Brought to you by YachtsandCruisers.com with the support of OC Events, 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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Editorials - The Olympics

Most editorials this week focused on the ISAF's decision vis a vis the events for the 2012 Olympics. I'd like to have struck a balance, but frankly it was impossible to find anyone who thought the final vote result was anything but a disaster.

Most notable are those from the current crop of Olympic sailors:

* In a letter to Magnus Wheatley's Rule69blog.com, Ian Walker, one of Britain's greatest sailors:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 24 hours ago I thought the ISAF Events Committee had sobered up from their night on the tiles by deciding to axe the 2 keelboat classes - at last they have seen some sense. Get rid of the 2 most expensive boats to campaign that hardly anybody sails - obvious!

They have now perfected a U turn faster than any modern political party. If ISAF cannot see that high performance dinghies are the way of the future and that the obvious way to increase female participation in the Olympics (and the sport) was the women's high performance dinghy then there is little hope.

How can you possibly justify ruling out a women's high performance dinghy in favour of women's match racing? How many countries have a women's match racer? Is this the future of our sport? Compared to high performance sailing, match racing is dull and the technicalities are understood by few - there is no obvious feeder (except maybe university team racing) and the bigger countries will simply 'out coach' the smaller nations to victory. If match racing is so good why has it already been kicked out of the Olympics for the men? If it is so good then surely have it for men and women! I suspect it is simply a convenient way of getting the number of female competitors up with only 1 medal allocated.

The saddest thing in all this is that Weymouth is a fantastic venue for high performance sailing and there will be lots of female 29er youth sailors who will not be able to move up to the Olympic classes. I wonder how many young sailors were asked for their opinions by ISAF? Whilst nobody will shed a tear for the Yngling which should clearly have never been an Olympic Class, what about the Tornados? Surely it offers more of a spectacle than Finn sailing? Surely it is more appealing than Star sailing? I have sailed Stars in the Olympics and even I think they should not be in the Games. As you rightly point out there is light at the end of the tunnel as ISAF Council will probably make another U turn and change this decision when they next meet, which kind of begs the question why have the committees in the first place. I'm with you - let's bin the committees and have a dictatorship. The question is 'who would make the best dictator?'

* In TheDailySail.com, comments from Shirley Robertson and Simon Hiscocks: Shirley Robertson: Some might say that match racing will be good for the sport as it can reduce costs dramatically with boats being supplied for events, but Robertson maintains this is simply not the case. "It would be interesting to know how [ISAF] see it working. Are they going to select a boat or are they to be supplied? If the reason is to lower price then I do not think that they have really thought it through. If you are going to be match racing in different boats then you end up buying two of each for training. Then the rich countries just get better and better because they can buy more and more boats," she points out.

This is not the only problem either. Robertson adds that with fleet racing in theory anyone can give it a go, but with match racing it is much more difficult as entry to regattas often involves invitations based on each individual sailor's ISAF ranking.

Simon Hiscocks: Haha the ISAF cannot get themselves out of their comfortable little place and move the sport on. They are still clearly stuck in their choice of disciplines with relation to the actual classes used. What clear thinking person could justify a single handed boat for the men as well as a single handed boat for the men [heavy], when the women get only one choice of single handed or double handed boat to sail.

They hark on about the need to improve the sports' image to raise the media profile etc and then fail to deliver when it really matters...

I argue that the one person dingy serves the same sailing community as the heavy, particularly as the keel boat also fits into the heavy category. Look at, currently, the class in question, either you get lighter and sail a Laser or sail a Star, simple. It doesn't serve a particular sector of the sailing community. Nor is it representative of the sport - the Laser is the worlds most popular sail boat, nearly all other single handers are a slightly smaller or larger derivative of this, (go on Phantom and OK sailors get your arms in the air) so the Laser represents this sector of the sport. -- lots more from both sailors at www.thedailysail.com

* Olympic multihull sailor Darren Bundock: What can I say? I am shocked, disappointed and totally confused. I have lost all faith in the ISAF and especially the council decision-making process. Sailing has taken a massive backwards step not only eliminating the multihull but not implementing the women's high performance skiff or the women's multihull. Just keeping the doublehanded dinghy and not moving with the times.

Our sport had the chance to take a massive jump in London 2012 (finally an Olympics possibly with wind) but our sport has been destroyed by a council made up of inactive unyouthful ex-sailors living in the past.

