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SCUTTLEBUTT 3035 - Wednesday, February 24, 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: North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and Camet. WING DEEMED IMPRACTICAL FOR FUTURE COMPETITION No two people have defined solid wing sail systems as have Americans Dave Hubbard and Duncan MacLane, who together developed the Stars and Stripes' 1988 wing sail system, and have a long history of wings in the C Class for the Little America's Cup. So when Dave and Duncan got involved in the 33rd America’s Cup, speculation heightened as to whether a wing would be used. Here now is a brief report from Dave about his experience: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- My involvement with the BMW Oracle Racing team started in September 2008 when the team’s design coordinator Mike Drummond invited me to design a wing for them. Duncan MacLane was also approached at the same time, but he was offered a more favorable opportunity with Alinghi. As it turned out, Alinghi decided not to go with a wing as it was thought to be too impractical. Duncan stayed on giving the sailing team sailing and tactical coaching. The BMW Oracle Racing’s design and engineering team is awesome. There is a great depth in all aspects of aero, hydrodynamics, and all the analytical tools. My contribution was hands on practical empirical experience with wings going back to the early days in 60's in C Class, and with Stars and Stripes in 1988. It was a serendipitous melding solving the problem from opposite ends. After the Oracle wing was built and sailed I drew a comparison overlay drawing of it and a scaled up (about 2:1) version of S&S '88. The two outlines were amazingly close. I would agree with Alinghi that wings are impractical. And I think we all would agree (possibly even including Oracle team owner Larry Ellison) that wings are effective tools that make a boat go faster, but that they should not be used in future America’s Cup competition. WING SAILS - COMING NOW TO A TOWN NEAR YOU Ferries plying the San Francisco Bay in the future could be equipped with sails to slash the amount of fuel they consume, if Jay Gardner has his way. Gardner co-owns a small startup, based in Napa, that plans to build ferries with tall, solid sails, using the bay's strong winds to help haul commuters across the waves. The sails, made of carbon composite materials, would more closely resemble aircraft wings than the canvas rigging of standard sailboats. They wouldn't eliminate the need for an engine. They could, however, cut each ferry's fuel use by at least 40 percent, said Gardner, with Wind+Wing Technologies. "Especially with the Bay Area and the amount of wind we have, it's something that really clicks with people," Gardner said. "Once you get past the initial resistance and start showing them the studies we've developed, the light comes on." He and his partners at Wind+Wing already run a 18-year-old company called Adventure Cat Sailing Charters that takes tourists on catamaran cruises around the bay. Many ferries burn 70 gallons of diesel per hour, or more, giving ferry companies and transportation districts a big incentive to try more efficient designs. Gardner has presented his plans to three of the local ferry operators, and they've expressed interest. "We're excited about it," said Carolyn Horgan, vice president of operations for Blue & Gold Fleet, which runs 14 ferries and tourist boats on the bay. "If someone wants to come to us with a fuel-saving technology, we'll take a look at it." Gardner has signed up noted boating engineers Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering of Huntington Beach (Orange County) to work on the vessel's design. He is negotiating financing for the project, although he won't say with whom. Building the "wind-assisted" ferry could cost between $3 million and $9 million. -- SF Chronicle, read on: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/15/BU051BVNKL.DTL MORE FOR LESS... Introducing North 3DL 580, the undisputed value leader among all North 3DL styles. 3DL 580 is made using high performance Carbon fiber yarn combined with Technora yarn and engineered to deliver the performance, durability, affordability and style today’s recreational racing sailors are looking for. Now you can fly 3DL for the price of a 2D sail! -- http://na.northsails.com/3DL580.aspx FOR THE RECORD (Day 24 - February 23, 2010; 17:36 UTC) - Still maintaining the high speeds that have coloured the past five days, Franck Cammas and his nine crew on Groupama 3 should make their entry into the Pacific Ocean tonight. "We knew that under Australia we were going to make up our deficit as Bruno Peyron and his crew had to put in several gybes with some slower phases,” said watch leader Fred Le Peutrec. “However, they traversed the Pacific very quickly. It will be difficult to maintain the same average speed as far as Cape Horn; theoretically the climb up the Atlantic should enable us to claw back the time!” "With the final known zone of icebergs