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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 2713 - Wednesday, October 29, 2008Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Today's sponsors are Hall Spars & Rigging and Holmatro. LOOKING FOR A JOB IN BOATING? COME TO RHODE ISLAND A report on Rhode Island's marine industry says that marine businesses in the state have an immediate need for nearly 500 skilled workers. Another 2,400 will need to be trained over the next five to 10 years in order to meet anticipated demand for the growth. "The Marine Trades in Rhode Island: A Skills Gap Analysis" was prepared for The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA) last February, but publicly released earlier this month. The report said that the 2,300-plus marine businesses in Rhode Island account for about 7 per cent of its private employers. That translates to 6,600 jobs and US$1.6 billion in annual sales. The businesses in the smallest US state include boat-related design shops, fibreglass and plastic fabrication, woodworking, sails/canvas and metalworking manufacturers, magazines and publishing businesses, yacht brokerage houses, chartering, rigging, engine repair, marina, moorage and docking services, marine-related retail businesses and yacht and sailing instruction and support services including a large community of professional sailors. "In short, the marine trades include all the skills involved in building, repairing, selling, servicing, transporting and using sail and power boats," read the report. When the report was released, there were 450 vacancies within the industry. It said that an additional 600 workers will be needed to fill the jobs of retiring personnel over the next four years, and three large expansion projects are likely to create an additional 750 marine-related jobs. The report noted that the average salary for marine industry jobs amounts to US$39,400, compared to the US$38,100 average pay for all industries in the state. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20080928140137ibinews.html SIT BACK, RELAX, AND ENJOY THE BEDLAM (Oct. 28, 2008; Day 18) - Since the fleet passed through the Fernando de Noronha scoring gate last Thursday, the initial plan had been clear: go due south until you think you are clear of the South Atlantic High, and then start turning left for Cape Town. At times the plan required teams to sail right angles to course, with Telefonica Blue once even sailing a reciprocal bearing. The stronger winds in the lower latitudes is well documented, but when the forecast called for a 40 knot freight train heading from left to right across your radio dial, the strategists knew what was at stake. First team to find the train would get the best seat. During the course of the race, PUMA skipper Ken Read had commented how much his team learned about sail combinations by maintaining visual contact with the Telefonica and Ericsson teams. However, when E4 jibed across his bow to head south on Monday, they lost their visual reference, and the PUMA team is now paying for it. When the train finally arrived today, with the updated forecast calling for three days of thirty knot winds, Ericsson 4 turned on the burners. By early afternoon, E4 had consolidated her southern position, reached up in front of PUMA… and proceeded to sail away. Now that the teams are aiming for the finish, E4 spent the day sailing faster than The Cat in these 130-140 degree true wind angle reaching conditions. Has Juan K done it again, improving on his 2005/6 VOR winner ABN Amro One for the Ericsson team? Commenting Read, “It’s a bit of a drag race now and my guess is ... the first boat that breaks loses.” The length of Leg One is 6500nm, with teams expected to finish by the first week in November. Current standings (as of Oct. 29, 1:00am GMT): 1. Ericsson 4, Torben Grael, 2000 nm Distance to Finish 2. Puma, Ken Read, 18 nm Distance to Lead 3. Green Dragon, Ian Walker, 52 nm DTL 4. Ericsson 3, Anders Lewander, 78 nm DTL 5. Telefonica Black, Fernando Echavarri, 88 nm DTL 6. Telefonica Blue, Bouwe Bekking, 97 nm DTL 7. Delta Lloyd, Ger O'Rourke, 184 nm DTL 8. Team Russia, Andreas Hanakamp, 228 nm DTL Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org * Kenny Read, PUMA skipper: Essentially the modern day racer is also part electrician and mechanic and all around "McGyver". We've had a few cases during this trip, and I can't tell you how impressive it is to watch these guys solve some issues that simply blow right over my head. Thank goodness they were all around for the entire build of the boat. In essence they also helped design the systems, which is one of the reasons why they are so comfortable with an issue that seems potentially so daunting to the non-mechanically inclined. It is always hopeful that the gremlins don't find the boat, but also somewhat unrealistic. Hopefully we can keep them away for the next few days though, or at least until someone turns the fans down a bit. -- http://tinyurl.com/69qvky GET READY It's coming and it's revolutionary. SCR 35 will change the game. But what is it? A radioactive isotope? An exotic new material? A radical design theory? Only Hall Spars & Rigging has it and we