Top 10 local sports stories

If a local television station in Lincoln, Nebraska or Chattanooga, Tennessee decided to produce a list of the top 10 local sports stories of the past 60 years, a sailing event might be hard pressed to be included. But if you are in Providence, RI, then it should be… and was when WJAR-TV’s compiled such a list for their 60th anniversary celebration, and amongst the notable events was the 1983 America’s Cup:

For 132 years, the New York Yacht Club hold on the America’s Cup was unmatched. Every 3 years, challengers would line up to get beat by the NYYC’s Defender. But in 1983 that all changed. Australia 2, with its radical keel design beat Dennis Connor and Liberty to wrestle the cup away. The 7th and deciding race aired live on NBC 10. The first time ever a sailing race had aired on live television.

Goetz receivership payment

This is the payment Scuttlebutt received from the Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats receivership proceedings... a full 1% of what was owed to us. I am going to frame it and hang it in my office so my memory does not fade from this moment.

There was a long list of companies that were on the claims register with us.

Tour de France

The Tour de France is the most well known and prestigious race in cycling, and each year it is notable how well Versus does at presenting this event. Combine a knowledgeable and entertaining broadcast team with stunning imagery, and even a five hour stage can hold a viewer’s attention.

Stealing from the TDF playbook, the 2005 Snipe U.S. Nationals incorporated the ‘Yellow Jersey’, which was awarded to the leaders after each day, and required to be worn on the following day. And just recently, the San Diego J/105 fleet honored the Tour as well. Here is the story from bike racer and J/105 owner Joseph Dagostino:

You combine the best aspects of bicycle racing into a format for yacht racing? The SoCal J 105 fleet experienced the sensation when the race committee decided to shake things up in honor of Le Tour de France.

Twelve boats came together on an ultra short course, taking a mere four minutes to complete a leg. Combined with the fact that two laps constituted a race, and with only two minutes between races, you have the makings for close racing and some very tired crew.

As in bike racing, there were not only prizes for winning the race, but intermediate prizes termed “primes” for random accomplishments such as the first to the mark, the fastest timed leg of a race, the fastest start and the ever coveted box of doughnuts to the last finisher of race three (delivered hot and fresh courtesy of the SDYC race committee boat).

In all, eight races were run on the day with the highlight being the last which was run in a “win and out” format. In this race the winner of each leg claimed a prime and retired from the race. The winner of leg one was first, the winner of leg two second and so on until the final sprint for fourth. Rails were scraping, Dacron was stretching and halyards were flying to be the boat to capture the title for the first edition of the Cardiac Cup.

Overall the regatta gave a chance for the fleet to learn about the boat and about themselves, ultimately leading to better crew work and faster racing on the course.

Race photos from Ironstring Photography: http://photos.ironstring.com/j105

Being Ben Ainslie

Being Ben Ainslie does not suck. Here he takes part in Henri Lloyd’s Autumn/Winter 2009 Lifestyle campaign shoot that was located in a beautiful autumnal London.







For those coming of the cave, Ben has medaled in the last four Olympics (3 Gold, 1 Silver), was named the ISAF World Sailor of the Year three times (1999, 2002 & 2008) and British Yachtsman of the Year five times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008).

Hanuman J-boat

Submitted by William Tuthill:



BOAT: Hanuman
OWNER: Anonymous
DESIGNERS: Charles Nicholson/ Dykstra & Partners
BUILDER: Royal Huissman Shipyard. Apeldoorn, Netherlands
LENGTH: 138 feet [42.09 meters]
YEAR: 2009
HULL: Alustar Aluminum Alloy

Back in 1937, Endeavour II was built in steel at the Nicholson’s Yard [Gosport, England] to challenge the defending yacht Ranger, in the America’s Cup match that year. Time and events [such as WWII] took their toll on these incredible yachts and before long both boats were gone - alive as legends, but with no physical presence. Known as “super Js", these boats were arguably the two most spectacular yachts in the history of racing. Their legend was so powerful, that it prompted two owners to recreate the boats.

History was made on Friday, 17 July, when the replicas of both Ranger and Endeavour II [Hanuman] lined up together for the first time since their historic match in 1937. This time, however, things turned out differently. Hanuman [aka Endeavour II] beat what was the American defender Ranger. Had this happened in 1937, Newport would be a very different place now.

