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SCUTTLEBUTT #392 - September 8, 1999ANNAPOLIS RACE WEEKMt. Gay Rum/Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association's (CBYRA)annual Annapolis Race Week took place over the three-day Labor Day weekend. Seven handicap classes (PHRF and MORC) with 107 boats and nine one-design classes (Mumm 30, J/35, J/105, J/30, Catalina 27, Cal 25, Melges 24, J/22 and J/24) with 96 boats gave a total of 201 entries for the event. Racing on Saturday was under gray skies with copious rain and a northeast wind of 15 to 22 knots, a precursor of the visit of hurricane/tropical depression Dennis. Two races were completed Saturday on the four courses. Sunday's racing was cancelled as Dennis was marching up Virginia bringing winds of 25 to 30 knots and strong rain squalls to the Chesapeake. With Dennis safely in Pennsylvania, racing was resumed Monday in southeast winds. Again, all four courses managed two races in 15 to 18 knots. Three boats took four bullets for the series. John Pica's Corybantic, with helmsman Gavin Brady, won all the races in the PHRF A1 division, Bruce Gardner's L'Outrage won everything in the PHRF A2B class, and Todd Hiller's Leading Edge took it all the J/22 class. Three bullets were taken by the winner of the 14-boat J/105 class, Steve Phillips' Le Renard, and by Tom Walsh's Four Little Ducks in the Catalina 27 class. Class winners that had two wins to their credit was Frithiof and Jim Sagerholm's Aunt Jean - J/35, Ron Weed/Cindy and Tom Hirsch's Mumm 30 Downhill Express, US Naval Academy's Frolic- PHRF A2, McGuirk/Dallam's Gunsmoke - J/30, Chuck O'Malley's Late Bloomer in MORC, Art Libby's Results in PHRF C, Scott Allan's Razzle Dazzle in the Melges 24s, and Castleberry/Hanson's J-Tripper in the J/24 class. Other class winners were Bert Jabin's Ramrod - PHRF A0, Ken Comerford's Phantom - PHRF B, and Charlie Husar's Chicken Little in the Cal 25 class. This was the 33rd annual Annapolis Race Week which has been sponsored by Mt. Gay Rum for 5 years. Race committees for the four courses were provided by CBYRA member clubs - Annapolis Yacht Club, Storm Trysail Club-Chesapeake Station, Eastport Yacht Club, Magothy River Sailing Association, Shearwater Sailing Association, Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, West River Sailing Association, and Sailing Club of the Chesapeake. This year's other major sponsor was Katceff Brothers Distributing. After-race parties were held at the Annapolis Yacht Club annex. -- Melinda Berge Web site: http://www.cbyra.org STAR WORLDS Under the shadow of grey skies and big choppy seas, RYA Team GBR's Ian Walker and Mark Covell, sailing United Airlines, turned on the power today in the breezy conditions off Punta Ala to finish third across the line in the third race of the Star World Championships. Coupled with their third place in Sunday's opening race and their sixteenth yesterday, the Elite World Class Performance duo are now third overall in the provisional standings with only the 1992 Olympic Bronze Medallist Ross Macdonald (Canada) and Eric Doyle (USA) ahead of them. More importantly, they are the third non-qualified nation. They have three more races to sail with one discard allowed. -- Nigel Cherie, RYA Standings: 1. MacDonald / Bjorn, CAN, 15 points; 2. Doyle / Olsen, USA, 16; 3. Walker / Covell, GBR, 22; 4. Grael / Ferreira, BRA, 25; 5. Hoesch / Fendt, GER, 29; 6. Reynolds / Liljedahl, USA, 34; 7. Dali / Colaninno, ITA, 41; 8. Sustronk / Nyhof, CAN, 47; 9. Hagen / Witt, GER, 52; 10. Shiebler / Peters, USA, 54. Event website: http://www.ouverture.it/ycpa/mondiale.htm 39th SNIPE WORLDS Santiago De La Ribera, Spain (Day 2) - Today's races were held in winds varying between 8-15 during the day. Hot, humid and some rain and thunder, but never any lightning to threaten the fleet. The fleet even had a rainbow on the way back to the club! Race 2: after 2 starts, the RC hoisted the "z" flag, but that didn't deter some, as the RC posted about 18 people over on the 2nd restart with the "z" flag. The wind at the start was about 12-15 as they set off on on Olympic course. At the weather mark, Aureliano Negrin/David Martin of Spain led with fellow Spaniards Fernando Rita/Javier Sintes in 2nd. Russians Ushkov/Vedenev were 3rd and Japanese Okinishi/Ideta in 4th. By the bottom mark, Negin/Martni, Rita/Sintes, Okinishi/Ideta and