Scuttlebutt Europe #1340 - 22 October
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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1340 - 22 OCTOBER 2007
Brought to you by YachtsandCruisers.com ( http://www.YachtsandCruisers
) with the support of OC Events ( http://www.ocevents.org ), Scuttlebutt
Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat
and gear information and letters from sailors — with a European emphasis.
Contributions welcome, send to editor [Email address: editor #AT# scuttlebutteurope.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
IT’S COME TO THIS…
New York, 20 October 2007 - Negotiations to resolve the next America’s Cup
protocol ended today after the defender, Alinghi, rejected a resolution
proposed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Alinghi also made it clear they
would not disclose the new rule governing the size and design of the boats
to be used in the next event.
“GGYC is very disappointed by this outcome,” spokesman Tom Ehman said. “On
Wednesday we forwarded a settlement proposal to the defender. On Thursday
the current challengers confirmed in a letter to Alinghi that they
supported our proposal in principle and that a settlement was, to use their
words, ‘incredibly close.’
“The other challengers have been very helpful the past few days. We
appreciate their support. They, too, clearly felt we had a good basis for
an agreement.”
“This is a simple question of transparency. But the defender has refused
this. And in their latest letter, rejecting our offer, they have simply
ignored our most recent request. In this light it lacks credibility for
them to blame anyone other than themselves for the ongoing delay and any
decision to postpone the next event.”
Ehman said the American club had repeatedly asked to see the rule. This had
been denied without explanation, other than an indication from the
challengers that Alinghi head Ernesto Bertarelli was personally opposed to
it.
“We cannot understand why the defender insists it will only disclose the
rule after we have committed to the next event. This amounts to asking us
to buy the rule sight-unseen, which no one in our position would find
acceptable.
“In previous America’s Cups the design and other rules have always been
agreed by mutual consent well in advance of the event, not dictated by the
defender.”
“It’s quite simple,” Ehman said. “Show us the rule and we can get this
fixed. But unfortunately all we are getting back is legalistic
correspondence that dodges this central point and seeks to shift
responsibility.
“Three weeks ago we began to suspect the defender was not serious about
settling this when GGYC offered a list of ten prominent people as possible
mediators. The defender rejected all, and declined to forward any others -
thus ending any possibility of mediation as had been suggested by New York
Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn.
“For several weeks now the defender has been talking about delaying the
event. We and the five current challengers remain firm in our belief that
the event could and should take place in Valencia in 2009.
“Alinghi’s letter today now makes it perfectly clear to all that Alinghi -
not GGYC or the other challengers - has kept this matter in court, with the
resulting inevitable uncertainty and delay,” Ehman said.
For more information please see visit the GGYC website: http://www.ggyc.com
And Alinghi responds:
Valencia 21 October: Over the past few months Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd
America’s Cup, has been engaged in dialogue with BMW Oracle Racing (BOR) at
various levels in an attempt to find a solution to the law suit filed by
the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) against the Societe Nautique de Genève
(SNG). BMW Oracle, through Russell Coutts, has repeatedly shifted the
discussion frame by adding new demands each time Alinghi moved to resolve
the issues raised. Nonetheless, the last communication to BOR from Alinghi
before their press release was an invitation to a private meeting in New
York before the hearing to try and resolve the issue once and for all. This
morning they confirmed their attendance at this meeting.
The Societe Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi have done much to try to
convince BOR to drop their law suit; the SNG instigated a Protocol review
with the entered Challengers and, with the Challenger of Record, Club
Náutico Espanol de Vela, agreed a number of amendments to satisfy the GGYC
and BMW Oracle’s claims. At this point, Russell Coutts requested via the
Challengers group, reassurance that Alinghi would not have a head start in
designing their new boat and advised at least two challengers BOR would
settle if Alinghi could prove it did not have a design advantage.
Alinghi responded by asking the entered Challengers to set the
displacement, a fundamental parametre, for the new class. The Challengers
did so, and were satisfied that this would negate any design head start.
For BOR it still was not enough and they then wanted to analyse the
displacement parametre in light of the full rules, not trusting the
Challenger’s designers, who confirmed the parametre was crucial enough to
provide the expected guarantees.
To the dismay of Alinghi and the Challengers, BOR, through Russell, sent a
letter on 18th October to Alinghi with a further nine issues to be
satisfied, including new points not previously raised. Several of these
were completely against the fundamentals of the programme agreed by all
legitimately entered Challengers and the cost cutting strategy presiding
over the 33rd America’s Cup.
