|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3440 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: West Marine, Atlantis WeatherGear, and Lewmar. THE GREAT EQUALIZER Nicole Rider had always been fiercely competitive growing up, and had excelled in sports at a young age. Her sports were basketball, volleyball, softball, golf and track. Sailing was not among them, which was not that unusual for someone growing up in a small Wyoming community. Her focus in college was basketball when in November 1995 a car accident took it all away. Her neck was broken, with doctors providing only an initial 50% chance of survival. But now nearly 16 years later, Rider not only survived the accident, she is competing again. In sailing. Disabled sailor Nichole Rider, a member of the Clever Pig Sailing Team, discovered this sport in April of 2010 and since then has competed in an impressive number of regattas, making it a priority to spread the word about disabled sailing opportunities. Her passion, enthusiasm and commitment are truly amazing and a great inspiration to all. Here is an excerpt of an interview that is on the Clever Pig website: * What role does sailing play into your life? NICOLE RIDER: It is my life. I have found my passion in life in sailing! I have never felt the freedom and joy as I do on the water. I have been an athlete my whole life and I just found a new avenue to continue to be competitive. I love to race. Cruising is really not for me... when I am on the water I want to be racing another boat or going around marks! * Has sailing changed your perspective on life? NICOLE RIDER: Yes! A whole new world has been opened up to me, and the sense of "wholeness" I feel is incredible. It allows you to totally get out of yourself because when you are on the water you forget everything and are completely focused on the task at hand. The people I have met have been amazing and so supportive and it has rekindled the "Dare to Dream" spirit deep within me. Our only limits we have in life are the limits we put on ourselves. Since I have started sailing, it has only intensified my attitude and belief that I can do anything in life that I choose to do. Disabled or not... life is all a state of mind! Your attitude determines your altitude in life! * Can sailing help overcome physical and emotional barriers? NICOLE RIDER: Most definitely! Sailing is a great equalizer. Once you are in the boat we are all on level playing ground. The sense of freedom and satisfaction it gives only builds self-esteem and self-worth, which enhances our lives and only for the better. * What are your campaign goals? NICOLE RIDER: After a great summer of sailing, I am seriously considering a run for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil. I was fortunate enough to get out on a SKUD 18 owned by Rick Watters while in Canada and absolutely loved the boat! Complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/CleverPig-100311 Additional background: http://tinyurl.com/CleverPig-100311a WHY IS CARBON FIBER SO EXPENSIVE? When carbon fiber was first trotted out in solid rocket motor cases and tanks in the 1960s, it was poised to not only take on fiberglass, but also a whole host of other materials. What happened? Fifty years later it's still an exotic material. Sure, Batman's got it in his suit, expensive cars feature smatterings of it in their dashboards and performance parts, but at $10 a pound on the low end, it's still too pricy for wide-scale deployment. We've been using this stuff for decades. Where's our materials science Moore's Law to make this stuff cheap? Why is this stuff still so expensive? Turns out that even half a century later, this stuff is still a major pain to make. Before carbon fiber becomes carbon fiber, it starts as a base material - usually an organic polymer with carbon atoms binding together long strings of molecules called a polyacrylonitrile. It's a big word for a material similar to the acrylics in sweaters and carpets. But unlike floor and clothing acrylics, the kind that turns into a material stronger and lighter than steel has a heftier price tag. A three-ish-dollar per pound starting price may not sound exorbitant, but in its manufacturing, the number spikes. See, to get the carbon part of carbon fiber, half of the starting material's acrylic needs to be kicked away. "The final product will cost double what you started with because half burns off," explains Bob Norris of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's polymer matrix composites group. "Before you even account for energy and equipment, the precursor in the final product is something around $5 a pound." That price - 5 a pound - is also the magic number for getting carbon fiber into mainstream automotive applications. Seven bones will do, but five will make the biggest splash. So as it stands, the base material alone has already blown the budget. There's more. Forcing the acrylic to shed its non-carbon atoms takes monstrous machines and a lot of heat. The first of two major processing steps is oxidization stabilization. Here fibers are continuously fed through 50-100 foot-long ovens pumping out heat in the