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SCUTTLEBUTT 3305 - Thursday, March 24, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Hall Spars & Rigging and Ullman Sails. OVERHAULING A PROGRAM It's hard to recall what the U.S. Sailing Team looked like before its chairman Dean Brenner took over after the 2004 Olympics. It's that different! Dean and his committee, along with the team administers and coaches, have succeeded in changing the program's culture, are providing more funding and services, and have developed a younger and more accomplished team of athletes. Dean has his detractors, but that's what happens when overhauling a program. He's an intoxicating cheerleader for the team, fueled in part by his own Olympic campaign experience. Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck met with Dean recently, where the discussion covered the U.S. Olympic program, youth sailing development, and one design sailing in the U.S., and the motivation needed to become an Olympic athlete. Here are some excerpts: * On presenting the team to the public: "We talk about our key audiences. One audience is the fans, one audience is the sponsors, and the third audience is the donors. In the middle of the triangle is the team. And we think of the team as the vehicle through which we can bring donors, sponsors, and fans together. Having a greater and broader level of awareness of not only who are athletes are, but what classes they sail in, and how well they are doing and what their prospects are has positive impacts for all aspects of the program. We are spending more time and money on this level of promotion than we ever have before and we think it's working. The level of awareness is definitely going up, but we are not yet where we need to be." * On judging the Olympic and youth program: "At the end of the day the vast majority of people will judge a program like ours by its success every four years. And we haven't shied away from that. We have actually embraced it. I think it is one way of showing people that we are focused on our true mission. But when my eight years are over in 18 months, regardless of how many medals we win, I'll look at the program and judge it in some additional ways. Are we heading a program that is more sustainable, that has broader support, that has a better collaborative training culture among the athletes? Absolutely! It used to be where every kid and every team had to recreate everything for themselves, from beginning to end. That's no longer the case. For the young kid with the Olympic dream, the reality is that if you do a good job building a program, more of these kids can actually have a realistic chance at pursuing that dream because there is a program there to support them. And that is what we are trying to do." * On preparing today's youth for the Olympics: "When you take a kid that comes out of a college program where they have been highly successful, but has not had exposure to Olympic sailing, you know that that sailor is going to understand getting to the first wind shift, they're going to understand boat handling, they're going to understand the starting line, they're going to understand mark roundings, and they're probably going to understand their rules fairly well. But they are not going to understand long course tactics, they're going to need to learn more about tuning a rig and sail selection and maintaining a boat. And they're going to have to learn plenty about managing their own logistics." VIDEO: Watch the complete interview here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/11/0323/ DESIGN TRENDS PROVE HARD ON BOATS AND CREW By Bruce Nelson, Nelson/Marek Yacht Design Much has been said and written about the attrition of 9 of the 15 big boats from the latest Newport-to-Cabo Race, but I have yet to hear anyone mention what I consider the major reason for the high rate of drop outs - sea-kindliness, or the lack thereof. The simple fact is that the large modern light displacement hull forms, ranging from the 70 foot sleds spawned in the 1980's to the even lighter and beamier modern IRC hull forms, and even the latest Volvo 70 Around-the-World race boats, are far less sea-kindly than their heavier and narrower predecessors when sailing into head seas. One doesn't need a PhD in Naval Architecture to recognize that these lighter and faster, flat-bottomed hull forms are going to experience greater accelerations, and decelerations, while slamming in waves - and the longer, faster boats are going to slam harder than the shorter, slower