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SCUTTLEBUTT 3635 - Wednesday, July 18, 2012Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: IYRS, Doyle Sails, and Bill Smith Real Estate. UNLEASHING THE BEAST ON THE GREAT LAKES By Leighton O'Connor Chicago's light fixture mogul Peter Thornton purchased PUMA's Volvo Open 70 il mostro, which they sailed in the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race, in hopes of breaking the elapsed record of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac on July 21. And he's reuniting il mostro with its previous skipper for the 333 mile race up Lake Michigan to Mackinac Island.... Kenny Read. Roy Disney set the current record in 2002 on his Reichel Pugh 75 Pyewacket, an elapsed time of 23 hours 30 minutes and 34 seconds. This year Thornton will be up against the very well sailed MaxZ86 Windquest. Thornton had been out of sailing since 2006, but got the bug again and was itching to go sailing again. What a big itch! His previous boat was the GL70 Holua. His track record was pretty good with a first to finish in the 2005 Mac and winning his division 5 times. "Some people think that we have may have over stepped our challenge," said Thorton. "But with any challenge you have to step up to it and try to meet the challenge. We are all out to have fun too. We are up against the DeVos's family on board Windquest. They are incredible sailors, great people and I really enjoy sailing against them. They might just blow us of the map. Which can always happen when you are racing a new boat and don't know how to tweak it yet. "il mostro has created a lot enthusiasm in the Chicago Sailing Community and it's my intent to get more people interested in sailing. I'm working with the Chicago School Board and we will be taking students sailing on il mostro. We have to introduce sailing to kids from the inner city. We have too great of a sailing venue not to try to promote sailing." I caught up with Kenny, fresh off the boat in Galway at the end of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, and got a few Kennyisms about his upcoming ride on his old flame. LOC: Ken have you done the Mackinac before? KR: Twice, and I don't really remember what years to be honest, but we had some reasonable success. First time we were first to finish on the 72 foot Andrews sled Renegade and the second time aboard the brand new TP 52 Esmeralda where we won our class and were first in fleet on corrected time. Not bad for a fresh water rookie! LOC: What do you remember about the Mac? KR: I always tell people that after sailing around the world 2 1/3 times, that the windiest conditions I have ever sailed in was about 5 hours after the start of the Chicago Mac! I believe we saw 65 knots on the wind speed dial. I remember a really black cloud coming at us on Renegade and Wally Cross asking me if I wanted to drive. I said "sure what the heck" but the next thing I know we are careening downwind with a full main and no jib in 50 knots of wind. Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0717/ DO WHAT YOU LOVE One IYRS grad now out in the workforce said it all: "I love going to work every day." Come find out what this graduate is talking about this Thursday, at an Open House at the IYRS Newport campus on Thames Street where the school runs its Boatbuilding & Restoration program. Students come to IYRS from all walks of life and they leave with a passion for what they are trained to do. Learn more about the program in a short film-then join us on Thursday, from 4 to 7 pm. http://tinyurl.com/IYRS-Open-House TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO The Olympics of 1984 in Long Beach, California certainly seemed to have a home advantage. The Americans came away with an outstanding result of three Golds and four Silvers which meant that every American sailor won a medal, breaking an Olympic record previously held by the Norwegians in 1920. Not only was the standard of sailing raised but so too was the media coverage and security measures. A fleet of 100 Coast Guard vessels hovered around the Olympic courses just in case someone should stray and interfere with the racing. Furthermore, ABC Network covered every mark rounding as well as having a cameraman in the water to get even closer to the action. Whilst the Americans gave it their all and succeeded, the battle of the classes began as the Olympic committee sought the 'Olympic ideal'. The numbers in the Flying Dutchman were down reflecting concern that the price for these boats was just too high. The Tornado, which was previously under threat of being removed, became the ideal Olympic boat due to them being simple, relatively cheap and virtually one design. The opposite reasons for their exit in 2008. -- Yachting