Fonseca/Duarte of Brazil with Ricardo Fabini/Ignacio Saralegui of Uruguay rounded out the top 5. All went right as the wind dropped to about 10 knots. Rita caught Negrin and Fabini slipped into third past the Japanese Okinishi. Fonseca and Ivan Pimental were close with Cubans Manzo/Lorenzo next. On the downwind leg, the jury flagged Negrin for kinetics and he had to do a 720 on the water, but he managed to maintain some of his position. At the finish, Rita crossed in first, Negin 2nd, Fonseca of Brazil 3rd, Fabini of URU 4th, Ivan Pimental of BRA 5th and Cubans Manzo/Lorenzo 6th. US sailors Szabo/Wilcox finished 10th and Augie/Old Man Diaz 11th, Lorson/Duffy about 32 and Gilreath/Stout about 34. Penalties will be applied, so you'll have to check the final results. Race 3: Once again, after some "practice" starts, the "z" flag was hoisted and this time more sailors behaved. Rumors are 4 were caught with penalties, but check the results. This race was in 8-12 knots, but varied as some rain and squalls blew through with the sailors hunting for the pressure. French sailors Jean Jacques Frebault and Gilles Boisaubert led the entire race until the final mark rounding. Ricardo Fabini/Saralegui rounded 2nd and Cubans Manzo/Lorenzo rounded 3rd. These 3 maintained their positions until a great finish - Cubans sailed past both the French and Fabini/Saralegui to win the race with Fabini 2nd and the French having to settle for 3rd. The rest of the race was in the next group. At the start, many of the leaders went right, and were fooled. There were many changes throughout the race which made spectating a lesson in "who is where." Pedro Lorson/Watt Duffy rounded the 1st mark in 8th and slowly ground down the comp. to finish 6th. Spaniards Rita/Sintes sailed a strong race finishing 4th, and regatta leaders Fonseca/Duarte sailed to 5th. Argentines Soubie/Granucci were called on a kinetics call and spun circles at the reach mark but finished 7th. Szabo/Wilcox - 38th at the weather mark, finished 20th with Diaz/Diaz 23rd and Gilreath/Stout 26th. 2 races are scheduled for Wednesday. Good weather is predicted again. Side note; British sailors Iain and Brian Gregory had to retire due to severe heat exhaustion of Brian. He's in the local hospital and we hope to report him back on the course soon. Major obstacle - large jellyfish all over the course (non-stinging kind). The problem is when they catch on the rudder - causing a large vibration! -- Alex Pline Provisional results after 3 races: 1 BRA 29254 ANDRE FONSECA/RODRIGO DUARTE 20.75 2 JPN 28722 YOSHIHIRO OKINISHI/DAIKI IDETA 25.00 3 CUB 29518 NELIDO MANZO/OCTAVIO LORENZO 26.75 4 JPN 29391 SHIGEO TAKAMURA/SATORU MARUYAMA 32.00 5 ARG 28211 MATIAS PEREIRA/MARCUS BEHRENDT 33.00 American Team: 7 USA 29672 GEORGE SZABO/ERIC WILCOX 35.00 9 USA 28810 AUGIE DIAZ/GONZALO DIAZ 41.00 16 USA 28044 PEDRO LORSON /WATT DUFFY 59.00 32 USA 29324 HAL GILREATH/ALEX STOUT 92.00. Event website: http://www.snipe.org/worlds99/ ONE DESIGN RACING When boats in the J/44 racer/cruiser class compete in their Tenth Anniversary North American Championships here September 10-12, there is one thing that is certain is that this one-design class offers an even playing field for its contestants. With class-owned one-design sails that are rotated every day, and strict adherence to one-design requirements, no one has an edge on boat speed. The spoils go to the skippers and crews with the best boat handling, sailing trimming and tactical calls. Although the precedents for one-design sails flow from smaller classes like Larchmont's Interclub Dinghy fleet, and the International One-Design (IOD) keelboats, the J/44 Class likes to go offshore too. Jim Bishop was elected class president after the first five years of the class's existence, at a point when trendy one-design classes often suffer an identity crisis. One of his first acts was proposing an end to sail inventory wars by the simple expedient of investing in identical racing sails for all the active racers. He recalls that the vote was 7 to 6 in favor of the idea. One owner dropped out of class racing. The other dissenters, Bishop is fond of saying, have become the most ardent proponents of the plan. The class owns 15 suits of sails, consisting of mainsails, No 1 jibs and three-quarter ounce spinnakers. One sailmaker has the contract to clean, repair and store the sails between races. There is