VALENCIA CRONICA -- #28

Bridget Baker's Valencia Crónica 28 (27th October edition) is available here. As always it is password-protected to protect the privacy of email and telephone numbers.

To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for each week's Valencia Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

Information about the "Draw Valencia at Christmas" contest for kids mentioned in VC28 is available below (click on the image for an enlarged version).



Previous weeks' issues of Valencia Crónica are available here on the CC Blog.

CC MEMO -- Blockade Over

The blockade of the Port of Valencia is over. But now it's others' turn.... From the Valencia Life newsletter:


After the truck drivers and the fishermen, yesterday it was the turn of the Farmers’ Unions to have their members stage a strike. All these three strikes were about the same thing: the rise in the cost of diesel fuel. Although yesterday’s protests were largely centered around the Utiel/Requena area, the Coordinator for Farmers and agricultural breeders stated that it was his intention to have the entire country join in the protest, which is aimed at having the government reduce the value added tax on diesel fuel from 16% to 7%. The farmers yesterday were also joined by the Utiel vineyard workers yesterday, who were protesting various conditions about wine production that had been imposed on the area. Once again, Agriculture Minister Elena Espinosa is expected to head the negotiating team.


Then there is news this morning, also reported in Valencia Life, that might ultimately make the shipping interruptions caused by the fishermen blockade earlier this week look like, well, childs' play:


ALARM IN VALENCIA PORT
As the port activity in Valencia resumed yesterday after the fishermen had blockaded it, workers in Valencia Port yesterday discovered several dead birds in a ship that had arrived from Asia. The discovery brought panic to the port as rumours spread that Avian Flu had arrived in the Valencian Community. The birds were isolated and have now been sent to the Agriculture Ministry for analysis.

CC MEMO -- Fall Back

"Winter time" will begin in Europe and the USA tonight when the clocks will be set back one hour.

In the USA, it happens time zone by time zone as 02:00 (local time) becomes 01:00. In the European Union, Summer Time begins and ends at 1:00 a.m. Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time). In the EU, all time zones change at the same moment.

You would think that the Americans and Europeans could at least agree how to "fall back." But, no, and they can't even call it the same thing: "Summer Time" in Europe and "Daylight Saving Time" in the USA.

At least the day the clocks fall back is the same, unlike the Spring -- the States will go back on "DST" on 2 April 2006 and Europe on 26 March.

And, LOL, beginning in 2007 both the spring forward and fall back dates are different in Europe and the USA, not to mention when the New Zealand changes in the opposite direction.

For the record, New Zealand Daylight Saving for southern summer of 2005-2006 began on Sunday 2nd October 2005 and ends on Sunday 19th March 2006. Daylight Saving always begins and ends at 02:00 NZST.

Trivial pursuit: In the USA the expression "daylight savings time" (with the extra "s") is a common alternate form but is not considered to be proper English because "saving" is used here as a verbal adjective describing a single type of activity. For more about DST, or Summertime, than you probably would ever care to know, click here.

NICE INK -- "More in Common"

Nice article in the Marin Independent-Journal this week about John Sweeney and Tina Kleinjen, both of whom have been active in the Challenger Commission since its inception in April 2004. An excerpt:


John is Sausalito and Capetown, South Africa, have more in common than expensive real estate and stunning water views.

John Sweeney and Tina Kleinjen, co-founders of the defunct Sausalito Challenge, are now team managers and for Team Shosholoza, Africa's first challenge in the 154-year history of the America's Cup.

The Marin pair joined the team midway through the 2005 Acts, the America's Cup traveling road show held this year in Spain, Sweden and Sicily.

"We are committed." said Kleinjen. "It's like having our own team, but it's not."


Here is the link to the entire article, which includes notes on Dawn Riley and K-Challenge and Norbert Bajurin who is a Staff (past) Commodore of the Challenger of Record, Golden Gate Yacht Club. Norbert, coincindentally, is organizing the next Challenger Commission meeting set for San Francisco Monday and Tuesday 12-13 December at GGYC.

CC MEMO -- Revised Directory

An updated CC Directory is now available, password protected for CC members only, by clicking here. As always it may be accessed as well from the "CC Directory" link near the bottom of the sidebar.

