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SCUTTLEBUTT 3024 - Monday, February 8, 2010Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors: Kaenon Polarized and The Pirates Lair. AMERICA’S CUP 33 - GAME TIME Valencia, Spain (February 7, 2010) - The 33rd America's Cup is set to begin in Spain on Monday with a multihull duel pitting US side BMW Oracle against Swiss defenders Alinghi that will feature the largest and fastest boats ever used in the 159-year history of the sailing race. The two sides have sparred in court over the rules, dates and location of the event since Alinghi won the last America's Cup in Valencia in 2007. BMW Oracle chose to start the race on the starboard side after winning a coin toss on Sunday supervised by race director Harold Bennet. The weather forecast is for lighter winds in the morning on Monday, which will build as the day goes on. Rain showers are also forecast. The first and third races will be sailed over a 40-nautical-mile windward-leeward course. The second race is a 39-mile triangle. Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI), owner of America's Cup defenders Alinghi, said he will share helming duties with France's Loick Peyron on Monday. Jimmy Spithill (AUS) will helm BMW Oracle Racing, while team owner Larry Ellison (USA) will not be on USA for Monday’s race. The team has not declared whether CEO Russell Coutts (NZL) will be onboard. * VIEWING: Some of the North American options: http://bit.ly/a0j9iY * SCHEDULE: The Match is won by the yacht to first win two races. Race warning signal is at 10:00 am local time, with race to start at 10:06 am. Races will be attempted every other day beginning Monday February 8th. If a race is not started on a given day, or is abandoned for whatever reason, racing will continue on the next scheduled race date, (Wednesday the 10th, Friday the 12th, Sunday the 14th, etc.). * EVENT WEBSITE: Look to the 33rd America’s Cup website for event documents, jury decisions, and other event details: http://33rd.americascup.com/en/ * TEAM UPDATES: Here are the best links for team information: - Alinghi: http://www.alinghi.com/en/ - BMW Oracle Racing: http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com/ DAY OF RECKONING HAS COME Valencia, Spain (February 7, 2010) - By the time many ‘Buttheads read this, the first race of 33rd America’s Cup may be over and the representatives of the teams may be in the room. Certainly everything we have seen (and especially what we have not seen) indicates that even though one of the key participants is from the Bay area, this is not a rerun of the 60’s “Summer of Love.” Indeed, Ernesto Bertarelli (Société Nautique De Genève (SNG/Alinghi)) and Larry Ellison (Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC/BMW Oracle Racing (BOR)/USA)) cannot even occupy the same room at the same time for a press conference or anything else. Who e-mailed what to whom and who is at fault is a major buzz topic, but does not really matter, because it looks like the boats are finally headed for the starting area. But, this being AC 33, first a report from the room. The International Jury has finally handed down its final decision on measurement and it is not hard to see why it took so long. Indeed, when I saw the Jury driving out of their headquarters on Saturday, I was surprised they were not still holding their noses. The bottom line is that, although Justice Kornreich ruled, based on the recommendation of three of the Jury members, that the boats had to be measured with water ballast on board, the Jury has ratified an absurd measurement procedure that turns Justice Kornreich’s decision on its head. How does that work? The Jury has ruled that, although water has to be distributed equally from side to side, it does not have to be equally distributed fore and aft. Thus, Alinghi can pump all its water ballast to specially constructed stern tanks, which will then sink the stern until the boat does a wheelie and the LWL is brought under 90 feet. Of course, the boat could never sail in that trim under any race condition and the stern tanks will probably not be used to any substantial extent while actually sailing. Clearly, this is not a case of exploiting a loophole in a rule. It is an example of ratifying breaking any rational understanding of the way to implement the rule in order to produce the exact opposite of the rule. Why? Alinghi cannot comply with the Deed with any water ballast and cannot sail without water ballast. The Jury is simply not going to force Alinghi to comply with the Deed, knowing that it would decide the Match. It would have been simpler to just come out and say that, regardless of Justice Kornreich’s ruling, Alinghi can measure without water ballast and then add water while racing. Sailors should think twice before complaining about Supreme Court justices running this game, rather than sailors. The inmates cannot seem to run the asylum very well either. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p57 * There are five audio files posted on Scuttleblog with commentary from all the key players, plus one on one interviews that Scuttlebutt had with noted past America’s Cup winning designer David Pedrick and Arthur Spithill, father of BMW Oracle skipper James Spithill: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2010/02/count-down-to-cup.html KAENON POLARIZED WILL WIN THE CUP Whether you agree or despise what will take place today between the most innovative and exciting sailboats ever built, and now raced, one thing is again validated: Kaenon Polarized is the breeze reading choice when winning matters. Both tacticians: John Kostecki and Brad Butterworth will wear Hard Kore today. All trimmers are wearing Kaenon Polarized in a variety of styles and tints: Dirk DeRidder, Rosco Halcrow and Joey Newton on the Wing, and Warwick Fluerry and Simon Daubney on the Soft Sails. And Russell Coutts? Of course, Kaenon Polarized! Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. http://www.kaenon.com SHOWING THE SHOW With the two giant multihulls USA and Alinghi 5 expected to reach speeds of over 30 knots, the outer limit of the race course could be 40 miles offshore, and the possibility of lateral separation of up to 20 miles, then a corresponding step up in the level of technology was required in order to beam the live images back from the race course to the huge global audience. Racing further offshore, worst case up to 40 miles, is the big challenge over last time. Explains Kevin Orwin, the Technical Director on site in Valencia, “Technically it is very easy to get the pictures back from what is the horizon that we can see, but once we have passed over the horizon we get into a number of technical issues, including how we communicate with our crews so far out. So instead of beaming the signal directly from the helicopters to the shore, which is what we did last time, this time we will have our own fixed wing aircraft (flying above 25,000 feet) that has transmit and receive antennas built into the wings, so they are active and are able to pick up the signals and repeat them back to ground.” There are microphones on the competing yachts to pick up all the effects. These audio signals are relayed to the helicopters (and then to the plane). There are two fixed cameras on each boat with recorders and the footage will taken off once the boats are finished for use in the highlights packages (ie, no live footage from the boat). As well as the helicopter cameras, there are cameras on chase boats and on the committee boat. One of the big logistical challenges is of course the flying time and the distance out to sea. And so a third helicopter is on standby to leapfrog the other. There is a complete extra rig on the third helicopter. Meantime the airspace around the huge race arena is restricted. -- Valencia Life Network, mailto: publisher@valencialife.net FOR THE RECORD (Day 8 - February 7, 2010; 17:14 UTC) - After crossing the equator at 0902 hours UTC on Saturday morning after 5 days and 19 hours at sea and with a lead of over a day in relation to Orange, Groupama 3 recorded the second fastest time in maritime history. Her deficit amounted to just 3 hours 44 minutes behind the best ever time, which was set by Groupama 3 during their aborted Jules Verne Trophy attempt in November 2009. After crossing the equator, skipper Franck Cammas observed, "The weather forecasts aren't very favourable for joining up with the Southern Ocean. To avoid the calm conditions, we're going to have to get very close to the Brazilian coast and drop down very low before we can hang a left towards the Cape of Good Hope (off of South Africa). We'll lose a fair number of miles … but there's still a long way to go.” On Sunday, the descent towards the Roaring Forties required a SSW trajectory as expected so as not to get caught up in the Saint Helena High. The team expects that by Tuesday they will be able to progressively bend their course to the South and then South-East once the centre of the high pressure is properly abeam, with the easterly winds backing to the North to facilitate the turn. -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ykm6k4w Current position as of February 7, 2010 (22:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +558.0 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 23.0 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 551.3 nm Data: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/positions.asp?lg=en Map: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/index.asp?lg=en * After their start on January 31, 2010, Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before March 23rd (06:14:57 UTC) to establish a new time for the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions. Current record holder is Bruno Peyron and crew, who in 2005 sailed Orange 2 to a time of 50 days, 16 hours, and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. MATCH RACING TOURS EXPANDS ASIAN FOCUS The professional World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has expanded further into Asia with the launch of the Vietnam Match Cup in the east coast city of Nha Trang, Vietnam this September. The event will be the eighth stage of the 2010 Tour, and is the first time that Vietnam has featured on the WMRT schedule. “It is our aim to expand the WMRT, especially in Asia, and Vietnam is our third destination after Pulau Duyong in Malaysia, and Hwasung City in the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea,” said Peter Gilmour, President of the Word Match Racing Tour. “The Asian events have really taken the Tour to a new level of achievement and I expect to see continued growth across the Middle East and Asia for the Tour.” This year, the Tour starts in April in France, and will reach Nha Trang City by late September. With expected media and television highlights coverage of over one billion households in over 100 countries around the world, the Tour will revolutionise Vietnam’s tourism industry and propel the country into the limelight across the globe. -- Full story: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/102478 HOT DEALS AND COOL REGATTA GEAR AT THE PIRATES LAIR Log on right now for Mount Gay Rum, Newport to Ensenada, and Border Run apparel. If you're planning the next big regatta you won't beat our prices on design, printing and delivery. Book your print job with us by February 12 and get a sponsored keg!