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SCUTTLEBUTT 3413 - Thursday, August 25, 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: Ullman Sails, APS, and Premiere Racing. IN DEFENSE OF THE CANADA'S CUP Bob Hughes helped bring the Canada's Cup to the Holland-based Macatawa Bay Yacht Club in 2007, and now he and his crew are going to do all they can to make sure it stays there. Hughes served as the helmsman on Heartbreaker, which beat the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto four years ago. Hughes' Team Heritage has spent the past four years preparing its defense of the Cup, a huge silver trophy that the United States and Canada have been fighting over since the match race was introduced between the two nations on the Great Lakes in 1896. But Team Heritage first must earn the right to face the Canadians. Macatawa Bay is hosting the Defender's Trial off Holland Harbor on Lake Michigan beginning Friday. Team Heritage will race Chicago Match Race Center, with this weekend's winner representing the United States in the Canada's Cup on Sept. 1-4. "We got the Cup here and we want to defend it, and we want to defend it on our home turf," Hughes said. "Every preparation has gone into it. Now, it's time to perform on the water." The race pits Farr 40's against each other, and it marks the first time it has been contested in West Michigan. The first team to win five races will advance to the Labor Day Weekend showdown, which also is a best-of-nine series. There have been 22 races in the Canada's Cup 115-year history, with the United States winning 13 of them. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/MLive-082411 DETAILS: The defender trials for the Canada's Cup between U.S. teams Macatawa Bay Yacht Club (Bob Hughes, Heritage) and Chicago Match Racing Center (Don Wilson, Convexity) are Aug 26-29. The winner will advance to compete against challenger Royal Canadian Yacht Club (Grant Hood, Vincere) for the Canada's Cup on September 1-4. Event website: http://canadascup2011.us/ BIG INLAND BRED By Sam Rogers Scow sailing within the Inland Lakes Yachting Association sometimes gets the reputation from outsiders of being "in-bred", and it is not hard to figure out why when the people you compete against are the same as when you were 8 years old and a large number of the sailors are from the same families that have been doing it for generations. Maybe it is wrong to be proud of having this connation, but when it comes to racing scows in the ILYA, it truly is a big family and the annual Big Inland is our reunion, the only difference from a normal family is we have 500 crazy uncles instead of a few. Throw in some of the fastest one-design boats on the planet, extremely talented sailors all vying for beautiful trophies dating back to the late 1800s, and it makes for the greatest regatta of the year which just concluded with 4 champions being crowned in 4 different classes over 10 days of racing. I never thought being in-bred would be so much fun. Being hosted on our home waters of Lake Minnetonka, I was able to witness the massive volunteer effort that took place to make this one of the more memorable "Big Inland" regattas in a long time. Regatta co-chairs Tony Jewett and Rick Kotovic enlisted their friends, families, in-laws and long lost cousins to ensure that everything from housing, social activities, and even helping to retrieve halyards was taken care of so every competitor could make it to the racecourse without a hassle. Phone calls were made over our long winter helping to provide each fleet with their highest numbers in years; 26 A Scows, 58 E Scows, 54 C Scows, 50 MC Scows. Out of all the sailors in these fleets, 30% were 25 or younger. The final Saturday night party on MYC's Lighthouse Island saw over 400 guests and would have made the Pillsbury's proud, and the entire event could serve as an effective rebuttal to Saving Sailing. -- Full report: http://42marine.com/big-inland-bred/ * The 2011 Inland Lake Yachting Association Championship Regatta was August 11-21 on Lake Minnetonka in Deephaven, MN. Video, results, etc. here: http://www.inland2011.org/ GIRLS CAUGHT SPEEDING AT UK OPTI NATIONALS Congratulations to British Optimist sailors Sally Lorimer and Ellen Main who recently completed a stellar week of racing at the Volvo Gill Optimist Nationals in North Wales, finishing 2nd and 5th respectively in the 86-boat Regatta Racing fleet! In a series of 13 races, including a passage race, both girls scored a bullet and several top five finishes, consistently challenging for the top spot. Sally and Ellen competed with the new Ullman Sails Optimus design released for the 2011 racing season, developed specifically to be easy to use and provide speed on the racecourse. Invest your performance (and fun!)