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SCUTTLEBUTT 2987 - Tuesday, December 8, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors are Morris Yachts, North Sails, and Camet. NEW VISION FOR CANADIAN SAILING The Canadian Yachting Association concluded its annual conference and AGM on November 21st with stakeholders present agreeing to work together to create a stronger, more vibrant sport in Canada. The four days of meetings focused on developing a clear strategy for the sport of sailing for the future and the CYA Board will now work to finalize the strategy and communicate it to all the stakeholders. The participants strongly endorsed the Long Term Sailing Development model and are aware of the challenge ahead in implementing the programme. Also at the AGM, two new CYA board members, Christine Searle (ON) and John Kerr (ON) were elected to replace retiring members John Abel (BC) and Dave Thomas (BC). Chair of the Nominating Committee and Chair of the Election of Directors, Jim Dike, declared President Gerry Giffin elected by acclamation as there were no other candidates. In advance of the election of Directors, the CYA membership passed a proposed bylaw change increasing from one to two athlete directors on the Board of Directors. In a process as outlined in the CYA By-Laws, Nikola Girke was elected by the currently carded Canadian sailing team members as the second Athlete Director to the Board of Directors. The AGM also passed a new by-law which introduces a required gender balance to the Board of Directors. The effect of the by-law, when including the Athlete Directors, is to ensure that there are at least three directors of each gender on the Board. Annette Wildgoose, who represented Sport Canada at the AGM said: “I am particularly pleased to note that after many years CYA now has 3 female representatives on the Board of Directors. As you may be aware this is part of the National Accountability Standards that drive the Canadian Sport Policy through the NSOs as it relates to governance and technical development.” -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.ca/features/annual_general_meeting_report/ TEAM RACING: IT’S TIME FOR THE SINGLE FLAG SYSTEM By Matt Knowles, US Sailing Racing Rules Committee The “two step” umpire process in team racing is a relic which leads to unnecessary confusion, creates more work for crews in the midst of tight tactical situations, and often forces umpires to “green flag” situations due to an error in procedure even though a boat has broken a rule. This status quo is good for no one. Under the current two flag system, when a boat believes an opponent has broken a rule she hails "protest" and displays a red flag, just as in fleet racing. She must then wait a short period of time to give the other boat a chance to take a penalty (usually about 10-15 seconds). If the other boat doesn't take a penalty, the protesting boat then displays a yellow flag and hails "umpire." If the protesting boat waits too little or too much time before hailing "umpire", the incident is closed and no penalty is given. There is an easy alternative, and it has been in use in many places for some time: when there is an incident, a boat hails “protest” and displays a flag. Either or both boats may then take a penalty. If, after it is clear that no more penalties will be taken and a boat that broke a rule did not take a penalty, the umpires will signal a decision. This is the single flag system. Single flag is merely a procedural - not a substantive - change. Unlike match racing, the responsibility for complying with and enforcing the rule remains with the competitors. When a boat breaks a rule, it is her responsibility to take a penalty. Just as in the two flag system, it only takes one competitor to get the umpires involved. Also just as in the two flag system, any single competitor can prevent the umpires from becoming involved by taking a penalty. -- Read on, and comment in the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8704 NORTH U AND MORRIS YACHTS EXCLUSIVE Cuyler Morris, President of Morris Yachts and Bill Gladstone of North U are proud to announce an exclusive partnership to benefit all new customers and owners of Morris Yachts. Starting immediately, when you buy a Morris yacht, every new owner will receive three days of private instruction from a North U Coach. Each customized program will be designed by North U to match the needs, skills, and requests of each individual owner. For current owners, North U coaches can be hired on a per diem basis. For more information: http://www.morrisyachts.com/news TOUR REMAINS STRONG World Match Racing Tour acting President Peter Gilmour regarding the main strengths and weaknesses of the Tour: “Strengths of the Tour are that the racing is easy to understand (the guy in the lead is the winner) and that racing is close to the shore so