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SCUTTLEBUTT 2482 – November 26, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. FOLLOW THE MONEY It is a commonly used strategy when trying to determine the cause of a crime: “Follow the Money.” With the 33rd America’s Cup now officially postponed from the July 2009 date, it is easy to say that the lawsuit filed by BMW Oracle Racing/ Golden Gate YC was the cause. Few will argue that the legal process has most definitely caused a level of uncertainty that has made it very difficult for teams to assemble and plan. However, there might be more to the story, as it also appears that the America’s Cup Management is struggling with other pieces of the puzzle too. They have yet to replace Louis Vuitton’s sponsorship money (purportedly $93.2m) after that longtime Cup supporter departed due to their disappointment with how ACM handled the last event, and now it is reported that ACM has not received some of the host payments from Spain. Here is an excerpt from The Valencia Life Network: “Vicente Rambla, the Deputy President of the Valencian Government, used a recent press conference to call the attention of the Socialist Government to the effect that it had not paid its part of the funds necessary as demanded by an agreement signed with Americas Cup Management. He added that the two other parties - the Valencian Government and Valencia Town Hall - had paid their part, and that the Government delay was inexcusable.” -- mailto:publisher@valencialife.net * No Vacancy? - There are now 12 bases in Valencia and it is only possible to fit in two more, bringing the total to 14 teams that can enter the 33rd America’s Cup. There are rumors (when haven’t there been rumors) of more teams preparing to submit their entry prior to the December 15 deadline. If Judge Cahn were to rule in favor of the Swiss, and if the ruling came after 14 entries had been received, BMW Oracle would not be able to enter the event because it would have no base. -- Complete story at BYM News story: http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=18780 THE BIG SAIL Fans of the football teams from Cal and Stanford take note - the Big Game is not just about football anymore. Since the first Big Game was held in 1892, the yearly matchup between the rivals (this year on Dec 1st) has grown into the biggest college football event in Northern California. But nowadays, you don't have to sit in a football stadium to cheer on your favorite varsity team. The Big Sail is an on-the-water match racing event that will take place, wind permitting, in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club on San Francisco's city front at noon on Tuesday, November 27th, just a few days before the Big Game at Stanford. The Big Sail is scheduled each year as part of Big Game week along with the Big Splash (water polo), the Big Spike (volleyball), the Big Freeze (ice hockey) and the other Bigs. Even though the Big Sail is only 4 years old, its origins are already shrouded in mystery, and barbs and partisan jokes obscure the truth. Everyone wants to take credit. The most plausible story - let's say the least disputed story - comes from Sausalito resident Jaren Leet. "This is how it started," said Leet. "I had a 35-foot sailboat, a J/105. One of the other J/105 owners, Pat Doyle from Tiburon, showed up with a beautiful blue spinnaker with Cal across it. This shamed me into buying a red spinnaker with a big 'S'. So we had to race the boats against each other, because we had to do something with them." -- Marin Independent Journal, excerpts from complete story at http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_7535009 * If you are confused about the “Big” this and “Big” that, it all began with a football victory in 1982 by Cal with no time remaining, multiple laterals, and one band member getting flattened. Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAxu9Rfm77M CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS NORTH SAILS REPRESENTATIVE? Log on to the North Sails Gear store to check out our new Heavyweight MicroFleece Jacket available in two great colors! As an added bonus, we'll send you a FREE HAT when you buy our new jacket if you can identify the North Sails Representative modeling it. One per customer, write the North representative's name in the comments box during check-out. Hint: we'll send you a hat even if his last name is spelled incorrectly... Free hat offer expires November 30, 2007. http://www.northsailsgear.com/store/?c=16 FINAL EVENT TO DECIDE WORLD CHAMPION Frenchman Mathieu Richard and his Saba Sailing Team are on fire having won the last two stages of the World Match Racing Tour. After taking wins at the Bermuda Gold Cup and the recently completed Brazil Sailing Cup, Richard has taken an 8 point lead going into the fifteenth and final stage of the World Tour. Richard is in prime position to be the second Frenchman to win the ISAF Match Racing World Championship at the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terrenganu, Malaysia which starts next week, November 28-December 2nd. However, there are still five teams that could win the World Championship title in Malaysia. -- Read on: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=65032 GOOD NEWS FOR FROSTBITERS AccuWeather.com Chief Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi issued an updated 2007-08 Winter Season Forecast today reiterating that all signs point to 2007-08 becoming one of the warmest winters on record, especially east of the Rockies. The recent cold in the East and Great Lakes area is consistent with the original Winter Forecast, released in October, which called for seasonable winter weather at the beginning and end of the winter with the warmer temperatures dominating what is climatologically the coldest part of the season. The only colder than normal areas are in the less populated Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. Bastardi points out that last year the coldest period was centered in the east, during the heart of winter. February was the coldest ever in parts of the Midwest and December was what tipped the scale to warmer than normal over the three month period. This winter; however, will be warm in most of the nation from the Plains eastward, where much of the population resides. -- Excerpts from http://www.accuweather.com/news-weather-features.asp BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (November 