|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3641 - Thursday, July 26, 2012Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ullman Sails and APS. MEET THE TEAM - BOB WILLIS Weymouth and Portland, U.K. (July 22, 2012) - The Meet the Team series introduces sailing fans to Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.). Willis, 25, began his sailing career at the age of eight, and quickly advanced through Optimists and 420s. He soon became very serious about competitive windsurfing and at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Long Beach Calif., winning four out of 16 races. In 2011 he placed seventh at the Pan American Games. A member of Columbia Yacht Club, this is his first Olympic Games. What motivated you to pursue an Olympic sailing campaign? I was in Athens in 2004 watching the U.S. 49er team compete. Pete Spaulding is my ex-brother in law and watching that 49er team compete in the Games was a big moment for me. Additionally, that same day we had sailing tickets; we also got to see the windsurfers race as they were on the same course as the 49er. That was my first exposure to Olympic windsurfing and I thought it was by far, the most interesting of all the sailing classes, particularly because it is so physical and dynamic. I watched Peter Wells race, my current coach, and I actually think he may have crashed during that race! What are you most looking forward to about competing in the Olympics? The racing! I love the sailing in Weymouth. The course areas offer so much variety and it will be crucial to adapt to the different conditions of wind and water everyday on a different course. Specifically, racing on the Nothe course will be particularly exciting, as about a 1/4th of the course is cut off because of the Nothe fort, so there will be 38 boards, racing at 15- 25 mph navigating the tiny course area..it's going to be a lot of fun. Additionally, I am really looking forward to interacting with all the other athletes, and learning their training programs and how they got to the top in their respective sport. What will be your biggest challenge during the Games? The uncertainty. This will be my first Games and I am not entirely sure what to expect, from the food, to the supplied equipment. All the windsurfers were handed their Games gear on July 18th, in what is essentially a wild card. You could have great equipment, and everything will be fine. Or you could have slow equipment and it will be difficult to overcome leading up to the first race, but I have no control over this, so it is what it is. -- Read on: http://olympics.ussailing.org/2012/07/25/meet-the-team-bob-willis/ TWELVE YEARS AGO After years of tough competition and many near misses, Britain suddenly had a team of Olympic sailing heroes. With five medals under their belt, thanks to Ben Ainsle, Iain Percy, Shirley Robertson, Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks and Ian Walker and Mark Covell, British sailing established a force to be reckoned with. This force was not only felt in the sailing community, but in the national Olympic team as sailing won five out of the twenty-eight medals gained that year. Sailing was now the nation's second most successful sport, closely beaten by Athletics. With an injection of Lottery funding, British sailors could now advance their knowledge in areas such a psychology and technical testing, as well as not worrying how they were going to pay their bills. This combination allowed Britain to set a new datum for the modern Olympics. Olympic sailing was no longer just about consistency but who had the edge to push it that bit further to gain a medal. -- Yachting World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/cfa5nkc ULLMAN SAILS POWER INTL TITLE AND PCC SWEEP AT WIRW Craig Burnell and his crew aboard "Predator" won the 2012 Thunderbird International Championships last week and Ed Feo's team sealed the Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championships on the same racecourse - both held as part of Whidbey Island Race Week! Competing with the latest Ullman Sails T-bird designs, "Predator" claimed the title in a hard-fought battle with last year's winner "Sunday". And in the Viper 640 class, Ed Feo led an Ullman-powered sweep of the top three spots with Garrett Johns' team on "KAA" finishing second overall and Jim Sears' "The FNG" in third place. Congratulations to all! www.ullmansails.com STAY UP TO DATE ON THE LONDON OLYMPICS The sailing competition at the 2012 Olympics Games will be on July 28-Aug 12. Curious how to follow the action? Here are some tips: * In the U.S., sailing will be live online daily at NBCOlympics.com, with archived video, with commentary by Gary