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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1479 - WEEKEND EDITION 5-6 APRIL

Brought to you by boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.com ) 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@scuttlebutteurope.com

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND THE RUMOUR MILL

WOMEN'S MATCH RACING, ROUND 3: Interesting to see that the estimable Henry Menin, sometime America's Cup rules advisor, and chairman of the International Sailing Federation's match racing committee, called me to order over my comments on match racing for women being brought into the 2012 Olympics.

He took the time and trouble to post 2,700 words on the Scuttlebutt (Europe newsletter). That's quite some justification. I'll try and be briefer. Maybe that's what journalists do better and why the yacht racing rules tend to be so wordy and indigestible. But I digress.

Henry says women's match racing is the fastest growing sector in the sport; this is often the case when rising from a low base.

Henry says the crowds are huge; well they are in exceptional places such as Sweden. Much too often is the venue, timing and promotion wrong. You have to put the show on where there are people anyway or give people a good enough reason to come and watch the show and sailing's not very good at this.

Henry says match racing is easy to understand; only so far as the boat in front is the leader. It might not be the winner, and Henry and his colleagues would serve the interests of match racing if the rules were made far more understandable. Just take note of the number of times you see really experienced match race sailors going over an incident post-race with the umpires. Witness that the match race rules need their own case-law of umpire calls to further define what the rules couldn't do in the first instance.

Pity that the Kiwis in the shape of Tom Schnackenberg and Russell Coutts (the former the best brain in the America's Cup according to Dennis Conner and the latter the most successful skipper in its history) didn't write their own simplified rules for the 2000 America's Cup using a system of lights to show when a right of way was in effect. If memory serves, ISAF used a big stick to snuff out this idea.

Henry cites the Jochen Schumann versus Jesper Bank match in the Sydney Games in which the gold was decided on the last leg as valediction of match racing's place in the Olympics. I mentioned that too, but only to make the point that far more people remember the Ben Ainslie versus Robert Scheidt man-on-man contest in the Laser class.

Finally, Henry says a new Olympic class will be created specially for women's match racing in 2012 which will ONLY be made available just before the Games on grounds of fairness to all. This reinforces my point there is not really a suitable boat available worldwide. And any time equipment becomes an issue, the richer nations benefit. Impose a limit, then sailors will always spend time and money to find inventive ways around it. -- Tim Jeffery in the Telegraph, http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/timjeffery/april08/isfchairmanjoinswomensdebate.htm

ARE WE THERE YET? A brief excerpt from Part 20(!) of attorney Cory Friedman's as-always superb analysis of what's going on in Justice Cahn's court:

Do we have a date for the Deed of Gift (DOG) Match? No. A simple cruise around the buoys has turned into an epic 18th century winter rounding of the Horn. Now that it is clear that there will be a DOG Match between Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) and Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) before there is another conventional multi-challenger monohull event, just about everyone in the sailing community would like to see the DOG Match sailed as soon as possible. GGYC has said so. Grant Dalton has said so. Vincenzo Onorato has said so. Professional sailors in career holding patterns have said so. ‘Buttheads have said so.

Before we can get there, Justice Cahn has to set a date for the DOG Match, which was the purpose of the April 2, 2008 hearing. After listening to the parties, Justice Cahn was left in irons, unable to set a date and had to hold off until he can figure the date out on his own. GGYC stuck to its previous rationale for an October 2008 Match. That pegs the Match to 10 months after Justice Cahn’s November 27, 2007 opinion granting summary judgment to GGYC and DSQing CNEV. (GGYC continues to implicitly concede that a toll was in effect despite the fact that SNG rejected a toll. See Episode 19 of this saga.) The fundamental problem with that argument is that an order has yet to be entered on the summary judgment motions Justice Cahn decided on November 27, 2007.

In NY State practice, opinions do not count, except as education for lawyers and precedent. In a given case, only orders count. Only orders are legally operative and can be appealed. Thus, GGYC is trying to base the beginning of a 10 month period on something that in NY State practice does not matter. GGYC argues that SNG should have know that the jig was up on November 27, 2007, should have started building its boat and cannot benefit from all the motion practice that prevented entry of an order or the motions that were not decided until March 17, 2008. GGYC argues that, although SNG was entitled to proceed as it did, it somehow cannot benefit from the delay GGYC concedes it was entitled to cause.

