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SCUTTLEBUTT 2786 - Monday, February 23, 2009Scuttlebutt 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.Today's sponsors are Summit Yachts, The Pirate’s Lair, and Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. USOC DECISION REQUIRES CHANGES TO RACING RULES Portsmouth, R.I. (Feb. 22, 2009) - A hearing panel appointed by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) issued a decision Friday that states the provisions of the International Sailing Federation’s (ISAF) Racing Rules of Sailing governing the conduct of protests and requests for redress do not comply with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and USOC Bylaws. Based on an initial reading of this decision, US SAILING, the national governing body of the sport, believes the panel’s directives, if implemented, will fundamentally change how the sport of sailboat racing is conducted in the United States. In its decision, the USOC panel adopted arguments presented by the attorneys of a competitor at the 2007 U.S. Olympic Trials – Sailing that would require protest committees to consist of at least 20 percent athletes and that the well-established provisions in the Racing Rules of Sailing concerning the conduct of protest and redress hearings violated U.S. law. This is the second of two complaints against US SAILING filed with the USOC by the same athlete. The first complaint was dismissed when the arbitrator granted US SAILING’s motion to dismiss on the basis that the protest hearings complied with all due process requirements and that the protest committee’s decision was a “field of play” decision not subject to review. One year after the filing of the second complaint and nine months after the arbitrator dismissed the first complaint, the USOC hearing panel concluded that the sport of sailing doesn’t comply with the USOC bylaws. The USOC’s decision requires US SAILING to amend portions of ISAF’s Racing Rules of Sailing pertaining to protests and redress in the U.S. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/F7QX => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I encourage everyone to click through and read the complete announcement from US SAILING. This is a game changer. Also, the athlete that is being referenced is Farrah Hall who had competed in the RS:X event at the U.S. Olympic Trials in October 2007 at Long Beach, CA. A copy of the USOC decision is here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0222/. JOHN GLADSTONE: PRO SAILING AND THE SAILMAKING BIZ As North American Sales Director for North Sails, John Gladstone provides his perspective from nearly 30 years in the sailmaking business: * How has professional sailing affected the sailmaking business? GLADSTONE: In the old days we were the so-called pros. Although there are still some exceptions like Ken Read and a few others that continue to call themselves sailmakers, we in the field are no longer in that league. We've been affected on three fronts: Design, Sailmaking and Sales. All in the last decade, these individuals have been harder to find or hold onto. On the design side, we are fortunate that most of the topsail designers around the world were trained in the North system with North software. When they get hired away from us by a big syndicate, although we lose their services for a period, they stay tied to our product and system. Same goes for the sailmakers. Once a sailmaker has gotten the taste of the high profile industry, which by the way doesn't always pay more, they have a hard time coming back to a production site. The one thing that sailmaking business can provide is greater security, and this sometimes draws them back. On the sales side we have another problem. Not all, but some salesmen sail professionally to supplement their income. Call me old school, but outside of receiving a per-diem, I have never sailed for money, nor have North Sails president Gary Weisman, or Lowell in his day. As a sales manager, what I object to is that it makes these individuals in some way part-time employees. * Is there a conflict between selling sails and getting paid to sail? GLADSTONE: There certainly can be. Our rule is to have a salesman who pro-sails "clock out" when he sails for pay and misses work, even if it's a client he has sold sails to. We trust our sales team to play by these rules. They are to report these to our accounting department who subtracts the time/$ from that pay period. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/tt/ SUMMIT YACHTS APPOINTS EXCLUSIVE DEALER Summit Yachts is pleased to announce the appointment of McMichael Yacht Brokers, of Mamaroneck, NY as our exclusive dealer for Summit Yachts. “We are quite pleased to have Howard McMichael and his professional staff of brokers, representing our line of high performance sailboats,” said George Carabetta of Summit Yachts. McMichael Yacht Brokers has a long standing history as a dealer of leading sailboat manufacturers and its highly experienced staff and full service boat yard will bring the best possible experience to Summit Yachts clients. McMichael Yacht Brokers will cover the Greater New York area, Western Connecticut and Long Island, NY. Summit Yachts models include the highly successful King 40, the beautiful md35 day sailor, and the new Summit 35 IRC Racer Cruiser. -- http://www.summit-yachts.com COMPRESSION AT THE DOLDRUMS (Feb. 22, 2009; Day 9) - One by one the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has followed Ericsson 4 back into the Doldrums, and the torture they endured in Leg 1 and Leg 2 has begun again. Torben Grael and his team were the first to slow on the 07:00 GMT Position Report this morning. "Today we arrive at the Doldrums, and the