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SCUTTLEBUTT 1931 -- September 26, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.LONG UPHILL STRUGGLE (In an interview posted on The Daily Sail subscription website, yacht designer Jason Ker discusses the issues with Team Shosholoza's mast and how to conjure up a winning Cup boat. Here's a brief excerpt.) Ker sees the greatest performance increase in the next generation of Cup boats coming from the rigs and in particular the sails, but warns that to be competitive in the America's Cup requires every aspect of the design, construction and sailing side to be optimized. So far this season Alinghi's second 2003 generation boat, SUI 75, is proving almost impossible to beat on the race course and this is a good example of a team ticking all the boxes. "There is nothing unusual about the boat - it is just a nicely executed design," says Ker of 75. "Hull, rig, sails, appendages, the way it is sailed, the way it is trimmed, the way the sails are designed - the whole package is fast. It is not just one element that is fast. We have to improve our whole package and we have got a long way to go." While Shosholoza were the first to build a Version 5 boat, most teams are building their first new boat over the course of this coming winter but it remains to be seen whether the bigger teams in particular will feel the need actually to race their new boats in the 2006 season, if their previous boat is still competitive. In addition to the rule change to Version 5, another significant difference with the new boats is that they will be optimized for conditions found off Valencia, rather than the brisker conditions generally found in Auckland. -- www.thedailysail.com SCUTTLEBUTT POLL With the final stop of the 2005 Louis Vuitton road show coming to Trapani, Italy this week, we thought we would get a feel from the 'Buttheads on which America's Cup team needs to do well -- really well -- in Acts 8 and 9. The poll is up on the Scuttlebutt website and we'll report the results at the beginning of the racing, which starts Thursday, September 29th: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/05/0923 DETERMINATION In June 2006, with nothing but oars, their strength, and their determination, four disabled men in a 29 foot row boat will be making history by crossing the North Atlantic from New York to Falmouth England. Epic Adenture consists of four top amputee athletes who are not letting disability stop them from achieving their dreams or their goals. This is the first all amputee team in history to attempt crossing the North Atlantic by oar and will do so by competing in the first ever WoodVale Trans North Atlantic Ocean Fours Race. The ultimate endurance event, this race is limited to 15 international teams who will be leaving New York, USA and rowing 3,100 nautical miles to finish in Falmouth, England approximately 60 days later. Unlike other rowing races, this course will not be assisted by trade winds and currents. This route will take them through treacherous waters filled with icebergs both visible and subsurface. They will have to stay extremely alert while dealing with the freezing conditions and be on the lookout for commercial water traffic as well. The team is: - William Malmskog, Big Bear, California. Age 44, Right below knee amputee. Along with being a firefighter, stuntman and member of the Screen Actors Guild, he is a nationally ranked powerlifter and personal trainer. - Matt Henderson, San Clemente, California. Age 28, Right below knee Ertl amputee. He is an ice hockey player, surfer, climber, mountain biker and triathlete. He has run the Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon, Olympic Distance - 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run and has been training for Ironman Hawaii. - Ron King, Stillwater, Oklahoma. Age 40, Right below knee Ertl amputee. Showing that courage and determination do not fail, Ron, a former career police officer, has continued to lead an active and adventurous life. After a fall in June 2001 which shattered the bones in his lower right leg and ankle, his surgical team spent two and a half years attempting to save his leg. - Willie Stewart - Tentative, Loma Linda, California. Left above elbow amputee. -- Known as One Arm Willie, he is a world champion Ironman Triathlete and fitness legend. The team is waiting for Willie to return from paddling the Colorado River to confirm his spot. -- www.epicadventure.r8.org RIWKC In Friday's issue of Scuttlebutt, the headline we used for