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SCUTTLEBUTT 2660 - Thursday, August 14, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. OLYMPIC GAMES – GREAT DAY FOR TEAM USA Qingdao, China (August 13, 2008; Day Five) - Team USA excelled on day five of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition, winning six of the 11 races including three straight bullets for Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast (USA) in the 49er. Team Leader Dean Brenner mentioned the USA’s six race wins to American-born New Zealand coach Rod Davis, who said, “I don’t know if that’s ever happened!” The three race victories helped Wadlow/Rast haul themselves back into contention, moving from 13th to 5th overall - the position that Wadlow finished in the 2004 Games. For the Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and Yngling fleets, racing further out from the shore there was a delay of just over two hours before racing got underway as the wind was shifting significantly in both direction and speed. Following the delay, the fleets completed just one of their two scheduled races, so their series have been rescheduled to utilize their reserve days on Friday. In the Laser, Andrew Campbell’s (USA) coast to coast victory pulled him up from 13th to 8th position after three races, while the American Yngling team’s race victory gave them clear ownership of 3rd place with three races remaining before their final medal race on Saturday. The RS:X Men and Women had the day off. > ISAF report: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/Olympicshome.php > US report: http://tinyurl.com/6xt96k > Canadian report: http://www.sailing.ca/feature/2008/08/conditions.html > Sailing World's Olympic Podcast Series includes audio interviews with American race winners Wadlow and Rast, Graham Biehl, Andrew Campbell, and Sally Barkow: http://www2.worldpub.net/images/sw/4-SWPodcast080813.mp3 Current Results: Finn (26 entrants) 1. GBR, Ben Ainslie, (10)-1-4-1-1-10-2, 19 2. USA, Zach Railey, 2-5-2-2-7-(8)-7, 25 3. FRA, Guillaume Florent, 5-8-(20)-3-4-6-4, 30 4. SWE, Daniel Birgmark, 14-(17)-1-6-12-3-3, 39 5. SLO, Gasper Vincec, 9-11-6-5-3-(13)-8, 42 7. CAN, Christopher Cook, 8-3-7-10-(23)-5-15, 48 Yngling (15 entrants) 1. GBR, Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson, 2-3-4-(7)-4-2-2, 17 2. NED, Mandy Mulder/Annemieke Bes/Merel Witteveen, 9-1-2-(13)-1-5-4, 22 3. USA, Sally Barkow/Carolyn Howe/Deborah Capozzi, (14)-2-8-5-6-11-1, 33 4. GRE, Bekatorou/Papadopoulou/Kravarioti, 10-12-9-3-2-(16/OCS)-3, 39 5. RUS, Skudina/Krutskikh/Ivanova, 3-8-12-10-(15)-1-6, 40 12. CAN, Jennifer Provan/Henderson/Abbott, 5-4-10-(15)-9-12-11, 51 49er (19 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin, (DSQ/20)-1-7-3-1-1-6-4-6, 29 2. DEN, Jonas Warrer/Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, 2-4-(10)-4-2-3-4-2-9, 30 3. ITA, Pietro Sibello/Gianfranco Sibello, 3-9-1-1-6-9-3-8-(12), 40 4. GER, Jan-Peter Peckolt/Hannes Peckolt, (15)-6-11-6-3-2-2-12-4, 46 5. USA, Tim Wadlow/Christopher Rast, 5-14-15-(16)-5-10-1-1-1, 52 13. CAN, Gordon Cook/Ben Remocker, 13-12-13-10-7-6-(16)-16-10, 48 470 Men (29 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page, 4-(7)-3-3-3-4, 17 2. FRA, Nicolas Charbonnier/Olivier Bausset, 6-3-8-1-6-(18), 24 3. GBR, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, (19)-5-1-4-9-6, 25 4. ITA, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, 10-4-7-7-2-(21), 30 5. POR, Ãlvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, 2-8-(15)-6-11-7, 34 23. USA, Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, 26-12-(OCS/30)-17-15-1, 71 28. CAN, Stéphane Locas/Oliver Bone, 25-25-(OCS/30)-20-23-22, 115 470 Women (19 entrants) 1. NED, Marcelien De Koning/Lobke Berkhout, 3-1-(9)-5-2-2, 13 2. AUS, Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson, 2-2-4-1-(9)-4, 13 3. ESP, Natalia Via-Dufresne/Laia Tutzó, 4-5-2-6-(13)-10, 27 4. ISR, Nike Kornecki/Vered Buskila, 8-13-1-2-8-(19), 32 5. ITA, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol, (14)-7-6-3-6-11, 33 14. USA, Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, 12-12-10-14-4-(17), 52 RS:X Men (35 entrants) 1. ISR, Shahar Zubari, 1-3-1-3, 8 2. HKG, King Yin Chan, 5-4-2-5, 16 3. NZL, Tom Ashley, 4-7-7-1, 19 4. FRA, Julien Bontemps, 13-1-5-4, 23 5. GBR, Nick Dempsey, 11-9-3-2, 25 10. MEX, David Mier y Teran, 16-5-17-6, 44 22. CAN, Zachary Plavsic, 23-25-22-21, 91 24. USA, Ben Barger, 21-22-24-26, 93 RS:X Women (27 entrants) 