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SCUTTLEBUTT 1766 - February 1, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. AMERICA'S CUP UPDATE The most active teams training on the water are the two Southern Hemisphere teams, Emirates Team New Zealand, and Team Shosholoza of South Africa. In addition to extensive winter training on the water, both teams have secured additional sponsorship already in 2005, allowing them additional resources to improve their teams. The focus for most teams currently is on the design and boatbuilding side of the operation. The Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 4 in June will be the first racing under Version 5 of the Class Rule, meaning more sail area, less weight, and deeper draft for the boats. That means work for the designers and boat builders in alterations on the old boats, whilst still designing and tank testing fresh ideas for new boats. The BMW Oracle Racing team announced it will build its new boats in the Pacific Northwest in Washington State, with the first new hull emerging sometime in 2006. Meanwhile, France's K-Challenge is at work just South of Valencia at their temporary base in Gandia. K-Challenge is modifying FRA-60 (the ex-NZL-60, America's Cup winner in 2000) with an eye to being more competitive in Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts 4 and 5. The team is looking at beginning sea trials at the end of February, a time when most of the sailing teams of the 32nd America's Cup will reconvene and renew training. The Spanish El Reto team, one of the most recent challengers (December 17th, 2004), has acquired both OneWorld boats from the 2002-2003 America's Cup. More details from the 'home' team are expected soon regarding their design and sailing programme ahead of their debut in Valencia during the Louis Vuitton Act 4. - Americ's Cup website, www.americascup.com/en/newsletter/2005_01_newsletter_en.html HUH? On January 31st Sausalito Challenge said that, whilst they would be host cocktails for Challenger Commission members at Sausalito Yacht Club, their entry had been inspected by ACM but not finalized because of sponsorship details. - Mariantic America's Cup website: www.mariantic.co.uk/ac/six.htm#nosaus OFFSHORE SAILING A new appendix to the ISAF Offshore Special Regulations that was approved at the 2004 ISAF Annual Conference became effective today. Researched and developed by a working party jointly funded by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), the Appendix deals with the safety aspects of the developing trend in offshore sailing for the application of variable ballast in the form of canting keels and water ballast. As well as stating the required safety standards for such boats, including Knockdown and Inversion Recovery Factors, the appendix also defines fixed, moveable and variable ballast. It also states that in order to comply with the appendix, systems must be permanently installed with manual control and actuation systems. In addition, it must be possible to lock canting keels on the centreline. Boats built prior to November 2004 may apply for dispensation from certain sections of the appendix. - www.sailing.org/technical/appendix_k.pdf GLOBAL CHALLENGE The next leg of the Global Challenge round the world backwards race is a 1250 mile sprint leg to Sydney that starts on February 6. The 12 identical 72-foot boats each sailed by paying 'crew volunteers' and one professional skipper, are expected to cross the finish line just eight days later. Far from the Southern Ocean passage that required long-term determination and tactical foresight, this will be an intense dash for the line from the moment the gun goes off. The start in Wellington, NZ will be a spectacle for the thousands of spectators expected - the line stretches out to sea off the Heads, just outside Wellington Harbour. It's presently a cluster at the top of the standings - three boats have 25 points (VAIO, Samsung & BP Explorer) while two others are at 24 (BG Spirit & Spriit of Sark). - www.globalchallenge2004.com GREAT FOR TACTICIANS The Camet Dry Erase Board is great for tacticians! Use it for writing down wind angles, tides, tacking angles, and much more. It's clean and simple to use. No more messy decks to rub clean. Simply peel, stick and write on, and wipe off! It's that easy to use, remove and use again. Great for powerboats too! Place it on any flat surface of your boat...in the cockpit or in the galley... to make notes on where you are and what you need to buy. Camet Padded Shorts, Pants, Rashguards, Coolmax shirts, Mylar bags etc. More information at http://www.camet.com WELL AHEAD OF ALL RECORDS Bruno Peyron's maxi-catamaran Orange II crossed latitude 0° around 1 o'clock GMT Monday afternoon after 7 days and 3 hours of sailing from the start off Ushant. This first stretch sees her slightly ahead (190 miles) of the time for the Jules Verne Trophy and 534 miles ahead of the absolute round the world crew record, held by the American Steve Fossett. In spite of very different weather conditions from those that were forecast, the giant Orange II covered the 3500 miles at an average speed of 20.1 knots. "Since the Canaries, we have had very light winds," Peyron explained. "We can see that from the averages, but the good news is that the boat sails quickly in little wind. We shall be coming out of the Doldrums around 1°South and we should then start to pick up speed. In the next few hours, the south easterly trade will be appearing and we should be sailing upwind in a steady twenty knots." WHO IS BRUNO PEYRON Peyron has 37 Atlantic crossings under his belt, 12 of which were single-handed. Twice record holder of the single-handed