several hundred degrees Celsius range. The process takes hours, so it's a massive energy eater. Then the material goes through a what's called carbonization. Although the furnaces here are shorter and don't run for as long, they operate at much higher temperatures - we're taking around 1000 degrees Celsius for the initial step before and then another round of heating with even higher temperatures. That's a power bill you don't even want to think about. And it doesn't end there. -- Gizmodo, read on: http://gizmodo.com/5843276/why-is-carbon-fiber-so-expensive WEST MARINE 72-HOUR FOUL WEATHER GEAR SALE (10/4-10/6) The West Marine 72-Hour Foul Weather Gear Sale is back! Here's your opportunity to update your foul weather gear and save 25% on select jackets, boots & more from brands like West Marine, Helly Hansen, Musto, Zhik, SLAM, Gill and Henri Lloyd. Sale prices good online only, Tuesday through Thursday. Did we mention you also get Free Ground Shipping during this event? http://bit.ly/WM-FWG-Event OFFSHORE OBSTACLES Conditions off the western coast of Africa for the six Class40s in the Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet continue to vary dramatically as the teams hunt for the elusive North East Trade winds to carry them to the equator and on to the Leg 1 finish in Cape Town. But for race leaders Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France, it isn't only the wind that has them concerned. Following an incident with a rusting, highly-inquisitive fishing boat over the weekend, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron have had restless nights on Campagne de France: "Obviously, the following night we didn't sleep too much and paranoia set in," confirms Mabire. "Any similar ship coming anywhere near immediately becomes suspect and a potential threat." Since the encounter, the duo has sailed between 60 -70 miles off the coast: "We continue our descent towards the south, always going along this cursed coast – but not too close." It was on Sunday night that the race temporarily stopped for Campagne de France. After making eight knots under spinnaker, the Class40 ran straight into a network of fishing pots and lines for a third time: "We were 50 miles offshore with around 100 metres depth and the lights of the fishing boats were extremely dim in the pitch black night," explained Mabire. "You really couldn't see the lights until about 100 metres away, and only if you were looking very hard," he adds. The boats approached Campagne de France to check their fishing gear: "While they were alongside, they took the opportunity to ask if we had any cigarettes and whisky and I thought of explaining that our sponsor, Campagne de France, only distributes food, but it was going to get complicated," he reports. "I asked how on earth we could get out of this labyrinth of fishing nets and lines." With vague hand signals from the fisherman a direction was given, a gennaker was hoisted and Campagne de France got underway….almost. "We just didn't seem to be going at the right speed relative to the wind," says the French co-skipper. Checking around the boat with a torch, Mabire and Merron appeared to be towing a large part of Western Sahara's commercial fishing equipment: "We looked back in the wake and there was a single float attached to an enormous network of lines trailing out behind us and we were completely trapped with the whole mess wrapped around the keel." In pitch blackness with a strong current, the option of diving under the boat was off the agenda: "We took one look at the mesh of ropes and lines and the pale flesh of the bait on the nasty-looking hooks and realised it was just too dangerous." Dropping the sails, the duo spent the remainder of the night disentangling Campagne de France: "It wasn't an enjoyable experience and we're both glad it's over and we're underway again," adds Mabire. -- Full report: http://globaloceanrace.com/?page=news&news_id=527&lang=en BACKGROUND: Six double-handed Class40's are competing in the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), which started in Palma, Mallorca on September 25th with an expected finish in Mallorca by May 2012. There are five legs to the 30,000 nm course with stops in Cape Town, South Africa; Wellington, New Zealand; Punta del Este, Uruguay and Charleston, USA. -- http://globaloceanrace.com REMINDER: This same route will soon be followed by the Volvo Ocean Race fleet when they depart from Spain on November 5th. RACE DAY AT THE LEAGUE With Australia now in its spring season, the sailing schedule on Sydney Harbour this Sunday will see the opening race of the 18-foot skiff season. The history of this over-canvassed, triple trapeze, wave jumping craft dates back to 1892, and Sydney still remains ground zero for this class over 100+ years later. Frank Quealey of the Australian 18 Footers League explains how they operate down under: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The official name of the class is "18 Footers". Many people around the world seem to prefer 18ft Skiffs and in Australia they are often referred to as 'the 18s' so we are happy to go with whatever they are called. All boats are owned