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SCUTTLEBUTT 2225 – November 16, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). KOSTECKI & KOUYOUMDJIAN (Nov. 15, 2006) Two months ago, the Ericsson Racing Team was the first entry to officially announce its participation in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. Today, the team announces the names of its new skipper and principal designer. John Kostecki (USA) will lead the sailing team, whilst Juan Kouyoumdjian (ARG) will design a boat to be built in Sweden next year. Winner of the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race as skipper onboard Illbruck, Kostecki was part of the Ericsson Racing Team in 2005-06, competing as inshore races tactician before stepping in as skipper between Rio de Janeiro and Baltimore. He now joins the team as skipper and will play a key role in the team build up, its preparation, training and development throughout the race. Juan Kouyoumdjian has achieved his greatest success in the last Volvo Ocean Race, designing the winning and fourth placed boat. Juan's yachts have won six out of nine offshore legs, and dominated the fleet in five out of seven in-port races. Born in 1971 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, "Juan K" has been involved in all sorts of projects during his career: the Admiral's Cup, TP 52's, IRC, the America's Cup. He will design the Ericsson yacht, and supervise its construction in Sweden, in a location yet to be determined. -- Full report: http://www.ericssonracingteam.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK This week’s video returns us to the excitement that the new fleet of VOR 70s provided during their debut at the Volvo Ocean Race 2005/2006. Set against dramatic music, this 2:18 minute video promptly brings us back to the life these sailors lived for their seven-month journey, their “Life at the Extreme.” Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/06/1113 POUR THE RESIN (Scuttlebutt received the following press release from Goetz Custom Boats, and while its intent is entirely self-serving, we were still pleased to see some grand prix projects coming to this famed US boat builder.) “Goetz Custom Boats of Bristol, Rhode Island, is pleased to announce their latest projects. Currently in production is the TP52 CAM, designed by Botin Carkeek. This is our first build for this highly regarded young design firm, based in Spain. CAM will be their latest design to take on the ’07 TP52 Med season. A critical part of the build is particular attention to reduce unnecessary weight, in order to ensure that the CAM Team’s inaugural TP52 season is successful. CAM will debut in Valencia next spring. Also in process is Bounder, designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian for a well-known English yachtsman. This IRC 55 is scheduled to race in the Pineapple Cup in February 2007 and will then head to Miami Race week. This is the second of Juan’s designs for Goetz; the first was the controversial Krazy K Yote II. Fresh off his Volvo win, Juan has designed this new IRC racer to be geared toward offshore venues. On the drawing board, we are preparing for Numbers 6. This new racer will be on the circuit next August and promises excitement and speed. Designed by Judel/Vrolijk, Numbers 6 will be about 65’ and will feature a lift keel. She will become an integral part of a well-known New England grand prix racing team.” -- http://www.goetzboats.com STAYING CALM (Nov 16, 2006) The support team for British yachtsman Tony Bullimore's solo round-the-world record attempt does not believe he is in any danger, even though he has not been heard from in more than a week. Bullimore lost contact with his support team on November 7. His boat is believed to be in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. The 67-year-old is on his way to Tasmania to embark on a solo attempt to circumnavigate the globe. He is scheduled to arrive in Fremantle, south of Perth, in about a week. The team's coordinator, Barry Pickthall, says he believes a power problem may be affecting Bullimore's communications equipment. "Perhaps they took on dirty fuel in the Maldives and that's affected the generators," he said. "Without the generators they can't charge the batteries and that's why they have no power. "I'm beginning to think that that's perhaps one of the scenarios." Mr Pickthall says he is confident Bullimore is not in any danger. "The emergency beacons work automatically and if there was a problem we'd know almost immediately, and we'd know exactly know their position as well," he said. Bullimore is best remembered from 10 years ago, when the Australian Navy mounted a $6 million rescue to pluck him from his crippled yacht in the Southern Ocean. -- ABC News online, http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1789625.htm AN INVESTMENT IN PERFORMANCE TODAY Why are Ullman Sails the best sails on the planet? Simple…Ullman selects the top cloth the sail making industry can provide. For race, cruise, or daysailing, this cloth is coupled with the latest design and construction technology. Result: Performance, Durability, and Service that for the past 35 years have been the hallmark of Ullman Sails. If you and your crew are ready for the “Fastest Sails on the Planet,” let Ullman Sails bring our performance to your program. Call your nearest Ullman Sails loft or visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com ‘YAWN DESIGN’ RACING (The following commentary comes from Bob Porter, and is reprinted from the RCR Yachts Racer's News #193, November 15, 2006. While some of it is very “tongue-in-cheek,” Bob's line of thinking provides some fresh fodder for the One-Design vs. Handicap debate.) Tell me the last time you gazed over a yacht club parking lot to see it filled with the same make and model of car. You'd be lucky to find any two the same. Foreign models, domestic models; pick-ups, station