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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 972 - December 26, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
GUEST EDITORIAL - Julie Hahnke It's safe to assume that most racers adhere to the principles of sportsmanship and fair play. When this isn't the case, protest committees and juries typically don't act until the more serious rule 69, Gross Misconduct comes into play. Rule 2 requires that sailors comply with the principles of sportsmanship and fair play. The Basic Principle of Sportsmanship, which is part of the rules, states that when competitors break a rule they will promptly take a penalty or retire. How often do racers go to a protest hearing, knowing they broke a rule, but hoping to "win in the room"? It certainly happens. In a recent major ocean race, a skipper who had failed his post-race safety inspection testified in the protest hearing that he knew before the race started that he lacked certain safety equipment. He carried some extra gear to help mitigate any risk to his crew, but knew he was not in compliance with the safety regs. The SI's gave a provision for taking a scoring penalty, but this skipper came to the hearing, possibly hoping for a warning or a time penalty (which would not likely have changed his finish place). He was penalized for the safety infraction, but not for rule 2. He knew he broke a rule (the safety reg), but did not take a penalty or retire. A J/24 racer went into a hearing for hitting a starting mark and failing to do his turns. The RC protested him. When trying to round up the parties before the hearing, I overheard him speaking with his crew. In their protest, the RC described the incident, but listed the wrong race number. The skipper and crew realized they'd failed to do their turns, but went in to defend their case hoping to receive no penalty because of the RC's mistake. They knew they'd broken a rule and didn't retire. They were penalized for hitting the mark, but not rule 2. Too often we associate the fair sailing rule (rule 2) with gross unsportsmanslike conduct rule (rule 69). They are not the same, do not always occur together, and carry very different penalties and follow-up action because they are so different as rules. The above examples are certainly cases where rule 2 was broken and should be enforced, but don't demonstrate any of the requirements for a rule 69 hearing. Yet, as protest committees and juries we're all too often reluctant to cross over the line into a rule 2 hearing. Rule 2 requires that it be clearly established that the principles of sportsmanship were violated - that's important to protect the protestee's rights. But when it has been established, a jury shouldn't prevaricate and charge only the lesser offense. Rule 2's penalty is not onerous. It's a DSQ that cannot be discarded (a DNE). That's a relatively small price to pay to uphold the principle of sportsmanship. Racers - if you know you broke a rule, take a penalty or retire. You do not have option to try and win your case in the protest hearing. In fact, you break rule 2 if you try! Protest committees and judges - when through their own testimony or through other compelling evidence, you establish that a competitor knew they broke a rule and didn't take a penalty or retire, penalize them under rule 2. Then explain to them what the rule means, since they clearly don't get it. You'll help our sport best maintain these important principles on which it was founded. - Julie Hahnke, US Sailing Senior Judge
SYDNEY TO HOBART RACE As expected some of the world's smartest offshore racing tacticians were caught short to gain some early advantage and as a result last years line honours winner the Ludde Ingvall helmed Nicorette was buried in the pack along with her major line honours rivals Skandia Wild Thing (Grant Wharington) and Brindabella (George Snow). They were seen to be splitting tacks with the much smaller 1998 race handicap winner AFR Midnight Rambler (Ed Psaltis) as they searched to hold onto clear wind during the slow slog to clear the heads. The star performers out of the start were the Iain Murray helmed Sydney 62 Bumblebee 5 and the smaller Swedish sloop Rush (David Falt). Their decision to start from the southern end of the line proved to be a crucial factor as they carried a clear advantage in a stronger private breeze. Both Bumblebee 5 and Rush along with the consistently sailed Ragamuffin (Syd Fischer) appeared to have sailed the first hour of the physical searching 630 nautical mile course well within their handicap rating. - Ian Grant, sail-world website Full story: www.sail-world.com/sydneytohobart/ Official race website: s2h.tas.gov.au/2001/home.php
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Code Zeros were hoisted as the Volvo fleet drifted towards their start line, where they made a clean start, downwind on port gybe in the dying, shifting, breeze. News Corp, illbruck and Tyco led the fleet away towards the first turning mark set north of South Head, approximately 1.5 nautical miles from the starting line, while Amer Sports One and Assa Abloy were stalled behind the line. Ten minutes after the fleet cleared the starting area, the wind filled in from the southeast, the right hand side of the course, setting News Corp free and allowing her to leave the rest of the fleet almost standing, pulling out a 500 metre lead. The wind was now blowing down the harbour, and News Corp changed to a headsail followed quickly by illbruck, SEB and djuice. The rest of the fleet followed as they began to tack down towards The Sydney Heads, unfurling their code zero's for the longer, starboard tacks, and using headsails for the short tack on port. News Corp, skippered by Britain's Jez Fanstone, and sailing under the burgee of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, led the fleet around the turning mark and out of The Heads on this 2,050 leg to Auckland, New Zealand, via a three and a half hour pitstop in Hobart, Tasmania, 630 up the race track. At the turning mark, Norway's djuice were second, just one minute 15 seconds behind News Corp, followed by illbruck at two minutes 8 seconds, SEB at two minutes 57 seconds, Tyco at four minutes 37 seconds. Amer Sports Too and team mates Amer Sports One arrived at the mark at the same time, five minutes 55 seconds behind the leader, but the crew of Amer Sports Too judged the mark too wide and let Grant Dalton slip inside and sail away. Assa Abloy trailed six minutes 49 seconds behind the leaders, with the CYCA Sydney Hobart maxis were already overtaking the back half of the Volvo fleet as they left The Sydney Heads behind them and sailed out into open water. STANDINGS at 0506 GMT: All eight boats are clustered within one mile of each other, with Team Tyco bow-out on the fleet - 2107 miles from the Auckland finish line. - www.VolvoOceanRace.org
