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SCUTTLEBUTT 3768 - Monday, February 4, 2013
Scuttlebutt 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.
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Today's sponsors: Marion Bermuda Race and Hall Spars & Rigging.
STOP TALKING LIKE THURSTON HOWELL III
By Molly Winans, SpinSheet editor
Every sailor I know is an outdoor guy, but somehow few of us use the words "outdoor" or "outdoor recreation." It's as if we think that campers, backpackers, rock climbers, white-water rafters, and those who own crampons and ice axes own the copyright to them.
I did some research on the websites for Under Armour, Patagonia, REI, and Eastern Mountain Sports. What did I find about sailing on those websites? Zilch. Nada. It was as if the sport of sailing wasn't invited into the exclusive world of outdoorsiness. As someone who has donned labels from all of those companies, I was surprised.
How strange to be a member of what some perceive as the elitist club of sailing and to realize that we're not acknowledged by the giant retailers of the outdoor recreation world. Now, you can say, who cares? We have West Marine, Fawcett Boat Supply, Annapolis Performance Sailing, Landfall Navigation, and the like. We have our niche suppliers for our nichey world of sport.
Who cares? I think that anyone who is concerned with the future of our sport should care. A quick keyword search of the October issue of SpinSheet, the largest one of the year, revealed only five mentions of the word "outdoor" and 61 of the word "marine." I wonder what one would find if they searched the same keywords in Sailing World, Cruising World, SAIL, or Sailing?
We are in the marine industry, so that's only natural, right? Perhaps in Climbing Magazine, they have fewer mentions of the word "outdoor" and more of "boulder" or "belay," but I bet that the word "outdoor" gets more ink than sailors give it. It's worth examining. It's worth entertaining the thought that perhaps, we in the sport of sailing limit ourselves and build walls around our sport with language.
What if we made an effort, especially in print and digital formats, to replace our favorite words - marine, Corinthian, yacht race, regatta, commodore, clubhouse, and charter - with a few that would make sense and sound intriguing to non-sailors? A few ideas: waterfront, sportsmanlike, sailboat race, on-the-water challenge, sailing competition director, sail center, sail-sport open house, sail travel, and sail fitness. How about "novices welcome"?
What if we stopped talking like Thurston Howell III and started talking like cutting-edge outdoorsmen and women who are dedicated to inviting other fit, outdoorsy, adventurous, thrill-seeking, nature-loving, competitive people of all ages and backgrounds into our exciting outdoor world?
If we chose our words to target such souls, would more curious people find sailing opportunities on the Internet? Would REI, Patagonia, and Under Armour start recognizing us as sport enthusiasts in synch with their outdoor philosophies? If one of these giants featured sailing among its website's sports, would it attract newcomers to sailing? -- Excerpt from January issue, full editorial here: http://issuu.com/cdeere/docs/jan_ss_2013/11
SAFETY AT SEA SYMPOSIUM - BOSTON - PREP FOR BERMUDA/HALIFAX
U.S. Sailing sanctioned Safety at Sea seminar will be held March 23-24, 2013 at U. Mass/Boston campus. Moderated by John Rousmaniere, a very experienced group of speakers will address a series of topics of vital interest to all serious offshore sailors and racers. ISAF requires that at least 30% but not fewer than two members of a crew, including the skipper shall have undertaken training within the five years before the start of an offshore race. Marion Bermuda Race organizers strongly encourage attendance by majority of return crew. Safety is just as important cruising home from Bermuda. Registration:
http://www.marionbermuda.com/sas/index.php
OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC PREVIEW
The lone North American stop on the ISAF Sailing World Cup series was held in Miami, Florida on Jan 28-Feb 2, hosting 303 sailors representing 37 countries. All ten Olympic events and two of the three Paralympic events were contested.
The six-day event was the second of four events on the 2012-13 ISAF Sailing World Cup season. The season began in Melbourne, Australia (Dec 2-8) and will move next to Palma Spain (Mar 30-Apr 6) and then Hyeres, France (Apr 20-27).
Here are the final reports from Friday and Saturday:
Friday, February 1, 2013...
The first ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami medalists of 2013 were determined on day five. Men's and Women's RS:X events conducted semifinal and final round races. The 2.4 mR and Sonar fleets of the Paralympic events took part in their final day of fleet racing. Strong winds permeated a sunshine splashed Biscayne Bay. Wind speed surpassed 20 knots and temperatures were in the 60s and low 70s. -- Read on:
http://tinyurl.com/WC-020213
Saturday, February 2, 2013...
