Team Seacats

The wrangling continues in front of Justice Cahn in the dispute between Alinghi and BMW-Oracle and the conditions of the next America’s Cup contest.  Although Cahn made a ruling in the American team’s favor, Alinghi appealed on the grounds that the American submission included the phrase “Keel Yacht” along with the 90 foot by 90 foot parameters.  Their argument is that a multi-hull is not a “Keel Yacht” and that the submission is flawed because it would result in a sailing barge.

I admit thinking this was the silliest argument in the world because catamarans obviously have keels but then Alinghi threw in some US Sailing / ISAF definitions that muddy the water slightly.  Alinghi also managed to pull off a submission timing maneuver that left GGYC (BMW-Oracle) with very little opportunity to argue their case in front of Justice Cahn.  A bit out of sequence, GGYC continued to argue their case with a letter to Justice Cahn.

So what’s going to happen?  If you look back to the 1988 America’s Cup where Conner sailed the 60′ catamaran against the New Zealand monster mono-hull you’ll see that the challenge filed by New Zealand had the same “Keel Yacht” phrase in it.  After the event, New Zealand challenged the American catamaran’s legality with the New York courts with the notion that the catamaran did not meet the definition of a “Keel Yacht”.   However, the Deed of Gift only stipulates that the challenging vessels be defined in very simple terms of length, width, draft, and type of sailing rig.  One can expect (as has been done in the past) that these are the only parameters that the defender is obliged to meet so making additional defining phrases in the challenge is moot. 

GGYC’s letter to Cahn argues this point that the event is not governed by US Sailing or ISAF but it is only the Deed.  The continue that such minor details should be easily negotiated between a defender and challenger and that Alinghi should not be allowed to cherry pick the challengers (I’m paraphrasing loosely).  I suspect that this is going to go again the way of BMW-Oracle but that Alinghi will continue to file appeals until there is nobody left to file with.

It’s been a while since Orange II’s circumnavigation attempt set the current “fully crewed” RTW record of roughly 50 days (only 7 days shorter than Joyon’s single handed record set this past month).  Frank Cammas has a monster Trimaran, Groupama, and is barreling for the equator after just rounding the Canaries.  They’re on pace to set a new record though they are very early into the attempt.  Can the trimarans take the major RTW records from the catamarans?  The website is here.

Who says sailing is a safe sport? Check out this sequence of photos that Craig VanEaton recorded from a chase boat on the first day of racing during the Tradewinds regatta last Saturday. Nigel and I had a rough start but were picking off boats and had just rounded A-mark headed for the reaching mark when we found ourselves in the middle of a very tight pack of boats. We ducked low under the Key Sailing Team of Kirk Newkirk and Glen Holmes looking for some clean air and Nigel said “if they flip,we’re (*&#$#!”. It wasn’t 3 seconds later when a big hungry gust engages with our fleet and Newkirk experiences a snarl in his mainsheet as they go over right in front of us while we are all doing about 16 to 18 knots on a reach. Pity my batteries had died in my onboard video camera as it was poised looking right at their boat for this entire sequence.  Reminder; we’re the boat with the blue hulls and the grey and white mainsail.  Watch the spray off the rudders as Nigel slams the helm over to try and avoid their boat and watch me as I come off the wire to be barely missed by the tip of their mast.  We managed to finish in 2nd place in that race.

Hammocks look like they’re trying to escape from their frames. Obviously was way too breezy to sail. I’m working out my new tousled look. Awards ceremony, breaking down boats…y’know…stuff that happens at the end of a regatta.

Everyone is thrilled that Spring Fever is back on track for an early occurring Easter weekend this year.

Four races were gotten in today and our boys got a second, two bullets, and a DNF, due to breaking the grommet at the top of the main in the last race. Virtual reinactment: “More downhaul!” *popping sound* “%#@&” They made it to the shore (albeit slowly) at the park, quickly replaced the sail and sped back out to the course only to find that it was to be the last race of the day. Nigel and Jake are breaking down the boat now so there may be a post later (after dinner, prolly) about today’s events. It certainly looked wild from our vantage, with a grand total of seven boats flipped at one point. I haven’t heard from Mike and Dave of Team Layline but they seemed to be holding their own against rock star Mischa Heemskerk. I’m sure that Rick will have content posted soon for the whole story and stats and it looks like Barb Short has an update thread running on the boards. All I’m reasonably certain of is that the top three finishers in the I-20 fleet are Team Seacats, Team Velocity, and the Wicksters. Officially, however, Nigel and Jake’s DNF hasn’t been dropped as of yet which would place them third although the Sailing Instructions specify eligibility for a throw out after four races if my memory serves. The forecast is still looking hairy for tomorrow. Y’know, where it’s time to distinguish the fine line between exhilaration and recklessness and pushing the envelope vs. pushing pencils on insurance forms. Stay tuned, sweeties.