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SCUTTLEBUTT 2090 - May 9, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.TEMPORARY HOME Annapolis, Maryland -- The National Sailing Hall of Fame and Museum opened (last) Thursday at City Dock, where it will remain until the end of the boat shows in October. The hall is temporarily housed in an air-conditioned tent next to the Maryland Natural Resources Police building. It will move into the Natural Resources Police building when that agency finds a new home, organizers said. Lee Tawney, a consultant on the project, said that along with a physical space, he hopes the hall will have a significant online presence meant to "make sailing come alive virtually." "The concept here is that baseball, basketball, lacrosse all have their hall of fame, and, believe it or not, sailing doesn't have a hall of fame," he said. The temporary location, although technically a tent, has a polished feel. There are hardwood floors, track lighting and flat-screen plasma TVs. The 1,200-square-foot space is divided into three galleries. In the center of the first gallery is a new Optimist - a tiny single-sail boat favored among junior sailors on the East Coast. The sides of each gallery include images of boats under sail and photos of sailors who have been honored by the sport over the years, including those named the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year and those named to the America's Cup Hall of Fame and the Sailing World Hall of Fame. David Reed, the editor of Sailing World magazine, said he hopes the hall becomes a place to collect artifacts from the sport. "There is not a place out there that exists where physical things can hang - a wheel off an America's Cup boat," he said. "I'm hoping this is a good warehouse for the eclectic. ... Let's get Paul Cayard's Optimist." Nothing along those lines is in the current space, but Tawney said sailing artifacts will be welcome. -- Excerpts from a story by Annie Linskey, Baltimore Sun, full story: http://tinyurl.com/gd6at VAMOS A LA PLAYA It appears to your editor that even the more skeptical and cynical among the media and the America's Cup "family" (as ACM have taken to calling those directly involved in the action here in Valencia) are becoming bullish on the prospects for the upcoming Acts, and on AC 32 in general. This despite the ongoing construction here -- the din and dust all around us -- which is more than a bit behind the original, to say nothing of the oft-revised, timetable. While the teams tend to take the delays out on ACM and the local governmental host committee, "V07" (short for el Consorcio Valencia 2007), the problem largely lies with the lack of cooperation between the central government in Madrid and los Valencianos that has existed since the socialist party ("PSOE") won control of the central government from the conservative party ("PP") in March 2004. Valencia is a, if not the, bastion of the PP. From Valencia Life this morning comes the latest news of the continuing spat: "Rita Barbera, the Mayoress of Valencia, yesterday issued a harsh warning to the socialist Government in Madrid, after no representatives from either Valencia Town Hall or from the Valencian Government were invited to the opening of the official presentation of the Americas Cup in Madrid which King Juan Carlos was expected to attend. Despite this being remedied by Fax a few hours later, yesterday Mrs. Barbera stated that the ‘obsession with the Socialist Government of being in the front seat at everything’ was ‘trying to take its toll’ on the event. -- Excerpt from a post on the AC 32 Challenger Commission Blog. Full story: http://www.challengercommission.com/ CARRYING QATAR’S SPORTING MESSAGE Tony Bullimore will carry the flag for the 2006 Asian Games in a series of world sailing record attempts. First, he will attempt break the 70 day barrier in a solo non-stop circumnavigation that will start and finish in Hobart, Tasmania, then continue with a series of record chasing voyages between Japan, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and India, before returning to Qatar in time for the Asian Games in December. Abdulla Khalid Al Qahtani, the Director General of the Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee said that Tony Bullimore and his 102ft catamaran (the much-modified ENZA New Zealand) would not only provide considerable publicity for the Asian Games being staged in Doha between 1st and 15th December, but would carry Qatar’s sporting message right around the Asian Continent. The current solo round the world record, set last year by Dame Ellen MacArthur in the trimaran B&Q,, stands at 71 days 14hrs 18mins 33secs,. Tony Bullimore is convinced that his larger catamaran can complete the 21,719 nautical mile course in less than 70 days. The record attempt will be overseen by the World Sailing Speed Record Council which has stipulated a specific course. The World