If you are having difficulty following that argument, you know why Justice Cahn did not set a date. Penalizing a party for something it was entitled to do is a major stretch. If a toll was in effect, SNG is entitled to 10 months from an order. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over and it ain’t over ‘til an order is entered. If SNG sailed to the edge, but not over the edge, in order to delay entry of an order, good for its lawyers - they earned their fee. Calling permitted conduct wrongdoing does not make it wrongdoing. It is the same as coming up under another boat at the start, hailing leeward, and without contact forcing it OCS. It may earn you hard feelings in the fleet, but you cannot be DSQed.

Read Cory's entire posting (and number 19 is also vital to understanding what a 'tolling' agreement is) at our sister publication Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/

NOT FAIR Remember the key point from the Mercury Bay decision was that a Match doesn’t have to be fair - just in compliance with the strict interpretation of the Deed of Gift.

Cahn has followed this view all through his deliberations. Club Nautico Espanol de Vela missed the requirements on a couple of points and was struck out; Golden Gate YC did comply as a challenging club and had lodged a valid challenge - it was in; there was no requirement in the Deed for a challenging vessel to be described in worlds - so calling a 90ft x 90ft multihull a 'keel yacht' didn’t matter; Challenger gets to name the date of the Match and provide the required measurement of its yacht - again no problem, according to Cahn. But none of his decisions have shaped the event in any way - all just pure intrepretation.

For its part Alinghi can name the venue, and turn up in any yacht it likes, provided it is more that 44ft long on the Load Waterline and is built is Switzerland. Doesn’t have to be a multihull, could be a canting keelboat, doesn’t have to be a new boat.

BMW Oracle may well have come up with a boat that is very quick in a straight line, and in compliance with the Deed of Gift. However they also have to comply with a couple of maxims of yacht racing - namely to finish first, first you must finish. And with a muilthull constructed under tight timeframes, and probably sailing in a heavy air venue the chances of breakdown are high. As we saw in the 2003 America’s Cup with NZL-82, the event is very unforgiving of gear and boat breakage - and gimmicks.

The other edge held by Alinghi is that it can go counter cyclic. That is instead of trying to match a multihull with another multihull - inherently difficult to manoeuvre in the prestart - Alinghi could put up a feisty monohull and go after the Challenger in the pre-start, looking for a rule infringement.

Remember that under the terms of a Deed of Gift Match there is no requirement for mutual consent on anything - so the consequence of a rule infringement is disqualification.

Imagine trying to avoid being caught in a luffing match in a 90ft 'square' multihull against a souped up ACC yacht, that can spin on a dime, with a crack match racing team aboard?

The first phase of any America's Cup Match is a match racing event, only once the yachts have started can it become a speed contest.

Then of course there is the matter of organisation of the match - which is also the prerogative of the Defender - who is entitled to sail the races according to 'its rules and sailing regulations'. Nothing in those words, or the Deed of Gift, to say that the Match must be 'fair'.

And it would seem that Alinghi also get to chose the race officials and Jury, which gets us right back into the mid-sixties when Sir Frank Packer said of a New York Yacht Club protect committee 'it’s like complaining to your mother-in-law about your wife!' -- Richard Gladwell, his full editorial in Sail-World.com: http://www.sail-world.com

TETHER OR APART There's always a lesson in an overboard recovery. Cliff Shaw looks back at pulling two live bodies out of the water in the recent Doublehanded Farallones Race and says, "You see people in the water and you think, This is not a drill; I have to get this right."

The breeze was 25, up to 30 at times on the Unpacific Ocean, outside the Golden Gate. Shaw figures the seas at, "Six to eight feet, with an occasional twelve. I did the wrong thing on my first approach. I tried to luff up to them and misjudged and fell short."

Hmm. Maybe I'm not sorry I missed the 2008 Doublehanded Farallones, but get this. Shaw wasn't even racing his Crowther 36 cat. He was shadowing the fleet for the fun of it - he's a member of sponsor Bay Area Multihull Association - and doubledog get this: he also shadowed the whole 2006 Pacific Cup, San Francisco to Hawaii. "I signed up to race," he says, "then I discovered that my insurance wouldn't cover the rig if I was racing, so I 'withdrew' and went anyway."