25, 2007) Early Sunday morning, the leaders of the Barcelona World Race, entered the dreaded doldrums zone, an area characterised by light, fluky winds, thunderstorm and rain cells and confused, lumpy seas. Not surprisingly, the leader at the time, Paprec-Virbac 2 was the first to slow down, and there has been a general compression of the fleet. Commented Jonathan McKeee of Estrella Damm, “It has been tough for the last four days to be honest. We’ve been trying to be disciplined with our routing and our navigation and trusting the information, but for whatever reason it hasn’t been working out that well, particularly with our little gamble with the Western Sahara. Unfortunately other guys went to the same place and did fine. We’re trying not to take it personally. We’re feeling pretty good about our position relative to the fleet and we’ll see how it goes over the next few days.” -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Day 15 Positions - November 25, 2007 - 18:00 (GMT) 1. PRB - Vincent Riou (FRA)/Sébastien Josse (FRA), 21,800 DTF 2. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA)/Damian Foxall (IRE), 3 miles DTL 3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain (FRA)/Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA), 71 4. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson (GBR)/Andrew Cape (AUS), 152 5. Delta Dore - Jérémie Beyou (FRA)/Sidney Gavignet (FRA), 154 6. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP)/Pachi Rivero (ESP), 202 7. Temenos II - Dominique Wavre (SUI)/Michéle Paret (FRA), 220 8. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill (ESP)/Jonathan McKee (USA), 289 9. Educación sin Fronteras -Albert Bargués (ESP)/Servanne Escoffier (FRA),678 INTRODUCING KABIN – FROM KAENON POLARIZED Releasing today, in time for the holidays, KABIN is the first design from the new ‘08 collection made available. Featuring Kaenon’s patented SR-91 polarized lenses in gray or copper tints, the lightweight Italian-made frame comes in a rich black or tortoise finish. For the man who requires a comfortable, durable, and conservatively stylish frame for the boat and everyday use, KABIN is pure luxury performance. Available with prescription SR-91 lenses in Single vision or freestyle progressive. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available at premium sailing shops, or locate an authorized dealer nearest you at http://www.kaenon.com SAILING SHORTS * Rod Davis with his Emirates Team New Zealand crew of Tony Rae, Grant Loretz, Chris Ward and Richard Meecham have beaten Dean Barker in the finals of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships on the Waitemata harbour this past weekend. Rounding out the top five was Laurie Jury, Chris Dickson, and Adam Minoprio. -- http://tinyurl.com/2bjak7 * (November 25, 2007) The 22nd Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) started in spectacular style today as 235 yachts from 28 different nations sailed across the start line off Las Palmas de Canaria headed for their final destination, 2,700 nautical miles away in Rodney Bay, St Lucia. News of the fleet can be found on the official ARC website where daily yacht position reports will be displayed and visitors can watch individual route maps for each yacht. Crews will also contribute daily logs and images direct to the site. – http://www.worldcruising.com/arc * Following discussions with the fifteen representatives of the IMOCA monohulls, the Race Management of the Transat ECOVER BtoB has fixed the start off the Salvador de Bahia Yacht Club late morning on 29th November. This 4,200-mile course bound for the Forêt-Fouesnant in North West France will have no course marks after the bay and should take around a dozen days to complete. -- http://www.transatbtob.com * (November 25, 2007) After barely two and a half days of racing, Francis Joyon at the helm of the giant multihull IDEC has a theoretical advance over the current solo round the world record holder Ellen Macarthur by 110 miles. It is Joyan’s strategy to rival or exceed in this section of the North Atlantic the performance of Macarthur as she had the absolute best time between start and Ecuador in 8 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes. -- http://www.trimaran-idec.com * An international fleet of nine maxi yachts, representing seven nations – Barbados, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Monaco and Norway – will be in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain) for the November 26 start of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2007, which ends in St. Maarten. The event is open to monohull sailing yachts of 18 metres (59 feet) and above racing under IRC handicap. -- http://www.internationalmaxiassociation.com/anteprima_news.php?newsID=19 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar EIGHT BELLS Colin N. Park of St. Petersburg, Florida died November 23rd at home. An accomplished sailor, Colin began his racing career early in life. He was a member of the inaugural class of the Collegiate Sailing Hall of Fame. He represented Canada, sailing 470’s, in the 1976 Olympics in Kingston, Ontario. Active with the International Lightning Class for more than 30 years, he served as president in 2001 and 2002. Sailing with wife Karen, he won the Lightning North American Championship in 1988, and went on to become Lightning North American Masters Champion in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Upon retirement to Florida, Colin joined the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, where his activities included serving as head of the Sailing Center, Coast Guard Liaison and most recently, Yachting Information Officer. He also became involved with the local Snipe fleet, and won the Snipe World Masters Championship in 2002. He and Karen continued to sail Snipes locally and had recently begun racing Sunfish. Together they crewed in many Key West Race Week and NOOD Regattas on a variety of keelboats. A certified race officer, he could often be found on the water either as a competitor or as part of race management. Colin worked closely with the disabled sailing community and coached the US Sonar team to a Bronze medal in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. A celebration of Colin’s life will be held at SPYC at 5:30 pm on Thursday, November 29. -- Complete obituary and online guest book: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5557 GREAT GIFT FOR RACING SAILORS! Know a sailor who wants to learn more about the rules? You should give them Learn The Racing Rules! This two-part DVD set by David Dellenbaugh provides two hours of race-winning advice, using live sailing footage and computer animation. Makes a perfect gift! To order or get more info: http://www.SpeedandSmarts.