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SCUTTLEBUTT 3484 - Wednesday, December 7, 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: Atlantis WeatherGear, Melges Performance Sailboats, and The Pirates Lair. PROFESSIONAL CIRCUIT COLLAPSES The Audi MedCup Circuit and the TP52 class had grown to become the world's leading regatta circuit. Launched in 2005, professional sailors, designers and builders would annually meet in this high octane arena, pushing the competitive bar higher and higher each season. In 2011, five European venues hosted events. But the increasing commitment to be competitive and the struggling economy has not been kind to the circuit. From a high of 24 boats in 2007, only 8 competed this season. Noted Ed Reynolds of the 2011 season champion Quantum Racing: "A racing program is able to attend all of the Audi MedCup events for around 850,000 euro. But to go with an expectation to win, it costs more like 1.7 to 2.0 million euro." And now with the announcement that Audi won't be back for 2012, which had been the title sponsor of the MedCup since the 2008 season, the house of cards has finally collapsed. Today the circuit organizer World Sailing Management (WSM) announced that it will suspend the 2012 season. Here is what they said: ---------------------------- This difficult business decision was taken for the following reasons, all of them related to the economic and financial crisis affecting the whole world and Europe in particular: 1. Serious uncertainty regarding the number of boats, mainly in the 52 Series (TP 52 class), willing to commit to compete in all of the events comprising the circuit with the risk of an insufficient number of competitors to ensure the competitive level reached by the circuit in previous seasons. 2. The lack of financial resources available to local authorities in their bid to become potential venues for the events of the circuit, which limited the ability to address their usual obligations and maintain the circuit's level of quality. 3. Together with the abovementioned factors, a decrease in the support needed from AUDI AG, which has been the circuit's title sponsor, has led WSM to terminate, early and peacefully, the sponsorship deal linking both companies. ---------------------------- WSM announcement: http://www.medcup.org/news/?id=5452 AUDI announcement: http://tinyurl.com/Audi-120611 HAVES AND HAVE NOTS Cape Town, SA (December 6, 2011) - The activity in the Volvo Ocean Race village is a picture of extremes. It was on November 26th when skipper Iker Martinez (ESP) guided Team Telefonica to a win on Leg 1 from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa. While the crew departed for some R & R, their shore team proceeded with scheduled maintenance to ready for the December 10th In-Port race and the start of the Leg 2 a day later. But the reality for the three teams that retired from Leg 1 has been much different. * Ken Read and his PUMA team arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday night, 15 days after breaking their mast, and 31 days since starting Leg 1. They now have less than four days to get the replacement mast stepped and the boat in condition to take part in Saturday's In-Port Race, with Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi starting 24 hours later. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/PUMA-120611 * Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Azzam is back in the water, her new rig is in place and skipper Ian Walker had plans for sailing on Tuesday. Azzam arrived by ship to Cape Town on November 30, and now, with major work pretty much complete, it is all about fine-tuning. Azzam lost her rig on the first night of Leg 1 just over one month ago. The team resumed racing after stepping their replacement mast, but decided to retire and tune-up the new rig at Cape Town. -- Full report: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/news/4294_Azzam-set-to-rise-again.html * Salthouse Boatbuilders reported on Tuesday that the repair to the damaged hull of Team Sanya is near complete. In less than 7 days the boat has gone from having eight men standing with their heads inside a gaping hole in the hull, to having a glistening new bow section awaiting her final spray of paint. -- Photo: http://tinyurl.com/SB-120611 * The International Jury will hear in full the protest of Groupama sailing team against CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand after deciding it was valid. Groupama lodged the protest, which is once again related to the forestay and rigging set-up on CAMPER, at the end of Leg 1. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-120611 * Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 began with one of the most dramatic first nights in the race's 38-year history and continued in epic mode on the way to the finish in Cape Town. A 52-minute video documentary and written review provide a recap of the first leg: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-120411 * Live coverage of the Cape Town In-Port Race on Saturday, December 10 is at 1300 GMT and the start of Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi is the following day at the same time. Follow the action at http://new.livestream.com/volvooceanrace Overall Standings (In-Port 1 and Leg 1) 1. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 31 points 2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 29 3. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 22 4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 6 5. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 5 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 3 Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com JUST WHAT YOUR SWEETEE NEEDS Other sailing apparel brands have tried to lay claim to the "Lightest Performance Sailing Jacket" crown, but ever since Atlantis WeatherGear introduced the Women's Microburst Jacket, it has been the titleholder, hands down. For you holiday shoppers, nothing tells your sweetee "I love you" like a jacket that will keep her dry and comfortable in pretty nasty conditions. And we have Men's styles too... just in case you're getting your own gift list organized. Check out her Microburst jacket here: http://www.atlantisweathergear.com/products/Womens-Microburst-Jacket.html STORMS HALT RACING AT WORLDS Perth, Australia (December 6, 2011) - After a morning of loud thunder, lightning and sometimes heavy rain, the Race Committee on day four at the ISAF Sailing World Championships made the decision to abandon racing today for the four fleet events. The forecast was for electrical storms and possible wind gusts up to 54 knots continuing through to evening. Despite looming dark skies, Women's Match Racing kicked off on Fremantle's inner harbour at 1000 local time. Easterlies gusting up to 17 knots greeted Group B, which were able to complete four matches before racing was called off at 11:20 local time due to approaching lightning. Among the matches was a one second loss by Genny Tulloch (USA-2) to Olivia Price (AUS-2). "We were behind at one point because we got a penalty on the second windward leg," explained Tulloch. "But we burned it on the third upwind and lead around the top mark. We had a nice lead downwind, but she was able to roll us and pass us. It was a tough loss." Tulloch, who is now 1-1, is eager to go racing. "We were meant to be through 10 races personally by now, so with only two sailed we are way behind schedule for Group B. The regatta has been marked by some crazy stuff each day, first the fire on a boat in the harbour Sunday morning, then the mark boat sinking on the Finn course Monday, and the storms today." "Safety was the ultimate concern today," Competition Manager Skip Lissiman said. "The electrical storms posed too big a danger to sailors on the water." Lissiman hopes that an improving weather forecast will help get the racing back on schedule. After racing began for fleet events on Monday, leading the charge for North America are Americans Zach Railey (3rd-Finn), Paige Railey (4th-Laser Radial), and Stuart McNay/ Graham Biehl (13th-470 M). The forecast is expected to improve through the week. Here is the racing schedule: Women's Match Racing (Elliott 6m), December 3-16 Women's Windsurfer (RS:X W), December 5-11 Women's One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial), December 5-11 Men's One Person Dinghy Heavy (Finn), December 5-11 Men's Two Person Dinghy (470 M), December 5-11 Men's Keelboat (Star), December 11-17 Men's Windsurfer (RS:X W), December 12-18 Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser), December 12-18 Women's Two Person Dinghy (470 W), December 12-18 Men's Skiff (49er), December 12-18 BACKGROUND: The ISAF Sailing World Championships are held every four years, bringing together the Olympic class organization to host their most prestigious event. The 2011 edition will see over 1,100 sailors from 78 nations coming to Perth, Australia to compete in their class World titles and to qualify their nations for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. -- Event website: http://www.perth2011.com WHERE THE GLOBE GETS SMALLER (December 6, 2011; Day 15 - 23:00:00 UTC) - After a 24 hour run of 786.7 nm, Loick Peyron (FRA) and his team on the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V are now 1891.7 nm ahead of the non-stop circumnavigation Jules Verne Trophy record of 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds set by Franck Cammas on the 103-foot Groupama 3 in 2010. Averaging 32.8 knots over the past 24 hours, the team is now 14,982 nm from the finish. Brian Thompson, helmsman/trimmer, provides this onboard update: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We are down below 50 degrees south now so the globe is getting smaller here in a horizontal plane, so every 38.5 miles we sail east we are making a degree of longitude - we would have to do 60 miles on the equator to gain that same degree of longitude. So we are saving time by sailing at these