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SCUTTLEBUTT 1658 - August 31, 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. 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Although Cascais, Portugal failed in their bid to host the 2007 America's Cup, they may have wound up with even more important - the 2007 ISAF World Sailing Championship. Cascais topped a group of 13 cities that bid to host the massive regatta. The 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship will be hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais in association with the Portuguese Sailing Federation and the International Sailing Federation. The dates are to be finalized, but will be late July/ early August to co-ordinate with the 2007 Olympic Test Event in Quingdao, China. Held as a single event, the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship combines eleven Olympic Class World Championships at the same time in one venue. With an anticipated 1000 entries, 1500 competitors, 70 nations, and Olympic Qualification it is the most significant World Championship for the Olympic classes. 2007 will also mark the occasion of the ISAF Centennary, celebrating 100 years since ISAF, or the then IYRU, was formally created. A diverse program of celebrations will recognize the occasion, including celebrations at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship. Paul Henderson, ISAF President, highlighted the impact the inaugural ISAF Sailing World Championship in Cadiz, Spain in 2003 had on the sport of sailing and the ongoing impact the quadrennial Championship will continue to have in the future, bringing a focus to Olympic Sailing, and providing a much closer synergy with the quadrennial Olympic Sailing Competition. The 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship will be the primary qualification event for the 2008 Olympics. "It is essential that the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship is a total success, across all elements of the Championship," Henderson said. "The most important element is the wind and weather and ISAF is confident that the wind conditions in Cascais are very, very good for what we want to do. The wind is very reliable, very steady and the sun will be shining. Add to this the many years experience of the Club Naval Cascais in hosting large international events, an excellent infrastructure, a compact single event site and the spectacular backdrop of Cascais - the venue will provide a fantastic stage for our sport." The final selection of Cascais, Portugal as the venue for the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship was made by the ISAF Executive Committee at their meeting during the 2004 Olympic Sailing Competition, and is subject to an early site visit and signing of the event contract. BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS Britain won seven medals in 1900 and six in 1908, and since then there have been medals at every Games. Yet we forget how recently the successes were modest. In Barcelona, the relief of Lawrie Smith's solitary Soling bronze was palpable. It was after that the Royal Yachting Association's blueprint was drawn up by Carr, in anticipation of funding from the Lottery. In Atlanta, Ben Ainslie and Ian Walker and John Merricks won silver medals. Then came Sydney and Athens. "The Lottery money [£7.6 million since Sydney] has made such an impact on the technical sports," said Robertson, mindful that the rowers and cyclists also did well. Yet with only 18 sailors in 11 events, winning medals in virtually half of them, sailing was a powerhouse. "Five medals is exceptional," said team manager Stephen Park. As in Sydney 15 nations won medals, yet only Spain came close to Britain's haul, with three. The team's cohesiveness was evident. Despite some competitions finishing a week ago, no one flew home on Air Prima Donna. No boats were packed up early. Those celebrating or unwinding respected the sailors still competing. Ainslie went out on Iain Percy's coaching boat twice. Others attended briefings and helped the haul-out after racing. It made the British team inclusive and projected vigour and unity to other nations. Five medals are a perfect vindication of the RYA's selection policy; objective trials, but with an overriding subjective element as the selectors reserved the right to make choices which would result in the most potent team. Contrast this with the United States, locked into 1970s thinking and hidebound by the threat of lawsuits, whose late, one-week, shoot-out trials removed two of their best Yngling crews. What will worry rival nations is the thought that the big guns - Robertson, Ainslie and Percy - are already eyeing up Beijing 2008; others will return battle-hardened and in several classes there are sailors pressing strong claims. As Robertson says, success breeds success. - Excerpt from a story by Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/7ynt8 SPECIAL THANKS During the Olympics, Scuttlebutt was very fortunate to have been sent daily images of the sailing events in Greece. It began with Torben Grael carrying the Brazilian flag at the Opening Ceremonies, and continued for fifteen days to include the events of the eleven classes at the 2004 Games. Two