USA Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving win Womens 470 Worlds.
During this 10-day period, all Texas bays will be closed to crabbing with crab traps and any traps left in the bay will be presumed to be abandoned and considered litter under state law, thus allowing volunteers to legally remove any crab traps they find.
Before the 77th Legislature authorized the abandoned crab trap removal program, only the trap's owner or a TPWD game warden could legally remove a crab trap.
State game wardens pick up more than 2,500 traps annually, yet there are many more still in the water to foul shrimpers' nets, snag fishermen's lines and create an unsightly view of Texas shores.
Volunteers are needed to assist in the coast-wide effort to remove the numerous wire mesh cages used to catch crabs that have been lost or abandoned since last year's cleanup and in years past. To facilitate volunteer trap removal efforts this year, TPWD staff will designate sites in each of the eight major bay systems for trap collection. Areas that are relatively free of abandoned traps will have stand alone sites with dumpsters marked for trap removal.
In other areas where more effort is need, sites will be manned until noon on Saturday, Feb. 16, weather permitting and have stand-alone dumpsters for the duration of the closure. For those who choose to work on their own, TPWD requests information about the number of traps that are collected.
Volunteers can work at their own pace during the closure as time and weather permit, but cannot remove traps before Feb. 15 or after Feb. 24. Any crabs found in the traps must be set free. Last year, volunteers with the aid of numerous sponsors removed more than 2,000 traps.
"This volunteer based program has exceeded our wildest imaginations. So good in fact we are working ourselves out of a job," said Art Morris, TPWD program coordinator. "Overall, the coast looks great in terms of the number of derelict traps people encounter. But in some areas, we could still use a little tidying up."
According to Morris, the major problem with abandoned crab traps is that many continue to fish after they are lost ‹ which is referred to as "ghost fishing." "Thirty six species of aquatic organisms have been documented in these lost traps, many commercially or recreationally important," Morris said. "And the list even includes species of special concern, like diamondback terrapins. During the event in 2006, the remains of a river otter were removed from a lost trap in Galveston Bay."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, Coastal Conservation Association Texas, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, and the Cecil M. Hopper Museum are providing significant support to the crab trap removal program. Additional help is coming from numerous organizations, companies and others who are volunteering their services.
To participate, volunteers can pickup free tarps, gloves, trap hooks and additional information at each of the sites or their local TPWD Coastal Fisheries Field Stations.
To volunteer or for more information contact your local TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division office listed below:
2008 ACTRP Drop Off Sites (Facilitated sites 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)
Sabine Lake TPWD coordinator Jerry Mambretti (409) 983-1104
Walter Umphrey State Park Boat Ramp on Pleasure Island
Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Galveston Bay TPWD coordinator Bill Balboa (281) 534-0100
Jones Lake State Ramp (Fat Boys) Facilitated Feb. 16 & stand alone through the 24th.
Ernie's Bait Barn Facilitated Feb. 16 & stand alone through the 24th
Stingaree Boat Ramp Facilitated Feb. 16 & stand alone through the 24th
Seabrook SH 146 Bridge Public Ramp Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Fort Anahuac County Park Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Matagorda Bay TPWD coordinator Josh Harper (361) 972-6253
Mitchell Cut Boat (ICWW) Ramp @ Sargent Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Matagorda Harbor Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Railroad Park @ Palacios Stand alone Feb. 15-24
San Antonio Bay TPWD coordinator Norman Boyd (361) 983-4425
Charlie's Bait Stand Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Port O¹Connor TPWD Docks Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Aransas Bay TPWD coordinator Dennis Pridgen (361) 729-2328
Goose Island State Park Boat Ramp Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Cove Harbor Boat Ramp Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Corpus Christi Bay TPWD coordinator Tom Wagner (361) 729-2328
Conn Brown Harbor Boat Ramp @ Aransas Pass Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Upper Laguna Madre TPWD coordinator Todd Neahr (361) 825-3353
Bluff Landing Marine Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Kaufer Park Boat Ramp Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Lower Laguna Madre TPWD coordinator Mark Lingo (956) 350-4490
Adolfe Thomae County Park @ Arroyo City Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Port Mansfield Navigation District Ramp @ Port Mansfield
Stand alone Feb. 15-24
Or contact: Art Morris TPWD Outreach Specialist (361) 825-3356.
US SAILING's 2008 Rolex Miami OCR, Miami, FL. After three days of fleet racing at US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, the cream is rising to the top for the 369 sailors competing from 34 countries. The regatta, which is hosting fewer classes than normal due to conflicting world championships overseas, has shown no shortage of intensity or talent in the four Olympic classes (Laser, Laser Radial, Star, Yngling) and three Paralympic classes (SKUD-18, Sonar, 2.4mR) competing here on Biscayne Bay. On the subject of attracting top sailors, perhaps more pertinent than the regatta counting toward world rankings has been the plays that athletes must still make in this Olympic/Paralympic year. Not only must some still gain a nod of selection to their national teams but also several countries themselves must qualify for berths in China. With the Yngling Worlds following this event here next week and the Star Worlds scheduled for here as well in April, these two classes have proven to be the deepest in talent.
"At the last Star Worlds there were teams from 32 countries, and only 15 countries can qualify for the Olympics," said Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.). "Now there are four slots left and 12 countries vying for them, so out of all the Olympic classes, this is the toughest for getting into the Games." Reynolds noted that this year's Worlds will be the end of the line for poor performers, though "poor performers" is a relative term in this fleet.
It is sprinkled with no less than six World Champions and a slew of national champions and Olympic medalists. Reynolds, himself a World Champion and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist qualified the USA for its Olympic berth with his performance at the 2007 Worlds but will not represent the USA in 2008. Instead John Dane and Austin Sperry (both Gulfport, Miss.), who won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, will sail for the USA. Dane and Sperry today landed in 16th overall after today's single race was added to the score line of four previous races, while Reynolds, sailing with Steve Erickson (Hood River, Ore.), logged in at 7th.
Starting with tomorrow's racing, the fleet of 66 boats will split into Gold and Silver fleets, and by Saturday, the Gold fleet will have narrowed down to the top ten for a single medal race that will count double in scoring, simulating the new format that will be introduced for all Olympic sailing classes at the 2008 Games.
The seemingly unlikely leader in the Star class is the USA's team of Rick Merriman (New York, N.Y.) and Brian Sharp (Franklin, Mass.), who are posting a low-point score of eight with two victories in their lineup. "Things have been going our way," said Merriman, casually mentioning that he only got together with Sharp two weekends ago. "We work well together, stay laid back and keep the communications open."
Though Merriman has been sailing a Star for less than six years and his best finish at a Star Worlds is a fifth (2002), he is highly regarded by the other veterans, who also put value in Sharp's having been a grinder on Alinghi's America's Cup team.
Sadly, no one will get to see these "underdogs" take it to the end. The duo will sail tomorrow and then Merriman will fly out for his mother's funeral on Saturday. She passed away the Saturday before the regatta started, after a bout with cancer.
In Ynglings, Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and her crew of Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) are also in the unlikely position of eighth after a total of seven races. Though it's not their style to be anywhere out of the top few positions, Barkow was calm about it after getting off the water this afternoon. "There are some specific things we need to work on, and the good thing is we don¹t have the pressure on us that others do," said Barkow, explaining that her team has yet to be confirmed for Qingdao but that she is 90 percent sure of the appointment. "It's cool to see that the fleet has accelerated on increasing its skills. All the other countries have elevated their game and we have to elevate ours again."
The Russian team of Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh and Natalia Ivanova currently lead the fleet of 28 boats with 23 points to the Netherlands' 34. Barkow's team has 55 points.
