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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 928 - October 23, 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.
AMERICA'S CUP On July 30, OWC sent a letter to all other syndicates stating, in part: "The information concerned is clearly the property of OWC and any use or attempted use of the information by any other party would be a clear breach of Articles 13, 15 of Protocol Governing AC XXXI and OWC's proprietary rights. OWC is, however, confident that neither the Defender nor any other Challengers would seek to use or take advantage of the information. In due course as OWC becomes aware of the identity of the individual and the scope of the activity is revealed, OWC will take the appropriate steps to protect its proprietary rights and ensure that the Protocol prevails. Accordingly, each of you is asked, if you become aware of someone endeavouring to offer OWC proprietary information, to immediately inform OWC so that the matter can be properly dealt with." One World claims that John Doe had executed a Confidentiality and Noncompetition Agreement, which included post-employment restrictions on his ability to assist other syndicates. And that his separation agreement included "substantial separation pay as consideration and John Doe agreed to extend the term of the Confidentiality Agreement." One World's complaint charges breach of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, breach of Duty of Confidence, Interference with Business Expectancy, breach of Duty of Loyalty, and seeks judgment for damages "including double and/or exemplary damages where authorized by applicable law". One World puts a value of over $2.5 million on the data, stating that it includes, among other things, "hull design, crew training, team member eligibility and construction data." A subsequent filing called for the formation of a commission to take a sworn statement from representatives of Oracle Racing that would, among other things, name John Doe. That statement has been taken and, according to a representative of OWC, will be filed with the Court in a matter of days. Gary Wright, CEO of OWC stated that he was very grateful for the actions of Oracle Racing: "They have acted honorably, they contacted us right away, we might never have known about this if they hadn't told us." Oracle Racing declined to comment. Scuttlebutt has learned the identity of John Doe from a number of sources, but will not reveal his name until it is a matter of public record or until that information is given to us in writing by OWC or it's legal counsel. -- David McCreary The entire text of the Court filing is available at http://sailingsource.com/scuttlebutt/filing.html
VOLVO OCEAN RACE The two runaway leaders are racing towards South Africa in over 25 knots of breeze. "The conditions have been quite variable for the last 24 hours," explained Dalton.Ê "They are getting quite rough but the sailing is very fast. The helmsman and trimmers are wearing goggles as there is so much water on the deck". Dalton has obviously not come this far to hand over the lead but the more developed sail inventory on illbruck may cost Amer Sports One an unexpected but well deserved leg win. Dalton continues to talk down his chances: "Their [illbruck] sail inventory, as you would expect, is far more refined than ours. It's no real surprise they have taken time out of us. We're delighted to have held them off at all,"said Grant. Now only ten miles behind Amer Sports One, John Kostecki and his illbruck team are pressing their Farr designed Volvo Ocean 60 to the max in a last 'all or nothing' attempt to win the leg. "We are slowly chewing away at their lead as they cover us. Our crew has been doing an awesome job of pushing the boat hard to its limits. Working every wave and gust of wind trying to gain on Dalton and his crew. Our team is focused, not thinking about anything but keeping the boat going fast," wrote Kostecki early this morning.
Position report: 1600 hrs GMT October 21: Event site: http://www.volvooceanrace.org
COLD WATER SAILING
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Bruce Campbell, Chairman, NOC: With all the talk about SAAB and the voices of sailors being heard at US Sailing, I would like to point out that Patrick Kershaw and all other sailors on "Surfer Girl" have a place at the table. It is the National Offshore Council. The NOC's purpose is to serve as a forum for clubs and organizations that participate in racing keelboats in the ocean, bays and large (and small) lakes in the Northwest and anywhere US Sailing is to be found. Having a voice is as simple as having your club send a letter or e-mail to me naming you as the representative of that club to the National Offshore Comm. The NOC welcomes any input from sailors in the offshore world. *From Karen Peterson: Re: Bob Merrick's comments on the US Sailing definition of sailor-athlete not allowing "actively engaged" sailors to qualify. I looked at the USOC documents mentioned by Louis VanVoorhis and found the following: USOC Bylaw Chapter XXIII, Section 7C(3)(ii) - "Within the twenty-four (24) months before selection, demonstrated that they are actively engaged in amateur athletic competition". That certainly sounds to me like the USOC allows sailors "actively engaged in competition" to qualify. Is there some other written or unwritten guideline from the USOC that changes that and disallows the active recreational sailor? I couldn't find anything. It appears to me that US Sailing is restricting itself to representing the top 5-10% of the sport when the USOC would allow a much broader representation. As the governing body of Olympic sailing in the United States I suppose US Sailing has the right to decide who will be allowed to give input to it. As other readers have pointed out, US Sailing doesn't do much for recreational sailors so I guess we shouldn't bother to join. I certainly wouldn't want to be a part of an organization that considers me as much of a "sailor" as someone who has never been on a boat and gives me no right to vote! *From Clark Chapin: Regarding Patrick Kershaw's comments on the new SAAB, I have some observations as the Secretary to the One-Design Class Council and the US SAILING Inshore Committee. First, who needs Sailor-Athletes (under any definition)? The Board, the major committees (including Inshore), the Olympic Sailing Committee, and the Voting Delegates of the Annual General Meeting (don't ask). Who doesn't need Sailor-Athletes? The Councils, including the One-Design Class Council (ODCC), the National Offshore Council, the Community Sailing Council, and the Council of Sailing Associations. The ODCC NEEDS representation and attendance by every class from the Podunk 13 through the International America's Cup Class. We haven't recently had representatives from many of the classes that Mr. Kershaw noted. While the Council has a commitment to help achieve US SAILING's goals for athlete representation; there are plenty of opportunities for volunteers from other classes to shape the Council's discussion and votes. The case of the Interlake Class is illustrative: We have about 120 boats (240-300 sailors) who compete every year in one or more of our scheduled regattas. About 250 boats (500-600 sailors) compete on the club level. Of those, 13 boats (30 sailors) qualify as Category B Athletes. Not bad for a small regional class active mostly in the Midwest. The Inshore Committee NEEDS the input of active class-racers, even sailors from regional classes who sail on small ponds. Think of it: The effect of the Amateur Sports Act is to insure that the competitors, not "elder statesmen" shape the sport.Ê
FREE EXCHANGE
ROBERT DERECKTOR Robert E. "Bob" Derecktor, world-renowned yacht racer, innovative designer, and builder of America's Cup 12-meters, mega- yachts and U.S. Coast Guard cutters, died on Oct. 10. in Boston. He was 80. Mr. Derecktor started his first boatyard in Mamaroneck, NY, in 1947, with a railway, a shop and 10 trusted men where they built hand crafted wooden boats. It doesn't begin to do justice to the man we respectfully called "Mad Dog," but it's all I can find for the moment.