having been left a few tens of miles to starboard, Groupama 3 has been able to bear away a little this Tuesday and make full benefit of the fairly strong NW'ly wind to put a little bit of southing into her course,” explains team meteorologist Sylvain Mondon. “Indeed, with the latitude at which Franck Cammas and his crew have been sailing, Groupama 3 was still relatively close to Australia: this trajectory has been guided by both the wind from the previous days and by the presence of a large quantity of icebergs to the South of 47 degrees. “Therefore we can expect to see Groupama 3 making a very high VMG (velocity made good) bordering on 28/30 knots and with that their lead should continue to increase between Tuesday and Wednesday.” -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/yhau5z4 Current position as of February 23, 2010 (22:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +112.6 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 30.9 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 740.5 nm Distance to go: 12,467 nm Data: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/positions.asp?lg=en Map: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/index.asp?lg=en * After their start on January 31, 2010, Franck Cammas and his nine crew on Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before March 23rd (06:14:57 UTC) to establish a new time for the Jules Verne Trophy (21,760 nm) for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions. Current record holder is Bruno Peyron and crew, who in 2005 sailed Orange 2 to a time of 50 days, 16 hours, and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. AS ONLY KIMBALL CAN… Here are several topics that yachting journalist Kimball Livingston found were in need of his special brand of coverage: * I was relieved to come away from visiting Plastiki with the sense that, yeah, this can come out OK. It might even be important. Most people have heard something of Plastiki by now. Being heir to a name like Rothschild confers an automatic celebrity and resources, and it’s not just any old eco stunt that David de Rothschild has in mind. The up-front premise of Plastiki is that single-use plastic is evil and that sailing a 60-foot catamaran across the Pacific - with 68 percent of the boat’s buoyancy derived from a matrix of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles - will dramatize that message and capture hearts and minds. * I’ve avoided writing about youth playing the “youngest circumnavigator” game because it’s not a trend I want to see continued until the odds catch up with somebody’s kid. Which doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally check in to see how the kids are doing. Jessica Watson (born : May 18, 1993) has been at sea four months out of Australia, and she has now cleared both capes. With Africa’s Cape of Good Hope over the horizon to her left and fading, and even with a lot of sailing ahead, her S&S 34, Ella’s Pink Lady, and the crew you see here, can smell the barn. * San Diego Yacht Club’s Puerto Vallarta Race fleet has cleared the Baja peninsula and is crossing to mainland Mexico and a finish line at Punta Mita. That final leg after Cabo is about 300 miles, but as we see in the iboat track from mid-Tuesday afternon, the leaders are well along. I point it out because most of these boats will stay for the Regata Copa México, which kicks off with a 25-mile Governor’s Cup race on Sunday, and because one facet of Mexico’s bicentennial festival is an attempt by Laser Olympic rep Tania Elias to sail those 300 miles in a Laser. With escort, of course. There’s been plenty of breeze, and both Akela and Peligroso still have a shot at a record. But folks, while you’re doing those last few hundred miles, imagine doing it on a Laser. * John MacLaurin’s team raced to the race - to get his spanking new, late-delivered Davidson 69, Pendragon VI, to the start line of the PV race. Unfortunately, they dropped out with “a boat issue” at Cabo (Editor note: cavitation problem with twin rudders). We hope it’s a small issue that’s readily solved before the Governor’s Cup race. MacLaurin has been a stalwart supporter of MEXORC through the years, and MEXORC is the backbone of the Regata Copa México, expanded to include J/24 competition, kite racing and stunting, an Opti regatta, and beach volleyball. I’m for the beach volleyball, myself. Pendragon VI looked great leaving San Diego . . Complete report: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=1848 THE RETURN OF THE J CLASS The 1930s was an era of great engineering design and development. In aviation, now famous planes such as the Boeing Clipper, Flying Fortress, Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire were all designed. Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic. Scientists split the atom. It was the era of some of the greatest class car designs from Cadillac and Rolls Royce. The 1930s were undoubtedly the age of the ocean liner. In 1930 the steam train 'Mallard' achieved 126 mph, unbroken even today. In 1931 the Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world, the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge were built. And in yachting it was arguably the era of the greatest designs, the beautiful J Class yachts. They were at the leading edge of technical development and made just for racing, for winning the "Americas Cup". Ten yachts were built between 1930 and 1937. Fortunately three survived, and since 2000, the J Class fleet has steadily been reborn. The J Class has now announced their outline plans for a series of spectacular regattas in England during 2012 - the Olympic Year. This will be the first time in history that more than four of these imposing yachts will race together in a fleet, with the potential existing to have up to nine J Class yachts completed in time for the event. -- Details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0216/ MELGES MANIA IN MIAMI Some of the best Melges Racing is taking place in Miami. The Audi Melges 20 Class just finished up Series Event 2. Check out melges.com for video, photos and race talk. This class is on fire as is the Melges 32 and Melges 24. Miami Race Week is up to bat next for the Melges 32 - over 25 entries for this championship. The Melges 24 has the Bacardi Miami Race Week next where they will have a racing circle with the Audi Melges 20. Then the 24 has a full plate of Nationals, North Americans and World Championship in Texas USA slated for 2011. -- http://www.melges.com SAILING SHORTS * Kaneohe, Hawaii (February 21, 2010) - Reigning International Moth world champion and U.S. Sailing’s 2009 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Bora Gulari of Detroit, Michigan, took home top honors at the International Moth U.S. National Championship hosted last weekend by Kaneohe Yacht Club. The ten boat fleet completed 11 races sailed over two days. Racing was cancelled on the third day of the three day regatta due to marginal wind conditions. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9307 * The US Environmental Protection Agency launched a plan to restore the Great Lakes. The five-year plan was unveiled by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a meeting with governors from states bordering the Great Lakes. "This action plan outlines our strategy to protect the environmental, human health and economic interests of the millions of people who rely on the Great Lakes," said Jackson. "We're committed to creating a new standard of care that will leave the Great Lakes better for the next generation." -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20100123160837ibinews.html * The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service will use a new hurricane scale this season called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The scale keeps the same wind speed ranges as the original Saffir-Simpson Scale for each of the five hurricane categories, but no longer ties specific storm surge and flooding effects to each category. Changes were made to the Saffir-Simpson Scale because storm surge values and associated flooding are dependent on a combination of the storm's intensity, size, motion and barometric pressure, as well as the depth of the near-shore waters and local topographical features. -- Soundings, read on: http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/home/502763-noaa-unveils-new-hurricane-scale * The team allocation for the 2010 British Open Team Racing Championship for the Wilson Trophy has been finalised. Among the 32 places available in this prestigious event, the selection committee at West Kirby Sailing Club has invited five American and two Irish teams to join 25 UK teams to compete for Wilson Trophy victory over three days, from May 7-9. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9274 EIGHT BELLS Jessica Winslow Lord Levine died Feb 12 in Traverse City, Michigan. She was 47. Jessica was an abstract expressionist whose paintings are exhibited in San Francisco and throughout Marin County, California. She owned Jessica Lord Design, which created commissioned fine and commercial art in addition to faux finishing. In addition to her art, Jessica was an avid sailor who raced in the Melges 24 class. In 2000, she was named Yachstswoman of the Year by the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Services and a casual celebration of her life will be 1 p.m. Sunday Feb. 28 at Ward Manor on the Bard College campus, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Post comments here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9306 TRIVIA CLARIFICATION The Scuttlebutt Trivia question in Scuttlebutt 3035 received a lot of email asking why the Isle of Wight (England) was not listed as a venue that had previously hosted the America’s Cup. This comes from the Royal Yacht Squadron website: “1851 is remembered in yachting history as the year that the yacht ‘America’ won the RYS One Hundred Sovereign Cup in a race Round the Isle of Wight. That cup, and the contest for which it is now the prize, is world famous as The America's Cup.” Following