SCUTTLEBUTT No. 913 - October 2, 2001
Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
TRAGEDY
Suspicions rose at the weekend when Italian skipper Roberto Varinelli (Metallurgica Calvi) position and speed did not seem to correspond to a boat racing towards Lanzarote, the finish line of leg one of the solo Mini Transat race. Checks firstly by spotter plane, then by helicopter and finally by the French Coastguard vessel IRIS (permanently accompanying the fleet of 57 remaining boats in the race) have revealed a boat in good condition, sailing along under autopilot, with all the comprehensive safety gear still in place - but tragically no skipper on the 6.5 metre yacht.
The Mini Transat remains one of the toughest and purest challenges in ocean racing, but through strict and stringent safety and qualification procedures has also become considerably safer than it was in its inception some 26 years ago. However, it is still very much (wo)man against the elements, and a great test of human endurance and skill. It was the first solo race that Ellen MacArthur competed in en route to the VendŽe Globe, and since has attracted increasingly large non-french participation.
Further details on the search for Roberto, and all the latest race situation can be found on www.offshorechallenges.com courtesy of Ian McKay of the UK Mini Class Association. Official site (www.transat650.com) but beware its only in French, works only with IE5.0 and its very sloooow. - Offshore Challenges, www.offshorechallenges.com
AMERICA'S CUP
(The Hauraki News website published a complete rundown on activity taking place at the Viaduct Basin syndicate bases in Auckland. Here's an excerpt.)
At the Prada base (Base 1), a third "tent-like" building adjacent to the existing two had been added, extending further along the wharf towards the sea entrance to the Basin. Now, advance administrative and/or shore crew may have arrived for the Italian flag had been raised and was flying at half mast. The Prada tender boat had been taken out of the shed and was sitting on the forecourt; two chase boats were in the water at the front of the base. The sailing team is expected to arrive mid October to commence training.
Next door at Oracle (Base 2), a second IACC boat shed is being built (alongside the first and is of similar dimensions) and a new Stars and Stripes had been raised on the flagpole at the apex of the former American Express yacht club moored at the front of the base. For the first time, the yacht club was occupied on a normal operational basis. The lights were on and a meeting appeared to be in progress on the upper floor. The sailing team is expected to arrive mid October to commence training.
The former Swiss base (Base 3), which is now occupied by Mascalzone Latino remains empty.
Further along syndicate row, OneWorld Challenge (Base 4) is currently extending the length of one of its boat sheds by about two-thirds. The shed is adjacent to the double shed in which USA 55 and USA 51 are stored. At this stage, it appears that the shed will no longer serve as an IACC boat shed for the "roof to ground" gap at the front for doors is absent. Construction materials litter the forecourt.
The exterior of the Alinghi "dream box" (Base 5), which include two tall IACC boat sheds, appears to be substantially complete although finishing details and the interior remain to be completed. It extend the entire width of the double site (the former Nippon and Le Defi bases) from hard on the boundary with TNZ to the OWC base at the other end, The exterior top half of the building is covered with a pink translucent cladding which changes in tones of pink according to the light. The official opening is scheduled for December.
A priori, the Team New Zealand base (Base 6) should stay such as during the previous edition. Saturday, TNZ's new massive rubber duckie, capable of towing both IAAC boats out to the Gulf, was in the water at the front of the base and NZL 60, X rigged and fully skirted from deck level to ground, re-appeared with its bow protruding from its shed last Thursday. As yet there is no sign of NZL 57. Testing (one boat?) is scheduled to resume Monday 1 October.
Construction of the GBR-Challenge buildings (Base 7) is now complete. The buildings comprise a single IACC boat shed with a very large GBR signage (about the same dimensions as the old America True shed) and a separate adjacent one storey sail loft. The bulb of one of the Nippon boats was sitting on the forecourt with the completely stripped down hull in the boat shed. Two Etchells (?), presumably for match racing practice, were parked alongside. Some team members have arrived and they expect to be sailing by early October.
