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Brought to you by Yachtworld.com Europe and boats.com Europe, 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
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More Missiles
The America's Cup, currently, is little better than a war zone and Emirates Team New Zealand fired two missiles into the battlefield yesterday. The Kiwis entered two actions into the New York State Supreme Court in an effort to bring the defenders of the 157-years old trophy into line.
The Societe Nautique de Geneve, Team Alinghi and its owner Ernesto Bertarelli, together with the organising America's Cup Management, are jointly and severally charged with breach of contract in not organising an event in 2009, as contracted with the New Zealand team, and perhaps more pertinently, of a breach of trust in endeavouring to organise a one-sided competition under the rules and regulations it announced with the connivance of the Spanish yacht club that was subsequently disqualified as a challenger.
The event is already in court following Judge Herman Cahn's decision to disqualify the bogus Spanish club because the Swiss submitted further papers that have delayed the settlement order. The Kiwis had a contract with AC Management for an event in 2009, but already ACM ha declared that this will not occur. Emirates Team New Zealand seeks damages as per its contract, in excess of US$12 millions.
The other action has been brought by the Kiwis following a refusal by Bertarelli to renegotiate the draconian protocol that ACM established when it colluded with the now-disqualified Spanish yacht club. Grant Dalton, the managing director of ETNZ said, "Bertarelli had the chance to accept a reasonable proposal from BMW Oracle, which was also signed by the majority of the challengers, and which would have allowed the America's Cup to be held in 2009. He would not do so."
BMW Oracle should be the new Challenger of Record when Judge Cahn delivers his settlement order. The two New Zealand court actions will not further delay the event, particularly when it is clear that the Kiwis mean business in the matter of the Trust action; it has appointed the New York law firm of Boies, Schiller and Flexner. David Boies, who will lead the case, successfully represented the US Government in its antitrust action against Microsoft.
Dalton was at pains to point out that this expensive process would be funded independently from its revenue sources from sponsors and the NZ Government but said that Alinghi is:" abusing the powers granted to the defender under the Deed of Gift, and has harmed the event and challenging syndicates. -- Bob Fisher
Alinghi's response to the legal action:
"We are disappointed to learn of this legal action by Emirates Team New Zealand, given their previous public acceptance and commitment to the competition.
These actions are totally without merit, wildly miss the target and will be defended rigorously. We share the sailing community's frustration in the delays affecting the America's Cup but Alinghi, as trustee, is duty bound to defend its position in the current legal action and to preserve the integrity of the America's Cup.
We have repeatedly made it clear that Alinghi welcomes a swift court resolution and wants to get the action back on the water as soon as possible." -- www.alinghi.com
Bacardi Cup
Racing was scheduled to start an hour earlier on Thursday for the fifth day of racing at the 81st annual Bacardi Cup. Some sailors arrived early and splashed their boats. Others started their day with breakfast at the yacht club and then pulled out their laptops and started to work because they were postponed on shore.
The race committee studied the glassy bay, the skies and weather forecasts. With thunderstorms and winds bouncing down from all around the compass expected, they abandoned racing for the day before noon.
Friday is the final day of racing and strong winds and possible thunderstorms are in the forecast. There is a lot riding on the final day of racing at the Bacardi Cup. For the Italian teams, the Bacardi Cup is the final of five regattas used in their Olympic Trials.
Following two Grade 1 regattas, last year's world championships and the 2007 Europeans, Diego Negri and Luigi Viale are ahead in the point tally by 170 points over Francesco Bruni and Gilberto Nobili.
bacardicup.com
* Watch videos of the racing at www.sailing-tv.tv
Acura Miami Grand Prix
Photo by Sharon Green, www.ultimatesailing.com
The day started with a postponement due to lack of wind. This allowed Howes, Ed Reynolds and I an opportunity to discuss the program and our planning for the Worlds in April. So for and hour and a half we sat a "Big Pink" eating waffles and talking about airplanes.