guarantee that you'll want it. Remember the name, SCR 35. The revolution begins Nov. 18 in hall 1, stand 407 at the METS trade show in Amsterdam. http://www.hallspars.com COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION ON BOATS NOT WANTED Some people want advertising on boats, and some people clearly don’t. One event that falls into the latter group is Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, which held its annual event September 27-October 4, 2008 in Saint-Tropez, France. This event is largely a classic boat gathering, with the organisers desiring to maintain the image of yesteryear and avoid the commercial exploitation on the boats. Over the years, however, modern boats have increasingly joined the event, and that is where a conflict occurred this year. When Dan Meyers chartered his Judel/Vrolijk 66 Numbers to Ernesto Bertarelli for the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the Swiss team was disqualified for not following the event rules. In Scuttlebutt 2702, Dan had submitted commentary on the incident, contending that the ISAF Advertising Code for the event was not clear. His strongly worded statement got the attention of the event organizers, who have responded with the following statement: “Les Voiles de Saint Tropez - and the Nioulargue before it - has always been contended within the framework of the Category A rules for advertising in accordance with ISAF Regulation 20 Advertising Code (RRS 79). This regulative framework is indicated in the Notice of Race, as well as in the Sailing Instructions given to the competitors during their registration. “At the end of the first race of the 2008 edition of Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, on September 29th, 21 boats were the object of a complaint for failing to respect the rule relating to advertising. These boats were properly informed by the Protest Committee and warned without sanction. “Two days later, on October 1st, 16 of the 21 boats initially charged were adapted so that they conformed to the rule. Five boats which had committed a second offence, along with five new boats, were properly summoned, for failing once again to respect the rule relating to advertising. None of these boats came forward to the Protest Committee. All of them were disqualified, as laid down in the International Racing Rules of Sailing.” -- Complete statement: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6599#6599 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Any additional information can be posted in the Scuttlebutt Forum by using the link above. ETNZ MOVES TO GET ALINGHI TO AUCKLAND REGATTA (Oct. 28, 2008) - Emirates Team New Zealand says it will withdraw its legal action against Alinghi to ensure the success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. ETNZ managing director Grant Dalton said today that Alinghi has committed to sending a competitive team to Auckland if the legal proceedings were withdrawn. “I have talked to Brad Butterworth tonight and have confirmed our position in writing. It is our view that this regatta - and Alinghi’s participation in it – is an important initiative towards repairing the harm that recent events have done to yacht racing at this level. For that reason we are prepared to respond positively to Alinghi’s commitment to the regatta by meeting its condition of discontinuing our proceedings.” Dalton said the regatta promised to be a big event for New Zealand. Louis Vuitton and team are well down the track in organising it. We have an obligation to the many organizations and individuals who are now working with us to do anything we can to ensure its total success. “For obvious reasons the regatta would not be the same without Alinghi’s participation. For a start our sailing team would like nothing more than meeting Butterworth and his team on Auckland Harbour in January-February. Entries close on October 31 and we needed to give Alinghi time to get their entry in.” The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series will be sailed from January 30 to February 14 2009. Twenty three sailing teams have expressed an interest in competing and up to 12 teams can be accommodated. * COINCIDENCE DEPARTMENT: On October 22nd, America’s Cup Defender Alinghi announced that they were re-launching the entry process of the 33rd America’s Cup, and invited both BMW Oracle Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand to enter the next match by the December 15th entry deadline, but only if they abandoned their respective legal proceedings. -- Complete announcement: http://www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/index.php?idIndex=200&idContent=17716 * ANNUAL REGATTA UPDATE: TeamOrigin, the British America’s Cup team, has confirmed its entry at the 2nd Trofeo Desafío Español, CNEV’s annual regatta that will be held in Valencia from November 6-9, joining Alinghi and Desafío Español in the ACC V5 regatta. Desafío Español is lending ESP88 to TeamOrigin for the racing. -- http://www.clubnauticoev.com FORTY YEARS OF HAPPY HANDICAPPING This past weekend, October 25 and 26, organizers of eleven Caribbean regattas met to discuss many aspects of putting on a quality yachting event and one of