wagons, SUVs, sedans, vans, motorcycles; and in differing condition from ones with the sales sticker still in the window to ones where it is difficult to tell whether the rust holds the car together or the paint holds the rust together. Variety is the spice of life and the North American way. Who would even suggest we all buy the same kind of boat? "Yawn design" racers would!! The idea of going out every weekend to race the same guys in identical boats is about as un-interesting as going to a Louisiana swamp to watch latex paint dry on an August afternoon. My experience would suggest after 5 or 6 times round the buoys, you'd pretty much know how the boats will finish, regardless of changing sea or wind conditions, event after event, year after year. Now this is "yawn design" racing!!! Let's see, on Lake Ontario there are about 1300 PHRF racers. How many in a "yawn design" class? OK, 20 Beneteau 36.7s, and a dozen J35s, J105s, or Beneteau 40.7s. Let's see - race against 12 to 20 or 1300. Guess where the "Yawn design" racers go? About that myth that one-design racers are identical boats: note the anal retentive measurements the J/24s go through before a major regatta - to assure they are similar. Also note J/35s when measured for IMS (and now IRC as well) differ by more than 21 seconds per mile between the fastest and slowest. -- Bob Porter, full story: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/1115/ * A story from the Etchells Worlds in Fremantle, Western Australia, which is in the midst of measurement prior to the commencement of racing, reports that several rudders will need to be trimmed along their edges before they will be allowed to compete. -- http://www.cowes.co.uk/cb/zone?p=story;story_id=2156# SANTABUTT WANTS TO VISIT YOU But before the Curmudgeon’s alter-ego, ‘Santabutt’ can visit, you must first send him your holiday gift list. Scuttlebutt is asking all readers to submit their “must have” items for this year’s holiday season (to help the rest of us figure out what to give you). Each week, one lucky list will win a $50 gift certificate. Post your gift list here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/2006/gifts * If you need any suggestions, Sailing World magazine now has its annual gift guide online: http://tinyurl.com/yabsxm WHERE TIME STANDS STILL A day of editing the Scuttlebutt newsletter invariably includes several Internet surfing expeditions. Recently upon one such trip, we found the website of the St. Maarten "America's Cup" 12 Metre Challenge. From the ‘Where Are They Now Department’, we learn that five of the boats used by campaigns for the 1987 America’s Cup in Fremantle, Australia have been put out to pastor in the Caribbean (Canada II, True North I and IV, and Stars & Stripes 86 and 87). If you find yourself in St. Maarten, there are apparently several regattas held per day, with each boat carrying 9-18 passengers along with a professional crew of 3. Before the race each crew attends a briefing, where they learn a little history of the America's Cup and receive some training for the various crew positions. Unlike the real America’s Cup racing, you have to buy your own schwag, but there is complimentary beer onboard. Oh yea, and they do mention that you might want to bring along a few duckets onboard, which leads us to believe the balance of order exists even in the Caribbean, where we presume the ‘haves’ are at the helm and the ‘have nots’ are turning the handles. -- Scuttleblog, http://tinyurl.com/ygwmkd SAILING SHORTS * (Nov 15, 2006) An international fleet of 79 boats has assembled in Miami, FL for the Star North Americans, where two races were completed in 10-12 knot winds out of the southeast, sunny skies and warm water. As the city of Miami has pointed out on a banner at the US Sailing Center, (this is) "the best venue for dinghy sailing in the world!" 2006 World Champions Hamish Pepper Carl Williams continue their recent domination by winning both of the day’s races. Top North American is currently Ross Macdonald/ Mike Wolfs (CAN). - Read the daily report provided by Andy Horton/ Brad Nichol: http://www.starclass.org/artman/publish/article_243.shtml * Tom Kenney has provided Scuttlebutt with an update including additional photos from the storm that hit Padanaram, MA last month: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1028 * Online Registration and Notice of Race are now available for US Sailing's 2007 Rolex Miami OCR, scheduled for January 21 -27, 2007. The 18th annual event is ranked by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as a Grade 1 event and features competition in all 14 Olympic and Paralympic classes. In 2006, more than 610 sailors representing 40 countries competed. Registrant information is available at http://www.RolexMiamiOCR.org * The qualification system for the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal has been updated with details online at the ISAF website. The Championships, taking place from June 28 -July 13, will be the pinnacle event for the Olympic Classes in 2007 with 75% of all the national places for the 2008 Olympic Games to be decided. – Full details: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6fFh?~vl&format=popup PULLING STRINGS Only 632 days to go until the 2008 Olympic Games, and the US Sailing Team is working hard toward medals in eleven disciplines. New England Ropes has been making sure team members pull the right strings to ensure their success. Our line is engineered to perform at the highest level, in sizes appropriate for every class and application. New England Ropes products made their Chinese debut at the recent Olympic Test Event in Qingdao, and we will continue to work with the USST to ensure their success toward 2008. Others make line. We make line perform. http://www.neropes.com RACES IN PROGRESS * (Nov 15, 2006) On day 25 of the Velux 5 Oceans race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was bemoaning the unreliability of new technology and was threatening to get his sextant out. He would be impressed by Unai Basurko's use of wildlife to determine his race strategy on board Pakea. The Spanish skipper said: "I was at the wheel and suddenly a leg of locust fell in my face. I looked up and saw this bird of prey, like a hawk, on the top of the mast and another one flying around. This bird was eating a locust and didn't like the legs, so was throwing them away. Later I realised that when you can find a locust on the ocean it means that there are strong East winds near the African coast, so I hope my decision of taking the East route will be right." -- Complete report, http://www.velux5oceans.