Rolex on standby

It was four days of racing in September, reveling in the conditions that San Francisco is famous for, but the region's hallmark event of the Rolex Big Boat Series had yet to hand out the trophies for its most populated class - the J/105. Amongst the 110 boats competing in ten classes (four IRC divisions and six one design events), one remaining Steel Submariner Rolex timepiece had been residing in the safe of the St. Francis Yacht Club for the past two months, and not on the winning skipper’s wrist.

When Rolf Kaiser’s crew aboard the J/105 Donkey Jack came to the dock at the end of the regatta, the winning math was indisputable, and the champagne was flowing. However, an alleged infraction involving a tanker crossing during the final race pulled the Donkey Jack team into a protest, effectively ending the party, with a lengthy hearing continuing well past the awards ceremony. When the protest decision went against Kaiser’s team, the St.FYC race officials sensed that this was not the end of it, and have held onto the prizes… until now.

An announcement came out this week from St.FYC, stating that based on the decision of the Appeals Committee of the Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay, the 2008 Rolex Big Boat Series results had been changed, and that Kaiser’s crew had earned top honors in the 31-boat J/105 fleet. Without the pomp and circumstance of the awards ceremony, perhaps there will still be a celebratory glass of champagne waiting at the club’s Front Desk to commemorate the collection of the watch.

* NOTE: It was unknown at this time whether the case would be sent on to the US SAILING Appeals Committee for further review, an option that exists within 15 days of receiving the written decision from the regional committee.

No record yet

The World Sailing Speed Record (WSSR) Council is the lone authorizing authority for record claims. Established by the International Sailing Federation in 1972, their mission is to maintain consistent standards for a variety of record setting categories. The quest for the outright world speed sailing record is being played out on several fronts, with recent excitement coming from Luderitz in Namibia where kiteboarders were displaying that they are currently the fastest.

American kitesurfer Rob Douglas set a new speed record of 49.84 at the Luderitz speed strip on September 19th, which was later ratified by the WSSR, beating out the previous record of 49.09 kts set earlier in the year by windsurfer Antoine Albeau (FRA). During the same speed event that Douglas set his record, called the Lüderitz Speed Challenge, the event announcement came on October 3rd that Sebastien Cattelan of France become the first human being to sail at more than 50 knots, a world record he held for only 24 hours before compatriot Alexandre Caizergues snatched it away with a top speed of 50.57 knots.

The speed set by Caizergues was announced as the new speed record, but the only problem is that over a month later, no formal claim for the record has been requested of WSSR, who is still awaiting the documentation from the event organizers. According to the record books, Douglas is still the holder of the outright world speed sailing record.

Photo courtesy of http://nassp.net/

Sponsor support

Supporting your sponsor can be hard work...

As seen in

New Year's Resolution

This past weekend I was in Atlanta for the US SAILING One Design Symposium. The attendees included a complete range of individuals, from the active sailor to the class administrator, to the industry professional eager to share advice and support the sport. There was an enormous amount of information exchanged, and thanks to Mount Gay, nearly as many cocktails consumed. But by the end of the event, there were two significant ‘take aways’ that are as applicable to the one design sailor as to any other category of the sport.

The first is that the sport is our recreation and our passion, and that our experiences need to be shared. Everyone in Atlanta would love to see their part of the sport grow, and everyone was in agreement that this can be done by sharing the experience with others. Either through story or through splashes, presenting the sport in a positive light will git'er done. The second is how our sport is run by a volunteer army. While there are plenty of entities that profit from the sport, the heavy lifting is done by those with no more to gain than the desire to give back. The more we support this army (and the less we berate them), the better off the sport will be.

I suspect that there is some kind of formula based on how much sailing enthusiasts take from the sport, and how much they give. While it might be too early to finalize our New Year’s Resolutions, it might be timely to consider what they will be.

Bowman's Observation

A boat can only move as fast as the slowest equipment on board will allow. And when a boat is racing upwind, it is the slowest and weakest winch handles that limit her tacking speed. This is why top pit crews routinely "lose" weak winch handles overboard so they will be replaced with newer, shinier winch handles by the owner. This natural selection is good for the boat as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole boat keeps improving by the regular loss of the weakest winch handles.

In much the same way, the bowman can only rig a hoist as fast as the slowest spinnaker bag permits. So naturally, a bowman will attack the oldest and weakest spinnaker bags first.

In this way, the regular disposal, shredding, and overall destruction of the boat eliminates the weaker equipment, making the boat a faster and more efficient machine! That's why you always feel better after cutting a spinnaker in half with a knife.

--Skippy on Hot Water explaining the loss of a equipment in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Annapolis

Annapolis might be considered as one of America’s sailing capitals, but that is not the only thing going for it. Annapolis recently received two back to back national recognitions destined to heighten its appeal with travelers in the know. Last month, Forbes Traveler named Maryland’s capital city as one of the country’s 20 Prettiest Towns, and the American Planning Association recognized Main Street in Annapolis as one of Ten Great Streets for 2008.

Visitor's Bureau website: http://www.visitannapolis.org

Ski and sail

What happens to a retired Whitbread winner...

For a true mountain experience you need to escape the resorts and spend a night or two in the backcountry where the snow is pure, night skies leave the Blackpool illuminations in the shadows and the only noise you'll hear is soothing murmur of nature.

