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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 556 - April 25, 2000ADRIFT DOWN UNDER(In a special four-part Sailing World Internet Exclusive Report, Canadian Tornado Sailors Noah Purves-Smith and Jonathan Dick recount their 24 hours drifting off the Australian coast after a rogue wave capsized their boat and broke their mast during an afternoon training session. Following is an excerpt from Part One of that story.) Noah said, "Oh shit!" I looked up as a large cresting wave broke as we were rising over it. We were deluged with water, turned up side down, and submerged. After the force of the wave and foam had passed, I found myself under the boat; I quickly felt and looked for the shortest way to the surface. I surfaced between the tramp and the tiller bar. Noah had already surfaced and immediately asked if I was OK. We climbed on to the overturned boat as quickly as we could. We were worried about sharks. Again Noah said, "Oh shit!" I looked to where he was pointing and saw the mast laying just below the surface. Cleanly broken just above the spreader bars. We were both speechless. As we reached the tops of the waves we could see other Tornados a mile away. We waved to them but couldn't get their attention. We tried hauling the mast up onto the trap; Noah thought that we could save the main sail, but that proved to be too difficult. The mast had filled with water and the stays were preventing much motion. Noah asked what I had hung onto when we capsized because he had grabbed something rather large. He figured he might have grabbed on to me. That helped crack a smile. We tried to right the boat, but with the mast broken and full of water we didn't have the extra buoyancy and couldn't flip it. After an hour of trying various methods, I suggested that if we dropped the rig, we might be able to right it. The ten-foot waves had quickly begun to take a toll on us-we were both feeling seasick. Noah began puking over the side. I tried not to acknowledge it, thinking I might then follow suit. I felt I'd need all the food I had. I stared at the shore, too, and it was at that point that I was overwhelmed with fear, a fear for my life. I realized that if we were going to get out of this situation alive, I'd have to step up to the plate and take charge. I'd have to block out the fear and emotions that might prevent me from acting rationally. The waves and wind didn't look like they would subside, and there weren't any boats in sight. I was also afraid that the extra drag of the rig would leave us at the mercy of the current and tides. I remembered that back at the club the tide was low at about 5:00 p.m. I knew that it would be on its way in. We would likely be swept into the cliffs. Directly downwind we could see shore and beaches, an obvious landing site. We sat and discussed and figured out exactly what would need to be done to drop the rig; what lines we would need to cut and what we'd need to salvage. We pulled off the jib and untied the lines running to it. I grabbed the downhaul and cut it on the dolphin striker by rubbing it back and forth. We took the pins out of the stays. We had only an hour or two until sun down so we both were very careful and conservative; the reality of the situation was setting in. We no longer submerged ourselves in the water. Everything we did from then on we did without getting in the water. We tried to stay as dry as possible. After I pulled the pin out of the last stay I watched as the rig slowly sank, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared. The depth stunned me. There seemed to be no part of the ocean of which I could get a clear grasp. I turned to Noah and said, "You should have seen that." Go to the Sailing World website for the complete text of Part One: http://www.sailingworld.com/2000/04/Adrift.html ROLEX CUP REGATTA - ST THOMAS - Crash Test Dummies, a Henderson 35 co-owned by Tim Kimpton and Mark Chapman and based in Trinidad and Tobago, clinched a last minute victory in the Rolex Cup in St Thomas last night following a string of protests which delayed announcement of the regatta results. Their victory, achieved through a consistent performance throughout the series, was particularly pleasing for Tim Kimpton: "We set out just to have fun with a bunch of friends. The fact that we won the whole event and a Rolex watch is a massive bonus." Frenchman's Reef, a Melges 24 owned and skippered by Chris Rosenberg, was expected to be the overall winner. It would have been Rosenburg's third consecutive victory at the International Rolex Cup Regatta but it was not to be. A disappointed Rosenberg commented, "Conditions were very heavy today, with confused seas and a lot of current making it a tactical race. Racing was very tough out there and more challenging for everyone - even more than I expected!" The more demanding conditions saw a steady 15-18 knot breeze and the confused sea state was caused by the trade wind swell over inshore currents combined with wash from the numerous power boats, forcing