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SCUTTLEBUTT 2285 - February 21, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). SWALLOWED WHOLE Like a python swallowing its prey, an Antonov cargo plane had the hulls of Team New Zealand's two race yachts loaded into its belly yesterday. Three rigs, two keels and a chase boat were also among a 130-tonne consignment that will begin making its way from Auckland International Airport to Spain today ahead of the America's Cup. The Antonov AN124-100, operated by Russian-based company Volga-Dnepr Airlines, will make refuelling stops in Sydney, Darwin, Kuala Lumpur, Karachi and Istanbul on a 56-hour journey to Valencia. "It's a bit like a snake eating an albatross," Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton remarked, as he watched the hulls of NZL84 and NZL92 being loaded on. Dalton admitted there was a bit of risk in having both boats on the same flight. "But you don't read in the newspapers every day that an Antonov has fallen out of the sky," he said. "If it goes down, well, it won't be any point sending boat builders to help. It's a worry, but everything we do has risk." The Antonov was one of two on the tarmac yesterday loading America's Cup yachts - the other was chartered by American syndicate BMW Oracle, which has been training in Auckland over the summer. Much of Team NZ's shore crew and administration staff are already in Valencia, and Dalton is due to depart on Friday. The sailing crew is scheduled to leave at the end of the month. Testing of NZL84 and NZL92 off Valencia is expected to start on March 5, about a month out from the final build-up regatta - Louis Vuitton Act 13, a fleet-racing event running from April 3 to 7. The challengers' series for the Louis Vuitton Cup begins on April 16, with the best-of-nine cup match between the successful challenger and Swiss defender Alinghi starting on June 23. --http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/3968637a1823.html ANNA TUNNICLIFFE: WINTER TRAINING When given the opportunity to train in a place where the wind blows 15-18kts almost every day, the waves are 3-5ft, and the water temperature is so warm you don't cool down when you jump in, you can't really pass up the opportunity to go. As it turns out, I was given this opportunity about a year ago when the Canadian Sailing Team invited me to their Laser/ Radial camp in a small town called Cabarete in the Dominican Republic, and I was hooked permanently. Now, maybe some people have heard of this place because of the Caribbean Laser Midwinter Championships that are held there, or maybe others because many great Laser sailors have trained there, but if you haven't heard of this place...its absolutely amazing. Cabarete is a small, one street town on the north side of the Dominican Republic. The street runs parallel to the ocean side; one side with shops facing the street, and the other mainly restaurants and windsurfing/ kite-boarding rental centers backed up to the street off the beach. I recently returned from Cabarete after a training week with Evi Van Acker from Belgium (ISAF #1), Tania Elias Calles from Mexico (ISAF #2), and Lisa Ross from Canada (ISAF #12), and am going back in a couple of weeks for more. So what's amazing about this place? Primarily it's the weather, but there is so much more to this small town that makes it so wonderful to go back to every time. I don't really want to bore you with the details of our training, so I will tell you more about our experiences there instead. -- Read on for Anna's report on this great site in the DR: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0219 ROAD SHOW The 32nd America's Cup is launching 'Road to Valencia', a promotional tour leading to the start of the decisive phase of the competition, with its first stop scheduled, appropriately enough, in Geneva, Switzerland on 26th February. The 'Road to Valencia' is a five-city tour which leads to the ultimate stages of the 32nd America's Cup. Following competition in Louis Vuitton Acts in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the final season of racing in Valencia is now just weeks away. From Geneva, 'the road' runs through Paris (28th February - 1st March), Rome (5th March), and Berlin, (7th-8th March), before concluding in Madrid (12th-13th March). On the 3rd April, all 12 America's Cup teams begin their final campaign which will end with a new winner hoisting the oldest sporting trophy in the world into the air in triumph early in July. -- http://www.americascup.com GARY JOBSON ON TOUR You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process at North U. North U TRIM and Tactics Seminars feature top instructors - not just great sailors - so the emphasis is on your sailing, not their sea stories. The Multi-Media content and exclusive interactive Sail Shaper and Wind Shift Simulators bring you fresh insight into racing performance. With Books and CDs to take home, you get tools and techniques to make you a winning racer. Learn Fast (& Smart). Call 800-347-2457 or visit http://www.NorthU.com WORK IN PROGRESS (Here's an excerpt from a report filed by James Boyd for thedailysail subscription website from Alinghi's defender series in Dubai.) The defender trials gave us a brief glimpse of what Alinghi have been up to developing their boats. At the subsequent press conference Alinghi's Managing Director, Grant Simmer, who oversees the design team, admitted that both SUI 75 and SUI 91 had been taken out of class for the series. To quite what extent he obviously wouldn't divulge. However both boats are noticeably different. We're no expert when it comes to transoms, but when it comes to the bows the angle from the deck down to the first knuckle is now reverse in angle, the