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SCUTTLEBUTT 2002 - January 5, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.THE CARNAGE CONTINUES Only three days into the second leg of the Volvo Ocean race the grueling Southern Ocean leg has already taken its toll on competitors. The Swedish boat Ericsson was yesterday forced to turn back to Cape Town, still thousands of kilometres from Melbourne, after breaking a hydraulic ram to the keel. A few hours later Brasil 1 reported an area of the deck was delaminating (carbon layers unbonding) and the boat also turned and headed back. ABN Amro One, skippered by New Zealand's Mike Sanderson, had torn a couple of jibs, which had to be repaired, heading out of Cape Town but was otherwise relatively lucky. "Beating up the coast we hit some pretty bad kelp which we didn't notice until we were well into it. We couldn't work it out: We had awesome speed in the in-port when we'd lined up with everyone, and yet we were just okay," Sanderson said. They managed to remove the kelp and yesterday proceeded to overhaul both Ericsson and the Pirates through a sheer boat speed advantage. A structure on the boat's bow later broke, but a couple of crew members were able to repair it. Sanderson said that for a while there was an open hole in the deck and about six buckets of freezing water had to be bailed out every half-hour. - The New Zealand Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10362498 Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Wednesday 1. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, 5670 miles to finish 2. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +70 miles 3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +81 miles 4. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +85 miles 5. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +87 miles 6. ING Real Estate Brunel, Grant Wharington, +114 miles 7. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +204 miles Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ COMMENTARY -- EDWARD GORMAN The Volvo Race is again in crisis as evidence continues to mount that the new breed of Open 70s, which were commissioned for the race, are not battle-hardened enough to cope with the challenge. So far, four of the seven yachts - all designed by Bruce Farr - have suffered serious structural or component failure. The worry for the race organizers is that, with every hour that this leg continues, the five remaining crews are heading farther from land into the dangerous heart of the southern Indian Ocean. A massive structural failure on a yacht thousands of miles from land may not be just bad news for the health of the race, it could threaten the lives of the sailors. As Matthew Sheahan, the respected racing and technical editor of Yachting World, the sailing magazine, put it: "There is only one thing that's good and positive about what's happened today and that is that these problems have occurred within a few hundred miles of the shore." Glenn Bourke, the chief executive of the race, was swift to issue a statement. "Obviously in coming up with the brand new Open 70 design, we realized that we were producing a boat that would be at the cutting edge of ocean racing," he said. "So far the boats have lived up to expectations in terms of speed and performance. "The issues experienced with canting keels have been around for some considerable time and are not unique to the Volvo Open 70 design. In the case of Ericsson, until we know the full nature of the current problem, it would be premature for us to comment any further." - Excerpts from a story by Edward Gorman, The Times, full story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-1970697,00.html QUOTE / UNQUOTE * "The last 12 hours it has been like living inside a washing machine, bashing and smashing into the waves. The breeze is still on the nose, and we "love" it , No, we hate it. We are dreaming of nice downwind sail. So nowhere pleasant, on deck wet, and downstairs very noisy.' -- Bouwe Bekking, movistar skipper * "Last night was definitely one of the more unpleasant nights we have had in the VO 70. 25 knots and a very short sharp chop caused by lots of current made going upwind pretty bloody awful! For most people the net result was dinner returning the wrong way - the constant pounding causing most peoples stomachs to be set on spin cycle. Sleeping was also not a lot of fun not least because it was near impossible to do so. Every other wave caused you to be tossed in the air like a pancake and the camping matresses we use to sleep on were always trying to slide off the bunk one way or another. This meant the only way to sleep was to hold on a tightly as you could to the bunk meaning you couldn't actually sleep because you were holding on so hard!" -- Simon Fisher , ABN Amro Two navigator * "Yesterday we and Ericsson witnessed a pretty impressive display