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SCUTTLEBUTT 3127 - Tuesday, July 6, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: Kaenon Polarized, Melges Performance Sailboats, and Quantum Sails. CONTINUING THE PROCESS Rating rule authorities in America and Britain have been commissioned to draft the rules for the next generation of America’s Cup yacht. In asking US SAILING and the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Seahorse Rating affiliate to write the rules, BMW ORACLE Racing and Golden Gate Yacht Club, winner of the 33rd America’s Cup last February, has ensured the process is neutral and independent. “We’ve always said that the new design will be for the America’s Cup community. The result with be a ‘non-partisan yacht’ rather than a ‘defender’s yacht’,” said Ian Burns, Design Coordinator for BMW ORACLE Racing. “A great deal of input was sought from the America’s Cup community and the concept briefs given to the rule writers reflect that feedback.” In a twin-track process, US SAILING will author a multihull rule and the RORC’s Seahorse Rating a canting-keel monohull rule. “It would be premature to rule either a monohull or multihull in and the other out at this stage,” commented Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. “Which type of boat is best for racing and media impact is one of many evaluations we will be testing over the coming months.” The choice between monohull and multihull will be made after the conclusion of these trials, the first round of which is scheduled for Valencia in late July. “Either option will provide high performance, exciting viewing and challenges to design, build and sailing teams,” commented Burns. Versatile performance in light and strong winds is considered essential to minimize delayed or postponed racing. In response to feedback from potential teams, the original concepts for both types have been scaled back from 26m (82 feet) LOA to 22m (72 feet) for tangible cost reduction. An engine will be used to cant the keel on the monohull and move appendages on the multihull. The rule authors have been tasked to specify an environmentally friendly, smart, low-emission engine or power-pack. “This offers a great opportunity for the America’s Cup community to take a leading role in this increasingly applied technology,” said Burns. “But there will be no power- assistance for crews to trim or hoist sails. Both the monohull and multihull will be very athletic boats to race hard.” To ensure fairness, all teams will simultaneously receive updates and information from the authors with regards to progress. The briefs to the rule authors outline parameters for both types of boat to give base-line dimensions. This ‘box rule’ method should ensure boats designed by different teams are similar in style to guarantee the close racing the America’s Cup thrives on. Otherwise, the instructions to the rule writers are deliberately open to afford them full creative freedom. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/39gfaw7 COAST GUARD CREW FAULTED IN BOY'S DEATH (July 1, 2010) - The Coast Guard charged four petty officers Thursday with crimes including involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide, showing that it believes the crew committed grave errors that led to its patrol boat hitting a private vessel and killing an 8-year-old boy last December on San Diego Bay. “Adm. (Joseph) Castillo came down to San Diego and told everyone that we were going to look into this accident, try to determine what went wrong and hold people accountable. This is the first step,” said Dan Dewell, a spokesman for the Coast Guard’s district headquarters in Alameda, which oversees the San Diego sector. The military version of a preliminary hearing is expected to take place in several weeks. The parents of the boy, Anthony DeWeese, made no statement Thursday because their civil lawsuit against the federal government is pending. Anthony was part of a three-family group waiting to watch the annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights. “I know they will appreciate the seriousness with which the Coast Guard has approached this matter,” said their attorney, Mike Neil. “It’s still a very emotional time for them.” -- San Diego Union-Tribune, read on: http://tinyurl.com/3255355 / EYE PROTECTION You only have two good ones, if you’re lucky. They don’t grow back. And in most cases, they gradually worsen over time. So are you protecting your eyes? Are you protecting your kid’s eyes? The only peepers you have take a daily beating from the sun, glare, salt, spray, wind and debris. You wouldn’t sail naked, so why send your eyes outside without proper protection? At Kaenon Polarized we take vision seriously. And protection is rule number one when creating better performance vision. SR-91 polarized lenses only available from Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. Available in prescription. http://www.kaenon.com EPIRB SAVED THEIR LIVES “If you ever wanted to hear a story about how important it is to have a registered EPIRB on your vessel and a float plan ashore, look no further than this case. Without that piece of electronic gear aboard the