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SCUTTLEBUTT 1644 - August 11, 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. OLYMPIC MULTIHULL PREVIEW Used as Olympic Equipment since it was selected for the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, the Tornado has since appeared in every Olympic Games. In 1999 it was announced that the event for 2004 would be open for selection and the class went about a period of redevelopment. In November 2000 the class was reselected for the 2004 Olympic Games. The development that had been ongoing for a number of months resulted in the conception of the "turbocharged" Tornado. The inclusion of an asymmetric spinnaker, as well as an increase in upwind sail area and the addition of a second trapeze made one of the world's fastest multihulls even faster. 49er style flags on the Tornado gennaker will increase spectator awareness of who is where on the all-important downwind legs, and with the blistering pace of these boats that kind of visibility will be vital. The fleet will be sailing on course area Charlie, sharing the water with the 470 men and women's fleets, although racing on different days. The fleet size of 17 nations represents the pinnacle of Olympic multihull sailing, and the experience in the fleet is matched only by the enthusiasm and winning potential of those making an Olympic debut. Multiple World Champions and Tornado gurus Darren Bundock and John Forbes (AUS) were instrumental in the development of the turbocharged Tornado and their ability in the boat is unquestioned. Don't be lulled by their apparently low ranking position of ninth, this team have won four World Championship titles and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree are the US representatives in Athens and as always for an American team, will be well prepared and in the right frame of mind for the regatta. Their preparation has included endless competition in Europe this year and with a victory in the Princess Sofia Trophy and a second at the World Championship, they seem to be peaking at the right time to do well in Athens. The Tornado fleet is one of the last to start racing with a practice race on 20 August and Olympic racing starting on 21. Their medal ceremony will take place on Saturday 28 August. - ISAF website, full story: www.sailing.org/olympics2004/results/news2602.html KEVIN HALL (Ventura, California, sailor Kevin Hall has been in Athens since June, preparing to race in the Finn class at the Olympic Regatta. Hall, writing from Athens, shares his thoughts on a number of Olympic topics, including his bureaucratic battle with the IOC, Finn competition, Athens heat, and coping with five-ring fever. Here are a couple of excerpts from the story on the Sail magazine website.) Daily routine: Until this week I was going to the gym in every other morning and sailing for several hours between 0900 and 1500, depending on the weather and my goals for the day. At night I review video, eat, maybe watch a rented movie (you can tell the popular ones here, they are always scratched and skip at the denouement!!), and I just finished saving the world in my video game Deus Ex. The Olympic sailing venue: The sailing venue is enormous, but all concrete and there is very little shade, which is tough. One of the primary reasons I moved here at the beginning of June and have not flown home since mid-June was to become acclimated to the heat and, of course, to not have to face the time change. I don't use A/C in the main part of the house I am staying in and just set my bedroom A/C to 25 degrees C (77 F) at night to make it easier to fall asleep. Olympic fun: I'm having a blast! I've learned far more about sailing, rigs, and sails in the Finn than I expected. It's not just a big Laser and in many ways requires a far wider range of techniques in different conditions. I am happy with my equipment now and have had time to become comfortable with it. And the Olympic Village is spectacular; seeing athletes of all shapes and sizes and ages from all over the world at the dining hall is a unique experience. I suspect the opening ceremonies will be, too. - Sail magazine, full story: www.sailmagazine.com/olympics/ A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS.... There is just no way to describe with words how unbelievable the Dryshirts™ are so we have created some pictures and short video on this revolutionary product. If you have been trying to figure out how the Dryshirt™ is different from a Nike dryfit, coolmax or other shirts that just wicks water away, you'll immediately see the difference once you watch the shirt in action. Dryshirts™ are breathable, repel water, and have an SPF of 50 immersed or dry. Customized team shirts with your club or team logo available. Video, pictures and dealer info: http://www.sailingproshop.com/dryshirt.htm or call 1(800) 354-7245 AS SEEN BY THE BRITS (Two time Olympic medallist and GBR Yngling coach Ian Walker looks at the women's Olympic keelboat class and the form of the competitors. Here are a couple of excerpts from his analysis on The Daily Sail website.) Several of the best Yngling skippers and their teams in the World will not be in Athens as the have fallen victim to the one entry per country rule. These include the 2004 Women's World and European Champion Trine Palludan (DEN), 2003 Women's World Champion Hannah Swett (USA), winner of the recent Greek Nationals Sally Barkow (USA), 2003 Open World Champion Betsy Allison (USA), Janneke Hin (NED) who was sixth at this years Women's Worlds and Ulrike Schueman (GER) who was second in the 2003 Women's Worlds. It is interesting to note that being a new Olympic Class only seven of the 16 teams have anybody on board with any Olympic experience. Many competitors can be visibly nervous and dealing with this may be the biggest test of all. Carol Cronin, Liz Filter, Nancy