Jobson. Their content team has already begun uploading original content as well as our content: http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html * Canadians will get some live on-line coverage of Olympic Sailing from August 5-11, from Canadian Oly Broadcaster CTV. But it is not obvious, given it is listed on the CTV schedule under its Oly affiliate, Asian Television Network (ATN). It is listed on the CTV Olympic schedule under affiliate Asian Television Network (ATN), which then directs to World Feed. * US Sailing Team: http://tinyurl.com/US-Olympic-Sailing-Team * Canadian Sailing Team: http://www.canadiansailingteam.ca/ Additionally, the Scuttlebutt website has added news widgets to help you stay up to date on the London Olympics without leaving your favorite site. Now you will have the latest Olympic video, news, slideshows, schedules and more... all at Scuttlebutt Sailing News: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ LARGEST MULTI-CLASS REGATTA IN THE UNITED STATES It was in 2004 that Scuttlebutt took on the task of determining what sailing venues in the U.S. provided the best racing conditions. We posed the question to our panel of experts, and found that while no one venue was best year round, the most popular venues during the summer tended to be to the west. However, there were a couple exceptions, with Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts as arguably the best example. The quality sailing conditions in part explains the success of the annual Buzzards Bay Regatta, now in its 40th year, which will be held August 3-5. Affectionately known as "BBR", it is the largest multi-class regatta in the United States with over 400 boats and 1200 sailors across a dozen classes. Started in 1972 by Bill Saltonstall and Bob Saltmarsh, the goal of the regatta was to gather sailors from across Buzzards Bay to participate in one event, rather than have many smaller regattas happen across the bay. Bill and Bob felt they could improve on logistics coordination, plus, that it would be fun to have many different types of boats race together. A big undertaking, the event takes place at Beverly Yacht Club in Marion, MA every even year and at New Bedford Yacht Club in Padanaram, MA, every odd year. It always takes place during the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday in August. Buzzards Bay is known for its Southwest breezes that blow consistently throughout the summer. The wind often builds during warm summer days in August, creating great racing conditions, especially in the afternoons. Sailors across the country come to BBR just to experience these conditions. Regatta details: http://tinyurl.com/dyy92ng Venue facts: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/racingsites-us/ TWO WAYS TO MAKE THE SHOW By Molly Winans, SpinSheet The screw-ups were the fun part. As I sat on the back of the yellow video boat for the filming of Annapolis YC (AYC) Wednesday Night Races, smiling nervously into the camera and hoping I didn't look as jittery as I felt, I already knew that this video gig was not as easy as my host, Tucker Thompson of T2PTV, made it seem. He told the audience, well really, he told the video camera and Ashley Love who manned it that there were two ways to make the show: "win the race or really screw it up." We laughed and knew it was true. Then, we buzzed over to the start line to get to work. What a gift, this windy, blue-sky weeknight in Annapolis, with flags flying, whitecaps, 100 boatloads of fired up racing sailors, and a spinnaker finish at the Eastport Bridge. I learned the drill early on. Ashley said, "Rolling!" I shut up, and Tucker launched into race commentary. Then they would stop and motor over to the next best shot. In a decade of watching the Wednesday night video show phenomenon evolve, it never occurred to me that Tucker drives the boat and does commentary at the same time. I've seen him do it, yet it didn't register that it was "live." No time to bleep anything out. I can talk as I drive my car, but not so well - and I don't drive against traffic at intersections, aiming for sterns and avoiding constant potential collisions, as unpredictable vehicles and waves zig zag at me, and as some guy fires a gun every few minutes. "I tell people I drive a powerboat for a living," says Tucker, who started his career as a pro sailor. He's not kidding. He does it all while speaking in an articulate, entertaining fashion about the race. It's impressive. Ashley, the editor in chief, and her fellow production crew members, T2P cofounder Bruce Nairn and freelancer Dave Dunigan, have their own set of skills. With a target of shooting 12 minutes of footage per show, they must get enough short clips of compelling video to tell the story. For any other type of show, a crew would film every pretty shot for three hours, including filler stuff and dock interviews, and then spend the next day clipping and tidying it up to a neat 12 minutes. That's not how T2P's business model works. Sailors in the party tent and at the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Eastport want to see their boats on video. Now. The crew wisely chooses their 12 minutes as they shoot, spends a half an hour cleaning it up and adding music, and puts it up on the party screen. Done. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/d8el6jg 2012 US SINLEHANDED CHAMPIONSHIPS DRAW TOP SAILORS Portsmouth, R.I. (July 25, 2012) - Top men and women singlehanded sailors from around the country will convene in Sheboygan, Wis. for three days of exciting racing on Lake Michigan this Friday, July 27, through Sunday, July 29. Sail Sheboygan, a US Sailing Center, will host the 2012 US Singlehanded Championships. The regatta exhibits a rich history of great sailing athletes, and this year's competitors are in good company. Over the years, many past Olympians and US Sailing Team members have participated at this Championship, including Paul Foerster, Morgan Larson, Andrew Campbell, Anna Tunnicliffe, Sally Barkow, and Sarah Lihan. The men's division will race the Laser, an Olympic class in the men's singlehanded division. The division features Clay Johnson (Point Pleasant, N.J.), who finished second overall in the 2012 Olympic Qualifier, narrowly missing out on making Team USA's Olympic Sailing Team. A four-time college All-American, Johnson is currently ranked 30th in the ISAF Laser World Rankings. Earlier this season, he took fifth place as the top American at US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR. Johnson has two silver medals at ISAF Sailing World Cup events, including Kiel Week in 2010 and Sail Melbourne in 2009. The 2011 Laser North American Champion and 2009 Laser National Champion has raced in this event three times during his career and is looking to have his name engraved on the O'Day Trophy for the first time. -- Read on: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2012/USSC_2012_Preview.htm TEAM UP FOR THE OLYMPICS WITH APS! The Olympics have started and we couldn't be more excited here at APS. You faithfully watch, celebrate, and support Team USA; why not do something for your own team? In honor of the London Games, APS is offering a deal to support teams everywhere with discounted pricing on Crugear Tech Shirts with dye sublimation! Don't miss out this deal ends: Wednesday, August 8th at 5:00pm EDT. Full details here: http://bit.ly/APSdeals SAILING SHORTS * Travemuender, Germany (July 25, 2012) - At Day 3 of the 29er World Championship teams turned up the heat for the final day of sailing to make the final cut for the gold, silver, bronze and emerald fleets. The leader after 9 races is 17 year old Noppakao Poonapat or "Nai" as she's known, and her crew, 2x World Champion Steve Thomas, sailing under the THA letters. They have a 1 point lead over Carlos Robles and Florian Trittle of Spain. The fleets are now split into 4 fleets; Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald. Racing for the finals begins Thursday July 26 with three days of sailing. Live reports and daily results: http://www.29erworlds.org * Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic (July 25, 2012) - The 6th day of fleet racing at the Opti Worlds found the Singaporeans dominating in both boys and girls categories, holding four of the top five spots. The Dutch Bart Lambriex is 4th, with Americans Ivan Shestopalov in 7th and Nic Muller in 9th. Racing continues on Thursday with two races. -- Event website: http://www.optiworlds2012.org * Torbole, Italy (July 23, 2012) - Along with the fight for the overall title that will involve at least ten very strong crews and a good number of outsiders, at the 2012 Melges 24 World Championship in Torbole - July 28th-August 4th - the stage will also be set for another battle: the one aimed at the conquest of the Corinthian title. The entry list counts 65 Corinthian crews coming from 17 Nations - a record for the International Melges 24 Class Association. -- Event website: http://www.melges24worldchampionship.com/ * PUMA's Mar Mostro, the Volvo Open 70 skippered by Ken Read for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, is now on the market. Mar Mostro was designed by Juan K and built at New England Boatworks. "Mar Mostro is an amazing yacht, whether sailing around the world or on an IRC race track. Around the buoys and in the Transatlantic Race, both against very stiff IRC