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SCUTTLEBUTT 2601 - May 21, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. ARTEMIS TRANSAT LEADER VINCENT RIOU ABANDONS SHIP (May 20, 2008) Leading the Open 60 fleet on Day 10 of The Artemis Transat from Plymouth (GBR) to Boston (USA), Vincent Riou onboard PRB reported hitting a large sea mammal at 3:00 AM this morning, but his initial assessment was that the damage remained superficial... The skipper realised this afternoon that one of his keel pins was missing, and that the appendage was only held by the ram used to cant it. With an approaching storm, Vincent Riou decided to abandon ship and has been rescued by Loick Peyron onboard Gitana Eighty, who was running in second place at the time. Here is Vincent Riou's account of the events: "Last night at around 3:00 GMT, reaching rather fast, between 15 and 18 knots, I felt a shock which didn't worry me too much since it was violent but 'soft' - I didn't hear any carbon crack. I'm sure it was a shark, and actually I think I cut it in two since I saw two portions emerge at the back of the boat. I assessed the possible damage, and only saw a minor problem on the fairing of the keel box, nothing serious but anyway I slowed down a bit. I took advantage of the ridge we crossed today to stop and get a better look, and that's when I discovered one of the keel pins was missing. The keel was being held in place because it was canted and somehow stuck, but I didn't really want to face the gale expected for tomorrow on a boat whose keel could fall off at any time." -- Read on: http://www.theartemistransat.com/60/home.asp * The area of high-pressure and light winds to the south of the Class40 fleet in The Artemis Transat caused an overnight stall for the entire fleet with the northern group of race leader Giovanni Soldini with Telecom Italia, Thierry Bouchard with Mistral Loisirs – Pole Sante ELIOR (2nd place), Yvan Noblet on Appart’ City (4th place) and Christophe Coatnoan’s Groupe Partouche (8th place) escaping the worst of this calm period. Sodini currently holds a 58nm lead with 1,393nm to go. TERRORIST ATTACK DAMAGES SPANISH YACHT CLUB Desafío, the former Challenger of Record of the 33rd America's Cup, decided last month to abandon the newly formed CNEV (Club Náutico Español de Vela) and instead represent a well-respected and traditional yacht club. As a result, Desafío chose to fly the colors of Real Club Marítimo del Abra, located in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao. Officially, the reason the team opted for that yacht club was that it was the first one in the alphabetical order of all Spanish clubs although it is strongly believed it was a decision by Iberdorla, the syndicate's main sponsors, whose headquarters are a few kilometers from Abra. On Monday morning, at exactly 00:50 am, a car bomb exploded right in front of the yacht club's main building. According to the initial press reports, there were at least 60kg of explosives inside the van that was parked on the city's boardwalk, just 10 meters away from the building's entrance but also very close to a number of adjacent houses. The Basque terrorist group ETA had warned the police at 11:55 pm on Sunday that a bomb would explode within the following hour in front the club's premises. And so it did and according to witnesses the explosion was heard miles away. Unaware of the bomb threat, people in the vicinity thought a nearby chemical factory had exploded. There were no victims since the police had managed to evacuate the area but material damage was severe. -- Valencia Sailing, read on: http://abe5.com/41l SAILING THE WATERS OF NEW YORK HARBOR by Verlyn Klinkenborg, NY Times Just above the desk in my office hangs a U.S. Geological Survey map of New York and Vicinity made in 1901. When I sit at my desk, the top of my head is about level with the Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn, where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge later went. I used to admire this map mainly for the vast expanses of swamp and salt meadow it shows and for the still incomplete hatch work of streets. But now I find myself looking at the waterline — especially the waterline of what the map calls the Upper Bay of New York Harbor, north of the Narrows and south of the Hudson River proper. What has made the difference is sailing in the harbor. A couple of weekends ago I joined a two-day sailing class at North Cove, a small marina in Battery Park City. From the floating dock, you can see the current scouring past the marina’s narrow exit and the wake of tour boats. In the distance, a