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SCUTTLEBUTT 2162 - August 18, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.FIRST PRE-OLYMPICS (Competitors are preparing to race from the future Olympic venue for the first time in China this week at the Qingdao International Regatta. The Daily Sail subscription website took a look at the venue and the competition. Here’s an excerpt.) This represents the first opportunity for most Olympic sailors to race on the waters and experience the venue to be used at the 2008 Olympic Games. There has been a great deal of conversation about the light winds off Qingdao and although a great event will not silence this debate, an extremely light wind in fog will effectively condemn the venue to another two years of solid slating. Currently the weather at the venue is light but not as light as expected with around a force three a little way offshore from the race area. It is clear from the entry list many of the potential 2008 Olympians are keen to attend the event and get a feel for the venue. All the ISAF number one ranked sailors have entered with the exception of Ukrainians Maxim Oberemko and Olga Maslivets, ranked number one in the RS:X Men’s and women’s class respectively. Although many of the toped ranked sailors are turning out for the event it is a slightly disappointing turnout overall this year. If the entry list (at the bottom of the page) is absolutely final there are only 311 entries this year compared to 358 two years out from Athens. In addition to the Star fleet the 470 and and the Laser all have big events coming up potential causing competitors to stay away. However, the 470 World Championships are in China and the Laser World Championships in Korea neither a particular stretch to get to from Qingdao. -- http://thedailysail.com REPORT FROM QINGDAO (Following is an excerpt from the website of the USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe -- the No. 2-ranked women's Radial sailor in the world -- who recently finished fourth at the Laser Radial Worlds in Marina del Rey.) The day after we arrived we unloaded our boats and gear from the containers. It was very humid, with thunderstorms. Also very foggy. The breeze picked up to four knots and a few people went sailing but the US team members decided we wouldn't accomplish much in that little breeze with a two to three-knot current. Lunch was interesting, with a buffet featuring all kinds of Chinese food but without any English names. Lots of things I knew I didn't want to eat - stuff like chicken feet, fish heads and the like. We had the same problem when we went to the grocery store to stock up on snack foods. The store was located in a mall. It was huge and jammed with people, all pushing and shoving and queuing and shouting and determined to get their food as soon as possible. The meat section featured things like rows of whole cooked Peking ducks, complete with heads and feet. There were pigs snouts and things I don't even want to think about. The seafood section was amazing, with fish and crabs all live and swimming in tanks for customers to choose. The selections of snack foods were immense but everything was in Chinese so it was a case of guessing what was good. The weather report for tomorrow is breezy. That means about eight knots which is considered breezy for this part of the world. Hopefully we'll be sailing and training for the next three days, before the start of competition. -- http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/ CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar Q & A (The BMW Oracle Racing Team has made it a top priority to inform and entertain -- not only their VIP guests -- but anyone and everyone who might be or become interested in the Cup. They use their syndicate blog as a conduit and publish some of their more interesting queries. For instance:) Q: "What's a trim tab?" A: A trim tab is a "flap" -- an adjustable surface like the flap on the trailing edge of an airplane wing -- that is attached by a hinge to the trailing edge of the keel. When the boat tacks the tab is swung from one side to the other, around 5-12 degrees either side of centerline. This gives the keel an asymmetric shape that produces more lift. It also produces more drag, but if designed and used correctly the extra drag is more than offset by extra lift -- meaning the boat goes forward more and sideways less. Normally little or no tab is used downwind (tab is on centerline). The trim tab allows a smaller keel fin that can produce the same lift as a bigger fin, but you don't have to drag a bigger fin downwind. If enough trim tab (angle) is used, an America's Cup yacht will actually make "negative leeway" where the yacht no longer slides a bit sideways but actually "claws" to windward. This, however, usually results in a lot of exta drag. Tab design, and angle, is one of the things on which