|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2042 - March 2, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.TORTURE BY THE NUMBERS A simple number like -6 can quite literally affect how you feel physically; after a bad sched (something we have had too many of recently) you stare at the screen in disbelief as you feel your shoulders tension up but after a few minutes you realize that there's no asking for a recount or having a second try; that six hours are over and you lost 6 miles; end of story. It's like 'torture by numbers' and its extremely effective apart from the fact that whilst we are still racing there are always future opportunities and just as a -6 can instantly make you regret your choice of career, so a positive number can brighten up even the coldest of Southern Ocean days. You have to be professional and avoid making emotionally charged decisions; the calls you make when you are going fast are easy and often way less important than the ones you make when you're on the back foot. When we first starting working with Ericsson we heard talk of a "core set of values" which to be truthful didn't mean too much to me at the time. One of three values I do remember though, was perseverance, which seems extremely meaningful right now, and all the guys within Ericsson can rest assured that we are as determined and resolute as ever. Screaming down these Southern Ocean waves at breakneck speeds is a great rollercoaster ride, but the emotional rollercoaster has way bigger highs and lows and how you feel at the end depends on where the ride stops and when you get off. ~ Steve Hayles, Ericsson Racing Team navigator APPROACHING THE SCORING GATE The Volvo Ocean Race fleet prepares to enter some of the most hazardous waters in the world, a place where the Southern Ocean is at its shallowest and the winds funnel at 40 knots. This is the exit of the Southern Ocean and the experience can be dramatic or benign, but whatever weather the wind gods decide to throw at the fleet this time, leaving the desolate wastes of Southern Ocean via Cape Horn to port, means many things to many people. Movistar and Pirates have been playing musical chairs as the party in Brazil draws closer. The boats have travelled 4,000 miles this leg yet incredibly, several remain within sight of each other. Neither team is giving an inch, which is, in turn putting pressure on Mike Sanderson who would rather sail ABN Amro One a little more conservatively, maintain his lead and arrive in Rio de Janeiro in one piece. As the teams approach the massive Cape, 314 nautical miles ahead of leader ABN Amro One (Mike Sanderson), a huge storm is brewing behind them. The front runners should reach the Cape ahead of it, but the back markers are anxious: ABN Amro Two produced the fastest boat speed of the leg Wednesday by clocking over 40 knots on occasions and averaging 22 knots in the last 24 hours while covering 528 miles in the same period. The burst of speed enabled the young crew to overtake Ericsson and gain ground on the rest of the fleet. ~ www.volvooceanrace.org Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Wednesday 1. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 2586 miles to finish 2. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +40 miles 3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +40 miles 4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +96 miles 5. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +162 miles 6. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +173 miles IT'S SHORTY ALDERMAN'S FAULT. ABN Amro One navigator Stan Honey grew up sailing at Los Angeles Yacht Club. In those days Shorty Alderman lived in a room at the back of the club. He had been the club caretaker but when he got too old to do much work LAYC just let him live out his years in his room at the club. But in his youth, Shorty was quite a guy and had been the second mate on the Falls of Clyde, one of the last working full-rigged ships. "Shorty had made several passages 'Around the Horn' and we were fascinated by Shorty's stories," Honey explained. We enjoyed reading Honey's backwards glance at that portion of his life and why he'll be thinking of Shorty when he rounds the Cape - so we posted it online. It's a good read: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/sa/ GOT SHORE CREW? Rig Pro / Southern Spars is on site at Acura Miami Race Week: Our fully staffed mobile rigging shop with a complete inventory of top quality cordage, hardware, and hydraulic service will be on station at the Regatta Village and open for business from Monday, March 6th. Our Rig Pro technicians are accomplished sailors with unrivalled experience in rig maintenance and service at the highest level. You will find them at many of the world's major regattas and onsite at Acura Miami Race Week; drop by the shop or phone the Rig Pro trailer direct on +1 401-366-0503. http://www.southernspars.com RED AND YELLOW CHINESE DRAGON China Team has presented the new visual