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SCUTTLEBUTT 3218 - Thursday, November 11, 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: Hall Spars & Rigging and Ullman Sails. FASTEST SAILOR ON THE PLANET The Luderitz Speed Challenge 2010 was held October 4 to 31 in Luderitz, Namibia, with the challenge to see who would set the fastest average speed over a 500-meter distance. But the goal for the riders was not just to be he fastest in Luderitz, but to be faster than the official outright world speed record held by the foiling trimaran Hydroptere with skipper Alain Thebault (FRA), which in 2009 set a speed of 51.36 knots in Hyeres, France. And on October 28th, with the wind blowing up to 45 knots, American kitesailor Rob Douglas (USA) raised the bar further than anyone had gone before, hitting a new record speed of 55.65 knots. While this record remains unofficial until it is ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, a verification process expected to be completed by November or early December, it is safe to call Rob the fastest sailor on the planet. Here Rob shares some of the details: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * The Luderitz Speed Challenge is held in a manmade trench. Were there changes to the course for this event? ROB DOUGLAS: Yes, the changes to the course this year at the 2nd lagoon in Luderitz Namibia were to make it straighter and smoother. Our speed is averaged over a 500 meter distance, so the organizers dug a trench 750 meter long by 3 to 5 meters wide by 1 to 3 feet deep at the event site further to the east in 2010. * At these speeds, what are the safety concerns? ROB DOUGLAS: As speed increases the risk of injury increases. The smoother water in the trench is safer because riders crash less but running in a narrow trench with dry sand downwind creates a bigger problem when riders crash at speeds in excess of 65 MPH. I wore a helmet and a motocross chest and back protector this year for protection. (Note: On Rob’s next run after he set the record, he got fouled up during the finish and fractured his right wrist.) * What has your team learned in the past year that has improved speed potential? ROB DOUGLAS: We have learned a lot over the past three years in Luderitz. Each year there has been a 30 minute window of perfect world record conditions before the tide or wind changes. Five weeks in Luderitz for 30 minutes, so you have to be on the water and ready at all times when the course is open. Smaller boards are not always faster. Nine meter Cabrinha Switchblades kites are the fastest. And if you’re not having fun then you won’t go fast! * Where are the future speed gains going to come from? ROB DOUGLAS: Future gains in speed sailing will come from improvements in course and kite design - the current boards have plenty of gears left. The first 50 meters of the course this year was a bit up wind compared to the rest of the course (due to space issues in the 2nd lagoon), which held our speeds at the start to below 50 knots - we should have been hitting the line at 55 knots. Most kites are still not specifically designed for speed. More work on kites will create more efficient shapes that will reduce the amount of drag and required wind, which will improve surface conditions. * For high speed kiting in the U.S., what are the fast tracks? ROB DOUGLAS: I believe the fastest 500 meter tracks in the USA currently are in Cape Pogue Bay and at State Beach on Martha's Vineyard where I’ve hit 48 knot averages over the 500 meter course and 59 knots max speeds. The Great Lakes has some serious natural potential too. Complete interview: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/1110/ MULTIHULL (MAYBE) RETURNS TO THE OLYMPICS (November 10, 2010) - At the end of this week over 500 people from the world of sailing will have come together in Athens, Greece, for the 2010 ISAF Annual Conference. This year the hot topic of debate will be the future direction of sailing in the Olympics and the effects this will have on events like the ISAF Sailing World Cup. The first glimpse of this came today when the Events Committee revealed their recommendation on the ten provisional Olympic events and equipment for 2016. This is how the voting went: One person board or kite-board men - equipment to be determined One person dinghy men - Laser Standard One person dinghy men - Finn Two person dinghy (skiff) men - 49er One person board or kite-board women - equipment to be determined One person dinghy women - Laser Radial Two person dinghy (skiff) women - equipment to be determined Three person keelboat women - Elliott 6m Two person mixed multihull - equipment to be determined Two person mixed dinghy with spinnaker - 470 Comparing the committee’s voting recommendations to the current slate of 2012 Olympic events, the men’s keelboat (Star) will be removed and the two person mixed multihull would be added. Other changes included a two person dinghy (skiff) for women rather than the 470, and revising the 470 for men and women to be a mixed class. The Committee’s recommendations will go to the ISAF Council for consideration this weekend. After the Council vote, they are then subject to confirmation at the ISAF Mid-Year meeting in May 2011. -- http://tinyurl.com/36m7kd6 COMMENTARY: Chiming in on the decision of the Events Committee is Sailing World senior editor Stuart Streuli: “Should the (ISAF) Council stick with this slate of events, however, I think it would be a step in the right direction. Losing the Star won’t be popular, especially with the general older set of folks who run the sport both internationally and in this country, and this slate of events is sure to create a pitched and very political battle on the council, just the sort of free for all that saw the multihull inexplicably get removed from the roster for the London Games in 2012. But ISAF has to start updating the slate of Olympic classes and there’s no better place to start than with the oldest design in the fleet. Hopefully the Finn will go next and