CC MEMO -- Blockade

This from Bloomberg about the blockade of the Valencia Port, and now beginning to appear in papers around the world:


Cost of diesel becalms America's Cup yachts
Bloomberg News
October 27, 2005

Five of the 12 America's Cup teams couldn't train with their boats Wednesday after fishermen blockaded the port of Valencia, Spain, to protest surging diesel prices, said Pablo Ruiz, a spokesman for Spain's Desafio Espanol team.

The teams, preparing for the 2007 edition of sailing's richest competition off the southeast Spain city, instead worked on maintenance and other drills within the port zone, Ruiz said. Teams from Italy, Germany, China and Sweden were also affected, he added.


The full article, as run on the Indianapolis Star website, is available here.

VALENCIA CRONICA -- #27

For some months now, Bridget Baker (NZL) has been editing and distributing an informative weekly email newsletter, Valencia Crónica, for partners of AC team members (Challengers and the Defender) living in Valencia. Each issue contains a variety of helpful tips and other information contributed by various partners/spouses. Bridget says the mailing list has grown to over 200.

We are now posting each week's Crónica on the CC Blog. The posts will, however, be under a password to protect the privacy of email and telephone numbers. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for the Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

Those of you who have the password can click here for this week's issue (20 Oct). See last week's post for recent issues.

MEASUREMENT CTE -- PI 11 and 12

The ACC Measurement Committee has issued Public Interpretation 11 and Public Interpretation 12. PI 11 clarifies the definition of a winch drum for the purposes of ACC Rule 22.1. PI 12 concerns panel weight rules within 100mm of the sheerline.

CC MEMO -- High Commissioner

In follow up to our previous post, this from today's Valencia Life subscription newsletter:

At a small ceremony in Madrid yesterday, Ricard Perez Casado, who was the Socialist Mayor of Valencia between 1979 and 1988, was officially sworn in as the Government Commissioner for the Americas Cup. After the ceremony, Mr. Perez Casado, who will assume the rank of UnderSecretary for the event stated that Valencia would ‘definitely’ be ready in 2007. He added that he was ‘personally interested’ in making the Americas Cup a success for Valencia.

CC MEMO -- 2006 Schedule

During the Trapani Acts ACM announced that agreement had finally been reached among the Challenger Commission, Defender and ACM on the 2006 Schedule.

Under the Protocol and Terms of Challenge ACM has the final say on such things, but they went the extra mile to be sure all concerned were onboard. Our appreciation to Regatta Director Dyer Jones and ACM's COO Michel Hodara for their help at finding, after many months of back and forth, a solution that works well for the teams, media, TV, race management, and more....

In a nutshell, Acts 10 and 11 at Valencia in May are the same format as Malmo and Trapani -- a match racing round robin for Act 10, two days off, then three days (five races) of fleet racing for Act 11.

Act 12 is in late June and early July, also at Valencia. It is a match racing round robin followed by a semi-finals and finals. But there is added value to the normal format -- there will be three groups racing during the semis based on how they did in the round robin: finishers 1-4 will be the "gold group," 5-8 the "silver group," and 9-12 the "bronze group" (the marketing folks may come up with other group names, but you get the gist). Within each group there will be two semi-final matches, then a final and a petit-final (or consolation final as North Americans might call it). That way all 12 teams race to the end of the event. Moreover, you could stand 12th after the round robin, but win your group semi-final and final and end up, for Act 12, as 9th overall.

Bit of a three-ring circus at the end, but should be good for all concerned. This format was first proposed by Tom Weaver, and has since become known as the "Weaver Plan."

A detailed calendar of the 2006 Schedule is available here.

VALENCIA CRONICA -- #24, 25 and 26

For some months now, Bridget Baker (NZL) has been editing and distributing an informative weekly email newsletter, Valencia Crónica, for partners of AC team members (Challengers and Defender) living in Valencia. Each issue contains a variety of helpful tips and other information contributed by various partners/spouses. Bridget says the mailing list has grown to over 200.

