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SCUTTLEBUTT 2873 - Thursday, June 25, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Ullman Sails and Hall Spars & Rigging. THE FINISH LINE IS NOW IN SIGHT Stockholm, Sweden (June 24, 2009) - It was like the end of a school term at the skippers' press conference in Stockholm Wednesday as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet prepares to tackle Leg 10, a final, short, sprint to the overall finish line in St. Petersburg. With just 400 miles remaining in a race around the world that measures over 37,000 nautical miles, and the leaderboard almost entirely decided, the finish line - the real one - is now in sight. One leaderboard duel does remain. With a maximum of eight points available to the winner of the leg, PUMA leads Telefonica Blue by 6.5 points in the battle to finish second overall in the race. The forecast is promising for the start on Thursday afternoon. A light Northeasterly breeze of 8-10 knots is expected. But as the leg progresses, the wind is forecast to ease. It could be a long 400 miles. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/nbgqga * TEAM RUSSIA: The team will sail with the fleet to St Petersburg but will not be a formal part of the racing proceedings after being unable to overcome their rule compliance issues. The team, led by Stig Westergaard, arrived in Stockholm Tuesday after last being seen in Singapore at Christmas, where they suspended racing because of insufficient funds. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/lrgdk5 * FREE BEER: Now that Team Russia will not be competing, if Telefonica Blue wins Leg 10, PUMA can secure second place overall by merely finishing the race. Sailing World spoke with Ken Read moments after he learned that Team Russia would not be starting the final leg, where he expressed his excitement about their position in the race, the lessons that he has learned along the way, and his intention to buy everyone in the U.S. a beer upon his return. This is a great audio interview: http://www2.worldpub.net/images/sw/4-SWPodcast090625.mp3 * WEATHER FORECAST: "A long-term pattern of mostly sunny and warm weather has settled across Scandinavia and the race route to St Petersburg as high pressure is building over northern and central Sweden and across to southern Finland," said Ericsson team meteorologist Chris Bedford. "It'll be upwind virtually all of the way to St. Petersburg. Windspeeds will be strongest in the first 12 hours, then easing slowly with time and distance north and east. It could possibly become very light prior to the finish." -- http://tinyurl.com/ldf6tz * REPORT CARDS: After 37,000 miles of sailing and nine months of observations, the sailors were polled for their opinions on their competitors, the boat designs, and the racing: http://tinyurl.com/l6ge76 * VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2008/9: Began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. The final event will be Leg 10 from Stockholm, Sweden to St Petersburg, Russia (400 nm), starting on June 25th with the finish expected to be on June 27th. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/schedule Leg 10 crew list: http://tinyurl.com/nc7s3t Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 ISAF SAILING WORLD CUP Kiel, Germany (June 24, 2009; Day 5) - For the ISAF sailing World Cup sailors the 127th Kiel Week ended Wednesday with medal races in 10 to 15 knots of wind and lots of sun. While the event has a reputation for stormy, windy weather, this year’s event failed to live up to its reputation. “We had beautiful weather -- if you’re on vacation,” said top ranked Laser Radialist Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), “but it wasn’t perfect sailing weather.” Racing began on Saturday with two days of very light winds, with improved conditions of the past two to help most classes get back on schedule. The American battle for Laser Radial supremacy was won this time by Paige Railey who sailed the most consistent regatta counting only first and second place finishes. The Medal Race was no exception and the win gives her the gold medal and lifts her into a podium position on the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings. Tunnicliffe finished the Medal Race in fourth to take the bronze medal and consolidate her position at the top of the World Cup standings. In second place going into the Star Medal Race, the main rival for Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube (USA) was British gold medal winning team of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson who led by just two points. Mendleblatt and Strube finished second behind Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk (NZL) but this was enough to give them the gold medal. Percy and Simpson finished eighth in the Medal Race with equal points to Pepper and Monk but the Kiwis race win gives them the silver medal and the Brits the bronze. -- http://www.kielerwoche.de/eng/englishdefault.php * Medal Race recap from Anna Tunnicliffe: http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/content/view/268/1/ ULLMAN SAILS POWER TOP TWO FINISHERS AT COASTAL CUP The boys on Hobie 33 “Still Crazy” are still buzzing after taking first in class and first overall in last weekend’s 2009 Coastal Cup, the 360-nm race from San Francisco to Catalina Island, CA. The “Still Crazy” team were first to finish after 45 hours of sail changes and downwind surfing in up to 35 knots of breeze. The team was fully powered by Ullman Sails, depending primarily on their Asso wardrobe during the race. Ed Feo’s Andrew 45 “Locomotion” claimed second overall, also competing with full Ullman inventory. Invest in your performance. Visit Ullman Sails at http://www.ullmansails.com