|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 896 - September 7, 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.
THE BOATS While the boats for this race are undoubtedly faster than those competing four years ago, the specific changes are subtle. Farr Yacht Design Vice President, Russell Bowler concedes that the significant difference between the boats is once again waterline beam, but that the differences are even smaller than they were amongst the previous generation of boats. "The way the rule works, that is the one variable that is unmeasured," he says. Unsurprisingly Farr does not wish to reveal too many of the details, but he is prepared to give an insight into the changes in approach. "We have been working hard at applying the technology and methodologies used in the last America's Cup design cycle," he says. "This has led to significant advances in refining hull, appendage and rig design." Unsurprisingly, computers play a large part in the design process and ever more powerful machines combined with more sophisticated software allow rapid progress. Farr claims his team, "have developed sophisticated 3D design optimization tools allowing more design iterations to be undertaken that lead to some innovative developments." According to Bowler, such is the sophistication of the design software that the Farr team can tweak the hull lines and the computer automatically generates a new weight schedule to take account of such things as the revised position of ballast tanks and deck gear. Changes below the waterline may be subtle and hard to spot, but changes to the rigs are clear for all to see. The design of the newly mandated carbon rigs have undoubtedly provided challenges of their own, but it is the need to integrate these changes into the thinking that controls the hull and sail design that provides the biggest challenge. "The drive to carbon masts has allowed better control of the masthead genoa sails [and] that has significantly changed the light airs upwind sailing characteristics of the boats," says Farr. The consequences of this are many and various but the net effect he says is "they are sailing faster in lower wind speeds and are much more powered up which has lead to differences in the hull requirements." - Peter Bentley Full story: www.volvooceanrace.org/news/feature/f0_010904_farr.html
COMMENTARY - Sail Magazine website What British sailors nicknamed the One Ton Cup was placed into competition at the end of the 19th century to encourage international racing in small boats. That effort was successful. Later, while Six Meters were the hot international class, the One Ton Cup was a Six Meter prize. It went to ocean racers during the days of the RORC rule in Europe, when certain leaders in Paris got the idea of using it to promote level class ocean racing. In practical terms, they did more than promote it. They invented level class ocean racing and used the One Ton Cup as the lure. That was the spark for the One Tonners, Two Tonners, Half Tonners, etc. that set a standard, for a while, in the 1970s and 1980s under RORC and later IOR ratings. One designs are a logical place to be in 2001, but a six- boat turnout has to be a disappointment for an event with such a heritage. In racing Thursday at Cardigan Bay out of Pwelheli, North Wales, Greek entry Atalanti X slipped to second in Race 5 but continues to dominate the series with four first place finishes. Atalanti X is owned by George Andreadis and skippered by Gavin Brady. - Sail Magazine Full story: www.sailmag.com/html/briefing.html#havana
EVERYWHERE
CODE RED
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Tom Zinn: Joseph Bainton might have better understood what Dave Dellenbaugh was talking about had he actually been there watching the incident unfold. Watching from a distance of about 50 yards and to starboard, we saw the crewmember appear in the water behind the yacht waving his arm in the air. There was no "ever present tailing tender" following them and no effort made by the crew to go back and get him. It took us several minutes to get the attention of a tender to even spot the man in the water to go and pick him up, and I don't believe that it was even their tender who plucked him out of the water. After this, there were assessed a minor penalty akin to hitting a mark. * From Roger Eastham: David Dellenbaugh has (almost) hit the nail on the head. In a man overboard situation the priority must be the recovery of the man in the water as quickly and as safely as possible. This was achieved and such support / safety facilities should be encouraged where appropriate. It was clearly safer for all concerned for such a rescue to be carried out principally via a support boat / RIB, rather than relying on crash gybe panic stations manoeuvres in a crowded piece of water on a fragile, fully powered up IACC yacht. The key issue here is that the yacht continued racing. Proper seamanship, and the responsibility of the skipper must surely demand that at the very least, the yacht stops racing and actively assists in the recovery of their man overboard - what if the RIB had broken down or could not spot the man in the water? It must be incumbent on all skippers / owners to act to ensure the safety of the crew. The RRS and Jubilee Sailing instructions allow for a yacht to take a 20% penalty only if she infringes Part 2 of the rules. 