|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 749 - February 12, 2001Scuttlebutt 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. VENDEE GLOBE - Tim Jeffery, for Quokka Sports Dozens of spectator boats thronged PRB as she came home. Hundreds of thousands lined the long harbor arms of this Bay of Biscay fishing port, and the low level cloud was turned incandescent with fireworks, flares and TV lights. Desjoyeaux finished at 1908 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) for an elapsed time of 93 days, three minutes and 57 minutes, to slice a whole 12 days and 16 hours off the race record, an 11 percent improvement. Last November, on the 9th, many observers declared Desjoyeaux an exceptional sailor, but looked at his PRB and said it was "too complex, too complicated, too much to go wrong." Man and boat alike, proved them wrong. Desjoyeaux becomes the first person to circle the globe alone in less than 100 days, PRB demolishing - rather than merely improving - Christophe Auguin's previous race record of 105 days and 20 hours. "Eighty percent of the result was achieved before the start," asserted Desjoyeaux. "The technical choices, the performance of PRB, the knowledge of the boat were the determining factors, even if I could have sailed the boat better." - Tim Jeffery, for Quokka Sports Full story: * Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) crossed the finish line of the VendŽe Globe in second position at 2036 hrs and 40 seconds on Sunday. The 24 yr old British skipper has just become the first woman to achieve a solo circumnavigation in less than 100 days. She has spent 94 days, 4 hours, 25 minutes and 40 seconds at sea. Ellen's first words from her boat and the podium after crossing the finish line: "Half you imagine in your head what can happen, and the other half no-one could ever imagine what could happen. I'm so happy to see my friends but at the same time I really don't feel like a party tonight. All I can say is Bravo Michel! He sailed a fantastic course. I made several mistakes but you learn a lot! (much giggling) I think I have learned a lot about myself and the boat, you spend a lot of time thinking, reflecting, dreaming about so many things. I have found great pleasure in this race but at the same time you learn so much." "Other projects? Yes, the Transat Jacques Vabre and there's a crewed transatlantic race I want to do this July. It will be a bit bizarre to have other people on board though! I can't imagine my life without this boat." So the Vendee Globe 2000/1 now knows its winner but the course is not over
for 15 other skippers still at sea. - STANDINGS: 1. PRB (Desjoyeaux) 2. Kingfisher (MacArthur) 3. SILL Matines La Potagere (Jourdain) 536 miles to finish, 4. Active Wear (Thiercelin) 1200nm, 5. Union Bancaire Privee (Wavre) 1621nm, 6. Sodebo (Coville) 1659nm. DECISION REVERSED The Appeals Committee affirmed that AYC acted properly under RRS 76.1 in rejecting the entry. US Sailing's Executive Committee has been insisting that AYC may not reject an entry except for gross misconduct under Rule 69. The Executive Committee's position has now been rejected by every US Sailing Judge/Senior Judge who has formally considered the issue - there were four judges on the initial protest committee and three on the Appeals Committee. - Art LeVasseur SOCAL MIDWINTERS THE RACE Dalton commented later: "Cape Horn is long gone now. We went past the rock at about four this morning. It was dark but with the full moon we could just make it out. Because we were sailing straight downwind, we had to gybe back and forth for a while, but we actually sailed quite close, about 10 miles off. I have seen that rock several times now but it is still an impressive sight." Club Med is now less than 7,000 miles from the finish in Marseille, France. If she can maintain a daily average distance of 350-400 nautical miles (nm), she would be in range of a 60-day circumnavigation, a full 10 days inside the present record, held by Olivier de Kersauson sailing Sport Elec, of 71 days, 14 hours. Dalton fears for Innovation's passage round the Horn. He said: "This big weather I have been talking about for the last two days is definitely coming. The Chilean Weather Bureau is talking about winds of 60 knots. Our weather charts show 40 knots. "we are lucky because we will not be there when it comes through, but I would be genuinely concerned if I was on board Innovation Explorer. They are going to pass right through the middle of it as they approach the Horn," he said. - Martin Cross, Now Sports website. Full story: * WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, February 11, 2001 -Team Adventure will pause here in her race around the world for additional repair work to her main crossbeam. The beam was first damaged in the Southern Ocean and was repaired in Cape Town, South Africa during a four and a half day stopover there. Skipper Cam Lewis, from Lincolnville, ME, reported today from the Tasman