|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1714 - November 18, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. LEAN MEAN & GREEN Gorge Games founder and international windsurfing champion Peggy Lalor announced plans to expand the annual summer event with the launch of the first Live Large Tour in spring 2005. Staged in multiple locations throughout the Northwest, including Portland, Ore., Seattle, and its original home base in Hood River, Ore., the Live Large Tour will consist of a series of annual sporting and educational programs for people of all ages and abilities. The tour will promote healthy lifestyle choices under the theme of "Lean, Mean and Green." Given the national crisis surrounding inactivity and obesity, I was inspired to transfer the energy and enthusiasm of the week-long Gorge Games to a year-round, cause-based program promoting healthy lifestyle choices," said Peggy Lalor, Gorge Games founder. "Connecting the cool-hip-physical-fun' aspects of outdoor sports with a message of eating a balanced diet while enjoying the natural beauty of the Northwest is a powerful way to motivate healthy lifestyles." To support expanded events of the Live Large Tour, Portland-Based National Meeting Company will partner with Lalor to bring their high profile event expertise to execute healthy lifestyle campaigns. National Meeting Company's first objective is to secure national and regional sponsors that align with Live Large Tours' core values, which endorse a healthy, active, sustainable lifestyle. - www.livelargetour.com CROSS THIS ONE OFF YOUR CALENDAR Lack of sponsorship has been cited as the reason for the 'postponement' of the inaugural Antarctica Cup International Yacht Race, scheduled for a start in 2005. Event organizer Bob Williams had planned to provide competitors with identical high performance racing boats at minimal cost for this circumnavigation of Antarctica. The boats were never built. What now? Williams says he's working on a dual-handed non-stop circumnavigation of Antarctica to start in late 2006 in a fleet of Open 60s. "This event is planned to incorporate a series of ocean races, 'in between' the around-Antarctica races." However, Williams admitted that identifying a port in Australasia interested in hosting this dual-handed event is, "work-in-progress." - www.antarcticacup.com CARNAGE There were 23 spinnakers blown on leg one of the Global Challenge, which may sound like a lot, but Challenge Business' Technical Director, Andrew Roberts, reports from Buenos Aires that considering "the difficult conditions towards the end of the leg it's not altogether surprising. Charging into the shallow muddy water of the River Plate in up to 45 knots of wind at the end of a 6100 mile leg is hard on the gear and very hard on the skipper and crew," continued Andrew. "Four years ago the sail makers spent approximately 650 hours repairing sails. This time it may be as high as 750 due to the conditions." Andrew has also reported that Team Stelmar, Team Save the Children and BG Spirit broke their spinnaker poles. - http://tinyurl.com/6k4og JUST INTRODUCED Melges Performance Sailboats has just introduced a new boat into its already complete scow lineup. The new Melges 17 is a two person, sloop-rigged scow with a big roach main, a roller furling jib and an asymmetrical spinnaker. What motivated this new entry? "We're presently missing a lot of our young sailors once they graduate out of the X-Boat, Laser and 420," explained Melges Vice President Andy Burdick. "The Melges 17 will bring new excitement to scow sailing, at an affordable price. And with an optimum crew weight of 265 - 350 pounds, we know it will also appeal to couples." The boat was designed by Reichel/ Pugh, who also designed the Melges 24. The 17 is loaded with new technology and features, including extruded aluminum, foil-shaped rudder and bilge boards … and a clean deck layout with bilge boards that are totally below the decks without any protrusions. However, like the other scows in the Melges lineup, the new 17 will utilize the MPreg laminate system. www.Melges.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE "This is the first time that a multihull has been designed specifically for solo record-breaking. And it was designed around me. Everything from the cockpit dimensions to the amount of sail was calculated to allow me to do the best possible job of sailing her." - Ellen MacArthur talking about B&Q, the trimaran she is preparing to sail around the world. From a story by Andrew Baker in the Daily Telegraph, http://tinyurl.com/3shz4 ULLMAN SAILS AT THE J24 EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP Ullman Sails congratulates Chris Crockett and crew on board "Blind Squirrel" for winning the 2004 J24 East Coast Championship. This major USA J24 regatta drew over 50 boats to the Annapolis venue. Chris was joined by Alec Cutler on the helm and Max Skelley called tactics. This championship follows the 1st place finish by Deke Klatt at the 2004 J24 North American's where again, a complete inventory of Ullman Sails was used for the win. For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet" contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com SWEDISH MATCH TOUR - NIPPON CUP Hayama, Japan - The Pizza-La Red Lobster Nippon Cup - Stage 4 of the 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour - got underway Wednesday with six crews sailing five flights and the other six sailing two flights. Due to the disparity in races sailed, there's a jumbled leaderboard after the first day of the 15th anniversary match-race regatta. The race committee had hoped to complete eight flights, but light winds in the middle of the day forced a postponement that shortened the competitors time on the water. Still, they completed seven flights, or 21 matches, in an abbreviated day. A northeasterly wind blew offshore onto Sagami Bay for the first day of racing, but it had huge oscillations in it. The hills lining Sagami Bay make the wind very shifty. They weren't predictable oscillations," noted Ed Baird, currently placed second on the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard. "The breeze was building off of the racecourse. You had to decide if you wanted to sail through the light spot to get to the new wind, or if you wanted to work with what you had." - Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com Provisional Standings after 7 of 22 scheduled flights: 1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) 2-0 = Philippe Presti (FRA) 2-0 3. Ed Baird (USA) 4-1 4. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) 4-1 5. Dean Barker (NZL) 3-2 6. Gavin Brady (NZL) 3-2 7. Yasutaka Funazawa (JPN) 1-1 = Michele Ivaldi (ITA) 1-1 9. Sven-Erik Horsch (GER) 1-4 10. Geoff Meek (RSA) 0-2 = Takumi Nakamura (JPN) 0-2 12. Kazuto Seki (JPN) 0-5 VENDEE GLOBE All of the racers are now converging in the middle of the Atlantic towards the same passage, the six frontrunners, who have escaped the doldrums, virtually in single file one behind the other. Just miles separate the leaders' trajectory now in stark contrast to over 350 miles that separated the most extreme routes as the fleet passed the Canaries. A compulsory funnel, created by the crossing of the doldrums, provides and has provided a natural complication in their game plan and may well open things out again as the routes diverge once more. In contrast to this thinking, today's leaders believe that it may be another three days before this happens. The unusual weather situation in the southern Atlantic may develop quickly and the deal may well change in the next 24 hours. As a result the three coming days could prove more tactical than they seem for the leaders. - www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ Standings at 0400 GMT November 18: 1. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam 2. PRB, Vincent Riou 17.9 (miles to leader) 3. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 24.4 mtl 4. Sill Véolia, Roland Jourdain, 60.5 mtl 5. Ecover, Mike Golding, 81.8 mtl 6. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson, 83.7 mtl 7. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick, 151.5 mtl 8. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 173.0 mtl 9. Pro-Form. Marc Thiercelin, 211.1 mtl 10. UUDS, Hervé Laurent, 215.7 mtl ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? "All the boats are in squalls at the moment though with anything from 5 to 25 knots. It's difficult to find the right wind combination with one sail change after another. The squalls have been coming in very, very hard too." - Mike Golding, Ecover "The first squall I saw on the radar at 0600 this morning, and I did a couple of sail changes as it came in, it was blowing around 40 knots. Hellomoto was stoking along at 23 knots for 40 to 50 minutes, but now the wind has completely died, and we're sat here pretty much becalmed. I'm trying to point the boat into the next squall. It's pouring with rain, there's spray everywhere, you have to try and pull sails down as soon as possible when the squall comes, then 2 minutes later you're left completely soaked and totally becalmed, not going anywhere, and then you have to pull the sails back up." - Conrad Humphreys, Hellomoto "After being on deck in shorts, 20 minutes later I was freezing cold and soaked through to the skin ... I was shaking with the cold!" - Nick Moloney, Skandia NEWS BRIEFS * The new "Moveable and Variable Ballast" Appendix K to the Offshore Special Regulations is now available on the ISAF website. As well as stating the required safety standards for such boats, including Knockdown and Inversion Recovery Factors, the appendix also defines fixed, moveable and variable ballast. It also states that in order to comply with the appendix, systems must be permanently installed with manual control and actuation systems. Appendix K becomes effective on February 1, 2005. - www.sailing.org/technical/appendix_k.pdf * Marion-Bermuda Race organizers are hoping to attract a fleet of 100 for next June's 645-mile ocean crossing, with new divisions and new prizes on offer. The 15th edition of the cruising yacht race will leave from Buzzards Bay, off Marion, Massachusetts, in eight months' time with multi-hull and double-handed yachts competing for the first time. A line honours prize for the first all-female crew will also be on offer. - http://tinyurl.com/5plqp * More than 100 participants representing more than 40 one-design classes participated in US Sailing's One-Design Symposium, held last weekend in Newport, RI. This is the first time in the history of the organization that such a Symposium of this magnitude was organized. The Symposium was filled with workshops offered by experts in various areas including newsletters, web pages, sponsorship, promotion, measurement and class management. General sessions included panel discussions on how to invigorate a class or fleet and class relationships with builders and sailmakers. Plans are in the works for organizing a One-Design Symposium in 2005. http://www.ussailing.org/odcc/ * The University of Hawaii bested 16 other college teams to win the North-South Pacific Coast Championships sailed at Lake Isabella in California in 3-12 knows of breeze. The top four teams were only separated by nine points, with Stanford taking second place ahead of USC, UC Irvine and Georgetown. - www.collegesailing.org/00intersx/f04/northsouth.htm TOO COLD? TWO WORDS: NORTH SEA! A parka designed to meet polar conditions! Henri Lloyd's North Sea Parka boasts a 34-inch back length for extra coverage when it's extra cold! And though it's super warm, it's not super bulky thanks to a free-moving quilted nylon lining and a fully adjustable draw cord at the waist. The highly breathable, versatile