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SCUTTLEBUTT 3102 - Friday, May 28, 2010Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt Today’s sponsors: Webb Institute, Flexofold, and Hall Spars & Rigging. CHARLESTON LEADS WOMEN’S NATIONALS Madison, WI. (May 27, 2010) - After two days with no breeze and no races completed for the semi-final round of the 2010 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association’s Women’s National Championship, the conditions on Lake Mendota turned around just in time for day one of the race for the championship crown. Sunshine, temps in the high 70s and the all-essential breeze - ranging from five knots and shifty in the morning, to a peak around nine knots, before it laid off toward the end of the day while becoming more consistent in direction - gave the 18 teams in the hunt for the title ample opportunity for to show their stuff. Bringing their “A” game was College of Charleston who were dominant in A-Division through the efforts of senior skipper Allison Blecher (Fullerton, Calif.) with sophomore crew Alyssa Aitken (Sandwich, Mass.). Their finishes of 1-2-2-1-1-2-1-4-2-6, for a low score of 22, kept The Cougars on top of the standings throughout the day. Seniors Shannon Heausler (Tampa, Fla.) and Rebecca Bestoso (Erie, Pa.) sailed B-Division for Charleston and contributed finishes of 6-2-3-2-3-2-9-10 for a total 37 points. “They sailed great,” said Ward Cromwell, Head Coach at College of Charleston. “They got really tired and were probably dehydrated toward the end of the day, but they’re still leading B-Division by four points.” With the scores from A- and B- combined, the Cougars lead the scoreboard with 59 points for a 35-point cushion over second-placed Boston College. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9960#9960 Current standings (top 5 of 18; A div - B div, Total) 1. Charleston Cougars, 22 - 37, 59 pts 2. Boston College Eagles, 50 - 44, 94 3. Tufts Jumbos, 75 - 42, 117 4. Old Dominion Monarchs, 78 -50, 128 5. Harvard Crimson, 97 - 43, 140 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/37zjl2z INSIDE THE COLLEGE COACH Scott Ikle, head coach of the Hobart and William Smith College sailing team (Geneva, NY), is leading his 12th ranked womens and coed dinghy teams into the 2010 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association National Championships. Here are his comments from a recent US SAILING interview: * When developing your weekly practice plans, briefly discuss the criteria you use when preparing for your next regatta… how do your practice plans change day-to-day through the course of a week? SCOTT IKLE: Here is a trade secret… a good coach does not plan day-to-day. All the top college coaches today plan for the season and where they want their team’s performance to be at the end of the season for championship events. The trick is - how do you get your team there? Here at Hobart and William Smith we focus on developing the entire team together, making our weakest link the strongest link. Hence, everyone gets better over the course of the season since everyone is being pushed at practice by their teammates. A team together can push to higher levels of performance. Together if you have a vision of where you are going, you now know how to get there. A detailed practice plan developed before the season starts, will provide a start for this journey. * What qualities and skill sets in sailors do you look for when recruiting? SCOTT IKLE: I am looking for “PhD’s”- someone who is poor, hungry and driven. Guys like Andy Horton, Trevor Moore, Colin Merrick, Amanda Callahan, John Storck and John Pearce to name a few. Guys who have that fire in their eyes; they just wanted “it” a little bit more than the next guy. We seem to attract athletes that are not afraid to work hard for what they want. And if you have to explain what “it” is, they do not have “it.” That is why these guys continue to be top sailors today. Complete interview: http://college.ussailing.org/Interviews/Ikle.htm WEBB INSTITUTE NAMED "BEST VALUE" BY PRINCETON REVIEW Webb is one of the nation's 50 "Best Value" private colleges and universities according to The Princeton Review, one of America's most widely known education services and test preparation companies. The Princeton Review teamed with newspaper USA TODAY, to present its list, "The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2010." In its profile of Webb the editors at The Princeton Review commend the school for its "ability to offer all admitted students a four-year, full-tuition scholarship." If you or someone you know is interested in a top engineering college with exceptional value, check out http://www.webb-institute.edu/scuttlebutt STANDINGS GET TIGHTER AT TOP Sardinia, Italy (May 27, 2010; Day 6) - Emirates Team New Zealand won two races today at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena to end the day first equal on points with Sweden's Artemis, each with 4-1 records. In other competition the Swedish