only one professional in this amateur class. He's Chip Barber, the Executive Director, whose responsibilities include overseeing the sail inventory. That includes tracking the conditions each sail is exposed to. If half the mainsails are used in heavy air in one regatta, the other half are used for the next heavy air days. The one-design sails are only used for day racing and all procedures are spelled out, right down to the requirement that each crew is responsible for delivering the sail it used that day to the next boat in the rotation. To help minimize wear and tear on heavy air days, the class signals its members when they must lower their class jibs or spinnakers in favor of #3 jibs, or one and a half ounce spinnakers from their own sail inventory. Once the signal is made, racers must continue with these sails, even if conditions moderate. "Ask any member if they like the arrangement," Bishop says. "I don't know anyone who is not thrilled. This way we have no differences in boat speed." The key to the success of the program, Bishop says, is for the owners to take control and take a stance on any issues that might give individual boats speed advantages, however small. The class voted to install new, deeper rudders that improved boat handling, but at the same time it insists that all boats carry their regulation two propane tanks in the standard stern stowage, and leave the stern boarding ladder in its place while racing. - Keith Taylor OLD HABIT ARE HARD TO BREAK As you might guess, the curmudgeon has a ton of sea bags in his closet. However, when it came time to pick out one of them to use as an airline carry-on for last week's trip to Auckland, I once again grabbed an old favorite -- my Camet bag. Why do I always use this one? Well it's a great looking bag. And it's made right, using strong but lightweight Mylar and waterproof Vinyl/ Polyester laminate, with handles of heavyweight Nylon webbing. And I love the little zipper pocket. See for yourself: http://www.camet.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Steve Glassman -- Kudos to Tucker Thompson for his brief insight into the training regimen for the America's Cup and to the 'Butt for running the story. While ESPN may show us the on-board rigors of the race itself, few outside the racing community realize how much time and effort must be spent in training and practice long before the big day arrives. As is so often the case, victory is a function of hard work, long hours and dedication, all of which comes long before the final tack to the finish line. Even Thompson knows that his crew is not the only one adhering to a regimen. Thanks for reminding us that you just don't step on board and sail to victory. AMERICA'S CUP * Some of the globe's most influential media and politicians are in Auckland for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit. President Bill Clinton will visit the America's Cup Village on Sunday as part of a breakfast with business leaders and other delegates at the Louis Vuitton media centre. President Clinton is also expected to meet representatives from the five American challenge syndicates. Security has been beefed-up around the village in preparation for the function. Meanwhile, security officers from countries who will see Cup action have not let their duties disguise their patriotism. Retailers say American and New Zealand officers have led the way in the apparel stakes. 'The Americans have been the big spenders,' says Pat Sumich, manager of the America's Cup store at the heart of the village. Big money has also been spent in ensure the City of Sails shows its best face to the leaders. The multi-million dollar make-over includes the removal of graffiti and rubbish, the resealing of roads and footpaths, the planting of flower beds and the up-grading of hotel suites. Aucklanders are anticipating a week of disruptions. Many of the main arterial routes into the city's business district will be closed, while many letter boxes and rubbish bins have been removed or sealed for security reasons. Full story: http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/ * The launch of Team New Zealand's new America's Cup boat has had to move for President Bill Clinton. Tomorrow night's christening of NZL57 was to have taken place on the eastern edge of the Viaduct Basin, directly opposite where the round-the-world boats usually dock. But