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SCUTTLEBUTT 3474 - Monday, November 21, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: Ultimate Sailing and Team One Newport. ORACLE RACING SPITHILL COLLECT THE DOUBLE (November 20, 2011) - San Diego saved the best for last, testing the America’s Cup World Series fleet with the strongest winds of the week, the gusts approaching 20 knots on Sunday afternoon. The race was full of intrigue, with plenty of lead changes on the race course, and lots of near misses and thrills and spills from start to finish. ORACLE Racing Spithill, winners on Saturday of the Match Racing Championship, came from behind to win the Fleet Racing Championship, becoming the first team to secure a double win at the AC World Series. Emirates Team New Zealand exploded off the starting line to lead the fleet of nine AC45s into a tense, action-packed turn at the first mark. While the Kiwi team led early, the next, long leg upwind allowed several teams to shine, none more so than Artemis Racing who worked their way up to the front of a very tight pack by the top gate. But ORACLE Racing Spithill chose the favored mark at the top and was soon leading the fleet downwind at speeds near 25 knots. Earlier, in the AC500 Speed Trial, the fastest runs came on the teams’ second attempt down the course. First it was Emirates Team New Zealand setting the pace. But then came the ORACLE Racing juggernaut. First Spithill and then Darren Bundock, skippering ORACLE Racing Coutts, broke the record, with Bundock’s speed of 26.87 knots standing up as the winning speed. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/6wtwker Results - San Diego Fleet Racing Championship 1. ORACLE Racing Spithill 2. Emirates Team New Zealand 3. Energy Team 4. Aleph 5. Team Korea 6. Artemis Racing 7. China Team 8. Green Comm Racing 9. ORACLE Racing Coutts Results - AC500 Speed Trial ORACLE Racing - Coutts - 26.87 knots ORACLE Racing - Spithill - 26.79 knots Emirates Team New Zealand - 26.56 knots Artemis Racing - 25.98 knots Energy Team - 25.96 knots China Team - 25.67 knots ALEPH - 25.19 knots Green Comm Racing - 24.74 knots Team Korea - 24.30 knots PHOTOS: While the weather varied in San Diego during the America's Cup World Series event, the quality of photos did not. Thanks to shooters Guilain Grenier, Chris Cameron, Christophe Favreau, Sander van der Borch, and Steve Lapkin for contributing to the Scuttlebutt photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/1120 CH, CH, CH, CHANGES Some updates from the America's Cup World Series event in San Diego: * The next America's Cup World Series event is not until April 7-15, 2012 in Naples, Italy, which will offer teams their first opportunity to train on the AC45s outside of a scheduled event. Five or six boats will be based during the break in Valencia, while Emirates Team New Zealand will be taking their boat home to train with the Luna Rossa team once they receive their boat. Oracle Racing has not yet declared where they are taking their boats after San Diego. * A rig extension has been introduced to the AC45 for the purpose of light air sailing venues. It is a four meter extension to the mast which will be adding 8.4 square meters to the wing sail. The goal is to be lifting the windward hull earlier, which will be aided by a program to reduce hull weight. Consideration is also being given to reduce the crew from five sailors to four for light air races. The target is for the hull to lift in five knots, which will help next year for the light air anticipated at the Italian venues of Naples and Venice. The option of using the current rig or the larger rig will now be determined during events. * A Code of Conduct has been introduced to ensure a standard of ethics is maintained amongst the teams entered in the America's Cup. The five man jury will consider any issues that fall under the code. The code is in part to protect the interests that are sponsoring the America's Cup World Series and 34th America's Cup. THANKS, THANKS, AND THANKS AGAIN! FROM ULTIMATE SAILING Ultimate Sailing celebrates its 30th year in 2012, and we could not have done it without you! This holiday season, we tip our caps to our clients who have supported this three-decade, round-the-world obsession to bring you the ultimate in yachting photography, inspiration and excitement. Visit the gallery at www.ultimatesailing.com. And, to celebrate - coming soon: the “Sharon Green’s 30 Years of Ultimate Sailing” coffee table book! 200+ pages of the most thrilling starts, frenzied mark-roundings and epic conditions from Sharon’s archives (including never-before-seen images) alongside anecdotes by many of sailing’s idols and rockstars. For more info go to http://www.ultimatesailing.com THE REALITIES OF THIS NEW REALITY American Terry Hutchinson is making the not-so-American transition into grand prix multihull racing, courtesy of the new format for the 34th America’s Cup and his role as skipper of the Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing. Here he shares some of the realities of this new reality: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Since we’ve been sailing the catamarans, there’s been plenty of times you sit there and go, “Wow, how this did go so bad.” It‘s not hard to go from hero to zero, but it doesn’t take much for it go the other way for you too. If you get some separation, and then get a bit more pressure than the fleet, it’s not hard to post upwind speeds of over double the pace of the others. Keep that up and you can make some serious gains. Quite simply, you have to keep the pressure on to always sail well. In the IACC Version 5 boats we sailed in the 32nd America’s Cup, you could make a mistake, but if you were 35 seconds ahead it didn’t really matter. You might cough up 10 seconds, but you could hold the lead. However, in the AC45 for example, you make a mistake and you pay for it instantly. And in dealing with these enclosed World Series event venues, it’s not always about being smart. We can’t control or anticipate all the variances. And