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SCUTTLEBUTT 2050 – March 14, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.INTERNET TV AIMS AT NICHE AUDIENCES Andy Steward, a successful London computer consultant and sailboat racer, became exasperated when trying to watch his favorite sport on television. There were a few half-hour recaps of some major sailing races, but they were always shown late at night. Mr. Steward looked into creating a sailing channel on the Sky satellite service in Britain, but his idea was soon dead in the water. He would have had to pay £85,000 (nearly $150,000) to start the channel and £40,000 a month (nearly $70,000), as well as the production costs. That was a lot of money for an untested concept. But in January, he did introduce a sailing channel, one that is rapidly filling with sailing talk shows, product reviews, programs on sailing techniques and, most important, intense coverage of the sort of smaller races that don't make it onto traditional television. His new channel, however, will not be available over the air. And it won't be found on cable or even on satellite, at least not yet. The channel, called Sail.tv, is broadcast only on the Internet, which enables video to reach a much larger worldwide audience at a much lower initial cost than a satellite channel. Because "we didn't have any idea how big the audience would be," Mr. Steward said, he wanted to keep his expenses as low as possible. "Internet television is an investment we can grow into," he said. In the last six months, major media companies have received much attention for starting to move their own programming online, whether downloads for video iPods or streaming programs that can be watched over high-speed Internet connections. Perhaps more interesting — and, arguably, more important — are the thousands of producers whose programming would never make it into prime time but who have very dedicated small audiences. It's a phenomenon that could be called slivercasting. ~ Saul Mansell, New York Times, full story: http://tinyurl.com/nm7os Curmudgeon’s Comment: Just because we published this story does not mean the “Sailing on TV” thread has re-opened. That thread is still officially dead. SEASON BEGINS (Peter Isler submits this report to Scuttlebutt, providing his insight on the events surrounding the build up toward the 2007 America's Cup.) March 13, 2006 -- Spring weather has arrived to Valencia and the sailing conditions have quickly changed from frigid to delightful. Since I was last here in October with BMW Oracle Racing, there has been a massive amount of construction and development around the Port America's Cup. Team Bases are being built out, but the biggest change is the new harbor entrance... a 1/4 mile channel cut that enables teams to leave the dock and be sailing on the race course in less than 15 minutes time (versus the one-hour tow previously). It's part of a massive public works' project that will greatly change the face of Valencia's shorefront. About half the teams are currently in residence here in Valencia. BMW Oracle Racing has been back since January and sailing since February. Team Germany has trained here all winter - the only team to do so. +39 has had a few winter sessions, but is currently on a break. Mascalzone, Espana, and Luna Rossa are also now in operation, and Shosholoza made their 2006 debut this week. There's been a lot of informal racing going on amongst the challengers during this period. We've enjoyed "race days" with everyone here. So the spirit of friendly competition/cooperation continues in America's Cup world... at least amongst the challengers, but 2006 has arrived with a new "fashion"... skirts are "in" again, and most teams will keep their secrets covered for the next year. Except for the South African's, teams are all still sailing their "old" boats (most, like us, are in "one boat" mode), but we expect to start seeing some new AC boats in the coming months. Our new boat, USA 87, arrived from Seattle by an Antonov cargo jet a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to support from DHL, we shaved three weeks off the delivery time. We are looking forward to its christening later this month and getting out on the water and tuning it up against USA 76. Hopefully the mild weather will continue so that we can sail in the sea breeze conditions that will likely dominate the racing (April – July) in 2007. ~ Peter Isler, Navigator, BMW Oracle Racing Team, www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/pi0313 SPONSOR FULFILLMENT Emirates Team New Zealand will provide a live demonstration in Dubai this week of what it takes to mount a serious America's Cup challenge. Making their sailing debut in the UAE, the Emirates Team New Zealand crew will take part in a three-day Pro-Am series of match races with Emirates Airline guests and media off Dubai International Marine Club. Dubai