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SCUTTLEBUTT 3146 - Monday, August 2, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: APS, Kaenon Polarized, and The Vineyard Race. SHUURMANS & STRAMMER NEW US SINGLEHANDED CHAMPIONS Pensacola, FL (August 1, 2010) - The weather held up on Sunday for great racing on Pensacola Bay for the finale of the 2010 U.S. Singlehanded Championships (USSC), hosted by the Pensacola Yacht Club. The men's and women's divisions completed two more races today, which proved to be just enough for Leonie Shuurmans (Houston, Texas) to complete her come-from-behind win in the women's Radial fleet. Fred Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) remained on track today to seal the win comfortably in the men's Laser division. Shuurmans dominated most of the racing this weekend. She won four of the seven races and posted second and third place finishes today to overtake Sarah Stubbs (Rye, N.Y.) in the standings. Despite controlling most of the action, Shuurmans had to battle her way back into the lead following a 12th place finish in race three on Friday. "I couldn't make any more mistakes after race three," explained Shuurmans. "I worked as hard as I could to catch up, and kept an eye on Sarah at all times." Shuurmans mentioned she is looking forward to competing in this event next year. This year marked the first time a women's division was included in the USSC. -- Full story: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2010_USSC__D3.htm RIVALS COLLIDE - GROUPAMA CREW LEAP TO SAFETY Cowes, England (August 1, 2010) - There was plenty of dramatic action on day two of the Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes Week today. With 18-20 knots of breeze, gusting over 20 at times, the nine teams were racing right on the edge, demanding 100% concentration and a constant rush of adrenalin for both the sailors and the spectators from the near capsizes, near misses and some not so near misses... In race 11 (the fourth inshore race of today), approaching the windward mark Yann Guichard's Groupe Edmond de Rothschild hit Franck Cammas' Groupama 40 wiping out both rudders, leaving Groupama with no steerage whatsoever. Groupama 40 were heading straight for the shore at speed and for safety the crew leapt into the water to avoid the impact of hitting the rocks - deciding they would prefer getting wet than being thrown forward on the boat and potentially injuring themselves. Groupama 40 has sustained both rudder and daggerboard damage and it will be a long night for the shore team to get them back racing tomorrow. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild has lodged a protest which the jury will hear and award redress if relevant. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/298pc4e THE PERFORMANCE SAILOR'S HELP LINE Ever notice how Kaenon, Sailing Angles, Camet and others mention that their great products are available at APS? That should be of no surprise. APS, "The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors" stocks these brands and everything else sailors need. We're not just foulies, not just hardware, and not just rigging. Smocks to blocks, APS is the most comprehensive performance sailing store yet. So when sourcing the gear you need is a bigger drag than going shrimping with your kite, call the sailor's helpline at 800-729-9767. At APS we stock it all and we're all sailors here to help. http://www.APSLTD.com DEVOS REIGNS SURPREME AT MELGES 32 US NATIONALS Harbor Springs, MI (August 1, 2010) - After two days of canceled racing due to no wind, Friday's results of the Melges 32 US Nationals stand as final for the series. A total of five U.S. National Championship heats were completed. By end of day Friday, Ryan DeVos aboard Volpe remained firmly in the overall lead with a whopping 16 point margin. John Kilroy, Jr (Los Angeles, Calif.) on Samba Pa Ti was in second, ahead by two over John Porter (Winnetka, Ill.) on Full Throttle in third. Needless to say it was a very interesting day. Teams arrived on the course to sunshine, warm temps, flat water and light air conditions. Racing commenced on time, with the breeze barely making the class minimum of 5 knots. DeVos managed to sail his own race, holding off Kilroy, Porter, Jason Carroll (New York, N.Y) on Argo, and Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) on STAR to win. The shifts were all over the place, making it extremely difficult to stay in the breeze. Race one began as a 1.0nm beat. As the race unfolded, what breeze was present slowly but surely disappeared. PRO Bruce Golison made a smart call to shorten the course to 0.8nm for the last run with the breeze practically going to nothing for the finish. Immediately the