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SCUTTLEBUTT 3176 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Atlantis WeatherGear, and Quantum Sails 'NEW ERA' FOR AMERICA'S CUP The America's Cup is back on track. It may not be a track to everyone's liking but a "new era" was promised by the boss of the defending team, Russell Coutts, in his BMW-Oracle base in Valencia today. The boats will be "cool", he said as he showed an impression of a 72-foot catamaran with a wing sail. They will be fast at over 30 knots, said design consultant Pete Melvin, and there will be an annual America's Cup World Series producing a world champion team. "This will be a competition for the Facebook generation, not the Flintstone generation," said Coutts, who added that the rules surrounding the revamp of an event which can trace its history to 1851 on the Isle of Wight were established a new, level playing field. His view was endorsed by the team which represents all challenger interests, Mascalzone Latino, with its Italian president Vincenzo Onorato saying that the rules protocol is "the fairest ever written." The opening skirmishes, scheduled to be staged next summer, will be in specially built 45-foot catamarans using wing sails. From 2012, the regatta programme will move into the new AC72s built by teams which have been given an extended window, from 1 November to 31 March, to register. The identical 45-footers, being built in New Zealand, will then be used for a Youth America's Cup on a new circuit attracting entries carrying national flags from either national sailing bodies clubs, or America's Cup teams. That will be decided by an overall race director, expected to be announced soon. The new organisation is relying heavily on a development programme which promises spectacular television pictures. But the boats will once again rely on manpower, rather than engines and hydraulic winches, to handle the sails. Coutts envisages a crew of 11, instead of the previous 17. There will also be limits on testing training, as in Formula One motor racing, in a bid to cut costs by a target 20 per cent. -- Stuart Alexander, The Independent, read on: http://tinyurl.com/Independent-091310 DETAILS: Said to be the fairest rules ever for the America's Cup, here are the bullet points and complete protocol for the 34th Match: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-091310 BOB FISHER: Commentary from an esteemed America's Cup journo: http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Fishers-View:-Its-catamarans-in-2013/74615 BONUS MEDIA: To watch a replay of the press conference, to see a conceptual video of the new AC72 class, AND to listen in on a conference call that BMW Oracle Racing CEO Russell Coutts hosted with a group of sailing journalist, follow this link here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0909/ DEAR RULES GURU While driving across the USA on our way to the Star North American Championships in California lots of things were discussed, but we were in total disagreement on the following rules situation. Sailing a windward/leeward course with NO off-set, fleet racing, and port rounding. Boat A approaches the mark on starboard and boat B approaches it on port. The question is does boat A have the right to round the mark and sail a course to the leeward mark even though boat B is in between? (we are talking both boats are right on the their lay lines and B is probably 11/2 to 2 boat lengths back). I know A has to avoid contact but is the onus on B to give A room to sail her proper course? And if A has to alter course to avoid B is B in the wrong? -- Rick Burgess Read the answer here: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2010/09/ltw-readers-q-045.html JK3 NAUTICAL ENTERPRISES, INC JK3 invites you to the Newport (RI) Brokerage Boat Show Sept 16-19 and step aboard two of most elegant and performance oriented sailboats in the world! The 75-foot Tripp Maxi Dolphin Bella Pita is a spectacular yacht, with a streamlined, well-balanced hull designed to achieve maximum performance under sail. Her interior is elegant and modern, built with unparalleled quality fit and finish for long-distance sailing comfort. The J/65 Brand New Day has exceptional performance, luxurious accommodations, stunning aesthetics, and great value. With an impressive racing resume, the J/65 is a yacht that outperforms all others in style and comfort. Both yachts are recently reduced and sellers are motivated! Jeff Brown (619) 709-0697, http:// www.jk3yachts.com LASER MASTERS WORLDS Hayling Island, England (September 13, 2010) - Brisk, gusty winds and big waves presented a great challenge for the opening day of the Laser Masters World Championships After delivering a week of unbroken sunshine and pleasant light to moderate sea-breezes for the Laser Standards World Championships which finished eight days ago on the same waters with an impressive overall victory for Australia's Tom Slingsby, today Hayling Bay presented version 2.0 of English summer when more than 350 sailors from 30 different countries contested the first pair of races of the 2010 Laser Masters World Championships. Under grey skies which threatened rain and offered regular showers of drizzle, solid WSW'ly winds which gusted to over 22 knots during the second race, and big Hayling waves which proved the perfect downhill run for those practitioners with polished technique and solid nerves, but it was all too easy to be slightly psyched out by the opening day waves weather. Those who had been looking for a gentle introduction to Hayling Island, a sunny reprise of the Standard Worlds, would have been disappointed. The muscular conditions certainly challenged fitness and stamina from the outset but also contributed to the early onset of aches and pains, not to mention a few broken spars and fractured egos. For sure it was those who felt at home, or were at home in the conditions who excelled across the first two contests of the scheduled 12 race series, on both the Laser Radial and the Laser Standard course areas. Racing continues to September 19th. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/Masters-091310 Preliminary Results after Day One Radial Apprentice (35-44yrs): 1. Scott Leith (NZL) 3pts, 2. Jean Christophe Leydet (FRA) 4pts, 3. Matthias Bruehel (GER) 7pts. Radial Master (45-54yrs): 1. Steve Cockerill (GBR) 2 pts, 2. Carlos Eduardo Wanderley (BRA) 4pts, 3. Torbjorn Jonsson (SWE) 9pts. Radial Grand Masters (55-64yrs): 1. Lyndall Patterson (AUS) 2pts, 2. Bruce Martinson (USA) 4pts, 3. Mark Halman (USA) 7pts. Radial Great Grand Masters (65 and over): 1. David Schmidt (NZL) 4pts, 2. Keith Wilkins (GBR) 4pts, 3. Peter Seidenburg (USA) 9pts. Standard Apprentice (35-44yrs): 1. Adonis Bougiouris (GRE) 2pts, 2. Brett Beyer (AUS) 4pts, 3. Orlando Gledhill (GBR) 4pts. Standard Master (45-54yrs): 1. Arnoud Hummel (NED) 2pts, 2. Scott Ferguson (USA) 4pts, 3. Andy Roy (CAN) 5pts. Standard Grand Master (55 and older): 1. Peter Vessella (USA) 2pts, 2. Peter Sundelin (SWE) 5pts, 3. Wolfgang Gerz (GER) 5pts. Complete results: http://www.laserworlds2010.co.uk/laserworlds/masters/results.htm STORCK FAMILY WINS J/80 NORTH AMERICANS Marion, MA (September 12, 2010) - Vene, vidi, vici. Five strong. The Jackson Five they're not, but they sure put on quite a show. The Storck family team again prevailed as J/80 North American Champions with a dramatic finish over a very strong fleet that saw competitors from Canada as well as from far-away places like Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan! It was an extraordinary event hosted by Beverly Yacht Club and superbly run by PRO Sam Vineyard. Three great days of sailing, thirteen races and in wind conditions that varied considerably, providing a tremendous test for all forty-four teams. And, it certainly proved to be an excellent "training" event for all teams participating in the J/80 Worlds happening in Newport, RI in early October. Perhaps what was most remarkable about the quality and depth of the fleet was the fact that EIGHT different boats won over the course of thirteen races! Boats were loaded with talent with National, North American, World Champions, college All-Americans and College Sailors of the Year spread across the top fifteen boats. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10516 DOES HOT SAUCE MAKE EATING YOUR WORDS TASTE BETTER? By Sam Rogers, 42 Marine In my preview post leading up to the 2010 E-Scow Nationals (in Scuttlebutt 3174), I was so confident in the conditions that Little Egg Harbor (NJ) had to offer that I decided to go out on a limb and make a few bold predictions. Not only did I learn a few new things about this normally reliable venue, but I also learned that I will stay away from making predictions on future posts since I was basically wrong in every statement that I made regarding the type of regatta it would be, including which region the eventual winner would hail from. Just to summarize, here are few of the predictions that I made leading up to the event, and the corresponding result: "Steady, reliable breeze" - Wrong. The great seabreeze that Little Egg is known for never made an appearance as a strong front passed through on Thursday and left brisk temps that never allowed the land to heat up. We were left with a dying NWestrly breeze on Day 1 that challenged sailors with huge velocity and degree changes and left a lot of "contenders" with huge scores on the results sheet after day 1. After the front passed on day 2, we were left with 8-10 mph easterly that left sailors mentally exhausted after 3 challenging races. "Drag racing and boatspeed conditions" - Wrong. While it was still important to have good speed, the Nationals was all about getting off the line cleanly, closing your eyes and hoping you were headed in the right direction. What looked like a certain thing in the pre-start often resulted in many of the top teams stranded on a side and scratching their heads. With the big velocity and direction changes on Day 1, it was not uncommon be leading the race by a mile, fully hiking, vang on and sailing fast with the entire fleet in your mainsail window one minute, and the next minute have a 30 degree header, everyone on the low side, and 30 boats getting ahead on the other side of the course. "Strong thighs and strong hiking straps" - Wrong. The only time this statement could have been true was if a team decided to go out and practice on Thursday prior to the event when it was blowing 25-30. Otherwise the hiking straps were used sparingly on Day 1, and could have been removed on Day 2. "Great Social Activities" - Ok, I got one thing correct. The post race kegs and soft pretzels, the parties, food and everything on-land were top notch and is reason enough to return to Little Egg in 5 years. "The ILYA has won the NCESA National Championship for 16 straight years." - Wrong. Several teams from the ECESA, WMYA and "At-Large" areas would make pushes for the title, but a team from the ECESA would claim the title for the first time since 1994. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/Rogers-091 Daily reports: http://tinyurl.com/E-Scow-Natls-2010 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/E-Scow-Natls-2010-Results DISCOVER: SAILING GEAR HQ @ NIBS Some call it Nirvana. Others call it Paradise. We call it the Team One Newport booth in Tent A at the Newport International Boat Show. It's where you can find the full Atlantis product line including the gear you'll need for sailing this Fall at great prices. Take a look at the new Aegis line for women, the ultimate combination of world-class performance and exquisite style, and be the first to see our new 100% worsted wool Navigator sweater. Come see us at Sailing Gear Headquarters in Newport this week or online at http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com Discover your Atlantis. => Curmudgeon's Comment: Congrats to Atlantis WeatherGear's Bill Lynn for winning the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup U.S. Qualifying Series on behalf of his club, Eastern Yacht Club. Lynn and two other teams survived the cut so as to earn entry into the NYYC Invitational Cup presented by Rolex that will be sailed September 2011 in Swan 42s. PHOTO GALLERIES * The crescendo surrounding the J/80 class is reaching a fever pitch with the 2010 World Championship in Newport, RI less than a month away. With the entry list looking to make it the largest US based J/80 regatta in history, the J/80 North American Championship this past weekend in Marian, MA became a major tune-up event. Here are some images from the NA's from Spectrum Photo/Fran Grenon: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0913b/ * The scow one design classes do not get nearly the love they deserve in Scuttlebutt, as this sector of the sport is providing both great racing and great fun. Here are photos from the E-Scow Nationals, courtesy of PhotoBoat.com: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0913/ * Photographer Chris Cameron, who contributed to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup photo gallery posted last week on the Scuttlebutt website, received an invitation to join the J boat Ranger to do some onboard shooting during the racing in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. Enjoy: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0912/ * Imagine a regatta where the only entrants allowed were those that knew how to have fun? Barred from participating would be all the sea lawyers, corner crashers, and start bargers. Enter the Newport Bucket Regatta, an invitation only event open to sailing yachts over 90'. The combination of glamorous boats, safe sailing, and swanky parties has proven to be a popular formula. Here are some photos courtesy of George Bekris: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0912A/ * The bulk of the Express 27 class is based in Northern California, with its design rooted in the 'fast is fun' fraternity. Shooter Erik Simonson provides these images from the class' National Championship last weekend in San Francisco Bay: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0913a/ SAILING SHORTS * A fleet of thirty boats gathered on Lake Garda from the 6th to the 10th of September to compete in the 2010 5.5 Metre World Championship. Swiss Olympic Star sailor Flavio Marazzi together with his crew consisting of Aussie sailor Andrew Palfrey and Swiss boat builder Christof Wilke dominated the championship and took the first place overall with a total of 13 points and one race to spare. With this victory, Marazzi captured his fifth World Champion Title in the 5.5 Class. Bahamian Gavin McKinney was the first non-European boat in fifth place overall. -- Complete report/results: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10511 * (September 12, 2010) - Fifteen of the world's best women's match racing teams, representing nine countries, competed in the four day ISAF Grade 1 Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin USA. Sunday's spectacular day of sun and wind on Lake Michigan was a pleasant change from Saturday's rain, fog, rolling waves and light air. The semi finals, petit finals, and finals were sailed in a shifty westerly breeze of 8-15 knots that saw the reigning World Champions Australians Nicky Souter, Nina Curtis, and Olivia Price defeat the defending champions, Samantha Osborne, Raynor Smeal, and Susannah Pyatt of New Zealand, 3-1 in the finals. -- Event website: http://sailsheboygan.us/BMC_2010.php * Light air, moderate air, heavy air - it made no difference whatsoever. Young Romain Screve from San Francisco Yacht Club was clearly the class of the fleet at the 63-boat Opti West Coast Championship held in Marina del Rey last weekend, winning the event with a race to space. Screve's discard was only a fifth as he won half of the eight races on his way to scoring a 15-victory over Frankie Dair from the host California YC. Quinn Wilson took third, Cooper Weitz fourth and Geoffrey Nelson finished fifth, while Kaili Campbell had the best female finish. For complete results: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10512 * With racing set to start Thursday (Sept. 16), the 46th annual Rolex Big Boat Series, hosted by California's St. Francis Yacht Club, is setting up to showcase major sailing talent along with some sweet IRC and One-Design action over four days of competition on San Francisco Bay. Of 99 boats signed up, 26 are IRC (handicap racing) entrants, which will be further divided by rating into four classes, one of which is the newly featured light displacement sport boat class. The balance of the fleet is comprised of one-design Melges 32s (27 entrants), J/105s (24), J/120s (8), Express 37s (8), and One Design 35s (6). -- Read