the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship declared, "It's Over." After racing Thursday, Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) did not need to sail the 11th and final race Friday as she had a low enough total score in to win the regatta. And although we did not know it at the time, the regatta truly was over because on Friday, after a day of waiting on the Chesapeake Bay for wind that never materialized, the Annapolis Yacht Club Race pulled the plug and cancelled the one remaining race on the schedule. On Friday evening, Barkow and her crew of Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Annie Lush (Poole, England) were presented with US Sailing Bengt Julin Trophy and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Stainless Steel & 18k gold Ladies Datejust. Final Standings -- 42 boats: 1. Sally Barkow, 3-1-1-2-1-3-1-1-1-[10], 14 points 2. Cory Sertl, 1-[9]-2-9-3-7-2-6-7-1, 38 3. Jody Swanson, 2-2-[17]-4-5-4-10-7-9-4, 47 4. Carol Cronin, 6-6-6-[11]-2-8-9-2-6-3, 48 5. Sharon Ferris, NZL, 7-11-3-1-6-2-8-14-[15]-5, 57 6. JoAnn Fisher, 11-14-5-5-11-11-4-[17]-2-2, 65 7. Lorie Stout, 5-7-9-[15]-9-1-5-11-14-12, 73 8. Julie Sitzmann, 16-3-4-3-17-20-[29]-4-3-6, 76 9. Anna Tunnicliffe, 12-8-[28]-16-13-5-6-5-4-19, 88 10. Derby Anderson, [15]-5-12-8-12-14-7-8-8-15, 89 RIBCRAFT SPONSOR OF ISAF TEAM RACE WORLDS Ribcraft, the leading supplier of rigid inflatable boats for sailing programs and yacht clubs, is a proud sponsor of the 2005 Grey Goose ISAF Team Racing World Championships at the New York YC currently taking place in Newport, RI. More than twenty Ribcraft RIBs have descended on Newport as umpire and support craft for the regatta. Safe, durable, stable, and reliable, it's no coincidence that Ribcraft is the preferred choice of yacht clubs, sailing coaches, and race committees. Now's the time to learn more about the Ribcraft line of RIBs, ranging in size from 15' to 30' at http://www.ribcraftusa.com HUMAN ERROR While Örn (SWE 63) was being lifted with the travel lift from its cradle at the team base compound in Trapani Friday the mast broke. The top section of the mast fell onto containers in the neighboring base of Luna Rossa. No personal injuries occurred and no damage was sustained by Luna Rossa. The cause of accident was human error under huge stress. In Trapani the 12 America's Cup teams are sharing four travel lifts and need to launch their boats according to a tight schedule. The halyards, which are attached to the ground at night to keep the boat secure, were not released when the launching maneuver started. The noise level in the team base compound was so high that warnings from the crew on the boat were not heard by the team member operating the travel lift. The mast broke in three sections and cannot be salvaged. Victory Challenge has a spare rig in Trapani and will be able to continue its preparations for Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts 8 & 9 within two to three days. http://www.victorychallenge.com/start.phtml?lang_id=1 Footnote: Victory Challenge was among the teams training on Sunday. The team lost one day of sailing through the accident (they weren't scheduled to sail on Saturday) and appear to have recovered from the setback. -- www.americascup.com JOE FLY WINS For the final race of the Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship in Torquay the wind was up at around 14 knots from the west for the first time all week, and by the start initial rain had given way to broken sunshine. In the overall standings Gabrio Zandona helming Giovanni Maspero's Joe Fly Team takes the Giorgio Zuccoli European Championship Trophy with Stuart Rix, helming Gill for Quentin Strauss 2nd and Andrea Racchelli of Altea 3rd. 4th place overall and the Corinthian (all amateur) Trophy goes to Alba Batzill helming No Woman No Cry for Eddy Eich, with Francois Brenac of Phillipe Ligot's Partner & Partners Sailing Team 5th. Other podium slots in the Corinthian Division go to Antoine Albaret of Cotes d'Armour Perros Guirec 2nd and Jerome Aubert in Au Planning 3rd. For the Joe Fly Team this is a particularly sweet victory, as they almost didn't make the regatta when a sleeping lorry driver wrote off their boat and tow truck as Federico Michetti changed a tire on the hard shoulder on his way to the regatta. Fortunately Federico suffered only a small scratch and they were able to secure the loan of a replacement boat in time. Although this is Gabrio Zandona's first Melges 24 European Title his crew were the defending champions, having won the trophy with their previous helm, Luca Santella, in