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SCUTTLEBUTT 3324 - Wednesday, April 20, 2011Scuttlebutt 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: JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Quantum Sails, and LaserPerformance. BRAD VAN LIEW WINS VELUX 5 OCEANS SPRINT FOUR Charleston, South Carolina (April 19, 2011) - American solo sailor Brad Van Liew has won the fourth sprint of the VELUX 5 OCEANS round the world yacht race. The 43-year-old sailed into his home town of Charleston, South Carolina today to rapturous applause from the flotilla of spectator boats who turned out to greet him. After sailing more than 5,900 nautical miles from Punta del Este in Uruguay, Brad crossed the finish line in Charleston Harbor at 1658 local time following 23 days, 4 hours and 58 minutes at sea. Stepping onto dry land for the first time in three weeks, Brad said, “Winning this leg is so special - this is my home port, I am very involved in the maritime community in Charleston and all my friends and family are here. I feel delirious and exhausted - it was a heck of a leg.” His victory makes it four wins out of four legs in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, a 30,000-mile singlehanded race around the globe sailed in 60ft yachts called Eco 60s. With one more leg to sail, Brad has a dominant lead at the top of the VELUX 5 OCEANS leaderboard. As of 1650 hours, Canadian Derek Hatfield is 167 nm further back in second place. Brad is a veteran of two previous VELUX 5 OCEANS races in 1998 and 2002, when it was known the Around Alone. Brad won class two of the 2002 edition. -- Full story: http://www.velux5oceans.com/#/ocean-sprint-4-news/1663 TEAM RACING BASICS: KNOW YOUR COMBINATION By Clemmie Everett, WindCheck If you want to be a good team racer, the first thing you need to work on is boat speed and boat handling. If you can’t keep up with your teammates and opponents, can’t maneuver in close situations with marks and other boats, and can’t slow your boat down and then accelerate again, you won’t be much help to your team. Coordination and communication between skipper and crew as well as between teammates is essential. The next step in learning team racing is to become familiar with winning and losing combinations (note: examples for three boat teams). If in doubt, any combination that adds up to less than ten is winning, and anything greater than ten is losing. Another rule of thumb is that if you have first place and not last place, your team is always winning. But team races are won and lost in a matter of seconds, and to act quickly, you will need to know combinations almost instantly. There are three stable winning combinations: 1-2-x, also called Play 1 2-3-4, also called Play 2 1-4-5, also called Play 4 These combinations are stable because they are easy to defend, though in team racing, as in sailing in general, nothing is guaranteed until you actually cross the finish line. Play 1 is stable because it is difficult for opponents to catch your first two boats. The third boat on your team should try to stay out of protests and slow the back half of the race down if possible. Play 2 is stable because the three boats can cover the opponent’s two boats behind, and it is difficult for the opponent in first to attack all three of your team’s boats without losing the lead. Play 4 is more complex, but it boils down to the first place boat being able to hold the lead and the fourth and fifth place boats holding the last place opponent in last. There are also two unstable winning combinations... Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3b6bvos JK3 AT STRICTLY SAIL PACIFIC JK3 and Sabre Yachts just finished a great weekend at the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show in Oakland, CA, where JK3 was proud to present the all new Sabre 456 as well as the beautiful Sabre Spirit. The Sabre 456 caused such a buzz, that we couldn't hold on to her. SOLD at the show! JK3 also unveiled the exciting new promotion from Sabre called "LaunchPad", a revolutionary new service to manage your boating activity online, with everything you need, all conveniently loaded onto a sleek iPad. If you missed JK3 at Strictly Sail, then be sure to visit us at the Newport Beach Show April 28 -May 1. http://www.jk3yachts.com A LOOK AT THE FINN UNDER WATER While the chat continues on about the need to rid of old school boats like the Star and the Finn, PRO Peter “Luigi” Reggio for one maintains that still, the Finn is “actually a really cool boat for heavy individual single handers,” adding that the type of visual impact required for major events like the Olympics is more desirable than the “appreciation of