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SCUTTLEBUTT 1971 -- November 21, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.NO GUARANTEES (In an interview by Sue Pelling posted on the Yachting World website, Juan Kouyoumdjian - ABN Amro One's designer - stated his belief that from an engineering or scientific point of view there's no limit that would ensure boats not to break at VOR level of grand prix racing. Here's an excerpt.) Yachting World: As the designer of ABN AMRO - the boat that's leading the first leg of the VOR - what are your views on the design and current safety issues of the V070 and do you think the race organisers and class authorities have pushed the design limit to the extreme? Juan Kouyoumdjian: "First of all I can only feel for what happened to movistar and Pirates. Sometimes I see people being very critical about this but I personally cannot be, or shouldn't be because it can happen to anyone and I think here these are very fundamental principals of the kind of yachting that we're doing. If this [VOR] is going to be considered grand prix yachting, which I believe it is, it has to be understood that this is what it is, and things are bound to break. "With the advent of this canting keel systems and increasing dramatically the performance of the boats I think this risk is even higher because right now we're in a situation, and this is also true for 100ft superyachts that we're doing. You cannot design these boats not to break. What I mean is there is no engineering in the world that would ensure you that you would go as fast as they do offshore and not to break, because it's just impossible. "I don't think you can set a limit from any engineering or scientific point of view that would ensure boats not to break at this level. I think the wind is the least of the worries, it is the waves. I often say this, and I think it is a very interesting correlation, just imagine if in Formula 1 they introduced bumps and ramps. That's exactly what's happening. Imagine if Formula 1 cars had to go over a thousand bumps and ramps, they would smash themselves to pieces." -- Yachting World, complete interview: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20051021140348ywvolvo06.html MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Four days, 19 hours, 31 minutes and 37 seconds (subject to ratification) after crossing the start line off Los Angeles, Capgemini and Schneider Electric's maxi trimaran Geronimo has set a new record for the transpacific Los Angeles to Honolulu Challenge . Crossing the finish line off Diamond Head in Hawaii under a moonlit night sky, at 4:36am local time (US Hawaii) November 18 and 14 36 40 UTC November 18, Geronimo and her men now have a hat trick of WSSRC sailing speed records. First it was The Challenge around Australia record for the sydneyaustralia.com trophy, then the Tahiti Nui Challenge record for Sydney to Papeete Tahiti passage and now she has the Los Angeles Honolulu Challenge record for the transpacific 2215 mile passage; a trifecta in six months. After an anxious 24 hours prior to crossing the finish line, the crew onboard Geronimo have succeeded in breaking the previous record of five days, nine hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds, set in the 1997 Transpac race by Bruno Peyron, by 13 hours. This is the first time this record has been attempted in the northern hemisphere winter and the maxi trimaran averaged 19.17 knots boat speed over the 2215 mile course to be placed as the third fastest WSSRC long range (more than 2000 miles) speed sailing records to date. -- www.superyachting.com ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP FOR BARKOW Fort Worth, Texas -- Under trying weather conditions, but with much fanfare, Sally Barkow was crowned the winner of the 2005 U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship. This is Sally's second Match Racing title in as many months, having won the World Championship in Bermuda in October. Two round robins had been completed on Thursday and with racing abandoned on Friday, abbreviated semi-finals (first to 2 points) and only one consolation round robin were sailed this morning under cloudy skies with a south wind at 3-5 knots. In semi-final 1, Katy Lovell won the first two matches against Betsy Alison and Sally Barkow beat Liz Baylis in three matches to move into the final round. The wind began to shift way right, then way left before what little velocity they had completely shut off and the race committee was forced to sit and wait for the weather patterns to settle in. A shift to the north was predicted for the day, but unfortunately, there was too little time remaining for a complete final/petit round and only one match in each was sailed before the RC made the decision to abandon. Final Results: 1. Sally Barkow, Deborah Capozzi, Anna Tunnicliffe & Lee Icyda 2. Katy Lovell, Deborah Willits, Ann Graham, Alice Manard 3. Betsy Alison, Sandy