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SCUTTLEBUTT 3009 - Monday, January 18, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today's sponsors are Pirates Lair and Samson. GERMAN TEAM LEAD STAR WORLDS Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 17, 2010 - The German team of Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs is sitting at the top of the leader board with a slim margin of two points after Race 2 of the Star Worlds, in a 73-strong fleet. The young German team took first place in Race 1, while the Swiss team of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria, took a bullet in Race 2, on Sunday. The North Americans earned solid positions over the past few days racing, with the Canadian team of Ross Macdonald and Andre Lekzycki finishing in 10th place in Race 1, and Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol (USA) taking 13th. In Race 2, Campbell and Nichol took third, while MacDonald and Lekzycki placed 13th. In Race 1, a tricky race around Rio de Janeiro harbor, Babendererde and Jacobs beat the fleet to the first windward mark, and after several lead changes, rounded the final leeward gate, fending off 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR); Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), 2008 Olympic Silver Medalists; Kouyoumdjian/Colla; and World Sailor of the Year, Torben Grael and two-time Star World Champion crew, Marcelo Ferreira (BRA). Proving that this regatta is pure hard work for all competitors, past Star World Champions took six out of the top ten positions in Race 1. In Race 2, it was a race to the finish for the top seven boats in tight racing. The American team of Campbell and Nichol, who came out of the fray with a third place finish for the day, described the top-place American teamıs final beat, "We went to the right gate and made a big gain immediately. We split with the four boats ahead of us and caught three of them. We sailed to the right of the group and knew that we had to catch Alan Adler on boat speed." Commenting on Sunday's conditions, Campbell said, "It was light and lumpy, something like San Diego, but there was more current than we are used to." Recapping Race 2, leading skipper Babendererde commented, "We overtook boats on the 2nd upwind leg. We did not go left like the others because there was less wind there. We caught Iain Percy (GBR), on the second run because he had a problem with the jib. From then on we shortened the distance to the leaders, but there were no gains to be made." The Star World Championship brings together a record number of 81 teams, representing 20 countries, with racing in Rio de Janeiro on January 16-22, outside of Guanabara Bay. Event website: http://www.starworlds2010.com Preliminary Results (after two races) - Top 10 of 73 1. GER, Johannes Babendererde/Timo Jacobs, 9 2. BRA, Alan Adler/Guilherme de Almeida, 11 3. GBR, Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson, 13 4. USA, Andrew Campbell/Brad Nichol, 15 5. SWE, Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander, 17 6. NOR, Eivind Melleby/Petter Pedersen, 19 7. BRA, Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada, 22 8. CAN, Ross Macdonald/Andre Lekszycki, 10 9. GER, Alexander Schlonski/Frithjof Kleen, 26 10. GER, Robert Stanjek/Phillipp Stanjek, 26 Results: http://www.starclass.org/search.cgi?Action=view&Event_id=1845 Follow Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol's commentary about the Star Worlds, on their blog: http://campbellnichol2012.blogspot.com/ MELGES 32 FLEET BRINGS CREAM OF CROP TO KEY WEST Key West, Florida, January 16, 2010 - Twenty-two Melges 32 entries will make for a healthy showing at Premiere Racing's Key West Race Week, beginning Monday. At 22 entries, they will be the largest fleet in attendance, just one shy of the fleet's Gold Cup equivalent recently held in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Participants this year include Phil Lotz (Newport, R.I) on Arethusa with Richard Clarke as tactician, Tommy Burnham will call tactics for Michael Dominguez (Newport, R.I.) on Bronco, Jud Smith pairs up with Bob Hesse (Elma, N.Y.) on Lake Effect, Charlie Ogletree sails with Bob Hughes (Macatawa Bay, Mich.) on Heartbreaker, 2009 Melges 24 World Champion Chris Larson serves as tactician for Geoff Pierini (Perth Amboy, N.J.) on Shakedown, and Stu Bannatyne steps in alongside of John Kilroy (Malibu, Calif.) aboard Samba Pa Ti. 