|
SCUTTLEBUTT #262 - January 21, 1999KWRW - Report by Sean McNeillWhile the working world labored through hump day blues competitors at the 12th annual GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week used the week's mid-point to help define their future. There were nine ties for either first, second or third in the 18 classes at Race Week when racing began today. At the end of the day there were two. "Wednesday is always make or break day at Race Week," said Race Chairman Peter Craig. "With so many of the classes knotted at the start of the day, those that placed well improved their chances for finding the winners' circle at the end of the week." Edgar Cato's (Coconut Grove, Fla.) Hissar sees its future in the winners' circle. Hissar posted double bullets today in the Farr 40 Class, which helped it improve from eighth to fourth in the 20-boat class. The strong showing earned Hissar Boat of the Day honors for conquering the class with the closest racing, and Cato a Casio MR G Tactician watch. The award is determined using a time and distance formula. A smaller ratio indicates a more competitive class. The combined delta for first through fifth in both of today's Farr 40 races was 2 minutes, 46 seconds. "Today was our best day of the week," said Cato at the post-race awards ceremony. "We had a bad day Monday when we made some bad decisions. But we have a great crew and we never give up. We led each race from start to finish." Hissar, which moved to fourth in the class, trails Jack Woodhull's (Newport Beach, Calif.) leader Persephone by 6 points. John Thomson's (Port Washington, N.Y.) Solution and John Kilroy's (San Francisco, Calif.) Samba Pa Ti hold second and third, respectively. The PHRF 2 30-foot sportboat class remains the only one tied at the end of Day 3. Wayne Colahan and Doug Halstead's (Marblehead, Mass.) Letter of Marque and Chris Bouzaid's (Jamestown, R.I.) Wai Rere swapped a first and a third to remain tied with 10 points. Michael Finn's (Slidell, La.) Surfinn holds third with 20 points. In other action, IMS 1 continued to live up to its billing as one of the toughest classes in the regatta, but it features an unexpected leader. Elder statesman Bache Renshaw (Portsmouth, R.I.) has shared the helm of his 47-footer Virago with Star class champion Peter Bromby (Hamilton, Bermuda) and leads the class dominated by professionals. Virago holds a 5-point lead over Irvine Laidlaw's (Isle of Man, England) 60-footer Hi Fling, with Karl Kwok's (Hong Kong, China) third-placed 50-footer Beau Geste 6 points behind. "We made some modifications to speed up before the regatta," said Renshaw of the alterations made to his boat after the International Measurement System Rule was rewritten last month. "We opted for a light-air configuration and we're going like hell." The end of Day 3 also saw a third overall leader in the highly competitive 1D35 class, which has been a contender for Boat of the Day honors all week. Pete DuPont's (Rockland, Me.) War Bride took the lead with two second-place finishes today, improving from fifth at the start of the day. Stephen Pfeifer's (Milwaukee, Wis.) Northern Bear, yesterday's leader, fell to third with a disappointing 6-10. Doug DeVos' (Holland, Mich.) Windquest moved into second with two fourths. Three points separate the top three in the 1D35 class. Upheaval occurred in the Melges 24 class, which is hosting its Midwinter Championship at Race Week. Charlie Ogletree's (Newport Beach, Calif.) Planet Loaf, the class leader the first two days, dropped to sixth when it fell afoul of double digit, 16-25 finishes in the 50-boat class. At the other end of the spectrum, Scott Elliott's (Charlotte, N.C.) White Loaf took over the class lead with finishes of 2-1, bringing its total to 18 points. Trailing 2 points in arrears is National Champion Brian Porter's (Lake Geneva, Ill.) Full Throttle. World Champion Vince Brun's (San Diego, Calif) Team Henri