|
SCUTTLEBUTT 508 - February 19, 2000SPECIAL WEEKEND 'BUTT!GUEST EDITOR SPEAKS (again, last time, I promise) Good morning buttheads! Thanks for all the nice notes and letters. So many in fact that I now have a backlog to use on some slow days. So... if you don't see your contribution here today, you will see it soon. Please keep them coming. Today's award for the eagle eye (the award consists, once again, of a fine dinner in Los Angeles, complete with round trip airfare from anywhere in the world, plus a suite at the Four Seasons, all courtesy Tom Leweck) goes to Dave Cort who noticed I got the day wrong in the piece about Kingfisher. And not just the International Dateline Date, that's excusable, but the date in California/USA. That despite the calendar on my wall and the date on my monitor. Pity, the Curmudgeon's out another 5K. For those of you with ESPN2 on the dial here in North America, live coverage of the America's Cup Race #1 is on this afternoon. The race starts at 1:15 PM in New Zealand, it's 4:15 PST, 7:15 EST. Most of Italy will be bleary eyed tomorrow, the race starts at 1:15 AM for them... Please be sure to send your comments, suggestions and contributions to me at scuttlebutt@boats.com -- David McCreary AMERICA'S CUP: RACE ONE POSTPONED After five years of waiting to see Team New Zealand race as Defender of the America's Cup, New Zealanders, and international fans alike, will have to wait at least one more day. Race One of the America's Cup was postponed on Saturday due to lack of wind. Early morning clouds gave way to mostly sunny skies in the Auckland area, but a sea breeze never did build on the Hauraki Gulf, and Race Committee Chairman Harold Bennett abandoned racing for the day at 14:45 after nearly a two-hour delay. Both Prada's Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand left the Viaduct Basin for the Hauraki Gulf shortly before 10:00 hours to a symphony of boat horns, whistles, and cheering crowds. The waterfront was lined with tens of thousands who had come down to cheer their team and send-off the boats. A traditional Maori Waka took to the water to encourage Team New Zealand, while many Italian flags were in evidence in honour of Luna Rossa. A Royal New Zealand Air Force fly-by (featuring Italian built training aircraft!) completed the spectacle. The scene on the Hauraki Gulf was also frantic, with over one thousand of spectator crafts on scene to watch, encourage and cheer the sailors. The delay means the schedule is pushed back by one day, with Race One now scheduled for Sunday afternoon. However the forecast is for similar conditions, so another delay is possible. If there is no racing on Sunday, the next scheduled race day is Tuesday. Monday is a day off regardless of the weather ONBOARD UMPIRES GO BACK TO WING BOATS After an 11th - hour conference between the participants, race officials, the host broadcaster and communications experts less than 24 hours before the first race, International Jury Chairman and Chief Umpire Bryan Willis announced that there will be no onboard Umpires (observers). The problem, Willis said, was the potential for exposure to emissions from the variety of radio, telemetry, and other antennae mounted on the sterns of the International America's Cup Class (IACC) yachts. "We can't put the observers at risk and thus we will revert to wing boats for the observers," Willis said. -- Complete story at http://sailing.org/today/whatsnew.html -- America's Cup Press Center Official America's Cup site at http://www.americascup.org GUEST EDITORIAL: Jim Teeters (Jim's been on America's Cup design teams since 1981 with Sparkman & Stephens then with all the PACT/Young America programs) Just a quick note on winglets-- they reduce the lift-induced drag by effectively increasing the span (draft) of the keel. For an IACC boat this means more speed upwind with no benefit downwind. Because winglets have surface area they give an increase in friction drag which slows the boat in all conditions. Lastly, they can also provide a bit of thrust (negative drag) when the boat pitches and heaves in waves, the benefit here depending on the size and shape of the waves and the resultant boat motions. Finding the optimal size, shape and location of winglets is not a trivial task. Larger winglets can make you faster upwind but slower downwind. Fore and aft position effects 1) how well the winglets interact with the keel to increase span and 2) the relative motions of the winglets with pitch and heave and the resultant thrust. There are compromises with any choice you make. In the case of New Zealand's boat, reputedly somewhat beamier and optimized for upwind sailing in higher wind strengths, the forward position of the winglets results in less winglet surface area which will help downwind performance. In other words, if TNZ pursued upwind speed through stability at the cost of downwind speed with more hull surface area, the midbulb winglet design might be the optimal solution: trading a bit of keel effectiveness for a reduction in friction drag. How well each team optimized their boat will show up on the race course. My guess is that sailing skills will be more critical than the subtleties of winglets. COASTAL & INSHORE SAILING They're absolutely ideal for coastal and inshore sailing. And they look and feel great onshore too! Check out Gill's new Tradewinds Jacket and coordinating Trousers. As part of Gill's "O2" line of breathable foul weather garments they feature lifejacket/safety harness attachment tabs, a peaked hood that stows in the collar pocket, a fleece-lined collar, and internal and external cuffs. The Tradewinds Trousers have a high cut back, reinforced seat and knees and Velcro ankle adjustment tabs, wide braces, an inner pocket and elastic waistband. http://www.douglasgill.com ROLEX RETURNS AS SPONSOR OF US SAILING'S ADULT CHAMPIONSHIPS Rolex Watch U.S.A., which has been supporting excellence in sailing for over four decades, has returned for its fourth year to sponsor US SAILING's ten adult sailing championships in 2000. The regattas, which begin in March and continue through October, will be hosted by ten different yacht clubs utilizing direct subsidies from the Rolex sponsorship to "improve the quality of racing." In addition, each regatta will be enhanced through a pre-event Rolex adult clinic, expanding on a program launched in '97 that has traditionally targeted only four to five events each year. -- Complete story at http://www.ussailing.org/ ARE YOU READY FOR INSPECTION? The