Haberland (USA) - This team defied all the odds to win the USA Trials with a race to spare. For this and their performance at this year's Worlds they deserve a lot of respect. They seem to know how to peak when they need to and to win a medal they will need another of those performances. They are strong in light winds which may help their cause. They are an experienced team which should help them deal with the pressure of having to prove that they were the best team from the five strong USA triallists. Only a medal will do that but their inconsistent form does not make them one of the favourites. - The Daily Sail, UK, full story: http://tinyurl.com/3rnor SNAFU Marstrand, Sweden - Former Laser champion Eivind Melleby of Norway dominated day two of the Melges 24 World Championship taking two convincing wins as the rest of the fleet struggled for consistency in light and shifty conditions. Back ashore the Jury worked overtime to handle the flood of redress requests resulting for poor start management on day one. After reopening a case regarding redress in race one having gathered further evidence the jury were duty bound to award redress to the seven boats scored OCS in the first race. The requests for redress were in response to the extremely late signals by the race committee. The jury was governed by the ISAF case-book in their decision. For race two the jury had to deal with a more complicated situation involving both display of the wrong flag and late signals and after considerable research and deliberation decided that the most equitable decision was to award average points or their best score to the entire fleet. Due to the late finish of protest hearings and the complexity of the calculations the overall results will not be available until Wednesday morning. - Fiona Brown, www.melges24.com/ RULES QUIZ A enters the two length zone clear ahead of B. During the rounding, A leaves room for B to get an inside overlap. Does rule 18.2(c) prohibit B from establishing an inside overlap if A passes wide of the mark? (See answer below.) THE ONLY WAY TO ROLL DOWN THE ROAD Show up at a regatta with your sunfaded boat scratched and caked with road grime and you won't impress anyone, but show up with a cool Harken cover and people will think you're the class champ. You protect your stinky feet with socks, we think your boat deserves the same. From Opti's to Stars-size doesn't matter. We cover them all. For details visit the Harken Canvas one-design section: http://www.harkencanvas.com NEWS BRIEFS * Chicago YC - Following two days of light winds, big breeze made for an exciting final day of racing at the Independence Cup/ North American Challenge Cup (IC/ NACC) - a US Sailing National Championship for sailors with special needs sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. Nick Scandone, of Fountain Valley, California won the singlehanded division sailed in 2.4mR class boats. In Freedom Independence 20 class competition, the Florida team of Karen Mitchell and Kerry Gruson took the doublehanded championship title for the second year in a row. - www.ussailing.org/independence * After yesterday's drenching and thunderstorms, the 897 boats competing on day four of Skandia Cowes Week were greeted with clear skies, baking sunshine and a stable Force 2-3 South Westerly breeze. It was close to perfection. The forecast for tomorrow shows increasing breeze as the low pressure system moves east with rain showers expected over the next 36 hours. The breeze will fill though and that's good news for the sailors and is expected to top 15 knots from the South to South East. - Magnus Wheatley, www.cowesweek.co.uk * Warwick, RI - More than 350 junior sailors, from as far away as Florida, will converge on Goddard State Park on Sunday August 15, 2004 to register for three days of competition in the Narragansett Bay Junior Race Week and Junior Olympic Sailing Festival. Hosted by the East Greenwich Yacht Club, race committees and support boats will be on hand from clubs across the bay. The Narragansett Bay Yachting Association is a collection of 30 yacht clubs, sailing associations, sailing organizations and individual members. * J Boats has introduced a new J/65 sloop with a sailplan that accommodates both a cruising set-up with main and roller-furling small jib, and a powered-up performance program with overlapping headsails and asymmetric spinnakers tacked to the stem or flown from a carbon spinnaker pole. There are three private cabins, a large main saloon, a large navigation station, spacious galley and an abundance of storage. The first J/65 is to be commissioned for sea trials in Rhode Island prior to a California delivery in time for the 2005 Transpac. - www.jboats.com * If you didn't get enough junior sailing images from the contest gallery, we just posted some of the overflow photos on the Scuttlebutt website: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/juniors0809/ * P&O Nedlloyd has become a major sponsor of the 2005 Hobie Tiger World Championships in Santa Barbara, California. They are sponsoring five containers from various ports in Europe and Australia to Los Angeles and return. Details will be posted on the website within a few weeks - www.hobieworlds.com * For the fourth straight month, Edson International has set an all-time monthly sales record. Sales of Edson products in July 2004 saw an increase of 45% over July 2003 and marked the highest monthly sales ever recorded in the company's 145 year history. In addition, the seven month period of January through July 2004 saw a sales increase of nearly 20% over the same period a year ago, putting 2004 on course to be become the best year ever in the company's history. - www.edsonintl.com/ RULE QUIZ ANSWER No. Even though rule 18.2(c) tells B that she is not entitled to room, B does not break that rule by taking room that becomes available. However, B is required by rule 18.2(c) to continue to keep clear until both boats have passed the mark. Rule 18.2(d) permits A to 'close the gap'. - ISAF website, http://tinyurl.com/6yv6s HAVE FUN EVERY DAY Summer means fun and sailing. For a new take on both, try singlehanded sport boat sailing in the Bongo. Lots of sail options and an ergonomically designed cockpit makes the Bongo enjoyable for kids from 8 to 80. http://www.sailabongo.