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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 709 - December 13, 2000SYDNEY HOBART CORONER'S REPORT(The SailNet website has posted a story about the long-awaited report from the Australian coroner regarding the fatal 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race. Here are two excerpts.) * SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA-A state coroner investigating the loss of six crew in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race delivered a scathing attack against the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Race Management Team and the Bureau of Meteorology in his official Findings and Recommendations. The Coroner, John Abernathy, said that the Race Management team's inability to properly interpret the formula used by the BOM for forecasts was inexcusable. He added that the team was organized in such a fashion that at times of crisis it was, to all intents ! and purposes, valueless to the Race Fleet. The race started Dec. 26 in relatively good conditions, although a gale warning was issued at a pre-race meeting and that warning was upgraded to a storm warning four hours later. By the time the race entered its third day, six sailors had died and 55 others had been rescued amid cyclonic conditions in Bass Strait, between the Australian mainland and the island state of Tasmania, as strong winds and monstrous waves capsized a dozen vessels. * The BOM came under fire for not following up initial attempts to alert the CYCA to the severity of the storm that was developing and ensure that the information was in the right hands. Handing down his findings via a 340-page report in Sydney this week, the coroner also made 14 recommendations that he believed would make Category One ocean races, such as the Hobart, safer.- SailNet website, full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/news/index.cfm?news_list=3Dmatthe0885,matt he0883,matthe0884&tfr=3Dfp To read the Executive Summary of the coroner's report: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lc.nsf/pages/sydneytohobart_findings CYCA REPLY The Cruising Yacht of Australia announced that the distinguished retired Royal Australian Navy officer, Rear Admiral Chris Oxenbould AO RANR, is the Chairman of the Race Committee of the 2000 Telstra Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Glenn Bourke, SOCOG's Competition and Venue Manager for Sailing at the recent Sydney Olympic Games and Paralympics and now Chief Executive Officer of the CYCA, has also joined the Race Committee. Phil Thompson, the previous Race Director, has stood aside and will play no role in the management of the 56th Race, which starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. CYCA Vice Commodore Martin James announced the changes to the composition of the Race Committee after the release yesterday of the Findings and Recommendations by New South Wales Coroner, Mr John Abernathy, following his Inquest into the death of six yachtsmen in the storm swept 1998 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Race. Vice Commodore James said the CYCA welcomed the release of the Coroner's Findings and Recommendations following the Inquest into the tragic death of the six yachtsmen during the 1998 race. "The report is extensive and contains many recommendations and comments that will require careful analysis, but they will be invaluable to the conduct of offshore yacht racing in Australia and overseas in the future," he added, "However, it will take the CYCA some time to give full consideration to the key recommendations and their implications for this year's race, and publish any changes to the Notice of Race. "It is pleasing to see that a number of the key recommendations of the Coroner were, in fact, introduced by the CYCA for the 1999 race and refined for this year's event, and that the Coroner has noted in a positive way the CYCA's efforts to improve safety at sea. The changes already implemented by the CYCA include crew training and experience requirements, boat and crew safety regulations, the rules as to the quality of certain marine products, and race administration structure, including the setting up of a crisis management team comprising experienced sailors. "The CYCA's policy is to ensure that the 2000 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race will be organised and conducted to the highest standards of ocean race management and safety at sea," Vice Commodore James added. - Peter Campbell, http://www.sydneytohobart.telstra.com TEAM PHILIPS (The Quokka Sailing website continues its coverage of the Team Philips situation. Here are two excerpts from Tim Jeffery's latest story dealing with the abandoned 120- foot maxi catamaran.) * The same severe north Atlantic weather that knocked out Team Philips' steering has slowed the 294-meter-long container ship that