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SCUTTLEBUTT 2089 - May 8, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.RE-START DRAWS RECORD SPECTATOR FLEET May 7, 2006, Annapolis, Maryland - A record number of spectator craft, estimated at 3,500 by the U.S. Coastguard, lined Chesapeake Bay today to farewell the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 fleet for the start of the sixth leg of the race from Annapolis to New York. Thousands more fans took up vantage points on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge where traffic also came to a standstill. The figure surpassed the 2,000 spectator boats assembled for the start of the race in Vigo, Spain in November last year. Winds have dropped even more as the afternoon on the Chesapeake wears on; boat speeds drop commensurately. The leader is now doing only seven knots and the tail ender just four, but a new weather system will bring up to 25 knots of breeze later tonight. Mark Rudiger, the new navigator onboard Ericsson (Neal McDonald), says that there is not much of a passing lane once the fleet gets to New York and he thinks that it is possible that fleet may cross the finish line in the same order as it exited the Chesapeake Bay. The next few hours are critical as the teams focus on pushing their boats as hard as possible. The arrival in New York, poses all sorts of challenges including lots of narrow channels that the fleet must keep within, along with fishing boats, barges, tug boats, police guards, not to mention the shoals which must be avoided and the skyscrapers which will disrupt the wind. But tonight, in an increasingly familiar pattern, the movistar (Bouwe Bekking) crew has broken the important piece of gear which drives their two main winches, necessitating the transfer of the spinnaker sheet to the mainsheet winch in every maneuver. "The forecast is still for 25 knots later during the night; hopefully we can lay through and not have to tack in big seas," skipper Bouwe Bekking said. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Sunday 1. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, 341 miles to finish 1. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +0 miles 3. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +1 miles 3. Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki, +1 miles 5. Brunel,(Grant Wharington, + 2 miles 6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +4 miles 7. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +6 miles NO IFS AND ANDS - JUST A BIG BUTT If and when ABN Amro 1 clinches victory in the Volvo Ocean Race, which now seems likely, skipper Mike Sanderson will give credit where credit is due -- to rap star Sir Mix-a-Lot. Sanderson has the theme already selected for the celebration. "I like big butts and I cannot lie," thunders the New Zealand-born skipper from behind the wheel of his 70-foot race boat. "You other brothers can't deny . . ." It's bad luck to look ahead in sports, of course, but Sanderson's team has a massive 19 1/2 -point lead 25,000 miles into the 'round the world race. With just 5,000 miles to go, it would take a major disaster to keep ABN Amro 1 off the victory stand and "Baby Got Back" off the PA system in Goteborg, Sweden, where the fleet winds up next month. And it's all thanks to that big butt. "Our transom is half a meter wider than the Farr boats," said navigator Stan Honey, speaking of Bruce Farr-designed rivals Movistar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Brasil 1 and Ericsson. "That's what gives us our power in strong winds." ABN Amro's big backside has its downside, as well, as evidenced last weekend in the Chesapeake Bay, when Sanderson and Co. stumbled to a sixth-place finish in a seven-boat fleet in light winds as the Farr boats took first through fourth. "When the wind gets soft we're dragging a lot of turbulence," said Honey, 51, a Yale- and Stanford-educated engineer who put his career on hold to go adventuring in the world's oceans. "When you look behind the boat and see all that whitewater, we're slow." (But) when the wind pipes up it takes off like a scalded dog, whipping along a full knot faster than its slender rivals. "I don't think I've ever been in a race where the speed difference was this great," said Paul Cayard, five-time America's Cup veteran and skipper of U.S. entry Pirates of the Caribbean, which is third in the standings. -- Excerpts from a story by Angus Phillips in the Washington Post, full story: http://tinyurl.com/lmksf ONE MORE TIME Over the weekend, we learned of two remarkable 67 year old sailors who are planning solo round the world campaigns. * Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to ever sail single-handed, non-stop around the world, is to make a return to round the world racing by competing in the upcoming Velux 5 Oceans. Sir Robin, 67, is two years older than Sir Francis Chichester when he completed his solo one stop circumnavigation in 1967. He last raced around the world in 1994 when with Sir Peter Blake he broke the round the world sailing record and won the Jules Verne Trophy. The man recently voted Britain's most successful solo yachtsman by The Sunday Times will be up against a field of 10 of the globe's top sailors competing in the Open 60 class. Knox-Johnson recently acquired the former Fila Open 60, previously campaigned by Giovanni Soldini. The Finot-design yacht, which was built for the Soldini in 1997 propelled the Italian sailor to first place in the 1998-9 Around Alone race. Campaign sponsorship discussions have begun with a number of parties. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is Chairman of Clipper Ventures, the company that manages the Velux 5 Oceans. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com * He is 67 years old, a lifelong smoker, a former market trader and door-to-door salesman and a man who famously survived for five days alone in the upturned hull of his yacht in the Southern Ocean, and now he wants to take on the toughest challenge of them all. Tony Bullimore, the likeable former nightclub owner from Bristol plans to set sail this summer to try to beat Dame Ellen MacArthur's solo round-the-world record of 71 days, 14 hours and 18 minutes that she set on her 75ft trimaran, B & Q, last February. There is no doubt that Bullimore's boat could in theory break MacArthur's time. The former and much-modified ENZA New Zealand that held the fully crewed round-the-world record in 1995 is longer than MacArthur's trimaran and has a bigger rig. This means it could go faster in certain conditions, but it is also much heavier and older than MacArthur's state-of-the-art speedster, so there will be performance penalties in lighter winds and getting close to the record will be exceptionally tough. -- Excerpts from a story by Edward Gorman, The Times, full story: http://tinyurl.com/h83ty HOT GIRLS! We all know them. They're all around us. They're our wives, our sisters, our daughters . our Mom's! Hot Girls are on the water, too. With us, against us, and doing big things like Sally Barkow, Debbie Capozzi, and Carrie Howe; Anna Tunnicliffe and Nikola Girke. The new 2006 Collection from Kaenon Polarized has what girls want - Luxury Performance. Girls wanna be girls . and Mother's Day is this weekend. Let Mom know she's hot! Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically (and luxuriously). For inspiration and a dealer nearest you, click on http://www.kaenon.com CRUNCH TIME It's just after 8 am in Valencia and the 11 challengers and defender are beavering away in preparation for the next America's Cup pre regatta (which starts on Thursday). This is the 10th pre-regatta - but a significant one. Team New Zealand will race their new boat NZL84. In other words, it's about to become a lot clearer whether the Dalton-led syndicate stand any chance of winning back yachting's greatest prize. "If we are miles off the pace, we have a fundamental design problem and that would be a concern," Dalton said. "We are keeping our eyes open and looking around but, until the new Alinghi boat comes out, there is nothing we have seen so far that has given us any concern. Sure there are a few things we are looking at that the other teams have done as in, 'That's a nice idea, that's a nice idea' - but there is nothing that concerns us. That might change if they all blow us off the water next week." Team New Zealand has been based in Spain for a little over a month and the base is all but complete. They've spent the last three weeks racing mostly against themselves, although they did take on Luna Rossa and their new boat, ITA86, last week but agreed not to discuss the results. Like Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa have indicated they will race their new boat next week. Chris Dickson's Oracle have said they won't - although teams can change their minds up to 24 hours before the first race. While NZL84 and ITA86 are clearly different boats to their predecessors, Oracle's new USA87 has hogged the limelight, with its bowsprit and jumper-less rig. There has also been talk of a tandem keel, which now seems doubtful because a rudder, which is not required with a tandem keel, has been spotted. The tandem keel speculation is possibly the result of Oracle's rig and forestay (the cable that runs from the mast to the bow) appearing further forward on their new boat, which can indicate a different setup underneath. But USA76 has always appeared a little off balance and Dalton suggests they have tried to address that by the way they have set up their new boat. -- Excerpts from a story by Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/g89ho GOOD KARMA "This is beyond belief," said Roger Sturgeon of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. of his overall win at the 2006 Rolex Antigua Sailing Week. Moments after returning to the dock, Sturgeon learned that his TP52 Rosebud had corrected on time to finish first in class over Tom Hill's Titan from Puerto Rico and Numbers, the Farr 60 owned by Dan Meyers of Boston, Mass. The win catapulted Rosebud to overall first in class, first in fleet and a coveted Rolex timepiece. "There is no way you can plan to do something like