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SCUTTLEBUTT 1863 - June 20, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. THE BIG ONE A sailing institution for 123 years, now the ISAF Grade 1 Kieler Woche in Kiel, Germany is one of the sporting world's biggest events. From 18-26 June, three to four million visitors will come to Kiel, some 300 journalists will travel to the north of Germany and roundabout 5,000 athletes from more than 50 nations will be at the starting line in 2,000 boats to compete in the Kieler Woche regattas. A massive event by any standards, the Baltic Sea off Kiel provides sailing with one of its best loved homes. For many years, the first part of the week has been dedicated to the international classes. 15 classes altogether will be at the start from 18-21 June. Newcomers to this year's Kieler Woche programme are the Bénéteau 25 and the 29ers. From 22-26 June, the big names from the Olympic Games, World Championships and the ISAF World Sailing Rankings take to the water in the final ISAF Grade 1 Olympic Classes regatta of 2005. The offshore courses, from 18-25 June, will see around 260 boats at the starting lines. - http://www.kieler-woche.de/eng/englishdefault.htm THE GOOD OLD DAYS It was like someone turned back the calendar at Red Funnel Quarter Ton Cup in Cowes, as 14 classic boats competed in the first Quarter Ton regatta since IOR died. The event even brought out personalities from that golden era, with Ron Holland, Harold Cudmore and Bob Fisher prominently in attendance. The regatta has been a huge success and by popular demand the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club has agreed to host the event again in 2006 whilst for 2007 Laurent Beaurin of 45 South offered to host the regatta in La Trinite. Purple Haze and her crew of Tony Dodd, Jim & George Webb, Tim Reese and Derek Morland are worthy winners of this revived Red Funnel Quarter Ton Cup. They spent three long years lovingly and painstakingly rebuilding Purple Haze, investing much money along the way. A varnished boat she is an amazing credit to their efforts and has not only won the Quarter Ton Cup but also the Concourse de Elegance trophy as well. Although disappointed not to win, second place finisher Peter Morton and his crew on Super Q were thrilled to be able to sail the final race with Ron Holland. - Full story and results: www.rcyc.co.uk JUNIOR SAILING Building on 39 years of experience, the Balboa Yacht Club's annual Governor's Cup has become the most prestigious junior match racing event in the USA … perhaps in the world. This year BYC has assembled a field of quality junior teams (19 years or younger) from Finland, New Zealand and Australia, to race against six top junior teams from the United States in their fleet specially-built Alan Andrews-designed 21-footers. The invited teams include: Balboa Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia , King Harbor Yacht Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Nylandska Jaktklubben, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, San Francisco Yacht Club , Seattle Yacht Club, South of Perth Yacht Club and Southern Yacht Club. The event will be held in the waters off Newport Beach, CA from July 18 through 23, 2005. - http://www.balboayachtclub.com/ http://www.balboayachtclub.com/ IT'S A RACE: IT'S MUSTO'S MPX GORE-TEX RACE It's exclusive, it's light, it's Gore-Tex. Musto's MPX Gore-Tex Race gear is extremely breathable, waterproof and durable whilst also providing maneuverability for high activity, high performance sailing - such as match racing or round the cans. It incorporates Musto's revolutionary HPX Stretch fabric in areas that require instant and high levels of mobility. Check it out at one of the following retailers: Annapolis Performance Sailing, Fawcett Boat Supplies, Fisheries Supply, Layline, Pineapple Sails, Sailing Supply, Team One Newport, The Sailing Pro Shop, or West Marine Stores. For product information and a store finder, check out http://www.musto.com/usa ACT 4 WEEKEND SUMMARY Valencia produced good racing weather for the Louis Vuitton Act 4 weekend rounds, and the weather prospects remain promising for the final two days - Monday and Tuesday. Highlights of the weekend matches: * Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand are the only remaining undefeated teams. * BMW Oracle Racing's only loss was administered by Alinghi - delta: 27 seconds. * Emirates Team New Zealand handed Luna Rossa its only loss by 43 seconds * China Team earned its only victory with a 27 second edge over Team Shosholoza. * While Team Shosholoza remains winless, they led approaching the finish line in their race with United Internet Team Germany. However, a bad jibe on the final run cost them some distance and the German boat passed them on the inside to win by six seconds. LEADERBOARD Alinghi - 8 points Emirates