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SCUTTLEBUTT 2411 - August 15, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. JUST THREE SECONDS APART AT THE ROCK Cowes, Isle of Wight, England (August 14, 2007) -- With the race leaders heading home, the bulk of the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet still racing is midway between Land's End and the Fastnet Rock sailing in southwesterly winds of 25-30 knots. The super-maxis were neck and neck reaching up to the Rock at 14 knots in bright sunshine, rounding nearly together and then going on the wind to round the Pantaenius Buoy to port, some fives miles to the south west of the Rock. The 90-foot Reichel Pugh-designed Rambler went past at 18:00:35 followed by the Farr-designed 100-foot canting keeled ICAP Leopard at 18:00:38. Subsequently, PRB, Delta Dore and Cheminees Poujoulat from the Open 60 Class have rounded. From the buoy, the distance to the race finish in Plymouth is 251 nautical miles. Earlier in the day on board the US entry, Rambler, skipper Ken Read recapped the race so far, “The predicted first front came with a southerly shift and very squally, rainy and windy conditions for us between Start Point and Land ’s End….full on and of course it has to be at night! We can report virtually no breakage even after some 40 knot squalls all tight reaching. Sometimes a bad combo as boats this fast tend to be hard to slow down and have a tendency to launch off a wave with bone chilling crashes when you land." Read continued, "Eight headsail changes and about ten reefs/ unreefs, late morning came past Land’s End and a completely unpredicted lull. Went from a blast reacher with a single reef, to drifting and slatting in a matter of minutes, and as the sun rose we realized we were in a park up with Leopard, and several of the 60’s all around us." -- Complete report, with more comments from Read at http://fastnet.rorc.org/container.asp?id=8217 * Strong winds and short steep seas are taking their toll on the 271-boat Rolex Fastnet fleet, with 177 boats retired as of 2200 BST on Tuesday. Among the casualties is the 98-foot super-maxi Alfa Romeo. * Additional photos from the start come from photographer Rich Page: http://www.richard-page.com/gallery?album=1241 GAME ON IN OLYMPIC LAND With racing to begin on Wednesday at the Qingdao International Regatta, American 470 Women Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler provide the following report on this critical test for top Olympic contenders: “After a long week of traveling, unloading containers, boat work, training, adjusting to a 12-hour time zone change, measurement, and a practice race, the Pre-Olympic Regatta Eve here in Qingdao, China is upon us! As we looked around the spacious boat park, built for the 2008 Olympic Games, we see the area is littered with boats flipped over on trollies as sailors polish, prime and add finishing tweaks to their boats. “We’ve had a great week of training, focusing mainly on light air boat speed and trying to learn as much as possible about the ever-quizzical current here in Qingdao. The US Sailing Team is fully loaded and the support for the 18 US Sailors here is fantastic. We have the Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman, two athletic trainers, meteorologist, nutritionist, a Chinese liaison, 10 staff coaches and even a boat wright, all fully focused on getting great results on the water. The energy in and around the US Team is buzzing! “Beyond the scope of the US Camp, the Chinese have once again rolled out the red carpet for this event. Great planning and unbelievable organization! There are so many orange-clad regatta workers that we only have to appear to have a question before at least four of them are circling you, wanting to help out. The opening ceremonies was a mind blowing display of traditional Chinese drummers, singers belting out hits from Phantom of the Opera, dancers and, of course, a huge fireworks display rivaling the Macy’s 4th of July show in New York City! The people of Qingdao are so excited to host this event and the 2008 Olympics, they have taken the obsession of “ ‘08” to the next level: What time did the opening ceremonies begin? Why, 8:08 of course!” Team site: http://www.TeamGoSail.org Event site: http://www.2007qdregatta.com TWO WEEKS, TWO NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS! Two weeks ago, Brad Boston sailed his Ultimate 20 to victory in the North American championship - that’s his fourth U-20 North American title. Then last week Brad sailed the S2 7.9 NA's in Milwaukee, and came from behind to win the 2007 title. The common denominator in both wins? Sails by Doyle. To start going as fast as Brad, call Doyle Sailmakers at 1-800-94-DOYLE; http://www.doylesails.com CONFLICTING EVENTS THIS FALL With regard to winter races from California to Mexico, there are two other issues that yacht clubs need to be aware of: the lack of open slips in Mexico and conflicts with other events. The days of just showing up in Mexico