how special some of these boats really are.” Mikko Brummer, also a Finn fan and tech geek with WB-Sails, is clearly far from done with the Finn, as he describes the process of a recent sail development program and what was discovered: --------------------------------------------------------------------- In a recent Finn sail development cycle, WB-Sails needed a 3D Finn model, with hull, cockpit, crew and all, to be able to simulate the sail performance more realistically. With the hull model there, we thought why not add a centreboard and a rudder and take a look under the water as well. The model was taken out of Gilbert Lamboley’s work on digitising the original Finn plans, “Body lines definition and control”, from 2003. We inserted a roughly shaped cockpit and centreboard case, with the centreboard exiting from the bottom. The underwater flow model was simplified so that wave-making was ignored, representing the sea as a flat surface, because our aero-code does not support free-surface modelling. Wave-making drag cannot be modelled, but otherwise the free surface is not believed to have a major effect on the flow pattern and pressures over the hull. When sailing at steady speed, the underwater and above water forces and moments must be in balance. Care was taken that the simulated sail forces, drive and heel, and heeling moment match with the corresponding underwater forces, and the righting moment by the sailor hiking. The real righting moment is easy to estimate from sailing photos, considering that from trapezing dinghies we know that the centre of gravity of a human being lies more or less at the height of his navel. The simulation was run for medium-heavy conditions of 18 knot true wind. With the sail forces solved, the attitude of the underwater hull was adjusted (leeway and rudder angle at the given boatspeed of 4.9 knots) until the underwater forces matched the sail forces. The sail shape was recorded with a masthead video on Lake Garda, in a steady sea breeze of 18 knots but with rather a nasty chop, hence the GPS recorded boatspeed less than 5 knots - on flat water the Finn can easily exceed 5 knots of speed. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3bpscx3 COMBAT DUTY Photographer Cory Silken has travelled from his New England base to bravely take on some challenging projects for the good of mankind. Because somebody had to do it: * Organized by Boat International Media, the Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous was held at the idyllic setting of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. Minimum requirements are to have a beautiful yacht that’s at least 80 feet (with an IRC certificate), and a high tolerance for living the good life. This event was held at the new ‘outpost’ for the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0418/ * The Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta - the largest and longest running classic regatta in the Caribbean - brings together a fantastic collection of boats and people for some great sailing and fun, in the ideal conditions of the West Indies. Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0419/ *BONUS: Photographer Chris Odom strapped on his combat gear for a tour of duty in Antigua as well. Here are his images from the war torn race course of the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0419a/ OAKCLIFF SAILING CENTER SWEEPS ABC QUALIFIERS Oyster Bay, NY (April 19, 2011) - Oakcliff Sailing Center’s Mike Quaglio, Kyra Quaglio, and Mike Tolsma won the US Sailing’s ABC Qualifiers this past weekend. This US Sailing ABC Qualifier Match Race is the quarterfinal level on the road to the 2011 U.S. Match Racing Championships, October 12-16, at the Balboa Yacht Club in Southern California. Oakcliff’s husband-wife team and their honorary “adopted son” were chosen to compete from a record number of applicants. The selected ten teams braved 39 knot winds, sporadic rain, and 40-degree temperature to vie for a spot in the ABC Quarterfinals. Prior to the two-day race, Dave Perry, Oakcliff’s Match Race Program Director, led a clinic in handling Shields. “Oakcliff is quickly becoming one of the leading centers on the East Coast for competitive sailing,” Perry said. “We’re excited to continue to help raise the level of sailing in the country by hosting US Sailing qualifiers, top-tier competitions and clinics.” On Saturday, the teams were divided into two groups. The top three from each group moved into the gold round on Sunday. Most races were neck and neck, finishing within inches and resulting in numerous tiebreakers. -- Full report at: http://tinyurl.com/3f3z236 DO DONATIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE? By