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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 3037 - Friday, February 26, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors: North U. and Doyle Sails. TWO DOWN - TWO TO GO By Dean Brenner, U.S. Olympic Sailing Chairman We’re now into our second year of the quadrennium, and the reality of the four-year Olympic cycle is that each year those who are serious about medaling at the Games in 2012 need to be a little bit sharper, a little bit better. Constant improvement is the name of the game in Olympic and Paralympic sailing. And as I sit here in February 2010, and look at our program, a couple of thoughts come to mind. First, we just completed US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR and our team did well. We’re all proud of how the team performed on the water, and I’m equally proud of some of the other noticeable improvements we are making with the program. It was obvious to me that the rest of the world is taking notice of the growing strength of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. I know it because I’m hearing about it from other coaches and team leaders. As I said to the Team at our Annual Meeting last month, “our plan is working.” The long-term plan to reinvigorate Olympic and Paralympic Sailing in the USA is clearly on track. There is no doubt in my mind, and the results last month in Miami were but the latest proof. Second, as I look around at the athletes who have succeeded, and are succeeding at the Olympic and Paralympic level, I see a few common characteristics. And the best way to describe these characteristics is to recount a conversation I had recently with a good friend and former coach of mine, Ron Rosenberg. We were discussing what we have seen over the years from various sailors and we were trying to capture a way to articulate the formula for sailing success. And here is what we came up with: High Performance = (Skill + Commitment) - Distraction What I like about this is that it calls out two key variables in your potential success – skill AND commitment. Skill is great and in many ways is required in Olympic sailing. But it is not nearly enough. There are tons of great sailors who never get within sniffing distance of winning an Olympic medal. Only when some skill (and not always even the greatest skill!) is combined with serious commitment do we start see results to be proud of. Skill AND Commitment are required. I’m absolutely certain of it. -- Read on: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Releases/Formula_for_Sailing_Success.htm LARGEST INTER-CLUB EVENT IN THE U.S.? Twenty-four yacht clubs have accepted the New York Yacht Club’s invitation to compete for spots in the second biennial New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, to be sailed in Newport, R.I., September 10-17, 2011. The U.S. Qualifying Series will be held in Newport, RI this summer on September 7-11. The U.S. Qualifying Series is an invitational fleet racing regatta to be sailed in Sonars and J/22s. The goal is to select three U.S. yacht club teams who will be invited to participate in the NYYC Invitational Cup held in Swan 42 Class yachts. The U.S. Qualifying Series is the only opportunity for U.S. Yacht Clubs to earn an invitation to the 2011 NYYC Invitational Cup. Competing in the qualifying series are American in Rye, N.Y.; Annapolis; Bayview in Detroit; Boston in Marblehead, Mass.; Carolina in Charleston, S.C.; Eastern in Marblehead, Mass.; Fishing Bay in Deltaville, Va.; Fort Worth Boat Club in Texas; Ida Lewis in Newport, R.I.; Indian Harbor in Greenwich, Conn.; Larchmont in New York; Little Traverse in Harbor Springs, Mich.; Long Beach in California; Newport Harbor in Newport Beach, Calif.; Pequot in Southport, Conn.; Rochester in New York; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Seawanhaka Corinthian in Oyster Bay, N.Y.; Southern in New Orleans; St. Francis in San Francisco; St. Petersburg in Florida; and Stamford in Connecticut. Competing in the qualifying series are American Yacht Club in Rye, NY Annapolis Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, MI Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA Carolina Yacht Club in Charleston, SC Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville, VA Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, RI Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont , NY Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI Long Beach Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, CT Rochester Yacht Club in Rochester, NY San Diego Yacht Club IN San Diego, CA San Francisco Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA Seattle Yacht Club in Seattle, WA Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, NY Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, LA St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, FL Stamford Yacht Club in Stamford, CT The top U.S. teams will join the top six teams from 2009: New York, Royal Canadian, Japan Sailing Federation, Nyländska Jaktklubben of Finland; Royal Cork of Ireland and Royal Bermuda, plus at least 10 other international teams, to be invited in the spring of 2010. Complete report: http://nyyc.org/home/article_680/ NORTH U