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SCUTTLEBUTT 2838 - Wednesday, May 6, 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 North Sails and Atlantis WeatherGear. EXCITING NEW GROWTH PERIOD FOR WOMEN’S MATCH RACING With the new Olympic boat, the ISAF Elliott 6m, making its debut at the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Sailing World Cup event in Kiel, Germany, in June and women’s match racing events growing in number and participation throughout the world, our sport has never been stronger. New teams are joining the ranks and established match racing teams are developing Olympic programmes. The next stop on the ISAF Sailing World Cup, the Delta Lloyd Regatta, in Medemblik, The Netherlands, will feature women’s match racing for the first time and currently has 24 teams registered from 13 countries. They will sail the 3-person Yngling for this year’s event, but will switch to the Elliott 6m for 2010. Through a joint agreement between Germany, Finland, and The Netherlands, Elliott 6ms from those three countries will be used by the 24 teams from 10 countries at the Kieler Woche event which will be holding women’s match racing for the second consecutive year. A similar arrangement has been made between The Netherlands and Great Britain to have women’s match racing held in the Elliott 6ms during the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in September 2009 and the 2010 Delta Lloyd Regatta. -- Read on: http://www.wimra.org/news_detail.asp?rk=340 ALL TEAMS SPLASHED FOR THE WEEKEND * Boston, MA (May 5, 2009) - All seven Volvo Ocean Race boats have now returned to Boston Harbor, the yachts of Telefonica Blue and Green Dragon having gone in Tuesday to join their five rivals which all went in Monday. Delta Lloyd has made the most of the time available by going sailing today, while Ericsson 3, Ericsson 4 and Green Dragon will head out Wednesday. The Telefonica twins will take to the water on Thursday, as will PUMA. Delta Lloyd has also bolstered its support corps by adding US Sailing Coach Ed Adams to assist in local knowledge and team training, while also bringing in Brazilian trimmer Marcelo Ferreira for the In-Port Race on May 9. -- Excerpts from Event Website * Filling the void during the Boston stopover is RipeTV's newest reality series, which follows the PUMA team as it competes in the Volvo Ocean Race. There are six episodes posted… with the most recent show capturing the start of the first leg from Spain to South Africa. The editing is a lot edgier and fast paced than what has been provided from the race site, giving it more of a television quality. Maybe that is why they are seven months behind the race schedule. View here: http://www.ripetv.com/originals/puma-ocean-racing * VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Began Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. The next event is the Boston In-Port race on May 9th, followed by the 2,550 nm transatlantic Leg 7 from Boston to Galway, Ireland that starts May 16th and is expected to finish by May 23rd. Seven of the eight teams are expected to compete (Team Russia will not compete). Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THE ABUSE THESE SAILS TAKE Ken Read, on sabbatical from his role as Vice President of North Sails, is the skipper onboard PUMA Ocean Racing’s Volvo Ocean Race entry ‘il mostro.’ Read took a few minutes to answer questions about how this race has changed his sailing style and how the sails have performed so far. “You cannot believe the abuse these sails take. We take them all up range far more than we ever imagined. The amount of water abuse the foot sections get on the headsails for example is ridiculous. We will probably be the only team trying to get around (the world) with just two mains and we think we are going to be able to pull that off no problem.” When performance matters, the choice is clear. To read full interview, log on to: http://www.na.northsails.com MULTIHULL MOMENTUM The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship is the absolute premier youth event… period. For the young sailor that is immensely gifted or a tremendous hard worker, merely qualifying for the event is an honor. It is clearly one of the most visible stepping stones toward Olympic level competition. If ever there was a master plan in the sport of sailing, the type of boats used in the Youth Worlds would reflect those used in the Olympics. And nearly they do. A boys and girls division exists for the Laser Radial, the International 420, and the RS:X (with 8.5m2 sail & 60cm fin). These are all very close or identical to the current slate of Olympic sailing events. But then there is one oddity… the open division using the Hobie 16 with Spinnaker. What in the world is a catamaran doing at the Youth Worlds? Didn’t the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) banish the multihull from the Olympic Games? Of course they did, so why in the world is ISAF permitting this odd craft in the Youth Worlds? Better yet, what in the world are all these highly prized youth sailors doing in this dead-end event? But wait, what is this we are hearing from the International Hobie Class Association? They have just announced that the 2009 Youth Worlds in Brazil (July 9-18) has attracted the largest number of multihull entries than ever before. Is there a connection here - no Olympics means more interest in multihull sailing. Or could there be an epic disconnect, where the multihull discipline has lost its Olympic event right when youth interest was at an all-time high. -- Scuttleblog, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/05/multihull-momentum.html NO FEAST ON CHESAPEAKE FOR J/24 WORLDS Annapolis, MD (May 5, 2009; Day 2) - Light air out of the north and a wicked tidal current conspired today to prevent racing in the 2009 J/24 World Championship, being sailed by a fleet of 79 teams out of Annapolis Yacht Club on the Chesapeake Bay.