... http://www.ullmansails.com IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HEAD GAMES By Ken Read, Sailing World I graduated from Boston University and moved to Newport, R.I., in the summer of 1983, the same summer Australia II took away the America's Cup and forever changed Newport. We learned then that the Australians were very good at playing the game of keeping secrets. Every time Australia II came out of the water, the team would drape a "skirt" around the underbody, which kept the shape and style of the keel a mystery to prying and curious eyes. It's widely known that there was a whole lot of espionage happening along the waterfront that summer. The most intriguing boat by far was Australia II. It didn't look like the rest of the 12 Meters in town and, on the water, it sure was smoking the competition. There were even rumors that the Australians were sandbagging their races in order to keep the challenger trials close, just so the Americans wouldn't push to get to the bottom of what was behind the curtain. It was the talk of the town, and the Australians had the mental edge before they ever even started the Cup trials. The day the Aussies won the Cup, I "borrowed" a dinghy with three friends, rowed under a few piers, and all of a sudden we found ourselves holding on to the side of Australia II as the victory celebration began to boil. It was an unforgettable experience seeing Alan Bond standing on the aft deck of the team's tender, raising his arms to the sky as the rowdy crowd chanted, "Show us the keel!" And up she came, the unconventional keel finally in full view: the reverse sweep, the wings, and the camouflage blue paint scheme used to create the illusion of a regular keel. It was an absolutely surreal moment. And so began a trend. "Skirts" and secrecy became commonplace with the America's Cup. Everybody did it. Why? Because in each program's opinion they were hiding something their competition didn't have. The skirt validates the notion that "we are smarter than the other guys, and, for sure, if someone saw what was behind the veil, then everybody would copy it." But that's some crazy logic, and with the America's Cup and the Volvo, we're all guilty of it: all this secrecy is pointless, yet we continue to perpetuate it. -- Read on: http://www.sailingworld.com/racing/americas-cup/keeping-secrets?page=0,0 EAST COAST BRACES FOR HURRICANE IRENE Hurricane Irene grew into a major storm on Wednesday as it battered parts of the Bahamas with 115-mile-per-hour winds and up to a foot of rain and made its way north toward the East Coast. The storm, now classified as a Category 3 hurricane, could make landfall in eastern North Carolina on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "It may get a little stronger over the next day or two," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane Irene, which was over the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday morning, moving at about 9 m.p.h., was expected to remain over the island nation for at least the next day or so. Tide levels in the Bahamas could reach as high as 11-feet above normal and a storm surge is expected to create dangerous waves near the coast, the National Hurricane Center said. As it moves over the Bahamas, the storm may head in a more northwesterly direction, which would put it roughly in line with the North Carolina coast, forecasters said. Federal and state authorities however warned residents in other places not to be complacent; they said the hurricane would probably affect nearly every state along the East Coast. -- NY Times, full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/us/25hurricane.html National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl#contents IT TAKES A VILLAGE After three days of racing at the 10th annual 18ft Skiff International Regatta hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, Wednesday was a layday to mend both boats and crew. And it would be hard to find more dedicated sailors anywhere than the dozen or so competitors from the Skiff Sailing Foundation racing on their home waters of San Francisco this week. The thrust of the Skiff Sailing Foundation comes from Chad Freitas, a local yacht broker, and Dan Malpis, also in the boat business, who founded the non-profit group about eight years ago. It's free for participants eager for extra excitement in sailing, but they're expected to help maintain the fleet of seven 18s. All were discarded as charitable donations to the Skiff Sailing Foundation by owners like Howie Hamlin who replaced them with new boats. Growth has been gradual but encouraging. "You have to be committed," Ladha said. "We want people who can spend two or three hours on it at least one day a week." Racing resumes on Thursday and concludes Friday. Top 5 of 15 (after 6 of 10 races) 1. Yandoo, AUS, John Winning/David Gibson/Andrew Hay, 11 points. 2. CST Composites, USA, Howie Hamlin/Matt Noble/Paul Allen, 12 3. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, AUS, Trevor Barnabas/Aaron Links/Trent Barnabas,17 4. Mounts Bay WA, AUS, Grant Rollerson/Justin Healey/Marco Schuermann,18 5. CT Sailbattens, NZL, Alex Vallings/Chris Hiller/Josh McCormack, 19 Daily reports, results, photos, video, etc. here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12417 EVERY END IS A NEW BEGINNING... We're throwing around proverbs like some people throw back beers! Summer Series are officially ending, and overall winners are being announced! With series coming to a close all over the country, there's reason to celebrate! Celebrate what? One Design Championships, the upcoming Annapolis Race Week, the Annapolis Boat Show, and Fall Series that will segue into Frostbites, of course. APS, The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors, won't miss a beat. We have what you need. The question you've got to ask yourself, are you ready for more? Click here to find out... http://www.APSltd.com SAILING SHORTS * Kingston, ONT (August 24, 2011) - High winds for the fifth and final day of the CORK OCR Regatta kept sailors ashore for safety reasons. It was the North American Championship for the new 29erXX class, which was won by Kristen Lane and Matt Pistay of the St. Francis Yacht Club. CORK was an ISAF Grade 1 event for the Laser Full-rig with Andy Maloney of Auckland, New Zealand taking gold. -- Full report: http://www.cork.org/uncategorized/cork-ocr-day-5/ * Rochester, NY (August 24, 2011) - US SAILING's 2011 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (IWKC), hosted by the Rochester Yacht Club (N.Y.) gets underway on Monday, August 29 in the first of four days of fleet racing in J/22s on Lake Ontario. This year's edition of the Rolex IWKC features 36 teams representing 16 U.S. states and three foreign countries (Canada, Great Britain and The Netherlands). This biennial regatta, marking its 14th edition in 26 years, will offer these top sailors the opportunity to experience high-level competition along with social activities designed to promote camaraderie. -- Read on: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2011/RIWKC_2011_Preview.htm * Cartagena, Spain (August 24, 2011) - The penultimate event on the TP52 Audi MedCup Circuit dished out light winds to the 7-boat fleet, allowing just one race to be completed to begin the five day schedule. Russia's Synergy Sailing Team - fourth in the overall standings - lead from the first windward mark, ahead of Jose Cusi's Spanish boat Bribon. Both extended noticeably on the second beat when they gained from a right windshift and were comfortably clear of circuit leader Quantum Racing (USA, who finished third. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/MedCup-082411 * Following a win at Coed Dinghy Nationals this Spring, Boston College starts out the Fall 2011 season at the top of the coed rankings. While Yale tops the women's rankings, they are closely trailed by URI who claimed their first championship title at 2011 Women's Nationals. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SailingWorld-082411 * (August 24, 2011) - Francis Joyon (FRA) and the 30 meters long trimaran IDEC are now in the small port of Montauk (East Hampton / NY) after capsizing Monday in an attempt to set a new west-east Transatlantic Race. After divers helped Joyon exit the interior of the overturned IDEC, a tug pulling the inverted trimaran arrived Tuesday night to the northern tip of Long Island off New York where a crane had been reserved to allow the reversal of the boat. -- http://www.trimaran-idec.com * The Buffalo Canoe Club hosted the O'Pen BIC North American Championships for 28 competitors in Ridgeway, ON, Canada. Twelve races were scored with a variety of unconventional courses, required freestyle moves, Le Mans starts, and Giant Slalom. In the end one point separated Ben Folds over Robbie Robinson, with Tanner Probst closely in third. The 2012 O'Pen BIC World Championships will be hosted by Miami YC, November 1 -3, 2012. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12491 INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * AED for boats * Steff Jacob leaves helm of Kookaburra Challenge * Atlantis WeatherGear to Sponsor the 2011 NYYC Invitational Cup * Sea Tow Services - growing fast View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news EIGHT BELLS Along with many, many other sailors of all ages, I was so sad to find out this week about the premature passing of Finn Gold Cup winner Vernon Stratton at the young age of 83. I anticipate widespread comment will follow from his beloved Finn - and more recently Illusion - fleets, but it is essential to also set down on paper just how much of Great Britain's current success in Olympic sailing is a direct consequence of seeds sown by Vernon's strong leadership back in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. Vernon Stratton was in charge of British Olympic sailing for the successful 1968 and 1972 Olympic Regattas and was on course to do a similarly good job as team manager in 1980 - before UK authorities bowed to peer-pressure and withdrew a strong British Olympic Sailing Team from the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, along with our Equestrian, Rowing and Shooting teams. A fine sailor himself, and married to another fine sailor - Pepe Stratton was a rather magnificent Firefly and Finn sailor in the days when such things were not usual - Vernon knew only one approach to managing sportsmen: pick only winners and then back them as hard as you can. Vernon Stratton was not a man for management by committee; when Great Britain's 'on-paper' extremely strong 1976 Olympic sailing team raced in Montreal, it would not be presumptuous to suggest that they missed Vernon's strong hand and failed to deliver all of the medals