|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1704 - November 4, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. COACH OF THE YEAR US Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) is currently seeking nominations for the Coaches of the Year Awards for 2004. The awards are part of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Coaching Recognition Program. As participant in the program, OSC is responsible for nominating sailing coaches in three categories: National Coach of the Year, Developmental Coach of the Year, and Volunteer Coach of the Year. A panel designated by the OSC will evaluate each nominee's accomplishments during the year 2004 and the winners will be announced in mid-December. National Coach Of The Year - Nominee is coaching an elite-level club; a collegiate, Pan Am, or world championship team; or an elite athlete who is competing at the highest level of the sport. Previous winners of sailing's Coach of the Year Award are Scott Ikle (Geneva, N.Y.), Luther Carpenter (New Orleans, La.), and Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.). Developmental Coach Of The Year - Nominee is a coach of a youth club, high school or junior level coach directly responsible for developing athletes to the elite national or junior national level. Previous winners of sailing's Developmental Coach of the Year Award are Rob Hallawell (Marblehead, Mass./Coronado, Calif.), Mike Zani (Bristol, R.I.), Adam Werblow (St. Mary's, Md.), and Amy Gross-Kehoe (Bayville, N.Y.). Volunteer Coach Of The Year - Nominee is a coach who does not receive payment in any form for their involvement in coaching at any level. The nominee should be involved in developing athletes, have a coaching record, and contribute to the community and the sport. T. Park McRitchie (Port Clinton, Ohio) won sailing's Volunteer Coach of the Year Award in 2003, the first year the award was presented. Nominations are accepted through December 1, 2004. - US Sailing website, full story, http://www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2004/coachawards.htm F1 SAIL PRO TOUR In July 2005, F1 Sail will introduce the world's richest international Sail Pro Tour featuring the high performance 18-foot skiff. Professional teams representing over 15-countries will compete in a 26-week international television series broadcast to a global market. The concept is generating strong interest from elite sailors & teams from around the world with the Pro Tour soon to announce a global broadcast deal. With over 1200-square feet of sail power the revolutionary 18ft skiff is recognised as the world's fastest mono hull dinghy class. An advanced version of the skiff has been introduced in an effort to push the crews to the limit and to create a more exciting television product. The series is scheduled to commence in Europe in August 2005, with 4 European stops and 3 through Asia/Pacific. The race locations, boat design, race course & rules have been tailored towards television broadcast. The series is the brainchild of former IMG Executive, Richard Scotts & is being backed by two of the leading figures in international yachting, Australia's Lang Walker and New Zealand's Neville Crichton. Participating teams are expected to come from New Zealand, Australia, USA, England, Italy, France, Japan, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Norway, Finland & Brazil. To promote close & exciting racing the boats will be identical in design. To encourage nationalistic rivalry the crews will also compete for their respective countries. - Full report, http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/f1 AMERICA'S CUP: CONSORTIUM MEETS The America's Cup Consortium yesterday had its first meeting under its new Director General Fernando Huet. With representatives of the America's Cup Management Committee present, the Consortium stated that it was putting off until next month any sort of decision over the large amount of works to be carried out in Valencia Port to accommodate the America's Cup Races. The most important of these is the creation of the bases for the various syndicates, which carries an estimated cost of some 42 million Euros. A statement issued after the meeting referred to an agreement over the work methodology 'and to define the projects that are still pending'. These include at least thirteen works projects that are late or that should have been started last month. However, Valencia Mayoress Rita Barbera expressed the belief that all the projects would be finished on time, with the work on the various bases being finished by March next year. - http://www.valencialife.net/ U/S AND SDYC WIN THE SAN FRANCISCO CHALLENGE… AGAIN! Ullman Sails congratulates San Diego Yacht Club for defeating St. Francis Yacht Club in the San Francisco Challenge match race event, sailed in J-105's. Using Ullman Sails to win last year's SF Challenge, SDYC again used a full inventory of Ullman Sails to defeat StFYC using North Sails, 3 to 1 in the best of the five-race challenge. For the fastest designed and best constructed sails that guarantee you the "Fastest Sails on the Planet", contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit our web site at http://www.ullmansails.com KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER Three days of briefing meetings organised by the IOC were successfully concluded in Beijing Wednesday, where Athens organisers have been sharing the lessons of their successful summer. Under the auspices of the IOC's Transfer of Knowledge programme, the Organising Committee for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (ATHOC), led by ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, shared insights and experience on areas including sports, finance, Games identity and vision, venue planning and operations, Games-time operations, test events and the Paralympic Games. Past, present and future organisers of the Olympic Games were represented, with teams from Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010 and the Candidate Cities bidding for the summer Games of 2012 joining executives from all levels of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). The IOC's Transfer of Knowledge programme consists of a knowledge base, accessible via an extranet, comprising key reports, plans and information from every area of Olympic