Hundred and Seventy-One images in all, providing a memorable tribute to those that were fortunate enough to have been part of this Olympiad. A special thank you goes out to photographers Carlo Borlenghi and Peter Bentley/PPL for providing Scuttlebutt with these magnificent images. The following link will take you to the main page, where you can click on any of the daily links to view the images from that day: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics AT THE FARR 40 WORLD'S, SARDINIA AND MIDDLE SEA RACE Hiking for many hours on the rail is tiring on your legs, which affects your performance. The Camet Padded Shorts make the difference. Made out of a fast drying Supplex® which has a UV protection of 97.5 % and a Cordura seat patch to hold the optional foam padding. Several styles in 7 different colors. Made in California, USA. Go to the Camet web site for more information on the Shorts, Hiking Pants, Coolmax shirts, Bags, Boardshorts and more performance gear. http://www.camet.com ACT 1 There will be live radio commentary of the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act 1, the opening races of the 32nd America's Cup. Sailing fans in the Marseille area can listen to the coverage in a number of ways, including on Radio 103.6 FM, by loudspeaker in the AC Park race village in the Vieux Port of Marseille, while boaters can also tune in on VHF Channel 60. In France, the commentary will be available over the telephone by dialing 0825 70 00 68 (15¢ / minute). The French race commentary will also be webcast on www.americascup.com for those interested listeners who can't make it to Marseille. Highlight quotes from the sailors will be posted as audio files on each language section of the website each day after racing. The America's Cup website will also include a live 2D race tracker to follow the fleet races and each of the match race contests, showing current leader and distance ahead, wind speed, what leg of the race the boats are on, the elapsed time, deltas at marks, and the gain or loss on each leg. With the opening fleet race on the 5th of September now less than a week away, all six teams are now on site on the J-4 pier in Marseille. On Monday, Team Alinghi, Emirates Team New Zealand, and K-Challenge took to the waters off Marseille for some crew training, sail testing, and boat tune-up. It was another stunning day in Marseille, with warm temperatures, blue sky, and a steady eight to 10 knot breeze - good testing conditions for America's Cup boats. Each of the six teams is expected to sail this week in preparation for racing. A practice race is scheduled for the 3rd September, with all six teams invited to participate. - AC Management FULL COURT PRESS Coming within a few minutes of breaking transatlantic records seems to becoming a feature of 2004, with Ellen MacArthur less than an hour outside of Laurent Bourgnon's singlehanded record and on Wednesday afternoon Bruno Peyron and the crew of Orange II just 30 minutes outside of PlayStation's time. While they may have been outside of the outright transatlantic record, Peyron and the crew have the ultimate consolation prize in having broken the 700 nautical mile/day barrier. On board they only had 10 crew and so ran two watches of five. "We had to push to the maximum with not very much in terms of human power," says Peyron. "Five guys on deck is enough to control the boat, not to do a manoeuvre. To control the boat you need a guy at the helm, one on the traveller one on the mainsheet and one of the genniker, plus one running if something needs to be done. So it is very concentrated." Interestingly rather than having on, off and standby watches due to the duration of the record attempt Peyron ran only on and standby watches - no off watch! The standby watch would sleep in the large cockpit cuddly in the weather hull ready to join in when required for manoeuvres. However the movement of the boat at high speed, even downwind was not conducive to a great amount of sleep. "It is very brutal and hard. And the harder you push, the less you can sleep of course," Peyron describes it. - Excerpts from a major story posted on The Daily Sail website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/46xl5 NEWS BRIEFS * Scott Nixon and his crew won the J/22 Mid-Atlantic Championship, besting a 32-boat fleet last weekend. The Severn Sailing Association (SSA) race committee got off four windward/leeward races on Saturday and one on Sunday in a sea breeze that was consistently over 10 knots. Going into the final race, Scott had a three point lead over second place finisher Matt Beck, but he got buried at the start. Scott rounded the first weather mark in 12th place while Matt was in second. "We had him in the bus, but he just kept working at it and passed us on the final beat," Beck Said. - www.severnsailing.org/results/2004/0829j22.shtml * Historically, since sailing (then yachting) was first included in the Olympics in 1900 (and including the just-completed Athens Games), the U.S. has the highest medal tally with 56, including 17 golds. Great Britain is second (45, 19 gold) with Norway third (31, 17 gold). - 'Lectronic Latitude, full story: http://tinyurl.com/4lzn2 * A three-way battle for the overall win at the inaugural