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SCUTTLEBUTT 3074 - Tuesday, April 20, 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 Sails, Southern Spars, and Landfall. GIVING BACK TO THE SPORT By Bill Center, Union-Tribune Possibly no one in the United States is closer to the heartbeat of American sailing than Gary Jobson. I first met Jobson in the early 1970s when he was winning the Intercollegiate Championships out of Mission Bay. That collegiate All-American went onto being a member of a winning America's Cup team and later the expert voice on ESPN's sailing - most notably America's Cup - coverage. He knows the sport and the people in the sport - the big people as well as the weekend warriors. No one is more qualified to run an association like US SAILING than Gary Jobson. Which is why I was stunned last fall when Jobson was picked to run US SAILING. US SAILING operates with a staff of 35 in its Rhode Island offices. The position of president is nonpaying, mostly because many US SAILING presidents have been titular heads. That's not Jobson. As soon as Jobson took the tiller of US SAILING, he looked toward uncharted waters and began wondering if the organization couldn't be doing more and broadening its goals. "I'm finding this job to be fascinating," Jobson admitted Sunday. "Things will take a while, more time than I expected. But I'm into this. These are going to be three years that I give back to the sport." Jobson would like to revitalize US SAILING, which does a great job in a lot of areas. After all, it oversees the U.S. Olympic Sailing team and conducts 18 annual national championships for everything from juniors to senior club members. "It's important to have strong national teams," he said. "In the past, we have done very well. And in 2009, American sailors did really well across the board from the America's Cup to sunfish. But 98 percent of sailors in America are not in the Olympic classes. We need to find a balance." Most Americans who sail are not in one-design classes. Most are competing in handicap racing. But that is one area of sailing in the United States that has no national champions and little exposure. This is one area where Jobson plans to concentrate during his reign. "Right now we have four different rating rules for offshore boats in the United States," Jobson said. "ORR, IRC, PHRF and Portsmouth. All are different. And what is a fair handicap rule? Thirty years ago we had the IOR rule that was recognized around the world. It wasn't a perfect rule, in fact it had some major problems. But it was everyone's rule and created interest in sailing because it was international. I don't know if you could ever get it down again to one rule. But I'd like to try to get it down to two or three. And America needs to take the lead in this search." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/y5gyxmz ED BAIRD JOINS ITALIAN TEAM Italian fashion house Prada signaled its return to the America's Cup scene when it announced today that it will compete in the Louis Vuitton trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia, next month. Racing under the name Luna Rossa, Patrizio Bertelli, a three-time America's Cup campaigner and chairman of the Prada group, has asked the American Ed Baird to skipper the Louis Vuitton crew and, it is thought, the team will go on to contest the third Lous Vuitton regatta this year, in Dubai, and the first in 2010 in Hong Kong. He will have two Brazilians with nearly two handsful of Olympic medals, Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael, alongside him but will not be with them on the parallel TP52 which joins the Audi MedCup circuit in Cascais, Lisbon, next month. Emirates Team New Zealand will be in Portugal defending its 2009 title, as Britain's Ben Ainslie leads his home America's Cup team, Origin, at both regattas alongside the Swedish Cup contenders Artemis and Russia's Synergy. With the French press predicting that the Franco-German team All4One will also join the Audi circuit, that makes five America's Cup teams and three Italian teams on the Louis Vuitton road to the America's Cup with challenger of record Mascalzone Latino and the revived Azzurra challenge from the Aga Khan's Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. The pace of development in the talks about the timing and format of the next America's Cup may have all the pace of a bus in an inner city rush hour, but the interest among challengers is picking up considerably. -- Stuart Alexander, The Independent, http://tinyurl.com/y4vg5x6 Luna Rossa crew list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0419/ CELEBRATE SPRING WITH NORTH SAILS GEAR! With winter firmly behind us, it's time to think Spring. Put away the winter clothes and refresh your wardrobe with new shirts, belts and hats from North Sails Gear. We've got shirts for all your crew, with new styles for ladies & kids. Set your toes free in a pair of North Sails sandals, stock up on sunscreen or update