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SCUTTLEBUTT 3180 - Monday, September 20, 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: The Pirates Lair and Ocean Racing THE WORD IS "EAGER" By Kimball Livingston, yachting journalist Race fans, professional sailors, would-be challengers for America's Cup, all await a venue decision on the part of the Defenders, Golden Gate Yacht Club and BMW Oracle Racing. All have been given reason to expect the nod to go to San Francisco Bay for a Cup match in 2013, unless the city drops the ball. Which I don't think it will (Note: Kimball lives in SF). And perhaps we don't have much longer to wait, certainly not until the December 30 deadline. Kyri McClellan, America's Cup project manager for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, yesterday (Saturday, Sept. 18th) addressed the press corps gathered at St. Francis Yacht Club for the Rolex Big Boat Series and told them, "I'd be surprised if it takes that long. The team is eager." As eager as everyone else, apparently. The Mayor's office is assembling the details of an ambitious proposal to soon be presented to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which has endorsed the project, in principle, on a vote of 11-0. The project would revitalize the southern waterfront, and frankly, I've never seen an issue for which all the political elements of the city aligned - with a degree of fervor, even. It's unprecedented. The Bay Conservation and Development Commissioners endorsed AC-N-SF unanimously, and the leading environmental organizations are aboard for a plan by which existing, crumbling piers would be rebuilt, with long term leases to allow investors to profit over the long term. Meanwhile, structures to house America's Cup teams and a public interface would be temporary structures, for the life of AC-N-SF. After that, leaseholders would have to begin afresh with environmental and political review of any building or usage they might want to undertake. -- Read on: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=4802 EXCERPT: In case you don't have a chance to click thru to the remainder of Kimball's great report, we didn't want you to miss this critical comment: "And to the inevitable question about what Larry really wants to do, here is my answer. We would not be this far down the road unless Mr. Ellison wanted very much to defend the America's Cup on San Francisco Bay, for any of many reasons. And yes, there are fears of a hangup here and a hangup there, but really now? Is that going to hang up Larry Ellison?" WINGSAIL CATAMARAN UNVEILED The draft rule for the AC72 Class - the wingsail catamaran to be used for the 34th America's Cup - has been made public for feedback before it is finalized. Encapsulating the vision defender BMW Oracle Racing has for the 2013 Match - the best sailors in the world on the fastest boats - the AC72 will be a physically demanding boat capable of top speeds twice the windspeed. The new AC72 class is the first-ever wingsail catamaran class for the America's Cup and the fastest-ever class in the iconic 159-year-old competition. It replaces the ACC monohull class, which was created in 1988 and first raced in 1992 Cup. The new boats will make their racing debut in the 2012 season for the America's Cup World Series ahead of the 34th Match in 2013. AC72 Design Parameters: LOA - 22.0 meters (72 feet) Beam - 14.0 meters (46 feet) Displacement - 5,700 kilograms (12,500 pounds) All-up weight - 7,000 kilograms (15,500 pounds) Wingsail area - 260 square meters (2,800 square feet) Wingsail height - 40 meters (130 feet) Wingsail chord - 8.5 meters (28 feet) Sail trimming - Manual grinders Configuration - Twin-hulled catamaran Crew - 11 Sail trimming - No mechanically powered systems Sail area reduction - Removable top sections/leech elements Appendages - Maximum of 2 rudders, 2 daggerboards Construction - Minimum 600 grams/square-meter outer-skin; High-modulus carbon-fiber permitted in wingsail spar The AC72 is a "box rule" to narrow down the design parameters to ensure boats will be of similar dimensions in order to foster close racing. Hulls and beams will have to be assembled in two days and disassembled in one to allow America's Cup teams to move efficiently between venues. Replaceable "crumple zone" bow and stern cones will allow for quick repair in the cut-and-thrust of racing. -- Details: http://tinyurl.com/AC72-draft-rule "ALEX, I'LL TAKE REGATTA APPAREL FOR A THOUSAND" Q: Mount Gay Rum, NOOD, Latitude 38, and US Sailing. A: Who trusts their regatta design and apparel printing to The Pirates Lair? Winner, Winner, Winner! Contact The Pirates Lair at ken@pirateslair.com or call 888-724-5286 AMERICA'S CUP REJUVENATION CONTINUES The fanfares promising a spectacular future for the America's Cup have been followed by two key appointments, one Australian, one British, to run not only the Cup but all of its associated events. Designer and former competitor Iain Murray, known widely simply as 'the big man' will be the Regatta Director and CEO of what is claimed to be the independent America's Cup Race Management and his Chief Operating Officer will be Andy Hindley. Right at the top of his jobs to do list will be ensuring that