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SCUTTLEBUTT 1819 - April 18, 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. KIWIS SWEEP CONGRESSIONAL CUP Long Beach, Calif. - The stuff of folk tales became real life Saturday when Dean Barker, the bruised and humbled former apprentice, lived to defeat his mentor, Russell Coutts, for victory in the 41st Congressional Cup, presented by Acura. Coutts said the better man won. "We had a chance to win, but we never really deserved to win," said Coutts, who sailed with Jes Gram-Hansen and his Danish crew. "It's not a bad situation. They sailed great all week. They were a little sharper than us." That, from the man who had eliminated Chris Dickson, CEO and skipper for BMW Oracle Racing's America's Cup team, 2-1, in the semifinals while Barker was coming from behind to oust France's Mathieu Richard by the same score. When Dickson beat Richard, 2-1, for third place, it meant that Kiwis would finish 1-2-3, but the top two remained to be settled in a match rife with human elements. Now Barker again has donned the Crimson Blazer he first wore when he won the Congressional Cup in 2000---the year Coutts let him drive the clinching race against Prada. It was clear that the bonds remain strong between Barker and Coutts as they sat next to each other at the evening press conferences, leaning together to exchange personal thoughts. With Barker on the winning team were tactician and former Congressional Cup winner Terry Hutchinson, pitman Moose McClintock, (his fifth victory in the event with four different skippers), main trimmer Skip Baxter, headsail trimmer James Dagg and bowman Jeremy Lomas. - Rich Roberts, www.lbyc.org Final standings with round robin results and prize money: 1. Dean Barker, 14-4, $10,000 2. Russell Coutts, 12-6, $5,700 3. Chris Dickson, 14-4, $4,800 4. Mathieu Richard, 11-7, $4,400 5. Staffan Lindberg, 9-9, $3,800 6. Chris Law, 9-9, $3,000 7. Philippe Presti, 6-12, $2,700 8. Lars Nordbjerg, 7-11,$2,300 9. Chris Larson, 3-15, $1,900 10. Scott Dickson, 5-13, $1,500 MORE THAN 15 MINUTES OF FAME (The photos of a Santana 22 being rolled under the Golden Gate were flashed around the world. Here's the story behind the crash and the rescue. The skipper's had a breather, and he's ready to talk. Here's an excerpt from Kimball Livingston's story on the Sail magazine website.) When Joe Schmidt took his Santana 22 out for yet another Saturday sail, he had no idea he was on the way to his 15 minutes as one of the most famous sailors in the world. Then, after his YachtSea had been rolled and dismasted by a breaking wave under the Golden Gate Bridge, he "knew we had made a splash, what with the Coast Guard boats and the helicopters and the fire trucks and police." But that was just the beginning. Only later would he learn that photographer Wayne Lambright had been at Fort Point, at the San Francisco Bay entrance, with a Nikon D2h (with a 70-300mm lens) that shoots 8 frames per second. Lambright came away with one of the most startling photo sequences ever of a sailing disaster, and when the photos hit the Net, they made a sensation. YachtSea capsized and sank on April 2. In the two weeks following, Wayne Lambright's web site had 17,000,000 page views. He started posting pictures in the first place to call attention to his online restaurant review business, www.sfsurvey.com. "The YachtSea thing created a gargantuan problem," Lambright says. "I run three mission-critical web sites, and the response nearly crashed my server." If you haven't seen the images: http://photos.sfsurvey.com/sailH/index.asp Kimball Livingston's full Sail magazine story: http://sailmag.com/SAILBOATCRASH/ WEAR THE FIGAWI Each May, hardy sailors brave the choppy Nantucket sound in a mad-dash race known as the Figawi. To salute the event and its participants, Sperry Top-Sider developed the Figawi Collection. These high-performance shoes and sandals provide sailors with the ultimate in stability and comfort. They also feature Sperry Top-Sider's signature non-marking, Super-Tack rubber outsoles, Quadro-Grip Wave-Siping™, and anti-microbial, fast-drying materials. With suggested retail prices starting at $59.95, the Figawi Collection is sure to keep you on course during the heat of the race or teeth of a squall. http://www.sperrytopsider.com FUND RAISER Yachting New Zealand has come up with an enterprising way to raise some money for purposes including the promotion of Yachting Participation, Development of Young Sailors, Development of future Olympic sailors and Coach Development. Yachting New Zealand says ticket sales open to New Zealand and international buyers and available until May 25. On June 1 a draw will be held for the very significant prize of a Z39 One Design keelboat worth NZ$470,000. The