In the Laser Radial fleet, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) and Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) are locked in a points battle for first. They are tied with ten each but the tie-breaker currently goes to Railey.
In Lasers, Poland's Marcin Rudawski leads, with Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) in second. Rogachenko is on the USA's Elite Youth Development Team, what US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner calls "the next generation of Olympians."
US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR Top-Three Results. Day 3: Laser (24 boats) -- 7 races 1. Marcin Rudawski (POL), [11]-3-4-2-4-4-2, 19 PTS 2. Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Penn., USA), 1-4-1-[24/OCS]-6-1-7, 20 3. Maciej Grabowski (POL), 2-1-6-4-2-5-[8], 20 Laser Radial (39 boats) -- 6 races 1. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA), 1-4-1-1-3-[5], 10 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla., USA), 3-1-3-2-1-[12], 10 3. Penny Clark (GBR), 6-2-6-[9]-9-2, 25 Star (70 boats) 5 races 1. Rick Merriman/Brian Sharp (New York, NY/Franklin, MA USA), 1-4-2-1-[22], 8 2. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (SUI), 2-1-5-(11)-4, 13 3. Eivind Melleby/Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR), 6-2-1-5-(7), 14 Yngling (28 boats) -- 7 races 1. Ekaterina Skudina,/Diana Krutskikh/Natalia Ivanova (RUS), [19]-2-3-3-9-1-5, 23 2. Mandy Mulder/Mary Faber/Merel Witteveen (NED), 10-5-(22)-5-2-11-1, 34 3. Monica Azon/Sandra Azon/Graciela Pisonero (ESP), [16]-3-2-2-13-8-7, 35 2.4mR (25 boats) -- 7 races 1. Damien Seguin (FRA), 4-2-1-3-1-3-[11], 14 2. Paul Tingley (CAN), 1-9-[26/OCS]-2-4-1-3, 20 3. Stellan Berlin (SWE), 2-[7]-2-4-2-6-7, 23 SKUD-18 (10 boats) -- 6 races 1. Nick Scandone/M. McKinnon-Tucker (CA/MA USA), 1-1-1-1-1-(2), 5 2. John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit (CAN), 3-2-3-[4]-4-1, 13 3. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett (Brick, NJ/Boca Raton FL USA), 5-3-2-2-2-[11/DNS], 14 Sonar (11 boats) -- 6 races 1. Jens Kroker/Tobias Schuetz/Siegmund Mainka (GER), 1-3-2-2-1-2, 8 2. Bruno Jourden/Herve Larhant/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA), 2-4-3-7-[8]-1, 17 3. John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas (GBR), 6-2-1-5-4-[7], 18On-demand video will be available after 9 p.m. each evening starting Thursday, January 31, at www.RolexMiamiOCR.org, where complete results also can be found.
USA Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving win Womens 470 Worlds.
January 30, USA win Womens 470 2008 Worlds, Melbourne, Australia.
1. MAXWELL, Erin KINSOLVING, Isabelle USA 2-3-5-10-2-9-1-5-5-(31) 42 pts 2. AI, Kondo NAOKO, Kamata JPN 1-14-23-3-5-5-2-1-2-(30) 56 3. CONTI, Giulia MICOL, Giovanna ITA 22-11-7-6-12-2-11-2-(49BFD)-3 76 14. CLARK, Amanda MERGENTHALER, Sarah USA 4-37-20-15-1-8-9-3-(49DNF)-49DNF 146 USA's Beijing Olympics 470 Women's representatives Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler have some work to do before the Qingdao regatta in August as they finished 14th in the 29 boat fleet.For all results: http://www.yachting.org.au/sa/results/overall.aspx?ID=6997.YYYY.3.1
US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR. Miami, Fla. - After postponements due to light wind, 369 Olympic and Paralympic sailors from 34 countries basked in sunshine and steadily increasing breezes on Biscayne Bay, completing day two [Tuesday] of US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR. Ynglings, Lasers and 2.4mRs have now completed five races, while the Laser Radials, Stars, SKUD-18s and Sonars have each completed four. The regatta, as important for establishing a sailor's world ranking as it is for providing a warm-weather elite training option for Europeans, has this year attracted dozens of teams selected by their countries for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Regattas, set for August and September, respectively, in Qingdao, China.
One of those teams is Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.), the USA's Paralympic representatives in the SKUD-18 class and the only ones at this regatta with a perfect score. With four points overall, they are eight points ahead of fellow US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.).and Julia Dorsett (Boca Raton, Fla). The duo has turned in significant margins of victory in the 10-boat fleet, including a two-minute lead at the finish of race one today.
"So far so good," said Scandone, who has perhaps the most SKUD-18 sailing experience of all competitors here. "We're going real well and playing the shifts correctly; our extra time in the boat has paid off." The SKUD-18, because it is built in Indonesia and did not have an established class before it was chosen to make its Paralympic debut in 2008, has been difficult for teams to acquire. US SAILING bought the first handful built, and Scandone bought his own only after the progression of his ALS (Lou Gehrig's) disease, diagnosed in 2002, made it impossible to sail his initial Paralympic boat of choice, the 2.4mR.
"You have to be rated a 'one' (the highest level of disability) to skipper the SKUD-18," said Scandone, who was rated a 'three' when he was named US SAILING's Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 2005 for his 2.4mR prowess. "Four years ago at this regatta, I was a 'six' (seven being the lowest level)." While many Paralympic athletes here began sailing after they became disabled, Scandone's experience goes back to his childhood and continued through college where he was an ICSA All-American--a history that sailors think will bode well for him at the Paralympics.
"It's all about China," said Scandone, "making sure I'm healthy enough to attend." After dealing with more immediate adversity just before the regatta--Scandone's father-in-law died and McKinnon-Tucker's two-year-old son underwent brain surgery--Scandone says it has also been about putting those distractions, however sad and difficult, aside: "Stay in our game; do our best to bring home the Gold."
According to skipper Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I./Cape Coral, Fla..), who currently sits in seventh in the Sonar class where Germany's Jens Kroker leads, "today's gently oscillating seabreeze proved to be more challenging as the day went on. As for the competition here, it's deadly if you make a mistake."
There is more of the same, weather- and competition-wise, in store for tomorrow when fleet racing resumes. It continues through Friday for all classes, with the top-ten from each Olympic class staying on for medal races on Saturday.
On-demand video will be available after 9 p.m. each evening starting Thursday, January 31, at www.rolexmiamiocr.org, where complete results also can be found.
US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR Top-Three Results. Day 2: Laser (24 boats) -- 5 races 1. Maciej Grabowski (POL), 2-1-[6]-4-2, 9 pts 2. Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Penn., USA), 1-4-1-[24/OCS]-6, 12 3. Marcin Rudawski (POL), [11]-3-4-2-4, 13 Laser Radial (39 boats) -- 4 races 1. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA), 1-4-1-1, 7 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla., USA), 3-1-3-2, 9 3. Penny Clark (GBR), 6-2-6-9, 23 Star (70 boats) - 4 races 1. Rick Merriman/Brian Sharp (New York NY/Franklin MA USA), 1-4-2-1, 8 2. Eivind Melleby/Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR), 6-2-1-5, 14 3. Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams (NZL), 1-3-7-7, 18 Yngling (28 boats) -- 5 races 1. Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson (GBR), 6-6-1-[23]-1, 14 2. Ekaterina Skudina,/Diana Krutskikh/Natalia Ivanova (RUS), [19]-2-3-3-9, 17 3. Monica Azon/Sandra Azon/Graciela Pisonero (ESP), [16]-3-2-2-13, 20 2.4mR (25 boats) -- 5 races 1. Damien Seguin (FRA), [4]-2-1-3-1, 7 2. Stellan Berlin (SWE), 2-[7]-2-4-2, 10 3. Paul Tingley (CAN), 1-9-[26/OCS]-2-4, 16 SKUD-18 (10 boats) -- 4 races 1. Nick Scandone/Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Fountain Valley CA/Marblehead MA USA), 1-1-1-1, 4 2. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett (Brick, NJ/Boca Raton, FL USA), 5-3-2-2, 12 3. John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit (CAN), 3-2-3-4, 12 Sonar (11 boats) -- 4 races 1. Jens Kroker/Tobias Schuetz/Siegmund Mainka (GER), 1-3-2-2, 8 2. John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas (GBR), 6-2-1-5, 14 3. Bruno Jourden/Herve Larhant/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA), 2-4-3-7, 16For daily reports and high-resolution images, go to: www.regattanews.com
USA Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving at the 470 Worlds.
