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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 2921 - Wednesday, September 2, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Melges Performance Sailboats and Team One Newport. NEWBIE VIEW OF WORLD’S TOUGHEST DINGHY RACE The concept of the Archipelago Raid is simple. Each team sails intensely for six days on a Formula 18 catamaran, along a unique 500-mile course drawn among the hundreds and thousands of islands, islets and rocks of the Swedish, Finnish and Aland archipelago. On the way, competitors must find two dozen checkpoints, and must carry enough food and spares to endure and fix the breakages along the way. This is a report from Team Cobalt (Luke Yeates and Matt Humphreys, UK), who this month were the top rookie team in the 2009 race, finishing eighth overall: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Having spent the last six months preparing for a race we didn’t know how to prepare for we loaded our Sea-Sure sponsored van and headed off to Stockholm. After 26 hours and a lot of fuel we arrived at Lidingo just outside Stockholm, the start area for the race. Twenty-six boats made it to the start, and with many Olympic, Volvo Ocean race, and America’s Cup sailors in our midst, we knew that we going to be up against it! We loaded the boat with six days worth of food and drink as well as a load of spare parts. This included two spare dagger boards and a spare spinnaker, after hearing competitor’s tales about the previous races. It was going to be a tough race; previous editions have broken sailors and boats alike. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0827/ FORM GUIDE - 6 METER WORLDS By Matt Cockburn “If your eye is on the Twelve-Meters and the America’s Cup, a real live Six is better than tank testing. But racing a Six-Meter is sufficient reward in itself. Faster boats for their length and sail area have been designed, but none with quite the same feel, nor more deserving of the term thoroughbred.” - Bob Bavier, America’s Cup winner and six meter veteran in Yachting, July 1979 Preparations have been made and boats from the USA West Coast, East Coast, Europe and New Zealand have converged on Newport, Rhode Island for the 2009 International 6 Metre World Cup on September 7-12. This is the 17th running of the event which was first held in Seattle in 1973. Back then there was no distinction between the Moderns and the Classics, so it is somewhat ironic that for a class that has brought much innovation and development to sailing through the past century, the vast majority of interest these days is in the old boats, the Classic division, which are defined as boats designed before 1965. -- Read on: http://www.6mrnorthamerica.com/2009worldcuppreview.html * Video preview of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7sxmpXbhPA MELGES 32 WORLDS, MELGES 24 WORLDS, AUDI MELGES 20 CIRCUIT Coming soon - some HOT Melges Racing with World Titles on the line. The Melges 32 Worlds begins later this month in Porto Cervo, Italy. The Melges 24 Worlds will be held in Annapolis, Maryland and the top teams worldwide will be present. The Audi Melges 20 Class announced their Winter Series circuit at the class National Championship a week ago. Check out the dates and locations at melges20.com. Time to GO MELGES. -- http://www.melges.com DID ALINGHI SUFFER A MAJOR STRUCTURAL FAILURE? Alinghi 5, the catamaran built by Ernesto Bertarelli for Switzerland's defence of the America's Cup, is reported to have suffered a major structural failure while testing in light winds on the Mediterranean. The 120ft high-tech craft, flown over the Alps by helicopter from Geneva to Genoa, is reputed to have cost in excess of £20m ($32m) to design and build. Observers of the testing claim that the carbon-fibre structural beam that runs from the centre of the main crossbeam at the mast to the aft cross beam close to the starboard hull, was fractured in the incident, which occurred in nine knots and a flat sea. The sails were dropped and the catamaran towed slowly back to its base, where the mast was removed immediately. Alinghi sources say that for the past week the team have been doing nothing more than "ongoing work and routine maintenance" and that this was afforded by "a suitable weather window for carrying out this work." -- Bob Fisher, The Guardian, full story: http://tinyurl.com/mdjqya TO INCLUDE THE RUDDER, OR NOT TO INCLUDE THE RUDDER Measurement rules are expected to be another issue of the 33rd America’s Cup, particularly that of waterline length. While the Defender's club, Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), have been careful to roll over the Measurement rules that were announced for the last Deed of Gift Match in 1988, these have created some anomalies in 2009. One case in point is the measurement of water line length which is taken between the two extreme points of immersion on the hull of the Challenger. Golden Gate Yacht Club’s concerns are believed to be that with their transom hung rudder, they create a very long boat possibly longer than the 90ft LWL maximum and would therefore be illegal and disqualified. As the rules were published after the BOR90 yacht was launched, the Challenger is in the position of having to possibly shorten their yacht to comply. -- Richard