 3. Jesper Radich, DEN (Gaastra Racing Team), 49,347.34 USD 4. Bjorn Hansen, NOR (Hansen Global Team), 44,571.79 USD 5. Ian Williams, GBR (Team GAC Pindar), 39,796.24 USD 6. Francesco Bruni, ITA (Team Azzurra), 35,020.69 USD 7. Peter Gilmour, AUS (YANMAR Racing), 28,653.29 USD 8. Mathieu Richard, FRA (French Match Racing Team), 27,061.45 USD 9. Adam Minoprio, NZL (ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing), 23,877.75 USD 10. Phil Robertson, NZL (WAKA Racing), 20,694.05 USD 11. Keith Swinton, NZL (Black Swan Racing), 17,510.35 USD 12. Jeremy Koo, MAS (Koo Racing Team - Evernew), 15,918.50 USD (Prize money converted from Malaysia Ringgits on 12/5/10) Pairings and results: http://tinyurl.com/Results-120510 POPCORN: Here are some of the options to re-cap the racing: Live text updating: http://www.wmrt.com/live-blog.html Video highlights: http://www.wmrt.com/multimedia/video-gallery.html YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/worldmrt BACKGROUND: The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series, featuring 9 events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with "Special Event" status. Prize money is awarded for each event, with event points culminating in the crowning of the "ISAF Match Racing World Champion". -- http://www.wmrt.com DOUBTS CONTINUE OVER NEW AMERICA’S CUP FORMAT Ben Ainslie worries about his "wasted years". The British sailing legend, who has won three Olympic gold medals, is fearful of losing his long-time America's Cup dream. He feels BMW Oracle's decision to switch from traditional monohulls to multihulled catamarans might have serious implications for a generation of the world's finest match racers. "I have to say [the decision] was very disappointing," says Ainslie. "Guys like myself have spent the last 10-15 years learning the game and learning how to match race big monohulls in the hope of being competitive in the America's Cup. It feels like it is all wasted because the game has changed. I think that match racing will be a very small part of the next regatta. It will mostly be about trying to develop the fastest boat possible." Ainslie was the reserve skipper for Team New Zealand from 2005 before switching to the British-based Team Origin after the 2007 campaign in Valencia. Along with previous holders Alinghi, Origin have announced they will not be mounting a challenge in 2013. Team owner Sir Keith Mills cannot see a future with the proposed new format. Ainslie wonders about Oracle's stated vision of bigger, faster, better. "I think their No1 vision is to retain the Cup," he says bluntly. "Their second vision is make it as commercially viable as possible from a television point of view so the broadcasting and sponsorship rights are worth that much more. I just wonder how well multihulls and winged sails will lend itself to match racing." America's Cup veteran Peter Gilmour has a similarly dim view of the competition's prospects. Gilmour, a consultant to Alinghi in 2007, has been at the forefront of Cup campaigns since 1992, sees the format change as a bold move. "To effectively wipe out 160 years of match racing and go into catamaran sailing is just remarkable to me," he says. "It's incredibly brave and ballsy, especially given the closeness of the event in 2007. "They are driven by a desire to defend successfully," says Gilmour. "If you give someone a monopoly in circumstances such as this then, of course, they are going to go out and exploit their monopoly. Switching the event from 2014 to 2013 and the fact Oracle control all the knowledge around winged sails mean that, unfortunately, all of the other teams are just going to be turning up to be part of the process; to put on a good show." The Australian also feels that the Oracle experiment will ultimately be short-lived. "I have no doubt the America's Cup will eventually transition back to monohulls. -- NZ Herald, complete story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10692123 COST PROJECTIONS FOR AMERICA'S CUP DIFFER WIDELY There's little if any dispute that hosting the next America's Cup regatta would infuse more than $1 billion into San Francisco's economy and generate enough work for almost 9,000 people. The questions are: at what cost to taxpayers, and is it worth it? Dueling reports released Friday - one from the Board of Supervisors' budget analyst and the other from Mayor Gavin Newsom's economic development team - paint two distinctly different pictures. They come as terms of the deal are evolving quickly in advance of decisive board votes expected in the next two weeks on San Francisco's bid to host sailing's premier event. The board's analyst projects net losses to city coffers of $101.4 million, while the mayor's office estimates the city purse stands to gain $88.1 million if the current proposal to house