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SCUTTLEBUTT 3705 - Thursday, October 25, 2012Scuttlebutt 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: Melges Performance Sailboats and Ullman Sails. MAY NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN Americans Johnny and Erika Heineken accomplished something that not many siblings on this planet can boast about. They are the 2012 Kiteboarding Course Racing World Champions, a first for Erika and Johnny's second consecutive World Champion title. It's the first time that an American woman has taken the championship title, and the first time that a brother-sister team have simultaneously won both the men's and women's titles in the sport of kiteboarding. In fact, it's rarely occurred in any sport. "It's probably unlikely to happen anytime soon in kiting - perhaps never," Johnny said, with well-deserved pride. The Course Racing World Championship was held off Poetto Beach in Cagliari located in the southern part of Sardinia, Italy a few weeks ago. Going into the event Erika, 26, had no idea what to expect. With 42 entries in the women's fleet, she knew that four-time world kiterace champion Steph Bridge (from Britain) was the fastest. "I was hoping I'd be competitive with her," said Erika. "It came down to the first race where we actually got to line up, and I was just above and beyond. I had a whole new gear she couldn't keep up with so from then on it was 'don't make any mistakes' and I pretty much had it in the bag." Their parents, Janet and Paul Heineken, were in Cagliari to watch the racing. "I was really proud of Erika because she's newer to the racing," Janet said. "She hasn't really dealt with conditions other than San Francisco, or the kite choices she had to make for lighter air." To offer a sense of the difference in kite size that the Heinekens dealt with due to the lighter breeze, Erika typically lives on a 9-meter kite on the bay, but for much of their time in Italy both she and Johnny were on 17-meter kites. "Kiting's like being in a single person dinghy but you take up much more space and it's three-dimensional," Johnny explained. "The 17 is slow - you actually don't move it much - just when you tack and jibe - so in a way it feels very similar to a smaller kite only it's huge. On the start, they take up more space in the sky and there's less wind so it all combines to being harder to get up and plane." Not the types to let success get in the way of a good time, Erika and Johnny greeted the question of how it feels to be the best in the world with a massive outburst of laughter. "I don't feel the best when I'm racing against the guys here (in San Francisco), that puts me back in my place," Erika said. -- Michelle Slade, Marin Independent Journal, full story: http://tinyurl.com/MIJ-102412 WHEN BOATING AND BASEBALL MEET The Coast Guard reminds boaters the importance of safe boating during the World Series games in San Francisco this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Beyond right field of AT&T Park is China Basin, a section of San Francisco Bay, which is dubbed McCovey Cove after famed Giants first baseman and left-handed slugger Willie McCovey. The target for 85 home runs in the park's 12 year history, McCovey Cove has become a popular boating location for those seeking out the long ball. But boaters who plan to gather during the World Series are advised to carry the required safety equipment and exercise good judgment while on the water. A life jacket is required for each person aboard a vessel, sized accordingly and easily accessible. Children younger than 13 years old are required by federal law to wear a life jacket at all times. Boaters are also reminded to equip their vessels with flares and an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon with 406 MHz capabilities to enable a faster response by the Coast Guard in the event of an emergency. It is against the law for anyone to operate a vessel on the water under the influence of alcohol. The legal limit while operating a vessel is .08 BAC. Consumption of alcohol by anyone else aboard is discouraged. Boaters should have an operational marine VHF radio to contact the Coast Guard on channel 16 in the event an emergency. Boaters should not rely on their cell phones as a means of communication. Channel 16 is an emergency channel and is to be used only in urgent situations. Improper transmissions hamper Coast Guard response times. False maydays are punishable under federal law. All boaters should file a float plan with a friend or family member on land, with an approximate time of return and point of destination. It is recommended that you regularly check in with those who are aware of your plan, especially if it should change. Everyone is reminded "If you See Something, Say Something." If you see any suspicious behavior, activities or threats on your way to, during, or after the games report it to local law enforcement. -- http://tinyurl.com/USCG-102412 MELGES WINTER SERIES The famous Melges Winter Series for