With regard to the rules disclosure, Grant Simmer, Alinghi design team
coordinator, says: “Alinghi is working with the Challengers to develop the
new class rule. This was started on the 15 September and the Challengers
have stated that they are happy with this process. There are several key
issues still being debated but we are working towards issuing the rule on
31 October. If BOR chooses to enter they will be welcomed into this
process.”
Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, adds his positive comments on the
situation: “We are driven by the vision to create a bigger and better event
for everyone in 2009 with new boats but reduced costs and increased
competition. Some may say we were too ambitious but since then we have
undertaken a raft of measures to try and find a solution to this issue. We
have consulted on the design of the new class, we have amended the Protocol
and we have allowed the challengers to pick the displacement of the boat,
as we were led to believe this was the last remaining issue for BMW Oracle.
Despite not yet having issued the new class rule, they know a lot about the
concept, plus they had the chance to agree the displacement. I firmly
believe that there is still time left to agree a solution with BMW Oracle
and for them to drop their law suit and join the other Challengers to help
us make this an even greater event than the last. The last communication
that we sent to them before their press release of last night was an
invitation to a private meeting in New York on Monday morning before the
hearing to have one last go at finding an agreement, something we still
hope to do for the better of the event, the challengers and us.”
COURSE RECORD UNDER THREAT AS SMALL YACHTS SEEK SHELTER
The 28th Rolex Middle Sea Race looked to be mirroring almost exactly its
British cousin, the Rolex Fastnet, as retirement after retirement is phoned
into the Royal Malta Yacht Club Race Control, whilst the front-runner makes
record-breaking progress towards the finish. After a relatively benign
start yesterday, the trouble began as yachts began to reach to the Sicilian
coast. At 1600 today some twenty-two yachts had retired including four of
the big ones - Titan 12 (USA), Valkyrie (CAN), Whisper (IRL) and Ourdream
(GBR) - leaving thirty-five still racing.
Race leader Rambler (USA) has been eating up the miles over the 24-hours
since reaching Capo Passero shortly after 1700 on Saturday evening. George
David’s 90-foot supermaxi with Ken Read as skipper belied her name and
strode up the eastern seaboard of Sicily, springing out of the Strait of
Messina at 0100 on Sunday morning. Rounding Stromboli at 0435, she has made
reasonable progress across the top of Sicily and was just north of
Favignana at 1600, making 19-knots. The forecast frontal system looks set
to blow the big white supermaxi home at speed with winds from the northwest
topping out at 40-45-knots. There is the probability of a confused sea
state that may slow her up a little, but short of gear failure or breakage
she could reach the finish at around 0900 on Monday. If so she would have
smashed the existing course record. But she needs to finish before such
predictions become meaningful.
The smaller, slower yachts encountered very difficult conditions as they
made their way up Sicily towards the Strait of Messina. Sonke Stein, owner
of the Ker 11.3 Kerisma, packed it in at around 0300 on Sunday morning,
“basically we were not having fun anymore. We looked at each other and said
let’s head for port. We’re currently nicely tied up in Syracuse, along with
a number of others, and are enjoying a good fish lunch.” Kerisma did not
encounter really tough winds, but found the sea state and visibility the
biggest problem, “we’re a very light boat and even though the winds were
about 25-knots it was the confused seas and rain that really hurt us. The
seas were very difficult and heavier boats were probably at an advantage.
Big waves from nowhere would stop us completely. We hit some serious
walls,! had problems with lobster pots and could not slow ourselves down
enough.” Stein was quite sure their decision was one of prudent seamanship,
“we’re not a professionally crewed maxi and there is no need for us to fall
into believing we should continue running after them. We had decided before
setting out that we would keep reviewing whether to continue or not. We
made a good seaman-like decision.”
Robert McNeill’s Zephyrus IV established the current Course Record of 64
hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds in 2000. In order to beat this record the
first boat must be home by about 0400 on Tuesday 23rd October.
http://www.rolexmiddlesearace
MALTA’S GRAND HARBOUR MARINA TO HOST MIDDLE SEA RACE FLEET
Grand Harbour Marina is to host the fleet ahead of the Middle Sea Race run
by the Royal Malta Yacht Club in association with the RORC, starting on
20th October.
