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SCUTTLEBUTT 3051 - Thursday, March 18, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors: JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Ullman Sails, and APS. AN AUDACIOUS IDEA: LAUNCHING A NEW EVENT By Brian Gleason - Event Chairman In February 2009 at a meeting of the Punta Gorda Boaters Alliance in Florida, two questions were posed to members of boating and sailing organizations from all around Charlotte Harbor: Could and should Charlotte Harbor host a national one-design sailboat regatta? The answer was a resounding, “Yes!” and the Charlotte Harbor Regatta was born. Word spread of this audacious idea – starting a new regatta with no money, no host site, a thin one-design tradition and no strong local fleets amid the worst global economic meltdown since the Great Depression. Rather than shy away from the daunting challenge, one club after another rallied around it. The Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club, the Punta Gorda Sailing Club, the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center, the Isles Yacht Club, the Punta Gorda Boat Club, the Port Charlotte Yacht Club all jumped on board, their members and many of their officers joining an ad hoc organizing committee. Charlotte Harbor, which lies between Tampa Bay and Key West on Florida’s Gulf Coast, had reason to believe it could hang with the big boys. It had been named by SAIL magazine as “one of the 10 greatest places to sail in the United States” in June 2004, just before Hurricane Charley devastated the area. Area clubs had played host to a number of well-attended regattas, including the Conquistador Cup, the Golden Conch Regatta, the Leukemia Cup, the Valentine’s Day Massacre, the U.S. Olympic Soling trials, the U.S. Olympic windsurfer trials and a number of one-design midwinter events for Sunfish and other small boats. Charlotte County has repeatedly been cited by national magazines, such as “Money,” as one of the best places to live in the country, due to its affordability, natural beauty, small-town charm and laid-back atmosphere. Even before dates had been set or classes targeted, officials from Fishermen’s Village Resort & Marina offered their award-winning facility as regatta host site and the Charlotte County Visitor & Convention Bureau threw its support behind the venture. Local businesses jumped on board from the beginning, especially the Sun newspapers, where I work as editorial page editor. The Sun provided staff time, Web site hosting, back-office support and extensive publicity. Sponsors included Fishermen’s Village, Mosaic, PG Insure, Microtel, Kitson & Partners, West Marine, the boaters alliance, Knighton Sailmakers, the Charlotte County Parks Department, Peace River Distributing, Winn-Dixie, Centennial Bank and Everglades Farm Equipment. All told, the regatta raised more than $25,000 in cash, services and in-kind contributions even before the first registration was received. The outpouring of support allowed the board to brand itself as the “fun, affordable regatta.” Hotel rooms under $100 (some under $65) even at the height of the tourist season, reinforced that reality. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0302/ IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME By Dave Perry On the starting line, you have done a great job creating a “hole” to leeward of you; i.e., space between you and the boat leeward of you, so that you can bear off and build some speed before the start, while remaining on starboard tack for some time after the gun. But there is one thing you can count on in the pre-start: if you build a great hole, someone will come and try to steal it! The key to defending your hole is to be a “pitbull” about it. This is no time to be a nice guy. Being “nice” will get you nothing but a reputation! You need to be prepared to aggressively defend your hole. One way is to post a lookout. Someone on your boat needs to be assigned the task of watching for potential attackers. Maybe it is the mainsheet trimmer looking aft for starboard tackers trying to come in to leeward; and maybe it is the jib trimmer looking to leeward for port tackers trying to tack in to leeward of you. Advanced warning is the key to defending your hole. The defense is essentially the same regardless of where the attack is coming from. One is a verbal defense: “Don’t go in there; don’t even think about it!” Another, and possibly in conjunction with the verbal, is to let your boat do the “talking.” The trick is to noticeably bear away to discourage the other boat from going in to leeward of you, while at the same time minimizing the distance you move down the line closer to the boat to leeward of you. The key here is to be sure both jib sheets are free to be let out (it is usually the windward sheet that is the problem), and that your mainsheet also runs out quickly. You don’t want either sail to fill with wind as you turn down. -- Good stuff…read on: http://tinyurl.com/ycsonmt JK3 NAUTICAL BROKERAGE SPOTLIGHT! Summer is quickly approaching, the days are longer, and JK3 has the perfect boat to get you out on the water! Check out our wide variety of quality brokerage listings from the comfortable and elegant J/124 to the sleek and fast Santa Cruz 37. If power boats are more your style, take a look at the Back Cove 29 or 31-foot Albin - both are perfect for weekending. Want to sail One Design? We have 3 - J/109s, 4 - J/105s, 2 - J/120s, and a J/80 and J/22 available. For a complete list of brokerage boats for sale, visit http://www.jk3yachts.com or call our office: San Diego 619-224-6200 and Newport Beach 949-675-8053 GET READY FOR APRIL 1ST Publishing the Scuttlebutt newsletter requires contributions from all corners, with the April Fools edition providing the opportunity for the ‘buttheads to really flex their literary muscles. The best stories are the ones that could be true…but aren’t, with the biggest laughs coming from the readers who open up Scuttlebutt for their daily news fix and forget that it is April 1st. So yes, Scuttlebutt is seeking your stories. Here are some suggestions: * Volvo Ocean Race: With the event’s desire to gradually reveal information, this event looks to be a prime candidate for tomfoolery. * America’s Cup: The BMW Oracle Racing team said they would reveal their plan on how to determine the venue and boat for the next event by the end of March. Our advice for the defender is to delay the announcement and let us have some fun. * ISAF is reminding everyone that the ISAF Sailor Classification Code is changing on April 1st. Don’t they observe April Fools in England? * The deadline for submitting an Application for Entry for the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race is April 1st. How about an extended entry deadline, a greatly reduced entry fee, and the requirement for only “single-hulled sailing vessels” be banished? These are but a handful of suggestions. Game on! FOR THE RECORD (Day 45 - March 17, 2010; 17:03 UTC) - The final charge towards the finish in Ushant (FRA) began Wednesday lunchtime as Groupama 3 gybed in a SW'ly wind of a little over twenty knots. "We've hooked onto the system, which will continue as far as Brittany,” explained watch leader and helmsman Fred Le Peutrec. “If we don't have any technical issues, we shouldn't have any more fears about the weather. We're now riding the last train of wind which goes all the way to the finish... We must ensure we don't have any mishaps, but there's no reason for us to worry. The seas aren't heavy yet so we can reasonably hang onto some high speeds.” "We're happy to be back in the breeze because things were still pretty tricky on Tuesday close to the axis of a ridge of high pressure,” noted skipper Franck Cammas. “The grib files had us believe that we could be swallowed up by the light breeze of this high pressure, which might have led to us being stuck for hours or even days! In fact the night proved windier than forecast and we were able to make good our escape via the North. Right now, we're going to have to deal with a depression, which we hope we'll be able to play with as far as the finish... It's going to be windy with quite a lot of gybes to perform." The current forecast is suggesting an arrival between Saturday morning and Saturday evening, and then it will take around two to four hours for the giant trimaran to enter the channel taking her into the Port du Château marina in Brest. The symbolic fifty day barrier should thus be absolutely shattered. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/yfegfzs Current position as of March 17, 2010 (22:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +611.0 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 23.9 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 573.1 nm Distance to go: 1,768 nm Data: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/positions.asp?lg=en Map: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/index.asp?lg=en * After their start on January 31, 2010, Franck Cammas and his nine crew on the 103-foot Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before March 23rd (06:14:57 UTC) to establish a new time for the Jules Verne Trophy (21,760 nm) for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions. Current record holder is Bruno Peyron and crew, who in 2005 sailed Orange 2 to a time of 50 days, 16 hours, and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. ULLMAN SAILS NORWAY JOINS ULLMAN GROUP Norwegian Sailmaker Peter Hoeg has rejoined the Ullman Sails group! Established in 1767, his family-owned business is among the oldest sailmaking companies in the world. Peter has a long history with the Ullman group - he spent three years training with David Ullman in the late 1980s before taking charge of his family’s sailmaking operations in Drammen, Norway. After a five-year absence from Ullman, we are delighted that he is again a member of our team. Peter’s loft has been a leader in both one design offshore racing/cruising sail development. You can find Norway and our other lofts at http://www.ullmansails.com TWO TEAMS ELIMINATED Auckland, NZL (March 17, 2010; Day 9) - The Synergy Russian Sailing Team and ALEPH Sailing Team from France were eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta on a day of mostly bright sunshine and gusty, shifty southerly winds that ranged from 15 knots to 30 knots. This now leaves six international teams fighting for supremacy over the next four days. Top seed Emirates Team New Zealand and second-ranked Mascalzone Latino Audi from Italy each won their races and went through to the semi-finals to be sailed on Friday, while the other four teams were paired for best-of-three matches to be raced Thursday. Third-seeded All4One skipper Jochen Schuemann chose to race Italy's Azzurra. Sweden’s Artemis will race Great Britain’s TEAMORIGIN. The two winners of these matches will fill the remaining two semi-final slots. Karol Jablonski, the veteran Polish match racer who skippers the Synergy Russian Sailing Team, was philosophical. “We are out, but we sailed a good race,” he said. Noting the crew’s lack of opportunity to practice, he added, “the crew work was coming along, but obviously in these tough conditions 22-23 knots with current against you, you need more hours on the water together.” Live streaming web coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland is available on the event website. Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ydhksvt Elimination Round One matches Artemis def. Azzurra, 00:32 TEAMORIGIN def. All4One, 00:27 Mascalzone Latino Audi def. ALEPH, 00:59 Emirates Team New Zealand def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 00:15 Team lists: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/teams/EN/ BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy series is designed to be a cost-effective format for match racing competition in Version 5 America’s Cup Class boats. Teams will take turns on the two Emirates Team New Zealand yachts NZL 84 and NZL 92 that have been fitted out, optimized and rigged after a year in storage. They will race four matches a day to complete a round robin seeding series before a ladder elimination culminating in the finals on March 21st. The 2010 series continues on to Sardinia (May 22-June 6) and Dubai (Nov. 13-28). SAILING SHORTS * After the Lightning Southern Circuit completed their first stop in Savannah, GA on Sunday, they travelled Monday south to the Miami Midwinter Regatta at Coral Reef YC. Forty-one boats were on the water Tuesday for day one of racing in variable and shifty winds. However, these conditions were better than what the fleet saw Wednesday, which proved inadequate for racing, but ideal for other St Patrick’s Day events. After three races, the winning team was Allan Terhune, Jr/ Sarah Evans/ Sarah Mergenthaler, just two points ahead of Ryan Ruhlman in second and Ed Adams in third. Next stop: St Petersburg. -- Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9439#9439 * Bermuda, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Netherlands Antilles, US Virgin Islands and the USA filled the Youth Olympic Games qualification positions at the recent Byte CII North American Championship held at the Cayman Islands. Ian Barrows (ISV) put in an awesome display of sailing skills to run out clear winner at the Byte CII North Americans, the North American and Caribbean qualifier for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The top four nations in the boy’s and girl’s events would qualify for the inaugural YOG taking place in Singapore this August. -- Read on: http://www.sailing.org/news/32127.php * The Newport Bermuda Race has more than 160 boats entered with two weeks to go before entries close. Two-time St. David's Lighthouse Trophy winner SINN FEIN will go after FINISTERRE’s record of three straight wins, and the first two boats on elapsed time in 2008, SPEEDBOAT and PUMA, will resume their duel. Entries close April 1. The race starts June 18. -- Details: http://www.BermudaRace.com *A memorial service for Barton Beek will be held on Monday, March 29, at noon, at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA. Barton, who was a notable Star class sailor and generous supporter of junior sailing, had died Saturday night, January 2, 2010, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8793 * The announcement on Thursday 18 March by the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race organizers, which is to reveal one of the stopover ports for the new race route, is widely believed to be Sanya in the southern Hainan province of China. Renowned for its tropical climate, this island city has emerged as a popular tourist destination. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9427#9427 * US SAILING announced that St. Francis Yacht Club (San Francisco, Calif.) has donated $75,000 to the Olympic Sailing Program for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. -- Full story: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Releases/StFYC_Gold_Medal_Partner.htm * The latest Sailing World's College Rankings as of March 17, 2010 show Charleston slipping ahead of Boston College in the women's rankings, but BC remains atop in the coed list. -- Details: http://www.sailingworld.com/racing/college-racing/isailing-worldis-college-r ankings-march-17-2010-1000081703.html * (March 17, 2010; Day 16) - The dramatically rough conditions that have characterized the current leg of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race from Qingdao to San Francisco have moderated to mid twenty knots, and as ‘Hull & Humber’ skipper Brendan Hall reports, “The wind is at the perfect angle and ideal strength for these boats, which handle like a dream in these conditions.” The ‘Cape Breton Island’ team lead with 2887 nm to the finish, with the home team of ‘California’ 184 nm behind in fourth position. -- Event website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR LASER SAILORS She won the Gold, she is ISAF's Woman of the year, and she is willing to share her Radial sailing secrets with you. Anna Tunnicliffe will be coaching a four day Radial clinic at the Laser Training Center in Cabarete, DR. Let Anna help you improve your fitness, high wind handling, up & downwind technique, boat speed, starts, game plan execution, and boat handling no matter what your weight is. Sailors of all age groups are invited to join Anna in beautiful Cabarete this April 8th to 11th. For more information contact mailto:ari@caribwind.com - An APS endorsed performance sailing workshop. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS 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: March 18-21 - Lightning Winter Championship - St. Petersburg, FL, USA March 18-21 - Jaguar Cup Series - Mid-Winter Regatta - Miami, FL, USA March 18-21 - San Diego Sperry Top-Sider NOOD - San Diego, CA, USA March 18-21 - Sunfish Masters Intl. Championship - Melbourne, FL, USA March 21-27 - America's Landsailing Cup Regatta - Primm, NV, USA March 23-26 - Flying Scot Midwinter Championship - New Orleans, LA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS AND FORUM Please email 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 Andrew Hurst, Editor, Seahorse International Sailing Magazine: Valued resource though it has been, it is time for Scuttlebutt to take a hard look at itself over its continued need to keep publishing tedious Alinghi-bashing rants (in Scuttlebutt 3050) from North American readers who I for one have never heard of. Remember, it takes two to make a pub brawl. Alinghi made mistakes, mostly rushing out a silly protocol in 2007. But so did BMW Oracle, not least running the two most expensive America's Cup campaigns of all time yet failing on either occasion to reach the finals. Please can we now move on before I award Scuttlebutt Junk-Filter status. BMW Oracle now have what they always wanted, the America's Cup, and we all wish them the very best to deliver on the high ideals they have promised. If Russell, Larry and Co. can run a Cup as well as they can execute and manage a giant wing rig, the event is in very safe hands! Alinghi, meanwhile won two of the toughest America's Cup Matches ever conducted, in near-identical boats and delivered in 2007 perhaps the best Cup event the world has ever seen. Both teams now deserve respect for their achievements. As for the armchair snipers who have never put themselves on the line at this level of competition, kindly return whence you came. * From John Harwood-Bee: In the Groupama 3 ‘FOR THE RECORD’ article (‘Butt 3050), Jacques Caraes remarks that on Orange 2 “Bruno Peyron had a bit more room for manoeuvre to beat the Jules Verne Trophy in 2005”. For the sake of accuracy may I clarify that to achieve the outright fastest circumnavigation, Bruno had to beat Steve Fossett’s 2004 absolute record on ‘Cheyenne’. That was faster than the Jules Verne Trophy time that had subsequently been awarded to Olivier de Kersauson and ‘Geronimo’ for a much slower circumnavigation. Unless the JV management committee has since changed its rules, the Jules Verne Trophy can be won by any vessel paying a fee and then beating the previous JV time. That is not necessarily the outright record time and comments that the Jules Verne Trophy is for the fastest circumnavigation by any vessel are erroneous. * From Brainard Cooper: To paraphrase Waylon Jennings ("The only two things in life that make it worth living are guitars in toon good and firm-feeling women"), the great Earl Elms made Bill Gladstone's point (in Scuttlebutt 3050) many years ago when he said, "The only two things that matter in sailboat racing are clear air and boat speed." * From Gordon Ettie: This is in reply to people who really support Newport verses Miami for a stop in the Volvo Ocean Race. I have had a chance to sail and race in many places of the world. Yes, Newport was one of them, many times over the years. I also have grown up and raced many times on Biscayne Bay in Miami and did well racing in the old Miami SORC now called Miami Race Week on the Atlantic Ocean Course. Actually I was the Race Committee boat, Lochmaddy, for this year’s races held several weeks ago in perfect weather. We had very good racing, not much current, no fog, not a lot of swells, and a dependable wind with some shifts but not drastic but challenging to the strategists. We also have in Miami one of the best PROs in the business and I am sure many participants will agree that last month’s racing was one of the best ever. I have heard many people say that Miami is probably the best place in the world to sail and race. I would agree with this. I would disagree to say that it is dangerous. I do not think that we have had one mishap caused by any conditions that exist in Miami. On the contrary, Miami is one of the best and safest places to sail. * From Trevor Gaffney: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3050) Perhaps Mr Tuthill can explain how "the way in and out of the inlet is not safe for VOR boats" yet it, Government Cut, is perfectly safe for all the ships that come into the Port of Miami daily. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You might be a sailing bum if your doctor reports your injuries to Abuse Authorities. Special thanks to JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Ullman Sails, and APS. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