Helsinki in 2003. -- www.melges24.com TP52 MED CURCUIT After five events and 38 races sailed in the Breitling Medcup TP52 Circuit 2005, there were only nine points between the first and second boats on the leader board. The Chilean vessel Pisco Sour owned by Emilio Cousiño, Bernardo Matte and Antonio Orlyi with Vasco Vascotto at the was the overall winner. Second place on the new Mediterranean circuit was taken by Lexus-Quantum Racing with Russell Coutts steering while Caixa Galicia with Roberto Bermúdez de Castro toook third. HM King Juan Carlos and his boat Bribon, take home the Corinthian Trophy for owner-driver participants, and finish the 2005 season in fourth place on the Breitling MEDCUP TP52 leader board. Standing for the final Medcup event -- the Audi Cup 1. Caixa Galicia. Roberto Bermúdez 5+7+9+7+8+2=44 2. Pisco Sour. Vasco Vascotto. 9+9+8+5+6+4=41 pts 3. Lexus. Russell Coutts 7+8++7+3+3+9=37 4. Patches. Ian Walker. 8+5+4+9+2+5 =33 5. Bribón. S.M. Don Juan Carlos. 4+6+5+6+4+7=32 6. Aifos. Iñaki Castañer. 3+4+3+2+9+6=27 7. Sjambok. Gavin Brady. 6+2+6+4+7+2 =27 8. Orlanda-Olympus. Lorenzo Bressanni. 2+3+2+8+5+3 =23 9. Balearia. Antonio Gorostegui.1+1+1+1+1+1=6 Overall standing for the Breitling Medcup TP52 Circuit: 1. Pisco Sour, Vasco Vascotto, 249 pts 2. Lexus, Russell Coutts, 240 3. Caixa Galicia, Roberto Bermúdez, 239 4. Bribón, S.M. Don Juan Carlos, 193 5. Orlanda-Olympus, Lorenzo Bressanni, 191 6. Atlanti, Paul Cayard, 167 7. Bambakou, John Coumantaros, 147 8. Cristabella, John Cook, 115 9. Aifos. Ricardo Maldonado. 100 10. Siemens, Jim Allsop, 41 11. Patches, Ian Walker, 33 12. Sjambok, Gavin Brady, 27 13. Balearia, Antonio Gorostegui, 23 REGATTA ROUNDUP * Brian Angel, Payson Infelise and David Hochart from King Harbor YC won the U. S. Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl at the Newport Harbor YC, defeating Chris Van Tol, Bayview YC 3-1 in the Finals. In the Petit Finals, John Loe, Southern YC beat David Rosow Jr., Pequot YC, 2-0. -- www.nhyc.org * Robert Hughes' Heart Breaker established a lead on the first day of the 12-boat, 10-race American Express Farr 40 North American Championship at the Chicago YC, and never relinquished it. The final standings were: 1) Heart Breaker, 48; 2) Flash Gordon, Helmut Jahn, 53; 3) Barking Mad, Jim Richardson, 55; 4) Kokomo, Lang Walker, 57; 5) Inferno, Team Inferno, 62. -- http://tinyurl.com/8rfzz * Eight races away at the Laser Worlds in Fortaleza, Brazil and Brazil's Robert Scheidt has taken control with a commanding 14 point lead from second placed Vasilij Zbogar (SLO), with Jeremie Steyaert (FRA) falling to third place. This was the end of the qualifying races and the Finals start Monday local time. Sunday's first race was sailed in stronger winds, with peaks up to 22 knots, and demanded more strength and technique from competitors. -- Sail-World website, http://www.sail-world.com/news.cfm?Nid=19264&RequestTimeOut=180 * Defending Champion Nicky Souter and her team of Angela Farrell, Anne Durham and Fiona Elliott have won the Line 7 Australian Women's Match Racing Championship, defeating Katie Spithill, Aimee Famularo, Sarah Roberts-Thomson and Emma Bullough 3-1 in the finals. They led the regatta from the start and Souter puts this down to their thorough preparation. "For the last six months we've been doing the Youth Development Program at RPAYC, with Traks and Murray Walters coaching us. Basically every Saturday and Sunday we've been doing the hard yards, and a few afternoons too." -- www.cyca.com.au * Corentin Douguet on E. Leclerc - Bouygues Telecom won the Transat 6.50 Maritime-Bahia Charente race. Gladu Sébastien, Armor Lux, was second followed by Le Blevec, Yves Point Mariage. -- http://www.transat650.org/ DEAR LAYLINE CUSTOMERS: I am running a huge '05 "Model Change" Sale. Kind of like a car dealership making room for the new '06 models. In addition, we have rope, rigging and blocks etc that we are marking down to make room for the latest and best. http://www.layline.com/departments.asp?dept=266 Don't delay! -- Walt NEWS BRIEFS * An enthusiastic crowd cheered and clapped as sixteen teams representing ten nations paraded across the lawn of the New York Yacht Club's Harbour Court Sunday evening for the Opening Ceremony of the 2005 Grey Goose ISAF Team Racing World Championship. Defending champions Tim Fallon (Somerville, Mass.), Ery Largay (Beverly, Mass.) and Karen Renzulli (Somerville), all members of Team Whishbone, hoisted the flag that signaled the official opening of the world championship. The competitors spent the last two