this. It's the wind gods, karma, luck, and all the little things that you can't plan on. Light, shifty wind ranged from 4 knots at the start of both Divisions' Ocean Race to 12 knots and pouring rain toward the middle and end of the race that took the entire fleet from a start/finish point outside Falmouth Harbour. Both classes were challenged by a range of conditions along the south coast of Antigua with Division A completing approximately 20 miles, while those in Division B sailed 19 miles in a similar course configuration. The event, now in its 39th year, hosted thousands of competitors representing 30 countries aboard 191 boats, with the most entries coming from the United Kingdom. -- http://www.sailingweek.com -- The Scuttlebutt website has Antigua Sailing Week images from photographer Daniel Forster: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/antiguasw/ YACHTING CUP After a doing three races on Saturday in 10-13 knots of breeze, the 127 boats racing on three separate courses at the San Diego YC's Yachting Cup Regatta limped around the marks, while dodging kelp, in a meager 7-8 knots of breeze for Sunday's final two races. The McInerney/ Kennedy team on the J/105 Bold Forbes thrived on it. They took command of the 22-boat J/105 fleet to score a seven point win over Dennis & Sharon Case's Wings in the regatta's largest fleet. The most dominant PHRF teams were Robert Youngjohns' DK 46 Zephyra, that won Division 2 with five straight bullets, and the J/92 Turn-Key, sailed by radio psychologist Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who took four bullets before settling for a deuce in the finale. Full results, http://sdyc.org/yachtingcup/results/yc_res.htm - Photographer Glennon Stratton/GTS Photos has provided a great gallery of images from the Yachting Cup for the Scuttlebutt website. Also, look in the Tuesday issue of Scuttlebutt for your chance to win free photos of your boat from the event: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/yachtingcup LIGHTER, FASTER & MORE POWERFUL Words not usually used to describe instrument systems. Ockam is the leader in providing the most accurate real-time data available. The Pentium based Tryad processor combined with an available 3-axis rate stabilized compass paves the way in delivering a stable wind solution that takes the heel, pitch and roll of the boat into account. With performance and weight in mind, all sensors interface close to their location allowing the information to stream unimpeded throughout the system's single cable "daisy chain" network. Thus eliminating heavy multiple cable runs and expensive junction boxes. To learn more, contact Ockam: mailto:lat@ockam.com FOR THE RECORD Only days away from Hawaii and what will be his first sight of land in weeks, Adrian Flanagan has suffered a serious blow to his Alpha Global Expedition. In the early hours of this morning he contacted his shore team to report "a strange twanging sound from the mast." Upon inspection he noticed that "the shrouds that support the mast had become looser and the mast top was very off centre...". Adrian proceeded to climb the mast to take a closer look and discovered two critical damage points. The spreaders are coming away from the mast and need rewelding but most importantly the through bolt that supports the shrouds has ripped through the stainless steel mast tube. There is no way this can be fixed at sea properly, especially with so many thousands of miles still ahead. What was already set up as a swift supply drop in Hawaii has now become a race against time to lift out the mast and effect repairs. As such Adrian will be stepping ashore for the first time in over 6 months. Research has shown that Adrian is very likely to be the first person to ever sail from UK to Hawaii alone, non-stop and westabout via Cape Horn. -- http://www.alphaglobalex.com/ SAILING SHORTS * It took five races, but Team WHishbone beat Silver Panda in the Finals of the 57th Wilson Trophy hosted by West Kirby Sailing Club in West Kirby, UK. The Wilson Trophy is the premiere event on all grand prix team racers calendars. With 32 teams, 6 fleets of color coded boats, 25 umpires, 240 races in the Swiss League, grand stands, commentators, spectators, and a killer party Saturday night the Wilson Trophy is an event second to none. Team WHishbone was comprised of Tim Fallon, Karen Renzuli, Tim and Ery Wadlow, Mark Ivey and Genny Tulloch. -- Full results: http://www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy/ * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified a new World Record for the East to West San Francisco to Yokohama Transpacific passage of the 90-foot Trimaran Geronimo, skippered by Olivier de Kersauson (FRA) and 10 crew in April. The new elapsed time record for the 4482 nm passage is 14 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes, 41 seconds. The previous record was set in May 1996 by Steve Fossett (USA) in the 60-foot trimaran Lakota: 19d:15h:18m:9s. * Paolo Cian, 40, of Naples, Italy has joined Team Shosholoza as a helmsman/ match racing coach. Cian was helmsman of the