This Camper & Nicholsons marina provides top class facilities and berthing
for vessels up to 100m. and is just 15 minutes from an international
airport, providing private jet facilities.
The beautiful island of Malta has a mild winter climate and provides lower
tax rates and cost of living for resident crew and their families.
For further information, visit
http://www.cnmarinas.com
http://www.ghm.com.mt
TWO WEEKS. TWO DAYS?
Exactly two weeks ago, 89 solo racers were leaving Funchal in Madeira
archipelago, heading for Brazil and Salvador de Bahia. 3,100 nautical miles
separated Funchal from Salvador.
The man that leads the fleet since the day after the start, Yves Le Blevec,
already sailed over 2,450 miles. He might have seen today - to starboard -
the small island of Fernando do Noronha, Brazilian territories in the heart
of the Ocean, 540km Northeast from Recife. Actual shows its’ skipper
experience. Yves is the co-winner of the Trophee Jules Verne.
500 miles separate Le Blevec from Salvador de Bahia. 2 days on board and he
will be back on dry land with a comfortable advance on the pursuers group 0
the race direction evaluated it at about 80 miles because David Sineau’s
(Bretagne Lapins) positioning beacon didn’t run smoothly this morning. The
distance between Yves and the other two hunters Nick Brennan (Rafiki) and
Ronan Deshayes (PCO Technologies) is 125 and 127 miles extended.
Behind Le Blevec 23 boats are now sailing in the South hemisphere. But the
expected trade winds aren’t showing and the sailors have to deal with a
light Southeast flux. Consequently, most of the competitors chose to head
for East, and there should be variation in the general ranking on the back
of those that kept on sailing west from the direct path. As for Clayton
Burkhalter (Team Acadia) that suffered the lost of two places in the last
24 hours in favour of Francois Salabert (Areas Assurances) 9th, and Peter
Laureyssens (Ecover) 10th. The Slovenian Kristian Hajnsek (Adria Mobil) has
also been dethroned from the 6th rank by the amazing Yann Riou that
faultlessly sailed during the last hours.
Don’t forget about those are still blocked in the Pot au Noir… It was
unmoving this morning, and spoiling an important group of Minis: Series
boats like Mathieu Girolet (Roi du matelas), Jelmer Bouw (van Uden), David
Le Carrou (Le Treport), and Dominique Barthel (Conseil general de l’Isere);
but also protos as Yannick Allain (Centifolia-Chaveta) or Sebastien Picault
(Groupe Royer). Much farther, it was the same punishment for Thomas Coubes
(petit Citron vert) and Remi Daudin (Deolen).
Top ten positions at 21 Oct 17:00
1. Yves le Blevec, Actual, Proto, 413.45 nm to finish
2. Ronan Deshayes, Pco technologies, Proto, 133.44 nm to leader
3. Nicholas Brennan, Rafiki, Proto, 142.22
4. Fabien Despres, Soitec, Proto, 174.88
5. Yann Riou, Cameleon, Proto, 211.79
6. Adrien Hardy, Brossard, Proto, 232.38
7. François Salabert, Proto, 246.01
8. Clayton Burkhalter, Acadia, Proto, 262.55
9. Peter Laureyssens, Ecover, Proto, 272.47
10. Andraz Mihelin, Adria Mobil Too, Proto, 283.67
HANS DETMAR WAGNER CUP - INTERNATIONAL DRAGON CLASS
Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy: No surprice after the last race for the first
three positions: first Hosch before Ocker and Braun, all three from
Germany. Again good Northern wind even if not so strong as yesterday.
Torbole sul Garda, Sunday 21 October 2007 - The firt place of the last
regatta organized by Circolo Vela Torbole, as expected, was taken by
Vincent Hosch. Ocker and Braun tried hard but they could not beat Hosch, at
least this time!
Today the races began just before 10 am with a good wind of 6 mt/sec (about
20 Km/h). The first race was won by GER 993, skipper Stephan Link, before
HUN 50, skipper Noel Nedbhl, third GER 992, skipper Hannes Braun. Vincent
Hosch was 17. (discarded), Ocker 10. and Braun 3. confirming the third
place already hold yesterday.
The Pelèr, Northern wind, blew regularly for the whole first race, even if
at the end it decreased. Barbara Botti, President of the Committee, could
work at best in all the 7 races and we could see a regatta in perfect
conditions.
