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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 737 - January 25, 2001THE RACE* Whilst the repairs to Team Adventure are going according to plan, suggesting a new start for Cam Lewis, it's now the weather that could delay the return of the Giant catamaran into The Race by 24 hours. Headwinds are blowing hard over the shoals off the southern tip of Africa, whipping up a nasty sea. Bad luck for Cam Lewis and his crew, now majority French after the defection of four Anglo-Saxon members, who were hoping to cast off tomorrow morning at the latest. Headwinds have decided otherwise. Cam is having to be patient and is putting every second to use in preparing his fresh start. The big cat is licking her wounds. The reinforcements carried out under the supervision of Yann Penfornis along the whole fairing are reassuring: "The boat will be leaving stronger than she was when originally built," confirmed Larry Rosenfeld. "We have multiplied the number of bulkheads and largely reinforced the fairing." The 35 knot South-easterly that is barring the entrance to the Indian Ocean to any sailing boat leaving the Cape is cooling the ardour of a rested and re-motivated crew. "If we don't leave until Friday morning it will be so much the better, because the polymerisation of the carbon will be that much better, and our repairs more reliable," said Cam positively. www.therace.org * Club Med has once again outstripped its rivals, picking up another 55 nautical miles (nm) on Innovation Explorer in second place. Skipper Grant Dalton seems in a hurry to reach his native New Zealand, where he may, if his lead permits, put his feet up with a Steinlager and take 48 hours of rest and recuperation. Innovation Explorer, although skirting as low as 50¡ South, has found very poor winds of only 10 knots and has struggled to exceed boat speeds of 13 knots. This has seen the crew cover a distance of only 363nm in the 24-hour period up to 17:00 GMT on Wednesday, compared to Club Med's 456nm in the same period. - Martin Cross, NOW Sports website Full story: http://www.now.com/feature.now?cid=997704&fid=1211184 POSITIONS - January 24 @ 23:04 GMT: 1. Club Med, 2. Innovation Explorer +920 miles, 3. Team Adventure, +2515 miles, 4. Warta Polpharma, +3436 miles, 5. Team Legato, +4307 miles GOOD STUFF Have you ever wished you could find all of your sailboat hardware needs in one stop? At Sailing Supply we are distributors for Harken, Schaefer, Lewmar, Ronstan, Forespar, Spinlock, Davis, Titan, Holt Allen, RWO, Tylaska, Wichard, Samson, Yale, Marlow, Loos, Gill, Camet, Johnson, Hayn, and ACR, plus much much more. Our rigging shop makes custom halyards, sheets and standing rigging every day. At Sailing Supply we have the knowledge to support the products, and the service to support our customers. Please give us a call at 1-800-532-3831 or check out our website at www.sailingsupply.com VENDEE GLOBE Front-runners Michel Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur are moving smartly again, only 88 miles apart, having profited from steady tradewinds up the coast of South America. Yet as they battle for the lead of this 23,000-mile race, the high pressure ridge of light airs which cost the Frenchman his previous 600-mile advantage over MacArthur has re-formed, holding up the pursuing pack. The solo sailors now seem to be racing in tandem; Desjoyeaux's PRB and MacArthur's Kingfisher are close companions, as are Marc Thiercelin's Active Wear and Roland Jourdain's Sill, 387 and 458 miles off the lead; Dominique Wavre's UBP is 650 miles behind, with Thomas Coville's Sodebo a further 35 miles back. "Ellen has sailed the perfect route," said Coville, her friend and rival. "The only boat which has passed through successfully is Kingfisher." Desjoyeaux was more circumspect about escaping the blocking light airs: "She's got going again too. I was expecting a bigger advantage at the exit. Even if I am leading by one mile or 20 metres, it will be enough." - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK Full story: http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) (Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) * From: "Benjamin Jarashow" <bjarashow@hotmail.com> Weigh-ins are an absolutely essential part of the sport. Weight limits are written into class rules, and crew weight does in fact make a big difference in boatspeed in any class. Islers ideas are right on the money. A required weigh-in every night will keep owners from bringing crew that need to 'binge & purge', because doing that every night would destroy their fun, and impair their sailing ability. When I wrestled in high school, we went to tournaments that lasted 2-3 days. We had to weigh in every night. We did get a 1 lb. 'allowance' added to our weight class for each subsequent day of competition. If a regatta held weigh-ins each night, and gave the team weight an extra pound per crewmember, it would make the sailing much more fair in the second, third, and later days of the regatta. * From: Geoff Emanuel <GESAIL@aol.com> I couldn't help but chuckle after reading Peter Isler's account of "weight training" at Key West. On our boat, we set the following tone: No beer until 9:30 am. On overnight races, the stern mounted grille must be lit and cooking burgers and dogs as we cross the starting line. For dinner, at least six courses are preferred, all based on a meat-dominated menu. (By the way 40% of the crew are women). We race a Farr 38 (formerly Mr. Jumpa) so in lieu of the boat providing crew comfort infrastructure, we make it up with good food and drink! My condolences to the gran prix guys. * From: Jon Rogers <CYCJRS@aol.com> Very interested in all the comments on the America's Cup. As a professional sailor and having worked with AmericaOne in the last cup, if you asked me (or most