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SCUTTLEBUTT 2773 - Tuesday, February 3, 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. Today's sponsors are North U, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, and Pedrick Yacht Designs. SHOULD WE BRING REACHING BACK TO RACING? by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Editor I remember the conversation, though I am not sure when it happened. Maybe late 80’s or early 90’s. Anyway, the talk was about reaching legs, and how they were pointless parades where positions rarely changed. I was all for getting rid of reaches. When you have good speed, and can play the tactical game well, reaches were not where big gains could be made. Upwind and downwind were the two most tactical legs, and the more time spent on those legs, and the less on reach legs, the better off I would be. Years later now, when buoy race courses are mostly windward-leewards, I am wondering if that was a mistake. Was I thinking too much of myself, and not enough about the sport? What about the folks that typically don’t trophy, but occasionally have races when they are near the front? After a good start and first beat, a couple reach legs on a triangle course would help them maintain their position. And what about the speed of our boats on a reach? Good fun, and for planning boats, really fun. Plus the tactics of “high road/low road” on the reach always caused plenty of drama. PUMA skipper Ken Read said he wanted to do the Volvo Ocean Race because “There are only so many windward-leewards you can do before it gets a little tiring.” Is Ken right, and without including an occasional triangle course, has the sport sent itself on a doomed course? Are we getting bored of doing ‘sausages’, or is this what buoy racing is meant to be. What do you think? The Scuttlebutt poll asks two simple questions about your buoy racing: * How often is a windward-leeward course signaled? * Would you prefer more courses signaled that had reach legs? Submit answers and comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/09/0131 SAD DAY FOR BILOU (Feb. 2, 2009; Day 85) - In the light of a forecast of more than 40 knots of wind Tuesday and his need to have a four or five days window of favourable weather, Roland Jourdain’s Vendée Globe has come to a sad and all too premature end, bitterly frustrating for a hugely likeable skipper who was in second position at the time of his announcement. As many skippers said today, he deserved better than to have his race ended with less than 1300 miles to sail. Jourdain (aka Bilou) safely reached Sao Miguel of the Azores Islands archipelago this afternoon. As a result of Bilou’s retirement the ebullient Brit Sam Davies (Roxy) has moved into third place in the rankings. Today she seemed both pleased and bemused to see that Marc Guillemot was not following the same course as her to the finish the race. Guillemot has taken the westerly option, one final strategic play. The Azores high is a long way west from its normal position, meaning a long period of upwind sailing if the shortest route is taken. Solo, non-stop, around the world race in Open 60s. Standings as of 18:30 UTC (30 entrants; 11 now competing): 1. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), Foncia, Finished Feb. 1, 15:11 GMT 2. Armel Le Cléac´h (FRA), Brit Air, 1329.0 nm Distance to Finish 3. Samantha Davies (GBR), Roxy, 1009.8 nm Distance to Leader 3. Vincent Riou (FRA), PRB, Dismasted - Redress Given 4. Marc Guillemot (FRA), Safran, 1130.0 nm DTL 5. Brian Thompson (GBR), Bahrain Team, 1406.3 nm DTL Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en * Michel Desjoyeaux has published a diary of his race, providing great detail on this significant accomplishment. Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0202 * DAMAGE ROLL CALL: The route of the Vendee Globe 2008/9 has taken its toll on 19 of the 30 original entries that started on November 9, 2008 at Les Sables d’Olonne, France. Aside from Vincent Rou’s dismasting due to damage incurred during his rescue of Jean Le Cam, there have been five other broken rigs. Problems with rudders are next on the list (4), and through all the failures, two boats have been abandoned. Here is what happened to the 18 skippers no longer in the race: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/vg-damage TOO MUCH ANGST For too many sailors the Racing Rules are a source of confusion and angst. It does not have to be that way. US SAILING Rules Seminars give sailors the tools to recognize their rights and obligations in any situation. Presented by North U, the seminars include a Racing Rules Workbook created by Dave Perry. US SAILING members save $40. Check the schedule and sign up by visiting NorthU.com or by calling North U at 800-347-2457 or 203-245-0727. -- http://www.northu.com 2009 ISAF TEAM RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Championship will be held from January 31 to February 8 in Perth, Western Australia. Clay Bischoff, Lisa Keith, Colin Merrick, Amanda Callahan, Pete Levesque and Liz Hall, who won the last edition of the ISAF Team