rescued Pete Goss and his six crewmates. The German Hoechst Express' ETA in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has slipped back from tomorrow night to Thursday morning. Goss' shore team, from its mission control in Southampton, is continuing to interrogate the 120-foot catamaran by pinging the boat's big Standard C satcom dome. It still appears to be upright and drifting slowly. Goss Challenge's managing director, Mark Orr, says he will not comment on any insurance or sponsorship issues until Goss reaches Canada. "A lot of things will happen once Pete is ashore," explained Orr. * Orr did confirm this afternoon that, thus far, no vessel has yet been contracted for a salvage attempt. "What we are attempting to do is to get some aerial reconnaissance of Team Philips to give us a basis on which to make decisions." It is clearly no simple undertaking to tow a 22-ton catamaran with high windage, skittish tendencies and a tricky structure - it will be a challenge to attach lines to Team Philips - especially in December. There are continuing worries that the giant twin-rig catamaran might have sustained damage in the rescue attempt. - Tim Jeffery, for Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1212_therace_WFC.html THE RACE * Team Adventure, the American mega catamaran entered in The Race of the Millennium, docked in La Coruna, Spain early Tuesday morning to carry out a thorough safety check after sailing to windward in gale force conditions for more than two days. Skipper Cam Lewis and his 14-man crew aboard the 110-foot Gilles Ollier-designed catamaran spent nearly 24 hours hove-to in a 40-knot gale in the notorious Bay of Biscay during the weekend. They were 70 miles west of Cape Finisterre when they learned that the Principality of Monaco had cancelled the Prologue program for The Race. "Without any deadline pressures to get to Monaco, it was a prudent move to check the boat over carefully," Lewis said. "The boat is very solid and she performed beautifully, but it was a tough three days and it made sense to do a 1,000-mile service check a few miles sooner than we might have." La Coruna is situated on the northwest tip of Spain, just above the Portuguese border. Team Adventure is expected to stay there 24 to 48 hours before heading for Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast. Larry Rosenfeld, Lewis' partner and the co-navigator of Team Adventure said they decided to take it easy as winds gusted over 40 knots. They slowed the boat down by clawing to windward with only a storm jib. He said the boat handled the 15 to 20-foot seas with ease. "After we made the decision at 1:00 am today to head for La Coruna, we bore away on a reach," Rosenfeld said. "The true wind was 42 knots and the boat was doing 18 knots with just the storm jib and the sail area of the wing mast. It created an apparent wind across the deck of 55 knots. We were sailing along the wave trains of the cross-seas. The boat just smoothed out and took off like a rocket." - Keith Taylor, http://www.TeamAdventure.org * PlayStation remains in Falmouth, UK waiting for next weather window before continuing their delivery to The Race start. A Wednesday (December 13th) departure directly to Barcelona is anticipated. * (On the Quokka website, PlayStation crewmember Tom Weaver reports on sailing the 125-footer in extreme conditions.) A big catamaran going upwind into big seas, in December in the English Channel. Ugh! Sleeping is not really an option, and I was seasick for the first time in my life. It sort of caught me by surprise, but now I will have more sympathy for all other sufferers. Having the trampoline to barf through in between grinding in jibs is handy; all boats should have one. It must have been an amusing sight to see me doing starfish impressions on the tramp, disregarding the waves roaring through the net; it felt a bit like looking into a fire hose to see if the water is turned on. Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/expert/12/SLQ_weaver_1212_WFC.html * Race director Bruno Peyron has stressed that The Race will go forward as planned. The scheduled start hasn't been changed, but he still hopes to arrange some activities for the boats when they arrive in Barcelona. Only Grant Dalton's Club Med and Loick Peyron's Innovation Explorer (ex-Code One) are in the Mediterranean. Steve Fossett's PlayStation and Tony Bullimore's Team Legato are in England, and Roman Paszke's Warta-Polpharma is in Vannes, France. - Sean McNeill, Quokka Sports, http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1212_therace_WFC.html * The Organisers of The Race have taken note of the decision of the Monegasque State to cancel the Monte Carlo Prologue, announced by the press communique released yesterday evening. Accordingly, Cam Lewis, skipper of Team Adventure has decided not to continue his route towards Monaco and has stopped