latitudes, though it does mean we are keeping a careful eye on the radar. This area has been thoroughly scanned for icebergs by satellite and none have been detected, but better safe than sorry. Have mentioned our watch system before but thought would explain it better. We have 14 crew in total. Loick Peyron, who is the conductor of our orchestra, grabs catnaps, and Juan Vila, navigating, hardly sleeps at all. One or more usually both of them are up on deck for all maneuvers. They sleep in 2 bunks aft of the nav station, which is below the cockpit. The remaining 12 are divided into 3 watches of 4, each led by a watch captain. We stay on GMT right around the world and do not alter the watch times for the local time. It could not be easier really. For instance, on our watch we are on deck from 8 to 12, off watch and in our bunks 12 to 4, and on standby mode 4 till 8, then on deck again. So twice a day we are on watch, off watch and on standby. Every 4 hours everyone is up and changing modes. One group is coming off the deck to get undressed for bed. Another group is getting out of bed and getting dressed for standby and the 3rd group is going on deck from their standby. As you can imagine, in a confined space that is constantly moving, there is an elaborate choreography to this, rather like ants moving inside an anthill. Somehow it all happens, with no friction. You need a certain amount of purpose to get done what you need to do, and a good awareness, respect and tolerance for what everyone else is trying to get done too. Somehow it all works, and the boat never stops moving, with at least 4 on deck at all times. For manouvers it's usually 9 or 10 people on deck, or 14 if it's near a watch change. -- http://brianthompsonsailing.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-14-almost.html Tracking: http://tinyurl.com/PB-Tracking-2011-12 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/VoileBanquePop SCUTTLEBUTT ADVERTISING IN 2012 Scuttlebutt provides a limited amount of text ad slots in each newsletter, and most of these ad slots for 2012 will be assigned this Friday. If you are interested in advertising, contact us for details: 619-299-5678 or advertising@sailingscuttlebutt.com FROM THE BOSS Iain Murray, Regatta Director and CEO of the America's Cup Race Management (ACRM) organization, is in charge of independent conduct of the regattas. Here is some information he shared during his weekly conference call: * The cost of operating the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) events needs to get in line with revenue received. The events have thus far been too expensive, and while a balanced budget may not be realistic, it needs to get closer. * The next ACWS event, which is April 7-15 in Naples, Italy, will have more boats than the previous ACWS events (which have had eight teams and nine boats). Included in this would be the Luna Rossa team, but Murray implied that additional teams would be there. Fifteen AC45s have been claimed, with Artemis Racing now having two boats. * The 2012 ACWS events in San Francisco, which will be in AC45s on Aug. 11-19 and Aug. 27-Sept 2, will have shoreside spectating in front of Golden Gate Yacht Club and St. Francis Yacht Club. The course location will span from Crissy Field to Fort Mason. The team bases will be based at Pier 80, which is some distance away, but consideration is being given to having overnight moorings near the race area. * A Youth America's Cup World Series for 2012 is not confirmed. This corrects information in Scuttlebutt 3482 which said a 2012 event was scheduled. If a 2012 event is held, it would be between the ACWS events in San Francisco. No additional details are available. A Youth America's Cup World Series in 2013 will be held, but no details are available. Additional info: http://tinyurl.com/SailBlast-120611 AUDI MELGES 20 GOLD CUP Over 40 boats are signed up for the 2011 Audi Melges 20 Gold Cup in Miami, Florida. The Audi Melges 20 continues to flourish due in part to the fun and exciting Winter Series activity put together by Melges and the Audi Melges 20 Class Organization. Stay tuned to melges20.com for event photos on and off the water! See the excitement - better yet - join the excitement as there are still more Winter Melges Events planned! -- http://www.melges20.