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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 976 - January 2, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
HAPPY NEW YEAR * After "winning" the Sydney-Hobart section and collecting plaudits but no points for their effort, Neal McDonald's Assa Abloy crew are confident that they can maintain their lead in the Volvo Ocean Race's third leg to Auckland and garner the full quota of winners' points. Yesterday Assa Abloy was sailing fast and straight towards Cape Reinga at the top of New Zealand's North Island, some 280 miles away, leaving another 200 to travel down the north-east coast and into Auckland. The 18 to 20- knot winds out of the north were interspersed by heavy squalls and shifts, leading to a constant rotation of headsails. With the water ballast tanks full, the ride was very wet. Crucially for Assa Abloy, the high pressure off the top of New Zealand shows little sign of slipping south and turning Cape Reinga into the 'Cape of Tears'. - Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, UK Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ * Onboard Assa Abloy Jason Carrington has been ill for three days and it was considered to take him off the boat at Cape Reinga. This afternoon the decision was taken to keep Carrington onboard until the finish. After that he will be thoroughly examined. The team is fighting hard to maintain a precious lead on the rest of the fleet. Amer One is the biggest threat, some 40 miles behind. It started when Carrington collapsed on deck just after the Hobart restart. The Englishman was laid down in a bunk and closely looked after by Klabbe Nylof, who is responsible for onboard health. Carrington was running a fever and suffered from serious abdominal pains. Due to that he was not able to eat and drink properly. Also Carrington had traces of blood in his urine. Nylof immediately started treating Carrington with heavy painkillers. The team consulted the official race doctors in England. As the situation did not improve quickly, Nylof continued treating the English Bowman with intra muscular injections of antibiotics. From then on the fever dropped and Carrington was in less pain. The Team remains in contact with the onshore doctors through Volvo Ocean Race headquarters. Mark Rudiger wrote from the boat "Jason's temperature is normal this morning and he is feeling a bit better. Jason at this point would like to stay onboard unless Doctors advise he must depart." Yesterday Neal McDonald felt that it was the most sensible thing to get Jason of the boat but things look better now after good onboard care and supervision of the race doctors. "The situation is not life threatening and Jason is a tough lad. He suffering from abdominal pains, which have been hard to diagnose by the doctors on shore. We will keep a close eye on him. He is in the bunk, eats and drinks again, so we continue to Auckland, fighting hard to keep our lead." - Josefine Lemmel, Assa Abloy Racing Team. www.assaabloyracingteam.com * News Corp has requested permission to use their emergency water as the watermaker has broken down. The water-tanks containing the emergency water are sealed by the race committee to avoid that crews use the emergency water at the beginning of a leg to lighten the boat. This would leave them without the safety of emergency water during the leg * UPDATE: January 2 at 0400 GMT - The high-pressure system that is still blocking the passage at Cape Reinga for Assa Abloy is soon expected to start moving to the east, opening the path to Auckland. Assa Abloy is expected to round the Cape in approximately 12 hours time. The crew's prime concern will be the prevention of gear failure as this will be one of the threats left to rob them off the victory they need so badly.
POSITIONS: on January 2 at 0400 GMT:
LOOKING BACK ON THE HOBART RACE * We fell off some really bad waves and found during our pitstop in Hobart, that a stringer [longitudinal reinforcement] was broken off in the bottom of the boat and also a significant crack had developed, all across the bulkhead just forward of the mast. The boat was launched from a wave like a car going off a bridge, landing on the road next to it. Not nice at all. Roger Nilson, Amer Sports One, www.nautorchallenge.com
THE INSIDE STORY
ADMIRAL'S CUP The Irish Times reported several days ago that Ireland, in the form of Dun Laoghaire, had met the criteria for the new format for the Admiral's Cup and suggested it was likely the championship could be held in Dublin at some point. Could it be that the RORC has abandoned the Solent and Cowes, regarded as among the least likely aspects of the event to be changed? - Ed Gorman, madforsailing website. Full story: www.madforsailing.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Phil McCrackin: I don't know whether it was disappointing or to be expected to read Grant Dalton's quote on the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. To say that the Hobart fleet is full of slow old boats is simply foolish and uneducated. The race is for all comers, not just state of the art Maxis and Volvo 60's. It is for the little blokes who also enjoy our sport. I think it is great that a Volvo 60 took line honors, but let's not forget the fact that a couple of the 60`s didn't make it to Hobart! Nicorette finished a close second to Assa Abloy and she beat three of them last year to Hobart by over five hours. Also this year the race was won by Bumblebee 5 on corrected time. Where were the 60`s on corrected time? These comments do not do our sport any favors, specially in terms of sponsorship. This is the first year that I can remember that the race has failed to attract a major sponsor. Grant should know how hard it is to obtain the corporate dollar these days and comments like this certainly don't help. How much have the Volvo 60`s put into these campaigns? Well you would hope that they would get to Hobart first wouldn't you! Bottom line is our sport and its great races don't need bagging from well-known people such as Grant. * From Matt Shillington, Crewmember Bumblebee 5; The Volvo 60's with water-ballast, unmatched sail wardrobes (eg.code 0), thousands of miles of sail testing, full time shore crews, rock star salaries could only beat the IMS rating 62 footer Bumblebee 5 by a couple of hours into Hobart! I can only assume Grant's back problems and lack of sleep would cause him to make such a statement. * From Craig Fletcher: I love reading Grant Daltons comments about the Hobart. This is more evidence showing the pros do not like sailing with or against amateurs and I sure know we don't enjoy sailing with them. Is it not time to have complete separation of pros and amateurs?