Full report: www.hauraki-news.com
THE KEELS WERE DIFFERENT BUT THE CLOTH WAS THE SAME
In 1983 Australia II won the Americas Cup with a revolutionary keel that was very different to Liberties, but both boats used the same sailcloth technology from Bainbridge. 18 years later and we are still at the forefront of Sailcloth technology with products such as AIRX spinnaker fabric and DIAX-Carbon laminates, and for the Americas Cup jubilee regatta Australia II again chose Bainbridge. More Information at www.sailcloth.com
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
The e-mails from the Volvo Ocean Race crews tell the tale: winds are down, the stakes are high, and anxiety levels are increasing. The Dutch watchleader Bouwe Bekking, from Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, said these were "by far the most stressful 24 hours in this race", and by most reckoning he is among the most relaxed of the 57 sailors coaxing their boats between Southampton and Cape Town.
All crews sense this is a key time in the 7,350-mile stage. The fleet has fractured into two groups. The leaders are clustered around Kevin Shoebridge's Tyco to the west of the Canary Islands. Behind and further west still are Knut Frostad's djuice and Lisa McDonald's Amer Sports Too.
Making a bold strike to the east of the islands is the solitary SEB. Despite Sunday's pit stop near Madeira for a replacement mainsail headboard, the SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz claimed to have wanted to "hit the east of the Canaries".
Not without reason does his navigator Marcel van Triest enjoy a reputation of boldness based on slender balances of probability. There is good breeze where SEB is now and if she can nose into the tradewinds to the south before the pack, van Triest and Krantz could embarrass the main group. Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, UK
Full story: sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/
Standings - October 2 @ 0358 GMT:
1. Tyco, 5593 miles to finish
2. Assa Abloy, 1 mile behind leader
3. News Corp, 7 mbl
4. Amer Sports One, 8 mbl
5. illbruck, 17 mbl
6. SEB, 119 mbl
7. djuice dragons, 131 mbl
8. Amer Sports Two, 163 mbl
www.VolvoOceanRace.org
CONVERSIONS FACTORS
For those technically challenged 'Buttheads who are having trouble converting the metric system numbers on the Volvo Ocean Race website for wave height and temperature, here's an easy solution to your problem: irlgmbh.com/ph21/phconv.htm
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
leweck@earthlink.net
(Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Stephen Wells: Everyone knows what a standard round robin format is! Generally it's considered pretty fair as a single loss doesn't eliminate a competitor. When we see a bastardized format like the one just published in scuttlebutt for the Louis Vuitton Cup you can bet your butt that somebody is about to get screwed on purpose. The negations must have been interesting with the smaller syndicates. Why don't they simply weigh the wallets of all the contenders and let the two heavy weights sail in the finals? That's even simpler and you don't have to read the rules 3 times to understand them.
* From Andy.Besheer: I've been reading the submissions on both sides of the cancellation debate and have come to the conclusion that I should put in my two cents. I was in my office in 1 WTC when we were hit, I was very lucky and am alive today, alot of good people were not nearly as fortunate.
I've thought about racing again, I've even tried rather half-heartedly to put a crew together to race, but we haven't gotten there yet. I think we'll come out for MBYC Fall Series, but if we don't, we don't.
What I'm trying to say - and probably not very well - is that I just haven't really felt much like racing. I imagine there are quite a few other people - racers and committees alike - who feel the same way. I suspect that almost every Club on the western Sound lost someone. If we don't race right now and if a few events get cancelled or postponed, so be it. This is not a victory for the monsters of September 11, it's just human nature. Alternatively, if people and clubs want to race, that's fine too, no one should be offended by it, I know that I am not. It does seem to me that after all everyone has gone through over the past two weeks, its rather silly to be sniping over whether or not a few sailboat races are held or postponed.
* From Craig Fletcher: Norman Davant is 100% right. America must send a message to the rest of the world. We will not stand for terrorism! The best way to do this is not only by getting back to our daily lives. We must smile brighter, be positive in all of endeavors, in other words we must go out and kick ass everyday.
