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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 591 - June 15, 2000EUROPE 1 NEW MAN STARDAY ELEVEN - Fighting off his rivals right down to the last hour of the last day, Francis Joyon (Eure et Loir) pulled away in the final hours and set a new record in the Europe 1 New Man STAR. Joyon crossed the finish line early on a grey morning in Newport. In an extremely light wind, and flat seas, a favourable current gave him the extra push he needed to complete his odyssey. The new standard for the Europe 1 New Man STAR is 9 days, 23 hours, and 21 minutes as Joyon shaved nearly 10 hours from Philippe Poupon1s 1988 record. Marc Guillemot (Biscuits la Trinitaine) finished second and Franck Cammas (Groupama) forty minutes later, was third, over 3 hours behind the winner. In the Class One monohull fleet, the game has closed up, as Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) struggled to hold off Roland Jourdain (Sill Beurre le Gall) and Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool). Last night, MacArthur spilled diesel fuel on her boots when she was filling up her fuel tank, and then slipped down the hatch, opening up a nasty cut on her head. A photograph posted on her website showed a big cut and bump on her forehead, but in an afternoon phone call, she said she was feeling okay, and sounded to be in good spirits. The race office at the Royal Western Yacht Club has also released a report detailing the retirements from the race across all five classes. Sixteen of the 71 skippers to start the race have retired, either sailing back to Europe, or in a couple of more serious cases, have been picked up, leaving their boats behind. At this point, all the sailors are safe, and in good health. Francis Joyon is considered a character among characters in the offshore sailing world. His interest in offshore racing had its genesis when he started to build a catamaran from discarded multihull parts. He used the hull from Elf Aquitaine I and the beams from Roger & Gallet. With his jigsaw puzzle of a boat, he surprised everyone during the Route de la Decouverte (Discovery Route) and the Route de Rhum. Soon after, he started building Banque Populaire, a Nigel Irens design. For four years he was a threat in the offshore races, although he didn1t have the same success on the Grand Prix circuit. His grace under pressure and humility, along with his incredible physical conditioning, have allowed him to compete at the highest level for more than a decade. In the 1996 Europe 1 STAR Plymouth - Newport race, he had a 300-mile lead off of Newfoundland when he capsized. In the last Route du Rhum, he took a route through the tradewinds that hadn1t been used for years, and although the weather was not favourable, Joyon crossed the Atlantic in just over 10 days with his Gennaker flying the entire way. - Marcus Hutchinson STANDINGS: Class One Multihulls: 1. Francis JOYON 2. Marc GUILLEMOT 3. Franck CAMMAS. Class One Monohulls: 1. Ellen MacArthur (794.6 nm to finish) 2. Roland Jourdain (814.2) 3. Catherine Chabaud (860.7) Race website: http://www.europe1newmanstar.com/uk/ QUOTE/UNQUOTE -- From Ellen MacArthur aboard Kingfisher - "Terrible, terrible night. I fell down the forehatch whacked my head and I think broke my finger... I think I had some deisel on my boots - my mistake and to cap it all I lost out big time to Bilou (Sill) and Catherine. I've got some fighting to do and I already look like I've done ten rounds with Nigel Benn. Very sore." FOLLOW THE ACTION As the EUROPE 1 NEW MAN STAR competitors approach the finish you can follow the action almost live on Virtual Spectator. The boat plots are now updated every two - three hours so viewers can watch the finishing strategy develop in close to real time. The best part is that it's still free: http://www.virtualspectator.com/europe1/default.asp REBUILDING OF TEAM PHILIPS (On the Quokka website, Tim Jeffery takes a thoughtful look at the rebuilding of Pete Goss' 120-ft. catamaran Team Philip, which suffered catastrophic failure on March 29 when 45 feet of the port bow snap off. Here's a brief excerpt from that story.) The answer to the what-went-wrong question is that the strakes - the solid, unidirectional carbon fiber stiffeners running inside the spindly hulls - failed. Builder Gary Venning knew this key structural element was tricky, because only 95 percent of the air and gas can be drawn out of the Nomex honeycomb core during vacuuming. Immense care was taken. The building team couldn't core-sample the bond without ruining the strength properties of the unidirectional. So they tap-tested the strakes, which revealed that the unidirectionals had bonded to the Nomex. What tapping failed to show was how poor this connection was. Goss said the bond failed at just 8 to 10 percent of designed load. The repair was more technical than simply reattaching the broken bow piece. "It's not a question of joining the bow. It's more of a question of supporting the bow," Goss explained. An entirely new system of ring frames and longitudinals is being used. "There are no nightmares; the problem is quite specific to these strakes," said Goss of the findings of an independent study. "So the boat does not have cancer. We felt that all along, but now we have confirmation." The repair