some of those variances in wind are costly. But if you sail a long enough series, you got to hope that these ups and downs even out. You just have to control what you can control, and hope that fate treats everyone fairly. If you look at other sports, most deal with some variance you can’t control. Get bumped in car racing and your car gets ruined against the wall. In basketball, someone lands on your foot and you turn an ankle. You can pick apart all the sports to find that aspect for which you can’t control, and in sailing it is Mother Nature. So with the unstable wind environment, and sailing these new boats with their significant performance differences through the wind range, it has made the racing really hard. But that is part of the challenge, and that is what I like most about it. We have seen races where we just get completely annihilated in a 30 second period, but then we get a little bit back, keep fighting along, keep talking, keep doing our thing, and by not waving the white flag, it is possible to battle your way back into the race. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you ever wonder what it is that sets the best sailors apart, it is not that they are just tactically sound, but that they see things sooner and act on them decisively. Onboard Artemis Racing with Terry and his double gold medalist tactician Iain Percy (GBR), there was never a moment where they did not have an absolute assessment of the course and their options. The active commentary between the two was a rare insight into the difference between good and great. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt CALM BEFORE THE STORM? (November 20, 2011, Day 16) - Two days after Telefonica snatched the lead from PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, the crew led by Spanish Olympic gold medalist Iker Martínez commanded a narrow 29 nautical mile lead over their rivals on Sunday. With a wet and wild ride across the bottom of the South Atlantic forecast to rocket them towards the finish line in Cape Town at speeds of 25 knots, Telefonica were making the most of the last of the stable 15-20-knot trade winds, conducting last-minute checks of their Volvo Open 70 before they pick up a cold front later in the week. Having led the fleet for much of the first leg, PUMA slipped back to second on Friday and were then left to watch Telefonica clocking consistently higher speeds in better weather conditions on a more easterly route through the South Atlantic. “We got our butts handed to us by Telefonica and by Mother Nature,” the straight-talking Read said. “They put on their left blinker at Fernando (de Noronha) and never looked back. They committed to the high lane and by the time we wanted to start to lean in that direction as well we were headed and we simply could never get there.” -- Reports at: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html Standings as of Sunday November 20, 2011, 22.02.08 UTC 1. Team Telefonica, 2265.8 nm Distance to Finish 2. PUMA Ocean Racing by BERG, 17.40 nm Distance to Lead 3. CAMPER with Emirates Team NZ, 136.20 nm DTL 4. Groupama, 422.20 nm DTL 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - Retired from Leg 1 6. Team Sanya - Retired from Leg 1 Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com ARTEMIS RACING CROWNED 2011 RC44 WORLD CHAMPIONS Lanzarote, Spain (November 20, 2011) - The 2011 RC44 World Championships came down to the eleventh and final race of the event to be decided. Katusha made a late comeback, Artemis Racing held their nerve and two new teams made it onto the podium for the first time this season. It was Katusha (RUS), steered by Steve Howe this week with Francesco Bruni calling the shots, who relished the windier conditions in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote. The team did not put a foot wrong, as the wind touched 23 knots at times, storming to victory in every race. But even three wins was not enough to get close to the leaders Artemis Racing (SWE). The Swedish team slotted in a fourth and then a second giving themselves a six point lead going into the final race of the Championships, to be assured victory they needed to finish in the top seven in the final race of the day. The RC44 World Championships also doubled up as the final event of the RC44 Championship Tour. With Team Aqua already securing the 2011 Championship Tour title, Artemis Racing needed to win in Lanzarote to secure second. So Puerto Calero ended up as a double celebration for the Swedish team, World Champions and second in the 2011 Championship Tour. Third place went to ORACLE Racing, even though the team were not in Lanzarote, their consistent season was enough to give them the final podium position. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/7h86mjh J/24 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS Buenos Aires, Argentina (November 20, 2011) - Argentina’s Alejo Rigoni is the 2011 J/24 World Champion after securing the victory on the final day of racing. The RC tried to get something started in the morning and actually did start a race on the first try under black flag with the current running away from the line. The wind quickly died, as everyone expected, forcing the race to be abandoned. At 1430 the wind had finally filled enough to race and the event’s ninth race, which was again started on the first try under the black flag. Mike Ingham of the USA lead at the first mark, and wound up third at the end to move up to third overall in the standings. Francisco van Avermaete of Argentina won the last race to secure the 4th place overall. While all of the early focus was on Tim Healy and crew and the great lead they were building, Alejo Rigoni of Argentina and his team on Luca were quietly doing a pretty good job of mostly top-ten finishes. Healy, who lead through the first three days of racing, suffered a DSQ on day-four from which he was unable to recover. Luis Olcese of Peru finished the regatta in second place and was only two points back off the lead heading into the final race. But Rigoni was able