47.2 come under part 4 of the rules and should not be negotiable. Mr Dellenbaugh is quite right - the Jury sent the wrong message. * From Javier Pamies: In Scuttlebutt 894 David Dellenbaugh comments the incident happened in Race 2 of the America's Cup Jubilee, when a crew member fallen overboard. It is necessary to point that an America's Cup Class boat is a boat that always races with a tender or a chase boat following very close; so, in this type of races it is a lot faster to recover a crew member fallen overboard by means of the chase boat than with the racing boat. Can you imagine how difficult could be to raise the spinnaker and start to sail upwind, tack and stop the boat when close to the falled crew member?. I am completely sure that the operation will take a lot more than two minutes. During the last America's Cup a crew member, fallen overboard of the Spanish Challenger "Bravo Espana", was recovered by the chase boat and returned to the racing boat in less than three minutes. I think that in races where a chase boat is following the racing boat it is safer to recover the fallen man with the chase than with the racing boat. * From Craig West: (re selection of 29 for youth worlds) I am also disappointed at the usage of the 29er in the 2002 Youth Worlds. Personally, I feel kids should stick to fundamental trainers like the Opti, sabot, laser, 420, and FJ. These boats have huge fleets and are key boats for juniors and then later for college sailing. Kids should learn the importance of sportsmanship, racing rules, tactics, and boat handling before learning the complex concepts of tuning. As a Director of a Junior Sailing program and High School sailing team I have witnessed first hand the problem with kids who sail both 29ers and FJs. There is nothing more pitiful than a talented young High School sailor, attempting to sail his/her FJ on a run after being in a 29er. As far as 29er promotion, I think it will be quite a challenge to get clubs and individuals to purchase the boats in mass numbers. The 29er, like the 49er, is very fragile and expensive, not good characteristics for a youth trainer. Come Team Racing season my fleet of FJ's are ridden hard. I am constantly amazed at the resilience of the FJ, I would be surprised if the 29er could survive a summer in a large junior sailing program. * FromCharles Schmeckle: I agree with Will Loe regarding the choice of boats being used for the Youth Worlds. The C420 class has been established for a much longer period with fleets worldwide and more substantial numbers racing. The C420 is more sensitive to tactical errors and proper dynamics, which is what most of the coaches oriented towards youth racing programs teach. Consider the boat of use by junior programs, rather than someone politicking the boat of choice of a specific few. The 29er is a great boat, but being an event like the Youth Worlds, wouldn't one think that there would have been more competing female/ male youth, if a more common boat was used? From Malcolm McKeag: Peter Godfrey writes (in connection with juries, by which I assume he means International Juries constituted under Appendix M, or juries appointed by an organizing authority under rule 89 (b)) the jurors who... ordered racing to proceed in very light air and against the better judgment of the RC. Can a jury legally do this? I know that at match racing events there is sometimes a blurring of who has ultimate authority, chief race officer or chief umpire; but at a regatta? I would have thought not. How is such an instruction delivered? On whose authority? Under what rule? Suppose it were not light air, but heavy air, that were the difficulty, and the 'jury' told the race officer to run the race? And somebody got drowned? Surely the ultimate authority of whether or not to hold a race must always lie, unequivocally, with the chief or principal race officer (nomenclature varies). 88.3 says 'the race committee shall conduct races as directed by the organizing authority...'; 89 and Appendix M both specify that juries, appointed by organizing authorities, be 'separate from and independent of' the race committee. This is a very important distinction - an important check and balance. A juror or jury that tries to direct how the regatta is run is surely behaving as improperly as a race officer who seeks, other than as a party to a hearing, to play a part in what a jury decides. * From Tom McCarthy: It is worth pointing out that the Racing Rules of Sailing are a fluid instrument, adaptable to various circumstances. Many of the racing rules may be changed (Rule 86) by a national authority, sailing instructions, or class rules. These include several rules debated recently in this forum: 26, starting races; 42, propulsion; 49, crew position; and 51, moveable ballast. Sailing is a very diverse sport, and, as a result, many of these issues do not lend themselves well to a national or international debate. The rules as they are written provide more than adequate leverage for a class or yacht club to structure its races based on the preferences of its membership. * From Chris Welsh (Re: Modelmakers): Intensity about the sport does not begin to describe some of the enthusiasts. One local model maker, Swede Johnson, cuts his own gears for the winches, hand laminates the carbon hull, carbon keel strut and carbon mast, pours the lead for the torpedo, and hand fashions his sails. Not sewed, but glued. He is fanatical about weight aloft, and maximum deep C.G. Since the class is developmental (the only rule used to be one meter long), anything goes. He pioneered most of the innovations I just listed into the one meter class. He also shaped the hull molds and the mandrel for the mast layup. Add kevlar shrouds, etc, to the mix. There are few big boat sailers doing anything like this level of construction on their own boats! Lastly, he won a lot, and boats he built won more!