has been configured by Thompson, lead builder Gary Venning, former British Aerospace chief structural engineer Martyn Smith, and Barry Noble. The latter two designed and engineered the boat's two giant windsurfer-style rigs, but were not involved with the hulls. SP Systems was - but they are not overseeing the repair. Goss denied this is a sensitive matter. The repair is unusual, in that it is mostly being done outside-in, not inside-out. That's because the hulls are so slender that work space is negligible at best and, in the bows, impossible to get at. So laser-cut foam frames are being introduced into the hull and bonded on the inner skin at 75 centimeter centers. "I can't remember how many are going," said Goss, "but it's a hell of a lot!" - Tim Jeffery, for Quokka Sports Complete story: http://sailing.quokka.com/stories/06/SLQ__0613_s_goss_WFC.html REVOLUTIONARY Gill have been the market leaders in boating boots for many years. Whilst performance marine clothing has developed in leaps and bounds over the years: boots had not until now! During the past two years Gill has worked closely with WL Gore to develop a completely new and revolutionary marine boot. Style 910 Features include: waterproof, breathable, and light weight. Cordura and Kevlar tough upper. Unique rear lacing system. Superman grip with wrap around 3D sole unit. Reflective strip near to the ankle support. No offshore sailor should leave home without a pair. For more information: http://www.gillna.com 470 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Malcesine, Lake Garda Italy - Final standings after 10 races with two discards: Men (76 boats): 1. NZL, SIMON COOKE & PETER NICHOLAS (44pts) 2 FRA, PHILIPPE GILDAS & TANQUY CARIOU (53pts) 3. USA, PAUL FORESTER & BOB MERRICK (60pts). Women (37 boats): 1 AUS, JENNY ARMSTRONG & BELINDA STEWELL (16pts) 2. GRE, SOFIA BEKATOROV & EMILIA TSOVLFA (34pts) 3. DEN, SUSANNE & MICHELA WARD (50pts) 7. USA, JJ ISLER & PEASE GLASER (74pts) Event Website: http://www.fragliavela.org/ FOR THE RECORD After 7 days racing, the 110-foot maxi catamaran CLUB MED has increased her lead again over Jet Services V, which is standing at 379 miles now. All the conditions seem to be gathered together to break the 12 year old East-West Atlantic crossing record between Cadiz, Spain and San Salvador in the Bahamas. - http://www.therace.clubmed.com/press/index.phtml COOL WEBSITE Ken Signorello wrote to tell us of another wind oriented web site that plots and predicts wind contours nationally and regionally. - http://www.intellicast.com/Sail/World/UnitedStates/WINDcast/d1_00/ SHIFTING GEARS (Rich Bowen has written a piece on shifting gears in light and variable wind for the SailNet website. Here's an excerpt from that story.) An increase in pressure, when racing upwind, usually allows a boat to sail closer to the wind. When building pressure comes down the course and gets to your boat, the outer tell tales may begin to lift, indicating that the course your driver is steering is too low. There's usually about a two-second delay before the crew on the rail begins to yell: "You're heavy, head up!" Remember, a big change of course made rapidly in light conditions will result in a dramatic loss of boat speed, so don't let the driver over-steer in these situations. Before the driver begins heading up, keep in mind that when the outer tell tales luff, it's also an indication that the sail might be over-trimmed. The headsail trimmer (sitting with the sheet in hand, ready to react) should communicate to the driver that he or she will ease the sail three inches, or whatever amount is necessary, to make the tell tales flow evenly again. This is when you start shifting into a higher gear to go down the hill. As the boat speed begins to increase, the driver can begin to head up toward the proper upwind angle and the trimmer can begin sheeting the headsail back to max trim. Remember, communication with the driver while sheeting will keep that person from heading up too far. Once again, the headsail halyard and backstay tension may also need to be adjusted for the increased pressure. If there's one thing you can be sure of out on the racecourse it's that the wind is constantly changing, so you have no excuses for not practicing the technique of shifting gears. The next time you're out sailing upwind in light air, take a moment to sit down to leeward and start making some subtle adjustments in sail trim. If you pay attention to the tell tales and the boatspeed while you're doing this, you'll eventually develop a feel for how much ease is enough when the wind drops and how much trim is necessary when a puff hits. Good luck and good sailing. - Rich Bowen, Sailnet website Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/collections/racing/index.cfm?articleid=bowenr003&tfr=fp FUTURE OLYMPIC CLASSES - Gary Jobson Watching the four-crew teams compete at the Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup gave me a chance to consider the lineup of Olympic sailing classes. Up until 1932, all the boats were big, such as 12 meters. But when the Star class was included that year, only two crew members were required. Today, there is one triple-handed boat (Soling), five double-handed and five single-handed. The idea is to try to have Olympic competition in affordable, small