DIRECTOR BILL GLADSTONE... ... invites you to the 10th annual Performance Race Week: “I should tell you to come to improve your tactics, strategy, sail trim, spinnaker handling and helming. I could draw you in by detailing how much you'll learn from our team of instructors. I might entice you with the combination of onboard coaching, on-the-water clinics, shoreside seminars and video review. But the ‘closer’ is the fun!” Come to Captiva Island, Florida April 18-24 for an incredible racing vacation, and as a bonus, go home a winning racer! Call Offshore now at 888-454-7015 or visit http://www.offshoresailing.com FOR THE RECORD (Day 26 - February 25, 2010; 17:34 UTC) - For skipper Franck Cammas and his team, the 25 to 30 knot SW to W'ly wind blowing offshore of Campbell Island, 350 miles to the South of New Zealand, has enabled their 103-foot Groupama 3 to make good headway to the SE, which is particularly positive in terms of the gains made in relation to the goal. Indeed the further South the boat sails, the shorter the distance she will have to cover to make Cape Horn. This is the principle behind the "La mer est ronde" (The Sea is Round - Deniau): not only has Groupama 3 been stretching out her lead over Orange 2 since the Crozet Islands, but she also has less distance to cover to get to the third cape in the Jules Verne Trophy! Their excellent VMG (velocity made good) is also scheduled to continue over the next few days too. Indeed a front is in the process of catching up with the giant trimaran, which will cause the breeze to shift round to the NW; an extremely favourable rotation for slipping along towards Cape Horn. In fact current routing is announcing a rounding of this bare rock at the end of next week. Notes skipper Cammas, "By Thursday we won't be far off Cape Horn and it'll be a real deliverance because we'll be back in milder, warmer lands again. Right now though, it's becoming increasingly cold!” -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ychm4vm Current position as of February 25, 2010 (22:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +395.2 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 29.5 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 706.9 nm Distance to go: 11,108 nm Data: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/positions.asp?lg=en Map: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/index.asp?lg=en * After their start on January 31, 2010, Franck Cammas and his nine crew on Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before March 23rd (06:14:57 UTC) to establish a new time for the Jules Verne Trophy (21,760 nm) for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions. Current record holder is Bruno Peyron and crew, who in 2005 sailed Orange 2 to a time of 50 days, 16 hours, and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. NO FEE FOR COAST GUARD SERVICES At approximately 4:00 p.m., on Tuesday, the Coast Guard received a report of a kite-surfing kite in the water off of Pilot Rock near Trinidad, Calif. and immediately initiated a 9-hour search mission involving two 47-foot Motor Lifeboats from Station Humboldt Bay and three helicopter sorties from Air Station Humboldt Bay. The search was suspended as the aircraft and rescue boat had saturated the search area with negative results. Also, no one had reported a missing kite or missing surfers in the area. Hours after suspending the search, the Coast Guard received a phone call from a professor at Humboldt State University who is an avid kite surfer. He said that there are only approximately 10 highly active kite surfers in the area. After the Coast Guard described the kite that had been recovered by the Coast Guard rescue boat, the professor was able to determine that the kite belonged to a Humboldt State University student and that the student was safely ashore. The Coast Guard then contacted the surfer and he positively identified his kite. He stated that he had a gear failure and was getting pulled out to sea when he cut himself free of the harness and began to swim to shore from a position 60-feet outside of the breakers off of Clam Beach. The surfer told the Coast Guard that he almost broadcasted a distress signal to his friend, a safety spotter on the beach, but he became concerned about the possible costs he would incur if he got rescued by the Coast Guard. “All U.S. Coast Guard services are free of charge. It is important for all those who are in need of assistance to not hesitate to call the Coast Guard if they are in distress,” said Lt. Todd Vorenkamp. “It is important to use the ‘buddy system’ and it was terrific that this surfer had positioned a safety observer on the beach and had planned for several contingencies. However, he did make a judgment error in not contacting the Coast Guard to tell us that he had abandoned his kite.” -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ydofgrd SAILING SHORTS * The 1,000 mile Vallarta Race 2010 from San Diego to Punta Mita near Puerto Vallarta is completed, with Lorenzo Behro and the crew of Peligroso (Kernan 68) taking the first overall corrected time title. Other notables are Akela (R/P 77) for destroying the course record and finishing of 2nd overall correct time, Alchemy (Andrews 68) for