Hayes, Chafee Emory, Amanda Callahan 4. Liz Baylis, Pease Glaser, Melinda Erkelens, Suzy Leech Event Website: www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/women/uswmrc/ CAN ANYONE STOP THIS WOMAN? The girl from the Midwest is on a tear. Has been, all year. She hasn't just won world championships, she's dominated them. Sally Barkow and her team mates Carrie Howe, Debbie Capozzi (and Annie Lush) have been doing it in style, wearing Kaenon Polarized. Any surprise? The only surprise might be that Sally wears prescription - Kaenon Polarized Rx - to be exact. She went from sight-challenged to uncompromising with Kaenon Polarized SR-91 Rx. More sailors in the Olympics and America's Cup are turning to Kaenon Polarized for vision correction. Kaenon Polarized Rx. Evolve Optically. http://www.kaenon.com RECORDS DESTROYED The Father-son pair Franck-Yves and Kevin Escoffier onboard their 2005 Van Peteghem / Prévost Open 50 multihull Crepes Whaou! crossed the finish line of the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre first in the whole fleet and winner of the Multihull Open 50 class at 20:13:59 GMT Friday (17:13:59 local time). Crepes Whaou! led the second boat in the class, Dominique Demachy & Philippe Langlois' Gifi, by some 1800 miles. However, the big fireworks were saved for French skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron on Virbac-Paprec who destroyed course record by an astonishing by 3 days and 4 hours when they crossed the finish line at 23:19:02 GMT Friday as victors of the IMOCA Open 60 class after 13 days, 9 hours, 19 minutes and 2 seconds at sea. This is the second consecutive victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre for the Farr Open 60 skippered by Jean-Pierre Dick, after he won the 2003 edition, with co-skipper Nicolas Abiven. Ellen MacArthur and Roland Jourdain finished the 4340 mile race just 35 minutes and 1 second later with their red hulled Lombard design, Sill et Veolia. Bonduelle (Jean Le Cam & Kito de Pavant) arrived at 09:29:52 GMT Saturday to take third place in the Open 60 class, followed by Ecover (Mike Golding & Dominique Wavre) and Skandia (Brian Thompson & Will Oxley). Banque Populaire (the old Bayer Crop-Science launched in 2002) skippered by Pascal Bidegorry and Lionel Lemonchois crossed the finish line to take victory in the ORMA Multihull 60 class at after 14 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 29 seconds racing at sea at an average boat speed on the direct route of 15.37 knots (actual distance covered was 5,940m at 17.59 knots average boat speed on the water). During this Transat Jacques Vabre, Pascal Bidégorry and Lionel Lemonchois clocked some breath-taking speeds with a personal best for the boat, 583 miles in 24 hours. Gitana 11 is holding off Géant in second place. -- www.jacques-vabre.com VOLVO OCEAN RACE ABN Amro One has emerged from the Doldrums and has come round on to a more south-westerly course allowing them to lay the mark of the course at Fernando de Noronha which skipper Mike Sanderson estimates they will reach by around 0300 tomorrow morning. This waypoint is significant as here ABN Amro One potentially stands to pick up maximum points. For the first time in the Volvo Ocean Race points can be scored according to the finish order at various marks along the course, rather than just the race finishes and in-port races. Having chased the leading pack in fourth position for the past four days, Ericsson has now recorded two fastest consecutive 24 hour runs, overtaking Brasil 1 Saturday night and sweeping into second place Sunday morning. Position Reports -- Sunday, 2200 GMT 1. ABN Amro One, 3413 miles to finish 2. Ericsson Racing Team, +126 miles 3. Brasil 1, +129 miles 4. ABN Amro Two, +130 miles 5. Sunergy and Friends, +971 miles 6. Movistar, +2744 miles 7. Pirates of the Caribbean, Retired Event website: www.volvooceanrace.com DAMAGE REPORT -- Paul Cayard After properly inspecting the Black Pearl, we are now in a position to report on the damage. 1. Bulkhead C, midway from the bow to the mast, has broken. There was shearing of the frame along with compression of the - vertical beam. 2. The "bomber doors" which seal the Keel box at the hull, have been ripped off. 3. A bolt that holds the keel pins in has sheared This particular damage is not one that can be band-aided. New parts have to be made in the UK and flown to us. This will take over a week. Then they have to be fitted which will take 3-4 days to do well. We might be able to do this and then sail to Cape Town but we would arrive just before the inport race on the 26th, if all went well. If we had another issue along the way we could well miss Leg 2. And why? To gather 2 points? I have decided not to pursue that option but rather to transport the boat to Cape Town and rejoin the race in an organized and prepared manner. I need to turn this negative into a positive. With my team, we believe we have devised a plan to do