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SCUTTLEBUTT 1555 - April 6, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. SHATTERING THE RECORD American Steve Fossett and his multinational 12-man crew have become the first sailors to circumnavigate the globe in less than 60 days, beating the previous record by almost six days. Take a bow: Steve Fossett shaved five days off the previous record The third round-the-world record to tumble since February was achieved by his 125ft catamaran, Cheyenne, yesterday when it became the fastest sailing vessel to circle the planet. Cheyenne was timed at the Le Stiff lighthouse on Ushant, north-west France, at 14.43 GMT yesterday, exactly 58 days 9 hr 32 min 45 sec after setting off from there on Feb 9. This slashes 5 days 23 hr 4 min off the 2002 record set by Bruno Peyron's Orange for the swiftest dash around the world. "I don't think you will see the record reduced by the same margins with the current generation of boats," said Cheyenne's co-designer, Gino Morrelli. "It will take new concepts, perfect weather and a high degree of reliability to reduce this record." On Day 16 Cheyenne was a hair's breadth from dismasting with forestay failure. On Day 36 the mast track pulled out, and on 52, across the equator, the front cross beam fastening again threatened to send the mast tumbling. Each time the crew improvised repairs in the toughest of conditions. "This is simply the most important record in sailing and why Cheyenne was built," Fossett, the Chicago securities trader, added. "Despite all the world and race records set since 1993, my career in sailing would not be complete without this." - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/yv8x9 QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Steve Fossett "When we started out I thought the chance was 50/50 that we would get around. Then I wondered that the boat might not be fast enough. ¦The past 24 hours were slow at first, but improving winds became very strong by the time we crossed the line with 2 reefs and staysail it was very dramatic we had our hands full - around this island the tides were whirling. Everyone is just so happy we are all emotionally drained. It's quite a celebration. Everybody on this crew is absolutely delighted; this is a satisfying moment for all of us." QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Bruno Peyron I congratulate all the crew of Cheyenne on their sporting achievement having sailed around the world. I can see that this boat has clearly once again shown her great potential, adding again today to an impressive number of ocean racing records. All the crew of Orange join with me to express our sincere admiration of the talent, courage and determination that such an exploit entails. I regret that this new record circumnavigation time was not placed within the reference of the Jules Verne Trophy. It is a pity that individualism and various personal concerns lead to situations that are harmful to the public interest and lead to a certain amount of confusion for the general public. As for the purely sporting element, we know full well that a record is made to be beaten and that our giant cat Orange II has got what it takes and certainly has once again the full potential to pick up the gauntlet. We are ready and are definitely not the sort of people to give in that easily." - Bruno Peyron, two-time holder of the Jules Verne Trophy, (1993 aboard Commodore Explorer in 79 days, then in May 2002 aboard Orange I in 64 days). QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Sir Robin Knox-Johnston Steve Fossett and his crew are to be congratulated on a fantastic achievement. To take 6 days out of an already very fast record time is a phenomenal achievement. It cannot be said that they were lucky all the way round with the weather, but they weren't, they have had to cope with some bad days as well. 312 days 35 years ago, under 80 days 11 years ago, and now just over 58 days, shows the incredible development in wind powered boats in a very short space of time. What next? To reduce this record now with the boats we have will require greater luck with the weather conditions all the way around the world, and a crew as tough, competent, capable and dedicated as Cheyenne's. See the photos taken by Thierry Martinez as Cheyenne crossed the finish line: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/0405cheyenne/ TECHNOLOGY AND COMFORT The key to enhance your sailing enjoyment is the right gear; check out the Camet web site for new ideas. The Camet Sailing Pants are as comfortable and practical as the Padded shorts, and have the reinforced Cordura® seat pad for the foam pads. The Camet line of Neoprene Hiking pants have new reinforced pads and battens; combine these with the Bubble Top which creates and maintains a comfortable microclimate close to your skin