your boat tote. Free domestic surface shipping for S-Butt readers on orders >$75 placed by April 30. Put "S-Butt" in Comments at check out & we'll deduct shipping. When fashion counts, head North! http://www.NorthSailsGear.com VOLVO OCEAN RACE SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED (April 19, 2010) - The course and dates for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 have been officially announced today, with the racing format and stopover schedule featuring a number of innovations. In explaining the revised format, Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad said there were two clear aims. "Firstly we have reduced the time the teams are onshore and the time they have between the In-Port and the Leg Start," he said. "Traditionally the teams would change their yachts from an offshore sailing mode to an inshore racing one and back again for the Leg start. By bringing the two events together we lower the costs to them and their sponsors. We have also achieved more time for the shore crews to work on the yachts and subsequently the sailors get more time off. "Secondly we can entertain the local public with the spectacle that is the Volvo Ocean Race on the water, for a long weekend of great racing and thrilling viewing. We hope by providing the local spectators with this on-the-water display, we will increase the public's awareness and passion for the sport of sailing." Notable features include: * The race starts in Alicante, Spain on October 29, 2011 and will conclude in Galway, Ireland on July 8, 2012. * There will be nine distance legs that visit eight stopover ports on five continents and race through four oceans, in under nine months. The Volvo Open 70's will cover over 39,270 nautical miles racing around the globe. * There will be a Pro-Am and In-Port Race in each of the ten ports, including the final finishing port of Galway, Ireland after the final distance leg. For eight of the In-Port races, the next distance leg will start on the following day. * There will be no scoring gates in this edition of the race but the fleet will utilize some notable islands as race marks on certain distance legs. * An exclusion zone will be established off the coast of Somalia to protect against pirate attacks and hijacking on the Leg 2 from Cape Town, South Africa to Abu Dhabi, UAE. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/y3yo95k TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR AN INFRINGEMENT With the exception of those events in yacht racing that have umpires, competitors are solely empowered to oversee the racing rules of sailing. Prior to the inclusion of alternative penalties (one or two turns), admitting a foul came with a high price - a Disqualification. Now, if the sailing instructions permit, a rule infringement can be remedied on the water and racing can continue. The key, however, is taking responsibility for an infringement, and in a perfect world, taking responsibility without a competitor forcing the issue. The sport of golf just saw a perfect example of this in a professional tournament: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hilton Head Island, S.C. (April 18, 2010) - Brian Davis couldn't deny what he saw and knew he was honor-bound to tell the world. Davis ticked a loose reed during his backswing Sunday on the first playoff hole, calling a two-stroke penalty on himself that gave Jim Furyk a victory at the Verizon Heritage. "It's just awkward to see it happen at such a key moment in the golf tournament," Furyk said. "Awkward for him to lose that way, and a little awkward for me to win." Davis immediately asked for PGA Tour tournament director Slugger White and shared what he saw on the shot. White consulted with officials who checked TV replays and confirmed Davis' worst fear: His violation cost him a chance at his first PGA Tour victory. What Davis lost on the course will be regained in his reputation for his honorable act, White said. "That will come back to him spades, tenfold," White said. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/y5xgj3j DO YOUR TURNS, ALREADY Veteran Thistle sailor Chris Laborde reminds us to uphold - and enforce - the rules of the road. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm coming off a March racing streak of two midwinters and another great regatta in between, all in Florida. The weather was colder than usual, but the friendships were as warm as ever and the racing was great. But I had the same distressing conversation over and over again: Other guy: Today this boat fouled us and they didn't do their circles. Me: Did you hail, "Protest"? OG: No. Me: Why not? OG: I felt they should have done their circles without me having to force them to, and I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It's our duty as stewards of the sport to uphold the rules. Should we have to tell folks to do their turns? No. But, these days, we do. In the classes in which I compete, there seems to be a regrettable new