I like this guy.

Shaw's Rainbow was about 75 yards behind the Olson 40, Pterodactyl ("We were aimed right at their transom; I was actually trying to pass them") when Luc de Faymoreau and Disun Den Daas were ejected from the Olson. As Luc put it, "We were SNAPPED off the boat in a violent motion, what I call a pitchpole/broach."

When Pterodactyl spun out and turned erratically upwind, Shaw grabbed the binoculars. "I saw right away there was no one on the boat, so I made a sweep and there they were. Bright orange and yellow inflatables standing out very bright against cobalt blue."

In making that first, missed pass, Shaw saw quickly that the two men in the water were unable to swim: "Then I remembered what they told us in the Pacific Cup safety seminar, that people in a PFD can't swim. After that everything came straight out of the textbook. The lesson: Don't try to do any precise maneuvering. Just get that Lifesling out there. It's a great product."

Rainbow has a swim platform mounted low, and with two people standing aft - Shaw and crewmate Gregory Yankelovich - it stayed submerged, not threatening the men in the water and greatly aiding the recovery. The water outside the Golden Gate is cold year-round and definitely cold in the springtime. De Faymoreau and Den Daas were able to climb and help themselves aboard, with assistance, Shaw recalls, "But Luc came aboard saying that he couldn't grip, couldn't grip. That happens fast. I gave up two or three minutes by missing them the first time. If I'd missed a second time, and they'd gone colder, we might have had to winch them out instead of haul them over the transom."

Other lessons? "Seeing two other boats stop and stand by really helped my morale. Knowing they were there helped me calm down and focus. -- from one of your editor's favorites, Kimball Livingston, in his blog at http://sailmagazine.blogspot.com

SPONSOR A 6 METRE YACHT FOR THE UNIVERSAL MARINA SUMMER CHALLENGE There are four 6 metres available for charter over 6 weekends of racing throughout the season within the Red Funnel Keelboat Series based from Cowes. 17 -18 May; 31 May - 1 June; 14-15 June; 5-6 July; 6-7 September; and 4-5 October.

The Universal Marina Series for the sponsored, fully race tuned International 6 metres will be raced for within the Red Funnel Keelboat Championship Series. The cost for each boat for the entire series is 6500 GBP excluding vat, which includes charter, insurance and entry fees. Press reports will be issued every race weekend to promote the fleet and sponsor logos can be carried on spinnakers and the yacht's transom.

Contact Neil “Jaffa” Harrison for further information about this project: jaffa@thewillmentgroup.com

WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE CUP MATCHES... While the two billionaire protagonists await a ruling from the New York Supreme Court on a date for the battle, PPL has launched a unique on-line image archive of Cup pictures that go back to the first race for the America’s Cup back in 1851.

The 1,500 strong picture archive is part of PPL’s wider Watersports and Sub Aqua on-line library, that allows users to search, and browse screen res images. Once you register, users can then download high res. files at any time.

Most pertinent perhaps are the pictures from the last Court ordered Cup match between Michael Fay’s 130ft monolithic monohull New Zealand and Dennis Conner’s 60ft catamaran Stars & Stripes back in 1988 - the last time the Supreme Court ruled on a one-on-one match.

PPL’s America’s Cup archive traces the entire 157-year history of the Cup.

The story of the America’s Cup is peppered with personalities. We have them all on-line from the millionaire owners and syndicate heads to skippers, crewmembers, and designers. Click Here to view a lightbox of selected images fromthe first challengers like James Lloyd Ashbury and Lord Dunraven to Alan Bond, Dennis Conner and Peter Blake, as well as the latest protagonists, Larry Ellision and Ernesto Bertarelli.

View the pictures: http://www.covari.com/PPL/lightbox.lasso?-Token.Lightbox=12647945

http://www.pplmedia.com

MARINE ART CLASSIC AND MODERN FROM A BRITISH ARTIST Bill Bishop has been a professional artist since 1981; his speciality is marine art and collectors all over the world have bought his exquisite work.