teams spend much money, time and energy trying to find the optimum size and shape overall, and angle for the various wind and sea conditions, trimming, steering and sail combinations. On an ACC boat the "tab" is adjusted normally by an inner, smaller steering wheel -- though some ACC yachts (and other classes that allow trim tabs) use other means such as a rope and cleat arrangement. --Ian "Fresh" Burns (AUS, design coordinator & sailing team), http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/ Curmudgeon’s Comment: Want to send a question to BMW Oracle Racing? Fire away: no serious question will be considered too basic, or too advanced. mailto:blog@tfehman.com. LET YOUR COMPASS GUIDE YOU NORTH In 1992, North Sails revolutionized modern sailmaking by introducing 3DL thermo-molded sails, elevating sail performance to a level that remains unmatched by any other sail technology. Now, another 3D sail revolution has arrived...it's called 3Dr. 3Dr sails are thermo-molded on a highly efficient revolving drum whose surface is shaped by 2,200 computer-controlled pistons. 3Dr now allows North Sails to deliver superior 3D shapeholding and performance to one-designs and medium-sized performance yachts at very competitive prices. Take the online 3Dr tour right now at http://www.northsails.com/3D. You won't believe your eyes! SERIOUS STUFF The Kiwis sure take their yachting seriously. On Wednesday evening, they packed the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for a special ‘launch.’ The launch of a book. No ordinary book, mind you, but a book entitled, ‘Ranger - The making of a New Zealand yachting legend.’ Although named for what is arguably New Zealand’s most significant yacht, the story is really about her designer, builder and skipper, Lou Tercel one of the true legends of the Auckland waterfront and one of its dominant characters for over forty years. Noted sailing commentator, Peter Montgomery was master of ceremonies for the evening, introducing a series of speakers, and injecting his own anecdotes on Ranger and Lou Tercel. To understand Ranger, you have to understand that she was the achievement of the great Kiwi dream – to design, build and race your own boat – and beat all-comers. Ranger was built by the Tercel brothers, were initially amateur boat builders. There were four brothers, Lou, John, Cryil and Leo, and they designed and built all their boats from launches to yachts. Construction of Ranger started in June 1936 on a part-time basis, and the hull was finished in June 1937. In a fore-runner to modern design practices, Lou used to build half models of his designs and then would do 'tank testing' by building full models and towing them behind a dinghy or launch. Or, he’d hold them in pairs against the current in a creek, and the one that pulled the hardest was discarded. Lou was a student of yacht design and went back to the design data he had back into the 1890’s to get the basic principles. Ranger was built only because Lou and Cyril were getting out of the boat building business and wanted to use up their surplus timber. Originally she was going to be 45ft, but they would not have been able to use all their surplus wood - so they stretched her out to 60ft overall. Others have it that the Tercel brothers looked around at yachts that would be her rivals and they decided to go a size bigger. The current owner, Ian Cook of Yachting Developments, restored Ranger as a private project. She was re-launched two years ago in absolutely splendid condition. She is still a regular competitor on the classic yachting scene. In stories posted on the Sail-World website, Richard Gladwell has done an excellent job of telling the story of the book’s launch as well as explaining the background of this significant boat. http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=26716 http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/index.cfm?Nid=26660 WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR Another day of varying conditions on Lake St. Moritz propelled six crews into the Quarterfinal Round of the 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race, Stage 3 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour. Groups A and B today completed their preliminary round robins and two Alinghi helmsmen, Ed Baird (USA) and Peter Holmberg (ISV), were the respective winners. Baird won Group A with a 5-1 record and Holmberg took Group B at 6-0. Behind Baird in Group A was teammate Jochen Schuemann (GER), 4-2, and compatriot Mark Mendelblatt, also 4-2. In Group B Holmberg finished ahead of Eric Monnin (SUI), 5-1, and Sébastian Col (FRA), 3-3. Friday’s repechage round includes Ian Williams (4th Group A, 4-2), Philippe Presti (5th Group A, 2-4), Peter Gilmour (6th Group A, 1-5), Paolo Cian (4th Group B, 3-3), Ian Ainslie (5th Group B, 2-4) and Favini (6th Group B, 1-5). The top two finishers advance to the quarterfinals. The Maloja wind blew again from the southwest around 12 knots for most of the day, with gusts up to 18 knots on some occasions. As with the every day on Lake St. Moritz there were three windward marks in play. At times the wind was shifted left on the left side, right on the right side and there was nothing in the middle. No lead was safe until the finish. -- Sean McNeill, http://www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. VIDEO OF THE WEEK The website that hosts this video explains: "Hydroptère means, in greek, ‘marine wing.’ To get free from the Archimedes’ principle, it is a matter of lifting up the hulls of the boat thanks to a vertical pushing developed by some kind of sea wings, the foils. People have been dreaming for a while not of floating on but of flying over the water.” Okay... pretty heady stuff. What we see in this video is a big trimaran flying above the water. Yes, we are into the foil thing, and we hope you are too. If you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Thanks to Kieran Clancy for submitting this week’s video, which you can see at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/06/0814 SAILING SHORTS * It’s official -- Roy Disney has announced that he will come out of his ‘retirement’ from offshore racing to participate in the 2007 Transpac. For his ‘comeback,’ we will charter Pyewacket, the R/P maxZ86 he donated to the Orange Coast College after the 2005 Transpac. For the race, the boat’s 18 foot keel will be re-installed and there will also be upgrades of electronic and mechanical systems, new rigging and new sails. Earlier this year, the Transpac Board of Directors announced that the rating limit for their 2007 race would be set at Pyewacket’s rating in its full-turbo configuration. * NBC and MSNBC will feature the TeamPARADISE Adaptive Sailing Program in the Nightly News with Brian Williams on Friday evening (August 18), shortly before 7PM EST (check your local listing). The segment, which is titled "Making a difference", was recorded at the Shake-A-Leg Miami Water Sports Center, in late July. * The home team from the New York Yacht Club defended the Morgan Trophy Keelboat Team Racing Championship this weekend, against what participants described the most talented keelboat team racing fleet ever assembled. This year's event, held on August 12-13 in Newport, RI using the NYYC's brand new fleet of Sonars, included almost all of the prior winners of the Morgan Trophy, 9 former dinghy team racing world champions (including 5 of the members of the reigning world champions, team WHishbone). New York Yacht Club posted a 10-5 record, 2nd place Seawanhaka counted a 9-6 and 3rd place WHishbone notched 8-7. -- www.nyyc.org * The Junior Sailing Championships of Long Island Sound attracted 104 boats and 147 junior sailors aged 13 to 18, from 21 Long Island Sound Junior Sailing Programs. Elizabeth and Alex Whipple, Manhasset Bay YC dominated the 44-boat C420 class and won the Pequot Trophy. The Commodore Edgar L. Raymond Trophy, was won by Kevin Gordon, American YC, who won the 17-boat Laser class and the Joseph Cosulich Trophy was won by Mathew Zupon, Larchmont YC who beat Paul Wefer by a single point in the 44-boat Laser Radial class. -- Complete results: http://www.norotonyc.org/ * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified the Singlehanded Around Britain and Ireland record established by Thomas Coville (FRA) earlier this month on the 60 -foot trimaran Sodebo -- 6 days 6 hours 40 minutes 31 seconds for an average speed of 11.86 knots. The previous record was held by Jean Luc van den Heede in 7d 8h 47m -- which will remain as the monohull singlehanded record. LEADING THE WAY IN THE NEW GP42 Latini Marine’s Roma was recently launched as the first yacht built for the new GP42 class and B&G were proud to be chosen to supply the electronics for this pioneering project. The WTP2 system installed builds on our successes in the IMS fleets and recent developments in the TP52 class where it is used by 9 of the top 10 boats. As B&G was also chosen by the next two GP42s, we look forward to supporting the class in 2007 - with competitors settling for nothing but the best in their electronics, the racing promises to be equally uncompromising. - http://www.bandg.