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SCUTTLEBUTT 2251 – January 3, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). TAKING ON THE REICHEL PUGHS (The Daily Sail subscription website believes that Mike Slade's impressive new 30m canting keel super maxi Leopard 3 is “this year's boat to watch out for.” Here are a few excerpts from the story posted on their website.) Over recent years the 30m super maxi class been mostly an Antipodean affair, with the main aim of Neville Crichton’s two Alfa Romeos, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, Stuart Thwaites Konica Minolta/Zana and Grant Wharington’s Skandia being the prestigious line honours trophy in the Rolex Sydney Hobart. However this big boat elite is soon to be joined by a pom, albeit with a boat designed in the US and built in their own backyard. While the last Leopard started life at 70:30 racer:cruiser the new boat will be 90:10 because, initially at least, it will have no interior forward of the mast and the saloon will be removable. “We’re not carrying anything additional to what Alfa Romeo and Wilds Oats are carrying in our first 13 month race program from beginning of June 2007 until the end of the Bermuda race 2008.” After this it will be fitted out with a full on Ken Freivokh designed interior. Leopard 3 is from Farr Yacht Design, who, while they dominate every other aspect of the yacht racing market, have allowed Reichel Pugh to become the dominant force in big, canting keel race boats outside of the Open 60 and Volvo circuits. Unlike the CBTF system as fitted on the Reichel Pugh canting keelers, Leopard has twin asymmetric lifting daggerboards to prevent leeway like the VO70s and most Open 60s. Nothing particularly new there, save that Leopard's boards are lifted on powered rollers. Hydraulic rams push the rollers on to the board and then lift or lower the boards. – Full story: http://www.thedailysail.com NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE In just three months, on 1 April 2007, all Challengers and the Defender are required to "unveil" and thereafter may no longer use "skirts" or "shrouds" to hide the underbodies of their ACC yachts. The framework of the unveiling procedure for Sunday 1 April (which, coincidentally, is April Fools' Day in the USA among other places) has been agreed by ACM, the Challenger Commission and the Defender along the following lines, which we are in the process of formalizing into a proper tri-party agreement: * Saturday, March 31 -- Declaration Day. * Sunday, April 1 -- Unveiling Day. * Monday, April 2 -- Act 13 "No Change Period" begins 24 hours before the first race. * Tuesday April 3 -- Act 13 Races 1 & 2, as previously published. Protocol 16.1 requires that yachts still under construction must be declared though they are not required to be unveiled until later. Some definition needs to be agreed on as to when a yacht is still under construction, with enforcement as and if necessary by the Regatta Director with the advice of the Measurement Committee, so that teams do not attempt to avoid unveiling under the guise of still being "under construction." Declared yachts in VLC must be unveiled. Yachts "under repair" must be unveiled except in extraordinary circumstances akin to major re-construction, and only with the prior approval of the Regatta Director with the advice of the Measurement Committee. ACM (and teams for that matter) may use boats to tour media and other special guests through the Port America's Cup during the period 0930-1330; accordingly, teams shall not obstruct the normal waterside view of their bases and declared yachts that are on display. Teams shall cooperate with each other to allow members of other teams to arrive by chase boat during the 0930-1130 viewing period. Failure to comply with this procedure may result in a protest by a team or the Regatta Director, with the jury having available the usual full range of penalties including ordering a team to do another, proper unveiling on another day. -- AC 32 Challenger Commission blog, full story: http://www.challengercommission.com/ * A recent posting on the BMW Oracle Racing blog has the schedule outlined for the 32nd America’s Cup: http://static.twoday.net/bmworacleracing/files/2007-racing-schedule.pdf AWARDS The Proper Course blog has just published its list of the Top Ten Sailing Blogs of 2006. To help prune the list the editor ruthlessly applied the following rules to select a blog: - It must be mainly about sailing. - It must have been in existence for most of 2006. - It must be updated regularly. - It must be actually worth reading... it's interesting, entertaining, educational, funny, whatever... something grabs me about it. - The writer engages his or her audience, allows comments on the blog, responds to them, makes comments on other sailing blogs, is part of the community. And the winners are: http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-ten-sailing-blogs-of-2006.html FINAL COUNTDOWN TO KEY WEST RACE WEEK But don't worry if you've got last minute purchases or any repairs during Race Week, West Marine will be there to help! For all your racing needs in Key West, visit our store at 725 Caroline Street (adjacent to race headquarters’ ‘Big Top’ tent). On-site rigging will be available as well as all the latest and greatest gear from New England Rope, Harken, Forespar, tacktick, Gill, Sperry Top-Sider, and more. Come check out all the cool free stuff and door prizes, not to mention morning refreshments for the early birds. Open 7AM to 9PM during Race Week (Jan 15-19). THEY ARE ALL IN FREO Graham Dalton from New Zealand aboard A Southern Man – AGD has crossed the finish line of the Velux 5 Oceans in Fremantle (Western Australia) at 11:34 local time (02:34 GMT) on Tuesday – finishing fourth. Dalton completed the leg on the only Open 50 in the race, after 71 days, 15 hours and 34 minutes. Graham Dalton left Bilbao with the rest of the fleet on October 22, 2006, and has experienced a rollercoaster ride over the 12,000 miles separating the Spanish Basque Country from Fremantle in Western Australia. The skipper, who is taking on