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SCUTTLEBUTT 1842 - May 19, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. CHANGING TIMES In today's digital age, it is difficult to comprehend how tough it was for those competing in the 1905 transatlantic race for The Kaiser's Cup. For the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge crews setting sail from New York this Saturday, May 21 2005, almost every aspect of life on board has gone through wholesale changes over the last 100 years. Yachts racing for the Kaiser's Cup were wetter than their present day counterparts, sailing a course so far north that several encountered icebergs. Following the same course a century on, crews in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge will find the greatest boon will be their modern foulweather gear. In 1905 crews endured hours on deck relying on woolen undergarments, oiled or waxed protective outers (hence the word 'oilskin'), rubber boots, felt hats and sou'westers to keep them warm and dry, but this gear was far from waterproof, and none of it would be warm if it got wet. Today's foulweather gear is truly waterproof with effective neck and wrist seals and taped seams to prevent water ingress through the stitching. The latest gear is made from material that is not only breathable to prevent build-up of condensation within the clothing but is often covered in a water repellant coating. Underlayers are now made of synthetic fabrics, and these not only don't absorb water, but actively direct moisture away from the body. The mobile communications age has also made its mark. Navigators in 1905 relied on a sextant in taking sun sights and from this could work out their position to within a few miles - assuming there was no cloud cover. While yachts still carry a sextant as a back-up, the Global Positioning System (GPS) today enables yachts to know the exact position of their yacht to metre accuracy via a $200 device that fits into the palm of one's hand. In 1905 there was a basic understanding of weather systems but, without the means of communicating it to yachts, weather forecasting tended to be carried out solely on the experience of the crew looking at cloud formations, sea state and barometric pressure - a falling glass meant bad weather ahead and would send the crew scurrying to set up oil bags on the bow (at the time it was widely believed that pumping oil out helped flatten the sea). While crews still today maintain a "weather eye," and the barometer is just as important as it ever was, today they tend to rely more on weather forecasts generated by purpose-built supercomputers. These are still a long way from being 100% accurate. For those on board being able to anticipate severe weather to some degree of reliability so they can take countermeasures, represents perhaps the greatest single improvement in safety since the Kaiser's Cup. - www.transatlanticchallenge.org CHANGING INDEED Old hands in the America's Cup like Australia and Great Britain have failed to challenge, and the Americans have just one entry. What is happening here? Firstly, the America's Cup is a much easier proposition for new teams and new countries than ever before. Relaxed nationality rules make it easier and less expensive to use experienced people, quickly getting a new team up to speed. Design information from previous teams can also be purchased, regardless of nationality, along with the old boats. The restriction now is simply that the hull of the boat raced in 2007 must be built in the country of the competitor. The new teams like South Africa's Team Shosholoza, China Team, Desafío Español, the Italian +39 and United Internet Team Germany are all beneficiaries of this. Further, the America's Cup is in Europe for the first time in its 154 year history. A new continent provides inspiration in the form of the cultural changes that are inevitable with such a dramatic move. The German team is a direct indication of this, as are the three Italian entries. However, none of that explains why the Australians and British are sitting this one out, and the Americans are represented by just one team, BMW Oracle Racing. Perhaps part of the reason can be seen in the quality of the teams entered. If the 32nd edition of the America's Cup is easier to enter than it has been in the past, it is also certainly as hard to win as at any time in its history. The Defender, Team Alinghi, looks certain to mount a ferocious defense. Leading challengers like BMW Oracle Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, and Luna Rossa, are each throwing massive resources in terms of time, money and personnel at their attempt to claim the Cup. This can be daunting for potential challengers. It may not matter much if this is your first challenge and you do not expect to win, but for potential American and Australian teams who have each held the America's Cup before, it may be the case that they see the job of capturing the Cup as simply being too big. These are countries where mounting a reasonable challenge is not enough - nothing short of