|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1838 - May 13, 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. 2004 ONE-DESIGN SURVEY ANALYSIS It's been some years since we've done a Sailing World survey of one-design class membership and we enjoyed doing it last year as a collaboration between SW and US Sailing (see methodology notes that follow). We intend to continue the survey annually and welcome input, errata notes, etc. We weren't surprised to see that the biggest classes on this continent are the Laser and the Optimist classes. These two classes are sailed in nearly every racing area, and in the case of the Laser, both by youth and adults. Note that as a single design, the Optimist ranks as the biggest class because the Laser class numbers include those who sail Laser Radials, and Laser 4.7s. These are followed by the Lightning, Thistle, and Flying Scot-big, traditional centerboarders. The top 10 are rounded out by other familiar names including the Sunfish, J/24, Club 420, and Hobie Class. Also included is the Catalina 30, which along with the Nonsuch association (#12), shows the strength of big-boat cruiser/racer associations. Two classes stand out for absolute growth: the Club 420 and the J/105. The first represents the strength of the youth market, complementing and repeating the success in the late '80s and early '90s of the Optimist Dinghy Association. Both, it should be added, are proportionately under-representative of the larger numbers of youth sailing those boats, since only the top youth in each class typically join their association. The J/105 represents the strength of keelboat racing in bigger boats. It's a relatively modern boat with its asymmetric spinnaker, doesn't require too many crew, and isn't extreme on the performance curve. Mainstream classes such as the J/24, Lightning, Snipe, Thistle and Flying Scot have suffered losses since '97, but several of them have worked harder to promote membership in the last couple years and may be regaining some ground. The gross numbers of the surveys are affected most by manufacturer classes that at one time offered class membership free with the purchase of a boat-and kept people on the class rolls for years-yet more recently have required dues paid by individuals. The North American Hobie Class Association is the primary case in point, optimistically reporting 12,000-plus members in the '90s and now reporting 900 members across the Hobie 16, 17, and other classes under its umbrella. To a much smaller extent, the J/22 and the Byte have lost size due to this shift. The Corsair classes, on the other hand, may be showing extra strength due to renewed manufacturer support. - John Burnham, Sailing World magazine, full story: www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=36916&typeID=419&catID=0 GETTING READY FOR THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE (The Bang the Corner website interviewed Bowie Bekking, skipper of the Volvo 70 Telefonica Movista during the team's recent stopover in Brazil. Following are excerpts from that interview.) Bang the Corner: Will you be competing in the Rolex Fastnet - that will probably be the first time you will come up against the other Volvo 70s? Bekking: Yes, Movistar will be competing in the Fastnet, as for racing against the competition, I am never afraid of showing the competition what we can do and how we have achieved it, I hope that all of the Volvo 70s will be there as well and that we can have a really good work out, we will probably not go into Plymouth after the race though, the plan is to sail through the finish and carry on straight back to our base in Galicia. Bang the Corner: How are the all Kevlar sails holding up and do you think that you could push the boat too hard, after all there is no two boat testing like the previous race? Bekking: We are using North 3DL finished at the loft in Northern Spain (Pinta), they also produced sails for Alinghi in the AC, They are holding up very nicely but we will be using a different set of sails for the Atlantic training as the conditions should be far lighter. We are pushing Movistar hard, very close to her full potential, the thought behind this is that if things are going to break we would rather that happen now than in the actual race and we are modifying her all the time, once we get to the start line we will have really perfected the deck layout and done as much as possible to make sure she is in great shape to race around the world without gear failure. - The complete interview is www.bangthecorner.com/default.asp?m=da&id=13365 ALL ABOUT FUN The fifteen-boat Charleston to Bermuda Race which starts on Saturday is so serious about fun that they have mandated in the rules that if the sailing is too slow, and no one (with a positive