The multihull has been discriminated against, it was the easy option. Despite multihulls making up for 25% of the sailing fraternity we have very little representation on the ISAF council. They are all elderly keelboat sailors. I'm surprised the multihull got so close to defeating the keelboats. I am at fault in not believing ISAF would discriminate against a whole diverse discipline in the Olympics. -- Boating OZ, www.boatingoz.com.au/?page=24014

Editorials: America's Cup

* Guest editorial from Mike Sharpe:

So now, as more and more truths are revealed, we are told that a serious stumbling block to getting the 2009 AC races underway is a potential clash with Formula 1 racing. My nightmare is that these 'cow bell crazy' characters (dingalings to the rest of you) are going to screw up the AC once and for all, and that this is the pre-amble. Is the intent of these guys really about tying the AC into F1. Aren't the egos inflated enough already? I have followed F1 since Jack Brabham won it all, and I was a bit younger. I still sit up 'til all crazy hours in Florida watching F1 'live', with no interest at all in sleeping in to watch the re-run at noon. I'm an F1 fan, I'm an AC fan (less and less), but to somehow tie the AC racinge/trials or practice into F1 just shows how stupid the powers to be in AC actually are, with their total ignorance of reality for the rest of us car-racing F1/AC (sort of) fans. Just go race your boats for crying our loud. You've got the boats, you've got rules and you've got challengers . Oh gee, they're a year old. Let's design some new ones and throw these ones away!

The Swiss looney running all this has 'stolen' the AC logo as his own, and I'll bet a thousand bucks he has his goal at 'AC pay-for-view'. You think I'm kidding? Now, just like network television might, he wants to control the AC by tying it into F1 racing. Any thoughts on his next grand scheme? The dumbest concession in AC racing was to let a 'land-locked' country with very limited interest in sailing hi-jack the Cup. Who did do that? Next some-one will decide snow skiing is just a sport, and hold the World Cup indoors in Dubai. Change for the sake of change I call it.

I am going to be vetoing the major companies that have tied themselves to these yahoo's, until they divorce themselves from such stupidity. Hollywood in its wildest Martini soaked dreams couldn't have written a 'let's really screw it up plot' to match this fiasco. And these guys run major Corporations!

There have been 2 great AC events since it started up again in the 50's. No, I'm not referring to L.V. events, just the Cup races. Newport in 1983; no one who was there can argue that, and Valencia 2007.

In Newport the races went to the wire; fantastic stuff. Valencia was the next Cup, almost ¼ century later, that had the same fire; again fantastic, but instead of letting that momentum flow, Berterelli panicked at the thought of losing in 2009, and mutilated the event. Bigger boats are not what will make the Cup more interesting; a telephoto lens can do that. It is interesting when 2 boats are racing neck and neck and are so close either could win. That's when the Cup get's interesting, but Ernesto 'old son' you've missed the whole point, and now you've screwed it! I'll bet we wait another 24 years to get our follow-on from Newport and Valencia. I'm not sure how you say in Swiss/German, Swiss/French/ Swiss Italian, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but some-one needs to make the translation and send it to 'old Ernesto' real quick, and send it to the New York Supreme Court too, so a certain Judge will realize how those of us who will be impacted by his decision, really feel.

My vote is to let Ernie keep the 'Cup', please! Have Larry get all the Challengers together, get L.V. back in as sponsor, and go run an event in the type of boats we already have, and as Ben/Bob (Lexcen) said, "we'll call it the America's Plate". We've already been steamrolled! Anything would be better than the America's Cup circa 2007!

I'll bet you a 'squillion quid' (in Auzzie pounds) you'll have more boats and Countries that you can point a stick at in 2009, and she'll be a 'bonza, you-beaut event mate'. I'd propose 'Fish' and 'Mumbles' officiate and I'll drive the 'Press boat'.

One new rule; if you don't race in salt water and on "an arm of the sea" at sea level, you can't come and play. Who let that 'fresh water' change through?

* This letter to Rule69blog.com seems to have nailed it, given today's rejection by Alinghi of a letter from GGYC/Oracle signed by nearly all participating syndicates (see below):

Alinghi are trying to back out of 2009 for the AC and pointing the finger at Larry and Russel. Why? Because Alinghi promised the city of Valencia ten challengers. So far there are five. If five more sign up Alinghi have to pay Valencia 10million Euros for every challenger not signed up.