1. CHN, Jian Yin, 1-1-1-3, 6 2. ESP, Marina Alabau, 3-5-5-2, 15 3. AUS, Jessica Crisp, 2-4-3-8, 17 4. ITA, Alessandra Sensini, 6-2-9-1, 18 5. GBR, Bryony Shaw, 4-3-11-6, 24 14. CAN, Nikola Girke, 11-14-13-14, 52 25. MEX, Demita Vega, 23-21-25-25, 94 26. USA, Nancy Rios, 25-24-22-26, 97 Laser (43 entrants) 1. ITA, Diego Romero, 6-3-5, 14 2. POR, Gustavo Lima, 5-8-3, 16 3. ARG, Julio Alsogaray, 1-12-10, 23 4. RUS, Igor Lisovenko, 11-14-4, 29 5. SWE, Rasmus Myrgren, 7-16-8, 31 8. USA, Andrew Campbell, 14-18-1, 33 19. CAN, Michael Leigh, 13-23-26, 62 23. ISV, Thomas Barrows, III, 20-28-20, 68 Laser Radial (28 entrants) 1. USA, Anna Tunnicliffe, 4-5-6, 15 2. CRO, Mateja Petronijevic, 8-9-5, 22 3. LTU, Gintare Volungeviciute, 3-13-8, 24 4. AUS, Sarah Blanck, 6-11-7, 24 5. GBR, Penny Clark, 2-22-1, 25 18. CAN, Lisa Ross, 16-23-13, 52 28. MEX, Tania Elias Calles Wolf, 27-25-DNF/29, 81 Complete results: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php OLYMPIC GAMES - DEALING WITH THE DETAILS * RACE SCHEDULE: Thursday will have the following classes racing: 49er (Course A), RS:X Men and Women (Course B), Laser and Laser Radial (Course C), and Finn and Yngling (Course E). The 470 Men and Women have a rest day, while the Star and Tornado remain the last events to start on August 15th. Two races per day are scheduled for each event, except for the 49er class, for which three races per day are scheduled. The scheduled time of the warning signal for the first race each day is 1300. Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. When five or more opening races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her worst score. However, the score from the medal race will not be excluded. -- Notice of Race: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olynor * WEATHER FORECAST - Qingdao Olympic Venue: For Thursday, August 14, there is a big difference between the models when viewed Thursday morning and so some uncertainty, but the GFS model looks to be on track. GFS shows wind strength to be less than 4 knots most of the afternoon. Wind direction is variable but mainly offshore from the West. Good news is that stronger winds are forecasted for the next four days with wind strength around 15 knots most days. An archive of the maps/graphs from each day are at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olyweather - to get the animated hour by hour forecast map images, sign up for free worldwide forecasts at www.predictwind.com * RACE WATCHING: The 49er fleet will be the featured event for television coverage on Thursday, making them the first class to sail twice on the “Hollywood Studio,” aka Course A. For the US audience, Gary Jobson is working with the NBC production team, adding his commentary to the online shows through to the end of the series. > U.S. viewing schedule: http://tinyurl.com/NBCsked > Canadian viewing schedule: http://www.sailing.ca/feature/2008/07/bold.html DISCOVER: SAILING GEAR ON CAMPUS We know. We were college sailors once too, and we got some pretty strange looks when we showed up on campus wearing sailing gear. At Atlantis, we're making a different kind of sailing gear - gear that's as at home on the race course as it is around the quad. Visit your local Atlantis dealer, or call us about outfitting your college team in our Grand Prix, Numbers or Microburst jackets or vests. We're pretty sure those strange looks will turn to envious ones. 877-333-SAIL. http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com Discover: Your Atlantis POSITIONED FOR THE PODIUM Here are the countries that currently have entrants in the top three: Australia - 4 Great Britain - 3 United States - 3 France - 2 Italy - 2 Netherlands - 2 Spain - 2 Argentina - 1 China - 1 Croatia - 1 Denmark - 1 Hong Kong - 1 Israel - 1 Lithuania - 1 New Zealand - 1 Portugal - 1 Sixteen countries are currently positioned for the podium, whereas there were 20 countries in 2004 that came away with at least one medal. Once the Stars and Tornados begin racing, countries that might join the medal list are Brazil, Greece, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. Here are some links from the 2004 Olympic Games: > Medal Count: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/medals > Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics OLYMPIC GAMES – NEWS AND NOTES * Organizers at the Olympic sailing venue of Qingdao Wednesday said they were monitoring an oil slick spotted off the coast, but that it did not threaten