* From Steve Travis: I disagree with Mr. Meyers that my intention during Big Boat Series was carousing. I intended to race and get on with my life. I trucked my boat down from Seattle (now back), all my crew and I drove down when we thought we had at least a Sat/Sun event. Its over and done with so no point in whether right or wrong. What I do know is that in this country life goes on regardless of what other Americans are suffering. This point was never more clearly brought home to me than during the late 60's and early 70's as I returned from two separate tours in Vietnam. The country partied on and protested on and smoked on (although not all inhaled) as Americans died for years. Now many of those same people wrap themselves in the flag and accuse me of wanting to get on with my life. I believe quite a few of these people who are so patriotic now were happy let the flag burn a month ago. Let's get on with our lives, I regret the loss of life and feel for all.
* From Stephen Maseda: If the Lauderdale YC cancelled for the reason stated by Mr. Morgan, rather than the reason given in their press release, they would look all the worse for having misstated their position to the class and the sailing community. Such conduct would be inexcusable as their last minute withdrawal, left those of us who planned on attending, (but had not yet sent in our entry), with reserved tickets and lodging reservations, which in many cases could not be cancelled with penalty. The fact that St Petersburg YC agreed to hold the event at the same time, on the same day LYC withdrew, speaks volumes about the event and expected attendance.
I for one am willing to take them their word, and leave it to others to debate the correctness of what they did. As to the number of entries, the class would have had at least 60, if not 80 or more, boats on the line, and will have more entires this year, than it did last year at KWRW - 59, the largest single fleet by a factor of almost 2.
So please let's keep the rumors to ourselves, rather than spreading them on the airwaves, to no possible good purpose.
POTENTIAL TARGET
If ever New Zealand were to host an event powerful enough to whet the appetite of a terrorist, the America's Cup is it. It's named after the country commonly referred to as "the Great Satan" by Muslim extremists, it comes with guaranteed worldwide media coverage and it attracts a travelling boatshow of billionaires. Add the international perception that New Zealand immigration is a soft touch and the possibility of a Western world embroiled in an Afghan war, and you might have a good case for calling the whole event off.
Michael O'Connor, a defence analyst and executive director of the Australian Defence Association, said such ingredients made the regatta an obvious target for hostile groups. Mr O'Connor said terrorists had proved that they learned from their mistakes - such as the first failed attempt to topple the World Trade Center - and they would have seen how the attacks on America were covered by the world media. He said coverage had centred almost exclusively on the New York attacks simply because that was where the media were at the time. "If the other plane had hit the White House, it may have been a different story."
The regatta might still be 18 months away, but he said it was the terrorists who set the timetable and they had already demonstrated their patience. The visit of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference have already fallen victim to similar logic. - Alan Perrott, NZ Herald.
Full story: www.nzherald.co.nz/story
QUOTE / UNQUOTE
"Hold your breath. Concentrate, step gently, click, click, click, trim very slowly, barely a whisper.... the cat and mouse game is very slow but high-strung at the moment. It is night but full moon. Seas calm, light shifty winds, spinnakers setting lightly. After a week of noisy wet sailing, five of us are now fighting for boat lengths mostly within sight of each other. Roy is steering, anticipating every little puff while distance and bearing to the other boats is quietly relayed to him. His mind is crunching thousands of computations per minute trying to figure a way to cover all the angles for the three just behind us, and gain on Tyco just ahead. Magnus watches them like a wise hawk through the binoculars while I read out the distances on the radar." Rudi Rudiger, co-skipper /navigator, Assa Abloy
"To me the fastest boat on the track is Assa at this stage. They have built a very light boat, close to the edge if you like, and that has given it a heavy bulb. Couple to this that the boat is quite narrower compared to the other Farr boats and you have a good package. I think also we can be satisfied with our first week's work. In the leading pack, ok for speed and tactically not sharp yet but learning how to best work together. We are also really experimenting a lot with sails and getting to grips with the inventory which to date was more based on concepts than tested data. I have seen most of the sails go up on the other boats now and as expected, illbruck's looks really nice. They just seem to keep pulling new sails out the hatch and they are a very slick operation to watch. It's going to be a long day of light downwind in a fat boat." - Grant Dalton, Amer Sports One skipper.