“We never put a mark in the water today,” said Principal Race Officer Sandy Grosvenor. “The wind got up near where it needed to be a couple of times, but there was no comfort factor, given we had a raging ebb tide. It was just a day to be patient and wait.” Grosvenor said early forecasts for tomorrow (Wednesday) are so widely varied it was hard to predict what Day 3 of the five-day regatta will bring. “We’ll try for three [races] again tomorrow, and hope for the best,” she said. The regatta is scheduled to go through Friday, with a total of 10 races on the slate. Once the total hits five complete contests, a worst-race throwout will kick in. -- http://tinyurl.com/J24-Worlds-News Provisional Results, Day 2 (top 5 of 79) 1. Bruschetta, Mauricio Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6-1 = 7 2. Bomba Charger, Anthony Kotoun, St. Thomas, USVI, 7-2 = 9 3. Three Bond, Tetsuya Matsunaga, Kanagawa, Japan, 12-3 = 15 4. Paraloc, Will Welles, Rhode Island, USA, 14-7 = 21 5. Carrera, Matias Pereira, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 8-14 = 22 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/J24Worlds-Results T2P video: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/j24w09.php SailGroove video: http://tinyurl.com/SailGroove-J24-Worlds-2009 THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE EVENT A few years back, race director Jeff Zarwell found a boat violently bouncing around on San Pablo Bay with just its mainsail up. It was a cold, nasty day and blowing 30 knots. The boat had lost its rudder during a race, losing control of its ability to steer. Driving his rigid inflatable boat, to the boat in distress, he came across its rudder floating in the swirling wash and was able to retrieve it. Nonetheless, the boat was disabled and Zarwell had to tow it back to shore. It was all just part of the job for this race director. Directing sailboat races is a well-honed art, with some science strategically thrown in. It requires experience as well as a good head for organization. Race committees, and the race director, are often the unsung heroes of the event, battling it out among the elements to set a course, manipulating cumbersome anchor line and buoy equipment, while watching for weather and traffic on the course and recording start and finish times. On a more complex level, the job necessitates that the course is set in accordance with the prevailing wind and current conditions - in a nutshell, making sure that the course is square and fair. Zarwell, from Mill Valley, is one of only 23 national race officers qualified by U.S. Sailing, the governing body of sailboat racing in the country, to run almost any kind of sailing race anywhere, from an America's Cup to a local mid-winter race. The certification process involves 16 hours of classroom, plus an on-water test lasting two or three hours. Recertification is required every four years. -- Marin Independent Journal, read on: http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_12293221 DISCOVER: A FRONT ROW SEAT FOR THE START OF THE NEXT LEG If you’re in Boston for the VOR festivities this weekend, Atlantis and Flagship Adventures invite you to stop by the new Flagship Adventures store and enter to win your own personal 19-foot Ribcraft for the restart plus four Atlantis jackets for you and three friends. The store is right by Fan Pier at 200 Seaport Boulevard and you can enter from May 8-10. While you’re there, take advantage of a 10% discount on Atlantis gear. That way, if you don’t win, you’ll still have some of the best sailing gear on the planet. For details, visit http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com/Restart - Discover Atlantis. WHAT IS ED BAIRD DOING THIS WEEK? Floridian Ed Baird, who as helmsman for the America’s Cup defender Alinghi team, joined his crew as they put the chartered multihull Décision 35, SUI6, through its paces for the first time Monday on Lake Geneva. The team and that of the other Alinghi D35, SUI1, are training this week in preparation for the upcoming Challenge Julius Baer which starts on Friday with the GP Corum at the Société Nautique de Genève. This regatta series and other training sessions are towards a 33rd America's Cup in multihulls next year. Here is an interview with Ed Baird: * What are you and the crew doing this week? ED BAIRD: “We are on Lake Geneva, in a town called Nyon, in Switzerland, and we are going out sailing on the D35s that we are going to sail all summer. This is our first time together as a group on the boat to try and experiment and learn a little bit about how they work. We are trying to get ready for the races that start this weekend. “Ernesto started this class way back and he’s been racing on these boats since they were originally conceived. This is the first time for us. There was a boat that wasn’t being used and we were able to charter it for the season, for part of the season actually, because we can’t do all of the races, but we’ll have another team within our team to race against and train against and that will be interesting.” -- For photos, video, and complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/Alinghi-5-5-09 * Daphne Morgan Barnicoat, Alinghi’s English Press Officer, told Scuttlebutt that the Alinghi multihull for the Deed of Gift America’s Cup match will be launched during the summer on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. LEARNING TO EMBRACE THE RACING RULES OF SAILING By Apparent Wind blog After coaching high school kids, watching them struggle with the RRS, and serving on too many protest committees for my liking, I observe a 7 stage process high school sailors follow as they simultaneously develop their sailing skills and try to learn and use the rules. It might be true for adults too, but probably with less yelling (in most cases) and a little more civilized behavior. Girls, with some notable exceptions, also follow the pattern with more civilized behavior. 