2009 Melges 32 Gold Cup Champion Rod Jabin (Annapolis, Md.) on Ramrod with the highly skilled tactical efforts of Gavin Brady will add to the mix. Defending Key West Champion Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) on STAR will attempt a consecutive win with Harry Melges by his side. 2009 Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series Champion Carlo Alberini (Pesaro, Italy) on his very famous Calvi Network will be going for a big win with Gabriele Benussi as tactician. The fleet is packed with an onslaught of newbies including Malcolm Gefter (Newport, R.I.) on Celeritas and Yukihiro Ishida (Toyko Japan) debuting on Yasha Samurai. Familiar faces can also be found such as Joe Woods (Torquay, UK) on Red, Stuart Simpson (Torbay, UK) on Team Barbarians, John Taylor (Jupiter Island, Fla.) on Ninkasi, and Alex Jackson (Riverside, Conn.) on Leenabarca. Key West Race Week 2010 is the second of three Winter Series events for the Melges 32 in North America. Rod Jabin is currently leading the series, with Joe Woods in second and Andy Lovell in third. The final event is the Miami Grand Prix on March 4-7. Key West Event Website: http://www.premiere-racing.com/ * Posted on Scuttlebutt's KW2010 micro-site are the weather reports as they become available, plus three videos from Sunday. Scuttlebutt is in Key West for the event, and for Sunday produced an arrival segment, an interview with Dave Ullman, and a panel discussion that includes Ian Walker, Peter Isler, Dee Smith, and Bill Hardesty. For Monday, look for the live blog updates during the day, plus the Kattack live tracking. Here is the link: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/kw/ YOU ARE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR REGATTA CLOTHING! The Pirates Lair prints over 100,000 pieces of clothing for yacht clubs, regattas, and sailing sponsors per year! We also design the graphics for most of those. If you want the best designs for the best prices, on-time, log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/sailing or call 888-724-5286 for a free consultation and quote. DEMAND MADE FOR RETRACTION OF AMERICA'S CUP ROW CLAIMS By Stuart Alexander, January 16, 2010 A formal demand for a retraction of claims that it was the American challenger for the America's Cup that withdrew an offer to settle the dispute with the defender, Switzerland's Alinghi, was made last night by the Golden Gate Yacht Club's commodore Marcus Young. By-passing the day to day representative of Societe Nautique de Geneve, vice-commodore Fred Meyer, the BMW Oracle representative club wrote to his opposite number, commodore Pierre-Yves Firmenich, saying: "I am formally asking your yacht club to retract immediately the comments made by representatives of your America's Cup defender, Alinghi. "My yacht club...and our partners are owed an unreserved apology for the falsehoods set out by Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth about the attempts to negotiate a mutual agreement in Singapore. Our side did not withdraw the attempt to settle. The opposite was true." But Oracle was also willing to add: "Notwithstanding the false statements, GGYC remains committed to resuming talks." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ybk8tx9 GGYC letter, January 15, 2010: http://www.ggyc.org/SNG15Jan2010pg.pdf DIFFERENT DRUMMER TAKES CLEAN SWEEP Key West, Florida, January 15, 2010 - Frank Atkinson and crew aboard the 40 foot 'Different Drummer', swept the trophy table in the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race, taking home the win for the PHRF division, the fleet, and the best overall performance. Atkinson's navigator, Ted Naughton, also took home the best navigator trophy for the PHRF class. In the IRC class, George Davidıs RP 90 'Rambler' won the first to finish trophy, and 'Privateer,' Ron OıHanley's Cookson 50, won overall. Robin Team, on the aptly named J122, 'Teamwork', won Divison B of the IRC class, and also was awarded the race's Seamanship Trophy for their assistance during the coast guard rescue of another racing boat, 'Crosswinds'. Once they heard the distress call on the radio and knew of Crosswind's proximity, Teamwork, without hesitation, went to their aid. After their 160 nm, 19-hour sprint down the southern coast of Florida from Fort Lauderdale to Key West, Frank Atkinson, Ted Naughton, his father Ted Naughton Sr, Tom Ericsson, and Jamie Stewart were exhausted. Racing against 