|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2661 - Friday, August 15, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. OLYMPIC GAMES – NO WIND, NO RACING Qingdao, China (August 14, 2008; Day Six) – Friday promises to be an action-packed day at the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition after all races were postponed Thursday as the wind deserted Qingdao. Racing was canceled for the day after an on-land postponement. The final calls for the Finn and Yngling classes were made at 3:00 p.m. and the calls for the 49er, Laser, Laser Radial, Men’s RS:X and Women’s RS:X were made at 4:00 p.m. The hazy day in Qingdao could not produce enough wind for racing on any of the four scheduled courses. With no racing Thursday, the race schedule for Friday has been amended (see below). Click here for a brief report from Friday, August 15th. Click here for a brief report from Saturday, August 16th. > ISAF report: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/Olympicshome.php > US report: http://tinyurl.com/5ojavt > Canadian report: http://www.sailing.ca/feature/2008/08/noracing.html > Sailing World's Olympic Podcast Series: Halfway through his tenure as the chairman of U.S. Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee, and halfway through his first Olympics, Dean Brenner looks back at the sailing so far, and what's ahead for the U.S. Sailing Team in the next week and the next four years: http://www2.worldpub.net/images/sw/4-SWPodcast080814.mp3 Current Results: Finn (26 entrants) 1. GBR, Ben Ainslie, (10)-1-4-1-1-10-2, 19 2. USA, Zach Railey, 2-5-2-2-7-(8)-7, 25 3. FRA, Guillaume Florent, 5-8-(20)-3-4-6-4, 30 4. SWE, Daniel Birgmark, 14-(17)-1-6-12-3-3, 39 5. SLO, Gasper Vincec, 9-11-6-5-3-(13)-8, 42 7. CAN, Christopher Cook, 8-3-7-10-(23)-5-15, 48 Yngling (15 entrants) 1. GBR, Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson, 2-3-4-(7)-4-2-2, 17 2. NED, Mandy Mulder/Annemieke Bes/Merel Witteveen, 9-1-2-(13)-1-5-4, 22 3. USA, Sally Barkow/Carolyn Howe/Deborah Capozzi, (14)-2-8-5-6-11-1, 33 4. GRE, Bekatorou/Papadopoulou/Kravarioti, 10-12-9-3-2-(16/OCS)-3, 39 5. RUS, Skudina/Krutskikh/Ivanova, 3-8-12-10-(15)-1-6, 40 12. CAN, Jennifer Provan/Henderson/Abbott, 5-4-10-(15)-9-12-11, 51 49er (19 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin, (DSQ/20)-1-7-3-1-1-6-4-6, 29 2. DEN, Jonas Warrer/Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, 2-4-(10)-4-2-3-4-2-9, 30 3. ITA, Pietro Sibello/Gianfranco Sibello, 3-9-1-1-6-9-3-8-(12), 40 4. GER, Jan-Peter Peckolt/Hannes Peckolt, (15)-6-11-6-3-2-2-12-4, 46 5. USA, Tim Wadlow/Christopher Rast, 5-14-15-(16)-5-10-1-1-1, 52 13. CAN, Gordon Cook/Ben Remocker, 13-12-13-10-7-6-(16)-16-10, 48 470 Men (29 entrants) 1. AUS, Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page, 4-(7)-3-3-3-4, 17 2. FRA, Nicolas Charbonnier/Olivier Bausset, 6-3-8-1-6-(18), 24 3. GBR, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, (19)-5-1-4-9-6, 25 4. ITA, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, 10-4-7-7-2-(21), 30 5. POR, Ãlvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, 2-8-(15)-6-11-7, 34 23. USA, Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, 26-12-(OCS/30)-17-15-1, 71 28. CAN, Stéphane Locas/Oliver Bone, 25-25-(OCS/30)-20-23-22, 115 470 Women (19 entrants) 1. NED, Marcelien De Koning/Lobke Berkhout, 3-1-(9)-5-2-2, 13 2. AUS, Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson, 2-2-4-1-(9)-4, 13 3. ESP, Natalia Via-Dufresne/Laia Tutzó, 4-5-2-6-(13)-10, 27 4. ISR, Nike Kornecki/Vered Buskila, 8-13-1-2-8-(19), 32 5. ITA, Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol, (14)-7-6-3-6-11, 33 14. USA, Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, 12-12-10-14-4-(17), 52 RS:X Men (35 entrants) 1. ISR, Shahar Zubari, 1-3-1-3, 8 2. HKG, King Yin Chan, 5-4-2-5, 16 3. NZL, Tom Ashley, 4-7-7-1, 19 4. FRA, Julien Bontemps, 13-1-5-4, 23 5. GBR, Nick Dempsey, 11-9-3-2, 25 10. MEX, David Mier y Teran, 16-5-17-6, 44 22. CAN, Zachary Plavsic, 23-25-22-21, 91 24. USA, Ben Barger, 21-22-24-26, 93 RS:X Women (27 entrants) 1. CHN, Jian Yin, 1-1-1-3, 6 2. ESP, Marina Alabau, 3-5-5-2, 15 3. AUS, Jessica Crisp, 2-4-3-8, 17 4. ITA, Alessandra Sensini, 6-2-9-1, 18 5. GBR, Bryony Shaw, 4-3-11-6, 24 14. CAN, Nikola Girke, 11-14-13-14, 52 25. MEX, Demita Vega, 23-21-25-25, 94 26. USA, Nancy Rios, 25-24-22-26, 97 Laser (43 entrants) 1. ITA, Diego Romero, 6-3-5, 14 2. POR, Gustavo Lima, 5-8-3, 16 3. ARG, Julio Alsogaray, 1-12-10, 23 4. RUS, Igor Lisovenko, 11-14-4, 29 5. SWE, Rasmus Myrgren, 7-16-8, 31 