boats. Unfortunately, it is difficult for older sailors to compete in boats like Lasers and 49ers. I believe one class should be a larger keelboat, say, 35-40 feet in length, with a crew of six-eight people. This would reflect the form we see today in most sailing throughout the world. Another thought would be to include team racing, which is growing in popularity throughout the world. Team racing with three-boat teams would be fantastic. I think the International Sailing Federation should change the roster to the following: 1. Large keelboat (35-40 feet) (coed crew) 2. Women's match race 3. Men's match race 4. Team race 5. Men's sailboards 6. Women's sailboards 7. Men's single-handed dinghy 8. Women's single-handed dinghy 9. Men's double-handed 10. Women's double-handed To read all of Jobson's comments: http://www.nbcolympics.com/ TEAM RACING Selection for US Sailing's Team Racing Championship for the Hinman Trophy is done by resume and those resumes must be sent by July 15. The regatta will be run outside Chicago's Belmont Harbor in brand new Vanguard 15s on September 2-4. - http://www.ussailing.org/Hinman/ SAILING ON THE TUBE * The Nautica 2000 Star Class World Championship program will air on Sunday, June 18 at 4:00 PM EDT (1:00 PM PDT) on ESPN2. http://www.jobsonsailing.com/tvsched.html * "Born To The Wind" is a television documentary about Around Alone 1998-99. The chronicle from Pal Productions is scheduled to air nationally on the US Public Broadcasting System (PBS) on Friday, June 23. Individual stations can choose their own time to air the program. Although most will show it on June 23 at 9 PM, you should check your local listings in the US for the exact air date and time. WOMEN'S MATCH RACING Rolex Watch U.S.A. has signed on as title sponsor for three women's match racing regattas to be held in the U.S. over the coming months: the Rolex Alpena Invitational, scheduled for June 17-18 at Alpena Yacht Club, Alpena, Michigan; the Rolex Thompson Cup, Aug. 24-27 at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, N.Y.; and the Rolex Sail Newport Cup, Sept. 16-17 at Sail Newport Sailing Center, Newport, R.I. In addition, Conde Nast Publications and Women's Sports and Fitness Magazine have partnered with these events as supporting sponsors at Newport and Alpena and presenting sponsors at the Rolex Thompson Cup. The Rolex Thompson Cup, sailed in Sonars, is Grade 1--the highest on a five-grade scale set by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF)--and includes the greatest number of international competitors. The Rolex Alpena Invitational, sailed in Ynglings, and the Rolex Sail Newport Cup, sailed in Sonars, are Grade 4 events. The Rolex Alpena Invitational also will serve as a qualifier for the Rolex Thompson Cup. "With a women's match racing event slated to debut at the 2004 Olympic Regatta," said US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Bob Hobbs (Glastonbury, Conn.), "the U.S. will need to turn its attention to cultivating serious players for international competition. We already are strong, with three American women in the top ten of the world match race rankings for women; however, this series of Rolex-sponsored events will allow more women nationwide the opportunity to compete As of April 11, the top ten in world match race rankings for women included five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) in second, Dru Slattery (Marblehead, Mass.) in sixth and 1995 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.) in tenth. Earlier this month, Rolex announced its title sponsorship of the Rolex 2000 ISAF Women's World Match Racing Championship, which is making its North American debut November 25-December 2 in St. Petersburg, Fla. In its third year, the annual event is organized by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and is hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. - Barby MacGowan TOM SCHNACKENBERG New Zealand's most famous mo has to go. The moustache on the new "face" of Team New Zealand, Tom Schnackenberg, will be whisked off this weekend for charity. It will be the first time in three decades that Schnackenberg will have been bare-faced, but he reckons it fits with his new role as leader of the America's Cup defence. "Shaving off the moustache marks the beginning of a different time in my life," he said. "Maybe it's a test - to see if there's a real person underneath it. Maybe I'll be like the Cheshire Cat, who faded away behind his grin." Tom's 'tache will go under the hammer at the Sail for Cancer charity auction at the Hyatt on Saturday night. A barber will be on hand to remove the trademark moustache which has graced the face of the sailing whizz for the past 31 years. "It's older than a lot of the Team New Zealand guys," Schnackenberg said. He has grown used to the idea, but is relieved to be going on holiday next week, where he can attempt to grow back the hair away from the public eye. "You never know, it may not come back," he said. "It grows about half a millimetre a day, so it would take me at least 100 days to get it back to this stage." Schnackenberg's wife, Annie, is a little nervous about the change in his appearance. "But she fell in love with me before I had the moustache, so it will be okay," he said. - Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. |