Sailing Speed Record Council will also oversee Bullimore’s fully crewed record attempts across Asia just prior to the Doha Asian Games. HIGH PERFORMERS There are many variables that go into performing well at a regatta. Some are controllable, some are not. Clothing is a controllable variable. So when looking for high performance clothing, check out the Code Zero quick dry shirt from Camet. The double circular knit, lightweight fabric is designed to wick away moisture, dry fast, be comfortable and, have maximum UV protection. This high performing shirt is perfect as a single warm weather layer or as an under layer for cold weather. Padded Shorts, Vest, Mylar bags etc. http://www.camet.com THEY’LL SLEEP TOMORROW The short sprint from Baltimore to New York is keeping the Volvo Ocean Race crews on deck and lacking in sleep. With only 75 miles to go before reaching the Ambrose lighthouse, leading yacht ABN Amro One has had a tough time in the last 36 hours. They are currently 25 miles offshore, just north of Delaware heading towards Barnegat Bay, with wind speeds varying wildly from between 23 and 32 knots, but wind now dropping significantly in the last six hours indicating a slow crawl towards the bright lights of New York. It's now a dead beat up the coast. It was a bumpy first night last night, and skipper Mike Sanderson has not slept yet, such is his desire to wrack up maximum points for this leg. Sanderson reported gusts of over 40 knots and the crew shortened sail last night to a mainsail with three reefs and a number four jib. Even that combination was a little too much at times. “Driving the boat was just a nightmare,” says Sanderson. “There was this icy sleet that was hitting the bare skin of your face like small sharp rocks, the boat was getting thrown around like clothes in a washing machine as the waves got bigger and bigger.” Monday night, with just 93 miles to go before crossing the finish line in the Hudson River, speeds are dropping as the wind goes light, giving the chasing Farr Yacht Design boats a chance to show their true colors. Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Monday 1. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 93 miles to finish 2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +11 miles 2. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +11 miles 4. Ericsson Racing Team, Neal McDonald, +14 miles 4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +14 miles 6. Brunel, Grant Wharington, + 20 miles 7. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +32 miles Leg 6 start photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/vorl6st/ HOME STRETCH The last few days have seen a huge leap in Dee Caffari’s morale as she attempts to become the first woman to sail solo and non-stop westwards round the world. After a bitter struggle with the doldrums she has made great speed North, and this has lifted her spirits. She can actually visualize crossing the finish line, and entering port for the first time. She is keen to be home, and has been pushing herself and Aviva hard to get to the finish line between The Lizard and Ushant. She has started to think about the more normal aspects of life; cars, traffic, supermarkets, haircuts. There is not a lot that she can do about these, but she has been working on one aspect that will be difficult for her. Walking. Over the last six months Dee has had a possible maximum walking distance of 73 feet. Her hamstrings have shortened, and without good stretching exercises she would really struggle when she gets home. With 1500 miles still to go on this voyage that began on November 20, Caffari advanced 198 miles in the last 24 hours. ~ www.avivachallenge.com FOLLOW THE ACTION Two innovative new media services - America's Cup Broadband TV and America's Cup Live Sailing, developed by Alcatel - are being launched for the 2006 Louis Vuitton Acts, enabling fans of the America's Cup to follow the action and excitement from Valencia, how, when and where they want. America's Cup Broadband TV offers a range of video content to sailing fans worldwide, over the internet. It is a new subscription service that will broadcast daily highlights (26-minute daily videos of key action from the racing), America's Cup stories (26-minute video features taking you behind the scenes), and complements the America's Cup television coverage provided by rights-holders. And, for the semi finals and finals of Louis Vuitton Act 12, live broadband television images from the race course will be available on the Broadband TV connection to subscribers in those countries that don't have a TV station holding the rights to broadcast the event, giving all Cup fans around the world an opportunity to see the racing in Valencia as it happens. America's Cup Live Sailing is an animation service for mobile phones, and in 2006, the service has been extended to internet-connected PCs and Macs. Fully interactive, high-quality animation