the hot topics was the Caribbean Sailing Association's handicapping system. The nearly thirty participants did not talk about the nitty-gritty of how a myriad of numbers gets plugged into a formula and a rating pops out, but rather, why this rule works so well in the Caribbean. Paul Miller, Director of Caribdata, led the session as he is uniquely qualified with a vast amount of experience with CSA as well as a number of other handicapping systems. For the past seven years Paul has been working closely with CSA, helping with the move to a paperless system and analyzing race results for fairness. He also can be seen at many events helping regatta organizers to register participants and then score races in record time. While a vast number of other handicapping systems have enjoyed short-term popularity before disappearing into obscurity, the CSA Rule has been in continuous use for more than forty years. Those in the know in the Caribbean have refused to give it up for the simple reason is that it works well for us. Here, as explained by Paul, are the reasons why. -- Read on: http://www.caribbeanracing.com/artman/publish/article_1032.shtml NOW IN THE USA: HOLMATRO RIGGING HYDRAULICS & SERVICE Choose from our broad range of rigging hydraulics that are well designed and highly qualitative. Our products come with a high service level. To be able to guarantee this service level, Holmatro trains its dealers for optimum product knowledge and servicing. Recently, eight of the US east coast’s finest rigging companies completed Holmatro USA’s first service training seminar at our facility in Maryland. Among them were Pro Rig / Southern Spars and Florida Rigging and Hydraulics. For a list of Holmatro service centers, please go to our website http://www.holmatro.com or telephone our Maryland headquarters at 410-745-2652. TEEN SAILOR GEARING UP FOR ROUND-THE-WORLD RECORD A UK teenager will take to the waves this Sunday in a bid to become the youngest person to sail single-handed around the world. Michael Perham, 16, who became the youngest person to sail single-handed across the Atlantic at the age of 14, was confident about the trip’s success. If all goes to plan, the intrepid youngster is due to set off in his boat, an Open 50 sailing yacht named Totallymoney.com after the main sponsor, from Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth on Sunday. However, he won’t know his departure date for definite until later in the week as it will depend on final equipment checks to the boat, which are out of his hands. “I am galvanising all my energy to leave on that date, but it’s only 50:50 at the moment,” he said. “What’s most important is that the boat is perfect.” Having raised $254,000 U.S. for his four-month journey, he is still hoping for a further $63,000 U.S. to help pay for expensive communications equipment. His father, Peter, voiced disappointment that sponsors had not stepped forward. He said: “The most frustrating thing about the trip is that we haven’t managed to get sponsorship for communications, because that is really what the trip is all about. “ -- Times, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/577hn2 JOYON IS BACK IN THE SADDLE (Oct. 28, 2008) The 97-foot maxi trimaran IDEC triggered the stopwatch off Cadiz at 05:30:57 UTC on Tuesday morning as French skipper Francis Joyon (FRA) began his attempt to break the singlehanded Discovery Route record. Joyon - one of the nominees for the 2008 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards after smashing the solo round the world record earlier this year - is aiming to better the time of 10 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes and 46 seconds set by fellow Frenchman Thomas Coville onboard the 60ft trimaran Sodebo back in July 2005. The so-called Discovery Route, named after the historical track taken by Christopher COLUMBUS, covers 3,884 nautical miles between Cadiz, Spain and San Salvador, El Salvador. -- ISAF, read on: http://www.sailing.org/25765.php?PHPSESSID=a26961858068f139dd3b4361621d301b NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM AT HARKEN Pewaukee, WI (Oct. 28, 2008) - Peter and Olaf Harken and their Board of Directors announced today their appointment of Harken Yacht Equipment’s new leadership team. The purpose of these appointments is to carefully position Harken for continued success in the future. Harken Italy's General Manager Giampaolo Spera has been named CEO for Harken's Global Operations. Giampaolo will also continue as Harken Italy’s General Manager. Harken's Commercial Manager Bill Goggins has been named CEO of Harken USA, and will report to Spera. The Board also named Andrea Merello as Harken Italy's Vice General Manager. Bob Sweet will continue as Harken's Global CFO and will now report to Spera. The announcement of the new leadership team does not involve any change of ownership to Harken. Peter and Olaf Harken will continue to own the business and remain active in the company in their role as Co-Chairmen of the Board of Directors. "Investing in the strongest leaders that have helped us get to where we are today makes the most sense for Harken’s future," explained Peter and Olaf Harken. "Just like in yacht racing, you want