Calypso (32-foot catamaran), this would be the story of a maritime disaster, not a story with a happy ending,” said Lt. Todd Vorenkamp, a Coast Guard spokesperson. Here is the story: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (July 3, 2010) - Coast Guard units from Group Humboldt Bay rescued three sailors from an overturned sailboat 20 miles off the coast of Fort Bragg, Calif., this afternoon. The 32-foot catamaran, Calypso, was transiting from Crescent City, Calif., to Alameda, Calif., when it suddenly capsized in steep waves. At 12:44 p.m., the Coast Guard received an emergency position indicating radio beacon signal from the Calypso. The beacon, mounted on the sailboat, can be turned on in an emergency to transmit the GPS position, identity of the vessel and other information to a network of satellites orbiting the earth. The EPIRB showed the Calypso was approximately 20 miles from the coast of Fort Bragg. The signal from the EPIRB was the only distress signal received by the Coast Guard from the catamaran. The Calypso’s crew reported that in the early morning hours, winds increased to 45 knots and the crew manually activated their EPRIB, believing that their lives were in peril. Immediately after activating the radio beacon, the boat capsized, pinning the crew beneath its overturned hull. The crew managed to get out from beneath the vessel and grab onto the hull, spending more than an hour in the frigid Pacific Ocean waters. The Coast Guard used the registration information from the beacon to contact the family of the vessel’s crew. The family reported the Calypso crew had left a float plan, which is a description of the boat, number of passengers aboard, a description of the safety equipment aboard, destination and estimated time of arrival. “The float plan allowed us to confirm information about the vessel, create a better plan and expedite our search,” said Lt. George Suchanek, an MH-65C Dolphin helicopter pilot that responded to the call. Coast Guard Group Humboldt Bay immediately dispatched a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Noyo River in Fort Bragg, Calif., and an MH-65C Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay in McKinleyville, Calif. The motor lifeboat crew reported seas were 14 to 16 feet and the lifeboat’s transit to the Calypso was predicted to take an hour because of the conditions. The helicopter crew reported 35-knot winds. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/36p433g QUOTE / UNQUOTE “You don’t have to be a good Optimist sailor to be a good sailor. When I was growing up in New Zealand I used to read about the races in Newport, but never thought I’d get the chance to compete. I also never dreamed of visiting the White House and meeting the President of the United States. It just shows what you can accomplish with hard work and dedication, and how broad our sport is.” -- Russell Coutts, 4-time America’s Cup winner WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR Marstrand, Sweden (July 5, 2010) - Stena Match Cup Sweden, Stage 5 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour, has attracted an abundance of the World’s leading men’s match racers to commence racing on Tuesday, July 6th. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing won Stena Match Cup Sweden last year and has now notched up and incredible 7 overall victories at this event since its inaugural year in 1994. Gilmour is poised for the podium again after having also won Stage 4 of this year’s Tour only 8 days ago and looks committed to continue his fierce fighting style into this week’s semis and finals. Stena Match Cup Sweden is also running a women’s event in tandem with the men’s Tour racing and has invited 10 of the most motivated female team’s from across the globe. The women’s event started today and Silke Hahlbrock (GER) leads the pack against Katie Pellew neé Spithill (AUS), Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and Linda Rahm (SWE). Women’s match racing continues to climb in mass sporting appeal as it is now a ladies Olympic discipline inspiring full time campaigns. Here are the competing men's teams followed by their overall tour ranking: GROUP A Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team (1) Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing (2) Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra (6) Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team (7 tie) Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team (10) Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team (NR) Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team (NR) Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team (NR) GROUP B Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team (3) Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing (4) Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar (5) Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin (7 tie) Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team (11) Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team (NR) Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing (NR) Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing (NR) Pairings and