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SCUTTLEBUTT 1910 - August 25, 2005
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
PREVIEW OF ACT 6
The race track on Øresund (the waters off Malmö) is a tricky one, with the
wind influenced by the nearby Swedish and Danish shorelines. Current is
also a factor, so local knowledge of the conditions is crucial for success.
All the skippers are expecting a very tactically demanding regatta. With
the teams having less than one week to train in Malmö, getting acquainted
with the local factors has been difficult and that could favor sailors with
more time here, like Sweden's Victory Challenge, and United Internet Team
Germany, led by Danish skipper Jesper Bank. I don't mind being called a
home favorite. I did win a regatta here a few years ago, so that's fine. I
feel at home here. It's very special to do an America's Cup event and to be
able to speak your own language at the time.it's great!"
"The new guys on the block come out and do everything very uncomplicated
and whoops, there's a win," Bank continued "That's what you saw. We just
went out and sailed the best we could and did it very simple. Now we're in
danger of doing the same mistake everyone else does. You say, 'We can win.
So let's change the sails, let's change the rig, let's change the keel,
let's change the crew.well let's wait and see how it goes."
"We've done three or four days of practicing here and every day has been
completely different," said Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand. "I
think all the teams are probably finding it reasonably difficult to
understand the conditions here. I think the flat water and the little bit
of a 'random factor' will make the racing even closer and the results more
unpredictable." -- www.americascup.com
Great photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/0824/
ACT 6 PERSPECTIVE -- Tom Ehman
This morning skippers' press conference will be widely reported on by
better journalists than I, but suffice to say that, as usual, what went
unsaid was probably more interesting than what was said. One thing that did
strike me -- the number of different nationalities among the 12 skippers:
DEN; FRA (2); GBR; GER; ITA (2); NZL (2); POL; RSA; SWE.
Twelve skippers from nine countries, no more than two from any one country,
and no American. Moreover, the Dane sails for the German team, the German
for the Swiss team, the Brit for one of the Italian teams, the Pole for the
Spanish team, and, as you will know, one of the Kiwis sails for the
"American" team -- and that has team members from 16 different countries!
By the way, I am reminded by Peter Huston to mention that "skipper" means
the person in charge on the yacht, and that the skipper may or may not be
the "helmsman." Chris Dickson is our skipper and helmsman; by way of
example, Geoff Meek is skipper of Shosholoza, but for this regatta at least
their helmsman, newly installed, is Chris Law.
The moderator seemed to think we had changed our appendage package (BMW
Oracle Racing have not) and that the Kiwis had not (they have). As
previously reported the Swedes have made the biggest between-regatta change
-- swapping their older SWE 63 for the second of their 2003 boats -- SWE
73. When asked why, Magnus Holmberg smiled slyly and said something about
73 being an even faster boat than 63 (63 went very well in VLC until they
were found by the Measurers to be out of compliance with the Class Rule).
Our change in the BOR afterguard (Dicko on the wheel and Gavin moving from
the wheel to tactician) is also a significant change, as is Alinghi's
change of helmsman -- Jochen Schuemann in for Peter Holmberg.
Tomorrow's first day of racing should be interesting on any number of
fronts -- including the weather front. For the next couple day's rain is
predicted and it could be "blowing dogs off chains" as they say Downunder.
-- Posted on the BMW Oracle Racing blogsite by Tom Ehman,
http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/stories/923535/
ULLMAN SAILS POWER 2005 MUMM 30 NA CIRCUIT CHAMPION
John Podmajersky's "Illusion" won the 2005 Mumm 30 North American Circuit
and the final event, the Great Lakes Championship at Rochester YC, August
19-21. Crewing was Max Skelley, Ron Weed Jr., Scott Kulp, Tim Fetsch,
Cynthia West, with Nan Walker and Genevieve Robson as alternates.
Twenty-nine Mumm 30's competed for series honors, which included Key West
RW, Miami RW, Annapolis NOOD, Jimmy Fund Regatta, Lake Erie Championship,
and Great Lakes Championship. When boat speed is clearly a dominating
factor, only one sailmaker can deliver the "Fastest Sails on the Planet."
Contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com
FASTEST SAILING BOAT UPWIND
(Following are excerpts from a new story posted on The Daily Sail
subscription website.)