competition, Mar Mostro was fast and reliable in all conditions. This boat can win at any level as well as break records with ease." - Mar Mostro Skipper Ken Read. For boat specs and details, visit: http://www.pumavolvo70forsale.com * CORRECTION Team One Newport wants to apologize for not recognizing and not including the Atlantis clothing line in their ad yesterday. Atlantis is the OFFICIAL clothing of the US Sailing Team Sperry Topsider and Team One Newport will offer FREE UPS ground shipping on any orders of Atlantis gear. SEND US YOUR RACE REPORTS Posting your event information on the free, self-serve Scuttlebutt Event Calendar tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. But don't stop there... send us your race reports too. Here are some of the upcoming events listed on the calendar: * Jul 26-27 - Annual Around Long Island Regatta - Sea Cliff, NY, USA * Jul 26-28 - New England Solo/Twin - Newport, RI, USA * Jul 28 - 'Round-the-Island Race - Edgartown, MA, USA * Jul 28-29 - Youngstown Level Regatta - Youngstown, NY, USA * Jul 30-Aug 4 - Sunfish North American Championship - Waukegan, IL, USA * Aug 1-2 - Techno 293 National Championship - Vineyard Haven, MA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar COMMENT: Are there no upcoming events in Canada? Please submit your events so we can promote them. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt EIGHT BELLS It is in great sadness that we would like to announce the passing of the beloved Betty Schock. Betty was an integral part of the W.D. Schock Corporation. She and Bill founded the company in 1946. For over 66 years Bill and Betty have provided joy for many sailors. Bill worked on design and production, while his wife Betty managed the office and developed the firm's marketing strategy. Betty is responsible for creating the iconic "S" used on numerous Schock boats and products. Betty and Bill thoroughly enjoyed racing and cruising the boats they built. This family orientation is a constant throughout the history of the firm. Services for Betty are scheduled to be held in mid-August and will be announced at a later date. Our condolences go out to the entire Schock family. -- Details at: http://tinyurl.com/bpbvorx GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Tom Leweck: The sailing community has just lost one of the good ones. In the 40+ years that I've been sailing offshore, I've encountered precious few owners who have earned the same level of respect, of true friendship and love - from both competitors and crew - as Hal Ward. Look up "class act" in the dictionary - I'm pretty sure you'll see Hal's picture there . smiling. Rest in peace my friend! * From Roy P. Disney: My deepest sorrows are for the loss of Hal Ward. He was the finest of gentlemen, the toughest yet most magnanimous of competitors. Truly, live lobster on the Cheval was the best way to go! The sport, and the world have lost a great soul, but our compensation is the great human being he was. * From J. Mark Sims: I am deeply saddened by Hal's passing. Hal was one of the most gracious men I have ever had the pleasure to sail with. I had the great honor to sail with Hal on many occasions over many years and have always been inspired by his nonchalant consideration to the after effects of his bout with polio. He was a true competitor, a lover of life, and laughter. His spirit did not just conquer adversity, it ignored it, and sought triumph through competition amongst spirited friends. Hal never gave up on himself nor his endeavors. He was the embodiment of the ability of a man's will over the complications of life. Hal's achievements are far too long to list, those on the water and off. I will say simply, I am a better man for sailing with Hal Ward. Thank you old friend, fair winds. * From Bill Sandberg (re, Scuttlebutt 3640): Many thanks to my friend, fellow sailor and Syracuse Orangeman Steve Barrett for his kind words. I would be remiss however in not correcting one item. I write a monthly column for Windcheck (which Scuttlebutt has seen fit to reprint a number of times). Windcheck is actually published by Anne Hannan, Chris Gill and Chris Szepessy. They have given me a forum for the last 6+ years to publish my views on many of my favorite topics--including junior, disabled and Olympic sailing. They are the parts of our sport that make me proud to be a sailor. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Pilot Advice: The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Soft Deck - Hall Spars & Rigging - US Sailing - North Sails - Pure Yachting Harken - Team One Newport - Allen Insurance and Financial Ullman Sails - APS - Camet - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