On top of this, five challengers certainly isn't going to draw the big bucks from the sponsors or media deals. Two of the challengers signed on are in financial difficulty and Ernesto has pledged to help them out. So the 33rd AC in 2009 is a huge drain. Nevermind that no one is excited to step in Louis Vuitton's shoes. The whole Rolex story is just made up.

Many of the sailors from NZ initially kept on their houses in Valencia. They've now dropped them. No one (aside from Michel H) at AC has a contract. AC 2009 will be binned tomorrow. -- rule69blog.com

On The Coffee Table This Weekend....

"Rough Weather Seamanship for Sail and Power"
by Roger Marshall, 300 pages, published by the International Marine division of McGraw Hill. 19.95 GBP.

Roger Marshall is the U.S. editor of The Yacht Report and author of 11 boating books. In addition to being an experienced bluewater cruising sailor, he's competed in World Championships, the Admiral's Cup, Newport to Bermuda and Fastnet races. After 5 years with Sparkman & Stephens he opened his own design firm in Jamestown, RI.

From the introduction:

"Unlike many other severe weather sailing guides, this book treats the worst-case scenario as the far end of a continuum that beins in more familiar territory, closer to home: the squall you encounter in a local bay; the sotrm that buffets your boat at its mooring or in its marina slip; the steep seas that spring from nowhere when a frontal breeze blows against a ridal or ocean current; or the gale that disrupts a short ocean passagae with drenching spray, sea sickness and exhaustion but posed no real threat provided you know what to do. Most of us encounter a gale sooner or later, but few of us will ever face a severe storm at sea. Use a fresh 20-knot breeze to help you prepare for 25. Use your first 35-knot gale to prepare for 45. And use this book to help the learning process along."

In hardcover, on acid-free coated paper. Illustrations and photos are entirely in black and white which is why this book is only 20 pounds.

Roger is very much of the "test it myself" school, which gives some interesting facts and opinions in all his books, none more so that in his section on lifejackets and liferafts... and how hard it can be to climb into a liferaft while wearing a lifejacket. Citing hard facts and figures (including those from the 1979 Fastnet), he convincingly shows how abandoning ship should be the absolute last thing you should do, and that stepping up into a liferaft as your boat slips under the water is the best situation in an otherwise very bad one.

With specific regards to lifejackets, Roger is a big fan of the Stormy Seas vest, which he describes as probably the best-kept secret this side of the California coast... this particular vest is NOT US Coast Guard approved, and the company President doesn't want USCG approval, as he believes that USCG approved vests have more buoyancy than they need which makes it hard for a person in the water to swim. Read all about it in Chapter 9.

"Beyond Endurance"
by Adam Mayers, 250 pages, published by McClelland & Stewart. 14.60 GBP.

Adam Mayers is a Canadian journalist with the Toronto Star who was living in Cornwall in 1979. His first book on ocean racing, Sea of Dreams, was about the 2002 Around Alone race.

The subtitle is "300 boats, 600 miles and one deadly storm". That's the 1979 Fastnet Race, and this is a great read. This isn't a firsthand account, as John Rousmaniere's classic "Fastnet, Force 10", but rather focuses on the trials and travails of a particular group of sailors: the Canadian members of the 1979 Admiral's Cup and their experiences aboard the yachts Evergreen, Magistri and Pachena.

You can feel the foreboding in the first chapters which tell of Don Green's Evergreen a lightweight, retractable keel C&C which was built to sail in the light winds of Lake Ontario, which he feared to take out into the open sea. Once the storm hit the fleet, Evergreen retired from the race, but their communication didn't make it to race HQ, leading many family and friends to fear the worst.

As fate would have it, when headed back to Plymouth in horrific conditions, Evergreen encountered the yacht Magic, sailing out of the Isle of Man, who had set off a distress flare. Unable to rescue the crew due to the intense storm, they told Magic's crew that they'd pass along a distress call to another yacht, Condor, and from them to the British Navy. That call triggered the largest sea rescue in peacetime, with six naval vessels, eight helicopters and dozens of commercial craft assisting.

The end of the book has a 'where are they now' section which traces the lives of the Canadian team post-Fastnet; surprisingly nearly all of them continued sailing, one of them the same night he returned to Canada at his club's race night.