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (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, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Barrie Harmsworth, ISAF Group I Alternate Council Member: Probably at the same time as I write this the President of ISAF will have, quite rightly, leapt in and explained that the electronic vote was not secret. Yes, Council did decide differently than the Events Committee mainly because many Council Members have a different agenda then the Events committee. Some Council members from developing countries, like myself, are not very impressed by new high performance boats that will take an age to reach their region. Already disenfranchised by the current selection of Events, emerging countries will find themselves even more limited in their choices if they are not careful. For example, if the 470 was dropped for a high performance boat, or, as some have muted, the Laser for a high performance foil boat, they would not have any boats in which they have at least some depth of competition experience. On occasions, it is difficult to believe the Olympic event is not the exclusive preserve of Western developed sailing countries when listening to the lobbying in the corridors of ISAF and I suspect the Events Committee is more vulnerable to this pressure than Council. The Olympic event is a very complex issue and most Member National Authorities have to weigh carefully the realities of their sailing fraternity against the wish list of a few. It is not easy but I think all Council members take their responsibilities seriously. My vote was recorded and is open to public scrutiny. * From Paul Henderson: To make a clarification to my letter in Issue 2478, all ISAF votes at Council are recorded. To find out how a delegate votes all that has to be done is for a Member National Authority to ask. The only exception to this is if 3 Council Members ask for a secret vote. There were no such requests in Estoril, so all votes are open and recorded. The most interesting observation is to see how many MNA's are now saying that their delegates were instructed to vote in the best interest of their specific country winning medals - not in the best interest of our beloved sport. Surprise! Surprise! Holier than thou pontifications are quite hollow methinks. * From the Fourm (by Pepe: Thanks Mr Ellison) Frankly, I am amazed Mr Bertarelli had this much patience. Now, best case is an AC in 2010, worst case will be similar to the last mulithull America's Cup fiasco, remindingly also due to some court-loving Americans who had troubles with boat speed. Why don't we pool our talents and teach Mr Ellison to sail his boat fast. I'm telling you guys, we gotta do this. Mr Ell won't stop until the cup is sitting on his mantel or until he gets a court order to melt it down. Fact is, what Ellison is doing is not good for sailing, bad for his sponsors, and a demonstration of how a spoiled little boy should not behave. -- http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5554 * From Chris Ericksen: How apropos that a Briton would deplore the fact that the next America's Cup has moved into a court of law (Sir Keith Mills of TEAMORIGIN, as quoted in 'Butt 2481). The most rancorous events in the America's Cup during the nineteenth century were between Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven, and the New York Yacht Club over incidents in the 1895 America's Cup matches. Lord Dunraven first charged that the American yacht Defender had been reballasted after measurement, which was found to be incorrect; then, when a protest over a collision in the second race between Defender and Dunraven's Valkyrie III went against the challenger, the English yacht declined to sail the third and final match. Charges made by Lord Dunraven in the British press after his return to England led to an inquiry by a board that included none other than Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, USN, the most noted naval authority of the day, that upheld the NYYC's decision. It was four years until another challenge was sailed, but this was the first of the many challenges by Sir Thomas Lipton, perhaps the most friendly in the history of the Cup. Too bad the current crop of those seeking to win the America's Cup could not take a page from that book. * From Tim Kent: Francis Joyon has left France on his 100-foot tri to attempt to re-take the around-the-world solo record that he held before being beaten by Ellen MacArthur. His website http://www.trimaran-idec.com/ is all in French, but the tracking function is very cool; it tracks his position and that of Ellen at the same point in her effort. In effect, it tracks the race he is running against a ghost ship. It all promises to heat up when Thomas Coville on his similar 100-foot tri leaves to attempt the same record. He was to leave at almost the same time as Joyon, but found a hydraulic leak that needed to be repaired. He is waiting for a weather window. It is too bad they did not leave at the same time – we could have had a two-boat race against Ellen’s time. Coville’s website is http://www.sodebo-voile.com No matter; right now we have the Barcelona Race in its early stages, these tris heading off around the world and the Class 40s approaching the finish of the TJV – great times for fans of ocean racing. * From Peter R. Szasz: In last week’s Photos of the Week, is it just a divine coincidence that you placed the photo of Windward Passage (designed by Alan Gurney) just above the picture of the Islander 36 class group photo (designed by Alan Gurney)? Regardless, it is a nice tribute to a designer of both boats, one being a world famous and successful ocean racing yacht of yesterday, and the other being a 36 foot one design class yacht of also yesterday, but that still can muster 20 boats to show up for a race, or participate in a cruise. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/1123 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” ~ Albert Einstein Special thanks to North Sails, Kaenon Polarized, and Speed & Smarts. |