Eight Olympic class events raced for medals on Saturday's finale of the 2013 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami. Conditions on Biscayne Bay reported sunny skies with temperatures in the high 60's and low 70′s, and breezes from 8 to 15 knots (ENE). It was a triumphant day for the host country, winning gold medals in five of the events: Sarah Newberry and John Casey (Nacra 17), Stuart McNay and David Hughes (Men's 470), Paige Railey (Laser Radial), Fred Strammer and Zach Brown (49er), and Caleb Paine (Finn). -- Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/WC-020313
Final Standings
Paralympic Singlehanded - 2.4mR (17 boats)
1. GBR - Megan Pascoe, 18
2. CAN - Allan Leibel, 21
3. CAN - Bruce Millar, 22
Paralympic Triplehanded - Sonar (8 boats)
1 .NOR - Aleksander Wang-Hansen/Marie Solberg/Per Eugen Kristiansen, 19
2. USA - Andrew Fisher/Mike Hersey/Ryan Levinson, 28
3. USA - Rick Doerr/Brad Kendell/Hugh Freund, 29
Olympic Men's two person skiff - 49er (16 boats)
1. USA - Fred Strammer/Zach Brown, 4
2. USA - Ryan Pesch/Trevor Burd, 5
3. SWE - Sebastian Oestling/Kalle Torlen, 10
Olympic Men's heavyweight dinghy - Finn (28 boats)
1. USA - Caleb Paine, 20
2. CAN - Greg Douglas, 34
3. BRA - Jorge Zarif, 43
Olympic Women's two person skiff - 49er FX (8 boats)
1. BRA - Martine Soffiatti/Kahena Kunze, 2
2. USA - Anna Tunnicliffe/Molly Vandemoer, 5
3. USA - Kristen Lane/Molly Carapiet, 8
Olympic Men's single person dinghy - Laser (70 boats)
1. SWE - Jesper Stalheim, 36
2. EST - Karl-Martin Rammo, 50
3. USA - Charlie Buckingham, 54
Olympic Women's single person dinghy - Laser Radial (29 boats)
1. USA - Paige Railey, 20
2. FIN - Tuula Tenkanen, 34
3. CAN - Isabella Bertold, 40
Olympic Mixed multihull - Nacra 17 (7 boats)
1. USA - Sarah Newberry/John Casey, 22
2. USA - Sarah Streater/Matthew Whitehead, 27
3. USA - Taylor Reiss/Sarah Lihan, 35
Olympic Men's sailboard - RS:X (20 boats)
1. ESP - Ivan Pastor, 1
2. GBR - Nick Dempsey, 2
3. NED - Dorian Van Rijssbelberghe, 3
Olympic Women's sailboard - RS:X (15 boats)
1. ISR - Maayan Davidovich, 1
2. FIN - Tuuli Petaja-Siren, 2
3. ESP - Blanca Manchon Dominguez, 3
Olympic Men's two person dinghy - 470 (10 boats)
1. USA - Stuart McNay/David Hughes, 22
2. AUT - Matthias Schmid/Florian Reichstaedter, 27
3. AUT - David Bargehr/Lukas Mahr, 57
Olympic Women's two person dinghy - 470 (9 boats)
1. BRA - Fernanda Oliveira,/Ana Luiza Barbachan, 45
2. CHN - Xiaoli Wang/Xufeng Huang, 60
3. CHN - Xiaomei Xu/ Chunyan Yu, 65
Complete results: http://mocrresults.ussailing.org/2013/24/24.html
World Cup website:
http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php
Canada team reports: http://tinyurl.com/CAN-020313
USA team reports: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News.htm
PHOTOS: Thanks to professional photographers Walter Cooper and John Payne for contributing to the event gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0203/
SCORING FORMAT EXPLANATION
The ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami was used as a test bed for potential formats being considered for the 2016 Olympic Games. The formats being tested are to enhance the 'show' which may come, depending on your opinion, at some sacrifice to the sport. Race course location emphasizes spectator access over wind consistency, and scoring systems seek to narrow participation and emphasize final performance rather than overall consistency. Here are three formats that were tested:
* The top six teams in the 49er and 49er FX events advanced to their respective medal races on the final day. The medal races were conducted using a theater style course included two enclosed parallel lanes approximately 400 meters long and 220 meters wide. The first boat to win two races wins the regatta. Teams entering the medal races with the lead from the fleet series began the medal race stage with one win.
* The Lasers and Laser Radials were testing a new scoring and event format. Sailors received zero points for each race they won. Their 3-day qualifying fleet series standings through six races translated into a single carryover race score applied to the 2-day final series. The final series included one discard which could be the carryover race. Following the next five races and six total scores, the top ten advance to the medal races on the final day. The top ten sailed three medal races, with each medal race counting double points and non-discardable. Final score was the six race final series plus the medal race scores.
