|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3117 - Monday, June 21, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: Kaenon Polarized, Southern Spars, and LaserPerformance. SACRIFICING THE SOCIAL PART OF THE SPORT By Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor When Bill Hardesty asked me to join his team for the recently held Etchells North Americans, we knew our crew weight would be near the class maximum of 628.3 lb (285 kilos). However, we were not alone, as the weigh-in list from the event showed that over half the fleet was within 10 pounds of the limit. With its narrow beam, an Etchells needs help staying upright. An athletic hiking crew at max weight has proven to be fast, such that 13 of the top 15 boats were all within 10 pounds of the limit. Given the relevance of crew weight, the class has onerous rules to manage the issue. During the four day regatta there were two weigh-ins, otherwise known as 'Party Killers'. The first weigh-in was from 7 am to 9 am on the FIRST day of racing. This schedule effectively crushed the party the night before, as a welcome reception of good eats and drinks was not conducive for managing crew weight. Additionally, there was a line of people ready to weigh at 7 am, as the two hour window would provide just enough time in the sauna to make any adjustments. Are we having fun yet? The second weigh-in was from 7 am to 9 am on the THIRD day of racing. You want to know what was scheduled the night before. Yep, another poorly attended party, as the bulk of the fleet was likely seeking out salad rather than enjoying the full bar and buffet that was included in the entry fee. Even more teams arrived early for the second weigh in; the practice of complete nudity during weigh-in was held in check by a clothing rule requirement. So, after all these weigh-ins and poorly attended parties, I have to wonder whether we are missing the point. Are we so concerned about crew weight that we are willing to sacrifice the social part of the sport, particularly now with participation numbers down. Would a weigh-in between 3 pm and 5 pm the day before the event been enough to insure the rule is being met? I know it would have absolutely allowed everyone to relax more after the races, and would have given me a couple more hours of morning sleep. -- Scuttleblog, http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2010/06/party-killer.html AMERICAN MATCH RACERS DOMINATE KIEL WEEK QUALIFYING Kiel, Germany (June 20, 2010) - With strong conditions up to 24 knots of wind, Kieler Woche the sixth stage of the 7 event ISAF Sailing World Cup 2009-2010 series, started Saturday for all Olympic classes. Less wind on day two today meant that not all classes could continue their races, with only the RS:X, 2.4 mR, 49er and the Women's Match Racing competition able to sail close to the coastline. "The weather conditions were very strange today. We had enough wind on the courses near the harbour, but the further you go out the wind dropped. So we had to think about how we can have the same conditions to sail all classes closer to the shore, maybe one after each other. But we really hope we will have better conditions on Monday," explained Jobst Richter, Chairman of Kieler Woche. While still early in the five day event, there are some hopeful trends occurring amid the North American contingent. Erik Stork/ Trevor Moore (USA) have rolled 4 of 5 top ten scores in the 49er races (12th overall), Americans hold 3 of the top 13 Finn positions, and Michael Leigh's (CAN) third position confirms his climb back to the international pace. However, most impressive are the American Women's Match Race teams led by Anna Tunnicliffe and Genny Tulloch, who each were the top ranked teams from their respective qualifying groups, displacing the #1 and #2 ISAF ranked teams as they each advance to the gold round robin series. Event website: http://www.kieler-woche.de/eng/englishdefault.php USSTAG reports: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/World_Cup/KW2010.htm HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR EYES You've got two of them - that's it! Do you take care of them? Do you treat them like you should, with love and protection? You put sunscreen on your skin, shoes on your feet, even underwear or a bra for support. Kaenon Polarized patented SR-91 polarized lenses protects the only eyes you have, while serving your brain detailed information in the sharpest view you'll ever experience. Protect, and treat yourself, with Kaenon Polarized. Available in prescription. See the entire 2010 collection and locate an authorized dealer at http://www.kaenon.com Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. LESS THAN IDEAL Fair racing begins with fair racing conditions. The relevance of this is heightened by the relevance of the event. Indifferent racing conditions are more tolerable for a Sunday club race than say, an important ISAF Sailing World regatta. However, top sailors adapt to what they are given. 