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SCUTTLEBUTT 1544 - March 22, 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 and personal attacks for elsewhere. TEAM NEW ZEALAND (There is a lot of speculation right now as to whether Team New Zealand will be a player in the 2007 America's Cup. Following are excerpts from several different media outlets. We'll let you be the judge as to what will happen.) * Team NZ will not meet a self-imposed deadline to find international sponsors for a possible 2007 America's Cup challenge. The syndicate had given itself until the end of this month to sign big-money supporters to help pay for a challenge in Valencia in three years. Organizers now concede they will not meet their target, but are downplaying suggestions Team NZ will not have the finance to challenge for the 2007 America's Cup. Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton would not comment on the implications of the missed deadline. A briefing for media on how the challenge is going is scheduled for tomorrow. While the mood within the camp remains positive, it is understood the syndicate's money-men are having to look long and hard at its finances. Team NZ is even believed to be considering selling off the boats that won the 2000 America's Cup, NZL57 and NZL60, to raise more cash. There are a few other options under consideration, such as leasing the boats out, or using them to fulfill sponsorship requirements. Team NZ is also believed to be engaged in talks with America's Cup organizers, asking for concessions on the syndicate's entry fee and the cost of renting a base for the challenge. - Oskar Alley, Sunday Star Times, full story: www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2851319a1823,00.html * Team New Zealand is on track to announce a decision soon on their role in the next America's Cup. Speculation that the syndicate was preparing to confirm at a press briefing on Monday it will be in Valencia to try to win the cup back was quashed yesterday by spokesman Warren Douglas. "We fully expect to be there, but there will be no announcement either way on Monday," he said. The date floated months ago for an announcement was March 31. - NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2zalb * "We still haven't funded the campaign. And we still have a self-imposed deadline of 31 March. Unless we find enough money to be competitive we won't go. But since I got here Team New Zealand has worked on the basis that we are going; that we'll stop if we can't, not start if we can. Right now we are doing the America's Cup. If I have to pull the plug, I will." - Grant Dalton talking with Tim Jeffery in the April issue of Seahorse magazine, www.seahorsemagazine.com US OLYMPIC TRIALS - STAR CLASS * With a forecast for wind at half the strength it was Saturday on Biscayne Bay, the 22 teams of Star sailors competing in the 2004 US Olympic Team Trials-Sailing got in two races on a Sunday afternoon that couldn't have been more perfect. Winds on the course ranged from 9-11 knots. - Jan Harley, www.ussailing.org * Paul Cayard, 44, and Vince Brun, 57, swapped 1-2 finishes that shot Cayard into first place by eight points and lifted Brun from the back of the pack into serious contention with 12 of 16 races remaining. With a modest shuffle in the early standings, eight of the first nine boats are from California. The lone intruder is another seasoned Star campaigner, John MacCausland, 43, from Cherry Hill, N.J., who is sailing with Brad Nichol and reached third place, one point ahead of Olympic regular Mark Reynolds, who is three ahead of Andy MacDonald/Austin Sperry, Laguna Beach, Calif. Eric Doyle and crew Brian Sharp, who won both races Saturday, started off on the wrong foot Sunday with an early start but held onto second place after returning to start and finishing ninth, followed by an eighth in the next race. With the light winds, the race committee set a pair of three-lap courses on a relatively short windward-leeward course. The Howie Shiebler/ Will Stout team appeared to be making a move but fell from second to eighth on a similar error. They led the second race for awhile and finished fourth, which would have kept them second overall. They weren't the first to suffer the dreaded OCS but, like the others, didn't learn they had been disqualified until they returned to shore. That's the way it works in the U.S. Olympic Trials. A second gun and signal flag tells competitors that somebody was over early, but nobody knows who until returning to shore at the end of the day and checking the result postings. In Doyle's case, after he restarted properly the flag came down, and everyone else blew a sigh of relief knowing they were clear to race. In