* After the Men's and Women's RS:X events completed their 3-day first round six race series, the top ten qualified for the quarterfinals after race six. The top four from the quarterfinals advanced directly to the finals. The bottom six from the quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals. Other sailors not in the top ten also have a chance to advance through the quarterfinal repechage into the semifinals. The semifinal held one race and two sailors advanced to the finals. The finals featured six boards and consisted of one race and the order in the final race determined the final places. Scoring format graphic -
http://media.ussailing.org/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=20223
SOME GOOD NEWS, MORE BAD NEWS
(February 3, 2013; Day 86) - There was good news today for Jean-Pierre Dick and Virbac Paprec 3. After losing his keel 11 days ago, he was able to leave his mooring in the Spanish haven of San Cyprian in Galicia at 0720hrs this Sunday morning. JP had sought shelter Thursday to ensure his final miles across the Bay of Biscay would not face strong conditions that his crippled yacht could not endure. There was additional good news when the jury announced they would not penalize JP for the use of his engine when retrieving the mooring buoy.
However, there was plenty of bad news too, with the worst of it coming Sunday morning when two distress beacons from ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered, skippered by Spanish solo sailor Javier Sanso were triggered. An aerial inspection of his position, which was 500 miles west of Madeira and 360 miles south of the Azores island of Sao Miguel, found Sanso in his liferaft next to his capsized boat. A rescue of Sanso was proceeding at press time.
Also dealing with troubles was Tanguy de Lamotte, some 440 miles to the SW of the Cape Verde islands, who had hit something in the water which damaged his rudder, daggerboard and daggerboard casing. His starboard rudder is broken and his port daggerboard is crushed, jammed in the daggerboard casing whilst it and some cracks around it are letting in water.
"The daggerboard took the first of the impact, it is completely tilted back and cracked the daggerboard case, explained Tanguy. "There is water entering the boat. I have been going slowly since and that allows me to limit the amount of water which comes in, especially protecting the boat's electrics. The situation is under control but it is vital that I remove the daggerboard so I can plug the holes."
Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/
Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Sunday, February 03, 2013, 20h00 (FR)
1. Francois Gabart (FRA), Macif: Jan 27, 14:18:40 UTC, 78:02:16:40
2. Armel Le Cleac'h(FRA),Banque Populaire: Jan 27, 17:35:52UTC, 78:05:33:52
3. Alex Thomson (GBR), Hugo Boss: Jan 30, 07:25:43 UTC, 80:19:23:43
4. Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac Paprec 3: 218.0 nm Distance to Finish
5. Mike Golding (GBR), Gamesa: 822.1 nm DTF
Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html
BACKGROUND: Twenty skippers began the 24,000-nm Vendee Globe, a solo,
non-stop around the world race in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Starting in Les
Sables d'Olonne, France on November 10, the west to east course passes the
three major capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn before returning to
Les Sables d'Olonne. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/
NOW THAT'S A FULL SCHEDULE
Congratulations, J/70 sailors on your first Mid-Winters at Key West Race Week! Are you ready for St. Petersburg, Miami, Charleston, Annapolis and beyond? With a dozen more events on the calendar in the U.S. and abroad, make sure your rigging and hardware are up to date. You still have time (until February 15th) to get 15% off retail on cut lengths of rope and wire, finished running and/or standing rigging, carbon poles and QuikVangs & fittings. With all those events ahead of you, isn't it best to get a deal and be prepared? Hall Spars & Rigging has you covered!
http://www.hallspars.com
EXPERTS DEBRIEF
Since its introduction in March 2012, the J/70 has quickly established itself worldwide with 125+ boats sailing in 15+ countries in 2012, and 350+ boats to be sailing in 2013. With 39 boats competing at Key West Race Week 2013, the J/70 class was the talk of the town. Here is what some of the competitors shared with Scuttlebutt from the week of racing:
* David Ullman, Ullman Sails, 5th overall...
"I learned the same lessons as always. Do not show up for a major regatta without proper preparation. We sailed at 570 lbs. which was near the class maximum, but the class max was removed before the regatta and it was good to sail at 700 lbs. plus. This meant sailing 4-up instead of 3-up. We learned the wind speed to plane or not plane downwind was 12 knots. Planning is jib out and higher angles, but when the winds were lighter than 12 knots, we would sail lower displacement angles with the jib rolled. Rig tuning is a work in progress but we got closer as the regatta wore on. Seems like you can sail with the leeward shroud always under tension.
