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SCUTTLEBUTT 3563 - Thursday, April 5, 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 Atlantis WeatherGear. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM (April 4, 2012; Day 18) - It is the hallmark region of the Volvo Ocean Race, the Southern Ocean. Desolate and unforgiving. An arctic train of offwind sailing. Boat designs compromise upwind performance so they can blaze along the latitudes of the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties and Screaming Sixties. But an axiom of any distance race is you can't win if you don't finish, and now with two-thirds of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race fleet broken, another axiom is you don't have much of a race if boats break. Here's an update from pit row... * With 677 nautical miles to go to the finish line, Groupama dismasted 60 nm south of Punta del Este, Uruguay. The team held a narrow lead of about 2.2 nm over PUMA at the time and was sailing close-hauled on port tack, when the rig broke, level with the first spreader, about 10 metres above the deck. The team is considering either continuing under jury rig to the finish or making for Punta del Este where they could step a replacement mast. The team's spare rig is currently in a warehouse in the Netherlands. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-040412a * Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing arrived today in Puerto Montt, Chile where they will load the boat on to a container ship, likely on Saturday April 7, before starting the nine day trip around Cape Horn to Itajai in Brazil. After incurring hull delamination on March 29, they determined the forecast of 50-knot winds and 10-metre seas at Cape Horn would be unsafe for their passage. The team is currently stating they can repair their hull in time for the Itajai In-Port Race on April 21. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-040412b Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad, who competed in the race four times himself, said it was not acceptable to have so many incidents of boats failing in a Volvo Ocean Race. "It's too early to conclude exactly why this has happened but we are obviously concerned about seeing so many incidents of damage to our boats both in this leg and in the race as a whole." Frostad said race organisers would continue to do everything possible to get the boats not currently sailing back in the race as soon as possible. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-040412c Previously reported: * Team Sanya retired from Leg 5 and returned to New Zealand after sustaining damage. The yacht is being shipped to Savannah for repairs and then will sail to Miami, where they will rejoin the race. * CAMPER with Emirates Team NZ suspended racing at 0130UTC on 3 April and has arrived in Puerto Montt on the west coast of Chile to repair bow damage suffered in the Southern Ocean. The team intends to finish the leg in Itajai. Leg 5 - Auckland, NZL to Itajai, Brazil (6,705 nm) Standings as of Wednesday, 04 April 2012, 22:02:00 UTC 1. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 543.2 nm Distance to Finish 2. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 40.2 nm Distance to Lead - Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), Suspended racing - CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), Suspended racing - Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), Retired - Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), Retired Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles around the world via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com SCUTTLEBUTT POLL: SHOULD THE RULES HAVE TIERED PENALTIES? In the April 2012 edition of Sailing World, columnist and rules expert Dick Rose discusses whether a protest committee should have discretion in the penalty they award when a boat is found to have broken a rule. Should a thief receive the same penalty as a murderer? Not in most courts. But when a windward boat's mainsheet brushes the arm of the leeward boat's crew, they get the same penalty as a port tack boat that collides into the line-up on the starboard tack weather mark layline. The penalties within the rules have evolved over the years. Prior to the introduction of the 720 rule, every violation earned a disqualification. Hitting marks have changed from a DSQ to a two-turn penalty to now a one-turn penalty. It would seem indisputable that some fouls are more egregious than others. There already are some instances in the rules that provide discretionary penalties, but further guidelines would be needed for a protest committee to issue consistent decisions. So what do you think... should the penalty be more commensurate with the rule that was violated, or continue to disqualify a boat regardless of the infraction? Vote/ post comments here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/12/0404/ GET OUT CRUISING! Ullman Sails has over 44 years of expertise in sailmaking and we don't just specialize in racing sails. Our cruising series is the first choice for coastal cruisers and offshore sailors worldwide. The Endurance line offers options for sailors looking for durability and longevity. Interested in high performance? Check out the Ullman Sails Voyager Series. Not sure what the safest choice is for your family? Ullman Sails experts are available to answer your questions from inventory selection to sail handling systems. There are no cookie-cutter sails here. You'll always get a well-made custom sail that fits your cruising goals. http://www.ullmansails.com GOOD EQUATION Sadly, the crusty Caribbean salt's washed off, the sunburn's beginning to peel, and the rum's done for sailors who raced this year's BVI Spring Regatta held off Nanny Cay last week. More than 100+ boats competed in the 41st edition of the regatta, with as many new faces as repeat players, including Bill Alcott from Michigan who celebrated his 15th event - this year on his newest boat Equation, the TP65 formerly known as Rosebud. Equation took first place in Class 1, a