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SCUTTLEBUTT 2982 - Tuesday, December 1, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors are North Sails, Ultimate Sailing, and Newport Shipyard. FIVE SAILORS TAKEN HOSTAGE IN IRAN (November 30, 2009) - Five British sailors are being detained after their racing yacht may have inadvertently strayed into Iranian waters. The Foreign Office confirmed that the racing yacht owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by five British sailors was detained by the Iranian Navy on November 25. The Team Pindar Volvo 60 is believed to have been sailing from Bahrain to Dubai on its way to the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race which began last Wednesday. The five crew members are still in Iran and are understood to be safe and well and their families have been informed, the statement added. Tonight Sky News named them Sam Usher, Olly Smith, Luke Porter and Oliver Young and David Bloomer. Mr Bloomer is a sport DJ for Radio Bahrain. Foreign Office officials "immediately contacted the Iranian authorities in London and in Tehran on the evening of 25 November, both to seek clarification and to try and resolve the matter swiftly," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today. “Our ambassador in Tehran has raised the issue with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and we have discussed the matter with the Iranian Embassy in London. 'I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families,” he said. However, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official said he was not aware of reports a British yacht had been stopped. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press. Fears were growing that the detention of the British sailors will dramatically increase tensions between Iran and the West. The country has come under increasing pressure in response to its plans to build 10 new nuclear fuel plants. -- Read more: http://tinyurl.com/yldh2hl * Team Pindar/Sail Bahrain statement: http://www.teampindar.com/brian/en/blog/view/sail_bahrain_statement/ * Line honors in the Dubai to Muscat race went the Arabian 100, Majan, skippered by Paul Standbridge, crossing the finish line off Bander Al Rowdha, Muscat, Oman at 18:44 49sec on the November 28, 2009. -- http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=149709 TRIMMING THE WING Dirk de Ridder - aka 'Cheese' - is the mainsail trimmer on board the BMW Oracle Racing trimaran BOR 90. Except now, there's no mainsail. Just an enormous wing sail. A veteran of three round the world races, he has previously been with AmericaOne and BMW Oracle Racing in the America's Cup. Here is a Q & A with Dirk regarding the wing now being used by the challenger: Q: How has using the wing sail changed what you do on board the BOR 90? A: The wing has changed my job quite a lot. The biggest difference for me is that the loading of the boat is completely different. You don't have any mainsheet loads anymore; that's disappeared. And you rely much more on the instruments than on your eye. The first few days were difficult... I confused myself sometimes by thinking of it like a soft sail and it's not a soft sail. Q: There are dozens of orange 'tell-tales' on the wing sail. Do you use them the same as you would with a traditional mainsail? A: You do, but you can't see through the wing, so I work closely with Joey Newton (AUS), who tells me whether we have connected flow on the leeward side or not. Especially downwind, he's my vision and he tells me how we're going. Q: Your last session on Friday took place in the bay, on a holiday, with hundreds of other boats on the same patch of water. From on board the chase boat, it seemed very crowded. Were there any nervous moments? A: It was incredibly busy on the harbour and with a soft sail, you would never have contemplated doing that. But with the wing sail, you can stop so quickly and move the boat around so easily, it's much safer. Complete interview: http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-trim.html IT’S BETTER IN 3D Just because it looks like a 3DL sail doesn’t mean it will perform like one. North 3DL sails are 3-dimensionally thermo-formed on a full-sized mold in the precise flying shape they will assume when sailing. ALL other sails are assembled on a flat surface from flat, 2-dimensional sections. The simple fact is… 3D is more efficient than 2D. Put the proven power of North on your boat: http://www.na.northsails.com * North Sails has become an official Race Partner for the Global Ocean Race 2011-12. North Sails will be offering race entries great pricing for new sails and an excellent sail servicing arrangement in each of the race stopovers. -- Full story: http://portimaoglobaloceanrace.com/?page=news&news_id=370&lang=en TEAM RACING - AN OLYMPIC SPORT The Olympic Commission was set up earlier this year to assist the ISAF Executive Committee in ‘developing, agreeing and promoting a comprehensive vision and strategy of the sport of sailing in the Olympic Games’. At the recent ISAF Annual Conference in Busan, Korea, Chairman Phil Jones provided an update on how things were progressing: http://www.sailing.org/30214.php Among the possible events with a growing advocacy group is team racing. Here Colin Merrick not only explains why team racing should be in the Olympics but also why the Olympics needs team racing: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The 2006 ISAF World Sailing Games, held on Lake Neusiedl in Austria, was a great example of how entertaining and interactive team racing can be for spectators. Due to shallow water, 420 2v2 team racing took the place of keelboat fleet racing. The starting line was about 60 feet from the dock, which was elevated three feet off the water and provided an excellent place for spectators to view racing from. On the last day of the event, crowds of Olympic sailors lined up four rows deep on the dock to watch team racing, instead of watching the Laser or 49er medal races through binoculars from shore. Most of the front row was sitting