surface. CoolMax® Shirts, RashGuards, Mylar bags, etc. All these make all the difference for your sailing comfort. http://www.camet.com MEANWHILE - APPROACHING CAPE HORN The Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran is now tacking towards the Drake Strait trying to keep as far south as possible before taking the great leap northwards. In temperatures just above freezing, she is sailing close-hauled at very nearly 60°South. "Tacking to reach the Horn ..., it's like a bad dream. It's no good, there's no sense to it. It's no longer competition. It'll all end in us taking another beating, under three reefs and the storm jib. The reality is that being anywhere is better than being on Geronimo today!", said Olivier de Kersauson this morning. The wind is forecast to back southerly, then south-westerly from tomorrow evening or Wednesday morning, enabling Geronimo to race north as fast as possible. Geronimo covered 385 nautical miles in the last 24 hours at an average speed of 16.05 knots. - http://www.trimaran-geronimo.com THE ROAD TO THE AMERICA'S CUP Michel Bonnefous, the CEO of AC Management, and Rita Barberá, the Mayor of Valencia, welcomed representatives from 18 America's Cup teams to the Spanish city on Monday. Representatives from the Defender of the America's Cup, Team Alinghi; the Challenger of Record, the Oracle BMW Racing Team; and the Clan Des Team, the newest Italian challenger, along with delegates from 15 other potential teams are in Valencia this week for three days of meetings, hosted by AC Management, the organizer of the 32nd America's Cup. On Monday, the delegates took a detailed tour of the Port of Valencia, to learn full details of the plans to transform the inner Port into a home base for this premiere sporting event. The agenda for Tuesday and Wednesday will occupy the Teams with closed-door, working meetings on a variety of topics relating to the sport, marketing, and logistical aspects of the 32nd America's Cup. The Team Meetings conclude on Wednesday, 7th April, with a 17:30 Press Conference at the Palacio de Congresos in Valencia. - Marcus Hutchinson, www.americascup.com * On Thursday, April 8, the OzBoyz Challenge - Australian Syndicate for the 2007 America's Cup - will announce a sailing team and a skipper. According to the media advisory, the OzBoyz Challenge skipper is in the category of 'Talented Young Helmsman'. Fitting perfectly with the OzBoyz project model, he is one of the faces in Australia's yachting future," said OzBoyz Challenge spokesperson Phil Edmiston. ALL AROUND THE WORLD ... DRYSHIRT™ The Dryshirt™ has gone international! Corporate Armour U.K. (supplier to Cowes Race Week) is making this revolutionary product available to retailers, teams and organizations throughout the U.K. and Europe. The Dryshirt™ is fast becoming standard gear on many of today's most modern racing machines. With an SPF factor of 50, the Dryshirt™ keeps you up to 2 ½ times better protected against harmful UV than a wet tee shirt or a rash guard. No more soggy shirts or clingy rash guards. US distribution: 1-800-354-7245, http://www.sailingproshop.com/dryshirt.htm U.K. distribution: http://www.corporatearmour.co.uk Authorized dealers also include http://www.murrays.com NEWS BRIEFS * 132 boats representing 15 countries competed in the 33rd annual BVI Spring Regatta presented by Nanny Cay Marina and held April 2-4. Sixty boats entered the second annual BVI Sailing Festival, the low-pressure, three-day warm up for the regatta. During what became a two-day regatta, the race committee squeezed in seven races for the Cooper Area participants, four races for the Norman Area racers, 11 for the beach cats and 12 for the IC-24s. Until they eventually died for the last day, winds hovered around the 8-12 knot range for the regatta. Complete results and pictures: http://www.bvispringregatta.org/ * ISAF launched a microsite dedicated to delivering all the latest information about the Paralympic Sailing Competition. Sailing first took place at the Paralympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1996 before becoming a full medal sport in 2000. Once again the 2004 Paralympic Games will focus on the athlete and not the disability. The site will be regularly updated as more information is made available and contains links to external websites such as the International Paralympic Committee and the IFDS webpages. http://www.sailing.org/sc.asp?id=Paralympics_2004 * The Nautor's Swan Website address has changed. Log on to find out about Nautor's new model range and learn about ClubSwan and the calendar of events. The new address is: http://www.nautorswan.com/ * The Annapolis Yacht Club Foundation is requesting applications for its spring grant-making session. The AYC Foundation and its donors are committed to supporting the development of sailing and maritime activities. Applications are being accepted in two areas: amateur