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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 3046 - Thursday, March 11, 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: Ullman Sails and The Pirates Lair. BAY AREA TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE The City of San Francisco is narrowing down the list of waterfront sites that could host the America's Cup yacht race and hopes to have a very short list by the end of the month, Mayor's Office officials said. In a meeting Tuesday, the Port Commission voted to do "everything possible" to bring the 34th America's Cup race to San Francisco. Commodore Marcus Young of the defending Golden Gate Yacht Club said the team will explore every option in San Francisco before considering other cities in or outside the Bay Area. The 13-acre site at piers 30 and 32, in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, may have a jump on other southern waterfront sites. The site was explored as a potential host by billionaire Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team four years ago, when it hoped to win the previous America's Cup and bring the race to San Francisco, said Peter Dailey, maritime director of the Port of San Francisco. The preparation work four years ago may give piers 30 and 32 a leg up on other candidates, including Treasure Island, Pier 48 - just south of AT&T Park - and Pier 80, a cargo facility on the waterfront at Cesar Chavez Street, Dailey said. He also affirmed that the Port has spoken with the Coast Guard and the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association and both have given a thumbs-up to the idea, despite the constant traffic of commercial vehicles in the Bay corridor. -- SF Examiner, full story: http://tinyurl.com/yd4ddl2 => Curmudgeon's Comment: BMW Oracle Racing team CEO Russell Coutts said the team would announce the timeline for making their venue decision by the end of March. GEAR FAILURE FOILS KIWI - ITALIAN ENCOUNTER Auckland, NZL (March 10, 2010; Day 2) - Gear failure puts finish to a close Kiwi vs Italian encounter American-based Kiwi Gavin Brady and his largely international team of Latin Rascals on Mascalzone Latino Audi took the fight to host Emirates Team New Zealand in their Louis Vuitton Trophy race today, only to lose after a gear failure. Brady, with American tactician Morgan Larson calling the shots, pulled off a risky pre-start strategy against skipper Dean Barker on the New Zealand boat, pushing ETNZ deep into the start box after a dialup but breaking clear with immaculate timing to grab the start he wanted - a port tack cross at speed, right at the committee boat. Minutes later as they came back together, Brady had a two boat-length advantage that he parlayed into a 22 second lead at the first weather mark. Brady's lead had evaporated by the second beat, it was with Mascalzone's bow barely in front when their jib came crashing down. Day 2 Match Results TEAMORIGIN def. All4One, 01:33 Emirates Team New Zealand def. Mascalzone Latino Audi, 4:43 Azzurra def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 00:41 Artemis def. ALEPH Sailing Team 01:21 Live streaming web coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland is available on the event website. Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ybkpqxg Provisional leaderboard after Flight Two: Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), skipper Dean Barker (NZL), 2-0 Azzurra (ITA), skipper Francesco Bruni (ITA), 2-0 TEAMORIGIN (GBR), skipper Ben Ainslie (GBR), 1-1 Artemis (SWE), skipper Paul Cayard (USA), 1-1 All4One (FRA/GER), skipper Jochen Schumann (GER), 1-1 ALEPH Sailing Team (FRA), skipper Bertrand Pace (FRA), 1-1 Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (ITA), skipper Gavin Brady (NZL), 0-2 Synergy Russian Sailing Team, skipperKarol Jablonski (POL), 0-2 Team lists: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/teams/EN/ BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy series is designed to be a cost-effective format for match racing competition in Version 5 America's Cup Class boats. Teams will take turns on the two Emirates Team New Zealand yachts NZL 84 and NZL 92 that have been fitted out, optimized and rigged after a year in storage. They will race four matches a day to complete a round robin seeding series before a ladder elimination culminating in the finals on March 21st. The 2010 series continues on to Sardinia (May 22-June 6) and Dubai (Nov. 13-28). "ALCHEMY" WINS AT 2010 MEXORC Per Petersen's Andrews 68 "Alchemy" won Class A at the 2010 Mexican Ocean Racing Circuit regatta in Puerto Vallarta and finished 2nd Overall in Fleet. A week earlier "Alchemy" won her Division in the race from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta. So, whether going the distance or racing around the buoy's, Ullman delivers the performance, durability and boat