identity that will emblazon its boat in the Louis Vuitton Acts this year. The team representatives swept back a silk cover that had been covering a large scale model of the China Team boat, revealing the new design, which features a Chinese dragon across the bow of a red and yellow boat. China Team will be traveling to Shenzen and Hong Kong early this month to test and develop young sailors who can join the team later this year and next. The Chinese Yachting Association has identified 15 candidates for consideration. "Our objective is to introduce China to the America's Cup and to work to make China Team as strong as possible for the future," said sailing manager Pierre Mas. They went on to say that the team will begin building its new boat in China this summer. The Protocol for the 32nd America's Cup requires each team to build the boat it will race in 2007 in the country of its challenge. "There are no existing facilities in China to build an America's Cup boat," de Lesquen said. "We want to establish partnerships with Chinese partners to build the first one." ~ Excerpts from a story on the America's Cup website, http://tinyurl.com/funxc HIGH PERFORMANCE SAILING (The Daily Sail subscription website attended the recent High Performance Yacht Design conference in Auckland. Here's an excerpt from their thorough report posted online.) Following the first High Performance Yacht Design conference held in Auckland while the 2002-3 America's Cup was in town, so the second conference took place over 13-16 February, again in Auckland. Without the benefit of having the America's Cup taking place a couple of miles away, the delegates weren't of the same number or perhaps as high profile as they were in 2002, when attending were Cup 'names' such as Phil Kaiko, Andy Claughton, Clay Oliver and Rob Humphries. However this year it still included many top figures from the world of yacht science and proved a larger gathering than the organisers expected. "Our challenge with this event was to maintain the momentum," says Michael Eaglen, of High Modulus and conference Chairman. "Last time we had 140 people. This time we were aiming at 70 so having more than 100 is terrific." While around 95% of what was said at this conference went way over this humble journalist's head, it is equally reassuring that there are people out there who do know a huge amount about the minutae of how sailing boats work. With every day that passes the science behind what makes boats go quick becomes less of a black art thanks to these people. Hopefully their research will not only end up in the domain of the America's Cup. ~ www.thedailysail.com FROM THE BLOG Special thanks to Jim Madden and the crew on the J/65 "Brand New Day," who sent Scuttleblog email updates on their six days competing in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race. They competed in the Cruising Division, which for this team meant that were racing as hard as those in the Racing Division, but had the option of powering when needed. Their blog reports provided insight into what life was like for this team, which included J/Boats president Jeff Johnstone and TP 52 class administrator Tom Pollack. Outfitted with a chef, a wine locker with 28 bottles, an LCD and DVD player in each stateroom and the main salon, there seemed to be few things to complain about. Early on their biggest debate was who would get to push the electric winch button to trim the kite, and then moved to the use of the engine, which they later conceded to due to the light winds along the Baja coast. If you have ever wondered what it is like to do the cruising class in a Mexican distance race, check out the blog reports to learn how good it can be: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2006/pv TP52 GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP Nine boats will race in the inaugural Rolex TP52 Global Championship in Florida March 7-12 during Acura Miami Race Week. The event has attracted boats from England, Ireland, Hong Kong and the U.S, with the world's top sailors from the America's Cup and Olympics. The series consists of short windward/leeward and longer, offshore races that will take the fleet to the Bahamas and back. Under TP52 class rules, only the owner or a sailor who is Category 1 (an amateur under the ISAF definition) can helm. There will be an additional trophy for the top scoring owner who drives his boat for the start of every race plus the start and first 30 minutes of the distance and coastal races. WEATHER FORECASTING FOR BISCAYNE BAY During the winter season in the United States, Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL is one of the best places to sail, and an outstanding venue for hosting events. The calendar in March includes the Bacardi Cup (Star class), Midwinter Championships (Lightning class), and the Don Q Regatta (Snipe class). Additionally, next week the Acura Miami Race Week will be running four racecourses in and around Biscayne Bay. Since these events will have a very