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SCUTTLEBUTT 3757 - Friday, January 18, 2013Scuttlebutt 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 and Mount Gay Rum. BRAZILIAN CONNECTION COMES EARLY (January 17, 2013) - A big change to the Volvo Ocean Race was revealed today with the announcement that the first leg of the 2014-15 edition would finish in the Brazilian capital city of Recife. The first leg has traditionally finished in Cape Town, South Africa at a length of 6,500 nm. A finish at Recife, which is positioned at the northeast corner of the country, will reduce the mileage by half. As with the 2011-12 race, the first leg will again start in Alicante, Spain. Additionally, a Brazilian team will enter the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, making it the second publicly announced team for the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, following the SCA all-women's team announced in last year. Details about the team, including the identity of the skipper, will be announced in the coming weeks. The last Brazilian team to enter the Volvo Ocean Race was Brasil 1 in 2005-06. Torben Grael (BRA) was the skipper and Knut Frostad (NOR), now the Volvo Ocean Race's CEO, featured as a crew member on some of the legs. Grael returned in 2008-09 to win as skipper of Ericsson 4. Recife was one of over 80 ports to express an interest in hosting the race when the bid process was launched in 2012. The deal announced today will see Recife host the race for the next two editions. The Volvo Ocean Race´s links with Brazil date back to 1973, when the first edition of what was then known as the Whitbread Round the World Race stopped at Rio de Janeiro as the fleet returned toward Europe. The 2011-12 edition stopped in Itajaí before the race continued to Miami, FL. The remainder of the route will be announced over the next few weeks, with final details, including dates of stopovers and distances to be sailed, coming by mid-February. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-011813 OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW By Ryan O'Grady, Sailing World For both the Groupama Sailing Team and Puma Ocean Racing, official announcements have been made confirming the end of their Volvo ambitions. While a setback for the Volvo Ocean Race, both sponsors are still keenly committed to sailing. Puma is a technical sponsor to Oracle Racing's bid to defend the America's Cup, while Groupama will continue to support Franck Cammas in the Little Americas Cup and France's Tour de France a la Voile. For the other teams from the past race, no official announcements have been made regarding their futures. Both Ian Walker (Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing) and Pedro Campos (Telefonica) are on the record as strong supporters of the new VO65 One Design class, and the old VO70 Telefonica has been rebranded as MAPFRE for an upcoming attempt at the "Discovery Route" record from Spain to the Bahamas. Hopefully, both teams will soon be announcing their intentions to continue on in the next race. The loss of Puma from the race has come as a gain to the all-female Team SCA. SCA has purchased Mar Mostro, and it has been undergoing a refit to act as a crew selection and training vessel for the challenge managed by Atlant Ocean Racing. I caught up with Richard Brisius, head of Atlant, before the holidays to catch up on the status of the only declared team for the next Volvo. "The concept of a female crew came from SCA, and we said that is an enormous challenge" says Brisius. "There just isn't the experience. You have to go back to Adrienne Cahalan in 2005 [one leg as navigator for Brasil 1], and before that to 2001 [Amer Sports 2] to find any woman with experience in this race. A lot has changed in 10 years with the technology." While finding experienced women to mount a team may be a challenge, to sponsor SCA, it's worth the effort. "SCA is undergoing a change," continues Brisius, "The company has over 100 different brands, and 80 percent of their customers are women. The race will be an excellent way to reach out to this global audience." So committed are SCA, that Atlant's budget for the race is fully financed. To reach out to the target market, SCA first needs a team. A global call for resumes went out in the fall of 2012, and Atlant's office was swamped with applicants. Some have Olympic medals, some extensive experience in the Class 40 and Figaro fleets. Others were just looking for adventure. "In most cases, in 95 percent of the cases, the best women in sailing, at least from the people we speak to, have already applied to us, and we find that really inspiring. I think that's not the case for the men's teams," says Brisius. -- Read on: http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs/racing/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new EDITOR'S NOTE: Ryan is seeking to get hired as an onboard reporter for