knuckle nearer the water and with no sloping up 'ski jump' foredeck - both boats fitted with the same shaped bow, to our eye at least. This looked pretty sweet during today's racing in flat water, the bow wave rarely reaching this knuckle. We don't know enough about the rules to know whether this bow shape is legal. SUI 75 may also have a tad less freeboard than SUI 64 - not surprising given the expected calmer conditions in Valencia compared to Auckland. Both boats were also fitted with enormous flippers on their spreaders. These were at least a metre long, much longer than we have seen before (see our photographic study of AC topmasts taken in Malmo in 2005). The only other obvious difference was that on SUI 91 they were using a boom comprising only the structural elements of the spar faired using a transparent mylar film, no doubt input from Mike Drummond who is a known C-Class catamaran fan (C-Class wing-rigs are covered in a similar fairing). -- http://www.thedailysail.com CHANGING TIMES Entry withdrawals have reduced the entire Racing Division of the Del Rey YC's 1125-mile race to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to just three boats. Only Doug Baker's Alan Andrews-designed Magnitude 80, David Janes' R/P 77 Scout Spirit and Lorenzo Berho's J/145 Raincloud will be on the starting line Friday for this year's 19th biennial event. There are also 10 boats presently sailing in the race's Salsa Division which allows competitors to turn on their engines and power when the wind goes light. The Salsa Division boats started earlier and are now tucked into Bahia de Tortugas (Turtle Bay) on the west coast of Baja California after completing the first leg of their competition. -- http://www.dryc.org GREAT FOR THE CUP (Here's a recent post on the A-Cup challenger BMW Oracle Racing's blog) Good sponsors are great for the (America's) Cup, and not just for the money they inject into the event and teams, but for the awareness, promotion and excitement they, and almost they alone, generate. Think where we would be without them, and how far we have come in just a few short years. What a list! Areva, Capitalia, Emirates, Iberdrola, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Red Bull, Sicilia*, T-Systems, UBS, United Internet and Valencia -- to say nothing of BMW, ORACLE, Allianz, Girard-Perregaux, et al. -- Read on: http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/stories/3316078 LATEST UK-HALSEY RULES QUIZ POSTED UK-Halsey's latest quiz presents three variations of boats mixing it up on a run. All three situations commonly happen on the course - so test your knowledge or reinforce your understanding of the rules governing: gaining an overlap, proper course, luffing, and when the buoy room rule applies. Play them on-line FREE; animation makes them easy to understand. Plus, there are many prior quizzes: if you haven't reviewed them lately, you should. If you're confident you know the rules, are you just as sure about knowing safety at sea procedures? Check out our Safety at Sea videos now. http://www.ukhalsey.com SAILING SHORTS * Defending champions Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Nathan Ellis have taken the lead in the SLAM-Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan International 18ft Skiff Championship following their narrow victory in Fiat in Race 3 of the regatta on Sydney Harbour. Fiat crossed the finish line just 4secs ahead of John Winning Jr and his appliancesonline.com.au team. The Fiat team now have a score of nine points, followed by Club Marine (Euan Mc Nicol) on 11, Gotta Love It 7 on 13, Asko Appliances (Hugh Stodart) on 22, Active Air-2UE (John Sweeny) 23 and Pegasus Racing (Howie Hamlin) 25. -- http://www.18footers.com.au * Having sat-out the mandatory 48 hour penalty Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Open 60 Saga Insurance is underway after pulling into Ushuaia, the southernmost port in Argentina for repairs. "My body feels a bit strange from having a whole night's sleep but it has probably been good for me," he said. He trails the four remaining boats in the Velux 5 Oceans solo round the world race as the fleet heads for Norfolk, VA. Leader Bernard Stamm's Cheminees Poujoulat is now nearly 2000 miles in front of Kojiro Shiraishi's Spirit of Yokoh with some 3500 miles to go on this leg. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com * Samuel Byrne's Langan 78 Captivity was dismasted in the first hours of the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race. The crew reported no injuries, but had to put in to Guantanamo Bay. By 6 pm on Monday 19th, eight boats had crossed the finish line in what was probably the most exciting finish the race has ever seen. Titan 12 took line honors but behind her Bon Bon and Blue Yankee raced neck and neck in an attempt for second place. Bon Bon won the battle and Harrier came across the line three minutes behind Blue Yankee. -- http://www.montegobayrace.com/index2.htm * According to a report posted on the Valencia Sailing blog, right now there are 14 GP42 class boats that have been built or are under construction from six different nationalities (6 ESP, 3 ITA, 2 CRO, 1 POR, 1 NED and 1 NOR). The calendar of this growing class was also finalized and confirmed last month. -- http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/search/label/GP42 * Thanks to photographer Christophe Favreau, there are now photos on the Scuttlebutt website from the JJ Giltinan Trophy 2007 - aka 18ft Skiff World Championship - being hosted this week in Sydney Harbor, Australia: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0219/ WHAT IS A LASER 4.7? The Laser 4.7 is the smallest sibling to the Radial and Laser. With a smaller sail than the Radial, it is sailed worldwide by Opti graduates bound for the larger Radial. The sail and lower mast easily coverts any Laser to the 4.7. Be a Laser Sailor for Life. http://www.teamvanguard.