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SCUTTLEBUTT 2841 - Monday, May 11, 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 Southern Spars, West Marine, and Newport Shipyard. MOVING UP (The following are excerpts from a story posted on The Daily Sail subscription website.) Making the transition from little boats to big boats is always a major for the individuals involved. The latest world class Olympic sailor to have made this jump is Brazil's four time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt, who has now signed with the newly re-created Luna Rossa team, ready for the America's Cup, whenever that may happen (don't hold your breath). In the meantime Scheidt and his fellow crew members, are having to :make do" with an STP65 program that, surprisingly for what one might think of as an inshore-orientated team, will have a significant offshore component in its program for 2009. The logical step up for Scheidt, now 35, and possibly the ultimate step after his lengthy Olympic career, is the America's Cup, although he is taking a more cautious approach than many other former Olympians who have launched straight into it. "I will go step by step. This [the STP] is a good program to learn a lot about these type of boats - about sailing with 20 guys on board, about the communication, sailing to the numbers, computers, etc." He also acknowledges that there remains a significant hurdle to overcome before he can become a fully fledged AC skipper - he has to learn match racing and the best school for this will certainly be the World Match Racing Tour. "For this year that will be a bit too much for me, because I have already got two programs, but probably next year I will start to get more involved with that." -- http://tinyurl.com/ryxyle FORMAT EVOLUTION On Sunday morning at Fan Pier in Boston, Knut Frostad, the CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, presided over the second 'Round Table' presentation where details of the next edition of the race are announced. The focus on Sunday remained on changes that increase value for participants in the Volvo Ocean Race. Amongst the many subjects covered, the evolution to the format of a typical race stopover schedule for the next edition of the race was particularly important. In general, stopovers in the next edition are to be shorter and more efficient, with most of the action loaded towards the final weekend, which is when the Pro-Am Race, the In-Port Race and the leg start will all take place. The stopovers will be designed around a two-week format, with the ETAs for the finish of a leg comprising the first weekend, a 'Festival of Sail' on the middle weekend, and the Pro-Am, In-Port races and leg starts on the third weekend. The end result will be more time for the shore crews to work on the boats, a real recuperation period for the sailors between legs, and a clear build-up to a final crescendo of racing action for the public and VIP guests; all of this in a stopover that is shorter than in the present version. With the announcement of Alicante as the start port for the next three races, the race organizers are now turning their attention to the procurement of the remaining stopover ports. As of today, 81 ports around the world have expressed interest, demonstrated their domestic political support and are now involved in the Volvo Ocean Race stopover port bidding process. The goal is have the full race route decided and announced by the end of the first quarter of 2010. Sunday's presentation builds on the announcements made in Rio de Janeiro, where changes to crew numbers (one less crew, one additional crew member under 30-years of age) and sail restrictions were revealed. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/pjfbag INTENSITY RUNNING HOT ON THIS YEAR'S AUDI MEDCUP CIRCUIT Take a glance over the Audi MedCup entry lists. It's a dead cert that racing will be tight with intense competition, lots of action for spectators and at the season's finale we'll see which team got it right. Ten boats are powered by Southern Spars on this year's circuit, including 3 GP42s. TP52s Audi Q8, Artemis, ETNZ & Matador will all utilize new 2009 Southern Spars rigs that feature refinements in windage, stiffness and boom design. Southern Spars wishes all teams good, fast sailing. http://www.southernspars.com THE SUN AND WIND FINALLY ARRIVED Annapolis, MD (May 8, 2009; Day 5) - The sun came out at last, the wind finally arrived more or less on schedule and the 2009 J/24 World Championship came to an exciting end with three races jammed into the final day of competition. With the vital worst-race throwout in play once the sailors had completed the day's first contest, standings shuffled quite a bit, and as 1996 World Champion Chris Larson of