race facilities on the central waterfront south of the Bay Bridge goes forward. Those latest figures may become moot. An option to shift the main public facilities to the northern waterfront between Pier 19 and Pier 29 is gaining momentum because it would save the city and race organizers up-front money, cost less overall and reduce the amount of public property being conveyed to a private business for development - all while giving spectators a better view of the action. -- Read more: http://tinyurl.com/SFG-120510 A SPECIAL APPRECIATION FOR PROCRASTINATORS With the shopping intensity of Thanksgiving weekend behind us, we’d like to call your attention to a group of elite shoppers who exist among us known as Procrastinators or Procrastinare as they were once known in Roman times. To be a member of this noble society is to be well-disciplined and willing to deprive both yourself and others from the common joyous gifting experience. For these special shoppers, nothing quite replaces the ulcer-evoking, adrenaline rush of gift shopping at their local grocery store or Quickie Mart at 7 p.m. on December 24. To these special individuals, we tip our hat. Bravo. For the rest of us who are clearly too weak, too generous and tend to selfishly cave to the spoils of holiday cheer, well, we at West Marine reward this kind of behavior. Save up to $50 on your next order at West Marine from 12/7 to 12/13. Visit http://www.westmarine.com for full details. TULLOCH WINS CARLOS AGUILAR St. Thomas, USVI (December 5, 2010) - The ability to recover and learn from mistakes made early in the regatta paid off in a Women’s Division win for the USA’s Genny Tulloch, while it was a crack crew that could read the tricky wind shifts that led Portugal’s Alvaro Marinho/Seth Sailing Team to champion the Open Division at the Carlos Aguilar Match Race, (CAMR), presented by Ulysse Nardin/Trident Jewels & Time. Both divisions started this final day of racing by completing the Semi-Finals, then moving right into the Finals. In the Women’s Division, Great Britain’s Lucy MacGregor (#2 in world rankings) handily beat the Netherland’s Klaartje Zuiderbaan 3-0 in the Semi-Finals and the USA’s Genny Tulloch (#12 rank) bested the USA’s Sally Barkow (#9 rank) in extremely close matches 3-2 to give both MacGregor and Tulloch berths into the Finals. In the Finals, both MacGregor and Tulloch sparred so closely that after two races the score was tied with each team winning one race. The decider came in the third race when Tulloch took the start and handed MacGregor a penalty at the same time. MacGregor fought back and caught a puff the USA team missed to overtake them at the first windward mark. Tulloch caught up and passed MacGregor on the second upwind run and stretched her team’s lead over the Brits to nearly eight boat lengths by the finish. “It was good for us to take our losses early, figure out what we did wrong, do it better and clear our heads,” says Tulloch. “I think that mental regrouping was a big reason for our success.” Tulloch’s GETsailing Team includes Liz Hall, Jen Chamberlin and Alice Leonard. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10939#10939 “THE RISK OF SINGLEHANDED SAILING” Etienne Giroire, the only American entrant in the legendary single handed, trans Atlantic race, Route du Rhum, was 1300 miles from the finish on November 13 when his 40’ trimaran “ATNinc.com” capsized. The 3,543 mile course began in Saint Malo, Brittany, France on October 31st and ends in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles. At the time of the capsize, Etienne was in 4th place of his class. After 10 hours on his life raft, he was picked up by a Container ship en route to Pointe a Pitre. The capsizing occurred too far to organize a rescue of the boat. Etienne, who was unhurt and very disappointed stated, “I was in very good spirits, had fixed up the main halyard and felt ready for the last part of the race. But a squall came by and flipped ATNinc.com in a matter of seconds. I am very sad of losing my boat but that’s part of the risk of singlehanded sailing.” -- Photos: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10940 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Ft. Lauderdale, FL (December 5, 2010) - Twenty-one teams competed in the 2010 Melges 32 Gold Cup Regatta, hosted by the Lauderdale Yacht Club (LYC). Annapolis' Rod Jabin on Ramrod defended his 2009 title, being the first to ever win the event two years in a row. Jabin's team consisted of tactician Chris Larson and crew of Richard Clarke, Curtis Florence, Ray Wulff, Scott Holmgren and Vann Walke. In second overall, one slim point behind was Steve Howe on Warpath and tactician Morgan Larson. Overnight leader Ryan DeVos and tactician Ed Baird on Volpe struggled in Sunday's three races leaving them to settle for third. -- Full report/photos: http://www.melges32.com/?p=news&id=701 * St. Petersburg, FL (December 5, 2010) - The 2010 US SAILING National Championship season came to a conclusion at the U.S. Disabled Sailing Championship (USDSC), hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (Dec. 3-5). Canadian Bruce Millar (Richmond, B.C. CAN) won the 2.4mR fleet, U.S. Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) sailors Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Pa.) were winners in the SKUD-18s, and British skipper John Robertson (Portland, Dorset, GBR) and his crewmates Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas captured the Sonar division. Each fleet completed seven races through three days of competition. -- Full report: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2010_USDSC_Final_Recap.htm * The 54th Annual Wirth M. Munroe Memorial Ft. Lauderdale to Palm Beach Race attracted 32 boats to the start on December 3rd. Co-sponsored by the Cruising Club of America and The Sailfish Club of Florida, the race saw northerly winds of 15-20 knots and 4 to 7 foot seas. The Sailfish Ocean Challenge, a short course ocean racing for IRC rated yachts was held on Saturday, December 4th by The Sailfish Club of Florida in Palm Beach in milder conditions. -- Full details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10941 HENRI LLOYD LIFESTYLE CLOTHING- NOW AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. The wait is over. Everyday clothing with all the comfort and performance that’s associated with the HL brand. Move from work to weekend with our new line of Lifestyle gear, crafted to exceed your expectations, not your budget. Visit http://www.henrilloyd.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Paul Newell: I read with interest the dialogue last week about upwind / downwind courses. I have every sympathy with those who dislike this type of course. I myself have had limited experience of the "loopy" course but what I have has made me realize that although there is a place for it it should only be one in an armory of course types that a race committee has to give to the various fleets that race. On the Solent we have a lot of "round the cans" type racing. There are of course pursuit races which is a great challenge from the race organizers and is fun for the sailors. Then there is a fixed number of marks to be rounded in any order. That type of race need careful marshaling but I put it that any and all of the above types of course, when done well, make both the sailor and race committee feel accomplished. So yes, in my limited experience of loopy courses, I felt bored but if these courses made up, say, 25% of the racing in a series then I think that the decline in racing may be stopped as it would then appeal to a greater portion of people who would like to race but see the loopy course as both boring and, to a degree, elitist. After all sailing/racing is supposed to be fun so why not make it so. * From Pedro Lorson: The answer is quite simple if one wants to go reaching! 1. Become a Frostbiter 2. Buy an Interclub - the perfect non self rescuing boat with a round chine 3. Sail it in 15 to 20 knots of breeze, and let's throw in some waves 4. Have a RC that's a little hesitant to send you out in the dead of winter Now with all those things put together, you will be racing a NO JIBE COURSE, which is a course where half of the legs are REACHING! I invite anyone who wants to go reaching to come join us at Manhasset Bay this winter, or at any of the other frostbite fleet in the northeast; just remember to bundle up! SAILING FAMILY OF THE YEAR Sailing is not just a life sport, but also a sport that can be done by all forms of people. Big or small, old or young, man or woman. Even family members. To recognize those families that participate in the sport of sailing, Scuttlebutt launched the “SAILING FAMILY OF THE YEAR” award. This is the inaugural year for this award, and based on the sheer number of submissions, this type of recognition is long overdue. During the review process, it quickly became evident that determining a winner would not be the mission of the judges, but rather to recognize one family this year, and to look forward to recognizing many more in the future. On behalf of award sponsors Atlantis WeatherGear, Camet International, and Harken, Scuttlebutt will be announcing the 2010 recipient of the SFOTY award in the Tuesday edition of the Scuttlebutt newsletter. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Famous Last Words... “I'll get a world record for this.” SPONSORS THIS WEEK Ultimate Sailing - West Marine - Henri Lloyd Melges Performance Sailboats - North U - Camet - North Sails LaserPerformance - APS - Ullman Sails - Harken - The Pirates Lair Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
