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Scuttlebutt Updates
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Archived NewslettersSCUTTLEBUTT 3144 - Thursday, July 29, 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ullman Sails, Southern Spars, and Vineyard Race. THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX From his early days as a high ranking advertising executive, Garry Hoyt has a long history of generating fresh ideas and inventions to invigorate the sport. Now Garry provides his advice for the brain trust deciding the details for the 34th America's Cup: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I fear that the commendable intentions of Messrs. Ellison and Coutts (of BMW Oracle Racing) to energize and popularize the next America's Cup are likely to run head on into the intractable paradox that the features which make sailboat racing so intriguing to its practitioners also conspire to make it both boring and incomprehensible to outside viewers. This is particularly true when it comes to the effective TV coverage which is vital to any hope of attracting major audiences. So rather than attempting to graft together these incompatible elements, it would be better to treat the America's Cup as the separate, premier event it aspires to be, and give it a separate set of rules that address the following realities: 1) Viewer interest in any race (track, swimming, cars, horses) depends directly on the viewer being able to quickly and continuously discern who is ahead and by how much. Conventional sailing practices often deny this. 2) Maintaining same screen proximity of the combatants is vital to viewer interest and comprehension and this requires special staging on special courses. 3) Given the scale and expense of the supporting equipment, sailing speeds that are less than what a man can run make sailing seem dull and archaic. Since multi-hulls are demonstrably and dramatically faster, why not go with them and design race courses that showcase their sailing speed. 4) Given the inescapable relation between wind velocity, sailing speed and visual excitement, minimum starting wind speeds of over 10 knots should be required and sailing areas that cannot reliably deliver that should be avoided. 5) Once liberated from the artificial constraints of conventional sailboat racing rules, a modern America's Cup would be free to be as entertaining as it would be demanding. Suggesting this is not heresy or betrayal of sailing tradition, rather it is a practical adjustment to the special nature and stature of what the America's Cup can and should be. As I have previously suggested, there is no reason why AC sailing action cannot be continuous on a given day, with downwind starts immediately following upwind finishes of deliberately short courses that would allow three races on a proper day. This would maximize the heightened viewer interest that provably exists around the excitement of the starts. --Scuttlebutt Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10216#10216 WILL MULTIHULLS STIFLE AMERICA'S CUP? Sir Keith Mills, head of Team Origin Britain's America's Cup challenge, believes that if holders BMW Oracle Racing choose a multihull for the next cup, few if any teams will want to challenge because "the playing field would no longer be level." Because of the trimaran they used to win the Cup last February, BMW Oracle Racing (BMOR) would have two to three years' advantage in research and development and this, said Sir Keith, would be unfair. "No one is going to spend tens of millions if they don't have a chance of winning." "We would prefer to have a monohull and six or seven of the other teams would also prefer a monohull," he said. He also claimed the majority of challengers wanted a monohull without the complexity and expense of a canting keel which is an option already published in the draught protocol for the next Cup. -- Yachting World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/33tmnv3 JOINING FORCES IN MELBOURNE Ullman Sails is excited to announce that prominent Australian sailmaker Mark Rimington has joined forces with Sam Haines and the Ullman team in Melbourne. Mark brings with him extensive sailmaking experience and one-design expertise. With his own world title in the Flying Fifteen, Mark has also built sails for multiple national and world champions in one design classes and offshore races. The group is delighted to gain such an esteemed sailmaker with an outstanding local presence. The new partnership also marks a move for Ullman Sails Melbourne, which is now located in Sandringham in the heart of Victorian sailing. -- http://www.ullmansails.com POLL QUESTION: MULTIHULL OR MONOHULL? The America's Cup community is in agreement that a new design is needed for the event, but is less in agreement as to whether it should be a multihull or a monohull. There is an eagerness by the America's Cup defender BMW Oracle Racing team to invigorate the event, and they are leaving no stone unturned. Every aspect of the event is open for discussion, but much of what is decided will depend on the platform used. While the knowledgeable spectator is happy with close racing from start to finish, there is a belief that an exceedingly exciting boat is needed to attract the non-sailing audience. So what do you think . . .should the America's Cup use a monohull design - the platform typically used for match racing - or move to a multihull design to speed up the pace of racing? Vote and post your comments here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/10/0728 THE COST TO COMPETE The 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship was held July 8-17, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, attracting nearly 350 young sailors from 59 nations. Among the nations was New Zealand, which fielded a complete team of 11 sailors for the 8 events. This perennial