Lloyd holds third, 20 points behind the leader. In the battle for the Yukon Cup, Team Italy leads Team Far East by 12 points, half of the advantage it held this morning. Awarded by title sponsor GMC Yukon, the Yukon Cup is presented to the top international three-boat team comprised of entries from the IMS, Mumm 30 and Melges 24 classes. Team Far East closed the gap today when Team Italy's Planet Loaf placed ninth among the 10 Melges 24s in the team competition. Team Italy's Breeze, Malinda/Invicta and Planet Loaf now have the low score of 49 points, while Team Far East -- Beau Geste, Esmeralda and White Loaf -- have 61 points. Team United Kingdom -- Hi Fling, Turbo Duck and Snickers Workwear -- is third with 65 points. In order to generate broad interest, team composition may be one country or regional when there aren't a sufficient number of boats from a single country. Two of the three boats on each team must hail from the country or region represented, with at least 30 percent of the crew on those two boats citizens or legal residents of the particular country. The record-size fleet of 274 boats will sail a total of eight races through Friday, January 22, at the 12th annual GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week. A complete set of provisional results and scratch sheet can be found on Race Week's web page at http://www.yachtingnet.com DIVISION I STANDINGS (provisional after 5 races) -- CLASS A -- IMS1 1. Virago/Bache Renshaw (Portsmouth, RI) 4-2-3-1-2--12, 2. Hi Fling/Irvine Laidlaw (Isle of Man, England) 2-5-2-7-1--17 3. (tie among) Beau Geste/Karl Kwok (Hong Kong, China) 5-3-1-4-5-18 and Breeze/Paolo Gaia (Milan, Italy) 1-7-4-3-3--18. CLASS B -- IMS2 1. Brava Q8/Pasquale Landolfi (Porto Cervo, Italy) 1-2-1-1-3--8, 2. VIM III/J. Craig Speck (Grand Rapids, MI) 4-1-2-2-4--13, 3. Heatwave/Sal Giordano (Edgartown, MA) 3-3-4-6-2--18. CLASS C -- Farr 40 1. Persephone/Jack Woodhull (Newport Beach, CA) 2-8-7-3-2--22, 2. Solution/John Thomson (Port Washington, NY) 1-2-8-9-5--25, 3. Samba Pa Ti/John Kilroy (San Francisco, CA) 11-5-1-4-6--27. CLASS D -- PHRF1 1. Starlight/Jay Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) 1-1-1-3-1--7, 2. Fatal Attraction/F. Gray Kiger (Norfolk, VA) 3-5-2-2-2--14, 3. Wahoo/Fintan Cairns (Dublin, Ireland) 4-3-3-1-4--15. CLASS E -- 1D35 1. War Bride/Pete DuPont (Rockland, ME) 9-7-2-2-2--22, 2. Windquest/Doug DeVos (Holland, MI) 3-4-9-4-4--24, 3. Northern Bear/Stephan Pfeifer (Milwaukee, WI) 2-2-5-6-10--25. CLASS F -- PHRF2 1. (tie between) Wai Rere/Chris Bouzaid (Jamestown, RI) 1-1-4-1-3--10 and Letter of Marque/W. Colahan & D. Halsted (Marblehead, MA) 2-2-2-3-1--10, 3. Surfinn/Michael Finn (Slidell, LA) 4-3-6-2-5--20. CLASS G -- PHRF3 1. Fitikoko/Andrew Wilson (Annapolis, MD) 1-1-1-2-2--7, 2. Lunatic Fringe/Eric Wynsma (Grand Rapids, MI) 3-3-2-4-4--16, 3. Spirit/Square Knot Partners (New Smyrna Beach, FL) 4-4-8-3-1--20. DIVISION 2 STANDINGS (provisional after 5 races, unless noted) -- CLASS A -- PHRF 4 1. Surprise/Joan Tryzelaar (Portland, ME) 1-1-1-1-1--5, 2. Snake Eyes/Tom Ballard (Annapolis, MD) 2-2-3-2-2--11, 3. Kicks/Peter Hartleb (Cape Coral, FL) 6-3-4-7-4--24. CLASS B1 -- Viper 830 1. RE/Guy de Boer (Detroit, MI) 2-2-1-1-2--8, 2. Extreme Measures/Doug Harkrider (Flowery Banch, GA) 1-1-2-2-3--9, 3. Blue Genes/Keith McCullagh (Bucks, England) 4-3-4-3-1--15. CLASS B2 -- J/105 (provisional after 6 races) 1. Phenix/Bob Swirbalus (Boston, MA) 3-2-7-2-1-1--16, 2. Hi-Jinx/Tom Thayer (Jamestown, RI) 1-5-6-3-2-3--20, 3. Elizabeth/Bill Helming (Acton, MA) 5-3-3-1-5-6--23. CLASS C -- J/29 1. WOW/W. Rojek & A. Zaleski (City Island, NY) 5-3-1-1-3--13, 2. Titillation/Paul Anderson (Deltaville, VA) 6-2-8-2-1--19, 3. Hustler/John Esposito (City Island, NY) 2-4-3-8-6--23. CLASS D -- J/80 (provisional after 6 races) 1. Hustle/Tim McAdams (E. Greenwich, RI) 2-5-1-2-3-2--15, 2. Thrown Together/Vicky Jo Neiner (Perth Amboy, NJ) 3-4-4-1-6-3--21, 