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SCUTTLEBUTT 1764 - January 28, 2005Powered 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. GUEST EDITORIAL There has been and& I suspect will continue to be much discussion on the structural standards that modern racing yachts are designed and built to. May I add the following considerations with respect to maxi yachts and specifically the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: 1. There will always be breakages when pushing the design boundary - that's all part of the learning process! 2. Due to the comparatively shallow depth of Bass Strait, the seas are tall, have a short wave length with steep backs - all bad for any yacht greater than 50-60 feet in length. 3. Sailors have egos which can be spurred on by lucrative sponsorship deals, sometimes to the extent where sound seamanship can be forgotten. Ludde Ingvall applied sound seamanship and slowed down his brand new 90' maxi 'Nicorette', when she encountered the rough conditions. Nicorette made it to Hobart & won Line honours. 4. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is a real test, both to man & machine. Even if your yacht is specifically designed to tackle the conditions (ie VOLVO 60's), you need to know when to back off. Knowing when & how to is all part of seamanship! To be able to win, you must first finish. Full marks to Ludde Ingvall for slowing down and to the crew of much smaller yachts who made the decision to shelter in Eden and wait for the worst of the weather to pass before heading across Bass Strait. 5. Finally, I wonder to what extent the media is to blame for only recognizing who crossed the finish line first and not who sailed their yacht the best to win on handicap? The CYCA continue to place very strict safety requirements both on the participants and on the yachts. At the end of the day, it's up to the crew of each yacht to ensure that they and their yacht are capable of dealing with the unforgiving conditions of Bass Strait. Look after your yacht & crew and they will look after you! Before blaming the yacht designer, builder or equipment supplier for gear failure, we need to be honest with ourselves and assess whether we pushed too hard! In today's world, we are all too eager to shift the blame to someone else, when (and it may be a bitter pill to take), actually the blame lies with us! - Rob Saunders TESTING The Hauraki Gulf was reacquainted with America's Cup racing when NZL81 took on German stable mate NZL68 in the first of Team New Zealand's in-house races. The racing gives the crews a chance to brush up on their skills before the first of this year's pre-regattas in June but its main purpose is to gauge the boats' performance. "We are testing hulls, bulbs, keels, rudders, rigs, big ticket items, before we start to fine down, which won't really happen till next year," said managing director Grant Dalton. "We are still testing the hull shape of the German boat [NZL68] against the hull shape of NZL81. They are similar boats in some ways but you get nothing for nothing. Which is quite good because now we have checked in there and we can start switching bulb, rudders and so on." Team New Zealand's summer training began last month when they launched the former illbruck boat, now NZL68, which is a similar shape to the Alinghi and Oracle boats. - Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10008065 STERN SCOOP The America's Cup challengers are meeting far, far away from Valencia next week. Challenger of Record Golden Gate Yacht Club will host two days of meetings February 1-2 with prospective challenger Sausalito YC hosting a reception one evening. The agenda is said to be long and involved, with the challenger selection series format and scoring the main issue, including how the pre-regatta results will figure in. The team representatives debating the issues are not exactly what you would call wallflowers: George Clyde (K-Challenge), John Cutler (El Reto Spanish Challenger), Jim Farmer (Emirates Team NZ) ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi (Luna Rossa), Russell Green (BMW Oracle), ex-ISAF President Paul Henderson (+39), Salvatore Sarno (Shosholoza), and Tom Ehman who serves as the Challenger Commission chairman. Oh to be a fly on that wall. KEY WEST PODIUM FINISHES FOR OCKAM Another great Key West Race Week for Ockam clients. Congratulations goes out to the crews of Chris and Cara Busch's 1D35 Wild Thing and Andrzej Rojek's Swan 45 Better Than for winning their respective classes. Also to the crews of Craig Speck's Swan 45 Vim and Tom Hill's R/P 75 Titan 12 for their 2nd place finishes, and Michael Brennan's TP52 Sjambok placing 3rd in class. What do these winning yachts have in common? Ockam Instruments' superior Tryad processing and Matryx display technology for that