SCUTTLEBUTT #753 - February 16, 2001

Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk... with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. Send to scuttlebutt@boats.com.

THE RACE
Club Med started this 47th day of the race in slow motion. With 230 miles covered in 24 hours, Grant Dalton and Franck Proffit are chafing at the bit while waiting to latch onto, sometime tomorrow, the Southeast Trades, which will enable them to gather speed. Located at the moment off Rio Alegre in Brazil, Club Med must climb up another 5 to 9 degrees of latitude (1 = 60 miles) and track off to the East to find these steady powerful winds. So it's all to Innovation Explorer's liking, which thanks to her Easterly route, is continuing to reach along and reduce the gap. From 1022 miles yesterday at 0700 GMT, the gap behind Club Med has fallen to 829 miles this morning at the same time.

Dalton: "The last 24 hours have been Hell. Much worse than anticipated. The low that we had passed by yesterday came right back over the top of us and gave us 40 knot headwinds on top of this ridiculous sea."

"We have lost a lot of distance to Innovation Explorer but we don't care. All we want is to be delivered from this place. I always knew this would be the toughest area but it has really vindicated all that I said about it. This has been the worst day of The Race so far for Club Med."

Conditions on board are extreme, with a violently pitching catamaran the crew are unable to rest and are living with the stress of feeling their boat suffering in the seaway beneath them.

"The boat rises up vertically and then falls into the deep hole behind each steep wave. Normally in your bunk you lie feet forward to avoid banging your head against the forward bulkhead. Well now it is the other way round. You have to sleep head forwards so that when the boat climbs up a wave and becomes vertical you don't bang your head on the bulkhead behind. No one has slept for at least 36 hours."

"Off the wind catamarans are great, but they do not and never will go upwind. They are absolute dogs. The loads and shocks are just huge, it is like cannon shots going off all around. At one point we seriously considered removing all sails, stopping the boat and just waiting, we have to keep it really slow."

On the stress and concern of the crew and skipper for handling the boat in these conditions and getting out the other side to continue with The Race: "I'm a professional skipper and I am paid to worry. But this has been and continues to be a big worry."

"If you were silly you could end the whole race right here by sailing too fast. We have to be really, really careful. Seamanship and survival are everything right now."

Ranking of 16 Feb 2001 11:00:00 GMT:

1.Club Med / distance to finish 5076.2 miles 2.Innovation Explorer / distance to leader 786.3 miles 3.TeamAdventure / dtl 6240.9 miles 4.Warta Polpharma / dtl 6363.0 miles 5.Team Legato / dtl 6887.8 miles

VENDEE GLOBE: LAST SKIPPER ROUNDS CAPE HORN
The anticyclone centred over Ireland may be bringing the North Easterly breeze and good weather over the Atlantic coastline, but is not bringing the right conditions to the skippers still on the race course in their final stage of the Vendee Globe.

Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) has been heavily penalised, forced to tack square to the wind offshore. He has even passed to the North the latitude of Les Sables d'Olonne, and as the wind shifts back to the South East, he is approaching Les Sables at more than 10 knots speed but 40 degrees from the direct route. He is expected in during Sunday, however it is impossible to predict an exact timing.

Mike Golding (Team Group 4) is no longer short on water, but like Josh Hall (EBP/Gartmore), is running short of fuel.

Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) was the fastest boat in the fleet this morning, at nearly 15 knots whilst everyone else was sailing at no more than 10 knots. Impressive performance under jury rig by our Castaway skipper, Parlier, who joked: "It's a jury rig, but still a racing one!"

Event site: www.vendeeglobe.com

EASIER SAIL HANDLING
If you want easier sail handling and better performance look no further than a SAILMAN full batten system. Designed for yachts from 24ft to 80ft, the range includes track systems, in-mast systems and even slides specifically for composite spars. SAILMAN systems are well engineered, easy to install, simple to maintain and great to use so if you are thinking about full battens, talk to your Sailmaker about SAILMAN by Bainbridge International. More information: www.sailcloth.com