Irish Etchells Championship sponsored by Affinity Insurance saw Nils Razmilovic with Brian Hammersley and Mark Nicholls defeat triple America's Cup winner Russell Coutts by one point. Ante Razmilovic took third by the same margin. This event marked Coutts first outing in the Etchells since 2000. - The Daily Sail, full story: http://tinyurl.com/4uwx2 * North Sails is providing free weather forecasts for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Farr 40 Worlds and the Sailing World Larchmont NOOD, which all start next week! If you would like to receive daily detailed forecasts via email for any of these events, visit North Sails' online Weather Center to sign up: http://na.northsails.com/ew/EW_main.taf GOLD Americans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham came to Athens with a few silver medals already in the drawer back home. They came seeking Gold…and they left with Gold! The difference? This time, they wore the Kore, by Kaenon Polarized. They saw opportunity…and seized it. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available at Sailing Supply, Svendsen's, TeamOne, APS, Vanguard, Island Sports, East of Maui, Boat Locker, FT Brown's, Boat House, Fisheries Supply, Crook & Crook, Melges Boatworks, Lombardi's, Sport Chalet, Paragon, Boater's World, Eye Gallery, Sunglass and Optical Warehouse and Alain Mikli NYC. http://www.kaenon.com 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 Michael Moore: I pulled this quote from 'Butt Europe this morning: "Is it not time for ISAF to undertake some experimental scoring in major events over the next 3 years to consider no discards in the 2008 Olympics." -- Ronnie R McCracken, ISAF International Judge, Hong Kong I have one question. Why? Yes, the cream rises to the top. Yes, the good guys always win. Yes, consistency and preparation count. And yes, it is awesome to note that Ben Ainslie would have won even if he had to count his DSQ early in the regatta. But from a competitor's standpoint, what is wrong with just a little bit of insurance? There are so many things that can go wrong during a race or a series, some a competitor's fault, some not, that I just don't see the problem with allowing a discard or two over the course of a long series. * From Chip Pitcairn: I'm an over 40 keel boat kind of guy and I have a question. After watching the board sailors in Athens pump and flap their way around the course I began wondering. If the wind dies, can you drop to your knees and paddle to the finish line? What happened to being wind powered? This is not meant to disparage any of the board sailors at the games who sailed(?) under the current interpretation of the rules, but it looked very strange to my eyes to see all that pumping going on in an Olympic regatta. Admittedly I am out of touch with board sailing and old, but it still looked strange. Going through Olympic withdrawals … * From Chris Buydos (In response to Bernie Wilson's column "King Of The Hill"): Wilson points out two important factors for winning medals in the Olympics, "Money and experience". It is true that money plays a role in getting to the Olympics, though this is true regarding every event and athlete at the games not just sailing. I just don't believe it is fare to down play the British success in the sailing events, making, money the contributing factor to their success. Anyone who was able to see the events could clearly see the best sailors won due to their experience and desire to win! Bottom line the best man and women won! End of story! Cheers to the Brits for coming to the aid of their athletes with a national lottery. We only have ourselves (USA) to blame for not supporting our athletes in the same manner. Please do not take away from an athlete's accomplishments by using money as a scapegoat! * From Andy Roy: Deserving of a little ink from the Olympic regatta are Canadian Star sailors Ross Macdonald and Mike Wolfs. Their 2nd place in what had to be a pressure packed final race vaulted them past the French to grab the silver medal. Quite an achievement considering that Ross and Mike only started sailing together last December. Ross' Star class record is remarkable: silver and bronze Olympic medalist, Star World champion (and twice runner up), Star European champion, 3-time Star NA champion, and a 4-time Bacardi Cup winner. Not bad, eh? * From John Fallon: With all respect to Gary Bodie and the rest of the US coaches, why is winning Olympic medals so important that we should ask young men and women to give up other options in their lives to pursue this goal? The U.S. Olympic Sailing team in Athens achieved incredible results considering it is made up primarily of men and women that are on track to pursue other careers in life besides sailing. The time they have taken to represent the U.S. in this game will undoubtedly be a lasting memory, but not their only legacy. I think you will find that more sailors participate in the U.S. Olympic trials than in any other countries Olympic selection process. This might not produce the best team to win medals, but I think it produces the best long term health for our sport. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending … and having the two as close together as possible. - George Burns |
