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SCUTTLEBUTT 3255 - Wednesday, January 12, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Atlantis WeatherGear, IYRS, and Royal Netherlands Yachting Union. SCIENCE + EVOLUTION = FAST For the 2007 America's Cup, Andrew Mason created a DNA structure for the ACC yacht class, and then used it to race virtual fleets against each other, automated by computer, culling out the top performers and cross-breeding them until the best of the breed was found. What impact can Genetic Analysis and automated optimization play in designing the new 72-foot catamarans and wingsails for the 2013 America's Cup? Does Oracle Racing now have an insurmountable advantage on wingsails? Is this advanced study within reach of anyone other than the teams with the most money? Andrew explains his innovative methods in this interview with CupInfo.com... here is an excerpt: * What is your opinion of the advantage some people perceive that BMW Oracle has in multihulls and particularly in wingsail design? Is this advantage insurmountable for a challenging team? ANDREW MASON: Actually, I think this purported advantage is a myth. The wing used on the BMW Oracle trimaran was aerodynamically simplistic, and if scaled down to the correct size for an AC72, would not be competitive with the first generation of AC72 wings that we will see in 18 months time. The wing was simple for good reason, it was a gargantuan task to get it built and sailing in the time available, and it needed to work straight out of the box and be robust and reliable. In that respect the BMW Oracle design team did a fantastic job, if they had gone for a more complex design, chances are that the wing would have been too late or too unreliable. The team picked the correct level of design complexity for the task at hand, which was simply to be faster than Alinghi, not to produce the fastest possible wing design. This time around it will be different, and aerodynamically BMWO will have to start from scratch with all the other teams. The wings will be very different, possibly with all elements able to twist and the likelihood of more than two elements being used. I would also not count on the C-Class cat rigs being a model for what we may see in AC34. While the C-Class designers have done a fantastic job developing the rigs to where they are, they have had to work with little or no CFD facilities, relatively small budgets, and small sailing crew numbers, so the wing designs have been fairly simple as a result. It will be interesting to see what features prevail in the design of the AC72 wings in an environment of high budgets, extensive CFD, and large crew sizes. Although I think that aerodynamically and hydrodynamically BMWO does not have any real advantage over a good challenging team, I do concede that BMWO has a significant advantage in the structural design of the wing and platform. The combination of the load data collected from sailing the trimaran with the knowledge and experience of former Alinghi structural designer Dirk Kramers will be difficult to match. Combine this with the experience of the BMWO build team and it will be hard for other teams to match the structural integrity and quality of the BMWO boats. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/CupInfo-011111 COUNTDOWN: The platform and wingsail for the prototype for the new AC45 is proceeding at Core Composites (Warkworth, Auckland), readying for its launch next week. The AC45 is a forerunner to the AC72 design to be used in the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco in September 2013. The AC45 is a one design which will be sailed in the initial rounds of the America's Cup World Series. Once the ACWS shifts to the AC72, the AC45 will become a youth boat. -- Sail-World, see photos: http://tinyurl.com/SW-011111 CARNAGE CONDITIONS Belmont, NSW, Australia (January 11, 2011) - Twenty-four knot gusts pumped down the race course for a full day of racing at the 2011 Zhik Moth Worlds' first day of the Final Series. Rarely dropping below a healthy 18 knot East by Northeasterly, sailors across the fleet had their share of stacks, crashes and comebacks that has opened up the scorecard. Looking at the score board, Nathan Outteridge (AUS) continues to dominate, but got a minuscule chip in his armor when he showed his second "none-bullet" by finishing 4th in the last race. Out of twelve races he has won 10 so far. Despite his dominance, however, he holds only a six point margin over Aussie Joe Turner in second. While 2009 World Champ Bora Gulari (USA) had a very decent day with a 4, 3, 7 to now sits in 5th overall, and Linsdsay Bergan (USA) is tied for the lead of top women, others on the American squad will be using Wednesday's lay day to rebuild. Brad Funk's rudder system exploded, Charlie McKee's wing exploded, and Dalton Bergan's mast exploded. While Chris Rast's boat did not explode, he nearly did until he realized his speed woes were the result of a major leak in the hull. The day ended with the Moth Class Annual General Meeting, which showed a bit of tension as the future of the wings was discussed. "There were a couple of sailors (and mast makers) that want to downright ban any development of wings, which I find absolutely absurd in a