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SCUTTLEBUTT 2659 - Wednesday, August 13, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. OLYMPIC GAMES – ALGAE AND LIGHT WINDS RETURNS Qingdao, China (August 12, 2008; Day Four) – Qingdao has impressed the skeptics by mustering enough breeze to run the first three days of sailing on schedule. However, today’s six classes were not so lucky and sat onshore in an hour-long postponement before heading out to the race course. Breezes picked up to a suitable six to seven knots for the first races of the day, but by the second races the changing current and growing chop made the conditions feel a bit stickier. Regardless, all classes completed their daily schedule of races. The morning saw a flotilla of over 300 small boats responded to an overnight algae bloom, and cleaned up as much as possible before racing. Though the algae has been present in small patches recently, today saw a resurgence, but nothing near the devastating caliber of six weeks ago. The algae clumps were readily visible on the television coverage, and avoiding them added another variable to the challenging conditions. This will be the first Olympics that utilizes the medal race format, wherein the top ten positions after 10 races (15 for the 49er) advance to the final medal race. In this race, finishing position points are doubled, and the score cannot be discarded. For some sailors who see their chance at a medal drifting away, there remains a degree of redemption by qualifying for the medal race. The first sailors that will feel this pinch are in the Finn and Yngling fleets, as only four races remain before their medal race on Saturday. > ISAF report: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/Olympicshome.php > US report: http://tinyurl.com/US0812 > Canadian report: http://www.sailing.ca/feature/2008/08/schedule.html Current Results: Finn (26 entrants) 1. GBR, Ben Ainslie, (10)-1-4-1-1-10, 17 2. USA, Zach Railey, 2-5-2-2-7-(8), 18 3. FRA, Guillaume Florent, 5-8-(20)-3-4-6, 26 4. CAN, Christopher Cook, 8-3-7-10-(23)-5, 33 5. SLO, Gasper Vincec, 9-11-6-5-3-(13), 34 Yngling (15 entrants) 1. GBR, Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson, 2-3-4-(7)-4-2, 15 2. NED, Mandy Mulder/Annemieke Bes/Merel Witteveen, 9-1-2-(13)-1-5, 18 3. AUS, Krystal Weir/Karyn Gojnich/Angela Farrell, 1-11-6-(12)-7-7, 32 4. USA, Sally Barkow/Carolyn Howe/Deborah Capozzi, (14)-2-8-5-6-11, 32 5. FIN, Silja Lehtinen/Maria Klemetz/Livia Väresmaa, 6-6-3-8-10-(16/OCS), 33 12. CAN, Jennifer Provan/Martha Henderson/Katie Abbott, 5-4-10-(15)-9-12,40 49er (19 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin, (DSQ/20)-1-7-3-1-1, 13 2. DEN, Jonas Warrer/Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, 2-4-(10)-4-2-3, 15 3. ITA, Pietro Sibello/Gianfranco Sibello, 3-(9)-1-1-6-9, 20 4. GER, Jan-Peter Peckolt/Hannes Peckolt, (15)-6-11-6-3-2, 28 5. ESP, Iker Martinez de Lizarduy/ Gaztañaga, 1-10-17-2-(20/OCS)-5, 35 12. CAN, Gordon Cook/Ben Remocker, (13)-12-13-10-7-6, 48 13. USA, Tim Wadlow/Christopher Rast, 5-14-15-(16)-5-10, 49 470 Men (29 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page, 4-7-3-3, 17 2. FRA, Nicolas Charbonnier/Olivier Bausset, 6-3-8-1, 18 3. ESP, Barreiros Onan/Aaron Sarmiento, 8-2-6-9, 25 4. ITA, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, 10-4-7-7, 28 5. GBR, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, 19-5-1-4, 29 23. USA, Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, 26-12-(OCS/30)-17, 85 28. CAN, Stéphane Locas/Oliver Bone, 25-25-OCS/30)-20, 100 470 Women (19 entrants) 1. AUS, Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson, 2-2-4-1, 9 2. ESP, Natalia Via-Dufresne/Laia Tutzó, 4-5-2-6, 17 3. NED, Marcelien De Koning/Lobke Berkhout, 3-1-9-5, 18 4. ISR, Nike Kornecki/Vered Buskila, 8-13-1-2, 24 5. ITA, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol, 14-7-6-3, 30 15. USA, Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, 12-12-10-14, 48 RS:X Men (35 entrants) 1. ISR, Shahar Zubari, 1-3-1-3, 8 2. HKG, King Yin Chan, 5-4-2-5, 16 3. NZL, Tom Ashley, 4-7-7-1, 19 4. FRA, Julien Bontemps, 13-1-5-4, 23 5. GBR, Nick Dempsey, 11-9-3-2, 25 10. MEX, David Mier y Teran, 16-5-17-6, 44 22. CAN, Zachary Plavsic, 23-25-22-21, 91 24. USA, Ben Barger, 21-22-24-26, 93 RS:X Women (27 entrants) 1. CHN, Jian Yin, 1-1-1-3, 6 2. ESP, Marina Alabau, 3-5-5-2, 15 3. AUS, Jessica Crisp, 2-4-3-8, 17 4. ITA, Alessandra Sensini, 6-2-9-1, 18 5. GBR, Bryony Shaw, 4-3-11-6, 24 14. CAN, Nikola Girke, 11-14-13-14, 