Racing World Championship held at Gandia, Spain in 2007, have returned as the New York Yacht Club team to defend the title. Here is their story: (Monday, Feb. 2, 2009) - “Today was the first day of racing for us at the 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Championship in Perth, Australia. For those of you who have never been, Perth is a fantastic place. We have been trying our best to take in the local culture in our limited free time. More on that later, on to the races. “Today began with a light easterly breeze which lasted just long enough to get through the first 10 or so races of the rotation (we were actually quite happy the breeze died since it allowed us to watch the Super Bowl at 10am on a Monday). We are sailing "Pacers" which by all accounts are a junior boat and maybe not a totally popular one at that. They are in some ways a cross between a Lark, a Walker Bay rowboat dinghy, and a Firefly. They are about 13 ft long and have 5 chines that run the full length of the hull. The stern has very low free board and the gunwales are thin. So, we have to be very careful tacking them so as to not ship water over the stern. Our crews have been bailing constantly.” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/tr => Curmudgeon’s Comment: In case you don’t have time to click through, Team NYYC opened the first day with a perfect eight wins from eight races. REPAIRING BOATS AND PEOPLE (Feb. 2, 2009) - Here’s an update from the Volvo Ocean Race, with the top four in Qingdao, China, prepping for the Qingdao In-Port race on February 7th. As for the rest of the fleet, Team Russia is in Cape Town seeking the funds needed to continue, and the rest are still determining how best to repair their damaged hulls, and will all miss the In-Port race. The 12,300 nm Leg Five to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil starts on February 14th, with the finish estimated to be on March 20th. * Loaded onto a 100ft steel barge and towed by a Taiwanese tugboat, the damaged Ericsson 3 left the port of Keelung on Monday, where the team had pulled in after suffering major structural damage and began taking on water during Leg 4. Overnight she will travel 100 miles south around the East coast of Taiwan to Hualien, where boatbuilding facilities will allow the team to replace the damaged area with a new section which has been constructed in Italy and is expected to arrive in Taipei on Wednesday. The team is hoping the work will be completed and the boat back in the water by the middle of next week, only a few days before the start of Leg 5 on February 14th. * The Telefonica Blue team is deciding whether to take a calculated gamble on new rudders. The move would cost them three points, but after positive feedback from the Telefonica Black team, who adopted the bigger blades ahead of leg four, the syndicate is weighing up the merits of the swap. As for the status of Telefonica Black, they hope to arrive in Singapore from the Philippines by Wednesday, where she still needs to be repaired and transported to Qingdao for the start of leg five. * The Delta Lloyd team in Keelung, Taiwan was not able prepare the boat in time to be loaded onto a ship Monday to be transported to Rio de Janeiro. The delay will cost the team just a few days, and the boat will still be shipped to Rio ahead of the rest of the fleet who will be contesting leg five. Once there, the challenge of repairing the damage sustained during the upwind battle of Leg 4 will begin in earnest to be ready for either the Rio In-Port race or Leg 6 to Boston, MA. * Chris Nicholson is confident he can shake off one of sport’s most debilitating injuries to rejoin PUMA by the end of the race. The Australian snapped the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee when a crew-mate was washed into him during the second leg trip from Cape Town to Cochin, India. He promptly ignored medical advice by sailing leg three to Singapore but, having undergone surgery in January and missed leg four, he is eyeing the short end of a recovery process that normally takes between four and six months. Just if/when he rejoins the team remains to be seen, but Nicholson is holding out a hope that he can make himself available during the Boston stopover, which falls in May. Current Standings after Leg Four 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 45.0 points 2. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 41.5 points 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 38.0 points 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 27.5 points 5. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 24.0 points 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 21.0 points 7. Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, 10.5 points 8. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 10.0 points Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Note: Delta Lloyd has not yet officially retired from Leg 4, but when they do they will be assigned 2 points for a Did Not Finish. If Ericsson 3 is able to complete Leg 4 following her repairs, she will receive 4 points as a fifth place finisher; otherwise she will receive 2 points for a Did Not Finish. DINGHY MOVES IN 80-FOOTERS Auckland, NZ (Feb. 2, 2009) - Competition in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series took on a new sense of urgency as dusk fell over the Hauraki Gulf this evening and South Africa’s Shosholoza and Italy’s Luna Rossa scrapped like tigers throughout a four-lap race. Think dinghy moves in 80-footers! The victory honors went to Peter Holmberg skippering Luna Rossa but only after multiple lead changes and two penalties imposed on the South African boat. It was by far the closest race in the first four days of competition in the two-week long international match race for big boats sailed in Auckland’s harbour. In four other races today, China Team lost to Emirates Team New Zealand after blowing their race start, while Luna Rossa comfortably defeated the Greek Team. BMW Oracle Racing won by 54 seconds over Pataugas K-Challenge and TeamOrigin beat Shosholoza by 48 seconds. With one more day remaining in the first round robin, the schedule has BMW Oracle Racing vs Damiani Italia Challenge, Emirates Team New Zealand vs Pataugas K Challenge, Alinghi vs Shosholoza, and TEAMORIGIN vs Greek Challenge. Current scores are: Pool A - Emirates Team New Zealand, 3-0; Damiani Italia Challenge, 2-1; BMW Oracle Racing, 2-1; Pataugas K Challenge, 1-2; China Team, 0-4. Pool B - TeamOrigin, 3-0; Alinghi, 2-1; Luna Rossa, 2-2; Greek Challenge, 1-2, Team Shosholoza, 0-3. Complete report: http://linkbee.com/DP5G Event website: http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com Video coverage: http://linkbee.com/CQO6 Audio coverage: http://linkbee.com/CQO7 * Pataugas K Challenge skipper Sebastian Col holds the top spots in the latest release of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Match Race Rankings on 28 January 2009. Here is a profile of the French sailor by Lynn Fitzpatrick: http://www.worldregattas.com/ViewInfo.php?ContentID=185 * American Peter Isler, who was navigator for BMW Oracle Racing in the 32nd America’s Cup, is in that role with TeamOrigin for the LVPS. Here Peter provides his perspective on the event so far: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6977#6977 BROKERAGE BONANZA Have you checked out JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc and their latest brokerage boats? We have the largest selection of used J/Boats on the market. Give our team a call and make an appointment to see these high quality listings. We currently have listed 2 - J/120's, 2 - J/109’s, and 3 - J/105’, along with numerous other makes and models. Our team of Jeff Brown, Roy Bream, Whit Batchelor, and Bill Matchett look forward to helping you find the boat that fits your needs. Give us a call at our San Diego office 619-224-6200, our Newport Beach office 949-675-8053, 866-376-7761 (toll free), or take a look at our website at http://www.jk3yachts.com SAILING SHORTS * With 364 entries, the Singlehanded Sailing Society's Three Bridge Fiasco last Saturday exceeded last year's fleet by nearly half again as much, making it the biggest race on the West Coast - last year's Newport to Ensenada race came in with about 325. This event is an inverted start pursuit race, with the fleet crossing the starting line at Golden Gate Yacht Club in either direction, then are to round Blackhaller buoy (GG), Treasure Island (Bay Bridge) and Red Rock (Richmond Bridge) in any order, any direction and all boats are either single or double-handed. -- Latitude 38, full story: http://linkbee.com/DP5H * A month after owner Eric Goetz delivered the grim news to 75 employees that Goetz Custom Boats was going into receivership and all were being laid off, Goetz Boats returned to business last week. The 34-year-old Bristol firm is still in receivership, and future ownership of the firm is yet to be determined, but all employees have been recalled to work, and they expect to be operating at full capacity this week. -- Full story: http://eastbayri.com/detail/125647.html * Amid the fleet at the Grenada Sailing Festival is a smattering of J/Boats, Beneteaus, Moorings, but it is the work boats that demonstrate the colors and history of the island. Photographer Cory Silken provided Scuttlebutt with a gallery of images from the event: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0202 * An American company believes they have found the remains of one of the greatest British sailing ships ever lost at sea. HMS Victory, the forerunner of Admiral Nelson's flagship of the same name, went down in a storm near the Channel Islands between France and Britain in 1744 with her 1,150 crew. Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration claim to have discovered the wreck, but it remains the property of the British government and the company would need permission to raise artifacts. The Victory is prized by salvagers because it was carrying 100 brass cannons, thought to be engraved with dolphins and the monogram of King George II. -- Full story: http://linkbee.com/DP5I * Don't mothball the overcoats yet: groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, America's favorite, furriest weather forecaster, announced Monday that winter will last another six weeks. Groundhog.org, official website of the bizarre tradition in a small Pennsylvania town that gets international attention, reported: "Phil Says 'Six More Weeks of Winter!'"The forecast is based on whether the marmot, after being woken from hibernation each February 2, can see his shadow. If he does, spring is another six weeks away. If not, winter is over. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/DP5J * Police in Antigua have charged a 21-year-old with the murder of Drew Gollan, the 38-year-old Australian skipper of the Perini Navi ketch Perseus, who was shot dead outside the Gallery Bar last week. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20090102083428ibinews.html PEDRICK YACHT DESIGNS SEEKS A SENIOR NAVAL ARCHITECT Pedrick Yacht Designs seeks a degreed naval architect having substantial design office experience, practical sailing skills and knowledge of yacht construction. Alternative education combined with superior skills and experience will be considered. Must demonstrate proficiency in CAD design tools and engineering. U.S resident working status required. Apply to: info@PedrickYacht.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Marc Herrmann: It is very sad to see that at this year's Miami OCR not a single multihull class was present. This truly is a sad day that such a dynamic proven boat such as the Tornado is omitted from such high calibre events and not able to carry on a long standing legacy. I believe ISAF needs to take another look at the decision regarding multihull classes and their participation at Olympic and other international events. It would be a shame not to. * From Jim Torian: In regards to Adrian Morgan’s comment (Scuttlebutt 2771), rest assured that if you sail, you enjoy the trickle-down effect of technology of previous racers who have tested your equipment in the harshest of conditions such as the VOR. Concerning nets, they are a hazard to navigation. No sailor/boater wants to encounter a fishing net and I have personally avoided many nets that have been marked and lit at night thanks to the fishermen who want to use their nets in the future. Of course these fishermen could always switch to a pole and avoid the incidental catch. Perhaps eating more red meat might help too. * From Frank Lawson, Port Ludlow, WA: Now that the Volvo "Race" has delaminated into the Volvo Shambles, I see now as a great time to call the whole thing off before thousands and thousands of diminishing dollars are needed to be spent saving boats and people's lives from the wilds of the Southern Ocean. It is now amply demonstrated that the boats are NOT up to the challenge. The thing to do now is to reconsider the scantlings, etc of the boats and design and build a fleet of seaworthy boats that can actually SAIL around the world as opposed to the current fleet that seems able only to limp from one rebuild facility to the next with little real racing in between. * From Chris Ericksen: Bravo, John Harwood-Bee, for having the courage to suggest in 'Butt 2772 the obvious resolution to the ongoing tragicomedy that has become the America's Cup. Let the Auld Mug and "its history of argument, deceit and obfuscation" be relegated to the dustbin of history. Maybe in another era it can be resurrected, but for now let it return to the New York Yacht Club so that it can rest in the ghostly arms of John Cox Stevens, Edwin A. Stevens, George L. Schuyler, J. Beekman Finley, Hamilton Wilkes and Colonel James A. Hamilton, Jr., the men who sent the schooner-yacht America to Cowes in 1851 and won it fair and square. * From Lloyd Causey: In Scuttlebutt 2772, Mr. John Harwood-Bee is very complimentary of the Louis Vuitton Series and says this is what the Americas Cup should be and that the current AC with it things he doesn't like can just go away or sink into the sea. I have a serious question for Mr. Harwood-Bee and others that I have express the same views. If everyone agreed and built the same boat year after year (even racing) and the events went from one venue to another venue, then what would be the difference than just another One Design championship like the TP52? Is there not enough of One Design racing in the world? Though it may never happen, I would enjoy having the rules back where there was more nationalism in the design, construction and crewing of the boats again. I believe the AC was always followed better when it was more nationalistic. In any event, the sure way to kill it would be to make it like the already numerous OD World Championships we already have in sailing. I like the AC to be bigger, faster, more outlandish, more costly, more daring, more emotional and more difficult to master than anything else in the world of sailing! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION When reviewing your notes for a test, the most important ones will be illegible. Special thanks to North U, JK3 Nautical Enterprises, and Pedrick Yacht Designs. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