then the 470.” -- Full report: http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs/racing/dark-star THAT WINNING FEELING Congratulations to Hall-rigged Lucky (TP52), winner of the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Also in the winner's circle are the Hall-rigged J/133 Jaru (Div. 3) and the J/122 Artie (Div. 4). Hall-rigged superyachts are winners, too. Chrisco (CNB 100) was named Best Sailing Yacht 24-40m by the International Superyacht Society, and Indio (Wally 101) won Best Sailing Yacht 30-44m at the World Superyacht Awards. Even Hall products are winners: SCR Airfoil and BlockLock AutoLock are nominated for a Design Award METS in the category won by the original SCR last year. Get that winning feeling at http://www.hallspars.com EVER TRY DRIBBLING A FOOTBALL? Following on from the Swedish team’s America’s Cup announcement on Monday, Artemis Racing is already prepping for the new reality of multihull racing. While a portion of the team is in Dubai for the fourth and final Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta, Helmsman Terry Hutchinson, Tornado Silver medalist Santiago Lange and others are in Miami for the first Artemis Racing multihull training camp. World-renowned multihull sailor Nick Moloney has stepped in to coach Artemis Racing for this intense three weeks of training in Extreme 40s in preparation for the 2011 circuit and beyond. For Hutchinson, preparing for the 34th America’s Cup will be unlike his past three campaigns... by a lot. Much like if the National Basketball Association started the season using a football instead of a basketball, here is commentary from Hutchinson in Miami, on his fourth day of playing with a new ball: “Today was light. Body weight in, no hull flying and LOTS of technique. Like any boat that you can muscle around and be physical in, the light air breeze presents lots of different challenges. You quickly pick up that any abrupt movement has a big impact on performance and feel on the boat. Figuring out how to prioritize the jobs and being smooth is critical. “Sounds simple but after about an hour of butchering our boat handling, coach Nick (Moloney), together with Freddy (Carr) and Mark (Bulkeley) came along side. They were trying to be polite about how bad we were but soon put Sean (Clarkson) and Andy (Fethers) in the chase boat and Mark and Freddy on the X40. Truby (Morgan Trubovich) and I did a lap with Mark and Freddy onboard, while Andy and Sean watched closely from the chase boat. “The nine minute lap was worth it's weight in gold as it quickly helped us prioritize on board. For the next two hours we did lap after lap, after lap. It was awesome! The day ended with 45 minutes of starting drills and then a 20 minute sail home rig-tuning.” Source: http://www.artemisracing.com/news/25621 SAN FRANCISCO TAKES BIG STEP The chances of the next America's Cup being sailed with a backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Coit Tower improved dramatically Tuesday (Nov. 9). City officials finalized a host city agreement with the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs America's Cup defender BMW Oracle Racing. The agreement quickly was submitted to the Board of Supervisors, which must approve it. Six of the 11 supervisors are co-sponsors of the agreement. The Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 on Oct. 5 to approve a term sheet that was a precursor to a host city agreement. The city pledged in the term sheet to help raise $270 million from corporate sponsors to help defray the costs of staging the regatta. "I think this is more than significant," said Tom Ehman, a spokesman for the GGYC and member of its America's Cup Committee. "It's a big step forward for the 34th edition of the Cup. There can be no better venue for sailing than San Francisco Bay. Personally, I and the GGYC are very excited by the prospects and delighted with this latest development. "I think it's fair to say that if Italy does not match or exceed what's on offer from San Francisco, I would expect San Francisco be given the nod," Ehman said. San Francisco's only competition is Italy. Valencia, Spain, which hosted the America's Cup in 2007 and in February, no longer is under consideration for the main regatta, Ehman said. However, the Spanish port could host a preliminary regatta. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://tinyurl.com/3a4h28y => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Yachting journalist Kimball Livingston joined City staffers and America’s Cup organizers to celebrate the progress. Said Kimball, “Tuesday night I found myself at a table in Betelnut on Union Street in a celebration that confirmed what I’ve believed for months. That Larry Ellison’s team has been working earnestly and tirelessly to defend America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay.” Here is his report: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=5273 SAILING SHORTS * (November 10, 2010) - Doug Baker, Long Beach, skippered the Reichel/Pugh 78 Akela to first-to-finish honors Tuesday and was first in Division 1 on corrected ORR handicap time in Long Beach Yacht Club’s biennial 2010 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race. Bob Lane’s Andrews 63 Medicine Man, also from Long Beach, finished first in Division 1 on corrected PHRF time. Finishing the 804 nautical-mile race within about three hours of each other the two skippers fell short of breaking fellow LBYC member Peter Tong’s Santa Cruz 70 OEX record set in 2008 of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10800#10800 * St. Petersburg, FL (November 10, 2010) - Suitable sailing conditions failed to materialize on the third day of the 2010 Snipe Class International Racing Association Women’s World Championship. After three races, Anna Tunnicliffe/ Molly Vandemoer (USA) remains in the lead, followed by Trixy Agusti/ Yuyu Agusti (ARG) in second. The forecast for around 10kts tomorrow (Thursday) should help the event get caught up with the nine races that are scheduled. Racing