3. Monster Lady/Martin Kald (Pt. Washington, NY) 4-2-9-5-1-5--26. CLASS E -- PHRF 5c 1. Claddagh/L. Fallon & J. Flanagan (Marblehead, MA) 1-2-1-1-2-2--9, 2. Storm Front/James Wells (Evansville, IN) 2-1-4-3-3-3--16, 3. Think Blue/Gary Disbrow (Vermillion, OH) 3-3-3-6-5-1--21. CLASS F -- PHRF 6 (provisional after 6 races) 1. Synchronicity/Michael Phelan (Coconut Grove, FL) 1-2-1-4-1-2--11, 2. Sazerac/Gordon Ettie (Minneapolis, MN) 4-4-2-1-3-1--15, 3. Creola/Jack Cavalier (Tampa, FL) 3-1-3-2-4-3--16. CLASS G -- PHRF 7 (provisional after 6 races) 1. Fourtune Cookie/Peter De Beukelaer (Jackson, MS) 1-2-1-1-1-1--7, 2. Fluffy Flanks/Barry Parkoff (San Antonio, TX) 2-1-2-9-2-3--19, 3. Hot Sheet/Mitch Hnatt (Brick, NJ) 3-3-4-3-6-4--23. DIVISION 3 STANDINGS (provisional after 5 races) -- CLASS A -- Henderson 30 1. Speedracer/Steve Liebel (Sarasota, FL) 1-1-1-1-1--5, 2. New Wave/Michael Carroll (Clearwater, FL) 2-3-3-2-7--17, 3. Girlfriend/J. Holt & P. Dimartino (Wickford, RI) 7-6-2-5-2--22. CLASS B -- Mumm 30 1. Sector/Carla Silva (Portofino, Italy) 4-3-2-1-1--11, 2. Malinda/Invicta/Massimo Mezzaroma (Rome, Italy) 2-4-4-3-7--20, 3. USA 48/B. Allardice & E. Collins (TriBeCa) 1-8-1-11-10--31. CLASS C -- Melges 24 1. Whit Loaf/Scott Elliott (Charlotte, NC) 6-7-2-2-1--18, 2. Full Throttle/Brian Porter (Lake Geneva, IL) 7-2-1-5-5--20, 3. Team Henri Lloyd/Vince Brun (San Diego, Calif.) 15-5-8-6-4--38. PERFECTION Serious racers want a clean bottom, keels that are faired to perfection, straight leaches and fully tricked-out sail handling hardware. And the real serious racers want their crew attire to reflect the same commitment to excellence. EASY! Just contact Frank Whitton at Pacific Yacht Embroidery and let him show you how affordable that can be. Pacyacht@aol.com / 619-226-8033 WORLD SOLING MATCH RACING - Report by Peter Campbell Swedish yachtsman Hans Wallen has won the magnificent Infanta Dona Cristina Trophy presented by the Spanish Royal Family for the Soling world match racing championship at Melbourne's Port Phillip. Coming from behind in both the semi-final and the final, Wallen beat a rather luckless Jeff Madrigali from the USA to decide the gold and silver medals - and win the solid silver model of Columbus' ship Santa Maria donated by the Infanta Dona Cristina of Spain. Wallen is a relative newcomer to the Soling class, having moved from the Stars in which he beat Australia's Colin Beashel to win the silver medal at the 1966 Atlanta Olympics. However, he has a highly experienced crew in Johan Barne and Magnus Augustson, creating a brilliant combination of sailing skills and tactical talent, the key to success in match racing. The Netherland's Roy Heiner won the bronze medal, beating New Zealand's Rod Davis in the petite final to decide the bronze medal in what has to be the most talented line-up of the huge 99 Worlds regatta. In what has been called the America's Cup of racing in Olympic sailing, the world's best sailors in this three-man keelboat have sailed boat-for-boat over the past four days, using boatspeed and often aggressive tactics to beat their opponent. In fact, all four finalists are Olympic medallists in a variety of classes, Wallen being the Star silver medallist at Savannah, while Madrigali was the bronze medallist in the Soling class, the finals there being decided on match racing. Heiner won the bronze medal in the single-handed Finn dinghy class at Savannah, while Davis has won a gold medal as a Soling crew (Los Angeles) and a bronze as a Star class skipper at Barcelona. Today's racing began in only a 6 knots of wind, with the south-easterly seabreeze building up during the afternoon to 10-12 knots, ideal conditions for match racing. Wallen fought back after losing the first flight of both his semi-final and final, going on to win 3-1 against Heiner in the semi-final and Madrigali in the final. Magridali had slightly better boatspeed in the final, but lost the second