spectators get a great view. This also helps with running hospitality and creating a great day out for people to enjoy. The teams are also one of the main assets of the Tour as they provide the drama and emotion. “The Tour has been televised since it was started in 2000 and we have built a good brand and distribution platform. The television production plays a key part in the Tour as that brings out the excitement with on-board cameras capturing the heat of the moment action and also providing a platform from which sponsors can get a return on investment. The biggest weakness which is more of a difficulty than a weakness is finding the money to make it all happen but that's a worldwide issue right now. The new investors in the Tour will enable us to keep pushing forward and put a structure in place to start generating revenue." -- WYRF, full interview: http://worldyachtracingforum.com/downloads/wyrf_press_release-1259688726.pdf PROMOTING MATCH RACING ON THE LOCAL LEVEL Forget about being a billionaire or having pro status in order to match race. For those of us who bash around the cans in fleets of equal (and sometimes unequal) boats every weekend the idea of match racing seems far too cerebral and expensive. On Saturday and Sunday eight J/22s sailed in light then often puffy conditions off of Tiburon, CA in what will hopefully be a recurring match race series, called the Paradise Cay Match Race, a ‘grade 5 open event’, at the Tiburon Yacht Club. "It's hard to find an inexpensive match race format," says Kristen Lane, the originator and organizer of the event. "If you sign up for the traditional races like the Congressional Cup or Monsoon Cup you have to be both a pro and have the money to buy in." Match racing is mostly about using the rules to gain advantage. With two equal one design boats, getting your opponent to foul you is the main way to get ahead. While the rules are mostly the same as for fleet racing, a few little changes keeps the crews and umpires on their toes. After the racing on Saturday many small groups conducted post-mortems with the umpires and racers using visual aids to help sort out the day’s events and mishaps. Logistically, this type of racing is a resource hog. Good, evenly matched boats are required, plus two judging RIBs for each pair of boats, with two judges per boat, plus a pin-setting boat, top mark boat and of course the RC boat at the start line. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of stuff and people to put this kind of event together. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ydh2jdy QUOTE / UNQUOTE “Valencia in February - does not make any sense. We never wanted that. Besides the fact that it is going to be cold, the sailing conditions are far from perfect. The conditions are perfect - in Ras al-Khaimah, while in Valencia - there is no thermal stability in the air.” -- Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team owner. -- http://tinyurl.com/yayjxfk “I am very disappointed in the events that have taken place since the last America’s Cup in Valencia. Bertarelli has been wrong every step of the way. Ellison has been right. But I wish he had done more to find a compromise. It’s going to be hard in the present environment for the America’s Cup to soon rebound.” -- Gary Jobson, US SAILING President. “We’re exploring new dimensions. Essentially, the wing gives us the same force as the sail we were using, but it is much smaller than the sail and much more efficient. You can complete a tack much faster with the wing than the sail. That eliminates both a loss in time that it takes you to tack and adjusts the distance you need to sail to complete a tack.” -- BMW Oracle CEO Russell Coutts. Source: Union-Tribune, http://tinyurl.com/ygvo6yj RAMROD SCORES FIRST MELGES 32 VICTORY WITH NORTH SAILS Congratulations to Rod Jabin and his team onboard RAMROD for their winning debut in the Melges 32 class. The Gold Cup in Fort Lauderdale set the stage for some fast and furious sailing where North Sails' proven out-of-the-bag Class Sail Development (CSD) sails shined. “Our sails performed magnificently,” said Jabin after the event. "When the choice of sail supplier came up the answer was obvious," he said. “We went to North Sails for our Farr 40 and enjoyed a high level of success in that class and built strong relationships that we wanted to continue for the Melges 32.” Seven of the top 10 boats used North's CSD Melges 32 sails. When performance matters, head North - http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/1972/Default.aspx MANHASSETT BAY FROSTBITING - THRIVING ON TRADITION On New Year’s Day, 2010, a 77-year-old tradition will be celebrated at Manhasset Bay Yacht Club in Port Washington, NY. The Wassail Bowl will be filled with punch (bartender Alan’s secret recipe) and cups passed around by the youngest members of the Frostbite Yacht Club, ages 6 