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 Charles Aucreman: I heartily agree with Julian regarding the dangers of harness hooks (in Scuttlebutt 2482). I sailed P-Cats and Hobie 16's and 18's for many years starting in 1967. Most of those years were in the 18's. I too became concerned about the standard hook-up. Somewhere along the line, probably in the mid-70's, someone started producing a harness exactly what Julian describes. My crew and I used those ball & socket rigs for many years, at least till the late 90's. I could never figure out why everyone didn't. Safety, obvious, but there were tactical advantages. We never had an unwanted release. When coming into a tack, we would pull up slightly on the trap handle, releasing the ball, and swing onto the deck in one easy motion. The pulling on the handle helped create a nice roll tack. We also never got zinged in the teeth by the metal ring, because it wasn't there. As Julian say's, Spectra has changed things, floating and all that. I haven't used Spectra on a small boat much. Question: Can you cut it before you drown? That's assuming you know which one(s) to cut, and don't panic. Julian, good luck with your project. Stand up and shout it from the rooftops. It will save lives, which is more important than everything else we do. COMMENT: Near as I can tell, the fixed hook trapeze harness system is the most popular and most dangerous system, and that carrying a knife may help in the event of entrapment under water. While these risks might be manageable by an adult, I wonder how much of a concern this is for young sailors. I'm also wondering if there are more young sailors on trapeze boats than in the past. Considering the growth of the C420 and 29er fleets in the U.S., it would seem to be so. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt * From Terry Harper, US Sailing Executive Director (1994-2001): The US Sailing Junior Olympics program was created to address several issues (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3483). Young men and women were dropping out of sailing in their mid-teens. In many parts of the country, there was a need for good clinics at which kids could learn the basics that would improve their skills, and refinements that would make them more competitive. And in conversations I had with some Olympians in other sports, they had been inspired while they were growing up by the idea that they were participating in the "Junior Olympics." So we thought that the name "Junior Olympics" would be a draw, and the idea was to try to attract those who were dropping out back into the sport, and to convince more to stay in the sport. The events were supposed to provide top quality clinics, so that the participants could apply what they were learning to what they trying to do on the race course. US Sailing organized 6 events the first year, with a target of 20 annually within 5 years. We learned from a few mistakes and adapted the format, and we began to see greater participation in what had been pre-existing regattas, and more clubs who wanted to provide the "Junior Olympics" experience to their local young sailors. So in the sport of sailing it was always a "grass roots" effort, adaptable to local interests. It's great that some clubs are trying newer boats that may be more attractive to young sailors, since it will keep them participating, and maybe even attract a few friends. Other sports had more elite JO programs, but the United States Olympic Committee was amenable to either format. It also turned out, however, that over time the US Sailing format showed that it could serve as something of a talent ID tool, as well. But as has been said many times on your pages, if the kids are having fun, they will stay in the sport. * From Nevin Sayre: Thanks for your report (in Scuttlebutt 3483) on the Junior Olympics and the inclusion of the O'Pen BIC and Techno 293 classes. You are absolutely spot on that there is a growing recognition that not every kid fits the Opti/Sabot-420/FJ conventional mold. In the same way that snowboarding brought thousands of new participants to snow sports, these modern alternatives are starting to bring new kids to sailing. It's working in other countries. If you allow kids to pursue their own passion within sailing (not just their parents' passion), they will stay with sailing as a life sport. * From Matt Bounds, US Sailing Judge / National Race Officer While the MOB call was a joke (in Scuttlebutt 3483), it falls into the same category as yelling "FIRE!" in a movie theater or joking to a TSA agent that you've got a bomb in your underwear. They all have unpleasant consequences. Whether it was intended to be a distraction or not - it was. If this went to a protest hearing, I suspect that the Captain would be taught a harsh lesson about false MOB calls - and the offending crew member would need to find another ride for the next race. As to whether the RC has an obligation to protest, the short answer is no. RRS 60.2(a) says, "A race committee "may protest a boat . . . " "May" is permissive, whereas "shall" is obligatory. The only time an RC has an obligation to protest a boat is under the last sentence of 60.2 ( . . . when the race committee receives a report required by rule 43.1(c) [crew clothing weight] or 78.3 [measurement issues], it shall protest the boat). Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12958 MOUNT GAY RUM STOCKING STUFFERS AT THE PIRATES LAIR Extra holiday cheer for your rum lover! Log on to the Pirates Lair web store at http://www.pirateslair.com/category/MGR.html for your last minute gifts. Use promo code MGR at checkout for additional savings. 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