52 25. MEX, Demita Vega, 23-21-25-25, 94 26. USA, Nancy Rios, 25-24-22-26, 97 Laser (43 entrants) 1. NZL, Andrew Murdoch, 2-5, 7 2. ITA, Diego Romero, 6-3, 9 3. ARG, Julio Alsogaray, 1-12, 13 4. POR, Gustavo Lima, 5-8, 13 5. CYP , Pavlos Kontides, 8-7, 15 13. USA, Andrew Campbell, 14-18, 32 16. CAN, Michael Leigh, 13-23, 36 28. ISV, Thomas Barrows, III, 20-28, 48 Laser Radial (28 entrants) 1. USA, Anna Tunnicliffe, 4-5, 9 2. BEL, Evi Van Acker, 1-10, 11 3. FRA, Sarah Steyaert, 11-1, 12 4. LTU, Gintare Volungeviciute, 3-13, 16 5. AUS, Sarah Blanck, 6-11, 17 24. CAN, Lisa Ross, 16-23, 39 27. MEX, Tania Elias Calles Wolf, 27-25, 52 Complete results: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php OLYMPIC GAMES - DEALING WITH THE DETAILS * RACE SCHEDULE: Wednesday will have the following classes racing: 470 Men and Women (Course A), 49er (Course B), Laser and Laser Radial (Course C), and Finn, and Yngling (Course E). The RS:X Men and Women will have a rest day, while the Star and Tornado remain the last events to start on August 15th. Two races per day are scheduled for each event, except for the 49er class, for which three races per day are scheduled. The scheduled time of the warning signal for the first race each day is 1300. Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. When five or more opening races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her worst score. However, the score from the medal race will not be excluded. -- Notice of Race: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olynor * WEATHER FORECAST - Qingdao Olympic Venue: For Wednesday, August 13, both forecasting models are showing wind strength to be 5 knots or less (estimating the wind gradient from 40m height in model to 5m height). Wind direction from SE. An archive of the maps/graphs from each day are at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olyweather - to get the animated hour by hour forecast map images, sign up for free worldwide forecasts at www.predictwind.com * RACE WATCHING: The 470 Men and Women will be the media darlings for Wednesday when they begin their third day of competition on Course A, which is the course used for television and online coverage. For the US audience, Gary Jobson is now working with the NBC production team, adding his commentary to the online shows through to the end of the series. > U.S viewing schedule: http://xrl.us/nbcsked > Canadian viewing schedule: http://xrl.us/canadiansked HARKEN TRANSITION BACKPACK: GREAT FOR SAILING & SHORE Carry gear to your next class or the next port of call with the Harken Transition backpack, personalized by Team One Newport with your boat or team logo. Pack in your books or foulies, stash your shades in the soft easy-access pouch, and dry your wet shoes in the mesh compartment. Details like a laptop sleeve and a comfortable back-panel set the Transition apart. Too much gear for the Transition? Try the 3-in-1 Rolling Carry-On with detachable backpack! http://www.team1newport.com/products.asp?dept=90 POSITIONED FOR THE PODIUM Here are the countries that currently have entrants in the top three: Australia - 5 France - 3 Spain - 3 Great Britain - 2 Italy - 2 Netherlands - 2 New Zealand - 2 United States - 2 Argentina - 1 Belgium - 1 China - 1 Denmark - 1 Hong Kong - 1 Israel - 1 After getting shut out of the medals in 2004, the Australian team has entrants among the top five positions in six of the nine events that are now underway. While they do not have a rep in the RS:X Men and are 17th in the Finn, probably the biggest shocker is their Laser rep, Tom Slingsby, who is the current Laser World Champion and the top ISAF rated Laser sailor in the world, but struggled on day one and currently finds himself in 23rd position. Here are some links from the 2004 Olympic Games: > Medal Count: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/medals > Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics TRIVIA QUESTION Who is the shortest competitor in the 2008 sailing events? (Answer below) OLYMPIC GAMES – GOSSIP CORNER * For the Laser fleet’s first race, television and online viewers likely spotted the “kit” worn by third place finisher Matias del Solar Goldsmith from Chile. The Chilean sailor was dressed in little more than his buoyancy aid and a pair of Speedos, which perhaps explains why the rest of the fleet was so far back. "It's a bit offputting," said Britain's Paul Goodison, "he should be reported to the fashion police."Maybe the fashion police did have words with the Speedo