Games management. An observers' programme organised during the Games provides a framework for future hosts to fully grasp the work done by each organising committee. A secondee programme ensures executives and staff gain first-hand experience by working in key Games organisation roles. - ISAF website, full story, http://www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=8307 MARINE SUPPORT NMMA (National Marine Manufacturers Association) officials today reacted with palpable relief and barely-concealed glee to the news that George W. Bush had been re-elected to the US presidency. "It's great news, tremendous news for the marine industry," said Monita Fontaine, NMMA vice president of government relations, in Washington, DC. "This administration has always provided us with great access to the White House and various government agencies. They have always helped us out where they could." Fontaine said that the change to a Kerry administration would have meant an entirely new set of agency officials. "It takes about a year for people to figure out what their jobs are and everything comes to a standstill," Fontaine said. "Now, we have continuity. Every agency knows our fundamental concerns, and we're working with an educated group of people who know what will be good for us to grow boating." - IBI News, full story, http://tinyurl.com/56a4h VENDEE GLOBE With the start of the Vendee Globe on Sunday, November 7th, Nick Moloney will attempt to be the first to race around the globe in 3 disciplines: crewed with stops, fastest non-stop, and now solo non-stop. His analysis of the race begins with the rolling weather systems that form a conveyor belt effect around Antarctica - its very difficult to catch up a weather system in front, so the boats that manage to hook in first to a Depression will scream off downwind and will be very difficult to reel in until after Cape Horn - as long as they survive of course. This makes deciding how hard you push in the first 7,000 miles down the Atlantic very difficult. Too hard, you are risking damaging the boat early on. Not hard enough, you might be out of the race in the first 3 weeks. Nick predicts that the boats to watch out for in the Vendée Globe are: - Mike Golding (Ecover): A new fast boat, a great experienced skipper and excellent preparation, this could be Mike's race. He certainly deserves it. - Roland Jordain (Sill) & Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) onboard the two brand new Lombard design boats: Both are great skippers with powerful boats; the only downside is that both boats are relatively untested. - Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss, ex Sill): Alex will get out of the starting blocks quick and set a pace to chase onboard one of the fastest boats of it's generation. A case of 'blaze or bust' maybe. - Marc Thiercelin (Pro-Form) taking part in his 3rd Vendée Globe finishing 2nd in 1997 and 4th in 2001: Marc seems to be always up with the front runners and will be sure to be there again; experience can really tell in this race of nerves. - Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac): Jean-Pierre is always one to watch and proved what he was capable of in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2003; two unfortunate dismastings followed but he will go out fast. - Vincient Riou (PRB): Vincent is an excellent skipper with another well prepared boat, one of the best of the same generation of boat as Skandia, and of course the winning boat from the last race in 2000/01. All the predictions are just talk when you consider that every skipper expects to have to deal with at least one major problem while on the race course which could jeopardize actually finishing. So no matter who gets out of the blocks first and sails smart we still need to keep our boats and ourselves in one piece and cross the finish line 90 days later. - Nick Moloney, http://www.nickmoloney.com ALFA ROMEO International shipping schedules will keep skipper Neville Crichton's maxi Alfa Romeo from arriving in time to compete in the 2004 Rolex Sydney to Hobart. She recently ended her European season by taking line honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, but a schedule delay for the only transport ship to Australia has forced the cancellation of her attempt at a third straight first to finish honor in the race. "All our efforts are now focused on the 2005 Rolex Sydney to Hobart," says Neville Crichton. "Construction is now well underway on the successor to Alfa Romeo, which will be as advanced over Alfa Romeo as she was over her predecessor. We plan to launch the new yacht in July next year." NEWS BRIEFS * Shipping company P&O Nedlloyd has become a major sponsor of the 2005 Hobie Tiger World Championships in Santa Barbara, California, USA, and is providing free round-trip shipping from designated ports in Europe and Australia. Details available on the event website: http://www.hobieworlds.com/tiger2005 * Sixty new products competed for the 2004 Innovation Awards at this year's International BoatBuilders' Exhibition and Conference (IBEX) in Miami, Florida. With judging done by members of Boating Writers International, Tacktick's Micronet wireless instrument system won the category of OEM Electronics and Electronics Systems. Tacktick is the first company to introduce wireless, solar powered, navigation instruments with full NMEA interface for cruising and racing boats. * The rumor that America's Cup team Emirates Team New Zealand had released team member and Athens Finn Gold medalist Ben Ainslie is not true. Said Ben from the Bitter End YC events this week in the BVI, "What can I say? It's an honour (to be talked about) but it's a complete bollocks as usual!" MOVING SALE Hall Spars & Rigging is moving. Ben Hall told the sales staff that we have to move the inventory ourselves - so we decided to have a sale! Log on to our website and buy lengths of high-tech line from Yale, NE Ropes, Samson, and Maffioli. We have discontinued hardware (brand-new, still in the packaging)...even a high-performance carbon spinnaker pole tube and lightweight carbon instrument brackets. We'd rather ship it to you than move it, so everything is priced accordingly. Just promise that you won't tell Ben what you paid! http://www.hallspars.com/storefront (You can read about the