ones. Then add 10+ tons of lead suspended on a 10+ foot steel strut below the hull, and watch the dynamic loads and motions spike through the roof! These design characteristics are not only hard on the boat structural engineers, and the rig and rigging, but the onboard crewmembers get to enjoy the benefits as well. The fact is that aside from Bella Mente's rig failure, and a frighteningly loud mast tie-rod failure onboard Orient Express, it appears there was very little actual structural damage amongst the fleet, but many were concerned about safety and personal injury due to the violent motion in the rough seas - with good reason. Interestingly, when the Storm Trysail and Transpacific Yacht Clubs developed the (now defunct) STP 65 Class, there was consideration given towards a more sea-kindly set of design parameters, in lieu of the lighter and beamier version which was ultimately selected. Apparently there was more market interest in going faster off the wind than in performance and comfort while thrashing upwind - which parallels the direction that the Volvo boats and others have gone. Today, many races which were once a test of seamanship are now more often a test of nerves, and the physical stamina of the crew. Every ship in the US Navy is designed to meet minimum sea-kindliness standards so that the sailors are not routinely injured, or seasick beyond all usefulness. Perhaps yacht racers need to consider some similar criteria. And finally, I would like to nominate octogenarian Lindy Thomas as the tough-old-guy-of-the-week award winner for completing the Cabo race onboard his 70 foot sled Condor - nice going, Lindy! * Event website: http://www.nhyccaborace.com GET THE SCR ADVANTAGE Hall's streamlined, airfoil-shaped carbon rigging significantly improves a boat's speed around the race course. On a four-mile windward/leeward course, a 40-footer rigged with Hall SCR Airfoil will have a seven boatlength advantage over the same boat with round rigging (University of Michigan VPP study, 2011). This advantage is confirmed in the real world: Vela Veloce (SC52) has won every major event entered since switching to Hall SCR Airfoil (Key West, Pineapple Cup, RORC 600). In theory and practice, Hall's SCR has changed the game forever - call to get the SCR advantage for your boat. http://www.hallspars.com NEXT GENERATION OF OPEN OCEAN RACERS In announcing the members of its 2011 sailing roster, The All-American Offshore Team (AAOT) is setting a course for a new generation of sailors to move into open ocean racing. Leading by example, the AAOT hopes to jumpstart a movement to foster youth opportunities in offshore racing as they will do aboard the STP65 Vanquish which will compete in four key events this year: the 66th Storm Trysail Club's Around Block Island Race; the Annapolis to Newport Race; the Transatlantic Race (Newport, R. I. to The Lizard, England) and the Rolex Fastnet Race. AAOT is committed to providing "high-performance offshore training opportunities for an up and coming generation of American ocean racing leaders" and went through a detailed selection process before making final team selections for 2011. Here they are: Benjamin Allen (Newport, R.I.), age 24 Benjamin Quatromoni (Tiverton, R.I.), age 24 Charlie Enright (Bristol, R.I.), age 26 Chris Branning (Pace, Fla.), age 25 Chris Welch (Gross Pointe, Mich.), age 23 Colin Orsini (Seattle, Wash.), age 27 David Rasmussen (Novato, Calif.), age 24 Jesse Fielding (Wickford, R. I.), age 24 Kaity Storck (Huntington, N. Y.), age 23 Mark Towill (Kaneohe, Hawaii), age 22 Matt Noble (Richmond, Calif.), age 25 Molly Robinson (San Francisco, Calif.), age 23 Nate Fast (Noank, Conn.), age 19 Pat Showell (Sweetwater, N. J.), age 24 Full report: http://allamericanoffshoreteam.org/?p=573 COLLEGE CHAMP GOES TO SCHOOL ON PROS Long Beach, CA (March 23, 2011) - Anyone who felt sorry for young Taylor Canfield after his winless opening day in the 47th Congressional Cup should get their sympathy refunded. The 23-year-old match racing waif from the U.S. Virgin Islands followed his 0-7 West Coast debut with a 4-1 record Wednesday that was better than anyone else could manage, except overall leader and defending champion Francesco Bruni of Italy, who stands alone at 10-1 as the competition advances into the second round robin leading to the weekend's sailoffs. "I think our whole team was more comfortable in the boat," said Canfield, who is not only new to the boats but the territory. "It's our first time on the [Catalina 37s] and our first time out here." Representing Boston College, Canfield is the reigning Collegiate Match Racing National Champion. Canfield opened with a stunning one-second photo finish against the veteran Dave Perry and followed with wins over Ficker Cup winner Simone Ferrarese of Italy, his only loss against Finland's Staffan Lindberg and then wins against---whoa!