8. USA, Andrew Campbell, 14-18-1, 33 19. CAN, Michael Leigh, 13-23-26, 62 23. ISV, Thomas Barrows, III, 20-28-20, 68 Laser Radial (28 entrants) 1. USA, Anna Tunnicliffe, 4-5-6, 15 2. CRO, Mateja Petronijevic, 8-9-5, 22 3. LTU, Gintare Volungeviciute, 3-13-8, 24 4. AUS, Sarah Blanck, 6-11-7, 24 5. GBR, Penny Clark, 2-22-1, 25 18. CAN, Lisa Ross, 16-23-13, 52 28. MEX, Tania Elias Calles Wolf, 27-25-DNF/29, 81 Complete results: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php OLYMPIC GAMES - DEALING WITH THE DETAILS * RACE SCHEDULE: Due to wind delays on Wednesday, and the cancellation of all races on Thursday, the race schedule in the Notice of Race for Friday has been revised as follows: Course A: 1300 - Star and Tornado (2 races each) Course B: 1200 - RS:X men and women (2 races each) Course B: 1400 - 49er class (3 races) Course C: 1200 - Laser and Laser Radial (3 races each) Course D: 1300 - 470 men and 470 women (2 races each) Course E: 1200 - Finn and Yngling (3 races each) > Friday is the final day of open racing for the Finn and Yngling. Following Friday’s racing, the top ten competitors from these two classes will advance to their medal race on Saturday. In the medal race, finishing position points are doubled, and the score cannot be discarded. A maximum of eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. When five or more opening races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her worst score. However, the score from the medal race will not be excluded. -- Notice of Race: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olynor * WEATHER FORECAST - Qingdao Olympic Venue: For Friday, August 15, the big question will be the effect of the wind direction. The forecast maps best describe the sailing conditions as having NE winds from 10-20 knots but some light patches may occur depending on how much the mountains will shelter the race area. An archive of the maps/graphs from each day are at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/olyweather - to get the animated hour by hour forecast map images, sign up for free worldwide forecasts at www.predictwind.com * RACE WATCHING: Racing finally begins for the Tornado and Star fleets, and these events will be the featured racing for television coverage on Friday. For the US audience, Gary Jobson is working with the NBC production team, adding his commentary to the online shows through to the end of the series. > U.S. viewing schedule: http://tinyurl.com/NBCsked > Canadian viewing schedule: http://www.sailing.ca/feature/2008/07/bold.html POSITIONED FOR THE PODIUM Here are the countries that currently have entrants in the top three: Australia - 4 Great Britain - 3 United States - 3 France - 2 Italy - 2 Netherlands - 2 Spain - 2 Argentina - 1 China - 1 Croatia - 1 Denmark - 1 Hong Kong - 1 Israel - 1 Lithuania - 1 New Zealand - 1 Portugal - 1 The podium positions for the Finn and Yngling will be decided on Saturday, and it is interesting to note that Great Britain remains as strong in 2008 as their gold medal performances in 2004. However, they are likely the only country from 2004 to repeat. In the Finn, Spain earned the silver and Poland the bronze in 2004, but they are currently 13th and 9th respectively. The situation in the Yngling is far worse, as neither silver medalist Ukraine or bronze medalist Denmark are competing in the event at these games. Here are some links from the 2004 Olympic Games: > Medal Count: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/medals > Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/olympics PROFESSIONAL WIND FORECASTS: FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS! Want a competitive edge in your next regatta? Get a forecast from PredictWind.com - the worldwide specialists in high resolution weather modeling. For the first time ever, you can access a forecast using a model that calculates the wind at an incredible 1km resolution for your local area. High resolution equals better accuracy. The web based forecasts are easy to use, and available in maps, graphs and even a text format that is accessible on your mobile phone. It is the system that champion sailors rely upon, and until January 2009 the forecasts are free of charge: http://www.PredictWind.