of boat speed by ABN 1. Around 11:00 local time they were one mile dead astern of us and we were the same 1 mile astern of Ericsson, all lined up on starboard tack. As the wind built from 8 to 20-25 knots, ABN simply sailed through our lee and that of Ericsson and back up in front of both of us and put another two miles on us by sunset. The ABN design is very good in conditions where stability is required. Unfortunately, I think that will be most of the time in these boats." - Paul Cayard, Pirates of the Caribbean skipper BE THE FIRST If you're going to Key West Race Week, be the first to see two new products from Hall Spars & Rigging. "QuikVang Carbon" is our new mechanical vang designed for high-intensity sailing. It features a powerful gas return inside a Hall seamless carbon-fiber tube. QuikVang Carbon delivers reliable performance combined with light weight. And we're introducing "Dyneema SK 78" line, manufactured exclusively by Gottifredi Maffioli and imported only by Hall. SK 78 delivers stability and long life under load, even in extreme conditions. Both will be on display near the "tent" in Key West or visit http://www.hallspars.com AS SEEN BY THE GREAT DANE (Paul Elvstöm has won four successive Gold medals, 14 world championship titles in seven of the world's most competitive international classes: the FD; 505 (twice); Star (twice); 5.5m; Finn (twice); Snipe; Soling (twice); Dragon and Half Tonner (twice). Some years back Sailpower.com posted and interview with him. Here are some of Elvstöm's thoughts, excerpted from that story.) "I get completely fed up with general recalls, they are such a waste of time. There should be no such thing. If you are over the line at the start you are out. The same thing should apply to mark rounding and there should be no such thing as redress. In Formula 1 racing cars, if you break down you are out. The same should apply to sailing. "To retain yachting as an Olympic sport, it has to be made a public sport. Today's format is a total miss. They tried to change the style by introducing match racing but in my opinion it is boring and stupid. The present format is enjoyable for the competitors but is not suitable for attracting spectators. Basically you have to forget about spectators on land because they will never be able to see anything. The most important thing is television, where potentially millions of people will be watching. Sports such as tennis and golf spectators get to know the competitors and the sport is easy to follow, so they make good spectator sports. We need to make sailing more inviting for television and to make the sailors more well known. If competitors are unknown, the sport is not interesting. "To do this I think three-boat, country-by-country racing for big money prizes is the way to go. The idea is to have TV cameras rigged above the course - maybe in balloons - and there would be cameras on each boat. The format of the racing would be a simple windward/leeward course and, like in tennis, it would be only the winner going through to the quarter finals, semis and a grand final. No races would be held under eight knots of wind. It would be a mistake to change everything at once. I think the best way would be to start off with a singlehander. Once that's up and running then introduce the two-man/three-man boats." -- Paul Elvstöm, full interview: http://www.ybw.com/sp/features/elvstrom/#top 49ER EQUIPMENT (In a story posted on the Daily Sail subscription website, Toby Heppell speaks to Simon Hiscocks about the 49er. Here are a couple of excerpts.) 49er sailing is notoriously difficult; it requires a great deal of skill to keep the boat upright when just sailing around let alone racing. So what can you do to give yourself an edge in this highly competitive class? The answer to that question is put a lot of hours of work in… As there is little difference between each factory-new 49er it is very important to give yourself any speed edge that you possibly can. Because of this when most of the top sailors get their new boats they will normally have a list of work to be done on them. One thing that you must be good at if you want to become a top 49er sailor is boat prep. The time that is spent on boat prep is significant even on an amateur level. When you start looking at the professional level it becomes even more intense. "We make a lot of the stuff that we use on our boats ourselves," says Hiscocks. "We make our own carbon trapeze handles, our own carbon compass bracket; we even make - and now sell - our own foot straps, which are becoming something of a class standard now with most people having them. We spend quite a bit of time splicing our own rope systems as well. -- www.thedailysail.com HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ULLMAN SAILS Full inventories on the 2005 Melges 24 World Champion, plus three of the top four. Count all the other championships in