Sea that he expected the repair work to the delaminated outer skin surface of the main crossbeam would be completed within the 60-hour pit stop time required under the rules of The Race of the Millennium. "We have made careful examinations of the interior structure of the crossbeam and there is no sign of any problem inside with the repairs and modifications made in Cape Town," Lewis said. "However the exterior skin of the crossbeam has peeled away significantly over a two-meter square area repair area where it is constantly blasted by waves. While the beam is sound, we have no alternative but to restore the exterior skin integrity. We will also carefully survey the boat for any other potential problems at the same time." - Keith Taylor, http://www.therace.org STANDINGS -11/02/01 1600:00 - 1. Club Med, 6862.5 to finish, 2. Innovation Explorer, +815, 3. TeamAdventure, +5202.4, 4. Warta Polpharma, +6057, 5. Team Legato, +7094- http://www.therace.org LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) * From: "Simon Jackson, Jackson Sail Design <simon@simonsails.com> (edited to our 250-word limit) I have also spent 3 years in the States where I raced PHRF, so I have seen how bright the green is on both sides of the fence. My feeling is that TOD scoring is the reason multiple ratings are required, TOT handles the differences in wind strength very well, when combined with a fair rating system. Introduce variable ratings at club level and you will have a storm in a tea cup brewing over what band should be selected for a day, not to mention the politics of who the winner is or is not because of this decision! Nowlan's other comment on styles of courses does not bear fruit either. The greater percentage of my CHS and IRC racing has been around the cans and passage racing, combined with some windward leeward and Olympic triangles. Apart from doing two Cowes Weeks, the racing has not been in very tidal waters. More often than not, the boat that made the least mistakes won and that is how it should be! From my stand point no rating system is perfect for all people, but IRC and IRM are very fair rating systems, which get rid of the human fudge factor elements that is present in PHRF. They are also simple to acquire and easy for the race committee to manage, thus they provide a better racing experience. Go on America give IRM & IRC a go. * From: Doug Mills <dlmills@uci.edu> Discussions of the PHRF system rarely mention the approach developed By PHRF of Southern California, which in my mind addresses key issues. Each boat can have three distinct ratings, a "buoy rating" for windward/leeward courses with short legs, a "random leg rating" for longer off shore courses with fixed marks, and a "downwind rating" for the longer off wind runs we often encounter here. For most all around boats, all ratings are the same, while for pole boats and other more specialized designs, there may be substantial differences. The Southern California region is then broken down into some six distinct areas. Each area board may assign local ratings which deviate from regional ratings by plus or minus twelve seconds. Thus, areas with particularly light or heavy air may provide compensation for performance differences in local races through an area adjustment. In my years on the Regional Board, I acquired the view that this system works well. We had remarkably few contentious rating challenges from skippers. On the whole, most boats in the fleet have all three regional ratings identical, and identical area ratings as well, but particularly as new designs appear, we see spreads occurring. Examples are "pole boats" whose reaching performance can differ dramatically from that in buoy courses with only windward/leeward legs. Our system isn't perfect, but it offers a means of addressing the problem with a single rating for boats that have dramatic performance differences on selected points of sail, or under particular conditions. * From: "Donal McClement" <cby@eircom.net> I was delighted to finally see a discussion on the IRC (previously CHS) over the past week in a US orientated forum. Having sailed with Roy E Disney on "Pyewacket" during Ford Cork Week 2000 I can report that all of his very talented Crew were most impressed with the simplicity and accuracy of the IRC system. Indeed such well known sailors as Robbie Haines, Stan Honey and of course Roy himself were highly complimentary on how well the System coped with vastly different boats. Having used IRC and its predecessor for the past 16 years I can only say that it does handicap boats fairly and is useable under all conditions and types of courses. Clubs and sailing organisors in the US would be very surprised at how easy it is to use and how well it rewards the better sailed boats. I commend it to fellow buttheads. * From: "Paul Krak Arntson" <pkarntson@hotmail.com> Overexageration is generaly a good way to bury a valid point in a chorus of rebuttal. These races celebrate the development of