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE * “If it comes down to a medal race between Ben (Ainslie) and another boat, Ben will kill him. It is not even a discussion worth having. Bet your house on it. Bet your mate’s house on it. In fact, bet the nation’s house on it. He will just annihilate anybody else that he has got to beat.” -- British team manager Stephen Park regarding leading Finn sailor Ben Ainslie, full story: http://tinyurl.com/DailyMail0814 * “I am starting to see what really makes this the Olympic Games. This is competition at its ruthless best. Goals are destroyed, ambitions are pressured and resolve is tested. The conditions here in Qingdao for the racing so far have been tough. A bad day out there for most is an extremely bad day. Regattas are just about over for some after the first day! This is not just unique to Sailing; every sport has its unique element that makes it so tough. Swimmers have one chance to make it, no second race to recover from a bad turn or slow start and they are punished by .3 of a second. Weight lifters are falling short by .5kgs - probably a weight they have lifted countless times before.” -- Carl Williams (NZL), 2006 Star World Champion. -- http://carlwilliams30.blogspot.com/2008/08/execution.html TRIVIA QUESTION Which country holds the most Olympic sailing medals but has never won a gold medal? (Answer below) OLYMPIC GAMES – NEWS AND NOTES * There are 1443 days until the next Summer Olympics to be held in London July 27-August 12, 2012, with the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy being selected as the venue for the sailing events. As for the 2016 Olympics, the bid process will conclude with a final decision October 2, 2009. The contesting cities are Chicago, USA, Madrid, Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Tokyo, Japan. * The Tornado gennaker has been a hot topic, as the Dutch and American teams have been behind the development of a radical design that can be used both upwind and downwind. While the Dutch have opted for a standard sail, the US decided today to go with the new design, or as they call it, their ‘Chupacabra Code Zero gennaker’. On the decision, American Tornado crew Charlie Ogletree said, “It was a tough and risky call. We know the sail will power us up in really light conditions going to windward, but in any breeze over 11 knots we’ll only be able to use it downwind and we’ll risk being outgunned by boats with standard gennakers. After carefully weighing the odds, we decided to press ahead and use it.” -- http://www.t-squaredracing.com/content/view/99/25 * Three of Britain most promising sailors will get the chance to savour the experience of an Olympic Games in full flow when they fly to China as part of the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) ‘Britain’s Olympic Ambition 2012’ programme today (Thursday 14 August). Designed to enhance athlete medal success at the London 2012 Olympic Games by providing talented potential team members with an opportunity to experience an Olympic Games, athletes from 33 disciplines will spend seven days in Macau and Beijing during Beijing 2008. The programme’s focus is based around providing sports specific event exposure and to replicate, as closely as possible, an athlete’s overall Olympic experience. -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/rya0814 * After 49 races, there have been 34 protests heard, with two of them being filed by the jury under Rule 69 (Sportsmanship) violations. The latest Rule 69 hearing involved Norwegian Finn sailor Peer Moberg, who was initially protested by Chris Cook (CAN) for a mark rounding violation, but based on the testimony by Cook, the jury found cause to take the next step. The cause for the Rule 69 jury protest involved alleged serious abuse and threats by Moberg toward Cook at the time of the incident but also some minutes later after they crossed the finish line. Moberg initially received a DNE (non-discardable disqualification) for his protest by Cook, but following all hearings it was reduced to mere DSQ. > Moberg report: http://tinyurl.com/moberg0814 > All protests: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/racing/decisions.php * The Dutch Yngling team is currently in second position, and it is the Dutch Sailing Team that garnered much attention with the method they used to determine their Olympic Yngling representatives. For the past two years, nine aspiring girls had been sailing three boats, with the team coach deciding on the eve of each regatta which combination would sail together. The team made their final selection of the three girls to compete at the Games just one month before the opening. -- http://www.rya.org.uk/beijing2008/news/audio/Pages/YnglingIdol.aspx J/22 WORLDS SUPPORTING HAITI FISHERMEN Rochester, New York, USA – August 13, 2008 – The J/22 Class celebrates 25 years as a