high influx of out of town sailors, Scuttlebutt has teamed up with SailFlow to provide complimentary weather services for the Biscayne Bay region in March. During this month, sailors will have access to their weather reporting system and accurate forecasting to help prepare for these events. Here is the special link for this complimentary service: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/weather/bb NEWS BRIEFS * Freeman K. Pittman, Sail magazine's technical editor for many years until his death in 1996, was respected throughout the sailing industry for his great appreciation of excellence and technical innovation in sailing gear. Each year Sail editors scour the boat shows for the best of the new products on the North American market-the kind of gear that Freeman would have loved. Here are their choices for 2006: http://sailmag.com/newgear/0206FKP.pdf * The ISAF Grade 2 Qingdao 2006 International Regatta, the first of the two test events for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, is scheduled to be held from 18-31 August in Qingdao, China, the host city for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition. Both the Notice of Race and Entry Forms for the 2006 Qingdao International Regatta are available on the event website - www.sailing2008.org * The 50th Annual Deep South Lightning Regatta will be held in Savannah, Georgia March 11-12, with more than 40 boats from 18 states and Latin America competing. It's the first in a series of three regattas over the course of nine days. Among the greats who have sailed in this regatta are Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, Carl Eichenlaub, Bob Seidlemann, Bob Lippincott, Bruce Goldsmith, Tom Allen, Bill Shore, Dave Curtis, Tito Gonzalez. After racing at the Savannah YC the sailors will go to Coral Reef YC in Miami and will finish the circuit at the St.Petersburg YC. ~ www.lightningclass.org * Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team's new America's Cup Class boat has left the shipyard of Vittorio Urbinati's Marine Composite in Andora (Savona) and is expected to arrive in Spain, where she will be fitted out during the coming weeks. The new boat is the design of the Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team Design Group led by Harry Dunning. The official presentation of the new boat is scheduled for the beginning of April. Meanwhile the team continues their training in Valencia aboard Mascalzone Latino ITA 77, the boat previously owned by Dennis Conner ~ www.mascalzonelatino.it * Kialoa III and the latest Pyewacket were launched exactly 30 years apart (1974-2004), and were the state of the art, baddest maxis when they hit the water. Today, they now both reside at the Orange Coast College dock in Newport Beach, CA. Enjoy the contrast within the photo now posted on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0301 * CLARIFICATION: Lest there be any doubt, the editors of Scuttlebutt would like to make it totally clear that the satirical piece on Senator Kennedy in yesterday's issue was not a reflection of the views of any of our advertisers. DO YOU "ONE DESIGN?" WE DO! Tornado, Melges 24, Sabot, Yngling, 470, J/105, Beneteau 40.7, Etchells, A-Cat, Farr 40, 505, Cal 20, Coronado 15, Fireball, J/24, CFJ, 420, Europe Dinghy, Harbor 20, International 14, J/22, Holder 20, Flying Scot, Lido 14, Lehman 12, Lightning, Optimist, Snipe, Thistle, Cal 25, Soling, Sonar, Santana 20, Santana 30/30, Capri 14.2, Melges 32, El Toro, Ultimate 20, Flying Junior, J/80, Hobie 21, San Juan 24, Nacra, Prindle, J/120, Antrim 27, Olson 30, Mumm 30, J/109, etc. Ullman Sails has been one designing for 35+ years - give your local loft a call or visit us at http://www.ullmansails.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 Luther Carpenter - US Sailing Team Coach: Like most avid sports fans, I spent a fair amount of time watching the winter Olympics. I enjoyed pretty much all of the sports, with fairly good coverage of the athlete's stories and personalities, together with a nice focus on each competition. I must say I was very disappointed that the media's focus seemed to be seeking out failure. They could not wait to confront athletes that had won silver, not gold, and point out how disappointed they must feel! How about congratulating a medal accomplishment first and sharing a life moment with stars, instead of immediately tarnishing the joy of someone who is devoting their life to sport! It seemed pretty clear to me that the media was using the athletes for ratings, and was more concerned about creating controversy with our speed skaters, then helping our athletes focus on upcoming races. Sure pressure from the media is part of the games, but frankly I was embarrassed by the tone and reporting. I hope they go back and review their coverage, and realize that a positive attitude would result in more fulfilling coverage, more national pride and spirit, and long term interest in the Olympics. Sure you can ask the tough questions, but