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 Chris Ericksen: Laurie Fullerton's letter about the movie, "Wind" ('Butt 1642), had me looking at the calendar to see if it was April 1. Although I actually loved the movie, it has been almost universally panned by racing sailors. I loved seeing the old Twelves and the footage of them sailing off Australia, but there were so many silly things - hull testing in a desert stream, sail testing with a pickup truck across a dry lake bed, creating a special spinnaker called "The Whomper" and having one team loan a spare mast to their competitor (like they wouldn't have several spares themselves!) make for some really laughable points. My favorite nonsequiter was when the two stars capsized their I-14 and then had the time to smooch while floating near the gooseneck as the boat obligingly lay on it's side; as one who has run dozens of I-14 regattas and who feels the most stable attitude of an I-14 is inverted, this is particularly silly. But Ms. Fullerton has a good point: maybe those of us who pooh-pooh the technical shortcomings of "Wind" ought to take another look at the allegorical realities of the story. Thank you for perhaps kindling interest in a much-maligned movie. * From Mario Miszalski Vienna, Austria (edited to our 250-word limit): Ms. Wilson would do well to read some of the Cup's history before commenting on Grant Dalton rather mild comment. Notwithstanding his sailing record, Dennis Conner's behaviour has been less than honorable, and on a number of occasions he has clearly been allowed to bend the rules. Using a cat in what has been traditionally a monohull event makes the whole hula controversy insignificant in comparison, and I for one always thought that he should not have been allowed to enter the regatta or have the cup taken away. As for boats falling apart, wasn't Dennis in the same boat so to speak in 2000? He has been allowed then to have another team's boat. Not that it helped much. As for Mr. Bertarelli, I do not think he has kept his word to all of us. He was supposed to make AC more exciting and cheaper to enter, and all that has been done so far made it more expensive. More regattas, same size boats, same size crews. Make it 12m boats with 8 crew each and limit the number of boats to 2, as apparently some teams are accumulating even more now. To make it fair, it should be one boat - if it sinks, then you get your chance next time. And Mr. Bertarelli was the one complaining a year ago that the Kiwi AC management was not fair to him! * From David Shulman: I irritate me when we talk about the "teamwork" of sailing and the synergy of hull design/ sail design/ materials technology/ sailing expertise/ crew work/ helmsmanship/ etc out of one side of our mouth and get into an ongoing thread arguing over the skippers out of the other side of our face. By the way, wasn't Conner the skipper in a race against another boat whose design took advantage of a rule loophole to measure in at 12 meters when it should have been 12.x meters, and even though he sailed the loser, Conner and the crew almost won anyway? Now, had he won, what would the string have been? Oops-I fell down the slippery slope myself! * From Christina Rekow: If Craig Hamilton feels that hash slinging is to be taken "like water off a duck's back", then why did he and Simon Smith write in citing events and quotes made over a decade ago? Looks like words are not so easily forgotten. * From Matt Manlove: Regarding the message from R. C. Keefe, don't forget the IMS 50 "Krazy Kyote 2" designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian for the French Admirals Cup team back in 1999. It was a fast boat built by Eric Goetz in Bristol, RI, with a free-standing wing mast, and a differing view from IMS's view of stability. We never really got to see how it fared against the other super-refined IMS boats, as the rating rules were changed at the last minute and the boat was not allowed to compete. * From Austin Sperry (In Response to R.C. O'Keefe who is Juan Kouyoumdjian): I recently had the pleasure to crew for Juan K. at the star worlds held in Gaeta Italy last May. Juan K. is one of the head designers for BMW Oracle, before that he was a designer with Prada. Oh by the way he also is a leading designer for the two-boat program ABN AMRO the Dutch challange for the next Volvo Around the world race. In his spare time he is helping Mader Boats of Germany design a new Star boat. With all this he has done he managed to find time design a 115' in Asia * From Bill Gibbs: Alchemy sailed a great SB-KH race to finish in under 8:30. She was ahead of us and sailing faster at several points in the race. But Afterburner finished in under 8:10, for line honors. Curmudgeon's Comment: You're absolutely correct. Because of the fuzzy quality of the PDF results on the SBYC website, we simply overlooked your boat in the multihull section. Sorry about that! * From Rob Richards: Yesterday Sue Reilly pointed out that we've never heard that it was Spithill who lost it (the America's Cup), not New Zealand? Well, let's hope James Spithill is not blamed - considering he never sailed for the Kiwis. Spithill was the Aussie helmsman in 2000 and last time around he drove the boat for the USA's OneWorld syndicate. Dean Barker was the helmsman Team New Zealand's in 2003. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Sign on a Plumber's truck: "We repair what your husband fixed." |
