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SCUTTLEBUTT 3321 - Friday, April 15, 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: Mount Gay Rum and Team One Newport. WHAT COLLEGE COACHES DO By Ken Legler, Tufts University In response to Mr Richard Clark's "I could never understand why coaches were allowed at sailing regattas" (in Scuttlebutt 3320), I have heard this on occasion throughout my career as a college sailing coach. I think the perception from those without coaches is that coaches are paid to beat you without sailing. They also create water, air, noise, and even wave pollution with their Mommy boats as they coddle their kiddies with blankets and baby (water) bottles. Allow me to explain some of the other things sailing coaches do. College coaches run races, about 1000 per year, more with team racing. Coaches hear protests, assist umpires, and help coach those teams without coaches. College coaches work with trainers and health services professionals assisting athletes in injury and illness recovery and prevention. They teach life-long skills in conditioning, nutrition and even sleeping. College coaches are also academic advisors either passively or directly starting while their potential students are still in high school. They teach how to be a good guest, driving safety, teamwork and leadership skills. In short, college coaches pick up where kindergarten teachers left off in teaching life skills. The role of coaches at regattas is just as important. After an often long and safe drive, coaches assist race committees, judges, and umpires; both physically and with professional expertise. They coach their sailors how to win and lose gracefully by explaining speed, tactics, strategy, technique, rules and sportsmanship. And yes, coaches question race committees, judges, and umpires. This process helps teach the student/sailors what they did that got them flagged and helps umpires in the present and future explain their process and decision making. Questioning on the water is hard since you have to raise your voice to be heard but questioning during the post-race umpire's debrief is a great advance in our sport. What do college sailing coaches do during the off-season? They run junior programs at yacht clubs and community programs; help programs find instructors; run, judge, and umpire races, coach advanced racing clinics, write articles, repair boats, and race as sailing pros training boat owners and entire crews. With any time and resources left, coaches sail and even race once in awhile too. I too am an old sailing curmudgeon from the days of wood boats, no 720's, few coaches and self reliance. You do not want me hearing your request for redress. However, I can no longer imagine what our sport would be like without the incredible contributions of sailing coaches, including the likes of Dave Perry, Betsy Allison, Mike Segerblom, Gary Bodie, Greg Fisher, Adam Werblow, Mitch Brindley, Brad Churchill, Mike Horn, Hatch Brown, and countless others. PIRATE ATTACKS HIT AN ALL-TIME HIGH WORLDWIDE Piracy hit an all-time high worldwide in the first three months of 2011 led by a surge in incidents off the coast of Somalia, a maritime watchdog said Thursday. The International Maritime Bureau said a record high of 142 attacks in the first quarter came as Somalian pirates become more violent and aggressive. The International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center said 97 of the attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia, up sharply from 35 in the same period last year. It said attackers seized 18 vessels worldwide, including three big tankers, in the January-March period and captured 344 crew members. Pirates also murdered seven crew members and injured 34 during the quarter. The Kuala Lumpur-based center's director Pottengal Mukundan said Thursday that there was a "dramatic increase in the violence and techniques" used by Somali pirates to counter increased patrols by international navies. Mukundan said that Somali pirates were holding captive 596 crew members on 28 ships as of March 31 this year. Foreign navies have been deployed off the Gulf of Aden - used by ships traveling between Asia and Europe - since the start of 2009, but the number of attacks has increased with pirates striking further away from Somalia's shores to avoid naval patrols. The pirates are typically motivated by the potential for millions of dollars in ransom money. -- MSNBC, read on: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42584628/ns/world_news-africa/from/toolbar REALITY: We gaze at the National Enquirer in the grocery store checkout line, and we slow on freeways to look at the latest accident. Our penchant for disaster viewing may also bring huge online traffic to the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race during the leg from Cape Town, SA to Abu Dhabi, UAE, which takes the fleet on a course THROUGH the piracy zone (beginning Dec. 11th). And my guess is that this leg will see significant ad dollars spent to take advantage of the high viewership. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor SAILING SPOKEN HERE. THE CONVERSATION HAS BEGUN! For sailors around the globe like you, Mount Gay Rum has launched Sailing Spoken Here. With thousands of world-wide members today, sailors have connected to discuss their technical challenges, share their most treasured sailing photos, debate their past regatta scenarios, and to find their favorite sailing bars to celebrate the completion of a day at sea. If you haven't already jumped into the conversation, you're missing out. Luckily, today's a new day: http://www.sailingspokenhere.com. SHUFFLING THE DECK Qingdao, China (April 14, 2011) - Six 'open water' races were raced today/Thursday on the second day of Act 2 at the Extreme Sailing Series Qingdao, with the breeze outside the breakwater of Fushan Bay up and down but predominantly strong enough to see the Extreme 40 fleet flying their hulls. Despite the longer ocean courses, the 11-boat close combat racing resulted in two collisions. The Austrian Red Bull Extreme Sailing team thought they had snatched the overall lead from Emirates Team New Zealand in the final race only to find their victory in tatters after Dean Barker's team were given redress (a rare occasion on this circuit). After the Kiwi team rolled a 3-2-4-1, they stumbled with a 9th, and then were called over in the sixth race. However, post-race video footage proved they were not in fact over the line and redress upgraded the team from 7th to 4th place. The big stumble of the day came from Artemis Racing which fell from second to seventh in the standings. "Today was a reminder that we are racing against the best and that there is very little separating the guys that are winning from the guys who are last," noted trimmer Morgan Trubovich. "When you make a mistake in this fleet you are made to pay immediately, and pay huge. Our results today were: 10,8,7,3,10,11." The performance of Artemis Racing wasn't the only thing that wasn't hot today. "There is a constant haze in Qingdao," observed Trubovich. "Mostly caused by the freezing water temperature. And today it was bone chilling. We basically wore everything we had. But when those random waves made it onto your face....yikes!" Tomorrow is the first of three days of "Stadium Racing", which brings the course along the land for spectating, with much shorter of legs of 100 metres in length. Results after Day 2 - Top 5 of 11 1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL) - 98 points 2. Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara (AUT) - 96 points 3. Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou (FRA) - 92 points 4. Luna Rossa (ITA), Paul Campbell James (GBR), 92 5. Groupe Edmond De Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec (FRA), 84 Full report/scores: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-041411 Day 2 video highlights: http://youtu.be/6kMeLAnG4lc BACKGROUND: The Extreme Sailing Season is embarking on its fifth season, with Qingdao as the second stop for the nine event tour that will travel through Asia, Europe, and North America this year. The platform used is the one design Extreme 40 catamaran, with each five day event combining 'open-water' racing with 'stadium' short-course racing in front of the public. The 2011 ESS has grown in part due to the multihull format planned for the 34th America's Cup in 2013. -- http://www.extremesailingseries.com/ SUSTAINABLE POWER CONSUMPTION The Eco 60s competing in the VELUX 5 OCEANS boast four sources of power: the engine, wind generators, solar panels and hydrogenerators. However, with a strong emphasis on sustainability in this edition of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, our skippers go to great lengths to rely as much as they can on wind and solar power as sustainable forms of producing electricity. It's all part of the race's 'green' scheme TAKING ON THE ELEMENTS, a commitment by all the race stakeholders to understand and improve the impact our event has on the world. "Using the engine is really the last resort for us," said Active House skipper Derek Hatfield. "There are some circumstances where I don't use the engine to power the boat at all. During ocean sprint one I used it for less than 20 per cent of my power. The wind generator is really the main source of power onboard these boats. Running the engine produces about 80 amps an hour but it burns lots of fossil fuels. My wind generator on Active House produces 12 to 14 amps per hour. I only use seven amps an hour so the wind generator provides everything I need. Solar panels produce another three or four amps an hour on top of that. Providing there is wind, and or sun, I don't need to run the engine at all." Derek added. "During the time when the wind generator and solar panels are not providing enough energy I start to think of other ways to conserve power. I shut instruments and computers down and I change to my light wind autopilot which consumes half of what the normal pilot does. I bring the boat right back to basics. Then the boat will just be consuming three or four amps an hour." Two of the VELUX 5 OCEANS skippers are trialling state-of-the-art hydrogenerators. The 'hydros' are little foils with propellers attached that sit in the water off the back of the yachts. Using the movement of the boat through the water they are capable of providing all of the power needs of a yacht. The concept is not a new one, however the hydrogenerator has always been a very inefficient way to create electricity because the hydrogenerators themselves were very high drag which slowed the boats down. For ocean racing they were just no good, but that is all about to change. "The hydros we have on Le Pingouin have been designed by a French company Watt & Sea who set out to design a modern day hydrogenerator," said American skipper Brad Van Liew. "They created a low drag, carbon fibre foil that sits in the water off the back of the boat. The propellers also adjust their pitch automatically to further reduce their drag. A computer on the boat calculates the optimum angle for the blades to be at so they create the maximum amount of power with the least drag. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/V5O-041411 CLOSURE A story in Scuttlebutt 3318 by Elaine Bunting (Don't Leave The Lights On For Tailenders) noted how the rules of the Barcelona World Race make note of minimum time penalties for teams that stop for repairs, but not maximum time penalties. It was simply never envisaged that a crew would spend almost a month carrying out a mini refit, although in hindsight the option was going to appeal most to tailenders whose victory is in finishing the course. But that's what happened when the last place team of Fran Palacio and Juan Merediz on Central Lechera went to port in Wellington (NZL) to have their broken mast rebuilt and major hull structure repairs made. Other than the race officials seeking to conclude a race that saw its first finisher on April 4th, there was nothing to keep this team from sailing two more months toward the finish. But then Mother Nature spoke. In New Zealand, the Spanish team now confirms their retirement because of safety fears if they were to repair and carry on. While their damage could be repaired by the team, the onset of Southern winter in the Pacific crossing and especially for a Cape Horn passage would be extremely tough and is considered much too risky. -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en INTERESTING: It should be noted that an experienced doublehanded team decided this stretch of ocean was too dangerous, while nearly a year ago the young solo sailor Abby Sunderland did not. Sunderland, who was seeking to be the youngest person to complete a circumnavigation, needed to be rescued last June when winter storms in the Indian Ocean broke her mast and required the abandonment of her boat. Did I mention that this week Abby is now promoting her book on the adventure? -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor VIBRAM 5 FINGERS STICK TO THE DECK Vibram 5 Fingers are taking over the sailing scene and Team One Newport has them! We noticed many sailors wearing these funny looking, sticky non-marking soled shoes. So we decided to test them out and found them to be a great shoe (if you can call it that). The best feature of the Vibrams is they allow you to be on the boat and yet feel like you don't have any shoes on at all! Visit http://www.team1newport.com to learn more (and check out the special Vibram size chart) or call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327). Be sure to look at all the great products that Team One Newport represent like GoPro, Musto, Henri-Lloyd, Gill, Atlantis, Slam, Dubarry, Sperry, Camet, Kaenon, Zhik, Patagonia and more. CHINA TEAM - ENTHUSIASTIC...& FUNDED By Michelle Slade, SailBlast Even if the next America's Cup dispenses only a handful of truly competitive teams, which is the way it's currently lining up (thinking ORACLE Racing, Artemis Racing and Emirates Team NZ), there's no lack of enthusiasm among the less established teams, and for one of those teams - China Team - no lack of funding. In fact, I think large amounts of both enthusiasm and dollars can probably take a team a long way, and it appears that China Team's Thierry Barot, CEO, concurs. "In terms of sponsorship, we have over 50% of the budget that we need," 53-year old Barot said. "We are very lucky - in China we are on the top of the biggest marketing wave in the world. When you see what China did with the Olympics it gives you an idea as to how the country will support us. When the Chinese decide to do something, they make the decision and go all out. It's impressive." Barot's history with yachting in China goes back to 1987 when, after racing on French Kiss in Fremantle in the 27th America's Cup, he ended up in China managing yachts and related services. Barot, who is from Montauban, a small country city in southwest France known for its interest in rugby and not sailing, returned to Europe and back to professional sailing in 1998. In 2004, he was offered work back in China and subsequently became involved with China Team for the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia. Barot says the new China Team in no way resembles the previous version, which was run by the former French syndicate Le Defi along with Mr. Wang Chao Yong, the current China Team investor. Barot received a call last November from Mr. Wang Chao Yong to see if he would lead a new China Team program, and immediately began putting together the Team. "Today, it is really a 100% Chinese program, with just a little outside knowledge," Barot explained. -- Read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/04/china-team-enthusiastic-funded.html PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include the beginning of Paul Cayard, the problems with energy drinks, happy campers, the new PUMA boat, the cowboy country, a swim in the Med, SoCal's finest, and youth conquest. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0415/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The quality of video content for most sailing races is either highly produced, and thus delayed, or is very low end but might be streaming live. There is little middle ground... until possibly now. A live demonstration of a new scheme by Sail Video System will be held April 16th at a Formula 18 catamaran event in the Netherlands. Remote and onboard cameras readily capture the action and transmit it to shore for easy spectating. The race starts at 17:00hrs CET and will be broadcasted live on internet. This week's video provides a tease: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/11/0415/ BONUS 1: Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand is the first of the teams to reach the major milestone of getting their brand new Volvo Open 70 into the water. Here is video of its very first sail in the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqUkTyRVvpQ BONUS 2: Amory Ross brought along video gear for his ride on Rambler 100 during the Les Voiles de St. Barth. Curious what it's like to sail on a maxi... in the Caribbean... with Kenny Read and the PUMA Ocean Racing team? Wonder no more: http://vimeo.com/22370266 BONUS 3: T2PTV (t2p.tv), the online network for On Demand sailing coverage, has recently produced programming from the International Rolex Regatta, Congressional Cup, and the Ficker Cup: http://t2p.tv/ BONUS 4: Boats on TV (boatson.tv) covers all aspects of the sport, with their April 8th "World on Water" weekly global boating report including the Star South Americans, 505 Worlds, Barcelona World Race, and the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain: http://www.boatson.tv/ SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com 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 Brian Hancock: I have to say something. There was a time when sailing around the world was a big deal. And it still is a big deal. The people who used to finish a grueling circumnavigation were gnarled and hardened. But then there is Dee... and Anna Corbella... who just double-handed it around the planet. These are two simply amazing women. Have you ever sailed on Open 60? Those boats are monsters... these two sailors are absolute gems. We should all be proud to be a small part of this community we call sailors. Dee and Anna, like a rising tide, lift us all. * From Paul Pascoe: (re: Sailing with your Spouse 'butt 3320) I sailed with my wife for 25 years and had only two yelling matches during all that time ("I don't know why God invented spinnakers" - I seem to recall was one of her comments). The two big advantages for me were that crew meetings and scheduling were a lot easier to arrange (lying in a nice warm bed at 7am on Sunday morning "weather doesn't look good ... how about we just stay here"), and so were finances. Jen was always a lot more competitive than me, so on the way home after a poor performance I would occasionally hear "our sails are shot - we need a new set", or "time for a new boat". There was never any begging from me for funds from the household budget for new or replacement equipment, just a polite "yes dear, if you insist". * From John Culter, Vancouver: (re, rounding/passing marks in #3318/3319) Two things: No race committee would ever specify a course where boats should do a 360 to round a mark. Too dangerous if there is more than one boat rounding. Secondly, it feels like the two or three boats that actually did the buttonhook rounding were trying to get in the protest room what they couldn't get on the race course. Too bad the appeals committee recommended consideration of redress. They shouldn't get any. While the story isn't pretty, the intention of the RC was clear. * From Bruce Thompson: As someone with a lifetime appointment as a U S Sailing Senior Race Officer (i.e. an antique who remembers how things used to work), I tend to agree that this recent appeal leaves more questions than it answers. I would love to hear the Appeals Committee's explanation to Farrah Hall why she was subjected to rule 62.2 and this appellant isn't. It seems that in an effort to make the rules simple and keep competitors happy, the judges have forgotten that some of the best learning experiences are found in the school of hard knocks. A passing mark is one where 28.1(a) applies, a rounding mark is where 28.1(b) applies. A mark is either one or the other. They might also take a whack at how a guideline from Appendix J, which recognizes several levels of guidelines to race committees including the appendix, the simplified guide and the ISAF guide, can qualify as an italicized rule. * From Eric Johnson: I have been a Judge since NAYRU days and have never had a Collegiate Coach give me a problem or lip and only a few collegiate sailors. However, more than a few Opti and Laser Coaches seem to have interesting views on the rules, what constitutes illegal propulsion and the appropriate way to address a question about a ruling to a Judge, Umpire or Race Official. So this is very uncommon in my experience. * From Stephen A Van Dyck, Umpire and Competitor: No competitor expects to be, or wants to be, treated rudely, disrespectfully, or abused by an umpire or a race official. Why should a volunteer umpire (or race official) expect anything but the same from competitors or Coaches? Every sailing competitor can and should expect respectful and thoughtful officials conduct, and every Umpire (or race official) deserves the same in return. It naturally falls to the Umpire(s) to promote an appropriate deportment standard, set the example and enforce ZERO tolerance for unacceptable behaviors. It is true that officials make mistakes, but the Umpire only becomes necessary to sort out the (alleged) mistakes of the competitors. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through the minds of either. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Summit Yachts - Kaenon Polarized - North Sails Atlantis WeatherGear - The Pirates Lair - Doyle Sails - Samson Rope Ullman Sails - LaserPerformance - Mount Gay Rum - Team One Newport Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