other Cup sailors) what type of boat was more fun and more challenging, the answer would be IACC boats by far. Although 12 meters were great in Fremantle they just didn't have the sail area to make them downright scary. For those who say the event should be in a one design boat so that sailing skills determined the outcome, I say, I could race one-design any weekend I want. The A-Cup is unlike any other event and thats why its great. On the topic of weighing in before events, I hope there is an answer. I refuse to lose more than a few pounds for any event. I think we look like a bunch of idiots running around town in our foul weather gear, or sitting in a van with the heater on in the same gear. At the 1998 J24 Worlds I asked my skipper to replace me two days before the event when we (5 people) faced the daunting task of losing 64 pounds between us. Needless to say I had a nice San Francisco vacation while my replacement enjoyed taking the week off from work and racing in a great event. * From: Doug Lord <lorsail@webtv.net> Having been unlucky enough to miss Key West I'm blown away that multihulls are still being excluded from an event like Key West-- seems incredible in this day and time ! The modern multihull ,for the most part, is a well designed high pointing, quick tacking racing machine.Surely, their high speed and spectacular beauty at speed can't be the reason for their exclusion... * From: Colin R Smith, UK <Colin.Smith@msdw.com> Coming in a bit late on the eligibility code issue, but following on from the comment (15 Jan) that 'the UK have solved this [the eligibility issue] for years', I believe it is NOT practice here for clubs to require that all crew be a member for their club racing. The wording that all competitors be temporary members for the duration of the event is often - but not always - used for open meetings (where boats from other clubs are actively invited), but not for club racing. Indeed, taking one (relatively high profile) club as an example, the Royal Ocean Racing Club's 2001 'general conditions' in fact specifically state that races are open to members and to non-members - and I do not believe they do anything to make all competitors temporary members for a given race. So I suspect that we have just as much a problem as the US and that many regular, never mind 'one-off', crew members will be illegal here as well. Will the virtual SSC have a virtual UK branch? The submission (http://www.sailing.org/meetings/2000november/subs/36-00.html) to ISAF's annual meeting which produced this new rule described the reason as being to 'reflect and expand the existing policy ... that races use the Racing Rules of Sailing'. This hardly describes the actual effect of the change, which may explain how it got through with so little debate. I wonder if the authors of the submission understood it? AMERICA'S CUP Ten challengers have voiced their intent to race in the Louis Vuitton Cup series starting in October 2002, but only five have so far paid the $US150,000 entry fee to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Squadron commodore Peter Taylor expects to have all 10 entry fees by March 1. Representation from across the Tasman looks doubtful and if there is no entry, it will be the first time in 40 years the Australians have not sailed in the regatta. Four Syndicate Row sites are occupied, with eight boats on the Hauraki Gulf this week. The Swedish Victory Challenge are doing it a little differently, training in the Canary Islands because their home waters are icy. They will spend their summer on the Italian island of Elba - not far from Italian syndicates Prada and Mascalzone Latino. The Swedes intend to be in Auckland in September with their boat the Cristina, formerly known as Black Magic II, NZL38. - Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald. Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ PROFESSIONAL SAILING Morten Henriksen of Denmark, one of the world's top match racing sailors, has signed on as match racing coach for the illbruck Challenge in preparation for America's Cup 2003. Henriksen will recruit German talent in building a competitive illbruck match racing team for the World Match Racing Circuit. This will allow new recruits with limited match racing experience to train in the one-on-one format of racing used in the America's Cup while also providing the seasoned team members the chance to sharpen their skills. The match racing team will be joined by illbruck Challenge skipper John Kostecki and other illbruck Challenge race crew as the schedule permits. The illbruck match racing team will compete on the international circuit while the illbruck Volvo Ocean Race crew is competing in the around-the-world race. Henriksen will continue in a coaching role with the illbruck race crew following the completion of the Volvo Ocean Race in June 2002 when the entire sailing team will then focus together on training for the America's Cup. "While our around-the-world race crew focuses on delivering the best performance in the Volvo Ocean Race, Morten will be building a strong match racing team," said Kostecki. "By the time the Volvo Ocean Race is over, we will merge all of our sailing talent for the final stage of America's Cup preparation." Henriksen of Odense, Denmark, in 1999 ranked No. 5 in the world ranking of match racers, recently has dedicated his time to coaching many of the world's best sailors in their preparation for major regattas. Henriksen coached the Norwegian Soling team to a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The illbruck Challenge is now pursuing the world's two pinnacle sailing events: the Volvo Ocean Race, the world's premier ocean race, and the America's Cup, the world's top match racing event. The illbruck Challenge is representing the Dusseldorfer Yacht Club in Germany's first-ever Challenge for the