development class," observed Rast. "We haven't even yet really started and they already want to ban it? I can just see the headlines on the sailing websites: Moth Class bans Wings! Right next to the other headline: The next AC to be sailed with wings!" Racing will commence on Thursday and conclude on Friday. Results: http://www.mothworlds.org/belmont/results/ To best grasp what Moth racing is like in near-nuke conditions, check out the videos on the Worlds website and the reports from Brad, Matt, and Chris on their blogs: Worlds: http://www.mothworlds.org/belmont/ Brad Funk: http://www.funksailing.com/ Matt Knowles: http://knowlesmoth.blogspot.com/ Chris Rast: http://fasterandhigher.blogspot.com/ SEE WHERE MOTHS ARE BUILT Moth dinghies may seem otherworldly, but they are indeed built on Earth. One of those places is IYRS in Rhode Island. Composites Technology students will build a fleet of Moths this term that will become part of the Sail Newport fleet. See the school's Composites and Marine Systems facility in Bristol during a January 19 Open House that runs from 4-7 pm (rescheduled from January 12). You will also see Systems students' projects, some involving alternative energy sources such as wind generators and solar power. Go to http://www.iyrs.org to learn more. STRONG WINDS TAKING ITS TOLL (January 11, 2011: Day 12) The strong trade winds and high speeds south from the Canary Islands have taken a toll on the Barcelona World Race. On Monday it was reported that Jean Le Cam and Bruno Dubois lost the mast of their IMOCA Open 60 President, and now today Foncia co-skipper Michel Desjoyeaux reports that the crash box on the bow is damaged, the victim of a shock with a floating object. The crash box is a sacrificial section of the bow which is designed to absorb such impacts and help protect the hull itself. While the boat and sailors remain safe, the team is preparing to make a technical stop in Brasil, probably in Recife to repair or replace the sacrificial section which served its purpose, preventing damage to the hull. Such a technical stop is not penalized under the race rules until after Australia when a mandatory 48 hours stop must be taken. Speeds have dropped now for the leaders who keep pressing hard down towards the Doldrums, but who will be taking the chance to re-group, to recharge their energies after three seemingly endless days and nights of on-the-edge sailing. For the leading duo the passage across the Doldrums looks to be relatively straightforward, and they will start to feel the effects of the convergence zone this evening. Leader Virbac-Paprec 3 might even expect to be sliding into the southern hemisphere, across the Equator by Wednesday evening around 1800-1900hrs. Commenting on their dismasting, Le Cam noted that it was not an extraordinary event. "It happened at about 1900 hrs, so it wasn't yet dark," said Le Cam. "There were 20-25 knots of wind and we slammed into a wave. We were under gennaker, but it was nothing exceptional. How and why it happened, I've no idea. It wasn't really as if we were digging into a wave. We just slammed into it. It had already happened twenty times before. As we hit the wave, we heard a cracking sound. It was all over in two seconds. You start to look up and it's already over. I've no idea what really happened." President should arrive at the island of San Antao overnight. KABOOM: "We were sailing full on by 25 knots of wind when suddenly the sail fell in the water," said Dominique Wavre from Mirabaud. "It took us two hours to get it back onboard." Wavre hopes their light spinnaker will last until they reach the doldrums in two days. "If the wind drops as planned, it will give us the opportunity to repair the sail, host it and roll it again. Estrella Damm and Mapfre passed quite close to us, but unfortunately we didn't have any visual contact with them. Our only view is the horizon.it seems so close, yet there is an eternity of ocean around us." Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20:01:04) 1. Virbac-Paprec, Jean Pierre Dick & Loick Peyron, 22,042 nm DTF 2. Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux & Francois Gabart, 65.6 nm DTL 3. Estrella Damm Sailing Team, Alex Pella & Pepe Ribes, 192.3 nm DTL 4. Mapfre, Iker Martinez & Xabi Fernandez, 232.7 nm DTL 5. Mirabaud, Dominique Wavre & Michele Paret, 247.8 DTL Full rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org THUNDER DOWN UNDER One of the classes that will miss Key West Race Week next week is the Farr 40, as their focus this winter is in Australia for the 14th Rolex Farr 40 World Championship (Feb. 23-26). Twenty boats have entered to date, representing five countries, and include defending champions Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone, from Italy. Martin Hill, the Farr 40 Australian Class President, reports, "Excitement is growing for the Worlds: the Sydney waterfront is already abuzz with news of professional calibre teams, and top-gun tacticians that include America's Cup and Olympic stars such as James Spithill, Tom Slingsby, Hamish Pepper, Grant Simmer, Michael Coxon, Adrian Stead, Chris Larson, and Vasco Vascotto." The last time the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds were held in Sydney, in 2005, local sailor Richard Perini, on