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SCUTTLEBUTT 2639 - Wednesday, July 16, 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. MARK RUDIGER'S BATTLE WITH CANCER Mark Rudiger, one of the world's greatest sailing navigators, has had some complications due to a relapse of cancer and is hospitalized at Kaiser Hospital in Roseville in Northern California. Rudiger was first stricken with lymphoma in 2004 but recovered to continue his career, including last year's Transpacific Yacht Race on Brack Duker's Holua, which finished second in Division 2, and this year's Vallarta race to Mexico, also on Holua. Rudiger's wife Lori offered a statement: "We are at a critical point here in California and need your support. Mark is in the hospital but hanging tough. He strongly believes in the power of positive energy. This is the time for it to help him through the next few days. He can fight this but we can help. Thanks for your support and for your good thoughts. Lori." Rudiger has navigated 14 Transpacs and two Volvo Ocean Races, the premier around-the-world race. On short notice, he guided Paul Cayard's EF Language to victory in 1997-98 and Assa Abloy to second place as co-skipper n 2001-02, and in 2005-06 he was called in again to work Legs 6 and 7 for a struggling Ericsson team. His resume also includes five Barn Door first-to-finish Transpacs, two Sydney-Hobart first-to-finish boats, and last year he was first to finish on the inaugural Daimler-Chrysler Transatlantic race. He also has sailed regularly on various ocean racers, including Sayonara, Pegasus and Genuine Risk. => Curmudgeon's Comment: Mark is one of the good guys in this sport, and clearly needs the support of the Scuttlebutt Community. Rather than the newsletter attempt to accommodate all your emails that this news will surely bring, please submit your sentiments to Mark on this Forum thread: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6073 COVILLE CRUSHES TRANSATLANTIC RECORD In the early hours of July 15th Thomas Coville, sailing the 105 foot trimaran Sodeb'O, crossed the Lizard finishing line to claim a new solo transatlantic record of 5 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds. This beat the previous record, set by Francis Joyon in the 'old' trimaran Idec, wrecked on the way back to France after finishing, by 8 hours, 32 minutes 17 seconds. Sodeb'O, designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret was badly damaged during a solo round the world attempt last year but was repaired in South Africa. The outright crewed transatlantic record, from Ambrose Light to the Lizard, is 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes and 54 seconds and is held by Franck Cammas' trimaran Groupama 3. -- Yachting World, http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20080615102538ywnews.html ENTRY LIST CONFIRMED FOR 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES Four hundred sailors from 62 nations will take to the world's greatest sporting stage this August as they battle on the Yellow Sea at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Sailing Competition. Confirmation of national places has been received by the International Sailing Federation, along with provisional entry lists detailing the athletes who will compete across the eleven events of the Olympic Sailing Competition. Amongst the 62 nations, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates enter athletes to the sailing events of the Olympic Games for the first time. -- Complete story: http://www.sailing.org/news/24366.php Entries by Event Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial (28 entries confirmed, 28 athletes) Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser (42 entries confirmed, 42 athletes) Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470 (29 entries confirmed, 58 athletes) Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470 (19 entries confirmed, 38 athletes) Men's Keeboat - Star (16 entries confirmed, 32 athletes) Women's Keelboat - Yngling (15 entries confirmed, 45 athletes) Multihull - Tornado (15 entries confirmed, 30 athletes) Skiff - 49er (19 entries confirmed, 38 athletes) Heavyweight Dinghy - Finn (25 entries confirmed, 25 athletes) Men's Windsurfer - RS:X (35 entries confirmed, 35 athletes) Women's Windsurfer - RS:X (27 entries confirmed, 27 athletes) Complete entry list: http://www.sailing.org/24364.php => Curmudgeon's Comment: While the story says there are entrants totaling 400 sailors, the numbers above equal 398. Didn't the Chinese invent the abacus for counting? BROKERAGE BONANZA Have you checked out JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc. and their latest brokerage boats? We have the largest selection of used J/Boats on the market. Give our team a call and make an appointment to see these high quality listings. We currently have a new J/160 listing, two J/120's, J/109, and J/105, along with numerous other makes and models. Our team of Jeff Brown, John Bohne, and Roy Bream look forward to speaking with you and working with you. Give us a call at 619-224-6200, or take a look at our website at http://www.jk3yachts.com OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN: 24 DAYS TO GO * From Ben Rhodes, British 49er crew: "There was a funny 'lost in translation' moment which caused quite a bit of panic though. Word got round that the Chinese were not going to let us launch or sail on the Olympic waters from today onwards! So as you can imagine the whole team started worrying about training and phone calls and emails were flying around trying to find out why. As it turns out what the Chinese were trying to say is that they didn't recommend us sailing today because of the fog warning!" -- http://www.sailblogs.com/member/stevieben/?xjMsgID=62322 * New York, NY (July 15, 2008) The Dow Jones Insight-2008 Olympics Media Pulse provides accurate, high-quality media analysis to optimize communications strategy to nurture reputation, increase earnings and achieve business objectives. Current results show that Coca-Cola and