their 3rd overall and 1st in Div 2 finish, and Horizon (Santa Cruz 50) for their victory in Div 3. -- Event website: http://www.sdyc.org/pv/index.htm * (February 25, 2010) - Following the RORC Caribbean 600 start on February 22nd, the Karl Kwok’s 80-foot Farr designed Beau Geste led the 24 entrants to take line honors early today, covering the 605 mile course around 14 Caribbean islands in an elapsed time of 2 days, 11 hours, 21 minutes, 13 seconds. The yacht with the biggest chance to topple Beau Geste from the top of the rankings is Richard Bamford’s Swan 38, Dolfijn, which must finish by 18:45:19 Friday to take the lead. -- Event website: http://caribbean600.rorc.org/ * Dubai , UAE (February 25, 2010) - Following the three day match racing segment of the Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy on Wednesday, Markus Wieser and his team Team Sea Dubai were atop the standings of the opening event for the 2010 RC 44 Championship tour. Today the program shifted to fleet racing, where Chris Bake and his Team Aqua dominated the first day with two victories and two second places. The team from the UAE sits seven points ahead of Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis and Igor Lah’s Ceeref with two more days of racing ahead. -- Full report: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2258 * (February 25, 2010) - The Milwaukee Community Sailing Center has completed its $1.7 million facility at 1450 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, and staff began to move in today. The project was privately funded with more than 500 people, organizations and companies contributing to develop the new building, which has many environmentally friendly features, including a geothermal system. The Milwaukee Community Sailing Center (MCSC) is a non-profit agency providing educational and recreational sailing programs to the greater Milwaukee community. -- http://tinyurl.com/yd8pjnk WINNING WITH CFD While there were distractions, in the end the 33rd America’s Cup was a triumph of technology and skill. Most impressive was how fast BMW-Oracle introduced new technology. Larry Ellison commented: “We trusted our CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics] and went forward with the Wing.” Some of Doyle's CFD work caught the attention of BMW-Oracle CFD personnel. Weeks before the Cup, they came by to meet with Doyle CFD’s team. While they provided no specifics, they politely said if the “CFD” is right, the Wing is right, and we should win! Learn more about Doyle’s CFD capabilities: http://www.doylesails.com/CFD ETCHELLS MOVING DAY The Florida State Championship, the third of four events that comprise the Etchells Jaguar Series, is on the calendar for the weekend. With record snow and record lows around the country, chilled sailors hopping on planes tonight (Thursday) and Friday will find upon landing in Miami that it has finally reverted back to traditional balmy winter weather. Now halfway through the series, we start to see the cream rise to the top with many of the series regular winners in contention for the overall trophy. At the moment the order of potential overall series winners are: Bill Hardesty, Jeff Siegal, Marvin Beckman, Dirk Kneulman, and Tony Rey (Tony and Dirk are tied). And speaking of competition, a lot of these guys and gals will be packing up lickety-split after the final Jag race in March and hitting Highway 10 West en route to San Diego. This year the Etchells North Americans are being hosted at the San Diego Yacht Club and the entry list is rumored to be chock full of great racers. But we’ll save that news for another day. -- Paige Brooks, complete report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/jaguar/#3 PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include sunrise in the Caribbean, new and old in the Persian Gulf, blast reaching in Tampa Bay, Cup-mania in San Francisco and San Diego, wings in Quebec, and Thistles out west. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0226/ VIDEO OF THE WEEK With the new route for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race soon to be released, let's refresh our memory on the extreme sailing that occurs during this event. Regarded as one of the best kept secrets in sailing, the inside of a Volvo 70 is rarely seen or photographed. Thankfully, skipper Ken Read, whose PUMA Racing Team finished second in the 08-9 race, takes us through the ins and outs of PUMA's il mostro. You can decide for yourself if you're up to the challenge of living in this luxury for nine months. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0226/ * If you have a video you like, please send your suggestion for next week’s Video of the Week to mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com * REPLAY: If you missed out on watching either of the two races from the 33rd America’s Cup, here are the links to watch the replay: Race 1: http://tinyurl.com/AC33-Race-1 Race 2: http://tinyurl.com/AC33-Race-2 LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From James Plagenhoef: I read your two articles regarding wing technology with great interest. It is timely to discuss the practicality of wings for America’s Cup competition but it was contradictory that the next article touted a very practical commercial application. I would argue that both are correct. David Hubbard is correct that a winged multi-hull, similar to BMW/Oracle is difficult to manage and if you had 10 or 20 large winged multi-hulls that had to be “stored” every night on the Bay, it would create some logistical nightmares. But it is also correct that given the proven efficiency of the wing coupled with smart controls, wings are a viable alternative and have a place if applied properly. Kimball Livingston, in his article the “Future of Sailing” published here on Scuttlebutt, highlighted the innovation of Harbor Wing Technologies and the application in the area of Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vessel (think Air Force Predator for the water), commercial applications such as ferries for the Bay and a computer controlled WingSail for the average sailor who cannot, or does not want to, muscle sails around but does not want to burn gallons of diesel for the pleasure of being on the water. All of these are viable and proper uses of the WingSail technology. If those mapping the future of the America’s Cup can look beyond what they have done in the past and evaluate different ways to applying the technology, they too might find a way to incorporate the amazing technology that is a WingSail. * From Kimball Livingston: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3036) I have two reactions to Ken Quant's assertion that we should "make a concerted effort to replace the AC as our sport's most high profile event." 1) The idea has been floating a long while, with no traction. 2) Ken objects to the courtroom downers of the last two years and repeats what we all know: the 33rd match should never have taken place as it did. But turn you eyes forward. Imagine high performance boats on San Francisco Bay--I don't care how many hulls they have--with the seabreeze tooting and whitecaps rolling and cable cars climbing halfway to the stars and races starting on schedule and you have a thing of beauty. The America's Cup can yet do us proud. And we don't have to invent it; we just have to reinvent it. * From Howard D. Paul: To suggest that the east coast is the best place to hold the next America’s Cup because of all the sponsorships that could be obtained is questionable at best. As I think back I am hard pressed to remember when the New York Yacht Club or any East Coast yacht club last participated as a challenger or defender. Where have these sponsors been? A few facts might be in order. California has the 8th largest economy in the world! California is the gateway to Asia. San Francisco is the home to the largest Bio Tech firm in the world and Silicon Valley. It has a long tradition of holding some of the best yacht racing in the US. People from all over the world travel to see this great city. Last but not least, the winner of the America’s Cup (now the Defender) is from the Bay Area! * From Jim Champ (re, Alinghi/SNG Race Committee) In the midst of the characteristic Internet witch hunt are we not losing a sense of proportion? These hapless losers have dragged the name of their club through the mire and are a source of derision internationally. I can't imagine them ever being welcome on the committee boat at an International event again. For the rest of their lives they are going to be the source of mockery behind their backs, and every time the Americas Cup is mentioned to them there will be this sense of guilty regret. As a result of their actions their club's tenure of the Americas Cup will always have a black mark against it. And for all that what did they actually do: achieve probably a two or three minute delay in the race start. It’s been said that the real delight of the devil lies not in Faustian pacts, but in taking away someone's integrity and self respect and giving them nothing in return. And nothing is what these fools achieved. Maybe make the point by formalising a ban from the International Committee boats they'll be unwelcome on anyway, but beyond that - what sanction could ISAF impose that would be worse than what they've already brought down on themselves: people who've dragged their own names through the mud for way beyond their own lifespans? "Dear Grandfather, what did you do in the America's Cup?" "Son, I attempted to cheat but abjectly failed to do so." * From Marc Jacobi: I first met JJ Fetter at the 1984 Collegiate Dinghy Nationals in Chicago. Remember her kicking BUTT in the breeze, loved her personality, and secretly hoped to one day crew for her in a 470 campaign. The designated Women’s category for 470s dashed that hope, but over our parallel Olympic tracks (hers much more successful than mine) I got to know her a little better and always looked forward to seeing her smiling face in the boat park. Haven't managed to hop onto a boat with JJ yet, but it is still one of my sailing aspirations. Should it come to pass, I hope to not be too terrible a disappointment to this sailing icon and great lady! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION "Force always attracts men of low morality." - Albert Einstein Special thanks to North U. and Doyle Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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