with their feet hanging over the edge of the dock to allow for better viewing from the back. During the pre-start, these spectators had to pull up their legs and lean back to allow us to sail inches from the dock and at times, even partially under the dock. At any time, someone could have leaned out and touched us or one of our boats. Huge “oohs” and “aahs” were drawn from the crowd at every good or bad boat handling maneuver and every umpire call whether it was green or red flagged. At any other event, no spectators were anywhere near as close to the action or were as interactive while watching. My point is that team racing is a spectator sport that can take place very close to shore, which allows for increased spectating without having to go out on a boat. Also, the constant action grabs and holds your attention much more than 49er medal races that have to be watched from much further away. If greater entertainment value isn’t reason enough, the simple fact that almost one hundred percent of team racing teams are coed eliminates the need for two separate events for both sexes. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ykknftg SPEED CHASERS BRING RECORDS HOME TO AMERICA Luderitz, Namibia (November 30, 2009) - The last day of the Luderitz Speed Challenge saw Rob Douglas hit just over 50 knots (50.95 knots - second fastest time), with his brother Jamie close behind with an excellent 48.67 (both on Cabrinha kites), and Alex Caizergues (F-One) again in the top three with 48.55. Charlotte Consorti (F-One) had another very good day with a top speed of 43.07 knots, and Melissa Gil (Cabrinha) marginally upped her US outright women’s record to 38.00 knots. It was a great event for the North American Speed Sailing Project, the organisation set up by Rob Douglas to “bring the records home to America”, with Rob and Melissa both taking home a new U.S. record, and Jamie Douglas hitting world-class speeds, despite being new to the sport. This will be a team to watch in the future. The French, however, dominated as usual, with Alex Caizergues, Sebastien Cattelan and Christophe Prin-Guenon dominating the rankings, and a slew of their compatriots regularly getting 45+ knot results. The South African contingent made a strong showing, but didn’t achieve the results of last year. Competitors are now stretching out tired muscles, attending to bruises and sprains and packing their gear, tired but happy after spending so many weeks chasing the records. -- Read on: http://www.luderitz-speed.com/News/tabid/182/EntryID/68/Default.aspx * The outright world sailing speed record was set this past September by l’Hydroptère, where skipper Alain Thébault (FRA) and his ten crew hit an average speed of 51.36 Knots over a 500 meter course. -- http://tinyurl.com/ygk67ll USING BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN By Wally Cross Artists make decisions using the right side of their brain while engineers tend to be more left-brain thinkers. I believe it is a balance between left and right that allow us to make the best decisions while racing sailboats. Three regattas last summer ended badly for me because I changed my decision making methods from right-brain thinking to left. In all three events, on the days leading up to the last day, most of my decisions were made by taking information from the left side (brain) and basing a decision from the right (brain). On the last day, I could see myself shifting away from right-side thinking to only left. It was uncomfortable and the results, in all three events, turned out negative. It is now my goal to understand how to balance out my thought processes and base decisions on good information from the left, yet use instinct feelings from the right. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ydrogvc IS IT ‘TWENTY TEN’ OR ‘TWO THOUSAND AND TEN’? However you say it, the Ultimate Sailing 2010 Calendar has 365 days of exhilarating images! Sharon Green, joined by four of her esteemed globe-trotting and dedicated colleagues, brings you 12 months and 24 beautifully composed images of world-class sailing to dazzle you for another year! Check out the new calendar and other Ultimate Sailing merchandise at: http://www.ultimatesailing.com CHESAPEAKE RACER PROFILE: TYLER MOORE The following is a monthly highlight in Spinsheet Magazine… the APS Chesapeake Racer Profile: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Although his accent and relaxed demeanor echo his time at the College of Charleston and Hampton, VA more than his years spent in northerly climes, 505 sailor Tyler Moore was born and raised in Hyannis, MA. He started sailing on Beetle Cats at the age of six, and much to his father’s dismay, traded in the classic, New England-built, one-design class for the thrills of 420s. Moore jumped right into the game. In high school at Tabor Academy in Marion, MA, he was a member of the High School Team Racing National and World Champion teams and came in second at the Double-Handed Nationals. At the College of Charleston, he was a three-time Collegiate All-American and the 1994 College Sailor of the Year. After a few years in Annapolis as “a sailing bum,” Moore became a tugboat deckhand and worked his way through the ranks - deckhand to mate to captain to pilot - and relocated to Hampton Roads a decade ago in the process. He also married his wife Jane and now has two boys under the age of three at home. Before his move to Hampton, Moore competed in a variety of classes in a wide geographic range from placing second in the 470 Pacific Coast Championships (1996) to taking third at the 505 Danish Nationals to winning the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit on a Mumm (now Farr) 30. He was also the 1996 J/24 East Coast Championship title holder (crew for Chris Larson) and has placed first (1999), second (1998), and third (2000) in the Mumm 30 World Championships. Since 2001, it’s been all about the 505 for Moore. “They’re great boats to sail for someone who has a real job and doesn’t have time to sail every day,” he says. “The ‘5-0’ is really fast and