over in the Port of La Corua (Spain). The organisers are in permanent liaison with Club Med and Innovation Explorer in order to examine together the possibility offered by the two boats to meet together before assembling in Barcelona, the official venue of the start. - http://www.therace.org/ FAVORITE PART I think my favorite part is the deep pockets. Sure, I like the great look of my Camet sailing shorts; and the fact that Supplex really dries quickly; and the way the Cordura seat patch stands up to course non-skid patterns. And Lord knows I love the 1/4-inch foam pads that can be inserted into the seat patch to eliminate fanny fatigue. But I still think I like the deep pockets best. They hold lots of stuff, but more importantly - nothing ever falls out. NEVER. Take a look for yourself - they come in four great colors (Red, Navy Blue, Khaki, Charcoal Grey) http://www.camet.com VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) holds onto his fresh lead over the 20 skippers in the Vendee Globe fleet, enhancing it by just a few miles from Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere) in the last few hours. Admitting that such a lead can sometimes be more of a burden, Desjoyeaux nevertheless described unusually beautiful sailing conditions. Along with his immediate rival, he is navigating between the Crozet Islands (the archipelago belonging to the Southern French Territories), an experience which is both refreshing and challenging ; the skippers are enjoying a temporary pause as they are positioned between two low pressure systems, however, this is equally a very tricky weather zone to negotiate. Despite the fact that the fleet haven't experienced really extreme conditions yet since crossing the 40th parallel, they all seem ecstatic to be under clear, bright skies, in a softer wind with an insignificant swell under the hull, and surrounded by any number of birds. A chance to dry out their sleeping bags, boots and clothing, open the hatches up, after bearing up with both the wet and humidity for several days this opportunity won't present itself again in the near future. Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations), who is still smarting from his recent calamitous error in weather strategy, can at least hand over the stress ball to Desjoyeaux, who confessed today to be monitoring constantly the boats behind, notably all sailing faster than him, and only able to control Jourdain at the very best. One can very well ask what risks and options are the other skippers now prepared to take to supercede the new leader ? - http://www.vendeeglobe.com Standings on December 12 at 15:00 UT: 1. PRB (Desjoyeaux) - 2 SILL Matines La Potagere (Jourdain) (+112 miles) 3. Aquitaine Innovations (Parlier) (+228m) 4. Active Wear (Thiercelin) (+355m) 5. Kingfisher (MacArthur) (+361m) LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) (Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) * From John Alofsin JWrld@aol.com I was happy to read that Pete Goss and his crew were safely rescued. Here's a question to consider: who should pay for the cost of the RAF Nimrod and other rescue resources that might have been called upon? It strikes me that boats in these types of races are intentionally pushing the limits of safety. The boats' designs have less safety margins and the teams often intentionally sail toward bad weather so as to go faster. If they want to do these things that's their business, however should the taxpayers of various nations have to shoulder the costs? I suggest no. If the sponsors are willing to spend great sums of money to help these teams take these risks I suggest that they also agree to shoulder the cost of rescues should they be required. Some will argue that rescue organizations shouldn't come with strings attached, but I suggest that these resources are for mariners who do no intentionally make risky decisions. * From Larry Pierce Warwick, RI lp998@home.com If the comment is true (boty kiss of death) than the writer apparently believes that the measure of a boats' success is if it sailed OD at his yacht club. I submit that my Aerodyne 38 is the Kiss of Life. On Wednesday nights I PHRF race it (competitively)with a full crew, and on the weekend my wife and I cruise to one of the many beautiful destinations near Newport and then I lay down some jacklines and sail a 100 mile single-handed event the next weekend. All of this is done without any changes to the boat save unloading sails that won't be used. Can a Farr 40 do that? Can any OD boat do that? Comfortably? There are 18 Aerodyne owners out there and we all know that our boat is a prize regardless if it sailed One Design. To suggest that One Design is a measure of a boat's value is severely limiting yourself to all the wonderful aspects of sailing. There is more to life than crashing the buoys. * From Frank P. Meadows III (Kip), 1D35 Class