Shiebler's case, the flag stayed up because he didn't go back. - Rich Roberts, YachtRacing.com, full story: www.yachtracing.com/richroberts/starolympictrials/032104.htm Standing after four races with no discards (22 boats): 1. Paul Cayard/ Phil Trinter, 2-6-1-2, 11 2. Eric Doyle/ Brian Sharp, 1-1-9-8, 19 3. John MacCausland/ J Brad Nichol, 6-8-3-6, 23 4. Mark Reynolds/ Steve Erickson, 5-2-10-7, 24 5. Andrew Macdonald/ Austin Sperry, 11-7-5-4, 27 6. George Szabo/ Mark Strube, 4-5-14-9, 32 7. Vince Brun/ Mike Dorgan, 23/OCS-9-2-1, 35 8. Howie Shiebler/ Will Stout, 3-3-6-23/OCS, 35 9. Rick Merriman/ Bill Bennett, 7-4-17-13-41 10. Karl Anderson/ Ezra Culver, 13-10-15-5, 43 http://www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicTrials/2004/Star/Results.asp SMOKIN' DEALS AND CUSTOM RASH GUARDS CONTINUE * 144+ Sandwich bill hats with embroidery for less than $5.00 ea. * 12+ Rashguards with your team logo starting at $25.00 ea. * Outerbank polos with embroidery starting at $16.00 ea. * 36+ Printed Tees with design starting at $6.00 ea. Email ken@pirateslair.com for questions and quotes, or view catalog at http://www.pirateslair.com/sailing OLYMPIC SELECTIONS WIND UP IN COURT Yachting New Zealand is to appeal to world sport's highest disputes body over the quashing of two of its Olympic nominations. It has decided to appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn two decisions by the New Zealand Sports Disputes Tribunal last week, which has thrown a spanner in its selection process for the Athens Olympic Games. It will be the fifth time a New Zealand case has gone to the court and the first since swimmer Trent Bray appealed against a four-year doping ban in 2001. It was partially upheld, being reduced to two years. 'The impact [of the tribunal decisions] is it significantly changes the way we've selected people over the last 40 years and as arguably the leading medal-winning sport we feel we've done a pretty responsible job of selection in the past,' said YNZ chief executive Simon Wickham last night. Yachting's submissions must be with the court by Friday, and the case is likely to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Wickham said the case had to be argued either on points of law or must demonstrate that fair and natural justice was not followed in the tribunal. - David Leggat, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ytr5w * Those interested in the reading the decision of the New Zealand Sports Disputes Tribunal between Andrew Murdoch and others against Yachting NZ in the matter of an appeal against nomination under the New Zealand Olympic Committee Nomination and Selection Criteria may download the 27 page document at: http://www.sportstribunal.org.nz/decisions.html ROUND THE WORLD RECORD ATTEMPTS * After a frustrating Friday and Saturday slowly breaching a High pressure ridge, generating very few miles on their RTW record attempt course, Saturday night's cold front has been a welcome relief as Steve Fossett and Cheyenne have made excellent progress all day Sunday, logging 298 miles over the past 12 hours (avg 24.84 kts) as the wind has backed to the SW. The estimated lead over Orange's 2002 RTW record course is back to just over 800 miles. - http://www.fossettchallenge.com * On Day 24, Geronimo covered 532 nautical miles - the ninth consecutive day of 500+ mile advances. It's possible that the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran could improve on her own record time of 2003 for the passage to Cape Leeuwin. The current record of 26 days, 4 hours 53 minutes was set during last year's attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy - http://www.trimaran-geronimo.com * Healthy, safe and in one piece, the crew of the VO60 Bank BPH (ex Assa Abloy) under Captain Roman Paszke is heading for Cape Town, South Africa, under rather difficult conditions. Now they have a few days of sailing in front of them before getting to port where the Bank BPH will get a complete and exacting inspection. Then the decision will be made whether to continue the voyage or not. The trip to Cape Town will take a few more days. - www.race2000.pl/index.php?language=en SNIPES KICK OFF THE 2004 WINTER CIRCUIT 50 Snipe teams are enjoying Serious Sailing, Serious Fun in the sun in Florida and the Bahamas. The Winter Circuit is comprised of five separate regattas held in three fantastic venues: Clearwater and Miami, FL and Nassau, Bahamas. Check out regatta details and results at the SCIRA USA website, http://www.snipeus.org/ NEWS BRIEFS * Ten four-person women's teams raced in the Sundance Cup - an ISAF Grade 4 match race event at the Forth Worth Boat Club. After completing a double round robin in J/22s, the top four teams were paired for the semi-finals, followed by the finals and petit finals: Final results: 1.Charlie Arms (Vallejo, CA), Colleen Cooke, Dana Riley and Emily French; 2. Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass.); 3. Elizabeth Walker-Sobhani (Warwick, Bermuda); 4. Liz Hjorth (Marina Del Rey, CA). - http://www.fwbc.com/ * The Sailing World magazine National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta Series, wrapped up a three-day weekend of racing in the waters off the San Diego YC on Sunday as 147 boats in 16 different classes competed. A host of local sailors defended their Pacific home waters, taking class victories on Sunday. Complete results: http://sdyc.org/raceinfo/results/nood_results.htm * The Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Miami, Florida hosted the 37th Annual Don Q Rum Regatta, March 19th & 20th. 49 Snipes from around the globe assembled in beautiful Miami for two great days of racing on Biscayne Bay. Winds were in the 15-25 knot range for the 5 race series. Final results: 1. Auie Diaz/ Kathleen Tocke 10.25; 2.Scott Nixon/ Brian Janney, 13.5; 3. Hal Gilrith/ Jeff Lieble, 17; 4 .E. Rodriquez/ L. Fitzpatrick, 36; 5. Henry Filter /Kim Courant, 36. http://www.cgsc.org/ * In an interview published in the French magazine "Voiles et Voiliers", Loïck Peyron said that the Team France has bought "an excellent last generation America's Cup Class yacht". If he didn't specify which one, Loïck said that it's not one of the OneWorld Challenge's boats whose cost is not justified with the new AC Class Rules. - Cup in Europe website, http://www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/2007TF-LN3.htm IN MEMORIAM Olympic gold medal-winning yachtsman Chris Timms, 56, was one of two men who died Friday when a plane crashed into the Firth of Thames. Sailing with Rex Sellars, Timms won gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, both times in the Tornado class. Yachting New Zealand high performance manager Peter Lester said he was saddened by the loss of such a fine yachtsman, innovator and character, who was held in high regard. "We're all in shock," he said. Chris was regarded in New Zealand and internationally as one of the best technicians in sailing, and loved as one of our sport's characters. While maintaining an interest in sailing Chris became very active in flying in recent years and gained the respect of his flying companions to the same extent accorded him in sailing and Olympic circles. Chris and a colleague took off from Ardmore airport (south of Auckland) to practice aerobatic maneuvers in preparation for an air show scheduled for this weekend. Observers report seeing them looping and rolling, and then suddenly spinning straight down into the shallow waters of the Firth of Thames, south east of Auckland. Neither survived. - Excerpts from stories on the ISAF website and in the NZ Herald: http://tinyurl.com/3fu2c http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=6673 SPRING SAILING, COLD SAILING Waterproof fleece known as Hydroknit™ will keep you warm in the cold splashes of cold spring sailing. Available with a seamless back leg of neoprene or Hydroknit, Sailing Angles farmer johns are designed to keep you flexible, warm and sailing fast. Quadrolflex™ fleece, Sailing Angles 4-way stretch, fleece/lycra base layer is the perfect base layer under a dry suit or foul-weather gear. Find this and other great functional designs at the Sailing Angles website, the place for padded shorts and longs: http://www.sailingangles.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) 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 Rand Milton (re: Damien Goddard's comments, "...that if Spain does not support the foreign policy of the United States in the upcoming year, the US teams should consider pulling out of the next America's Cup.."): While I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Goddard's comment that the US decision to pull out of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was one of the worst decisions ever made in US sporting history, I must strongly disagree with any decision to use sports as a political tool. It is extremely unfair to the athletes who have trained so hard and so long for their, in many cases, once in a lifetime opportunity to compete at the highest levels of their sport. The boycotts of both the LA Olympics and the Moscow games did not accomplish anything politically, except to ruin the careers of many athletes. * From Edward Trevelyan: Damien Goddard suggests that a U.S. boycott of the Valencia-hosted America's Cup regatta might be in order, presumably to show objection to Spain's recent election of a Prime Minister openly opposed to U.S. military action in