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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 632 - August 24, 2000FOR THE RECORD23 August 2000 - At 18.49 GMT (14.49 EST) Steve Fossett's maxi cat PlayStation passed Ambrose Light in New York Harbour and headed across the Atlantic. Skipper Fossett and his 11 man crew are aiming to break the 10 year old TransAtlantic record (held by Serge Madec on Jet Services 5, 6 days 13 hours 3 mins 32 secs). This means they must reach Lizard Point, UK before 07.52 GMT Wednesday 30 August. Meteorologist Bob Rice commented on the weather conditions for the record attempt: "Overall pattern across the Atlantic looks acceptable based on current long range forecast data. Some problems will crop up of course, they always do, which is why records are records. And, this IS a difficult record to break." You can follow the progress of PlayStation on Virtual Spectator. And it's FREE! Just go to the VS website http://www.virtualspectator.com/ to register and download the necessary software, FREE of charge. The application should take approximately 20 minutes to download using a 28k modem but once you've got the application you don't need to be online to follow the record attempt. Simply click the "online" button on Virtual Spectator when you're on the internet to download the latest positioning data then you can replay and watch the action offline. If you have already downloaded the transatlantic software you will be able to track PlayStation in 2D, but see the boat in full 3D animation you will be need to need to register and download the current upgrade. This version of Virtual Spectator will also allow you to watch future Transatlantic record attempts that we will be tracking. JUNIORS The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) today announced the 2000 U.S. Junior Sailing Team, considered the best and brightest of young sailors in the United States. Each team member qualified by winning a US SAILING national championship. The Junior Olympic Nationals, which were held June 19-25 at the Seattle Yacht Club in Seattle, WA, produced the following team members: Andrew Campbell (San Diego, CA), Cardwell Potts (New Orleans, LA), Julie Wilson (New Orleans, LA), Andrew Loe (New Orleans, LA), John Loe (New Orleans, LA), Anne Davidson (Madison, CT), Anthony Boscolo (Seattle, WA), and Jen Morgan (Shoreline, WA). Campbell also placed first in the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship for the Smythe Trophy, held at the New York Yacht Club (Newport, RI), August 14-20. --From the U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship for the Ida Lewis Trophy, which was held at the Oklahoma Boat Club, Oklahoma City, OK June 28-July 2, Skipper Julie Papanek (Chicago, IL) and crew Lindsey Duda (Dallas, TX) sailed their Club 420 to the finish line and the Junior Sailing Team. Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, NY) won first place at the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship in her Laser Radial at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, RI July 31-August 3, and came home with the Leiter Trophy and her spot on the team. The Sears Trophy and triplehanded team spot belongs to Skipper Rick Korab (St. Petersburg, FL) and crew Ryan Druyor (St. Petersburg, FL) and crew: Kevin Reali (St. Petersburg, FL) who sailed Ynglings at the U.S. Junior Triplehanded Championship, hosted by the New York Yacht Club in Newport, RI August 14-20. The U.S. Junior Doublehanded Championship for the Bemis Trophy was taken by Club 420 Skipper Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, CA) and crew Tyler McKay (San Diego, CA). The event was also held at the New York Yacht Club August 14-20. Jonathan Azevedo (Indian Harbor Beach, FL) will hold the Junior Sailing Team Male Boardsailor position. He was qualified at the 2000 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Youth Sailing Championship at the JO Windsurfing Festival in Merritt Island (FL), June 2000, placing second behind Canadian Mike Hayes, who chose not to join the U.S. Junior Sailing Team. Team members will head to the ISAF World Youth Sailing Championship in Manley (near Sydney), Australia, December 28, 2000 - January 6, 2001. Each country sends one entry per division (like the Olympics). The U.S. team is Brian Doyle, Team Leader (head sailing coach at Dartmouth College); Singlehanded Male (Laser) - Andrew Campbell; Singlehanded Female (Byte) - Amanda Clark; Doublehanded Male (International 420) - Andrew Loe/John Loe (brothers); Doublehanded Female (International 420) - Julie Papanek/Lindsey Duda; Boardsailing Male (Mistral IMCO) - Jon Azevedo. Female boardsailors will not be represented. The team coach will be determined at a later date. - Penny Piva, http://www.ussailing.org REVOLUTIONARY Gill have been the market leaders in boating boots for many years. Whilst performance marine clothing has developed in leaps and bounds over the years: boots had not until now! During the past two years Gill has worked closely with WL Gore to develop a completely new and revolutionary marine boot. Style 910 Features include: waterproof, breathable, and light weight. Cordura and Kevlar tough upper. Unique rear lacing system. Superman grip with wrap around 3D sole unit. Reflective strip near to the ankle support. No offshore sailor should leave home without a pair. For more information: http://www.gillna.