to get in front of Olcese on the first leg and managed to stay in front to clinch the regatta win and become the new J/24 World Champions. -- Full results: http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/ SUSPENDED SAILORS The following sailors have their ISAF Eligibility suspended: Etienne van Zyl, South Africa Anti doping violation; Nov. 23, 2009 - Nov. 22, 2011 Alberto Campos Perez, Mexico Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship; May 7, 2011 - May 6, 2013 Maria del Mar Campos Perez, Mexico Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship; May 7, 2011 - May 6, 2013 Franck Ivaldi, France Anti doping violation; July 12, 2011 - Dec. 11, 2011 Andrejs Buls, Latvia Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship; Aug. 1, 2011 - Dec. 1, 2012 Alexia Torres, Peru Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship; Aug. 26, 2011 - Nov. 23, 2011 The above mentioned sailor(s) according to ISAF Regulation 19 may not participate in the following events: 1. The sailing regatta of the Olympic Sailing Competition; 2. The sailing events of Regional Games recognized by the International Olympic Committee; 3. Events including "ISAF" in their titles; 4. World and continental championships of ISAF classes and world championships of the IMS, Major Events and other events approved by ISAF as a World Championship; 5. Any event at which the Organizing Authority, Member National Authority or ISAF has appointed an International Jury or International Umpires, International Race Officers, International Measurers or ISAF Technical Delegates to serve in their capacity for which they hold a Certificate of Appointment issued by ISAF; 6. Any event approved by a Member National Authority of the ISAF as an Olympic qualifying event; and 7. Any event designated by a Member National Authority within its jurisdiction as requiring ISAF eligibility. Source: http://www.sailing.org/sailors/suspended-sailors.php SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar BUY A HENRI LLOYD JACKET AND GET A FREE GIFT Ho Ho Ho…. Santa’s shopping for all the people on his “Rowdy & Nice List” and so should you! Team One Newport is teaming up with Henri Lloyd for an amazing Holiday Promotion. Purchase any Blue Eco or Vista Jacket and get a pair of bibs FREE - OR - buy an Atmosphere or Symphony Jacket and receive a Storm Barrel Bag FREE! Shop for friends, family or even yourself while supplies last. See our website for details. http://tinyurl.com/henrilloyd or call 800-VIP-GEAR. SAILING SHORTS * San Francisco, CA (November 20, 2011) - US Naval Academy won the 2011 ISCA Match Race Nationals which took place November 18 - 20, co-hosted by California Maritime Academy and St. Francis Yacht Club. Roger Williams took second place, and Stanford placed third overall. Racing took place in front of the Golden Gate Bridge under a range of weather conditions including light wind, rain and strong current. Ten teams representing all seven ICSA conferences sailed in J22s; each team had one skipper and two crewmembers aboard. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/6oszuh5 * Results/Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/1120a/ * (November 20, 2011) - The Multi 50 of Yves Le Blevec and Samuel Manuard Actual crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques Vabre to win the Multi 50 class on Sunday at 07h 07mn 43sec UTC/GMT. That sets an elapsed time for the theoretical course of 5323 miles from Le Havre to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica of 17 days, 17 hours, 07 minutes and 43 seconds, sailing at an average speed 12.52 knots. Mike Golding and Bruno Dubois on board the IMOCA Open 60 Gamesa also finished Sunday in ninth place, at 11h 42mn 10sec UTC/GMT. -- Event website: http://www.transat-jacques-vabre.com * Walvis Bay, Namibia (November 18, 2011) - The radical speed sailing craft, VESTAS Sailrocket 2, commenced its first 28 day world record period today aiming to break the outright world speed sailing record which involves setting the best average time over a 500 meter course. The World Sailing Speed Record Council (the sports ratifying body) is on site to watch the attempts. The team has a 28 day period where they will remain on standby waiting for ideal weather conditions. Wind was light over the weekend with Monday looking like the best chance. -- Report at: http://www.vestassailrocket.com/ GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Rob McNeal, Hobie Fleet 5, Bradenton, FL: I must say that I am both amused and entertained by the current hubub regarding catamarans and stadium racing. The huge Hobie fleets of 20 years ago (300 boats plus) have been both practicing catamaran speed and tactics and stadium racing (of a sort) for a long time. I can remember a National Championship held off of Jacksonville Beach where the leeward mark was literally set in the surf to bring the boats close to spectators on the beach and in the Hotels on the beach. Hey they ARE Beach cats after all. I also remember a ProSail event in the Mid 80's where the fleet was routed behind the St Pete Pier on a relatively windy day. Yes there were lulls and huge shifts but it was fun and awesome for specatators on the Pier. And by some amazing coincidence, all the best sailors seemed to figure out the wind best just like on the open courses. In those days the Hobie crowd was considered the ruffians of sailing groups and Yacht Clubs. And in those days it was both about the party AND about the sailing. So I salute the big boat sailors for finally seeing the light and crossing over to what used to be the "dark" side! Welcome Aboard. * From Alex Arnold (re Scuttlebutt 3473): The Thistle film was fantastic and sure brought back memories of racing my Lightning[1621] in a regatta in Milford back in the day. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Famous Last Words... "This doesn't taste right." SPONSORS THIS WEEK Ultimate Sailing - Team One Newport - Interlux North Sails - West Marine - Ullman Sails - J Boats Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