Iraq. As a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team, I was not happy when asked to give up this opportunity in order to serve as a tool of foreign policy...in spite of my objection to the Soviet behavior in question. The recent Spanish "behavior," even if one thinks that it showed contempt for international solidarity in the war against terrorism, does not begin to rise to the level which justified the boycott of 1980. By keeping politics out of sport, we allow friendly competition among nations to play a small part in promoting world peace. * From Mark Jardine: I'm not even going to approach the political reasoning behind Damien Goddard's letter suggesting that US teams should pull out of the America's Cup if Spain don't support US foreign policy. All I say is keep national politics & policies out of sailing, we've got enough of our own in the sport! Surely we can put aside differences of opinion and instead use 'sportsmanship'. Please Curmudgeon, close this thread early! Curmudgeon's Comment: Agreed - this thread is officially dead. * From Anson G.P. Stookey: In response to Rich Roberts excellent piece on Reynolds vs. Cayard in the upcoming Star trials, and with all due respect to both of those fantastic sailors, I have two words for Rich: Howard Shiebler. * From Carl Schellbach: The current wrangling in New Zealand makes a wonderful case for the current system of picking United States Olympic Team members. I shudder to think what would happen if such ambiguity were introduced into our process - it's bad enough in the protest room with so much at stake. As it is, the team we're sending is clearly deserving, and the competition in each class seems to be offering all the support possible to the victors. And everybody values the experience. No sour grapes. Life is good. * From Laura Sharp: We have raced our 25 year old boat under PHRF in California and IRC in the UK with very similar results. Our IRC class in the UK comprises everything from 40 year old boats to hot new boats, and the results are generally quite close and everyone seems to have a good shot at the trophies. Unless endorsed certificates are required (unusual except in high level events) you can submit your own measurements. In the UK, at least, certificates aren't too expensive. Why not give IRC a shot here? * From David Jeramiah: What is wrong with US Sailing? With the whole world watching with bated breath you'd think they could do a better job with the website for the US Olympic Star Trials. Surely, it can't be that difficult for the national sailing federation of the richest nation on earth to arrange for mark roundings, commentary and maybe even a few photographs to be posted on the internet in real time? Let's face it, the Star Trials is one of the most exciting shootouts between household names that happens in sailing... Come on US Sailing feed our appetite for gossip! Curmudgeon's Comment: There is no question that the web enhancements Mr. Jeramiah speaks of would be nice to have - but none of those enhancements comes without a price tag. I think most observers would rather see US Sailing's very limited Olympic budget used to help fund the campaign costs of the US Sailing Team. * From Vinny Gagliani: I would like to inform the sailing community world wide of an America's Cup Challenge from Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. The name of team from the United States Virgin Islands is named: Team Meteora. The founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Team Meteora is Vinny Gagliani. The team is going through negotiations with potential team members, and potential sponsors. The team has been endorsed by several "big names" one of which is an actor who played in a movie as recent as 2002. The actor will be revealed at another time. The official announcement of the challenge will take place possibly sometime in April. If anyone or any company who is interested in being a partner/sponsor with Team Meteora please contact Vinny Gagliani through email at: vinnygagliani@hotmail.com. It has been rumored that Rolex may be a potential sponsor of the team; we have not been contacted by Rolex, so the rumor is yet another rumor. I would like to also point out that this challenge is starting as a fresh slate and does not have any ties with the Virgin Island challenge which was a challenger but merged with Team Stars and Stripes for the 2000 America's Cup. A world-class team of designers, boat builders and sailors will be put together representing many different countries to get the job done. Curmudgeon's Comment: Why do I have the feeling the 'official announcement' will take place on April 1? THE CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. - Bob Hope |