rating) has finished by Thursday, May 19 at midnight, everyone can turn on their engines and head for Bermuda. This highly unusual rule will allow all racers to make it to Bermuda for the festivities planned at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club over the weekend. Racers will mark their position on the race course and the race committee will calculate the finishing rank by their distance to the finish line. In the 2003 race, when only 2 boats officially finished the race as fourteen more were bashing into heavy weather and turbulent seas in a Northeasterly wind. - www.charlestontobermuda.org KAENON POLARIZED. THE 2005 COLLECTION. Patented and proprietary SR-91 lens technology is what powers Kaenon Polarized. The 2005 collection offers style, performance and frame design for any speed. Enjoy Kaenon's coveted SR-91 polarized lens in our fresh, innovative rimless metal, the Variant Series. Or the new stylish, mid-size, go-anywhere Beacon. New colors in the popular Rhino and UPD. Or race hard in the Kore. And all frames are Rx adaptable in SR-91 lens technology - another innovation by Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. For more information, a peek at the entire line and locate a dealer near you at http://www.kaenon.com SWEDISH MATCH TOUR Langenargen, Germany - In glorious conditions today on Lake Constance in southwest Germany, 18 match races were held on the opening day of the 8th annual Match Race Germany, Stage 6 of the Swedish Match Tour 2004-'05 season. The winds ranged from the southwest to the northeast and varied in strength between 5 and 12 knots, and there was abundant sunshine for the 12 crews competing in the event with stunning views of the Swiss and Austrian Alps, which tower over the lake. Group A began the day with three flights and Group B completed it also with three flights. Denmark's Jesper Bank, the skipper of Germany's first-ever America's Cup challenge United Internet Team Germany, streaked to a 3-0 lead in Group A. Another skipper who faired well in Group A was Ian Williams (GBR). Competing in his first Swedish Match Tour event, Williams finished 2-1 and is tied for second in the Group A standings. - Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com Round Robin Standings: Group A (After 3/5 Flights) 1. Jesper Bank (DEN), 3-0 2. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 2-1 3. Ian Williams (GBR), 2-1 4. Ed Baird (USA), 1-2 5. Ian Ainslie (RSA), 1-2 6. Jan Eike Andresen (GER), 0-3 Group B (After 3/5 Flights) 1. Ben Ainslie (GBR), 2-1 T. Peter Gilmour (AUS), 2-1 T. Sten Mohr (DEN), 2-1 T. Bertrand Pacé (FRA), 2-1 5. Sébastian Col (FRA), 1-2 6. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 0-3 PROFESSIONAL SAILING On Sunday 22 May at 1330 GMT, seven crews will set off on their Open 60 foot monohulls for the 1850 miles dash around the British Isles for the second edition of the Calais Round Britain Race. In 2003, Vincent Riou (PRB) and his four crew took victory after 9 days 9 hours and 48 minutes of racing. This year, Riou will be the race patron with a daily column on the Internet site www.calaisroundbritainrace.com . With less than a fortnight to the start of the Calais Round Britain Race, the list of participants is in the process of being finalised and the crews practically formed. Alongside Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec), Mike Golding (Ecover), Roland Jourdain (Sill et Veolia), Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle), Emma Richards (Pindar Alphagraphics) and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat), a seventh competitor now enriches the list of participants. Young architect Jean Baptiste Dejeanty is just starting out in the Open 60 footer class aboard a custom-built boat that is designed in part by his own hands. As in 2003, the boats in the Calais Round Britain Race will be raced with five crew members. To compose their crew, the skippers have called upon the services of some top quality sailors. Figaro sailors, round the world mariners, high-speed record men, ocean-racing specialists and former America's Cup sailors will all battle it out for victory aboard the Open 60 footers. - www.calaisroundbritainrace.com/ THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX US Sailing recently awarded its Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal to two boats who came to the rescue of a sailor who was stricken by hypothermia in cold water. Without the muscle power available on board the rescue boats to lift the tired sailor, the rescuers made a snap decision to tow the injured sailor in the water to the beach. This innovative technique worked and the sailor's life was saved. Read more: www.ussailing.org/safety/Rescues/4_4_04_dsc.htm NEWS BRIEFS * Louis Vuitton has joined the