how about a little encouragement from those that will never get to the level that these athletes treat us to. * From Bob Merrick: I am so happy to see the recent discussion about marketing Olympic sailing. I agree with the general feeling that the sailing media needs to pay attention to both the personalities and the competition. Most importantly I think Olympic sailing should be a constant focus. If we are only going to pay attention for a few weeks every four years we will miss 99% of the story. Telling the story is critical to so many aspects of Olympic sailing including the ever present need for the athletes and the USOSC to fundraise. In the past I have made some very amateur attempts to bring the Olympic sailing story to sailors. The most recent was in the form of an online magazine called Sailing Medallist. Unfortunately I ran out of steam after three years of doing this. Maybe it's time for a more professional outfit to carry the torch. It would be great to see something like this in Sailing World, or Scuttlebutt every month. The old issues of Sailing Medallist are still online at: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/sailingmedallist/ * From Andrew Bray, Editor, Yachting World: Peter Huston's observations about Olympics on TV (fascinating personalities) was borne out during the Athens Olympics when the UK trio of Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb won Gold sailing the Yngling. A horde of mainstream, as opposed to specialist, press descended on the sailing venue. And it wasn't for the racing, nor for the boats - it was 'three blondes in a boat'. * From Linda Erkelens (re the Olympics): I thoroughly enjoyed the Olympics but could not hear the commentary most of the time because of either background noise or music that was too large. I wanted to hear the analysis. I wished they could have screened out some of the outside noise. * From Kitty Norton: Does real sport have to dumb down to be cool? News broadcast have already become not news, but entertainment - now must real sport become fluffy eye-candy to be appealing? Real people work thousands of hours to perfect their skills on ice, snow, softwater in summer games, or whatever. Sport, whether it's sailing, snowboarding, skiing, or any of the disciplines is grit, hard work, determination and passion for the event. Packaging it as anything else is hypocrisy. Perhaps - Number 11 on Horovitz' and Petrecca's list of ways to fix the Olympics could be: Put skis on a Desperate Housewife or Donald Trump in a Finn. Maybe this would attract bored viewers, but, be honest, would that be real sport? * From Chris Boome: I was thinking about how amazing these Volvo boats must be. I checked out the sked on Tuesday evening to find that ABN One averaged 20 knots on course for her 6 hour stint and lost distance to every boat in the fleet. Man, these guys are good! * From Rich Roberts: You guys keep rocking my boat (but that's good). Here's the last word on the Melges 24s from an interview with Paul Elvstrom at the Great Dane's home near Copenhagen in 1997: "[The Melges 24] is a lovely boat. They should only change the rules [to allow] standard trapeze." Also, Craig, you are right on in following Peter Huston's line with your comments about Glennon Stratton and how to make sailing photography interesting. People---preferably with their faces showing---are the prime element. I'd take it another step to point out that composition and cropping the final product are also important so as to exclude unnecessary elements (we already know what sailboats look like). All TV has to do is to take the trouble to learn what intensity and joy the sport has to offer---far more than most Olympic events---and how to capture it, as some still photographers and a few cinematographers have done for years. Show the people! And I don't mean talking heads in a studio. Attached are a baker's dozen examples that I've shot in recent years. Note that in most cases there wasn't even much wind blowing. Curmudgeon's Comment: We took Rich's images and created a PDF file. Click on the link, and then use your arrow keys to move through the photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/rr.pdf * From Steve Orosz: While the "x-rated" piece on Ted Kennedy is marginally amusing, it is kind of a low-brow stoop for Scuttlebutt. Sort of like shooting fish in a barrel. I think in the interest of fairness to the readers you should post topless photos of the author of this piece and curmudgeon (and anyone else connected with scuttlebutt) on line. Then let the readers weigh in with their kudos for studliness or mockery, as the case may be. Maybe this could be a perfect thread for the forums. Add other sailors topless, well known and obscure and this could be a cottage (cheese thigh) industry. * From Hank Evans: What a great spoof on Ted Kennedy. Thanks for a good chuckle to start the day. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain Special thanks to Southern Spars and Ullman Sails. |