tug-powered barge slides past, as big as a tabular iceberg. The harbor looks like a scene of tumult. The school boats — 24-foot sailboats — make their way under power through the slot and out into the great wide open. We kill the motor, set the sails — main first, then the jib. The wind lifts us across the water, and suddenly there is plenty of room. We are sailing, in fact, in a problem of perspective. -- Read on: http://abe5.com/41m JK3 NAUTICAL ENTERPRISES AT THE DANA POINT BOAT SHOW! What better place to explore the energy and excitement of the summer boating season then the Dana Point Boat Show!! The show is May 29 - June 1 on the docks in Dana Point. Stop by and say hi to our team and check out the Delphia 40 and Hunt Harrier 25. For more information on boats, tickets or similar lines visit our website at http://www.jk3yachts.com or give our office a call at 619.224.6200. Hope to see you all there! THE DELIVERY SKIPPER'S DELIVERY SKIPPER by Herb McCormick, Sailing World They call him "the Hippie," and it's not hard to see why. Jon Shampain is one of the West Coast racing scene's most ubiquitous, well-known figures, a fellow who knocks off miles and miles to Mexico, Hawaii, and other Pacific Ocean ports-of-call almost every year. He's a traveler, all right, but with his long, gray ponytail and beard to boot, it's obvious there's one spot Shampain has not visited in quite some time: the barber's chair. Before last month, the last time I saw Shampain was in the summer of 2005, somewhere near Antioch, Calif., in the latter stages of the annual Delta Ditch Run from San Francisco Bay to Stockton. He was, unfortunately, in rather dire straights; the mast of his Hobie 33 was buckled over and he was in the midst of gathering the debris. I hollered over to see if he needed assistance though it was abundantly clear he and his crew were on top of the situation. His thumb went up, and he bent back down to his labors as we sailed on. -- Read on: http://forums.sailingworld.com/blogs/?q=node/155 ONLY ELEVEN WEEKS UNTIL THE OLYMPICS There are only eleven weeks remaining before the start of the Olympic sailing event on August 8th. Athlete training is occurring onsite in Qingdao, with many this week in Medemblik (NED) for the Delta Lloyd Regatta (former Holland Regatta). There are 566 entrants that will compete in this annual Grade 1 Olympic sailing event on Wednesday May 21 with the last Medal Races on Sunday May 25th. Here are some recent reports from the North American contingent: * Andrew Campbell (USA) - Laser: Medemblik greeted me with an apparently standard Dutch greeting: a rainy, windy, cold slap in the face. The reality of why I have not been to Holland in five years since my first Olympic-circuit Laser regatta hit me as I pulled into the boatpark and the rain started coming down and the temp struggled into the upper fifties. And yet, here I am, ready for action. The sailors are the same and the boatpark is different. The dependability of having good sailing when you show up in Europe is so rare and, in reality the reason that we keep coming back. -- http://www.campbellsailing.com * Stu McNay/Graham Biehl (USA) - Men’s 470: Immediately after training in Poland we left for Mendemblik, Holland for the Grade 1 Holland Regatta that starts on May 21. Unfortunately we had some travel trouble and seemed to have burned out our axle and brake on our left trailor tire. We were lucky enough to be just outside Berlin when it happened and not Poland, because English being our only language made things difficult enough. We got our trailer trucked to a repair shop outside Berlin where we ran into more language barriers, and some translation favors were called in to a friend in Vienna, and our Austrian training partners who had passed us 2 hours before. So all is sorted, but not fixed. The parts and repair couldn’t be made until Wednesday, so we had to truck the trailer on a flatbed to Mendemblik. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. -- http://www.teammb.org * Tim Wadlow/Chris Rast (USA) - 49er: We have found the Chinese to be incredibly friendly and hard working. Getting things done in China can be a challenge, and the language and cultural barriers are significant. On this trip we have had the guidance of coach Luther Carpenter, who has been to China three times. We are sailing from a yacht club near the Olympic sailing venue. Yesterday we tried to sail into the Olympic Harbor to check it out, but we were chased away by high speed security boats with flashing lights that didn't seem very amused by out stunt. One really interesting observation: There is a fleet of roughly 