2008 Olympic medalist Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) was not complaining about what sounded like a less than ideal race course for the Womens Match Racing on the first day of the 2010 Kieler Woche Regatta, an important Olympic ranking event. Her comments merely demonstrate what can occur even at the highest level of the sport: "The wind was blowing off the harbor which made for very big puffs and shifts..The race course was very difficult to get right with the favoured end of the line changing with every puff, and big 20 degree shifts upwind. And to add to the difficulty of the course, a big navy ship decided that it would be a great idea to come and anchor above our windward mark after our second race, creating a huge wind shadow. It made the top of the course very challenging as we were never quite sure which side the puff was going to roll down to give us the last shift. The exits (coming out of the windward mark) were also quite interesting, because we had to choose from where we thought the next puff would come. Funnily enough, after our third race of the day, the ship realized that they were in a bad spot for the racing and moved away." -- Full report: http://www.teamtunnicliffe.com/news/174-2-1-on-day-1-kieler-woche.html HUTCHINSON LEADS TEAM OUT OF DRAUGHT Marseille, France (June 20, 2010; Day 5) - Leading after the first two days of buoy racing, Quantum Racing (USA) put their mark on the TP52 Audi MedCup Circuit's Marseille Trophy by a dominating third day victory of the 36 mile coastal circuit. With a Mistral prevailing for the next two days that kept the fleet in the harbor, Quantum Racing claimed this second stage of the five event 2010 MedCup Circuit. This was their first event win overall since becoming 2008 TP52 World Champions in Puerto Calero, and their first Audi MedCup Circuit regatta triumph since they sealed the 2008 overall title winning the Portugal Trophy in September 2008. Terry Hutchinson (USA) skipper-helm of Quantum Racing (USA): "It has been a long time coming. We were just discussing that the last regatta we won was the 2008 World Championships. Since then we have been in a bit of a dry spell. So it is a huge testament to the team, to all the work that into the boat over the winter and to all the guys at Longitude Zero who work tirelessly on the boat, this is as much about them as it is us on the sailing team. In the conditions we had, on the breezy days we felt like potentially we had missed an opportunity on the second light day when we went 5,6 and and Emirates Team New Zealand had a good day. We thought, 'man that could have been a turning point in the regatta because we were coming into their conditions in the last couple of days of sailing. We ground them down in a breezy race and sailed away from them. They are still the bench-mark and had won the last five regattas up to this point, but we have a big task ahead of us this season now. We are going to enjoy the moment and then back to work next week." -- Read on: http://www.medcup.org/news/quotes-of-the-day_3401 Final Results 1. Quantum Racing (USA), 8+1+1+5+6+1.5= 22.5 points 2. Matador (ARG), 3+3+4+1+10+6= 27 3. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER), 2+9+2+10+2+4.5= 29.5 4. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 10+6+5+4+3+3= 31 5. TeamOrigin (GBR), 4+7+7+3+1+9= 31 Complete report/results: http://tinyurl.com/2d72cyf THRASH TO THE PATCH (June 20, 2010) - The mouth of Narragansett Bay off Newport Rhode Island on June 18th saw 183 sailboats make the start in the 47th Newport to Bermuda Race. The pace car for the fleet has been Alex Jackson's 100-foot Speedboat, which was 125 nautical miles from Bermuda at 14:35 EDT today. The leaders met the Gulf Stream Saturday night, when Chris Museler filed this report just before midnight onboard the 75-foot mini maxi Titan XV: "Now this is what we came for! The boat is literally crashing into waves close reaching onto the Gulf Stream and the water temperature has leapt into the 80s. It's getting darker and the Aramid rigging has been humming and groaning, and the deck bounces from each loud crack when a sheet or the traveler is eased. This wild ride comes from being in a positive eddy heading south, straight into it! (Wind and current collide to stack up the seas that the boats are crashing into.) This is getting to be fun after losing a bit to competitors this afternoon. The bright sun and the flat water sailing are gone. Can't write anymore, quite hot and uncomfortable down here. Knew I wouldn't want to sail a Bermuda Race without a proper 'thrash,' as Mr. Rousmaniere calls it!" While the focus of attention has been on the big, Open Division boats, Carina, a Class 3 McCurdy & Rhodes 48 skippered by Rives Potts, appears