yacht will be delivered to the winner's nearest yachting venue within New Zealand. Tickets are limited to 3300 and cost NZ$200 each. Purchasing ten tickets earns an extra ticket free. Proceeds from the lottery will go towards a number of Yachting New Zealand initiatives including: - Purchase of Measurement equipment for National Rating System - Safety Inspectors National Conference and Training - Development of PHRF National Database and provision of Software to Clubs - Regional Safety Awareness - The promotion of Amateur Yachting Participation - Development of Young Sailors - Development for future Olympic sailors - Coach Development Tickets can be ordered from the Yachting New Zealand website - www.yachtingnz.org.nz TAKING THE DAY OFF The Global Challenge skippers and crew have all left Cape Town to enjoy just over a week off before returning to a busy port schedule during the build up to race restart. As Paula Reid, Team Stelmar Crew Volunteer said in Cape Town, the crews are all going, "to the wine regions, beaches and gardens, for shark diving, sky diving, wine tasting, climbing, walking, mountain biking etc… And maybe there will be a bit of pampering and resting too! But back to work on the 22nd." As with previous stopovers, far from putting their feet up, many Crew Volunteers search out more adrenaline activities during their time off. Mike Chivers from Barclays Adventurer said before the race that he treats every opportunity in his free time as a chance to progress: "I am always on the look out for new challenges, at work as well as in my leisure time. I like to test myself. I see most of my leisure time activities as a way to personally develop and a way of improving my outlook." Whatever their plans, the stopover in Cape Town is a much-needed holiday on land after up to 40 days at sea. Since they arrived, teams have all been, "enjoying salads, steaks and a few beers each night - how we longed for that when we were out there," said Ben Beasley of VAIO. Thanks to one of their sponsors, Team Save the Children took a trip to the famous Table Mountain on Harley Davidson's. Team Stelmar's Paula Reid said: "The views of table Mountain are magnificent - it really is awesome, I can't wait to go cage diving with the sharks!" Full story: www.globalchallenge2004.com/en/news.asp?chcoid=16475 REGATTA TEES, POLOS, CAPS, AND BEER The best graphics, printing, and delivery of your regatta gear. Also pick up your vinyl signs, bow decals, and web design. Let us sponsor a keg or other items at your regatta. Log on at www.pirateslair.com/ sailing for a free catalog. To chat: (888) 724-5286 ALTER CUP Last month the hopes of San Diego's Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier for sailing to the Hobie Tiger class world championship were turned upside down at Santa Barbara. Literally. A sudden turn to avoid a rival without right-of-way near the finish line of the next to last race caused them to flip and drop from second to 12th place. The past week in Long Beach their bid to win the Alter Cup, emblematic of US Sailing's national multihull championship, fell into place when they won six of 11 races, clinched first place after the first three days and sailed Saturday and Sunday for fun. There were 20 two-person teams from across the country. Some, like Thomas and Bernier, qualified in area eliminations, while others had won national titles in other catamaran classes. A few---including locals Glaser, an Olympic silver medalist, and Melvin, an A-Cat class world champion---were invited on the strength of their resúmés. Glaser and Melvin finished third, behind Stan Schreyer, Woodbury, N.J., and Jonathan Farrar, New London, Conn. Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted the event. Races were run inside the breakwater. With only 10 boats, the teams rotated off the beach between 22 races over the five days. - Rich Roberts, Long Beach Press Telegraph, full story: www.presstelegram.com/ Final results (22 races) - 1. Greg Thomas, San Diego/ Jacques Bernier/ San Diego, 20 points; 2. Stan Schreyer, Woodbury, N.J./ Jonathan Farrar, New London, Conn., 32; 3. Pete Melvin, Huntington Beach/ Jay Glaser, Long Beach, 40; 4. John Tomko, Canyon Lake, Tex./ Ian Billings, Dallas, 42; 5. Alex Shafer, Eustis, Fla./ Eric Macklin, High Springs, Fla., 50; 6. Armando Noriega, Delegacion, Mexico/ Javier Cabildo, Mexico City, 51; 7. John Casey, Longwood, Fla./ Kenny Pierce, Hialeah, Fla., 57; 8. Nigel Pitt, Hartwell, Ga./ Mike Krantz, Flowery Branch, Ga., 70; 9. Pat Porter, Garden Valley, Calif./ Blair Wallace, Pleasant Grove, N.J., 96; 10. Mike Montague, Santa Rosa, Calif./ Mike Luebkenann, Seal Beach, 99. - www.abyc.org NEWS BRIEFS * The WSSR Council announced the ratification of two new world records. The Outright World Sailing