The committee sent us out at 1030 and we finally got race 1 underway around 1300 after a one hour wait on the water. The wind direction for Race 1 was 170 at 10 knots. We race right off the eastern shore of Key Biscayne. The Golf Stream current runs north at a couple of knots just 2 miles off shore. So when going to windward in a southerly wind, one would think that going to the right in the shallower water would be good. Well the winner of both races came out of the left, and it was the same boat, current World Champion, Mascalzone Latino from Napoli. Barking Mad which is from the USA sailed well to get two 2nd's. Nerone, another Italian boat, from Rome, (southern Italian boys can sail!) Got a 7,3 I believe. Onboard Warpath, we managed a 5, 6 so we are in pretty good shape so far.
The rest of the fleet was more up and down with their results. The competition if very tight. With 30 boats in the Farr 40 fleet, small mistakes on the first windward leg cost a lot.
It was a mild day with the wind maxing out at 12 knots about 1500. It was also pretty stable. We are happy with our consistency and our new boat. Tomorrow will be a different day with winds in the teens and low 20's. -- Paul Cayard
You can see all the results at: premiere-racing.com
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More on Z-System Ultra at en.lewmar.com/news/index.aspx?newsid=329
Irish Speed Sailing Record Broken
Dublin windsurfer John Kenny (34) has become the fastest speed sailor in Ireland. On the 31st January last, John Kenny broke the Irish speed sailing record when he averaged 40.44 knots over a special 500 metre course at the "Driven By Wind" speed sailing event, in Southend-on-Sea, UK.
With this speed John Kenny has set a new outright Irish Speed Sailing record and a new Irish production board speed sailing record when he used standard off the shelf production equipment.
The "Driven By Wind" speed sailing event is being run by veteran speed sailor Dave White from the UK, who is well known to many in the world of windsurfing and particularly speed sailing. This is yet another event on the world wide speed sailing circuit which has recently seen a huge increase in interest and a renewed push towards breaking the 50 knot barrier, which many believe will not be long coming. The "Driven By Wind" event started at the beginning of January and will run till the end of March to take advantage of the stronger winds which tend to occurr at this time of the year.
John Kenny, a welder and sheet metal fabricator from Ringsend, has been windsurfing for 15 years and recently decided to concentrate on speed sailing and to start an Irish campaign to push the Irish record towards 50 knots and make an attempt to break the nautical mile record too.
Currently the outright world speed sailing record stands at 49.09 knots held by French speed sailing veteran Antoine Albeau. Activity in this area of the sport is increasing all the time and 2008 looks likely to be a very interesting year with plans by the the foiling Hydroptere www.hydroptere.com well advanced, along with a growing circuit of speed sailing events worldwide.
The previous Irish record holder was Timo Mullen, from Northern Ireland, who held the record for all of 30 minutes when he averaged 39.02 knots on the same day John Kenny pushed it over 40 knots.
Officials from the World Speed Saillng Record Council (WSSRC), the worldwide governing body of speed sailing, were on hand at the Driven By Wind event to observe the records being set and are expected to ratify John Kenny's records shortly.
World Speed Sailing Record Council: www.sailspeedrecords.com
Event Site: www.drivenbywind.com
John Kenny website: web.mac.com/pauloriain/johnkenny2008
Icebergs!
As Russian solo circumnavigator Fedor Konyukhov closes to within 1,000 miles of Cape Horn, extreme iceberg presence in the South Atlantic, east of the Cape has forced the Antarctica Cup organisers to close a section of the inside lane of the Racetrack.