the race course. The source of the spill was under investigation but it is believed to have been caused by a ship, and that the winds and currents were expected to carry the slick away from the sailing venue. -- Full story: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/13/sports/AS-OLY-SAI-Oil-Slick.php * In the RS:X and Laser/Laser Radial classes, all the competitors are supplied boats by the event. For all other one-design classes, each team has determined the best hull from the choices available. One builder is particularly prevalent in Qingdao, that being Auckland based MacKay Boats, having built 38 of the 48 470s and half the 49ers being used in the Olympic regatta. At the half way point in the Olympic regatta, MacKay Boats are being sailed by the leaders in the men’s and women’s 470 and the 49er. * So how would the Olympic Regatta have been if it had been taking place this week, in the middle of the English summer? According to former Tornado Olympian Adam May, we would have had just one day's racing so far, because it's been blowing over 30 knots every day, not to mention the fact that it's been pissing with rain. Today it was gusting over 50! So maybe we should thank Qingdao for small mercies. The sailing is not the most thrilling, but at least it's happening, and we can at least see the horizon - most of the time. Sarah Ayton told me the other day that this was about the fourth time she'd seen the horizon in three years of training in Qingdao. -- Andy Rice, SailJuice, http://tinyurl.com/6qct8l * The most interesting story of these Games continues to spin up as the Tornado's get closer to their first race on August 15th. While Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED) submitted a Code 0 for measurement, they also submitted a normal spinnaker and they don't have to pick which one they'll use until closer to the start of the regatta. Same goes for Americans John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree, and they will nominate which one they plan on using Thursday when the measurement period for the class ends. Current World Champs Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS), which created a Code 0 at the last minute, will be sailing with a traditional spinnaker. While confident in the speed of their new creation, the long term forecast is for some wind this weekend. -- Sailing World, http://tinyurl.com/6prlf8 * It took the Finn fleet about four races before they realized the on-the-water jury meant business, with a marked decrease in the Rule 42 (kinetics) violations in their last three races. However, now the Laser and Laser Radial fleets are competing, and it is giving the jury some new students to teach. Among their first three races, 9 Laser entrants have earned 10 penalties (Guatemala got 2), while 3 Radial entrants have earned 4 penalties (Mexico got 2). -- http://www.sailing.org/olympics/racing/onwater.php THE SPARK THAT LIT THE FLAME As a follow-up to a story earlier this week in Issue 2658, here is an article written by Bill Lee, a member of the original committee that conceived the TP 52 class, where he provides an insider’s view on how the class came to be: In 1999, a yachtsman named Don Clothier raced a Lidgard 45 performance cruiser to Honolulu and did a great job. He was the first boat of its type to finish, but didn’t get much of a trophy. As a result, he donated a trophy to Transpac for the “First 50 footer to finish” To a yacht designer like myself, what does this mean? Open 50’s are the fastest known 50 foot monohull and with no sail area restrictions, they would make great boats for this trophy. Open 50s are most clearly a horse for a very specific course. That course being single handed around the world, so the realities of the Southern Ocean and of how much sail one person can really handle become de facto sail area limits. But take away the Southern Ocean and allow a full crew. With no sail area limits in the Open 50 rule and the reasonably easy conditions of the downwind course in the Eastern Pacific, disproportionately large sail area would be encouraged to the point of the boat having little other useful purpose. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/tp52 LIGHTNING NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP Newport, RI (Wednesday, Aug. 13) -- Final results in the Lightning North American Championship -- hosted by the New York Yacht Club -- show first place in the Championship Fleet going to the team of Allan Terhune, Jeff Linton and Katie Terhune. In second was Matt Fisher, Dan Moriarty and Tobi Moriarty; third was Jody Lutz, Jay Lutz and Taylor Lutz. After qualifying over the weekend, there were six races sailed Monday through Wednesday in the Championship Fleet. The President's Cup Fleet was won by the team of Robert Ruhlman, Dave Werley and Abby Ruhlman; second was Justin Coplan, Fiona Gordon and Ellen Turk, and third was Peter Denton, Tom Slook/John Townsend and Weston Barlow. In the Governor's Cup Fleet, Richard Walsh, Alec Smith and Alex Cox finished first; Marcus Moehlman, Eli Putnam and Emily Paulos, second, and Clinton Hayes, Matthew Clarke and Stephen Widdis third. The President's Cup Fleet and the Governor's Cup fleet sailed five races each after qualifying. A total of 97 boats sailed. For complete results, photos, etc. go to http://nyyc.org/lightningnasaug ANNUAL RITE OF SUMMER GETS RAVE REVIEWS South Bass Island, Ohio (August 13, 2008) – With the conclusion last week of the 2008 Inter-Lake Yachting Association (I-LYA) Bay Week Sailing Regatta, presented by Progressive and sponsored by GMC, an annual rite of summer on the Great Lakes has been marked by hundreds of competitors aboard 90 sail boats of varied sizes. This is not a typical regatta – the Monday to Wednesday race schedule virtually ensures that the racers have planned their participation to coordinate with some vacation time. And the location, Put-in-Bay, the quaint Victorian resort on South Bass Island, Ohio, is also a significant factor in attracting high caliber sailors who enjoy the tactical racing among the surrounding islands on Lake Erie. “I can’t remember how long we’ve been sailing in this event . . . since the ‘70s at least,” said Heidi Backus Riddle (Vermilion, Ohio). The 1985 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year competed in the Tartan 10 class, with a crew on Nuts that included sister Susan Backus (herself a nationally-known sailor), son John and some good friends. “This is so different from a normal regatta venue. One day you race around the island, another around the buoys. When racing is done the island is a great place to spend your time and relax.” – Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6246 ULLMAN CUSTOMERS DOMINATE SCHOCK 35 NATIONALS Ullman Sails customers crowded the top four spots at last weekend’s Schock 35 National Championships, sweeping the eight-boat fleet in Long Beach, CA. All four boats competed with full Ullman Sails inventory! Bruce Bennet and Bob Marcus’ “Code Blue” led the way with 20 total points, finishing ahead of a tightly contested second place. Dave and Don Michaelis’ “Mako” were tied on points with Steve Murphy’s “JoAnn,” but “Mako” ultimately claimed second place on countback. And Fred Young’s “Perfect Circle” sealed the sweep, taking fourth place. Invest in your performance. Contact a local Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com => Curmudgeon’s Comment: A wrap-up report for the Shock 35 Nationals is posted in the Scuttlebutt Forum, in the Sailing Event Reports section: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6232 SAILING SHORTS * Stephanie Hudson and Laura McKenna bested Louis Padnos and Ben Spector by 4 points to become the 2008 Club 420 Assn. North American Champions. The three day event was hosted by Chautauqua Lake Yacht Club in western NY, with 81 teams from around the country experiencing the very best of lake sailing with shifty and varying pressure in both light and heavy air racing. The lead changed over the first two days but the Midwest Inland Lake experience of Hudson/McKenna provided them with the winning edge. The 2009 NA Championship is scheduled for Aug 13-16 at Macatawa Bay YC, Macatawa, MI with racing on Lake Michigan. -- Results: http://www.sailclyc.org/420NA/420RaceResults.htm * The Volvo Ocean Race has announced the appointment of a new Communications Director, Marcus Hutchinson, who will be replacing Reg Gratton from the beginning of September. Hutchinson has a wealth of experience in the yacht racing event management business and in the media and communications sector. Events include the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, several single-handed transatlantic races, the last four America’s Cups and most recently the MedCup Circuit. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/5zkyec * Seventeen squads will face off in the U.S. Team Racing Championship for US SAILING's George R. Hinman Trophy, hosted by the Erie Yacht Club (Penn.) from August 15th through 17th on Lake Erie. The event will be sailed in Vanguard 15s with a three-boat / six-sailor team format, and will determine the United States' representatives to the Team Racing World Championships, to be held in Australia early next year. Current Team Racing World Champion NYYC Team Silver Panda is among the favorites, led by Colin Merrick, team members Clay Bischoff, Amanda Callahan, Elizabeth Hall, Lisa Keith and Peter Levesque. -- Full report: http://www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2008/teamracing_preview.asp * Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) has announced the 20 most popular brands of boats owned by its 650,000 members. Leading the list are #1 Sea Ray, #2 Bayliner, #3 Wellcraft, #4 Catalina and #5 Grady-White. “Sea Ray, with 54,266 boats, is by far the most popular powerboat owned by BoatUS members followed by Bayliner with 32,712, Wellcraft with 17,565 and Grady-White with 16,487. Sailboat builder Catalina - with 16,502 - is the most popular sailboat owned by our readers” said BoatUS Magazine publisher Michael Sciulla. -- Read on: http://www.boatus.com/news/releases/2008/august/mostpopularboats.asp VIDEO OF THE WEEK While the Olympics sailing events are enduring the light winds of Qingdao, this week the 18' Skiff International Regatta is relishing the strong summer winds that San Francisco Bay is known for. A few weeks ago was another Skiff event on the Bay, the 2008 American Sailing League Premiere event, and onboard footage from that event has been edited together to provide a taste of what it’s like to sail these speedsters. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/08/0811 * Aussie World Champ Seve Jarvin and his ‘Gotta Love It’ team have rolled through the beginning of the 18' Skiff International Regatta with all bullets. Daily event reports are being posted in the Scuttlebutt Forum, in the Sailing Event Reports section: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6234 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: Aug 14-15 - Nantucket Yacht Club 12 Metre Regatta - Nantucket, MA, USA Aug 15-17 - Intl Moth US National Champs - Cascade Locks, OR, USA Aug 15-17 - Verve Cup Offshore Regatta - Chicago, IL, USA Aug 16 - U.S. O'pen Cup - New Bedford, MA, USA Aug 18-20 - Lido 14 Class Championships - Eugene, OR, USA Aug 19-24 - Knickerbocker Cup - Port Washington, NY, USA Aug 20-22 - Atlantic Class National Championship - Blue Hill, ME, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Mike Brown: I must applaud the organizers and production teams from the sailing venue! Beyond the fact that some of the links take you to racing that is not tagged as that particular race, watching from start to finish, from a sailors perspective is ideal. I can hear all I want about Michael Phelps, USA's golden child, but I have enjoyed the online NBC coverage of the sailing events just as much. The overhead copter views, on-boat cameras, and the sidebar commentary really makes it exciting,...but I love to watch golf too! True sailors are loving all the close angled views and mark-roundings, mainly because when voices can be heard it is pretty cool to hear "I have room", or "you can not go in there" in multiple languages. Good stuff...makes me laugh a bit... => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Indeed, the NBC website has the featured classes mismarked. They note the classes that are sailing that day, but do not state that only the classes that will have the featured coverage are those scheduled for Course A. Each issue of Scuttlebutt notes which classes will have coverage. Pending any changes due to weather, here is the schedule for the rest of the Games: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6242 * From By Baldridge: Concerning the request for Olympic rule interpretations (in ‘butt 2659), if a boat sails for a period of time with her sail "Backed", is the boat really still on starboard tack? To back the sail I can't see where the boat would not either be in the act of tacking, (if the wind is above close hauled and coming from the port side of the boat), or on port tack. If the wind is pushing the boat downwind strongly enough the true wind felt by the anchored committee boat can be 180 degrees from the apparent wind on the boat. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle Special thanks to Atlantis WeatherGear and Ullman Sails. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
