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SCUTTLEBUTT 2795 - Friday, March 6, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Today's sponsors are North U and Team One Newport. FLEET SEPARATION CONTINUES TO GROW (Mar. 5, 2009; Day 20) - For the Volvo Ocean Race teams, what started out several days ago as a typical downhill slog to the Southern Ocean has been turned into a navigational lottery by prevailing weather systems which have no respect for history and tradition. Where we were expecting Franz Klammer, we got Sir Edmund Hillary. You can picture the piles of shredded routing charts gathering by the navigation stations on board. While heading south from the scoring waypoint at latitude 36 degrees was always the most viable option, the fleet has meandered in all manner of directions in the past 48 hours. Since Ericsson 3’s infamous about-turn soon after crossing the gate in second place, the patterns of tracks on the Race Viewer resemble an infant’s crayon scrawlings. The reason? Weather models which refuse to play ball. The culprits are a ridge of high pressure, blocking the route south into the Southern Ocean and onwards to Cape Horn, and a tantalising low pressure positioned to the east. This has caused huge separation in the fleet - over 250 miles of it (550 nm as of Mar. 6, 1:00 am GMT) - as navigators wrestle with optimum routes. -- Full story: http://linkbee.com/ICXG * Telefonica Blue has suffered a broken forestay and has put in place a jury rig to continue on the leg. The team is hopeful for some downwind sailing, as they can only hoist a small jib on separate stay when tight reaching and upwind sailing. -- http://linkbee.com/ICXW * The teams will need to keep in mind the leg’s two ice gates that are positioned between New Zealand and Cape Horn. The intention is to keep the fleet north of known populations of ice. And in both cases the protocol is the same: a team must be on or north of the designated latitude at some point between the two stated lines of longitude. -- Full story: http://linkbee.com/ICXY Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janiero, Brazil is 12,300 nm, with the finish estimated on March 20th. Current positions (as of Mar. 6, 1:00 am GMT): 1. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 6,596 nm Distance to Finish 2. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 15 nm Distance to Leader 3. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 35 nm DTL 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 92 nm DTL 5. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 124 nm DTL Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Did Not Start Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, DNS Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, DNS Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com WANTED: SOUTH PACIFIC SAIL LOFT by Bouwe Bekking, Telefónica Blue skipper The bottom part of the mainsail is completely delaminated. The sail has Kevlar strings running over all the loading points, which are covered by a Mylar film, which basically is preventing the breeze blowing through. Now that Mylar film has disintegrated, and is not attached to Kevlar any more and big holes have appeared in the mainsail. It looked more or less as if 10 men had emptied their guns with our main as a target. This morning (Thursday)when the wind dropped a little, the repair forces have to come out. Jordi (Jordi Calafat/ESP) as the leading sailmaker, wanted to do a perfect job, but the more he looked at the sail, the more inevitable it became that the job was nearly hopeless. So out has come the 5200, a sort of Sikaflex. It is almost bulletproof and has very high glue capabilities and is able to cure under water. With this Jordi has been trying to stick big panels of Kevlar and Cuben fibre repair material onto the mainsail. Of course that was more boatbuilding than sailmaking so David (David Vera/ESP) came in action. To do the job, we had to lower the main to the third reef and have been sailing like that for about seven hours. Heat blankets had to come out, to help kicking off the 5200 a bit quicker. Now the job is done, just before sunset, but still sailing with one reef, to let the repair job cure more. David’s foul weather gear must be 100% watertight again, as he managed to cover himself in the 5200, and his gear is whiter than their original colour blue. -- Full story: http://linkbee.com/ICX0 JUST FOUR... There are just 4 Right of Way rules, 4 limiting rules and mark rounding rules, yet for too many sailors the Racing Rules are a source of confusion and angst. It does not have to be that way. US Sailing Rules Seminars give sailors the tools to recognize their rights (and obligations) in any situation. Presented by North U, the seminars include a Racing Rules Workbook created by Dave