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 thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Andy Howe, Sail magazine: I will always remember Norm Wright as one of the true gentlemen of the industry--even when he said "no" to a sales pitch. About a dozen years ago, when he still sat in the front office at Nicro, I took him and Niels to lunch for some Crab Loiue (a favorite) at a local restaurant, after making my advertising sales pitch. Pleasant conversation and stories were the rule during lunch. When I got back to my office in Maine the next week I received a wonderful letter from Mr. Wright--a full page, single spaced-- very politely saying "no." (I think he had even insisted on paying for the lunch!) I've kept that letter for years as a reminder of how to treat customers, and others. Fair winds Norm, and thanks for setting a high standard. * From Seth A. Radow: It has been said that one shouldn't comment about another unless they have walked (sailed in this case) a mile in his/her shoes. Mr. Disney has more sailing miles under his belt than most people alive. He has more Transpac miles under his belt than just about anyone that I know. Having sailed my own fair share of Transpacific crossings from both Los Angeles and San Francisco, it is worthwhile to note that the first three days of this particular race (Transpac) are often an ugly and cold upwind slog. It has been told to me by the Curmudgeon himself (known by many to be a masterful tactician in his own right) at a private dinner at CYC in 1999 that "the Transpac race is won and lost in the first three days. After that ... it's a sleigh ride to Hawaii." Having won his fair share of Transpac races, it should surprise no one that Mr. Disney is aware of this as well. That being said, any serious offshore racing team needs to have extensive experience in all points of sail. To consider training otherwise is simply poor seamanship. * From Frank Ficken: Anyone who wants to have a water balloon battle between boats should make sure to use only available biodegradable balloons. The fishing industry uses balloons in some rigs and they have all switched over as well. Just type "biodegradable balloons" into your favorite search engine and help keep plastic out of our oceans. Here is one link to get you started: http://tinyurl.com/pdqpa * From Richard Spindler, Publisher / Executive Editor, Latitude 38: Our Baja Ha-Ha only uses water balloons at the beach parties where the kids can pick up all the little pieces, but even so we only use biodegradable water balloons. They cost less than a penny each and are available everywhere. * From Kiara McFarland Caldwell (re Blending more Fun into the Sport): We recently sailed the Soling North American Championships on Lake Michigan off Milwaukee. In early August, the winds are unpredictable: honking one day, and dead calm the next. Unfortunately for the caliber of competition, the breeze was, save a half hour over 4 days, mostly close to 8 knots. Our fleet knows how to have fun, even when competing. While waiting for the offshore breeze to fill, we kept our sails up & played frisbee. We avoided hitting each others racing sails (for the most part) and used the extra four feet of transom as a platform from which to launch. We learned new things about the other skippers, such as who's got good range, who thinks they're sneaky hiding tennis balls, and who's crew were dropping orange peels into the lake. Mostly, crew drove, dinghy sailors felt like we were practicing in a youth program again, boats competed to rescue stray frisbees, and eventually, a race got off. True, a Soling can tack on a dime, but our boat handling skills have never been sharper. Seems like a good practice to me. * From Ted Livingston: Forty years ago, Jack Wyatt (long-time yachting writer for the Honolulu Star Bulletin). predicted that--by now--other classes--would have withered on the vine, and we'd all be sailing Sunfish or Cal-20s ! That prediction was closer to the mark than we might then have imagined. * From David Redfern, Kent, England: When I was a media director in Falmouth, Cornwall, working on the British America's Cup, and on this particular occasion, the late BOC Round the World Alone Race, I borrowed a fast rib from a local. He insisted on driving it himself, as a media boat. None of the press knew that the man in his Mustos driving the rib was Roger Taylor, the drummer from Queen. He took loads of Press and photographers out each day, and was very, very good at it. * From Vann Wilson (With regard to the corrections in the results for the Laser Masters Nationals held last weekend at Richmond Yacht Club): The editors noted that Peter Seidenberg had finished 9th over all and first Great Grand Master in a fleet of 40 boats . It bothers me to no end to be the first to publicly cast a shroud of suspicion on the Great Grand Master Division. However, I believe that all the athletes in this division should be spot drug tested for the whole works at the next big regatta; synthetic testosterone, blood doping, steroids and or see if they have been swimming in that pool from the movie cocoon. Something is fishy with those guy’s. To qualify to be in that division you have to be 65 + years of age. Give me a break: tell me that the six Great Grand Masters in this division racing Lasers on the famed Berkeley Circle are not "on something." CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire? Answer: NUTS! Special thanks to North Sails and B&G Instruments. |