technology that race boats push and the courage, athleticism, resoucefullness and committment that racers set as inspiration to us all. There is no question in my mind that an example of ecological respect should as well be made, to influence all sailors. My concern is not for the broken equipement, but the daily garbage that may be dumped. This should be retained for ports of call, and dealing with it should test our imagination and determination as do the other parameters of sailing. We all know what these races represent, the continuing endeavour of the human spirit, and in this spirit should breathe a conscience for the environment. * From: "Janice Visser" <janvisser@earthlink.net> (regarding the concern of Maggie McCormick and the trash in the water) Here in the Pacific Northwest the youngsters that sail the Northwest Youth Racing Circuit from Vancouver, BC to Vancouver WA and a bunch in between do a magnificent job of keeping the waters clean. Eating a fast lunch on the water in between races has these kids returning every scrap of trash to passing coach boats for proper disposal. I have also seen them on many an occasion pick things out of the water (beer bottles) and other assorted items again trying to make a cleaner place for all. Hooray for our gang in this little corner of the world. * From: "Ralph Taylor" <rtaylor@informationtools.com> I ain't against the new starting system. Our Club used X3 in our Wednesday night series successfully last year. There were occasions when the four minutes saved meant the difference between completing and abandoning the race. Once explained, the racers had no trouble with it. On the other hand, I don't like taking options out of the hands of race committees. It's very hard to take into account all the different situations faced by RCs across the country. For example, I found myself doing RC single-handed with flags on staffs and no brackets to hold them up. I quickly calculated that I couldn't hold up two staffs and read my watch at the same time. So, a last-minute change in the SIs to fall back to System 2. * From: Tom Farquhar <tfarquhar@compuserve.com> (In reply to Kevin Ellis) * From: "Vandeventer, Bruce" <Bruce.Vandeventer@PSS.Boeing.com> There's a
nice photo of the Seattle CYC committee boat "YC 5" at: Starting order is set by class letter placards on a readerboard and each mark is also designated by its letter code. There are thee cylindrical shapes: yellow, blue, and red, that are on poles that go through the readerboard (per system 2). In the photo you can see that there are five classes shown, racing on three different courses, and every competitor can see all the courses and where they are in the starting sequence, which, by the way, is three minute intervals. Also note that the plus sign means that P1+P2 start at the same time. There is also a custom-made beep-code timer that can either only sound inside the boat or run through the P.A. and a custom digital timer that's integrated into the P.A / horn system. We can and do run races with as few as one person on this boat, which is straightforward since all you do is raise and lower the red shape, which you can do while sighting the line. It has been in use this way for about the past 20 years and is used for close to 100 days of racing per year, most of which are multple races per day. I find it works very well. PINEAPPLE CUP Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 Carrera was awarded the Silver Seahorse Trophy in the five-boat IMS Class. Carrera convincingly defeated her sister-ship, Isam Kabbani's Farr 60 Rima, by 45 minutes, two seconds on corrected time under the IMS handicapping system. At the front of the fleet, Jim Dolan's 76-foot maxiboat Sagamore shadowed Roy Disney's 75-foot sled Pyewacket all the way into the Windward Passage. However, Disney withdrew from competition in the home stretch after leading all the way from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sagamore, a 76-footer designed by Bill Langan crossed the finish line off the Montego Bay Yacht Club at 6:05 PM local time on Tuesday evening after staying in contact with Pyewacket right up until the time she retired. Robert O'Neill's 75-foot Reichel/Pugh sled Zephryus IV, a companion Reichel/Pugh design to Pyewacket, was the second boat to finish, 51 minutes after Sagamore. Disney, who was shooting to break the 29-year-old race record of 3 days, 3 hour, 40 minutes and 7 seconds, pulled into Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Wednesday morning after the fleet was becalmed overnight in the Windward Passage. He phoned the Montego Bay Yacht Club to announce his retirement. Disney said he had run out of time, and a prior business engagement (the opening of Disney's California Adventure Theme Park) dictated his return to the United States- Keith Taylor Full final results: www.montegobayrace.com TEAM NEW ZEALAND 2003 CLOTHING HOT IMAGES QUOTE / UNQUOTE THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