with a boat and assuming you can get a slip(s) are all but gone. For example, despite the doubling of slips in La Paz two years ago, all the marinas in that town are already sold out for the winter. All last year, the two marinas in Banderas Bay (Puerto Vallarta) had to turn boats away, and with an even busier events calendar this season, the situation won't be any better. The new 400-slip marina at nearby La Cruz will hopefully be ready to accept boats by December, but I'm betting a nickel not all the berths will be open and those that are will be snapped up quickly. The problems of conflicting events is likely to have a considerable impact this year on the Long Beach YC's early November race to Cabo. For the last 13 years, Marina Cabo San Lucas has hosted the Baja Ha-Ha fleet - which last year had 164 boats - on the same weekend as the proposed Long Beach YC event. Marina Manager Norma Flores has confirmed that "Ha-Ha boats have priority," and that all entries in the Long Beach event will have to vacate slips by noon on November 8 - about 36 hours before their awards ceremony. That means they will have to share the Cabo anchorage with the 130 or so Ha-Ha boats that weren't able to even be the third boat out in a marina raft-up or move out of the area entirely. The new Puerto Los Cabo Marina is expected to be open by then, but Marina Manager Jim Elfers reports that the 90 berths in Phase One are all pretty much spoken for. And if, as often is the case in Cabo on the weekend of 9th, there is also a big fishing tournament, it could be extremely congested. As the Grand Poobah of the Ha-Ha and an honorary member of the Long Beach YC, my goal is to work with everyone to make sure both those events can be the best they possibly can be. But in the future, all yacht clubs and other organizations would do well to check and double-check that there will be the necessary facilities and as few conflicts as possible. -- Richard Spindler, Publisher/ Executive Editor, Latitude 38 WORLD TOUR – ST. MORITZ MATCH RACE St Moritz, Switzerland (14 August 2007) — The 12 teams competing in the St. Moritz Match Race are ready to go following Tuesday’s practice session, on a day when the sun had to fight bravely to break through predominantly cloudy skies in the morning, before settling in for much of the afternoon. A calm morning gave way to stronger, gusty breezes later in the day, allowing a good training session for the teams. Time on the water ahead of Wednesday’s first races is important, with critical World Match Racing Tour ranking points at stake this week, along with 150 000 Swiss Francs (approximately US$125 000) and the coveted ‘King of the Mountain’ title. The teams greedily lapped up their allotted three hours of practice on the unique Streamline 7.15 keelboats, which are smaller (at 7.15 metres) than the typical boat on the World Match Race Tour, and feature trapeze hiking for the crews to add stability to the boat when the wind is up. The inshore venue on Lake St. Moritz is also smaller than that typically found on tour, and promises to offer extremely challenging conditions, with shoreline effect windshifts and gusts making no lead safe until the winning boat has crossed the finishing line. This event features the top four ranked sailors on the World Match Racing Tour, where the entrants will have a round robin and repechage series that will lead into the quaterfinals, semi finals, and finals on August 19th. -- Full report: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=59250 Group A Ian Williams (GBR) Sebastien Col (FRA) Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Matteo Simoncelli (ITA) Jochen Schuemann (GER) Michael Hestbaek (GER) Group B Mathieu Richard (FRA) Paolo Cian (ITA) Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Eric Monin (SUI) Mattias Renker (SUI) Mark Mendleblatt (USA) 2007-2008 PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS (Sailing World's coach’s panel -- Michael Callahan (Georgetown), Ken Legler (Tufts), and Mike Segerblom (USC) -- scouts the incoming freshmen and predicts the top teams throughout the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association.) The Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) could be the deepest Conference in the country this year with at least eight teams who can win a National Championship. The top program in MAISA for 2007-2008 will almost surely be the St. Mary's College (MD) Seahawks. The defending team racing and Women's National Champions, despite losing some great talent, will actually be deeper and better this year. St. Mary's returns six All-American skippers in John Loe, Jesse Kirkland, Justin Law, Adrienne Patterson, and Sara Morgan Watters. Add to that list incoming freshmen Michael Menninger and Ben Whitman as well as upperclassmen Alex Bishop, Alex Steele and Jeremy Wilmot and you have a team that will be favored to win every ICSA regatta in which they compete. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2yagqv SKIPPERING NAVY'S SAILING TEAM Matthew Recker says his job is “not like quarterbacking the football team.” But when you are the skipper of the flagship of United States Naval Academy, you do get noticed. “It is quite an honor,” the 21-year-old Annapolis senior said recently while visiting his parents' Fallbrook (San Diego county) home. “Offshore sailing is part of the Naval Academy tradition.” In addition to being the skipper of the 66-foot, Reichel-Pugh sloop Zaraffa, Recker is the captain of the 60-member offshore sailing team that competes in a series of races each summer and fall with a fleet that includes three Bruce Farr-designed ocean racers, a pair of J/105s, a Taylor 49 and a Mumm 30 in addition to Zaraffa. Recently, Recker skippered Zaraffa to a second in class in a race around Long Island and a fourth overall in a major race on the Chesapeake Bay. The Navy offshore team also competes in such major events as Block Island Race Week, the Annapolis to Bermuda and Newport to Bermuda races leading up to the annual National Collegiate Offshore Sailing Championships each October. “Since we host those championships and they are sailed in our boats, much of what we do is pointed in that direction,” said Recker. The Naval Academy's offshore team is separate from the intercollegiate sailing program that competes in the nationwide, small-boat series. “It is two completely different programs,” said Recker. “The intercollegiate team competes with other varsity sailing programs in dinghies. We're racing in public events. We're not an intercollegiate sport. -- Union-Tribune, full story: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070814-9999-mz1s14sailin.html SHOWCASING THE LATEST YACHTS AND DESIGN APPROACHES This year's Fastnet Race is a true acid test for some of the new racing machines to hit the water, including super-maxi 'Leopard 3' and the latest Open 60's. These yachts are the epitome of futuristic technology. The rigs alone on the Open 60's are radical in design and utilize entirely different concepts, such as wing masts with rotating spreaders, wing masts with deck spreaders, and conventional masts. To learn more about the Open 60 rigs or Leopard 3's rig: http://www.southernspars.com -- Southern Spars, exclusive supplier to the Melges 24, wishes everyone competing in the Melges 24 European Championship GOOD SAILING! SAILING SHORTS * After over 30 years involvement in the Optimist Class, Robert Wilkes of Dublin, Ireland is retiring. As only the third secretary in the 42-year history of IODA, Wilkes has been involved with the Class since 1976. He is married to Helen Mary, who was President of the class in 1989-1998, and he has been secretary since 1997. The class is now initiating a search for his replacement, with information on the position available at http://www.optiworld.org/iodanewsecadvert.pdf * San Remo, Italy -- Brazilian Mario Tinoco returned to the 2007 Snipe Jr. Worlds to defend his title; this time as a skipper. Tinoco and fellow Brazilian Matheus Goncalves sailed so well they didn't need to sail the last two races of the event, securing the title before the last day. Conditions were predominantly light to medium conditions with one over-the-limit day with puffs to 30 that caused a few broken and bent masts. Second place was decided in the last race with Nicolas Zerbino and Alejo Morales of Uruguay edging out Tyler Sinks and Nick Kaschak of the US. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/22dwdo * The home team from the New York Yacht Club defended the Morgan Cup Keelboat Team Racing Championship last weekend, against what participants described as the most talented keelboat team racing fleet ever assembled. This year's event, held on August 11-12 in Newport, RI sailed the NYYC's dedicated team racing fleet of Sonars and included a full roster of world and national one-design champions and too many former intercollegiate champions, college sailors of the year, all-Americans and Olympic aspirants to count. New York Yacht Club posted a 9-3 record, besting 2nd place Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club on a tiebreaker. -- Results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0814a * Norm Peck, Jr., sailing “Miss April” out of Niantic Bay Yacht Club (Niantic, CT), won the Atlantic Class National Championship for a historic 15th time (since 1973) held August 10-12 at Cedar Point Yacht Club (Westport, CT). Nineteen of the 30-foot keelboats, designed in the 1920s, completed a five-race series over three days on Long Island Sound for their 79th National Championship regatta. The deep fleet included eight former national champions. -- Complete report and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0814b * Barnegat Bay, NJ (August 14, 2007) -- With just one day of racing remaining, the current leaders at the US Sailing Chubb U.S. Junior Championships in the open single-, double-, and triplehanded events are Clifford Porter (Fontana, WI), Stephanie Hudson (no crew listed; Chicago, IL), and Scott Hoffmann/ Evan Hoffmann/ Eric Alamillo (San Diego, CA) respectively. -- http://www.ussailing.org/championships 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 Jeffry Matzdorff: (from Issue 2410) I applaud Mr. Disney for his tactful approach to a horrendous problem in the Ala Wai, which will not go away until private enterprise is allowed to lease the land and make profit from new docks and new tenants. The flip side of the coin is the severe gouging that will most likely take place by the would-be leaseholders in order to bring all the marine facilities up to par. This is what we are experiencing in Marina Del Rey, California, and seemingly every marina on the left coast. More boats than slips. Greedy (non boater) leaseholders gouging and providing minimalist facilities for the boat owner. Then there are the live-aboard issues and restrictions that abound in the Ala Wai. Bravo Mr. Disney for all your efforts to promote the TransPac over the many years and to attempt to improve conditions for all boaters visiting Hawaii. Take notice of Ko'olina and what they are doing to provide excellent opportunities for the boating world. Why does it take the private sector to remedy a problem like this? Isn't it possible to appoint a harbor official to co-ordinate the re-fit of the Ala Wai like the local Yacht Clubs are able to do, yet still charge a competitive rate? Go figure… gov-ment. I still want to see Pye take the record and put it somewhere no one will be able to contest for many years. Next year?? * From Robert Johnston: (edited to the 250-word limit) Hi-tech is wonderful, even revolutionary, if you can afford it, but kudos to the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Boat Show, put on by the magazine of the same name and its publisher John Hanson for reminding us that sailing is still really about boats and people. On a coast that built and captained most of America's great schooners, where a favorite winter pastime is building your own boat in the garage, and where a lobsterman thinks nothing of putting in 100 hours to polish his lobster boat's hull to a mirror finish, this emotional bond between boats and their owners is exhibited at this great show in Rockland, Maine, last weekend. Nearly every boat, from the humblest dinghy to the finest offerings of Morris, French and Webb and Lyman-Morse, glowed with the attention that only generations of skilled and loving hands can impart. Works of the boatbuilder's art were plentiful at every level and the human scale was brought home with the boatyard dog contest and full-time live music. Not much representation from the high-tech industries, just beautiful boats. Still, there were some significant few nods to modern racing. A Morris 45 did well on the Caribbean racing circuit last winter, and for the show Morris served up a new 45 with the latest in custom appendages and rigging for the high-tech circuit, while French and Webb trailered in its new "Spitfire", an open 30 with Herreshoff lines supporting a strictly high-tech rig and appendages. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: This fine boat show also hosted the 2007 World Championship Boatyard Dog® Trials. Staying on top of all events, now posted on the Scuttlebutt website is the final report with photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/NEWS/07/0814 * From Ray Tostado: I hear multiple points of view from sincere and well intended sailors . Without any doubt, every one of the voices cry out: “save our sport.” Well spoken; well intended. But the point remains that so long as YCs insist on being a capital return enterprise the traditional Corinthian essence of what brought us old time salts into the sport will most likely never return. Yes, admit it, the salt of the earth yacht clubs were a money-losing proposition. Elite members gladly contributed to programs, with, or without, their name being entered as sponsors. It was an era of personal pride and generosity. As these YC icons of US maritime tradition begin to lose senior members due to natural time frames, there are no anxious candidates ready to continue their cause. Instead they warrant favors on their member’s ratings and claims to increases in annual bar income. None of which aids one young mind to set sailing and it’s competition as their life’s ambition. These youthful imaginations only see arrogance and self-esteem as the proponents of our sport. There are YCs that are extremely strong in their dedication to the development of programs that in hope will provide new generations of yachting sportsmen. But there are not enough of them. I have witnessed a Commodore who actually prevented the installation of cable TV, “because it’ ll have kids all over the place…” Like it or not, that is what I have seen. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “Last month Monica Lewinsky turned 30. Can you believe it? It seems like only yesterday that she was crawling round the White House on her hands and knees.” -- Andy Rooney Special thanks to Doyle Sails and Southern Spars. |