JUST FOR YOU
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From John Christman (severely edited to our 250-word limit): I have been following the thread on the RRS with great interest and dismay. I am very concerned that Paul Henderson, as the president of ISAF, seems to advocate using the ten commandments in place of the RRS for local racing. It boggles the mind that people object to learning the rules. In many cases, these are the same people that have spent thousands of dollars and a great deal of time to buy their boat, to get the boat equipped to race, and to find and train crew. To not take the short amount of time to know and understand the basic rules is inexcusable. Many people will argue that they can play baseball in their backyard without knowing all the rules since they know the basics of the game. This is certainly true and they have learned the basic rules over a lifetime of exposure to the game. The same applies to sailing, except that most people have not been exposed to the rules over a lifetime. To race it is not necessary to understand the rules to the level that a match racing tactician does, just as it is not necessary to understand the rules to the level that a professional baseball player does to play baseball in your backyard. However, without a basic understanding you simply cannot play the game at all. In most cases, pushing the rules to the level that is done in match racing is not to your advantage in fleet racing. * From Ted Beier 40 year competitor, USSA Senior Judge, US Sailing Instructor (Cruelly edited to our 250-word limit): The problems cited by Mr. Dolan (Butt 969) and Mr. Watters (Butt 968) are problems with their attitudes as competitors, and not with the explicitness of the RRS. The framers of these rules are mindful of the definition of "the game" that the rules create. The rules, if used to the maximum intended degree, define a chess game in that you can control another boat to the limited extent allowed. However, there is also the self-policing part of the game as started in Rules 2 and 3 which these gentlemen seem to ignore. To Mr. Dolan, the game being played by your peer group is not the one envisioned by the framers of the rules. I suggest you find a different venue in which to participate, because the one you describe is detestable to say the least. It is assumed that sailors abide by the rules, and if inadvertently break one, immediately accept a penalty. To Mr. Watters, The standards you seek are explicit in Rule 42. If you wish to comply, you will not have trouble. If however, you want to know just how much you can cheat without being penalized, that is difficult. Don't whine because different judges have different standards, if you make sure you are not cheating, it won't matter. One last comment. Coaches who teach this attitude are commiting one of the worst crimes imaginable, and should be barred from coaching. They would better spend their time teaching the Corinthian spirit.
AMERICA'S CUP It was a big move - the pros and cons of racing against the Defender has always been a hot topic amongst the Challengers. The Nippon team took plenty of heat for lining up against TNZ prior to the last Cup. That was in their new boats, whereas this recent racing has been in what are now old ones - a less controversial move. And it looks like ourselves (OneWorld Challenge), the Brits and the Swedes will all get the opportunity to race the black boats in the New Year, as we've entered a warm-up regatta that Team New Zealand are organizing. This apparently includes a fleet race down the harbor, so we've ordered a depth sounder for that one. - Mark Chisnell, madforsailing website, www.madforsailing.com * The Swiss entry Alinghi was one of the first teams to arrive in New Zealand with a new boat. Alinghi is favourite for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the series that determines who challenges holder Team New Zealand for the America's Cup. The Swiss feel at home in Auckland. Alinghi has Russell Coutts, the Kiwis' former helmsman, onboard. But the real work is just beginning. Crew member Curtis Blewett says: "The plan for the next six months is to race and sail -- test our boats as hard as we can and learn as much as we can about our new boat. "We will push it really hard and develop our crew skills, just normal America's Cup stuff with a few extra little tricks which hopefully will work well." CNN.Com / Inside sailing Full story: www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/sailing/12/21/amprep.spt/index.html * The America's Cup challengers mean big business for Glen Eden RIB builder Aquapro International. Oracle Racing has just taken delivery of its 14m towboat, the maximum length allowed on the Louis Vuitton challenger course. Powered by twin 230hp Volvo Penta diesels, it has a top speed of 33 knots. The Prada syndicate has four 10m Aquapros, Stars and Stripes has four 8m versions and Oracle has ordered four more up to 14m long. - 2003ac website forum, www.2003ac.com
WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA
WELL DONE
OH MY!
NEW LOOK
NICE - REAL NICE BTW - The Line 7 SSC store is still under construction, so the discount prices will apply if you enter through the SSC private entrance: store.line7.com/display.asp?uid=21&c=17
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