---Great Britain's Ian Williams and Sweden's Johnie Berntsson. OK, he beat Williams while he was carrying a foul for letting his spinnaker halyard catch the starting flag on the race committee boat. But as the race proceeded, Williams missed one of the many mark change signals on a shifty afternoon and sailed to the wrong windward mark. Williams said, "We had to do two jibes coming into the [leeward] mark and everybody was busy." Then Canfield beat Berntsson when he responded to go with a 50-degree wind shift before his opponent did. Certainly, Canfield's day was brighter than the weather that deteriorated from bright sun and light, shifty wind to overcast, a light drizzle and even lighter wind, none of which diminished the show. Bruni (10-1) broke away from a three-way tie at the top as Williams and France’s Mathieu Richard—each 3-2 for the day—remained on his heels at 9-2. In fact, they are the only three with winning records, raising speculation on who will sail the fourth boat into the semifinals. At the moment it’s wide open. Standings after 11 of 18 flights 1. Francesco Bruni, Italy, 10-1 2. Mathieu Richard, France, 9-2 2. Ian Williams, Great Britain, 9-2 4. Dave Perry, USA, 5-6 4. Simone Ferrarese, Italy, 5-6 6. Johnie Berntsson, Sweden, 4-7 6. Staffan Lindberg, Finland, 4-7 6. Taylor Canfield, U.S. Virgin Islands, 4-7 10. Evgeny Neugodnikov, Russia, 3-8 10. Phil Robertson, New Zealand, 3-8 Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11522#11522 LIVE UPDATES: Live video is available during the races and the press conference, with T2P producing a highlight video at the end of each day: http://www.thecongressionalcup.com/live-feed/ FREE, FREE, FREE: Another way to familiarize yourself with match racing is with the FREE "Welcome to Match Racing with Dave Perry" available for at NorthU.com Thanks to the support of an anonymous donor this 45 minute DVD is available FREE in North America. 2800 free DVDs have been distributed since it was introduced last summer. Free postage and handling included: http://tinyurl.com/NU-032311 AUDI GETS RIPPED Amid a backdrop of an amateur sport where pickle dishes and personal satisfaction remain the primary prizes, the continued growth of sponsorship and professional sailing leads to unintended consequences. The Melges 32 class hosts the four event Melges 32 Audi Sailing Series in Italy. Audi has increasingly become a sponsor in a sport that does not have many prominent international brands. But at the first event of the 2011 series in Naples, Italy, the winner of the event protested their support. The 22-boat event was won by Mascalzone Latino with Francesco Bruni and Paolo Masserdotti. This is the same team that is the Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup, led by Italian Vincenzo Onorato. But Paolo was onboard in place of Vincenzo who did not to attend the event. "I'm very sorry to not have seen you in Naples, I envied you very much for the fantastic races you had in my hometown," said Vincenzo. "I personally apologize if we did not attend the prize giving. This was not a lack of appreciation towards yourselves, with which I share the passion of this wonderful sport, but an open challenge against the organizing club, and more generally against Audi. "The club has opposed the opening of our sailing school for disadvantaged children living in the slums and Audi has not honored its contractual obligation by paying the sponsorship for the Louis Vuitton Trophy (note: the team had been rebranded 'Mascalzone Latino Audi Team') that was due to us. We will not take part to any award of the circuit until Audi will settle his debt." American John Kilroy with tactician Nathan Wilmot (AUS) on Samba Pa Ti finished second. The second event of the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series will be in Scarlino, Italy on April 29 - May 1. -- Scuttleblog, http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2011/03/audi-gets-ripped.html "DISASTER AREA" STRIKES FIRST AT SAN DIEGO NOOD Congratulations to Chris Winnard, Ryan Lorence and Ben Amen who dominated the 13-boat Viper 640 class last weekend at the 2011 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD in San Diego. Despite the