one-design Class with more than 105 boats now entered in the 2008 Ultimate Marine Group J/22 World Championship, hosted by Rochester Yacht Club in Rochester, New York, USA from August 20-24. All boats will start as one fleet, with 2007 champion Mark Sadler of South Africa defending his title. Among the outreach efforts at the worlds will be an effort to support a Miami-based not-for-profit organization called Sails for Sustenance (SFS), a group dedicated to recycling sails donated in the U.S. by providing them to subsistence fishermen of Haiti. The fishermen build their own boats and are forced to outfit them with make-shift sails (often scraps of discarded rice and flour bags pieced together). The donated sails require far less maintenance than those they replace, and allow fishermen to more easily reach speeds critical to trawling for certain fish species. Since 2006 over ninety sails have been donated, and SFS will be onsite at the J/22 Worlds to accept contributions of sails, scrap sail material, sail repair kits (needles, thread, etc.), and monetary donations. Contributions, both in-kind and monetary, are tax-deductible. -- Full Details: http://blog.myyc.org/j22worlds/?p=19 LIGHTHOUSE RESTORATION CONTEST In 2005, the JELD-WEN Reliable Lighthouse Restoration Initiative was launched by the company to demonstrate the reliability of their windows and doors while helping to save historic lighthouses for their communities. This year, twelve lighthouses are the final candidates among 49 nominees. Since community support is very important in preserving lighthouses, an online poll is held to help determine the contest winner. The candidates are: Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse - Maryland Bodie Island Lighthouse - North Carolina Cedar Island Lighthouse - New York Grand Traverse Lighthouse - Michigan Grays Harbor Light Station - Washington New Canal Lighthouse - Louisiana New Dungeness Light Station - Washington Pemaquid Point Lighthouse - Maine Plum Island Station - Wisconsin Point Arena Light Station - California Rose Island Lighthouse - Rhode Island Toledo Harbor Lighthouse - Ohio Voting must occur on or before September 7, 2008. To review the candidates and place your vote, go to http://www.jeld-wen.com/lighthouse/index_vote.cfm SAILING WITH SUPERMAN… JERRY KIRBY by David Schmidt, SAIL magazine It’s November 9, 1999, and you’re sailing aboard USA-53, Young America, in the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Conditions are a little breezy, maybe 18-20 knots of air with fairly large seas off Auckland, New Zealand. The boat seems capable and the crew is 100-percent dialed-in. But then a curious thing happens: In the midst of a tack, while pushed up by the seas, USA-53 breaks. Mercifully, the boom jams into a section of the cockpit and acts like a brace, preventing the boat from going fully taco-ed, but the damage is done and the command is given. Abandon ship. You leap, as does everyone around you, and madly tread water as you wait for the boat to sink. But, miraculously, it doesn’t go down. You rub the confusion from your eyes and look again: there’s someone by the mast, battling to get the sails down. Alone. Later, you find out that dropping sail and reducing the boat-breaking loads they were producing was the only thing that kept the boat from sinking. But who stayed behind to make the save? Meet Jerry Kirby, part man, part machine, and 100% big kid. -- Read on: http://sailmag.com/racecourse/0808_superman SIX WINS IN SIX REGATTAS Damian Emery's Eclipse continues to dominate the J/105 fleet, posting wins in his last 6 regattas. Emery, powered by a Doyle Main and Jib, won the J/105 class at NYYC Race Week and Block Island Race Week. Doyle sails also powered the top 3 finishers in the J/105 class at the 2008 Marblehead NOOD and the winner of the J/105 class at the 2008 Bayview Mackinac Race. When you want to put in a winning performance, contact your local Doyle loft at 800-94-DOYLE. For more details on J/105 sails or another Doyle One Design Class, visit http://www.doylesails.com/onedesign.htm TRIVIA ANSWER As for which country holds the most Olympic sailing medals but has never won a gold medal, Canada holds the most medals (9) by any nation never to win a gold medal. SAILING SHORTS * Whilst the Summer Olympics are in full swing in China, Lionel Lemonchois and his nine crew have bid farewell to Asia. The 33 metre maxi-catamaran Gitana 13 crossed the start line of the Tea Route - Hong Kong / London - this Thursday 14th August at 0755’32” UT (1555’32” local time). On