to 17. Many of the assembled are second and third generation frostbite sailors and this ceremony marks the opening of the Annual Meeting of the Frostbite Yacht Club (not to be confused with Frostbite Yacht Club in Essex, CT), the virtual organization of frostbite sailors from all over the East Coast who first assembled on Manhasset Bay on January 2, 1932. In front of a roaring fire in the club’s Grill Room, young and old, Junior and Master are assembled. They will have spent the day and every Sunday since November racing Interclub dinghies together on the bay that is recognized as the birthplace of frostbite sailing. Few, if any, racing series draw such a cross-section of sailors as frostbiting, and none I can think of mix the generations as seamlessly. In the winter months, from November to April, when the options for racing winnow down to just a few, sailors from every summer fleet including big boat sailors accustomed to PHRF racing, Sonar and Manhasset Bay One-Design fleet members, cruising enthusiasts, and kids from the 420, Blue Jay, Laser, Pixel and Opti fleets all find their way on Sunday afternoons to the lawn in front of the Junior Clubhouse where we rig and launch our boats. -- WindCheck, read on: http://tinyurl.com/yatcax4 SAILING SHORTS * The 2nd Annual Carlos Aguilar Match Race was an all US Virgin Islands open final, where Peter Holmberg resorted to decades of experience to defeat Taylor Canfield in the ISAF Grade 3 Match Race. In the women’s division, the #1 Women’s Match Racing team in the world led by Claire Leroy (FRA) defeated the US Women’s Match Racing Champion and the defending Carlos Aguilar Match Race Champion Genny Tulloch in the first to two wins final of the Grade 1 Match Race. -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8675 * Sailing World's College Rankings as of December 2, 2009 finds Boston College holding onto the top spots in the final national coed and women's polls for the Fall 2009 season. Yale and Brown also put both of their squads into the top 5. Full rankings here: http://tinyurl.com/y8me3e4 * The 105-foot trimaran Groupama 3, on stopover in Cape Town, South Africa since November 21st after suffering damage during her Jules Verne Trophy attempt, was thwarted from her plan to leave for Brest last Friday. When attempting to do a final charge to the batteries before departure, the generator failed. A replacement Yanmar engine block has been sent to Cape Town from France, which the team hopes to have installed and ready to allow for a Tuesday departure. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ydak7b4 * The new SPOT Assist Maritime service, from Boat US and Spot LLC, combines satellite messaging communications and GPS technology giving recreational boaters the ability to summon a towboat for non-emergency assistance by pressing the “Help” button on their handheld SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger or SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker. GPS location information is critical for a timely towboat response, as the biggest challenge for responding towboat captains is getting accurate location information from a disabled vessel. -- Full story: http://www.boatus.com/news/PR_Full.asp?ID=456 * Multi One Design S.A. (Ltd) has just confirmed the construction of the 5 first examples of its 20m trimaran one design. These boats are going to become benchmarks for oceanic racing in the next few years. In the long term, this series of 12 boats will compete in transatlantic, round Europe and round-the-world races. The manufacture of the plugs and 100% carbon moulds will begin early January to enable the delivery of the first set of floats in summer 2010. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/y8uyp8p SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar PHOTO GALLERY * If you’re thinking that you like the sailing, just not the kind of sailing you’ve been doing, then maybe the idea of racing catamarans in the Caribbean is something that might interest you. Photographer Pierrick Contin shares images from the St. Barth Cata Cup last month at Saint Barthélemy, an event open to all catamarans between 16 to 20 feet. Very nice indeed: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1204b/ * The who’s who of yachting were in Florida last week for the Melges 32 Gold Cup, providing a glimpse of the high level of racing that is anticipated for Key West Race Week next month. Shooters John Payne, Becky Damore, and Joy Dunigan were there too, and have provided Scuttlebutt with this four page gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1207 * While the sport is evolving in the Persian Gulf, there remains an attachment to the Traditional 22 foot and 43 foot Dhow Sailing Classes. These narrow canoe hulls carry lateen rigged sail plans that extend well forward on long bow sprits. If the Alinghi team wins the 33rd America’s