favorite was one of five countries to win two medals (Boys Laser Radial - Gold, 29er - Silver), bested only by the three medals won by the USA. But competing at this elite event comes with a cost, as detailed here by Grant Beck, whose son Logan competed in the Boys 420 class: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The cost to the NZ Yachting Federation and the parents was about $150,000 for this great event when you include the cost of training back home and any racing in Europe before hand (Yup NZ is a long way away and it's a big deal for us to compete in Europe). Only 7 of 12 races could be completed at the 2010 Worlds due to light winds. A similar thing occurred at the 2009 Youth Worlds in Brazil when only 8 of the 12 races were sailed. The cost of each race to the NZ team is $12,500.00 per race so to miss out on 5 races is a $62,500.00 cost, and, when you consider a similar cost per race to many of the sailors from the other 58 countries, it sure adds up. Now we all know we can't go racing when the wind is too light, shifty or for that matter too strong. However, for two years in a row only just over half the racing has been completed. This isn't good enough when you count the cost in terms of money, time, effort, and the prestige this event has. Fixing this is easy! Make the racing the absolute priority. Every opportunity should be taken to race; that's to use the lay days, re-scheduling racing if required and perhaps the addition of a spare day as the marginal cost of providing additional reserve days is negligible as a completed race schedule is the key goal. => Curmudgeon's Comment: This event was hot with light winds, and racing was often postponed and ended quite late in the day. I have a hunch that Grant is eyeing the Lay Day as wasted time, and also how the last day provided the best breeze day, but only one race was completed. Also, to clarify the completed race count, three of the eight classes in 2010 completed seven races, with only one class topping out at ten races. Here was the original schedule: 09 July - Training Day 10 July - Practice Races 11 July - 3 Races scheduled (2 to 3 races completed) 12 July - 3 Races scheduled (1 to 2 races completed) 13 July - Lay Day 14 July - 3 Races scheduled (0 to 1 race completed) 15 July - 2 Races scheduled (2 to 3 races completed) 16 July - 1 Race scheduled (1 race completed) Scuttlebutt Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10213 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: Jul 29-Aug 1 - Melges 32 US National Championship - Harbor Springs, MI, USA Jul 30-Aug 1 - Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy - San Francisco, CA, USA Jul 30-31 - Santa Barbara to King Harbor race - Southern California, USA Jul 30-Aug 1 - US-IRC Eastern Great Lakes Championship - Buffalo, NY, USA Jul 31-Aug 1 - Dillon Open Regatta - Dillon, CO, USA Aug 1-7 - CYA Youth National Sailing Championship - Ottawa, Ontario, CAN View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar DEVELOPMENT LEADS THE WAY AT SOUTHERN SPARS The second quarter has been a busy period for the Southern Spars Group with a raft of exciting new developments: from bringing onboard the Nordic Mast team, to implementing leading edge robotic technology, as well as preparing for the move to a newly constructed, bespoke manufacturing HQ later this year. Add the launching and commissioning of Zefira, Imagine II, Eclipse, Marie and Twizzle, all featuring the latest in mast design and rigging technology; coupled with a string of grand prix launches and race results including the highly anticipated M34 and famous Open 60, Virbac-Paprec 3; it is evident that one company continues to take giant leaps into the future. To find out more about these advancements visit: http://www.southernspars.com SAILING SHORTS * La Salle, MI (July 28, 2010) - The Championship series at the Thistle U.S. National Championship began Wednesday with epic conditions on Western Lake Erie. A frontal passage kicked up some great 12-18 knot winds which saw Doug Kaukeinen (Rochester, NY) and crew Diedra Santos and Brad Sweet win both races held in the stacked Championship Division. With the qualifying scores rolling over to the Championship series, Mike Ingham (Rochester, NY) maintained the top spot with a pair of 7's over second place Greg Fisher (Annapolis, MD) who rolled a 14-3. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/36xhqeg * The city of Miami, through its Miami Exhibition and Sports Authority, has agreed to fund the phase one plans for the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race Miami stopover, and to provide in kind services for the entire event, expected to be in Spring 2012. The city has agreed to the use of Bicentennial Park for the stopover site. The park is in downtown Miami, on the water leading out to Government Cut and to the Atlantic Ocean. The downtown area is in a major revitalization program with many new hotels and restaurants. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10195#10195 * Sailing World magazine is seeking stories and photos documenting the evening racing on Thursday, July 29, 2010. The editors will publish the best entries in the July/August 2011 issue of Sailing World, and all acceptable entries will be part of their online package that accompanies the issue. -- Details: http://www.sailingworld.com/racing/one-thursday-night-in-america * Valencia, Spain (July 28, 2010) - The conditions today off Malvarrosa Beach were similar to yesterday's 20-knot winds, but the match racing at the RC 44 Valencia Cup was even more boisterous. New Zealander Cameron Appleton and Team Aqua captured the match racing portion of the week-long regatta with a 9-1 record. One loss behind Team Aqua, Day 1 leader Terry Hutchinson and Artemis finished at 8-2 and tied with Russell Coutts and BMW ORACLE Racing for second place. Artemis won the tie-breaker