standard: "If nobody saw it, it didn't happen." And worse, "If nobody forces me to do circles, then I don't have to." Related Resources In sailing, you can get away with all sorts of rules infractions. But are you really getting away with it? I take to heart the adage that winning without the respect of your competition isn't winning. At the end of a regatta, what do we remember? Fun times, maybe a couple of good races, and, unfortunately, instances of poor sportsmanship. Looking back at all the races I've sailed over the years, I remember a couple of victories, a couple of times I did something I shouldn't have, great victories by my friends, the parties and bar adventures, and of course the times I got fouled horribly and the bad guy got away with it. We can't ignore the negative impact rule-flaunting has on our sport, especially at the amateur level. When sailors sit down to figure out where they want to spend their ever-shrinking recreation budgets, many factors come into play. We consider the costs, but we also consider less tangible factors, like the type of people with whom we're spending our precious free time. In many cases, the decision of whether to keep sailing comes down to a gut feeling that we later justify with logical facts. It's at these times, I think, that poor sportsmanship causes us to lose on-the-fence sailors. -- Sailing World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/y7vlhhy A CLASSY ACT Months of mental and physical preparation will be put to the test at the upcoming Rolex Farr 40 World Championships being held in the waters off the Dominican Republic's southeast coast. The battle lines have been drawn and the teams are gearing up to put their tactical expertise and boat-handling skills against one another in what promises to be an epic four day regatta. As the official mast supplier, Southern Spars wishes the 10 competing teams perfect sailing conditions and an exhilarating competition. In the end there can be only one winner. To find out what goes into designing a world class performance rig, visit: http://www.southernspars.com 2010 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship website: http://www.farr40worlds.com NEW YORK TO BARCELONA TRANSOCEANIC RECORD New York, NY (April 19, 2010; Day 12) - At 1630 UTC Estrella Damm was just off the coast at Valencia making around nine to 10 knots and perhaps considering that Monday night will be their last sunset of this New York Barcelona Transoceanic Sailing Record challenge. W Hotels has made a small gain since the last schedule report, but is quickly running out of race track to reach the leader position. The biggest question now is predicting a possible ETA, which, given the forecasts on offer at the moment, could be anything from midday UTC until into Wednesday, entirely depending on how slow Tuesday goes. Positions report (as of 20:30 UTC): Estrella Damm - 3555.0 nm from NY; 111.5 nm to Barcelona W-Hotels - 3462.7 nm from NY; 203.8 nm to Barcelona Event website: http://www.ny-bcn.org/ SAILING SHORTS * Long Beach, CA (April 18, 2010) - Activity amid the International Moth class continues in the western U.S., with the California State Championship hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. A demo day on Friday preceded the event, which saw 15 entrants revel in the excellent conditions both on and off the water. The breeze built all day both days with moderate chop, topping out at around 12-14 knots on Saturday and a solid 15-18 knots on Sunday. 2009 World Champion Bora Gulari topped the scoreline, with Zach Maxam in second and Charlie McKee in third. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9657 * The 43rd edition of Antigua Sailing Week is scheduled to run April 24-30, but with many of the participants stranded in Europe due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland, the event has decided to postpone the first day of racing until Sunday, April 25th. -- Event website: http://www.sailingweek.com * The final finisher for The Clipper 09-10 Round The World Yacht Race leg from China to USA, Team Finland, arrived today in San Francisco. Despite being the last team to complete the 5,690-mile leg, Team Finland have been awarded their average points due to the delays with their replacement mast being outside their control. The team now has an overall points tally of 58.3 and places them in third place on the leaderboard behind Spirit of Australia and Jamaica Lightning Bolt. The start of San Francisco to Panama is Tuesday April 20 at 6pm PT. -- http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com * The quality of racing in the Star class is closely followed by the quality of racing venues that the class seeks out to host their championship events. Case in point is last week's Western Hemisphere Championship in Nassau, Bahamas. As American Andrew Campbell points out during the event, "If we were in Europe (the 15-22 knot easterlies) would certainly be called a relentless breeze, but because it's 75 