Perry. US Sailing members save $40. Check the schedule and sign up by visiting NorthU.com or by calling North U at 800-347-2457 or 203-245-0727. http://www.northu.com INTERNATIONAL MOTH - ONE YEAR LATER Amid all the sailing news stories is a tale of a development dinghy class now called the International Moth. Its history dates back to events in the U.S. and Australia, was formalized as an international class in 1935, and is now best known for its hydrofoils that have lifted the boat, and the interest in the class, to a whole other level. While Frank Raisin (AUS) first put his Moth on foils in 1972, it wasn’t until 2005 when Rohan Veal (AUS) became the first foiler to win the Worlds that the class graduated from peculiar to precocious. One year ago, Scuttlebutt reported on the first International Moth regatta to occur in North America, when six boats came to San Diego, CA in February. The group was a mix of youth, techies, Olympic campaigners and professional sailors. A broad mix… and in their eyes, a perfect mix. Growth has since continued, and when Americans Charlie McKee, Bora Gulari, and Hans Henken travelled to Sydney, Australia last December for the ISAF Grade 1 OAMPS Sydney International Regatta, they dominated a fleet that included current World Champ John Harris, winning the event and taking three of the top four spots. Now, with the class 2009 World Championship to be held on the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, local interest continues to rise. This weekend is another stepping stone for the class, as the 2009 McLube Harken Moth Pacific Coast Championship will be held in the South Bay area of San Diego, hosted by Coronado Yacht Club. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0305/ THE AMAZING RACE (Mar. 5, 2009; Day 116) - In ninth place of the Vendee Globe, American Rich Wilson is currently 1012.1 from the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne, France, and is expected to arrive by Sunday or Monday. With eight entrants already finished and only three still competing, what happened to the other 19 of the 30 original Open 60 entries that started the solo, non-stop, around the world Vendee Globe race on November 9, 2008 at Les Sables d’Olonne, France, but were later forced from the race? Aside from Vincent Rou’s dismasting due to damage incurred during his rescue of Jean Le Cam, there have been five other broken rigs. Problems with rudders are next on the list (4), and through all the failures, two boats have been abandoned. Here is what happened to the 19 skippers no longer in the race: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/vg-damage Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en SKIPPERS INVITED TO ISAF WOMEN'S MATCH RACING WORLDS The 12 top skippers in the world have been invited to the 2009 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship in Lysekil, Sweden held during Lysekil Women's Match from 27 July-1 August. With women’s match racing on the Olympic programme for the first time at the London Games in 2012, the World Championships this summer in Lysekil, on the west coast of Sweden, will be a key event in the sailing world. The world’s top teams will battle for the World Champion title and the biggest prize money in women’s match racing, 50,000 Euro, during the fifth edition of Lysekil Women’s Match, previously a world cup race. The skippers were invited according to the ISAF World Match Race Ranking list, which was updated March 4th. The invited skippers are: 1. Claire Leroy (FRA) 2. Linda Rahm (SWE) 3. Lucy MacGregor (GBR) 4. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN) 5. Silke Hahlbrock (GER) 6. Elizabeth Baylis (USA) 7. Katie Spithill (AUS) 8. Sabrina Gurioli (ITA) 9. Sally Barkow (USA) 10. Nicole Souter (AUS) 11. Anna Kjellberg (SWE) Plus one wild card to be confirmed Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/27470.php STELLAR START FOR THE ACURA MIAMI GRAND PRIX (Mar. 5, 25009) - An international fleet of 42 boats from 7 countries and 14 states completed three races at the 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix in outstanding conditions in the waters off South Beach. Pieter Taselaar’s Melges 32 Bliksem and Niklas Zennstrom’s TP52 RAN (IRC 1) each jumped out ahead in their respective classes, winning all three races. The Italian Farr 40 Nerone also has a solid 6 point lead after winning the first 2 races followed by a second. There is tight racing in IRC 2 as well. Jim Bishop’s J44 Gold Digger out of Jamestown, RI and Philippe Paturel’s Archambault 40 Ciao of Halifax, Nova Scotia are tied for first with 6 points. Daniel Woolery’s King 40 Soozal lies in third, one point back. Action in the four-day event continues on Friday with organizers planning to conduct two races. The 10-race series, being held on a course set just off the