Bob Williams, the CEO of the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race Management said today. "The large number of icebergs highlighted yesterday by the C-Core Ice Tracking Service show that these now extend to the north of South Georgia Island (54 15S, 36 45W) . As a precaution we have therefore taken the decision to close the adjacent section of the inside lane between Longitude 20 W to Longitude 50 W (Gate 11) until further notice. As a further precaution we have also placed a 'Yellow Flag Alert' over the Centre Lane from Longitude 30 W to 50 W. Icebergs are expected to extend well north of South Georgia Island and can be expected in this sector of the Centre Lane. Entry to this sector should be avoided. If entry is considered necessary this should be limited to the northern most reaches of this sector. Extreme caution must be exercised in this sector at all times. "
Williams added. "We are monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. No one has ever raced across these extreme latitudes east of Cape Horn before. All other long distance ocean races trace a route back up into the Northern hemisphere after rounding Cape Horn, so up until now there has been very little data available for this sector of our Racetrack . Even Jon Sanders, who pioneered a route around Antarctica back in 1981/2 went north around the Falklands before continuing east to complete the first of his two circumnavigations. No one expected this many icebergs to be emanating from the Weddell Sea. Fedor may be feeling the cold at this time, but the sight of all these icebergs is a clear sign that global warming is real."
www.antarcticacup.com
Canadians Go Big at Tornado Worlds in Auckland
One of the outstanding results of last week’s 2008 Tornado World Championships was the Canadian team of Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle who took second place and secured one of the final three 2008 Olympic berths for Canada. The team, who competed with an Ullman Sails mainsail and jib, finished five points behind World Champions Darren Bundock and Glen Ashby. Ready to contest for first place on the final day, Johansson and Stittle never had the chance – racing was canceled due to high winds and poor visibility.
Are you fast enough? Contact an Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com
Kitesurfing Around The Isle of Wight
Fat Face Team rider Chris Bull is attempting to circumnavigate the Isle Of Wight by kite surfing anticlockwise around the island, and is hoping to find favourable conditions in the next two weeks.
Although Chris very nearly circumnavigated the island in 2004, the wind suddenly changed direction right at the end, which hampered his attempt. As yet, no one has achieved this feat, so it's a 'first' yet to be broken.
Chris comments: "Its well over 90km around the island and it's going to be very difficult to achieve, due to lots of varying conditions with wind speed, wind quality, tide, currents and navigating around the island, plus the physical endurance of kite surfing for over six hours."
As well as hoping to sail into the record books, Chris is also using the challenge to raise money for the RNLI www.justgiving.com/chrisbull2
Chris, from Hayling Island, Hampshire, was one of the pioneers of kitesurfing in the UK and founded the Hayling Island Kitesurf School in 1999. Chris competes on the national and international tours, judges for the BKSA (British Kitesurfing Association) and is a BKSA National Trainer.
RYA Call for Final Rolex Commodores' Cup Entries
Teams wanting to win the right to fill the two remaining Team GBR spots for the 2008 Rolex Commodores' Cup have until Friday 14 March to enter the event selection trials.
As in 2006 RYA Team GBR is hoping to enter four teams in the Rolex Commodores' Cup, with each team comprising one boat in each of three specified class bands.
One team, comprising the John Shepherd-owned Kerr 46 Fair Dos VII in Class 1, the Kerr 39 Erivale, run by Jerry Otter and chartered from Mike Greville, in Class 2 and Peter Rutter's Corby 36 Quokka in Class 3, has already been selected for the event.
And now the team nominated by RYA Scotland can also be revealed.
Headed by Hamish Mackay, Vice-Chairman RYA Scotland (RYAS), the Northern-based team consists of boats from Scotland, North West England and Northern Ireland.
Novus Arca, a Beneteau First 50 chartered by Kelly/Brammall (Scotland), will contest Class 1 while Nigel Biggs' Checkmate Sailing Team (North West) will crew the Corby 37, Sail4Cancer, that fills the Class 2 spot. Exaltation, an X35 owned by David McFarlane (Northern Ireland), makes up the team in Class 3.
Entries for the final two Team GBR berths are sought from both ready-made teams of three boats as well as individual boats.