25 wooden fishing skiffs moored near the yacht club. For the first few days we saw them heading out on water in unison, and then anchoring near the race course where a Paralympic Test Event was going on. When the racing was over, the fleet of boats would come in. We later learned that this fleet of boats was out picking up trash, so the sailors wouldn't have to avoid it. -- http://www.wadlowrast.com => Curmudgeon’s Comment: If there are Olympic sailors that you would like Scuttlebutt to follow, please send their website address to mailto:info@sailingscuttlebutt.com SAILING SHORTS * The Hudson River Community Sailing Center (HRCS) has opened on Pier 66 in New York City - 26th St & the Hudson River. HRCS offers free programming to urban youths in metropolitan New York City as well as numerous sailing opportunities for the general public. To help support this new community sailing effort, they are hosting their first annual HRCS fundraising event on June 5 at 7pm. For more info, visit http://www.hudsonsailing.org * The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association All America Selection Committee is now accepting nomination forms. The committee is particularly interested to receive nominations for the Hobbs Trophy awarded annually to the top sportsman in college sailing. Forms may be found at http://www.collegesailing.org/docs/forms.asp * Marina del Rey, CA -- Ten of the famous west coast maxi sleds gathered last weekend for the Cal Cup at California Yacht Club to enjoy a three race level fleet event, with Brack Duker’s Santa Cruz 70 Holua edging out the win by a point over the Kernan 68 Peligroso owned by Mike Campbell/ Dale Williams. -- Complete results: http://results.calyachtclub.com/RaceResults/Series205.htm J/122: FIRST U.S. CLASS REGATTA Doyle sails powered the top two finishers at the first one design event in the U.S. for the J/122. Co-owners Mike Bruno and Tom Boyle on "Wings" won the J/122 class at the American Yacht Club Spring Series, followed closely by Andrew Weiss's "Christopher Dragon." Doyle sails are fast and easy to trim over a wide range of conditions, allowing the crew to concentrate on boat handling and tactics. For more information on how Doyle can power your boat to victory, contact your local Doyle loft, 800-94-DOYLE, http://www.doylesails.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Bob Daniel: Scuttlebutt's article (in Issue 2599) on Abracadabra & Dr. Jim Andrews reminded me of a business trip to Wichita,KS. I arrived late at night to my hotel and went to sleep. In the morning I opened the curtains and to my surprise I saw an A-CUP boat on a cradle outside my window! There was still a bit of snow left on the ground as I walked over to confirm what I couldn't believe my eyes were telling me. For more details of another retired A-CUP boat: http://abe5.com/40e * From Sutter Schumacher: (re, the Yellow Jersey story in #2600) Great minds must think alike. The skiff fleet my husband races with here in New Zealand (www.rclass.org) has borrowed cycling's yellow jersey tradition for about 10 years. At the end of each day during the R Class Nationals, the series-leading skipper and crew receive the yellow jerseys to wear until the end of the next day. But the class has a good-natured twist on the jersey concept: the skipper and crew on the lowest-placed boat that has managed to finish every race receive brown jerseys at the end of the day. (At least the brown shirts are usually received with good humor...). -- Post additional comments here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2008/05/yellow-jersey.html * From Hugh Elliot: My understanding is that NOOD stands for National Offshore One Design (as in Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design Regatta). I am just bright enough to understand that Lasers, 505s, and similar dinghies are National in scope and definitely One Design, but would someone please explain to me how they qualify as Offshore boats? Or is that only in Seattle? * From William Alexander: I was surprised that the 29ers, Lasers, and Tasars were allowed to establish classes at the inaugural Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta in Seattle. Obviously, no reasonable person would ever categorize any of these boats as "offshore" classes, so it seems that without any fanfare, Sailing World magazine has silently buried an 'O" and converted its NOOD regattas into NOD events. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: We were wondering about this too, and asked Sailing World Editor Dave Reed for his reply: “The success with the inaugural Seattle NOOD goes to the clubs and the class spark plugs that pulled their people together, especially those that had never formally raced as a class. That there were 231 registered boats says a lot for a vibrant, underrated sailing scene, and we can only improve on what we think was an excellent start. As far as the "offshore" element of the event, it certainly has changed from its inception 20 years ago. But so, too, has the sailing landscape. Each of the nine regattas embraces the local one-design scene, and in the case of Seattle (and San Diego, which this year had Int'l 14s and 505s) that sometimes means a few high-performance dinghy classes are invited as well, if the host club can accommodate them with their own circle. “It's well known that the Seattle NOOD would have competed on the calendar with SYC's longstanding SOCKs Regatta, which would have been ridiculous. But thanks to the persistence (and insistence) of SYC's Brian Ledbetter and Ben Glass, the regatta ultimately brought everyone together. Losing the “offshore” element in N.O.O.D., wouldn't necessarily make it the "NOD." I guess it could instead be considered the Sperry Top-Sider NOAOD (National Offshore AND One Design) Regatta, but that sure is a mouthful of marbles. We'd still prefer to sail in the NOOD, and look forward to it again next year in Seattle.” * From Scuttleblog: (re, story in #2600 about Puma being sexier than the Green VO70) I don't know about that! Green team’s rp may be Plain-Jane to you, but just look at her…she's dead sexy! For the record, it's not all about the dress, and if all goes according to plan that dress belongs on the floor of the bedroom. -- Post additional comments here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2008/05/style-factor.html * From Bill LeFevre: (re, PUMA christening) Reminds me of the christening of the Soviet sub in the 2002 movie K19:Widowmaker starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson: History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19 Movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-19:_The_Widowmaker There. Someone had to say it. I hope things don't turn out likewise. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Within the History link above, it mentions how it is a bad omen for the champagne bottle to bounce off without breaking, and how tradition calls for a woman to do the christening. As Jobson observed, “After four attempts at breaking the champagne bottle, crewman Jerry Kirby had the presence to step forward and give the actress (Salma Hayek) an extra hand.” For the superstitious ‘buttheads, let’s hope this cat has nine lives. * From Chris Wentz: The Zaleski brothers are far too modest of blow their own horn so I'm going to do it for them. As reported in Issue 2600, they won the J/24 Nationals last weekend. Not reported was that this was their second consecutive Nationals win. Add to that, this was the seventh major J/ 24 class win in a row. I asked Jeff Johnstone if anyone ever managed such a feat in the class and he didn't think so. Their energy and devotion to the J/24 class is worthy of note. * From Jamie Leopold: Not to be too nitpicky, but the article from the Baltimore Sun, reprinted in Scuttlebutt 2600, and titled “PERCENT PURE BLISS - 10 PERCENT TERROR” stated that Doris Colgate started the Offshore Sailing School 40 years ago. This is not correct. According to the Offshore Sailing School website, “Steve (Colgate) founded Offshore Sailing School in 1964.” And as I recall, Doris attended the school as a student, and the rest as they say is history. * From Zane Murdoch, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia: (re, story in #2600) Statistics are very impressive - 90% of boat accident fatalities aren't wearing lifejackets - but often not informative. What percentage of the boating population in general wears lifejackets? That is one of the problems with being keen on counting without supplying context. We know that boating accidents and deaths are higher than they should be but the numbers provided in the report don't give any indication of the effectiveness of lifejackets or skipper training. GET YOUR BOAT TO THE WATER IN STYLE Seitech Products is the leading manufacturer of launching dollies and racks. For high quality aluminum launching dollies, trailers & storage racks for small watercraft of all types go to Seitech.com. Seitech is looking forward to improving your access to the water and making your boating season a breeze! http://www.seitech.com CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Doyle Sailmakers, and LaserPerformance. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