speed to win. Jack Taylor's Santa Cruz 50 "Horizon" finished 2nd in Class B and 3rd Overall at MEXORC. Both owners continue to select Ullman as their Sailmaker and compete with 100% Ullman Sails. For your high performance sails visit http://www.ullmansails.com The Scuttlebutt Forum has daily reports and videos provided by Bruce Cooper of Ullman Sails Newport Beach: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9371 FOR THE RECORD (Day 39 - March 10, 2010; 16:49 UTC) - The current phase offshore of the Brazilian coast isn't the easiest section on this round the world, with a mass of storm squalls making it difficult to anticipate the trajectory. Right now there are zones of high pressure to the left and to the right, with Groupama 3 having to zigzag her way between the squalls that are causing massive changes in both the strength and direction of the wind. Rather less encouraging news for the crew of Groupama 3 is that this situation will last until the latitude of Vitoria, some 300 miles to their North. "We hope to make it into the tradewinds during the course of Thursday night," reported helmsman Loic Le Mignon. "However, for the time being, our progress northward is really being hampered. When we head to the left towards the Brazilian coast, the wind heads us as it switches round to the NW and we stumble in a line of squalls. And when we head to the right, the wind veers to the NE as it eases! We're forced to tack on a constant basis to remain in the centre... weaving our way along in line with the breeze. Fortunately, given that Groupama 3 makes such great headway in light winds, we're managing to manoeuvre well. Orange 2 wouldn't have made such good progress in winds like this!" -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/y8eptyl Current position as of March 10, 2010 (23:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: -307.0 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 11.7 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 280.2 nm Distance to go: 4,709 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. LIGHT WINDS PLAGUE DN NORTH AMERICANS By Eric Lind, PRO, Suttons Bay MI We just completed the DN North Americans last week in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with miles and miles of 20 inch black ice, but very little wind. After a thorough search for sailable ice, the site was called on Saturday evening and 58 of the 90 boats that were registered made the long trip. The North shore of Lake Superior is absolutely gorgeous and the locals were unbelievably friendly. Germany, Poland, Canada, and the U.S. were represented at the opening ceremonies on Tuesday, but there was no wind. On Wednesday we got one race in and Thursday was much better with six races. The Thunder Bay Yacht Club even provided food for us on the ice! With three Gold races and four Silver races completed, we needed at least one Gold race on Friday to complete the regatta. We got out on the ice early, but the wind would not come with us. Facing an 18:15 cutoff, we finally got some wind at 17:30, set a course with the help of the Silver fleet, and got the final Gold race in within the time limit. Congrats to Ron Sherry (USA) for his repeat win, followed by Matt Struble (USA) in second, and Steve Orlebeke (USA) in third. Complete regatta story and results here: http://dnamerica.org/forum/index.php?topic=800.0 FUNK PUSHING FOR MOTH WORLDS LEAD Dubai, UAE (March 10, 2010) - A third day of sub-ten knot winds at the PUMA International Moth World Championship saw overall leader Andrew McDougall (AUS) drop to fifth, while other contenders found the consistency to shuffle the standings. Low point scorer among the three races today with a 1-3-2 was Brad Funk (USA), despite losing some pace while he dealt with a broken boomvang and a failure of one of his batten camber inducers. Funk is now in second overall, just two points from leader Simon Payne (GBR), who moved up to the lead after being able to discard the 41 he earned when breaking his rig. Thursday is a lay day for the fleet. Preliminary results (top 6 of 43) 1. GBR, Simon Payne 5-2-1-(41)-3-4-3, 18 2. USA, Brad Funk, 3-(11)-10-1-1-3-2, 20 3. SUI, Arnaud Psarofaghis, (17)-9-3-3-2-6-1, 24 4. USA, Dalton Bergan, 10-(20)-4-4-4-1-4, 27 5. AUS, Andrew McDougall, 1-1-11-2-(13)-8-11, 34 6. USA, Bora Gulari, (12)-10-2-7-6-5-5, 35 Results: http://tinyurl.com/y8f9qjl Photos from Thierry Martinez: http://tinyurl.com/yk36eup N2E, YACHTING CUP, VALLEJO RACE, LONG BEACH RACE WEEK What do these storied regattas have in common other than beautiful California sailing? They are all official Mount Gay sponsored events and supplied by The Pirates Lair. If you have a regatta call us first. Log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/store/index.html for selected gear or call (888) 724-5286. BACARDI MIAMI SAILING WEEK Miami, FL (March 10, 2010) - As the