Evolution, won a hard-fought championship decided on the final race of the series. The racing is expected to be no less tight this time around. Several past World Champions will be on hand to contest this year's title including: Jim Richardson (USA) on three-time winner Barking Mad (1998, 2004, 2009); Steve Phillips (USA) on Le Renard (2002), John Calvert-Jones (AUS) on Southern Star (2000), and Nerone (2003, 2010). Steve Phillips, from Annapolis, Maryland, on Le Renard, have not competed at the Worlds since Copenhagen in 2006, but prior to that they were on a roll, starting with the 2002 Worlds in Nassau, Bahamas which they won, and then racing in the 2003, 2004, and 2006 events. Phillips' will have local North Sails rep Michael Coxon onboard as tactician, who helped guide the second-placed boat at the 2005 Worlds. Absent from the World's fleet for the past five years, Le Renard's crew is taking their event preparation seriously. Said Phillips, "I intend to arrive early and practice in the very difficult Sydney 'seaway', with the opposing tides versus wind direction. These conditions will present a challenge for me, since I am used to sailing in the mild Chesapeake Bay with light winds and minimum wave action. I need some 'tiller time' to be competitive against the other very talented helmsmen who are more used to a seaway, or as we say in America, some 'chop'!" Full report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100481&lang=1&eid=255 SOUTHBOUND, AND LOVING IT by Stuart Streuli, Sailing World Last Sunday was, as someone else put it, a day of "true frostbiting" for Newport's Laser Fleet 413. The temperature hovered around the freezing point, the westerly wind gusted up to 20 knots, and the newly fallen snow blanketed the harborside. But the sun shone brightly, the breeze abated slightly as the day progressed, and 21 sailors showed up to brush the snow from their boats and brave the conditions, which more than vindicated my decision (as one of the fleet captains) not to cancel in the face of a rather ominous forecast (20 to 25 with gusts over 30, was the prediction two days out). I had a decidedly poor day. I kept dropping my mainsheet, flipped over a few times, missed most every shift, and then had a fist-sized hole punched in the starboard quarter of my boat (a windward-leeward incident) before the start of the fifth race. Nonetheless, the whole day put a smile on my face. Frostbiting always seems to have this effect, no matter the result. I was also smiling because I kept thinking how this coming weekend I'll be in Key West, bashing through 75-degree water, complaining that 65 is a "little cool," and worrying whether it's time to re-apply the sunblock. -- Read on: http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs/racing/southbound-and-loving-it => Curmudgeon's Comment: This is the second edition in a row with a Key West Race Week teaser. Does it hurt yet? DISCOVER: THE PERFECT GEAR FOR WINTER SAILING IN FLORIDA Sure, South Florida can be an idyllic place for a winter regatta, but it can also serve up some truly bone-chilling conditions as well. A year ago, the Etchells sailors in the Jaguar Series experienced a wind chill factor of 22F, and just a couple of weeks ago, the Orange Bowl Regatta saw a finger-numbing 29F. So if you're headed to Florida to sail this winter, make sure you're ready for anything with the Atlantis line of versatile and innovative sailing gear. Visit http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com or call us at (877) 333-SAIL (7245). We're here to help you figure out what you need. Discover Your Atlantis GAME CHANGER? A consumer-oriented website aimed at boat buyers, www.seedealercost.com, has sent shock waves through the US dealer network. The website, which will "soon" go live according to a statement, said it will provide consumers with detailed information about boats, personal watercraft and other powersports products. The information will include the manufacturer's suggested retail price and "invoice" pricing on specific boat models which the dealer pays to the manufacturer. "Site users will be able to configure products (choose options) and save configurations in their account, or print them out by requesting a PDF of the configuration from See Dealer Cost," said the statement. "In addition to product and pricing information, site users will have access to articles, a dealer search, request a quote (from participating manufacturers and their dealers), and pre-owned values, and in the near future more information will be added." The website is expected to be similar to Edmunds.com, which provides pricing and dealer invoice information on cars in the US market. "Today's buyer requires high value, technologically advanced products, great service, ease of doing business and the best deal possible," said the See Dealer Cost website. "The problem is customers don't know what the best deal possible is. The auto industry, however, reports a higher closing rate when the customer is better informed."