all Melges Sport Boats will kick off in mid November. The Melges 24 class ramps up their series in preparation for the 2013 World Championships in San Francisco. Davis Island in Florida hosts the 24 fleet. For the Melges 32 class, the Gold Cup is at the Lauderdale Yacht Club. The Audi Melges 20 begins their series in Miami on December 7. Great racing, professional race committee and serious fun - join The Melges Experience. Race to http://www.melges.com KNOW WHEN TO HOLD, KNOW WHEN TO FOLD Islamorada, FL (October 24, 2012) - The 2012 Ronstan A-Class Catamaran World Championship, faced with extremely high wind speeds and difficult conditions during the first three days, concluded the event early and announced Mischa Heemskerk of the Netherlands as the winner. With Hurricane Sandy parked off of Cuba, and forecasted winds near or above 30 knots through Saturday, event organizers focused today to complete two races so as to meet the minimum of five races for an official event. Heemskerk won both races, posting a 2-3-2-1-1 to beat second place Australian Andrew Landenberger by 15 points. Heemskerk had been clearly more comfortable in the strong conditions in his new DNA boat. Racing today was moved up to 9 am in an effort to squeeze two races in before the breeze fully turned on. Australian Nathan Outteridge won the pin at the first start and maintained his lead for two laps, but was passed by Heemskerk after miscounting laps and attempting to finish early, dropping to second. After holding at around 18 knots for most of race one, winds were gusting up to 26 knots for the second race. American Lars Guck won the pin at the start of race five, and rounded second behind Heemskerk at the first windward mark. In the interest of safety, the race committee shortened course, finishing the fleet at the leeward mark to complete the day. This caused some confusion among the competitors, and while Heemskerk was well in front, Guck dropped to fourth. Only 36 of the 112 boats completed both races today. Full results on the event website along with photos and videos: http://www.aclassworldchampionshipsusa2012.com SURVIVING THE INEVITABLE Emirates Team New Zealand coach Rod Davis, himself a double Olympic medalist and America's Cup competitor since 1987, comments on the Kiwi team's rescue and recovery plan in the event of a capsize. --------------------------------------------------------------------- At Emirates Team New Zealand we have spent a great deal of time studying the Oracle 72 capsize - pitch pole to be precise. Every team has a contingency plan in the event of a capsize and hopes it never has to use it. The reality is that nothing can prepare crew for the real thing... and when you are the first, as Oracle was last week, the problem is magnified many times. Team plans are based on AC45 capsizes and recovery which have been adjusted for the bigger boats which are more difficult to recover. We learned an enormous amount from the Oracle recovery operation. Here is the hypothesis for capsize and recovery when we launched our 72 back in July. 1. We may be dealing with injuries, possibly significant injuries, as well as the capsized boat. An AC72 is 14m wide and, when a crewman falls, and someone will fall, he will have a good chance to hitting something nasty on the way down. Wing, rigging, wheel, grinder pedestals - something hard. 2. Crew members will be separated from the boat. If there is enough wind to capsize the boat, there will be enough to blow it along on its side, faster than crew can swim. 3. Recover people and deal with injuries first, boat recovery second. 4. The plan for righting the boat is straight forward enough. Just like the 45 "righting" lines, ropes run under the forward beam and attach where the hull and beam meet, on both sides as you don't know which tack you will be on when you roll her over. The 45s have taught us a lot about righting cats. For example, use a short towline to the righting line, 45 degrees from the high hull down to tow boat is about right. This will allow the hull in the water to dig in and trip the boat so it can be pulled up right. If the towline is too long, the cat will just skip over the water and never "bite". Have strong tow/righting lines, we broke several at Newport, and when they break, they come flying back into the chase boat, so stay out of there, or you will join the injured list. The quicker the boat is head to wind and righted the less the damage. A problem is two of our three chase boats can't keep up with the cat in anything other than smooth water. Read more: http://etnzblog.com/#!2012/10/47928 PIT ROW RETURNS...SORT OF After seemingly endless negotiations with the City of San Francisco to secure Piers 30-32 for the America's Cup fans to see all the competing teams at one location, it was announced October 1st that the teams were no longer required to be based at that location. While that announcement seemed to end the 'Pit Row' vision for the 34th America's Cup, there remained a condition in the Protocol that required