picture-perfect days taking advantage of scheduled on-the-water practice time in the Vanguard 15s that have been supplied for the regatta. -- http://nyyc.org/ * According to a posting on the BMW Oracle Racing Blog, "… we had a small bump with the bottom of the Med yesterday after towing out and as they were getting ready to sail. Nothing earthshaking, literally or figuratively. Minor repairs to the bottom of the keel were affected overnight. We have a new significant sponsor that will be formally announced Wednesday. It is not exactly a secret, inasmuch as the branding is already displayed on either side of the boat near the stern. The venue is better than I think everyone was expecting." -- http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/ * The following events and shows are now available for free on demand at www.t2p.tv. CBYRA Annapolis Race Week; 470 World Championships; C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Development Regatta and Clinic; Lightning North Americans; Laser 4.7 Worlds; Interview with Ken Read, Vice-President, North Sails; 29er World Championships; West Marine Governors Cup; Volkswagen Newport Regatta; AYC Wednesday Night Series; T2TIPS, Tricks for the Main Trimmer; Etchells World Championships; Larchmont NOOD; Shields Nationals; Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship. * Dominique Wavre and his sponsor, the banking software group Temenos announced Owen Clarke Design and Southern Ocean Marine as the designers and builders of their new Open 60 for the Vendee Globe. The Vendee Globe is still three years away and there will be a number of key races along the way. Temenos however will be designed for the Vendee Globe and so the team's design focus and objectives are based on the goal of winning that race. Temenos will have to be above all else, reliable and capable of being driven hard day in and day out. -- www.owenclarkedesign.com * The Royal Natal Yacht Club in South Africa has set up a website specifically focused on activities surrounding the search for the yacht Moquini and her crew of six. Moquini was participating in the Mauritius to Durban yacht race and was last heard from on September 16. -- http://www.mauritiustodurban.com/moquini.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is neither 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. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Skip Allan: Wonderful news Gypsy Moth IV sails again! In our age of Ellens and V-70's, sponsored circumnavigations and live satellite feed, it is fun to remember that warm August day in London, 1966. I was a kid, hitchhiking around Europe, and wandered down to the Thames . There at a backwater dock was a large, narrow, nameless ketch with a monster windvane hanging on tiny transom. On deck was an older, bespectacled gentleman, alone loading from a mound of sails, line, and gear. I asked if I could help, as he seemed rather frail, with a gimpy leg. We spent the afternoon together, loading and lashing. After helping, the gentleman showed me the crowded confines of a gadget filled cabin. He was especially keen on his "invention" of large chart table drawers filled with sprouts in various stages of development. The bilge was lined with metal kegs of Guinness Stout. I asked him the designer. "Illingworth." I asked his plans, and he replied, "Oh, I'm sailing around the world," but he was hesitant to describe his route, saying only "bad luck to have firm plans." I said, "where's all your food?" He said, "Oh, I live on sprouts and stout, healthiest diet you can imagine." I shook my head in wonder and wished this lone individual all the best. Didn't catch his name, but realized nine months later when Francis Chichester returned to the accolades of millions of his countrymen, that I had serendipitously been shore crew for a day aboard Gypsy Moth IV. * From Chris Luppens: Sitting in Houston waiting on Rita! Since we still have power I worked on the Gulf Yachting Association website a little. The official webmaster lost all he owns in Katrina and once I got in touch with him and got access to the site it was last week, and then Rita, etc. It has been interesting! In any case there is a note about the GYA Foundation there that is approved by the GYA Executive Committee. It would be nice to let folks know we are still functioning if possible. The site is at http://www.gya.org/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Many girls like to marry a military man - he can cook, sew, and make beds and is in good health, and he's already used to taking orders. |
