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SCUTTLEBUTT 3293 - Tuesday, March 8, 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: Camet, North Sails, and North U. FIRST DAY ON THE JOB FOR ACRM’S NEW DIRECTOR OF UMPIRING It’s more than a bonus that Mike Martin is tech savvy because in his new role as Director of Umpiring and Rules Administration for AC34, a job he officially starts Monday, he says his big push over in the next few months will be working with Stan Honey to get the new technology we’ve all been hearing about up and running for the next America’s Cup umpires to use. “The big change in AC34 is the integration of the technology system,” said Iain Murray, America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) Regatta Director and Martin’s new boss. “That's where Mike's background as an engineer is invaluable.” Martin’s near term priorities also include figuring out all the hardware, boats and communication equipment that his team will need for the rules testing that ACRM will be running late April/early May in Auckland in the AC45s (it’s expected that three or four additional AC45s will come on line this month). The ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing AC34 edition published last week so it’s now the responsibility of ACRM - and specifically Martin - to hold those rules, maintain them and to recommend any desirable changes to competitors. “With any set of new rules we are going to trial them and make sure they work - probably some modifications will have to be made,” Martin explained. “We have a radically different format than in the past with catamarans doing 35 knots, all on different configured race courses as well as shorter races, so the rules need to be different to address the characteristics of those boats.” -- Read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/ ALMOST LIKE BEING THERE * The phrase “that’s money” is used as an expression of liking something greatly. Kind of like sailing Melges 32s this time of year in Miami. Now, that’s money! These photos by John Payne of the Melges 32 Miami Championship show how 20 teams enjoyed their sailing this past weekend: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0307/ * The cityfront of San Diego is not normally a sailing venue, but when a new cruise ship terminal presented the infrastructure, the RC44 class trucked 11 boats for a week of high caliber competition within the confines of the bay. “The racing is just fast and furious on the tight race track inside the Bay here,” noted event winner Paul Cayard. “Lead changes and gains and losses of five places in three minutes are common in the fleet.” Photographers Sharon Green, Fried Elliott, and Sara Proctor provide the evidence: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0306/ * The Oracle RC44 Cup San Diego was won by Katusha, a Russian entry led by American Paul Cayard. Scuttlebutt was onboard Katusha prior to the start of the event when Paul revealed details on how John Kilroy influenced his selection of Bob ‘Peaches’ Little for his fleet racing helm, and why Paul shaved his iconic mustache. Here is the video interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfKwtnv80N4 * Sailing correspondent Diane Swintal was also fortunate to get a guest spot onboard Katusha, Saturday, and filed the following report: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me establish one fact: there is no graceful way to enter a racing sailboat. I fancy myself a sailor, but I have never mastered the art of entering and exiting a rib, much less crossing to a tossing racing sailboat. Add in 14 knots of breeze and bouncing seas and you have a recipe for disaster - thus I played my entry onto the RC44 regatta leader Katusha for Race Three on Saturday with some degree of caution. Cayard grabs his spot between helmsman Bob “Peaches” Little and the runners (thus blocking my last non-carbon fiber handhold) and checks the breeze. He smiles briefly, and offers a quick “Hey, how you doing?” before the race begins. The 10-minute start sequence commences with Cayard keeping a constant cadence of instructions to Little and the tension onboard quickly ramps up. Everyone seems to want the pin end, as Katusha fights with Oracle and Artemis for position on a starting line that appears to be pin-biased. Fast off the line, Katusha stays left, with Cayard contemplating the building breeze on the right side of the course. Except for Cayard’s remarks and his steady flow of words with Little, it’s a very quiet boat. The silent intensity remains, with everyone handling their positions with ballet-like grace and speed. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/4z3ulmz HOBART EXTREME SAILING SHORTS The lightest shorts on the market, built by CAMET weigh in at only 9 ounces! Designed with an offset side seams to reduce chafing. This improved design provides extreme flexibility, while the Titanium silver nylon fabric has a durable water repellent finish that dries quickly with a UV rating of 40+ and so much more. Ask for it by name! http://www.camet.com NORWAY’S MELLEBY & MORLAND LEAD BACARDI CUP Miami, FL (March 7, 2011) - The Norwegian Star team of Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen have won the opening race of the 84th BACARDI Cup, the first event of the 2011 BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank. After an hour delay due to light air, the 89-strong Star fleet got down to business as temperatures in the low 70s combined with elite-level competition to make Biscayne Bay the place to be. Melleby and Pedersen have been here before - they also finished first in the opening race of the BACARDI Cup in 2008. And while today’s result is surely déjà vu, hopefully it is also not a curse - no team winning the opening race has gone on to claim the title in at least the last 10 years. The duo are making their fourth run at the BACARDI Cup, having achieved, to date, their best finish of seventh overall in 2010. Third overall after day one is the French team of Guillaume Florent and Pascal Rambeau, followed by George Szabo with Caleb Paine (both San Diego, Calif.). Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.) and Rick Peters (Venice, Calif.) round out the top-five. Racing for the BACARDI Cup resumes Tuesday, March 8, and continues through Saturday, March 12. -- Event website: http://www.miamisailingweek.com ETCHELLS WORLDS 2011 ANNOUNCE WORLD QUALIFIERS Etchells Worlds 2011, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) and the San Diego Etchells Fleet 13, have announced the current world qualifiers who will race the Etchells Worlds June 2-11, 2011. The Championship includes a "Corinthian" class, racing sailors who are considered non-professionals by ISAF. The La Dow-Dorgan-La Dow team is the reigning Corinthian 2010 Champion of Etchells Fleet 13 and is considered a strong candidate to trophy in the Corinthian class of the Etchells Worlds. Rounding out the top ten of the Etchells Fleet 13 world qualifiers are: (1st - 26 pts) Brian Camet on Ashley; (2nd - 38 pt) 2010 North American Champion Bruce Golison Midlife Crisis sailing with former Etchells World Champion and Rolex Yachtsman Judd Smith; (3rd - 38 pts) Chris Busch on Happy Ending; (4th- 39 pts), 2000 Etchells World Champion Vince Brun on Menace; (5th - 46 pts), former J-24 North American Champion Chris Snow on Avalanche; (6th - 54 pts) Australian transplant Andrew Whittome on Down Under; (7th - 54 pts) 2010 Fleet 13 Champion Will Stout on Mappa Tassi; (8th - 55 pts) Geoff Davis and John Rogers on Lola; (9th - 55 pts) Andy La Dow on Second Wind, and (10th - 61 pts) Bruce Nelson on Rhino. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/4jjlvvn VIRBAC-PAPREC MAINTAIN LEAD IN BARCELONA WORLD RACE (March 7, 2011: Day 67) - At the head of the fleet the two leaders’ strategies for the south Atlantic high pressure system are now lined up, with both MAPFRE and Virbac-Paprec 3 opting east. But the winner of the first edition of the race still confirms that this stage of the 25,000 miles course can be one of the keys to overall victory: “It is not easy because there are always pros and cons. MAPFRE has some options the way they are coming, but if they had gone the other way then it would have been more uncomfortable. The South Atlantic is usually a place to make gains, but then of course there is always the Mediterranean, but I think the South Atlantic is an important component in winning this race.” Of the five who are due to pass Cape Horn with around 28 hours between Renault Z.E. Sailing Team and their Barcelona sister-ship Estrella Damm, due on Wednesday evening, only really Renault Z.E. Sailing Team and Groupe Bel, which stopped in Wellington, have been approaching Cape Horn at close to their optimum. Neutrogena have had technical issues, Mirabaud are also sailing conservatively as are Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella on Estrella Damm. ” Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20.01.08) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron (FRA/FRA), 5450 nm DTF 2. Mapfre, Iker Martinez/Xabi Fernandez (ESP/ESP), 214.7 nm DTL 3. Renault, Pachi Rivero/Antonio Piris (ESP/ESP), 1444.7 nm DTL 4. Neutrogena, Boris Herrmann/Ryan Breymaier (GER/USA), 1631.4 nm DTL 