teams to be based in the "City of San Francisco". And for now, this condition isn't going to get changed. A proposed Protocol change to amend this stipulation, which can be made by majority vote of the competing teams, failed this week, with the teams deadlocked at 2-2. Voting teams were Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing (SWE), Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA). The Protocol change would have allowed Artemis Racing to remain at their current location in Alameda instead of relocating across the bay to the City. As a result, the challengers have now all selected bases on Piers 30-32 along the city front, while Oracle Team USA will remain 2.5 miles away at its current location on Pier 80. It is interesting to note that Team Korea was not allowed to participate in the vote or the base selection process, as they have yet to begin building an AC72. While the voting details are kept confidential, it is believed that the New Zealand and Italian teams voted together to insure that Artemis would be based alongside them on Piers 30-32. Source: http://www.americascup.com/en/news/3/news/8879/teams-select-base-locations SPECTATING: For the boat owner eager to get on San Francisco Bay to watch the America's Cup races, the event authority has now built a virtual wall around the race course to allow only paid access to the best viewing areas. Free access will still be available, but it will be behind the high dollar private yachts and large commercial charter endeavors that are expected to fill this inner circle of the race course. Details here: http://tinyurl.com/PD-102412 LIVE WITH JIMMY: Oracle Team USA Skipper Jimmy Spithill will host an hour-long live Q&A on his Facebook page on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 11am PDT. All fans posting a question to Jimmy's wall will be eligible to win a signed piece of the damaged wing. The winner will be determined by Jimmy based on his favorite question from the session. Post questions here: http://www.facebook.com/JimmySpithill COURTS: The attorney representing the French America's Cup World Series team and its vessel rebutted the salvage claim filed by the man who returned the sailboat after it became unmoored, calling his motion "demonstrably false." A 23-page response to the salvage claim filed in U.S. District Court of Northern California by Noah Hagey is asking the judge to vacate the "arrest warrant" placed on the boat after Todd Tholke filed a claim seeking $200,000 for returning the boat after it became unmoored during the America's Cup World Series races in San Francisco. -- Soundings, read on: http://tinyurl.com/ST-102412 JALAPENO DELIVERS THE HEAT AT J/30 NORTH AMERICANS Congratulations to Billy Ross and Ken Buhler's "Jalapeno" who won the J/30 North American Championships last weekend in New Orleans! Fully powered by Ullman Sails, the team raced an excellent regatta to claim the 2012 title with three bullets and 15 points in seven races. "Jalapeno" was one of three Ullman Sails customers who finished in the top five of the championships series. Harley Nethken's "Land Shark" sealed second overall with two bullets in the final two races. And Jeff Water's team on "Gritz" claimed fifth overall in the 11-boat fleet filled with multiple past J/30 North American champs! -- http://www.ullmansails.com PHOTOS: Leighton O'Connor provides images from the J/30 NAs: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/1022/ COLLEGE NATIONALS Collegiate competition will have its first National Championship of the 2012-13 season when the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Men's and Women's Singlehanded Nationals are held in Long Beach, CA adjacent to Belmont Memorial Pier on November 2-4. Here are the sailors and schools that have qualified from the seven districts, with the number of representatives from each district based on the number of schools that compete in that district. MEN'S NATIONALS - Laser Standard Mid Atlantic: Olin Paine/Fordham University, Chris Barnard/Georgetown University, Nevin Snow/Georgetown University, John Wallace/St. Mary's College of Maryland Midwest: Chris Loew-Blosser/University of Minnesota, Andrew Fox/University of Wisconsin New England: Colin Smith/ Brown University, Lucas Adams/Brown University, Michael Zonnenberg/University of Vermont, Cameron Cullman/Yale University Northwest: Philip Gordon/University of Oregon Pacific Coast: Oliver Toole/Stanford University, Kieran Chung/Stanford University South Atlantic: Juan Maegli/College of Charleston, William Heausler/University of Florida Southeast: Carson Crain/Rice University, Trey Hartman/Texas A&M University Galveston ------------------------------------- WOMEN'S NATIONALS - Laser Radial Mid Atlantic: Nancy Hagood/Georgetown University, Marissa Lihan/U.S. Naval Academy, Mary Hall/U.S. Naval Academy, Mayumi Roller/St. Mary's College of Maryland, Catherine Shanahan/St. Mary's College of Maryland Midwest: Alison Kent/University of Minnesota New England: Erika Reineke/Boston College, Lauren