north end of Key Biscayne, concludes on Sunday. -- Daily reports: http://www.premiere-racing.com/miami09/pages/AMGP09_news.htm MARTHA'S STIMULUS PLAN #2... Team One Newport's first Stimulus Plan worked out great so we're bringing you Plan #2 (President Obama will be hiring Martha soon!). We have 50% off the Team One Newport dry suit and all discontinued colors of Patagonia Capilene and Wool Layers (while supplies last). Take this opportunity to stay warm and dry for the frostbiting, college, and high school season. So, be quick like a Leprechaun and visit http://www.team1newport.com and click the SPECIALS button on the left hand side. Or call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327) for Customer Service. PARTY JUST GETTING STARTED IN ST. MAARTEN St. Maarten, N.A. (Mar. 5, 2009) - Tom Leweck flashed a big thumb’s up. The well-known “Curmudgeon,” the founder of the widely read yacht-racing newsletter, Scuttlebutt, was taking a break after the first of three races today in the third annual IGY Commodore’s Cup, the tune-up series to the 2009 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Leweck, serving in the after guard aboard Damon Juizot’s Swan 53, Katrina, was in an upbeat mode after registering a third place in the highly competitive Racing A class. “So far,” he said. “So good.” As it turned out, things were about to get even better aboard Katrina, which went on to score two straight firsts in the next two windward/leeward races to earn the top prize in Racing A in the IGY Commodore’s Cup, sailed in moderate east-southeasterly winds of 10-12 knots off Simpson Bay. Katrina, having recently sailed into St. Maarten after a long and sometimes rugged delivery from her home waters of Southern California, was one of a handful of boats making their Caribbean debut. The well-sailed 53-footer, with a top crew including former Latitude 38 racing editor Rob Moore, joined several familiar boats and sailors with well-established local pedigrees in the event, sponsored by Island Global Yachting. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7131#7131 * Olympic medalist, America’s Cup winner, World match-racing champion, and U.S. Virgin Islands native Peter Holmberg added yet another title to his resume on March 3rd when he defeated English skipper Marc Fitzgerald in a straight-set, 3-0 victory, to win the finals of the inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta begins Friday with the traditional around-the-island race. VIDEO OF THE WEEK The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta provides great Caribbean conditions during the day, with fifteen bands listed to pace the parties during the night. This event has also set the standard in promotional videos, ably demonstrating that a week in St. Maarten is good for the soul but maybe a bit rough on the liver. Serious fun! Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/0306 * If you have a video you like, please send your suggestion for next week’s Video of the Week to mailto:craig@sailingscuttlebutt.com SAILING SHORTS * Bonaire’s Taty Frans (ranked 7th in the world) and former Olympian Constantin “Patun” Sargoza are going to windsurf from Bonaire to Curacao (islands off of northern Venezuela) on March 8th as part of a fundraiser to help support a stricken local hero, Erwin Muller. Helicopters and chase boats will accompany the two sailors across the passage. The record set back in the 80’s by Erwin is 4 hours. Donations are being sought. -- Details: http://linkbee.com/ICX1 * It took about a half-hour for a tugboat to haul the 111-year-old Wawona, one of the West Coast's oldest sailing ships, to the dry dock where it will be dismantled, ending a remarkable maritime life. The short trip across Seattle's Lake Union on Wednesday also marked the end of a battle by ship enthusiasts to save the lumber schooner, which was listed as a national historic site in 1970. -- SF Chronicle, read on: http://linkbee.com/ICX2 * Three decades after his first - and only - Transpacific Yacht Race, Neville Crichton will return to the 2,225-mile course from Los Angeles to Honolulu, aboard the supermaxi Alfa Romeo, the 100-foot Reichel Pugh design. Alfa Romeo will compete in the new “Unlimited” division of RSS 52 waiver yachts (exempt from the Racing Rules of Sailing limitations on stored power) up to 100 feet in length. This class does not qualify for the Transpacific Yacht Club Perpetual Trophy (AKA ‘Barn Door’) but instead a newly deeded trophy which will debut this summer. Three race starts are on June 29, July 2, and July 5. -- http://www.transpacrace.com * At midnight on March 15, the application period will close for the 2009 U.S. Youth Championship. The event, hosted by the Indian Harbor Yacht Club (Greenwich, CT) and sponsored by LaserPerformance will be raced in Lasers, Laser