Annapolis-area sailors seeking support for participation in or development toward national and international racing competition and organizations registered under section 501(C)(3) in the mid-Chesapeake Bay area involved in maritime-related charitable and educational activities. - Molly Hughes Wilmer, molly@toad.net COMING ATTRACTIONS Oracle BMW Racing's helmsman Gavin Brady and Peter Gilmour, the runaway leader of the Swedish Match Tour Rankings, headline a competitive field of 10 skippers who have accepted invitations to compete at the 40th annual Congressional Cup, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, April 19-24. With a prize purse of $25,000 up for grabs at the Congressional Cup, and $6,000 slated for the winner, there are two Americans with the credentials to be considered a favorite. Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is the reigning World Match Racing Champion, and Terry Hutchinson (Annapolis, Md.) won the Congressional Cup in 1992. The field also includes veteran match-racers Kelvin Harrap (NZL), an afterguard member with the OneWorld Challenge in Louis Vuitton Cup 2003, former Alinghi team member Allan Coutts (NZL), Long Beach Yacht Club local Scott Dickson (Long Beach, Calif.), Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Mattias Rahm (DEN) and former Team New Zealand sailor Cameron Appleton (NZL). - Sean McNeill, - www.SwedishMatchTour.com OLYMPICS Yachting New Zealand may find itself about $100,000 out of pocket after its appearance before the Sports Disputes Tribunal and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Chief executive Simon Wickham said the tribunal process and decision had cost Yachting NZ $50,000 in legal fees. The final cost of the arbitration court appeal had still to be worked out, but he estimated it would also be about $50,000. "That doesn't account for any of the time involved by the staff," Wickham said. "The selectors have taken numerous hours out of their personal lives, at a personal cost, to prove themselves right." Most disappointing was the cost incurred by the sailors originally nominated, he said. "For example, Hamish Pepper had to get himself up to Europe at very short notice. Because he is not an appellant - he was an interested party - they don't have the ability to seek costs." The court had yet to rule on the matter of costs. - Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/22e7o * Yachting Australia nominated eighteen athletes to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) for selection into the 2004 Australian Olympic Team. The nominated athletes are: - Single-Handed Dinghy Men: Anthony Nossiter - Double-Handed Dinghy Men: Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page - Single-Handed Dinghy Men: Michael Blackburn - Windsurfer Men: Lars Kleppich - Keelboat Men: Colin Beashel and David Giles - Single-Handed Dinghy Women: Sarah Blanck - Double-Handed Dinghy Women: Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell - Keelboat Women: Nicky Bethwaite, Karyn Gojnich, Kristen Kosmala - Windsurfer Women: Jessica Crisp - Double-Handed Dinghy Open: Chris Nicholson and Gary Boyd - Multihull Open: Darren Bundock and John Forbes www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=6752 MAN OVERBOARD! SeaMarshall rescue beacons and receivers are proven safety systems already in use on many world-class racers. Automatically sounding the alarm, it can DF a victim within 15 seconds of falling overboard. The water-activated miniature transmitter has a patented electroluminescent lanyard-antenna that greatly enhances nighttime contact. Chip Barber at admin@chbarber.com, http://www.seamarshall-us.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From J. Joseph Bainton: Handicapping Sailors Performance -- More than 10 and less than 20 years ago the "Cox/Sprague" scoring system was adopted to address issues of relative performance. This system scored each regatta twice. First, conventionally so that the person with the lowest score won. The second system took account of relative performance over time; awarded trophies based upon historic relative performance and thereby encouraged participation by the less skilled. Someone who recalls more of the specifics about Cox/Sprague (or some other similar system) should chime in, but the point is that "handicapping" sailors is topic that our sport has already addressed with some success. * From Chuck Sherfey: In 'Butt 1553 Alan Blair asks, "Is anyone aware of another team (like baseball or football) sport that uses competitor handicapping?" I believe both these sports (on the professional level in North America) use competitor handicapping -- not by a sailboat type handicap adjustment but by limiting the overall skill level of teams. The NFL has the purest form of competitor handicapping. Players skills determine their compensation. The league establishes a salary (compensation) cap which teams may not exceed. Teams with too many skilled players are unable to pay all of them at market rates and, thus, lose them to other teams through trades, free agency or just cutting them from the roster. The objective is to improve the competitive balance in the NFL. The system seems to work. MLB's system is similar but allows a wealthy team to buy back its skilled players by paying a luxury tax. Also, the NCAA's college football (and other sports) scholarship limitations are also a form of competitor handicapping. * From James Stevralia: I think the crew handicap idea could have really interesting results. It would seem that crew rating would have to be adjusted depending on assigned position. For instance, would Russell Coutts or Paul Cayad be as valuable as a bowman or mastman as they are as skipper? How about the type of boat. ie, put DC on an Etchells then on an IC. It would also be interesting to see (certainly a made for TV event) the tryouts where the handicaps are assigned. With that said, a variety of handicap schemes seem to be the way of giving sailors the most options, so long as we can respect the volunteers who are charged with administering them. Of course strict one design works too, so long as all agree that the better sailors deserve to win! Dr. McCoy's comments really hit home, having hung on a Melges 24 lifeline for several years. The one advantage we found is there was never a need to pressure any crew to wear life jackets! It was the best way to distribute the pain. * From Jesse Deupree (edited to our 250-word limit): Dr. Joe McCoy's analysis of "lifeline assisted hiking" recognizes the medical problems created by using lower lifelines as hiking aids, but the real issue is safety. It remains one of the absurdities of "offshore" racing that we allow a clearly unsafe practice and even specify just how slack lower lifelines can be to further this style of hiking that completely defeats the safety purpose of having lifelines in the first place. A look at photos from any regatta will also make obvious the fact that regulations on how slack the lower lifeline can be are routinely ignored, increasing the risk and damage. Dr. McCoy is far too generous when he suggests that athleticism or fitness is associated with this practice- pain tolerance is all that is really rewarded. Let me see if I've got this straight. By setting a generous weight or crew number limit we allow a dangerous and painful activity for more people in the name of "sport'? As well this practice increases the cost of participation in any regatta not near our homes when we carry more crew than can sleep on our boats. Why not simply set a reasonable limit of crew needed for boat handling, which will increase the athleticism and fitness necessary for success, and bring this crew inside both lifelines to provide the safety intended. If someone wants to sail with extra crew, simply rate their weight accordingly. * From Nick Ryley: Dr Joe Mcoy raises a very important area of concern. In general non-dinghy sailing is a very benign sport in terms of damage to the body except where it comes to backs. Yacht designers would be praised for taking this on board rather than leaving it to the inevitable court case. In addition the rule makers could also have a hand in improving the situation. Disposable income would feed back into sailing rather than Physios, Osteos, Chiros and the like. * Jack D. Tallman (Regarding comments by Michael H. Koster and Jim Marta): The intrusion of politics, difficulty of measuring, impossibility of maintaining, and composite ratings for the weekly crew; reasonably rating sailors does not seem achievable. I've raced IOR; very scientific. The rule created a formula that the designers would beat by designing a boat that would sail faster than it's rating. My first boat was an IOR boat; with sailing qualities that left something to be desired. It was awkward down-wind. Also, IOR had a habit of changing the rule so us modest budget guys soon got left behind. My experience sailing PHRF was one of either frustration or elation. It had less to do with my skill than with the wind. Mainly it was those darned semi-planning J boats. I'd like to amplify Mr. Marta's suggestion. My proposal is for three "classes" of monohulls - fully displaced, semi displaced and planning/sport. This approach could be extended to its illogical extreme but to stay somewhat reasonable - just three classes. This should provide a reasonable grouping of like design concepts to give one a sense of having a chance to compete under all the wind conditions. With respect to Mr. Koster, PHRF gives the clubs a means of comparing boats as a basis to constructing classes. I think PHRF does have the responsibility to provide the three tier rating system; the clubs for using it. THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over? |