to have made the most of the Gulf Stream. At 15:00 EDT today, Carina was an incredible 60 miles ahead of Triple Lindy, the next boat in her class, and is now within 300 nautical miles of Bermuda. This is the biggest lead in any class at this time. Another small boat to shine is the Cal 40 Sinn Fein skippered by Peter S Rebovich. She has slipped 50 miles west of the rhumb line and by 1:00PM Sunday her speed over the ground, was 7.2 knots according to iboattrack ,while the other boats in his class were only making between 2.5 and 4 knots. Sailing a greater distance away from the rhumb line has paid off so far but with these top boats in the 2006 and 2008 races still 400 miles from Bermuda, time will tell, of course. -- Race website: http://www.bermudarace.com/ PUSHING THE DESIGN ENVELOPE ON A GRAND SCALE Southern Spars continued its tradition of 'firsts' last week, with the installation of its first set of EC6 Hybrid standing rigging on newly launched superyacht Imagine II. Imagine utilises a state-of-the-art Southern Spars rig package including a five spreader 58.5m tall mast, furling boom with internal awnings, and Composite Rigging's impressive new EC6 Hybrid with split continuous backstay. A notable design and engineering feat, the rigging system is the first of its kind in the sailing industry, especially developed for superyachts to offer added performance benefits. Tested and proven, EC6 provides an ultra light, stronger, longer lasting rigging solution. For more information about EC6 Hybrid contact mailto:compositerigging@southernspars.com BEING THE CHEERLEADER By Doran Cushing When I became addicted to speed (multihulls, not chemicals), the local racing organization was the Florida Offshore Multihull Association (FOMA). The founders and long term committed/dedicated cheerleaders of the group did a fine job of creating a home for the local racers of cats and tris. But they lacked vision, in my view, and I ultimately was able to change the image of the FOMA fleet from that of folks who were casual racers (and used a mystical rating system that no one understood but the author of the system) to a fleet of racers who melded in to the PHRF system. Over several years the fleet grew from 2 - 3 boats per event to maybe a dozen. It also became much more competitive, attracting a higher level of sailors and drawing keel-dragger hotshots into the fleet as crew and tacticians. But the bottom line is that it took an effort, in this case by me, to call the boat owners and crew on a regular basis long before an event, and just prior to an event, to get their commitment to compete. They no longer had an excuse of "oh, I just forgot." I have been told I pissed off a few people in the process. But the fleet was prospering, growing, and gaining significant recognition among the monohull racers. But times changed for me. I moved away, lost the boat in a bankruptcy process, and no one took over the cheerleading chore. Now there is little or no presence along the west coast of Florida for multihulls beyond 2 - 3 boats in an occasional event. My point is not what I did and accomplished. It is that anyone can do the same, and get results (if their ego can accept some criticism). Every successful fleet I've seen come through Tampa Bay...Lightning, Snipes, Fireballs, Dutchman, Thistles...they all have a serious cheerleader that creates the energy for the fleet to grow and prosper. And everyone reading this also knows of fleets that have died for exactly the same reasons of having no cheerleader after someone has burned out on the thankless job. INVENTIVE EMAIL: Motivating by email is an oxymoron. While email is a great tool to move info, it is less effective at rousing people to action. Give a cheerleader a phone, or better yet, create a phone tree, and then follow a calling plan. Identify the people that will attract others. If Team X is racing, that might motivate Team Y and Team Z. Use this info in a phone call and watch the sheep move. To counter the reality of email, the organizing group for the Etchells North Americans in San Diego, CA (June 9-12) launched an inventive email campaign that they hoped would inspire the masses. Pretty creative campaign - check it out here: http://sailingscuttlebutt.blogspot.com/2010/06/motivating-people.html SAILING SHORTS * The ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has named Jim O'Toole as the Chief Executive Officer of the professional sailing series as they work to widen the appeal of the one of the world's most thrilling and popular sporting events. He will take up the appointment from 1st July. O'Toole has had a 20 year history of working within the sports industry and has had great exposure to the marine sports industry as the former CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship. His sports marketing focused career background will prove a major asset to the World Match Racing Tour. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/26trtsr * In what one environmentalist described as "yet another public relations disaster" for embattled energy giant BP, CEO Tony Hayward took time off this past Saturday to attend the annual Round the Island Race. The 50-nautical mile course took more than 1,700 boats around England's Isle of Wight. As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with outrage, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of BP's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history. -- AP, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2fgm38z * (June 19, 2010) - After Cork began Thursday the race from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Kinsale, Ireland, the remaining nine boats began their transatlantic chase today in Race 12 of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. Cork is now a slower Challenge 67, which was brought into service after the original Clipper 68 was lost when Cork hit a submerged reef in the Java Sea last January. The Challenge 67 that the crew is now sailing is slightly shorter and also heavier than the current fleet of Clipper 68s, so the race is held using IRC handicap rules. -- Event website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ * The 77th anniversary Nassau Cup Race from Miami, FL to Nassau, Bahamas begins this year on November 11th. Fully crewed ocean racing category 2 monohull and multi-hull boats 30' and over are invited to participate. SORC may also add a double-handed division (contact organizers for information). The Notice of Race for this 176 nm race is posted at http://www.nassaucuprace.org * The Notice of Race and Entry Form are now available for the 804nm Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race, Nov. 5-11, 2010 hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club. Elapsed time record holder Peter Tong and his SC70, OEX, return to defend its record-breaking run of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds set in the 2008 race. Entries received by Aug. 1 get a $200 discount off of the $1,050 entry fee. A bonus to this year's event is the Campbell Cup, a big-boat buoy race scheduled for Oct. 23-24. --Details: http://www.lbyc.org SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar RACE AGAINST THE BEST SAILORS FROM THE UK LaserPerformance is hosting regattas in Weymouth, England and Newport, RI the same weekend (June 26-27) where sailors will be scored against their counterparts from the other side of the pond using a mathematical formula. Come race your Sunfish, Laser or Radial in Newport and test your skills against the UK sailors. For details: http://na.laserperformance.com/special-events/worldopen Sail Legendary LaserPerformance.com LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Barbara Thoney (Re: Adrian Morgan's letter in Scuttlebutt 3116): As someone who has arranged logistics for professional sailors for 27 years, I can tell you it is a proper job and your letter was insulting to both the sailors and the owners. No matter how "fun" the task, being away from home for 8 weeks is extremely taxing. Getting on one little plane after another, sharing a hotel room with your closest "friends", losing your bags, being in all manner of inclement weather including no wind, trying to keep morale high, and organizing a massive mobilized team is far more difficult than you can imagine. The pros I know also work extremely hard to organize events and promote the sport. The economic filter down effect is immense. They not only earn every dime of their money; they also earn my respect. * From Rob Peters: I was a little disappointed that your "Calendar of Events" did not include this year's edition of the Route Halifax Saint-Pierre. Held every second year, this ocean race takes place in some challenging waters between Nova Scotia, and the French archipeligo of Saint Pierre et Miquelon ("France in North America") Yachts from the US, Canada and France are participating. Here is a link to the race's website: http://www.routehalifaxsaintpierre.com/new_site/home.html => Curmudgeon's Comment: The calendar is a self-serve tool that is promoted 1-2 times each week in the Scuttlebutt newsletter, with the event database shared by many other websites. We encourage event organizers to use the tool to help their events, but we do not add the events that are listed. A link to add events is available here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar/addevent.asp CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The American Dairy Association's huge success with its campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention that the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?" Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized, Southern Spars, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