crew's to rethink their strategy. The Beach Cats, in particular, had to work hard in the conditions, reaching at speed's over 20 knots on the downwind legs. John Holmberg, owner and skipper of Claim's Paid, took overall victory in this class, having sailed consistently well throughout the regatta Donnybrook, a Custom 72 ULDB sled, had a disappointing day having been hit by Calvin, an Aerodyne 38, before racing had even commenced. Although Donnybrook was moving slowly under power before the start and Calvin was under mainsail, the Jury judged the much smaller Calvin to be at fault having taken insufficient avoiding action before the boats collided. The collision resulted in both boats retiring due to hull damage. -- Susannah Bourne OVERALL RESULTS: CLASS A - Spinnaker/Racing: 1: Crash Test Dummies - Henderson 35; 2: Mermaid II - Custom 40; 3: Who's Yo Daddy - N/M45. CLASS B - Spinnaker/Racing: 1: Umakua - J 105; 2: Ex Mero Moto - J 80; 3: Sun Bum II - J 80. CLASS C - Melges 24: 1: Frenchman's Reef; 2: Airgasm; 3: Carib Matra. CLASS D - Spinnaker/Racing: 1: Twisted Lizard - Mumm 30; 2: Last Horizon II - Olson 30; 3: Magnificent Seven - J 27. CLASS E - Spinnaker/Racing: 1: Sorceress - Tartan 33; 2: Zing - J 30; 3: TSG - J29. CLASS G - J-24: 1: Heineken PR; 2: Orion Pavia; 3: Bavissimo 3. CLASS J - Racer Cruiser: 1: Polyphagus - Sloop 38; 2: Cold Beer - Tartan 10; 3. Pipedream - Sirena 38. CLASS H - Non-Spinnaker Racing: 1: Keep it Simple - J 42; 2: Kracker Jack - Olson 40; 3: Paterno - C & C 37+. CLASS I - Jib & Main Racing: 1: Marlyn II - Ben 30; 2: Mistral - Ben 35S5; 3: Online Vacations - CAL 2-27. CLASS F - Beach Cats: 1: Claim's Paid; 2: Ocean Spray; 3: Village Ram. OLYMPICS (Following is a brief excerpt from Sean McNeill's story on the Quokka website about Olympian Mark Reynolds) "The Star is my passion," said Reynolds. "I'm partial to it. Some of my first childhood memories are from the worlds in Long Beach [Calif.] when I was 5 or 6 years old. My parents have photos of me in the Star when I was an infant." Reynolds, a father of three, is just continuing his family's legacy. His father, Jim, crewed for such legendary Star sailors as Malin Burnham and Dennis Conner in the 60s and 70s. In 1971, the senior Reynolds won the Star worlds crewing for Conner, the four-time America's Cup champion. The duo contested the 1972 Star trials, but failed to win. Coincidentally, those trials, like the ones Reynolds won last week, were also held on San Francisco Bay. "He was here, watching us sail," said the Reynolds of his dad, now 72. "He had a good time reminiscing, talking about the wet suits they used to wear and the tricks they were trying on their boat." Reynolds credits Conner, a two-time Star world champ, with providing him many boatspeed secrets. Conner and Reynolds are both products of the San Diego Star fleet, arguably the most competitive in the U.S. Conner has an uncanny knack for making a boat sail faster. He might be the best sailor at stepping aboard a boat and instantly finding a speed-enhancing trick. "I rigged some of his Stars and went to the '76 Olympics with him, working shoreside on his Tempest," Reynolds said, reflecting on his days as a boy of summer. "He taught me a lot. He could probably sit here and tell me 20 things to make my boat go faster." Reynolds and Liljedahl would've made Conner proud at the trials. Their speed wasn't a problem, nor was their boat handling. Confident in those components critical to success, Reynolds plotted a cautious game plan. His experience from prior trials told him that consistent, Top 5 finishes would put him in contention for victory. "We had conservative starts," explained Reynolds. "We were never right at the favored end. There were usually three or four boats between the favored end and us. "We just wanted clear air," Reynolds continued. "We had good speed so if we got a clean start we could tack when we wanted and sail our own race. Most of the races we won we were first at the windward mark." This performance will reinforce Reynolds's conservative side. It hammers home his belief that consistency wins big regattas. -- Sean McNeill, Quokka Sports Read the full story: http://sailing.quokka.com/stories/QCMa4sail_s_reynolds_WFC.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. --From Christian Fevrier (Concerning Bob Fisher's comments that Team Philips' maxi-catamaran is a 'brilliant concept.') -- I am not sure that the wave piercing power driven multihulls can be applied in a similar way to the ocean racing multihulls. We have read a lot of praise about the concept, no front beam, etc ... but short expectations about how the boat will react downwind in the Southern Ocean in a gale. Even the big multihulls with much more buoyancy in the bows goes "down to the mine" to use the Peter Blake's comments about Enza New Zealand during the 1994 Jules Verne Trophy. Which means that when you are catapulted at the top of a big step wave, the boat dives in the front wave until the main beam. My list of pitchpoled multihulls is quite long. Let's imagine the