33 other boats in the handicapped division (PHRF), these five men didn't realize until they were caught up on food and sleep that they had beaten the rest of their fleet on corrected time. Atkinson, who has owned the boat for just 6 months said, "I am exuberant!" In the Multihull fleet, Tom Reese's Corsair 28R, "Flight Simulator", took top honors in class A, Fleet, and Navigation. Ron White's "Cheekee Monkee" a Farrier F-31 took home the first to finish trophy, and Victor Mendelsohn's "Catnip" won class B. -- Full story: http://www.keywestrace.org/ SAMSON INTRODUCES TWO NEW PRODUCTS IN 2010: MLX & AS-90 Designed for the club racer and the performance-oriented cruiser, MLX is a double braid that has a first-of-its-kind core made with a blend of InnegraTM-S, a high modulus polypropylene, and Dyneema, a high modulus polyethylene. Exclusive to Samson, InnegraTM-S allows MLX to bridge the gap between the performance characteristics and price tags of traditional and high-performance synthetic fibers. AS-90 is made of Dyneemaıs newest fiber, SK-90, which boasts a 12% increase in strength and less elongation with an increasing load when compared with other Dyneema fiber lines. Visit us at http://www.samsonrope.com ENTRIES NOW OPEN FOR 63RD NEWPORT-ENSENADA RACE Online and paper mail-in entry is now available on the new http://www.nosa.org website for the 63rd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. The 125.5-nautical mile race to Mexico organized by the Newport Ocean Sailing Association starts Friday, April 23. This year's race theme is The Thrill of Victory, which has been pursued over the years by luminaries such as the late Roy E. Disney, actors Buddy Ebsen and Humphrey Bogart, broadcast news legend Walter Cronkite, comedienne Vicki Lawrence, movie producer Milton Bren, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad and world class sailors including Dennis Conner, Bill Ficker and Dave Ullman. Those who enter by February 15, also will become a part of race history by having the names of their boats appear on the race's commemorative poster at no extra charge. Last year was the fastest race in all 62 years. Driven down the rhumb (direct) line by moderate but steady winds, all boats finished by 4 p.m. Saturday, and Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 set a monohull record of 10 hours 37 minutes 20 seconds, just 7 minutes 3 seconds faster than Disney's record set on Pyewacket III in 2003. -- Read on: http://www.nosa.org/nosa-pressroom.html SAILING SHORTS * John Bertrand, dual Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby and Star Class Olympian Andrew Palfrey convincingly won the Murphy and Nye 2010 Australian Etchells Championship, finishing with 22 points and one race to spare, well ahead of the rest of the 58-strong fleet. The event was held at the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club, in New South Wales, Australia. The winning trio will be a strong force at the Etchells World Championships 2010 to be held in Dublin, Ireland, in August. -- Full results: http://etchells.org.au/nationals/news-media/default.asp * Alinghi 5 left Valencia's Darsena for the second time on Saturday. Commented team member Pierre Yves Jorand, "All went well considering the shifty and gusty conditions. We began by sailing in a nice westerly breeze around 15 to 20 knots and were able to evaluate a new gennaker, but it was difficult to gauge precisely because the gradient of the wind differed so much from the top of the mast to the water line. We decided to finish sailing as the breeze built quickly to over 30 knots and in fact, that stayed for the rest of the afternoon." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ycstfoy * BMW Oracle launched their giant trimaran BOR 90 on Saturday morning, a day after Alinghi's first sail in Valencia. Peter Rusch reports that after "gusty winds made stepping the mast a tricky proposition for much of the day. But late in the afternoon, the shore team was able to complete their work. Load testing is scheduled for Sunday." -- Full story: http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com/ SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Damian Christie, Melbourne, Australia (re Scuttlebutt 3008) I have a bad feeling that the outcome of the America's Cup may ultimately be decided in the New York court system long after the match is over. Just as Oracle is now seeking a ruling from Justice Kornreich