US SAILING PRIORITIES
To determine the priorities for US Sailing during the next three years, the Executive Committee will have a special meeting on Thursday, March 22 just before the US Sailing Spring Meeting. These Priority Goals will then be recommended to the Board of Directors and, once approved, will guide US Sailing in setting the budget and determining projects. These goals will address specific things US Sailing should be doing to achieve our mission of encouraging participation and promoting excellence in sailing and racing. We want to get as much participation from interested sailors as possible and have set up a place on the web site where anyone can record their priorities and make comments. One can access the survey from the home page or go directly to www.ussailing.org/surveys/priorities.asp

EVERYWHERE
They are absolutely everywhere. They're in Norway, Japan, Spain, the UK and Canada. There are two each in Australia and Mexico. Italy has three and there are 10 in the USA. That's 22 in all, and every one of these Ullman sail lofts will give a quote on a new sail to show you just how affordable improved performance can be for your boats: http://www.ullmansails.com

ISAF ELIGIBILITY
At a meeting of the Executive Committee in Dublin last week, the ISAF addressed the issue of the Eligibility Code for participants in races using the Racing Rules of Sailing. The new Code, passed in November, requires that all competitors "be a member of a Member National Authority or one of its affiliated organisations." The Executive Committee voted against a quick revision, deciding to wait for a recommendation from the Constitution Committee for a clearer ruling at their mid-year meeting in early May.

US Sailing has distributed wording to yacht clubs and race organizers to insert into race notices that would prohibit protests under the new rule -- and the entire thing is completely academic if you go do sailingsource.com/scuttlebutt/ and download membership cards in the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club (a fully recognized US Sailing member club). They're free. Hand them out to anyone stepping aboard your boat and you're covered. Thousands of people already have....

ETCHELLS MIDWINTERS
Sailed at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club on February 7-10, the Etchells Midwinters was won by Bermudan Peter Bromby (who represented Bermuda in the Star at the Sydney Olympics and is a top match racer), who tossed out a 14th place in race 1 for an adjusted total of just 18 points, 10 points ahead of second place finisher Dennis Connor. Dirk Knuelman was third. Scott Piper finished 4th, there were 42 boats entered.

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) PLEASE NOTE: For the next two weeks, send your emails to scuttlebutt@boats.com, Tom is off sailing until Feb. 27.

* From Brendan Hanna (this was the only letter we got, please send more!)

PYC Spinnaker Fleet Championship still Undecided
In an unfortunate turn of events, formal protests on the outcome of the Pultneyville Yacht Club Spinnaker Fleet Championship have been lodged. The protests have originated from several different skippers citing a number of discrepancies in the scoring of the races.

Earl Chapman, skipper of Comic Relief, contends that the mechanical timing device on the committee boat may not have accurately recorded the times of the races. Mr. Chapman contends that he had a crew member count "one-one thousand, two-one thousand ..." from the start of the race until he crossed the finish line. The crew member's count does not match that of the stopwatch. Mr. Chpaman states that every second should be counted fairly and equitably, and the only way to do so is by his method.

Jim Ely of Moonrise feels that because his boat covered the course faster than any other boat, then the crown should rightfully be his. He states that elapsed time should determine the champion, not some outdated handicap system. Cindy Kukuvka of Puff has protested select portions of some races, stating that she had sailed faster than any other boat during those specific times, and given equitable conditions throughout the rest of the races, she would have triumphed. She further contends that God overstepped his authority by arbitrarily enforcing wind conditions on the race course.

Dave and Michelle Keller aboard Bluepeace stated that the championship was denied them due to mechanical breakdowns. They insist it was their intention to sail faster than the other boats. Therefore, the intent of the skipper should be of paramount importance, not the mere time aspect. Keith Watson, skipper of Sterling maintains that he had some chads hanging from his keel, which may have effected the outcome. He further states that he has dimples, and they should count for something. Larry Fedick aboard Cebare said the course was much too confusing, and that he thought he could round ANY three marks. Highlifes's Harry Miller complains that he mailed in his absentee race results, and they were unfairly rejected on the technicality of his not actually having competed.

Tom Foley of Summer Snow has quietly accepted the Championship cup, and is moving forward with his plan for pizza for all crews across the board rather than a targeted few. The court will convene at the beer keg immediately following the keelhauling of all lawyers in the club.

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.