In 1986, L'Esprit d'Equipe won the Whitbread Round the World Race but has since been converted into a floating base for some of most inaccessible skiing in Norway. Sailing the fjords of the Lyngen Alps, the yacht drops guests off by dinghy to hike and ride the untouched slopes.

The 55ft yacht can accommodate up to seven guests in addition to the skipper, one-man crew and mountain guide. Everyone mucks in with the sailing, where throughout the winter and spring L'Esprit d'Equipe leaves Tromsø harbour on its eight-day tours. This has to be the most environmentally friendly way to get your skiing fix.

(thanks to Bill LeFevre for this story)

Three at once

I hope I am not the only one who has gotten reeled in by the sense of adventure that these around the around the world races have presented. The boats are leading edge, the conditions are unforgiving, the weather and communication systems are real time,… and I am finally learning my world geography. The teams have attracted elite sponsors, race villages are hosting huge spectator turnouts, and the quality of online reporting has never been higher. Yes, these races are good for the sport… but do we really need three at once.

Beginning next week, there will be three going on at the same time. I get the fact that you need to leave Europe in the fall to balance the seasons in the two hemispheres, but can’t we balance the schedule so there aren’t three at once? Wouldn’t it be nice for the sponsor to reap the benefits of total media exposure as opposed to divided exposure? Or how about the sailors who must choose between events.

Here is the line-up of around the world races:
Volvo Ocean Race: 8 crewed VO70 teams w/ stops
Vendee Globe: 30 solo Open 60s w/ no stops
Portimão Global Ocean Race: 2 solo Open 40, 4 dbl Class 40 w/ stops

The flooding from daily team media releases shall commence soon…yipee!

Olympic equipment

The current system in selecting the Olympic equipment (ie, the boats used for each Olympic event) is that the issue gets revisited every four years, which translates to the equipment potentially getting changed after every Olympics. While it might be nice for ISAF to have this kind of flexibility, it also puts a great strain on the sailors and countries in terms of long term planning. For the sailor putting together a two quad program, there is no promise that what is gained during the first quad will be applicable for the second campaign. Not a good situation.

A new feature for Olympic athletes for this quad will be the ISAF Sailing World Cup, which is a seven race series that will be used to heighten the focus of Olympic sailing. However, a problem that the early World Cup events are faced with is in how to deal with the newest event: Women’s Match Racing. The first event is Sail Melbourne in Australia (December 16-21, 2008) and it has not included the match racing event in their Notice of Race. The next event is the Rolex Miami OCR (January 25-31, 2009), with US SAILING choosing to supply the boats for the women’s match racing, wherein 12 Laser SB3 boats will be used.

There are 1392 days until the 2012 Summer Olympics, athletes around the world are plotting their future campaigns, and nobody knows what equipment will be used. The equipment decision will be made next week at the ISAF Annual Meeting… I for one can’t wait, but remain wondering why the current system requires that I do.

Busy bay

How busy was your bay this past weekend?

Annapolis, MD - For the east coast, the weather curtain is quickly closing, so this past weekend on Chesapeake Bay was like last call at the local tavern. The Melges 24 North Americans held the lion share of interest, but there were several other events that attracted broad interest too. Competing for space to set race courses was Storm Trysail Club's IRC East Coast Championship, where a total of 35 boats competed for wins in four divisions. For the thriving J/22 class, their East Coast Championship had been cancelled in September during the approach of Hurricane Hanna, with the rescheduled event last weekend won by Todd Hiller. Not to be outdone, the local J/105 fleet, which a year ago had hosted the 2007 North American Championship, held their traditional end of season Chesapeake Bay Championship won by Peter McChesney.

Snow storm

Getting kids to embrace the sport isn't always easy. Here is a success story, with North Sails salesman Chris Snow (right) getting ready for a weekend of Snipe crewing in San Diego, CA for his high school freshman son Nevin.

Under Three

Simple pleasures... finally under $3!

From Sandy Englehart, San Jose, CA:
I sent my non-sailor sister a copy of the Interim Report article on the Pacific Cup in the August issue of Latitude 38 because it had a picture of our start and a quote from our blog. She responded with this email that I thought the 'buttheads would appreciate:

Cool!!!! Great shot of all y'all's boat! It's funny when I read this stuff because it is soooo foreign sounding! It's like everyone is talking in another language half the time. Very entertaining to me ;-) You know:

"I gybed to lead a new spinnaker halyard. Yes, dancing is always fun. Of course I have been practicing so not much slatting or drifting happens and I won't get too close to the high. My high is weakening...maybe Gale can help if I can find her. She always has cocktails. Today's special: Rumline. Don't know why she spells it so funny. Trying to be fancy I guess. Oh...excuse me, miss fancy pants! RHumBline! I guess in the right hand corner of the ocean people are fancy! We'll be flying the 3/4 oz (is that legal now?) in 5-8 feet mixed swell. Anywho, later I found myself with an articulation between my hull and my keel. It really itches something awful!! Maybe I'll scratch doublehanded and feel better. Instead, I hoisted my kite and it's feeling a bit better. My only other complaint is that I'm sitting on a 13.5 knot and it's hurting my butt...that's a big knot and it might break my tiller. Maybe I need to go find Gale again..."

Bar Stool Economics

Bar Stool Economics
by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

(submitted by Alex Watters)