Results: http://tinyurl.com/SMCS-P-R-2010 Video player: http://www.wmrt.com/multimedia/video-gallery.html MELGES HEAT While the Melges classes prepare for some big events (Melges 32 National Championship in Harbor Springs, MI; Audi Melges 20 National Championship in Holland, MI; and the Melges 24 North Americans in Rochester, NY), Melges is working on the Official Winter Series Dates for 2010 and 2011. Stay tuned for the release dates which will be posted on the class websites and http://www.melges.com - Melges winter racing is hot! HEADING WEST * Ending their July 4 holiday with a bang, the first fleet of starters headed out the Golden Gate Monday morning to begin the 2,070 nm Pacific Cup race from San Francisco, California to the lush, tropical paradise of Kaneohe, Hawaii. Sixteen boats were scheduled to start today, with 54 boats from 22 to 70 feet scheduled for stagger starts through to July 10th. -- http://pacificcup.org/ * Nine entries began the Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race, with starts on July 1 and 3 for the 2,308 nm contest between Victoria, British Columbia and Lahaina, Maui. -- http://www.vicmaui.org SAILING SHORTS * Kingston, ONT (July 3, 2010) - It was a strong showing for American sailors at the Optimist North American Championship, where 196 boats represented 21 countries. Keeping all top ten scores for the win was Christopher Williford (USA), with twin brother Duncan Williford in second and Conner Harding (USA) taking third. The Williford brothers along with Wade Waddell, Harry Koeppel, and Richard Schuurmans comprised the winning team at the Optimist North American Team Racing Championship, which was also held during the event. -- Event website: http://optinam2010.org/ * Porto Cervo, Italy (July 3, 2010) - Team Germany won the ISAF Offshore Team World Championship, where a field of eight teams (one Farr 40 and one Melges 32) competed for seven nations. Wolfgang Schaefer’s Farr 40 Struntje Light and the Melges 32 Teasing Machine, owned by Jean Francois Cruette, comprised the winning team. The USA team of past Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richardson with his Barking Mad and current Melges 32 World Champion Pieter Taselaar with his Bliksem finished in third place. A lack of wind kept the fleet from racing for the final two days of the five day event. -- Final report: http://tinyurl.com/38mjhqt * Cesenatico, Italy (July 2, 2010) - Glenn Ashby (AUS) has won his seventh A-Cat World Championship, leading a strong Australian contingent that took four of the top five positions over the 100 boat field. Randy Smyth (USA) posted a 3-4 in the final two races to move up to 10th position as the top North American competitor. -- Final results: http://www.congregavelisti.it/anno%202010/Risultati%20Worlds%202010.pdf * Mexicans Jorge and Alejandro Murrietta turned in a dominating performance at the Snipe North American Championships sailed off Ponce, Puerto Rico July 2-4. In winds that seldom fell below 14 knots, the brothers finished either first or second in each of the seven races they sailed and, with a 9 point lead over their nearest competitor Ernesto Rodriguez and Merry Hall of Miami, chose to sit out the final race. -- Results: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10098 * Seattle, WA (July 2, 2010) - The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB), the hands-on maritime museum and sailing activity center on South Lake Union and Cama Beach on Camano Island, has been selected “outstanding year round program” for 2009 by the United States Sailing Association (US Sailing) Community Sailing Council. CWB provides access to the water through free Sunday sails, youth and adult sailing lessons, boat making workshops, family boatbuilding, field trips for children and many other hands-on programs. More than 100,000 youth and adults participate in CWB programs each year. -- http://www.cwb.org/ * Professional skippers, owners and crew of the boats which made the planet their racetrack are invited to sail once again to a round the world race village. The destination will be Alicante, Spain on November 1-5, 2011 and the gathering will be the first ever official reunion of all who have ever sailed in the world’s premier ocean race since 1973. The Volvo Ocean Race Legends Regatta will slot between the Alicante In-Port Race and the Pro-Am Race the previous weekend and the start of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race leg one on Saturday November 5th. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/36h3zfu SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar FLY QUANTUM AROUND FRANCE Scott Nixon of Quantum Atlantic is sailing aboard Groovederci, the only American entry in the very difficult Tour de France a la Voile. Like the Tour de France for cycling, this stage race takes competitors around France. Follow along as Scott provides periodic updates on this grueling, ten-leg event that has both offshore and inshore racing. Read on here: http://tinyurl.com/36y6u77 LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Dobbs Davis: In regard to David Doody's comments in 'Butt 3125, just because IRC has had some strong marketing muscle in the last few years compared to other rating systems does not mean that "virtually everyone races under [IRC] both nationally and internationally." This is simply not true: over 8000 certificates were issued by ORC to boats racing in dozens of countries outside the US and the UK, more than any other measurement-based rating system. And for ORR-optimized boats he's obviously forgotten past Transpacs when the first-to-finish boats were jostling their set-ups to optimize their ratings to ORR-defined limits. And as to Michael Kostner's one word response in 'Butt 3126, the answer as to why events do not use IRC universally is not 'politics', but 'science.' Doody and Kostner have to realize that the CCA, Chicago YC, Transpac YC and others place some faith in science to try and fairly rate dissimilar boats across a range of conditions, not a single-number rule meant to apply for all boats in all conditions. * From David Shulman: (edited to the 250 word limit) Just read the Streuli article about Newport, RI (in Scuttlebutt 3126) and despite my residing on the Best (East) Coast, I cannot endorse another Am Cup contest in a venue where the racing will be invisible to all and the action onshore will, if follows the MANY past experiences, be just about inaccessible to the casual observer. Getting into sailing in the late 70's, I noted NO opportunity to view AC action, or see racing other than dinghies even from a great distance, or rub elbows with anything resembling a boat, crew, official, fan, or even someone who had been up close. Luckily that did not deter me, but the missed opportunities for engaging a person from the general public who might have been tempted to go sailing, and then get lessons, buy gear and a boat and join us were many. I sincerely pray that the next AC competition takes place in a venue where tens of thousands can see it live from shore, in steady and strong winds, and tactically challenging conditions. The opportunity to have shore based TV coverage and not have to depend upon expensive aircraft would be an added bonus. I pray even harder that the sport revives here in the good ol USA so that many more sailors join us, more sailing industry jobs develop and sustain here, and that a larger of people becomes committed to keeping our shores accessible to all and our waters clean, and free of towers and other such despoiling our views and enjoyment. * From Gregory Scott, Kingston, ONT: (re, Photos of the Week, SBUTT 3126) We all have seen times change and the dress code along with it. The weekend warrior in flowery jammers to the Hugo Boss swank. Tyvec suits and war paint to elegantly simple white shirts / blue shorts. I recall when Heatwave made the decision to "ramp it up" and the team dress code became part of the program. The all for one - one for all component came along with it. No longer a collection of sailors - we clearly were a team. Did the clothing make the men? No, but it helped define the team. Whether it is the team that ponies up for apparel or the owner, you will be a better unit on the water and on the docks. Remember the owner has given you a fantastic toy to go play with - show some appreciation. * From John Cole: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3126) Make sure that you get paid for Paul's advertisement of his company. I could smell the BS from miles away. I give him Kudo's for disclosure. Even though the EPA 'study' is more a guide to common sense that cost the taxpayer millions - there are many other products that can work as well as Zinc Oxide. The incomplete 'study' Paul quoted was probably lobbied for by companies like Paul's. That's how the EPA works. It's all about politics. In the 'study' - the table of approved chemicals the FDA rated (page 4) as high as Zinc Oxide were Avobenzone and Ecamsule. Eight others were rated as partial. In addition, they recommended titanium dioxide. If you do a proper search - Google can't handle a proper search, it's only a popular search - you can find lots of information on UVA protection. On a positive note - there was a race every day (some informal) in the month of June in PDX. I have a great wife and she let me sail in many of them (without her). We only three or so days over 70 degrees so I didn't need the sunscreen very much (lots of clouds). Seattle went 280 some days not over 75 degrees - a new recorded record (I bet they had them before we recorded). As full disclosure - I have no relations with EPA, FDA, waste disposal, sunscreen companies, search engines and probably not my wife if I keep racing so much. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Bill Gates is hanging out with the chairman of General Motors. "If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades," boasts Gates, "you would now be driving a V-32 instead of a V-8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour. Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50." "Sure," says the GM chairman. "But would you really want to drive a car that crashes four times a day?" Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized, Melges Performance Sailboats, and Quantum Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