We are now posting each week's Crónica on the CC Blog. The posts will, however, be under a password to protect the privacy of email and telephone numbers. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for the Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

Those of you who have the password can click below for today's issue (13 Oct) and the three most recent issues:

+ Valencia Crónica #26 (13 Oct 05)

+ Valencia Crónica #25 (6 Oct 05)

+ Valencia Crónica #24 (29 Sep 05)

+ Valencia Crónica #23 (22 Sep 05)

As Bridget and I get time, we will endeavor to post earlier issues.

CC MEMO -- Eligibility of Yachts

With Trapani behind us and everyone now looking forward to Acts 10-12 next year in Valencia, the guessing game about which teams will build new yachts in the meantime, and whether they will race new yachts in some or all of next year's Acts, is in full swing.

It must be on the minds of the media as well, as we have been asked by a number of journalists this week when the "built-in-country" rule for yachts goes into effect. Protocol 13.1 (a) and (b) refer:

13.1 (a) For the Fleet Race Regatta [April, 2007] and the Regatta [LVC and AC Match], ACC Yachts shall comply with the Protocol and version 5.0 of the ACC Rules.

13.1 (b) For the Pre-regattas [Acts] held prior to the Fleet Race Regatta, ACC Yachts shall comply with:

(i) the Protocol, except Article 7(f)(i) shall not apply; and....

Article 7(f)(i) is the requirement "that the yacht of a challenging yacht club be constructed in the country of the challenging yacht club, and the yacht of the yacht club holding the America's Cup be constructed in the country of such yacht club...."

Accordingly, for the 2006 Acts Competitors may continue to use yachts which were not built in the country of their challenging (or defending) yacht club.

SMALL CONTEST -- No cigar

In the Willis Whutzit contest, we have a number of entries. So far close but no cigar. We do have a winning name from Peter Huston (USA): "yPod." Peter suggested, no doubt tongue in cheek, that it was a new on-the-water wifi device for beaming the live AC commentary of Andy Green, et al., to the umpires to aid them in making their calls, LOL!

Our small contest continues for the most precise description of the intended use of Bryan's "yPod."



"Contest between Minerva and Neptune"
- a sculpture in marble c. 1508 by Antonio
Lombardo, at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

NICE INK -- An ACC Ride

This article from Reuters is turning up in newspapers and on websites all over the world today. A few piddling inaccuracies aside, like the 300 second dial-up, to say nothing of the pun in the headline about tension, it is one of the more vivid descriptions by an 18th crew of an ACC ride in memory. While focusing on one challenger, the article manages to also mention three others and the defender. All in all, nice ink for the 32nd America's Cup.


Tension runs high for America's Cup hopefuls
By Alexander Smith

Trapani - "Let's grind them down," whispered Terry Hutchinson menacingly, wrap-around sunglasses shielding his eyes and a thick layer of sunscreen smeared like war-paint across his face.

Things were not going to plan aboard Emirates Team New Zealand. Desafio Espanol, Spanish rivals for the 32nd America's Cup, had rounded the first mark first in a head-to-head match race just off the ancient Sicilian port of Trapani. A bad call at the start had given the Spanish the advantage and New Zealand veteran Grant Dalton's team were paying the price.

This was a race that the New Zealand boat, one of the favourites to end up as challengers to Swiss team Alinghi for the America's Cup in Valencia in 2007, could ill afford to lose. "It's a long, long race guys," said team tactician Hutchinson, who occasionally lapses into language as blue as the waters around him.

The team had lost the day before to Alinghi and were still smarting from a defeat at the hands of French team K-Challenge, another of the 11 syndicates vying to be the ones to take on the Swiss holders in the final in Spain in less than two years' time. Alinghi defeated defending champions Team New Zealand 5-0 in 2003 to become the first European winners in 152 years of the America's Cup.

With their bows slicing through the waves, the speed and agility of the sleek racers looks almost effortless. The reality aboard these multi-million-dollar, state-of-the art racing machines is something else.

After a long tow to the racing area by one of the team's motor launches, during which the crew lounged about and chatted about wedding plans, Tarantino movies, property prices and the complete lack of wind, race organisers decided there was enough breeze to begin. With five minutes to go before the start, Team New Zealand and Desafio Espanol both made a dash to get into the "box" behind the start line, where they vied for the best starting position. So began the "dial-up", 300 seconds of frenetic activity on board as both boats performed a series of pirouettes, huge carbon-fibre mainsails crashing from one side to the other.