Mascalzone Latino America's Cup Challenger in the 2002/3 edition of the America's Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. Last month Team Shosholoza announced the appointment of Italian Tommaso Chieffi, 45, as a helmsman/ strategist and coach. Chieffi has been part of the afterguard of four previous America's Cup campaigns. Cian and Chieffi will share helming duties with Ian Ainslie, a three times South African Olympic skipper. -- http://www.teamshosholoza.com * Ken Ryan of Ireland was honored Friday by the International Sailing Federation when he received the Federation's highest award for outstanding voluntary outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing and ISAF. Recently retired as an ISAF Vice-President in 2004, a position he held since 1998, Ryan's main focus during his 36 years as a volunteer for ISAF has been the implementation and ongoing development of the ISAF Race Officials Programme. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j67Fh`pB~ * There is an interesting interview between Donna Lange and a reporter from New Zealand Television posted online. It is a five minute segment that was made from footage shot on and around Donna's sloop as it sailed into Auckland harbor. Donna will return to the states May 25 for a variety of family events, and then return to New Zealand on July 12 to replenish her boat for the second half of her circumnavigation. She plans on using the Cape Horn route and will depart in November. -- Online interview: http://tinyurl.com/lueqf * The trimaran Geronimo, in the colors of Capgemini and Schneider Electric, crossed the finishing line of the course between Yokohama and Hong Kong Sunday morning, at 11h 42 O7 local time. The 1650 miles of this new route were covered in 4 days 17 hours, 47 minutes and 23 seconds. The final time does not, however, represent the potential of Geronimo. Geronimo will remain in Hong Kong for 10 days, before being sailed back to Yokohama for an attempt at the Pacific record to San Francisco. -- BYM News, http://www.bymnews.com/new/content/view/28723/48/ Event website: http://www.cimdev.com.au/superyachting/site/index.php RECORD J FLEET HEADING TO BERMUDA The 2006 Newport-Bermuda "Centennial" Race is drawing record numbers, thanks in part to the largest J turnout in history; 46 boats strong. The J/42 and J/44 owners have class starts, and there is a great turnout of J/120s, J/133s, J/46s and other J's, vying for the division trophies. http://www.jboats.com 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. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Ray Tostado: We have changed as a sport, as a culture, as a specie. We have all too many attractions to consume our attention span of a few minutes. At the highest level of racing the crews focus, or don't get paid. This attention level diminishes as the level reaches down to the local beer can races where deck crews sit on the rail and chatter about sex, lies, and mortgage payments. It seems that the only institutions aware of this phenomena change in human behavior are those in marketing and advertising. They spend their client's money where the action is. If they miss the challenge, they lose the client. I would love to talk technique, technology, and sailing; but, the real media world is all about selling. You can't sell if you have no audience. If you have no audience, you have no sponsor. And without a sponsor you have no coverage. Try selling coverage to GM and tell them to remain off camera. * From Adrian Morgan: With all the speculation over bulbs and keels the real breakthrough, in IACC hull shape, seems to be ignored. Why are the boats slab sided? They look strange and yet the water must like the immersed, heeled shape. It must be fast. It must also act as another keel, the hard chine preventing leeway. Maybe the immersed shape actually 'sucks' the new boats to windward? What do the naval architects say, and could it be a shape of things to come in cruising boats? Or would the slab sides invite damage in big seas? Ugly is as ugly does. They said Britannia was ugly. * From Mark Mattison: Before anybody gets too excited about the preferences of the Downeast Maine fleet for going back to PHRF and extrapolating to what might or might not be the sentiments of sailors across the country, let's play social scientist and take a look at the sample base that Bob Johnstone had to work with. 25 participants, 15 responding to the questions. From that he got 9 guys voting for PHRF, 4 voting for IRC and 2 had no preference. Interesting for conversation at the yacht club bar, undoubtedly, but hardly worth all the ink and e-ink spilled. Barry Carroll and IRC need not lose any sleep just yet. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Rather than say a man has a 'beer belly, it's more politically correct to say he has developed a 'liquid grain storage facility.' Rather than say a young lady has 'been around,' it's more politically correct to say she is a 'previously enjoyed companion.' Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized, Ockam Instruments, and J/World. |