Another Wally breakthrough design is in the pipeline: the new Wally 130
recently ordered by an experienced yachtsman will be the fastest sailing
yacht upwind. Featuring the water ballast combined with the trim tab
lifting keel, this mega sloop is developed by Wally with the lines by
Javier Soto Acebal, and the interiors by Foster and Partners.
This movable ballast combination has been selected by Wally Research &
Development department to optimise safety and performance in such a large
yacht: the 11-ton water ballast improves the stability of the light
displacement boat (only 84 tons) while the 6m deep keel with trim tab
improves the lift. The draft can be reduced to 4m to allow the access to
ports and bays. The sail plan includes the self tacking jib for the
cruising mode and the 110% jib for the racing configuration.
The deck is similar to that of the Wally 143 currently under construction:
it is characterized by the bulwark leaving the hull lines pure while
offering more privacy and protection. The layout recalls a city loft
building: like in the Wally 143, it is a continuous uncluttered area, a
sort of a huge open cockpit. In fact, there are no social areas already
defined for specific uses but the whole deck can be lived anywhere and
anyway according to the different moments, requirements and mood thanks to
the movable components similar to those of the 118 WallyPower aft cockpit.
-- Complete story: www.thedailysail.com
470 WORLDS
Conditions on San Francisco for the 470 Class World Championships are light
wind in the morning building to 15-25 kts in the afternoon and heavy, heavy
current. Despite the carnage earlier in the week, many of the 98 teams
continued to underestimate the currents and the windward mark again proved
a challenge to a surprisingly high percentage of the fleet. Current world
champions Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) continued their dominance by
adding a pair of bullets on Wednesday to open their lead on the French team
of Gildas Philippe/Nicolas Leberre to nine points. Nick Rogers/ Joe
Glanfieldare in third place, four points further back. Michael Mitterlig -
Anderson/ David Hughes remain the top North American team in 36th place
with John Gimson David Steed (USA) in 39th.
In the Women's division, the top three are Marcelien de Koning/ Lobke
Berkhout (NED-8pts), Christina Bassadone/ Saskia Clark (GBR-16pts) and
Lenka Smidova/ Elizabeth Kratzig (CZE-18pts). Jennifer Provan/ Carol
Luttmer from Canada are in 15th place with the USA team of Genny Tulloch/
Lauren Maxam in 17th place. -- Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/eyky6
Updated photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/470worlds/
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NEWS BRIEFS
* Rostock Warnemünde, Germany -- After six races, with one discard, four
USA teams are in the top nine boats at the 170-boat 505 World Championship.
Mark Ivey and Shane Illidge are in second place -- 20 points behind
Germany's Wolfgang Hunger/ Holger Jess, who have won the last three races.
Andy Beeckmann/ Jeff Nelson have moved up to seventh place with Howard
Hamlin/ Cam Lewis and Mike Martin/ Jesse Falsone in eighth and ninth place
respectively. -- http://www.worlds505.de/Results-Worlds,1,26.htm
* Rex Sellers, winner of an Olympic Gold medal in 1984 and a silver medal
in Pusan, Korea in 1988, has announced his intention to stand for President
of Yachting New Zealand. He will contest the position being vacated by
outgoing President, Geoff Thorpe. There is one other nominee for the role,
Denis Mowbray a current Board member who has held the position for six
years. -- Richard Gladwell, complete story: www.kiwispy.com
* The British broadcaster Sky Sports has secured the UK television rights
to the 32nd America's Cup. The network will broadcast coverage of each
stage of the event, beginning with the Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts in
October and continuing through the Louis Vuitton Acts in 2006, 2007 and
live coverage of the 32nd America's Cup Match in June 2007. Magazine
programming begins with a 30-minute show on Sky Sports 3 on Sunday, August
28, and continues with new programmes each day through the 6th of
September. -- www.americascup.com
* More than 30 sailors between the ages of 13 to 18 are in Panama City,
Fla., to compete in the US Sailing's U.S. Youth Multihull Championship,
which will be hosted by St. Andrew Bay Yacht Club from August 25 to 28.
