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SCUTTLEBUTT 1741 - December 28, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. MAJOR CARNAGE A police launch has safely rescued the crew of Maxi yacht Skandia after keel problems forced last year's winner out of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. The 98-foot Maxi retired from the race when the hydraulic ram that controls the canting keel snapped, leaving the lead bulb jammed hard over to starboard. Initially it appeared that Grant Wharington and his crew would be able to limp back to shore, but the skipper decided the safer option would be to deploy two life rafts and wait alongside the stricken yacht. While the Skandia crisis unfolded, her arch rival for line honours Konica Minolta was also forced out of the race after falling badly off a freak wave. Skipper Stewart Thwaites said: "We barreled off a gi-normous (sic) wave, crashed down the other side of it. I was down below, I heard the boat crash, and it came to a stop. The boys said it was twice as big as any other wave." So severe was the landing that it creased the cabin top, but the most serious damage was to the keel attachment point. Thwaites was worried that if they continued into the adverse southerly swell, the keel would break away from the yacht or that the yacht would even fold in half at the crease point. Retirement to the shelter of the Tasmanian fishing village, Binnalong Bay, was the only option. These retirements have handed the race lead to Nicorette, a brand new Maxi competing in her first race. Launched from a Sydney boat yard just a few weeks ago, this was the yacht that many sailors and media pundits were predicting would fail to last the distance. And it could yet happen, as the fleet crashes and bangs its way to Hobart in southerly headwinds gusting to 40 knots. The race committee of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is receiving more retirements by the hour. The retirements now stand at 44 from an original fleet of 116. The number still racing is 72 but of those nine yachts are assessing the conditions before proceeding south. Veteran Rolex Sydney Hobart skipper Syd Fischer, who was sailing his 35th race to Hobart, reported to the Race Committee at 10:55 AM that his Farr 45 Ragamuffin had been dismasted due east of Flinders Island. All crew are reported to be OK. - www.rolexsydneyhobart.com ANOTHER RECORD After beating Francis Joyon's time to the Equator, and then to Cape of Good Hope, Ellen MacArthur has sailed B&Q to another record by passing the longitude of Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia) at 2215 GMT and 45 seconds, knocking 15 hours off the record set by Joyon. Ellen has put the pedal to the metal sailing with 2 reefs and a staysail in slightly flatter seas to stay with the cold front that is propelling her eastwards on a direct course: "We're literally just staying with this front as it's moving across to the east which is great because it means we're moving with it, MacArthur said. "We're moving at the same speed so we're going to be sitting in this for the next few days which means we should get relatively consistent wind from a steady direction." But MacArthur is acutely aware that any lead can disappear all too easily in this high-stake game. However, she has now extended her lead over Joyon's round the world record pace to virtually 37 hours. - www.teamellen.com PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS Following the broad acceptance of the TP52 Class and with the knowledge and experience gained from the Grand Prix W.P. The Offshore Racing Congress began last September to develop three new Offshore level classes. The classes will be in the range of 26, 32, and 42 feet fitting into a box rule with set physical limits. Although the ORC has taken this decision independently, it will invite the two other GPR partners (RORC and US Sailing) to participate in the development of these classes on an International basis. "The time has come to give the sailing community what it has indicated it desires, top level racing on elapsed time in yachts that are exciting to sail with sizes to fit various budgets," commented ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi. A draft of the new rule will be circulated to design offices shortly, with a request for comments to be evaluated by a newly appointed Grand Prix technical group. More details will be forthcoming after the January meeting of the ORC Management Committee. - Paolo Massarini, ORC Grand Prix Classes Representative SPRING SPARES It's the middle of a regatta or distance race, and your masthead unit's printed circuit board just packed it in, or you damaged the boatspeed paddlewheel running over a crab pot. The old display with dim lighting just went dark, or your mast cable may have been damaged during haulout or from chafe. No problem. Ockam can put together a sensible spares kit for your boat. Good Idea, We think so! Ockam also offers a system tune up and upgrade service so you can get the most out of your instrument system. Contact Lat Spinney, mailto:lat@ockam.com