Australia, Europe, and the US, and we find Ullman Sails has truly assisted customers in realizing their 2005 sailing dreams in both one-design and offshore competition. We value your business, and pledge to continue delivering the latest and best sail technology in 2006. Whether racing with Ullman's new FiberPath sails, cruising or day sailing with the most durable sails, we stand ready to meet your sailing needs. For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet," contact Ullman Sails: http://www.ullmansails.com ARC TAKEOVER The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) and other events and activities organized by World Cruising Club have been taken over in a management led buyout from Challenge Business. The new company is established as World Cruising Club Limited, and will trade from the existing premises in Cowes using the established name of World Cruising Club, from 3 January 2006. Andrew Bishop, Director of World Cruising Club comments: "This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us at World Cruising Club to further grow what is already a well established business. Sir Chay Blyth, Executive Chairman of Challenge Business explains: "World Cruising Club has grown in stature under the stewardship of Challenge Business for the last six years. There is a strong management team in place to take the company forward, allowing Challenge Business to concentrate on what we do best, organizing extraordinary events, utilizing our fleet of Challenge yachts. - Yachting World, full story: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20060004125320ywnews.html NEWS BRIEFS * Solo yachtswoman Dee Caffari rounded Cape Horn and braced herself for the next 80 days braving the treacherous conditions in the Southern Ocean. Having recently overcome problems with her autopilot which had threatened to halt the challenge, the 32-year-old's bid to become the first woman to sail single handed non stop westabout round the world enters its next crucial phase. -- www.avivachallenge.com * Mike Golding will be officially named FICO World Champion on Friday at the London Boat Show. In an award system dominated by French sailors, the FICO (Federation Internationale de la Course Oceanique) rankings table for skippers takes into consideration the oceanic events of the previous two seasons with two transatlantic races in 2004 (the single-handed Transat Plymouth-Boston and the fully-crewed transatlantic from Quebec to Saint Malo) and four major races in 2005 (Vendee Globe, Faraday Mill Ostar, Route de L'Equateur and Transat Jacques Vabre ). The rankings take into account performances in multihulls as well as monohulls. * The Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race fleet is beginning to split: The front pair of westernaustralia.com and Durban are beginning to pull away at the front of the fleet, even in these early days of the race. They are currently experiencing around 10-15kts of winds from the south-south-east but more unpredictable weather is sure to come as they edge closer to the monsoon trough. This region that acts in a similar fashion to the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in the Atlantic or 'Doldrums' could lead to Glasgow and Cardiff catching up on the rest of the fleet. -- http://www.clipper-ventures.co.uk/2006/ * Correction: The link included in Dean Brenner's US Olympic Team commentary in 'Butt 2001 contained a typo. The correct link is: http://www.ussailing.org/News/2005/2005OlympicReview.htm ACURA KEY WEST 2006 - SPONSORS MAKE IT HAPPEN Thousands of sailors will be warmly greeted by the Official Sponsors: Acura, Nautica, Mount Gay Rum, B&G, Lewmar, and Samson Rope Technologies. They'll be at the Official Site showcasing the very best products at the very best regatta on the planet. http://www.premiere-racing.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Magnus Wheatley: Two Volvo boats returning to port (again). Devilish conditions on the racetrack and 5700 miles to go through the most dangerous, isolated, harsh waters in the world. I'll say this now ... Glenn Bourke call these boys back in and do another major seaworthy assessment again of the boats before we're faced with the terrible prospect of that major, fatal incident that has been waiting to haunt this event for years and will inevitably sink it for good long-term. The risks are quite horrendous and yes I know the argument that these are professionals doing their job but there's a lot of ego-driven machismo flying around at the moment and it takes someone with guts, vision and intellect to say 'enough's enough.' Be that person before it's too late. Maybe you'll get away with it but is the risk really worth it? Volvo, Sailing and the World do not need another tragedy right now ... Get them back. Curmudgeon's Comment: Let's take a poll to find out who agrees with Magnus, or who thinks that the race must