Competitors will be sailing in Hobie 16s to vie for the National
Championship title and a spot on the 2006 US Youth World Team, which
represents the U.S. at the 2006 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship
in Weymouth, England. The winner of the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship
will receive the Arthur J. Stevens Trophy. --
http://www.ussailing.org/championships/youth/multihull/
The "18th man" position on board an America's Cup yacht is up for auction
on www.eBay.de. America's Cup challenger Team Shosholoza from South Africa
is offering the highest bidder a place in the "Sicilian showdown" in
Trapani (Italy). The eBay winner will experience a race live on board the
black yacht with its colorful South African design. All proceeds of the
auction will go to the Izivunguvungu Foundation, which runs a sailing
school for disadvantaged children and young people near Cape Town. --
www.teamshosholoza.com
* This Saturday, the ABN Amro website will have updates, photos and videos
on the christening of the second boat in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. --
http://team.abnamro.com/web/show/id=61232
* Mark Mohler has joined Keefe Kaplan Marine Inc. (KKMI) in the role of
Swan West Coast Fleet Manager. In this position Mohler will assume
responsibility for facilitating client relations between existing and new
Swan yacht owners. A Swan owner and lifelong sailor, Mohler spent
considerable time sailing in Southern California before moving to the Bay
Area in 1992. Prior to joining KKMI, Mohler was Corporate Treasurer for
Varian Medical Systems, and previously held roles as Corporate Treasurer of
Palm, Inc., from 2000 to 2001, and Vice President of Treasury at Oracle
Corporation from 1996 to 2000. -- www.kkmi.com
* Hollandia NED 1, designed by Doug Peterson and Ian Howlett, owned by Jos
Fruytier and Ruud van Hilst and skippered by Philip Crebbin, has won the
International Eight Metre World Championship held at Toronto's Royal
Canadian Yacht Club. Fleur de Lys FRA 29, owned by Gaston Schmalz and
skippered by Jacques Fauroux placed second overall. In third place overall
was Mystery USA 33, owned by Ron Palm. -- http://www.loema.com/
* The gallery of photos from US Sailing's U.S. Singlehanded Championship
for the O'Day Trophy is now posted at: www.UnderTheSunPhotos.com
* The new ISAF World Match Race Rankings have just been posted online.
Gilly, Baird and Coutts are at the top of the Open Rankings, with Leroy,
Braestrup, Bjorling heading the Women's Rankings list. There's much more
for those who care: -- www.sailing.org
EBAY AUCTION
Ever wanted to sail faster than 20kts? Place your bid to join the
Reichel/Pugh 77 Scout Spirit as they try to break the record in the
Windjammer Race from San Francisco to Santa Cruz on Friday, Sept 2.
Proceeds benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters. View this eBay auction at
http://tinyurl.com/ay66j
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 neither 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. And please save your bashing,
whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.)
* From Peter W. Hubbard (Regarding the Sir Isaac Newton's Revenge in butt
1908): OK, OK, I can see where this is going. Before the all the clever
rule dodgers get started on this new twist, let me make a pro-active
suggestion. AC management should establish an absolute zero rule weight,
say at the equator (not Valencia), and then have software written to give
the weight offset for any latitude. This would be no different or more
difficult than putting a time offset from GMT into your GPS to give you
your local time. I am sure the scales used have computer connectivity and a
GPS could be easily connected simultaneously while measuring to insure the
proper offset. Going forward the boats should be built to the rule weight
at absolute zero, and the measurers can use the offset for the location of
any race anywhere on the globe. The measurers need to cut this off at the
pass. Otherwise I fear this could become deep kelp for the weight rule.
* From Geoff Newbury (re Sir Isaac Newton's Revenge): The Earth is more
than a couple of billion years old. The measurers forgot that old Earth has
'gone to pot' with age. It's not round in the North-South dimension.
'Common sense' says that 'sea level' should be "the same" where ever you
go. But this ignores the fact that 'sea level' at Malmo, is not as far from
the centre of the earth as 'sea level' at Valencia. And as a result the
force of gravity on a known mass differs. GPS systems use a reference shape
for a description of the earth's shape. The WGS-84 reference ellipsoid is
commonly used. The user can often also select a local reference datum.
These will differ from local chart system datums. All of these give
different relative positions for what reality says should be a good
reference, such as 'sea level'. And none of them are absolute.