the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) build up regattas and venues are an instant success. There had been a rather eerie silence following the unveiling of the 'new era' for the Cup as potential challengers digested the implications of the blueprint for AC34, to be staged sometime in 2013 somewhere yet to be announced. The choice of 72-foot catamarans came as no surprise and it was widely known that the cup holder BMW Oracle had long established a boat building facility north of Auckland which will now build the interim 45-foot catamaran to be used at three ACWS regattas next year and then for a Youth America's Cup from 2012. Of more concern is that the total number of ACWS regattas, compulsory for challenging teams, has been cut to three in 2011 and three in 2013, the first in July, with a full programme of seven scheduled for 2012. No venues have been announced, making presentations to potential sponsors more difficult, nor is the structure of the challenger elimination series yet decided as this, says BMW Oracle CEO Russell Coutts, is a matter for the challengers themselves to decide. -- Stuart Alexander, The Independent, read on: http://tinyurl.com/The-Independent-091910 Murray/Hindley bios: http://tinyurl.com/Murray-Hindley-bios NOT NORMALLY LIKE THIS San Francisco, CA (September 19, 2010) - As San Francisco awaits the verdict on whether or not the next America's Cup will be held on its shores, the St. Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series, in its 46th year, has been reminding the sailing world why the city's namesake bay is the perfect arena for world-class racing. Today's "Bay Tour" race sent 98 teams on a picturesque circuit around San Francisco Bay. It included legs that featured Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge as iconic backdrops and a downwind finish set directly in front of St. Francis Yacht Club, which allowed a parade of spinnakers to pass within shouting distance of the seawall. This was the fourth and final day of the event, which has become a hallmark of racing excellence and awarded perpetual trophies as well as Rolex Oyster Perpetual Stainless Steel Submariners to winners in six of the nine classes competing. "People come from all over the world to sail in this event, because it's one of the most challenging sailing venues on the planet," said Event Chairman Norman Davant. High winds prevailed on day one but dwindled progressively over subsequent days. Thankfully, so dwindled heavy fog, but its benefit was that it added great drama to the racing. "We sailed in fog like I've never sailed in for 25 years here," said Norman Davant, the event's chairman who also served as tactician aboard Jim Mitchell's (Zurich, Switzerland) winning Vincitore in IRC A, "and there were weather systems that don't normally happen at this time of year. A lot of local-knowledge guys were scratching their heads, but it just added to the technical challenges that inspire the top people in our sport to show up and race here." -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10539#10539 LASER MASTERS WORLDS Hayling Island, England (September 19, 2010) - Moderate to fresh winds and some well proportioned waves to surf down provided an outstanding final day of racing at the Laser Masters World Championships, where the 350 boats were split between the Laser Standard and Laser Radial and then into fleet based on age groups: the 'Apprentices' - 35-44 year olds, Masters - 45-54 year olds, Grand Masters - 55-65 years and for the Radials the Great Grand Masters (65+). While New Zealand's Scott Leith had the Laser Radial Apprentice title sewn up yesterday (Saturday), perhaps the hardest class, being the biggest at this Championship was the Laser Standard Masters where the USA's Scott Ferguson clinching honours with a race to spare. His final tally of 15 points puts him 21 ahead of the Netherland's Arnoud Hummel, in turn just a point ahead of 1984 Olympic Finn silver medallist, American John Bertrand. Ferguson, who heralds from Rhode Island where his company designs masts for leading America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race boats, was the defending champion in the class following on from his victory in hurricane-swept Halifax last year. Scott Ferguson (USA), Laser Standard Master fleet winner: "I don't sail a lot - with work my time is limited, but there is another guy in the top 10, Peter Shope and he is from Portsmouth near to where I live and we hooked up. He has got seriously into the Laser so we did some training together. The downwind is huge - you can hang in upwind and if you can do the same or faster downwind you are going to be in good shape. We did some runs from Point Judith, 10 miles south west of Newport. We'd drive the boats up there and do a full downwind. It was good." Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Laser-World-Masters-091910 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/World-Masters-Results-2010 IT'S ABOUT TIME Optimum Time sailing watches feature large digital displays, pre-programmed ISAF start sequences, synchronization to the next gun, are waterproof and shock-resistant. Ocean Racing's waterproof Offshore Duffel and Backpack utilize heavy-duty waterproof material, waterproof zippers and have seams that are sewn, taped and RF welded so your stuff stays dry. http://www.OceanRacing.com HURRICANE UPDATE Hurricane Igor is approaching Bermuda, and is expected to pass just west of the island this (Sunday) evening. As of 5 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday, the center of Igor was about 85 miles southwest of Bermuda. Igor's top winds are near 80 miles per hour, and extend up to 90 miles from the center, with tropical storm force winds up to 345 miles away from the center. Weather conditions will continue to deteriorate across Bermuda this evening, with hurricane conditions already impacting the island and expected to continue through the overnight hours tonight. Heavy rain is expected in Bermuda, with rainfall amounts between six to nine inches expected. A dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will pound the southern coast. Large swells and dangerous rip currents are expected to impact the East Coast of the United States through early week. Swells will gradually subside in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and the Bahamas over the next few days. Complete report: http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/ VIDEO: An enormous amount of work is needed to adequately prepare for a hurricane. This video provides a look at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club in Bermuda as they readied themselves for Hurricane Igor's arrival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsW9Fd44QE8&hd=1 HIS UNCOMPLICATED WAY TO STAY ON THE EDGE Dodge Morgan, 78, a self-made millionaire who braved fierce winds and endured profound loneliness to become the first American to sail single-handedly around the world without stopping, died Sept. 14 of complications from surgery for cancer at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Mr. Morgan was the fourth person in history to complete a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. Piloting a 60-foot custom-built boat, he had set out to break the world speed record -- 292 days, set in 1971 by Briton Chay Blyth -- and ended up shattering it, arriving in Bermuda to cheering crowds on April 11, 1986, a mere 150 days after departing. Mr. Morgan had been bitten by the idea for a round-the-world voyage decades earlier, when he spent 2 1/2 years wending his way from Maine to Alaska aboard a 36-foot wooden schooner. He maintained his sense of wanderlust even as he returned to dry land, where he started and operated an electronics company in his Massachusetts garage. The business -- producing marine radar equipment and popular Whistler radar detectors for cars -- grew quickly, and Mr. Morgan sold it in 1983 for an estimated $32 million. Suddenly, he had the wherewithal to do whatever he wanted. "Various people in this world have chosen to put themselves close to the edge, either intellectually, or emotionally, or physically,'' Mr. Morgan said in 1985 as he planned his voyage. "This is my way of doing it. It may be an overdone way, but sailing a boat alone is such an uncomplicated way to stay on the edge. I think it allows you to sort out what is important in life. I think there are a lot of over-civilized people out there drinking coffee out of a Wedgwood cup." -- The Washington Post, read on: http://tinyurl.com/TWP-091910 MORE: http://tinyurl.com/Wall-Street-Journal-091910 FOR THE PURE LOVE OF WHAT THEY WERE DOING Newport, RI (September 18, 2010) - With their multihulls and carbon-fiber bodies, the new America's Cup boats are light and lightning fast. But it is their predecessors, the sleek 12-meter yachts used from 1958 to 1987, that warm the hearts of veteran sailors. More than 700 people, including 250 sailors, gathered last week at the waterfront home of the New York Yacht Club for their first reunion, three days of racing and a backward glance at what many call the golden age of sailing. "They're just nice boats and pretty, too," Ted Turner said Wednesday after completing the first day of the three-day 12-Meter North American Championships aboard American Eagle and joining sailors for panels and parties for 80 America's Cup teams of the era in Narragansett Bay. "And I really wanted to see some of my old friends." In 1977, Turner, who founded CNN and is one of the largest landowners in the United States, skippered Courageous to victory in the America's Cup, the most venerated trophy in sailing. The Twelves, as they are better known, exert a romantic pull on those who sail them. The sloops were the America's Cup boat for 29 years and represent a largely bygone era in sailing, a time before million-dollar crew payrolls, sponsor branding and cellphones. "It was a time in America's Cup competition of Corinthian sailing to the degree that the sailors did not get paid, but at the same time, they represented the very best of sailing," said David Elwell, the commodore of the New York Yacht Club and member of Intrepid in the 1967 Cup race. "People sailed for the pure love of what they were doing. I regrettably see a lot of America's Cup competitors today who sail more for the paycheck." -- NY Times, read on: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/sports/19yachts.html?