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 Frank Whitton: I find it shocking that violating rules (cheating) is considered a debatable option in this forum of Corinthian sailors. All of the incidents mentioned in Scuttlebutt are from 30 or more years ago. Does this mean that our current group of racers have a different sense of values? I gave a speech a while ago, where part of it went like this: What is Sailing (Racing) all about. The bottom line is that it is all about Sportsmanship, Conduct, and Integrity. As an example, altering a grand prix racing boat by changing the keel for a different, much lighter configuration without reporting it to the respective rating authority lowers the level of these precepts to the bottom of the barrel. In my 35 years as measurer, I heard people justify there actions by saying that everyone else does it - so whether it is legal or not - it's acceptable. I would point out to these people that they are wrong. Other people don't cheat. I further tell them if they want to do it right, just wait for the sun to go down and turn on the engine. In conclusion, cheating is not acceptable behavior in the sport of Sailing. * From Michael Funsch: One man who has been a mentor for both racing skills and sportsmanship at St. Petersburg YC is Dr. John Jennings. Johnny Jennings needed only to finish the last race of the Sears Cup finals to win the championship in the late 1950's. However, unseen by others, the flag of the starting mark brushed either the hull or his sail when passing by during the sequence. Johnny retired from the race and thereby received the runner-up trophy. While not a Worlds or Olympics, to a junior sailor it is, and having the honor to do the right thing is all the more amazing, a reflection of the values bestowed upon him by his parents. Subsequent sailors who have passed under the tutelage of Dr. J or his son John Jr.? Ed Baird, Allison Jolly, Rick Merriman, Marty Kullman, Dave Fagen, the Mendleblatt brothers, Sean Doyle, Brett Davis, to name a few. In addition to having had the pleasure of knowing Dr. John for many years, I have been fortunate to have recently come to know another young sportsman of the highest caliber: J.D. Reddaway at Lake Lanier SC, (in Georgia). His recent recognition for his actions at the Orange Bowl stems from a strong sense of ethics instilled by his parents, David & Carol. The Big Take Away: in addition to being a great sport and recreational activity, sailing also provides unique opportunities for parents to instill a strong sense of independence, ethics, and personal responsibility in their children. * From Derek Bouwer, Commodore ABYC: (regarding last week's poll about retiring after infringing a sailing law) I would assume the 77% yes/ 23% no split would hold true in South Africa as well. This being the case, 77% yes's should carry on in this sport while the 23% no's should give up and play golf where they would be policed. The beauty of sailing is it's one of the few sports where we police ourselves. My vote would have been yes! * From Michael Levesque (RE: Sportsmanship Poll): Another good poll question might be, "Answer this only if you have been in the situation where you broke a rule, knowing no one saw the infraction. Did you (A) Retire / turn, or (B) Continue in the race?" While the hypothetical is a good start, this might show people's "true colors." For me, this is easy. I'm admittedly a mid-pack racer (with brief moments of glory to keep me motivated), racing Hobie 16s for the past 10 years. I race in some very competitive fleets, and it is rare that I win a race. I distinctly recall being in a race (with Bob Merrick, coincidentally). I managed to be the first boat to the weather mark on a lake with light, fluky air. If you got ahead, you were golden. Of course I hit the mark, and no one else could have possibly seen it. My crew didn't even see me hit it. I started laughing like a madman, and immediately started a penalty turn when I cleared the mark. Of course, Bob passed me further down the leg, and eventually the rest of the fleet passed me on the next windshift (it was a 90-degree shift with gusts, I was stuck in a hole with no air). I love this story, not only because it's funny (in a masochistic sort of way), but because I would just wouldn't feel right by winning a race against my friends (or anyone, really) by cheating. * From Peter Alarie (re Revelation II, the boat powered by three 20-foot long carbon fiber propellers on a 30-foot rotating mast in yesterday's 'Butt): In the category of "nothing new under the sun", this concept was first explored by John Brown Herreshoff in 1850. (http://tinyurl.com/2o4chd) There is a working model that was actually built and can be seen at the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, RI. As the story goes, Ted Turner once visited the museum, saw the model and declared that it could not possibly work! A quick trip across the street to the dock and the bet was on. Minutes later he surrendered the wager, a reported $0.10! * From Bill McNaughton In yesterday's 'Butt you asked, "Why didn't we think of that before?" The answer is "Lord Barbazon of Tara did in 1934 with a yacht called Kestrel and the boat is at the Classic Boat Museum Isle of Wright." To see a picture and write up go to www.classisboatmuseum.ord and click on "Collection". I'll let you do the narrative for the "letter". CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire. Special thanks to North U, UK-Halsey Sailmakers, and Vanguard Sailboats. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
