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SCUTTLEBUTT 3707 - Monday, October 29, 2012Scuttlebutt 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: Allen Insurance and Financial and UsedBoatEquipment.com. NOT EXACTLY A FRENCH KISS ON THE BAY While waiting for the AC World Series to commence its October event, a funny thing happened to the Energy Team's AC45. It broke its mooring on September 29th and went adrift on San Francisco Bay. And because this is the America's Cup, the incident has now shifted from a sailing story to a legal story. Scuttlebutt litigator Cory Friedman provides an update: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the standpoint of maritime law and practice, Todd Tholke's salvage claim against Energy Team's AC45 could not be more plain vanilla. He found a boat adrift, unmanned, and in peril, removed it from the peril and towed it back to its home port. He gets a salvage award based upon the factors set forth in well settled law, unless Energy Team negotiates a better deal. Tholke gets less than he wants and Energy Team pays more than it wants. Business as usual. Nevertheless, it has generated the most extraordinary heat and venom in the sailing community. I am a lawyer, not a shrink, so I will stick to the legal dispute, but if any 'butthead out there is a qualified shrink and can explain the craziness, please do. Despite what some of the most vocal 'buttheads seem to think, the U.S. Coast Guard is not the careless boater's nanny. That is not their job. Indeed, although, the Coast Guard traces it lineage to the Revenue Cutter Service founded under Alexander Hamilton as Treasury Secretary in 1790, the U.S. did not even get into the lifesaving business until the United States Life-Saving Service was founded in 1848. The two were not merged to create the U.S. Coast Guard until 1915. Thus, according to Wikipedia: "The Coast Guard has roles in maritime homeland security, maritime law enforcement (MLE), search and rescue (SAR), marine environmental protection (MEP), and the maintenance of river, intracoastal and offshore aids to navigation (ATON)." If your life or health is in danger on the water, or you see impending environmental damage, or you discover a terrorist or smuggler, call the Coast Guard and they will be there. If there is no wind, you run out gas, let your boat drift away or run out of beer, don't bother calling them, you are on your own. (They will, however, be glad to relay a call to your mommy and daddy to come get you.) So, who're you gonna call if you buy a boat for well over $1 million and carelessly moor it so it floats away into San Francisco Bay at night? Well, that is not Coast Guard's problem, and where government steps out, private enterprise steps in. If you are paying attention, you can call a commercial service you find on www.sfmx.org. What if you are so careless that you do not even know your boat is gone? That is where maritime salvors come in. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/ COMMENT: The way this is going, there is likely to be a hearing in the near future. If there is a SFO 'butthead litigator out there who can attend, even if he or she has no maritime experience, we are seeking volunteer contributors to collaborate with Cory on future updates. Please let me know. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt editor USEFUL OBSERVATIONS It was November 2, 2011 when the team Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 announced their Notice of Challenge for the 34th America�s Cup had been accepted. Having decided to re-enter the Cup arena quite late, Italian team boss Patrizio Bertelli said the challenge would not have been viable without the technical design sharing arrangement they had engaged with Emirates Team New Zealand. The two teams entered an agreement to build identical boats and conduct trial races against each other in Auckland over the next five or six months of the southern hemisphere summer. �The objective is for us both to get to the Louis Vuitton Cup finals and then we will beat each other up on the water,� Bertelli said. �We have two virtually identical boats that can be mutually beneficial. We can compare boats and improve boats better that way than in isolation. It is going to be very interesting.� The plan appears brilliant from the outside. The Protocol for the 34th America's Cup restricts teams from having more than one boat until February, so this arrangement allows the New Zealand and Italian teams to get an earlier gauge on their performance through comparative testing. When the agreement was announced last year, there was concern among the other team that it violated Protocol rules. However, the Jury disagreed, issuing their decision on February 13, 2012. With both the Kiwis and Italians now having their boats launched, it is expected this relationship will now be closely scrutinized. "We still contend the Jury has allowed these teams to circumvent a training rule that has been in the Protocol since 2000," commented Artemis Racing (SWE) CEO Paul Cayard. "What Patrizio is saying they will do is exactly what our team and defender Oracle Team USA had asserted in the jury case in February. However, the Jury ruled that you can't 'observe' anything useful for design or performance in sailing, a hard to understand ruling which allows the protection for their deal." While the team's are not allowed to share performance data, it is suspected their two-boat testing program will provide valuable dividends similar to the type of training commonly conducted in one design classes. "Ask any Olympian whether they or their coaches can benefit from observing a competitor," noted Cayard."Of course there's a benefit. Same is true for AC yachts, especially ones from the same design." With the Koreans looking unlikely to 'graduate' from the AC45 to the AC72, Challenger of Record Artemis Racing is the lone challenger on the outside of this alliance. Or perhaps, will we see another alliance as the Swedish team crosses tacks with the defender on San Francisco Bay? Source: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/archived_Detail.asp?key=5063 HEALTH INSURANCE FOR SAILORS Traveling sailor insurance. An annual worldwide accident/sickness policy available to any members of US Sailing any time. 24/7 assistance in your language. Rates 25 to 70 percent lower than standard U.S.