Pippa, Lady Blake, would have had to compete with jackhammers and trucks - as work continues on a carpark for the American president's motorcade, when he visits the cup village on Sunday. Now the new black boat will park off the village island - a little further away from the public's view. But Team New Zealand have promised to stage a grand show to the public gallery, who will be able to see and hear the ceremony from the Waitemata Plaza across the water. NZL57 will be christened at sunset by Lady Blake, wife of the head of the defence syndicate, Sir Peter Blake. Children in tiny Optimist dinghies will circle the black boat under spotlight - representing Team New Zealand's financial contribution to youth yachting in New Zealand. The Team New Zealand crew were working late into the night yesterday to get their first boat ready for her maiden sail. Her mast was stepped yesterday afternoon. By the end of this weekend, there should be nine new generation America's Cup boats in the village. The Spanish, Hawaiian and Swiss syndicates will have their boats delivered - by sea and air - over the weekend. New York's Young America, the co-ed America True and Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes are already out sailing on the Hauraki Gulf. -- Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ * Prestigious Swiss watch brand, Omega, has announced it has signed agreements to become the official timekeeper for America's Cup 2000 and also for the Cup Defender, Team New Zealand. "Omega is proud to support Sir Peter Blake, the America's Cup and Team New Zealand in this yachting event, where timing and precision are required - the same qualities assured by every one of our watches," said Omega's Australasian Managing Director Graham Davies. - Murray Taylor, America's Cup 2000 US SAILING The US SAILING Annual General Meeting will be held October 27-31, 1999 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore, 300 Light Street, Baltimore, Maryland. For room reservations call 410/ 528-1234 (before September 27, 1999) and identify our group name (US SAILING) to receive the group rate of $164.00, single/$174.00, Double occupancy plus tax. In connection with the meeting, the Judges Committee and the Racing Rules Committee are co-hosting a National Judges Training Workshop and a Racing Rules Seminar to be held October 26 and 27, 1999. The Judges Training Workshop will focus on protest committee procedures and regatta operations for the jury and will begin on Tuesday from 1PM to 5PM with a dinner break resuming at 7PM until 9PM. The Instructor will be Tom Farquhar. The second day of the workshop will begin at 8:30 AM with a Racing Rules Seminar. The Racing Rules Seminar will be conducted by Racing Rules Committee members Art Engel, Rob Overton, Dick Rose and Mary Savage. The emphasis will be on Part 2 - When Boats Meet. The Wednesday session is available at a reduced cost and open to any sailor interested in the rules on the water. The Judges Training Workshop will conclude with a Judge examination and debriefing of the examination. Participants in the Judges Training Workshop are required to have a copy of the Judges Manual, Racing Rules of Sailing and Appeals Decisions and ISAF Cases with them at the seminar. For the agenda, details and registration: http://www.ussailing.org/ AUCKLAND UPDATE (Reprinted with permission from DEFENCE 2000, which is available for US $48 per year from John@roake.gen.nz) There is a decided quickening of events in New Zealand. America's Cup supplements are appearing in our newspapers regularly. There is a program on the Cup and its history every Sunday on TV. Sports commentators are talking about it on almost every sports session and the American Express Yacht Club will be opened tomorrow, by the Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley. The newspapers are reporting daily on happenings surrounding the Cup, and yachts are arriving from around the globe on what seems to be almost every ship coming into the country. We are under no illusions. The world is about to take New Zealand on by those who don't believe we should be hanging onto the America's Cup one day longer than February 19, 2000. There is still construction going on and around the Village complex, but contrary to our earlier reports, we hasten to tell you that the American Express Yacht Club is a superb facility, described by one journalist