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SCUTTLEBUTT 3451 - Wednesday, October 19, 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: Point Loma Outfitting, Quantum Sails, and LaserPerformance. SHOW RESPECT TO YOUR PEERS Peter Isler, two-time America's Cup winner, has sailed in and won hundreds of races over the last forty years. In his latest book - Peter Isler's Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets - he shares lessons and stories that have helped him succeed and enjoy the sport. This excerpt, titled In Their Own Words, was written by four-time Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie of Great Britain. In it Ben describes how a petty squabble eight years previously very nearly derailed his Olympic Games in 2004. As he says, "You never know when you might need a friend." Read on: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn to respect and get on with your peers. As a young, aggressive Laser sailor I would push hard on the water and end up in countless arguments and shouting matches. I was younger than the guys I was racing against, racing in the 1996 Olympic Games at nineteen, and I felt I had to make it clear to the older, more experienced sailors that they couldn't intimidate me. There was one French sailor in particular who was a problem for me, and for whatever reason we would always be in the same patch of water pushing for mark room or whatever. In a warm-up regatta to the Olympics we were both on the final run to the finish; he was leading and I was second. I was fast downwind and I began reeling him in and was about to pass when he began screaming at me for cheating and breaking rule 42. At this point the "on-water judge" came up to us both and gave the Frenchman the penalty for too much rocking. As he was doing his penalty turn I sailed past and made some sly remark to wind the guy up, but he lost it, and I mean really lost it. It died down and all was seemingly forgotten until we began racing in the Olympics a fortnight later and the same guy protested me in race two. The protest was a complete fabrication, but I was fortunate that the TV coverage of the race had picked up the incident and proved that I was in fact on starboard tack, not port tack, as was being claimed. The protest was dismissed and I put it behind me as a bit of bad blood and gamesmanship. Eight years later we were both sailing in the Finn class for the 2004 Olympics. Again, in the second race we were both sailing on the extreme left of the first beat with few other boats around, and I thought I could easily cross the Frenchman. As I crossed on port tack he pulled his bow away and claimed an incident even though nothing had happened. We had words; he then took back his claim and apologized. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12787#12787 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ben was too polite to mention his advisory by name, but it was Guillaume Florent who represented France in the Finn event at the 2004 Olympic Games: http://www2.sailing.org/olympics2004/results/finnOverall.asp If you're in the San Diego area, Peter will be signing his new book at the Shelter Island West Marine (1250 Rosecrans) on October 20th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Here's additional information about the book: http://tinyurl.com/WM-PI-Blue-Book HOT AND LIGHT The sailing events for the XVI Pan American Games are being held at the Vallarta Yacht Club in Puerto Vallarta, with racing scheduled for October 17-23. Laser (Men), Laser Radial (Women) and RS:X (Men and Women) - and five non-Olympic, open classes - Hobie 16, J/24, Lightning, Snipe and Sunfish. Light winds, oppressive heat and spotty internet connections are limiting the news flow, but American Clay Johnson was able to find a hot spot to provide this update from the Laser course: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (October 18, 2011) - Today was the second day of the Pan Am Games, and once again we headed out for two more races at 1 PM. In the first race, the breeze started out at a light 4 knots but built to about 6 knots. I had a good start below the fleet and headed to the left for more pressure. I was able to tack and sail on top of the fleet out towards the right. At the first mark, I rounded in 2nd behind the Columbian guy, but Cy Thompson (ISV), Julio Alsogaray (ARG), and Bruno Fontes (BRA) were right behind me. I stayed in 2nd on the reach, and on the run, I was able to get around the Columbian guy. Julio just edged in front of me at the leeward mark. I rounded in 2nd and headed back to the left for more pressure. Most of the fleet started heading to the right, so Julio tacked over and went with them. I saw a little more breeze just past him, so I sailed about 10 more boat lengths and tacked in some nice pressure. The breeze kept going left and I was able to lift off of Julio and into the lead. We rode all the way across the course and then I tacked in front of him on the way back to extend my lead. Raul Aguayo (DOM) was pretty deep and went all the way to the left corner by himself and was able to sneak in front of Julio at the weather mark. I had a good lead and maintained it to the finish! -- Read on: http://www.claysails.com/node/404 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As the event site results tool is a nightmare, the USA team sent in their standings after day two: Laser - 2; Radial - 4; J/24 - 2; Lightning - 1; Snipe - 1; Hobie 16 - 5; RSX Men - 7; RSX Women - 3; and Sunfish - 2. Results: http://tinyurl.com/PAG-2011-results Canada team: http://tinyurl.com/CYA-Pan-Am-2011 USA team: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-Pan-Am-2011 Event website: http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/ENG/01_inicio SO LIGHT-SO WARM: INTRODUCING THE BLOW JACKET BY SLAM We are proud to introduce the Blow jacket by SLAM to North America. This jacket is incredibly soft and lightweight, water and wind resistant, breathable, and dries faster than a down jacket