Thanks to the owners of these magnificent yachts, and the organizers of The Newport Bucket Regatta - Newport Shipyard - these remarkable boats can be seen just by going down to Washington Street and walking into the yard. Go to Belle’s Café, have a meal, and view history.


Hanuman - Images by Cory Silken

Toilet paper

I had no idea how much I could learn by reading a press release about the Advanced Toilet Seat from Brondell. Did you know:

• Charmin estimates that on average, consumers use 8.6 sheets per trip – a total of 57 sheets per day.
• A typical 3,000-passenger ship on a week-long journey uses 1,197,000 toilet papers sheets each day.
• Over 100,000,000 rolls of toilet paper are consumed every day throughout the world.
• The United States uses over 3.2 million tons per year.
• 54 million trees are cut down every year just to produce toilet paper for the US market
• Each roll of toilet paper produced uses 1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water, and 1.3 KWH of electricity.

Geoff Holt

In 2007, Geoff Holt became the first disabled sailor to sail single-handed around Great Britain. This December, he plans to sail a specially adapted, 60-foot wheelchair accessible catamaran (above) across the Atlantic to Tortola in the BVI, the place where he broke his neck 25 years ago.

Geoff has been shortlisted by British Airways for a Great Britons Award, which will provide flights so his family can be there when he arrives in the Caribbean. He’s the only yachtsman in the competition, and the winner is determined by online voting that ends on July 25th.

There are a lot of ways to support the sport of sailing, and voting for Geoff is one of the easiest ways to provide support. Votes can be submitted here: http://www.greatbritons.ba.com/users/5525

To follow Geoff’s Atlantic progress, register here: http://www.personalatlantic.com/user/register

Optimist continentals

Here we let the Optimist class do a little boasting:

From:
Sally Burnett, Secretary
International Optimist Dinghy Association

64 countries at IODA Continentals this month

The last two weeks has seen the IODA Continental Championships in North America, Europe and Africa all coinciding.

192 sailors from 22 countries were at the North Americans in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, 247 sailors from 41 countries were in Piran, Slovenia for the Europeans and 51 sailors from 9 countries are currently racing at the Africans in Richards Bay, South Africa. Only 5 countries have entered teams for more than one championship so a total of 490 sailors from 64 countries have been competing in IODA Continental Championships since the beginning of July.

The optimist class continues to be one of the largest and most active international classes in the world. It is the only dinghy recognised by ISAF exclusively for under 16s.

Websites:
North Americans: http://optinam2009.org/
Europeans: http://www.sailpiran.si/eoc2009/
Africans: http://optimist.co.za/ocra/regattas.php?cat=26
Class: http://www.optiworld.org/news.php

North Americans


Africans


Europeans

Youth trifecta

Something seems to be going right at Lauderdale Yacht Club when it comes to training their youth racers. First it was Christopher Williford who beat out 198 boats to win the 2009 Optimist North American Championships, raced in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. Next up was 15-year-old Erika Reineke, who travelled to Charlottenlund, Denmark to race in the 2009 Laser Radial Youth Europeans, where in the girl’s fleet she finished first in the under 17 division, and second overall against a very competitive fleet of 75 girls, from 26 different countries. Rounding out the trifecta was skipper Channel Miller, who along with crew Yuri Namikawa (Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.), won the 2009 U.S. Junior Double-handed Championship for the Ida Lewis Trophy. They topped 36 other teams of young women over 7 races sailed out of Hampton Yacht Club in Hampton, VA.

Mileage counter

What is going on at the Great Lakes? This weekend on Lake Michigan, 350 boats will start the 101st Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, the 333 statute mile event that calls itself the “The world’s longest annual freshwater distance race.” However, also this weekend, over to the east there will be 170 boats starting the 20th running of the Lake Ontario 300 (nautical mile), which similarly labels itself as “the longest annually held fresh water sailing race in the world.”

To their credit, both races are sold out, but is now a good time to mention how 1 statute mile equals .86897624 nautical miles?

The scoop on the Lake Ontario 300 is that they have sponsorship from Bell BlackBerry, and have grown by more than 40% over last year, attracting competitors from over thirty different yacht clubs from both sides of the border. The course is a circumnavigation of the lake that starts at Port Credit Yacht Club (Mississauga, ONT), heads east and rounds Main Duck Island, then heads south to Oswego NY where it turns east along the south shore to the Niagara River mark before heading to the finish line at Port Credit Yacht Club.