move, too.) CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Ralph Taylor: In what other country in the world would tourists at the Opera House be able to flake an America's Cup Class jib? * From Robert M. Grant: As a New Zealander, my opinion of who should be the new president of the USA was of no value. I would suggest that the result of your survey for "More like NASCAR" for the AC past 2007 is of little value until America wins the America Cup again. * From Jim Morford: It is interesting to read all the comments regarding the restructuring of US Sailing, but when are they going to recognize that there is a vast group of sailors west of the Mississippi River. They west coast is completely invisible to the organization. * From Mike Milburn: I agree with Bill Doyle's assessment that improvements in technology do not benefit our sport. In fact with every major "improvement", many otherwise viable designs are made obsolete. Take, for instance, the canting keels which are proving to be devastatingly fast, devastating to conventional keeled boats that is! Very few sailors have the budget to buy a new boat for the latest in technology. An even greater problem is that today's racing boats are pretty much single purpose and do not accommodate family cruising. According to Jobson's statistics the sport of sailing is contracting at an alarming rate. I believe the forgoing are the greatest reasons for the decline. * From Dave Culp, KiteShip: I respectfully disagree with Bill Doyle's aversion to innovation in sailing, particularly from his own sports marketing point of view. It isn't necessary to leave our sport for examples of why this doesn't work. A look at any "non-evolutionary" One Design fleet will highlight the trends. How many in your local 110 fleet have sponsors? How many 12 meters--a powerful photogenic boat if ever there was one--sport big-money sponsors' logos on their spinnakers--and appear on the pages of your local non-sailing sports rag? You are far more likely to see articles and photos of Frank Pong's new tungsten-keeled supermaxi, or the 30' Cone of Silence's astonishing 180 meter asym than you are of the world's best sailors, making and breaking careers in Stars. The fastest growing, most talked-about classes today are innovative boats like the 49er, I-14, sportboats, and yes, kite boards. Few non-evolutionary classes are even holding their own. You are far more likely to find a crowd of young people ogling kite boards than Stars. The "no evolution" concept is an old adage, similar to the "Sailing should be for sailors" theme. It's a fine point of view, and many talented people have their roots in these non-evolutionary classes, but the necessary corollary is that "Sailors must pay for their own boats" and "The public will neither be invited nor care what you are doing." There is little enough interest in sailing today. Let's not limit sailors' and the public's choices to our grandfathers' yachts. * From Tom Andrewes: I have to agree with the guest editorial (Bill Doyle, Issue 1700). It is not the technology of the boats competing that is the problem. Match racing is the problem. It has no part in the America's Cup as the yachts are not the same. True match racing in identical yachts is great to watch for those of us who understand it, but to attract more viewers, sponsors, and media the AC needs fleet racing. Bravo for the last regattas in Europe. Now those would be interesting to watch. Televise them! * From Brad Van Liew: I found Mr. Doyle's thoughts compelling and insightful, but I would like to offer another point of view. I believe the best sponsorship value in the sport of sailing is open boat racing, which in many ways is leading the way with technology (admittedly I am biased). Much of the modern era of development of canting keels, lightweight furling systems, rotating and canting masts stayed with fiber rigging, and un-imaginable power to weight ratios were all born in the Open-60's, Open-50's and Open Class Trimarans. These boats and their races offer the best return for a sponsor's investment. The reasons range from having very few rules (i.e. keeping it simple), small crews (on and off water), a 4-year revolving calendar of races (IMOCA and ORMA circuits) and media appeal through human-interest stories and satellite communications. Additionally, we amortize the cost of a relatively inexpensive boat (when compared to Volvo or AC boats) over the course 4-8 years of racing. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, which I sailed in the 2002-3 Around Alone, was originally built in 1997 and will be competitive again in 2006 with another update and refit! Watch the upcoming Vendee Globe for 4 months of excitement as the 20 skippers unveil a race and adventure. Then next November the same boats in the Transat Jacques Vabre. Now, if only the U.S. market would embrace this class like Europe does, our sport would rival "motorsports" for corporate interest as it does in Europe. * From Jack Spithill: Peter Huston in butt 1702- "The America's Cup is what it is. Anyone who really wants a different format ought to start their own series." Interestingly, continuing our motorsports analogies, that is essentially what CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) told Tony George, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that prompted him to form the IRL (Indy Racing League). Today CART, who held a virtual monopoly on open wheel racing in the U.S., is on its last legs. The IRL, on the other hand, is growing steadily in popularity. If the America's Cup refuses to change it might well go the way of CART after a more appealing successor "series" emerges. * From Larry Law (Re: Butt 1703, Curmudgeon's Observation): I respectfully disagree with the premise that life has no trade-in value - not to diminish the levity provided by the Curmudgeons wonderful closing segment each day. As history clearly illustrates, Americans (and many other peoples around the world in many countries), value freedom more than their lives. It is a sacrifice that possibly millions have willingly paid over time. I dare say that is a very valuable "Trade-In Value" to say the least. A huge thank you to all who have made the trade. CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM If soap is used to make you clean, why does it leave a scum? |