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. -- From TWJ Thornton - Kudos to Merritt Palm for her appreciation of the contribution many people make every year to junior sailing. Merritt is a great example of what junior sailing can lead too. At this year's Sears, Beamis Smythe, The NYYC organized many evening activities in the form of seminars and talks by some of the leading lights of the sport including Moose Maclintock, J P Moulineux and Jerry Kirby as well as an evenings sailing on several top grand Prix boats. It was a unique opportunity for the kids to hear and experience what has become a respectable and serious sport, on a professional level. At the Junior Olympic National Champs in Seattle earlier this year, the 14 coaches present held around 100 national titles and 3 Olympic medals between them, another great example of those who have benefited from the long standing national championships, giving back to the sport at one of its most relevant levels. For a great example of how far the juniors have come, check out the comments made by Clay Johnson and Andrew Campbell when interviewed by the Providence Daily Journal, regarding their tactics going into the final Smythe race, sounding more like seasoned and serious pros going into a world championship. If you ever have the chance to contribute to the running of a junior event in your area, please raise your hand. You may see the future pass before your eyes. -- From Dave Millett - Thanks Peter (Isler) for your letter to the Transpac committee. There are a lot of racers that have been after the TP Committee to abandon their rule making folly and just run a race for a long time. We have IMS and PHRF we don't need more. We don't need box rules; we don't need speed limits. Every size limiting, speed limiting, rating limiting rule Transpac has put into effect has done one thing only - DIMINISHED PARTICIPATION. You are right on when you give the committee kudos for creating more trophy divisions. But, use the systems we have. Create rating bands or size bands within the EXISTING National and International rating rules available, based on entries 30 days before the race, and let everyone go at it. Nobody in a 50' or smaller cares about a speed limit or a new elapsed time record. They weren't going to get there anyway. During the race everyone cares but at the end of the day nobody spending bucks on a bigger boat cares about a new record because it gives them something to shoot for next time. That's why we keep coming back! The men and women on the TP Committee do a great job of running a top-notch race and we need volunteers like them so racers can go out and have good races. But leave the rating and rule creation to the rule makers and use them the way they are. -- From Walter Johnson - It's nice to have Dan Dickison's comments on main sail shape. But 30% may be a little draft forward for most boats. The draft of the main shood match the leech profile of the jib. If the draft of the main is pulled too far forward like 30% it will begin to backwind too early. I.e.; you must remember that a main lives in the upwash of jib. So a draft position of 40 to 45% is more efficient. As the breeze builds more backstay for main sheet tension will flatten then main through increase mast bend. This will also flatten the jib by keeping the headstay flatter. A draft position of 30% is more a figure for the position of a draft for a jib, rather then a main. OLYMPICS (Cynthia Goss wrote an interesting feature on Olympians Jonathan and Charlie McKee for Quokka Sports. Following is a brief excerpt.) The McKee brothers are clearly individuals, but when interviewed separately, their thoughts mirror each other's. They seem to be a good match as a team: two people of like minds but complementary traits. According to Charlie, Jonathan is more focused, so he's well suited to being at the helm. Charlie prefers to let his mind wander more, to watch the race, to collect the sensory data needed to make tactical decisions. When it comes to making sailing into a career, they seem to have different motivations. "Jonathan truly loves sailing for sailing's sake and the sort of personal fulfillment of trying to improve yourself," said Charlie. "That's important to me as well, but I don't have quite the same passion about that part of it. I certainly love competition and I love the traveling and the social aspects of sailing. As far as the sport goes, it's a great mix of those things, and to a large extent, that is the attraction for me." When asked about the dynamic that being siblings adds to the mix, neither brother sees their pairing as a great departure from the makeup of any Olympic crew - be it a family crew or not. They both realize they have an advantage because they know each other so well. But they also know that every crew has to mesh perfectly so as to function as the brain and body of one creature. And in that way, they are no different from any Olympic team. At their ages, the McKees may be considered the elder statesmen of the 49er Olympic fleet. According to Charlie, their peers are in their 20s and early 30s. Physical conditioning was a focus in the early stages of their training, but they are now conditioned to play their best game of agility, endurance and control in an edge-of-control kind of boat. What they may lack in youth they balance with wisdom about what these Games mean for two brothers sailing their last Olympic regatta together. They aren't arriving in Sydney with a self-imposed pressure to win that matches the extreme, supercharged character of the boat they sail: they want to enjoy and appreciate these Games. - Cynthia Goss, for Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/08/SLQ__0818_s_mckee_WFC.html POWER GLOATING When you win, you want everyone to know about it...and nothing tells the story better than sharp looking crew apparel from Pacific Yacht Embroidery. For a winning program, the look of your crew gear is as important as the cut of your sails. Pacific