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SCUTTLEBUTT 3701 - Friday, October 19, 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: Allen Insurance and Financial and Soft Deck. ANSWER NEEDED TO PROCEED For those that choose to race singlehanded around the world, in the beastly Open 60s, there's only one question: Why? The 20 entrants that will compete in the Vendee Globe have until the start on November 10 in Les Sables d'Olonne, France to have the answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?" George Mallory, the English climber, was asked by a reporter in New York, before his third, fatal, attempt in 1924. "Because it's there," he said with the height of brevity. With less than a month to go before the start of the Vendee Globe, it is a sentiment with which the twenty skippers preparing for the ultimate solo sailing race will sympathise. They have just watched Felix Baumgartner, the supersonic Austrian, plunge 128,000 ft to earth at a speed of 1342 kilometres an hour, or Mach 1.24, making him the first human to break the sound barrier propelled only by gravity. Among the complex and different reasons that propel people to attempt these things seems to be one common core; the desire for an extreme challenge. That is what sets them apart from those only seeking money or fame. But there are many ways to experience that challenge and a variety of feelings at the summit. "When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data," Baumgartner said after Sunday's jump. "The only thing you want is to come back alive. Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are." Contrast that with Philippe Petit, the Man On Wire, who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in 1974. His wonderfully insouciant answer to the question why? from a television reporter was: "When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk." And his smile as he walked back forth across the wire to the frustration of the waiting police are proof he was not putting on a brave face. The Vendee Globe is different because it is a race; not only a challenge. But every skipper will have times during their 25,000 nautical mile journey through the mountainous icy seas of the Southern Ocean or rounding Cape Horn, that are about survival more than competition, about wanting to come back alive more than winning. In the previous six editions of the race two sailors have been lost and there have many epic rescues, with rivals turning to rescuers. But like any of these modern challenges, no one is forced to go on the Vendee Globe. "I'm not brave, I just choose to do things that push me very hard, Dame Ellen MacArthur, who finished second in the 2001-02 edition, said, pondering her sailing feats. "That's not bravery, that's a choice." The French and English reasons for exploration of time and space are often caricatured at opposite end of the spectrum; the French poetic, the English prosaic. Doubtless sometimes, as with most cliches, this is true, but Mallory was more expansive on the why than is often remembered. -- Read on: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/article/1668/why.html REMEMBERING BRITT: ALWAYS PUSHING THE EDGE By John Longley Very sad to hear of the passing of Britt Chance (in Scuttlebutt 3697). He was a terrific bloke and a lateral thinker in the mode of Ben Lexcen. After the 1988 Deed of Gift America's Cup, I was put in charge of running the first Cup Protocol that had been signed by the then existing and past Trustees of the Cup - NYYC, RPYC, SDYC and the current Challenger RYNZ. One of the tasks was to decide on the class for the next match. Twelve metres remained in the frame (John Marshall was opting for a bigger rig) and the catamaran world was knocking on our door. But a group of us decided we needed a new class. That group was Derek Clarke from the UK, Iain Murray, Tom Ehman and Britt Chance. Ken MacAlpine provided the technical expertise and I pulled the project together. The culmination of our efforts was a meeting in Southampton to which every recognized America's Cup designer in the world was invited and most came. The rules of engagement were simple: You had to pay your own way, no fees, and you had to come for the whole 5 days. At the end of what was an incredibly exciting, creative week, Rob Humphries was charged with designing the first IACC yacht which he did on the Thursday night. This design was tested at the Wolfson tank in Southampton and all attendees were subsequently given the lines and the test results. The line in the sand had been drawn and the gun fired. One hundred one of these yachts were subsequently built over the next 18 years with their era ending in the final race of the 2007 match when Alinghi beat the Kiwis by one second. Britt Chance was right in the thick of it. All week long he was running around lobbying everyone who would talk to him for elements of the class that he supported. He was always pushing the edge, for example he was a strong advocate of carbon spars when at the time many felt it was one step too far - seems weird from this distance but it was a major discussion point at the time. Interesting to reflect on all this just after watching the sad sight of the Oracle 72 slowly being destroyed by the Bay ebb tide. Additional comments: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14629 HEALTH INSURANCE FOR SAILORS Traveling sailor insurance. An annual worldwide accident/sickness policy available to any members of US Sailing any time. 24/7 assistance in your language. Rates 25 to 70 percent lower than standard U.S.