degrees and the water is also 75, the conditions (in Nassau) are something closer to ideal." Photographer Fried Elliott liked the conditions too, and provides for Scuttlebutt this photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0419/ * The European professional RC 44 racing circuit will be headed to Miami, FL this winter following their World Championship October 11-16 in Puerto Calero on the Canary Islands. The class, which hopes to establish a racing circuit in the U.S., has added an event on their 2010 racing program in Miami for December 7-12. -- http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/program/index.php * This summer, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide on whether to allow a 50% increase in the amount of ethanol in the nation's gasoline supply, from the current E10 (or containing 10% ethanol) up to E15 (containing 15% ethanol). However, with testing data on the new "mid-level" ethanol formulation to be completed on only a small group of 2001 and newer model vehicles by this time frame, consumers with older cars, boats, non-road vehicles or gas-engine powered equipment may find that the fuel is not compatible or safe for use. -- Read on: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=496 * In response to a federal budget proposal that would close Coast Guard helicopter stations based in Waukegan, Ill., and Muskegon, Mich., the Great Lakes Boating Federation is urging recreational boaters in Michigan and the region to contact their local congressman to voice strong opposition to the cut. -- Soundings, full story: http://tinyurl.com/y7kcgqd LANDFALL FOR PERFORMANCE RACING AND OFFSHORE OUTFITTING Landfall, world leader in offshore outfitting, marine safety and navigation, will ready you & your crew for Bermuda, Hawaii and beyond! ISAF/ORC-approved liferafts and tethers, AIS, sat phones, weather routing, more. Get Landfall's ISAF Special Regulations Summary (#BIASF), which outlines the changes. Contact: (800) 941-2219; Stamford, CT (I-95 Ex 6); http://www.Landfallnav.com 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 Barry Dunning: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3073) Has the world gone mad, is Dr Jim Clark not right. Surely all the crews on Valsheda, Ranger, and Hanuman should be paying the owners for the pleasure of sailing on such beautiful boats. They are privileged indeed. I do assume, of course, that these professional crews are all declared ISAF Group 3 sailors! I wonder. * From Eric Sorensen: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3073) Dr. Clark of the J replica Hanuman is justified in his view on mano et mano racing with the owners at the helm. When you have created a piece of history then sailing with similar versions of professionalism seems apropos. I am sure there were pros at the helm on many of those races but for a guy racing his own baby the luster is a bit diminished if one loses to a pro. Create an owner operated class (no doubt with advisers on board) and they will come! * From Paul Buttrose: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3073) Regarding the Farr 40 World Championships in the Dominican Republic: "After averaging over 35 teams for the past three previous (sic) years, the drop of interest this week is alarming". Did it occur to the author of that press release and the organizers that the loss of life, devastation and monstrous struggle by humanitarians to relieve the suffering in neighboring Haiti may have influenced the entry list? * From R. G. Newbury: (re, Wind Farm thread) My reaction is not a 'knee-jerk', it is a rational reaction. Wind power is intermittent. Windpower is NOT a proper replacement or even an addition to the base level electricity needs of a modern economy. 'Adding wind power' is just a politician's hot air, while he steals your wallet to make you pay extra, because wind power is not economic *without the government's subsidy*. Ontario is going to pay 80 cents per kwh for "green" wind power, while the going rate is actually about 10 cents. Gee, 70 cents/kwh applied to stack scrubbers would clean things up. Then again, nuclear doesn't need stack scrubbers and runs all the time, not just when the wind blows. And if you are deluded enough to believe that manmade CO2 has any effect on the climate, nuclear power produces no CO2. But of course, the greeeeeenies think nuclear is EVIL. Ahh, Lake Michigan in summer: been a few years but I remember: glassy water, 3 knots of air, just LOTS of power for a windmill...and the little flies. Damn little flies! And I think this thread does not belong here, at ALL. => Curmudgeon's Comment: And now that this thread has taken a political turn, I also agree it does not belong here. Further discussion can occur at the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9658 CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said? Special thanks to North Sails, Southern Spars, and Landfall. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