Team New Zealand - 8 points BMW Oracle Racing - 7 points Luna Rossa Challenge - 7 points Desafío Español 2007 - 4 points Victory Challenge - 3 points +39 Challenge - 3 points K-Challenge - 3 points Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team - 2 points United Internet Team Germany - 2 points China Team - 1 point Team Shosholoza - 0 points The two undefeated teams in Act 4, Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand, race each other on Monday. www.americascup.com INSIGHT (In his stories posted on the Yachting World website, Matthew Sheahan provides some insightful commentary about the syndicates racing in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 4. Here are a couple of samples.) Desafio Espanol - "For a team that only came together quite recently, they're making a big impression here in Valencia, particularly with the locals who flocked out onto the water to show their support. Some shrewd shopping has played a big part in their success so far. Buying the ex One World boats, which were considered to be among the best paired of the last Cup, was a good start but getting hold of Alinghi's second boat to find out what the current Cup holders were thinking when they put together their campaign must surely be a master stroke." Shosholoza - "While the South African's had endured a humiliating start to their first ever dial up, they proved in the second race that they're not here to whinge and whimper and that learning is the key to success. In a straight line this boat looks good, turning the corners is nowhere near the nightmare that it was last season, but with so much broken tackle on board and a rig that was never meant to be, changing gear in a race is nigh on impossible." - Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World, http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/ywnews.htm TORNADO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP La Rochelle, France - In a dramatic last day for the top Tornado fleet Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (ESP) won the Tornado World Championship and Baptiste Balzeau and Gael Ledoux (FRA) won the Tornado Youth World Championship. Race 9 had nothing less than 19 boats black-flagged, including fleet leaders Echavarri and Paz, which, at that point, cost them the title. Echavarri and Paz (ESP) put in a protest for redress as soon as they arrived onshore. They had evidence that they were actually not over the line. After three hour hearing the Jury ruled them correct and they were granted the redress which put them back in first place. Race 10 was cancelled - no wind. Final results: 1. Echavarri/Paz (ESP) 2. McMillan/Howden (GBR) 3. Revil/Espagnon (FRA) 4. Polgar/Spalteholz (GER) 5. Guichard/Guyader (FRA) 8. Johnny Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, (USA). http://www.srr-sailing.com/divers/mondialtornado2005.htm REGATTA T-SHIRTS, POLOS, FLEECE AND GRAPHICS Trust the leader in nautical graphics and printing to cover your regatta apparel needs. It's never too early to start planning. For a free catalog or quote, email mailto:info@pirateslair.com or log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/sailing NEWS BRIEFS * The population of Block Island, a tiny island 10 miles off the coast of Rhode Island has swelled by over 2000 sailors, and 189 boats that have arrived to compete in a week of sailing that has repeated itself here biennially since 1965. The Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week XXI presented by Rolex kicks off Monday with four classes of IRC boats, totaling 50 boats, five classes of PHRF boats with a total of 55 boats, plus 85 boats racing in eight one-design classes. The largest class at the regatta is the J/105 class with 21 entrants. - www.blockislandraceweek.com * The Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race is underway with iBoat tracking the entire fleet. At our distribution time, it appears that Visions of Johanna, William Strassberg's Paine 62 was leading the pack, making 8.3 knots towards the finish line, which was 267 miles away. www.marionbermuda.com * 1649 boats raced on Saturday in the 69th edition of what has been called the world's largest and most famous yachting race - the 50 mile race around the Isle of Wight. Seven hours after her start in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, the New Zealand 100-foot monohull Cityindex Maximus took line honours, followed by the ORMA 60ft trimaran Nuku Hiva 2, Leopard of London (monohull), Nokia Enigma (monohull), Pindar (monohull) and Nuku Hiva 1 (multi-hull). - http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk * In remembrance of those sailors with and without disabilities who have sailed with and supported the San Diego-based Challenged America program over the past 25 years, the 2005 Challenged America Transpac Team will be encircling their donated