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SCUTTLEBUTT 2199 – October 11, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt brought to you by UBS (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). HAVE WE LOST A GENERATION OF SAILORS? (Tuesday, October 10, 2006) Junior sailing programs are doing a tremendous job of introducing children to sailing. The support that clubs and teams provide, from coaching to getting the boats and kids to distant events, is very comprehensive. When children grow up and out of the pram, they transition into the next boat or boats that are popular in their area. Some go to Lasers, but most are in a double-handed boat that is suited for young sailors. These are often club-owned boats, where the great support continues. The arrival of High School sailing has proven to be a successful step from the junior program, and has provided a training ground prior to a youth’s college years, and the intercollegiate sailing programs offered at many campuses. From junior programs to high school sailing to college sailing, there is a continuous track of development. From those first teary days in beginner sailing, to the moment of college graduation, our young sailors have had the support and boats that provided the foundation to experience competitive sailing. But through this process, have we lost a generation of sailors? Have these sailors ever crewed for someone from a nearby one-design dinghy fleet (Lightning, Thistle, Snipe, etc.)? Have they tinkered with the tuning of their own boat, or with a type of boat that rewards a speed advantage to such attentiveness? Have they ever competed regularly on a keelboat from their yacht club, and learned what it is like to work within a team of sailors? Have they gotten really vested in the sport, and gained the kinds of experiences that will carry them beyond their college years? At the 2006 US Sailboat Show last week, I had many interesting conversations with some very bright industry people, and the answer that often came up with was… no. These twenty-somethings have been so busy on their junior track, and have hence grown up sailing within a bubble. Once out of college, the bubble bursts, they are stranded, and can easily drift away from the sport. One idea bantered about was how the US Olympic sailing program may have even suffered by this current youth program, where American sailors have been strapped sailing low-performance boats that emphasize short course tactics, and lack the technical skills and experiences to exceed within Olympic classes. Have we possibly lost a generation of sailors? Has the junior track done damage to the US Olympic effort? Please submit your comments. - Craig Leweck, Scuttleblog, http://tinyurl.com/khr2t -- Scuttlebutt Letters: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/2006/1010 HELPING HORREVOETS FAMILY The Volvo Ocean Race organizers are currently running both a competition and also an eBay auction, with all the proceeds going to Petra and her children in memory of her partner Hans Horrevoets, a crewmember of ABN Amro Two who lost his life in the North Atlantic earlier this year on the Volvo Ocean Race ‘05/06. Among the auction items include some unique Volvo Ocean Race crew equipment, taken straight from Brasil 1 and Pirates of the Caribbean. Additionally, participants in the competition will be vying for a complete Musto HPX Ocean Dry Suit (worth $1,537.34 USD), as worn by Torben Grael himself! On behalf of the winner, the VOR will be donating GBP1000 (approx. $1,853.93 USD) in memory of Hans. For eBay auction and competition information: http://tinyurl.com/zmcpz Curmudgeon’s Comment: Scuttlebutt has been trying for some time to gather information for anyone who would like to donate funds directly to the Horrevoets’ family. Details have been VERY slow in coming, but perhaps this comment will move things along. NOT MAUD FOR RECORDS The World Speed Sailing Record council announced that the reported forthcoming voyage of Maud de Fontenoy is not being attempted under the WSSR Rules and her route has not received approval. Although her proposed voyage may have merit, it cannot be considered as an attempt on Dee Caffari's World Record. The WSSR Rule for Around the World - rule 26a - calls for a minimum orthodromic track distance of the vessel of at least 21,600 nautical miles (the distance of the great circle). To achieve this it is necessary to start off Ushant, France or some other remote place in the Northern Hemisphere. Starting in the Southern Ocean and then sailing around the Antarctic is probably a major achievement in itself, but as this distance will be around 12,000 nm it cannot be described as an Around the World voyage under the WSSR Rules. Caffari’s elapsed time record for around the world westabout, singlehanded non-stop women is 178 days 3 hours 5 minutes 34 seconds, occurring 21st November 2005 to 18th May 2006 on the 72-foot monohull “Aviva”. - John Reed. Secretary to the WSSR Council, http://www.sailspeedrecords.com SUPER SIZE IT AT MARTHA'S DRIVE THROUGH... Now that Team One Newport has a drive-thru window (see Scuttlebutt Photo Gallery), they’re having a Super Size Sale!! What’s a Super Size Sale?? It’s great deals for products that are sized XL and XXL. Heck, there may even be some Larges that sneak thru that window, just like the car that smashed into the store. Everyone is safe, re-construction on the store has started, but you can take advantage of our Super Size Sale by visiting the website and clicking on ‘Super Size” or call 800-VIP-GEAR for this 2 week sale. Hurry because inventory is limited and once it's gone, that's it! http://www.team1newport.com Curmudgeon’s Comment: Here are the photos of the car that