crossing (1987 & 1992). Twice record holder of the Pacific crossing with a crew (1997 & 1998), one major victory sums up his racing career: he was in 1993, the first sailor to go around the world in less than 80 days, thus winning the first Jules Verne Trophy. He created The Race, which began at the end of 2000, then repeated his exploit around the world in 2002, becoming the holder of the Jules Verne Trophy for a second time. Bruno Peyron is today the record holder of the greatest number of miles covered in a maxi-catamaran (295,000 miles). He has beaten the 24 hour record on four occasions (1982 / 1995 / 2000/ 2004). He is the only skipper to have covered more than 700 miles in 24 h, and since last summer, has been the holder of the Mediterranean crossing record. Quite a guy! CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LOOKING GOOD A fast night on B&Q has help Ellen MacArthur put more time on the clock, but hard core sailing powering upwind to the north in a strong, albeit unstable, wind stresses the over-tired 75ft multihull even more. MacArthur's advantage over Francis Joyon's solo RTW record pace has increased to two days and 18 hours (619 miles). B&Q has now sailed more than 25,000 miles averaging 16.2 knots. Tuesday the breeze will increase as a low to the west of B&Q delivers 20+ knots of breeze, although Ellen is trying to keep as much easting as she can to avoid the stronger stuff closer to the low - it should prove to be a fast reaching day, if the sea state allows. - www.teamellen.com FINAL SPRINT TO THE FINISH The Vendee Globe single-handed non-stop RTW race lead changed twice on Monday with Vincent Riou's PRB back in the lead again. Also, the top three boats have tacked and are heading towards the French coast, all with different hopes. PRB to the north faces a night hoping he can make the best through the lighter winds which he will have to breach to finally reach the stronger northerlies again and is reckoned to be very much on the layline for the finish. To leeward and astern slightly Bonduelle may end up with the compromise between keeping the stronger wind pressure but sailing a less favourable course for the first part of the track home. With 551 miles to go to the finish PRB's lead has grown to 13.3 miles, rising by virtue of the fact he is now sailing on the most direct route to the finish making 8.8 knots. Britain's Mike Golding has nothing to lose at the moment, and clearly has been waiting for Bonduelle to make the tack first, responding almost immediately. Leaders at 1900 GMT January 31: 1. PRB, Vincent Riou, 551 miles to finish 2. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 13 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 62 mtl 4. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 941 mtl 5. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 955 mtl Complete standings of the 19 boat fleet: www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE "In terms of what we did to cant the keel, it really was a pretty ingenious solution. Thanks to my very lateral thinking shore manager, the boat builder Marco at V1D2 boat yard and the architects at Finot, they have done an amazing job of effectively keeping me in the race! It would be nice to fully cant the keel but we're taking things as they come. This feels like the first time I've actually been sailing the boat instead of repairing it since the Indian Ocean." - Conrad Humphreys, Hellomoto, full story: www.conradhumphreys.com RIGGED TO RACE - ACURA MIAMI RACE WEEK 2005 Southern Service, the industry leader in lightweight rigging solutions, is taking advance orders, deliverable onsite for the Acura Miami race, where we will be ready to supply you with our full range of rigging products and services on March 8, 2005. Call 401-683-6966 for advance orders. http://www.southernspars.com NEW MATCH RACING TOUR Switzerland has a new Sailing Championship: the UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour will test Switzerland's up and coming match racing talent to find the National Champion in 2005, with the final taking place at the Alinghi Base in Valencia. Up to 12 teams will be able to compete at each of the local qualifiers in Zurich, Thun, Lugano, Romanshorn and Geneva, and racing will take place in the Streamline class. Described as 'the optimal boat for this event' by Alinghi's Sports Director Jochen Schuman, the Streamline is a modern and responsive keel boat, with a crew of three. Exciting racing is expected as Switzerland's new generation of match racers pits their talents against a team from Alinghi at each of the five regional qualifying regattas. The five winning teams from each event will automatically advance to the final to be held in November 2005 at Alinghi's base in Valencia, Spain, where the 'Swiss National Match Race Champion' will be crowned. Furthermore the top two teams at the Zurich event in May 2005 will also qualify for the St Moritz Match Race, with prize money of CHF150,000 at stake. - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6vFht,A~ Event website: www.alinghi.com/swisstour/fr/ NEWS BRIEFS * The contract for the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championship was signed in Cascais, Portugal on Monday. The 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships combines the eleven Olympic events at the same time in one venue, attracting more than 1000 entries, 1500 competitors and 70 nations from every continent. The final Championship dates are to be confirmed, but will be within the date range of the end of June/early July. The 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships also marks the ISAF Centenary, of which the Championship