Tripp 40 hull (B'Quest) with a ring of "in memory of" hull sticker names as they race to Hawaii. "There have been many before us who made this all possible, said Kevin Wixom, leg amputee and member of the Challenged America Transpac Team "They too had dreams of one day racing to Hawaii but, unfortunately are no longer with us." - www.Challe3ngedAmerica.org * The Waikiki Offshore Series sailboat race that takes place July 31 to August 6 in Hawaii will be filmed as a reality extreme sports television show. The film team will follow three boat teams in the event. The event includes eight windward leeward races, a 40-mile middle distance race and the 145-mile Molokai overnight race to Maui and back. Show Doctor Media and Marketing, Honolulu Hawaii, will produce the half-hour television show. The show will air on a national cable channel to be announced and in west coast markets. www.waikikioffshores.com * North Sails has partnered with expert meteorologist Chris Bedford and his team at Sailing Weather Services to provide free weather forecasts for Block Island Race Week from June 20-24. Subscribers will receive daily forecasts via email at 0730 each morning starting with an overview for the week on Sunday, June 19 (this forecast may be posted & emailed in the afternoon.) To sign up for this service, simply visit North Sails' online weather center at: http://na.northsails.com/ew/ew_main.taf * Tim Powell (GBR) has joined Ericsson's entry in this year's Volvo Ocean Race as a watch captain. Powell, 34, is no stranger to the Volvo Ocean Race, having completed the race three times, most recently as watch captain on Tyco during the 2001-02 event. Powell did Whitbread Round the World Race in 1993 on Dolphin and Youth, and four years later on Silk Cut with fellow Ericsson team members Neal McDonald and Steve Hayles, both also British. He's been the helmsman of a top-scoring entry in the Admiral's Cup, and has twice won the Tour de France à la Voile. http://www.volvooceanrace.com/pages/news/news151.htm * The Global Challenge RTW fleet is on their way to La Rochelle at the start of Leg 6; the 3000nm penultimate leg expected to last between 13 and 17 days. At our distribution time the group was in a cluster with only two miles separating the leaders from the back markers. - http://www.globalchallenge2004.com/en/ * The website for the Cadillac Van Isle Race has posted the Channel 6 video of the Cheekee Monkee's man overboard from Leg 3. http://www.vanisle360.com/2005legs/video.php THE LASER FAMILY KEEPS GROWING The Laser 4.7 is the newest sibling to the Laser and Laser Radial. Designed for the 120-pound +/- sailor, this international class holds its 2005 World Championship August 6-13 in Barrington, RI, USA. To compete, add only a 4.7 lower mast section and sail for your Laser or Radial. http://www.teamvanguard.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. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From R. C. Keefe, 1975 StFYC Commodore: The first race of the first "Big Boat Series" in September of 1964, with a noontime, start did indeed venture out of the Bay and into the ocean. The race started right in front the windows of the St. Francis Yacht Club Men's Grill, and proceeded out the Golden Gate and up the Marin Coast to the Duxbury Buoy; a 20 mile whether leg; then a 8 mile reach down to the San Francisco Lightship, and an 11 mile run back to the starting line. On paper it was a great course, but for all practical purposes, there was little or no wind on the ocean. The brand new "Kialoa II" was the first boat to finish about 10:00 P.M. Nobody involved was happy with the race and the course, and about midnight, I as the Race Committee Chairman, announced that "we would never do that again", and in some 40 years we never did. Jim Kilroy summed up the situation pretty well when He made known that He liked to come up to race in San Francisco Bay because He knew that there was going to be wind. If he wanted to race in the ocean with little or no wind he could stay home and race around the Southern California Basin. Well, the new generation is in power, and they know what they are doing. The last thing they need is advice from an old Commodore. * From Karl L. Kirkman: Regarding the comment that there was no defense selection for the 1988 "sail over" in San Diego; not quite true. Dennis had two somewhat independent teams working to continually refine the wing sail on one boat, and a soft sail rig on a second boat throughout the preparations. It was within one organization, but the developmental competition between two quite different boats was real, and the conventional soft rig was a serious backup if the many risks of the wing sail could not have been be managed. * From Grey McGown: I have been a fan of the America's Cup since the first races of the Twelve's which I watched aboard Arosa Star in 1958. Back