Latino, because Goldsmith put on his hiking shorts for the second race, only to finish a lowly 34th. -- SailJuice, http://tinyurl.com/SJ0812 * On Monday August 11 2008, the revolutionary Tornado-sail of Double Olympic medalist Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED) was authorized for the Olympic Games. That means the Dutch multihull sailors may use the upwind gennaker for the Olympic regatta in Qingdao. That gives them an advantage in speed up to 11 knots of wind, in which they can hoist the sail in the beat. “We are allowed to use it”, said Pim Nieuwenhuis, who just returned from a training session with the Americans Lovell/Ogletree. “We have the stamps, so the sail officially passed the measurement”, added Mitch Booth. He had more news: “I am leaving the boat park now and I can see the Argentineans working on an upwind gennaker as well. They work with North Sails, who also built the sails for the French and British teams. The French are already measured in, but the Argentineans still have to go. I am guessing, but one of those teams may have one. Interesting Games.” Booth is not worried about the latest development among the fleet: “They are very late, so I wish them good luck.” -- http://www.teamzwitserleven.nl * The Chinese have had a bit of a disaster with the sail stickers, an apparent cost saving measure, making the stickers themselves, but using a material that was not sticking to the sails. Replacement stickers were promptly ordered and have been slowly getting applied to the sails. OLYMPIC GAMES – REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION The event website has posted all the competitor requests for information. Here are a few interesting ones: * REQUEST: Bearing in mind the recent issues regarding large amounts of weed on the field of play, please can the organisers permit the use of weed sticks by all competitors for this event only. REPLY: Boats in the Star Class may use a weed stick in accordance with the Class Rules. Weed sticks are not permitted in other classes. There is no exception to normal class rules. * REQUEST: A boat is approaching the start line on starboard tack 30 seconds before the start. An upwind current is carrying the boat toward the start line. She backs her sail still carrying the main on her port side and as a result of that she: 1) Is beyond doubt moving "backward" trough the water looking at her hull and rudder. 2) She is still moving "forward" over the ground physically approaching the start mark and beyond doubt decreasing the distance to the mark. Is the boat "moving astern" will regard to RRS 20.3 yes or no? REPLY: A boat is moving astern if it is sailing backwards through the water, irrespective of its movement over the ground. In your example, the answer is yes. * REQUEST: Please can you supply the "individual race results with mark roundings" sheet in A4 format, as on the notice board to the team’s pigeon holes. Double sided printing would mean no more paper is required than the A5 size currently supplied. Thank you. REPLY: Sorry, to facilitate a Green Olympics, I am afraid we cannot do that for consideration of environmental protection. =>Read all the requests here: http://tinyurl.com/rfoly ROUTINES - EVEN ON A REST DAY by Sarah Webb (GBR), leading Yngling team One of our guiding principles in this campaign has been keeping every day the same, training each day as hard as we would if we were racing at the Olympics. You can build confidence by having routines so when it comes to the high pressure moments you automatically default to the training and the routines we have in place. One of the examples along the same lines I always gave after Athens was, we left the apartments in the morning and turned left to go training for the day, when the Olympics started everything stayed the same except we turned right to the Olympic Marina. I am sure the Royal Yachting Association didn't take this into consideration when they were looking for our accommodation here in Qingdao but.......here we turned left out of the hotel to go to the training marina, and turn right out of the hotel to go to the Olympic Marina. See? Routines!! -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SarahWebb0812 EVER PRESENT ON THE WATER As our sailors battle it out in the waters of Qingdao, a sight that has repeated itself thousands of times this summer continues. Ever present, but always in the background, RIBCRAFT RIBs are there supporting the sailors. From mark boats and safety boats to spectator and coach boats, a RIB