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SCUTTLEBUTT 3007 - Thursday, January 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors: Ullman Sails and Morris Yachts. BIZARRE STRATEGY RETURNS CUP TO COURT By Cory E. Friedman, Scuttlebutt legal analyst (January 13, 2010) - Once again America’s Cup defender Société Nautique De Genève’s (SNG) bizarre strategy has landed it back before New York Supreme Court Justice Kornreich. Apparently, the SNG contingent of skipper Brad Butterworth and Hamish Ross met with Tom Ehman and Richard Slater for Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) in Singapore on January 12, 2009. Adult supervision was provided by Aussies David Tillett, the incoming chair of the AC 33 International Jury (IJ), and David Kellett, representing ISAF. The first day was sufficiently productive that everyone stuck around for another to wrap up a global deal resolving substantially all the outstanding disputes and paving the way to a civilized AC 33 showdown on the water. Needless to say, in what will not be a surprise to ‘Buttheads, somebody overruled the SNG representatives and blew the whole thing up, prompting GGYC to serve its Constructed in Country (CiC) motion on SNG. SNG claimed bad faith and unleashed a stream of abuse in Brad Butterworth’s name. The Deed of Gift provides the Challenger a: “match for this Cup with a yacht or vessel propelled by sails only and constructed in the country to which the challenging Club belongs, against any one yacht or vessel constructed in the country of the Club holding the Cup.” While GGYC has claimed that Alinghi 5 has several CiC problems, the motion only concerns Alinghi 5’s sails. GGYC claims that they are 3DL sails constructed by North in Minden, Nevada and, therefore cannot be CiC in Switzerland. SNG previous response is that sails are not part of the “vessel,” and that, if they are, they were constructed in Switzerland. Presumably, based upon their press releases, SNG will also claim that the issue is not ripe for consideration because it has not started a race with any sails, does not even have to designate a boat until the first race, and that the issue should go to the IJ, not to court. Given that SNG keeps talking about 3DL being a subject to intellectual property rights held by Swiss nationals, expect to hear about that as well. So, does this dispute belong in court or before the IJ? Clearly, it belongs in court. Construction (no pun intended) of the Deed is a legal issue for the Court, not a sailing issue for the IJ. Indeed, as the Deed is sui generis, although evidence of practice in Schuyler’s day may be relevant, there is nothing “boaty” about the issue. Neither IJ’s, nor sailors, have any special expertise regarding what the CiC requirement means. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p53 Alinghi Statement: http://tinyurl.com/Alinghi-01-13-10 BMW Oracle statement: http://tinyurl.com/BOR-01-13-10 Court submission: http://tinyurl.com/NY-Court-01-13-10 WHAT ABOUT THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE? With the start of the next Volvo Ocean Race now less than two years away, the question of how many teams will participate permeates all considerations. Teams don’t exist without sponsorship, but with the route of the race not yet announced, companies cannot fully vet out the return value of the investment. No money, no design research, no team assembly. While it is known that the start and finish will be in Alicante, Spain, and the boats will be a slightly updated version of the current VO 70, Race Director Jack Lloyd provides Scuttlebutt with a few additional nuggets: * When will the 2011-12 VOR route be announced? JACK LLOYD: We will be releasing the course in March, with the port negotiations now well underway. * To what extent have interested teams learned what the course might be? JACK LLOYD: They know the course will likely be similar to the last race. * Is there a start date yet? JACK LLOYD: It will be the fourth quarter of 2011. The vague date is due to some issues later in the race that effect back to the start date. * Are the anti-doping regulations in the Notice of Race new to the race? JACK LLOYD: No. We had them last time as well, and we actually conducted 27 of the 30 tests we wanted (and all were clean). The main reason apart from wanting to make the race clean is if you have an anti-doping process for your event, no national anti-doping agency can come into your event and conduct random testing. There could be a temptation for a national anti-doping agency to think that with an influx of foreign athletes in their country that they could go and conduct tests, and under our agreement this cannot happen. ULLMAN SAILS: VIDEO OF HARD WING SAIL TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR Now that the holidays are over and you’ve survived the first days back at work, here’s your excuse to take a break. Ullman Sails presents video of Pete Melvin’s discussion on Hard Wing Sail Technology, hosted by Ullman Sails Newport Beach last month. Pete and his firm Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering consulted on BOR’s hard wing sail design. Pete covers the history of hard sail technology, the construction of the BOR hard wing sail (including photos!), sailing on the trimaran, and other innovative hard wing sail applications. Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/Ullman-Sails-Wing-Videos Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com DOWN TO THE SHORT STROKES… By Terry Hutchinson, Sailing World Looking outside my office in Harwood, Maryland, there's a dusting of snow on the ground and my mind is racing to make sure I cover the last-minute details. Don't forget the hand-bearing compass, Sharpie, sunscreen (optimistic), rule book, SIs, NOR, warm clothes—especially this year. A majority of the work has already been done. An 0830 phone call to captain Brad Magosky confirmed that the boat was safely in Key West and a mid-morning conversation with mainsail trimmer Skip Baxter confirmed the sail plan for Thursday's first sail. Thursday will see us cycling through four mainsails, two of which are brand new and will be our mainsails for the 2010 season, one of which is a practice sail, and the final is the one we will use in Race Week. This will be my 17th Key West Race Week and my 7th with Jim Richardson and the Barking Mad Farr 40. Key West for Barking Mad is more about setting the tone for the coming year and getting a good start of the season. The Farr 40 World Championship is only three months away, and Barking Mad will be using Key West as an opportunity to fine tune sails, equipment, and the team. We have a fairly routine schedule for Key West that involves a sail, rig, and instrument check on Thursday, seven-hour crew training on Friday and Saturday, and a light sail on Sunday, fine tuning race sails and any last-minute items. It's a routine that has worked for the last 10 years, and I figure if it's not broken, don't fix it. This approach is also done to help shake off the cobwebs. As a team, we haven't been in the boat together since July, so there will be a lot to cover in three days. -- Read on: http://www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=1000079905&cmpid=enews011310 …BUT FIRST YOU MUST GET THERE (January 13, 2010) - In completely contrary conditions from a week ago (when it was blowing icicles off the igloos), the 160-mile Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race saw 55 boats set off today in 72 degrees and a light northerly breeze. As forecast, the wind is creating a 'jibefest' for the boats heading in a southwesterly direction, basically dead down wind. The navigators will work now to keep their boat along a pretty narrow line, between the Gulf Stream to the left and the coral reefs to the right. ‘Slow or Stop’ are the options to the sides of the course, neither of which is desirable. The lower keys are showing a bit more breeze, but certainly no records this year, with lead boat Rambler (Reichel-Pugh 90) looking at an early Thursday morning finish, with the balance of the fleet hopefully arriving by lunch time. -- Photos, tracking, etc. here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0113/ SAILING SHORTS * Scuttlebutt warning for the use of dehumidifiers to dry out boat interiors. Nearly 100,000 dehumidifiers are being recalled after reports of 11 incidents of property damage, including four building fires, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The Chinese-made dehumidifiers, manufactured by LG Electronics Tianjin Appliance Co., were sold under the Goldstar and Comfort-Aire brands at Walmart, Home Depot and Heat Controller Inc. The dehumidifiers also are being recalled by Health Canada. Those who have the dehumidifiers are asked to stop using them immediately. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ybt78vv * A $10.5m yacht sail manufacturing plant has just been opened in Sri Lanka by Dimension-Polyant Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. The plant was established following a deal with the Sri Lankan Board of Investment involving setting up the plant for sails and textiles with its output going for export. With a workforce of up to 200, the new facility will make sails to European standards with high-tech equipment and machinery having been imported from Germany to support this. This will give Dimension-Polyant of Germany its fourth manufacturing plant, adding to those in Europe, the US and Australia. These all make sail cloth and membranes. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20100013103400ibinews.html * The Notice of Race is now published for the 20th Annual BoatUS Santa Maria Cup, an ISAF Grade 1 women’s match race event. Hosted by Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD, the even will see ten of the world’s top women skippers dueling it out on the Chesapeake Bay in a series of matches over four days. The race is sponsored by Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS). -- Details: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=467 * (January 13, 2010) -The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) today published the Notice of Race for the 2010 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, the 40th anniversary edition of the championship being held in Istanbul, Turkey on July 8-17, 2010. Three hundred of the world’s top sailors representing over 60 nations are expected for the premiere international youth event. Open to competitors aged under 19 in the year of the championship, the events will include Laser Radial, 420, RS:X with 8.5m2 sail & 60cm fin, Sirena SL16, and 29er. -- Full details: http://www.sailing.org/31297.php * The US SAILING Safety-at-Sea Committee has awarded Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medals to four boats for the seamanship displayed by their crews during rescues, with three Hanson Rescue Medals awarded for the rescue of a sailor on Kaneohe Bay on January 25, 2009 and one Hanson Rescue Medal awarded for an incident on Lake Huron on August 1, 2009. -- Details and nomination forms: http://tinyurl.com/ybz6u3h IN MIAMI: A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS… Problem: Strictly Sail moved its Miami venue under a causeway to Sea Isle Marina and Morris Yachts’ new M52 cannot get under the bridge (65’ max at low tide)! While that does not present a problem for the M42, M36 and M29, we didn’t want to leave the M52 out or separate the fleet. Solution: All four boats will be available for viewing at the Shake a Leg Sailing Center in Coconut Grove 10-6pm Thursday Feb 11 through Sunday Feb 14. Please call 207-244-5509 or email mailto:sales1@morrisyachts.com for more information. See you in Miami! -- http://www.morrisyachts.