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SCUTTLEBUTT 2022 – February 2, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. SALLY BARKOW (Jesse Falsone talked to leading US Yngling sailor and match race champion Sally Barkow in an interview posted on The Daily Sail subscription website. Here are just a few of Barkow's quotes.) Growing up on the Inland Lakes has provided me with a very good understanding of the trickiest type off sailing. It has made me patient, and has allowed me to race against great sailors in great boats, in a community that not everyone gets to experience. So, I look at living and growing up here as a major advantage. My opinion, it is easier to learn technique and tactics of open water sailing, but much more difficult and time consuming to learn the tricks of the trade in smaller lakes/venues. I don't think it will take much longer for that 'stigma' to go away. There are some great young sailors coming through the ranks from the Midwest that will also turn heads, and show people the great sailing that goes on up here! I am not sure that there has been one single person in my life that has significantly impacted my sailing. I tend to find drive in those who have succeeded at the level I desire, regardless the sport. A lot of this desire comes from people outside our world of sailing, but still have so much to offer for their success. When I was growing up, I think I looked to my brothers as mentors when it came to winning and understanding the commitment it takes to win in sailing. Now I try to take a little piece of what I admire about everyone I meet or read about and incorporate that into the drive of my future. - www.thedailysail.com EVOLUTION (As the 2006 season starts in Valencia for Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, Fabrizio Marabini shares his thoughts on the technical side of this campaign) "During the last 15 years, materials have evolved a lot, bringing a huge improvement in construction. Software is more sophisticated, pushing structural and fluid dynamic research to limits that a few years ago you couldn't even imagine. As a result, modern hulls are much lighter and narrower than the first AC boats built, sails are stronger and more able to keep their shape, masts are stiffer… Every single gear on board is lighter: this allows designers to concentrate much more weight into the bulb. The gain achieved in stability and, consequentially, in boat speed is huge! Everyone says the new boats will be very similar to each other, because the new rules are more "strict." But history teaches us that we should expect at least one or two "artistic" interpretations of the rules…" -- Fabrizio Marabini Read the full story: http://www.mascalzonelatino.it/home/dettaglio_news.jsp?ID=276 HOT PROPERTY Seaworthy, the damage avoidance newsletter from BoatU.S. Marine Insurance, recently culled recreational vessel theft data from the last five years of Association claims files and has come up with a list of boats most likely to be stolen. In addition to the most frequently stolen brands of boats, Adriance also found that 90% of all boats were stolen while on their trailer, with the average size just over 20 feet. Personal watercraft top the list while less mobile vessels such as sailboats and heavy, slow trawlers were decidedly unattractive targets for thieves. Here are the leaders on the "BoatU.S. List of Most Frequently Stolen Boats." 1. Yamaha (PWC); 2. Kawasaki (PWC); 3. Bombardier/Sea Doo (PWC); 4. Mako; 5. Chaparral; 6. Regal; 7. Wellcraft; 8. Boston Whaler; 9. Four Winns; 10. Chris Craft; 11. Bayliner; 12. Sea Ray. -- http://www.BoatUS.com MATCH RACING RANKINGS Peter Gilmour (AUS) remains firmly in the top spot of the first release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings for 2006 (February 1), with limited activity over the last couple of months leaving the top five unchanged. The same is true of the Women's Rankings, where Claire Leroy (FRA) is still a clear leader, securing her invite to the Dexia Private Banking ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship, along with the ten sailors beneath her. Following Gilmour in the Open Rankings are Ed Baird, Russell Coutts, James Spithill and Ian Williams, in that order. The USA's Sally Barkow is in third place in the women's rankings, behind Leroy and Sweden's Marie Bjorling. Barkow, the reigning ISAF Women's Match Racing World Champion, presents Leroy with probably her biggest threat. Although Barkow is almost 1,700 points behind the leader, she is only counting seven from a possible eight events, and a victory early on in the season could well see her claim the number one spot. -- Complete rankings: www.sailing.org SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER Make the most of it by attending a NorthU Racing, Cruising, Weather, or Expedition Software Seminar. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better sailor. NorthU accelerates the process with seminars books, CDs, DVDs, private coaching, and Race Weeks. Learn more (and try the quiz) at http://www.NorthU.com VOLVO OCEAN RACE UPDATE * After an epic 2500 mile journey from Fremantle to Melbourne via the arid Nullabor Plain, the first Brazilian entry in the Volvo Ocean Race finally arrived to take up her berth at the Waterfront City Race Village, Docklands. The boat was greeted by an anxious race team who have spent the last few days looking at the seconds tick down, knowing that every minute the boat was delayed, would be less time to get the boat repaired. With the new mast arriving a few hours in front of the boat, the team will now get the new mast fitted and the boat race ready for the in-port race out on Port Phillip Bay this Saturday. * Last piece of the puzzle -- Brasil 1's spare mast was in the UK when the boat was dismasted on 18 January in the last part of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Melbourne. Shifting a 32 metre long mast from one end of the world to the other is not a simple task. Finding a method of transport for something so long was always going to be a problem, but Martinair Cargo were able to fit the package down the middle of one of their Boeing 747 cargo planes. To get the mast on board the aircraft the nose was hinged open and a space the equivalent of ten pallets long - virtually the whole length of the cargo space - was cleared down the centre. Then the package was carefully inserted using a crane and a high-loader to support the carbon fibre spar. Once in and the door shut, the plane few to Sydney where the mast was off loaded and prepared for the next stage of the trip, to Melbourne by road. * Lack of wind in Port Philip Bay has prevented the movistar from making its first training session since arriving in Melbourne on January 22. The Spanish Volvo Open 70 will take to sea first thing Thursday morning to make up for the time that it has not been able to sail Wednesday. FROM THE FORUMS Posted by YachtTech: "The Bermuda Race NOR limits Canting Keel boats to the 'Demonstration Division' only (section 4.1.6) and limits scoring to ORR only (section 4.6.1). Canting Keel boats have obtained ratings under IRC for years, and have already competed in Australian, US and Med races. They also raced (safely) in the 2004 Bermuda race (under the demonstration divisions already), 2005 Transpac, 2005 Cabo, and most recent Sydney-Hobart race. This technology is not going away. Seems like preservation of the status quo and arbitrary. Anyone know why?" Post your comments at http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1957#1957 PROFESSIONAL SAILING The Dutch team Mean Machine launched their brand new TP52 in Auckland and performed the first sea trials in the Hauraki Gulf. Five sailors from Emirates Team New Zealand will be the core crew during the 2006 Medcup. They are Ray Davies, Stuart, Jonathan, Tony and Joe Allen who will sail with owner and skipper Peter de Ridder. The New Zealand challenger will also provide core crew for another yacht competing in the Breitling TP52 Mediterranean circuit. Dean Barker, Jeremy Lomas, Jared Henderson, Terry Hutchinson, Kevin Hall, Grant and Don Cowie. will sail on the new TP52 Warpath owned by Steve and Fred Howe. Warpath was designed by Emirates Team New Zealand principal designer Marcelino Botin and is being built in Auckland by Cookson Yachts, which also built NZL-84, the America's Cup challenger's new yacht. - Valencia Saling website, full story: http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/ WHAT'S IN A NAME? BoatU.S. has announced its "2005 Top Ten List of Most Popular Boat Names" as selected by boaters across the country. For the first time ever a Spanish language name, "Pura Vida," which means "pure life," made the list. 1) Seas The Day 2) Aquaholic 3) Island Time 4) Dragonfly 5) Pura Vida 6) Encore 7) Black Pearl 8) Destiny 9) Serenity Now 10) License to Chill The list is compiled annually by the BoatU.S. Graphics & Lettering department that produces custom boat graphics. The easy-to-use online service allows boaters to get ideas from a library containing over 7400 names, custom design and preview graphics, insert stock logos, and view photos of the finished product. -- http://www.BoatUS.com/boatgraphics NEWS BRIEFS * On February 6-7, Clipper Ventures, organizers of the Velux 5 Oceans single-handed round the world yacht race, is hosting a sponsors and skippers conference in Bilbao -- the race's start and finish port,. The conference, will offer skippers and sponsors an in-depth overview of how plans are progressing for this year's event and a series of seminars and workshops detailing the benefits of sponsoring a yacht in the race Directors