"Although small changes for an ocean race (a few miles), the events of today seemed like huge losses. We slowly saw Tyco and Assa Abloy get sucked under a cloud. The degrees ticked of the compass steadily over an eight-hour period. As night came, however, events took a more dramatic turn as News Corp charged from fifth to a possible run for the lead out in the east. We took a big loss to head east into better pressure and away from the suck of the breeze sapping clouds. Hopefully we can line ourselves up for the night in clear skies or at least one the right side of the clouds which is what it's all about at the moment." Ray Davies, illbruck
NEW LASER RULES
The International Sailing Federation approved a long-awaited set of rigging changes for the Laser. The changes, which will allow sailors to alter the boom vang, cunningham, and outhaul, are intended to make the boat easier to sail, especially for lighter sailors, and open up the competitive weight range of the boat. The rule changes, the text of which is available on the North American Laser Class Association website (www.laser.org), went into effect today. - Grand Prix Sailor, www.sailingworld.com/gps
TRENDS
When you attend a big regatta like the Farr 40 North Americans, you quickly find out what's hot and what's not. And this past weekend it was instantly obvious that the curmudgeon's glowing descriptions of Camet Sailing Shorts have not fallen on deaf ears. Camet Shorts are everywhere. And although everyone loves the advantages of the drying Supplex and reinforced Cordura seat patch. I think it's the variety of new colors with Hawaiian stripes that has pushed them over the top. www.camet.com
SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE
The Notice of Race for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is now available in PDF format on the Sail-World website: www.sail-world.com/2001sydneytohobart/
HIKE HARDER
If think you've got it rough, take a look at what the crew on Weatherly endured during their 1961 America's Cup campaign (photo courtesy of Mystic Seaport's Rosenfeld Collection):
www.mysticseaport.org
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS
* October 20-21: ISSA High School Singlehanded Nationals, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD. www.highschoolsailingusa.org
* March 1- 3: St. Maarten Heineken, St. Maarten YC. Some 260 entries in approximately 20 different classes. www.heinekenregatta.com
IMAGES
Daniel Forster's Yacht Photo website has several pages of hot images from last week's Farr 40 NAs. - www.yachtphoto.com/f40n-d1.html
IDEAL-18 NORTH AMERICANS
Larchmont Yacht Club, NY. The Ideal-18 North Americans were held in Long Island Sound of the Larchmont breakwater on September 29 and 30 with 22 boats competing. Five white knuckle races were sailed on Saturday in a blustery North Easterly. Racing was abandoned on Sunday.
Final standings after five races with one discard:
1) Skip Shumway/Doug Fast, Rochester YC (6)
2) Dave Perry/Betsy Perry, Pequot YC (8)
3) Marc Jacobi/Paul Toretta, Indian Harbour YC (15)
www.larchmontyc.org
CODE YELLOW
PlayStation skipper Steve Fossett advised his crew last night to be ready to travel to Newport, Rhode Island for an attempt on the 1990 TransAtlantic record by Serge Madec on Jet Services 5 (6d 13h 3m 32s). Fossett said, "The Fall weather patterns have started. The Azores High is setting up south of N45 with lows tracking over the top. We expect several chances to start our TransAt over the next few weeks. The first start possibility for a Tuesday-Wednesday (October 2-3) departure just did not shape up convincingly, so the next potential for departure now exists mainly this weekend and early next week (October 6-8) on SW winds. This is our preferred wind direction, but it could be foiled by a confused sea." - www.fossettchallenge.com
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
Second place is really first loser.
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