the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race. Here is his Facebook page which includes his virtual CV: http://tinyurl.com/ROG-FB-011813 SCUTTLEBUTT TRIVIA The above story says how Groupama will continue to support Franck Cammas in the Little Americas Cup and France's Tour de France a la Voile. What else is Groupama and Franck teaming up on? (Answer below) NOW THAT'S SPECIAL - J/70 UPGRADES AND MORE Unless you find yourself in tropical locales, there is very little about winter that is special to a sailor. Until today - it's the Hall Spars & Rigging Winter Special! From now through February 15th, get 15% OFF retail on cut lengths of rope and wire, finished running and/or standing rigging, carbon poles and QuikVangs & fittings. Plus, ask and you shall receive - the Hall store is chock full of J/70 rigging upgrades and hardware spares. Winter is the perfect time to outfit your boat for racing season, which is fast approaching - and that's pretty special! http://www.hallspars.com CANADIAN COUNSEL "Find a way to have fun and you'll excel. Enjoy racing, enjoy training, enjoy the pain and enjoy the company. Nothing is more important than fun." - Zac Plavsic, 2012 Olympian and Rolex Canadian Sailor of the Year award finalist, http://tinyurl.com/ZP-011813 "My advice to anyone, regardless if they are female or not - would be to enjoy their sport. Enjoy the journey, don't just focus on results. Sport is not easy, but surrounding yourself with great people and having fun while working hard towards your goals helps you get through the difficult times. And girls... train with the guys!" - Nikola Girke, 2012 Olympian and Sail Canada's 2012 Female Athlete of the Year, http://tinyurl.com/NG-011813 ESSENTIALLY A BIG WINDSURFER When Australian Paul Larsen shattered the outright speed record in Namibia on November 24, 2012, piloting Vestas SailRocket to 65.45 knots on the Walvis Bay 500 meter track, it was the result of a decade of diligence. But what is Sailrocket, and how did it eclipse the speed of 55.65 knots set by American kiter Rob Douglas in 2010? One of the fundamental keys to Sailrocket's performance is eliminating the heeling force, but she's not the first to this by a long way. By canting their rigs to windward and with the sails above their heads, windsurfers do it all the time to balance out the forces. Once in equilibrium, as they hammer along in straight line, there is no heeling moment on the board itself. Instead, it's all about balancing the sail forces against the skeg. In practice, Sailrocket is rather more complex because of her size, but essentially she is just a big windsurfer with the hull and crew pulling down on the tip of the mast and a strut lower down instead of sitting in a harness attached to the wishbone. Yachting World has posted a descriptive diagram to demonstrate how Sailrocket functions: http://www.yachtingworld.com/fileBank/PNG/how_sailrocket_works.png NEXT STOP - AZORES HIGH (January 17, 2013; Day 69) - After seeing his lead dwindle in the doldrums to 61 miles on Wednesday night, Francois Gabart (MACIF) has edged slightly away today from Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire). Sailing upwind angles with the wind in the teens, Francois is within 400nm of the Cape Verde island country off of Western Africa, with Armel directly astern. There are now around ten days to the finish line in Les Sables, with the last big hurdle for them to negotiate is the Azores high. Armel had, perhaps, some of the pressure taken off him today as his sponsor Banque Populaire announced their commitment to sailing until 2016. They have bought the old Groupama III maxi trimaran, renamed it Banque Populaire VII, and that Armel will skipper it in the 2014 Route du Rhum. Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/ Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Thursday, January 17, 2013, 20h00 (FR) 1. Francois Gabart (FRA), Macif: 2690.9 nm Distance to Finish 2. Armel Le Cleac'h (FRA), Banque Populaire: 94.5 nm Distance to Lead 3. Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac Paprec 3: 378.2 nm DTL 4. Alex Thomson (GBR), Hugo Boss: 654.7 nm DTL 5. Jean Le Cam (FRA), SynerCiel: 2083.4 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html BACKGROUND: Twenty skippers began the 24,000-nm Vendee Globe, a solo, non-stop around the world race in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Starting in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on November 10, the west to east course passes the three major capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn before returning to Les Sables d'Olonne. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) set the course record of 84 days in the 2008-9 edition. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ FOR THE JOY AND PLEASURE OF SAILING Some people contend the sport has progressed beyond what its participants can keep up with, while others are eager to pursue what new developments can be created. These two urges can exist, but perhaps not coexist. One design classes can regulate what kind of class they want to be whereas handicap racing tends to be the melting pot. But events can still dictate the type of atmosphere they seek to support, and this has been the mantra of the Marion Bermuda Race. The 2013 race starts June 14th in Buzzards Bay off Marion MA, and seeks to provide the opportunity for cruising style yachts and amateur crews to sail a 645 nm ocean race to Bermuda. Here are some of the race's conditions: * Yachts must have an enclosed cabin and be fitted out for comfortable cruising, including permanent bunks, a permanently installed and enclosed toilet, and permanently installed cooking facilities suitable for use at sea. Her hull length, exclusive of spars or projections fixed to the hull, such as bowsprits or pulpits, must be between 32.0 feet and 80.0 feet. Fixed keels are required. Moveable ballast is not permitted. * Professional weather routing services, professional Gulf Stream predicting services and other private communications for routing purposes are permitted prior to 1700 on the evening before the start of a yacht's division and are prohibited after that time. This restriction also applies to yacht-to-yacht or yacht-to-shore transmissions for routing purposes. * The race is open to sailors of all ISAF Group Classifications that are fully in keeping with the Spirit of the Race, which is that all yachts and crew are participating for the joy and pleasure of sailing, competition, and the camaraderie that accompanies such an off-shore event. * If a yacht has a regular full-time paid captain or crew member, this one person is allowed on the yacht during the race but shall take no active part in sailing, steering or navigating the yacht unless there is an emergency. The full-time paid captain or crew may act as the cook and perform yacht maintenance. Race website: http://www.marionbermuda.com THIS WINTER'S SAILING SEASON! Whether you are still sailing in a warm breeze, frostbiting throughout the cold months or sitting in front of the fire thinking about the upcoming summer sailing season, you can stay in touch with your fellow sailors at Mount Gay Rum's Sailing Spoken Here website. With tens of thousands world-wide members, sailors are visiting this hub to follow racing (check out the daily coverage from sailors racing at Quantum Key West 2013-photos too!!), read the latest sailing news, look for popular recipes, promotions and more… The Mount Gay Rum sponsored regatta calendar is posted so you can plan your 2013 sailing season. Stay connected here: http://www.facebook.com/sailingspokenhere TRIVIA ANSWER With a multihull event back in the Olympics, Franck Cammas has launched his preparations for the 2016 Games. Long term, Franck has committed himself to the 35th America's Cup. VIRTUAL MARKS Setting marks is a burden in our sport. When the ocean is too deep, or the course location too remote, the popular solution is to use GPS co-ordinates. However, under the rules it can be a tricky problem, especially with regard to RRS 18 (Mark-Room). Australian Ken Morrison (IJ) shares the solution that his local clubs devised: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Racing Rules of Sailing place a heavy reliance on the presence and use of physical marks to define the start, the course and the finish. This paper addresses the requirements of some organising authorities who which to use GPS locations instead of physical marks to define the course. The key problem in using something other than a physical mark (or island, etc) is that the definition of mark cannot be changed by Sailing Instructions, and, that it requires that a mark be "an object". The accepted interpretation of this definition is that the term "object" implies physical presence. A number of attempts have been made using variations of "obstruction" but not have been successful within the context of the rules. This paper takes a different tack (pun intended).... read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/13/0103/ SAILING SHORTS * (January 17, 2013) - Hap Fauth's J/V72 Bella Mente was the pace setter for the 38th Annual Fort Lauderdale - Key West Race, completing the 160 nm route in 12:59:42. This was good enough for top honors in IRC, with Steve & Heidi Benjamin's Carkeek HP 40 SPOOKIE finishing over five hours later to take second place. Winning PHRF overall and Division A was Frank Atkinson's Cape Bay Fast 40 Different Drummer, with Christian Schaumloffel's Hobie 33 Mirage winning Division B. Jason Carroll's Gunboat 62 Elvis won the multihull fleet. Thirty-two boats started on Wednesday with three not finishing. Full results: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=706 * On Saturday, January 12th, the Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) hosted an invitation-only luncheon at the Stamford Yacht Club (CT) to reveal its mission to support the science of sailing, and announce a new challenge grant opportunity for tax-deductible donations. The event attracted an impressive crowd of 120 sailors, owners, designers, race managers, rule-makers and journalists to hear such prominent sailors as Stan Honey, Steve Benjamin, and Peter Isler speak about the importance of SYRF to their work in Grand Prix-level offshore sailing and even the America's Cup. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15083 * Peter Durant has been named as the new Association Manager of Sail America, with immediate effect. As Association Manager for Sail America, Durant will work with Sail America's Board of Directors to promote the sailing lifestyle, strengthen member businesses and sustain and grow the membership. Prior to joining Sail America, Durant spent six years as Executive Director of the Community Boating Center of New Bedford, Massachusetts. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15080 * The same NOAA weather and climate satellites that accurately tracked Hurricane Sandy's path in October also played a key role in rescuing 263 people in 111 emergencies in the United States and surrounding waters in 2012. In addition to their role in weather prediction, these polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System, called Cospas-Sarsat. This system uses a network of satellites to quickly pinpoint the location of the distress signals. -- Read on: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130115_sarsatrescues2012.html * CORRECTION: The mysteries of the internet broke the link in Scuttlebutt 3756 for the Kenny Read report about the Marstrom 32. Here is the fixed link for the remainder of his report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/13/0116/ PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include shoes optional, foiling mandatory, harness required, fast-growing plants, bad ending, Opti struggles, new and improved, and 60 years later. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0118/ Bonus photos: * When Key West Race Week begins next week, it will continue the history that began with the very first edition in 1987. How far have we come? Do you remember cruising accommodations, mis-matched crew gear, or tri-radial sails? There was lots of competition in the 50-foot class, along with an interesting mix of cruiser/racers in the Conch Republic. Here are the photos from J H Peterson: http://www.sailingworld.com/gallery/racing/vintage-key-west * One of the popular monthly features is the computer monitor background produced by photographer Cory Silken. If you missed the January edition, here it is: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0111/ * Here are the photos posted by Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/SB-FB-011813 * For the creepers who are into webcams, here's a collection of angles for Auckland in New Zealand, with one of the cameras aimed directly at the Emirates Team New Zealand base in the Viaduct Harbour (click on the image to activate): http://www.takeabreak.co.nz/accommodation/auckland-city.asp?cam=2 SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK A record 425 college sailors from 38 schools racing 45 borrowed boats came together for the 2012 Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta ("IOR") hosted by the Storm Trysail Foundation and the Larchmont Yacht Club (Larchmont, NY) on October 6-7. A competition within the competition was the video contest which was won by Bates College of Lewiston, ME, with video credit going to Helen Chyz. The Bates College Sailing Team, which was comprised of Jake Barbato, Helen Chyz, Connor Blair-Cucchiaro, Alex Frances, Geoff Ryder, Will Seider, and Sam Wells, will be awarded $1500.00 towards their sailing program. Here is their winning video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/13/0118/ Bonus Videos: * This week on America's Cup Discovered we take a look back on a momentous 2012 America's Cup World Series. There were highs, lows, intense rivalries, shut out starts, thrilling finishes, and epic capsizes. Tune in on Saturday January 19 approx 0800 PST 1100 EST: http://www.youtube.com/americascup * Matt Brooks, owner of the classic Olin Stephens designed yacht Dorade, has put out a challenge to other classic yacht owners to inspire them to race in the 2013 Transpac. Race organizers have agreed to give the classics their own class if the can round up a few more boats. Here's a report from onboard Dorade: http://youtu.be/4JmvDAZgG3M SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Don't complain about getting old - not everybody is afforded the privilege. SPONSORS THIS WEEK New York Yacht Club - Harken - North Sails - North U KO Sailing - Doyle Sailmakers - US Sailing UsedBoatEquipment.com - Block Island Race Week Ullman Sails - Hall Spars & Rigging - Mount Gay Rum Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