in post World War II days of the Cup, as I'm sure all remember, the boats got going in about May and the Cup was over by the end of September. The Cup racing was exciting, engaging, sweet and brief. The Louis Vuitton series began yesterday, but racing for the Cup begins in 2007. Scuttlebutt is a great and maybe the best resource for those who love the sport of sailing. I hate to see it cluttered up with meaningless results from Valencia for the next two years. What could be duller? Why don't you just refer all those masochists who want to follow the trials by referring them to the very elaborate, and informative, America's Cup website? Otherwise, every one will become so bored with the Cup, no one will care when the actual racing begins in 2007. Curmudgeon's Comment: Without question there will be a flood of 'AC news' pouring out of Europe for the next three years. Right now, our plan is to devote the time necessary to condense this information into small and meaningful 'nuggets' - making sure the AC material does not crowd other sailing news out of our newsletter. * From Brad Avery: Finding crew using eBay is a great idea. Several web-based organizations put crews and skippers together for offshore passages. There are things to consider though. If the "crew" are paying money to go, they are passengers and you are in the passenger carrying business. You have a higher degree of responsibility for passengers than you do for paid crew or volunteers, or guests. Between US ports, the Coast Guard recognizes this by requiring skippers to be licensed if you carry between one and six passengers. If you carry more than six, the boat must also carry a Coast Guard Certificate Of Inspection. If you are underway more than 12 hours, you need two licensed skippers. A passage from Canada or Mexico to the US is not "Coastwise Trade" so these rules do not apply. But regardless of Coast Guard requirements, marine underwriters see a big difference between guests, passengers, and crew. Unless otherwise stated, a typical yacht policy does not cover carrying passengers. * From Richard Spindler, Publisher, Latidtude 38: Based on 10 years of running the Baja Ha-Ha and taking our catamaran from San Francisco to the Caribbean and back, here's our review: SSB is the only option when you need to communicate with more than one boat at a time - as when doing a roll call or participating in cruising nets. SSB with SailMail is also great for offshore email. Satphones are far superior for making calls home, to weather routers, and to the Coast Guard - but they have different capabilities. The Globalstar satphone has superb audio quality - when it works. However, it's 'bent pipe' technology limits coverage to about 240 miles of shore, making it useless for crossing oceans. Furthermore, Globalstar's claims of coverage are rubbish. Ours worked 85% of the time north of Acapulco. Forget it south of Acapulco, in Panama, across the Caribbean Sea, and in the Eastern Caribbean. Plus, Globalstar refused to swallow the charges for the countless calls they dropped after a few seconds. The Iridium satphone worked everywhere. Now acceptable, the system's original audio quality was like being on acid. Many Caribbean sailors use Iridium to flash send and receive emails. Having both SSB and an Iridium would be ideal. In an emergency, Iridium is the least expensive initial outlay, SSB is the most expensive. * From Eric Steinberg (R.e. Satallite phones vs. SSB, some key points - edited to our 250-word limit): 1. sat phones are point to point comms only, SSB is point to many, meaning with one shout into the mic, you have a chance of talking to many people at once. 2. assuming there is satellite coverage, a sat phone should make a connection every time, a SSB requires some operator knowledge for the best performance and depending on conditions may not be as consistent at making a contact. In the case of a real emergency, a SSB has the virtue of being able to talk to ham radio operators. Hams are listening to the radio all the time, it is their hobby. Shout mayday on a ham band and you could end up with more help than you know what to do with (in a good way). If I'm in trouble I want both a sat phone and SSB available to me, one is not necessarily a replacement for the other. If I had to choose just one, it would be the SSB, it is a basic piece of safety equipment. I would add to my disaster equipment list a 406mhz satellite EPIRB with internal GPS that also transmits on the legacy 121.5mhz/243mhz aircraft bands. Full disclosure: I know how to operate a SSB and am comfortable with selecting the correct frequencies for the time of day etc. and my company sells the modems that transmit data/email over SSB, which incidentally will make a solid data link when a voice connection cannot be made. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man." -Mark Twain |