International Yacht Restoration School of Newport as sponsors of the IYRS Classic Yacht Cruise and Summer Gala. Now in its sixth year, the Classic Yacht Cruise (CYC) draws a fleet of historic yachts, some launched as early as a hundred years ago. The fleet convenes in Nantucket on July 10. Their final destination is Newport, where cruisers will sail to the IYRS docks to attend the school's Summer Gala on July 15. The Gala is held annually to raise funds for IYRS, a school and center for maritime restoration. - www.iyrs.org * Junior women sailors from across the country have until June 1 to register for one of sailing's top junior women events in the country, the 2005 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship for the Nancy Leiter Clagett Memorial Trophy. This Championship is a qualifier for the 2006 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Weymouth, England, and is open to girls who do not turn 19 during 2005. California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, Calif., is hosting this year's Championship, which will be preceded by a clinic. www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/usjrw/single * Thirteen boats have already entered the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's (UK) Quarter Ton Cup. The racing will be run under IRC in order to accommodate yachts in their current format. All yachts built to the Quarter Ton Rule and with a current IRC certificate are eligible to compete in the June 14 - 17 regatta. Entries to date include two former Quarter Ton Cup winners in the shape of 1975 champion "45 South", to be skippered by Laurent Beavrin of France, and "Manzanita", which won the 1977 Cup in Helsinki. - www.rcyc.co.uk * Twelve days out of Cape Town and the Global Challenge fleet is 4500 miles from Boston - making good progress under spinnaker. The south-easterly trades that are powering them along have been relatively kind and consistent thus far. VAIO now holds a 15 mile lead over BG Spirit with Me To You in third place - 19 miles behind the leader. www.globalchallenge2004.com/en * 62 teams from 16 nations have entered the Star Class Eastern Hemisphere Championship organised by the 80-year-old Thunersee Yacht Club (TYC), one of the most active sailing clubs in Switzerland. Surrounded by alpine mountains, the Lake of Thoune offers stable, mostly thermics-driven winds of 3 - 4 Bft, and is considered one of the best sailing venues in the country. Championship races will start on Monday, May 16th. Six races are on the program; latest start possibility is on Saturday, May 21st. - www.star-euro.ch/ YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY MOUNT GAY RUM HATS!!! And of course you can't have enough gear from the new line of Mount Gay Rum apparel (and more) offered by Lands' End Business Outfitters. Call 800-490-6402 to place an order or request a Mount Gay Rum catalog to check out the gear you will want when on the boat or when you are having a Mount Gay Rum drink at the bar. Apparel for the boat and beyond!! Genuine moments, genuine rum and now genuine gear! Look for the calendar of Mount Gay Rum sponsored regattas at http://www.mountgay.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 Amy Gross-Kehoe, Director of Sailing, Stanford University ( edited to our 250-word limit): At Opti Team Trials, we designate "girls" in the fleet because most of the international regattas have berths specifically designated for "girls" or "opposite gender" (which can mean boys!). #2- Optis in California - as a 12 year veteran USODA National Team Coach who moved out to Cali in '01 to run the sailing programs at Stanford University, I have a unique perspective on the Opti vs. Sabot debate. In NorCal, the Opti is turning out to be a great boat for our windier, wavier conditions. Hopefully, being able to sail year-round in all conditions will open up sailing to more kids up here. The Naples Sabot is great, competitive, strong and steeped in tradition; SoCal should not change a thing. Keep in mind, many SoCal standouts have sailed Opti events to augment their training (Andrew Campbell, Mikee Anderson-Mitterling, I know, I coached them). If the Sabot is so great, and the California high school sailing is so great, why are we losing those kids when it comes to West Coast college sailing? A few California kids go East, yet many more are at West Coast colleges not sailing. Evidenced by the demise of the San Diego State program which sold off its boats this year. If you look through the ICSA team rosters, you will see far more former Opti sailors than former Sabot sailors. For a boat that is often accused of over-playing competition, I believe we may be building more life-long sailors in the Opti Class. * From Gregory Dair: I just returned to Southern California