and last races after leading Wallen.In the second race, he was leading to the finish but had to take a penalty turn for an earlier infringement, allowing Wallen to break through and get the gun. In the last race, both skippers edged close inshore in a tacking duel, with Wallen outfoxing the American and gaining a vital break in the still light and flukey breeze to again edge through to the lead. SEMI-FINALS: Hans Wallen (SWE) d Roy Heiner (NED) 3-1; Jeff Madrigali (USA) de Rod Davis (NZL) 3-1. FINAL: Wallen d Madrigali 3-1 - Wallen wins gold, Madrigali wins silver. PETIT FINAL: Heiner d Davis 2-1 - Heiner wins bronze medal. The full story. AMERICA'S CUP Hall Spars, the Bristol, R.I.-based high-performance manufacturers of masts, spars and rigging, will work exclusively for the NYYC/Young America Challenge in the manufacture of the masts, booms, and spinnaker poles for NYYC/Young America's International America's Cup Class boats. Hall Spars also works exclusively with Young America's design/technology team in the research and development of the carbon fiber spars that are lightweight yet strong enough for America's Cup racing in New Zealand's rugged conditions. This exclusive arrangement allows for a fully integrated hull and rig design of NYYC/Young America's two new IACC boats for America's Cup 2000. Hall's spar development work for NYYC/Young America began during the two-boat testing sessions in Rhode Island in 1997 when various modifications were tested on the team's two 1995 IACC training boats, Young America (USA 36) and Spirit of Rhode Island (USA 39). A new mast was built for the 1998 testing season. The team at Hall worked together with Young America's principal designer, Bruce Farr & Associates, and the Young America design team in designing and developing the new mast that was tested extensively during the 1998 sessions in Rhode Island and New Zealand. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. -- From Peter Huston (NYYC/Fox deal) -- Why on earth would the NYYC controlled Challengers organization, ACCA, do a deal with ESPN for event broadcast rights, and then have the NYYC sailing team ambush their very own event organizing authority, by doing a team media deal with an arch rival like Fox which gives Fox signage rights on the sails and hull during an ESPN broadcast? I have a hard time believing ESPN is happy about this turn of events. I wonder if the NYYC sailing team will have to take on the persona of Fox TV characters - Ed Baird as Homer Simpson saying "DOOOOOH, I let Cayard slam dunk me again". John Marshall as Hank Hill waxing philosophical with down east stories. And Kimo Worthington as Bart Simpson arriving at Young America just before a race on a powered surfboard saying "Outta my way Baird dude, I'm gonna drive this sea slug now". -- Craig Fletcher -- Let's not forget that PHRF has the largest big boat membership in the USA. Remember a phrase from the early 80's, "I love to hate". -- From Allan Johnson - In 'Butt #261 Sean McNeill wrote "Some participant at GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week '99 forgot to offer their weekly sacrifice to Huey, sailing's legendary wind God." I realize that McNeill is an esteemed journalist for one of our finest sailing magazines, but have I been praying to the wrong god? Up here in the Pacific Northwest our crew of Scandinavian descent worship "Odin"-Supreme Deity, creator of the cosmos, god of wisdom, war, art, culture. It seems the creator of the cosmos certainly controls the weather and wind or is this just a bunch of Huey? -- Scott Truesdell -- Glenn McCarthy admonishes all US SAILING members to attend the semi-annual meetings as a means for being included in the legislative process. I maintain it is neither practical nor desireable for large numbers of US SAILING members to attend the bi-annual meetings. Would US SAILING want to make provisions for attendance that could vary by several