McDonald's are leading in media share, that the algae outbreak at the sailing site in Qingdao has significantly heightened the media's attention to China's environmental problems, and that among all the tracked athletes from outside the U.S. that will be competing in the 2008 Olympic Games, British Finn sailor Ben Ainslie ranked eighth in order of media attention. -- http://xrl.us/kky9o GREAT BRITAIN LEADS NATIONAL STANDINGS AT YOUTH WORLDS Arhus, Denmark (July 15, 2008) - Great Britain is leading a close four-country battle for the Volvo Trophy, awarded to the best-performing nation at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. Scores towards the Volvo Trophy standings are taken on a race-by-race basis from each country's top four performers across the seven events. Top-ten race finishes translate into points: ten points for a first, nine for a second, all the way down to one point for a tenth place finish. After each race is completed across all seven events, a nation takes its four best scores and combines them to come up with their overall Volvo Trophy score for that race. Tuesday was a layday, with racing resuming on Wednesday with two races for all classes other than the 29er boys and girls fleets who have three races scheduled. Racing ends on Friday. Volvo Trophy Standings (after six races) 1. Great Britain - 187 points 2. New Zealand - 170 points 3. Australia - 163 points 4. Denmark - 160 points 5. France - 142 points 6. Brazil - 117 points 7. Cyprus - 112 points 8. USA - 100 points 9. Italy - 97 points 10. Greece - 92 points Complete report: http://xrl.us/kky9s Preliminary results: http://www.youthworlds2008.org/Results.aspx Daily video highlights: http://www.sailing-tv.tv/2008isafyouthworlds.html RACE PHOTOGRAPHER OFFERS SOME POINTERS Port Huron native Walter Cooper makes his living taking pictures of sailboats. He's snapped photos from shore, from decks of boats, from airplanes and helicopters and from just about anywhere else he can aim, focus and shoot. "That's all I do. Take pictures of sailboats and power boats. And occasionally a few other things," he said. Cooper -- who's taken pictures of the America's Cup as well as races in Miami, Hawaii, Italy and beyond -- has a few tips for the casual photographer primed to capture race images. "I always try to tell people you want to fill three-fourths of the picture with the boat," said Cooper, 42, who now lives in Colorado. "You don't want to have a little tiny boat in the picture." The picture needs more than a big boat filling the frame, Cooper said. Pay attention to background, too. "You want to try and include some context in the picture. A picture of a sailboat against the blue water doesn't really tell you anything. You want something in the background," he said. "Anything that will tell you a story." -- Times Herald, read on: http://xrl.us/kky9w DOYLE SAILMAKERS EXPANDS Doyle Sailmakers is pleased to announce the addition of Jean-Paul Gateff to the Doyle Superyacht Team. Gateff has been operating as Voiles Gateff in the south of France, near Toulon, since 1970. "Jean-Paul is well recognized for his top quality sailmaking and service. He operates an outstanding service and repair facility," said Robbie Doyle. With the addition of a Doyle Superyacht loft in the south of France, Doyle continues to expand what is already the most comprehensive service available to Superyachts worldwide. To contact your local Doyle loft, call 800-94-DOYLE or visit http://www.doylesails.com SAILING SHORTS * Vancouver, WA. -- Investigators believe someone may have untied the 86-foot Radiance from its dock while the boat's skipper and four member crew were all sleeping on board, causing it to drift and crash into a rail bridge along the Columbia River early Friday morning. "The mast is broken and all the rigging was caught on the structure of the bridge," said skipper Stanley Bishoprick. "The damage is significant." The cost to replace the mast alone will run about $100,000, he said. -- Full story and video: http://xrl.us/kky9y * A complimentary weather forecast for all boats racing in the 2008 Chicago to Mackinac Race is being written by the experienced and knowledgeable team at Sailing Weather Services, and will be emailed to all subscribers on Friday, July 18. To sign up, log on to the North Sails online weather center: http://na.northsails.com/ew/ew_main.taf * Plymouth, MA - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has announced that a $49,300 Workforce Training Fund grant has been awarded to Suncor Stainless Inc. to train 140 new and existing employees in the manufacturing of stainless steel products for industrial, marine, architectural, commercial and other markets. Patrick said a shortage of skilled workers to fill open positions prompted the creation of the Workforce Training Fund and opened the door for companies like Suncor to apply for grant money. The MORE jobs program and workforce training grants are part of his economic stimulus plan. * Hamilton, Bermuda (AP) - Tropical Storm Bertha headed back out over open ocean Tuesday after it battered Bermuda, knocking out electricity to thousands on the Atlantic tourist island. Bermuda's weather service canceled a hurricane watch for the island late Monday as Bertha's center moved away from the British territory. It said a tropical storm watch remained in effect, however. The storm whipped up dangerous rip currents along the U.S. East Coast from the Carolinas through southern New England, contributing to at least one drowning Saturday along a New Jersey beach, officials said. -- Mad Mariner, read on: http://xrl.us/kky94 * Nieuwpoort, Belgium (July 15, 2008) Two days are now completed for the Laser European Championship, with upper teens wind strength for the first day moderating slightly for today. Aussie Tom Slingsby is dominating the Full rig division with Michael Leigh (CAN) hanging in sixth, while Sari Multala (FIN) leads the Radial Women with American Sarah Lihan rolling all top ten scores to stand in ninth position. Racing ends on July 19th. -- http://www.kycn.be/fr/laser_european_ch__2008.html * Registration is open for US SAILING's 2008 Annual General Meeting, to be held Oct. 15-19 in St. Petersburg, FL -- http://www.ussailing.org/events/meet08fall/index.asp * Orange Coast College will launch a new career program, Professional Mariner that will fill a need for experienced and educated deckhands to work on yachts and small commercial vessels. The two-semester program is unique in Southern California. The closest entry-level mariner career program is offered by Seattle Maritime Academy, a division of Seattle Central Community College. -- Additional information: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6047 * Continuing with a program that began during the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race, Extreme 40 catamaran class racing will be part of the on-the-water entertainment package at selected stopovers during the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. The Extreme 40s will feature in Alicante, Singapore, Qingdao, Boston and Stockholm with fleets of up to 10 boats. In each port, the racing will take place between the in-port race weekend and the leg start weekend. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK This week's video is a movie trailer for MORNING LIGHT, the documentary that follows the story of how fifteen young sailors came together to race a high-performance 52-foot sloop in the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Six months of intensive training conducted by world-class teachers prepared the crew of "Morning Light" to match wits and skills in a dramatic 2300-mile showdown against top professionals. With a scheduled release date of October 17, 2008, this 2:30 minute tease provides enough reason to save the date. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week's Video of the Week. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/08/0714 SILLY WHITE HATS AND PRETENTIOUS BLUE BLAZERS Marion, MA - With the 36th annual Buzzards Bay Regatta on the horizon for this August, lovers of sailing might be interested to know some of the history attached to the largest multi-class sailing event in New England. The regatta, which will be hosted this year at Beverly Yacht Club in Marion, will be held Aug. 1-3. "First, let's dispel a false notion about sailboat racing," Corrine Woodworth, spokesman for the Buzzards Bay Regatta, said. "Many people associate sailboat racing with an elite group of ridiculously rich men who wear silly white hats and pretentious blue blazers, standing at the helm of multi-million dollar yachts and shouting orders at their uniformed crews. While that may be the case in some circles, nothing could be farther from the truth at most boat clubs across America." In 1872, several sailors who were committed to competing in sailboats under 30 feet founded BBR's host club, the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion. "They recognized that sailboat racing on the grand scale of the America's Cup was inaccessible to most people, so their determination to focus on smaller boats helped to bring the sport to a wider group of participants," Woodworth said. -- Read on: http://xrl.us/kky98 * The 36th annual Buzzards Bay regatta will feature two new exciting racing classes. The "Expressly for Fun" fleet will target first time racers who have always wanted to try their hand at racing but may have been intimidated by the complexity of rules and crowded mark roundings. The second addition to this year's BBR will be a Classic Wooden Yacht Division. -- Additional info: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6028 * There will be plenty of buzz in Buzzard's Bay this August, as the 2008 Corsair Nationals Regatta on Buzzard's Bay moves in at the same time as BBR, and is planned to be the largest gathering ever of Corsair and Farrier-designed trimarans in North America. With more than 100 owners planning to participate, the family oriented schedule includes three days of intense racing (August 6-8) as well as a full week of daily cruises and fun races (August 1-9). -- Details: http://www.corsair2008.org/Pictures/MEDIA%20RELEASE.pdf * The East Greenwich Yacht Club will be hosting the 6th Annual CJ Buckley Team Race Regatta on Aug 4-5. This regatta was started in 2003 in celebration of dear friend and teammate CJ Buckley, who lost his battle with brain cancer during the winter of 2002. The CJ Buckley TR presents club 420 sailors with a unique, BYOB team race event which features great racing and great fun. The idea is that any team with three boats traveling to BBR can then continue to East Greenwich, RI for two days of fun team racing. Housing available if needed. Additional information: http://www.cjbuckleyregatta.net/ 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 may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). 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 Eric W. Sponberg, President, Sponberg Yacht Design: I enjoyed the story and the link in Scuttlebutt 2638 on the Skerry Cruisers--quite pretty boats they are. The Skerry Cruiser concept is being carried forward into the 21st century by our new design called the Scandinavian Cruiser 40, SC 40 for short. It is inspired by these very Skerry Cruisers of 100 years ago in that it is long and narrow with long overhangs. Our updates on design concept, however, are carbon fiber applications in a lifting keel, a lifting rudder, and a free-standing wingmast rig. The principal parties behind the design are Danish boatbuilders who intend to build production models in China. These will be boats-in-a-box--shipped on their trailers in 40' shipping containers. More details on the preliminary design can be seen at http://www.sponbergyachtdesign.com/SC40News.htm CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Among the essential additions for workplace vocabulary is the term PRAIRIE DOGGING, which is when someone yells or drops something loudly in an office cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc. and Doyle Sailmakers. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
