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SCUTTLEBUTT 3120 - Thursday, June 24, 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. 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 The Pirates Lair. KEEPING KIDS ENGAGED IN THE SPORT Students in the International Yacht Restoration School’s Composites Technology Program, a new nine-month program that begins this September at the school’s Bristol, RI campus, will learn their craft while building a fleet of Moths - a small, high-performance sailboat considered by many to be the fastest, most exhilarating dinghy being sailed today. These diminutive single-handed boats are no longer than 11 feet in length, but their small size belies their power: these fast hydrofoils rise out of the water once underway, can travel faster than the wind, and have been clocked at 27 knots. The Moths will be more than an effective teaching tool for students in the composites program: IYRS will partner with Sail Newport to bring these high-performance dinghies to the public. Once the Moths are completed by students they will become part of the Sail Newport fleet and will fill an important gap in this public sailing center’s existing fleet as an exciting, challenging boat for young adult sailors looking for the next step in sailing. “Our sport does a great job of teaching young kids to sail, but we don’t do as good a job at keeping those kids engaged in the sport as they grow into young adults,” said Sail Newport Executive Director Brad Read. “Introducing these high-performance, dynamic boats to our sailing population is a perfect collaboration between IYRS and Sail Newport. We could not pass up the chance to be the end user of these boats - boats I consider to be the most dynamic on the planet.” -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/2bkluma => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I applaud Brad’s effort in keeping kids engaged in the sport, but the reality is that all the youth sailing advocates need to help with this problem too. There was a time when youth sailors grew up on Snipes, Lightnings, local keelboats, etc., and when they completed their schooling they continued with these local fleets. Nowadays, youth sailing has focused on boats only used in youth sailing (ie, FJs, Club 420s, etc), and there is no natural bridge toward continuing to sail as a young adult. A year ago I coined the term “The Soccerization of Sailing”, which spurned this Forum thread: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7214#7214 SCUTTLEBUTT TRIVIA What regional 2010 regatta will host a larger fleet of one-design keelboats than this prominent class recently saw at its World Championship? (Answer below) 34TH AMERICA’S CUP DRAFT PROTOCOL PRESENTED TO TEAMS (June 23, 2010) - In a joint initiative by the defender, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club and the Challenger of Record, Italy’s Club Nautico di Roma, a draft of the Protocol rules for the 34th America’s Cup was sent to the challenging teams today. Foremost amongst numerous innovations is a forward-thinking structure that allows funds and assets to transfer from one America’s Cup to the next. The draft is a ‘listening and living’ document. Teams have been invited to comment and, contribute to its final form. This follows an already unprecedented level of cooperation with the Challenger of Record and a dialogue with potential teams. It offers another chance for input before the Protocol is finalized and published by the target date of 31st August 2010. “This has been a painstaking process, but we believe it sets out a New Deal for the America’s Cup and fair play for all teams. It also incorporates the vision of the Cup held by Larry Ellison and BMW ORACLE Racing,” said Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. “To create a fair playing field we plan to issue all of the event rules before the end of the year, and this is a significant first step in that direction,” Coutts said. “Teams will know exactly what they are signing-up to.” Potential teams asked for these key elements to be included the 34th America’s Cup Protocol and they have been: - neutral race management body - wide-ranging powers for the Jury - cost cutting measures - initiative to transform television & media output - added-value to sponsors & business partners - sustainable, long-term business model Building on the initiative by the World Sailing Team’s Association, a maximum of eight pre-regattas per year is planned for consistent racing and exposure for the teams in the years leading up to the America’s Cup. The Protocol will rein-in costs by reducing the number of racing crew, introducing no-sailing periods and limiting the numbers of hulls, masts, appendages and sails teams can build. Full report: http://www.americascup.com/news/ac34-draft-protocol/ Draft protocol: http://tinyurl.com/AC34-Protocol-Draft JACK TAYLOR’S “HORIZON” FLIES AROUND CATALINA Congratulations to Jack Taylor’s SC-50 “Horizon” which decisively won the 30th annual Around Catalina Race over Memorial Day weekend in Southern California. Fully powered by Ullman Sails, the “Horizon” crew were first to finish, first overall and first PHRF A boat! Other top finishers included the Richley family’s Choate 48 “Amante” who took top honors in PHRF B and Farr 40 “Temptress” which finished second to Horizon in PHRF A. Hosted by Cabrillo Beach and Dana Point Yacht Clubs, the 75nm “Around Catalina” Race was also the second installment in the Ullman Sails Offshore Championship. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com BERMUDA RACE WINNERS CONFIRMED (June 23, 2010) - Carina has won the St. David’s Lighthouse Division in the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race. Owned and sailed by Rives Potts (Westbrook, CT) with a crew blending four families, Carina is the 46th winner of the race’s top trophy in the 104-year history of the race, which runs 635 miles from Newport, RI to St. David’s Light, Bermuda. The 48-foot McCurdy & Rhodes designed sloop won on corrected time under the Offshore Racing Rule by the very large margin of 3 hours, 35 minutes over Gregory B. Manning’s X-41 Sarah (Warwick, RI). Belle Aurore, a Cal 40 owned by R. Douglas Jurrius (Easton, MD) was third, seven minutes behind Sarah. Carina’s chances for winning looked good but hardly certain when she finished the race at dawn Tuesday. Her chief challenge came from Belle Aurore and three other boats in Class 1, the small-boat class. Any of them could save their time and elbow Carina off the victory podium should she finish by about 7 PM. Many sailors at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and elsewhere spent much of Tuesday following the quartet’s progress on the online iBoattrack tracker. In the end, nobody was able to save their time on Carina. Those four smaller boats still did well. Belle Aurore won Class 1 and took third place in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division. Two other Cal 40s, Peter Rebovich’s two-time defending champion Sinn Fein (Metuchen, NJ) and Bill Leroy’s Gone with the Wind (Tiburon, CA), took second in the class and seventh in the division, and third in class and eighth in the division, respectively. The fourth boat, David G. Dickerson’s Peterson 38 Lindy, was fourth in class and 20th in the division. Full story: http://www.covarimail.com/view.lasso?id1=698&id2=504272 Provisional results: http://63.134.239.39/2010results/index.html AMERICANS ATOP MEDAL COUNT AT KIEL WEEK Kiel, Germany (June 23, 2010; Day 5) - The sun returned and racing finished for the ISAF Sailing World Cup classes today in the first part of Kieler Woche, the sixth stage of the 7 event ISAF Sailing World Cup. Competitors have had to endure some long days on the water at this year’s Kieler Woche, which began with blustery wind and waves producing some exciting sailing and then became a crawl to struggle through the schedule with very light and shifty conditions across all course areas. The top ten from the fleet racing classes competed in the Medal Race, a non-discardable double point contest. "When we saw the forecast this morning we were a bit afraid because it said that the wind will drop again during the day. But suddenly we had the breeze we were looking for and could organise fair races in all classes," chairman of the Kieler Woche Jobst Richter explained. The home nation, Germany shared the biggest medal haul with the USA, both with four medals but no golds. Great Britain and Australia came out on top, GBR with two golds and one silver and Australia with two golds and a bronze. Regarding the American performance, “This is extremely exciting for our team,” said High Performance Director/Head Coach Kenneth Andreasen. “Our sailors’ hard work -- training and competing at all these events -- is clearly paying off. We had a great week here, and there has been some great camaraderie among the sailors.” Mark Mendelblatt (USA), bronze medal winner in the Star, commented on how the USSTAG’s new team outlook is noticeable from top to bottom, especially at a big event like Kiel Week. “It’s totally different than it’s ever been before in the past,” he said. “The leadership has been fantastic. It’s a real team feeling, and we’ve got brand recognition. We’re doing well, and we’re getting results. I’m really happy to be a part of it.” North American competitors finishing in the top ten: 2nd - Laser, Clay Johnson (USA) 7th - Laser, Michael Leigh (CAN) 1st - Laser Radial, Paige Railey (USA) 8th - Laser Radial, Sarah Lihan (USA) 3rd - Star, Mark Mendelblatt/ Magnus Liljedahl (USA) 9th - Star, Andy Horton/ James Lyne (USA) 4th - Finn, Zach Railey (USA) 6th - 470 Men, Stu McNaty/ Graham Biehl (USA) 9th - 470 Men, Adam Roberts/ Nick Martin (USA) 10th - 49er, Erik Stork/ Trevor Moore (USA) 3rd - WMR, Anna Tunnicliffe/ Molly Vandemoer/ Debbie Capozzi (USA) 4th - WMR, Genny Tulloch/ Alice Manard/ Jenn Chamberlin (USA) Event website: http://www.kieler-woche.de/eng/englishdefault.php USSTAG report: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/World_Cup/KW2010.htm TOUR LEADERS ATOP STANDINGS IN PORTUGAL Portimao, Portugal (June 23, 2010) - Top Tour seeds began today the Portimao Portugal Match Cup, Stage 4 of the ten event 2010 World Match Racing Tour, racing in big bay conditions with the windward mark stationed a little over 500 metres off the entrance to Portimao Marina and 8-15 knots of wind which shifted round to the right by early evening round from the South West to West. Matches were run in quick succession during the day’s sea breeze splendour with the first 6 teams completing 3 flights and the remaining 6 teams racing 2 flights. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing convincingly won all three of his matches, with Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team and Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra finishing the day on 2-0. Minoprio, reigning World Champion who picked up a second last year at the Portugal leg of the Tour, remains focussed on staying in top form for start time, he talked through race preparation in the Portuguese climate, “It’s very warm here, you feel like you want to enjoy the sun and go swimming, but if you stay in the heat you get dehydrated and won’t be able to focus properly for the racing, you just can’t do both”. The power out on the course has sat firmly with the right today. During pre-start manoeuvres skippers factored in fighting for the all important right hand side where the benefits of the wind clocking continually right coupled with starboard tack dominance multiplied the attraction of this side of the start line and first beat significantly. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/28u7ccd Day 1: Current Round Robin Standings Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 3-0 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 2-0 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 2-0 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 2-1 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 2-1 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 1-1 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge 1-1 Bertrand Pacé (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team 1-2 Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 1-2 Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team 0-2 Manuel Weiller (ESP) Team Iberdrola 0-2 Eugeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Team Synergy 0-3 Pairings and Results: http://tinyurl.com/2ftz9hq Tour Standings - Top Five after 3 of 10 tour events 1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Team 2. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch 3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 4. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 5. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Complete tour standings: http://www.wmrt.com/2010-scoreboards.html SUPER BLOWOUT ON REGATTA TEES! Various regatta tees, polos, and tech items for cheap until they're gone at The Pirates Lair. Go to http://www.pirateslair.com TRIVIA ANSWER The Farr 40 class is widely considered to be one of the elite international fleets, but the turnout for its 2010 World Championship in Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic was hampered by the challenging economy and a lack of local fleet. With only 10 boats at the Worlds, the Southern California Farr 40 fleet is flexing its local muscle this week at the Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week. Eleven boats are on the online entry list. West Coast Fleet Captain David Voss notes that while a new Farr 40 can cost up to $700,000, a 10 or 12 year old boat can be had for as little as $150,000 and be just as fast. What draws dedicated racers to the Farr 40, Voss said, are the tight class measurement rules that keep all boats, old or new, equally competitive. There's an annual limit on the purchase of new sails, and most regional fleets adhere to a "Corinthian Class" rule of no more than two paid professional sailors on board. Racing for the Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week is June 25-27. Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10053#10053 WILL KITEBOARDING SAVE SAILING? * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has recently mandated their “Olympic Commission” to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Sailing in the Olympic Games; to compare with other sports and to make recommendations for the future of Olympic Sailing. The report, presented to the ISAF mid-year conference, has been a wakeup call for many, although the contents did not come as a surprise. While Kiteboarding is not yet an Olympic Sailing Class, the International Kiteboard Association contends that many of the requirements and changes that the Olympic Commission suggests are already in place in the world of international Kiteboarding, and as a result, Kiteboarding could become Sailing’s “White Knight” - gaining back attraction and attention for the Olympic Sailing Programme. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/298yqlh * San Francisco Bay Area kiters and windsurfers have been on the cutting edge of many trends and Saturday June 19th's CalCup race in Berkeley was no exception. For the past few races some of the world's top Kiteboarders have been racing alongside the CalCup Formula Fleet. While some of the kiters have come tantalizingly close to winning a race it took two of the worlds best to finally draw first blood. With Andrew Koch (Ozone Kites, Aguera Boards), Johnny Heineken (RRD Kites, Mike's Lab Boards) and the current world champion Adam Koch (Ozone Kites, Aguera Boards),in attendance the tension was palpable at the skippers meeting with the Formula Fleet knowing today might be the day a Kiter finally breaks through for a bullet in a race. Winning the day wasn't really feared by the windsurfers - but it should have been.-- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/2csdsdk SAILING SHORTS * The BC Marine Trades Association (BCMTA) said that it had appointed Canadian Boat Shows Inc (CBSI) as the new show management for the Vancouver International Boat Show. CBSI replaces show management by NMMA, though many of the key staff are former NMMA employees. The Vancouver show is scheduled to take place from February 9-11, 2011. -- IBI Magazine, full story: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20100522150235ibinews.html * For the second time since 1983, when the America's Cup was lifted up by the Australia II team, the America's Cup Trophy will be back in Newport, RI on July 1st. After a public viewing downtown followed by a Harbor Parade of Sail from Downtown Newport landing at Fort Adams State Park, Sail Newport and the RI AC 34 Committee will host a luncheon at Fort Adams State Park. Proceeds from the luncheon benefit Sail Newport, a 501c (3) organization dedicated to public access to sailing. Details: http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/m/_general/firesidechat.asp * (June 23, 2010) - On route across the Atlantic toward Kinsale, Ireland, the Clipper 09-10 Race teams are forecasted to see up to 35 knots later today. Notes Hull & Humber skipper Justin Taylor, “It’s pretty cold now and we haven't seen the sun since leaving Cape Breton. Once again we find ourselves enveloped in a blanket of fog - quite eerie as we can only see our own navigation lights.” To the south of the fleet, Jamaica Lightning Bolt continues to lead the nine Clipper 68s, now 136 nm astern of the Challenge 67 Cork that had a 48 hour head start. -- Event website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ 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: Jun 23-27 - Sheboygan Youth Match Race Invitational - Sheboygan, WI, USA Jun 24-27 - 505 North American Championship - Chicago, IL, USA Jun 25-27 - A Scow National Championship - Madison, WI, USA Jun 25-27 - Melges 24 US National Championship - Newport, RI, USA Jun 26-27 26 - Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta - San Francisco, CA, 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 Jeffry Matzdorff (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3119): A Mayday situation is one in which a vessel, aircraft, vehicle, or person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. Examples of "grave and imminent danger" in which a Mayday call would be appropriate include fire, explosion or sinking. Pan-pan (from the French: panne - a breakdown) indicates an urgent situation of a lower order than a "grave and imminent threat requiring immediate assistance", such as a mechanical breakdown or a medical problem. The suffix medico used to be added by vessels in UK waters to indicate a medical problem (Pan-Pan medico, repeated three times). * From Roger Boshier, Vancouver (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3119): Your clarification is wrong. MAYDAY is used for all types of distress, not just a sinking! So, fires, capsizing or any imminent danger to life all qualify. It is odd that an MOB is regarded as a Pan. But, in my view, MOB is a very serious matter and, if there is any question about going back, finding and retrieving him/her this too is a MAYDAY. * From Rich Jeffries: In other Olympic sports, athletes have the opportunity to win multiple medals. If we add Team racing why not take the sailors from existing classes and pool them for the team event. If a few additional sailors are needed, they should be few. Let’s produce heroes. This would not increase the athlete total and cost (a major IOC concern). It can be sailed on 470's thus not requiring additional measurement. Judges and officials for this unique event could be brought in at the end of the Games for just this portion, thus reducing their costs. * From Ken Redler: With regards to the plight of professional sailors’ thread: Q: Where do professional sailors go on vacation? A: They visit an engineering firm for two weeks. Q: What do professional sailors wear on casual Friday? A: What’s casual Friday? Q: How many professional sailors does it take to change a light bulb? A: Three. One to decide which direction to twist the light bulb, one to actually twist the light bulb, and one to tell the owner that the new light bulb is no good and he needs to buy a new one. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and The Pirates Lair. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