Regarding what race this year is the actual longest, freshwater race (though not annually held), the gauntlet has been thrown down with the return of the "Super Mac". Last run in 2000, this 564 statute mile race (or 490 nautical miles) starts with the Chi-Mac but rather than stopping at the top of Michigan after their finish, the 31 current entrants will continue on around the corner and head south in Lake Huron to the finish in Port Huron, Michigan, and serve as a feeder race for the 85th sailing of the 2009 Pure Michigan Bayview Mackinac Race, which will start on July 25, 2009.

Chicago YC Race to Mackinac: http://www.cycracetomackinac.com
Lake Ontario 300: http://www.lo300.org
Pure Michigan Bayview Mackinac Race: http://www.byc.com/mack
Mileage convertor: http://boatsafe.com/tools/scale.htm

Costs of coaching

It is hard to ignore the irony of a report on the Valencia Sailing website (VS), which notes the recent concern of coaching and support at the Grand Prix level of the sport. For those yachties not yet in their 40’s, there was a time when going keelboat racing DID NOT involve support RIBs, weather teams, and personal chefs (let alone, daily pay rates). However, the trickle down from the America’s Cup has heightened the cost to compete with these “extra services”.

Perhaps the wake-up call has finally come to the TP52 AUDI MedCup series, which has dropped an entrant due to funding issues, and will likely be down to 10 teams for their next event in Cagliari, Italy, the third stop on their five event tour. According to VS, the MedCup made it clear last week that they would even modify the sailing instruction of the next events in other to put a lid on practices that increase costs and widen the gap between the haves and have-nots of the Med sailing circuit. An e-mail has been circulated to the teams effectively asking them to please behave, and realize how these extra services just becomes an extra cost for everyone.

Anybody know how to put the genie back in the bottle?

Sport growth

Thinking back to when the 2008/9 Volvo Ocean Race fleet came to Boston in April/May, and recalling the crowds that filled the race village during the weekends, the question is if an opportunity was lost during that occasion. The village was filled with sailors, but also filled with curious non-sailors, either wondering about the event, or just wanting to be at what seemed to be THE bar in Boston atop the PUMA clothing store.

The opportunity, it would seem, is being seized at Cowes Week, this mega UK event that typically attracts around 1,000 yachts and 8,500 competitors. However, in this instance, it is an event for the attending non-racing crowd that deserves to be recognized.

Using the Laser SB3 keelboat, a program has been launched following the racing each day, where members of the public can experience the thrill of the sport. Each SB3 is to be helmed by a qualified skipper, who will teach up to three crew members how to sail, which will be followed by a race against nine other SB3s. All the participant needs is a pair of soft soled shoes; all other essentials including spray tops and buoyancy aids will be provided.

“Cowes Week is an integral part of the British sporting calendar and, as such, it attracts over 100,000 visitors to Cowes,” says Stuart Quarrie, CEO of Cowes Week Limited. “The ‘Come Racing’ programme by LaserPerformance and Pelican Racing is fantastic and means that anyone can get a taste of racing, whether or not they have previous sailing experience.”

This seems like a brilliant idea, and an excellent example of how to seize an opportunity for the growth of the sport.

Linnie Canal

When I read the story below about the 'America’s Cardboard Cup Regatta', it brought back great memories of the annual summer Linnie Canal race in Venice, CA (near Los Angeles). Entrants would bring their construction material to one end of the canal and have two hours to build their 'boat'. When time expired, the starting gun would sound, with each team using only sail power to race downwind through the canal to the finish.

The channel was narrow, not even 100 feet wide, and the course went under a few low bridges. Spectators lined the sides of the canal, with the most spirited fans on the bridges to douse the racers with all forms of fluid. Some of the savvy racers had fire extinguishers for protection. It was a riot.

Hopefully the current holder of the America’s Cup, the Swiss Alinghi team, does not seek to shut down the 'America’s Cardboard Cup Regatta'. They are very protective of the America’s Cup brand usage, and their lawyers do have some free time right now.

(Crystal Lake, IL) - Between 40 and 50 boaters raced Saturday along Crystal Lake’s Main Beach to join the 25th annual America’s Cardboard Cup Regatta as spectators cheered all ages who designed boats using cardboard, duct tape and creativity. Todd and Lynette Collins came for their fourth year from DeKalb to design three boats. Taking five weeks to build was a Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo cartoon, proving that vans can float. “This is the one fun thing we do every year,” Lynette Collins said. “We put more into it than cardboard and duct tape.” -- Read on