Top three final results after 7 races, before protests and with one
discard:
1.Hosch-Liebner-Mayier, GER, 15 points
2. Ocker-Grosser-Davies, GER, 24
3. Braun-Dennecke-Abele, GER, 29
EARLS COURT: PUTTING THE ‘SHOW’ BACK INTO BOAT SHOW
From 1-9 December, the revamped Earls Court opens its doors to sailors,
Christmas shoppers and show-goers visiting London. There’s music and
fashion shows, Riva, a spa for the footsore, the original special events
Guinness bar, the National Maritime Museum’s Hall of Fame, dozens of drams
from the Whyte & Mackay family, acres of chandlery and boats! From a ‘boat
in a bag’ to Gipsy Moth IV, a display of yachts on the pool and headline
musical entertainment! The all-new Whyte & Mackay Earls Court Boat Show:
you can’t beat boating in the heart of London!
http://www.earlscourtboatshow
MICK BUTLER AND SUSAN ETHERINGTON - HOBIE 16 WORLD CHAMPIONS
Suva, Fiji Islands: The last day of racing and there’s an air of quiet
tension down at the boat park. The sailors are intent on rigging their
allocated boats and it’s not a time to talk to them. It is announced that
the Race Committee are out there, the wind is filling and that the sailors
should get ready for sailing.
There’s a rush to sign the boats in, then a trickle and then an
announcement for the stragglers to hurry and sign.
The Race Committee gets a steady wind at 7 -8 kts, but there’s one of those
rain squalls again and it’s the waiting game again. They start the race
with the wind east north east then it shifts 20degrees to the north. Those
who go to the left make a good choice. The smart award goes to the ones who
go north upwind and south down wind. Their decision is reflected in their
finishing position.
The second race is about to get under way when the wind shifts to the left
and stops. The skies darken, the lightening flashes and the thunder rolls.
For about ten minutes the wind blows strongly from the west. The committee
moves the start line but can’t get a race started and send the boats
ashore.
At four o’clock it is obvious that the wind is not coming back today. The
contest is over and we have a winner - Mick Butler And Susan Etherington
from Australia.
Top ten final places:
1. Mick Butler / Susan Etherington, AUS, 31 points
2. Christophe Renaud / Alban Rossollin, FRA, 44
3. Cam Owen / Susan Ferris, AUS, 62
4. David Kruyt / Janine Kruyt, NGR, 66
5 Peter Bates / Juliet Bates, AUS, 71
6. Jerome Le Gal / Enrick Obert, FRA, 76
7. Julien Villion / Romain Petit, FRA, 77
8. Ulf Hahn / Anke Delius, GER, 81
9. Damrongsak Vongtim / Sakda Vongtim, THA, 83
10. Francisco Figueroa / Jolliam Berrios, PUR, 83
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - editor [Email address: editor #AT# scuttlebutteurope.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do
require your name but your email address will not be published without your
permission.
* From John Rousmaniere: Thanks to J. Joseph Bainton for his kind words
about my piece concerning the dispute over the legitimacy of the
challenging Spanish yacht club. To understand a rule or a law, there’s
nothing so helpful as appreciating why and how to was written in the first
place. To answer his question, the rule that the boat be constructed in the
country of the challenge is fundamental to the cup and may not be
eliminated through mutual consent. Throughout America’s Cup history, every
challenger, every defender has been constructed in the nation of the yacht
club it represents. Alinghi’s hull was built in Switzerland, just as the
yacht America’s hull was built in the USA.
And to people who have pointed out that the Royal New Zealand Yacht
Squadron qualifies as a challenger — I agree 100 percent because it is 100
percent organized. It is one of the world’s great yacht clubs.
* From John Harwood-Bee: Somebody must be on extremely tenuous ground if
they are attempting to justify part of the new AC protocol by challenging
the validity of the RNZYS. To compare a one hundred year old legitimate
institution with a hurredly assembled ‘Micky Mouse’ circus created only
for the benefit of the defender helps demonstrate the very thin ice this
farce is skating on. There is an expression that should have been heeded
long before the behind the scenes machinations caused the current trauma.
‘ If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it’
John Harwood-Bee
jhb [Email address: jhb #AT# figmentgroup.co.uk - replace #AT# with @ ]
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THE LAST WORD
He was a seaman, but he was a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if one
may so express it, a sedentary life. Their minds are of the stay-at-home
order, and their home is always with them - the ship; and so is their
country - the sea. — Joseph Conrad
==============================
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