-only plans. Immediate, unlimited coverage, no pre-existing conditions. Benefits at home and abroad. Flexibility and security for the demands of today's sailing professional. Program endorsed by US Sailing and used by sailors around the world. Serviced by a Maine-based company specializing in crew health and marine insurance. ENROLL NOW. http://www.AllenInsuranceAndFinancial.com/ussailing NOW WHAT? The most precious commodity for an America's Cup team is time, and America's Cup defender Oracle Team USA now has a whole lot less of it. With video and photos recording the tragic capsize of their AC 72 on Tuesday, what plans the team had have clearly been scuttled. So now what? "The platform can be repaired and we're developing a work list for that now," commented Grant Simmer, Oracle Team USA General Manager. "The biggest issue is the wing. We salvaged most of the wing, and we're beginning to assess which parts we can reuse. We don't know our schedule quite yet. Obviously, we're committing the resources needed to get the second wing finished, with our ultimate plan to have two wings operational for the Cup. As for our training schedule, we don't anticipate sailing the AC72 before Christmas." The only good news was the capsize did not cause any serious injuries. Here are the fourteen people who were onboard at the time: Primary crew (11): Rome Kirby, Jono MacBeth, Sam Newton, Kinley Fowler, Brad Webb, Simeon Tienpont, Dirk de Ridder, Jimmy Spithill, Tom Slingsby, Brian MacInnes, Joe Newton Extra crew (2): Murray Jones, Kyle Langford Designer (1): Michel Kermarec MORE BAD NEWS: Challenger of record Artemis Racing, which has yet to sail their AC 72, will have to wait a little longer. Their wing, which was damaged in May during testing on another boat, is now ready but their AC 72 apparently is not. Today (Oct. 18) the team damaged the front beam while conducting structural tests in San Francisco. The AC72 has been hauled out of the water and the design team, led by Principal Designer Juan Kouyoumidjian, is on site to evaluate the damage. -- http://artemis-racing.americascup.com/news/3307 HATE TO BE A BUZZ KILL, BUT... By Bob Adriance, BoatU.S. It's not a secret that if you've been drinking heavily and your boat's involved in a serious accident, you could be liable (and in serious trouble). Anyone who drives a car knows that. What may not be as apparent is the liability you assume for other people aboard who have been drinking. This is true even if you haven't had a drop of alcohol and are completely sober. Seaworthy has frequently written about the affect that alcohol has on a drinker's balance and perception, which can lead to serious falls. The falls - on deck, from fly bridges, into open hatches, and down the companionway - can happen while the boat is being tossed around in a storm or while the boat is moored quietly at a dock. In addition to stumbling on deck, the BoatUS claim files contain numerous instances of passengers who drowned after falling overboard. Inevitably, the toxicology report shows a high blood alcohol level (BAC), a condition that was not always apparent to the skipper or to other guests. One claim involved a passenger who had been drinking beer for most of the day while the boat was tied in its covered slip. The passenger fell asleep on a cushioned bench at the stern and apparently awoke in the middle of the night, fell from the boat or the dock, and drowned. The boat's owner, who was sleeping in the cabin, heard a loud "thump" and rushed aft to see what happened. But, despite looking for several hours, he could not find any trace of his friend until well after daybreak, (Claim #0101879). In another claim involving alcohol and passengers, a group of people went to a bar on Lake Erie and then headed back to the marina aboard a 37' boat. The skipper had not been drinking. While returning at sunset, someone noticed that one of the men was missing. The skipper immediately turned the boat around to look for the man overboard, but could not find him. The man had drowned. An autopsy found that his blood alcohol content (BAC) was 2.8 - three times the legal limit, (Claim #0009514). Both of these cases resulted in lawsuits against the skipper. There have been many others that were similar. The complaints always allege that the skipper should have known of the passenger's condition and prevented his or her injury or death. In some states, a boat owner can be found liable simply for serving the alcohol. -- Seaworthy, read on: http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/eline/alcohol1012.asp SAILING SHORTS * San Diego, CA (October 18, 2012) - Chris Perkins sailed Masquerade to the top of the leaderboard on day 1 of the J/105 North American Championship. Strong overnight winds produced large swells, but a decreasing breeze went from 10-12 knots for the first race down to an all-out drifter by the finish of the second race. Masquerade posted a 1-2 to hold a five point lead over Gary Mozer's Current Obsession 2 in second place with Dennis Conner on DC's Pholly one point further back in third. Twenty-five teams are competing. Racing continues through Sunday; 10 total races are planned. Results: http://sdyc.org/raceinfo/results12/j105_na_res.htm * St. Petersburg, FL (October 18, 2012) - After light winds on Wednesday prevented any racing at the 2012 Sunfish World Championship, conditions improved today to allow for two races. After now posting three consecutive bullets, Alexander Zimmerman from Peru is the new leader with 19 points, opening a 26 point margin on Andrey Quintero (COL) and Jose Vicente Gutierrez (VEN) who both have 45 points. Racing continues through October 19. Full results here: http://sunfishworlds.org/resultsfull.asp?j=2012&e=N * Martha's Vineyard, MA (October 18 2012) - Insufficient winds prevailed for the second consecutive day at the 2012 North American Speed Sailing Championship Invitational, preventing the completion of any heats. Better conditions are expected Friday. Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14641 * Nice, France (October 18, 2012) - Excessive conditions cancelled the first day's racing at the penultimate Act of the Extreme Sailing Series. The forecast for today was 14 to 17 knots but the French Riviera over delivered, where the wind was blowing a steady 25 knots, with gusts of 30 knots throughout the day. That combined with a strong tide and rolling waves was deemed unsafe for the eight teams. Three more days of racing remain with the conditions expected to subside enough Friday to allow for racing. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-101812 * The IMOCA (International Monohull Open Class Association) has signed a collaborative agreement with Open Sports Management (OSM), a newly established commercial rights & event management consultancy set up by Sir Keith Mills, with the aim of optimising the profile and the commercial potential of IMOCA, one of the world's leading ocean racing classes. The multi-year contract will see OSM develop and implement a new marketing and commercial strategy, capitalising on the strength of the IMOCA class programme, and ensuring its future commercial success to the benefit of all parties involved. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14657 SOFT DECK At Soft Deck, we provide soft traction and shock mitigation products for everyone from dinghy sailors to the US Navy. But we really love the dinghy crowd, and we especially love the look of our new Royal Blue and White dinghy kit. These pieces look awesome, are designed to give a little padding, and great traction in the bottom of Optis, Sabots, or similar boats. This kit comes with two 18"x20" pads, 3M adhesive backing, and retails for $79.95, but we are introducing them to Scuttlebutt readers at 25% until we sell out. Check em out at http://www.soft-deck.com/products/two-piece-dingy-kit-royalandwhite-blowout PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include wings and things, throwback, down under, aging afterguard, cakewalk, gauntlet, all good, and all bad. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/1019/ Bonus Photos * Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez is an amazing rendezvous of modern sailing boats alongside the most beautiful traditional yachts to do battle in the bay of Saint-Tropez. Carlo Borlenghi shares images from the event: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/1018/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK Britain's Alex Thomson may be more famous for his stunts to promote sponsor's Hugo Boss brand, but his focus now is to win the world's toughest sailing challenge: the solo 26,000 mile non-stop Vendee Globe Ocean Race. Alex is one of 20 skippers that will lead their Open 60s to the start line in France on November 20. This video provides a preview of what lies ahead: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/12/1019/ Bonus Videos: * A wild 24 hours for Oracle Team USA, from training on San Francisco Bay with their AC 72 to capsizing to salvage: http://tinyurl.com/OTU-101812 * Shirley Robertson and her CNN Mainsail program are in Sardinia to profile the owner/driver class that competes for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup: http://tinyurl.com/CNN-101812 * This week's America's Cup Discovered goes behind the scenes in San Francisco during October's America's Cup World Series. We send Discovered reporter Genny Tulloch into pit row to get the stories from the sailors. Look for next week's show to have full backstory to the Oracle Team USA capsize. Tune in on Saturday October 20 approx 0800 PDT 1100 EDT: http://www.youtube.com/americascup * This week's episode of Chalk Talk looks at a weekend of collegiate interconference regattas, highlighted by an incredible performance by this week's guest, Juan Maegli. View here: http://www.youtu.be/iahCW5PSX0o SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com 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 Gregory Scott: Over a number of years I have attempted to impart levels of acquired observation upon the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA). While CYA have my full support to carry on in any manner they choose, I once again offer an observation that seems to be ignored by the recent decision to consider an organizational name change to Sailing Canada (as reported in Scuttlebutt 3700). Due to many factors there has been a substantial decline in the funding of sailing in North America and the effect of that decline is appearances on the World and Olympic podiums by Canada and the USA. Meanwhile, my sense is that Great Britain has substantially outpaced North America in funding and as a result, so have their podium results. A look at Great Britain's Royal Yachting Association website (www.rya.org.uk) shows that "Yachting" includes both power and sail. And power includes power boat racing. Funding is based on numbers, and as sailing numbers drop, we need to find solutions. I have said for years that excluding power denies a reality that occurs every race night and every regatta - without power we don't go sail racing. By including power, we broaden our potential base of support far beyond where we are today. A Sea Ray owner has a more reasonable ability to relate to an Olympic sailor than he or she may have to seeing themselves in the 100 metre final or decathlon. The Carver 50 owner sees sailors every day at the marina. Re-branding in a manner that further excludes power owners is like a car manufacturer that will only sell cars to sailors. It would sound absurd if we read that Ford had made such a decision. Each year since the halcyon days of sailing yacht manufacturing in Canada, the Toronto International Boat Show has seen a continued decline in physical space represented by sail and a profound switch to power. I believe in today's world - inclusion will see far greater benefits to all. * From Fred Roswold: Watching the video, it looks to me like Oracle was foiling as it bore away; both daggerboards are clearly visible after it completed the turn. Further, it appears the boat had completed the bear away and was going straight for a period of about 4 seconds before it dropped off the foils and the bows in started to slice in. http://youtu.be/drgglIebuQY * From Michael Silverman: What happens if/when a similar AC72 incident occurs during the Louis Vuitton Cup for the challengers or the America's Cup match? Does a team get a postponement to repair their boat? I could see the jury awarding a postponement if the incident occurred from being fouled, but what if it's just a team pushing a bit too hard? EDITOR'S NOTE: It is our understanding there will be no muligans for teams that break down. This America's Cup might be decided on who can afford the maximum number of spares and still have some left at the end. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Who needs common sense when you have a cell phone? SPONSORS THIS WEEK JK3 Nautical Enterprises - BIC Sport North America - Dieball Sailing North Sails - Team One Newport - North Sails - Point Loma Outfitting Allen Insurance and Financial - Ullman Sails - APS - Soft Deck Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