CHARLES M. KOBER Chuck's sailing career spanned six decades and saw him excel in such varied classes as International 14's, Dragons and Cal 40's. He was an alternate member, coach or chairman of four US Olympic Sailing Teams. He was an ISAF International Judge and International Umpire and served on hundreds of International Juries for such classes as Star and Etchells as well as umpiring match-racing events worldwide. Chuck was a longtime member of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (and many other clubs) and the architectural firm he founded designed the current ABYC clubhouse.Ê He served as ABYC Commodore in 1963. At the time of his death, Chuck was a member of Alamitos Bay Etchells Fleet 18. Chuck passed away in Bangor, Maine, where he had taken ill while cruising in September. He is survived by his wife, Adra; son Charles M., daughter Bonnie and their spouses and children. Details of any memorial services have not been announced.
QUOTES FROM BOATS - Volvo Ocean Race The one thing that on a sailboat can turn a 6 day ETA into a 10 day hate mission. We aren't quite looking at that yet, but we're not far from it. This is particularly tough when the guys ahead are still reaching towards the mark and will most likely escape the misery.Ê We feel even more sorry about the three boats behind us who are at the moment even worse off. This could be a thirty-seven day leg for them with only a dozen days to prepare for one of the toughest legs. We're all transfixed on the wind gauge praying for it to go to 235 and not 215, and 15 knots and not 10 or 25. A little like watching the stock market these days I would imagine. Still think this may beat commuting every day, just wish I could end up at home with the family at the end of the day...Ê Looking forward to getting closer. * From "Boney Wouter, Mickey the Stick, Knut Skin and Bone", djuice dragons: Welcome to the djuice fast slim program. If you are overweight (measured anything over 7% body fat by our physical trainer Ronnie) and have tried all kinds of slimming programs, we have the product for you! It's based on a very simple recipe, which has been secretly known to ocean sailors for hundreds of years. Right now we can give you a very good offer on our latest 38-day package. It works like this. You have 30 days of food, and 38 days to eat it! * From Ross Field, News Corp: The fat lady is warming up back stage... Our options are being reduced as we charge towards Cape Town - 975 to go.Ê (The children are still in the back seat asking the same questions)Ê Amer Sports One and illbruck have fresher breezes and better angles, as we have over Tyco and ASSA ABLOY, but believe me, we still have the hammer down, spray going everywhere, changing sails - you never know in yachting racing. * From Kevin Shoebridge, Team Tyco: Happy campers onboard today as the food rationing is over, our speed has picked up sufficiently for us to get back on the normal daily allowance. We are doing all we can here to catch the front bunch but also realize they are all now in good breeze until the finish. Talk has already started about the next leg and what we can do to make our chances even better.
GILL NORTH AMERICA TO SPONSOR ICSA COED DINGHY CHAMPIONSHIP The 2001-2002 ICSA North American Sloop Championship, to be sailed in Sonars, will be hosted November 2-4, 2001, by the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The 2001-2002 ICSA/Vanguard North American Women's and Men's Singlehanded Championships, utilizing Laser Radials for the women's event and Lasers for the men, will be hosted by Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.) from November 16-18, 2001. The University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii) will host the three spring championships: the ICSA North American Women's Dinghy Championship from May 28-30; the ICSA/Ronstan North American Team Race Championship from June 2-4; and the ICSA/Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship from June 5-7. All three events will be sailed in FJs. For more information on ICSA, visit: http://www.collegesailing.org
ANOTHER VERY INTERESTING SAILING WEBSITE Then again, having partied with quite a few 49er sailors, perhaps this one does have a bit to do with sailing, at least in skiffs... "We have a database of all the Australian Class associations, and the 49er National Association points to http://www.49er-sailing.com. Unfortunately this is their old URL. When you click on this URL it now does a redirect to a 'Tina's live webcam site'. What it appears that this organization is buying old URLs that have been turned in, then putting a redirect to their site. So anyone who has an old link will be driving traffic to the site. I had to do a demo to the Australian Yachting Federation board on Saturday and Phil [Jones] wanted me to stress the need to keep the National database up to date. This was a fantastic example of that."
THE (REAL) CURMUDGEON RETURNS I'd like to leave with a few words of thanks to the folks at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for their hospitality (to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I'd never normally be admitted to a club that nice). And to Colorcraft, the Gold Cup sponsor. Their sponsorship of the event ended this year, but as opposed to many events, where sponsorship ends with a whimper, theirs literally ended with a bang: a huge party (the effects of which are doubtless still being felt by the boys from Prada) and an immense fireworks show over Hamilton Harbour. A truly class act. -- David McCreary
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