by the club - the Australian 18 Footers League - and we also charter some to other states such as Queensland and Western Australia. No sailor has to pay any fee for the use of a club boat (other than normal Yachting Australia fees). Most come to us looking to sail the boats and as much as possible we manage to get a boat for them. New and young crews generally start with an older boat and progress up the ladder as they gain experience and improve their performance. Ironically, the 2010 Giltinan Championship-winning Gotta Love It 7 is a three-years-old hull, which was stiffened up before last season with a new deck. We are presently in the process of having other hulls receive the same treatment during the off season. Our basic aim is to introduce young, talented sailors to the class and encourage them to progress to their potential. Probably, we operate similar to a football club which brings young juniors into their system as a means of maintaining their position into the future. The club is a small, but successful, trading club at Double Bay on Sydney Harbour with most of our income derived from poker machines, the bar and a very popular dining room. As a not for profit organization, we have spent in excess of $10million on the 18 Footers since 1993. We recently produced a small video showing what a race day is like at the club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB83KgKUgug For many years the Australian 18 Footers League has been conscious of the need to keep the cost of racing to a realistic level or risk the future of their fleet and the emerging fleets in the U.S. and throughout Europe. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12703 CHAMPIONSHIP HOPEFULS LOOK FOR TIMELY BOOST IN BERMUDA While the 2011 ISAF Match Racing World Championship cannot be decided at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda (Oct. 3-9), Peter Gilmour believes it could be a defining event for a number of the teams still vying for the overall title. Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing has lifted the Gold Cup on three occasions and accepts current Tour leader Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar is the in-form skipper, however he also believes the variables in Bermuda will give the chasing teams a great chance to boost their title hopes. Equally, a poor performance by some of the teams on the fringes of contention could spell an end to their 2011 Championship dreams. "This event is a really special one. The format here is amazing and it's really a testament to the quality of the event that all nine Tour Card Holders are competing and all have the possibility of going out early. The weather conditions are always interesting too - I've been coming here for years and there's always something different. Bermuda is just a small point in the Atlantic so the weather just rolls over it." "It's an important event for the young sailors as it gives them the opportunity to go toe to toe with the professionals. Some of these young guys will beat us in a race or two and some may even knock us out. You see them take wins here and they live off it, it shapes them and that's really important." Gilmour is just one of the teams hoping to make some gains in the Championship here in Bermuda and is confident his experience will put him in good stead: "I've personally had a really great past here - I really enjoy the heavy displacement boats (International One Design) and have great memories here of going five races in the finals with Russell Coutts. As a team, YANMAR has had a really great year. We've lost Cameron [Dunn] to Volvo [Ocean Race] but we've now got Simon Shaw on board so for us it's onwards and upwards." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-100311 DISCOVER: GOLF ONE-FOUR @ ANNAPOLIS No, it's not the 14th hole; it's the number of the Atlantis gear shop at this week's US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, and it's where you can find the full Atlantis product line including the gear you'll need for sailing this Fall at great prices. Take a look at the new Resolute lightweight waterproof/breathable jacket and waist pant, as well as our new 100% wool Navigator sweater for men and women. Come see us on the Atlantis "gear dock" at the north end of Ego Alley, or shop online at http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com Discover Your Atlantis SAILING SHORTS * The winner of the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race Game, which enables online players to race a virtual Volvo Open 70 around the world following the course of the actual race, will drive away in a brand new Volvo XC60 car. Created by multiplayer online gaming specialists United Games, the all-new game will be launched on October 29, the day of the in-port racing in Alicante, and features many enhancements over the previous version which attracted over 220,000 players during the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-100311 * Newport International Boat Show producers and exhibitors are reporting increased sales and attendance at this year's international boat show, which ran from Sept. 15-18. Numbers at this year's boat