Pete Goss's cat bows entering in the front wave like a knife in butter, until the main crossarm. Going from 25 knots to a dead stop at a dangerous angle. If a following step wave arrives quickly and lift up the sterns, then there is potential danger of pitchpoling. Last year, Playstation did a quick return back to New York, when her crew discovered that they were in great danger of pitchpoling. From what I know, Steve Fossett is not sure to enter the boat in The Race. I would say that we must wait a little more to discover how the Team Phillips "brilliant concept" will do in severe gales in the Southern Ocean. From what I have seen in the past thirty years, sailing aboard a great number of these racing crafts ... I'm concerned. -- From Chris Welsh -- The tri-radial is the best argument to invalidate the Sobstad patent - you can't patent widely used technology 10-20 years after the fact, and the tri-radial is certainly a sail with fibers & panels aligned along the stress lines. There are very, very few businesses that net 7% with no risk, especially in the marine industry. Sobstad is crazy to be going for blood and not licensing their patent to North for the royalty fee the court set, or something close to it. I have two patents, one of which is in production in a company we formed, and I would be thrilled to let someone else run everything for a 7% cut off the top. -- From Mo Hart -- After recently competing in the US Finn Trials and witnessing what took place at the top of the standings, I would need to agree with the curmudgeon. My hat goes off to, Mr. Class, Mark Herrmann as well as all other competitors for a job well done. Mark and Russ are the two best people, to be working together, from this country to qualify us for the Olympics in England this June and also medal in September. -- From Jennifer Elder (Regarding Mark Herrman's comments on Russ Silvestri's win at the US Olympic trials.) -- Mark gets my vote for the "Good Sportsmanship Award". What better way to elevate the sport than to rally around and support our Olympic competitors! Much more productive than writing another chapter in the never-ending saga of "Why I Didn't Win This Regatta". -- From Chris Ericksen -- (Re Dave Millett's comments on Transpac's "speed limit"): The guys who run the Transpac are like the folks who fight to build a home in a beautiful place and then become no-growth advocates: they have theirs and don't want anyone else to have what they have. The guys who have the big boats don't want anyone else to win their race. I remember a few years ago the "sturm und drang" over the smaller boats starting two days ahead of the bigger boats: they were afraid someone other than in a sled would win The Barn Door. It didn't happen, and now the Deed of Gift has been changed so only a sled can win it; but it was this "it's my race and you can come along as long as you don't win it" mentality that ruled then and drives this "speed limit" now. It has nothing to do with the race; it has everything to do with the racers--and in this case the ones who live at the top of the food chain. --From Doug McLean (re the proposed rating limit for the Transpac Race) -- What a stupid concept, a rating system to slow the boats down. I agree with Mr. Millet about having it wide open and bring whatever you want. It's easy to understand why the Pacific Cup has 80 entries with a waiting list, while Transpac can barely get 30 boats, including 15 cursing boats? Maybe TPYC should look at Pacific Cup and follow the leader and forget about a rating system to slow down the boats. -- From Lt. Cmdr. Edgar Sherman, USPS -- Christian Fevrier wrote about the value of the America's Cup in 1856: "Concerning the origins of the AMERICA'S CUP, there were (before decimal currency) 20 shillings to a pound, and a guinea was worth 21 shillings, or L1.05 in decimal. The cash value would therefore have been equivalent to $525." The present day value would be $9115.51 according to the inflation calculator at: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi -- From Dave Millett (re Dave Rustigans Comments and first PHRF Reading. The amendment allows boats to use symmetrical and asymmetrical kites in the same race without incurring a 6-second penalty.) -- I understand Dave's concern but disagree that this will cost owners more. This will cost less. If you want to switch to Asym's completely you can, with no penalty - except dollars. By taking away the 6-second penalty you can change over without penalty of time or dollars to build 2 or 3 kites at once, it can be done gradually. Retaining the penalty only slows the change. I have sailed with and talked to lots of people who have added asym's. No one yet has said they would ever buy another sym. Asym's are faster, faster is more fun isn't it? Faster, More Fun, = might play less golf and go sailing more often! One prominent local sailmaker states Asym's could be worth as much as 24 seconds. This depends on displacement of the boat, cut of the sail, and type of race. Sounds like a lot of extra fun on any boat. Speaking from