President (until KWRW) fpm@ncfunds.com The One Design 35 Class feels that the 1D35 should have won BOTY, but given the 'jinx theory' put forward (and we Southerners take our superstitions seriously) perhaps we are glad to have been overlooked 2 years ago. The success or lack of success of one-design classes can be traced directly to the group of owners backing and participating in the class. We think the 1D35 has drawn upon the approach taken by the Farr 40 and we have taken ownership and responsibility for self-governance of our Class Association, effective January 2001. Owners, not industry insiders and vested interests, need to take control of one-design classes for success. We'll be happy to share our prototype for Class Association self-governance with any requestors, for the betterment of sailing as a whole. * From Tyler Garrett tagco@earthlink.net After reading various letters about new boat designs, BOTY, one designs, open 30's and crash and burn super cats, it is obvious that boat design and building is thriving as never before. However it seems that no one has come out with a solid PHRF design in years. I am talking about a boat in the 30-38 foot range that has (gasp) an overlapping genoa (they seen to accelerate faster in this countries light air), A regular pole ( sprits and asyms. are not as user friendly as designers would like you to think, believe me I know, and they get killed ratings wise in some areas) and a driver friendly keel and rudder combo ( short chord lengths are hard to keep rolling upwind) PHRF is thriving in many areas but suffers from a lack of new designs that rate well and make a good all-around boat. A boat that you can race around the bouys, then do the Mac race without extreme crew sacrifice, comfort wise. No PHRF is not perfect, but it is darn close. Any knucklehead can compute time differences at a mark and figure gains and loses. Can you say that about IMS ? The huge PHRF fleet at Key West should be indicator enough, however there are a lot of people sailing older designs there who could afford better, if there was a choice. * From Stephen Wells wells@optonline.net It is my experience that there are three types of starters. Sailors who arrive at the starting line with a plan, those who work it out on the fly, and the clueless. In general the planners get average plus starts, and the folks who work it out on the fly get lots of great and bad starts. The only way to do successful port tack starts is to see the opportunity emerge balance the risks and go for it. Doing port tack starts is a matter of personality and ability at spatial relations and timing. Only a few should try it and if you're the one you know it already. Most really successful sailors, I know, start conservatively, as they don't wish to loose the race in the first 5 minutes but on the other hand its not much fun to race that way, is it? OFFSHORE RACING The 2002 Newport Bermuda Race will be open to bigger and faster Maxis. According to Organizing Committee Chairman John S. Winder, "Newport Bermuda 2002 will be in compliance with existing international standards for Maxi yachts, and we will be able to open the race to several existing and new boats whose size and speed exceeded the old limitations." Winder noted, "other races such as Sydney Hobart 2000, have adopted the change and that under the new limits yachts racing in the other great ocean races, the Transpac and Fastnet, should be able to compete in the Newport Bermuda Race as well." The International Class A Yachting Association (ICAYA) voted to change the ILC Maxi rating system. They did this because of a declining numbers of level rating boats in their regattas and a strong desire by the owners to open up the class to differing types of boats. In order to accomplish this, ICAYA has gone to a single-number rating limit The old rule used a 10th limit, which was an average of nine speed limits. Last year's 10th limit was set at a maximum rating of 489.5 seconds per mile. The ILC average limit has now been increased to 470 seconds per mile and the nine other limits dropped. The result of these changes is that several boats will now be eligible to race in the ICAYA Maxi regattas. This would include such boats as PYEWACKET, DONNYBROOK and MY SONG, which were all faster than the old limits. It also means that boats such as SAGAMORE or BOOMERANG can add stability and sail area or can substantially decrease displacement. The 19.5 second per mile change is a large increase in speed, representing close to 3.75 hours going to Bermuda. The next Newport Bermuda Race 2002 will start Friday, June 14, 2002. - Talbot Wilson, http://www.bermudarace.com TRANSPAC RACE The official Notice and Conditions of Race for the 2001 Transpac Race are now online: http://www.transpacyc.org THE CURMUDGEON'S QUOTATIONS Poverty is nature's way of telling you that you're in the wrong line of work. |