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Jan 16-17 - Dead dogs and Tin Whistles Regatta - Key Largo, Florida, USA Jan 16-18 - 470 North American Championships - Miami, FL, USA Jan 16-18 - Women's Collegiate Match Race - Winter Park, FL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 David & Tamara Kennedy: (re, Bill Schanen's story in Scuttlebutt 3005) Some readers will recall the incredible Miles and Beryl Smeeton, who sailed over 130,000 miles from the Arctic to the Horn in their 46 foot Ketch "Tzu Hang" during the 1950's and 60's. They believed that "anyone who is out only for sport and adventure has no right to expect help in a crisis". Their boat carried neither liferaft nor radio, and their greatest dread was that they might be a nuisance to each other or anyone else. Their book "Once is Enough" is a classic. * From Mike Sharpe: Please don’t promote in your pages another ‘youngest’ or ‘oldest’ around the world record attempt, or otherwise ridiculous challenge. Those stories are of no interest to the vast majority of experienced sailors who are the mainstay of your readership. Let the ‘tree huggers’ and ‘child abusers’ find another forum to promote their insane interests. I guarantee that I speak for the vast majority of your readers when I say we are just not interested! The readers of Scuttlebutt are interested mainly in racing and interesting issues that attach to that subject. We are not interested in crazy parents (usually from the ‘Land of fruit & nuts’) who encourage their kids to break stupid irrelevant records. Interestingly many of these attempts start for the Capital of the Land of Fruit and Nuts, Marina Del Rey, CA., a notorious light wind environment that has no relevance to serious offshore sailing. Those readers that disagree, the vocal minority, should attempt the same sailing event that they encourage their children to complete in before sending their kids off on a venture that has no significance to experienced sailors, your readers. What percentages of these parents or supporters have sailed or could sail the same course that they have encouraged the children to attempt? I predict very few if any, and if any, at what age and level of experience was the attempt made? All the great single handed races have a qualifying test for competitors for a reason. Having sailed several hundred thousand miles offshore in sailing and racing yachts ranging in size from 26’ to 140’ I can state with some authority that this is not a game for children, to be encouraged by miss-guided and well insulated adults. * From Hugh Elliot: For those who have not yet learned the Napoleonic measurement, here is a cheat sheet for temperature: At 10C you may take off your coat because it is 50F. At 20C you may take off your jacket because it is 68F At 30C you may take off your shirt because it is 86F At 40C you should be in an air conditioned room or a swimming pool because it is 104F And a final piece of trivia is that -40C = -40F * From Chris Ericksen: Duncan Wood was generally correct in his note in 'Butt 3006 when he said his uncle Jack Wood was "the first (I believe) inductee into the college sailing Hall of Fame and is considered in many circles as the father of intercollegiate sailing." Walter C. "Jack" Wood (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, '17) was sailing director at MIT in the Thirties; as MIT is considered the birthplace of "modern" collegiate sailing--that is, in dinghies rather than in large keelboats, which was the case theretofore--by extension he could be considered one of the fathers of the current version of the sport. He was one of 14 initial inductees into the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA) College Sailing Hall of Fame in 1969. MIT's historic sailing pavilion on the banks of the Charles River, built in 1935, is named in his honor, as is the ICSA national championship team-racing trophy. A full list of the College Sailing Hall of Fame inductees (and all recipients of ICSA awards) is available for viewing on the ICSA website, http://www.collegesailing.org * From Mike Doyle: Thanks to Duncan Wood for the article on his uncle, MIT's Sailing Master, Jack Wood. I learned in 1941 what a pleasure it was to skip some classes and sail the Charles (River) without Jack reprimanding me. He was a great instructor and a great person. * From Jim Champ (re, story on 29erXX in Scuttlebutt 3006) It might be more accurate to call it the Skiff that no-one wants. Whereas the 49er and 29ers flew out of the shop door in very healthy sales numbers as soon as they were available (and long before Olympic selection in the case of the 49er), the XX seems to have only tiny numbers of boats sailing and it appears most of those are boats made available for special events by the manufacturers. Do womens' teams actually want to do twin wire skiff sailing? It’s hard to think of many all female crews worldwide in the established classes that were at the ISAF equipment selection trials, even though they do have healthy numbers of mixed double boats, and folk seem to have voted with their feet that they don't want the XX at all anyway. The GT60 from the trials, racing under Cherub class rules, came 4th last weekend at the big Bloody Mary handicap event in the UK. How many 29erXX did it beat? None were entered. In fact only one has ever entered, and I think that was a "works" team... CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Morris Yachts. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
