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SCUTTLEBUTT 3766 - Thursday, January 31, 2013Scuttlebutt 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: Melges Performance Sailboats and Ullman Sails. LEAVE YOUR DISABILITIES AT THE DOCK Very rarely do you get to meet a person as inspiring as Urban Miyares, the current president and co-founder of the adaptive sailing program Challenged America. The story of how, and why, he was inspired to join Challenged America back in the mid 1980s is quite astonishing, and for perspective, bears repeating as often as possible. In 1968 the then 20 year-old Army Sergeant Miyares' platoon was engaged in a fire fight, when he slipped into a diabetic coma. Left for dead, Miyares was placed into a body bag where he spent 2 days until an alert medic detected a heartbeat. Miyares spent the next six months recovering in a military hospital, but the event left its mark. "I'm totally blind, I have diabetes, several organ transplants, and a whole number of medical issues." Due to severe nerve damage in his lower extremities, Miyares is considered a walking paraplegic. Miyares doesn't let any of it slow him down; he has solidly engaged life more than most able-bodied people! Miyares sailed as a youth, and after his experience in Vietnam, he never thought that he'd be able to actively sail again. In the late 80s he was invited aboard a Beneteau First Class 10 to race in the Oceanside Race (Calif.), he remembers, "It was a windy day, we had some problems on the boat, and all of the sudden I started remembering things from years past." He and his other crew members, who were also disabled vets, began thinking about developing an adaptive sailing program, and Challenged America was born! Through Challenged America, Miyares has reached thousands of disabled vets by getting them aboard sailboats. Challenged America has a small fleet of adaptive sailing boats at their facility in San Diego, and a testimonial from one of their clients says it all, "The phrase 'leave your disabilities at the dock' could not be more true! When I'm on the water, at the helm of a sailboat, and enjoying all the sights and sounds of San Diego Bay, I forget about the wheelchair sitting on the dock." This year, Miyares and crew David Hopkins have entered the Transpac, and will race in the double-handed division aboard their Tripp 40 B'Quest. Miyares recalls, "We've taken her two times before on Transpac, 2003 and 2005, with a crew with disabilities. We've modified the boat quite a bit for the different disabilities; we've added quite a bit of weight, and this time we're going to take the boat again." -- Sal Revolution, read on: http://www.sailrevolution.com/race-it/challenged-america-joining-the-transpac A WHOLE NEW GAME WITH CURVED FOILS Miami, FL (January 30, 2013) - Once again, the third day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series on Biscayne Bay was graced with strong winds that reached 20 knots by the afternoon and significant chop. This set the stage for mixed multihull racing in the all new Nacra 17 class which is one of two new events for the 2016 Olympic Games. Perhaps no team has made a smoother transition into this new class than Sarah Newberry and John Casey (USA). The duo has been dominant through three days of racing on Biscayne Bay. They have won five of the six races, including the last five. Sarah Streater and Matthew Whitehead (USA) have four second-place finishes and trail by four points. "We've done a lot of training in the F16 and F18, and we're finding the Nacra 17 to fit in terms of power, but not in terms of how the boat actually sails," explained Newberry. "It's a whole new game with the curved foils." "We worked really hard to find good settings for the breeze. The real challenge for the whole fleet has been dealing with the boats in bigger chop, which is more than what we see when training in the inner bay. When going downwind, the lift in the boat with the chop has made it challenging," she added. Newberry and Casey have their sights set on the 2013 Nacra 17 World Championship this July in The Netherlands, which will serve as the selection event for US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider. Brazil's Kahena Kunze and Martine Grael surged into the lead with a tremendous afternoon of racing in the 49er FX event. They finished second in race seven and won races eight and nine to take a four point lead. Anna Tunnicliffe and Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer (USA) also made a run today with third- and second-place finishes. Tunnicliffe, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the Laser is also one of the top Women's Match Racers in the world. Tunnicliffe and Vandemoer are in second place. The World #7 Stuart McNay and his crew David Hughes continue to challenge in the Men's 470. The Americans hold an edge over World #13 Matthias Schmid and Floran Reichstaedter (AUS). McNay and Hughes won the second of two races to take the lead. These two teams are pulling away from the rest of the fleet. -- Full report: http://mocr.ussailing.org/index.php/multihull-racing-on-the-rise/#more-1175 Results: http://mocrresults.ussailing.org/2013/24/24.html Canada team report: http://tinyurl.com/CAN-013013 USA team report: http://tinyurl.com/USA-013013 BACKGROUND: The six-day ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami (Jan 28-Feb 2) is 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). The ISAF Sailing World Cup is open to the sailing classes (equipment) chosen for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions. -- http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php MELGES WINTER SERIES The Audi Melges 20 continues their established Winter Series with championship number 2 in early February. Coconut Grove Sailing Club will host the nearly 50 boat Audi Melges 20 fleet. Great racing, great fun in a 20 foot sport boat package. The Audi Melges 20. ISAF Recognized ... the first World Championship coming up in December 2013. Check out new race video and photos on http://www.melges.com and http://www.melges20.com. New and used boats available. Contact a Melges Representative for further information. NOT WILLING TO GET SKUNKED AGAIN The U.S. wasn't the only country to come away from the 2012 Games without any hardware. The Canadian Sailing Team had legitimate medal