orders of magnitude? We are not required to make a pilgrimage to Washington D.C. to vote on legislative propositions. Mr. McCarthy asks: "Did you express yourself?" This is exactly what the members are asking for: an opportunity to express ourselves. We can not all attend every meeting, therefore, US SAILING should publish the proceedings in American Sailor or on the web and solicit comments. Rewrite the propositions to reflect the comments, then submit for wide membership vote. It's a simple legislative model that is used by countless numbers of organizations worldwide. Not until legislation-in-progress is widely disseminated will the question "Did you express yourself?" have any pertinence. JUNIOR SAILING US SAILING will further expand the USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festivals in 1999 to 18 regional festivals nationwide, plus the USA Junior Olympic National Sailing Championship. Run in cooperation with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the program was introduced in 1997 with six regional events, attended by 1,400 youth sailors. Participation doubled in 1998, to 2,800 sailors at 13 events. US SAILING developed the program to boost grassroots participation in junior sailing. The 1999 events will use the same formula that made the 1998 events a hit-fun, learning and competition, with an emphasis on fun. Each event will have a distinct, regional flavor. Some festivals will concentrate on clinics and learning, while others will include lots of fun and games. All regional festivals will have on-the-water racing, and all will offer fun activities for new or entry level sailors. Age limits vary at each event but include ages 8 to 19, for the most part. US Junior Sailing Team-For the first time, US SAILING honored 19 youth sailors by naming them to the 1998 US Junior Sailing Team. This will be continued, and another team will be named in 1999. It will be comprised of the winners of this year's major national youth sailing championships. These include the US SAILING Junior Women's Singlehanded & Doublehanded Championships (Leiter & Ida Lewis trophies), US SAILING Junior Sailing Championships (Sears, Bemis & Smythe trophies) and the USA Junior Olympic National Sailing Championship. The Team will also include U.S. representatives to the 1999 ISAF World Youth Sailing Championships who are not already named above. US Junior Sailing Team members are role models for younger sailors and will be considered for future Olympic campaigns. USA Junior Olympic Sailing events are an element of US SAILING's Olympic Path, which was started in 1997 to enhance youth development opportunities in the U.S., and to provide a head start into Olympic sailing. It achieves this through activities and strategies that will promote lifelong interest in the sport of sailing. US SAILING's plan is to put a Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in each region of the country in years to come. RACER'S FORUM Mike Guccione, Race Management Chair for the Association of Santa Monica Bay Yacht Clubs (ASMBYC), announced that a racers' forum will be held on February 3 at 7:00 PM at Windjammers' Yacht Club. This forum will provide an opportunity for competitors to meet with the race chairs of each of the yacht clubs which are members of ASMBYC to share ideas on how to improve racing in Santa Monica Bay. The idea for the forum originated from interactive discussions regarding race participation which occurred on the Yacht Racers' Resource Center, a not-for-profit web site (www.yrrc.com). Guccione anticipates that a broad range of topics will be covered at the forum including the schedule of races, the type of races offered and potential enhancements to the current course chart. However, time limitations may permit only fleet captains of the one design and PHRF fleets to speak. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Age is a very high price to pay for maturity. |