will be an integral element. The first ISAF Sailing World Championships was held in Cadiz, Spain. - www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6qFht,B2&format=popup * Correction: Yesterday, in our update of the new Volvo 70 Brazil 1 we quoted Knut Frostad, "I pushed for Farr Yacht Design because we did not have much time to develop the boat. In the last race, Djuice was the only non-Farr boat in the race. Although in some situations we were fast, in others we were really slow. Farr has a conservative approach and is always a safe approach," Apparently, Frostad overlooked Grant Dalton's Frers-designed Amersports One, which finished third - beating four Farr-designed boats in the last Volvo Ocean Race. - http://2002.volvooceanrace.org * Sunsail's two Asian bases, situated at Boat Lagoon Marina on the eastern side of Phuket in Thailand and at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in Malaysia, are fully operational again after the recent tsunami that affected some parts of the region. Sunsail had 15 yachts out on charter at the time with over 100 clients on board. All yachts returned safely to their bases and none of the clients or staff working in these areas was hurt or injured. The cruising areas of Phang Nga Bay in Thailand and around the Langkawi Islands in Malaysia are mostly unaffected. - www.sunsail.co.uk * A Devon university in the UK has launched a new degree that will equip graduates for employment in the yachting industry. The BSc (Hons) Marine Studies in Ocean Yachting course has been designed in response to marine industry needs, the University of Plymouth said. Graduates can look at career possibilities ranging from yacht and superyacht operations, to project management for new builds and refit. Course organisers are currently recruiting students for this September. - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4196281.stm 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 not 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.) * From David Wilhite: I got a big smile from Ralph Taylor's observation about the Spanish Socialists reluctance to put 240 million Euros into a yachting event - but then I got to thinking. First, I don't want to be misconstrued as a Socialist by asking the following question and will preface my question by admitting that I'm not well versed with regard to the politics of the great, and may I add beautiful, city of San Diego or for that matter how funding might be allocated vis-a-vis the state of California or our federal government. However, I wonder how much the state and national governments budgeted and spent for infrastructure improvements regarding San Diego's hosting of the Americas Cup? Just curious. As a fiscal conservative and supporter of our free market society I would suspect the answer is, not much. * From Stephen A. Van Dyck (edited to our 250-word limit): Having raced all kinds of boats from childhood to my current age of 61 I feel compelled to share a totally rejuvenating experience. Perhaps others have also grown tired of how much hassle racing can be. My most recent boats had been 48' IMS types with 12 in crew - quite a contrast to the 2.4 meter I tossed on a trailer and took it to the Nationals and OCR in Miami. This baby (13') 12-meter was an absolute blast. It's like strapping on a jet fighter. Fast and agile. All 20 controls are at your finger tips. No hiking, just stay in your cockpit and drive and tweak. Everything is easily adjustable, even in 20 knots. And the racing was tight and great. It took me a time to work my way out of seeing only transoms and bad air. But, most importantly I laughed my way around every race course, even when DFL. No crew, no explanations, no apologies, no hassle, have a blast, your way. If your budget, aging back, arthritic hands, or limited time make racing bigger boats too much for you, join us. We are learning what Europeans learned years ago as their fleet has built to over 400. This is a thinking sailor's boat - not an athletes. Come along and get your butt kicked by disabled sailors of all types, I did, it was really fun. * From Peter Johnstone: I am not sure anyone really wanted to know what the generous owners of race boats and AC programs are paying their mercenaries. That is a personal matter. Like it or not, any pro is a role model to the sport from which they take. And with that comes the responsibility to give back. Coach a junior clinic or high school team. Volunteer at Shake-A-Leg or a community sailing program. Get juniors aboard the owner's boat. Run a clinic for your local one design of PHRF fleet. Take time to help others sail without taking a dime. Seeing Jerry Kirby and Paul Cayard volunteer to be the 420 lunch boat at Orange Bowl was cool. Giving back regularly sets a positive tone for the whole sport. More pros need to give back. * Chris MacLeod: Anyone upset by Kenny Read's comments in Tom Meade's interview should remember that he was just answering questions with straight forward answers that sound a bit out of context. I doubt that he intended his words to offend anyone - least of all the crews that sail for the fun of it. To the contrary, he was one the most accomplished amateur sailors on the planet long before becoming a pro. After having worked with Ken at North, my guess is that he's been arriving early and leaving late since he was old enough to hold a tiller. In a world with at least a few too many cocky young wannabes roaming the docks, Ken's professional and positive attitude is refreshing. Let's cut him some slack. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS A doctor is a person who kills your ills by pills … then kills you with his bills. |