winning is expected. The British situation is more difficult to fathom. Certainly there is no tradition of winning at the America's Cup comparable to the Americans or Australians. British sailors do however have a recent record of unparalleled success at the Olympics and, with Ellen AcArthur, at round-the-world sailing. The effect may be the same - they are not interested in challenging unless all of the conditions for winning are in place, and perhaps that was not the case with the potential challenge available. It is a shame however. The America's Cup rewards experience and continuity like few other events. - America's Cup website, full story: www.americascup.com/en/acmag/features/index.php?idIndex=0&idContent=1860 QUOTE / UNQUOTE "We want to create a team of champions that expresses a group ego and not individual egos. Truly the team spirit this time is one of unity". We don't have an inferiority complex! We are motivated to do well. And we like the idea of fleet racing. It's going to be fun and spectacular". I am expecting the new boats to be very similar and close in speed. In truth I don't think there is much to invent … I think the difference will be the sailors. And as for our determination to do well …we think there is a good chance that we will have a nice result." - Vincenzo Onorato, Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia America's Cup syndicate, www.mascalzonelatino.it/home/index.jsp SAN DIEGO YACHT CLUB WINS SIR THOMAS LIPTON CUP TROPHY! Congratulations to San Diego Yacht Club for dominating the eleven Yacht Club teams sent to compete for the prestigious Sir Thomas Lipton Cup trophy. In challenging conditions and tenacious competition, sail speed and performance are critical to top regatta results. San Diego Yacht Club, along with the defending team and many of the challenging teams, chose Ullman Sails. The top four teams flew Ullman Sails new "FiberPath" jib technology. When speed, performance, and reliability are paramount to your regatta results, only one choice is clear! For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet" with great service, contact Ullman Sails and visit http://www.ullmansails.com VOLVO OCEAN RACE The Ericsson Racing Team has today named Neal McDonald as skipper and Steve Hayles as navigator of Ericsson's entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. Neal McDonald is a veteran of four round-the-world races, finishing second as skipper in his last race, and has competed in both the America's Cup and the Admiral's Cup. McDonald has the experience and talent to skipper any boat competitively. He also has an engineering background. Steve Hayles, also a veteran of the Volvo Ocean Race, will join McDonald on the Ericsson Racing Team. Hayles has participated in the Volvo Ocean Race three times and was a navigator in the 2001-02 race. Dave Powys is taking on the important shore manager position. Powys has vast experience in boat management and sailed in the Whitbread Round the World Race maxi yachts Rothmans and Fortuna. Powys also took part in the America's Cup with Victory, Kookaburra and the Blue Arrow teams. - www.volvooceanrace.org/ RAISING THE BAR - Steve Hayles "The standard of the crew (for the Volvo Ocean Race) has been getting better and better since I started doing round the world races, in 1993. For example the strong powerful guy in the middle of the boat who does pit and mast has to be a world-class sailor. He is not just a weightlifter, he needs to have an understanding of how the trimming is going and he needs to be tactically aware of what we are trying to do. All the crew need to be able to know what is happening. Sometimes we will be able to hold back and regain our strength and at other times a day or an hour of total commitment is crucial, a time when you can win or lose a leg. "Choosing the best crew is about the right blend, the right mix. You have got to have guys who can handle things when it's blowing 40 knots in the Southern Ocean and when the boat breaks, guys who can fix things. You have to have a massive range of skills covered. There needs to be a fluid arrangement, a good understanding from everybody on board of what we are trying to achieve." - From an interview of Steve Hayles - Ericsson's British navigator - posted on the Bang the Corner website. Full interview: www.bangthecorner.