Since the GPS uses the ellipsoid as a reference, not an actual 'sea'
level', it is not clear when it reports 'altitude' that it is giving a
distance from the reference surface. And if the digital weigh scale the
measurers are using, is accurate enough, a correction is also needed for
the elevation of the measurement site! Of course, if the measurement had
been done using a calibrated mass balance scale at either site, no
difference would have been disclosed.
* From John Pedersen: The note from Adam Bovill regarding measuring "mass"
vs "weight" ('Butt 1909) reminded me that there are only a few ways of
doing this. One, of course, is using a balance rather than a force gauge,
as so many others pointed out. The other is to measure the force required
to accelerate the mass by a known amount. Normally, one uses the earth's
gravitational pull to do this, but apparently the Swedes have over-paid
their gravity bill. We simply need an orthogonal inertial frame in which to
make our measurement, thus negating the effect of the twitchy gravity
field. Therefore I submit the following solution: host a tractor pull. As
long as all the dragsters have known power curves and friction is properly
accounted for, we could make Measurement Day MUCH more entertaining. Maybe
attract some NASCAR fans to sailing too....
* From Simon Bickers (re Sir Isaac Newton's Revenge): To me it seems odd
that this is not more widely known. Applying the same difference to a fully
laiden 747 would suggest that it would be about 650kg heavier at Heathrow
than at the equator. Given that these guys are meant to be some of the best
"technical people" around, should they not of been able to have an
explanation for this on the spot.
* From Doug Wall (past sailor, current golfer): Reference Rich Roberts'
discussion on ISAF and sailor of the year award by Rolex. Perhaps US
Sailing and ISAF should do like professional golf who have the "Ryders Cup"
competition of U.S. versus Europe or "The President's Cup" which is U.S.
versus the best of the rest of the world. It could be done every two or
three years between A/C competitions and it would probably bring a lot of
sponsorship and perhaps more spectator interest in sailing. Ideas for
venues and formats are endless.
* From Chris Ericksen: In 'Butt 1909, Ralph Taylor gave us a little civics
lesson when he contrasted the U.S. Constitution and the form of government
it set up to the form of government being proposed for US Sailing as
described by Gene McCarthy in 'Butt 1908. To carry it further, the US
Sailing Board is in fact the executive branch of the organization, and the
Board members exactly like the cabinet. But the new proposal greatly
reduces the legislative power of the current set-up, where representatives
of the various constituencies (states?) within sailing both legislate and
elect Board members. That is, I believe, Gene's point. No less than a
bloodless coup that removes authority from our representatives under the
guise of streamlining management is at the heart of the new structure.
* From Kimball Livingston, Sail magazine: Things do get out of synch across
hemispheres and time zones and date lines. By the time the Curmudgeon was
excerpting my Michael Coxon quotes about expecting "seven minute legs" in
windward-leeward races aboard Neville Crichton's new Alfa Romeo, I was
hosing myself off en route to the media center at Hamilton Island Race Week
to update the story to say: Seven minutes? More like eleven-twelve minutes
on the downwind legs when it came to the real thing, but yikes. These were
3.5 mile legs, and the boat is still raw.
Today (Wednesday in Australia) I was part of a crew reaching behind the
start line at 11 knots aboard the "classic" IMS maxi and one-time
Sydney-Hobart winner Brindabella, when Alfa Romeo--for the record, a
Reichel-Pugh 98-footer with canting keel and fore/aft rudders--cruised over
the top of us like we were going nowhere. The noise coming from our deck
was one collective whoooa!
* From Leonard F. Hubbard: Neville Coxon's condescending comment that the
appearance of Alfa Romeo in the Whitsunday races is an "exercise in
commissioning" speaks reams about why the sport is in trouble. For your
information, Mr. Coxon, for most of the people sailing there this is a big
deal for them. They have spent time, money of their means, and effort to
build teams and compete. The appearance of a boat like this is like seeing
Shaq on the floor at a high school basketball game. No one is going to
appreciate sailing through the mess the boat will create on the course, and
it will convince others "why bother". Acts such as this diminish the sport
for the middle class, which is probably where you started.
* From Berry Kurland: In reference to the story on Alfa Romeo, I have to
say that I feel sorry for the bowman. 7 minute windward-leewards on a
98-footer...bravo to the man who manages to handle all the gear up front,
because he won't be receiving much rest!
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
After you turn 65, you can probably live without sex, but not without glasses.
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