last eight hours has been really painful with lots of clouds and light winds," announced Joca Signorni, from aboard Ericsson 4. The real winners in this initial exchange are Ericsson 3 - "what we really want is to get up there and match race with Ericsson 4 and PUMA,' announced Ericsson 3's navigator, Aksel Magdahl, earlier today. Among the challenges of this leg has been the satellite coverage. Said Telefonica Blue navigator Tom Addis, “We haven't been able to download any weather data for 36 hours now due to a black spot in the coverage which has been a real frustration for us, but it has been the same for everyone I guess. We are managing to get some satellite images from a separate receiver and these are probably the most useful pieces of information coming into the doldrums, so we aren't running completely blind. We should start to get proper coverage back soon but it’s still a hit in the guts every time the ‘unable to connect’ error message pops up on the computer.” Another challenge of the leg, according to PUMA skipper Ken Read, has been the smells. “Essentially we left Qingdao with everything on our bodies we owned. It was cold, and for two days, very wet. And there hasn't been a single second of drying since the start. Blasting across to Japan... Drenching. From Japan through the Black Current... warmer but still very wet on deck. Since then? Non-stop spray. Of the fire house variety. Power reaching (all on port tack) across the Pacific with spray hitting us about every other wave. Zero chance of getting stuff out to dry out the moisture. Combine that with the fact that so much water on deck keeps all the primary hatches shut all the time, and the temperature has now gone from reasonable to quite hot - and you have a pretty sketchy odor right now.” Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janiero, Brazil is 12,300 nm, with the finish estimated on March 20th. Current positions (as of Feb. 23, 1:00 am GMT): 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 9,430 nm Distance to Finish 2. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 22 nm Distance to Leader 3. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 23 nm DTL 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 140 nm DTL 5. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 140 nm DTL Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Did Not Start Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, DNS Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, DNS Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com RACING RULES QUESTION May a race committee or protest committee satisfy its obligation under rule 61.1 to notify the boat of a protest by informing the boat’s coach, rules advisor or other representative? (Answer below) FULFILLING A TEENAGE DREAM (Feb. 22, 2009; Day 105) - Arnaud Boissières, the skipper of Akena Vérandas, completed a teenage dream when he crossed the finish line of the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe in seventh place today, welcomed by tens of thousands of spectators, as was the case for the six competitors, who finished before him. His race took 105 days 02 hours 33 minutes and 50 seconds, averaging 11.04 knots on the water covering 27,841 miles. He sailed the 24,840 theoretical miles at an average speed of 9.85 knots. At the age of seventeen, he was present with his father at the start of the first Vendée Globe in 1989. It was a trip to Les Sables d¹Olonne to see the first Vendée Globe heroes and to forget the leukemia, which had been discovered six months before. After two and a half years of chemotherapy, Arnaud Boissières decided to earn his living from his passion for the sea. Cali raced in the 1999 Mini Transat when terrible conditions decimated the fleet. His boat was dismasted, but he completed the race after a pit stop in France. He raced twice subsequently, finishing third in 2001. -- Full story: http://linkbee.com/F7I7 Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en BOOK YOUR REGATTA NOW WITH THE PIRATES LAIR-GET 10% OFF! Get the best nautical graphics and pricing for your regatta swag. Book with The Pirate’s Lair before the end of February and we'll lop 10% off of your entire order whenever it is. Log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/html/newform.html for your free catalog... event planners and yacht clubs only please. NOT KNOWING THIS COULD RUIN YOU (SERIOUSLY) By Doug Paine A recent incident involving a junior parent towing a yacht club trailer caused a good deal of concern about the liability issues involved. As the parent advisor of our junior program I took the lead in researching this issue. What I found was not good news for the club junior program or the junior parents. To resolve this issue I researched the internet, had multiple conversations with our yacht club insurance agent, brought the subject up are our area yacht club meeting, discussed it at our club parent meeting, read the contract language that came with our policies, talked to multiple agents from various companies, talked to lawyers, and finally went to the national level of my personal insurance company. I want to clearly state that I am not an expert in this area, but I do want to pass on the information I discovered to other junior parents who may be unknowingly exposing themselves to a huge liability. Each parent needs to check with their own insurance carriers to clarify their own situation. I found that: -- Read on and post comments here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7069 TEACHING TEAM RACING Steve Hunt provides a monthly newsletter with tips on team racing techniques. Here are his first two submissions from 2009: * January's tip is a very powerful starting technique I call 'the dip'. The