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10314 ON THE BRINK There has been a lot of activity this week in the latest Scuttlebutt contest - 20,000 email subscribers by the 20th. Thanks to those that have assisted in recruiting new subscribers, as we are now on the brink of 20k, with just a little farther to go before the deadline this Friday for everyone to win. Learn about the special offers available from West Marine, Harken, Team One Newport, and Hall Spars & Rigging, or how to send subscription info to your friends, at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/contest/20000 GERMANY'S AMERICA'S CUP SKIPPER Germany has its first ever America's Cup campaign and the skipper is a Dane. Jesper Bank will head United Internet Team Germany into the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. And he is not shy in explaining his goals. "After my first Cup with the Victory Challenge I would like to improve the result we achieved in 2003. This time round I want to reach the semi finals," says Bank of his team's fifth-place finish in Louis Vuitton Cup 2003. Accordingly, the 48-year-old former Soling helmsman celebrated his comeback to the Swedish Match Tour in Langenargen, Germany, to refresh his match-racing skills at Match Race Germany. Almost one year after his last Tour appearance in Sweden Bank impressed everyone, including himself, with a marvelous performance, finishing runner-up to Peter Gilmour. The big Dane was back. The way Bank won his two Olympic Gold Medals in 1992 and 2000 tells a lot about the sailor from Åbenrå, a small village close to the border between Denmark and Germany. On the road to the Barcelona Games one of his crew got a stomach infection which had to be treated with hormones. Bank's appeal to the IOC in Lausanne to still be accepted as an Olympic starter despite the fact the medicine was on the official doping list was only answered a few days before the first warning gun. Making matters worse, Bank broke his knee three weeks prior to the Barcelona Olympics. His long-time rival and colleague, Jochen Schümann, drove him home to Denmark where Bank underwent surgery. "After we went through all this," Bank says, "we thought life couldn't get worse. Suddenly we had an entirely new focus. Nothing mattered any more. Some competitors, well..." Well, the accident put a lot of things in perspective for Bank. Sailing loose and free, he won his first gold medal. Eight years later at the 2000 Games in Sydney, he won his second with a victory over Schümann. - Excerpt from a story on the Swedish Match Race website by Tatjana Pokorny. Full story: www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=18812 NEWS BRIEFS * At 3:45AM Wednesday morning the Charleston crew aboard Midnight Rider sailed across the Charleston to Bermuda finish line at St. David's Lighthouse. This Santa Cruz 70 - a new boat for husband and wife team Hank Hofford and Susan Ford - assembled their 15 person crew over the last two months. With elapsed time for the race is 3 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes and 0 seconds, their greatest threat is Crescendo, a Swan 44 sailed by Australian James Wilmot, which will likely finish Thursday. - www.charlestontobermuda.com * On Thursday 5 May the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) unveiled plans for the opening of the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour in Kingston. At a special fund raising dinner at Toronto's Sutton Place Hotel, Paul Henderson (CAN), ISAF President from 1994-2004, was named the first inductee to the Hall of Fame at a sold-out event attended by His Majesty King Constantine. - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j62Fhy?7? RIG TECHNOLOGY FEATURES IN THE TRANSATLANTIC CHALLENGE The battle between Mari Cha IV and Maximus will be keenly watched. Although they are quite different in size and concept, both yachts utilize leading edge technology with innovative carbon rigs by Southern Spars. For Maximus, this meant producing the first rotating wing mast on a maxi and for Mari Cha IV, a powerful but manageable schooner rig. Both yachts utilize Southern Spars' revolutionary Strop Lock, an external halyard lock that handles the extreme loads generated by gennakers and code zeros. Six of the twenty-one entries are powered by Southern Spars rigs. For more Information, see http://www.southernspars.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 Liza Baldwin (re Newport RI): In the last year we have had Ellen MacArthur single-handed her precious B&Q into Newport for the first landfall on her maiden journey up from New Zealand to wait for a weather chance to strike the Atlantic for the speed record. She then navigated the world in a single handed record of extraordinary and global acclaim. Orange II under the proficient rule of Bruno Peyron tucked into Newport to ready herself for her first record attempt across the Atlantic before sailing around the world in an unbelievable 50 days+. Just now Newport hosted the most extraordinary fleet of length, height and speed as the newest , most diverse and highest tech vessels in the world prepared to race the 100th anniversary across the Atlantic - the spars laying "side by each" on the hard at Newport Shipyard alone offered a PhD in rigging. Newport crosses bounds that laud the hindsight of a genius and offer the plea of a realist. We must not let Newport harbor become history to be applauded in clever toasts. I beg the entire sailing community worldwide to join with Mr. Lynch to call for the preservation of such a universal place in the sailing world. We are all Newporters. * From Jerry Goodin (RE: LNG tankers passing Newport): The tankers can time their passage through N-Bay at night or all during the winter. Sailboaters need not be concerned as many of the boaters only use the