Crouched at the back of the New Zealand boat, with nothing to hold on to and orders to "keep down low and out of the way", it was an exhilarating experience for this "18th man". The 18th man is a passenger - often one of the team's sponsors, its main financial backer or even a celebrity - who is allowed on board during a race but must play no part.

Predicting the weather is key for the teams and the hunt for "pressure" - wind to the layman - is everything. After frequent updates from Adam Beashel, strapped precariously at the top of the mast and reporting via a walkie-talkie headset on signs of wind on the sea's surface, Hutchison, the tactician, pitched for the left of the course. Desafio Espanol, with its brightly coloured green, blue and yellow hull, went for the right.

With a carbon-fibre hull weighing next to nothing, a huge missile-shaped bulb weighing more than 20 tons at the bottom of the keel and a mast soaring 35m into the sky, even with a relatively light wind the boat feels as though it is stretched to breaking point. One of the many digital monitors in the cockpit shows that the pressure on the forestay - the length of wire which runs from the top of the mast to the bow - is more than nine tonnes.

A similar tension is exerted on the running backstays, one on each side of the boat. Each time the huge mainsail fills or moves its creaking and cracking are amplified by the drum-like hollow of the boat's rear. When the boat gets settled on a particular course for any time, there is an eerie silence aboard, apart from the fizzing of the water against the black hull.

Team New Zealand are still behind Desafio on the second round of the race, and the team's concentration is intense. Nobody speaks out of turn, everyone knows their place in the boat, sitting on the decking between bouts of intense activity. Half-way up the windward leg there is a brief tacking duel with the Spanish as the two boats meet. New Zealand holds its course and Desafio tacks away to the right. This is the break New Zealand wanted, they have found some wind, while the Spanish have sailed into a hole. The Kiwis winch in the sails and reach the top mark first. As they head downwind for the final leg, they hoist the spinnaker and the gap widens.

There is no easing of the tension until New Zealand crosses the finish line, marked by a pat on the back and a rare smile from Hutchinson for helmsman Dean Barker. It was not the perfect race but it was the result they needed. A win against Italian boat Luna Rossa immediately afterwards and two defeats for Alinghi put New Zealand second in the rankings in the match event behind the Swiss holders and kept them in contention.

After the Trapani event ended at the weekend the team were moving back to New Zealand to spend the southern hemisphere summer practising in new boats. They will be back in Europe next year for more races in their quest to win back the cup.

CC MEMO -- LV Ranking Points, Updated

Below are the Louis Vuitton Rankings, current through the end of Trapani Louis Vuitton Act 9. Nice graphic once again courtesy of the Valencia Sailing website. Click on the graphic to enlarge.

CC MEETING -- In progress, again

As previously scheduled, the CC is meeting this morning here in Trapani for a post-regatta debrief, to progress pending issues, and to address a couple new ones that arose during the very successful Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts 8 and 9.

For most of us today is a travel day (and for some, tomorrow as well). Despite that, we will do our best to get a consolidated report on all three Trapani CC meetings drafted later today and posted tomorrow or latest Wednesday.

Suffice to say it was a terrific event, the CC meetings have been very productive, and relations and cooperation with the Defender and ACM are good.

The CC as a group has never sounded and looked more tired than we do this morning. Tired but very happy. We will leave here with fond memories of a beautiful venue, challenging sailing conditions, as friendly and enthusiastic a group of locals as one could hope to find anywhere, and real progress toward our collective mission to relieve the defender from the burden of holding the Cup.

In the picture below, clockwise from left: Luis Saenz, Bruno Finzi and Marco Mercuriali (Luna Rossa), Wolf Dietz (United Internet Team Germany), Matt Wachowicz and John Cutler (Desafio Espanol), Chairman George Clyde and Dawn Riley (K-Challenge), Bjorn Ohde (Victory Challenge), Russell Green (BMW ORACLE Racing), Alessandra Pandarese (Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team), Stefano Feltrin and Paul Henderson (+39). Not pictured, Jim Farmer (Emirates Team New Zealand) and Tom Ehman (BMW ORACLE Racing).



A tired but happy CC in Trapani this morning.