distinct competitive advantage. Ockam. We have solutions for everyone. Contact mailto:lat@ockam.com MORE LIGHT AIR In the Star class at the Rolex Miami OCR, Andrew Horton (Newport, R.I.) and Brad Nichol (Hanover, N.H.) had a "worst and first" today. They posted an OCS for starting early in the first race and not turning back, then followed it up with victory in the second race. Horton and Nichol still lead the 40-boat fleet but must watch again for those who have stacked up under them, this time on the scoreboard. Olympic Gold Medallist Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.) and crew Phil Trinter (Port Washington, N.Y.) have risen from sixth yesterday to second overall, nine points behind the leaders. The next three finishers are tied in points, only three points behind Reynolds and Trinter. 49er leaders Morgan and Pete Spaulding finished second in each of their two races today, while Dalton Bergan and Zack Maxam claimed double victories. "It could've been worse," said Spaulding. "Dalton had very good starts and they are fast in light air; our speed was okay, but we just didn't get off the line quite as fast as we wanted." Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) reclaimed her lead today after winning the first of today,s two races in the Yngling class and finishing fifth in the second. Only two points stand between her and yesterday,s leader Carol Cronin. The Tornado class, which did not sail for a second consecutive day, should get a boost with the heavier breezes expected tomorrow. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas), the USA,s 2004 Olympic Silver Medallists in this class, are the current leaders. The Rolex Miami OCR is the only qualifying event used for determining US Sailing Team members in the 470 (Men and Women), 49er, Tornado and Yngling classes. - Media Pro Int'l For more information, including the latest results and photos: www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR Video can be viewed after 9 p.m. EST each night: www.t2p.tv YET ANOTHER RECORD Back into the Northern Hemisphere! B&Q crossed the Equator at 2145 GMT Thursday, setting a new solo time of 60 days, 13 hours and 35 mins. This peels 1 day, 10 hours and 50 mins off the previous fastest solo time set by Joyon of 62 days, 0 hours and 25 mins. The 'ahead' calculation is greater because Ellen is effectively closer to the finish than Joyon because she has crossed the Equator a few degrees further east. Right now, Ellen is weaving in out and off the cloud formations, hunting down the wind, for the moment, keeping boatspeed at between 12 and 15 knots with only 100 miles from the latitude where the forecasts say she'll be clear of the doldrums. But 100 miles if you are swallowed by the windless zone can cost you days. After two days of good sailing conditions, Ellen MacArthur's B&Q holds a 38 hour (420 miles) lead over the solo round the world record pace set by Francis Joyon. - www.teamellen.com NEW RECORD LOOMING Aboard the leading trio of boats in the Vendee Globe no one yet has had time or the inclination to openly consider the prospect of a new solo record for the Vendee Globe course, but as PRB leads Bonduelle and Ecover into the final finishing stretch there seems the real prospect of the 2001 record set by Michael Desjoyeaux, at 93days 3 hours 57 minutes, tumbling by as much as six days. Nick Moloney's 'Skandia' is now safely in Rio de Janeiro. After casting off the tow lines from the Brazilian Navy vessel that had assisted Moloney in the final part of the operation, he made his own way under engine in to the marina. On entering the port he was met by a small organized team to assist him with the final operation - which included round the world sailor Guillermo Altadil, Mini-Transat sailor Yves Niort and Brazilian based Kiwi Don 'Jawsie' Wright. A welcome to Rio beer and steak brought Moloney's feet back to earth! This concluded, albeit prematurely, Moloney's first attempt at the Vendée Globe after 80 days of racing in what is surely the toughest and most unforgiving sailing event. Leaders at 1900 GMT January 27: 1. PRB, Vincent Riou, 1272 miles to finish 2. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 157 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 233 mtl 4. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 1144 mtl 5. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 1174 mtl Complete standings of the 13 boats still racing: www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar POLITICAL FRICTION Valencia Mayoress Rita Barbera had some very harsh words for the Socialist Government after her meeting with Public Administrations Minister Jordi Sevilla - who himself was born in Valencia. Such terms as 'unsatisfactory' and 'highly disappointing' were what the Mayoress used to describe her meeting with Mr Sevilla and Soledad Abad from the Finance Ministry. She stated that whilst she went into the meeting with an enormous amount of hope, the fact that her petition for 240 million Euros to carry out the embellishment of Valencia was turned down was "a tremendous error on the part of the Socialist Government towards the Valencian Community and to the Valencians, and now it will be up to me to tell the citizens of Valencia what the real attitude of the Madrid Government is towards them. It is not that they have said no to me, they have said no to all the citizens of Valencia over a plan that was elaborated with the cooperation and understanding of the people of the City." She went on that the offer of a credit of 50 million Euros instead of the 240 demanded was very negative indeed, 'as the Americas Cup is not something organised by the Government nor the Socialist Party, and there is another mistake as the Cup is a project for Spain'. Mrs Barbera also handed out to the journalists present at her press conference, copies of the Socialist paper 'Another form of living, another form of governing' that formed part of the Socialist meeting that took place in San Sebastian on January 15 as she stated: "You don't have to look very carefully to discover that there is not one word about Valencia or the Americas Cup, which makes it more than plain that the Socialists want to have no part in this whatsoever. Valencia and the Valencians deserve much better treatment from this government, who when it really comes down to it have not put One Euro on the table for the Americas Cup, and only allowed indebtedness to increase. I really fear that the Valencians and the Community as a whole will not be able to count on much support from the current Socialist Government." Despite all this, Mrs Barbera stated that she was still optimistic, and told the Valencians 'not to worry, everything will eventually be alright for the Cup', and added that working hand in hand with the Valencian Government, she was now actively seeking alternative means of financing this most important event. - www.valencialife.net THE NEW MELGES 32 IS BOAT OF THE WEEK The all new Melges 32 won their division during Key West Race Week and also won PHRF Boat of the Week. The Melges 32 was a show stopper on the docks of Key West as the public and media flocked to get a look at this new supersonic racer. The public's next viewing of this craft will be at Chicago's Strictly Sail Show, February 3-6. The hottest one-design on the planet right now, the Melges 24, won Overall Boat of the Week. Race to see the latest information at http://www.melges.com NEWS BRIEFS As Bruno Peyron and the Orange II weather team expected, passing through the Canaries proved to be difficult. The maxi catamaran was slowed down considerably on her way out of the archipelago between 02:30 and 06:00 GMT Thursday morning. However, since then, the speed has picked up to 20-26 knots knots. Based on information on the website, after three days at sea, Orange II is 447 miles ahead of Steve Fossett's RTW record . - www.maxicatamaran-orange.com/ * US Sailing, working in relation to the Royal Ocean Racing Club, is offering IRC Ratings in the U.S. IRC is capable of applying a rating to any mono-hull yacht. In doing so, it respects such features as asymmetric spinnakers, carbon masts, canting keels, and water ballast. For more information and to obtain your IRC rating for the U.S: www.ussailing.org/offshore/irc * Serge Jorgensen (USA) has been appointed as the Chair of the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing. Retiring after many years of dedicated service Ian Harrison (GBR) will remain as a member of the IFDS Executive Board. - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1vFht,kw * The Pacific Cup Yacht Club reversed a 25-year policy this week by inviting multihulls to participate in the 2006 West Marine Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii. One of the undecided issues is the minimum length. Proposals range from 36 to 46 feet minimum length on deck, but a number in the low 40s appears to be the most likely. ut the exact formula was also left for later determination. Multihull entries will also be required to comply with all applicable ISAF Special Regulations, Category 1, for safety equipment and seaworthiness features. - www.PacificCup.org * The most recent Swedish Match Tour television programs are available to view at the Tour's broadband website. The programs feature the 2004 Pizza-La Red Lobster Nippon Cup, won last November by American Ed Baird, and a year-end show featuring highlights from 2004. All of the Tour's TV programs are viewable on demand 24 hours a day.