that. The boat will stay here in Portugal until the 25th when it will go by air cargo to Cape Town. We will be working on the boat in the time before it flies and the time after it arrives. We hope to sail again around Decemeber 12th for a few days of sea trials offshore. -- Excerpts from a report by Pirates of the Caribbean skipper Paul Cayard UK-HALSEY BREAKS AC HEGEMONY One sailmaker doesn't "own" the America's Cup: UK-Halsey has powered up The China Team - since last spring. It's a worldwide UK-Halsey effort: Sylvain Barrielle (UK-H/San Francisco, with 20 years AC experience and 5 French challenges) is project coordinator; John Fries (UK-H/Mystic, CT - where most of these sails are made) is chief designer, UK-H Hong Kong builds spinnakers - fast, and UK-H Spain re-cuts on-site. So, even if you're in an America's Cup campaign, you don't have to be struck in the same old mold. More details (as well as useful, free info and downloads) are at http://www.ukhalsey.com FOR THE RECORD Round the World yachtswoman Dee Caffari departed Sunday on her bid to set the record to be the first woman to sail single-handed, non-stop around the world against the prevailing winds and currents. The 32 year old, who is being sponsored on her quest by Aviva, the international savings, investments and insurance group, sets sail from Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth and will spend the next 120 - 170 days at sea as she attempts her non-stop westabout circumnavigation. She will spend the first 2-3 days sailing to the official start line off Ushant in North West France and negotiating her first test along the route, the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel. For the 26,000-mile 'Aviva Challenge', former school-teacher Caffari will be sailing alone the 72-foot yacht which she skippered, with a crew of 18, in last year's Global Challenge race. The yacht has been modified to enable her to sail it single-handedly. -- ISAF website, complete story: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6vFh0,/8 NEWS BRIEFS * US Sailing's new Judges Manual 2005-2008 is now available online. The Manual can serve as a reference guide for individuals who sit on protest committees and for those individuals who want to become US Sailing certified Judges. There is valuable information for many others as well, such as race committee members, competitors and individuals who simply want to know more about the protest process. http://store.ussailing.org * Some days are better than others, and some days should never have taken place. Perhaps these images will help get your new week started: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/badday/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE "Sleeping is hard as it is so damn hot. With black walls everywhere and regular spray over the deck the interior is becoming like a sauna." -- Simon Fisher, ABN Amro Two navigator THE 2006 RICK TOMLINSON CALENDARS NOW AVAILABLE. The Portfolio wall Calendar features the best of Rick's recent work with 12 stunning images from all over the world. The Desk Calendar is free-standing and is ideal for home or office. Both calendars are available individually or for company overprinting - ideal Christmas gifts. See http://www.rick-tomlinson.com/ or email mailto:cathie@rick-tomlinson.com 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 Rodger Martin (re Volvo Race): It seems the boats are being driven beyond the limitations of the equipment. Staying within that is part of any type of long-distance racing. When we were designing Open 50s & 60s I watched four-hourly performance closely. The masters of survival and race wins, Christophe Auguin, (and Philippe Jeantot earlier) both in the BOC & Globe, would be making 7-8 knots in extreme weather, whereas the hotshots would be making 14-16 kt averages. In those conditions, Christophe and some others, would be sleeping under severely shortened sail & autopilot. In weather less than that, they would be sailing like Olympians while the exhausted hot dogs were sleeping or dealing with breakages, waiting to perform in the next low. Volvo boats, because they are crewed, can be driven hard constantly, but broken is not fast. * From Malcolm McKeag: What worries me most about the Volvo race and the new boats is the ice-strewn Southern Ocean, and the thought of racing through the night flat-out in a 70ft boat with the power-to-weight ratio of an 18ft-skiff (and, it how appears, structural design to match) through a sea dotted with growlers the avoidance of which requires, during daylight, constant vigilance and repeated course changes. This is not knew, only even higher risk than before. To sail through the night with the risk of hitting a growler in a Swan 65 doing 9 knots is one thing, to do the same in a Whitbread 60 doing 20 knots quite another. What do we - and more to the point the sailors - make of doing in it in an apparently all-too-sinkable 70 at anything