* Jud Smith, Doyle Sails, 4th overall...
"One of the talking points after the regatta would be crew weight, and it was. We added a fourth to our crew on Sunday once we saw the forecast for the week was going to freshen after Monday. We were the heaviest team at 780 lbs and we were too heavy, for sure, and would not sail that heavy again. In retrospect, we think the right weight is in a range for 660 to 700 lbs with a crew of four for the boat handling. The 3-up teams are at a disadvantage in fresher conditions. Top 3-up team was Dave Ullman (5th) and next 3-up team was not in the top 15 overall. We added the fourth so as not to be disadvantaged upwind but we added too much weight that hurt us downwind. -- Read on:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15134#15134
* Tim Healy, North Sails, 1st overall...
Like most regattas, the successful teams come in well-prepared and improve during the course of the event. However, this regatta was unique in that nobody had much time in the boat beforehand. Our team trained for a couple days before the regatta, but the winds were mostly light. For us, we found using the time before each race day was when we learned the most.
One of the issues in developing boat speed is the difference between tuning speed and racing speed. Being fast when tuning with a couple boats is not the same as being fast when racing in a 39-boat fleet. Fortunately the work developing the tuning guide got the numbers really close, though we did find an advantage by taking a step up to tighten the rig. This information will be incorporated into the tuning guide. -- Read on:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15135#15135
Additional comments:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15131
ARE YOU PROMOTING YOUR REGATTA?
There is no simpler or more effective method to create awareness of an event than to add it to the Scuttlebutt regatta calendar. The database for this calendar is shared by a media partnership to ensure widespread viewership. Are you an event organizer? Add your event here:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
SAILING SHORTS
* A report released on Friday by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. analyzed the fiscal impact of the America's Cup World Series from last summer and would be used as a learning tool for the state to better host comparable large marine events in the future. While the report found the event attracted fewer people and generated less economic activity than initially predicted, State officials clarified that the initial projections were based on an event schedule that was later shortened by the AC Event Authority. According to the report, 65,000 attended the event which generated $52.7 million in activity at local businesses, salaries and taxes. -- Details:
http://tinyurl.com/NP-020313
* Tampa, FL (February 2, 2013) - The VX ONE Midwinter Championship ended with four competitors tied on points for the lead, and David Reich of Birmingham, AL winning the tie-breaker. Reich, John Potter, Brian Bennett and Donnie Brennan were all knotted at 12 points after six races, and hopes for completing a seventh race were dashed when the breeze shut off. Daily reports here:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15128
* With repairs and modifications nearing completion, America's Cup defender Oracle Team USA is set to relaunch their AC72 on Monday morning, February 4, from the team base in San Francisco. It will mark the first time the boat will be on the water since capsizing on Oct. 16, 2012. As a result of the capsize of USA '17' in October, the wing sail was destroyed and hulls were damaged. The replacement wing arrived on January 8. This is the first of two AC72s built by the team, with the second boat to be ready to launch in the spring. --
http://oracle-team-usa.americascup.com/
* The Swedish city of Gothenburg will be the final stop on the route for the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-15 and will also feature in the 13th edition under a two-race deal presented on Friday. Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city, Scandinavia's largest port and has a well earned reputation for hosting major sporting events. 2014-15 will be the third time Gothenburg has hosted the Volvo Ocean Race and the second time it has staged the finale, following the success of 2005-06, when ABN AMRO ONE sailed into the port as overall race winners. -- Read on:
http://tinyurl.com/VOR-020313
* Muscat, Oman (February 3, 2013) - The Shamal, the wind that blows over the Persian Gulf states, was too strong on the final day of the RC44 Oman Cup and cancelled racing. The teams were sent out onto the race course, but with gusts of 38 knots and the wind averaging 27, the 13 teams were quickly dispatched ashore. Gennadi Timchenko's Katusha were crowned the double winner. With new tactician Andy Horton at the helm the team were undefeated on the match race day, with Steve Howe at helm to win four of the eight fleet races. -- Full report:
http://www.rc44.com/news/view/final_day_blown_off_at_rc44_oman_cup
PRO BONO
The Scuttlebutt website provides a portal for sailing businesses to announce their personnel, product and service updates...for free! As a bonus, each week the Scuttlebutt newsletter includes some of the recent updates. Are you in the marine industry? Post your updates in the Industry News section of the Forum.
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done.
SPONSORS THIS WEEK
Marian Bermuda Race - Hall Spars & Rigging - North Sails - North U - J Boats -
Harken - Point Loma Outfitting - Block Island Race Week - Ullman Sails -
US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider - APS - North U -
Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers
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