- www.SwedishMatchTour.tv * YachtRacing.com has committed to help Challenged America in the upcoming 2005 Transpac race to Hawaii with online coverage, of this unique Transpac Team of sailors with disabilities, by promoting their effort to "prepare and get to the starting line" . . . then, provide daily positions and onboard news coverage as they race across the Pacific, 2,235 nautical miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii, this July. - www.ChallengedAmerica.org * The Vendee Globe race finish is situated in Les Sables d'Olonne in the Vendee region of West France. This sleepy little French coastal resort will undoubtedly become inundated with thousands of dedicated French supporters who have tracked the progress of this race daily. Hotels are getting booked up and rental car companies are already running out of vehicles. There seems little doubt that it will be a mob scene. * Clipper Ventures plc has appointed TWI, IMG's television arm as the host broadcaster for its Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race. The agreement is the result of a competitive tender process conducted by the event's commercial partner, Fast Track Sailing. The television rights agreement will see TWI maintain a comprehensive News Service throughout of the Race. To this end, the company will produce regular Video News Releases in advance and around the ten-month race itself. The key objective is to ensure that stations around the world will promote the Clipper race through news and existing sport programs. www.clipper-ventures.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 Fin Beven: Quadrilateral headsails were common on the "J" boats back in the '30's. They are banned by all racing rules with which I am familiar. Does anyone out there know why they are banned ? * From Paddy Smart: Ken Read (Butt '1763) made some sweeping generalizations about amateurs and pros. that just aren't true. Has he been miss-quoted? As a one-time pro and now amateur sailor, I've sailed various classes, from Maxis to Farr 40s, but have never seen the things behind Kenny's distinctions (although having sailed with him, maybe he was referring to my kind!). Not turning up on time? Leaving early? Partying all night? Anyone who did either (let alone all three) would not last long on any decent program, paid or unpaid. In fact I'm surprised that someone of his calibre witnesses this. Maybe it's down to the motivation. A true amateur has a real job unconnected to sailing and, here in Europe, that means he / she gets about 4 weeks' holiday per year. For me, being invited to do a top event on a good boat is a privilege, but at the same time, giving up large chunks of (limited) free time means the racing has to be enjoyable and that doesn't just mean winning. I'm not referring to partying like a student but imagine the scene; you've all worked hard prepping the boat, practicing, briefs, debriefs, video analysis, emptying the bilge, the lot. It's the last night, you and your team are languishing in 12th, there is one race to go, nothing to play for and you fly home in 24 hours - I'm sure the Pros will forgive us for wanting to 'tie one on' - chances are they'd be alongside us in the bar too. * From Eric Sorensen That money mentioned in the Providence Journal for pro sailors is good if you can get it. I am unsure that those numbers are for real but if they are, whoa! I know I was happy as an amateur to just get free food on the boat and a motel room with 3 others if the boat was on the road. That was heaven for a crew up here in the Seattle area. When I was captaining for a charter fleet in the NW I was only getting $125 a day for a 24 hour day (1984-86). Owners of race boats who are well heeled will be able to go to those pricings, I guess (and will never know), but I wish them well and hope they win and are happy with the program. What happens if they lose? I still feel like a well prepared boat is enough to inspire me to race. Lunches and other temptations just make it that much better. If the boat I am on is competitive that is great but a smoothly orchestrated boat makes it fun. If the captain can keep his cool, not yell and scream, the crew reacts as it needs to the various conditions without verbal abuses then we are well on the way to having fun, which is the entire point. Curmudgeon's Comment: In fairness to Ken Read, we should have included this quote from the story about professional sailors in the Providence Journal that we ran yesterday: Read: I work for North Sails and I'm already getting paid by the company to be at these events. When I'm with an America's Cup program, I take a leave of absence from my job. Most of the pure sailing professionals, however, are paid on a per-diem basis. http://tinyurl.com/58wqu CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Many children learned about justice when their mother explained, "One day you'll have kids and I hope they turn out just like you!" |