1) Intimidation. Both the rules and the more experienced sailors are intimidating. There are too many rules to learn, so the kids focus on three right of way rules - starboard port, windward leeward, clear ahead and clear astern. The only goal is avoiding collisions. In most situations the one who yells the loudest intimidates the other and gets right of way. Hollering “PORT” with enough authority is likely to get the starboard boat to forget the opposite tacks rule and to tack away, and the starboard boat is a long way from knowing about Rule 2, Fair Sailing. 2) I’m not gonna take it anymore! 3) I AM the right of way boat! 4) There’s no justice! 5) We need a team lawyer! 6) Master’s Degree in RRS. 7) Ninja Master. Learn about Stages 2-7 here: http://tinyurl.com/Apparent-Wind-5-5-09 SAILING SHORTS * Mark Pillsbury, editor-in-chief of Cruising World magazine, has named Bill Springer senior editor of the Bonnier Corp. cruising publication. Springer, a four-time national award-winning marine writer, comes to Cruising World after 14 years with SAIL magazine, most recently as senior editor. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7421 * Newport, RI (May 5, 2009) - Elizabeth Baldwin, 63 appeared briefly in Superior Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to embezzling nearly $7.3 million from 47 investors in what prosecutors say was a classic Ponzi scheme. A pretrial hearing was set for June 8. Prosecutors say Baldwin met of her alleged victims on the sailing circuit between Newport and the Caribbean. Some of their money allegedly allowed her to buy a 65-foot mahogany sloop that she skippered in the centennial Newport-to-Bermuda race in 2006, rent a house in St. Bart's and travel through the Caribbean and Europe. -- The Providence Journal, full story: http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/05/hold-hold-holdn.html * Portsmouth, RI (May 5, 2009) - US SAILING and Bow Down Training announced today that Bow Down Training has signed an agreement to become the Official Physical Trainer of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics consists of 66 athletes who are training for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Weymouth, UK. Bow Down Training is a fitness training program geared specifically towards sailor athletes. -- Read on: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/Bow_Down_Training_partnership.htm * The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has announced today that the Experimental Kiteboarding Competition Rules have been released and published on the ISAF website. The Appendix BB -- Experimental Kiteboarding Competition Rules have been published to provide a consistent global framework for kiteboarding competition. The Experimental Rules were produced by members of the ISAF Racing Rules Committee and ISAF Windsurfing Committee in collaboration with a group of kiteboarding enthusiasts in Europe and the USA. -- Read on: http://www.sailing.org/28164.php RESURRECTING THE TRUE SPIRIT OF AMATEUR RACING Though she will be impressed by some prominent names entered in the New York Yacht Club’s inaugural Invitational Cup, you can be sure Marie Klok Crump can hold her own in a room full of sailing standouts. From Århus, Denmark and now living in Newport, R.I., the tall blonde Scandinavian has been a top-ranked women's match racer since the mid-nineties, ranking as high as number two in the ISAF Women's World Match Race circuit and crowned twice as the Danish Match Race Champion (’94, ’96). As a member of the Danish national team, she also pursued an Olympic campaign in the Yngling women's keelboat for the 2004 games in Athens. This September 15-19, however, she will lead the Royal Danish Yacht Club’s co-ed entry in the NYYC’s Invitational Cup, which is set to host 18 yacht club teams from 14 nations in Newport, R.I., where Crump currently resides and where the club’s on-the-water clubhouse, Harbour Court, is located. -- Read on: http://www.nyyc.org/worldinvitationalcup/article_479 LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Bob Hubbard (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 2837) I had a similar experience to Bill's while I was in Vietnam in 1968, though not quite as frightening. I was stationed at Marble Mountain Airbase about 2 miles south of China Beach. One day a friend and I were at the Special Services beach at the Airbase when we stopped to talk to a guy who was rigging a sailboat. It turned out he was from California like we were and he asked if we wanted to go sailing with him. We went and had a great time. A couple weeks later we were at the beach again and decided we go out on our own. We sail out away from the beach for a while but when we turn to head back we couldn't figure out how to do it. As we drifted toward less than safe areas south of Marble Mountain, we finally figured it out and made it back to the beach. Not knowing anything about sailboats at the time, I don't know what kind of boat we sailed, but thinking back, they were probably Lido 14's or something similar. For me that was the start of my addiction to sailing and I've been at it ever since. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7418#7418 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION When people say “it's always the last place you look.” Of course it is. Why would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Special thanks to North Sails and Atlantis WeatherGear. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
