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SCUTTLEBUTT 2840 - Friday, May 8, 2009Scuttlebutt 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.Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are PredictWind.com and West Marine. THANKS - BUT NO THANKS In a tersely worded letter, Golden Gate Yacht Club, represented on the water by BMW Oracle Racing has declined the invitation to attend a second Mutual Consent meeting proposed by the Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve, for 11 May, just three days before the parties are due to make yet another appearance in the New York Supreme Court. In their letter to Fred Meyer, Vice-Commodore and Chairman, of SNG's America's Cup Committee, Golden Gate Yacht Club Commodore, Marcus Young says: "We write in response to your letters of April 23 and May 5, 2009. They contain numerous self- serving factual statements that we believe are entirely inaccurate, and we strongly disagree with many of the positions that you have taken in those letters. Therefore, and regrettably, we find it hard to believe that your invitation to meet before the Court hearing on May 14, 2009 is anything but a litigation tactic. We will respond substantively to your letters after next Thursday's hearing. In the meantime, and with this letter, we waive no rights and make no admissions, and reserve all rights on all matters." Excerpt from a story on Sail-World.com, full story: -- http://tinyurl.com/de6ow6 * SNG expressed "regrets" that the Golden Gate Yacht Club rejected their invitation to resume talks on terms for the 33rd America's Cup. Their press release they made it clear that the invitation to negotiate remains open. - http://tinyurl.com/dzpahc PACKING UP AND MOVING The Volvo Ocean Race is to move its headquarters from the South Coast of England to Alicante, Spain. The Mediterranean city will become both the starting port and the home of the race for the next three editions. The agreement has been signed Thursday in Boston between the Volvo Ocean Race and the Spanish regional government of Valencia, following extensive negotiations that began last November. "One of our goals, as we've looked ahead to the next race, has been to establish long-term relationships with our stopover ports, and, for economic reasons, to base our headquarters in one of the stopover ports," said Knut Frostad, CEO of the race organizers. "But this only makes sense when both parties can make a long-term commitment. And that's the partnership we are announcing today with Alicante. Spain has played a significant part in recent editions of the race. Spanish sailors outnumber all other nations in the current competition and Spain has shown consistently that it understands event culture, and how to organize sporting competition." Volvo Ocean Race headquarters, which has been based in Whiteley, Hampshire since 1998, will begin the process of moving to Alicante following the conclusion of the current competition at the end of June. The Volvo Ocean Race will be based in Spain by the end of this year, where its headquarters will remain for the next three editions of the race. Significantly, the agreement will also see the construction of a race museum and interactive exhibition that celebrates the 36-year history and heritage of the race. The first phase is scheduled for completion in 2010. - Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ctyf8u * Both Volvo AB and Ford, which owns Volvo Cars, have announced funding for the next race. Originally it started from Portsmouth and then moved to Southampton. This time there is no British entry and no British stopover. In 1973 the Whitbread brewing company backed the Royal Naval Sailing Association's idea for a round the world race and took some cash from what was called the "samples budget", an allocation to company representatives to buy drinks for potential licensee customers, to fund it. Now the budget is believed to be in excess of 25m euros. -- Stuart Alexander, http://tinyurl.com/dkq22w LINE SQUALLS ACCOMPANIED BY CRACKLES OF LIGHTNING Annapolis, MD (May 7, 2009; Day 4)Uncooperative weather again proved to be the biggest challenge for organizers and racers in the 2009 J/24 World Championship, hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club and sailed on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.With an unsettled weather system tracking into the area, the breeze settled down enough for a single race before thunder squalls made continuing competition impossible. Pulling into the lead of the 79-boat fleet with a fifth-place finish in the day's only race was 2008 World Champion Andrea Casale and his Fiamma Gialla team, including Vittorio Rosso, Ernesto Angeletti, Enzo di Capua, and Fabio Montefusco. Today's race was particularly challenging for those in the back half of the fleet. Just under half of the fleet had finished as the squall line approached, sucking up the breeze and spitting it back out with a 150-degree shift, accompanied by crackles of lightning. "The chutes were coming down and the jibs were going up," said Principal Race Officer Sandy Grosvenor, who had set a four-legged course for the contest. Wind shifts before the start required re-setting the line several times before getting off a black-flag start which caught six boats in disqualifications. Grosvenor also posted an amendment to the sailing instructions calling for an early start for Friday's final day of racing, with the first signal scheduled for 9:30 a.m. She plans to try for up to three races, but no starting sequence can begin after 2:30 p.m. Provisional Results, Day 4 (top 5 of 79) 1. Fiamma Gialla, Andrea Casale, Genoa, Italy, 21-9-8-5 = 43 2. Clear Air, Rossi Milev, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 23-5-6-10 = 44 3. Bangor Packet, Anthony Parker, Washington, DC, 5-22-2-20 = 49 4. Mookie, Peter Levesque, Tiverton, RI, 10-31-9-9 = 59 5. Hedgehog, Ian Southward, London, England, 1-24/ZFP-18-24 = 67 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/J24Worlds-Results T2P video: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/j24w09.php SailGroove video: http://tinyurl.com/SailGroove-J24-Worlds-2009 EXPERT WIND FORECASTS - FREE 1 MONTH TRIAL! Want a competitive edge in your next regatta? Use a forecast from PredictWind.com! We are the choice of champion sailors around the world...read about it at http://www.predictwind.com/Customer+Feedback.html Using proprietary technology we generate 2 independent forecasts twice daily. For Offshore Sailors we generate 7 day forecasts with truly global coverage. For Inshore Sailors we use an incredible 1km resolution model with local topography to generate a forecast of unparalleled accuracy for your sailing area. High resolution equals better accuracy. Get your FREE 1 month trial at http://www.PredictWind.com BOUWE BEKKING: A CAREER OF RACING AROUND THE WORLD (May 7, 2009) Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking (pronounced "Bower Becking") might not be a household name in North America, but he is among Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) followers. Having begun in his early twenties, he is in the midst of his sixth race, and will turn 46 before this race is done. When he is not home in Denmark, it would seem that he is going around the world. Scuttlebutt met with him in Boston to learn about Bekking and the race that has become his career: Scuttlebutt: What are the pros and cons of the VOR for the professional sailor? Bekking: The long-term contract is clearly a benefit of the race (approx 16-17 mos). Also, the team atmosphere is one of the great things, not only with your own team but with the other teams as well. Even though you are rivals on the water, you are so close to each that once you are in the harbor, everyone becomes one big family. Of course, the sailing is just fantastic...you can't get better sailing. As for the cons, being away from the family is very hard for us as well as for the family. Some of the legs have been miserable, like when we went from Singapore the China, going upwind for 14 days in horrible weather, but that is one of those things that you know what it will be like in advance, but even then you are thinking, wow, I would rather be racing in Key West Race Week. You can question why you are doing this. Just nearing the finish in Boston, some of the guys were saying it was the coldest part of the race so far. But now that we are hear, you forget about it. You always forget the bad parts very quickly. 'Butt: Can you compare the VOR to the America's Cup? Bekking: Unlike the America's Cup, we are competing from start to finish. In the America's Cup, you know that there is only one team going to the finals. For the crew on a lot of the America's Cup teams, they know they are not going to make it to the finals. In the VOR, the race is far more open. Everybody has a good shot at getting on the podium. Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0507/ VOR BRIEFS * PUMA VO70 skipper Ken Read threw out the first pitch at Wednesday's Boston Red Sox home game. Deep in the heart of the stadium, Read's wife hinted at the moment's significance. "He is a die-hard Red Sox fan," Kathy said. "It's like a dream come true. He keeps saying 'this is the reason I did the Volvo, to throw the first pitch'." How did it go? "That was the scariest thing in the history of mankind," Kenny said to his television entourage. "Southern Ocean? Nothing." - Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ctb84v * Demonstrating once again its unparalleled attraction to the ocean's bottom, Telefonica Blue brushed a sandbar as it returned from a practice sail on Thursday - with no apparent damage. * Delta Lloyd has enhanced their preparations for the Boston in-port race by adding former illbruck strategist and two-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Ed Adams to their coaching team. The American, who sailed the final two legs of illbruck's victorious campaign in the 2001-02 event, will join regular coach Maurice Paardenkooper in guiding the team as they look to build on their third-placed finish at the Rio de Janeiro inshore course. - Sail-World.com, full story: http://tinyurl.com/dm53xk * For the last nine days, Olympic Gold Medallist Anna Tunnicliffe has been in Boston and sailing the Puma Bladerider Moths around Boston Harbor. Branded with graphics like Puma's VO70 'Il Mostro', the Moths have been around to all but one of the VOR stops, and have been sailed in the harbors during the stopovers. "I was sailing the Moth when Ericcson 4 finished," Tunnicliffe said. "Actually, I almost got in the way; I ran out of wind because of all the spectator boats." - Full report: http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/content/view/250/1/ CLEANER AND GREENER! West Marine is proud to introduce our new Pure Oceans product line, a selection of boat care products specifically formulated to be kinder to the environment while delivering equal performance to less environmentally-friendly formulas. This new line includes soaps, cleaners, and surface care products that are less toxic, less environmentally persistent, and less bio-accumulative than more harmful, conventional formulations. Be