fleet went into postponement. Golison called the fleet back out onto the course around 3:00 o'clock. An hour later, the final warning signal of the day gave way to yet another victory for DeVos. A nice 6-8 knots of breeze at the start enabled him to remain in the hunt behind new boat owner Steve Howe (San Deigo, Calif.) on Warpath. -- Read on: http://www.melges32.com/?p=news&id=648 HUNGER STRIKES AGAIN IN LIGHT WINDS AT 505 WORLDS Aarhus, Denmark (August 1, 2010) - Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner have tightened their grip on the SAP 505 World Championships with a 1st and 2nd place in two light air races in Aarhus, Denmark. At the half-way stage of the regatta the Germans hold a 7 point lead over Jorgen and Jacob Bojsen-Møller, the Danish brothers, with Great Britain's Ian Pinnell and Ian Mitchell a further 3 points back in 3rd overall. After the strong winds of day 1, the moderate breeze of day 2, and the lighter breezes of today, the 126-strong fleet has now been tested in all conditions except a complete drifter. Hunger and Kleiner have won a race every day, proving themselves equally comfortable in all winds. "We changed to our fuller mainsail today and we felt fast," said Hunger, "faster than we have felt before." Competitors have commented on the German team's strength on the off-wind legs, which Hunger attributes to good crew work from Kleiner. "He is light, 84kg, so he gets out on the trapeze early and it makes us fast downwind. Then again, I am not that light, 78kg, which probably makes me one of the heaviest helmsmen in the top 10." Americans Howard Hamlin and Andy Zinn are in 4th place after race 5, and the team of Edward Conrads and Brian Haines sit in 10th overall. -- Full story: http://www.505sapworldchampionship2010.com/ TEAM AQUA RULES AT RC 44 VALENCIA CUP Valencia, Spain (1 August 2010) - Chris Bake's Team Aqua pulled an enviable treble by winning the match racing, fleet racing and overall championship at the RC 44 Valencia Cup. Bake, a Canadian living in the U.A.E., and crew Cameron Appleton, Jeff Brock, Matt Cassidy, Andrew Estcourt, Ben Graham, Nigel King, Rome Kirby and Chris Noble completed the feat today with a 3-point win in the fleet racing portion of the regatta. Team Aqua entered the final day with a 4-point lead over Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis of Sweden. After today's first race Artemis looked set to shoot into first when it whittled that lead to 2 points by placing third in Race 9 to Aqua's fifth. "We were 45 seconds late off the line in that race," said Bake, who described his team as "boxed out and going backwards when the start gun fired. Aqua had been shut out by No Way Back at the committee boat end of the line. Bake and crew, however, got a much better start in the 10th and final race, and then covered Artemis like a blanket to secure the clean sweep with a three-boatlength win. -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2505 RC 44 VALENCIA CUP OVERALL (Final results, match racing, fleet racing, overall) 1. Team Aqua / Chris Bake (UAE) 2 points 2. Artemis / Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE) 4 points 3. 17 / James Spithill (USA) 8 points 4. BMW ORACLE Racing / Larry Ellison (USA) 8 points 5. No Way Back / Pieter Heerema (NED) 11 points 6. Katusha / Guennadi Timtchenko (RUS) 12 points 7. Team Sea Dubai / Harm Mueller-Speer (UAE) 12 points 8. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero / Daniel Calero (ESP) 16 points 9. Ceeref / Igor Lah (SLO) 17 points 10. AEZ RC44 Sailing Team / Rene Mangold (AUT) 21 points 11. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team / Vincenzo Onorato (ITA) 21 points RC 44 2010 SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP (After four of six regattas, one discard) 1. BMW ORACLE Racing, 6 points 2. Team Aqua, 7 points 3. Artemis, 7 points 4. No Way Back, 7 points 5. 17, 11 points 6. Team Sea Dubai, 13 points 7. Katusha, 17 points 8. Ceeref, 19 points 9. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, 24 points 10. AEZ RC 44 Sailing Team, 28 points 11. Mascalzone Latino, 34 points LADIES, SAILING WORLD SAYS . . . "Over the past few years, I've become a major Kaenon fan. I believe they make the best polarized lens for sailing, period. I took the (new women's specific) Soft Kore sunglass for a test run during our weekly PHRF racing on Narragansett Bay. They stayed fog-free and allowed me to see the puffs just as well as the Kaenon UPDs I normally wear. The frames were extremely lightweight, and had a snug fit on the head. Overall, ladies, if you're looking for a new pair of performance sailing glasses, consider the Soft Kores. They're unlike any sunglasses I've ever worn - which is a good thing!" Read the entire review at http://www.sailingworld.com/gear/soft-core-sunglasses-by-kaenon. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. http://www.kaenon.com PAC CUP CORRECTS PERFORMANCE & ADDS NAVIGATOR AWARD Kanoehe, Hawaii (July 29, 2010) - While the fleet returns to mainland, Pac Cup Race Officials have done some recalculating, correcting the Performance Trophy and including an additional Navigator Award. Latitude 38 Trophy to Horizon: An overlooked section of the Sailing Instructions has caused a recalculation in the Performance Trophy sponsored by Latitude 38 Magazine. The trophy, intended to recognize the degree to which a division winner outpaced its division overall, is awarded based on a statistical measure known as a "Standard Deviation." Pac Cup SIs require dropping the bottom 20% of finishers from the calculation, as these are often victims of gear breakdown and other non-performance issues, but the initial calculation did not. When calculated in accordance with our own instructions, Horizon came out as the boat that had beat its division by the greatest percentage of its own fleet's standard deviation. Sweet Okole, the originally-announced winner had certainly performed well, but the change in boats in the calculation drove a different mathematical result. Honors to Navigator: For many years, Pacific Cup has awarded a navigation award to the navigator who shows skill in traditional navigation - use of a sextant and chronometer to calculate position, coupled with the use of a paper log to calculate a successful course. As the use of sextants has dwindled to virtually nothing in recent races, the board and committees of PCYC looked to different criteria and announced the award to Pegasus in recognition of contributions generally to the science and technology of navigation. Numerous racers suggested, however, that a Navigator's award should recognize a course navigated, presumably to success. The trophy committee re-examined the issue and concluded that such a point had merit. A Navigator's Award has been made to Jon Shampain, of Horizon, for his meticulous work in specifying a course in wildly unusual weather conditions that took his boat to victory. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/24eazvr SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Portsmouth, RI (July 30, 2010) - US SAILING will crown champions representing four classes at one of the most premiere junior sailing events in the country next week in San Pedro, Calif. The US Youth Sailing Championships (USYSC), hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, begins on Monday, August 2 and runs through Wednesday, August 4. A total 91 boats and 137 junior sailors will race Lasers, Laser Radials, C420s, and 29ers in the Port of Los Angeles for three highly competitive days of racing. -- Full story: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/USYSC_Preview.htm * LaSalle, MI (July 29, 2010) - _A post-frontal high pressure parked over the Western Lake Erie basin on Friday for 101 competitors in the Thistle National Championship. Mike Ingham started the event with 3 straight bullets and maintained a consistent scoreline to win the 2010 Championship. Greg Griffin (Jacksonville, FL) won the final race of the event to move ahead of Greg Fisher (Annapolis, MD) for 2nd place. -- Results at: http://tinyurl.com/36xhqeg * July 31, 2010 - Singapore sailors Justin Liu (19) and Sherman Cheng (18) have become the first Asian sailors to win the 2010 International 420 World Championship in Haifa, Israel. The Singaporean pair came in third in the 6-race qualifying series behind Greece and France to qualify in the Gold fleet, and have been maintaining the lead in the final series since Wednesday. They finished the 11-race final series on top with a total of 36 points, 19 points ahead of their closest competitors, Italians Francesco Falcetelli and Gabriele Franciolini. -- Full story: http://www.sailing.org.sg/news/10/067/index.php * Portsmouth, RI (July 28, 2010) - US SAILING and the U.S. Coast Guard have strengthened their partnership in support of US SAILING's Small Powerboat Handling program. The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded US SAILING with a significant one-year Drivers Education for Boaters(tm) grant. These funds will be used to increase retention and acceptance of safe boating practices, expand on-the-water training capacity, ensure sustainable powerboat training facilities, reduce accidents, and create effective marketing and branding tools. -- Read on: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/USCG_Grant.htm * Washington DC (July 30, 2010) - The Senate on Thursday postponed a plan to create a $30 billion loan fund for small