continue: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/06/0104/ * From Reynald Neron, Sydney: I am reading with interest the various mails regarding the IRC rating and its potential use in the US. Basically, we have two sides: The US, who by lack of information, believe IRC is not a good system, and the other side of the pond (read the rest of the world) which has been using IRC very successfully. I wonder why the rest of the world is trying so hard to explain to the US why IRC is so good. First, IRC has not been invented in the US, therefore, it has to be bad. Secondly, IRC is not being used in the US, therefore, it has to be bad. Third, IRC is being used everywhere else in the world, therefore, it has to be bad. Fourth... well, you get the idea. I suggest we leave the US to deal with whatever system they like. Why should we, the civilized world, try to encourage the US, the under-developed world, to use a system they don't like. IRC works well. You won't convinced someone that has not used it if they dont want to be convinced. Now lets bang our heads onto another wall. * From John Arndt (Re: 'Butt 1998 - Philippe Kahn's 'How to make sailing better, right now!'): While they are all excellent ideas that could prove beneficial to racing I'm not sure any of them will actually improve sailing. The problem is so many racers confuse racing with sailing. Since the goal of racing is to win it stands to reason that, except for match racing, the majority of racers won't be satisfied. Since the goal of sailing is enjoyment most sailors who simply sail for pleasure will almost always be satisfied - no improvements needed. If looking to compare sailing to other activities it might be more accurate to relate sailing to skiing than golf. Unlike golf where everyone who plays keeps score, in skiing only a small percentage of participants race the vast majority simply enjoy being outdoors making turns in fresh snow. Sailing is the same. For most sailors changes in rules, ratings, records and Olympic classes won't affect their enjoyment of sailing one whit. I've been lucky enough to sail my entire life including racing, cruising and daysailing. For all of that it's almost always been great 'right now'. Obviously Scuttlebutt is racing focused making it a great forum to test and tune ideas like Philippe's to improve racing. However, racing is only one way to sail. There's not much that needs to be done to improve sailing. It's been fine from the beginning. * From John Cole (re Philippe Kahn's proposal) In 2002 Our Cal 20 fleet in Portland, OR made a handicap system up but failed to fully implement because of various reasons. It is a great idea but implementation is difficult. I think someone should take this one step further. Implement a national handicap computer program that could input your regattas scores easily. Just like golf - we could keep our handicaps in an easily accessible spot. Perhaps it could be set up so clubs could have their own handicap entry system also. I would love to see some of the people that are in the back of the pack, but learning, be competitive. Like golf, it would bring them back for more. * From Patrick Dolan, Lansing Sailing Club Vice Commodore: Thanks to Philippe Kahn for getting a handicap discussion going. It does keep interest up when even a novice sailor can be competitive with a more skilled sailor - as in golf. We used a handicap system with our Junior Sailing program last summer, adapted from a RYGG (or RYGGed) Handicap System we read about, and had very positive results. No system is perfect, but this approach kept interest high and provided opportunities for every sailor to get a good result when they sailed well. It also made it possible for newer sailors to sail next to more experienced sailors at places on the course other than the start - and they improved much faster. Sailors earn a handicap rating from one to ten based on results. Sailors finishing in the top thirty percent of the fleet in a race increase their handicap by one (but no higher than ten). Sailors finishing in the bottom thirty percent of the fleet decrease their handicap by one (but not lower than one). All those with a handicap rating of one, two or three are in the Red Group and start one minute after a warning signal. All those with a four, five or six handicap are in the Yellow Group and start a minute after the Red Group. Sailors with a handicap rating of seven, eight or nine are in the Green Group and start one minute after the Yellow Group. Any sailor with a ten handicap starts one minute after the Green Group. * From Peter Huston: I also liked the 2002 April 1 issue of 'Butt you sited as your favorite - but the 1999 April Fools issue was good too: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/archived_Detail.asp?key=1359 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. Special thanks to Hall Spars & Rigging and Ullman Sails |