contenders, but it ultimately wasn't their national anthem playing at the award ceremony. Ken Dool, who is the Canadian Sailing Team Head Coach and Director of High Performance, has now coached at six Games, and is eager to make changes to ensure that 'O Canada' will be heard at the 2016 Olympics. Ken comments on what lies ahead: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New approach... The review of our program recognized that we were trying to do a lot of things without enough resources, both human and financial, and therefore not doing anything very well. So we decided to narrow our focus on the classes that we are working with to insure that we are truly running a coach-driven program, providing true leadership for the program, and not just chasing athletes around the world. We also plan to be more selective in which international events we attend, and to prepare and participate in those events as a team. We must become more ready for each event as a group rather than just hopping along the circuit taking in lots of events. As for the classes, our Olympic focus for the men will be the singlehanded Laser and Finn and the doublehanded 49er skiff, and for the women will be the singlehanded Laser Radial and doublehanded 49er FX. For the Paralympics, our focus will be the singlehanded 2.4mR. This doesn't mean we are not interested in other classes, but these are the classes where we will make the investment in leadership and where we will cultivate the training groups, while we will manage the activities in the other classes. We have very strong athletes competing in the other classes but much less depth. We won't be disenfranchising these athletes; we simply are not going to invest significant resources to build depth where it currently is not. But it is not just the depth of the classes we have selected to focus on, but we also feel we can have the broadest effect throughout the program by focusing on these classes. The Laser and Radial in particular are the stepping stones throughout all our provincial programs, so there is an infrastructure that is already in place. Plus we need to do a far better job in the doublehanded events and we identified the skiff as our chance to do that given what is already occurring at the provincial level. Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/13/0129/#kd EDITOR'S NOTE: After three days of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, Canada has athletes ranked in the top five for all six of their primary classes: http://mocrresults.ussailing.org/2013/24/24.html THREE YEARS TO PREPARE, THREE MONTHS TO COMPLETE (January 30, 2013; Day 82) - Alex Thomson sailed into the legendary canal, the artery into the heart of Les Sables d'Olonne this morning at typically breakneck speed. With more than 30 knots of wind and mountainous seas Thomson was in no mood to hang around. "The most important thing for me in this Vendee Globe was to finish the race," exclaimed Alex. "Standing on the podium is amazing, though and really, the race time is irrelevant." Taking third place in the Vendee Globe, the solo nonstop race around the world which has dominated his life for the last ten years and which he had twice failed to finish, Alex Thomson set a new non-stop round the world record for a solo British sailor, smashed the existing race record set by Michel Desjoyeaux in 2008-2009, and became only the third ever British skipper to finish on the podium. "I've sailed out of the channel three times but only once back in," said Alex. "And let me tell you, the way back is absolutely great! A lot of this race is about preparation. It took me three months to complete this race but it took my team three years to make it possible so I want to thank them all very much." His result exorcised many of the ghosts of his past failures, most particularly abandoning his Open 60 in 2006 in the South Indian Ocean when his keel feel off during the Velux 5 Oceans, retiring from the last two Vendee Globes - the 2008-9 edition after just 24 hours - and retiring from the 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre after hitting a floating object. "My wife will not want to hear about the 2016 edition of the Vendee Globe, at least not right now," admitted Alex. "It was my third Vendee Globe, this race has been part of my life for 10 years now, it's in my blood. Right now, I can't imagine not doing the 2016 Vendee Globe." Concerning his support of Jean-Pierre Dick, Alex felt his recognition was unwarranted. "People have said it was noble to stay close to JP when he had problems, but to me, it was just the normal thing to do, it shows the respect we all have for each other. I've been rescued by Mike Golding, I know what it feels like." -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VG-013013 Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/ Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Wednesday, January 30, 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: 351.0 nm Distance to Finish 5. Jean Le Cam (FRA), SynerCiel: 1713.0 nm DTF Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html PITSTOP: Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) has anchored Wednesday evening to take shelter in San Ciprian on the north coast of Spain. This will enable JP to avoid the strong gale which is forecast to hit the Bay of Biscay on Thursday night. JP will set off again on Saturday or Sunday in more moderate conditions in an attempt to reach the finishing line. 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. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) set the previous course record of 84 days in the 2008-9 edition. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ GROWING A NEW CLASS The International Kiteboarding Class Annual General Meeting was recently held in Rome culminating in some exciting updates for the 2013 season. The newly-formed American Kiteboarding Association was represented by Robbie Dean (Director of Race Operations, St Francis Yacht Club). While the minutes have not been published, Dean updated SailBlast on some of the key topics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SB: What was the general theme of the AGM? ROBBIE DEAN: Refining the class rules so that we can all have a clear understanding of what we're doing going forward. Certainly with Olympic aspiration on the horizon we want to make sure we're in line with what the rest of the Olympic classes are doing while focusing on what our greatest assets are which is speed and development and excitement of high end sailing. We're working a lot right now on format ideas - what we're going to do in the theater style sailing - a really cool way to highlight an event rather than just a simple medal race, how we're going to make a 6-7 day event exciting all the way out but also speaking to our roots with a long series where consistency pays. The AKA proposed a 360 rule that's a bit more well defined - we've done a couple of things with our championship rules to make them more understandable to sailors as well as to non-traditional sailors that come from the kite class, our ratings systems and how we're going to move forward with our relationship with ISAF - how we'll lay out our calendar for an international schedule - prize money and points and all those considerations. One of the other things is that we formed a working party to unroll the Kiteboard Racing Hall of Fame, which we'll unroll later in 2013 so look for that in the future. SB: AKA lobbied for a change to the kite limit at events? RD: Yes, before you could have three kites registered for any one event and a fourth safety kite. The idea was that the Olympic classes are required by ISAF or asked by ISAF to sail in a range from 5 to 25 knots but we know that kites can sail up to 35 to 40 knots easily. We say, let's go sailing in 5 or 6 or up to 35 with the kite class but to do that we're going to need to have 4 kites. We basically expanded the wind window, which allows us to really highlight the best part of the sport - speed in big breeze and gnarly conditions. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SB-013013 ACCESS TO SAIL EXPERTISE It's boat show season and Ullman Sails has sail consultants at shows all over the world ready to answer your questions about inventory options, cloth selection, FiberPath technology and sail handling solutions. Make sure to visit our teams at shows in Seattle, Istanbul, Stockholm and Budapest. Not in one of these cities? We have experts on-hand at each of our local lofts who will take the time to answer your questions and give you the information you need to make the best decision about your sails. Access the expertise you deserve! Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com SAILING SHORTS * Public nominations for the 2013 Inductees to the Sailing Hall of Fame will be held February 1 through April 1. The Induction Ceremony this year will be held on October 27 at the National Sailing Center & Hall of Fame in Annapolis. Nomination information here: http://tinyurl.com/HOF-013013 * The Maritime Security Centre - Horn of Africa (MSCHOA), in cooperation with NATO, CMF, UKMT and MARLO has published today (30th January 2013) the latest bulletin regarding piracy in the east coast of Africa off Somalia. The message intended to get across is that all sailing yachts under their own passage should continue to remain out of the High Risk Area or face the real risk of being attacked and pirated for ransom. -- Details: http://www.sailing.org/news/33870.php * A federal appeals court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency is overestimating the amount of fuel that can be produced from grasses, wood and other non-food plants in an effort to promote a fledgling biofuels industry. It's unclear how the ruling will affect the marine industry's longstanding opposition to increasing the level of ethanol in gasoline. -- Soundings, full report: http://tinyurl.com/TOT-013013 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: * Ullman Sails Names New Vice President * John Vandemoer selected as Executive Director of Club 420 class * World Champion Sailor Tim Healy Joins North Sails * TOAD Marine Supply Acquires Torresen Marine, Inc. Ecommerce Catalog 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 Tim Patterson: The article by Dorian Van Rijsselberge in Scuttlebutt 3765... what a great piece you have gotten here. A boy and his family working together to make a dream come true. Having fun doing it and still being able to wonder at the success and aura of it all without seeming anything but humble. An amazing ten years and the statement by Dorian Van Rijsselberge that it was fun all the way. This is a perfect example of what sailing can be. * From Jake Pogue: The dark clouds of failure have given way to clear skies for the US Olympic sailing team. The report from Josh Adams (Scuttlebutt 3765) seems to be hitting all the right needs. I can't even remember how disappointed I was last summer at their inability to medal in any of the events. I am nothing but optimistic now. * From Jennie Peterson: Reading about the boardsailing at the ISAF World Cup event in Miami (Scuttlebutt 3765) got me to thinking about boardsailing in the U.S. When enrollment starts up for the summer youth sailing programs, I hope that every program director considers promoting boardsailing as a class option. It would be irresponsible for youth sailing programs to limit the menu. There is bound to be plenty of kids that don't sign up because they did not connect last summer with the Optimist or C420 boats. That doesn't mean they don't want to be sailors. All it may mean is they are looking to do something more...er...forgive me...something MORE FUN. IS YOUR EVENT LISTED BELOW? Posting your event information on the free, self-serve Scuttlebutt Event Calendar tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. But don't stop there. If your event is listed below, please send us your race reports too: * Jan 31-Feb 2 - VX ONE Midwinter Championship - Tampa, FL, USA * Jan 31-Feb 4 - Charlotte Harbor Regatta - Charlotte Harbor, FL, USA * Jan 31-Feb 5 - Grenada Sailing Week - St. George's, West Indies, Grenada * Feb 2-3 - Etchells Jaguar Cup Series - Miami, FL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you were to spell out each number, it would not be until 1,000 before you reached a word with the letter 'A'? SPONSORS THIS WEEK UsedBoatEquipment.com - Farr 40 Class - North U - Doyle Sailmakers - College of Charleston - Team One Newport - North Sails - Marion Bermuda Race - Melges Performance Sailboats - Ullman Sails - Ribcraft - Block Island Race Week - Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