the Ultimate Solo Challenge in memory of his son Tony who died 12 months ago, has twice been forced to seek land in order to carry out essential repairs. Sixteen hours later, Unai Basurko, the last remaining skipper sailing leg one, finished. After the fleet left Bilbao on October 22, the Basque skipper was forced to return home after sustaining heavy sail damage during the vicious storm that ripped through the Bay of Biscay. Five days later, his Open 60 Pakea set off again but was soon back on land as Basurko pulled into Vigo (Galicia) to make repairs and adjustments to the yacht's autopilots, earning another 48 hour time penalty for receiving outside assistance. The first leg of the Velux 5 Oceans has delivered some incredible stories of drama and high octane action. Two of the pre-race favourites were forced to retire as Hugo Boss sank after British skipper Alex Thomson abandoned ship in the icy conditions of the Southern Ocean. After being heroically rescued by fellow competitor Mike Golding, Ecover was struck by its own bad luck as her mast broke in two places and limped into Cape Town, where Golding took the difficult decision not to continue in a race that had already beaten him once in the past. Leg three from Fremantle, Australia, through the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn to Norfolk Virginia is scheduled to start January 7. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ SAILING SHORTS * BMW Oracle Racing’s USA 61, will be on display at the Collins Stewart London Boat Show, January 5-14. The syndicate’s blog has a nice photo of USA61 on the streets of London. http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net * The Notice of Race for the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal is now available online on www.sailing.org and the event website www.cascaisworlds2007.com. The 2007 ISAF Worlds take place from 28 June-13 July and will be the pinnacle event for the Olympic Classes in 2007 with 75% of all the national places for the 2008 Olympic Games to be decided. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j8~Fh?A1? * A mix of 63 boats ranging from 8 to 37 feet sailed in Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's annual post-Christmas Boxing Day Regatta Dec. 30. The boats were sent off on inverted starts based on Portsmouth handicaps for a 100-minute race. Chris Raab, sailing an Olympic-class Finn, had a victorious 100-yard lead over Jerry Thompson's Snipe, with Mandi Smith as crew. Henry Sprague was third in another Finn, followed by Eric Conn's Mercury and the first keelboat, Jerry Montgomery's Etchells. -- http://www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=204 * Collin Merrick & Amanda Callahan won the Vanguard 15 Midwinters at the US Sailing Center - Martin County, by scoring a 16-point win over Matt Allen & Tim Cain in the nine race, one discard event. Thomas Barrows & Nathan Rosenberg finished third ahead of fourth place Craig Thompson & Brian Bartley and fifth place Bobby Martin & Erin Kilcline. -- http://www.usscmc.org/files/v15final.txt * Two races were held on the opening day of the 2006 Optimist World Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay. Julian Autenrieth (GER) seized the initiative with a double bullet start. Wind strengths varied between 10 and 12 knots, going lighter towards the end of race 2. On Day Two, heavy winds delayed launching but clearance was given around 13.30 and it is hoped to sail three races. Winds were still around 18 knots and the after-effect of the morning's breeze combined to produce a difficult chop. -- http://www.optiworld.org/ioda-news.html * Known by many as the Tufts University sailing coach, a premier race officer, and event commentator, Ken Legler has also been known by many in the medical field as a cancer patient. Or should we say cancer survivor. Ken submits to Scuttlebutt his “year in review,” which demonstrates how a determined, positive approach can overcome long odds to triumph over even the strongest foe. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/kl1229/ * The 2007 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods is now available to view via the ISAF Medical and Anti-Doping microsite. Following its approval by WADA's Executive Committee, the 2007 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods is now available. The List will come into effect from January 1, 2007. Anti-Doping Rules, like competition rules, are sport rules governing the conditions under which sport is played. – http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/2007_List_En.pdf NEW YACHTS AT SD BOAT SHOW JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc. would like to personally invite you to start out 2007 at the San Diego Boat Show Jan. 4-7, where we’ll be unveiling Delphia Yachts - our newest line of value sailboats Look to step aboard the new Delphia 40 GT, a production cruiser/racer which has had great success in Europe and the USA with over 135 sold to date. Features include a deep draft lead keel, Lewmar winches, Selden Spar/ boom, Yanmar saildrive, with North Sails for a base price of 199K. For information on the boat show or our boats lines: 619.224.6200, http://www.jk3yachts.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Paul Fleming (edited to our 250-word limit): Florida’s Orange Bowl is quite the competitive regatta for juniors. A grueling schedule frankly which you know if you've been there. Nothing wrong with that. My kids knew that going into it many years ago when we traveled there from Rhode Island. They were looking forward to the one lay day of the entire week as was so we could have one single day of relaxing and enjoying some of Florida's great non-sailing activities. But there had been one day earlier in the week when the weather was bad and the RC did not call the day till 3PM. But then the RC said that the lay day was cancelled to make up for that "lost" day of racing. So we spent a big investment in time, money and travel and had not one day of relaxation. We never went back to this regatta for that very reason. This is a great way of turning kids off to