only team to remain in the top ten, Andy Horton and James Lyne (USA) have moved up from second overall to take the top spot Wednesday in the third day of Star Class sailing for the Trofeo BACARDI. "The breeze was light again today, but we're expecting the wind to become stronger later in the week with the weather," explained Horton. "Today, the real challenge was getting over to the wind, which was tough today, but we managed to spring out of jail and really get out there. We're trying to approach this like any big regatta by really staying focused and not being too risky. This is a strong fleet of competitors and you have to be careful out there." The Star Class competition will continue through Friday, March 12th. The Viper Class began their racing today, with Barry Parkin and crew John Logue and Sue Parkin leading the 21 boat field. The Melges 20, Melges 24 and J/24 start on Thursday. -- Full story: http://www.miamisailingweek.com/news.html Star Class - preliminary results (top 5 of 84) 1. Andy Horton/ James Lyne, USA. 8-5-4, 17 pts 2. Peter O'Leary/ Stephen Milne, IRL, 15-10-1, 26 3. Rick Merriman/ Phil Trinter, USA, 4-2-23, 29 4. Lars Grael/ Ronald Seifert, BRA, 21-1-8, 30 5. Augie Diaz/ Bruno Prada, USA, 1-21-9, 31 Complete results: http://www.miamisailingweek.com/results.html SAILING SHORTS * Galway, Ireland has been selected as the finish port for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, with the final leg beginning in Lorient, France. In 2008-09, Galway was the stopover for the end of the transatlantic leg from Boston, where a crowd of 30,000 came dockside for the arrival of the lead boats. Over 650,000 spectators filed through the race village during the week-long event, generating 55 million Euros for the regional economy, more than one third higher than the original projections. Galway completes the list of European cities hosting the 2011-12 race. The remaining ports will be introduced during the remainder of March. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ylk7ay7 * France and New Zealand top the tables in the latest release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings with Kiwi World Champion Adam Minoprio remaining on top in the Open Rankings and French skipper Claire Leroy moving from #2 to #1 in the Women's. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) remains the top ranked North American at 8th in the Women's Rankings. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/news/32038.php * (March 10, 2010; Day 9) - The Pacific is throwing her full weight at the Clipper 09-10 fleet and the last 24 hours have been tough. Now the winds have moved behind the fleet they are making fast progress towards their goal of San Francisco and they should continue to do so for the next few days. Race Director, Jonathan Bailey, said, "It is clear from the forecasts and subsequent reports that the fleet has endured some of the toughest conditions so far." 'Spirit of Australia' leads the fleet with 4291 nm to go before the finish in San Francisco. -- Full report: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/index.php/race_news/?item=1635 EIGHT BELLS Sailing lost a great friend this week. Karen Arms passed at her home in Cortland, New York on March 2nd. Karen lived a full, enthusiastic and wonderful life touching, indeed influencing many, many others. Her natural intelligence and strong, determined mindset led her on adventures far and wide. She was at times an author, farmer, professor, political activist, gardener, sailor, web-master, quilter, singer, and always a generous hostess. Born in Oxford, UK, Karen lived in Ithaca New York until 1987 when she moved to Wilmington Island, Georgia. Karen studied Zoology at Oxford, graduating with a Ph.D. in 1967. She was the author of several textbooks on Biology, Environmental Science, and Gardening. She also held a law degree from Cornell University. Sailors from around the world were lucky that Karen's 21 years in Georgia overlapped with the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Karen became deeply involved as a volunteer in the effort to organize the US Olympic Sailing Trials and the Olympic Sailing events at Savannah, GA in 1996. While working hard to develop the local talent needed to pull off these events for several years, she opened her home to many of the aspiring Olympians that came to train in Savannah. Along with his father, even young Ben Ainslie (GBR), who was still in high school at the time, stayed with Karen and her husband Thom during that time. Karen's son, my friend, Richard Feeney, introduced many of us to this remarkable woman and we are all better for it. -- Zachary Leonard, Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9375#9375 * From Dick Loomis: Long time Snipe sailor Gordie Miller from the San Francisco, CA fleet passed away March 9, 2010, three weeks short of his 102nd birthday. To