boat skippered by Paul Cayard and steered by Terry Hutchinson lost today, the first time since the regatta in Sardinia started. “It was tough losing a race to Luna Rossa (on Tuesday) but losses sometimes help kick-start the team and make us realize we’ve always got things to work on. I think we’ve been sailing a lot better since that race,” said Dean Barker, skipper and helmsman of Team New Zealand. Crews in the ten international teams spent another long day on the water with the first race starting soon after 0900 and the last not finishing until 1730. There was wind all day from the west, shifty and with big speed changes on different parts of the course. There were gusts up to 20 knots near the weather mark. Once each team completes a single round robin (9 races), the top eight teams will advance to the next stage and the round robin seeding will continue to be used in later stages, so doing well in the round robin will have its rewards. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/37fph4h Current standings 1. Artemis, SWE, skipper Paul Cayard (USA), 4-1, 4 pts 1. Emirates Team New Zealand, NZL, skipper Dean Barker (NZL), 4-1, 4 pts 3. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, ITA, skipper Gavin Brady (NZL), 4-1, 3 pts* 3. All4One, FRA/GER, skipper Jochen Schümann (GER), 3-3, 3 pts 3. Synergy, RUS, skipper Karol Jablonski (POL), 3-3, 3 pts 3. TeamOrigin, GBR, skipper Ben Ainslie (GBR), 3-3, 3 pts 7. Azzurra, ITA, skipper Francesco Bruni (ITA), 2-3, 2 pts 7. Luna Rossa, ITA, skipper Ed Baird (USA), 2-5, 2 pts 9. BMW ORACLE Racing, USA, skipper James Spithill (AUS), 1-4, 1 pt 10. Aleph, FRA, skipper Bertrand Pace (FRA), 2-4, -2 pts* * Penalties deducted by Jury/Umpires Racing is scheduled to start each day with a warning signal at 10:00 local time (GMT+2). Racing concludes June 6th. Complete coverage, including live streaming Virtual Eye tracking of each race of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena is available at http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy series is designed to be a cost-effective format for match racing competition in Version 5 America's Cup Class boats. For the La Maddalena event, teams will take turns racing on four equalised America’s Cup Class boats: two have been provided by BMW Oracle Racing (USA 87 and USA 98) and two by Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (ITA 90 and ITA 99). After La Maddalena, the 2010 series continues on to Dubai (Nov. 13-28). LIGHT WINDS RETURN TO HAUNT OLYMPIC EVENT (May 27, 2010) - Medemblik, The Netherlands (May 27, 2010) - Sailors waited for wind and then languished in light air (in addition to battling an influx of pesky bugs) during their one or two races today on the second day of racing at the Delta Lloyd Regatta, the fifth ISAF Sailing World Cup event for the 2009-2010 series. While not optimal, most athletes were used to the light air theme, thanks to unusually little wind at the last two ISAF Sailing World Cup events, Princess Sofia in Palma, Spain and French Sailing Week in Hyères, France. Regarding the weather, 2008 Olympians Stu McNay and Graham Biehl (USA) commented, “Light air was forecasted and that’s what we got. What our team meteorologist didn’t see coming was the mass amount of bugs… Imagine mosquito sized bugs EVERYWHERE except they don’t bite. Our boat, sails, and ourselves were completely covered in them all day long. We’re guessing that the light winds tend to bring them out, and there aren’t quite enough birds in the area to clean them up. By the end of the day, our clothes and boat were covered in squished bugs.” The North American contingent had a mixed bag today, with the top positions held by Lisa Ross (CAN), who is 5th in the Laser Radial, with 2008 Olympic Silver medalist Zach Railey now 6th in the Finn. Racing runs through Sunday. Event website: http://www.deltalloydregatta.org USSTAG updates: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-DLR2010 CYA updates: http://tinyurl.com/CYA-052610 MELVIN AND SHAVER WIN U.S. MULTIHULL CHAMPIONSHIP Shoreacres, TX (May 27, 2010) - Through four days of racing and nine races complete, the team of Pete Melvin (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Nat Shaver (Long Beach, Calif.) have won US SAILING’s 2010 U.S. Multihull Championship, hosted by the Houston Yacht Club. Melvin and Shaver had a lead after each day of racing throughout the event. Their fourth place finish in Thursday’s lone race was good enough to keep the hard charging team of Greg Thomas (Temecula, Calif.) and Jacques Bernier (San Marcos, Calif.) at bay. Thomas and Bernier made it close by posting a bullet today. Melvin and Shaver had a five point lead entering today’s racing, and held on to win the championship by two points. A former national champion in the 420 and 470 classes, Melvin picked up catamaran sailing in the late 1980s. He won the 1988 Olympic Trials in the Tornado class. Soon after, he sailed in the ProSail professional sailing circuit in 1989 and won the Hobie 