January 29, USA set to win 470 2008 Worlds, Melbourne, Australia. US sailors Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving only have to finish eighth out of the 10 boat 470 Worlds Medal race in a few hours time to win the 2008 World title in Melbourne Australia.
USA's Beijing Olympics 470 Women's representatives Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler have some work to do before the Qingdao regatta in August as they finished 12th in the 29 boat fleet.
Clearly US SAILING's single regatta Olympic selection procedure will be under review, before the 2012 Games. It is out of step with that of all the other top sailing nations.
For all results: http://www.yachting.org.au/sa/results/overall.aspx?ID=6997.YYYY.3.1
Photo: Rolex/Dan Nerney.
US SAILING's 2008 Rolex Miami OCR. Perfect first-day conditions greeted sailors at US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, where 369 Olympic and Paralympic sailors from 34 countries are competing in four Olympic classes (Laser, Laser Radial, Star, and Yngling) and three Paralympic classes (2.4mR, SKUD-18 and Sonar). As an International Sailing Federation Grade 1 event, the regatta figures into world rankings, and some countries are selecting their 2008 Olympic and Paralympic teams based on results here.
One sailor who doesn't have to worry about whether she'll make it to Qingdao in August is the USA's Olympic representative in the Laser Radial class and US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.). After winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Sailing in October, Tunnicliffe changed her focus. "I used to have one drive--to win the Trials. Now I have a new drive; it's to win in China." The Florida sailor today won the second of her class's two races after finishing third in the first. The performance put her in first place overall for the day. "It was only 7-9 knots, which made for tricky sailing," said Tunnicliffe, acknowledging that China will have similar wind conditions but with much more chop and swell than Biscayne Bay had to offer today. "It's still early," she said about this regatta. "With it being light and fluky, it's still wide open."
In second overall after today's racing was Paige Railey, another Floridian (Clearwater) whose name seems magnetically drawn to Tunnicliffe's whenever they enter the same events. Railey swapped out with Tunnicliffe to win today's first race and then finished fourth in the second. After she finished behind Tunnicliffe in the Trials, she decided to go "back to the basics and have fun with sailing." She re-set her goals, both long-term (the 2012 Olympics) and short-term (the Laser Radial Worlds in New Zealand this March). "This regatta is part of my build-up to peak at the Worlds," said Railey. "It's too early to tell what will happen here. The fleet is completely stacked with good sailors."
US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR Top-Three Results. Day 1:
Laser (24 boats) -- 2 races
1. Maciej Grabowski (POL), 2-1, 3 pts
2. Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Penn., USA), 1-4, 5
3. Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, CA USA), 4-6, 10
Laser Radial (39 boats) -- 2 races
1. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla., USA), 3-1, 4
2. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA), 1-4, 5
3. Penny Clark (GBR), 6-2, 8
Star (70 boats) 2 races
1. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (ITA), 2-1, 3
2. Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams (NZL), 1-3, 4
3. Elvind Melleby/PetterMorland Pedersen(NOR) 6-2, 8
Yngling (28 boats) -- 2 races
1. Song Xia Qun/ Li Xiao Ni/Yu Yan Li (CHN), 2-8, 10
2. Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson (GBR), 6-6, 12
3. Sally Barkow/Debbie Capozzi, Carrie Howe
(Nashotah WI/Bayport NY/Grosse Pt MI (USA), 3-10, 13
2.4mR (25 boats) -- 3 races
1. Damien Seguin (FRA), 4-2-1 7
2.,Stellan Berlin (SWE), 2-7-2 11
3. Carl Horrocks (Point Pleasant, N.J., (USA), 3-4-4 11
SKUD-18 (10 boats) -- 2 races
1. Nick Scandone/Maureen McKinnon-Tucker
(Fountain Valley, CA/Marblehead, MA (USA), 1-1, 2
2. John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit (CAN), 3-2, 5
3. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett
(Brick, NJ/Boca Raton, FL (USA), 5-3, 8
Sonar (11 boats) -- 2 races
1. Colin Harrison/ Russell Boaden/Graeme Martin (AUS), 3-1, 4
2. Jens Kroker/Tobias Schuetz/Siegmund Mainka (GER), 1-3, 4
3. Bruno Jourden/Herve Larhant/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA), 2-4, 6
On-demand video will be available after 9 p.m. each evening starting Thursday, January 31, at www.RolexMiamiOCR.org where complete results also can be found.January 28, Texas Clear Creek Environmental Foundation [CCEF], start Yearly Spring Clean-Up.
Week-end Clean-Up at Kemah, TX. Mac users open with Safari or Firefox.
Each year CCEF collect 10-20 tons of garbage, 60-100 car & truck tires in their yearly Clean-Up that finishes this year on Saturday February 23. To volunteer e-mail: clearcreekkeeper@yahoo.com
January 25, Key West Race Week, Florida. There was much rejoicing around the Conch Republic on Friday. The wind gods smiled on Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica, delivering excellent racing conditions and bringing much joy to both competitors and organizers.
PHRF-4 Top six:
1. Bad Girl Robert Armstrong St. Croix, USVI 90 J/100 1-2-1-1-(3)-1-1-1 8 pts 2. Tangent Gerry Taylor Annapolis MD 87 CapeFear38 2-(5)-5-2-2-2-2-2 17 3. Leading Edge Tom Sutton Seabrook TX 72 J/35 (5)-4-3-4-4-5-3-3 26 4. Pipe Dream XIV Scott Piper Miami FL 81 Tripp33 3-3-4-3-1-4-(11dnf)-11dns 29 5. Hot Ticket Jim Hightower Houston TX 87 Dickerson37 4-6-6-(7)-6-3-4-5 34 6. Predator Fred Prelle Houston TX 72 Tripp 36 6-(7)-7-5-7-6-5-4 40Dave Ullman Wins Melges 24 class. The last day of racing brought out the very best in the Melges 24 class. With an astounding on-the-water performance from Dave Ullman on 'Pegasus 505' with tactician Charlie Ogletree [Kemah, Texas] and crew of Andy Escort, Pablo Soldano and Brian Hutchinson they hammered out a 1-2-1 finish beating out four day leader Flavio Favini helming for Franco Rossini on 'Blu Moon'. "It's nice to finish up with a good day of breeze and great sailing. It was a great day. We always like breeze because we always do well in the breeze," commented a very happy Ullman.