and partner agencies will provide updates on the race route and stop over ports, presentations on marketing, PR and broadcast. - www.velux5oceans.com * Financial advisers to Oracle boss Larry Ellison have told him to cut back on his spending. According to emails obtained by The Chronicle, the beancounters think that one of the world's richest men is spending far too much. One advisor Philip Simon, tells Ellison off for overextending himself on a new yacht, on his America's Cup team and on his new houses in Woodside and Malibu. -- http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29397 * Is your club hosting a US Sailing event or elimination this summer or at some point in the next year or two? There is an educational section on the US Sailing site, Championships Management , that could be of great help. There are individual pages that cover every aspect of a Championship, from entry information to T-shirts; race management to sponsorship; safety to clinics; and much more.. -- http://www.ussailing.org/championships/championshipmanagement * The ISAF has scheduled an International Judges Seminar at the Chicago YC on March 19-21 - immediately following US Sailing's Spring meeting in Chicago. -- http://www.ussailing.org/judges/workshops/index.asp * The Scuttlebutt poll for the Super Bowl is showing a very even count as of Wednesday afternoon. Place your vote before the poll closes Thursday at noon PT: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/06/0131 * The United Internet Team Germany gets support by the powerful computers of the Japanese NEC group. The computers are used in designing the new America's Cup yacht and in calculating local weather data during regattas. The United Internet Team Germany and NEC as the first official supplier of the first German challenger in the 32nd America's Cup have confirmed their cooperation in these two fields, while there are also plans for further joint projects. -- http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com * Volkswagen Marine has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Ring Power Corporation of St Augustine, Florida, making it the company's main dealer of VW Marine engines for the entire US market. Ring Power has already placed a substantial initial engine order and will appoint fully trained Volkswagen Marine distributorships in all areas of the US where there is a market for pleasure craft. Introduction of the Volkswagen Marine product will begin by April or May 2006, after the first engine deliveries have been received and the dealerships have undergone professional product training. -- IBI Magazine, http://tinyurl.com/97la4 * 'Butt is having a big month in the yachting media. On top of the feature in Sailing magazine, the website of the AC Challenger Commission has posted a photo of the aging curmudgeon and a brief story: http://www.challengercommission.com/ ULLMAN SAILS DOMINATES J/105 CLASS IN KEY WEST For seven consecutive Key West Race Weeks, Ullman Sails has dominated the J/105 class. When seven of the top ten teams in this highly competitive class choose Ullman sails, there is a reason. Top teams demand speed and reliability from their sails to aggressively compete, and Ullman Sails has consistently delivered. From local club sailing to international regattas, only one company is constantly delivering the "Fastest Sail on the Planet." Are you and your crew ready to speed up your sailing program? Contact your local Ullman Sails loft or visit http://www.ullmansails.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 Jessica Lord (edited to our 250 word limit): Can we listen to ourselves for a minute? Unless we get Anna Kornikova in a bikini on a Euro and Johnny Mosley doing some Ariel stunts on a windsurfer, Olympic sailing will not be "improved" for "better TV" and certainly it will not be found "more exciting" when you have to have a calculator and a PhD in mathematics to understand who and WHY they won the regatta. Those that care about sailing will watch, those that don't, won't. Do the guys at ISAF watch all the other sports, every one of them, every hour they are televised, or complain that there isn't enough javelin coverage? I bet the guys over at track & field aren't all sitting around wondering new ways of making the hammer throw more appealing for the general audience by, say, putting more distance measurers actually out on the field and giving "double points" to the competitor for hitting one! The second thing, is the debate over the "comfort" or "potential dangers or advantage" as to how we hike. Ever since the Melges has been in existence, there have been those who have sat on edge and leaned, and those of us who have doubled in half, grabbed our feet and groaned, straining with effort for the team. Tightening, or making them looser, wont make a bit of difference - some still will hike hard, some wont. We hiked that way on the F40, and yes, I got horrible bruises and numb legs, but that was my choice. * From Jonathan Seller: With all this debate about how sailing is trying to become more relevant in today's Olympic Games; I just can't help but wonder about all the trials and tribulations over at the equestrian and fencing scuttlebutts. Or that 2004 Archery final? Wow, what a snoozer that was. * From Ralph Taylor: Few scoring system that recognize excellence of performance in many previous races can "succeed" against the disparity of competition at Rolex Miami-OCR. The problem seems not with the counting, but with certain competitors being just too good or, alternatively, the others who couldn't score well enough earlier to have a chance to win gold in the final race. Is there any doubt that Rohart/ Rambeau, Tunnicliffe, Dempsey, Lovell/ Ogletree, or Barkow/ Capozzi/ Howe deserved the gold medals? One way to "fix" the system to produce more doubt is to have just one race for all the glory. (Sort of an "X Games" approach.) Or, weight the final race more than double. (Keep trying changes until the leader before the final race comes out 10th overall.) Is either what we want in the Olympics? What about sorting out the best in fair competition? There's this about the new system: In all but one case, the best competitors sailed the final race and the rest didn't. Looks like a plus to me. * From Michael E. Blecher (Re: Paul Cayard's editorial in Butt 2017): Mr. Cayard is a highly successful professional sailor (but why does he think that "on the edge" yacht racing is as important as what Columbus did? It isn't). He was hired for his skill as such, and he does a darn good job of it. But there are some of us in the sailing community that won't be able to take our Albergs, Tartans and other ordinary boats to sea with affordable insurance in place if there is a terrible accident in the southern ocean. Insurance companies are a skittish bunch, and something expensive happening down there will simply cause the limited market for insurance on ocean going yachts to dry up. Many of us go to sea in plain boats without unlimited budgets provided by large corporations. Being able to buy insurance is paramount. These swashbuckling professionals out there busily keeping things afloat with duct tape, chewing gum (and lots of satellite phone advice from the design firms and well funded shore support groups) have the potential to ruin it for the rest of us-and there are a lot more of us than there are of them… I want to be able to afford going to sea in non-space age boats in safety, both financially as well as in the traditional sense. Mr. Cayard and the rest of you, if you have an accident, and I certainly hope you don't, please have the 'nads' to drown like gentleman without incurring big costs to clean up your mess. * From Jordan J. Dobrikin: Now that Mr. Cayard et.al, have resolved the canting keel's problems: what I want to know is when will we see Retrofit Kits for small and medium sized Sport Boats and One Design Classes? The whole assembly in a box: unbolt the Fin Keel of the boat to be modified; cut a square/rectangular hole in the hull; bolt the assembly to the hull, and the added interior support structure; and away we go. No need for hiking fixtures and trapezes, you get a high performance machine with "all in the boat" safety and comfort. Revitalize the Star and give it a new lease on life and probable permanency in the Olympic Family. There are many Sport Boats and Racer/ Cruisers that can and should be considered as well as several day sailers. Rocket 22, Martin 242, Martin 243, Rhodes 19, Cal 20, 110, 210, Thunderbird, several J Boats as well as several Melges boats; and the list will go on. These boats, in "round the buoys" and inshore racing will not create the horrendous loads we see in the VOR 70s and other Grand Prix boats hence the technology is well suited to new boats still in design as well as retrofitting many existing designs and boats. * From Reynald Neron, Sydney: Sorry, but this weekend's Super Bowl is not the 'biggest sporting event on the planet.' As you are usually quite open-minded to what is happening in the world, I am surprised by that statement. - The Olympic Games are a bigger event. - The winter Olympics are a bigger event. - The football World Cup is a bigger event (even if you call it soccer on your side of the pond). - The Rugby world cup is a bigger event (yes, there is usually an US team in there... but they don't do that well...) - The frog race in Wagga Wagga (Australia) is a bigger event. CURMUDGEON'S COUNSEL Rather than calling someone a 'dumb blond, it's more politically correct to refer to her as, … a light-haired detour off the information superhighway." Special thanks to North U and Ullman Sails. |