range of conditions thrown at competitors throughout the three-day event, Winnard's Viper "Disaster Area" won seven of the ten races and didn't have to sail the last race. Consistent starts, excellent crew work and fast sails made this a formidable team. Ullman Sails customer Tim Carter also had a solid performance, finishing third overall after a strong finish in the breeze on Sunday. Ullman Sails - invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com OPPORTUNITY AHEAD (March 23, 2011, Day 81) - The tension of looking behind was also evident for race leaders Virbac Paprec 3 today, as Loick Peyron (FRA) admitted to "pleading in front of the computer like a muppet!" every time a position report came in. The French leading duo have added just 17 miles to their advantage over MAPFRE in the past 24 hours, as Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP) pile on the pressure. But when it comes to their planned strategy for shaking off the Spanish pair around an imminent high pressure system, Peyron would not be drawn, wryly commenting: "We all know there are two ways to pass a high pressure, or two sides I should say, and we have to choose one side, in a few days, but you are not going to know what side we're going to choose, that's for sure!" -- Event website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20:01:03) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron (FRA/FRA), 2089 nm DTF 2. Mapfre, Iker Martinez/Xabi Fernandez (ESP/ESP), 249.8 nm DTL 3. Renault, Pachi Rivero/Antonio Piris (ESP/ESP), 1071.3 nm DTL 4. Estrella Damm Sailing Team,Alex Pella/Pepe Rives (ESP/ESP),1220.8 nm DTL 5. Neutrogena, Boris Herrmann/Ryan Breymaier (GER/USA), 1258.8 nm DTL Full Rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Mar 24-27 - International Rolex Regatta - Cowpet Bay, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Mar 24-27 - St Barths Bucket Regatta - Gustavia, St Barths, French W.I. Mar 25-27 - 37th Annual Orange Peel Regatta - Jacksonville, FL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Navtec Anti Torsion Stay * Tom Derecktor joins Hall Spars as COO * Samson Awarded for Outstanding Service View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news ON ASSIGNMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN For 38 years, the International Rolex Regatta has been a racing getaway that is as much about serious competition as it is about the festive yet relaxed Caribbean experience that host St. Thomas Yacht Club has created around it. The three-day event is scheduled for March 25-27, and features race courses that accentuate the coastal beauty of the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as shore-side gatherings that remind visitors why "tropical" and "paradise" go so well together. Local Paul Stoeken, who represented the USVI in the windsurfing event at the 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney) Olympics, owns Island Sol, a sailing school on the beach at the Ritz Carlton in St. Thomas. His school has a fleet of IC 24s, and Stoeken will be competing in the class. "The regatta provides a training opportunity for my crew, who are also instructors at the school, plus our participation provides nice exposure for the school." Photographer Leighton O'Connor is at the International Rolex Regatta on behalf of Scuttlebutt, and on Wednesday he had the tough assignment of getting action footage of Paul windsurfing. He mounted a GoPro video camera to his boom and also jumped in the water with a GoPro. Water was warm and the action was close. Full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQ5ixyC6q8 Regatta website: http://www.rolexcupregatta.com/index2.php GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From John Sangmeister: (re, dropouts in Cabo race) In other parts of the country they sail in very different boats. Twenty-three year old sleds preparing for the biennial Transpac are not ideal platforms for a reefed main and #4 jib, jumping off double overhead waves at 11 knots. Transplanted TP52s from Europe were built for short course racing and admiring looks from scantily-clad Italian women, not rugged conditions in international waters far from the safe womb of Vessel Assist, much less the US Coast Guard. Well prepared boats, sailing with highly competent, veteran professional crews experienced catastrophic failures. The dismasting on Hap Fauth's IRC 69 Bella Mente may now keep them from making this year's Transpac. On the Santa Cruz 70 OEX, we suffered a broken tie rod which attached the port shroud