1. Pegasus 505 David Ullman Newport Beach CA 3-5-6-3-(17)-1-2-1 21 Pts 2. Blu Moon Franco Rossini Lugano, SUI 1-1-2-(18)-1-4-6-9 24 3. WTF Alan Field Marina Del Rey CA 6-4-8-5-5-(25)-5-3 36 Local boats: 18. Bulls Eye Shawn Grisham Dallas TX 14-27-30-15-2-(47dnf)-23-15 126 30. Speedemon Richard Mallinson Oklahoma City OK 25-29-31-17-27-20-(47dnf)-32 181
Ms Beluga is now on its way to Guanta in Venezuela. January 24, Gone with the wind on 'kite ship', -- Steve Rosenberg BBC News: There is something rather magical about being up on deck of a giant cargo ship as it pushes its way out to sea. Ten thousand tonnes of metal heaving through the water, the ship's giant masts glistening in the winter sun.
But there is something even more magical about being aboard MS Beluga SkySails. On the face of it, this vessel - which is carrying parts of a timber production line to Venezuela - looks like any other cargo ship. The kind of vessel that would burn lots of fuel and produce heaps of carbon emissions.
See how the kite ship works: After all, it is no secret that when it comes to greenhouse gases, commercial shipping is normally the villain of the transport world. Of all the CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere today, 4% comes from ships. In fact, shipping produces more emissions than the aviation industry. Twisted spaghetti MS Beluga SkySails, though, is different.
We can demonstrate that you can combine economy and ecology Verena Frank, Beluga Shipping Once the ship has reached the open sea, it reveals its brand new weapon in the fight against global warming - a kite.
The 160sq m (1,722sq ft) blue-and-white kite is winched up a mast, strings dangling like twisted spaghetti. For half-an-hour or so, it sits there at the top of the mast, not doing a great deal. Wind power is a wonderful thing, but you do actually need some wind to make it all work - and there is not very much at this particular moment. Half-an-hour later, though, the wind has picked up and the kite is flying hundreds of metres in the air - and helping to tug the ship along.
Kite power means the ship's engines down below can work on reduced power: and that means fewer carbon emissions. It also means smaller fuel bills. With the price of shipping fuel having doubled in the past two years, kite power is promising big savings. MS Beluga SkySails believes its fuel bill will be cut by £800 ($1,560) a day. "We can demonstrate that you can combine economy and ecology," Verena Frank of Beluga Shipping explains. "Economy, because you can reduce fuel consumption and fuel costs, and on the ecological side of things, we reduce emissions."-- Click for full article in todays BBC News Letter
Key West Race Week, Florida. It's been feast or famine at Acura Key West 2008, A northeasterly that held steady in the range of 25-30 knots forced cancellation of racing on Monday. Mother Nature delivered the opposite end of the spectrum on Wednesday with a southeasterly providing a mere three knots of pressure and forcing officials with Premiere Racing to abandon again.
Forecasts call for light winds today [Thursday] with a front moving in to provide heavy air on Friday.
January 23, Key West Race Week, Florida. Wednesday - No Wind - No Melges 24 Racing - after more than an hour and a half on-the-water postponement, the race committee for the Melges 24 fleet abandoned all racing scheduled for Wednesday, January 23. Although the visual weather elements were routine Key West conditions - gorgeous, sunny with blue skies and tempatures reaching into the upper 70s, it was not ideal for racing. The breeze simply would not pick above 3 knots in some areas and in others nothing above 1 registered.
The somewhat good and bad news of it all is that tomorrow's forecast isn't really looking that much better than today. Weather predictions offer almost identical conditions, however for Friday the hope that as much as 20 mph breeze (gusting to 25), partly cloudy skies and temps in the mid-70s is to be expected. Here's to keeping our fingers crossed.
It has been a frustrating regatta as only three races have been completed thus far. The overall results as of Tuesday stand with Flavio Favini helming 'Blu Moon' for Franco Rossini from Switzerland in first, John Pollard from the UK on 'Xcellent' in second and in third, Dave Ullman from Southern California on 'Pegasus 505'.
J-24 Top Ten - as of Tuesday, January 22: 1. Flavio Favini/Franco Rossini, Blu Moon Luguno, SUI 2. John Pollard, Xcellent Torquay, GBR 3. Dave Ullman, Pegasus 505 Newport Beach, CA 4. Brian Porter, Full Throttle Lake Geneva, WI 5. Benoit Charon, Tresvalles Granville, FRA 6. Alan Field, WTF Marina Del Rey CA 7. Riccardo Simoneschi/Fratelli Giacomel Audi Genova, ITA 8. Argyle Campbell, Rock n' Roll Newport Beach, CA 9. Peter Lane, Brick House Tiburon, CA 10. Bora Gulari/Chuck Holzman, Flyer Detroit, MI Local J-24's: 24. Shawn Grisham Bulls Eye Dallas, TX 30. Richard Mallinson Speedemon Oklahoma City, OKFULL RESULTS (http://www.premiere-racing.com/08_KW_Results/kw08_div3_series.htm)
PHOTO GALLERY (http://www.melges24.com/photogalleries.asp?year=2008&event=22)
Tuesday the first day of racing at Key West. Photo: Tim Wilkes
Tuesday January 22, - Joe Woods on 'Red' has placed a firm grip on the overall lead of the Melges 32 fleet at ACURA Key West 2008 presented by Nautica. Three points separate him from defending Key West Champion Claudio Recchi on 'Let's Roll' in second place overall. In third is Marty Kullman and Mike Carroll on 'New Wave'.
With yesterday's absensce of racing, the fleet was ready to go as the first race of the day got underway around 10:45 (second start in Division 1). Punching off the line was Recchi heavily guarding the pin end heading upwind in 10-15 knots of breeze, substantial chop and puffs of 15+ gusting through periodically. Although Woods appeared to have gotten a mediocre start, Recchi contended with Armando Guiletti on 'Hiroshi'. Federico Michetti, president of Melges Europe and crew for Recchi mentioned on the docks Monday that Guiletti would be a tough competitor. Despite Guiletti's lead from the first weathermark to the last run, Recchi overtook him for the win. With Guiletti second, it was the awesome Kullman/Carroll 'New Wave' team from Tampa, Florida in third. Woods finished fourth.
As the wind seemed to come and go, build and diminish over the next two races ‹ the racing got trickier, this time Woods pulled out front and blasted the fleet with speed. Woods managed bullets in race two and three leaving 2006 Melges 32 U.S. National Champion Jeff Ecklund from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on 'STAR', Kullman/Carroll, Recchi and Philippe Kahn on 'Pegasus 32' to vie for position.
Looking ahead to Wednesday's races Woods' leads the overall, Recchi in second and Kullman/Carroll in third. In fourth, one point out of third is Ecklund in fourth and in fifth is Kahn.