bay during the summer months, evenings and weekends. There is little or no traffic after sunset. Please don't add to people's panic. * From Sean McNeill, Swedish Match Tour (In response to Roy Joyson's comments about Match Race Germany): Trying to plan all regattas around the best weather conditions still wouldn't ensure strong winds. A few years ago the PGA Tour event at Pebble Beach was completely rained out, but no one called for it to be moved elsewhere. The competitors at Match Race Germany had to contend with light winds at times, but they knew that when they entered. The quarterfinal round robin was sailed in fair conditions. The final was sailed in winds around 10 knots, which were completely fair. The crews were hiking and there was noticeable pace among the boats. And when the wind is stronger, the venue is superb. Just see the photos from the first day of this year's event. Match Race Germany is one of the best events on the Swedish Match Tour. Organizers Eberhard Magg and Harald Thierer, and PRO Rudi Magg do a fantastic job. They create a regatta village replete with food tent, bands, and vendor and information booths. At the end of each day the skippers participate in a public press conference. This year Eberhard Magg said he estimates 30,000 people attended the final four days of the event. The sailors know that the wind could be light when they enter, yet they still enter. It's a fact of racing that we all live with. As Ed Baird said at the final press conference: "I'd like to congratulate Rudi Magg and the race committee. They used every bit of wind they had and did a terrific job." * From Craig Fletcher: We recently had an ID48 rated for Americap. This was a full measurement, haul out etc., costing thousands of dollars. US Sailing then without permission used (stole) our data to rate another 48. The other 48 had an in water measurement, but did not want the cost of hauling or out of water measurement, so the shared (stolen) data was used for the out of water portion. The other 48's float showed it to be over 1500lbs lighter than our 48. Americap claims to be a "Scientific Rule", yet they are giving it a rating with no knowledge of its underwater shape (keel shaved 1500lbs). They simply hope our data to be the same as the other boat. I feel US Sailing has shown complete disregard for the owners, their money and shown yet another example of a rating rule no more scientific than PHRF. * From Bill Oakley, Southampton, England (Re Harold Hoffman IRC comments): Right on Harold, chuck some more tea in the harbour. How can all those thousands of yachties around the world be enjoying racing under a system not invented in the US of A? * From Mark Eustis (Re IRC measurement costs.): If spending a few hundred bucks to get certified were a source of complaint, I'm not sure yacht racing would be my first choice of hobbies. In context, an IRC certificate seems small beer compared to the real costs of a serious program. You pays your moneys and you takes your choices … but spending nothing on a less equitable rating seems a more questionable use of capital. * From Chris Berger: Mr. Johnstone's comments are the type that really chap my hide. And it is not about PHRF or IRC, but his gross misconception of a vast number of owners. Let's get this straight. I would venture to say that a majority of the boats on your average weekend line are not owned by rich fat cats, but by regular working stiffs that happen to have a love for the sport, not huge bank accounts. We drink cheap beer, make our own ham sandwiches for the crew, and save our milk money so we can do this. We are often lucky enough to have a crew of friends who are not above bringing a block of ice or a bag of chips for the ride, not a bunch of hanger ons looking for an owner to pick up the tab for dinner and drinks. It is this stereotype of rich boat owners that taints the image of our sport in the eyes of the non-sailing public. It is for this reason that mooring and storage fees go up every year. Those rich boat owners can afford it right? We will "buck up" when need be, but we are mindful of where and how we do it, and this is why you are hearing complaints about IRC. Look at it this way, do you think people would just shrug their shoulders and, "buck up" if every car over 20 K was required to have a thousand dollar smog check? * From Jan Visser: With Mr. Joyson's recent comments on venues and the results of the High School Sailing events these past few days just about ready to offer themselves up for all to see it looks like the youngsters from California have done it again. Training/ practice is where it all comes from, that is a given. The Sailing Foundation in concert with the Columbia Gorge Racing Association has produced WIND. A clinic for youth ages 13 - 19 at The Gorge at Cascade Locks, OR. July 28 thru 31, 2005. Guess who the first sign ups were? California based youth.- www.windyouthclinic.com CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The world does not pay for what a person knows. It pays for what a person does with what he knows. |