provides the optimal platform for setting marks, coaching, or just watching races. As the official RIB of the US SAILING Team, RIBCRAFT is proud to salute our sailors competing in China this week. To find out more about the RIBCRAFT line of professional grade RIBs, visit http://www.ribcraftusa.com * Ribcraft will be featured in an upcoming episode of “Some Assembly Required,” a weekly Discovery Channel series. The episode featuring Ribcraft will first air at 8 p.m. Sept. 4. “Some Assembly Required,” hosted by Brian Unger, filmed the Ribcraft process of building a RIB and learned how one is made from the people at Ribcraft. -- Soundings Trade, read on: http://tinyurl.com/tradeonly0812 SPECTACULAR CARTWHEEL ENDS WORLD SPEED RECORD ATTEMPT Sydney, Australia (August 12, 2008) - A sudden spectacular cartwheel has ended Wot Rocket’s first round of official attempts on the 500m world speed sailing record on Botany Bay. With the pod lifting out of the water on a number of occasions this morning and pilot Sean Langman’s confidence building, he decided to trial a different runway on flatter water just off Dolls Point. In an 18-20 knot westerly wind Wot Rocket accelerated to an estimated 30 knots of boat speed before the crew found themselves flying blind, without instruments and with co-pilot Joe De Jock unable to ease the wing sail and Langman unable to steer. The damage report is substantial and Langman estimates it will be weeks before they are back on the water. A quick once over this afternoon has revealed a broken mast step, suspected delamination of the Nomex in the wing sail and broken fairing on the transverse beam. A new set of instruments will also have to be ordered. -- Complete report and photo: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6237 SAILING SHORTS * In an effort to contain costs, boating supplies retail giant West Marine plans to close its distribution center in Hagerstown, Md., its call center in Largo, Fla., and 25 to 30 underperforming stores, it reported in SEC form 8-K/A last week. -- Boating Industry, read on: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=1706617 * The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the organising authority for the 64th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, have announced the release of the Notice of Race and that the entry period for the race has now begun. The Rolex Sydney Hobart 2008 will start from Sydney Harbour at 1pm Boxing Day, 26 December, and take the fleet 628 nautical miles south across the Tasman Sea to Hobart, Tasmania. The closing date for applications for entry is 1700hrs, Monday 3 November 2008. -- http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com * The Small Craft (Sailing) Technical Panel of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) has issued its initial call for papers for the SNAME Journal of Sailboat Technology. The new online, peer-reviewed journal will focus on research achievements and engineering practices ranging from sailboat systems and sail design to materials and construction methods, weather routing and race simulation. A detailed list of topics and guidelines for authors are posted at the journal’s web site: http://www.journal.sailboat-technology.com * The 100-foot Speedboat, which has been on standby in Newport, RI to attempt a transatlantic record run, has decided to postpone its plan until a higher probability of a satisfactory weather window presents itself in September and October. As a result, Speedboat will also not be competing in the Rolex Maxi Worlds. – Complete report: http://www.mike-sanderson.com/da/9973 * Originally conceived in 2007 as a biennial event, the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Cup will take place again in 2008 based on the success of the inaugural event held last fall. Organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS), the starting gun for the 2008 Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Cup will sound on Monday, November 24, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (the largest of the seven Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa), setting the Maxis racing across the North Atlantic Ocean. It should take them roughly two weeks to reach the finish line off the island of Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles. -- Full details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6238 TRIVIA ANSWER The shortest competitor in the 2008 sailing events is RS:X Women’s entrant Nancy Rios (USA) at 157 cm (5 foot 1.8 