Melges 32 from Texas: 13. Black River R. Doug Strebel League City, TX 12 14 13 39 pts 15. Mojo Steve Rhyne Seabrook, TX 11 18 12 41Swan 42, leading four:
1. Tiburon Mark Watson Newport, RI 3 2 3 8 pts 2. Bandit Andy Fisher Newport RI 1 5 5 11 3. Vitesse Jon Halbert Dallas TX 6 4 2 12 4. Hoss Darden/Williamson Ft Worth TX 7 1 6 14PHRF-1 leading 3:
1. StarkRavingMad James Madden Newport Beach, CA -4 J/125 1 2 1 4 pts 2. Spaceman Spiff Abigail Ruhlman Cleveland, OH 36 1D35 2 3 3 8 3. Wairere Pete Hunter Kill Devil Hill NC 36 Thompson 30 4 1 4 9 6. Juggernaut Chris Lopez New Orleans, LA 0 Farr 36 6 5 6 17PHRF-4 leading seven:
1. Bad Girl Robert Armstrong St. Croix, USVI 90 J/100 1 2 1 4 pts 2. MrBillsWildRide WilliamWildner Clinton River, MI 72 J/35 7 1 2 10 3. Pipe Dream XIV Scott Piper Miami FL 81 Tripp33 3 3 4 10 4. Tangent Gerry Taylor Annapolis MD 87 CapeFear38 2 5 5 12 5. Leading Edge Tom Sutton Seabrook TX 72 J/35 5 4 3 12 6. Hot Ticket Jim Hightower Houston TX 87 Dickerson37 4 6 6 16 7. Predator Fred Prelle Houston TX 72 Tripp 36 6 7 7 20Corsair 28R leading three:
1. FlightSimulator Tom Reese Youngstown, NY 1 2 2 5 pts 2. Relentless Peter Katcha St Petersburg, FL 4 1 1 6 3. Hi Five Valdek Kwasniewski Sarasota, FL 2 5 3 10 6. Overdo John Novak Colleyville, TX 7 9 4 20Click for all results
January 22, Tough Conditions, Tough Decisions at Acura Key West 2008. A storm front hit the southernmost point in the continental United States in the wee hours of Sunday morning and lingered. When Monday dawned and the largest winter regatta in North America was due to begin, a fierce northeaster was delivering consistent winds ranging 25-30 knots and routinely gusting higher.
Event chairman Peter Craig huddled with his four principal race officers and the decision was made to postpone sending the 262-boat fleet out for two hours. Because the Corsair 28 class has a maximum wind range of 22 knots for racing, regatta organizers and skippers agreed to keep the lightweight trimarans on the beach. While some of the Corsair 28 owners were anxious to test themselves in extreme conditions, common sense prevailed.
"If you're out in survival conditions, it just makes it too difficult to compete. No one wanted to break gear on the first day," said class veteran Bob Harkrider of August, Ga., who placed second at this regatta last year.
Premiere Racing sent out two committee boats first thing in the morning to take wind readings and gauge the sea conditions. They were recording waves at 6-8 feet and Harkrider said the spirited, high-performance Corsairs spend all their energy preventing disastrous knockdowns in such a sea state.
Forecasts call for winds to decrease to the high teens on Tuesday morning then ultimately drop to 8-10 knots by the afternoon. Craig said Premiere Racing will "work very hard" to complete two or three races on Tuesday.
January 21, Sail Melbourne regatta, was the first ISAF Grade 1 Olympic event in 2008 for the 470, Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, and Tornado classes, and with the 470 and Finn Worlds beginning this week, and the other classes to have their championships in either Australia or New Zealand within the next two months, this past week proved to be a prominent preview for this Olympic year.
Final results (top three plus top Americans) 470 Women (48 boats) 1. USA - Erin Maxwell/ Isabelle Kinsolving, 46 points 2. JPN - Kondo Ai/ Kamata Naoko, 62 3. ITA - Giulia Conti/ Giovanna Micol, 86 470 Men (78 boats) 1. GBR - Nicholas Rogers/ Joe Glanfield, 49 2. CRO - Sime Fantela/ Igor Marenic, 61 3. AUS - Mathew Belcher/ Nicholas Behrens, 78 Finn (69 boats) 1. GBR - Ben Ainslie, 37 2. GBR - Edward Wright, 59 3. ESP - Rafael Trujillo, 66 5. USA - Zach Railey, 94 Laser Radial (49 boats) 1. AUS - Sarah Blanck, 18 2. FIN - Sari Multala, 39 3. NZL - Jo Aleh, 40 4. MEX - Tania Elias Calles, 48 9. USA - Anna Tunnicliffe, 83 Laser (121 boats) 1. GBR - Paul Goodison, 25 2. NZL - Andrew Murdoch, 34 3. AUS - Thomas Slingsby, 35 5. CAN - Michael Leigh, 49 8. CAN - Bernard Luttmer, 54 Tornado (24 boats) 1. AUS - Darren Bundock/ Glenn Ashby, 21 2. RUS - Andrey Kirilyuk/ Valeriy Ushkov, 41 3. GBR - Leigh Mcmilan/ Will Howden, 47 13. CAN - Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle, 92Final report: http://www.sailing.org/21961.php
The RS:X Worlds, Takapuna, New Zealand. The Worlds was the final event for those countries that have not yet qualified for the RS:X event at the 2008 Olympic Games. While the contending North American countries had qualified on the men's side, the same couldn't be said for the women. With 28 available slots for the women's class at the Games, the final seven places were decided this week, with twelve nations fighting for qualification. None of those twelve nations made it through to the women's gold fleet, so the battle was fought in the silver fleet, with Mexico and USA succeeding in their quest to be at the Games.
Final Standings: Thailand ( 1st) Mexico (12th) Hungary (15th) Argentina (20th) Russia (21st) USA Nancy Rios (22nd) Cyprus (23rd)http://www.rsxclass.com/worlds2008.html
January 20, Joyon has smashed the round the world record by 14 days!. An amazing feat - the IDEC trimaran crossed the finishing line off Brest on Sunday 20th January 2008 at 00h39'58" (local French time). At the age of 51, Francis Joyon is once again the fastest solo yachtsman around the world having completed the voyage in 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds. He has shattered the previous record, held since 2005 by the British yachtswoman, Ellen MacArthur by 14 days, 44 minutes and 27 seconds.
It is truly an incredible performance: while he thught it was possible to bring the time down to below 70 days (the time to beat was 71 days and 14 hours), the sailor from Locmariaquer in Southern Brittany has brought it down to below 60 days and even to below 58 days. On board IDEC, Francis Joyon has covered more than 26 400 nautical miles at the astonishing average speed of 19,09 knots. Francis Joyon also becomes the only solo sailor in the world to have grabbed the non-stop single-handed round the world voyage record aboard a multihull on two occasions after a first record back in 2004. A feat that was has only been bettered once since then and that was when Ellen MacArthur successfully completed her voyage in 2005.
http://www.trimaran-idec.com
January 19, Joyon, a few hours from a great achievement. Final manoeuvres, one final day and the final moments of being alone.. Just 168 miles (at 15h GMT - 09:00 a.m. CT) from the Brest Inlet and the finishing line of his incredible voyage, Francis Joyon carried out what should be his final gybe this afternoon, coming around with the wind astern, at the end of his amazing 27,000 mile voyage around the world.
Taking the advice of his router, Jean-Yves Bernot, he headed off for two hours to try to pick up a corridor of stronger wind a few miles off to his north. He will then be brought back down directly towards the entrance to the Brest Inlet, and pass under the Petit Minou Light, where a gun will be fired to coincide with the mainsail coming down for the final time, marking the end of 57 days and a few hours of uninterrupted effort. It will most likely be in the middle of the night, at one, two or three in the morning that the explosion will sound bringing the voyage to an end.
Francis has asked to be alone for the final hours of the night to get some rest on board his faithful IDEC, before mooring up alongside Recouvrance Quay in Brest at around nine in the morning (local French time Sunday - 02:00 a.m. CT).
http://www.trimaran-idec.com
Photo: Jean Marie
January 18, Francis Joyon expected in Brest Sunday morning. It is at high speed that Francis Joyon is approaching Brest and the finishing line of his exceptional single-handed round the world record. With less than 700 miles to go to the end, on this 57th day of being alone, Joyon and his faithful trimaran, IDEC, hope to continue their crazy dash for one more day, by remaining in contact with the strong winds and by paying attention to the angle to the wind. The final 150 miles look like being finer, but the ability of the Irens-Cabaret design to make the most of the slightest puff still allows us to count on a finish sometime during Saturday night with a triumphant entry into the Brest inlet on Sunday morning at around 09h30 local time.