is the home of Emirates Airline -- the team’s naming rights sponsor. Beginning on Tuesday, the Emirates Team New Zealand Pro-Am will involve three days of competitive match racing using two V1-30/Lutra sports boats and two Beneteau-7.5 metre boats. Each of the four boats will be skippered by Emirates Team New Zealand crew members who will delegate roles to each of the invited guests and instruct them how to perform in actual race conditions. Headed by Grant Dalton, the full Emirates Team New Zealand line-up in Dubai is Stu Bettany, Jeremy Lomas, Grant Loretz, Matthew Mason, Chris Ward, Andy Fenwick, Andrew McLean, Andrew Hemmings and Tony Thomas. NEW SOUTHERN RIG HAS TP52S ON EDGE Boatspeed was never an issue for Pegasus 52, the TP52 with a new three spreader rig that placed second in the TP 52 Global Championships. In the final race Pegasus was forced into a penalty situation at the first weather mark, which put them into last position. By the finish line, they were immediately behind the winner. Pegasus is the first TP52 to sport the second generation rig. Increased section stability and ‘tune-ability’ with superior aerodynamic efficiency are features of the design. Says tactician Ken Read, “It outdid even my very lofty expectations.” To find out more visit http://www.southernspars.com/tp52 LEG FOUR For once, there was no mention of hydraulic rams and the Volvo crews were able to get down to some serious sailing - and boy, did it get serious. Compression in the fleet produced some of the most exciting action so far. After a 6,700 nautical mile bare-knuckle joust, largely played out in the Southern Ocean and stretched out over three compelling weeks, just 16 hours separated the winners ABN Amro One from fifth-placed Ericsson at the finish line in Rio de Janeiro. In sixth place, movistar; due in four days behind, their progress hampered by the keel fairing problems that had forced them into Ushuaia in Argentina to make repairs. * Movistar -- The last Volvo Ocean racer still at sea is still hard on the wind, and it is bumpy, so foullies are on once again as the spray is flying over movistar. “But what a difference the full moon is making. It would have been nice to have some of this light in the Southern Ocean where on several nights we could not even see the mast, it was so dark,” skipper Bouwe Bekking said. “The only sea life we have seen in the last couple of days, was a big turtle trying to find some shade under a floating plastic fish bin. But there is plenty of trash in the water, and amazingly it gets all of our attention, you just want to know what it is.” Movistar is 471 miles from the finish line. * Brazil 1 -- On Sunday, the Brazilian boat was the first one out of the water. Right away, the ground crew did a clean up before it started to take apart all the pieces that are due for a revision. “With everything that we have been through and the tough conditions that the boat has been exposed to, I am very pleased to say that we have little work to do. We took the cylinder off the keel, which had a bit of a leak but there are no structural concerns at all,” informed Horácio Carabelli, technical director of the project, who sailed in the last two legs and had been confirmed as a crewmember for the next leg. The canting keel system has also been taken apart and the two cylinders responsible for moving the keel have been removed and sent to Italy. “I am not saying it will be a leisurely week but we don’t have to rush as much as we did in Melbourne when we had several people stay up 2 or 3 nights in row,” says Roni Seifert, member of the ground crew, remembering the team’s race against the clock to get the Brasil 1 ready to compete in the in-port race in Australia, in February. At that time, the boat arrived with a broken mast only three days before the race. While the ground crew is hard at hard, the sailors get some time off. Sunday they had an evaluation meeting of the 4th leg. Soon afterwards, the sailors were off on their break. Skipper Torben Grael. announced the crew for the next leg, between Rio de Janeiro and Baltimore, in the United States. The only change will be the departure of Norwegian sailor Knut Frostad, who returns to Europe this Monday, and the return of Marcelo Ferreira who didn’t compete in the last two legs. ~ www.volvooceanrace.org THE WEATHER DID NOT COOPERATE 208 Iceboat competitors from 18 nations traveled to Germany to compete in the 37th World Championship in the DN Class. The primary location, stated by the Finnish Organisation Committee had been Lake Pyhaejaervi, Saekylae. Due to the weather conditions, all competitors had been advised to relocate in Germany on the Lake Mueritz in a nice holiday camp in the small city of Klink. The championship was to be sailed in four groups starting with the "D" Fleet of which the top 12 boats were able to advance into a higher fleet. The US Team had 6 sailors in the