5. Groupe Bel, Kito De Pavant/Sebastien Audigane (FRA) 1746.2 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking/ BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org SAMBA PA TI WINS 2011 MELGES 32 MIAMI CHAMPIONSHIP Congratulations to John Kilroy and his team onboard ‘Samba Pa Ti’ for winning the 2011 Melges 32 Miami Championship this past weekend. ‘Samba Pa Ti’ dominated the 20-boat fleet scoring two bullets and never worse than fourth (their throw-out) in the 8-race regatta. Congratulations also to Jason Carroll and crew on ‘Argo’ with a second place finish. Both ‘Samba Pa Ti’ and ‘Argo’* raced with North sails. (* = partial inventory). When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://www.northsails.com STORCK MOORE JUMPSTART SPRING TRAINING IN CADIZ Eric Storck and Trevor Moore, working hard at their 49er Olympic campaign, have just returned from a successful training camp in Cadiz, Spain. Eric reports from the team’s blog: --------------------------------------------------------------------- We made some huge strides in our first Europeans trip of 2011. We went earlier than ever before, capitalizing on a deep international field of talent assembled at the Atlantic venue of Cadiz, Spain. Aside from doing a great deal of tuning and sail testing with our German, Finnish, and Swedish training partners, we got the chance to races against lots of very talented teams from across Europe. Overall, it was a great way to get jumpstart the spring season after a successful Sail Melbourne and Miami OCR. The focus of the training camp in Cadiz was to begin the process of equipment evaluation and selection leading into the Olympic Trials, now less than four months away. We are happy to say we are well on our way to deciding on the mast and sails we will use at the Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth in June. On top of that, we made some solid discoveries in our rig tuning that will certainly pay dividends. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/4tj34j6 CORRECTION At the Miami Melges 32, which concluded over the weekend, Jason Carroll on Argo (Charlie Ogletree, tactician) placed placed second while reigning Melges 32 U.S. National Champion, 20-year-old Ryan DeVos on Volpe (Ed Baird, tactician) was third. -- Corrected story: http://melges32.com/?p=news&id=730 FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent ads: * Wanted: Cheap parts for Laser * Office Manager Needed * Soling for sale * Wavelength 24 for sale * GreenBags: Reusable, eco-friendly carrying bags for yachting View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads SAILING SHORTS *(March 6, 2011) - The 31st edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will be remembered as a largely light air affair but nonetheless one that provided great racing across multiple classes. In CSA 1R, Peter Peake’s well-sailed Peake Yacht Services Storm nipped the impressive Australian Cookson 50, Jazz, to win the division by the narrowest of margins by virtue of her win in the fourth and final race, even though both boats finished with identical scores (two firsts and two seconds). In CSA 1C, Wendy Schmidt’s Swan 80, Team Selene, easily took top honors in the 8-boat class. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/4jokpj5 * Recreational boat owners who paid state sales taxes on a boat purchase, or those who secured a loan to finance a boat, may have some tax deductions coming to them when filing their 2010 federal income tax return, says a national boat owners group, BoatUS. For boat owners who paid substantial state sales taxes on a new or used boat purchase last year, the Tax Extenders Act of 2008 continues to offer a federal tax deduction for state sales taxes. Boaters must choose either the state sales tax deduction or state income tax deduction on their federal tax return. -- Full story: http://smtp.boatus.net/dm?id=2C6E88BD0BED397ECB911AB993123A97 * The organizers of the Transatlantic Race 2011 (TR 2011), the Royal Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Ocean Racing Club and Storm Trysail Club have extended the deadline to enter the Race to March 31, 2011. With the Transatlantic fleet now over 30 entries and many new inquiries following the success of the RORC Caribbean 600 - part of the companion Atlantic Ocean Racing Series - the organizers encourage those interested to enter the TR 2011 as soon as possible to secure a spot since the Notice of Race notes a maximum of 50 yachts for the Race. -- Website: http://www.transatlanticrace.org * Fort Lauderdale, FL (March 7, 2011) - On Saturday, more than 1,180 volunteers came by land and in 