concludes on Friday, November 12th. -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10465 * (November 10, 2010; Day 25) - American Brad Van Liew continues to distance himself from the field in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, with a margin now of 366 nm over Zbigniew Gutkowski (POL) with 1065 nm to the finish in Cape Town, South Africa. Going from bad to worse is Belgian Christophe Bullens, whose last place position is further hindered by a detour today to the Cape Verde Islands after feeling unwell for several days. -- Race website: http://www.velux5oceans.com * (November 10, 2010; Day 11) - While the maxi multihulls of the Catégorie Ultime cross the finish line off Pointe-a-Piitre, Guadeloupe, the focus continues on the two premiere offshore classes that continue to compete in the 9th edition of the Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale, the legendary 3542 miles transatlantic race from Saint Malo for solo skippers which takes place every four years. The Open 60 and Class 40 divisions, which account for over half the 85 entrants, are led by Roland Jourdain on Veolia Environnement (511 nm to go) and Thomas Ruyant on Destination Dunkerque (1286 nm to go). -- Event website: http://www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com/en/s01_home/s01p01_home.php * The fall college sailing season is down to the final few regattas and Boston College are soaring at the right time, receiving 33 of a possible 42 first place votes in Sailing World's College Rankings as of Nov. 10, 2010, and are now leading both the coed and women's polls. Full rankings here: http://tinyurl.com/2wpep56 * Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans hosted the 2010 Southern Soiland Cup, an invitational yacht club team race event, this past weekend on November 5-7. Ninety sailors representing clubs throughout the U.S. raced 75 races over 2.5 days of racing, with Southern YC defending its title, to make it three in a row, followed by Larchmont Yacht Club and New York Yacht Club. Results here: http://southernyachtclub.org/images/stories/soiland_cup_results.pdf BALANCE BATTLES FOR IRC HONORS IN LORD HOWE RACE Sydney’s Paul Clitheroe and his team on Beneteau 45 “Balance” are in the headlines again after winning the IRC handicap division of the 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race last weekend. The “Balance” team comfortably claimed the IRC division and took second on line after a grueling 414-nm race across the Tasman Sea. The conditions were consistently difficult with strengthening northerly breeze and growing seas - eight of the 17 competing boats retired. Powered by Ullman Sails, Clitheroe and his long-time amateur crew completed the race in just over 69 hours. No matter your goals, invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Nov 11-14 - Heineken Regatta Curacao - Willemstad, Curacao Nov 16-21 - New Zealand Match Racing Championships - Auckland, New Zealand Nov 19-21 - Melges 24 Atlantic Coast Championship - Davis Island, FL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Harken’s 2011 New Product Line-up * Selden reversible winches for 2011 * A Boating Reference App from McGraw-Hill * Weather on your iPhone and Android * Beneteau First 30 * Carbon Ocean 82 View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/INDUSTRY_NEWS_C15/ 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 Ashley Love, age 26: (re, facebook generation story in #3216) Just because someone has a facebook account doesn't make them part of the facebook "generation" just like having parents doesn't make you part of the baby boomer "generation". The people who were in college when facebook hit the Internet are the same people the producers of the America's Cup, a trickle down to the entire sport, are trying to attract. If you look at the numbers, a vast majority of people watching and still sailing are the senior citizens and not the facebook generation. Yes, there are programs and more programs aimed at "the young", but those are the kids. It puts more attention to the minors who already have helicopter parents to hold their hands through their development. The facebook generation is the lost generation in sailing and this group is not what sailing was or the future of sailing, this generation that is supposed to the present of sailing right now, and it's slipping through the cracks. Facebook has come to be the term summing up our generation because social media and media in general have given us the hunger for more speed and more drama. In our world, someone is reaching, someone is wiping out and someone is succeeding. The point is, someone is trying. Give us the story. * From Tim Patterson: (re, Lindsay Foster commentary, SBUTT 3216) One has to wonder if Art took the time to see just what it is that this well-spoken young lady does for a living. She seems to have her head on straight and is making a living covering sailing. Oh well, Scuttlebutt is doing a great service by allowing all the naysayers to speak out as well as the others who are either in favor or willing to take a "wait and see" stance. Good for you once again to be a voice for all. * From Charles J. Doane: (re, ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year) I am a bit dismayed that Alessandro di Benedetto, who this year completed a singlehanded non-stop circumnavigation in a Mini, the last major bit (including rounding Cape Horn) under jury rig, was not even nominated for a Rolex award. These people need to get in touch with what's going on out there. * From By Baldridge: In response to my friend John Rumsey (in Scuttlebutt 3217), I would feel bad if I was left off an America's Cup team because I only sleep with my wife. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world's population. SPONSORS THIS WEEK: Ultimate Sailing - Quantum Sails - APS - North U - J Boats North Sails - JK3 Nautical Enterprises - LaserPerformance Hall Spars - Ullman Sails - Holmatro - Southern Spars Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