this course spanning over 14,000 miles the sailors of Gitana Team are targeting a time of around forty days to make Europe and the city of London. -- http://www.gitana-team.com * Each entrant of the Volvo Ocean Race must first complete a 2000 mile qualifying sail, and this week saw the Green Dragon Volvo Open 70 complete their qualification passage. The team set off from Cork, sailed to a waypoint 200 miles south of Iceland, then set a northerly course to 59,32.2N 020.6W, approximately halfway between the Outer Hebrides and the Faroe Islands, before returning south to their training base in Cork. Now Team Russia has just begun their qualifier, leaving Portland Harbour (UK) in steady 40kts, and will attempt an unofficial run at the Round Britain and Ireland nonstop record in a monohull. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org * Ten boats have officially entered the 2008 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, and it is hoped that the field will grow as the early entry discount deadline has been extended to Sept. 1. Returning in 2008 is recent Tahiti Race record breaker Magnitude 80 who was also first to finish in the 2007 Cabo race. Regular entries will continue through October 1. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6251 * The final level of America’s Cup lawyering between defender Alinghi and challenger BMW Oracle Racing (BOR) involves the hearing of the appeal submitted by BOR. The timeline follows that BOR’s brief and record material is to be submitted by September 29th, with Alinghi’s brief to be submitted by November 13th, after which BOR shall submit a reply brief, if desired, by November 28th. After these filings are completed, the court will assign a date for oral arguments during a period on or after January 6, 2009. -- http://www.ggyc.com/20080814_CourtOfAppealsSchedulingOrder.PDF PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include 505 racing in San Francisco, Lightning racing in Newport, a Nick Scandone fundraiser next week, plus beautiful boats in Croatia, Australia, and New Zealand along with two championship siblings from Long Beach, CA. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/08/0815 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Hazlehurst: (re, the report in Issue 2660 on the weather this week in Weymouth) In 1993, when the Laser Worlds were held in New Zealand, US sailors got an opportunity to hone their heavy weather skills and some reports implied their stamina was taxed - certainly compared with the "local". This prompts me to offer a comparison with Savannah in 1996 where by this stage in the racing, the organizers had scheduled earlier starts to avoid the horrendous thunderstorms that came in like clockwork in the early afternoon. I know from talking with and seeing the reaction of some of the competitors, they were understandably concerned about the theatrics as were those of us on one of the windward mark boats. From a personal perspective, I missed a phone call from my daughter telling me about the birth of her first daughter; none of us heard the cell phone ring and all four of us kept our hands off any metal. That was 22 July and at the belated US Trials in April 1996 when I asked a local what conditions we could expect three months later. "Great," was the answer. "We always get an afternoon sea breeze". We sure did, and I'll never forget them. * From Donald Pierce, General Manager, Ferrari of Houston: Every day Scuttlebutt arrives in my mail box here at the dealership, bringing the sailing world into focus. Without a doubt, one of the best news sources on the Internet and the Curmudgeon’s Observations are so great that those are often sent off to my friends for comment and reflection. This year, our racing team (Risi Competizione, www.risicompetizione.com) won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a rather prestigious event in world class sports car racing. But in talking about racing with a few of the drivers, when I mentioned that racing boats was an order of magnitude more difficult because “the water is always moving and changing, whereas on a race track, the pavement remains a constant” , the drivers shook their heads and said “now that’s crazy!! Remember: the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but it still has to be mowed. Thanks for the good work…it does not go un-appreciated. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe secure place, somewhere. Special thanks to PredictWind.com and Doyle Sails. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