that Alinghi cannot fly American-manufactured 3DL sails in the Cup match, so too Michael Fay before the 1988 Cup match sought a ruling from Justice Ciparick about the validity of Dennis Conner's catamaran against his big boat. Ciparick ruled in July 1988 that Fay's motion was premature. She concluded that as the Deed of Gift permitted the defender to reserve the name of its yacht until the start of the match, Conner could not be held in contempt until the "foreseeable future". She directed the two parties to proceed with the races and reserve their protests until after the Cup match. I suspect that Alinghi's reply brief will remind Justice Kornreich of Ciparickıs ruling repeatedly that she will be acting outside her powers if she rules on the validity of any aspect of its yacht before it has been officially declared as the defender. While Justice Kornreich has ruled in advance on some issues (eg the exclusion of rudders in waterline measurement), I wonder if Justice Ciparick's 1988 ruling sets a precedent that cannot be ignored. If it does and Alinghi wins on the water, don't expect this show to be over for another year. Perhaps Cory Friedman can enlighten us? * From Liz Rountree (re Scuttlebutt 3007, edited to 250 words) Jim Champ is right. The XX is not widely sailed, nor is it widely available. Surely this is because nobody likes twin wires. They are so drab! Give me a smaller rig and rounder hull so I can hike my butt off any day, going slow is sweet! It is true, the 29er and 49er "flew out of the shop door", whereas the 29erXX has yet to flourish. Champ attributes this to no-one wanting the XX, and nothing to do with the actual fact that the 29er was picked up by the ISAF Youth Worlds, and the 49er, not yet ISAF, had the Grand Prix world tour. When up for Olympic bid both advisory committees in charge of class selection elected the 29erXX, but the executive committee overruled the popular vote by a single count. This sent sailors scrambling back into displacement dinghies in time for London, and manufacturers back to tune up the new product. US Team Alphagraphics member Molly Carapiet was one of those sent scrambling. She explains her class choice, "I was against the XX because I had just bought a brand new 470, but that's about it. I liked campaigning in the 470, but I want to sail the X-rig again." The popularity of the XX was stifled by the ISAF decision, but still holds rank among the people. Rolex sailor of the year and Olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe is not about to step out of the Radial, but she says, "The 29erXX is a great boat, and I hope it makes it to the Games." -- Read on at Scuttlebutt Forum: http://tinyurl.com/ykbrbua * From Jack Evans (re Scuttlebutt 3006) In 1959, I and five others made up what I believe was the first British Universities team to sail against American universities, colleges and other clubs on the East coast. Jack Wood was then coach at MIT, and I recall his great help to us during our stay in Boston. To us, the concept of actually having a coach was then totally alien! And the fact that he was so helpful, helped us greatly! I still have a Harvard University Sailing Club tie that he lent me so that I could be smart enough to escort a young lady out one evening. In my logbook of that trip, we raced for the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, and maybe in the loft I have a small replica. I do have a photo of our captain, Brian Appleton, and Bill Widnall holding a large ornate cup at the end of the racing. The US team included Gary Hirasghberg and Donald Nelson (MIT), Wallace Everest and Richard Cook (Boston U), and Robbie Burrows (Colby). * From Greg Paul, New Zealand (re Scuttlebutt 3008) Is this just an example of a yachtsman, having felt that an agreement had been made and enjoying the evening, only to find that lawyers were awake somewhere in the world and stuffing up all that had been accomplished during the day? Come on guys, get rid of the lawyers, sort out how to go sailing. All we want is to see these fantastic boats sailing, in a competition, get that over with, and then get back to an international regatta format that we all did enjoy, in San Diego, Auckland and Valencia - real yacht racing. Brad Butterworth, please keep trying to get a realistic agreement, and please do not go to sleep next time, until you have a signature(s) on the agreement. 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