businesses, delaying final passage until September at the earliest, according to a report in the Washington Post. The bill is strongly supported by both the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Marine Retailers Association of America. -- Full story: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2579581 * CORRECTION: In Scuttlebutt 3145, the link for the French Junior O'pen BIC Championship was not correct. Here is a better link: http://tinyurl.com/2el6yge MAKE THE VINEYARD RACE PART OF YOUR LABOR DAY WEEKEND Take part in this East Coast classic, presented by Thomson Reuters and hosted by Stamford Yacht Club. Three courses to choose from; cruising division; multihull division; race tracking and post-race arrival party. Join Dawn Riley at our skippers meeting. Start date: Sept. 3rd. Register today at http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=336 LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 John Jourdane (re, Eight Bells: Mike Doyle): I first met Mike Doyle in the early 1970s, when he surveyed a boat I was buying. He has been a friend since, and someone we could always count on for help in any marine matter. He will be missed by the whole Hawaii boating community. Aloha, Mike. * From Bill Reilly: Excuse me if I'm being naive, but why is it so important to make the America's Cup more TV friendly? As far as I can see it's all about greed and making money, at the expense of ruining the sailing. Who cares about making sailing more appealing to non-sailors? Let non-sailors watch auto racing. BOR should be more concerned about making the AC a better regatta for the competitors, NOT the TV viewers. They have their priorities all wrong. It's starting to sound like Alinghi again... * From Steve Rudner (re, Scuttlebutt 3145): The most exciting monohulls to watch in a race in good wind are planing trapeze centerboarders such as the 49er, 505, & Australian 18 footer etc. How about adding trapeze into the mix? The crew work is much more exciting to watch and the potential for disaster of a capsize might make it even more interesting but not so much of a disaster as a capsized catamaran as self recovery is possible. Limit the length to 30 feet or so with max beam of 8 feet not including hiking racks and maximum crew of 5 to save cost. Permit foils too. Imagine the excitement of a pair of foiling trapeze machines zooming around the course in 15 to 20 knots of breeze. Lots of work for the designers, lots of payback for athleticism and it doesn't give any country a leg up as no such boats exist. * From David King (re, Scuttlebutt 3144): With all due respect, it is much more than 10 or 12 year olds racing against each other. USODA has been sending teams to the IODA worlds and other International IODA events for over 40 years. Things have not really changed. Selection trials have always been held, the top finishers make the Worlds team, the parents work together to plan the travel and logistics, the parents work as a team to support the sailors and coaches by sharing shore duties, everyone takes a turn to make it all happen. It is not a new "more expensive game for our children to play at the top end". It has always been the top end. The kids get great friendships, see foreign countries, learn to deal with international travel and communication. For some of the kids it is the highest they will reach in their sailing careers, for others it is only the beginning because they have their sights set on the top step of an Olympic podium. Every kid that makes an International Team shares a sense of great national pride to be able represent this great nation. This isn't keeping kids from enjoying sailing, it lets them enjoy more than just the sailing. I, as well as my dad, brother, sister and my 4 kids share the enjoyment of sailing, all because we started out at a local club in an Opti. If you want to encourage kids to sail, take them sailing. It really is that easy. And, thank you to Dave Perry for all you have done and continue to do. He was helping at junior events I attended in the early `80's. * From Dean Lennox, Lake Hopatcong, NJ (re, Scuttlebutt 3145): After reading that 70% of your readers voted for monohulls, I looked at your photos of the week: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0730/ Only one of them illustrated the kind of excitement that most viewers are looking for in a broadcast of a sailboat race. The others were nice too, but more like only showing recordings of "The Deadliest Catch" that were recorded on dead-calm days. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Even paranoids have enemies. Special thanks to APS, Kaenon Polarized, and The Vineyard Race. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