* (conditions apply) http://www.pirateslair.com/store/index.html or (888)724-5286 HOW TO WIN A BERMUDA RACE There are plenty of ways to lose a Newport to Bermuda Race, but only a very few people actually know how to win one. With the 635-mile ocean race to begin June 18th, below are a couple of winning tips from winners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Stan Honey, Navigator of 2002 race winner Pyewacket, focuses on the Gulf Stream and course selection: “My impression of the Bermuda Race is that an analytical approach to course selection can work pretty well.I think this is because the Stream is such a large influence on tactics in that race, and the forecasts of the Stream tend to be far more dependable than weather forecasts. This is because the Stream’s location and direction change slowly and relatively predictably. So for the Bermuda Race, the optimum route that you can compute from accurate polars, forecasts of the Stream, and weather forecasts often turns out to be a pretty good choice.” Rich du Moulin, who has won the Double-Handed Division of the race multiple times in Lora Ann, throws away the 'sail the favorite tack' way of thinking: “Especially in a smaller boat, you’ve got to go into it in a way that will optimize the current. You have to throw away the ‘sail the favored tack’ way of thinking.You’ve got to be willing to make radical deviations of course so you can sail from doughnut to doughnut, from cold eddy to cold eddy. If another boat seems to be doing better than she should, she must be in better current. In 2002 we looked around and found ourselves in weak current, and so we very painfully squared the spinnaker pole and ran off for an hour. If we hadn’t, we would have missed 15 hours of 4-knot favorable current.” Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ygukvng SAILING SHORTS * An Irish bid to secure a return visit of the Volvo Ocean Race has Government backing to the tune of 4 million euros. The Government support for the 2011/12 race stopover came last week but is contingent on Ireland having a race entry. The funding is half what was secured from Government for the 2009 stop-over and is also subject to the balance being raised from the private sector. -- Full story: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0205/1224263811671.html * Grant Dalton has ended months of speculation by confirming Emirates Team New Zealand will not compete in the next round the world Volvo Ocean Race, scuppering any chance of Auckland becoming a stopover. The bluewater race was Dalton's fallback option should the America's Cup remain bogged down in the courts. But in a sign the team's inertia is nearly over, the Volvo race has been ditched for two reasons: it was proving too expensive and was superfluous to the team's needs. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ygeqg4s * Yacht brokerage sales results in the United States in January were higher than the same month a year earlier, but down somewhat from December 2009. According to sales reported by YachtWorld.com member brokers, unit sales improved over January 2009 by 29 percent, with 1,610 boats sold, and valuation of boats sold increased even more, by 42 percent, to $190.5 million. Despite those gains, the number of boats sold in January, compared to December, fell by 106 boats, and total valuation dropped by $53 million. -- Soundings Trade Only, read on: http://tinyurl.com/y9doodt SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar DOUBLE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONSHIP The 2010 Laser Radial Women’s’ North American Championship and Finn Midwinter Championship lived up to all of the hype. Several of the top ranked sailors in each class battled it out in near perfect conditions off Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lauderdale Yacht Club rolled out their usual hospitality, blended with expert race management, to put on a world class regatta. Friday’s racing began in 16 knots with some gusts to 20 knots, but with the winds from the South, and a South running current inshore, the seas had built to 6-8 feet. Saturday saw the strongest breeze with some gusts well over 20 knots, while Sunday saw winds nearly as strong but also extreme oscillations. Both events had epic finals, with a match race showcase between Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Marit Bouwmeester (NED) to tilt the outcome toward the American. Similar on the Finn side, where an exceedingly strong finish by Zach Railey provided the win for the top ranked American Olympian. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9040 Brilliant photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0207/ TO RISE LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES Amid U.S. Olympic sailing, the glory days in the windsurfing event are too long ago to remember. By the time Mike Gebhardt and Lanee Butler Beashel slipped off the world stage following the 2000 Games, course racing in the country had diminished so far that there were no ranks to rise through. The selection for the women’s event at the 2008 Games was marred by procedural controversy, with the irony being that the winner after all the legal skirmishes would earn the right to do get clobbered in the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee could no longer justify allocating resources to this event until the grass roots of American windsurfing got its act together. Asked then US SAILING President, Jim Capron, "What can we do to make Olympic Windsurfing a USA strength?" The challenge was taken on by the creation of the Windsurfing Task Force, a committee chaired by Bryan McDonald and supported by Susen Epstein, Nevin Sayre, Jerelyn Biehl, Britt Viehman, and Dan Weiss. And from this group has come the creation of the new Youth Windsurfing Development Team (YWT). With the endorsement by the U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee (USOSC), the YWT is open only to approved applicants who demonstrate commitment to very specific training goals. The YWT seeks to be the conduit to take young sailors from local windsurf racing and give them the tools to be successful at the Olympic level. While operating for now under the focused guidance of the WTF, the goal is for the YWT to ultimately fold into the USOSC Youth Development Team that has provided young sailors with support in the other events. Applications are now being accepted for the 2010 Youth Windsurfing Development Team The deadline for the first round of applications is February 25, 2010. YWT members will be announced in March, 2010. -- Details: http://tinyurl.com/ykjof4m CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The easiest way to figure the cost of living is to take your income and add ten percent. Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized and The Pirates Lair. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