VENDÉE GLOBE 330 miles from the second Pacific gateway at 1900 GMT Monday, the Le Cam/ Riou/ Golding trio are continuing to make by far the best speeds of the fleet, with the English skipper once more racking up the best 24 hour average, covering 391.9 miles at an average of over 16 knots and an instantaneous speed of 19 knots. Patrice Carpentier has made the decision to moor to the south of Tasmania. Having planned to reach shelter tonight GMT, he intends to fix both his boom and numerous infiltrations of water in what has become a "veritable skating rink with the fuel down below". He remains in the race. 190 miles behind Patrice, American Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) continues to impress in 11th position having "made temporary repairs that he hopes will be permanent" to his radar. - www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ Standings at 1900 GMT December 27: 1. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 9296 miles to finish 2. PRB, Vincent Riou, 150 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 195 mtl 4. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 740 mtl 5. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 1349 mtl 6. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick 1724 mtl 7. Skandia, Nick Moloney, 2167 mtl 8. Pro-Form, Marc Thiercelin, 2400 mtl 9. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, 2667 mtl 10. VM Matériaux, Patrice Carpentier, 2932 mtl 11. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 3074 mtl 12. Max Havelaar/Best Western, Benoît Parnaudeau, 3417 mtl 13. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, 3615 mtl 14. Roxy, Anne Liardet, 3654 mtl 15 Akena Vérandas, Raphaël Dinelli, 4269 mtl 16 Benefic, Karen Leibovici, 4544 mtl abd - Sill Véolia, Roland Jourdain 01:00 AM abd - Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson 01:00 AM abd - UUDS, Hervé Laurent 01:00 AM abd - Brother, Norbert Sedlacek QUOTE / UNQUOTE I haven't seen the sun since I gybed, which was two days ago, very overcast and I go through periods of really heavy rain, with no effect on wind, but there are so many waves breaking over the boat the rain doesn't really effect me very much! New Zealand, 'the land of the long white cloud' as its known ... I'm under it now! - Nick Moloney, Skandia CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar WANNA BUY AN AC BOAT? According to a report on the Mariantic America's Cup website, here's the latest on the used AC boat market: - Mascalzone had three boats but has just sold one to Sausalito Challenge. - One World Challenge's three have just been bought by El Reto - TDC and Victory, have just 2 boats each - K-Challenge has one and one on loan. - GBR has 2 boats and one fit for exhibition (the sister to ACM's Valencia static exhibit) Full story: www.mariantic.co.uk/ac/six.htm#3boats NEWS BRIEFS * In a deal finalized on Christmas Eve the Bahamas Sailing Association has ordered 19 Optimists to help establish a National Sailing School. The B.S.A. has been seeking low-cost second-hand Optimists to open the sport of sailing to juniors. U.S. builders McLaughlin searched hard and came up with an offer of charter boats to be used at the Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami next week. But the price was still higher than the funds available. An appeal to IODA for help under its '6 for 5' scheme secured a further 17% reduction and the order was placed. http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j12Fhtuq~ * Correction: A number of readers wrote to point out that the Fern Fridge Lake is in Oregon, not Washington, as stated in the piece we carried yesterday from the Register-Guard. GREAT FOR TACTICIANS The Camet Dry Erase Board is great for tacticians! Use it for writing down wind angles, tides, tacking angles, and much more. It's clean and simple to use. No more messy decks to rub clean. Simply peel, stick and write on, and wipe off! It's that easy to use, remove and use again. Great for powerboats too! Place it on any flat surface of your boat...in the cockpit or in the galley... to make notes on where you are and what you need to buy. Camet Padded Shorts, Pants, Rashguards, Coolmax shirts, Mylar bags etc. More information at http://www.camet.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. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From John Handfield (re Russell Coutt's quotes): I think he speaks for all of us sailors who love the AC series but hate the way it is run. No other major sport could survive if the rules changed every season to suit those with the most money. Why not setup a committee of passed AC sailors and let them decide how the series would be run, Just think how great the AC series would be if guys like Gary Jobson, Alan Bond, Ted Hood and other past sailing greats could have input. The big boys need to expand the interest base and when they change the rules to keep out the super stars the sport suffers. * From Eric Steinberg (re Eric Matus's comments): I can't be the only one thinking that racing yachts and stealth don't belong in the same