the event’s rebranding, the first edition of the America’s Cup was in 1870 in New York, NY, USA, with successive events held in Newport, R.I.; Fremantle, Australia; San Diego, CA; Auckland, New Zealand; and Valencia, Spain. Here is the timeline: http://tinyurl.com/yf555rr CAMET INTRODUCES "NANTUCKET" - THEIR NEWEST SAILING SHORTS These are the best looking, top quality shorts with a New England style. Made of lightweight nylon fabric for fast drying and comfort. They are reinforced with and abrasion resistant seat pocket. Optional foam pad insert. The shorts feature two-side cargo pockets with a VelcroR closure flap, as well as two deep inside pockets. The Nantucket Sailing Shorts are made in America. Enjoy these lightweight, quick drying and comfortable shorts this week! http://www.camet.com/?Click=1492 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 Knight: Regarding Scuttlebutt Trivia in Issue 3034, an equally remarkable fact is that only four skippers have lost hold of the America’s Cup in that time. Pity poor Dennis Conner who has lost control twice, and add Ian Murray, Dean Barker and Ernesto Bertarelli to the select group of people who know what it is to have it and lose it. * From Richard Goldsmith: (re, the SNG race committee at the America’s Cup) I hope the purple circle at ISAF don’t find a way of bypassing the investigation of the Mutiny on the Med! This is the single biggest incident that has “brought the sport into disrepute” ever. ISAF …get some balls and start administrating our sport please. Prove to us all you’re the boss and worthy of the role! The FIA knows how to administer F1 and WRC, just ask Toyota about their year ban, McLaren about their multi million fine and Briatore, even though he has had his life ban overturned on Jan 5 2010 at 1st Appeal by Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris. The FIA are appealing. * From Wes Oliver: The alleged action by the SNG Race Committee in Race 2 is totally unconscionable. As a member of the NYYC Race Committee for four Cup matches, (before any ISAF involvement!) we took great pride in managing the races in the most fair and unbiased way, even in 1970 with the infamous Australian starting line foul. I know that almost all other race management teams until SNG have felt the same responsibility, especially in any international competition. It was certainly the case when I served with our Race Management team for the 1996 Olympics in Savannah. Mr. Ellison has done the America’s Cup a service by winning it from Bertarelli’s grasp. I hope he will stay the course and bring back some of what has been cast aside since 1983. The Deed of Gift is an ancient document in today’s world, but there is much wisdom for an international competition of the highest caliber in its often misconstrued words. Contrary to the experience with the Swiss, prior matches have been governed by mutual agreement on many details, without having to resort to the Courts. * From Rowan Maxwell: Yacht For Sale - 1 gallon of gas to hoist sails, 4 miles per gallon during sailing (but not set up for motorsailing), sits down at the stern for easy access prior to sailing, is not safe to use in any more than 15 knots of wind or 1m waves. Offers please… * From G. E. Kriese, OceanRacing.com: Regarding the America’s Cup in San Francisco, Norm Davant is absolutely right (Scuttlebutt 3033). SF bay is large enough to race the America’s Cup, the boats will probably not be gigantic multi-hulls and it would make for fantastic TV coverage. SF bay is a natural sailboat racing amphitheater. The America’s Cup has lost a lot of its appeal and expanding on Norm’s idea a bit I’d like to see: 1. 70 to 90 foot one design mono hulls, R&D costs are out of control and its money down the drain. Given the audience numbers, AC team sponsorship is not a cost effective advertising buy for potential sponsors but lowering costs would allow more teams to engage in close, exciting racing. The boats would have a longer shelf life too which in turn would encourage even more teams to compete. 2. Strict nationality rules for racing crew. Hire all the foreign coaches & trainers you want, but the guys racing the boat must be citizens of the country they represent. Look how excited Spain got about what was arguably was a Spanish boat even with ‘Senior Cutler’ onboard. 3. Shake up the format a bit. The founding event went around the Isle of Wight. I’d love to see a race start at Treasure Island, out the Golden Gate, around the Farallon’s 27 miles to the West and finish downwind in 20+ in front of GGYC! It would be a bonanza for San Francisco, but only if the city does the right thing by immediately giving Mr. Ellison & GGYC carte blanche access to all the unused public waterfront property in San Francisco of which there is a lot. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9298#9298 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. Special thanks to North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and Camet. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