good to your boat, and be good to the environment with West Marine's new Pure Oceans Boat Care Products.Visit http://www.westmarine.com or call 1-800-BOATING to locate one of our nearby stores. SAILING SHORTS * The 122-foot square topsail schooner Lynx has entered the 2009 Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. Lynx was designed by Melbourne Smith and built to interpret a privateer or naval schooner from the War of 1812. She was launched in 2001 and displaces 114 tons, is 78 feet over all with a beam of 23 feet, a draft of 9 feet and 5000 square feet of sail. Lynx is fully licensed by the United States Coast Guard as a Sub Chapter 'T' passenger vessel, and five berths are available for the Transpac Race. -- http://www.privateerlynx.org * New Zealander Craig Monk, who won a bronze sailing a Finn in Barcelona (1992), will team up with Hamish Pepper in a two-handed Star in a bid to qualify for the London Games in 2012. Pepper had won the 2006 Star World Championship and finished 9th in the 2008 Olympics with partner Carl Williams, who has since taken up cycling. Both Pepper and Monk remain involved in the America's Cup, Pepper as a member of BMW Oracle's afterguard while Monk, who sailed for Oracle at the last cup, is now aligned with the British challenge, Team Origin. -- Full story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/2380707/Americas-Cup-sailor-to-make-Olympic-bid * On May 13 at Fan Pier Boston (site of the Race Village for the Volvo Ocean Race Boston Stopover), US Sailing is hosting "Olympic Night with the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics," featuring Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner; 2008 Olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe, 2008 Paralympic gold medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker; and two-time Olympian Tim Wadlow. Seating is limited and based on a first come, first serve basis. Speakers will talk about the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games and future plans for the 2012 Games. The event is open to the public and registration is free at: https://secure.ussailing.org/ussis/register/index.asp?eventid=421219 PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include Kenny Read living the dream in Fenway Park, Volvo Ocean Race training in Cape Cod keel Mercury's, tea bagging a Shaw 6.5 in Thailand, prosailor glamour in Paris, collegiate colors in Boston, a slide show from Antigua, an unlikely 505 duo in San Francisco, and all the black ties in New York. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0508 VIDEO OF THE WEEK * The 4,900 nm sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 took the fleet from Rio de Janiero, Brazil to Boston, MA, where Ericsson 4 won and Ericsson 3 finished second. Four separate videos from the Ericsson team provide a well edited taste of life on board E4 and E3, an update from the shore crew on the repairs to Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 during the Boston stopover, and information on the water sampling project and its importance in terms of establishing the damage being done to the world's oceans. View here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/0508 * This week's J/24 Worlds in Annapolis, MD had the benefit of two video teams capturing the action. Tucker Thompson and his T2P team were on hand to deliver crisp and well edited daily reports, while Chris Love and the SailGrove site have hosted countless 'man with a camera' clips that have the gritty, reality TV vibe. View here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/0508a LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, "The Curmudgeon". Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Adrian Morgan: It struck me that the delay to the America's Cup couldn't have coincided better than with a global recession. When the world and his wife are worrying about their bank balances the sight of the super rich playing games looks vaguely obscene, and might incite anger or worse. So, let's be thankful that the Cup has been delayed and look forward to an end to the recession and a return to the water in 2010. * From Ken Guyer: I had forgotten about the Lightning up at Cua Viet (Pat Bradly, 'Butt 2839). I was transferred up to Cua Viet River Patrol in late 1968. Surfing the river mouth was our in country R&R and the boards were under the canvass covered hull of the Lightning. I remember one of the long time river rats saying they used to sail it on the water in front of the supply ramp. My response, "what is sailing?" Most likely the first time I ever heard about the sport I have now enjoyed for more than 35 years! * From Don Meserole: It was Jan. 1966 the USS Enterprise arrived in the Philippines Subic Bay after 65 days at sea off the coast of Viet Namn Yankee Station Gulf of Tonkin. There directly in front of the bow of the Enterprise was the Rec pier with a fleet of 10 or so Lido 14's. What is a sailor to do after 65 days at sea? A couple of friends, get a case of beer and go sailing all over Subic Bay of course! My squadron returned the next two years onboard the Kitty Hawk, however almost half of Subic was "Restricted/Off limits" When I asked the Philippino manager why, he said some boats had come in with bullet holes in the sails ... and something about Huks with sniper rifles up in the hills using them for target practice. Probably had 30-40 days of sailing on Subic Bay 1966-68. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe. Special thanks to PredictWind.com and West Marine. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