paragraph... be within a 1/2 mile of a big racing yacht and you will clearly hear (among other things) main and jib sheets being eased. I can tell you, that being down below, those noises are incredibly loud. Factoids: "Due to the difference in acoustic impedance, a sound wave that has the same intensity in air and in water, will in water have a pressure that is 60 times larger than that in air" and "The speed of sound in water is 1481 meters/ second at 20 degrees C and for air is 343 m/sec at 20 degrees C". * From Jack Attridge: Over the past 36 hours, we have been covered with over 12" of snow in Marblehead but my children wake up every day and look forward to checking in with Ellen MacArthur. My girls, 5 and 8, have watched her in calms and over this past weekend have seen her maintain max boat speed while sailing in 40 kn winds and high seas. She has had to repair both generators and water makers so far and has made 12 sail changes in the last 12 hours! This is a great life's lesson for my girls and the technology makes it very real. From watching Ellen work on deck to her with her head in the engine room and her Christmas message that shows how stressful her journey can be. It is very easy to make analogies between Ellen's adventure and life in general. Our children are feeding off of Ellen's passion for doing her best by sailing hard and fast in all conditions and situations and through this, they realize that anything is possible. * From Douglass Sisk: Every so often there's a letter in Scuttlebutt that makes a fine point with great eloquence. Alun James comment in butt 1740 about sailing being the antithesis of instant gratification is the latest example. Sure, we racers all like to hear the gun close up, but even a bad day of sailing is better than no sailing at all. I wonder if F1 drivers would derive the same enjoyment out of driving an interstate highway at the speed limit as even a hard-core racing sailor gets from a relaxed harbor cruise at sunset. * From Nelson Stephenson, Cedar Point YC Member: (Re: Mr. Klein's comments): Mount Gay and US Sailing selected Cedar Point YC (2002 US Sailing One Design Yacht Club of the Year) in Westport CT, less than one hour from New York City. Cedar Point has real sailors who actually sail at a true "epicenter" of sailing with a great facility. No dining rooms, pools or tennis courts. Our tennis courts came down to make room for our Regatta Tent. If you really like to sail, this is the place in Connecticut. Active One Design fleets are Thistles, Lightnings, V-15's, Stars, Atlantics and a Laser Frostbite Fleet. Frostbite has over 100 participants this year (so far) with over 50 Lasers sailing each Sunday, October until April. CPYC has a PHRF racer/ cruiser program, a great Junior program, creative high school sailing programs and has hosted Special Olympics Events, major Optimist and Junior Regattas and many major National Events in the recent past. Cedar Point will host the US Sailing Youth Championship in 2005.With over 250 active volunteer members, all qualified for and taking their Race Committee turn each year, we take our sailing and our Mount Gay Rum very seriously in Westport CT. We appreciate US Sailing and Mount Gay hosting seminars for Long Island Sound sailors to keep us smart and happy. Lay off criticizing Sponsors and people trying to help. We should all be a lot more appreciative whenever sponsors get involved. For a real sailing club, see www.cedarpointyc.org * From Walter Chamberlain (Regarding Bob Klein's remarks about the Mount Gay/ US Sailing speaker series): Pascagoula, MS is centrally located for the membership of the Gulf Yachting Association, an organization founded in 1901 currently with thirty-two member clubs stretching from Houston to St. Petersburg, and including Birmingham, AL and Little Rock, AK. The Mallory Cup is sitting in a GYA member club (for the second consecutive year), and so is the Phoenix Cup. GYA sailors are highly competitive on the race course and highly involved in the administration of the sport at all levels including nationally. The event in Pascagoula is a rules seminar conducted by Dick Rose. It is in conjunction with the GYA's two day "Winter Meeting," and Dick will also speak during our awards banquet. The last three of these meetings have been attended by the US Sailing president. Last year Dave Perry came down here and put on the show and we somehow managed to pay for it ourselves without outside "financial support" - we simply saw this opportunity for a program this year and took it. Besides, we like giving support to US Sailing programs. During the meeting, there will be a US Sailing desk, and it is accurate to say that US Sailing has plenty of "foundation" down here. I'm sure those "epicenters" can have one of these things, but I'm under the impression you have to ask for it (as we did). Curmudgeon's Comment: That's enough - this thread is officially dead. CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM While some insist that "clothes make the man," others proclaim, "don't judge a book by its cover." Can they both be correct? |