_r=1 Event details: http://nyyc.org/AC12Mreunions/ SAILING SHORTS * Detroit, MI (September 19, 2010) - Shawn Bennett's team carried over the momentum they gained from defeating three-time U.S. Match Racing Champion Dave Perry in the semifinals yesterday. Sunday morning they upended number one seed Taylor Canfield in the finals. Bennett defeated Canfield convincingly, 3-0 to win his first U.S. Match Racing Championship and the Prince of Wales Bowl. Bennett qualifies to represent the U.S. in the 2011 ISAF Nations Cup. He'll also receive an invitation to race in the 2011 Knickerbocker Cup and 2011 Ficker Cup, Grade 2 events and World Tour Qualifiers. -- Full report: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2010_USMRC_Final_Recap.htm * Chicago, IL (September 19, 2010) - Don Wilson on Convexity never gave up his hold on first place through four days and eight races at the J/105 North American Championship. Sailing with Nathan Hollerbach, Milosz Mogilnicki, Hans Pusch, Mauro Matias and Tod Reynolds at the Chicago Yacht Club, Wilson concluded the event with five bullets, two second-place finishes, and a ninth for a total score of 18 points. Following Convexity in the overall standings are David Wagner on Gigi (26 points) and Jim Rathbun on Hey Jude (35 points). Twenty boats competed. -- Event forum, http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10527 * Porto Cervo, Sardinia, ITA (September 19, 2010) - The mighty Mistral roared back down the coast of the Costa Smeralda causing the cancellation of racing for the 81 teams on the last day of the 2010 Rolex Swan Cup. Racing amid the event was the 9-boat Rolex Swan 45 World Championship, which was won by Hendrik Brandis (GER) and crew on Earlybird. -- Complete report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100416&lang=1 SAILING REGATTA CALENDAR A widely used database shared by multiple sources provides the very best tool to communicate event information to the online audience. If you search 'sailing regatta calendar', three of the top five listings uses this tool. Post your event here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit your comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter are limited to 250 words. One published submission per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Robert Sweet: Perhaps some of your readers don't remember the Golden Age of America's Cup racing - a couple of 12 meters bobbing up and down in a Newport calm. B-O-R-I-N-G! Second only to losing the Cup as a means of resurrecting public interest was the fact that the next series actually took place in the ocean in real wind - it was fantastic. I don't care if they race in one hull, two, three, or whatever - just do it on real water and in real wind - THAT'S A RACE. And isn't that the basic idea. * From Lee Smith, Long Beach: (re, Paul Henderson letter in SBUTT 3179) A real golfer or tennis player probably would opt for playing his game vs. watching the Masters or the US open anyway. If he did juggle his schedule to do both he would at least relate to pros playing golf or tennis on more or less the same court with more or less the same equipment as him. Speaking for myself I don't relate to the Americas Cup in catamarans any more than I'd relate to it on ice yachts. * From Alex Arnold: While I mourn the passing of the monohull in the America's Cup and believe it will negatively impact the public's interest in the Cup, one needs to view the latest "Video of the Week" before proclaiming that small screen viewing of cats won't be good. WOW! (Here is the link: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0917) * From Dana Timmer: I am currently in Antibes, France and just heard a horror story every captain and boat owner should be aware of. A power boat captain just described the following: Cruising at the north end of Sardinia the boat was invited by a restaurant ashore to pick up a private mooring that belonged to the restaurant on the beach. The captain of the power boat used full reverse to test the mooring and all went well so the group went ashore for dinner and a warm reception, plenty of complementary wine and a late evening. Around 0400 the boat was on the rocks. Long story short, the line had been cut, the call to the Italian Coast guard was promptly met by a vessel that refused to render assistance as the boat had only prop damage and no hull damage. A local, "Tow boat" was promptly on the scene which refused to take a line, (a favor) but kindly offered to use their line, (salvage) to tow the boat off the rocks. A 5000 euro reward was offered for assistance rendered which was refused. The four, "crew" demanded 130,000 euros (salvage). At the end of heated discussions 30,000 was paid. So the restaurant, Coast Guard, "Tow Boat" and most likely local police were in on the, "Salvage". Moral of the story is be careful who you take a line from. (We could call it white collar piracy). Another note of caution is that In Antibes, there are regular personal assaults/thefts and break-ins of boats and cars around the harbor. And the French police could not be bothered. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION After God created man, he acknowledged, "I can do better than this!" Special thanks to The Pirates Lair and Ocean Racing. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