of the action on the water, along with detailed race information, is as close as the nearest mobile phone or computer. Sailing fans can subscribe to either service at www.americascup.com RUSH ON FOR ULLMAN SAILS LONG BEACH RACE WEEK Serious keelboat racers must think Long Beach is the place to be the weekend of June 23-25. Co-chairman Mark Townsend of Alamitos Bay YC, co-organizer with the Long Beach YC, announced, "At the moment we are on track to exceed last year's entry total of 137. We now have double the number of entries that we had at the same time last year, 37 percent of which are new entries to the regatta." But there's still room for more, with free docking, no less. Register online and find other information at http://www.lbrw.org SAILING SHORTS * Ed Baird will take the Alinghi helm on Thursday for the first event of the 2006 season and the crew will rotate daily. Last year all three Alinghi helmsmen, including Peter Holmberg and Jochen Schuemann, took their turn at the wheel. -- http://www.alinghi.com * Last Saturday Gipsy Moth IV was successfully towed off the reef near Rangiroa, and taken safely to Papeete, Tahiti, where it went up on the hard. The boat will be moved to Auckland by ship where repairs will be made. “There can be no denying that this has been a major setback for our project and we will now have to redouble our fundraising efforts if we are to continue with the voyage,” said David Green, CEO of the UKSA and Gipsy Moth IV Global Project Manager. -- Read the story posted on the Sail-World website, http://www.sail-world.com * Defending champion Peter Gilmour (AUS) heads a list of 12 international match racers who will compete at Match Race Germany -- the seventh of eight stages on the World Match Racing Tour schedule. June 1-5, marks the 10th anniversary of the regatta raced on Lake Constance in southwest Germany. The other Match Race Germany skippers are Ian Ainslie (RSA), Jesper Bank (DEN), Tino Ellegast (GER), Björn Hansen (SWE), Michael Hestbaek (DEN), Staffan Lindberg (FIN), Sten Mohr (DEN), Eric Monnin (SUI), Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS), Mathieu Richard (FRA) and Ian Williams (GBR). -- http://www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com * When the two ABN Amro skippers, Mike Sanderson and Sebastian Josse, get off their Volvo 70s in New York City, they’ll clean up quickly to join ABN Amro’s Managing Board Member Wilco Jiskoot for a special visit to the New York Stock Exchange. The trio representing ABN will ring the closing bell on Tuesday. All in a day’s work (NYSE: ABN). * The BoatU.S. Foundation Life Jacket Loaner Program For Kids added 45 new sites to its nationwide program that provides a simple way for parents to borrow a properly sized children's life jacket at launch ramps, marinas and waterfront businesses. It is estimated that BoatU.S. life jackets are loaned out more than 50,000 times a year. Every state now has at least one life jacket loaner location. -- Loaner locations: http://www.boatus.com/Foundation/LJLP/usamap.asp * For the first ever time, six French, state-of-the-art, 60-foot trimarans have spent the last six days in Canary Wharf literally stunning London’s business men and women as they strolled round the docklands. Monday, they left the dock to race down the Thames -- their final destination Nice, Alpes Maritimes. The 2,500 mile race is expected to take them approximately 8-10 days. The six French skippers also noticed the effect their extraordinary presence has had bang smack in the middle of the City and explained that the reason for being here is to internationalize the Multi Cup Café Ambassador Class. -- http://www.MultiCup60.eu * US Sailing has announced the team of 41 athletes who will represent the USA at the 2006 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Sailing Games in Lake Neusiedl, Austria, May 10-20. The U.S. Team will compete against over 700 sailors from more than 60 nations for ten World Championship titles. Members of the U.S. Team were selected using a qualification system announced last year or were invited by the ISAF organizers based on an entry system outlined in the Notice of Race. US Sailing Team High Performance Director and Head Coach Gary Bodie will serve as the team leader and coach. -- The team is posted at: http://tinyurl.com/gjr7l * A New Yorker's attempt to become the first black American to row solo across the Atlantic ended when his homemade boat sprung a leak hours after he left the coast of Africa Sunday. Victor Mooney radioed for help after his boat started taking on water. He was rescued by the Senegalese navy, but the 24-foot craft he built for the journey sank into the ocean. The boat was made of "marine grade plywood." Mooney's craft had no backup sail or motor, and he was rowing with no accompanying boat. -- http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1934382 WIN FREE YACHTING CUP PHOTOS At the Yachting Cup in