Ideal weather right up to the finish The low-pressure area picked up yesterday on the south eastern side is living up to the forecasts and it is thus in 30-35 knot winds that the large IDEC trimaran is making headway averaging more than 20 knots over 24 hours. Just as was the case in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Joyon had to do without sleep to make sure the trimaran remained on course in the long surf at 27 to 28 knots during the night on a five to six metre high swell.
How can he take care of his tired machine so close to home, when all she asks is to be given free rein in the downwind conditions? Francis Joyon has been focussing on that for 48 hours with his final climb back up the mast and all his attention and energy. IDEC has found the conditions she was built for, strong downwind conditions with a powerful long swell. Under two reefs and the gennaker, there is no brake pedal for the solo skipper, who must pay attention to his trajectory to ensure the transitions between the swell are as gentle as possible for his exhausted vessel after a sprint of almost 26,000 miles. By day and by night, Joyon has been the master of this sort of work for 56 days. On the clock, the daily performance has once again reached 480 nautical miles at an average of more than 20 knots.
On permanent alert: Joyon is not finding the time to doze off completely, as he is still keeping one eye on the strength and direction of the wind, and paying attention to how the 9 tonnes of the boat behave on the powerful Atlantic waves, keeping his finger on the pulse of his boat; a pulse, which goes wild at times, when some vital elements of equipment threaten to give up the ghost, like the worn mainsail halyard, which is rubbed through and looks like breaking. The closeness to the continental shelf, the shipping lanes and the fishing boats and the finish off the Breton coast will only increase the stress at the end of this race. Remaining as cautious as ever, both in his comments and the way he handles the boat, Joyon is still refusing to commit himself to an arrival time. However, his long voyage is reaching an end, and while Joyon is looking forward to seeing his friends and family and dry land, the sailor is still taking advantage of that alchemy between the water, the air and his large boat. "It's the end of a long voyage and the sea is still just as attractive for me, so that's why it is hard to stop..."
Comments from Francis Joyon:
Today's radio session enabled a dozen journalists to question Francis live on the website, www.trimaran-idec.com. The skipper of IDEC, still hurtling along at more than 20 knots willingly answered the questions, with his usual kindness, and sometimes showing some genuine perspicacity. Francis Joyon: "I learnt a lot about the weather during this round the world voyage; working with Jean-Yves Bernot was very interesting. It allowed me to judge more finely the weather patterns."
"I'm pleased to have accomplished a great voyage. I did it because it's something I like doing. I'm not doing it for ambitious reasons..."
"Records are there to be beaten. My time back in 2003 looked like it couldn't be smashed. Then, Ellen MacArthur, with her remarkable performance beat it the following year." "There were two very worrying moments; once in the south in the middle of the ice, as the storm started to blow, and in the Doldrums, when I discovered I could lose my mast..." "The breaking up of the pack ice and the icebergs floating around at unusual latitudes attracted my attention. The time I spent sailing around the world also proves that the planet isn't as big as we imagine and that we need to take much better care of her..."
http://www.trimaran-idec.com
January 17, Single-handed Round The World Record, Thursday 17th. Press release #45. Exactly as he planned yesterday, Francis Joyon is working hard today to find the best sailing conditions for the final few days of his round the world voyage. The SW'ly wind has allowed him to remain on the Great Circle route, taking him directly towards Brest.
Caution is still very much the watchword, as he listens to his boat, worn out after 55 days of sailing and with more than 25,000 miles on the clock after the voyage around the world's oceans.
This evening, IDEC will start to experience some gales, generated by a low-pressure area circulating in the North Atlantic. On seas, where the swell is now in the right direction, the large red trimaran will be picking up speed again, but her skipper will continue to remain attentive right up until the end, in order to look after his equipment and avoid any breakages. Going through the Azores at lunchtime today gave the single-handed yachtsman a taste of home ... "IDEC will manage to obtain some more fine days, with 450 to 500 miles under her belt..." With 1100 miles to go to the finish, Francis is now expected to arrive in Brest sometime on Saturday night..
Right at the heart of the Azores: "I wasn't very pleased about my tack yesterday afternoon," explained Francis Joyon talking about his route strategy. "However, it did enable me to pass through between the islands of Terceira and Sao Miguel in the Azores. Sao Miguel has some high peaks, which can produce calms. I'm trying to avoid them by sailing 60 miles further out." On the starboard tack, IDEC is going from a high-pressure system today to the North Atlantic lows without slowing down. Clearly aimed at looking after his equipment, Joyon wishes to avoid as much as possible gybing in the gale.
"On the starboard tack, I sailed all night long under gennakerŠ It was quite pleasant, because it was so warm." As the wind gets up, the sailor from Locmariaquer has wisely decided since then to put away the downwind mainsail and to hoist the solent. "I'm keeping an eye on all the bits of equipment, where there are signs of wear and tear," explained Francis. "In particular, my mainsail halyard is still worrying me, as it is rubbing nastily against the mainsail track..."
While still refusing to talk about Brest and the finish, Joyon has nevertheless confirmed that he will be taking advantage of some fine conditions to reach the tip of Brittany very quickly: "Going through the Azores, it is true that it is beginning to feel a bit like home," he admitted. "IDEC will manage to achieve some more good days of sailing 450 or 500 miles..." With 1100 miles to go to the finish, Francis is now expected to arrive in Brest sometime on Saturday night...
Sail Melbourne - US 470 Women dominate. USA's Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving continue to dominate going into the last day of racing before the Medal race taking out a first and a fifth.
Today the 470 fleets were spilt into Gold and Silver fleets for the Final series in the lead up to Saturday's Medal Race for the top ten. Today's condition were heaven for the 470's out on the reaches today with waves up to two metres and wind building to 18 knots as the afternoon progressed.
'We were second going into the last mark but had a boat handling situation,' Kinsolving said in regards to a dropped spinnaker halyard. 'It was a great day sailing and the Japanese (Ai Kondo/Naoko Kamata) were super fast.'
The Japanese crew accredited their top performance, a second and first place, to their good starts. World ranked No.1 Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol (ITA) moved from fourth the third overall after placing 11th and second. German crew Stefanie Rothweiler/Vivien Kussatz jumped one place to fourth today after a third in Race 7 and 13th in Race 8. When asked about the conditions Kussatz simply replied, 'Wow!' only to add later, 'The waves were short and high. On the reaches we were right at the back of the boat.'
http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/raceresults2008
Photo: Jean Marie
January 16, Single-handed Round The World Record, Wednesday. The route to Brest now appears to be open. Feeling rather less worried, Francis is going to be concentrating now on the only job that really matters for him - his route strategy between the Azores high and the deep North Atlantic low. This is crucial in order to reach the finishing line for his single-handed round the world record attempt as quickly as possible with the element of caution built in.
Taking advantage of a (relative) calm in the weather and a cleaner swell, yesterday Francis went back up the 32-metre mast of his maxi-trimaran, IDEC, for the fourth time in five days. After an hour and a half of work balanced at the top in his climbing harness, he came back down, visibly pleased with the state of what he saw and the repair that was carried out on the weakened anchor point for his starboard shroud.