Speed Record of 48.7 knots was set by Finian Maynard of the BVI, sailing a Windsurfer F2/ Naish, at St Maries de la Mer, France on 10th April 2005. Also set was the Outright World Women's Sailing Speed Record and the Women's 10 square meter Class Record of 41.25 knots by Karin Yaggi of Switzerland, sailing a F2/ Arrows, at St Maries de la Mer, France on 10th April 2005. The previous records were 46.82 knots (2004) and 40.05 knots (1993) respectively. * With the April 29 entry deadline approaching quickly, the German America's Cup campaign Deutsche Challenge 2007 AG is not commenting about whether their Fresh Seventeen campaign will be official challenger of the 32nd America's Cup. * The invitation list for Royal Bermuda Yacht Club's ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship scheduled for October 2005 in J/ 24s will be based on the June 22nd release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings for Women. Invitations will be sent to the top ten ranked women and if any of them do not accept, invitations will be issued to the next ranked women on the list. The other two slots will be offered to last year's ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship winner and another woman sailor selected by Bermuda's National Authority, the Bermuda Sailing Association. - www.kingedwardviigoldcup.com * As Tony Bullimore and his team on Daedalus sails slowly up the coast of Oman, just 400 miles from the finish of the Oryx Quest 2005, they are getting bombarded by hundreds of flying fish. It's the same phenomenon that the crew on Doha 2006 wrote about two weeks ago when they sailed the same waters. There is something about sailing a catamaran through tropical waters. It seems that the twin hulls scare up a schools of fish and they take off only to crash into the hull or shred themselves in the netting of the trampoline. - www.oryxquest.com * As Antigua Sailing Week's official media partner and Platinum sponsor Yachting World is presenting a solid silver punch bowl to the boat with the fastest elapsed time in the inaugural Round Island Race. A solid silver keeper plate is also being presented to the winner as a keepsake. The 44-mile race, anti-clockwise round the island, will take place on Tuesday 26 April, is open to the three 'big classes' - Big Boat 1 and 2 and Racing 3 - and will start and finish off Curtain Bluff. - www.sailingweek.com WHAT DO HYANNIS, BERMUDA, AND BOY SCOUTS HAVE IN COMMON? They store their boats on Seitech racks. When they needed the best designed, most durable racks, they chose Seitech. Rack styles are available for not only large clubs but for home and small fleet use as well. Seitech has a design to fit your needs. See them all at http://www.seitech.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 David Paul: While Ben Cesare can rag on us ragheads who pursued "liberal" arts whilst he "engineered" his degree, he ought to have studied spelling. There is no verb 'incent'. I am incensed. Curmudgeon's Comment: David and the others who wrote to make this point (and Microsoft programmers) would be well to note that English (or should we call it 'American'?) is an evolving language. A quick check of either www.dictionary.com or Merriam-Webster Online (www.m-w.com/ ) will show that all tenses of the verb 'incent' are now considered acceptable usage. * From Neil Siegel: There is of course no relation at all between sailboats moving in current (essentially a two-dimensional vector solution) and movement of airplanes in operating in an environment of 6 degrees of freedom. The reason jet airplanes can fly upside down in an apparent level condition is by a combination of angle of attack and thrust. The next time you are at air show notice carefully that when flying upside down these aircraft still maintain a positive angle of attack of the airfoils, i.e., the nose of the aircraft is still pointing up, in fact a slightly pronounced angle that if right side up the same slow airspeed would be close to a stall condition. Notice carefully the position of the flaps, especially if the aircraft has leading edge flaps, to create a region of low pressure by turbulence on the upper surface (actually the lower surface of the wing). In this attitude the exhaust thrust (pointed slightly downward) provides a dynamic equilibrium condition which allows forward level motion upside down. * From Paul Kamen: Time for a simple thought experiment: Imagine a pipe with air flowing through it. The pipe splits into two smaller pipes. One of them loops around, the other goes straight, and then they re-connect. Will the air that takes the much longer loopy route get to the re-connection point at the same time as the air that takes the much shorter, straight route? No way. Same for wings and sails. There is