as a floating paradise. We reported earlier that the barge was towed from Tahiti to Auckland. It now has a completed two story structure on its 20m x 36m deck. It can cater for up to 800 people, includes bars, restaurants and a function room and needs 375,000 litres of water ballast to keep it on an even keel. Congratulations American Express. You have done a fine job. So what will happen to the club house when it's all over? The Amex Club house is expected to end up as a floating museum and it will be towed to various ports around the country, promoting sailing and displaying cup memorabilia. It will be a sort of "Thank you to the country for supporting Team New Zealand". This from David Jung, the designer of the American Express Yacht Club which was built in only 17 weeks. He says "Much thought has been given to the future use of the Yacht Club when the Regatta is all over". HOT WEBSITE YachtWorld.com, a division of The Cobalt Group, Inc., is the Internet's leading online marine publication. This site contains the largest photo database of new and used power and sailboats for sale and charter on the Web. With more than 18,000 listings from over 600 of the country's most prominent marine yacht brokerages, YachtWorld.com receives over 200,000 visitors each month. The site includes a Boating Yellow Pages with over 18,000 listings of marine products and services, as well as up-to-date news from various marine publications. Check out the popular discussion forum, charter section, and the boat shopper news: http://yachtworld.com WORLD DISABLED SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS After a delayed start while the race officer waited for the wind to stabilise, both the Sonar and 2.4mR classes completed the fifth and sixth races of the in bright sunshine and an almost perfect 10-14 knot sea breeze off the Atlantic port of Cadiz in Spain late this afternoon. -- Nigel Cherie, RYA Standings, SONAR: 1, Hessels / Ruesink / Russn, NED, 15 points, 2, Cassell / Millband / Harding, GBR, 24, 3, Kroker / Munter / Reichi, GER, 35, 4, Fresk / Bagge / Jan Edbom, SWE, 38, 5, Efrati / Cohen / Spector, ISR, 42, 6, Robins / Martin / Dunross, AUS, 48, 7, Callahan / Huges / Burhans, USA, 50, 8, Robertson / Suckling / Long, GBR, 53, 9, Garcia / Emerteri / Mastra, CAN, 57, 10, Ross-Duggan / Esparza / Aucreman, USA, 59. INTERNATIONAL 2.4 METRE CLASS: 1, Heiko Kroger, GER, 9 points, 2, Jens Als Andersen, DEN, 35, 3, Philippe Balle, FRA, 37, 3(tie), Marco Turbiglio, ITA, 37, 5, Jostein Stordahl, NOR, 46, 6, Mike Browne, GBR, 48, 7, Ian Harrison, GBR, 56, 8, Dan McCoy, CAN, 60, 9, Allan Smith, GBR, 66, 10, Claes Hultling, SWE, 69. Event site: http://ifds.org RICHARDSON CUP The Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes, formed of the 5 Great Lakes plus Lake St. Clair, held their 1999 Richardson Cup Trophy series this past weekend, September 4&5, 1999. This year's event brought one team from each of the Great Lakes to Bayview Yacht Club for the 60th running of the match racing competition. Bayview provided their new club-owned fleet of Ultimate 20's for the six team to use with each lake fielding a crew of four. In the double round robin event with a total of 30 races sailed, Bill Abbott, Canadian Olympic Soling champion from Lake Huron, won with 9 wins and 1 loss. Bayview's own Chris Van Tol was second with 8 wins and 2 losses. Third was Heidi Backus Riddle from Lake Erie with 6 wins and 4 losses. Jay Tovey from Rochester Yacht Club in Lake Ontario was 4th with 6 wins. A disappointed Kent Heitzinger, from Lake Michigan finished 5th with 4 wins and Rick Corness from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior finished 6th. -- Marc Hollerbach CURMUDGEON'S COMMENTARY I'm really pleased with the way Stu Johnstone has automated the maintenance of the Scuttlebutt mailing list and the distribution function. It has simplified my life enormously and will really be important when I return to New Zealand early next month. The one minor down side -- it is no longer possible for you to hit the reply key and send off a note to the curmudgeon. However, at the very bottom of every 'Butt issue will be a link to my current email address. I hope this one additional step will not prevent you from sharing your thoughts with me like you always have. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION He who hesitates is probably right. |