on: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100406&lang=1 BUY THE FASTEST ONE DESIGN SAILS IN THE WORLD Between now and Nov. 1st save 15% on your Quantum One Design sail order*. Between Nov. 2nd and Dec. 15th save 10%. For more information contact your local loft or sales representative or one of the Quantum Sails One Design class experts. http://www.quantumsails.com/Classes/classes.aspx (* In-shore One Design classes only.) GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit your comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter are limited to 250 words. One published submission per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From John Sherwood, Annapolis: While the America's Cup struggles to define its identity and produce exciting competition, the New York Yacht Club has stepped center stage with the NYYC Invitational Cup. What a great concept and terrific event. In the spirit of the America's Cup, it encompasses everything you want to see in modern sail racing: international competition, great organization, well matched boats, Corinthian participants, multi-year involvement, well defined future, and terrific venue. Many correct actions have been taken by NYYC over the past couple of decades to make this possible, including the decision to buy Harbor Court, establish the Sonar fleet, promote the Swan 42s, etc. Hats off to the New York Yacht Club! I can't wait until 2011. And congratulations to fellow Annapolis Y C members Pete McChesney and his qualifying team. * From John McNeill: . . . and, in the spirit of inclusiveness, we'd like to ask all you potential challengers to start over in a technology we have a small head start on, and make some quick decisions as the time scale will be a bit challenging . . . LOL, as they say. Oh, and sayonara, San Francisco. * From Gregory Scott: Big cats will mark the end of "The America's Cup" and relegate it to being The AC - like F1 - big and flashy and with absolutely no heart. * From Roger Marshall: I wonder if the organizers realize that with the wing sailed catamaran they are taking the America's Cup out on what was once known as sailing's lunatic fringe. It would seem that the event either popularizes hugely expensive wing driven multihulls (and who can afford them, want the risk of damaging the wing, or find skilled crew to sail them) or runs the risk of becoming a marginal made-for-TV special once every four years. The fact that the C-class catamaran racing fleet (the only multihull fleet that uses solid wing sails) comprises so few boats should tell the event organizers that this is a serious risk. The cars and trucks in Nascar racing look somewhat like every day automobiles that fans can easily relate to. (That said, Formula one car is not much like an everyday car, but it is also not very popular in America and even then F1 technology eventually trickles down to every day vehicles.) Most sailors can easily relate to a soft sail monohull racing boat even on the extreme edge of yacht design. By pushing toward wing sailed catamarans the event will have very little relationship to the boats sailed by more than 90% of the world's sailors or even to the existing fleet of multihulls. Preserving solid wing sails remains a significant challenge (witness the effort by BMW Oracle had to go to during the last Match or the American boat that destroyed its wing before the first race of the recent International C-Class Catamaran Championship) with the sail plan being unrealistic to trickle down to the average boater. So why should the average boater - other than watching spectacular crashes - take much interest in a highly esoteric America's Cup class? * From Chris Ericksen: In 'Butt 3175, Terry Welsh sought to correct an "error" when he said I stated that "no women participated in (America's Cup) racing during the J-boat era." I said no such thing. The only reference to gender in my letter was when I wrote, "From its earliest days up to the early part of the Twentieth Century, yachting was a pastime enjoyed largely by 'rich guys who rarely touch(ed) the helm and often only show(ed) up after the race to collect the trophies that they paid others to win.'" I stand by that statement. Besides, the J-boat era of America's Cup competition was notable in that Corinthian sailors largely replaced professionals as skipper: as far back as 1920, Charles Francis Adams led a largely amateur afterguard in "Resolute" to defend the America's Cup against "Shamrock IV." And while she was not among the afterguard for that regatta, it is impossible to think that Mrs. Adams - a noted sailor in her own right and the woman after whom the U.S. Women's Championship trophy is named - did not sail with her husband at some time aboard "Resolute." As I am sure Terry knows, women in America's Cup races extends back to 1886, when Lieutenant William Henn, R.N., challenged in "Galatea," a classic "plank-on-edge" cutter of the day; she ultimately lost to "Mayflower." Not only was "Galatea" lavishly fitted out for cruising, including having a piano aboard during the races, but Mrs. Henn and their family were aboard as well. Both lived aboard their yacht much of the year; and, after her husband's untimely death in 1894, Mrs. Henn continued to live aboard "Galatea" until her own death in 1911. I wonder if she and her children have been elected to the Americas' Cup Hall of Fame. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary."--Sir Cecil Beaton Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Atlantis WeatherGear, and Quantum Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