no law of physics requiring the air that flows along the (usually) longer top surface of a wing to get to the trailing edge at the same time as the air that flows along the (usually) shorter bottom surface. See the animated flow visualizations at http:/ / www.idra.unige.it/ ~irro/ profilo1a_e.html. * From Reynald Neron, Australia: Why do planes fly upside down? When turning around on their axis, the Bernoulli effect also gets reversed. Therefore, the plane will go toward the bottom part of the wing (which is located upward), so the plane will lift (away from the Big Rock). I believe you can actually also do the same thing with the sails of a boat. In fact, when in the southern hemisphere, the same effect takes place. It is well known that we (in Australia) are walking with our feet up and our head down. Well, it is the same for the planes. When transiting from the north to the south hemisphere, the plane turns around to give its passengers the feeling that they are flying the proper way, when in fact they are upside down. And if you feel these explanations are very creative, I have read far better fantasies regarding the Lee Bow effect lately. * From Mike Stevens: As to the Panama Canal questions it takes the same amount of water to raise a supertanker twenty feet as a rowboat, conversely the same twenty feet of water is released/ lost when either vessel is lowered. It makes no difference how much water is displaced by the vessel it is the same amount of water under the vessel which cause the surface to rise. Now this overlooks the salient factor that when the larger vessel enters the lock more water is displaced back to the upstream side of the gates as the ship enters. If both ends of the Panama Canal were at the same level, this would be cancelled out, up against down locking, because of the difference in heights. It must take more water to float a vessel one way than the other. * From John Dawson-Edwards: The water loss will be the same no matter what boat is in the lock. The water level must drop by H feet which is the difference between the two bodies of water. The area of the lock is always the same (L x W - length x width) so the volume to move is always H x L x W - a constant for each lock. * From Dan Hirsch (edited to our 250 word limit): Yes, Virginia, there is a displacement effect in lock operations. The volume of water required to fill a fixed volume to a specific level, ie a lock, is directly affected by the volume of the stuff in the lock. The larger the 'displacement' of the boat in the lock, the more water the hull 'displaces' and the less water required to bring the lock up to its required level. * From Len Davies: While thrilled to receive press coverage of the achievements of members of the South African "Shosholoza" crew presently sailing the Congressional Cup with Chris Law, we believe it important to correct the obviously uninformed, un-researched statements made by the author of what can only be described as politically-expedient journalism. Ashton Sampson, a wonderful, humble young man from an equally wonderful family and great example to all, is not the first South African of colour -in our country, a man's colour is irrelevant - to participate in an international yacht race; that honour had already gone to a crewmember in the 1971 Cape to Rio Race, long before democratization. Furthermore, no less than 14 persons of colour have proudly represented their country in dinghy World Championships, 16 in international Ocean Races and 5 on the Match Racing circuit. To describe Ashton as a pioneer is thus simple ignorance of the facts. Can your contributing author match these numbers from amongst the vast African-American population of his country? Another required correction is that South African national cricket and soccer teams do not, as stated, comprise folk of only one colour -36% and 88% are of colour respectively. Sailing in South Africa has never been subjected to a racial policy - in any shape or form! Opportunities exist for each and every sailor to reach their personal goals no matter their colour! South Africans, long the deserved butt of negative reporting, appreciate being recognized, but please, get it right! * From John F. Mitchell: As the sailing world gets excited about one Black crew on the South African team, it might be interesting to add up all of the Blacks who have ever participated in the Congressional Cup. As a whole, sailing is still a lily white sport. Where are our Tiger Woods or Williams sisters? The comments regarding South Africa's team seem hypocritical in view of the lack of opportunity for non-whites to participate in our sport in the United States. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Old is when an "all-nighter," means not getting up to pee. |