experience - Aysm's are faster, easier to trim and contrary to popular belief, able to sail deep off the end of a spinnaker pole. Once the switch is made there is no need for Sym's in inventory. So far Asym's are proving to last longer and hold a good shape longer under the same amount of use which equals less replacements over time. I rest my case! Curmudgeon's question: If A-Sails are faster (as you claim they are), and there is no rating penalty for getting one, doesn't that mean that everyone who wants to remain competitive MUST get one? That seems to validate the point the Dave Rustigan made yesterday - the cost of racing in PHRF is about to go up. -- From Dave Few, Chairman, NCPHRF -- Be apprised that Northern California PHRF has absolutely no intention of abandoning the assessment of a penalty for carrying both a symmetric and asymmetric spinnaker. This is done on a boat for boat basis and may vary depending on the configuration of the rig. We also give a credit for a smaller jib than a 125% LP to encourage more folks to come out and race with less than a complete inventory. -- From Scott Ridgeway -- Southern California PHRF is the greatest friend one-design racing has ever had. INTER-COLLEGIATE RACING Starting in late May, the best college teams from seven Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association (ICYRA) districts across the country will begin competing for ICYRA North American titles in three disciplines: Women's Dinghy, Team Race and Coed Dinghy racing. St. Mary's College of Maryland will host the ICYRA North American Women's Dinghy Championship sponsored by Boatscape.com from May 28-30 and the ICYRA/Ronstan North American Team Race Championship from May 31-June 2. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point, N.Y. will host the ICYRA North American Coed Dinghy Championship from June 5-7. Collegiate FJs built by Vanguard Sailboats, a partner in the ICYRA Growth and Development Project, will be used in the Women's and Team Race events, while FJs and Vanguard 15s will be sailed in the Coed Dinghy event. The number of college team entrants allowed for the women's and coed events has been increased from 16 to 18. For the women's, entrants will be chosen through district eliminations. For coeds, sixteen teams will be chosen through district eliminations with two teams selected at-large. For the ICYRA North American Women's event and the Coed Dinghy Championship, each college fields a separate A and B division team. Weather permitting, each division sails sixteen 20- to 30-minute fleet races over three days for a total of 36 races. A team's final score is determined by the combined results of its sailors in A and B divisions. The ICYRA/Ronstan North American Team Race Championship pits each college's three-boat team against another's in a round robin series of matches (66 races). The top four teams then sail two mini-rounds to determine the winner. The team with the best win-loss record in matches against all other teams is the winner. At the conclusion of the coed dinghy competition on June 7, the ICYRA/Ronstan All-American Sailing Team will be announced. The team will include both skippers and crews who have recorded outstanding achievements in college regattas throughout the year. Along with the College Sailor of the Year and Sportsman of the Year, the winner of the Student Leadership Award, chosen by the Hall of Fame Committee, will be introduced. The Leonard M. Fowle Trophy will be awarded to the team with the best combined record in North American Championships for the year. -- Barby MacGowan CODE RED Following the recent high-profile launch and (temporary) demise of rival Pete Goss' radical giant catamaran, American balloonist, endurance sportsman, yachtsman and adventurer Steve Fossett and his own 105' (32 m) mega-cat PlayStation remain on course to tackle one of the sailing world's biggest records - the USA-UK transatlantic mark (6 days 13 hours 3 mins 32 secs) set in 1990 by Serge Madec on Jet Services V. An attack on the record in early May now appears most likely. Skipper Steve Fossett e-mailed the crew on Easter Sunday: "Meteoraologist Chris Bedford reports that there are no transatlantic start possibilities through May 1, due to the continuing winter storm track. However, there is a favorable change in pattern in the 10 day forecast. We should regard May 1 as our earliest Ready Date. PlayStation's first transatlantic record attempt (December '99) was halted by broken mainsail battens caused by a sudden 60 knot squall. Joining skipper Steve and PlayStation's ten-man crew for the attempt from NY will be Fossett's fellow round-the-world balloon challenger Richard Branson - himself a transatlantic world record setter via hot air balloon and power boat - as a full crew member. Australian America's Cup and Whitbread crewman Nick Moloney has also joined the permanent crew effective immediately. Full story: http://www.fossettchallenge.com/ THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Timing has a lot to do with the success of a rain dance. |