SAILING ON TV CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: I suspect the times listed are Eastern Standard Times, but the folks who sent me the press release have not been able to confirm that?
QUOTES FROM THE BOATS * "Last night, New Years Eve, we took on about 10 sail changes in an eight-hour watch. The winds were very shifty and gave us no time for a breather. We did however get to 'countdown' of course, somewhere in the Tasman Sea, but most importantly, on Australian time. I was thinking of just how drunk the mates back home must have been. We are going upwind in 30 knots now, getting a little hammered, but the water is warm and we have thoughts of a world in party mode to keep us revved up." - Nook, djuice dragons
HOW IT ALL HAPPENED We were sailing along in 17 knots of wind with a jib and a main up. Nothing special, almost close hauled with normal swell and waves. Suddenly we heard a low thump/bang and we lost the steering. The boat tacked by itself and we heeled over to starboard with all the ballast, gear and sails on that side. Immediately we could hear a crushing sound and the composite work list was getting longer and longer. At the same time we heard the sound of massive amounts of water filling the aft compartment and the rest of the boat. It happened very quickly. It did not take many seconds before the water was flooding from the aft to the middle of the boat. Priority one was to close the watertight doors to prevent sinking and damage to equipment more than what was unavoidable. Sails were dropped and Tony [Mutter] who was steering could see the tip of the rudder sticking out beside the boat. At this time the rudder was still hanging in the hole for the bottom bearing. The stock was wildly swinging around and breaking the quadrant and the port longitudinal framework, thus the crushing sound. The casing for the bottom rudder bearing, laminated to the hull, got severely damaged. Now, when water was prevented from spreading too much in the boat the priority was to stop water from entering the aft compartment. We had to get rid of the rudder and quickly the quadrant was unbolted, a rope tied to the stock and then the rudderstock was kicked out of the hole. The aft end of the boat was rapidly sinking now and the fastest way to stop the water was to plug the hole with a bucket and put Rodney's [Ardern] 100 kg on top of it. At this stage we had to tighten the locking handles on the watertight doors as the water pressure opened a small gap and we started to fill the midsection of the boat again. Read the rest of Krantz's story: www.teamseb.com/teamseb/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=428&a=1886
THE BEST
RECOGNITION The medallions marking 25 Sydney Hobart Races by yachtsmen and 10 by women will be presented to: Toby Richardson, a Tasmanian who this year also sailed aboard the Overall Winner, Bumblebee 5. Ian "Bomber" Treharne, from Sydney, who completed his 25th race aboard Eureka. Roger Hickman, the Sydney-based Tasmanian who skippered the winning yacht SAP Ausmaid to victory in the 2000 race, but had to retire with a broken mast early in the 2001 race. Michael Spies, joint owner/skipper yof Shipping Central who finished first in IMS Division B this year and was also co-skipper of Nokia when it smashed the race record in 1999. Toby Richardson sailed his first Hobart in 1973 and has crewed aboard many famous ocean racers, including Condor II, Apollo, Windward Passage, Sagacious V, Ausmaid and Wild Thing. These four sailors will join 49 other sailors who completed 25 Hobarts, headed by Tasmanian John Bennetto who this year set a record of having sailed in 41 Sydney Hobarts. The women, who will join a smaller group of only five women to have sailed more than 10 races, are: Lea Meyer, from Sydney, who achieved her 10th Sydney Hobart Race aboard Hogsbreath Witchdoctor, sailing every race on the same yacht. Her husband Jon, sailed his 18th race on Valtair. Gail Harland, also from Sydney, sailed her 10th on Shipping Central, her skipper, Michael Spies achieving his 25th. Jan Howard, from Newcastle, who has actually sailed in 12 Sydney Hobarts, but is not sailing this year, leaving that to her husband and son, Will, who will collect the medal on his mother's behalf. Race website: s2h.tas.gov.au/2001/home.php
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THE CURMUDGEON'S DEFINITIONS |