THE CREW MEMBERS' MANIFESTO I've raced a few regattas with Ken Read, the five-time J/24 World Champion, former Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, and more recently a would-be America's Cup helmsman. In his role as skipper, Ken made it a practice to gather all the crew at the beginning of every race day, sometimes even before the boat left the dock, and orchestrate a brief team meeting. The purpose of this was to ensure that everyone on board understood the collective objective, what would be expected of them, and who would be in charge in a given situation. Using his signature delivery-a stylistic amalgam of serious intent and relaxed tone laced with jocularity-he made a point of including all of us in the meeting. Then he'd offer this cumbersome yet comforting conclusion: "All right. Does anyone have any questions, comments, observations, or objections?" Without saying so, Ken was effectively leveling the afterguard-crew hierarchy and breaking down any latent communication barriers that might later on cause a misunderstanding or crewwork paralysis-he was essentially democratizing the onboard culture. I don't mean to deify the guy (anyone who knows Ken is aware that he doesn't require ego-padding), but he was definitely onto something because he knew how much better that boat could sail if everyone on board was truly involved. Essentially, getting any boat around the racecourse competitively requires a team effort. And fluid crew work is more difficult to achieve if you encumber yourself with the attitude that the skipper/driver is somehow more integral to the program than the rest of the crew. Sure, steering is critical on any leg of the course, and there's no denying the importance of the contributions made by the person who owns the boat. But the thing is, it's in every skipper's best interest to instill confidence in his or her crew. Keeping the crew in the loop when it comes to things like instrument feedback and tactical decision-making can help achieve that. I'm not suggesting that you take a poll on your maxi-boat every time you want to tack, but letting everyone in on the general game plan can only improve performance. - Dan Dickison, SailNet website. Full story: www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=ddcksn146&tfr=fp
SUPER COMPASS
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
SAILING ON TV
PERSPECTIVE * The constant drizzle is only interrupted by sudden downpours. A once colorful landscape of greens and vivid blues has been replaced by shades of grey. The color has been turned off. It can only mean one thing - it's time for vacation. Timing is everything. After a summer of windy days under a brilliant sun, just perfect for gliding a sailboat over northwest waters, the thought of water dripping onto the boxes of groceries, bedding, and piles of all those "absolute essentials" on the dock takes a little of the edge off my excitement as we get ready for our yearly pilgrimage to the San Juans. But as I look at the rest of the family I see no difference, other than being waterproofed head to toe, than if it was 90¡. * So off we go - to Eagle Bay - to catch more monster crabs. Will the sun come out? Who knows? Who cares? All we know is that we'll be on the boat, riding a 34-foot magic carpet to some adventure, large or small, that will take its place alongside our most cherished moments - and that's what boats are for. - Richard Hazelton Full editorial: www.48north.com/sep2001/edit.htm
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