San Diego this past weekend, event organizers had retained the services of Glennon Stratton of GTS Photos to provide event photos for participants along with media services for the event. Scuttlebutt has teamed up with GTS Photos to provide a free 8 x 12 inch sailing photo from the Yachting Cup for the first five people to respond to this contest. Click here for details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/contest/06/0509 GTS Photos: http://www.gtsphotos.com A DIFFERENT BREED Men who compete in the Volvo Ocean Race tend to be an adventurous lot. Pirates of the Caribbean bowman Jerry Kirby is known as a supreme risk-taker, even among professional sailors who brave the heavy winds and high seas of the Southern Ocean for sport. "Jerry Kirby is a lunatic with sloppy impulse control," big-boat owner Dan Meyers once said. However, Mr. Kirby will readily admit he's not quite as crazy as renowned motocross rider Travis Pastrana, a lifelong Annapolis area resident. Mr. Pastrana has broken just about every bone in his body while attempting motorcycle stunts that few in that profession are willing to try. So it made sense for Mr. Kirby and Mr. Pastrana to connect during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Annapolis. Adding to the commonality is the fact Mr. Kirby is a former motocross rider who has gotten back into that extreme sport as a way to spend time with his 11-year-old son. Call it moto meets Volvo. If Mr. Cayard only knew what Mr. Kirby did on Wednesday. Robert Pastrana welcomed Jerry and Seamus Kirby to his son's Davidsonville estate by throwing open the doors of a huge shed and asking which of the three dozen motorcycles they wanted to ride. With the help of his father and some grading equipment from the Pastrana & Sons construction firm, Travis Pastrana has miles and miles of dirt trails running through the woods behind his home. It is an incredible maze that follows the natural terrain up and down hills, in and around huge trees. Built into the trails are all sorts of humps, bumps and jumps. Created in separate clearings are obstacle courses consisting of high-arcing metal ramps, mountainous hills and dirt bowls on which to practice various tricks and maneuvers. Watching his son and several of Travis' young friends ripping up the course got the better of Mr. Kirby and resulted in a momentary lapse of reason. A reporter riding around the compound on an all-terrain vehicle was shocked when Mr. Kirby suddenly flew off a freestyle ramp as though he were competing in the X Games. "Did you see me? I just got huge air off that freestyle kicker," an excited Kirby yelled before realizing what he had just done. "If Paul Cayard knew I was doing this, he would kill me." For more than an hour, Mr. Kirby and his kid went screaming through the trails at breakneck speed while laughing and smiling the whole way. Afterward, the renowned yachtsman admitted he was like a kid in a candy store. "I really shouldn't have gone riding, but I'll never again get offered a nicer, faster, more unbelievable bike," Mr. Kirby said. -- Excerpts of a story by Bill Wagner in The Capital, full story: http://tinyurl.com/zojev LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) *From: Eric Hall (Re: Angus Phillips “Big Butt” VO70 story): Real credit where real credit is due: Regrettably Angus did not mention ABN's designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, the real difference maker in this edition of the Volvo. Juan did his homework early and well then had the courage to follow his convictions to create a boat far different (no pun intended) and better than its predessors. The boat is a testament to Juan's talents and his intense focus - not to mention his open mind that should be an inspiration to the rest of us. * From Jim Newman: If John C. Wade's comment, "Sailing has never been a spectator sport, and never will be …" is true, I hope it stays that way, at least in this part of the UK. The harbours and bays of the Solent and Christchurch Bay on the south coast are already overcrowded and more British TV coverage would only lead to more boats in this popular area. Vacant moorings don't exist in Christchurch where a berth for a 30ft boat costs typically £2000 ($3700). More demand would lead to even higher costs for everyone. * From Andrew Morgan: All the discussion on sailing as a spectator sport reminded me of a picture (attached) I scanned years ago. Many years ago, looking at the style of boats. I think it was titled "Maxis in the Stadium", but I am not sure who to credit the "picture" to. Food for thought. Curmudgeon’s Comment: You’ll enjoy Andrew’s photo, preceded by some images sent by Rich Roberts showing that sailing may indeed be a spectator sport: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/spectating/ CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. Special thanks to Camet International, Long Beach Race Week, and GTS Photos. |