inches). The current leader in this class is 2004 Olympic silver medalist Jian Yin of China, who stands 170 cm (5 foot 6.9 inches). FORUM THREADS PULL TOP GOOGLE RANKINGS If you are to search online for information on Cal 32 boats or for using Windward Gates as the weather mark, the top ranked listing you are likely to find will come from the Scuttlebutt Forum. Internet search engines are hard to trick, and they rank website pages based on the quality of the information, and then factor in the amount of traffic that goes to that website page. Scuttlebutt Forum traffic continues to grow, and apparently these two threads are the dominant source for information on the Internet. Presently, the Forum categories are: > Dock Talk: For all your sailing comments and questions. > Sailing Event Reports: For posting regatta reports and commentary. > Collegiate Sailing: For topics specifically relating to college sailing. > New Product Announcements: For equipment, boats, and clothing/accessories. > Classified Ads: Free postings for gear, wanted items, jobs, and boats Log-in to the Forum here: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum 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 Paul V. Oliva: Let's give thanks for US Olympics sailing coverage. Along with terrific sailors battling in difficult conditions, I am thankful for complete live and archived race coverage from start to finish, with no interruptions. The technology is fantastic. The online schedules and links are great, and I like how archived races allow jumping to key legs. The nice camerawork, cutaways to competitors' on-board cameras, and live shots of Qindao are fun. With such innovations, shortcomings stand out: > NBC, please eliminate video links to races without video coverage. For instance, clicking on Day 2 of the Finn and Yngling races only leads to the 49er races. Mystifying if you don't read Scuttlebutt (only Course A races have coverage). > Picture clarity, levels of graphics and play-by-play data have been oddly variable. > Race postponements are a reality and hard to predict. But viewers need estimated length. It's not that fun waiting at the computer. > Let's get better video introductions to the classes—clips interesting to sailors and non-sailors alike and more colorful than the text background. Video with a nice overview of the boat, key techniques, recent developments (such as the Code 0 controversy), top contenders. Instead, for instance, "Introduction to the Laser" was an interview with Andrew Campbell. I liked hearing Andrew, and I wish him Olympic success. But it wasn't really an introduction to the Laser. > Even being prepared for it, it's been painful to see the light winds make for less exciting viewing. Other views? => Curmudgeon’s Comment: From what I understand, all the camera personnel are very experienced with sailing events, but the director and production are newbies to the sport. What we are viewing is what has been provided to all the companies with hosting rights in each country. What we see is what they were sent. Like coverage for any event, interest to improve the product is directly related to interest in the product. The more traffic the "suits" see for the television and online coverage will spike their desire to support sailing coverage in the future. * From Rich Roberts: (re, story in Issue 2658) Louay Habab presented a long and detailed account of the origins of the TP52 (originally the "Transpac 52"), but I don't think it gave proper credit to Bill (The Wizard) Lee, who led the design team that created the box rule. Also, it did not note that the simplified inspiration for the final model was John MacLaurin's Davidson 52, Pendragon, designed earlier as a one-off by Laurie Davidson. Originally, I think the Transpacific Yacht Club was planning a 50-footer. Also, the race (officially, the Transpacific Yacht Race, "Transpac" for short) starts in Los Angeles (specifically, San Pedro, Calif.), not San Francisco. * From Olof Hult: (re, Jill Nickerson’s letter in Issue 2658 encouraging participation in a poll) And so you have established a new Definition: An opinion pole (as opposed to an opinion poll) is a poll that is meaningless when it is set up to solicit input without screening and ensuring validity in the responses and the result to researchers must be rather uncomfortable, sort like having a pole up one's 'b*tt. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me. Special thanks to Harken and Ribcraft. 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