The theme of his works ranges from modern day windsurfers to Viking ships, the America’s Cup past and present to famous sea battles and even the odd aviation or classic motoring scene!

His discriminating work is carefully researched in minute detail for historic precision, sail panels and colours, deck layout and even crew kit.

Titles of his work include: The Battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759 The Battle of Trafalgar 21st October 1805 towards 2.30pm Lifeboat rescue c.1900 Ranger and Endeavour II in Block Island Sound c.1937 The 50 footers, Block Island Race Week, 1998 America’s Cup Jubilee Regatta, 2001

For further information, visit the new website at http://www.bishopmarineart.com

LAUNCHINGS * Aren't these boats getting stranger and uglier with every refit?

This is the new shape of Vincent Riou's Open 60 PRB, which emerged this week from an overhaul prior to The Transat next month. The most startling difference is the addition of this motorboat style strake from the bow running a third of the way aft.

Riou comments that the strakes were laminated on to the hull sides on the advice of designer Bruce Farr. I guess the intention is that when the boat is hard reaching they will work in the same way as the lifting strakes of a motorboat, which keep the bow up, reduce planing resistance and act like spray rails to divert water away from the deck (check out the incredible Hugo Boss video to see just how many tons of water these beasts can ship).

JP Dick's Paprec-Virbac, another Farr design, already has trim tabs on the rudders - maybe PRB's will, too? -- Elaine Bunting in her blog, http://www.ybw.com/yw/blog/elaine_bunting.html

* Chris Welsh, of Newport Beach, California, is kindly keeping us up to date with his ‘go faster’ modifications to his historic John Spencer designed flying machine, ‘RAGTIME’.

Originally ‘INFIDEL’ and launched in Auckland, New Zealand in 1964 for the late Sir Tom Clark, this hard chine plywood 65 footer has embarrassed the owners of newer and supposedly faster ocean racers for more than 40 years. She is particularly remembered by many ‘TransPac’ contestants for her ability to comfortably surf downwind in the company and ahead of much bigger boats! One of Chris Welsh’s major changes to the grand old lady is a serious up-grade of the foils (new one pictured at right).

Chris has entered ‘RAGTIME’ in the Newport (California) - Tahiti race due to start in June this year and he had previously hinted that he would like to continue south after the race and bring his yacht back to the city of it’s creation.

Well, the good news is that he is now very serious about bringing ‘RAGTIME’ to Auckland and he is very keen to correspond with sailors who are experienced in passage making between Tahiti and New Zealand to discuss weather mapping and timing for the proposed journey. If you have this experience please email Chris chriswelsh@roadrunner.com and you will do Chris and all the Kiwi fans of ‘RAGTIME/INFIDEL’ a big favour -- Jim Bolland in his A Brush with Sail newsletter, http://www.auldmug.com

* Exactly two months after entering the CDK yard, BRIT AIR was relaunched Thursday 3rd April)in Port La Foret, in SW Brittany. Repairs were carried out following her dismasting in the Transat B to B and she was given a thorough overhaul. The monohull from Morlaix Bay now only needs her mast to be restepped later today to get back into service. As early as next week, Armel Le Cleac’h will be back at the helm and heading out to sea.

The programme includes sea trials, adjustments, and above all, a lot of solo sailing. The Breton skipper does not have much time to lose: in just over a month, he will be setting out on the Artemis Transat with the major goal of qualifying for the Vendee Globe.

The experience gained from the Transat Jacques Vabre enabled the team to see that the Finot design was relatively weak in light airs. "BRIT AIR is a powerful 60’, and can achieve great speeds, but her weight is a handicap in some points of sailing," said Armel. Without going so far as to undertake any major structural changes, the technical team has attempted to reduce weight wherever possible. The interior fittings have lost some of their comfort, but paradoxically should make working aboard easier for a single-handed yachtsman. The keel has also lost a few kilograms.

Today, the monohull will be fitted with her new mast. The many hours of studies and reflection to identify the causes of Brit Air’s dismasting in December would seem to show that this was not linked to any structural problem in the mast, but rather was due to a mechanical cause. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org

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THE LAST WORD Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. -- Martin Luther King Jr.

The opinions expressed in Scuttlebutt Europe do not necessarily reflect those of its editors or sponsors.

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