On the fear factor... "Everyone knows that a little stress can be a good thing. It's hard to study if you don't have a test, tough to write up a report unless there's a deadline. We learn better and faster if we're under some pressure. This may explain why many of the sailors would later say the 1979 Fastnet was the exhilarating and intensely felt event of their lives, even though they found it terrifying."

Both books available at the usual suspects....

GGYC Makes an Offer, Alinghi Says No...
A majority of challengers in the next America's Cup have formally joined with the Golden Gate Yacht Club to urge Alinghi to accept a joint proposal covering all outstanding points on the rules so that the event can go ahead in 2009.

In a settlement offer signed by four syndicates sent to Alinghi yesterday, GGYC confirmed it would drop its court case immediately if Alinghi accepts the proposal which had been worked out with the challengers.

"To get to this point we have made further big compromises. In particular, we have now dropped our call for two-boat testing, which Alinghi had cited as their major concern. We are confident this proposal deals with all outstanding points," Tom Ehman, GGYC's spokesman said.

The challengers and GGYC are urgently asking Alinghi to accept this offer as the basis for the event going ahead.

* A joint proposal from three current challengers and the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) to keep the next America's Cup on track for Valencia in 2009 was rejected by Alinghi today.

The new proposal had been worked out and formally endorsed by Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Origin, and Team Shosholoza and GGYC, who would drop its court case.

However within a short time of receiving the proposal Alinghi rejected it via a letter, without any reference to the specific points it made or the new concessions offered.

Russell Coutts, CEO of the GGYC's team, said that there had been indications over recent weeks that Alinghi have been planning to postpone the event for commercial reasons. These now appear likely to be proven correct.

"This confirms that the people who are supposed to promote the regatta are instead the ones who are now resisting everyone else's efforts to get it back on track," Coutts said.

"There is no reason for the event to be delayed. Together with a majority of the challengers we have delivered a fair, genuine and honorable best last shot. Alinghi's rejection of this is a disgrace and can only be taken to indicate they reached a point probably long ago where they do not in fact want the event to go ahead as planned.

"Their actions can only mean they have decided to delay the event and use the GGYC as the excuse. It will come as no surprise if they do this fairly soon.

12 Metre Class Alive And Well After 100 Years
Photo at left of Trivia, built in 1938. Click for larger image. Photo by Robert Kysela.

Of the one hundred and eighty-five 12 Metres built since 1907, there are 33 (certified) Member and 22 (non-certified) Associate boats still sailing. Newport, Rhode Island has 18 and there is a large group in Northern Europe. Their racing is competitive and their website ( www.12mrclass.com ) has a searchable data base with photos and racing schedule. Known for their America's Cup participation from 1958 to 1983, the 12 Metres have 5 different divisions (Antique - 1st Rule - 1907 to 1919; Vintage - 2nd & 3rd Rule - 1917 to 1949; Traditional - 3rd Rule AC - 1950 to 1967; Modern - 3rd Rule AC - 1968 to 1983 and Grand Prix - 3rd Rule AC - after 1983.

The "2007 Centennial Tour" winners include the following: Grand Prix - Wright on White, Modern - Freedom, Classic Traditional - Ikra and Classic Vintage - Trivia with regattas in Valencia, Porto Cervo, Cannes and St. Tropez.

When past President Paul Buttrose stepped down at the Annual General Meeting in Cannes, France, he said, "Please, you are the custodians of these boats. Look after them. And, you are the custodians of the 12 Metre Rule. Look after it... we have to encourage more people whether by building them or looking after the old ones. I'm in love with the boats as you are and I wish you well in the future."

The new Class President, Jan Slee of Newport, RI, owner of Enterprise, an Olin Stephens design built in 1977, is the first owner to serve as President. He says "The excitement for the 12 Metre Class still has a long way to go. 2008 will be the 50th Anniversary of 12 Metres racing in the America's Cup, the 25th Anniversary of the United States losing the Americas Cup or rather Australia winning it, the 25th Anniversary of Louis Vuitton's participation in the America's Cup and two major regattas, one in Newport, RI and another in Flensburg, Germany. The 12 Metres are alive and well and as elegant as ever..."

The Last Word
Just looking for loopholes. -- W. C. Fields, on reading the Bible on his deathbed.