CC MEMO -- A Small Contest

Below is a picture of Jury Chairman Bryan Willis, taken during an early morning meeting we had with him yesterday, with what, obviously, is a Flag "Y" and then some.

For a little fun we invite our readers to guess what this proposed new device is. Send us an email if you think you know, please be as detailed as possible, and we will blog the first winning submission. Send your submission to blog[at]tfehman[dot]com.

Maybe after we have posted the winning submission, we will run another contest to come up with a proper name for this new device.

CC MEETING -- Still in Progress

At the risk of losing our reputation for prompt and open information following our meetings, we apologize once again for not getting a report posted from our meeting now over two weeks ago, or our meeting last Sunday morning.

Chairman Clyde and your editor have been "flat stick" (as the Kiwis would say) with other CC-related meetings, rapidly changing issues and other developments, and responsibilities with our own teams.

Nonetheless there is much progress being made here on a number of issues between races (and sometimes during).

We are especially pleased to see that the 2006 schedule and format, which was agreed among the CC, the Defender and ACM last week, has now been published by ACM. This was arrived at through the good mutual and cooperative efforts of all concerned, and we thank our Challenger reps, ACM and Alinghi for this.

Needless to see the Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts are already a tremendous success. We wish all of our Blog readers could have been here today to see the cheering crowds on shore (bigger than ever, even on a Friday) and the 400 or more spectator boats, to say nothing of the great racing.

The CC is meeting again Monday morning to debrief these events and, hopefully, conclude a number of pending issues. Later Monday, or Tuesday latest we will get a report posted here.

CC MEMO -- Food for Thought

[Update 13 Oct 05 -- More of an addition than an update. Just to say that since publishing this interview we have learned it was not written "open access" for the 2007AC Forums (which is from where we copied it), but apparently was an original piece done by Michelle Slade for Scuttlebutt (North America) edited by our long-time friend Tom Leweck. In the meantime it has been run by a number of other outlets with credit to the CC Blog, where credit is properly due Scuttlebutt. Anyone else taking this interview should credit 'Butt and link to www.sailingscuttlebutt.com. --TFE]


About halfway through each Cup cycle, talk begins to turn to the next one. How would you do it if you won or were Challenger of Record? From time to time the CC Blog will post interesting notes and commentary on possible future scenarios. Here is one from Andy Green (GBR) as interviewed by Michelle Slade (USA) earlier this week:

I really think that the Acts have been a great success, It has been a first effort for the America's Cup to bring the sport into the modern age, as in my view, it was in the dark ages on previous occasions as it took a large amount of money to undertake a challenge every four years.

The return on this used to be three months of action and of that only about two or three weeks of semi-finals and finals. For the sponsors to cough up huge amounts of money for what virtually amounted to 2 ½ years of secrecy was clearly unsustainable. I think the Cup would have struggled to move anywhere if the Acts had not been introduced, and in my view, this is just a first effort and it has been a huge success.

Here in Trapani the crowds are enormous, trying to get in, be involved, be part of the action and see the Americas Cup, which is on view. There were 25,000 people at the opening ceremony, when Trapani only has a population of 70,000.

I don’t think that anybody – whoever wins the Cup – will be able to do it any differently now that the progress and development has gone this far. The Acts are becoming bigger than anything, and looking beyond 2007, I see this as being really big. For instance, a lot of the sponsors will go to Dubai for an Act, or to San Francisco or China, or Germany or France. I think we may well have three years of traveling the world with certain blocks of time put out when there is no other sailing, no testing, just participation in the Acts, with the boats and teams being shipped around a season in Europe, a season in America and a season in Asia.

--Andy Green



Andy "Red Bull" Green, professional sailor and Cup commentator, cruising through the Trapani paddock today.

REGATTA DIRECTOR -- Regatta Notice #31

The Regatta Director has issued a Regatta Notice #31 pertaining to details of Act 9 race management.

REGATTA DIRECTOR -- Act 9 NOR, Amended

This evening the Regatta Director has issued an amended Notice of Race for Act 9. The redlined version is available here.

CC MEMO -- LV Ranking Points, Updated

Below are the Louis Vuitton Rankings, reflecting the results of Trapani Louis Vuitton Act 8. Nice graphic courtesy of the Valencia Sailing website.