sailing. Provide at least one day of guaranteed relaxation in every long regatta or risk losing participants. We must make regattas fun for young kids or pay the price by losing them to the sport, or at least to the regatta. Just because the race committee "can" doesn't mean they "should". It is kind of like not notifying someone that they are "over" because they don't "have to". Look at their faces after they don't get the whistle or the gun after sailing the entire race with all their heart. * From Guy Doran (Copy of the letter I wrote to Robyn Riley of Australia's Herald Sun who called for the end of the "silly" Sydney-Hobart race.) It figures a woman would wail like Robyn Riley did in Australia’s Herald Sun and plead for the end of the “silly” Sydney-Hobart race. Back off, Robin! Men do what they are born and built to do: go to battle. Sydney-Hobart is a modern-day battle. It may no longer be clubs vs. dinosaurs, but it carries the same underlying drive. Let the men do what is instinctual: take on challenges. Let men be men, and let them handle the consequences so they may be better men. You wouldn't want a wuss to protect your household. You'd want one of those warriors who went to sea. He's doing it to hone his natural skills and to know he is ready to do it for your survival when he has to. Think of it this way: Would you want a man or would you want Hilary Clinton as the Commander in Chief of your armed forces? Like it or not, we are driven by the same genetic material as our ancestors many thousands of years ago. The wusses die off. The men live to procreate (and protect!) families. Robyn, don’t neuter us—-or you’ll be stuck with “men” who cower at the sight of a cats paw. * From Nicole Weaver: Ugh! Articles like that by Robyn Riley (advocating banning the Sydney-Hobart because some boats and bodies got damaged) just make me sick! As far as I know, none of the many hundreds of sailors, owners and sponsors participating in that race were forced, in fact I'd wager there is a sizable list of "would love to crew but have no ride" sailors on some website somewhere. I'm sure all had heard of the possibilities the race presents, with its reputation for wild and wicked weather, and were willing to risk their boats, their money and possibly their health in order to compete. We do this kind of racing (or climbing, or extreme skiing, or other sports) to test ourselves, to undertake a challenge, to face adversity and to achieve something difficult and a bit frightening. Nobody's forcing Robyn Riley, or anyone else for that matter, to participate, to watch or to be involved any other way. Let those who are put off by the danger stay away, but don't take this event away from people who are ready, willing and able to step up to the challenge and accept the risk, and for whom the reward of completing this landmark test more than outweighs the possible dangers it may pose. * From Jessica Lord (re ‘Sink This Silly Race’): While the editors were on holiday, I followed the web for updates about the Sydney -Hobart race and, once again, this year's race "results" left me with a foul taste in my mouth. When I read about the chaos, I thought: if the very definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over again, expecting different results, should we re-name this annual Boxing Day event? I thought I was alone with my opinion until the first 'butt of the year arrived, and with it, Robyn Riley's column in the Sunday Herald. I know that while I might not be thinking as do the majority of racers around the globe, at least – Thank God! - I am not alone here outside the box. * From Max Rosenberg (Regarding Ted Jones Comments): The Curmudgeon has not gone Bonkers! Lead mines, IOR pigs, Old low sheer teak decks are the founders of our sport. If I see one more picture of pro's in matching suits hanging like meat on a rail....blah. I just wish that in every picture there was an expression of speed in knots or mass measurement. It is always hard to tell/show friends how exciting sailing is, but funny thing...first time they try to pull a jib in on a lead mine plowing through the ocean on a close reach in 20 knots of breeze, they get it real quick. * From Jim Lyle, Seattle WA: As a video producer of 20 years, I cannot disagree more with the comments on why sailing doesn't work on TV. The problem is the equipment and the conditions typically shown on TV, combined with the coverage. When I show non-sailing friends, and especially kids, Australian TV coverage of 18 footers, they love it. The kids make me play it over and over and slow-mo the capsizes. We will never be a mass audience sport, but neither is gymnastics. However, on the quadrennial many sports like gymnastics make an impression via the Olympics. Sailing has that opportunity if it chooses the right equipment and the right venues. We can choose exciting equipment and venues like downhill skiing does, or we can make choices more like those for air rifles at 50 meters. I'm not knocking either of those sports. I like to shoot and I like to ski - but I'd rather watch downhill racing on TV than biathlon. We continue to try to force the Olympics to represent the breadth of our sport rather than use it to effectively promote our sport. * From Derek Blancké: I don’t think Eric Hall should call Paul Henderson a puff. But we all agree he has a lot fresh air. * From Ginny Jones: Did I miss something here: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is declared the Ultimate Pioneer and the first person to circumnavigate single handed in 1969 in the latest issue of Sailing Scuttlebutt, but what about Joshua Slocum? Or is it because the article was worded, and punctuated in such a way that Knox-Johnston may very well have been the first person to circumnavigate single handed in 1969? CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Athletics Anonymous is a great service. If you ever get the urge to run around the block, you can dial an 800 number and a guy comes over to drink with you until the urge passes. Special thanks to West Marine and JK3 Nautical Enterprises. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