would. The jacket has a durable rip-stop nylon shell; but the secret is what's on the inside! SLAM chose to fill the jacket with Primaloft one, the ultimate microfiber insulation. Primaloft one absorbs 3 times less water; is 14% warmer when dry and is 24% warmer when wet than the competitive insulation. Just in time for the Fall sailing season. http://www.slam-shops.com/scuttle.php FOUR FOR FOERSTER When sailor Paul Foerster recalls his first Olympics -- the Seoul games of 1988 -- the first thing he remembers is the weather: cold, windy and a lot of big waves. "The conditions there were the worst I've ever dealt with in my life," Foerster said with a laugh. But what really stuck with the Heath, Texas, native about Seoul was how he felt when the games were over. Then just a 24-year-old, he finished 11th in the mixed two person heavyweight dinghy (Flying Dutchman) and he wanted more. "It was pretty exciting to be there, and I had dreamed of it my whole life, " Foerster said. "But not winning a medal made me want to try more to come back and do it again." So Foerster did just that -- three more times. He is one of four, four-time Olympians competing for Team USA at the Pan Am Games. Foerster is competing in the Sunfish event. After his debut in 1988, he won a silver in Barcelona in 1992 (Flying Dutchman), another silver in Sydney in 2000 (470 Men) and capped off his Olympic career with a gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens (470 Men). While he still competes at certain events, Foerster retired as an Olympian after the 2004 Games, citing wanting to spend more time with his family. Yet when all is said and done, Foerster will always be an Olympic champion. "That means a lot to me," Foerster said. "The main thing is that you end your season -- or your career -- on a high note. Because even if you get a silver or bronze, you still lost the last competition. So it's nice to win the last competition." -- Source: http://tinyurl.com/Team-USA-101811 LIVING UP TO ITS REPUTATION The ten teams competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race are currently midway on the 4750 nm leg from Cape Town, South Africa to Geraldton, Western Australia, and the Southern Ocean is living up to its reputation as one of Mother Nature's toughest environments. "The last 24 hours we have not really been racing, more a case of being taken for a very wild ride by one of the most extreme parts of the world in which to go sailing," reveals Singapore skipper, Ben Bowley. "For most of Monday we were seeing winds in excess of 40 knots and the occasional gust up to 60 knots. This was before our instruments decided to give up and not tell us what we were experiencing! We tried several sail combinations to find one that suited the conditions and finally settled on three reefs with a staysail." "Sail too slow and there was not enough steerage to control the boat against the mountainous, steep, breaking seas or carry too much sail and face the terrible prospect of broaching beam to the sea when the wind gusted up and the helm lost concentration for a split second," warns Bowley. "Although there were lots of very wide eyes looking aft and upwards as a breaking crest threatened to poop us," explains Bowley, "these were balanced out by the broad grins of the helmsman feeling the thrill of a 40-ton yacht surfing over three waves at a time in excess of 20 knots for up to 20 seconds at a time!" "This Southern Ocean is definitely one place that you must see and experience... but not necessarily come back to," shares Derry-Londonderry skipper Mark Light. "The bitter cold sifts through layers of thermals, mid-layers and shell to bite away at the skin causing crew to get terribly cold. When one gets cold your ability to think and concentrate is depleted leading to small mistakes that unfortunately sometimes can compound to larger mistakes. Daylight brings confidence back as people can see again and the problems seem to dissolve into the night." explains Gold Coast Australia skipper Richard Hewson. "Sometimes a wave hit the side of New York and it must be what is like to be hit by a bus at 40mph; the whole yacht would stop in the water and crew were thrown around like dolls from one side of the yacht to the other. You can try and hang on but you just got ripped from where you were to where you got put by the sea. Most of the time it was more like racing a sub than a racing yacht," reports New York skipper Gareth Glover. BACKGROUND: The Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race started on July 31st from Southampton on the UK's south coast and will return to the Solent in July 2012 after 40,000 miles of ocean racing. Over 500 people signed up to crew on the 10 equally matched 68-foot masthead for at least one of eight legs. http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com NEED A VACATION? Its nightlife is as good as anywhere in the country, the 15 miles of beaches are crammed with all manner of flamboyant souls, and for two weeks in May, Miami, Florida will be the host of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. The six competing teams are now in Alicante, Spain preparing for the first In-Port Race on October 29. The 6,500 nm race from Alicante through the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa on November 5th is the first of the nine offshore legs. It will be the 4,800 nm leg from Itaja¨ª in Brazil that is expected to deliver the Volvo Open 70 racing yachts to Miami by May 6th. And until the fleet departs again on May 20th, look for the Race Village to be the place to be. Like something from a Formula 1 grand prix, this venue will be dedicated to entertainment with a program brimming with concerts, shows, exhibitions, sailing clinics, rides, fireworks and restaurants. It is also home to the Volvo Ocean Race Experience, an interactive attraction designed to suck landlubbers into the world of a Volvo Ocean Race sailor through its 3D cinema, simulator and winch grinding challenge. The centerpiece of the Race Village