Gladwell, Sail-World, complete report: http://tinyurl.com/mw696g DURING THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II By Guy Gurney With all the current news about the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II (on Sept 1, 1939), I was wondering if Scuttlebutt readers realized that the Star World Championship was in progress that same week in 1939, in Kiel, Germany. Here, from the Star Log (yearbook) of 1940, are the closing paragraphs of a report by Elizabeth Miller on the 1939 Star Worlds. The championship was won by Walther Von Hutschler (winner in 1938 also), who a few years previously had introduced the modern concept of bendy masts to the world. The great Italian sailor Augusto Straulino was second. Twenty-one Stars from seven nations competed. Read on: "Thursday night there was no entertainment, as this had been chosen for rest day. The disquiet of war fell upon us, and we sat around the Olympiaheim in small groups, swapping bits of information, indicative of coming trouble. England, Italy and America sat drinking sherry, waiting for occasional bulletins brought to us by Naval Officers, who left no stone unturned to aid us in our information and following plans. Many were the conversations with Consulates and high officials, all repeated to friends, equally anxious to know the latest developments. For once, the usual September conversation changed from "roaches," keels, and "Point A's" to train times, steamships and money, leaving us all stunned that the usual gay wind-up of the Championship series could so quickly turn into sober channels.” -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8169#8169 BUMPER CROP OF CHAMPIONS Top sailing athletes don’t begin the season wondering what adulations their national sailing authorities will adorn them with. The elite sailor has his or her events, they go after them, and at the end of the year they evaluate their performance. If the year goes well, everything else is icing on the cake. For all the American sailors that racked up major victories in 2008, the biggest sugar rush went to Terry Hutchinson and Anna Tunnicliffe who were selected to receive the US SAILING's Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards. But that was then, and 2009 is now. While these two will certainly be in the running again, there is a bumper crop of 2009 Champs in their midst: Paige Railey - Laser Radial European Champ Jim Richardson/crew - Farr 40 World Champ George Szabo/Rick Peters - Star World Champ Bora Gulari - Moth World Champ Mike Martin/Jeff Nelson - 505 World Champ And there could be more before we are done: Snipe Worlds are in San Diego, CA on Sept. 7-11 Lightning Worlds are in Colchester, VT on Sept. 13-18 Melges 32 Worlds are in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy on Sept. 23-27 Sunfish Worlds are in Nassau, Bahamas on Oct. 19-23 Melges 24 Worlds are in Annapolis, MD on Oct. 26-31 Nominations for the American Rolex award open on September 30th and end on November 30th. Are we forgetting any big victories? Post it here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/09/world-champs.html THE ULTIMATE SAILING CALENDAR HAS ARRIVED Team One Newport is where you can get your 2010 Ultimate Sailing Calendar by Sharon Green NOW, plus take a look at the very cool new accessories for the fall season. Visit http://www.team1newport.com/products.asp?dept=302 to see the calendar and the beautiful new sailplan canvas totes, bags, dopp kits, and Martha’s favorite - Jack Sutphen’s book. Team One Newport is world renown as the Foul Weather Gear experts and they make great crew uniforms too. Items are now available online for the 6 Metre Worlds and NYYC Invitational Cup (in the Merchandising Gear section). Want to speak to a person? Call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327). -- http://www.team1newport.com/ BLACKALLER TRIBUTE AT RBBS San Francisco, CA, USA (September 2, 2009) - With one week until the start of the 2009 Rolex Big Boat Series, St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC) Race Office is busy coordinating the many logistical details that accompany running one of the world’s most-loved regattas. Racing this year is scheduled for September 10-13, and includes racing in seven one-design classes - 1D35, Beneteau 36.7, Express 37, J/105, J/120, Melges 32 and, for the first time, the Cal 40 class, as well as divisions for IRC-rated entries. At the conclusion of the four-day regatta, specially engraved Rolex timepieces will be awarded to the St. Francis Yacht Club’s six Perpetual Trophy winners and to the overall IRC winner as the Rolex US-IRC National Champion. Although the Rolex Big Boat Series will be celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, another occurrence will take center stage, the StFYC’s tribute to the late Tom Blackaller. As is tradition for Rolex Big Boat Series, the classes that will compete for each of the StFYC’s Perpetual Trophies will be kept a secret until they are announced at the Rolex Commodore’s Reception on Wednesday, September 9. At the reception, hosted by StFYC Commodore John McNeill, the club will pay homage to Blackaller, a member of the StFYC who passed away in 1989, with a special presentation lead by Paul Cayard. “It just seemed logical to do something special to remember such a great personality and great sailor,” said Cayard, a StFYC member who refers to Blackaller as his “sailing father, someone who had a huge effect on my sailing career”. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0901/ * Scuttlebutt has a stirring tribute from Paul Cayard that will soon be added to the Forum thread, “Remembering Tom Blackaller - 20th Anniversary”. New entries are posted now from Peter Isler, Scott Kaufman, Jeff Madrigali, Howard Palmer, Brendan Dobroth, and Bruce Munro. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8054 SUPPORTING NEW ENGLAND YOUTH SAILORS The FAST Sailing Foundation has withdrawn its request for a sailing school partnership with Jamestown, RI. The Newport-based group expects to resubmit a proposal eventually, but, for now, the deal is off the table. FAST is currently based at the Sail Newport Sailing Center at Ft. Adams State Park. The nonprofit group, which was founded in 2002, has sought to build a permanent home at Ft. Getty since 2004. FAST board member Robert Salk described Ft. Getty as “an absolute gem - an incredible place for adult or junior sailing. You have protected sailing in Dutch Harbor, access to the bay and almost immediate access to the ocean.” The location is ideal, said Salk, for FAST to pursue its mission: to put young New England sailors in the top echelon of sailboat racing. “We started out with the issue that New England sailors couldn’t succeed in national-level regattas,” Salk said. “Seven years ago, they were all finishing in the bottom half, and we figured out that what was going on was that the better sailors were sailing 12 months a year, whereas New England sailors - Rhode Island sailors in particular - were sailing eight weeks a year. They’d put their boats away in late August, and not sail again until the following June. “So a group of us - three or four Jamestown families, a couple of families in Newport and Middletown, and some people from Connecticut - started the foundation to supplement the sailing opportunities provided by yacht clubs. We import the best coaches in the country to help young sailors achieve their personal goals, and we’ve been very successful at that.” -- Jamestown Press, full story: http://tinyurl.com/mcnqma SAILING SHORTS * Halifax, NS (September 1, 2009; Day 3) - A shifty offshore wind of 6 to 15 knots set the table today for the 2009 Nautel Laser Masters World Championship on St. Margaret’s Bay. Among the age divisions, it continues to be a tight race with the top ten sailors in the Masters Full Rig (45 to 54 years old) within seven points of each other. Arnoud Hummel of the Netherlands has moved to first, American Scott Ferguson in second and Canadian Andy Roy in third. In the Great Grand Master class for Radial sailors 65 and older; the field of 43 is lead by American Peter Seidenberg. -- Full story: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8176#8176 * The 11th annual Boston In-Water Boat Show has been cancelled, according to a release from organizers. The 2009 show, which was scheduled for Oct. 1-4 at the Seaport World Trade Center on Boston Harbor, suffered from a lack of exhibitor support. The Boston In-Water Boat Show is owned by Boat Shows Inc., a subsidiary of the Massachusetts Marine Trades Association. -- Boating Industry, full story: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2268757 * Olympic gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt was on hand to help celebrate the announcement that Jamaica will field an entry in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. The boat, named Jamaica Lightning Bolt, in honour of the fastest man on earth, will compete against nine identical stripped down 68-foot yachts in the 35,000-mile race around the world. It sees the Caribbean island’s return to the event after first fielding an entry in the 07-08 running of the Clipper race. -- Full story: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/race_news/?item=590 * The Games section of the Scuttlebutt website has been updated, with the listings removed that no longer worked, and a new game added. Have you been bothered by flies this summer, and need a tool to keep up your skills? Try the Fly Swatter game: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/#games RANDOM RECORDS Since the International Sailing Federation and its record keeping watchdog, the World Sailing Speed Record Council, have stated that they only want to oversee the big time speed records, who is going to pick up the slack for all the other historic milestones in the sport of sailing? The scope of Guinness World Records is just too varied, as they simply cannot be sufficiently expert to fully grasp the details of a record like this recent claim, where Kevin Grainger is believed to be the winner of the Longest J/105 Match Race when his GUMPTION3 (USA 59) faced off against Damian Emery and ECLIPSE (USA 50) in the 47.6-mile Stamford Yacht Club Overnight Race on August 21-22. Who will ratify this record? Read the full report here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8159 CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Was learning cursive really necessary? Special thanks to Melges Performance Sailboats and Team One Newport. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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