Confidence returning:
With the wind from astern and at 180 deg., to the route for a part of the afternoon, Joyon, who never puts off until tomorrow what can be done today, took advantage of the first respite in the trade wind to carry out one last check up on his damaged mast. The latest telephone conversations with Dominique Marsaudon, the maker of the mast and the designers, Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, finished by convincing him about the measures required to secure as best as possible the shroud anchor point, the shaft of which had come unscrewed, threatening to bring down the mast. It was thus with belts and in particular with a big hammer that Francis went back up to the head of the trimaran¹s mast. His first reaction was a great deal of relief, as he could see that the faulty spindle had not budged since the Equator. "In spite of the fact that three days of upwind sailing in the trade wind, could have had some very nasty consequences..." Francis then set about using the heavy artillery; "I really went for it," he admitted, and we can well imagine that the screw under the Herculean blows of the sailor from Locmariaquer, is now well and truly jammed in place. "I then fixed the protective cover and strapped the whole thing up with rope and spectra." Thus, strapped and secure, the skipper has once again found his confidence and he can feel much more relaxed. " I feel reassured and I have regained full confidence in my mast."
50 knots winds with the deep low in the Bay of Biscay:
Right in the middle of the transition zone on the edge of the Azores high, Francis has continued with the inspection of everything on board his trimaran, which he himself said was beginning to look a bit tired. Under gennaker and mainsail permanently with one reef, IDEC is playing her final hand before the final run towards Brest. At the beginning of the afternoon, Joyon gybed to the west, in order to avoid an area of calms. On the port tack, he is looking for some stronger winds before hoisting more sail on the starboard tack for the final sprint towards Brest. A new area of deep low pressure is currently located to his north west. By hopping on to its southern edge, IDEC will pick up some strong SW'lies, which will be favourable in his home run to reach the tip of Brittany. "They are forecasting 50-knot winds for the worst of the low," explained an unperturbed Francis Joyon. "I will need to get in the right place to avoid the worst of the blow. It¹s clear I¹m going to get 30-35 knot winds in any case." No regrets therefore about losing the first reef. Sailing downwind with the swell in the right direction, IDEC could well offer us a final run in line with the performance already achieved since the start in Brest just 54 days ago...
January 15, Federal income tax deductions of potential benefit to boat owners. When Congress adjourned for 2007, they left in place two federal income tax deductions of potential benefit to boat owners - Scott Croft [SCroft@BoatUS.com]
A boat is treated like a second home for federal tax purposes if it has a galley, a head, and sleeping berth. Mortgage interest paid on the loan is deductible from your federal income taxes. Taxpayers may use the mortgage interest deduction for one primary home and one second home and must itemize deductions on their returns.
Some boaters may be unaware of this potential tax benefit because not all lending institutions send borrowers an Internal Revenue Service form 1098 which reports the interest paid. Not receiving the form does not preclude taking the deduction. If a 1098 is not available, boaters should contact their lender for the amount of interest paid and should enter it on line 11 on Schedule A along with the lender's tax ID number. If a form 1098 is sent, boaters should simply enter the amount on line 10 of Schedule A.
The other tax benefit is a deduction for state sales taxes. However, this may no longer be available after the 2007 tax year if Congress does not act to extend it. This deduction may be appropriate for boaters who paid substantial sales tax on the purchase of a new or used vessel last year. Boaters must choose either the state sales tax deduction or state income tax deduction on their federal tax return - you cannot take both.
In addition, to take the sales tax deduction, the sales tax on a boat purchase must be applied at the same tax rate as the state's general sales tax. In order to claim the sales tax deduction, tax returns must be itemized. State sales taxes are entered on Schedule A, line 5b.
For those who fall under the Alternative Minimum Tax, most deductions are unavailable as taxes are calculated differently. Boaters are urged to contact a tax preparer or financial advisor for more information.
For more details on the mortgage deduction, go to http://www.irs.gov and download Publication 936 or the Fact Sheets. For state tax deduction information download Publication 600, which also includes state-by-state tax tables.
January 14, America's Cup. The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today it is pleased the court order giving effect to the November 27 decision in its favor is expected to be made soon. Justice Herman Cahn of the New York State Supreme Court today heard further arguments on the order and scheduled a hearing for January 23. GGYC expects the Court will sign the order either then or shortly afterwards. "We were very pleased with today," Tom Ehman, the club's spokesman said. "Justice Cahn clearly has a thorough understanding of the issues. We are confident the Court's decision of November 27 will be enforced in the order, leading to a Deed of Gift regatta in October, 2008". End
From Alinghi: Today Justice Cahn decided against issuing a settlement order until after he has examined the arguments raised by Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) with regard to the validity of the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) challenge. He scheduled a further hearing for the 23rd January.
Counsel for Société Nautique de Genève, Lucien Masmejan, commented on the days proceedings: "We are very pleased with the result of today's court hearing. Justice Cahn has acknowledged that our arguments with regard to the invalidity of the GGYC certificate need to be examined in full and have substance. We believe that the further proceedings contemplated by Justice Cahn will bring clarity to the validity of the GGYC challenge." End
Well in 12 weeks we will have April Fools Day (April 1st).
Francis Joyon should complete his extraordinary record-breaking single-handed round the world voyage after sixty days of sailing. In spite of the serious damage to the mast, which is handicapping the maxi-trimaran IDEC in her climb back up the North Atlantic and if the technical problem does not worsen, his ETA in Brest [France] at the moment is calculated to be between Sunday 20th and Monday 21st January (more details will follow).
As soon as he crosses the historic finishing line for the round the world voyage, which is located at the entrance to the Brest inlet, IDEC will head for the commercial harbour in Brest and moor at the Recouvrance Pontoon, quai Malbert.
January 5, Tom Schnackenberg sheds some light on the GGYC Deed of Gift challenge. We've been reading a lot about the AC90, what would your role become if Alinghi is required by law to accept the GGYC challenge as it has been lodged?
If that becomes the case, then my role would change rather, that is should ACM be consulted and be managing the defence. The first thing I would have to do is to have a good think about the nature of the boat that is challenging, how the racing should be organised and what things would need to be put in place to ensure the racing is proper.
You'd be well qualified having had experience of unconventional challenges in the past tell us about that? That's true, I was invited to Annapolis by Michael Fay back in 1987 and on the way there he opened a copy of the Deed of Gift and read out about five lines to me which basically set out the requirements for a challenge as they were in 1887 and have been ever since. Among those was the fact that the challenger would supply a certificate of the yacht including the name of the owner, the name of the yacht, the rig and the four key dimensions, being the waterline length, the waterline beam, the maximum beam and the draft. These dimensions couldn¹t be exceeded, presumably they could be made a little bit smaller, but the idea would be that these would be the dimensions of the yacht.
Can you give us the in-brief of the BMW Oracle Deed of Gift challenge? The length is 90ft, the beam at waterline is 90ft and the extreme beam is 90ft which suggests that the boat is plum sided at the extremes. The hull depth is 3ft and there is an extra mention of the draft with the boards down being 20ft. So to me, if you think of waterline length you imagine running your hand along from the bow of the boat, it goes under the water at a certain point and continues under the water until it comes up 90ft later and that¹s the waterline length.
Sounds like a bit of a barge to me? Well if you use the same process to determine the waterline beam, then you go down at one point and you continue under water until you come up at another point and that¹s 90ft away, so yes I suppose Œbarge¹ would probably be the best single word to describe what we are talking about.
What are the perceived advantages from the GGYC/BOR¹s point of view in creating a challenge such as this? Perhaps, if they were thinking of opening up their design space and having smaller beams, the advantage would be that they are not limiting themselves, but I think in fairness to any Defender, they would want to stick to the boat that they have described.
