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SCUTTLEBUTT 2287 – February 23, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION PORTSMOUTH, RI -- The Fire Department is blaming a fire late last night at Vanguard Sailboats on “spontaneous combustion.” Fire Chief Jeff Lynch said today that the fire at the boatbuilding facility started in a bucket of used rags just before midnight and was likely ignited by chemicals in the dirty rags. “In boatbuilding, workers use catalysts and other chemicals,” Lynch said. “Catalysts generate heat.” Nobody was in the building at 200 High Point Ave. at the time, and Lynch said there was no other possible cause of the fire. A sprinkler system in the industrial building contained the fire until firefighters arrived. After forcing their way into the building, they were able to rapidly extinguish the fire. No boats were damaged in the fire, but it did cause an estimated $30,000 in damage to the building, mainly to several partition walls. None of the damage was structural. -- Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal, http://tinyurl.com/32yez2 SUCCESSFUL ONE-DESIGN MANAGEMENT US Sailing has posted an excerpt from their Class Management Handbook that outlines their “Ten Commandments for Successful One-Design Management:” 1. Communicate 2. Use local fleets as fleet building blocks and their leaders as your conduit to the sailors. 3. Balance continuity and new blood 4. Create enforceable class rules – and enforce them 5. Treat your builder as a partner 6. Raise money 7. Let the world know you exist 8. Make your championships outstanding events 9. Get everyone involved 10. Make one-design sailing fun! To read the full story: http://www.ussailing.org/member/TenCommandments.asp WHOLESALE MODIFICATIONS (The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to Team Shosholoza's designer Jason Ker about America's Cup design. Here’s a brief excerpt.) While there was talk at the outset of building a second boat for the South African team, this was cancelled back in April last year. As Ker puts it, they were tight on budget and unless they could find ways to gain extra minutes of performance out of a new boat, it would have been hard to justify the extra cost. “We are pretty happy with what we ended up with,” says Ker. “It was never intended to be a boat to go all the way through, but it is not by any means a disaster that we haven’t got a second boat.” Instead the South African team decided to make wholesale modifications to their existing Version 5 Cup boat, RSA 83. This took place during a six week period over the Christmas break and included replacing the bow and modifying the stern. Since then the sailing team has been back out on the water in their revamped RSA 83 training and racing with other teams – principally Areva Challenge, Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team and the Germans. Ker’s design team at Shosholoza is smaller than those of the ‘big’ teams like Alinghi, BMW Oracle, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. While big teams can dedicate huge resource to research the minutiae of different areas of the boat and trying out new ideas, with a smaller resource Ker says they have had to compartmentalize what areas they have focused on, be it rigs, appendages, hulls, etc. -- http://www.thedailysail.com WINTER FESTIVAL IN NEWPORT It’s Winter Festival time in Newport, RI and Team One Newport is having their Annual Sale! Visit the Sale Page at http://www.team1newport.com for 30% off discontinued Gill products and lots more! Limited sizes and colors. Going South and need some new gear? Team One has the new Henri-Lloyd's Junior Stealth smocks, Sperry's new Figawi shoes, Henri-Lloyd's Women's Aura Jacket, Harken’s Valencia shoes, Camet's Rio and Porto Cervo shorts, and Patagonia's new wool underwear and socks! Be part of the America's Cup with BMW Oracle gear! Call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327) to sign up for the new catalog coming out in 3 weeks! A CHANCE OPPORTUNITY (A Hawaiian vacation is a treat by itself, but J. Ryan Parker reports here how the friendliness of the islands provided him a bonus adventure.) During a holiday vacation to Oahu, Hawaii, I was fortunate to come upon the TP52 Morning Light (formerly Pegasus) while checking out Waikiki YC’s facilities. The TP52 Morning Light is the feature boat of the Morning Light Project, a real-life adventure feature film recorded as it happens, whatever happens, will be part of next year's 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii in a project led by race veteran Roy E. Disney. When I approached Morning Light on January 2nd, I found the production crew and the boat’s managers, David Tank and Jimmy Slaughter, working feverously on deck to finalize the fit out of Morning Light. Though they were focused on their work, all were very open to questions and conversation about the boat, the crew, and the project in general. The production crew was finalizing their camera angles and the arduous task of determining how to mount the cameras and gear out of the way of crew work. Meanwhile, David and Jimmy were putting the finishing touches on an estimated $200K refit to transform Morning Light from a premier inshore racer to a dominant and safe offshore machine. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0220/ DRAMATIC HELICOPTER RESCUE A British yachtsman has told how he clung to his capsized boat for ten hours in raging seas after watching his skipper freeze to death. Olof Templeman, 37, and another crewman, Kevin Klinges, were finally winched to safety in a dramatic helicopter rescue. They and their skipper, Steve Hobley, were 200 miles east of Bermuda on Monday evening when the storm hit with 40ft waves and winds of 65mph. Templeman, from the Isle of Wight, put his survival down to the storm gear he was wearing in the icy waters. He and Mr Klinges, an American, could do nothing to save Mr Hobley from hypothermia. The skipper, from Newton Abbot, Devon, died shortly after their 39ft catamaran Haley was tipped over by a huge wave, hurling them into the Atlantic. His crewmates tried to hold on to his body, but he was swept away. Around seven hours later they were rescued by the U.S. coastguard, who had been alerted by an emergency beacon. – Adrian Robson, Bermuda Daily Mail, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2l8e5m LASER MIDWINTERS EAST Racing got underway Thursday at the Laser Midwinters East hosted by the Clearwater YC. The top finishers in the 89-boat Laser class on after two races on Day One were: 1. USA, Brad Funk, 4 pts 2. USA, Clayton Johnson, 4 pts 3. GBR, Paul Goodison, 5 pts 4. GBR, Nick Thompson, 5 pts 5. USA, Kyle Rogachenko, 7 pts 6. USA, Andrew Campbell, 8 pts 7. USA, John Pearce, 9 pts 8. ESP, Javier Hernandez, 9 pts 9. CAN, Bernard Luttmer, 11 pts 10. USA, Zeke Horowitz, 15 pts After two races in the 98-boat Laser Radial fleet: 1. USA, Anna Tunnicliffe, 2 pts 2. CAN, Lisa Ross, 5 pts 3. LTU, Gintare Volungeviciute, 5 pts 4. USA, Sam Blouin, 6 pts 5. USA, Justin Doane, 8 pts 6. USA, Anne Haeger. 10 pts 7. USA, Genoa Griffith, 10 pts 8. USA, Emily Billing , 12 pts 9. USA, Katie Maxim, 12 pts 10. USA, Abby Featherstone, 17 pts Event website: http://tinyurl.com/2yqyph SAILING SHORTS * MENOMINEE, MICHIGAN -- The world has a new DN iceboat champion. Matt Struble originally from Bay City, now in Birmingham Mi. won in dramatic fashion over Thomas Lindgren of Sweden. I spent a lot of time sailing around Matt and he is a class act. Matt has had success sailing in multihulls (Worrell 1000) and has been near the top of the DN class for some time. The class deserves a champion that represents the best this sport has to offer. Bernd Zeiger 3rd, Ron Sherry 4th, John Dennis 5th, Michele Brezinski 6th, Swiss Kuba, 7th, Regatta chair Dr. John Harper 8th. -- Bryan Brieden, http://www.iceboat.org/images/06-07/DN/0607dnregattas.htm * Michael Brennan new R/P 45 Sjambok won IRC B as was first overall in the 12-boat IRC Division of the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race. John Kilroy Jr. new TP52 Samba Pa Ti was second in class and second overall of the IRC racers. IRC A was won by Blue Yankee sailed by Bob Towse / Farley Towse, while Frank Kern’s J/120 Carinthia was the top PHRF boat in the 811-mile race from Miami to Jamaica -- http://www.montegobayrace.com * Defending champions Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Nathan Ellis have strengthened their grip on the SLAM-Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan International 18ft Skiff Championship when they brought their skiff Fiat home an easy winner of Race 5 on Sydney Harbour. After discarding their worst race to date, Coxon and his team have a total of 6 points (total points 12), with Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) AUS, in second place on 14 (20). Asko Appliances (John Winning Jr) AUS, third on 17 (30), Pegasus Racing (Howie Hamlin) USA, fourth on 20 (33) and Club Marine fifth on 25 (48). -- http://www.18footers.com.au * The Victory Challenge’s new America’s Cup boat, SWE 96, has been named Järv, or wolverine in English. The wolverine is one of the least known predators which is remarkably strong for its size and often described as cunning. By naming SWE 96 Järv, Victory Challenge continues its tradition of giving their America’s Cup boats names from nature. The two boats built in Auckland, SWE 63 and SWE 73 were called Örn, eagle, and Orm , snake. -- http://victorychallenge.com * Graham Dalton, the Kiwi skipper of Open 50 A Southern Man - AGD, is about to drop from fourth to fifth (last) in the Velux 5 Oceans, losing his position to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and SAGA Insurance. Dalton is currently in Port Stanley on the east coast of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic making repairs to his yacht's mainsail headboard. Shortly before rounding Cape Horn, he reported breaking two fingers - "broken badly" the normally understated yachtsman commented - and it is hoped he is having some attention to the damaged hand. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com * The America’s Cup website now has an interactive puzzle game that can easily fill whatever spare time you have. To see how you match up with others, there is a ranking board that keeps track of the fastest times needed to complete the series of puzzles. By the looks of it, some folks have put in the kind of dedicated effort that the America’s Cup is becoming famous for. Go for it: http://www.americascup.com/en/fanfun/games/puzzle/index.php WET OR DRY? On Tour, On The Water, On Board, or In The Mail? Our TRIM and Tactics Seminar Tour features Gary Jobson and other top instructors. Our On-The-Water Race Weeks in Captiva Island, FL pack a season into a week. Our coaching puts an expert aboard your boat. Our books, CDs & DVDs cover every facet of racing rules, tactics, trim, and boatspeed. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process with North U.: Call 800-347-2457 or visit http://www.NorthU.