crashed into the Team One Newport store: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0929 US OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP Long Beach, CA (October 10, 2006) - With just ten points after five races at the U.S. Offshore Championship, sailed at Long Beach Yacht Club on Catalina 37s, Robert Hobbs (Tampa, FL) and his team from Davis Island Yacht Club won the regatta and the Lloyd Phoenix Trophy last Sunday. This marks the first time in the 21-year history of the Championship that a team from Florida won the event. Led by Robert Hobbs, the team consisted of James Traun (Valrico, FL), Mike Gable (Tampa, FL), Cory Thompson (Valrico, FL), Alan Thompson (Lithia, FL), Josh Wilus (Tampa, FL) and Cameron Salmon (Tampa, FL). The lead changed several times throughout the three-day regatta. Eventual champion Robert Hobbs started off the event with a fourth place, but managed to pick up the pace to finish the regatta with two race wins and two second place finishes. Washington DC sailor Erik Wulff took his team to second place overall while the team from the state of Washington led by John Buchan finished third overall. Proving that local knowledge did not pay off at this year's event which was plagued by flaky winds, the highest finishing Californian team, led by Claudia Wainer, finished fourth overall. - Marlieke de Lange Eaton, US Sailing Final results (skipper, race finishes, overall points): 1. Robert Hobbs: 4-1-2-2-1: 10 points 2. Erik Wulff: 2-4-3-1-5: 15 points 3. John Buchan: 1-6-1-7-2: 17 points 4. Claudia Wainer: 3-2-5-6-9: 25 points 5. Joe Campbell: 9-3-7-4-6: 29 points Event website: http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usoffshore AMERICA’S CUP NEWS * Neal McDonald, 43 is the latest recruit to the Victory Challenge America’s Cup team. McDonald was skipper in the two most recent Volvo Ocean Race, and was mainsail trimmer and tactician for the America’s Cup challenger Sydney ’ 95 in 1995. Along with the recent signings of Morgan Larson and McDonald today, a total of 15 new sailors have been recruited during the last four months for the now ongoing two-boat training. – http://www.victorychallenge.com * (October 10, 2006) It was announced today that the first America’s Cup boat ever built in China will carry the sail number CHN 95. CHN 95 will be delivered directly to Valencia from Hong Kong and is expected to arrive mid-December. Also announced was the Desafío Español 2007 team’s second boat has been assigned sail number, ESP 97. The boat is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of January. - 32nd America's Cup official website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/zufr5 * Number 96 was issued Tuesday, with an announcement pending this week as to which team it was assigned. CATAMARAN KID Mike Siau from Syracuse, NY, bought his first Hobie 16, off the side of the road for $650 of his own money, at age 16. His mom made a call to local Hobie Fleet 204 and dad brought him to that Thursday night’s fleet race. The rest is history. Mike is a part of the growing number of Hobie youths in the northeast. On any given day during the summer you can find Mike and a pack of Fleet 204 kids in the middle of Oneida Lake, blasting around, flying a hull and sometimes flipping over. If there isn’t any wind, they load as many kids as possible onto a Hobie 16 for some fun. Packed with kids and barely above sinking, they head out onto the lake for “hull jumping." The gang flips the boat and take turns jumping from the top hull. In 2005, Mike teamed up with local Optimist star Sam Ingham in 2005 to win the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship. Later that year, the pair also went to South Africa for their first Hobie 16 World Championship. Mike Siau is leading the charge for the next generation of Hobie sailors and making some of the old stalwarts proud in the process. - US Sailing, http://www.ussailing.org/News/sailoroftheweek/Default.aspx?recordID=39 RAISING THE ANTE California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey is used to seeing top-level Star boats show up in their parking lot. They hosted the Star Worlds in 2002 and the Star NAs last year. However, as the first boats started showing up for the Star Olympic Pre-Trials Regatta, which starts next week, it was obvious that the ante has been raised in this class. The first two boats that rolled in had special double-decked trailers. The lower lever has the Star boat, with its quiver of masts, in the normal location, but double-decked on top was a personal RIB coach boat. Here’s a photo from one of the teams: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1010.jpg D4 YOU! D4 is the most successful paneled membrane on the market today, and is available to the sailmaker of your choice. Your individual sailmakers’ designs can be translated into the best-shaped membrane for your needs, tying in individually designed yarn layouts to provide you with the lightest, strongest and most durable membrane sail available. Dimension-Polyant, the worldwide leader in laminate sailcloth technology, is currently offering a fall discount on D4 membranes to sailmakers for orders placed before the end of October. If you want to experience the advantage of D4, talk to your sailmaker, he knows! http://www.dimension-polyant.com SAILING SHORTS * Harken Yacht Equipment has announced the promotion of Robert Sweet from corporate controller to chief financial officer and corporate treasurer of Harken, Inc. His responsibilities are to manage the global financial operations of Harken, Inc, which include the parent company in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, USA, as well as wholly owned subsidiaries in Italy, France, the