World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/YW-071712 PHOTO: 1984 U.S. Sailing Team: http://tinyurl.com/FB-071712 STAY UP TO DATE ON THE LONDON OLYMPICS Curious about how to watch the sailing events at the 2012 Olympic Games? Here are some tips: * In the U.S., sailing will be live online daily at NBCOlympics.com, with archived video, with commentary by Gary Jobson. Their content team has already begun uploading original content as well as our content: http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html * Updates for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team can be received by subscribing to the daily reports through their Medalist newsletter: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/The_Medalist.htm * The plan is not yet finalized in Canada, but the Canadian Yachting Authority reports that CTV has agreed to link to the live tracking but are waiting to hear back from ISAF to ensure this connection occurs. -- http://www.ctv.ca/ Additionally, the Scuttlebutt website has added news widgets to help you stay up to date on the London Olympics without leaving your favorite site. Now you will have the latest Olympic video, news, slideshows, schedules and more... all at Scuttlebutt Sailing News: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ RULES QUESTION Is it permissible for a competitor to hold the sheet of a headsail or spinnaker outboard? (Answer below) THROW A PARTY AND THEY WILL COME While the Midwest and East Coast of the United States prepared to bake in yet another wave of heat or be pummeled by golf-ball sized hail and devastating winds, the Pacific Northwest was providing an alternative. Sailors on 115 boats traveled from 15 states, four countries and two Canadian provinces to the Whidbey Island Race Week 2012 for mid-70s and partly sunny skies, with perhaps a sprinkle or two included to keep it clean and green (in true Norwest fashion). As race organizer Gary Stuntz noted, the best advice he got from previous Race Week organizer Bob Ross was, "Throw a party for 1,000 of your closest friends, and they will come." Now in its thirtieth year, WIRW 2012 began with Brigadoon-like perfection. Dozens and dozens of tents sprung overnight from the ground like mushrooms on the Navy base adjacent to the Oak Harbor Marina. Local restaurants, grocery stores and businesses prepared for the welcomed onslaught of the sailors and their shore support crews that converged in the playground of Penn Cove to officially kick off one of the few remaining true race "week" regattas in the United States. The 26-foot Thunderbird class, the Northwest born-and-bred 1958 design by Seattle naval architect Ben Seaborn, selected Whidbey Island Race Week to hold their 2012 World Championship. The Viper 640, a sporty two- or three-person high-performance sprit boat, also chose the Oak Harbor venue this year for their Pacific Coast Championships. Stay tuned for the racing highlights through Friday at http://www.whidbeyislandraceweek.com 1925 MACKINAC WINNER BERNIDA WINS AGAIN In 1925 "Bernida" skippered by Russ Pouliot beat 12 yachts to win the first race to Mackinac. Racing this year for the first time since the 1920s, "Bernida", skippered by Al Declercq, beat 117 other yachts to win the Shore Course of the 2012 Bayview Mackinac Race. The 32-foot long "Bernida" was built in 1921 to the R boat rule. Doyle Sailmaker's Al Declercq designed the ideal sail inventory, leading "Bernida" to victory over her newer rivals. For more information on how Doyle can power your boat to victory, visit http://www.doylesails.com SAILING SHORTS * Cascade Locks, OR (July 17, 2012) - The Columbia Gorge Racing Association pulled off another infamous Gorge Blowout race today in conditions not quite the norm, with torturously light gusty air for the first part of the downwinder, and eventually big breeze on as the competitors approached the finish at the Hood River Marina. First place went to Chris Barnard, 2012 College Sailor of the Year, with a time of 2:48:24, second to Alexander Heinzemann (CAN) in 2:49:50, and third to Robert Davis (CAN) with 2:50:42 - an extremely tight finish over 18 miles of racing. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/SB-071712 * The second season of the America's Cup World Series kicks off next month in San Francisco when 11 AC45s compete for the first time at the venue for the 34th America's Cup. This event will mark the first time Artemis Racing fields two teams, and it will be the debut for Ben Ainslie Racing. Competition is planned for August 22-26. See schedule here: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-071712 * (July 17, 2012) - The 2308nm Vic-Maui International Yacht Race is nearing the end for Tom Huseby's J/145 Double Take, the elapsed and handicap leader of the race. With their bow aimed at the Lahaina finish, there remains only 78 nm between them and tropical umbrella drinks. Race website: http://www.vicmaui.org * Newport, RI (July 17, 2012) - After putting to bed a lively weekend of racing for classic yachts, the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex continues tomorrow (Wednesday, July 18) with an Around the (Conanicut) Island Race, followed by buoy racing on Thursday through Sunday (July 19-22) for IRC, Swan 42, J/109, Melges 32, Beneteau 36.7, J/105, J/111 and PHRF classes. -- Read on: http://www.nyyc.org/home/article_1226/ FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent ads: For Sale: J/24 4468 For Sale: Soling 791 Now Hiring: California Maritime Academy - Part-Time Sailing Coach Now Hiring: Coach - U.S. Coast Guard Academy View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads RULES ANSWER The rules question what whether it was permissible for a competitor to hold the sheet of a headsail or spinnaker outboard. Rule 50.3(a) prohibits the use of an outrigger and defines it to be a fitting or other device. A competitor is neither a fitting nor a device. It is therefore permissible for a competitor to hold a sheet outboard, provided that rule 49 is complied with. For those of you who are wondering about rule 49: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2012/07/pillowcase-of-week-2812-05.html AMERICA'S CUP FRONT ROW SEAT Exquisite waterfront home on Corinthian Island in Belvedere, CA with direct access to San Francisco Bay and AC race course in minutes. Custom built for well-known sailboat racer in 2008. Large deck, 12,000 lb.lift, floating dock. $11,950,000. Info at http://www.BillSmithRealEstate.com PHOTOS: Emirates Team New Zealand is the first challenger for the 34th America's Cup to reveal their AC72. Here are photos by Chris Cameron/ETNZ: http://tinyurl.com/ETNZ-071712 GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Steve Caulfield: As Chairman of the Nantucket Yacht Club's Race Committee which oversees our sailing instructional programs and Mr. Assad, I must strongly challenge Mr Buchanan's comments (in Scuttlebutt 3634) on our concerns for our young people learning to use the trapeze safely and provide them with the safest equipment available. To suggest that Mr Assad (also the head coach at Dartmouth) is "missing personal responsibility" is both uninformed and callous. Thanks in part to the thorough coverage of the death of Miss Constants by Scuttlebutt, the three sailing programs on Nantucket, ours at NYC, the program at Great Harbor Y C, and Nantucket Community Sailing (where I am also a member of the Executive Committee) under took a "clean sheet of paper" exercise over several months to review and rewrite every aspect of our safety programs. Had Mr. Buchanan asked, he would have learned that personal responsibility at every level is the basis of all we do on the water and off, but our leaders and instructors have a greater personal responsibility than our students or their parents. Our work on safety reaches all levels particularly training of our instructors, equipping all of our instructional support boats and instructors appropriately, and working with our local Coast Guard personnel and Harbor Master. What particularly galled me was Mr. Buchanan's comment, "What's wrong with calling Miss Constants death a tragedy and leaving it at that". I'll tell him what is wrong with that; you do not honor that poor soul's death unless you commit to a thorough and thoughtful analysis of how it could have been avoided, and implementing all learning from that analysis. That's what Mr. Assad is doing, and what we all should be doing. * From John Rousmaniere: Thanks to Scuttlebutt for assembling and publicizing the valuable thread on dinghy safety. Testing is ongoing at sailing clubs and associations around the country. I'd like to hear from people working in this area. You can find me on Facebook. EDITOR'S NOTE: As mentioned in Scuttlebutt 3634, since the drowning death that occurred on June 23, 2011 in Annapolis, MD, there has been a lot of thought put into why the accident happened. We have now compiled it all in a Forum thread for easy access. Here is the link: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14157 * From Wes Oliver In Scuttlebutt 3634, the reference is made to the RWO trapeze hook as being available from Oceanair in the US. Oceanair has just dropped their distributorship of RWO, so the US is currently without an RWO distributor. * From Gregory Scott: With all of the words written and the votes taken, ISAF will never match the exploits of Dennis Connor. The 12 meters were slow "lead mines" but we watched. And we were literally on the edge of our seats. But why? Nationality was a big part. The biggest loss ever ('83) followed by the biggest comeback ever ('87). But the main reason... because they had done a great job being human. We all love watching F1 cars go absurdly fast, but we oddly loved watching 12 meters go slowly with tremendous passion because it wasn't about boats, it was about people. Just like Ferrari was about Schumacher as much as it was about his car * From Guy Chester, Organiser, Louisiades Rally: Need to make a point regarding Max Huseby's article where he mentioned "tossing articles overboard if they get too stench-ey". The MARPOL rules prohibit disposal of plastics. Us sailors should be promoting clean seas not adding to the mess. Sounds like great racing...just let's take our dirty laundry with us! * From Alexander Meller: While I am not there, I am following the 2012 505 World Championship and Pre-Worlds in La Rochelle, France. Apparently there are 101 teams racing the Pre-Worlds (July 17-19) and 191 registered for the World Championship (July 21-27). This is one fleet with one start, and not split into divisions. The major reason the 505s can do this is the use of the gate start. But it is also the nature of the boat and the class (clear air matters more than jamming it in at a mark rounding, no one wants collisions, and similar). While I read comments in Scuttlebutt and Scuttlebutt Europe bemoaning the state of sailing, complaining about the (your choice: Olympic Sailing, Olympic Class selection, America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, handicap racing, one design sailing, courses, etc.), I think it is amazing that the International 505 class draws 191 teams (the largest turnout ever) for a World Championship. I am obviously biased (having raced 505s since 1977), but I think the 505 class is doing a lot of things really well. Btw, SAP is once again doing the real time tracking and real time analysis for the 505 World Championship. Way cool! Here is the event website: http://www.sap505worlds.com/2012/ * From Rob Overton: I think the Melges 24 Worlds rules concerning support and coach boats are a step in the right direction (in Scuttlebutt 3631), though they could use some editing. For example, rule 4 says that coach and support boats shall communicate with their competitors "only by means of voice between races," which presumably bans electronic communications. But then the rule continues, "Closed VHF or mobile telephone communication is prohibited." What is a "closed VHF"? Does this rule imply that "open VHF" is permitted, despite the previous sentence? Private communication on an "open VHF" is no great challenge -- there are a dozen or so available US-legal VHF channels on my hand-held plus another half-dozen on International and Canadian frequencies, and this doesn't count the channels allowed by other nations such as the UK that aren't available on my set but will be available on VHF transceivers owned by competitors and coaches from those countries. But in my opinion the biggest shortcoming of this set of rules is its failure to require coach and support boats to render assistance to ANY competitor in danger. This is not a moot point; I have seen coach boats motor right past capsized boats without so much as a glance to see if the crew needed help. I suggest a rule saying something like "The requirements of RRS rule 1 are extended to coach and support boats. Assistance to boats or crew in danger shall be rendered without regard to what boat or boats the coach or support boat is attached to." * From David Chivers: Banning coaches and support boats from the regatta is probably the only fair way to ensure a "level playing field" and I would not disagree with this approach. The Melges 24 rules were written as an attempt to balance this with the desire of many teams to still have support boats present. Yes there is an advantage to a tow home, of course, but don't forget the M24 does carry an engine so the flat calm return is not necessarily a disaster. The allowance to communicate buy "shouting" was designed to hopefully keep boats in the same area and allow an element of self-policing in that boats can watch others to what is happening. It was felt at the time that to ban communication of any sort would see boats and support boats gong off in opposite directions and then using mobile phones to communicate. Sadly it was thought that sailors and coaches could not be trusted. The rules may not be perfect but they have worked well over several years now and are monitored should they need to be changed. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION I like work. It fascinates me. I sit and look at it for hours. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - Vineyard Race - North Sails J Boats - Point Loma Outfitting - Pure Yachting Ullman Sails - APS - New England Boatworks Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