by virtue of yesterday's head-to-head win. The fleet racing portion of the event is scheduled for Friday through Sunday. -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2432 * The Eco 60 Class of ocean racing yachts announced the launch of its own dedicated website. The new class - which currently makes use of Open 60 yachts launched before 2003 - was created as an ecological, sustainable and affordable ocean racing yacht still capable of blistering speeds and top performance, with a proven track record of reliability and safety. The website provides detailed information about the yachts and the background to the class, as well as a section devoted to Eco 60s for sale. The Eco 60 Class website is www.eco60.org or www.eco60.net * Motion sickness, to quote Dr. Patricia S. Cowings, of NASA's Ames Research Center, "won't kill you - you just wish it would." She and a colleague have discovered that a regimen of biofeedback training is more effective than even the powerful anti-nausea drugs given to NASA astronauts - some 50 percent of whom suffer from airsickness during spaceflight. An MSNBC blog piece by Chris Tachibana cites the publication of this new research by Cowings and Dr. William B. Toscano in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/29bqyuj * Officials in South Carolina are concerned about a growing number of large abandoned boats dotting the Intracoastal Waterway. "These boats are just junk laying out here in the middle of the waterway," Ronald McManus, with the Freedom Boat Group, told television station WMBF. "It is just ridiculous for our tourists to come down here and see, and it's a very serious problem." Horry County councilman Brent Schulz agreed something needs to be done to resolve what he calls a growing problem. -- Soundings, read on: http://tinyurl.com/2739qa9 EIGHT BELLS Michael F. (Mike) Doyle lost a hard battle with lung cancer on July 8th. He will be remembered by the Hawaii maritime community as a prominent marine surveyor respected for his high standards and honesty. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word, but also known to be called "incorrigible curmudgeon." He read Scuttlebutt daily and took special interest in your reporting on America's Cup. -- Aloha, Phyllis Doyle MAKE THE VINEYARD RACE PART OF YOUR LABOR DAY WEEKEND Take part in this East Coast classic, presented by Thomson Reuters and hosted by Stamford Yacht Club. Three courses to choose from; cruising division; multihull division; race tracking and post-race arrival party. Join Dawn Riley at our skippers meeting. Start date: Sept. 3rd. Register today at http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=336 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 Dave Perry: I want to piggyback on Bill Canfield's letter in Scuttlebutt 3140 regarding the great opportunities for current and future intercollegiate match racers to learn and play the game provided by the Chicago Match Race Center, with which I agree. But I want everyone to know that there are many clubs and match race centers around North America that are also working hard to provide such opportunities. Three that I have had direct contact with this summer are the Balboa Yacht Club in Corona Del Mar, California, the US SAILING Center of Sheboygan in Wisconsin, and the Oakcliff Sailing Center in Oyster Bay near New York. All three hosted youth training camps this spring and summer, attended by over 75 sailors ages 16-21. In addition, the Sailing Center of Sheboygan will host many events this year including the women's national match racing championship and the Grade 1 Buddy Melges Challenge. The Balboa Yacht Club just finished running the premier youth match racing event in the world, the Governor's Cup. And the Oakcliff Sailing Center is hosting its annual Oakcliff Invitational in its six Swedish Match 40's (with four more on order!), and has hosted many clinics and regattas as well as run regular weekly match racing throughout the summer. And this is just three of over 25 clubs, centers and associations dedicated to providing match racing opportunities in North America. Match racing is clearly on the rise and many are working hard to provide opportunities to play. * From Al Johnson, Seattle, WA: Having read reports and seen photos over the past month on the Opti Nationals, Opti North Americans, and Team USA at the Opti Europeans, and having looked at the large number of competitors that traveled great distances to compete in these events, I wonder if we've collectively lost our minds. How over the top is it to send our 10 or 12 year old kids, their boats, and their coaches thousands of miles so that they can spend a week racing against other 10 or 12 year olds? So what is it that these kids will be able to look forward to as they get older? They will have done it all (had it all handed to them on a silver platter) before they are 15. Maybe this is a logical outcome of sailing organizations devoted to making sailing bigger, better, more attractive, etc. and equating that with creating a more expensive game for our children to play at the top end. Or perhaps it's just a case of too many parents having too much money, and a willingness to spend a chunk of it on their children's racing exploits. A couple of years ago I commented on the fact that all the top finishers in the Melges 24 nationals had professional helmsman, and that owners don't drive their own 24-footers any more. Is the next big thing going to be parents getting professional drivers to steer little Jennifer's or Brandon's Opti for them? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION A sign you're getting older is when you read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it. Special thanks to Ullman Sails, Southern Spars, and Vineyard Race. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
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