-- IBI News, read on: http://tinyurl.com/IBI-011111 A COVER STORY So far it is the year of the cover! This week we have had a few customers come in and inquire what all this difference about covers for lines is. So, we thought we would take some time to post a brief synopsis of the differences that are out there in cover material: - Polyester - Dyneema - Technora blend - Zylon - Vectran Apart from the Polyester cover, most of these are used in more Grand-Prix and "Big Boat" applications; however they all have uses throughout the yachting industry, from small one-design to the very highest level of Grand-Prix. West Marine Rigging - Newport provides a report on each cover and its applications: http://wmriggingnewport.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/a-cover-story/ SAILING SHORTS * (January 11, 2011; Day 27) - With 906 nm remaining to the finish for the VELUX 5 OCEANS leader Brad Van Liew (USA), he faces the tough decision of which route to take to the finish in Wellington: west through the notoriously fickle Tasman Sea and the Cook Strait or east round the bottom of the New Zealand's South Island. With a 259 nm lead on second placed Zbigniew Gutkowski (POL), Van Liew might be forced to make this decision without knowing which way the fleet will go. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ * SAILING, America's oldest and largest-page-size sailing magazine, is rolling out a new look for 2011, its 45th anniversary year. Starting with the March issue, SAILING's pages will measure 9 by 11-7/8 inches, more compact and easier to read, but still the biggest pages of any American sailing magazine, similar to some of the respected oversize yachting magazines in the UK and Europe. A special 45th anniversary issue will be published in September. -- Full details: http://tinyurl.com/Sailing-011111 * (January 11, 2011) - West Marine today reported a 3.3 percent increase in net revenues for the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 1, and a 5.8 percent increase in net revenues for 2010. Fourth-quarter net revenues were $107.3 million, compared with $103.9 million in the year-earlier period. Comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter increased 1.6 percent, or $1.3 million. -- Soundings, read on: http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/home/508217-west-marine-reports-4q-revenue VACANCY FULLTIME TALENTCOACH LASER - THE NETHERLANDS Purpose of the position: The coach has a solid and clear vision on Talent development and is responsible for the program, team, individuals, results and for talent- and coach development in youth classes within the Royal Netherlands Yachting Union (Watersportverbond) Talentplan. Job information: http://www.watersportverbond.nl/Content.aspx?sid=1&cid=1237&mid=&mnu=1934 INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum encourages companies to post their new hirings, product and service updates. Scuttlebutt editors will select Industry update each week to include in the Thursday edition of the Scuttlebutt newsletter. Here is the link to post Industry News updates: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Tom Baffico: I read Matthew's article in Scuttlebutt 3254 on putting the fun and family back into sailing. As a young teenager I had a great time sailing small boats with my father and friends. But as an adult I raced keel boats, primarily an Express 27, and we raced to win. Sailed with a great crew but it was away from my kids. The Express is absolutely a wonderful boat but my 80 lb son couldn't trim the sails and it was a bit too much for my daughter. While we went on the occasional sail, I was always a little worried about the kid's fingers and winches and travellers. So last year I decided to move not all the way back to dinghies, but to one of the new sport boats that are becoming popular here in San Francisco, an Open 5.70. I can either race the boat hard with my "pro" crew or double hand with my son. My daughter likes to tell her (non-sailing) friends about the summer day we blasted across the central bay with spray flying everywhere. This Sunday four of us went for a sail (one of those friends came along). Turned out to be a nice SF winter day, light air and sunny. We set the chute near the Bay Bridge and headed back to Alameda with my daughter trimming. My daughter explained to her friend how to trim the spinnaker and her friend took over the spinnaker trimming duties. Since she was doing a great job at that I thought it was time for her to learn to drive. So I explained why you shouldn't sail too deep or too high downwind, and by the end of the day my daughter's friend was driving the boat through the gybes while my daughter was trimming. How great is that! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "I have a paraplegic friend, Geoff Holt. He says sailing is the thing that makes him the equal of someone who is able-bodied. On a boat you're responsible for yourself, you make the decisions. No bureaucrat is telling you what to do - and people like telling you what to do these days. We are developing too much of a Big Brother society." -- Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR), who in 1969 was the first to complete a non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe, http://tinyurl.com/RKJ-CO SPONSORS THIS WEEK Quantum Sails - APS - North Sails - West Marine - Lewmar Atlantis WeatherGear - IYRS - Ullman Sails Morris Yachts - North U - Mount Gay Rum Need stuff? 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