Andy Turpin, Latitude 38 For most of us, the tricky thing about making charitable donations - both locally and when cruising - is feeling confident that your well-intended gift will be spent wisely, and will truly make a difference. One shining example of money well spent is the educational support program that results from the extensive fundraising done during the annual Zihuatanejo Sailfest, which typically nets a higher tally of donations than any other cruiser activity in Mexico. As we've seen with our own eyes, every peso garnered from Sailfest goes directly toward the construction and support of classrooms for impoverished kids from Zihua's hillside communities. A 'catch 22' of the Mexican educational system is that kids must speak Spanish before they can attend regular Mexican school, a rule which disqualifies many of the indigenous kids from the hillside neighborhoods. Sailfest money (administered by the nonprofit Por Los Nińos) builds and supports classrooms for those needy kids, thus putting them on a path to a mainstream education they couldn't get otherwise. Recently, a 'sailfest kid' named Oliver Garcia Levya received a remarkable honor which illustrates the importance of Por Los Nińos' support: He's been offered a full-tuition scholarship to the prestigious Wasatch Academy, a highly-rated institution focused on college-prep for grades 9-12. The normal tuition is $48,000 USD a year! -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/3hkfram * With events like Sailfest, Leukemia Cup, Sarcoma Cup, the various Hospice regattas held nationally and others, as well as efforts by organizations like Shake-A-Leg and many more, there are opportunities aplenty for racers and cruisers alike to have a great day on the water as well as directly help those who aren’t quite as fortunate. Donations do make a difference. SAILS NEED SERVICE? Quantum has you covered with sales and service lofts from coast to coast. Quantum Atlantic will be offering overnight repairs during the Annapolis NOOD, April 29-May 1. Following racing each day, the Quantum service van will circle through Eastport and Back Creek Marinas to pick up sails. Flag us down or call Service Manager Charlie Saville at 443-510-3088. Sails may also be left at the Loft Drop Box at 951 Bay Ridge Road. Give Charlie a quick call to let him know and pick up completed sail in the morning. Quantum keeps you race ready; for more locations visit http://www.QuantumSails.com ATTENTION MARINE INDUSTRY: “GET GUARANTEED EXPOSURE” Scuttlebutt World Headquarters is on every mailing list, so we get all forms of email press releases about marine industry updates. Most go in the trash. The Marine Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum was created so companies could get guaranteed exposure by posting their own personnel, product and service updates online. In addition to website traffic, Scuttlebutt editors randomly select updates each week to include in the Thursday edition of the Scuttlebutt newsletter. Here is the link to post Industry News updates: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news SAILING SHORTS * (April 19, 2011) - Three teams remain in the Barcelona World Race, with Hugo Boss expected to be the next boat to finish. Sitting in 7th place, the Hugo Boss team of Wouter Verbraak (NET) and Andy Meiklejohn (NZL) are expected to arrive in Barcelona around 1800hrs-2000hrs UTC on Thursday. After passing Gibraltar last night at 2115hrs UTC, Hugo Boss are setting into the western Alboran and progressing at around 9 knots into the decreasing Levante easterly wind, just approaching the longitude of Malaga. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/3eptnmu *Lake Garda, Italy (April 19, 2011) - A festival for young sailors will take place during Easter week on Lake Garda, Italy as 1000 helmsmen from forty nations participate in the 29th Garda Optimist Meeting. Young sailors from Australia, Brazil, Japan, Lithuania, the Ukraine, Israel, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United States will race in what’s considered the most popular single class regatta on the planet. Competition starts Thursday with participants divided into cadets and juniors, and racing in heats. After the races, hot chocolate and pasta will be served to everyone. -- Event website: http://www.fragliavelariva.it/ * The Davis Island Yacht Club (Tampa, FL), has voted to become a Founding Member of the National Sailing Center & Hall of Fame in Annapolis, Maryland. Davis Island Yacht Club (DIYC) is joining several other prestigious yacht clubs in the United States in supporting the National Sailing Center & Hall of Fame as it moves forward to