Radials, Club 420s and 29ers from June 25-30. This year's championship will include a seminar on college sailing. -- Details: http://championships.ussailing.org/Youth/US_Youth_Champs.htm MARCH MADNESS IS NOT JUST FOR BASKETBALL Depending on the location, winter may be a problem for the sailing enthusiasts. There are soft water solutions (frostbiting) and hard water solutions (iceboating), and there are even open fields with snow solutions (kitewing skiing). But winter is cold, which is enough for many to curtail their sailing drive. However, March is not just the time for college basketball…. * Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2nd, so winter would last another six weeks (March 16th). * Sock Burning: This Chesapeake Country ritual (maybe elsewhere too?) occurs at the vernal equinox (March 20th) to celebrate the end of winter. * Daylight Savings Time: When the above don’t work, nothing replaces additional light at the end of the day. For the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, daylight time begins on March 8th. Any other iconic March events? Post them in the Scuttleblog comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/03/march-madness.html PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include 12 meter racing in Newport (not), big winds in San Francisco (not), underwater imagery in Florida (not), a disastrous roll over in the Netherlands (not), a container where it belongs (not), and arm wrestling match between Anna Tunnicliffe and Terry Hutchinson (not). If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0306/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get one letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Sam Wakeman, Cohasset, MA: If competitors would keep in mind that the simple objective of the rules is to tell boats what to do when they meet, we would all be better off. Too many discussions and actions revolve around how one boat can use the rules to take advantage of others. We are losing (in some cases have lost) sight of RRS 2 (Fair Sailing rule). * From Gail M. Turluck: When I was a junior we sailed in boats that could take lumps: Lehmans, Sunfish, Blue Jays, 420s, FJs. If there was contact, someone was found at fault and penalized with a DSQ (or they were taught to request to withdraw). Yeah, kids would sometimes ram a competitor seeing they were clearly in the right (but the boats didn’t break). This likely led to the avoiding collisions rule, but there was great incentive to stay clean. It really was sailors policing sailors. There were very few people who were merely "Judges." For the bigger regattas in juniors and in college, we'd try to get people on standby to hear protests, but 90% of the time, the sailors heard the protests themselves, with the committee made up from the other racers who were not involved and were not witnesses. Everyone knew they weren't free to go until protests were done. Darn near everyone had a copy of the rule book. We'd spend lunches haggling over the finer points of many situations. At big time regattas, incidents and protests were rare. Then the sport went mushy. Aww, Joe Rockstar didn't win the Worlds because he had to do a 720 and lost 5 boats (geez, he FOULED someone and is lucky to be able to exonerate the offense!). The right for someone to "have fun" (barge and foul another starter and sail away laughing) became more important than following the rules and falling into the second row. Doubt we'll get this genie back in the bottle. * From John Rousmaniere: (re, redress editorial in #2794) As you say, the 1984 dispute concerning the Finn Olympic Trials did involve redress. As a member of the Olympic Yachting Committee then, I can testify that it was awarded correctly after many hearings and much agony. But if another solution had been imposed on the water, redress would have never been an issue. When a regatta committee plainly sees trouble before a race as decisive as the last one in an Olympic Trials, why can't it postpone the start until things are made well again? Both races in the 1984 and 2008 trials were allowed to go on. Both caused a storm of recrimination, legal action, and serious questions about the sport’s fundamental fairness. Or are juries and PROs so locked in by procedures that they can't make such a sensible decision? => Anyone who adds their comments to the Redress Forum thread will be entered in a raffle to win an autographed copy of Dave Perry’s book, “Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing”. Raffle to be held on Tuesday, March 10th. Forum link: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7126 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The two most power-filled words..............."I Can" Special thanks to North U and Team One Newport. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