-only plans. Immediate, unlimited coverage, no pre-existing conditions. Benefits at home and abroad. Flexibility and security for the demands of today's sailing professional. Program endorsed by US Sailing and used by sailors around the world. Serviced by a Maine-based company specializing in crew health and marine insurance. ENROLL NOW. http://www.AllenInsuranceAndFinancial.com/ussailing ISAF ANNUAL CONFERENCE From 1-11 November 2012 the world of sailing will gather in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland for the 2012 ISAF Annual Conference. ISAF Committee, Sub-committee and Commission members will travel from around the globe to Dun Laoghaire where they will be joined by ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs), Class Associations, sailors, event organisers, boat manufacturers and many more. Those in attendance will discuss, debate, make recommendations and decisions on the issues and policies that will take sailing forward into 2013. Over 130 submissions have been sent to ISAF proposing changes to existing policies, regulations or rules as well as looking to introduce new ones. This year will see key discussions on the selection of equipment and events for the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Sailing Competitions, and, following the release of the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing 2013-2016, the ISAF Case and Call Books will be finalised to be available early 2013. During the first week all submissions will be discussed at committee meetings ranging from Audit to Oceanic and Offshore. Committees will also consider other areas relevant to them, such as venue selection for future ISAF events and reports on recent events through to Race Official appointments. The recommendations and opinions of these expert committees come together at the meeting of the Council, the final policy decision making body of ISAF. The Council will approve, reject or defer the submissions and other feedback from the committees. The 2012 ISAF Annual Conference will see current ISAF President G�ran Petersson retire along with the seven ISAF Vice Presidents and Council members. They will make way for new ISAF Officers who will be voted in at the ISAF General Assembly on 10 November. ISAF Officers are voted for by MNAs who represent the nations within ISAF. Officers are elected for a four-year term which will start on 11 November 2012 and end at the next General Assembly, to be held in November 2016. The 2012 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards will be announced on Tuesday 6 November, celebrating the successes of the best male and female sailors in the world. Making up the females nominees are Tamara Echegoyen, �ngela Pumariega and Sofio Toro (ESP), Helena Lucas (GBR), Saskia Sills (GBR) and Lijia Xu (CHN). The Men's category includes Ben Ainslie (GBR), Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS), Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS), Loick Peyron (FRA) and Tom Slingsby (AUS). -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/news/32787.php Conference details: http://www.sailing.org/meetings/2012-conference.php Twitter: ISAFupdates OLYMPICS: The ISAF Council is responsible for deciding the events and equipment used at the Olympic Sailing Competition. The same slate is then used at the ISAF Sailing World Championships and ISAF Sailing World Cup. At the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in Stresa, Italy, the Council approved the slate of events and equipment for the 2016 Games. However, 23 submissions have been received by ISAF to re-open the discussion for 2016 and these will be discussed by the expert committees before recommendations are made to Council on 9 November. Full report: http://www.sailing.org/news/32795.php SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * San Diego, CA (October 28, 2012) - The US Disabled Sailing Championships, hosted by the Southwestern Yacht Club on October 26-28, crowned titles in single-, double-, and triplehanded fleets. In the 2.4 mR singlehanded fleet, Charles Rosenfield (Woodstock, CT) won his third Judd Goldman Trophy. Michael Strahle (Redding, CA) and Donna DeMarest (Waterbury, CT) captured the Martin 16 doublehanded fleet for the Chandler Hovey Trophy. Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, CT), Mike Hersey (Hyannis, MA), and Ryan Levinson (San Diego, CA) won the Capri 22 triplehanded fleet for the Gene Hinkel Trophy. Full report: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2012/USDSC_12_Final.htm * La Rochelle, France (October 28, 2012) - The 32nd edition of Student Yachting World Cup began today for the 14 international teams competing in the 31-foot one-design Grand Surprise. Three inshore races were completed, with Dalhousie University (CAN) posting a 3-1-1 to take the early lead. Racing continues through November 2. -- http://www.sywoc.org/ * Annapolis, MD (October 28, 2012) - Storm Trysail Club's IRC East Coast Championship included divisions for IRC, Farr 30, and HPR. The five race series started with Friday's 29.6-mile tour of the central Chesapeake, with four inshore races sailed on Saturday in a format shortened by the approach of Hurricane Sandy. Ralf Steitz and his team from the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point sailed their B&C TP 52 Flying Jenny 7 to win both IRC 1 and HPR. Other division winners were Phil Lotz's Swan 42 Arethusa (IRC 2), Paul Milo's J/109 Vento Solare (IRC 3), and Kevin McNeil's Farr 30 Sea Biscuit. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14684 * (October 28, 2012) - From Washington to Boston, Hurricane Sandy presented the onslaught of a superstorm that could endanger 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it -- an 11-foot wall of water. A Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as of Sunday evening, it was centered about 485 miles southeast of New York City as of 8pm EDT, moving at 15 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending an incredible 175 miles from its center. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/CBS-102812 * CORRECTION: The lead article in Scuttlebutt 3706 had a couple hiccups. For starters, we misspelled Mark Ivey's last name. Additionally, it turns out Mark was not the first American to coach a foreign gold medal winner in the history of Olympic sailing. At the 2004 Olympics, 1992 Olympic Silver medalist Morgan Reeser coached the Greek Women's 470 team of Sofia Bekatorou/ EmiliaTsoulfa to gold. At the same Games, two-time medalist Mike Gebhardt ('88 bronze, '92 silver) coached Windsurfing gold medalist, Gal Fridman of Israel. FIND THE BEST EQUIPMENT DEALS HERE The used parts market for boats is very fragmented, that is until NOW. We built a category based classifieds which is easily searched and navigated Do you have something you need? or something to sell? There are advantages for buyers and sellers Browse categories: http://www.usedboatequipment.com/scuttlebutt/ 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 Will White: There has been much discussion of how to "grow sailing", how to get more people to go out there and experience what we all love to do. My suggestion is to just show your non-sailor friends the video of the Archipelago Rally (http://youtu.be/nAdZTEJ1QME). If that does not capture everything that is great about our sport, then I don't know what does. And as a participant in the event, yes, it was as fun as it looked! See you out there next year. * From Richard Clark: This quote from the Kiwi team in Scuttlebutt 3706 caught my attention... "The stressful thing is that this situation, the worry and concern, will never stop. Not until one boat - hopefully our boat - crosses the finish line first in the final race of the America's Cup Match. It's not until that moment will everyone in this team be able to take a massive sigh of relief." Wow! Sailing has come a long way; the Americas Cup is not what it used to be. Hopefully after this Cup is over, sanity and clear heads, unlike egos, will prevail. There is nothing wrong with simply saying, oops we f'd up! These massive multi hulls are not what we thought they would be. Let's leave them to the already existing Little Americas Cup; let's leave them to flying across the Atlantic or around the World. Let's get back to one hull, one country. Let's get away from the money race which has screwed every single sport and has created a legend of maniacal team owners. Let's focus on the original Deed of Gift. Let's get back to 'match' racing. Just thinking out loud. * From Eric Hopper: I appreciate Elaine Bunting's blog regarding the cost of safety equipment (Scuttlebutt 3706), but I'd sure like to know her sources for some of that equipment. We've found offshore liferafts and tethers, for example, to far exceed her estimates. You also must have storm sails. You might keep from doubling her estimate if you shop around, buy only items on sale, find used storm sails and only buy the minimums. Offshore racing is very expensive, but somehow worth it. * From D. M. Street Jr: Regarding Elaine Buntings cost of safety, excellent write up on the subject, she failed to mention bilge pumps. The problem is that the ISAF regulations on bilge pumps (pg 27 35.1 thru .5) are useless! The regulations do not specify how big the pumps must be, nor does it specify that the pumps must be installed so that they are readily accessible for dismantling and clearing flapper valves that have been lodged open by crud - match sticks are the worst offender - that has made it through the strum box and into the pump. After 57 years of off shore racing, delivering and cruising, backed up by 49 years in the insurance industry, I know the most easily avoidable claim is flooding and often sinking caused by lack of adequate bilge pumps. At the Southampton and Annapolis boat shows, I checked the bilge pumping systems on approximately 90 boats. Only three had adequate bilge pumping facilities. What immediately comes to mind with these three boats that would have survived is they had had a 25gpm single acting diaphragm pump with a long handle. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14681#14681 PRO BONO The Scuttlebutt website allows marine companies to post their personnel, product and service updates. For free. As a bonus, each week the Scuttlebutt newsletter includes some of the recent updates. Are you in the marine industry? Post your updates in the Industry News section of the Forum. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The divorce rate used to be lower. 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