will be the stars of the Volvo Ocean Race - the six VO 70s. And for the first time ever the team zones will be open to the public, allowing fans to watch master boat builders and design experts do their thing. It is estimated that four million people will visit the race villages in the ten Volvo Ocean Race Host Ports around the world. Details on the race schedule here: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/Volvo-Ocean-Race-Village/14/village.html REAL TIME = REAL PERFORMANCE Quantum Racing's validation testing of Quantum's iQ Technology and Fusion M sails was elevated to a new level this season with on-board, real-time intelligence about sail shapes delivered by VSPARS. The knowledge translated into trimming and rig tuning decisions providing Quantum Racing with a competitive edge to win both the Audi MedCup Circuit and TP52 World Championship. The TP52 verification process offers tangible benefits for the company's mainstream products including improved fiber layouts, precise shapes and exceptional construction details. For proven performance and repeatable shapes, think smart. Think iQ Technology from Quantum. For more information: http://tinyurl.com/6e4tty4 SAILING SHORTS * Professional yacht racing photographers from around the world are invited to submit their best yacht racing image from 2011 to enter the 'Yacht Racing Image of the Year 2011' organised by the World Yacht Racing Forum and presented by WYRF Gold Partner Mirabaud & Cie, banquiers priv¨¦s. The entry deadline is October 31. Details here: http://www.worldyachtracingforum.com/108__yacht_racing_images_2011.html * The Rena, a 775-foot cargo ship, remains aground on the reef off the North Islands of New Zealand. It has already spilled over 330 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, with another 1,300 tons on board. Crews are working to develop a way to heat the heavy oil in order to pump it onto a waiting tanker. In addition, over 100 containers have already been lost, and the ship is expected to break up over the next weeks. -- NA Sailor, read on: http://tinyurl.com/NA-Sailor-101811 * Italian company O-range and Swedish company Sail Racing have developed a state-of-the-art series of technical bags with integrated solar panels designed to charge iPhones and iPads. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-101811 HELPING THE MARINE INDUSTRY The Marine Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides companies with free online exposure for their personnel, product and service updates. Plus each week the Scuttlebutt newsletter selects a sampling of updates to feature in the Thursday edition. Are you in the marine industry? Post your updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 Fred Roswold: Many, many, more sailors don't spend freely on sails, or boats, or equipment, or anything else. As much as we'd like to, we just don't have it. The advice to hire a coach (in Scuttlebutt 3450), because it is a good idea and all the other sports have them, regardless of the expense, is a case of being out of touch with reality and another example of how costs of sailing are being pushed upwards, the fun is left behind, and more sailing families are being pushed out. It seems like a comment made after spending too much time with a wealthier crowd. Let's hear some ideas about how to reduce costs instead of increase them and how to make sailing more inclusive instead of exclusive. * From Pete Thomas: After reading Jobson's coaching article in Scuttlebutt 3450, I fear he has been swallowed up by the 'need to succeed' mandate that has immersed our society. When did our recreation become so complicated? The presence of coaches on the water is the presence of professionalism. If you limit coaching during regattas, the coaches will then become onboard crew. If classes want to restrict coaching, they must completely restrict professionalism in the class. What's whacky to me is how ISAF allows all this to happen. Odds are if people are getting event coaching, then it's a competitive class that has international status from ISAF. That means that ISAF must approve the class rules and its event rules. If ISAF was really in charge of the sport, they would determine which classes should be protected from professionalism. ISAF should allow it in the Olympic event and a few other premier one design classes, but then shut it down everywhere else. Hate to say it, but sailing was a lot more fun before we all got so damn serious about it. And when it was fun, there were more people doing it. Am I the only one seeing the forest through the trees? * From John Tormey: Concerning your report in Scuttlebutt 3450 about how Oracle Racing has four AC45s compared to only one for each of the challengers, Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard commented that even his wealthy team is already lagging in this arms race. "... we would also like to have two more AC45¡äs but right now our budget won't allow us to do that. We do have the sailors, we have 13 sailors in our team and we could easily race two AC45¡äs but that would be another cost. The bottom line is that if you can afford what Oracle is doing, then it is an advantage." So much for encouraging competition and presenting cost containment measures. LASERPERFORMANCE AND COLLEGE SINGLEHANDED NATIONALS We're proud to once again be the supplier of 36 brand new Laser sailboats for the 2011 College and High School Singlehanded Championships hosted by the Chicago Yacht Club. Good luck to all the competitors from the team @ LaserPerformance. Check your local LP dealer for great deals on these event boats or contact us at info@laserperfromance.com. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The most worthless emotion..................Self-pity SPONSORS THIS WEEK BIC Sport - Hall Spars & Rigging - North Sails - IYRS - Southern Spars Point Loma Outfitting - Quantum Sails - LaserPerformance Ullman Sails - APS - US Sailing - Salt Harbor Studio Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