to hand over the helm in the most planned and smooth transition possible. This is an announcement of our continued involvement with our company, and more importantly our continued investment in our people and in our company's future," explained the Harken brothers. -- Complete announcement: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6600 SAILING SHORTS * The annual awards ceremony organised by the Observeur du Design in Paris announced that BIC Sport and Vitali Designs were awarded the Etoile du Design 2009 for the O’pen BIC, with a special award from OSEO. The jury was especially impressed with its innovative design made for children, the specific choice of its materials, and its environment-friendly manufacturing process. The French agency for the promotion of creation and design, the APCI, has been organizing since 1999 this annual award ceremony which is aimed at rewarding businesses and designers coming together to produce innovative products. -- http://www.apci.asso.fr * Flying Scot, Inc. will be providing eleven new Flying Scots to the 2009 Adams Cup finals at Bay Waveland Yacht Club near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. These boats will not have been sailed prior to the event and could be picked up after the event on September 26, 2009 at a great price. -- Full details: http://www.fssa.com/fsblog/2008_10_01_archive.html * Lewmar Marine has announced the departure of Peter O'Connell as CEO of the company. Peter Tierney, Lewmar chairman, has been chosen by the group's Board of Directors to replace O'Connell with immediate effect. "In these difficult economic times, we have to continually strive to be successful," says Tierney, who has spent the last 12 years as CEO of various technical manufacturing and service business. -- IBI Magazine, full story: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20080928152919ibinews.html * Thom Dammrich, president of NMMA and chairman of Grow Boating, said in an open letter to the marine industry that the Grow Boating initiative will continue, despite the suspension of its national ad campaign and other structural changes announced last week. While insisting that the initiative has always been about more than being a "30-second commercial," Dammrich outlined many of the positive results of the four-year campaign. He also aimed the letter at those who have "misinterpreted" the changes "as the end of Grow Boating". Instead of paraphrasing parts of Dammrich's letter, IBI is reprinting it here in its entirety: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20080927145647ibinews.html ‘FRESH TO FRIGHTENING’ FOR MELGES 24 CHAMPIONSHIP Annapolis, MD (Oct. 28, 2008) - For the forty-nine competing teams at the Melges 24 North Americans, the conditions today are best described as ‘fresh to frightening’, and with the practice race cancelled, most of the competitors wisely contenting themselves with final preparations, sail measurement and general boat faff, a few hardy teams have ventured on to the water. Giovanni Maspero’s Italian Joe Fly team told me that the conditions for their hour long sail were pretty extreme. ‘It is too windy really to be racing. Going down wind it was blowing around thirty when we hoisted. We nosedived several times and there was no chance of trying a gybe so we just managed a panic drop before struggling back upwind.’ My view is if these guys think it’s too windy then we can all safely assume that it really is. With no chance of racing today the focus is now moving to the first of the week’s social engagement – the Pusser’s Rum Crew Party. With big breezes likely for the start of the Championship on Wednesday the fist trick tactical call might just be how much the crews will allow themselves to cut loose this evening. -- http://blog.melges24.com/?cat=3 EIGHT BELLS Easton, MD - Hal Roth, two-time Around Alone competitor and author of 12 books, has died at the age of 81. Roth died on Oct. 18 after a 2 1/2-year battle with lung cancer, according to his wife, Margaret. In 1966, Roth and his wife quit their jobs and began a 19-month journey around the Pacific on an 11-metre sloop. The adventure led to his first sailing book, "Two on a Big Ocean."Publisher McGraw-Hill later coupled that book with two other critically acclaimed titles, "Two Against Cape Horn" and "The Longest Race," to produce "The Hal Roth Seafaring Trilogy," released in 2005. Hal and Margaret Roth sailed around the world together from 1981 to 1985, and Roth later competed in two solo round-the-world races. The couple also retraced the path of Homer's Odysseus. "We had an amazing life," Margaret said. "We were married for 48 years and a large part of that we lived on our boat, on our yacht. That became our home and so we were very close together when we sailed." Roth's last book, "Handling Storms at Sea," will be published this month, his wife said. -- http://onlineathens.com/stories/102508/obi_348003652.shtml CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, ‘It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.’”-- Babe Ruth Special thanks to Hall Spars & Rigging and Holmatro. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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