The Ratings and Displacement Length Ratios (DLR) for the three 2008 Rolex Commodores' Cup classes are as follows:
Class 1 1.120 - 1.230 DLR 200
Class 2 1.075 - 1.119 DLR 200
Class 3 1.025 - 1.074 DLR 215
Trials for the small Class 3 boats will take place at the RORC Red Funnel Easter Challenge from 21-23 March and during the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series on 6 and 13 April.
Meanwhile, trials for the other two classifications will take place during the Series' big boat Spring Championships on the weekends of 5-6 April and 12-13 April.
In addition all three classes must also then compete in a specially-scheduled one-off RORC run offshore event, which is planned to last at least 24 hours, from Cowes on 26-27 April.
All communications connected with the running of the selection series should be addressed to Iain Macdonald-Smith (Chairman of the RYA Selection Committee), RYA Racing Division, RYA House, Ensign Way, Hamble, Southampton, SO31 4YA or email
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The Notice of Race can be viewed at www.rorc.org/pdf/RCC2008NoR.pdf
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Not 'urgent'...
The ISAF Executive Committee noted letters received from three ISAF MNAs regarding the selection of the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. Whilst not formal submissions, the letters suggested that ISAF could reconsider the decision on the events at the forthcoming 2008 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting through the submission process.
The ISAF Regulations govern submissions which may be considered at the Mid-Year Meeting and state that only "urgent" submissions can be put forward and considered. The ISAF Executive Committee has the sole responsibility to determine whether a submission is "urgent" or otherwise.
The Executive Committee has decided that submissions for re-addressing the decisions on events for 2012 in the mid-year are not urgent and should be dealt with in November 2008.
The Executive Committee recognizes that some ISAF MNAs do not agree with the Council decision taken in November 2007 on the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. This position, which has been formally notified to ISAF by a few ISAF MNAs, should not enable the valid Council decision to be reviewed at the 2008 Mid-Year Meeting.
The decision on the equipment to be used for each of the ten events will be made at the 2008 November Conference. At the upcoming 2008 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, the ISAF Council will make a list of the equipment it considers may possibly be appropriate for selection at the 2008 November Conference. ISAF has invited all ISAF Classes and MNAs to put forward submissions on equipment for the 2008 Mid-Year Meeting, which must be received by 15 March. The list Council makes at the 2008 Mid-Year Meeting shall include all equipment which has been the subject of a valid submission.
The Executive Committee has approved that 'urgent' submissions will be considered at the 2008 Mid-Year meeting dealing with the process of selecting equipment for the Women's Keelboat (match racing) event at the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. Firstly, to consider whether the equipment selected should have achieved ISAF Class status before the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. The second, to allow ISAF to defer a decision on the equipment for the women's match racing event until a date later than November 2008, in order that ISAF can select the most appropriate equipment for this new event and ensure that the timing of announcing the decision will be equitable for ISAF MNAs. This is in line with the current practice of match racing events.
sailing.org
Executive Committee Minutes: www.sailing.org/22372.php
YNZ Confirms No Nominations in Two Olympic Events
Yachting New Zealand has made an announcement in the latest edition of Briefings (6 March) that there will be no competitors nominated in two Womens Olympic events - the 470 and Yngling.
New Zealand qualified for both events in Cascais at the 2007 ISAF World Championships
The announcement from Yachting New Zealand reads:
Yachting New Zealand announces that no Olympic nominations will be made to the New Zealand Olympic Committee in either the 470 Women's or the Yngling class for inclusion in the 2008 Olympic sailing team.
Yachting New Zealand has closely monitored the key selection regattas in both of these classes and has deemed that a sufficiently high standard has not been reached and therefore no nominations will be made.
There has been no announcement made on the fate of the Tornado which also qualified in the just completed World Championships at Takapuna. However given the fact that the combination of Aaron McIntosh and Mark Kennedy had only just started sailing together again, it was widely expected that further trials would be required, and that good performances in light airs would be required. -- Sail-world.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=42406
The Last Word
Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long. -- Ogden Nash
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