Goldfleet and reigning World Champion, Ron Sherry, US-44 was prepared to defend his title against the strong Swedish, German and Polish DN sailors. The qualification races and a first Goldfleet race were held in between snowstorms on the big Lake Mueritz. The first three places were hard fought between US-44 and the Polish sailors P-114, Michal Burczynski, and P-679, Jacob Schneider. P-114 had a small speed edge and won the race which finished late that day, close to 18.00h. Time to get to the shore was not enough and a couple of sailors were lost in the dark and in the snowstorm but with help of many friends, directing them home with flashlights everybody was back at around 20.30h. Snow all night and temperature dropping to -17° did not help improving the conditions and the race committee had to make the tough decision to cancel further sailing in Germany and to travel to Sweden. Motalla was the place to be. The search for safe conditions was difficult and in the process the Finish sailor John Winquist lost his boat, which sank down to 600m. The World Championship was concluded on one day with only 3 more races, no discard and many a favourite died. But not the young Polish sailor, Michal Burczynski. He deserved the title which he won with an 8 point lead to second, P - 155, Lukasz Zakrzewski, followed by American Matt Struble US-3662. ~ Manfred C. Schreiber, http://www.dn-finland.net/wc2006/ SINGLE-HANDED SAILING Kiwi sailor Graham Dalton (brother of the more famous Grant), is returning to solo sailing and on Friday announced his entry in the Velux 5-Oceans race, which begins in October. Graham, a 53-year-old sports journalist, last competed in the race's predecessor, Around Alone, and I doubt there will be much contradiction if I say that he was a colourful and at times controversial competitor. Unfortunately, Graham failed to complete the event after a dismasting on the final leg, and says he is coming back to complete this "unfinished business", spurred on by the death from cancer of his 23-year-old son Tony. Four years ago, Graham was sailing the Open 60 Hexagon, now owned by and named Pindar. This time, he will be sailing a new Greg Elliott-designed Open 50, the first IMOCA Open class yacht from the Kiwi behind the breathtaking maxi Maximus. Graham Dalton's entry to 5-Oceans puts paid to fears that the race would not feature any 50ft entries and would therefore lose some of the adventuring spirit and family atmosphere the smaller class would bring with it. ~ Elaine Bunting’s blog, full story and photo: http://www.elainebunting.blogspot.com/ GOOD THINGS IN LIFE Sailing is one of the good things in life, but to make that even better, use the Camet padded shorts. The padded shorts will help you feel more comfortable and enjoy the hours of sitting on the deck. When combined with a Code Zero shirt for sun protection and comfort, you have turned it into the best day of sailing. Contact our dealers or visit the Camet website for information on shorts, pants, Code Zero shirts, Coolmax shirts, belts, padded vests, mylar bags, rashguards, etc. http://www.camet.com SURVIVAL Dee Caffari has survived another 50-knot storm in the Southern Ocean on her attempt to become the first woman to sail solo and non-stop westwards round the world. “I was absolutely exhausted; I was hungry and dehydrated, really badly needed the toilet and needed sleep,” she said. “As the conditions eased over the following 8 hours I was able to address all of these issues. The conditions have eased completely as we have neared a high-pressure cell. We are back to full sails again and the sea has returned to a gentle ocean swell. It hardly seems possible that 24 hours ago we were sailing through fifty knots and operating on pure survival.” With 9300 miles still to go Caffari advanced 161 miles in the last 24 hours. ~ www.avivachallenge.com NEWS BRIEFS * Rod Davis has been reinstated as Yachting New Zealand's Olympic coaching director. Davis resigned from the position last month citing differences in philosophy with YNZ over the way ahead to the 2008 Beijing Games. YNZ however claimed Davis' commitments with Emirates Team New Zealand, where he is employed as the afterguard coach, was the key reason for the split. Now it appears the issues have been resolved and Davis will continue in the position. Former Olympian Leslie Egnot has been appointed Olympic operations manager. ~ NZ Herald, http://tinyurl.com/heoo9 * Now a well-established annual event in the world of Match Racing, the Marseille International Match Race, organized by the Yachting Club de la Pointe Rouge (YCPR), will take place from the 22nd to the 26th March in Marseille's Southern bay. The skippers include Mathieu Richard; Paolo Cian; Sébastien Col (K-Challenge); Eugeny Neugodnikov; Staffan Lindberg; Matteo Simoncelli; Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa); Dimitri Deruelle; Peter Holmberg (Alinghi); Jes Gram-Hansen (Mascalzone). ~ All the information is available at: www.ycpr.com * The Cruising Club of America’s Safety at Sea seminar and Newport Bermuda Race prep session sold out this past weekend - turning away walk-in participants. Upcoming Safety at Sea Seminars are expected to be filled to capacity and all Bermuda race participants who need to be certified so their boat will qualify for the race are urged to make reservations now. Space is still available at the seminars scheduled at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis on April 1-2 and one at Bayview Yacht Club, Detroit, on May 7th. The two at the Merchant Marine Academy at are sold out. ~ http://www.ussailing.org/safety/seminars/index.asp * Photographer Glennon Stratton sent Scuttlebutt some images from the Naples Sabot Spring Gold Cup last weekend in Newport Beach, CA. While it is not yet spring, and the conditions were definitely not spring-like, it still is better than shoveling snow: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0313 * Mike Cox has joined Sparkman & Stephens as Operations Manager. This is a new position, created to help the company as it grows better serve its clients. Mike will focus on the operations of the Brokerage and Design Departments in Sparkman & Stephens’ New York and Fort Lauderdale offices. In addition to the day-to-day operations, he will be responsible for advertising, marketing and industry events while keeping a watchful eye for changes and new opportunities in the yacht market. Most recently, Mike was the Project Manager for the construction of a 138ft (42m) expedition yacht in Europe. ~ www.sparkmanstephens.com * If you tried a couple of the advertiser links in the Monday newsletter, you likely found that they weren’t working. If interested, here they are again to try: Sail California San Diego (www.yachtworld.com/sailcalsandiego) and Long Beach Race Week (www.lbrw.org). PEGASUS RACING MOUNTS FARR 40 NEWPORT 2006 CAMPAIGN Pegasus Racing is seeking the very best amateur and professional Farr 40 sailors for the east coast circuit leading to the class worlds in September. This is a great opportunity to become involved with the leading one design racing team in the world. Website at http://www.pegasus.com Send applications to mailto:philippe@pegasus.com FROM THE BLOG Greg Fisher is filing reports on Scuttleblog from this year's Lightning Southern Circuit, which finished its first regatta last weekend in Savannah, GA, and continues on to Miami, and St. Petersburg, FL. Here is an excerpt: "To say the racing in Savannah is interesting would be an understatement. The Wilmington and Skidaway rivers join together nearly in front of the yacht club, with the river current often as high as 3 knots. This makes for some challenging and exciting conditions, where trying to find a lane while short tacking along the marsh with the centerboard up half way in not unusual. On downwind legs, the crew may even sit on the foredeck to keep the rudder out of the mud. Then there is the tactical use of the mud, where dropping the board into the muck while on a screaming plane may be necessary to keep from plowing into the boat in front." For the full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog 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 Randy West: I oversaw the build and skippered Amaco Procyon for its first 5 years and after reading both Olaf and Peter Harken's response I wanted to concur. After 30,000 miles of hard sailing, racing, and a couple of touches in skinny water, and some very, very spectacular crashes mid ocean, mid gale, we never, ever had a keel failure. Ws had sliding doors designed by O.H. Rogers that were purely mechanical, one giant ram that pushed or pulled the keel into position and if power failed could be released and the keel put in place manually simple by using the weight of the keel and a thing called gravity. I tell you, thanks to the Harken Bros. the Hall Bros., Norton Boat Works, the Milwaukee school of Engineering, Brit Chance, David Greene, Catalina Yachts and the Vietnamese, we got it 99% correct right of the bat -- and that was in 1989. So what's up with the VOR? Does building too light have anything to do with i t? Just wondering. * From Don Goyette: The third photo on the Scuttlebutt website by Andrea Francolini from the Sydney 38 One Design regattaon shows one of the crew apparently hanging out backward, facing the hull, with his full body outside the lifelines and hull. The guy's gotta be amazingly strong to get himself back aboard safely on a tack. I wonder if the class rules allow that? ~ http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0312 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The Roman's didn't build an empire by holding meetings. They just killed anyone that stood in their way. Special thanks to Southern Spars, Camet International, and Pegasus Racing. |