America's Cup - Jane Eagleson, www.illbruckChallenge.com. AMERICA'S CUP JUBILEE In late August 2001 the world will celebrate 150 years of the America's Cup institution, when up to 200 yachts will gather in Cowes on the Isle of Wight for a week of racing, nostalgia and future America's Cup preparation. The America's Cup Jubilee, organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club in association with Louis Vuitton, will run from 19-25 August and will include four divisions. The fleet will sail on a variety of courses on the Solent during the week. There will also be a special Jubilee Race over the original 100 Guinea Cup course around the Isle of Wight on 21st August. Amongst the yachts that will be present will be a large collection of past America's Cup competitors including the last remaining J-Class yachts Valsheda, Endeavour and Shamrock V. This will be the first time three yachts of this class have sailed together in the Solent since the 1930s. Also present will be upwards of 30 12-Metre Class yachts, themselves racing for the Prada International Twelve Metre World Championship. But this event is not just about the past, it also is about the present and the future. And to back that up there will be almost a dozen modern America's Cup Class yachts racing including two of the most recent legends, America3, winner in 1992 and Team New Zealand's NZL-32, the winner of the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego. The current holders of the America's Cup, Team New Zealand, and the Louis Vuitton Cup, Prada, along with the majority of the other challengers preparing for the next America's Cup, will also be present in Cowes for the Jubilee. They will all use this event as an important part of their preparation for the 32nd America's Cup Match which starts with the Louis Vuitton Cup in October 2002 in Auckland, New Zealand. - Louis Vuitton Cup website. Full story: http://www.louisvuittoncup.com/lvcup.sps?section=home&subsection=home&page=default.sps WANT TO WIN IN ONE-DESIGN? If you want to win in One-Design you should be asking your sailmaker about Bainbridge Sailcloth. Following a string of summer successes Bainbridge's AIRX spinnaker fabrics and DIAX laminates have between them scooped top 3 at the J24 Worlds and 1st at the US 1D35 Championships. Talk Bainbridge to your sailmaker or find out more at www.sailcloth.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * February 17-25: 45th Annual New England Boat Show, Bayside Exposition Center in Boston Massachusetts. http://www.Bostonboating.com * June 7-10: J/80 world championship, hosted by Ida Lewis Yacht Club, Sail Newport and the International J/80 Class Association in Newport, RI. The event is expected to draw 40 to 50 boats from Australia, England, France, Sweden, Puerto Rico, Canada, Holland and the U.S. Racing will take place on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound. www.sailnewport.org/J80Worlds AMERICAP U.S Sailing is putting on a series of seminars on the West Coast to introduce the current evolution of its AMERICAP II measurement handicap system to race managers and serious racing sailors. The first seminar is by invitation extended only to industry professionals (designers, sailmakers, etc), and races management personnel. It will be held on Sunday March 11, 2001 at California Yacht Club from 11:00 Am to 2:00 PM. Primary speakers will be Dan Nowlan US Sailing Offshore Director and Jim Teeters, Naval Architect and US Sailing Consultant who is responsible for the ongoing development of the Americap II and IMS Velocity Prediction Programs. Seminars oriented toward racers and crews will be open to all interested parties: - Sunday March 11, 2001 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM California Yacht Club - Monday March 12, 2001 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM Balboa Yacht Club - Tuesday March 13, 2001 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM Long Beach Yacht Club - Wednesday March 14, 2001 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM TBA San Diego QUOTE / UNQUOTE * "Thirty-five knots: that's all we want. Any more and we can't use it. In fact, we end up going slower. But I'll savor this day in the Southern Ocean when the wind is only blowing 25 knots, the waves are even and regular and only three meters high, knowing that we have about 24 hours remaining until all hell breaks loose again. I might even allow myself to think about being in the lead for the first time. Enjoy the moment. I can't allow that indulgence to last too long, however, as we have to get back to the business of sailing as rationally and as hard as we dare.. Ours is a very tentative lead, one that can be swept away with a single BANG. And that's what the opposition are waiting for, for us to go over the top." - Grant Dalton, Club Med http://www.catamaran.clubmed.fr/html/UK/news/article.cfm?ID_NEWS=01_01_01242001_184918 * "We weren't being reckless, but we were still looking for the edge, where the limit is, how hard you can drive these boats." - Cam Lewis, Team Adventure http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36917-2001Jan23.html TOMORROW Barring any unforeseen complications, tomorrow we'll be able to tell you how to get your free Scuttlebutt Sailing Club membership card. Members of the SSC will never need to be concerned about the onerous provisions of the ISAF's new Eligibility Code - a rule that requires EVERY competitor (including crew members) to, ".be a member of a Member National Authority or an affiliated organization." Because the SSC is a member of the US Sailing Association, your SSC membership solves that problem - permanently and without cost to the members. So watch this space tomorrow for the simple instructions. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS It's easy to be a nutritional overachiever. |