up to 40 knots? In the 50s and 60s grand prix motor racing accepted as part of the risky attraction of the game the loss (by which I mean death) of 2 or 3 drivers a year. Improvements to track safety (not doing 170mph down narrow tree-lined roads) and car safety (in particular the safety-cell cockpit) stopped that. Should we not be contemplating both a track that avoids the trees (in our case growlers and bergs) and a yacht with a safety/ survival capsule built-in? * From Michael A. Rosenauer, Esq.: In response to Stan Hinman's comment regarding the anomaly that the winner of the Volvo could be a boat which actually does sail around the world, it seems to me that all one needs to do is to let the IOC set up the scoring system! * From Robert Constable (edited to our 250-word limit): How is it that, in some people's view, ISAF and US Sailing get everything wrong? From a club racer's and local event organizer's standpoint, I find them pretty useful: they create, manage and enforce the rules system; they provide training, support and structure for race management and sail training programs; they oversee the championship and Olympic systems; they act as a gathering point for clubs, class associations and national federations; and so much more...they even facilitate competitive insurance programs for clubs, fleets and regattas. And much of the work is done by our peers, volunteering their time. So be nice. There seems to be a strong libertarian streak among some of the writers, who resent any interference--from the sport's governing bodies, and especially from the IOC and broadcast networks. But change in any arena is almost always prompted by outside forces, often unsolicited. In this case, the IOC and their financial air supply (the media and sponsors) have demanded change. Baseball, basketball, soccer, boxing, and hockey have all adapted to different sets of rules in the Olympics than in their professional league play. So maybe the subtleties of the game will change, but Olympic sailing will adapt, and by the time the boats are pulled out of the water in Qingdao, all this hyperventilating will be forgotten and we'll have a whole new group of heroes wearing medals. Maybe it'll make for better entertainment, or maybe, as Paco Calvet suggested in 'Butt 1969, watching sailboat racing is just boring. * From Roger Marshall: Susie Sailor's comments hit the nail squarely on the head. My two boys stated out sailing Optis and now sail 420s, lasers, J/22s and everything else they can get a ride on. The social scene was, for them, hanging out with friends and having fun before and after the regatta. Racing was secondary, if you won fine, if not, you still had fun, even though they won a lot of races. At a recent laser regatta their friends had diminished to two or three because the others had dropped out, one found lacrosse to be more enjoyable, another decided to go running and others left because they were frustrated and outclassed financially by big spending parents. At this same Laser regatta, one fifteen year-old child came with her own dietitian, coach, and boat rigger. While the sailor's parents obviously want her to sail at a high level, it is my contention that these are the kids are among the ones that will eventually drop out of the sport as the pressures become too much. The National Marine Manufacturers Association has recently launched a Grow Boating initiative and is spending upwards of ten million dollars to bring people into boating. How come we can't keep competitive pressures down on younger sailors and keep them in the sport for the long term? Giving every young participant an enjoyable experience is what will grow sailing and boating and keep sailors in the sport for life. * From Peter Johnstone: Seems like every few months, the very successful Optimist Class is attacked on Scuttlebutt. Is this really necessary? It is a class organized by dedicated volunteer parents who have put their heart and soul into creating innumerable opportunities for young sailors at any level. There are literally hundreds of regattas to choose from ranging from sleepy races in little coves, to 400 boat National Championships. One parent/child experience at one regatta should not be cause for gross generalization and judgment about a wonderful class. And please, if you publish such attacks, insist on real names. Most Optimist families would go out of their way to help this complainer have a positive experience at the next Opti event. Curmudgeon's Comment: With all due respect Peter, Scuttlebutt has never attacked "the very successful Optimist class." What we do here is provide our readers a forum for their views. Surely you are not suggesting that we should filter those views to achieve some sort of a 'politically correct' agenda. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION We just heard about the fellow who bought two puppies and named them Rolex and Timex … because they were watch dogs. |