21 series. This event was sailed in C2 F-18s provided by the official suppliers at Australian High Performance Catamarans and Fun in the Sun Services. -- Full report/results: http://tinyurl.com/35ylw8z PERFORMANCE MATTERS Under sail or under power; daysailing, cruising or racing - performance matters. The single most important thing you can do to improve the performance of your boat is to change to a low-drag, high-thrust Flexofold propeller. The attention to design and manufacturing details is apparent at first look. Relentlessly refined for maximum efficiency under power and lowest drag under sail -Sail faster & further, motor at lower RPM with a Flexofold sailboat propeller. Click the link for more information: http://tinyurl.com/FlexoFold-scuttlebutt SAILING SHORTS * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Race Officials Committee has completed their report regarding an alleged incident of impropriety during the 33rd America’s Cup Match held in February 2010. The complaint was filed by PRO Harold Bennett, who had stated that members of the Alinghi team’s club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, had refused to start the second race of the Match due to sailing conditions they deemed inappropriate. The report will be made public on 28 May before 1200 UTC on the ISAF website. -- http://www.sailing.org * ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Helical Bar PLC chief executive Mike Slade, today announced the required weather window for her record attempt has finally arrived. She will leave New York on Saturday 29th May in her bid to become the fastest monohulled sailing vessel ever to cross the Atlantic. The benchmark that ICAP Leopard will be aiming for is the outright monohull west to east transatlantic record of 6 days 17 hours and 52 minutes, set by Mari Cha IV in 2003. -- http://www.leopard3.com/transatlantic_record_attempt_2010.html * A body found floating in the ocean four miles off Long Beach on Wednesday has been identified as Los Angeles attorney Thomas Kirschbaum, who was returning Sunday from a race around the Channel Islands when he disappeared. The Los Angeles County coroner's office said Kirschbaum, 57, was wearing a life vest when he was spotted by a sport-fishing boat and later picked up by Long Beach police. There were no obvious signs of injury or foul play. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/34gsy6u * (May 27, 2010) - The race viewer for the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race has revealed the tactical decision made by each of the ten teams as they make their way past the Bahamas and out into open ocean. Only three teams, including Wednesday’s race leaders Spirit of Australia, along with Team Finland and California, opted for the westerly course around Crooked Island, a decision that appears to have been their undoing with the leaderboard being turned on its head once more. The race from Jamaica to New York is expected to finish by June 2. -- http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com EVOLVE OR DIE I read recently that the ‘third place’ in society is suffering. I instinctively figured that meant people were tired of not winning. Wrong! The ‘third place’ is the term for that place we go for socializing that is other than one's ‘first place’ (home) or their ‘second place’ (work). Got it? Certainly, sailing’s ‘third place’ - the yacht club - is suffering. The attrition in the sport along with the struggling economy is giving clubs a wicked hangover. The Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Miami, FL - famous for hosting one design events in Biscayne Bay - is also faced with other problems. The State of Florida now requires all moorings to be open to the public. The state is enforcing its sovereignty over submerged lands and opening them up to everyone is now required by law. So the Sailing Club now has to allow everyone access, not just club members. By doing this, those with full memberships are losing one of the added values to having the membership. If the club cannot persuade enough people to become full members, it cannot survive. The cash bar service was eliminated a few years ago because under the club's charter, it is not allowed to operate as a restaurant/bar and must only be open to members. Given the choice of ‘evolve or die’, the club has now proposed this plan: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9956#9956 PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include kiting, crashing, covering, calming, concerning, questioning, congratulating, and remorsing. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0528/ KABOOM: Maxi multihulls are designed with false bows so if the hull runs into something, the bow will break off in front of a bulkhead without damaging the rest of the hull. But what happens to the bow of an America’s Cup Class boat when it runs into something? See here: http://tinyurl.com/collision-photos ON TOUR: The World Match Racing Tour finished their second of ten events last week in Germany. Give it a look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0525/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com MORE SPEED, LOWER COST Adding Hall SCR is the most effective performance upgrade you can make short of adding a carbon mast. SCR reduces overall rigging weight by 80% over rod. Hall SCR also dramatically reduces windage - a full 15% over other composite products. For superior performance, Hall SCR Airfoil provides the ultimate windage reduction - up to 50% over other products. Now that the IRC reduced the rating penalty for carbon rigging for 2011, we've reduced the cost to production boats rigged with Hall spars. These boats automatically quality for special fleet pricing on SCR. Call for details. http://www.hallspars.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK VOTW 1: If you are an Olympic, World or European Champion, odds are you are pretty good at more than just racing your class of boat. Meet Paul Goodison (GBR), who currently holds all three titles in the Laser, and takes on the challenge of rigging his boat in under 10 minutes. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0528a VOTW 2: Photographer Amory Ross has ventured from still imagery to video, and took a trip to Lake Champlain in Vermont to produce this excellent profile piece with American Star-class sailor and 2012 Olympic hopeful Andy Horton and crew James Lyne. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0528b DISSECTING DESTRUCTION: When two America’s Cup Class boats experienced a hard collision this week at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena regatta, the result was messy. Watch the incident and hear what the helmsman had to say: http://tinyurl.com/collision-video FUTURE PLANNING: It is not yet known what type of boat will be used for the next America’s Cup, but it is known for sure that it will something new. The top designers in the sport recently gathered in Valencia, Spain to discuss the future, with this video providing some insight into the process: http://www.livestream.com/34thac SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 John Glynn: Ok, I may be still stuck in the stone ages, but the usual division of responsibilities on a race boat are: Skipper (who for most of the last 100 years was one in the same as the helmsman/ helmsperson), and Tactician (who usually calls the shots). In Scuttlebutt 3101, Paul Cayard is identified as the Skipper, and Terry Hutchinson as “steered by.” So should we assume there is also a tactician (or does Paul perform that role)? And I guess I wonder of the 10 boats listed, how many of those skippers drive the boat (helmspersons), and how many are tacticians? On BMW Oracle Racing, was James Spithill the skipper or helmsman? And did Russell Coutts carry a sailing title? I point to Brad Butterworth for all this confusion. Everything was very clear until he blurred the lines with Team New Zealand and Alinghi, calling himself skipper, while not also driving. * From Virginia Jones (re, sailboat restoration in Scuttlebutt 3101): Once a piece of wood is prepped (if new, planed and sanded; if old, all old finish removed and sanded) it should be sealed. Depending upon the ultimate finish -- and there are a lot of new clear finishes on the market, many very high tech -- either use the recommended sealer or a thinned down coat of the product that you select. The best advice is to read the instructions on the container once you select your finish. And follow the instructions. If they recommend using a specific thinner use that, if they direct thinning with "paint thinner" consult with your local marine store and use what they sell. If the instructions direct you to sand (and wipe down) between coats do so. Normally yachting magazines have articles about how to do similar small projects. Or you could actually try searching the internet. As to the pin or rivet through the centerboard and centerboard trunk...someone on the FORUM has posted instructions on how to deal with getting it out. Alternatively you could take it to your local friendly boatyard and they'll be able to get the old pin out and replace it...it isn't a big job and shouldn't cost much. Remember your boatyards are probably struggling with economic issues and can use even the smallest of jobs. Support them and they'll be there when you have a really big job! -- Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9957#9957 HOLIDAY WEEKEND Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 31 in 2010). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. Along with most U.S. businesses, Scuttlebutt World Headquarters will be closed on Monday, and will not be publishing a newsletter that day. Normal distribution will return on Tuesday, June 1st. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION We are all time travelers moving at the speed of exactly 60 minutes per hour Special thanks to Webb Institute, Flexofold, and Hall Spars & Rigging. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