construct new facilities in Annapolis, where it is destined to become "a home for the Sport of Sailing" in the United States. -- DIYC website: http://www.diyc.org/ * (April 19, 2011) - Keeping boaters aware of the need to make early preparations for the upcoming hurricane season is a tough job for the nation's boat owners group, BoatUS. With the prediction of an "active" 2011 hurricane season by the renowned Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project just out, BoatUS says the 72% chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall should give boaters the reason to make early preparations. To help boaters with preparations BoatUS has free online "tools" available at the BoatUS Hurricane Resource Center. -- Report at: http://tinyurl.com/3t2susq * (April 19, 2011) - College Sailors, Coaches, Fans, and Supporters - the US Sailing Center/Long Beach and University of Southern California are very excited to host the ICSA Eastern and Western Semi-Finals on April 30 and May 1, 2011. The deadline for online registration with payment via credit card is April 25, 2011. Check out the new event website for information and registration: http://2011semis.collegesailing.info/ DON’T MISS OUT ON BUYING A LASERPERFORMANCE EVENT BOAT! This year LaserPerformance will supply over 400 boats to select North American and Caribbean regattas. They’re a great value, come with a dolly and are lightly used. Many come with new sails. If you’re in the market for a Laser, Sunfish, Club 420, Optimist or Vanguard 15 contact your local dealer or eventboats@laserperformance.com 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 Gary Wood (re, Scuttlebutt 3321): Regarding Joe Buck’s knuckle-rapping lecture on electrical nomenclature, most Scuttlebutt readers understood Derek Hatfield’s article about electrical usage. Even if it was not technically correct, it well explained his point. Joe reminded me to not tell a rookie on the tiller to “come up” or “go down”, but instead, turn a little left or right. The words may not be precise to a sailor, but at least the newbie at the helm will understand. PS: I am annoyed every time that someone calls a boat “it” instead of “she”, “her”, or anther feminine derivative, but who am I to judge? * From Fred Jordan (re, Scuttlebutt 3323): Isn’t it convenient that when it’s time for the Commodore to write to Scuttlebutt, the Golden Gate YC Board of Directors suddenly swells to 12 people - although the website has been showing only six members for the first three and a half months of the year? To paraphrase Shakespeare, "Methinks the commodore doth protest too much.” Come on Commodore - it’s Larry’s Bar and Grill - and in the America’s Cup world, that’s okay. * From Chuck Lantz: As was correctly mentioned in Scuttlebutt 3323, as of this writing, the GGYC webpage shows only six directors. Even worse, the top three on the list all have "AC" behind their names (it also shows Norbert as Commodore): Larry Ellison (AC), Stephen Barclay (AC), Tom Ehman (AC), Ellen Hoke, Stanley Stern, and Otto Stillwachs. So, anyone doing research for articles, myself included, can be forgiven for getting it partially wrong. It amazes me that anyone from the GGYC would complain about the perceived influence of Oracle, when their own webpage puts the Oracle people at the top of the list. Not only that, but previously published articles in the Chronicle and elsewhere, which included quotes from GGYC officers, strongly suggested that Oracle bought its way into the GGYC. Not that there's anything wrong with that, considering the financial position of the club prior to Ellison's involvement, but to allow such stories to circulate for years, and then jump on Scuttlebutt and the author of the Insider piece for simply repeating information from their own website is a bit strange. * From Twig Burke (re, Scuttlebutt 3323): I’ve always told my kids, it’s not the mistake you make, because you will make them…it’s how you handle them! When additional information sheds a different light on something you have written…Scuttlebutt doesn’t run and hide and print it at the bottom…they reveal it for all to see, and even apologize! What a refreshing thought process…that our political leaders (on both sides of the aisle) could use a heavy dose of! Good on ya…! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION People tend to make rules for others and exceptions for themselves. SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - IYRS - New England Ropes - North Sails- J Boats JK3 Nautical Enterprises - Quantum Sails - LaserPerformance Harken - Ullman Sails - Gowrie Group - Hall Spars & Rigging Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