demanding. You can do a big or little campaign and still be in the game. Nobody can out-spend you. We have billionaires and college kids with no money sailing together. At the end of the day, it comes to who does a better job sailing the boat. It feels great. It’s like a 420 on serious steroids.” -- Read on: http://blog.apsltd.com/2009/11/chesapeake-racer-profile-tyler-moore.html SAILING SHORTS * Marking the end of the Finn's 60th anniversary celebrations, the International Finn Association has announced the publication of 'Photo FINNish - 60 years of Finn Sailing', an extensive and highly illustrated volume compiled and edited by Robert Deaves, but largely written by some of the biggest names in sailing. This book primarily contains a photographic record of 60 years of Finn sailing from its beginnings in Uppsala, Sweden in 1949 right up to the 60th anniversary regatta back in Uppsala in August 2009. There are more than 1,000 colour and black and white photos covering six decades of Finn sailing. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8670 * The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), North America’s leading boat and sportshow producer, announced that the 2010 New Orleans Boat & Sportshow has been postponed until 2011 in order to address dealer demands as the boating industry pulls out of the recession. The 41st annual New Orleans Boat & Sportshow is scheduled to take place January 5-9, 2011. -- Full report: http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17745&sid=3 * (November 29, 2009) - 29 year old Liz Wardley crossed the start line off Caen - Ouistreham (France) in the inaugural SolOceans First OceanoScientific Campaign, rounding the Cabourg / Dives-sur-mer (Normandy - France) buoy before heading towards Wellington, New Zealand. She is sailing solo around the world on a SolOceans One-design, a 16-Meter (52.5-foot) all-carbon high-tech sailing yacht that is both a scientific and ocean racing vessel. The purpose of the Campaign is to provide new scientific data to researchers studying climate change and global warming. -- Full story: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0911/S00814.htm * A Biloxi museum is getting a sailboat that was left to Tulane University - along with nearly $390,000 - in exchange for a promise to preserve it for at least 99 years. The Nydia, built about 1898 at the Johnson Shipyard, "represents the ultimate in boat-building skills, a pure example of Biloxi boat building," said Robin Krohn David, executive director of the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi. -- Read on: http://www.theitem.com/article/20091130/APN/911300507 * CORRECTION: Apologies if you had trouble with the link in Scuttlebutt 2981 for Key West 2010 (Jan 18-22). The first entry deadline is December 18th, and all the information on North America’s premiere international regatta, which will be featuring IRC, PHRF and One Design racing, professional race management, and incredible conditions, is available at http://www.Premiere-Racing.com WISHES FROM NEWPORT SHIPYARD We wish all 'Butt readers, most especially our visitors, a joyous holiday season. We all love the same things and we all love Scuttlebutt, and what it has done to keep us "in the know." http://www.newportshipyard.com MARAZZI AND DEMARIA WIN STAR SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPS Rio de Janerio, Brazil (November 30, 2009) - Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria (SUI) won the Star South American Championship. A 70-boat fleet assembled in Rio de Janerio for the regatta, viewed by all as the precursor for the 2010 Star World Championship, which will take place at the same venue in January. Marazzi/DeMaria’s consistency enabled them to distance themselves from Adler/Gullherme (BRA) by nine points, leaving many teams to scramble for the other podium positions. Fewer than 20 points separated the second through ninth place teams. The Swiss team has been ranked #1 by ISAF since July. They placed eighth at the 2009 Star World Championship in Varberg, Sweden. Determined to win a Star World Championship, Marazzi/DeMaria have been in Brazil, along with many international teams, practicing for a string of Brazilian Star regattas leading up to the upcoming world championship. -- Lynn Fitzpatrick, read on: http://www.worldregattas.com/ViewInfo.php?ContentID=382 * Top North Americans were Ross Macdonald and Andre Lekszycki (CAN) in seventh place. Here are the complete results: http://tinyurl.com/ykl6nsp * The American team of Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol placed 13th overall. Here’s what they learned from the regatta: http://tinyurl.com/yjuau3v LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From John Rousmaniere (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2981): Elaine Bunting makes a very good point about the number and danger of abandoned vessels. It’s an old problem. When I was writing about the “phantom ship” Mary Celeste in my book “After the Storm,” I learned that in 1846-1850 alone, 680 British ships were abandoned and left to sink or (too often) drift. A few derelicts were so well known they had nicknames. The “White Ghost” (a.k.a. the W.L. White) was reported by 36 ships when she rode nearly 6,000 miles up the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean and finally sank off Scotland. In the mid-1990s, 116 derelicts were reported in the North Atlantic. Having discovered one of those 116, I can report that it is extremely unsettling to come upon an abandoned vessel -- and that's without even considering the risk of collision. * From William Tuthill, Jamestown, RI: News of the latest courtroom gambit by America's Cup lawyers has become very tedious indeed. It might be safe to say that the event has "jumped the shark". Looking forward to the next Volvo Ocean Race…here's hoping that they choose Newport, R.I. as a stopover. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. Special thanks to North Sails, Ultimate Sailing, and Newport Shipyard. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
