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SCUTTLEBUTT 2906 - Wednesday, August 12, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Summit Yachts and Harken. FOURTEENTH TIME WAS A CHARM George Szabo was three weeks old when he first sailed a Star boat, and now at 39 years old, he is done what no American had done since 2000…he won the Star World Championship. Who was the last American to win? Interestingly, it happens to be his boss at Quantum Sails, Mark Reynolds. Here Szabo explains why his 14th trip to the Worlds proved to be his best: * Starting the regatta with a 54th, do you have advice for people that burn their drop on the first race? GEORGE SZABO: “It is not easy; I was able to do the same thing at the Star North Americans a few years back when we OCS'd the first race so we knew it was possible. We focused on the little things. Communication, windshifts, pressure, getting off the line and trying to get a lane going the right way, and so on. My personal goal was to be top ten, and to do that I first had to get back on the first page of the results. We had good speed, and that definitely helped us get out of a few spots.” * At what point did you think you had a chance to win? GEORGE SZABO: “Only when the throwout kicked in and we saw the new results. It was a surprise, and better than I had expected. I knew that we had a chance at that point, but there were four really, really good sailors that had a nearly equal chance as we did. Going over all the things that could still happen, and realizing that if we had a bad race we could finish in the 20s overall, anything could happen.” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0811 OLYMPIC TRAINING SITE OPENS ON LAKEFRONT When ESPN sailing analyst Gary Jobson visited Sheboygan (WI) last December, it was hard to imagine that this frigid upper-Midwest city was about to become a key training ground for Olympic sailors. The temperature had plunged, snow was piled several feet high at the marina and large blocks of ice - not boats - were bobbing in Lake Michigan. But Jobson knew better, and on a humid August afternoon eight months later he was here to help celebrate Sheboygan's newly minted status as an official training site for the U.S. Olympic sailing team - something he said is a natural fit. "It's a two-minute sail out to really good sailing, there's no current and you have a variety of conditions on the lake," said Jobson, who will take over as president of U.S. Sailing this fall. "Being a (training center) will put Sheboygan on the map." Monday marked the first official training day for Olympic sailors in Sheboygan, which was named a U.S. Sailing Center one year ago, becoming the first such center on the Great Lakes and the fourth in the nation, joining Miami, Martin County, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif. The U.S. Sailing Center of Sheboygan will now serve as a training site for members of the U.S. Sailing Team Alphagraphics, which will compete in the women's match-race Olympic medal event. Match racing will be a first-time Olympic event for women at the 2012 games. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/p4hypl MEET THE DESIGNER The Newport International Boat Show is the official introduction of the new Summit 35 Racer/Cruiser. Mark Mills, designer of both the highly successful Summit 40 and the Summit 35, will be at the show on Thursday and Friday. Plan to come and meet Mark, and check out the 35 as well as the remarkable Summit 40. The 35 will hit the water in just a couple of weeks, and it promises to be as fast as it is beautiful. Check us out at http://www.summit-yachts.com CST COMPOSITES MOTH WORLDS (August 11, 2009) - Three races (Races 5-7), were sailed on Day 2 of the CST Composites Moth Worlds, underway at Cascade Locks, Oregon. Similar conditions to Day 1 prevailed - flat water, a shifty breeze, cloudy with slightly lighter air. Racing was postponed a short time due to light wind and the first race got underway about 11:30am in 8-10 knots, which built to 12-15 by the end of Race 7. Today saw the 47-strong International Moth fleet fully settle into competition mode, demonstrating outstanding skill at working through the shifty conditions, offering up plenty of lead changes, and exciting action at the top mark to entertain the large spectator fleet that turned out to watch shore-side. Day 2 Top Ten Finishers: Nathan Outteridge (AUS) 12 points, Bora Gulari (USA) 14 points, Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) 21 points, Simon Payne (GBR) 22 points, Dalton Bergan (USA) 23 points, Rohan Veal (AUS) 30 points, Scott Babbage (AUS) 31 points, Kevin Hall (NZL) 57 points, Brad Funk (USA) 60 points, and Andrew McDougall (AUS) 62 points. (Note: 7 races sailed to date, with one discard) Wednesday August 12, is a lay-day for the fleet. Racing resumes Thursday August 12 and will continue through Saturday 15th. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8022#8022 WILL THEY USE HARD WING SAILS? When you compare testing time versus competition time, there likely are not too many events with such an extreme ratio as the America’s Cup. With this next event being held in revolutionary maxi multihulls, there is significant interest in what the teams are doing, and among the burning questions is whether they will use a hard wing sail. Wing sails are standard in the 25-foot C-Class catamarans, and the Stars & Stripes team tested both a soft and hard sail rig on the 60-foot catamarans used in their successful 1988 defense. However, for either of the teams to use a wing sail in the 33rd America’s Cup, they would have to first overcome some hurdles: short development time and the non-sailing logistics for the unprecedented rig size. Said BMW Oracle team CEO Russell Coutts, “We are working on a wing in depth, however, the complexity of handling a wing of this size would be a significant challenge.” By sheer coincidence, the last time someone tried to develop a hard wing sail for a multihull might have been Ben Hall for his 18-foot A-Class Catamaran, whose company - Hall Spars & Rigging - has been building the masts for the BMW Oracle Racing trimaran. Ben completed the rig prior to the 2007 Worlds, and in retrospect, he notes about his wing, “It was one thing to build a complex lightweight structure and another thing on how to make it go fast on the racecourse.” -- Read on for Ben’s full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0810/ * San Diego, CA (August 11, 2009) - The BMW Oracle team hosted a media briefing where they confirmed the trimaran it has been sailing in sea-trials, BOR 90, will undergo further testing and modifications before emerging as USA, the boat the team will use to challenge for the America’s Cup in six months time. CEO and Skipper Russell Coutts also announced that four-time Cup veteran James Spithill will be driving the team’s boat in the 33rd America’s Cup, and the team will continue testing in San Diego until November. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/oapdlw QUOTE / UNQUOTE Harrison Ford, the actor, while at the BMW Oracle team’s America’s Cup training base: “I am distinguished in this company by knowing little about sailing and very little about the America’s Cup. I’m here for the ride. The little I do know about sailing I learned from my friend Jimmy Buffet, who explained to me that a boat is a hole in the water and you pour money into it.” He gives a little nod to the big tri in the water behind him. “It must be a very deep hole.” -- http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=140 ROLEX FASTNET RACE Mike Slade's 100ft Canting Keel Maxi ICAP Leopard crossed the 608-mile Rolex Fastnet Race finish line at the Plymouth Breakwater at 01:09:36 BST on Wednesday 12th August 2009 after 2 days, 11 hours, 9 minutes and 36 seconds elapsed time. At 00:26 GMT on August 11th, ICAP Leopard was the first boat to round the Fastnet Rock off the coast of southwestern Ireland. In a 10-15 knot westerly breeze, Karl Kwok's Farr 80 Beau Geste passed at approximately 04:44 GMT, followed by the IRC Class SZ leader on handicap, Niklas Zennström's Judel-Vrolijk 72 Ran 2 at 05:08 GMT. Behind them were a gaggle of boats led by the first two IMOCA 60s, Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet on the fully-crewed Artemis Ocean Racing, ten minutes ahead of Seb Josse's BT IMOCA 60, the first doublehanded entry in the Rolex Fastnet Race. -- Event website: http://fastnet.rorc.org/ COVER YOUR FLANK Whether you’re competing in nationals, on a wet and windy night watch, or your coworker is just taking cubicle battleship a little too seriously, a Harken Spraytop will keep you dry and comfortable. Breathable and windproof Harken Spraytops have taped seams, back and elbow stretch panels that actually work, and a dropped rear hem for full coverage. Better yet, they're so lightweight you can roll them up and store them with room to spare. Check them out at www.harken.com/scuttlebutt/spraytop.php MASTERING THE A SAIL By Josh Adams, SAIL Though asymmetric spinnakers date as far back as 1865, credit Australian skiff sailor and designer Julian Bethwaite with the invention of the modern asymmetric, which he tested and developed on his Australian 18 designs during the 1980s. Bethwaite needed a spinnaker with a long luff and flat leech on either gybe. This would enable crews to sail the skiff’s tight apparent-wind angles without collapsing the chute or sacrificing the sail power they needed to reach high speeds off the wind. That the sail, with its fixed tack and single sheet, simplified downwind sailhandling was an added bonus. Twenty years on, the asymmetric spinnaker has developed into a versatile downwind sail for a wide variety of performance and cruising boats. Before boatbuilders could introduce the spinnaker on their racers, they had to devise a system for getting the sail away from the blanket of the mainsail while sailing on a low reaching course - not a problem on a skiff, which sails downwind at near-upwind angles. A common solution for this is tacking the sail on a retractable bowsprit; the Melges 24, in 1993, was the first to reach the masses with this configuration. To make the sail more versatile downwind, it is designed to be projected to windward of centerline, which helps a boat sail lower reaching angles. -- Read on for trim and boathandling tips: http://tinyurl.com/pj8vrf SAILING SHORTS * (Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH) - Jeff Sampson’s Inglewood Jack won the 2009 Tartan 10 North Americans with a 31 point lead over second place finisher Ted Pinkerton’s Perfect. Hosted by Mentor Harbor Yachting Club on August 7 - 11, Inglewood Jack, from Sarnia Yacht Club, finished the 11 race series with a total of 37 points. Perfect, from Mentor Harbor Yacht Club, finished with 68 points. Scott Irwin racing Team IBall, from North Cape Yacht Club, finished third with 71 points. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8023 * (Ephraim, WI) - Seventy-four teams competed in the Flying Scot North American Championship hosted by the Ephraim Yacht Club. The week long event concluded Friday August 7 with Alan and Katie Terhune winning via tiebreaker over Kelly and Heidi Gough. Both teams are past North American Champions in the Flying Scot Class. -- Results: http://www.bhuckaba.com/fssanac * Marblehead, MA (August 11, 2009) - The thunderstorms held off and a steady 7-to-10 knot breeze filled in for the 93 competitors hitting the starting lines for the first of three days of racing at US SAILING’s 2009 U.S. Chubb Junior Championships. Marblehead Harbor was a sheet of glass in the morning, but the northerly came in as predicted to give the Laser, 420, and Rhodes 19 fleets a full day of racing for the national single-, double-, and triplehanded titles. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/o7o3pa * Niterói, Brasil (August 11, 2009) - The Optimist World Championship concluded the team racing segment, with China beating Peru in the finals. The U.S team advanced to the fourth round of the double-elimination format, but were ultimately beaten by both finalists. Fleet racing re-starts Wednesday with three days left to try for the remaining 10 scheduled races. -- Team race results: http://www.cncharitas.com.br/fotos/results_aug_10th.jpg * The former manager of a Seattle-area yacht club faces 78 counts of theft on allegations that she stole more than $102,000 from the South Park organization. Following a year-long investigation, Annette Meadows Llanos was charged earlier this month in the alleged thefts, which authorities say date back to May 2005. In court documents, King County sheriff's detectives say Llanos used her position as manager of the Duwamish Yacht Club to skim thousands of dollars in small transactions. -- Read on: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/409165_yacht10.html?source=rss * (August 7, 2009) - Forty seven-year-old Australian "adrenaline junkie" Sean Langman will attempt to break the 50-knot sailing speed barrier with his half sailboat, half plane, after a serious crash last summer. The half sailboat, half plane uses technology known as supercavitation -- sailing just above the water's edge. Langman, a shipyard owner and yachtsman, is intent on beating the French-set record within the next few weeks, with the "Wot Rocket," a canoe-style pod with a nine meter-long rigid sail. -- Read on: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/08/07/sailing.speed.attempt/ LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From James Dadd, Chief Measurer, RORC Rating Office: In Scuttlebutt 2905, Derek Bouwer’s comments on the comparison between Amunsden:Scott and BOR:Alinghi is an interesting view. Furthermore, Scott never intended to go the whole way using the motorized tractors, but simply to set up depots en route. And Amunsden kept his intentions to go to the Southern Hemisphere secret to all, including his sponsors, until spotted by one of Scott’s recon teams quite by chance. Amunsden told the world that he was aiming for the North pole, rather that the South. So if the comparison continues, Alinghi will bin their motor before racing, Brad will go outside at some stage, and may be some time. BOR will turn up on the other side of the world, unannounced and eat the grinders on the last leg. Had Scott and Amunsden held their race today, I wonder how long it would be in court before the race winner was decided, post humorously if necessary. * From Ray Tostado: I hope that people will soon realize that this entire ACC confusion and legalese is all the fault of the NYYC and its officiating members on the board, at the time when this Deed of Gift was written. They should have had the foresight to realize that within a few centuries technology would evolve as to make crews and hand operated devices obsolete. Instead, their lack of patronage to man's genius to obscure and circumvent rules for the benefit of glory resulted in this modern day warriors BODs and their legal staffs wasting millions simply by trying to win a low grade metallic cup. 1868. One which, by the way, was trounced by some native NZ elements of a victorious country. It should have been evident to those writers of the Deed of Gift, that soon some farmer would volunteer his plow mules on the foredeck, thus adding external mechanical forces to advantage the competitor. It seems very doable that between 1851 and 1868, a prestigious YC from NY could have seen into the future and written a more inclusive and understanding protocol. Alas, we are now at the mercy of courts and lawyers. And to support them we have to dispense with crew. Cheers, lads. * From Scuttleblog: Regarding the story “OWNERSHIP OF CYBERSPACE” in Scuttlebutt 2905, here are two comments that were posted: > “This looks to me like a case of bully boy tactics. It is ridiculous to patent a piece of cyberspace. Shame on VirtualRegatta. I hope their users rebel. It is definitely inferior to the sailonline system, so I suppose it is a complement that they need to use lawyers to frighten them off. Shades of Americas Cup tactics! There are too many lawyers in sailing already.” > “Virtual Regatta is right. See Gary Kremen, et al. v. Stephen Michael Cohen, et al. No. 01-15899 (9th Cir., July 25, 2003)” Additional comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/08/ownership-of-cyberspace.html CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A birth certificate is the apology letter from the condom factory. Special thanks to Summit Yachts and Harken. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