from the Opti Team Trials in Annapolis, and read all the stuff about sabots and opti's. I have US Sabot and an Optimist. I started sailing Opti's since before I can remember. I could handle the boat just fine in the harbor and in Hurricane Gulch, until the wind got above twenty knots, all I had to do was lower the sprit and the wind would dump out the back of the sail a little bit and all I had to do was hike hard and I was fine. At the time I weighed about fifty to sixty pounds and if I was in a sabot in more than 5 knots I would be upside down. At Team Trials I raced in gusts up to 30 knots and loved it. People may argue that since I'm so serious about Opti's I don't have much fun and I will become uninterested in sailing. Well the competiton is more fun, as is traveling the world and I already know I will be a lifelong sailor. So do you and your kids want to sail in ten to thirty boat fleets locally or do you want to sail all over the world in one hundred plus fleets outside of harbors and in the ocean learning to race in some of the biggest most serious fleets in the world and still have tons of fun. I asked my little brother what his favorite thing to do in the whole world is and he said sail Opti's. * From Richard Shulman: Barry Carroll's comments re costs do not jive with reality. Here are the real costs for an IRC endorsed certificate for my 2002 IMX 45 - a stock production boat with a previous IMS certificate. These are not hypothetical - they are actual quoted costs. Currently my racer/cruiser is in cruise mode. I would have to put it in race trim and then do the haul, weighing, etc. For the use of the lift at the boat yard in Naragansett Bay (a yard that I have used for 15 years) and to exchange headstays for the measurement (required to put on the tuff luff) the cost would be $1,300. Then, there would be a charge for the measurer/ scale use - quoted minimum $250. Total real cost to me the owner is minimum of $1,550 plus the costs/hassles of converting to race mode and then back to cruise mode. No thanks. I will wait to see what happens with rules in the next year or so. * From Barry Carroll (In response to Kaplan and Bulman : IRC costs): IRC is a measurement rule, which means actual measurements are needed. That process costs money regardless of which measurement rule one chooses: IOR, IMS, IRC. If one compares the relatively simple measurements required by IRC to a full hull wanding, mast weight and measure, and inclining of IMS, you will find that the measurement cost and associated yard fees are a small fraction. Carroll Marine was involved with over 300 IMS measurements over 20 years, so I have a firm basis of comparisson. Larry's comments would have been more useful if he compared the cost of IMS measurement on his custom 53 foot race boat with IRC. A Baltic 42 with a current IMS certificate only needs flotation, rig, and sail measurement for an endorsed certificate. It does not require out of water measurement or weighing by scale. That is the owner's perogative. The difficult part of measurement is emptying the boat, but almost the same procedure is required by IMS. It is a nuissance, but serious racers understand that it is also an opportunity to get rid of useless weight that accummulates over time. It is one of the least expensive and most effective ways of improving performance, and maintaining ones' boat. IRC is based on measurements, not opinion. It is more demanding than PHRF. It is far less expensive case by case than either IMS or even IOR. * From Barry Auger: Funnily enough there were two KA 6's: a second full sized model of KA 6, fully rigged with spars, standing and some running rigging and winches and the winged keel, was built and put in the plaza in front of the Australian pavillion at Expo 86, held in Vancouver BC. After the fair was over it, like many other things, got sold to somebody who moved it to Victoria. Some time after we found it close to the centre of Victoria's dockside in a cradle and in sad disrepair. For years we kept seeing it around Victoria in various stages of restoration as if it were really a boat and not a dummy (there wasn't anything inside it, just a shell and the keel was all fiberglass) Last time I saw it, someone had cut the transom off and grafted a giant bulb onto the bow! Imagine if anyone had actually tried to put it in the water! * From Ali Soylu (re UK's rule quiz): The UK sailmakers site says "Two America's Cup boats" and does not say if they are match racing or not. So it is very possible that two ACC boats are in a fleet race, rounding marks to port, and racing under the fleet racing rules so the quiz totally makes sense. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you still think there is some good in everybody, you haven't met everybody. |