Yacht Embroidery will take the time to make that special effort to set your crew out from the crowd. Get it touch with Frank Whitton to learn how affordable his high quality crew apparel can be. Even if you lose you will feel better because you look so good. Frank delivers. Pacyacht@aol.com/619-226-8033 ROLEX COMMODORES' CUP RETROSPECTIVE Peter Morton, the Channel Islands' Rolex Commodores' Cup team manager said the key to success would be staying out of trouble and he was right. Whilst other teams fell by the wayside with gear breakdowns, running aground, or getting caught in protests, the Channel Islands kept their heads and won the regatta convincingly. Seven teams came to contest this, the first championship test of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's new rating rule called IRM. With a new rule and many of the sailors teamed up for the first time, it was unclear just who the favourites for this regatta were, although the Channel Islands were expected to fare well with two Farr 40s on their team. This was the fifth occasion of the biennial event, run along very similar lines to the Admiral's Cup with teams made up of three boats of different sizes, ranging from 30 feet up to 50 feet. But this was perhaps the most professional Rolex Commodores' Cup yet seen, with Olympic sailors such as bronze medalist Ossie Stewart bringing added potency to some crews. But the regatta is designed primarily as a Corinthian event, and all helmsmen had to prove their eligibility as bona fide amateurs. Perhaps this was why some sailors were upset at the prospect of racing Ian Williams, one of Britain's finest match racers who was taking the wheel of a big boat, the Farr 40 Warlord, for the first time. A member of the Commonwealth team, Williams and his teammates found themselves at the head of the results after the first two days of inshore racing. But the wheels fell off their challenge in the crucial Offshore Race, worth as many points as the first four inshore races put together. Less than half an hour after leaving the frenetic start line at the Royal Yacht Squadron, Warlord grounded on some rocks close to the Isle of Wight shore, and could only look on as the fleet glided by, whilst her crew frantically hoisted the spinnaker to pull the Farr 40 clear. That incident marked the turning point for the Commonwealth challenge, who never really recovered from a poor team score in that 155-mile race through the night. England Blue came into their own at this point, and were the only team to put up any sort of battle with the ever-consistent Channel Islands. That Offshore Race also proved the undoing of perhaps the most spectacular boat in the fleet, the brand new Ker 10.7 Metre, Roaring Meg. Designer Jason Ker was aboard for the week, and must have surprised even himself with the sheer pace of this sleek white boat. She was in the process of pulling past a boat a full five feet longer on the waterline, England Red's Farr 40 2XL, when her rig came crashing down. Just a mile west of The Needles, Roaring Meg's dream of becoming top individual boat in the Rolex Commodores' Cup became a nightmare of twisted carbon, wire and hi-tech sailcloth. Consolation for Ker came in seeing another of his designs, Peter Rutter's 30-foot Quokka V win the battle of the small boats in the Offshore Race. Rutter and England Blue were back in the running after a poor start to the regatta. Back to Cowes for some more intense short-course racing, and a perfect day of sunshine and strong wind beckoned for the competitors as they prepared for battle in the Rolex Trophy. As the fleet raced up the Solent towards the Rolex buoy, just yards away from the lawn of the Royal Yacht Squadron, crew raced harder than ever not just for victory in the race but for the chance to win their owners a Rolex timepiece. More haste, less speed is easy to say in hindsight, but that would be the advice for Shakermaker, the Ker-designed sistership of Quokka V. Faced with a riding turn on the winch, her crew attempted to release the jammed runner by tightening on the leeward runner. It was more than the thin 'cathedral rig' could bear and her mast came crashing down, and with it, any hopes of overall victory for her England Red teammates. The French and Scottish teams had their moments of hope in the course of the week. The J125 Magic Wind Yota of Pierre Yves Collet, and Manuel Guedon's Sydney 40 Blan deserved more from their brave starts in the Offshore Race, but these two exciting but complex boats left the French facing an uphill struggle against boats optimised for IRM. McWolf, the Scottish Farr 40, was the best-sailed boat of the regatta in the hands of the helmsman/tactician combination Mark Heeley and Kevin Sproul. A protest by Blan in a port/starboard incident during the Rolex Trophy put paid to McWolf's strong bid for best big boat in the series. That honour went to Tony Buckingham's Farr 40 A Bit of a Coup - the crowning glory on an excellent team achievement that he and his team manager Peter Morton had masterminded. It was a long, hard week of racing and partying, and one that called for keeping a clear head. Morton commented: "The key to winning this regatta is staying out of trouble. Don't break your mast, don't run aground, don't get into a protest, keep your nose clean." A simple strategy that evaded most teams, except for the Channel Islands themselves who proved themselves worthy winners of the pinnacle of Corinthian yachting, the Rolex Commodores' Cup. - Susannah Bourne THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS There are only two things you "have to" do in life. You "have to" die, and you "have to" live until you die. You make up all the rest. |