base to the mast step. Had we continued, the shroud base would have pulled out of the deck, leaving 80 feet of carbon in the drink. I've read discussions from braggarts on the 'other site' who don't know the facts facing these crews. My advice is to ignore them. That's all I have to say about that. * From Theodor Beier: When I started racing in 1953, the penalty for a foul was retiring, which I have done because my mentors taught that that was proper. Later, I remember much debate at then USYRU meetings when the penalty was changed to two turns as being much too lenient. The goal was rule compliance, but history demonstrated that it largely failed. The situation now is a result of our "winning is all that matters" society that is involved in training recent generations. I began seeing this in running and judging events for certain international classes in the 1980s. Sailing should NOT reduce expectations and standards. There are other actions that US Sailing and race officials can do to encourage compliance: 1. Emphasize the arbitration system and recommend its use to be mandatory. This will streamline protest hearing activity. 2. Reinstate the rule that if there is boat contact and no protest is filed nor penalty accepted, both boats be disqualified. 3. Publicize a link between the "I'll let you go if you let me go" attitude and Rule 69. 4. Limit the number of witnesses that a party to a protest may call, and make it stated policy to permit the jury to dismiss a witness that is not adding anything. 5. Make provisions for judges to use Rule 44.1(b) without a hearing similar to Rule 42, and make 44.1(b) a DNE offense. 6. Do not require a hearing to be stopped for no flag or failure to say the word protest. * From Lou Sandoval, Owner, Karma USA-55367: I take exception to Elaine Bunting's "Women Need Not Apply" (Scuttlebutt 3303/YACHTING WORLD Blog 3/21). Mandates and quotas don't serve to broaden boundaries for the sport of sailing. It is after all, a sport. Inclusion takes several key components: 1. Pioneers: Individuals willing to go where no one has gone and deliver like they belong there; 2. Champions: Skippers who understand that a sailboat is a microcosm of our real world- a business, a committee or our neighborhoods; 3. Role Models: Individuals such as Olympian and Rolex Yachtswoman of the year- Anna Tunnicliffe, who serve as examples for little girls growing up in the sport. Showing them how that they TOO can achieve (and at very high levels). It's also important for sailing media to capture and highlight these successes at various levels of the sport. I am proud that we have been fortunate to have a very good sailor, Christina Cordero-Chadwick, on board our First 36.7-"Karma" for ALL five- Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Section wins in the past seven years. She is as competent (if not more) than any 200 pound guy on the team and has been a leader since doing her first "Mac" with her dad in her early tweens. She has also been an integral part of our travelling team at North American Championships over the past several years. -- Scuttlebutt Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11519#11519 * From Craig K Yandow: (re, Closed Start-finish Lines - SBUTT 3304) Thinking about Al Johnson's too many boats in a small space justification for closing start and finish lines, I realize there are two reasons to avoid regattas put on by clubs that do that. When there are too many other classes on the course, the quality of competition in our own class suffers just as it does when the lines are closed. Besides, sailing into a cloud of boats, even with a larger faster boat, is still slower than choosing a course around the dirty air. At Alamitos Bay YC (Long Beach, CA), multiple courses are regularly used to minimize the problem. Perhaps that is why we still get a whole lot of boats on each course. So we take the next step: Our PROs have experience with the situation and choose course and marks to minimize the class to class interactions. Fast boats get long legs and courses. It is perceived as a PRO mistake when fast classes need to sail into the start of a later or slower class. It can happen, but it results in learning and seldom happens twice. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION A man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - Gowrie Group - North U North Sails - Interlux - APS - Quantum Sails - J Boats Hall Spars & Rigging - Ullman Sails - IYRS - JK3 Nautical Enterprises Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