North Sea Parka also features a stow-away-hood, a toasty fleece lining and smooth, nylon taffeta, insulated sleeves to ensure you're supremely warm and comfortable. Visit a North Sea Dealer near you: http://www.henrilloydonline.com/scuttlebutt LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Wells Pile: At what point do we freeze technologic advancement in sailing? T.O.M. Sopwith had his aeronautical engineers working away on improvements on his boats… I am sure Sir Thomas Lipton pushed the envelope on several fronts…. It's too late to put the fiberglass cat back in the bag; probably the same holds true of carbon fiber. Perhaps we should declare that AC boats can be as big as they want, but have to have a single wooden mast! And the non-evolutionary one designs? Do they actually exist? My Beetle Cat has silicon bronze screws, a Dacron sail, marine plywood centerboard and rudder…a far cry from the rusting steel fasteners, cotton sails and solid wood rudders and centerboards of my youth. I would challenge anyone to name a production one-design that is being made the same today as when the first model rolled off the factory floor. Technologic advancement is interwoven with the sport. Most sailors will never have a bullet-proof sail, but will go sailing in a cruising boat to have fun and, occasionally, race. The ultimate test of whether a boat is desired by the mass of sailors is whether or not it is still in production years later. If someone else wants to pour his (or her) money into a hole in the water to have an enormously expensive (and often uncomfortable) boat that will go a tenth of a knot faster, well, that's his business. * From Tim Minogue: Instead of suggesting ways in which the AC should be changed, why not stop and think about what it is about the AC that makes it the richest and most successful sailing event in the world by a long way. Why has it endured for so long, why have the mega-rich aspired to winning it and risked public humiliation by failing for over 100 years? Why? Because it is incredibly hard to win. What makes the AC interesting is that to win you have to put in a serious, concerted effort over several years, with a team of exceptional people. If you changed it to be sailed in one designs, any good match racing helmsman and crew could win it on a given day. Put it in big skiffs that sail on the brink of disaster and you introduce too much of an element of chance. The success of the AC does not have anything to do with it being visually exciting. AC racing has always been like watching grass grow, yet it is incredibly successful based on any objective measure ($ spent per cup, number of newspaper column inches written, number of visitors to host country etc. etc.). If you think you have a great idea for a sailing event, go start one up yourself, get the sponsors and go for it. I'll bet it will bore the public to tears, and that in three years time you will still be sitting glued to the TV or Virtual Spectator. * From Josh Sloan: When the discussion turns to improving US Olympic sailing, my vote is to make this country smaller. Two of the best sailing venues in the US are in Long Beach, CA, and Miami, FL, but when it takes 50 hours of non-stop driving to get from one to the other, you just can not unite the best US sailors together to make them better. I recall the US Tornado sailors were geographically divided leading into the 1992 Olympic Trials. There was a training camp in Florida led by Randy Smyth and included John Lovell, Zach Leonard, etc. On the west coast, there was a group that included Pete Melvin and Pease Glaser. Neither were organized by the Olympic Team ... just a bunch of sailors doing what they could to get better, but separated because of the gigantic country. What happened? The east coast group developed a speed edge, and beat out the west coast group. At the Olympics, trials winner Randy Smyth earned the Silver medal. Luckily, each camp had enough good sailors to collectively improve, but what about the classes with insufficient numbers? And what if all those Tornado sailors had trained together, rather than apart? Sorry, but we just have to figure out how to squeeze together the best sailing venues, as they seem to attract the best prospects for the future US Olympic Teams. Curmudgeon's Comment: Here are the results of a poll we did earlier this year on what were considered to be the best racing venues in the US: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/racingsites-us * From Ben Fuller: Peter Huston's recommendations look a whole lot like what the Catboat Association does at their race /rendezvous. Rules are on a single laminated card. Think about what a conventional start looks like to the novice owner who wants to give racing a try. Is there any other sporting event which can be won or lost before it starts? Some fleets agree together not to have boat wars, like the Etchells fleet in Maine that buys only used equipment and used sails. The wooden boat series/ classic yacht series where looking at the other boat is worth the day, you certainly don't want to think about contact, and the lobster bake at night is huge. * From Bill Tyler (Regarding Len Hubbard's memorial message about "C" - Dan Cianci): In the 25 or so years I knew C I saw him go from a relatively inexperienced but tremendously enthusiastic racing sailor to the consummate bowman and all-around sailor - but he never lost a bit of that enthusiasm. C seemed to approach everything in life with joy and extracted every bit of fun that could be found. I'm sure that in the early hours of Nov. 13, as C went forward that last time on Snow Lion, in miserable conditions, he did it with the same smile and "another day at the office" attitude that he always displayed. All who met C even for a few minutes will remember him and we will all miss him. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out. |