dip is used as a preventive measure when an opponent behind is trying to hook you (hook = gaining a leeward overlap). If you have ever been hooked on your final approach to the line you know that it can be trouble. Over the summer during a match racing practice I learned the value of a big turn down 'the dip', preventing my opponent from getting a leeward overlap on our final approach. Since then I have been more aware of opponents approaching from behind and have implemented 'the dip' move with much success. My successful starting percentage has increased significantly. * For February, I recommend you start playing an online team racing game called Sailx.com. I started playing in December of last year and aside from being addicting, I find it VERY helpful in learning the strategy of team racing. Since all of the boats are the same speed, the racing is very tactical. Playing allows you to practice the strategy of starting and racing around the Digital N. Competitors call plays, perform mark traps and balance for their teammates just as in real team racing. It also has a built in umpire and posts the racing rules while boats are interacting, which is a great way to learn them. Complete report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0220/ TOTALLY STU Sailing attracts characters. Maybe it’s the fresh air. However, some stand out in the crowd, and if you have sailed some of the popular small one designs in Southern California, you have likely met Stu Robertson. A former Marine, Stu is a no nonsense guy, and couldn’t care less if his clothes or attitude don’t blend well with the yachties. My favorite Stu story comes from a regatta where we were tent camping, and me and my buddies were up a bit late, making a bit too much noise, enjoying a few too many adult cocktails, and doing it all a bit too close to Stu’s tent. Stu never said anything that night, but early next morning, I awoke to Stu slamming two enormous frying pans against each other, just inches above my head. Totally Stu. Here is another Stu story from the Thistle Midwinters West, held Feb. 5-7, 2009 on the ocean in San Diego: “Stu ripped his spinnaker in race one and needed a replacement. Even taking a high speed motor boat ride back to the club would take too long so Stu got creative.” -- Scuttleblog, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/02/totally-stu.html RACING RULES ANSWER When a boat has registered a coach, rules advisor or other representative or when a person is clearly representing a boat, the race committee or protest committee complies with its obligations in rule 61.1(b) or (c) to inform the boat of the protest when it informs the representative. -- http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/QA2007006-[6786].pdf THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO ENSENADA Enter now and sail in the Ensenada Race on April 24. Friends and family can meet you there for all the fun. Cruise on Carnival for about $300 or go round trip from Newport Beach in a tour bus for $60. Race entry form and online bus reservations at http://www.nosa.org SAILING SHORTS * Tampa, FL (Feb. 20, 2009) - Greg Fisher of Annapolis, MD prevailed as the 2009 J/22 Midwinter Champion at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, FL. With a total score of 17 points, Fisher edged out a fellow Annapolis racer, Jeffrey Todd, who finished with 19 points. Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY rounded out the top three with 30 points. Sailing with Jeff Eiber and Todd Hiller, Fisher used consistent scores in the top four, dropping his lowest score of nine. The winners for Friday’s races were Todd, Kelson Elam of TX and Daniel Ramsay of LA. -- Full details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7056 * Sydney, Australia (Feb. 22, 2009) - The Southern Cross Constructions crew of Euan Mc Nicol, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas won the 2009 Giltinan 18ft Skiff champions, with Active Air-2UE (Matthew Searle, Dan Wilsdon, Archie Massey) in second and Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, Tom Clout) in third place. Southern Cross was trailing the leader by four minutes and ten seconds at the first windward mark (and nearly last in the 32 boat fleet), but rallied through the four-lap windward-and-return course to finish fourth and grab the title. Past champion and top North American was Howie Hamlin (USA) with crew Paul Allen and Matt Noble were 13th. -- Photo gallery, event information, and final results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/JJ * At 1415 local time (0115 GMT) on Saturday 21st February, the four remaining 40ft yachts in the Portimão Global Ocean Race (3 doublehanded Class 40s and 1 singlehanded Open 40) crossed the start line of Leg 3 in Wellington, New Zealand. Ahead of the seven offshore yachtsmen is a potential of 38 days and 7,500 miles in the most demanding sea areas on the planet as the fleet leave New Zealand and head south-east into the Southern Ocean en route to Cape Horn before turning northwards towards the finish line in Ilhabela, Brazil. -- Read on: http://www.portimaoglobaloceanrace.com/?page=news&news_id=201&lang=en * All observers wishing to attend the 2009 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, which takes place in Warsaw, Poland from 7-11 May, must complete the Observer Registration Form. The form should be returned to the ISAF Secretariat by Wednesday 22 April. -- Full details: http://www.sailing.org/27396.php?PHPSESSID=db89c59693feb4e5e2a1fd41cc96bae4 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I childproofed my house, but they still get in. Special thanks to Summit Yachts, The Pirate’s Lair, and Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