show were similar to levels that the marine industry saw pre-recession, or about 15 percent higher than attendance in 2009 and 5 percent over 2010. This drove positive sales and leads at the show, according to exhibitors. -- Boating Industry, read on: http://www.boatingindustry.com/output.cfm?id=2824111 * The National Marine Manufacturers Association recently released its 2010 U.S. Boat Registration Statistics report, which showed a slight decrease in the total number of boat registrations nationwide from 12.7 million in 2009 to 12.5 million in 2010, a difference of 282,615 boats, or 2.2 percent. The report also showed 95 percent of registered powerboats are less than 26 feet in length. The Pacific region had the largest decline in boat registrations, down 9 percent compared to 2009. The Mid-Atlantic region rose significantly, up 207 percent from the year before. -- Boating Industry, read on: http://www.boatingindustry.com/output.cfm?id=2824597 * The piracy monitoring group Ecoterra on Sunday criticized the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) for destroying a small coastal transport boat off the coast of Somalia on Thursday. EUNAVFOR is tasked by the European Council to help deter, prevent and repress acts of piracy and armed robbery off Somalia, a region which has been plagued by pirate attacks in recent years. The force also monitors fishing activities and protects vulnerable shipping. On Thursday, a German warship under the command of EUNAVFOR located and destroyed a small coastal transport boat off the coast of Somalia, about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) southwest of Mogadishu. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/Piracy-100311 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: * Folding prop for saildrive for sale * Espar D5LC 24V Heaters for sale * Key West: Galleon Resort Timeshare View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads COUNTDOWN TO ANNAPOLIS The Lewmar and Navtec Team are busy preparing for the United States Sailboat Show at Annapolis, where they will be showing the latest innovations in marine equipment and rigging hydraulic technology. Come along to Stand Land 64 to catch up with the latest news, or click on http://www.lewmar.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 Ted Jones: In the 1960s not only was it illegal to position's one "torso" outside the lifelines, but there was a rule limiting the number of crew members depending upon the sail area of the boat. Females were excepted as long as they did not participate in the operation of the vessel. We ran afoul of this rule one Block Island Week with two couples and my too young sons aboard. Our boat's sail area limited our allowable crew to five. The boys, who were not yet capable of participating, were nevertheless counted as a "crew" so one of our wives had to sit still and keep quiet all week. IMHO this was a much better situation than that which exists today when the numbers of crew are unlimited and many are onboard to serve only as (uncomfortable) "rail meat." When this rule was changed, that's when the cat was let out of the (sail) bag. * From Lloyd Causey: What is Fair Sailing? It seems to some like it is the course that guarantees perfect conditions. Maybe they should build the course in a stadium pond with flat water and constant 10 knots wind from mechanical fans with zero shifts and zero current. Somehow I always thought that the entire fleet had to deal with the same conditions and that was FAIR. Folks in the top tier seem to want conditions that guarantee them staying on top. It now seems the GB team is more concerned with conditions that might be unfavorable to their team than having any concern about the overall quality of the sailing. I am hearing whining. * From Mario Sampaio, Cascais, Portugal: Regarding Mr. Ed Cesaris's comments on Rod Davis' article in issue 3438, the point is to analyse and create means by which we can successfully show the public at large, what sailing is about. And not - out of incompetence and or lack of vision to do this - re-invent the sport in a way that creates a ridiculous show and also destroys the essence of our sport! Watching the AC 45 event when it came to Cascais, supposedly the pinnacle event of sailing, I cried in disgust, watching a perfectly arbitrary and meaningless event made for ignorant (on the subject of sailing rules) fans and ignoring the sailing community at large and the essence of our sport! Hopefully Mr. Ellison will discover in the years he still has of life left in him, that there is a lot more to life other than money. Sailing is one such sporting activity, but not this pathetic format he has unashamedly copied from the Extreme Sailing Series. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly one's own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man." - Sakya Pandita, Buddhist scholar SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - Quantum Sails - West Marine - Atlantis WeatherGear Lewmar - North Sails - International Rolex Regatta - Ullman Sails Melges Performance Sailboats - Point Loma Outfitting Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