POST EVENT ANALYSIS In the Women’s Match Race event at Kiel Week, American Genny Tulloch advanced to the quarter-final round, but was on the losing end of a four-way tie to get into the semis. Looking more ‘big picture’, here are Genny’s comments following the event: “Being a part of the first World Cup event in the Olympic boat, getting to sail the Eliott 6m and see how it handles and what we’ll need to work on once we get them in the U.S., and seeing how we stack up against 20 of our international competitors, were some of the major reasons for coming here. We finished 6th out of 20, beating many who are currently ranked higher than us, and learned a lot about the boats and about the international competition. “Ultimately we would have liked to sail more than two days, but we understand the hardships of the organizers in trying to get as many teams racing as many races as possible while still having a good event. The competitors all sat down last night with the umpires and PRO’s from Kiel Week and Sail For Gold in Weymouth (next World Cup event in Sept.) and had a discussion about some of the adjustments that could be made to the boats and the formats for better racing next time, and we are sure that the events will just get better and better as time goes on. We are excited to get the boats into the U.S. next month so that we can do the same and just get better and better as competitors!” -- Complete report: http://getsailing.org/?p=248 ROLEX FARR 40 WORLDS Porto Cervo, Italy (June 24, 2009; Day 1) - Porto Cervo put on one of the feasts for which it is famous in the sailing world. A cobalt blue sky as an antipasti, solid warm breeze for the primi piatti, decent waves for the secondi and the dolce were three excellent races. All on day one of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship 2009. Barking Mad (USA) sits atop the heap this evening, with a narrow three-point lead over the 2008 Worlds sparring partners Mascalzone Latino (ITA) and Joe Fly (ITA). Today was all about keeping clean and trying to stay mean. Some got it right, others did not. The three race winners were Barking Mad, Nerone (ITA) and Transfusion (AUS). All three sit in the top five and will be happy to have held it together on a day when only four boats posted results inside the top ten in each race. American owner, Jim Richardson, and his Australian counterpart, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, are flying the flag for the international contingent and will be pleased with their day's work. Massimo Mezzaroma has reason to be content too, but will be ruing the 13th posted in race three by Nerone. Ominously, current World Champion, Vincenzo Onorato on Mascalzone, sits in second place after quietly going about his business to score a 2, 10, 2. -- Read on: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100095&lang=1 Results after Day 1 (top 5 of 25; boat name, skipper/tactician): 1. Barking Mad (USA), Jim Richardson/Terry Hutchinson, 1-6-4, 11 points 2. Mascalzone Latino (ITA), Vincenzo Onorato/Adrian Stead, 2-10-2, 14 3. Joe Fly (ITA), Giovanni Maspero/Franceso Bruni, 4-5-5, 14 4. Transfusion (AUS), Guido Belgiorno-Nettis/Tom Slingsby, 9-7-1, 17 5. Nerone (ITA), Massimo Mezzaroma/Vasco Vascotto, 5-1-13, 19 Complete results: http://www.yccsresults.com/farr40_09/farr40.htm Farr 40 Worlds website: http://www.farr40worldchampionship.com BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK XXIII Block Island, R.I., USA (June 24, 2009; Day 3) - Block Island, R.I., USA (June 24, 2009) – Stealing an analogy from the working world, today was “hump day” (Wednesday) for the 153 boats and 1500 sailors competing in the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week XXIII presented by Rolex. Act One, the King 40 owned by Charlie Milligan/Allan Stern/Tom Roche (Newport, R.I.), has been leading its IRC 40A class all week and still leads after today, but only by a slim margin due to finishes of 4-8 added to their score-line of 1-2-1-1 from the first two racing days. “The boat is wicked fast,” said Act One’s bow man Geordie Shaver (Newport, R.I.), “but we got out of touch a little with a few groups today and separated ourselves too much. We had a five-point lead going into today and now it’s one (over the Mills 43 Cool Breeze sailed by John Cooper of Springfield, Mo.)” Shaver, far from dismayed, however, added in a spirited tone, “So maybe it will be mano a mano with Cool Breeze in a race-off on Friday!” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/lwbal7 * Additional reports, photos and videos at http://tinyurl.com/kj8dhp SEAMLESS CARBON REVOLUTION It's begun. Two boats have gone completely seamless. In Italy, the new Felci 50 has a full set of Hall Spars & Rigging's ultra-low-windage SCR and a Hall Seamless mast. In Newport, Ben Hall re-rigged the Evelyn 32 Bluto with a Seamless mast and SCR with yellow diagonals and red verticals. The look is remarkably clean and the result is a huge reduction in windage and headstay sag (on the Felci, it was 1.1% on the swept-spreader rig, even in 28 knots). Competitors at Block Island RW can see Bluto after racing, or visit http://www.hallspars.com LARGEST INSHORE KEELBOAT REGATTA IN THE WEST If Chris Hemans and his friendly rivals run true to form, intense competition will not be a problem when Acura presents Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week this weekend, June 26-28. Seven races are scheduled on three courses over three days, starting Friday. For Southern California racing, it's the climactic event of the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, following Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach, Yachting Cup at San Diego and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey. Hemans leads the Inshore Championship in the Fast 40 group after finishing second last year. Last year, sailing his Tripp 40, Entropy, from Balboa Yacht Club, he won handily at Long Beach, but three other of the 19 classes were resolved by tiebreakers and three more by one point. That's the way it usually is in the event co-hosted by the neighboring Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Clubs as the largest inshore keelboat regatta in the West. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7708 PINNACLE OF U.S. YOUTH RACING Every sport season has their eagerly anticipated and much celebrated opening day. US SAILING presents its version of opening day for the summer and fall seasons with the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship on June 25-30, hosted by the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn (racing is June 27-30). Sponsored by LaserPerformance and Gill North America, the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship is the pinnacle of youth sailing competition in the United States. The waters of Long Island Sound will be the site for this year’s championship, where 116 of the country’s top single- and doublehanded young sailors, both girls and boys, ranging from 13 to 19 years of age, will race Lasers, Laser Radials, 29ers, and Club 420s. US SAILING has selected this field of sailors from across the country, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, based on their sailing resumes and performance at regional, national, and international competitions. -- Read on: http://www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2009/USJWSC%20Preview.asp SAILING SHORTS * The US SAILING Annual Report is now online summarizing initiatives and results for 2008, including financial results, donor contributions, Olympic and Championship results, and an overview of each US SAILING department. -- http://tinyurl.com/lwtzek * (June 24, 2009) - Martin Jacobson (Newport, RI) drove his Swan 44 MkII Crescendo first across the Marion to Bermuda Race finish line off St. David’s Lighthouse, Bermuda Wednesday morning at 5:47:13 ADT to be first to finish with an elapsed time of 111h:32m:13s. Crescendo finished in a 20-25 knot southerly wind and 8-10 foot seas under storm trysail and a small jib, having destroyed their mainsail on Tuesday morning while taking it down during a 45 knot squall. They sailed under their safety-orange storm trysail for about the last 70 miles. -- http://www.marionbermuda.com * The 9th Annual Summer Sailstice weekend on June 20-21 increased worldwide awareness of this international sailing holiday among both mainstream sailors and the sailing media, expanding virally through social networking, and deepening Summer Sailstice traditions with continued strong participation by the general public. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7712 * The Valencia Sailing website has posted information that was reportedly published in The Tribune de Genève, Geneva's main newspaper, which attempts to shed some light on the launch schedule of the much-awaited America’s Cup defender Alinghi multihull, and possible sailing sites for the 33rd Match. However, what does seem clear is that there is significant gamesmanship occurring with both teams… ‘buttheads beware! Full story: http://tinyurl.com/nfqxmg * Pensacola, FL (June 24, 2009) - Following their qualifying series on Monday and Tuesday, the Snipe U.S. Nationals found a variety of conditions for the first day of the championship series. The day began with eight knots of steady breeze that built to twelve knots, but finished with thunderstorms and lake-like breeze lines that gaveth and tooketh away with abandon. Augie Diaz/Kathleen Tocke hold an eight point lead with a 1-1-2. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7697 WHAT IS YOUR ‘MUST DO’ EVENT? Each sailing region has its “must do” events, and Scuttlebutt wants to hear about the highlight events in your area. All the event submissions qualify for a raffle, including this one: “Delta Ditch Run, no contest. An inland downwind race from Richmond, CA, on San Francisco Bay, to Stockton, CA, in the California Delta, the Ditch Run is 67 miles of jibing and sunstroke. As we go deeper into our golden state the sun heats up and the wind builds. We compete against more than 150 other crews and then party with them by the San Joaquin River at Stockton Sailing Club. A favorite with trailerable race boats, they come from as far away as Seattle, WA.” => Post your event here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7675 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Rick Rahm, Miami, FL: I can't tell you how much enjoyment my wife and I have watching Gary Jobsons coverage of the Volvo race Tuesday evenings on Public TV. It's only a 1/2 hour show, but it is packed with exciting in port races, and coverage of the tough conditions the racers endure sailing around the world at full speed. The ports and countries they visit and the people that come to welcome them. The ups and downs the crews experienced and the close finishes in each race. Great stuff! As for the Americas Cup…forget about it! Who really cares to watch two slugs do windward/leeward races, with the start being all that matters, unless some equipment fails during the race to change the order of finish? Boring! Who cares about the Supreme Court fight? Who cares about a race that's all about who makes the rules to favor the defender? I can't wait for the next Volvo Race to begin, with more TV coverage. Congratulations to the Ericsson crew. Great stuff!! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You can't teach an old dogma new tricks. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Hall Spars & Rigging. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