riggers at Sailing Supply are constantly asked to perform inspections of rigging. Inspections are really paramount in keeping your rigging in good order -- to prevent the loss of a mast. But you can do a lot of this yourself, and there are some great hints on the Sailing Supply website: http://www.sailingsupply.com/articles/ You'll have no problems if you follow their simple instructions. But if you uncover some trouble, just give Sailing Supply a call. They're all sailors there, and they'll be able to fix you up in a hurry: (800) 532-3831 MIKE HORN HALF WAY ACROSS THE PACIFIC Adventurer Mike Horn is now over half way across the Pacific Ocean in his quest to achieve the first ever solo circumnavigation along the Equator. Known as Latitude Zero, Horn's 17-month endeavor is to stay within 25 miles of the Equator as he rounds the globe, land sectors being done on foot, ocean sectors by sailboat. Horn has already crossed the Atlantic with a single-handed crossing at an average speed of over 7 knots. He departed from Libreville (Gabon), Africa on June 2, 1999 in his F-28 trailerable trimaran and stepped ashore on the banks of the Amazon at Macapa, Brazil, 19 days later. Horn then walked across South America and rejoined his F-28 in Ecuador for the Pacific segment of his venture. He left there on December 12th for the 8,685 mile Pacific crossing. The current course is set to lead him to Borneo and Sumatra, onto India, then into the Indian Ocean and back to his home continent, finally crossing Africa on foot. "A lot of people said they've been around the world," said Horn. "The real 'around the world' to me is on the equator." Latitude Zero can be followed on the Web: www.mikehorn.com SAILING BILLBOARDS Out here in San Francisco, nearly everything that's stationary, and everything that moves, has an ad on it for yet another dot.com. We even have planes flying around all day towing ad banners. Oddly enough I don't find it annoying, because the vast majority of the ads are pretty cleverly done (ad execs note: I'm available for expensive lunches on your nickel). Now there is a new company in town whose advertising platform, in theory, I should take offense at (sullying up my pristine corinthian sport). But I'm actually looking forward to seeing the results, and of course getting a free ride for myself and some other Boats.Com people for this shameless plug. Sailing Billboards is putting ads on the sails of NZL 14 -- Team New Zealand's old AC boat. One of the partners is John Sweeney, late of the America True syndicate and by all accounts our kind of guy. The boat will arrive here later this spring, if you buy ads on it you get to take a few friends and vulture capitalists out for a ride around the San Francisco Bay. Way cool. See www.sailingbillboards.com or www.adrenalineimages.com (the latter has some great shots from the Cup races as well). LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (scuttlebutt@boats.com -- note temporary address for guest editor) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Dave Cort: I hope everyone jumps all over the fabled LATimes for their latest sailing slam. In the Feb 18, Randy Harvey column in the "Ball Playing" section of the paper, he comments that interest in the AC is so low it should be shown on ESPN3!! Maybe we should move the LATimes to St Louis where they can join the former LARams and have resume their love affair. -- From Rick Bernstein As a 37 year old racer who competes in national and world events, I've followed the AC since the mid 70's. I respect and agree with your quests thoughts on revamping the challenger system. My concern and dismay with the AC today is what has been lost; a nation against nation regatta. I''m not the first to address this. Since the advent of big money, drivers, crew, designers forget nationality and patriotism and go to who pays them the most. How do you think this can be revamped? To see the likes of Gilmour driving for Japan, Cayard for Italy-then America, seems inappropriate, in this regatta. It may be too late to fix, but I believe todays organizers have let the real purpose of the America's Cup slip away. -- From Mark Yeager editor--Southwest Sailing News I couldn't agree more with you on your proposal to have Tom buy all contributing editors and writers plane tickets, accomodations, and dinner for all our hard efforts. Please place my name on the list to be invited and remind him that I am 6'2", so with the long legs I really prefer to fly first class. Also, don't forget the rent car and we'll probably need some spending money while we're there, too. -- From Janis Cadwallader FYI - Auckland time is currently "subtract THREE hours and call it tomorrow." Since September, it has been various hours based on daylight savings times. My husband Larry Edwards is covering the event in Auckland for www.americascup.org, and we are always trying to coordinate phone calls at different times. Editor's note: Larry did the first America's Cup online in 1995. A true pioneer of sailing regattas and information online and a great writer. -- From Tom Donlan, on yesterday's column from Richard Gladwell Richard Gladwell has a good idea, but it should be carried further. Let there be regional competitions for the right to enter the America's Cup, which would then be sailed among four boats representing the winners of regional events in North America, Europe, and Asia and the Antipodes, and the Defender. His best idea is the broadcasting packages produced by the host broadcaster, although the broadcaster should be allowed to profit from its work as long as the broadcaster pays for exclusive access to Cup coverage. PRETTY PICTURES, FAST BOATS Get the official America's Cup Screen Saver for your PC. Sharon Green is on location in New Zealand recording the drama and action of the Challenger Series and the upcoming Cup 2000 competition. Start with the historical 20 image collections and add new packs of 12 exciting images from the current event. New packs are posted with each series. 6 image packs are now available for immediate download. $8.95 each or $22.95 for 6 collections. Ordering and information www.screenthemes.com/americascup/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Old age comes at a bad time. Note: Nelson Weiderman has created a "Curmudgeon Server" at http://noeticharbor.com/curmudgeon/. It randomly pulls Curmudgeonly wit from a database loaded with past 'Butt Observations, Counsels, etc. Check it out! Submissions, comments, etc to: scuttlebutt@boats.com |