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,12345~928571,00.html * (Nov. 15, 2006) Competing in the popular twenty-five boat Open 40 division in the Route du Rhum race, the weather conditions could definitely give the victory to Phil Sharp who has now significantly increased his lead on Morvan. The Briton should not be worried by his pursuer even if the rounding of Guadeloupe could be as painful as for Marc Guillemot (Safran) and Anne Liardet (Roxy) who finally finished their frustrating racing today. For the moment Phil Sharp’s ETA has been pushed to Friday rather than tomorrow. -- http://tinyurl.com/yjl78g LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forums. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Quentin McGown: How sad to lose Harvey Kilpatrick. He was a great sailor and promoter of junior sailing. In the 70's, he and Lee Smith organized the November Cup series between the kids of the Fort Worth Boat Club (TX) and the youngsters at his Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club (CA). It was the first time our kids had seen the enormous swells in the Bay, and the first time his kids had sailed on an inland lake (Eagle Mountain). His close friendship with Bill Lee got our kids a sailing afternoon on Merlin, which is still talked about. Thank you, Harvey, for all you did for junior sailing. * From Pat Lawler: I wish to echo’s Dick Clark’s kind words of the passing of one of sailings greatest: Harvey Kilpatrick. Like many junior members before and after, in 1975 Harvey made an enormous impact on me. Since then and largely as a result of Harvey’s sincere efforts, I'm still heavily into yacht racing. The sailing community needs more people like Harvey that takes an interest, pride, and commitment to bring more people into the sport of sailboat racing and Corinthian-like seamanship. I will never forget the day when Harvey, Dick, and Bill took all of the junior members out on a new boat [Merlin] for a run in Monterey Bay (wow!). I also really appreciated Harvey giving my $70 junior member bar bill personally to me [and not sending it home] after a November Cup in Ft. Worth, TX. Harvey, we will miss you and look forward to seeing you round the next mark. Sail on kind sir! * From John Tormey: Hats off to Graeme Wood, who is providing one of his boats to a youth team for the Sydney-Hobart race (as reported in Issue 2224). Taking a page out of Roy Disney’s book, whose young Morning Light team is competing in the Transpac in July, Wood is opening a door that I imagine is otherwise hard to access for youngsters. I hope more opportunities like this continue, as I fear today’s youth is missing out on the keelboat component of the sailing “upbringing.” How many teenagers have sufficient skills to compete in their local PHRF races (let alone a treacherous offshore race)? My guess is there are few, as the focus these days for youth sailing is primarily dinghy events. To turn around this trend, opportunities like that being provided by Mr Wood and Disney can only help. * From John Harwood-Bee: (re Adrian Morgan's letter in Issue 2224) Whilst agreeing with Adrian's sentiments, I should point out... "No media.... No sponsorship." The minute we persuade a company to hand over the money we enter an obligation to deliver as much publicity as possible. In RKJ's case he was attending to a scheduled contact, not some random attempt to speak to him. It was not the call itself but the failure of the communications equipment that unfortunately coincided with the knock down. Sir Robin will be annoyed at the breakdown but well aware of the need to communicate with the press. This acknowledged by his recent appointment of a dedicated PR representative (which is now sending the media his updates). The media can, on occasions, become intrusive and demanding and it is only when, like adventurer Steve Fossett, you are predominantly self-funding, can you regulate your output if you wish . We should be glad, despite the negative publicity and sponsor ‘let down’ surrounding certain events of the past two years, that there is still sufficient interest in sailing to attract the media and thereby financial support from Velux, SAGA, and others for gentlemen such as Sir Robin. On a further note, we wish Tony Bullimore God Speed and await the return of communications with him. Qatar must be hoping that this time round their support for sailing will have a positive outcome. * From Steve Gregory: Regarding the Monday Morning Tactician (in Issue 2224), I can see how the umpires have been hesitant about getting more involved in the weather mark situations. Just like in other sports, the accuracy of an umpire’s calls has everything to do with their positioning. Given the size of the fleets, it would seem hard to get in proper position, and thus hard to see all sides of most incidents. However, for the port-tack boat that slams in on layline rather than ducking, it would seem that Helen Keller could call that foul. I say give them the authority, yet allow them to use discretion. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether. This issue of Scuttlebutt provided by Ullman Sails and New England Ropes. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