of which they were beyond doubt capable. -- Andrew Hurst, Editor, Seahorse magazine, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12488 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Aug 26-28 - Farr 30 North American Championship - San Francisco, CA, USA Aug 26-28 - Mercury Class Championships - Monterey, CA, USA Aug 26-28 - Melges 20 Nationals - Newport, RI, USA Aug 27-28 - Ontario Albacore Championship - Kingston, ON, CAN Aug 27-31 - Intl 2.4mR North American Championship - Hamilton, ON, CAN View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar QUANTUM KEY WEST 2012 IS READY FOR YOU! Plan your winter escape and join us in Key West. Online entry is open, so enter now and add your name to the growing list. Don't miss the 25th Anniversary celebration and a week of competitive racing and partying with your fellow sailors. Race week is January 15 - 20. http://www.premiere-racing.com 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 Eric Feigel: As a follow-up to the CORK redress report in Scuttlebutt 3412, the PRO for the Laser fleet submitted a request for redress on behalf of the two (American) competitors. The PRO thought that it was unfair that some boats were denied redress and some were granted redress. As the results now show - the OCS for Clay and Rob was changed to their recorded finish place. Nice to see a PRO doing the right thing for the racers. Results: http://www.cork.org/past-results/results2011/OCRLSR/LSRTBL.HTM * From Terry Bischoff: Regarding the Case 31 report in Scuttlebutt 3412, we learned in the Inland Lake Yachting Association long ago that the only effective and fair way to start large fleets was to have an anchored pin end. What's the point of having a "floating observer" and a buoy at the leeward end? Simply anchor the boat, and replace the boat with a mark or gate after the start. Or better yet, have the gate set before the start. Then you can get the most accurate "look" for OCS competitors. It took a few years at the Miami Rolex OCR during my 10 years as a PRO there to replace the buoy and a "floating observer" with an anchored boat for the pin. In conversations with competitors about the change, they felt more comfortable with our calls, and our control of the starting line was enhanced. Very simple procedure. No comment on why two Canadian boats were granted redress for the improper race committee actions described and two others were not in the same race. * From Steve Gregory: Note to organizers of team race events: List the names of the team members! When I saw the report in Scuttlebutt 3412 about the 2011 Commodore George R. Hinman Masters Invitational Trophy, I was curious who sailed for the winning St. Francis Yacht Club team. After clicking through all the available links, I remain curious. Anybody else want to try? Here is the link: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12465 * From Peter O. Frisch: In reading the write up of the C. Thomas Clagett Jr. Memorial Regatta 2011 (Scuttlebutt 3411/3412), I noticed that there was little mention of the Blind Sailing U.S. Nationals. What a great regatta ... here are my thoughts as one of the sighted guides on the second place boat: I loved sailing with blind sailors, whom I call my blind dates. At this year's Nationals, the sailing was really tight. Any mistakes, especially when it came to crew work, were very costly. The most exciting part of the regatta for me was Monday afternoon, when my boat was on starboard, right on the lay line to the windward mark, and the first place boat crossed on port with only two feet separating us. No foul was committed and the sailing downwind was extremely competitive and harrowing thereafter, considering the breeze was a Northwester, blowing between 15 and 18 and I sent the blind crew member to the bow to wing the jib. Another place to read about this Blind Sail Nationals is this website: http://tinyurl.com/Carroll-082411 There is one final important point to make about the Clagett. I met many disable sailors whose courage and fortitude is exemplary for all of us fully able folks. * From David Redfern: I hope that John Baker of Issaquah, WA (Butt 3412) doesn't have a problem in English waters. I am sure the Lifeboats and helicopters that always attend any rescue will respect his views and stand off whilst he is in the water and phoning Issaquah (where dat?) and arranges a commercial company to rescue him and his boat. * From Ronald McCracken: Regarding his letter in Scuttlebutt 3412, how self centered John Baker is about the rescue of Francis Joyan. When a certain U.S. boat capsized - after losing its keel - in the recent Fastnet Race, the crew was rescued by the joint efforts of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Irish Coast guard helicopters, French Coastguard and local boats. All of this was done at no cost and the likely location of the keel was also buoyed. A local tug also salvaged the hull and towed it into Ballymore. Nobody even considered asking for payment first and the U.S. Coastguard would have done the same. I hope Mr. 'Scrooge' Baker never finds himself in such a position in the future. 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