particularly sweet prize, as it's been a while since the racing beauty's enjoyed the taste of success. The boat was designed by Bruce Farr and built in 2007 at Westerly Marine, Santa Ana, Calif. Originally owned by Roger Sturgeon, she won the 2007 Sydney Hobart among other international prestigious races. She dismasted in heavy weather during the Middle Sea Race off Malta in October 2009, and shortly thereafter was purchased by Australian Ray Roberts in early 2010. Roberts fixed her up, including a new mast, and sailed a Newport regatta with the intention of taking her back to Australia later that year. But he didn't. Instead, the sleek 65, one of three including Money Penny and Luna Rossa built to the Rule, was purchased in spring 2011 by the American partnership of Bill Alcott, Ed Palm and Tom Anderson, aka 'TA', all from Michigan. They renamed her Equation. Alcott says that the partnership was looking for a boat to race on the Great Lakes in summer, and also be ocean competitive for winter racing in the Caribbean. He said, "Rosebud was very successful when Roger owned her and we thought that maybe we could learn to do the same thing." Alcott, who has owned some 14 boats, says Equation's a very technical boat and a step up for the boys. "We're more traditional boaters and when it came to adapting to a boat with hydraulics, we had to rethink how we were going to do things and it's been a slow learn, I think, for us. We intentionally looked for guys who had sailed her when she was Rosebud as they know the boat and that's been an immense help." Guys like Matt Smith...who has a long career in the America's Cup behind him and is currently involved in the Bella Mente Racing program, managed pit on Equation for the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival. It was a kind of homecoming for Smith, one of the original crew on Rosebud. He was involved in her build and raced on her for the three years following. -- SailBlast, read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2012/04/first-for-equation-at-bvi-spring.html Regatta website: http://www.bvispringregatta.org/bvi/HOME.aspx BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE Among the medal favorites at the 2012 Olympics this summer are Canadians Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn in the men's keelboat event. But not every day is a payday, as Richard describes below from the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Palma, Spain (April 4, 2012) - Conditions off Palma (at the 43 Trofeo Princesa Sofia) continued to be light and lumpy today with variable winds making the racing very tricky. Today is one of those days where it pains me to relive it again but I guess that's the price of being accountable. Like I said in a previous post, "if it was easy then everyone would have a gold medal". Biggest area we struggled with today was starting, we pushed the pin and in both races started beside the Germans who had it slightly more dialed in than us. In each race they had the perfect start and we struggled to keep our position of them after the gun. Its never a good feeling having to look over my shoulder for a place to tack less than a minute after the start. Bad starts at the pin are a double negative as when you eventually tack you have to pass behind most of the fleet. To make matters even worse the right also paid early in the race meaning we had it completely backwards today. In the first race we battled back to 11th which was reasonably respectable but in the second race we could do no better than 18th. We are currently sitting in 10th but only 8 point out of 3rd. Time to put today behind us, we've been sailing well and will take today as simply a bump in the road. -- http://www.clarkebjornsailing.com/blog/bad-day-at-the-office * Palma, Spain (April 4, 2012) - The third day of racing at the 43 Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Palma ended the qualification stage for the classes sailing in groups. The Lasers, 470 and 49ers will be split on Thursday in Gold and Silver fleets with a Bronze fleet only for Lasers and 49ers. The Women's Match Racing has finalized their quarter-finalist, which includes American teams led by Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow. Other North Americans in medal position are Americans Zach Railey (Finn, 3rd) and Charlie Buckingham (Laser, 3rd). -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/38127.php FLUNKING A SURVEY Some months as many as 50% of our brokerage deals crash because of survey findings... almost always these are older boats. Many could have been avoided if the owners had paid even modest attention to their boats over the years. The most common problems are water-related damage to the deck, hull (if it is cored), or interior woodwork. If you catch a water leak early it is always much easier and cheaper to fix. Have a look at your deck hardware and see if it is loosening up or the caulk has squished out. Watch for water drips on the bottom of bolts or around ports. Look for water stains. You can often attend to these leaks yourself if you catch them in the early stages, and if you have a yard do the repair it will be cheaper if done sooner, obviously. Use polysulfide, not silicone caulk. On the other hand too many buyers walk away from problems that are not as bad as they seem. Keep in mind there is no free lunch, and no perfect older used boat. Look at what you are getting for what you are paying. -- Don Finkle, RCR Yachts, http://psndealer.com/dealersite/images/rcryachts/racersnews040412.pdf DISCOVER: THE BEST GEAR IN THE BEST STORES When you're getting ready to spend a bunch of your hard-earned cash on sailing gear, you want to work with an expert. We do too. That's why we love working with experts like Martha Parker at Team One Newport and Tom Carruthers at Point Loma Outfitting, business owners and hard-core sailors who know everything there is to know about technical sailing apparel and love to help their customers get it right. Links to their sites as well as other premiere Atlantis dealers can be found here: http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com/retailers. Discover a world class shopping experience. Discover your Atlantis dealer. SAILING SHORTS * (April 4, 2012) - The blender noise is roaring as nearly all the entrants have now finished the 800nm Corona del Mar to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race. Division winners in both ORR and PHRF are John MacLaurin's Davidson 70 Pendragon 6 (A) and James McDowell's SC70 Grand Illusion (B), while Jay Spalding's SC52 Medusa won ORR C and Tom Garnier's J125 Reinrag won PHRF C. Leading both ORR and PHRF D division is Ross Pearlman's SunOD 52.5 Between the Sheets, which should finish in time for huevos rancheros. -- http://cdmtocabo.com/ * (April 4, 2012) - Better breeze was on tap today for the 67-boat Les Voiles de St. Barth fleet with a variable 8-12 knot easterly which offered all classes a proper chance to perform. For the second day of the event, the race committee chose well again - reaching into their bag of 25+ courses and selecting a picture postcard worthy courses around the northwestern end of the island and neighboring islets: 20-nautical mile for the Maxi and IRC 52 classes, and 17 miles for all of the other classes. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13541#13541 * The Sailing World College Rankings as of April 4, 2012 finds Yale holding the lead in the coed rankings, while Stanford and Brown round out the top three. Georgetown retains the top spot in the women's rankings, but Dartmouth and Yale aren't far behind. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SW-040412 * Floating wreckage and oil spilled from the wrecked container ship MV Rena, has forced the cancellation of the Auckland to Tauranga Race, less than 24 hours before the race was due to start on Thursday 5 April. Given the forecast for continuing south-easterly winds any wreckage is likely to be scattered through the area that the racing yachts will be sailing through during the latter part of the Race. The forecast for continued strong easterly quarter gales and heavy seas was also a factor in the decision. -- Sail World, photos/ full story: http://tinyurl.com/SW-040412a CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: 06/Apr - America's Cup Presentation by Tom Ehman Jr. - Pinckney, MI, USA 06/Apr-07/Apr - Easter Regatta - Charleston, SC, USA 07/Apr-08/Apr - Easter Laser Regatta - Austin, TX, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Driscoll's of San Diego Announce New Marina * Eisenberg to resign as West Marine president/CEO * Karver: Top Down Spinnaker Furler View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 Eric Hall: Reading the dispatches from the Volvo and following the America's Cup, especially the anticipation of sailing the upcoming AC 72's, one glaring fact shines through: never has physical and mental toughness meant so much in sailing. These guys play at a fitness level that matches anything in sport. And on top of that, they are delivering excitement. If I were a kid again I know where I'd be setting my sights. Hats off to them all. * From Jamie Leopold: Skip Lissiman (a great mate) hits the nail squarely on the head with his comments about nationality in the America's Cup (in Scuttlebutt 3561). Who/ what are we really supporting when an "American" team (or any other team) has maybe one or two citizens of the country it represents on the team? U.S. sailors successfully defended the AC for about 130 years, and how many of them are on the only U.S. team in the competition? How many Swiss nationals were on the Alinghi team that won and later defended the AC? This is sad at best. If you want to know what 'butt heads" really think about AC nationality, try reading the June 2007 Scuttlebutt poll in which 82.49% of respondents voted to reinstate nationality rules for the 33rd AC, (www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/07/0619/). There is no doubt that the Facebook generation has much to learn from the Flintstones (those who don't learn from history are doomed...). Good on you Skip! * From Bruce Kirby: This quote, "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future", used to lead off my article on The Future of Sailing in SButt No. 3562, has frequently been attributed to Yogi Berra, but apparently it goes back much further. Some have given credit to Nils Bohr, the famous Danish physicist, but he used it and denied authorship back in the 30s, and said he didn't know where it had originated. But Donna Wotton (in SButt 3562) got it right, it is a classic. I admit to having picked it up quite recently from sailmaker Andreas Josenhans in Halifax. * From Ken Legler: Fascinated by the Bruce Kirby piece on the future of sailing. Very reminiscent of the answer Paul Elvstrom gave when asked about the future at the 1979 Snow and Satisfaction Regatta at Yale..."The materials will always be evolving but the tactics will always remain the same." * From Gail M. Turluck: To Paul Newell in Scuttlebutt 3559, there are zillions of skippers who want to do away with the sausage. I'm another one. Big boats--let's go somewhere! It's what the boats are designed for. Little boats--variety is the spice of life. Leave the micromanaged perfection to the Olympians. The rest of us wanna have fun! * From Vincent Delany, Dublin, Ireland: Regarding the tiller extension, it is easy to forget that in the first half of the 20th century, the dinghy helmsman was the skilled person who used his brain and his tactical skill. It was he and nobody else who was credited with the win. The crew was the athletic brute who knew nothing about anything, but knew how to do what he was told, including hiking. Under these circumstances, who needs a tiller extension? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "The ISAF rule makers must have a good sense of humor to make Rule 69 'gross misconduct'." - #sailorproblems SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - IYRS - North Sails - Atlantis WeatherGear - J Boats - Gowrie Group Dieball Sailing - Ullman Sails - Summit Yachts - The Pirates Lair Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