Cup, they’re saying they would like to host the next Match in the Gulf. Maybe these will be the boats they will use: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1207a/ GUYS DON'T READ THIS AD! Ladies: Camet just released their newest women's shorts… the Martinique. They feature a low rise, a small outside pocket, a longer inseam and are in your favorite color: black! Sizes range from 2-16 and you can get the optional foam insert for the seat. These shorts are awesome for women! Buy them today before the holidays at: Annapolis Performance, Landfall Navigation, Line Honors, Point Loma Outfitting, Sailing Pro Shop, Sailing Supply, and Sound Boatworks. More info can be found at http://www.camet.com LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Chip Mann, RRO, US Sailing Area K Director: I am looking for a digital wind direction and velocity devise to be used for RC work. It must have the ability to read the wind direction from an anchored boat and have the ability to be moved from boat to boat. I have found some equipment from TactTick which costs over $2,000. I am hoping to find something that will be around the $1,000 price point. If there is such a product, I believe it will help race committees set a better course with more accurate and constant wind readings. Please provide advice in the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8698 * From Rory Ramsden: (reply to letter in Scuttlebutt 2986): The RS:X that won the trials was never raced other than in the trials. After winning the bid, ISAF was very specific about the longevity and durability of the RS:X equipment. They wanted the hull to last and last. It has proven to do so. More than 4 years of experience of making the hull and racing it led Neil Pryde and the RS:X Class to believe that the hull is over engineered. We are working together to reduce its weight to 13.5kgs and at the same time do our due diligence before we make a firm proposal to change the class rules. As for the politics, I was there. I was the IMCO class secretary for three Olympiads. We all felt hurt having to say goodbye to our old friend, the Mistral One Design. However, ISAF were probably right in insisting upon that change. The Mistral Prodigy was a contender in the trials. IMCO supported its selection. However, in retrospect, there would now be big problems if the decision had gone its way. The Mistral brand has been having major financial problems and is only now on the road to recovery. Neil Pryde stepped into the line. He has done and is doing a great job. Personal experience tells me that we are in the right hands. * From Bob Meagher III: To clarify, the Annual Wirth M. Munroe Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach Yacht Race last Friday was won by Act One in IRC, but Jim Miller on his Beneteau/Moorings 38 "Sea Turtle" was the overall winner in PHRF with an elapsed time only four seconds faster than a near-sister-ship, Dan Myers' "E-Ticket" -- you think they pushed each other up the course? Detailed results here: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=275 * From Brian Morris: (re, “ISAF approval for the Jury” in Scuttlebutt 2986) It is well known in ISAF circles that approval is done with the consent of the Chairman of the Race Officials Committee, Charley Cook. The officials are now known as “Charley’s Angels”. I wish the “Angels” well (in their America’s Cup duties) as they will need it as they will spend considerable amount of time in court. This is possibly why four of the five are lawyer, barrister, magistrate and arbitrator. Court room experience essential! * From Jim Stone: (re, story about BMW Oracle wing in Scuttlebutt 2986) There's something terribly wrong with their math here. Two square kilometers is 2,000,000 sq. metres. There are whole towns smaller than that. I think they meant to say 2000 square metres. * From Will Baillieu: America's Cup is a big event but surely this is the biggest statement yet. Oracle designer Manolo Ruiz de Elvirez should consider a future career in Real Estate sales. If Oracle's hard wing has an area of 2 square kilometres, they can build condominiums on it once the event is over. And his statement that one of the advantages of this suburb-sized wing is that it is motor driven and therefore requires "less" crew (I assume he meant "fewer" crew) shows just how risky it can be to allow boffins to make press releases. They might have fewer sailors on board but they will need a panel beater and some diesel mechanics in their place. We should look forward to the team photo. Who's the tattooed bloke with the greasy overalls and the beer in his hand? Oh, the sail trimmer...right. So that is his ute (pick up) parked on the aft deck? CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. Special thanks to Morris Yachts, North Sails, and Camet. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