I talked a little bit to Rolf [Vrolijk] about it, because the Dutch are renowned for designing barges and particularly barges with leeboards which can sail quite well. Even though he is excellent and inventive, it was obvious that he had no experience in barge design and neither does Dirk [Kramers] and so they are at a little bit of a handicap.
Presumably we would have to hurry up and learn how to do this. How long do you think BMW Oracle could have been working on their boat? It's hard to know, months obviously and possibly years. The challenge was lodged on 11 July 2007, but obviously they thought about it a long time before and so they have a big design edge and the Alinghi guys, I think, just hoped it would go away and depending on the court action, it could be a non-starter as there is a very tight timeframe. The 10 months notice would obviously be extended by the court action and the time it takes to do that, so that period will probably only start after the court order has been handed down. Click for Video
January 4, Big government - Big mess. From to-days Scuttlebutt: it is a wonder how stuff like this gets started, and how much time and money is spent to fix it. We asked Ashley Reed, who is the BoatU.S. Program Coordinator for Government Affairs, to provide the following update on this situation:
Your Help is Needed! For 34 years the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has exempted discharges from recreational boats from the Clean Water Act permit system. A recent court ruling cancelled this permit exemption. EPA is required by the court decision to develop and implement by September 30, 2008 a national permit system for ALL vessels in the United States for a variety of normal operational discharges like grey water, engine cooling water and deck runoff. BoatU.S. along with other industry groups has been working behind the scenes to come up with a legislative fix for this huge problem.
If nothing is done to solve this issue, you will have to pay for a permit for each boat that you operate including your dinghy, Laser, or motorboat in each state! It is important to note that there are already federal laws restricting the overboard discharge of oil, fuel, garbage and sewage. The proposed legislation will not alter any of these existing environmental restrictions.
In the U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) and Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI) have introduced H.R. 2550, which would exclude recreational boats from this permitting process. In the U.S. Senate Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) has introduced companion legislation S. 2067. They are currently 55 House co-sponsors and 11 Senate co-sponsors.
Currently each of the bills are stuck in committee [since November 28th], and we need the bills to come forward for a vote! Please contact both your 3 members of Congress (1 House & 2 Senators) and ask them to consider co-sponsoring H.R. 2550/S. 2067, or voting for the legislation when it comes before the full body.
If you would like more information on this legislation including: a copy of the bill language, sample letters to send to your members of Congress and background information please visit www.boatus.com/gov/fed_alert.asp or www.boatblue.org for a direct link to your members of Congress.
January 3, GBCA 'Hot Ticket' on way to Key West lost its rudder, Wednesday, January 2nd, around 1756 hrs...
From GBCA web page: Just talked to Andrea - Hot Ticket lost its rudder and EPERB went off about an hour ago. Using Andrea's coordinates from 1400 hrs and EPERB coordinates they are tracking their course. The Coast Guard has sent a helicopter. Possible cruise ship is 20 miles away. Everyone is fine. No problems except lots of wind, big seas and no rudder. More information as we get it.
By Jeff Kitterman on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 - 1847 hrs:
Hot Ticket lost it's rudder. As of 1904est the Coast Guard said there was a breach in the hull but that the pumps were keeping up with the water.
Flares were launched and a may-day was relayed via a cruise ship (SS Grandour) 20 miles from their position.
CG is responding from the Clearwater Fl. station and is 15 minutes from their location via rescue helicopter. The EPIRB is currently squacking their position at 25.29.2N and 084.19.7W
By Jeff Kitterman on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 - 1849hrs:
The helicopter is on scene. The hole in the hull is plugged. SARSAT says they will not pull them off the boat at this time but will dispatch "floating assets" to rendezvous with Hot Ticket. The CG said the boat is be-set by the weather. Floating assets are either Coast Guard vessels or commercial rescue and tow vessels in the area.
Current position is 25.29.2N, 084.19.7W
Their position is 150 miles WNW of Key West and 137 miles WSW of Sanibel.
Golden Gate YC's BMW Oracle Racing has broken off negotiations with SNG/Alinghi and will seek to race 33 America's Cup in multihulls during October 2008.
The US announcement comes after the Defender had turned down several offers prior to the New York Supreme Court decision, and a subsequent refusal to negotiate and missing meetings set up between skippers, Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts.
On Sunday, Golden Gate YC issued the following statement:
The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today it will compete for the next America's Cup according to the basic rules of the Deed of Gift, and will seek to have an upcoming Court Order confirm the regatta for October 2008.
'It is time to move on and know where we stand,' Russell Coutts, CEO of the club's BMW ORACLE Racing team, said.
'We had hoped to negotiate a conventional regatta under the Deed's mutual consent provisions. But the Defender has made it clear to us and the America's Cup community that they will not negotiate. We are now fully committed to a multihull event in 2008.
'If we are able to win, and Valencia and Spain are supportive, we would return to a conventional America's Cup regatta in Valencia in 2011 with fair and transparent rules agreed with the challengers by mutual consent,' he said.
On January 14th the New York State Supreme Court will review the Court Order to give effect to its November 27th ruling in favor of the GGYC. The club wants to have the Deed of Gift regatta as soon as possible and has asked the Court to provide for this.
The club has made a number of attempts before and since the Court's November 27th ruling to negotiate a conventional regatta, but the Defender has declined on each occasion to take up these offers.
For the other challengers the announcement will have major consequences.
Firstly, the earliest that there will be a multi-Challenger America's Cup will now be in 2011. That is a ridiculous gap for a same venue Defence, which has previously been three years and was slated to be wound back to a two year gap. The smaller timeframe allowed more sponsor value to given and costs reduced through a greater proportion of time required for racing and a lesser time available for testing and design.
Secondly, it is not known how many teams will actually be able to survive until 2011, given that there is still the opportunity for Appeal and prevarication by the Defender. Further there are currently no interim events scheduled before 2011, and with no targets likely to be set for almost another year, it is hard to see any teams doing anything other than dissolve, or at best close down operations completely for at least 12 months. In that case, whether they come around once the America's Cup defibrillator is applied.
The move from Golden Gate YC is understandable in that it is not really possible, from this point in time, to run dual multihull and AC90 campaigns in the face of a stonewall by the Swiss defender. However the consequences for the rest of the America's Cup community are very significant and uncertain - Golden Gate YC Media and Sail-World.
January 2, 3 people, dog rescued from sailboat off Galveston. The owner of sailboat rescued by the Coast Guard on New Year's Day is hoping to salvage the vessel and its cargo. Joe Butcher along with his wife, Terry, and brother, Doug, were returning to El Lago on their 42-foot sailboat, Red Cloud, with a load of 10,000 pounds of coffee when they were met by angry seas and fierce winds.
This morning, Joe Butcher, 45, was in discussions with Coast Guard officials about getting his boat from 200 miles off shore. The Butchers and their Schiepperke dog, Skipper, were rescued Tuesday by a Coast Guard helicopter when their boat started taking on water. The helicopter crew rushed 200 miles over the Gulf of Mexico to the vessel after receiving a report at about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday that the Butcher's sailboat was taking on water.
Battling 25-foot seas and 30- to 35-knot winds, the Coast Guard hoisted the Butchers and Skipper aboard the helicopter. Because of the distance involved, the helicopter crew had to land on an oil rig to refuel during the return to shore. Heavy winds kept the group on the rig for nearly a half hour.
The Butchers were returning to their home in El Lago on a maiden trip from San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye in Belize with a load of 10,000 pounds of coffee to sell through their El Lago Coffee Co - Ruth Rendon, HoustonChronicle
Click for full Houston Chronicle article and Video of Rescue