celebrate his 100th birthday, he drove a car, and then a boat, over 100 miles per hour....on the same day! Check out Vince Casalaina's YouTube video interview with Gordie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvO9lviSfYw CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: March 11-14 - Melges 17 Midwinter Championship, Lake Eustis, FL, USA March 12-14 - C Scow Midwinter Championship, Lake Eustis, FL, USA March 12-14 - E Scow Midwinter Championship, Lake Eustis, FL, USA March 12-14 - Sunfish Midwinter Championship, Sarasota, FL, USA March 12-14 - 36th Annual Orange Peel Regatta, Jacksonville, FL, USA March 13-14 - Lightning Deep South Regatta, Savannah, GA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Dan Mills, Santa Cruz, CA: (re, simplifying sailing thread) Small isn't the only way to simplify. When I wanted to move up to a keelboat for daysailing, racing, and an occasional overnight, I chose the Wyliecat 30. With one highly efficient sail, fairly light displacement (5500lb), and a high ballast to displacement ratio (3050lb ballast), I can enjoy very lively sailing, competitive racing, and easy daysailing all in the same boat. No sail changes, no spinnaker hassles, planing down wind in 15 knots and swell. I frequently go out on Monterey Bay alone (not counting the dog) for a daysail in 20+ knots. When racing I'll enter the double handed stuff when I can, but if the fleet is bigger and more competitive, I'll enter the crewed division - but still with just two or three people on board including me. Last month we did well in fresh breeze with just me and an equally skinny friend of mine, plus his 13 year old son. Our combined weight had to be under 400lb, and neither of them had ever raced the Wyliecat before. Just three strings to pull (sheet, flattener, vang), and very easily managed loads. I expect to be racing this boat into my golden years. -- Forum, http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9356#9356 * From Forum (tallshipstock): Please can we get away from the fallacy that square sails can only be handed (shortened) by sailors going aloft. They are worked from deck using buntlines and clewlines which are a type of vertical brail that run down the sail. The advantage of square rig is that the power plant can be dowsed, or increased, as conditions require by a core crew of maybe a dozen men. -- Forum, http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9376#9376 * From Jim Key: (re, Amateurs and professionals thread) Keep things in prospective! Pros make our sport what it is today - top notch. They make us all go faster if they're on your boat or if you're just sailing against them. It's their job. Remembering that, I think back to a Port Huron to Mac race with a light air start. We were on a 68-foot heavy cruising sailboat, all crew on the low side trying to get the boat to heal over. Talking and watching boats all around us. Having a fun time at the start of the race. A 70-foot racing boat with an almost all pro crew came by to windward of us. All crew hanging off the high side. As they passed us, we all waved and commented to them how fast they were going. Not one remark came back. Not one smile. One of our crew members commented, "They're not having as much fun as we are, it's their JOB!" They live with the pressures that jobs put on us. demands, performance, expectations, time away from family. We need them in our sport. I want to race against them. I want to beat them. But, the main thing is, I want to have FUN. It's not my job; it's what I do for RECREATION. -- Forum, http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9380#9380 TWO MORE DAYS - DONATE HERE Last week, the University of New Hampshire sailing team suffered an arson fire that resulted in the total loss of their equipment and boats. The blaze destroyed 55 boats, five motors, three coach launches, trailers and additional equipment - totaling a complete loss for both the sailing team, the UNH Community Sailing Program, a summer program for youths between 6 years old and 18 years old, and a combined junior and senior high school sailing team. The damage is estimated to exceed $600,000. Here is a recent update: http://tinyurl.com/yks8fz9 Scuttlebutt has received over $1300, and will continue to accept funds to our dedicated UNH account through Friday. Contact the Scuttlebutt editor if you want to wire money, or use this link to submit your donation by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or PayPal: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/store/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Intelligence is a tool to be used towards a goal, and goals are not always chosen intelligently." - Larry Niven in 'Protector' Special thanks to Ullman Sails and The Pirates Lair. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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