Cefali/U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Christina Frost/U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Claire Dennis/Yale University, Emily Billing/Yale University Northwest: Lily Grimshaw/University of Washington Pacific Coast: McKenzie Wilson/Stanford University, Rebecca King/Stanford University South Atlantic: Abby Featherstone/University of South Florida, Laura Hernandez/University of Miami Southeast: Margot Provensal/Texas A&M University Galveston, Alexandra Payne/Tulane University Event website: http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/5465 COACHING: The event rules have a 'No Tolerance' policy for coaching, wherein all team leaders, chaperones, coaches, parents, advisors, etc shall not 'go afloat' in the sailing area during racing (unless explicitly permitted by the regatta chairperson). The penalty for failing to comply with this requirement may be the disqualification of all boats, competitors and teams associated with the infringing support personnel. -- http://tinyurl.com/NOR-102412 IS YOUR EVENT LISTED BELOW? Posting your event information on the free, self-serve Scuttlebutt Event Calendar tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. But don't stop there. If your event is listed below, please send us your race reports too: * Oct 25-28 - J/24 East Coast Championship - Annapolis, MD, USA * Oct 26-28 - IRC East Coast Championship - Annapolis, MD, USA * Oct 27-28 - Halloween Team Race - Marblehead, MA, USA * Oct 31-Nov 4 - J/80 North American Championship - Fort Worth, TX, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS), the world's biggest and best attended marine equipment trade show, will be held November 13-15 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. An annual attraction of METS is its prestigious design competition for new marine equipment and accessories. From a total of 115 products from 25 countries, 39 have now been nominated. The category winners and overall winner will be announced in the morning prior to the start of METS on November 13. Here is the list of nominees: http://tinyurl.com/METS-102412 * In Sailing World's College Rankings as of October 24, 2012, the leaders of the coed and women's - Georgetown and Yale, respectively - maintain their top spots in the fourth ranking of the fall season. Charleston and Yale round out the top three in the coed rankings, while Boston College and Dartmouth take second and third in the women's rankings. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SW-102412 * The U.S. Disabled Sailing Championships open to any sailor with a physical disability, will be held in San Diego Bay on October 26-28. Competition in the singlehanded division will be sailed in the 2.4 mR, the doublehanded division will race in the Martin 16, and the triplehanded fleet will sail in the Capri 22. -- Full report: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2012/USDSC_12_Preview.htm * Two families who grieved together following the deaths of the crew in a coastal yacht race are headed for what might be a contentious court battle over money. Four men died during the 2012 Newport Beach to Ensenada regatta, with the family of one of the crew now filing court paperwork that could lead to a wrongful death lawsuit against the skipper of the boat. The accident occurred when the 37-foot Hunter sailboat ran aground on North Coronado Island. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/N2E-102412 INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * North Sails Supports Chesapeake Bay Trust * GoCarbon producing high quality furniture * Special offer on O'pen BICs View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Steve Johnson: I would add to Morgan Larson's comment (SBUTT 3704) about Waikiki Yacht Club's deepwater mark setting. It may not be in 1000-feet, but Corinthian Yacht Club in Seattle has been deep water mark setting for decades in water 200-600-feet deep, with custom-designed high speed reels fabricated by a member, the late, great George Trusk. Setting square start lines and fair leeward gates in water that deep is an art form for the race committee, as are making fast course changes. Each mark is set on line that is carabineered in sections for quick depth adjustment. We, too, started out by dumping cinder blocks and string over the side, pulling up the line and cutting it away at the end of the day, but that practice changed in the 70s. Since then, everything has been fully recoverable and reusable. * From David Redfern: I remember the marks were set pretty deep off San Diego for the Dennis Conner catamaran versus Michael Fay big boat America's Cup fiasco. The method was piano wire which was trusted to rust and dissolve. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste. SPONSORS THIS WEEK International Rolex Regatta - Allen Insurance and Financial - North U North Sails - IYRS - Pure Yachting - Melges Performance Sailboats Ullman Sails - Doyle Sails - MyBoatsGear.com Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