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From John Manderson: One of the great and pure joys of sailing certain small light boat is that they demand the use of body weight and other movements in rhythm with waves and wind to be sailed efficiently and fast. Achieving a mastery of this is the fun part of sailing the boat. I can hear the shrill and sanctimonious say "But it's illegal. It's cheating. Now somebody is blaming the boats and designers" . That's all fine. But the problem is not going away in classes in which kinetics are built into the nature of the boats. For many players chasing after the "mastery" is the fun part and the one of the things that keeps us coming back to the racecourse year after year and after some spectacularly bruising defeats. I've found myself deeply offended by some of the "pundits" vilifications of Paige Reilly. These pundits, who've been so critical either haven't sailed boats with designed kinetics and thus don't know the nature of the problem, or they are unwilling or unable to think deeply enough about what's most fun about just sailing certain types of sailing boats. Paige Reilly and others who while trying to master sailing boats and have crossed this arbitrary line in the sand and should be cut a break. Somebody needs to honestly sit down and think about rule 42 in the context of what's fun about just sailing specific boats (ie not just racing) where the rule has become a problem. * From Dave Carroll: Strain gage load cells, measuring only a single component such as on a dingy shroud, could be easily made and placed on an adjuster or on the forged eye of the shroud. The real problem is wetness, robust wiring, and the readout device in the hectic environment of a racing dingy or yacht. * From Tim Dick (edited to our 250-word limit): I concur with Sailing World editor Stuart Streuli on the World Sailing League. I would add one additional dimension: the velocities and limited maneuverability of 70’ cats mean they can effectively only sail in the ocean. (Likely only a relatively calm ocean.) They would be too fast for a fleet to boomerang around Sydney or San Francisco Bays – arguably the most spectator friendly sailing amphitheatres in the world. They would likely have to sail outside, into the ocean and filmed by helicopter with no spectators vs. NASCAR and F1 with a hundred thousand spectators per event tailgating and up-close. The best sailors will need to be paid well to be lured away from existing opportunities. Add the cost to ship these monsters from venue to venue. They will not fit on container vessels, they are likely getting disassembled and airlifted at $200,000 per lift x 10 teams x 10 races = $20 million dollars. So I suggest a 70’ cat + team would not cost less than $10 million to operate for a year. I agree with the concept of 40-50’ high-tech. monohulls with 25 knot capability (canting keel or winged skiffs) sailed in human friendly arenas. The racing would be better, venues more numerous and better, shipping costs smaller, spectator impact and revenue higher, TV production costs lower and impact higher. Hold spectacular over-funded up-close-n-personal events with real rock stars that host lots of spectators and have killer close-action TV. Don’t go for broke and then actually go broke. * From Marc Fountain: A Modest Proposal - Letters from Ari Barshi, Jim Linskey, and Dick Enersen beautifully frame the difference between Corinthian sailing and the new generation of 'anything goes, the rules don't matter unless you get caught'. Clearly there is an increasing group in the sport that registers satisfaction for a win on the course no matter what rules they ignored- ‘rules are for losers etc. The culture of rules observation varies greatly among fleets. If you sail a Laser at the top level, it’s unlikely that you can place if you actually follow the rules (Barshi explains exactly why). If you sail a Knarr, you probably respect your competitors, consider them friends and peers, and wouldn’t want them to think you had ever touched a mark in your entire life. Laser sailing (particularly) and sailing in other fleets where the culture easily allows rule-breaking - is a simply a different sport than Corinthian sailing. Those who want to race in a Corinthian environment and don’t find it, eventually leave for another fleet or (multiple fleets and then mainly a golf cart.) Proposal: How about we add a selection option in the race entry form asking skippers to select scoring by the race committee using the ‘Open’ system (anything goes, no rules, just go for it) or the ‘Corinthian’ system (we agree to observe the rules, self policing) and separately score the fleets on that basis? Do you want to win the “Open Series” or would you rather win the “Corinthian Series?” * From Hal Smith: The commonness of cheating in sailing reflects our current society. It is trite to say that sports is a metaphor for life, but it could not be more true in this case. In other sports, we see winners using performance enhancing drugs and being praised. In business, a handshake no longer means anything except that you might pick up a flu germ. In court, truth and justice have been displaced by brilliant lawyers who win with presentation rather than substance while the judge yawns. We are nostalgic for honor and dignity. I believe there is a part of our spirit that knows right from wrong and prefers to stand for right. If we try really hard, maybe we can preserve integrity in competitive sailing, because there are no financial incentives for winning. Discussions like this will help support all us who value our little niche in the world where an honorable reputation can mean more than a trophy that soon tarnishes. * From Bruce Campbell: In regards to the thread on cheating/not cheating, do you retire?, etc. I suggest that if you want to know the value of a win at any cost, simply come to the bar after a race. The guy that has his friends buying is the guy who did it right. If you don't have mates to drink with (especially at their expense), no trophy has much meaning. Does it? If you need a trophy bad enough to cheat for it, simply do it. Don't take up golf, which is another sport that is self policing, just go away. But buy me a round before you go! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Sign in a restroom: Friends don't let friends take home ugly girls. Special thanks to Team One Newport and North U. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