60 boats to participate in the 34th Annual Waterway Cleanup presented by the Florida Inland Navigation District. According to the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, which organized the event, volunteers at 24 sites successfully removed 18.6 tons of trash from Broward's waterways, rivers and canals. -- http://tinyurl.com/4nx2nq6 CHICAGO, DETROIT, KENNEBUNKPORT, MILWAUKEE, BOSTON Wickford, Seattle and 11 More. The North U Tactics Seminar Tour rolls on, teaching your rivals how to beat you with better positioning, better risk assessment, and a boatload of boat-on-boat tricks. Fight back. Find out when the tour is coming to your town and sign up. Top instructors, multi-media curriculum, a take-home Seminar-on-CD, US Sailing member discounts plus a free Tactics Tour Long Sleeve T to the first 20 registrations at each location. Learn more: http://www.northu.com 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 Mack Montgomery, Palo Alto, CA (re, Scuttlebutt 3292): While I agree that all steps should be taken to save sailing in the Olympics, I think it would be a shame to pander completely to the television audience by adding kiteboarding and Moths as Jerome Pels suggests. I enjoy watching kiteboarding and Moths as much as the next guy, but I think marketing these as our premiere classes would hurt the sport as a whole. While the Olympics are not as important to sailing as they are to some other sports, they are still recognized as the pinnacle of sport by the lay public and it would marginalize sailing and those sailors that have devoted their careers to more traditional (I’m tempted to say “true” but that is too strong and controversial of a word) sailing if the prestige of the event were limited to or focused on niche classes. Sailing is complex, magnificent, awe-inspiring, and beautiful. Surely we can find a way to combat the stigma associated with it and draw an audience without having to change the entire essence of the event. I suggest a marketing blitz, more match racing, larger fleets and courses that promote closer fleet racing, and high wind Olympic venues. Even small rule tweaks to promote harder, faster, closer, and even slightly destructive racing could be made without diluting the sport too much just for the Olympics and giving viewers a totally skewed perspective of what sailing is. Or heck, perhaps the ISAF should contract Melges, Vanguard, and other premiere manufacturers to create new classes that promote exciting racing specifically for the Olympics. Anything to keep 12 year old Midwestern boys from thinking sailing is just foils and kites. *From Thomas Hubbell, Vice President US Sailing: Nice coverage of the PFD issue in Scuttlebutt 3290. US SAILING's effectiveness in making PFDs "normal" gear is why the Coast Guard has come to us for strategies to improve general boating safety as well as PFD WEARING. Jo Mogle, Jim Muldoon, and a few thousand US SAILING-trained sailing instructors over the last 20 years are to thank for rising normalcy of wearing the PFD and untold lives saved. * From Jim Fulton (re, Scuttlebutt 3191 Photos of the Week): I believe that a dragon at the forward end of the cove stripe was characteristic of Fife designs. Miquette's cove stripe, including the dragon, was painted over in the picture. Here is a link to a restoration that shows a Fife dragon in its full glory: http://www.fairlierestorations.com/caron/caron7.html * From Tom Donlan: In Scuttlebutt 3290, Dean Brenner, chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program, discussed the difficulties young sailors have in meeting the demands of college and Olympic preparation. While I was glad to see him speak in favor of pursuing Olympic and college goals at the same time, I was dismayed to realize that he was only talking about college sailing. He never mentioned the demands of a college education program. Most sailors, even the most talented, would be best advised to put their education first, giving the highest priority to a rigorous liberal arts, science or engineering program that will prepare them for life in a real world that won't have sailing jobs for most of them. Brenner's advice makes me think of the tens of thousands of high-school and college football and basketball players who focus too much time and effort on their sports, pursuing the dream of the NFL and the NBA as a substitute for a career. Sailing leaders should not encourage a few hundred more student athletes to misdirect their efforts. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Creditors have better memories than debtors. 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