UK, Slovenia, Australia, and New Zealand. Harken also has ownership interests in Harken Sweden and Harken Japan. - IBI Magazine, full story, http://tinyurl.com/hwfp6 * The Challenge Business International Limited, a company established by Sir Chay Blyth to organise the Global Challenge round-the-world yacht race, has gone into administration. The first Global Challenge race, The British Steel Challenge, took place in 1992 to 1993 and the race was run four times. The company has also managed or participated in the Round Britain and Ireland Challenge, Transat Challenge, and Rolex Fastnet Race. The assets are comprised largely of five 67ft yachts and thirteen 72ft yachts that have participated in the Challenge Series. - IBI Magazine/Michael Verdon, http://tinyurl.com/z3442 * The Moore 24 class held its 30th National Championship regatta October 5-8, 2006 at Santa Cruz YC, where 39 entrants showed up for an 11 race, one throwout series. After the smoke cleared on Sunday, it was Rowan Fennell’s Paramour, with Will Baylis aboard, who edged out Scott Walecka and Dave Hodges on Adios, and Bart Hackworth’s Gruntled, finishing second and third respectively. Although he won the PCCs at the Tiburon YC in May, this was Fennell’s first National Championship. Under the leadership of Scott Sorensen, the Moore 24 class is enjoying a healthy resurgence this year. - by John Siegel, complete results: http://tinyurl.com/gpbqh * Sailing World magazine has posted its college rankings on their website, which are based on results through October 3rd: http://tinyurl.com/gtx5d * In Issue 2198, Scuttlebutt carried the final report and results from the Storm Trysail Club’s 2006 Intercollegiate Offshore regatta at Larchmont Yacht Club. Additional details from the event can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kcubm NEW GAME We haven’t come across a game lately that is worth adding to the Scuttlebutt Game list, but now we have. If you think you are a whiz at driving, or like to boast about your keyboarding skills, now is the time to put up or shut up. The Scuttlebutt staff has been busy denting fenders as we tested this game. Now it’s your turn…enjoy: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/games/parking LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or space (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, there are no word or frequency limits on comments sent to the Scuttlebutt Forums. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Bill Hooper: Forgive me if I find this new development of "Temporary" weather bouys installed on the right, on the left and at the top, way over the top. All this feeding the "Coach" information to pass along to the boat. Then let’s have the same computers that are receiving this weather data handle the sail trim and monitor VMG. We're taking the sailing out of the sailing, please leave it alone! Just one sailor’s opinion. * From John Leitzinger: As a self proclaimed techno-geek I am initially impressed with the Land Space X-5 weather buoy concept but I have to ask the question: Can anyone explain how floating robot weather buoys will improve the quality of inshore sailboat racing anywhere? Understanding weather, currents, local conditions etc. is all part of the game that technology could simplify... but at what cost? * From Terry Burke, St. Louis, MO: For the education of Doran Cushing, Gary Comer was a major sailing figure in the Chicago area in the 1960's. He was a Star NA champ and Star Worlds runner-up and the Pan Am Bronze medallist. His Lands' End yacht hardware yearly catalog was the bible of all sailors. More can be read about his beginnings working our of the Murphy&Nye sail loft can be read in Gary's own words here: http://tinyurl.com/gs32e (you might need to cut and paste into browser) * From Gene McCarthy: In addition to being a world-class sailor, Gary Comer volunteered to help run regattas when he didn't qualify. In l959 after winning the North American Star Championship in Chicago, he packed up and went to Newport Harbor, CA, calling his boss at Young and Rubicam to let him know he would be late returning from his vacation. The boss said" Gary, anything worth doing in life, do in excess". He was second in the Star World's that year and he took that advice into his new company Lands' End. * From Peter O. Allen, Sr., Rochester, NY: Well, nobody mentioned it in Letters/'Butt 2198, so I will: The following is from the second paragraph of USSA's report on the recent U.S. Match Racing Championship in Fort Worth: “The Petit Final, the battle for third place, turned out to be just as exciting as the competitors went to the best-out-of-three limit.” I find it "interesting" that a group that claims to uphold egalitarian principles, a group that several years ago eschewed the word "Yacht" as part of its own name, can still include the phrase "Petit Final" in its discussion of a regatta. "Petit final" my butt! (If the Curmudgeon will excuse the phrase!) How about "semi final?" Is it really necessary to use any flimsy excuse to introduce the French language into race reports? And for a regatta in Texas, no less. Yes, we do live in "interesting" times. * From Josie Gavieres: In response to the CURMUDGEON's OBSERVATION: Anything free is worth what you pay for it (except for Scuttlebutt). San Diego travel agent and sailor, Kenny Eisele, always reminds me, "If you want cheap, you're gonna have to pay for it!" CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You might be a sailing bum if you have a Mount Gay poster in your living room. This issue of Scuttlebutt provided by Team One Newport and Dimension-Polyant America’s Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt is brought to you by UBS. |