Annapolis and his National Sailing Hall of Fame team finished third in that race thet took the lead by the narrowest of margins, tied on points with Canadian Rossi Milev and his Clear Air crew. With a third-place finish in the next race, Larson and his team pulled ahead a bit more, establishing a 2-point lead over 2006-2007 World Champion Mauricio Santa Cruz and his Brazilian team on Bruschetta, who now found himself winning the tiebreaker with Milev and setting up the final race as a real nail-biter to see who would emerge at the top of the highly competitive 76-boat fleet. In the end, Santa Cruz and the Bruschetta crew, with a third in the seventh race to Larson's 11th and Milev's 14th, came away with a third J/24 World Championship, making him the second-most successful J/24 skipper in class history (Ken Read still holds the record with six titles) and the first non-US sailor to win a Worlds in this country. Sailing with Santa Cruz were Daniel Santiago, Alexandre Saldanha, Paolo Boido, and Alfredo Rovere, who have been part of his team for six years. Final Results 1. Bruschetta, Mauricio Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 41 2. National Sailing Hall of Fame, Chris Larson, Annapolis, MD, 47 3. Carrera, Matias Pereira, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 48 4. Clear Air, Rossi Milev, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 52 5. Bomba Charger, Anthony Kotoun, St. Thomas, USVI, 61 6. Paraloc, Will Welles, Portsmouth, RI, 85 7. Mookie, Peter Levesque, Tiverton, RI, 87 * Chuck Allen, North Sails: What a Change - Three Races in One day! It was smart of The R/C to go out early on the final day because it was looking grim for breeze in the forecast. So we met at the rendezvous of R2 off Bay Ridge and for the first time they had the fleet follow them south towards Thomas Point Light versus heading north towards the Bay Bridge, which has been light and weird. Sure enough we stopped for a while and watched The Cougar Treat Team try to wakeboard behind their J/24 - they forgot two important things: put a smaller guy in the water and get a bigger engine... fun to watch though! Sure enough... hints of a breeze started to fill in around 165 degrees. The R/C moved a touch more away from the lighthouse and things looked good for two to three races in a breeze of 4-8 knots, basically two guys hiking and our 'low setting on the rig' conditions. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7405 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 TELEFONICA BLUE DOMINATES IN BOSTON Telefonica Blue ruled the day on Saturday afternoon earning two wins from two starts on in-port race day at the Volvo Ocean Race stopover at Fan Pier, in Boston. With Iker Martinez on the helm and Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, Telefonica Blue dominated the afternoon, leading from pole to pole in both races. They were already the most successful inshore team, claiming two wins, one second and a third from the four in-port sessions before Boston. Saturday afternoon, in the light breezes their boat loves most, they led from start to finish in both races with more than a minute to spare at the end of each one. Ken Read was the most glum. The PUMA skipper had been on the podium in all four in-port races, but Saturday could manage no better than a fourth and a fifth, which owing to other teams' performances left them sixth. He crossed the start line early in the second race, capping for him a bad day in the light conditions his boat dislikes. "Just a disappointing day," he said. "If we were to write a script for a condition where our boat performs in front of a home crowd, this would have been last on the list. But we were a point out of third, that's how close everyone was. But you make a mistake on the starting line like I did on the second race (OCS), you don't deserve to be on the podium. You can't make a mistake like that in this fleet." In the final accounting, Telefonica Blue was the runaway winner, with Ericsson 4 clear second and Delta Lloyd holding on for third place. A three-way tie for fourth was decided in favor of the stronger position in the second race; terrible news for the hometown favorites on PUMA. It meant Ericsson 3 would grab fourth, Telefonica Black fifth while PUMA was left in sixth place. On the overall leaderboard, Telefonica Blue creeps half a point closer to Ericsson 4, but more importantly opens up some margin over PUMA in the battle for second place. Race One Boston In-Port Race Finish Position 1. Telefonica Blue 2. Delta Lloyd 3. Ericsson 4 4. PUMA 5. Telefonica Black 6. Ericsson 3 7. Green Dragon Race Two Boston In-Port Race Finish Position 1. Telefonica Blue 2. Ericsson 4 3. Ericsson 3 4. Telefonica Black 5. PUMA 6. Delta Lloyd 7. Green Dragon Boston In-Port Race Results 1. Telefonica Blue: 4 points 2. Ericsson 4: 3.5 points 3. Delta Lloyd: 3 points 4. Ericsson 3: 2.5 points 5. Telefonica Black 2.0 points 6. PUMA: 1.5 points 7. Green Dragon 1.0 points Overall Leaderboard 1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA): 81 points 2. Telefonica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED): 68.5 points 3. PUMA (Ken Read/USA): 65.5 points 4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE): 55.5 points 5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR): 45.0 points 6. Telefonica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP): 31.0 points 7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP): 24.0 points 8. Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT): 10.5 points There is a lot more information and analysis about the in-port races posted: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ * (May 10, 2009) - Gustav Morin, the media crew member (MCM) onboard Ericsson 3 snatched the Inmarsat Media Prize for Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rick Deppe, the MCM on PUMA. The trophy and prize money (1,000 euros) was presented in Boston by Chris McLaughlin, Vice President, External Affairs, Inmarsat. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/News/08/Inmarsat/leg6.asp * Photos from Saturday's In-Port race in Boston by photographers Oskar Kihlborg and Leighton O'Connor are posted here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0510 A PASSION FOR SAILING Founded and run by sailors, West Marine is committed to offering those who share our obsession the most expansive assortment of sailing gear anywhere. And now that assortment is just a click away! We've assembled an online resource that offers you access to our huge selection for your sailboat. From the widest selection of blocks to an incredible variety of performance running rigging-you're sure to find something to suit your passion. Plus check out the latest deals from the same page - every month we offer fantastic savings in safety, boat maintenance and more. http://www.westmarine.com/scuttlebutt/SB051109.html SAILING SHORTS * Twelve owners of IRC-rated racing sailboats and four advisors have formed a new group called Sound IRC. They seek to improve both the quality of IRC sailboat racing on Western Long Island Sound and to increase participation. Sound IRC is coordinating among racing sailboat owners and sailors, the YRA of LIS, Race Committees of YRA member yacht clubs, and the national IRC authority. Their goals include helping local owners obtain a Standard or Endorsed IRC certificate, establishing classes for the approximately 125 boats already racing IRC locally and working with our Race Committees to introduce IRC-friendly courses to existing regattas. http://www.sound-irc.org * Citing the impact of the economic problems being experienced worldwide, the 4th Annual Mayor's Cup Women's Match Racing event scheduled for Long Beach, California in July in Catalina 37s will be taking a pause in 2009. The regatta is cancelled. * In the largest-ever ARC Europe rally, 28 yachts from 12 different countries, crossed the start line off Tortola, British Virgin Islands on Thursday May 7. Many of the yachts are on their homeward back to Europe leg following participating in the World ARC, and others having a winter season in the Caribbean. Four other yachts will be joining the rally in Bermuda, having started from various ports on the southeastern coast of America. -- http://www.worldcruising.com/arceurope * Yachting journalist Peter Montgomery was joined by BMW Oracle CEO Russell Coutts for an audio interview, where the discussion included the America's Cup, the RC44 class, the 25 year anniversary of his Olympic gold medal, and the recent fire at his home and the related death of its caretaker. Listen here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0510.wma * What do you do after you've capsized during a Jules Verne Trophy record attempt? Well, according to Franck Cammas it's very simple: you rebuild the boat and go for it again. The new Jules Verne Trophy attempt is planned for next winter, but first Franck Cammas and his team will attempt to break both the North Atlantic and the TransMed sailing records. The TransMed record is the first on Franck Cammas' wish list, and the trimaran Groupama 3 along with Franck's six crew-members are now in Marseille, waiting for the ideal weather window to smash Bruno Peyron's record time. -- http://yachtpals.com/sailing-groupama-4156 * As part of its Junior Sailing Program for the summer of 2009, the Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor, New York, a Community Sailing Club, will award approximately 60 scholarships to deserving candidates interested in learning to sail. Donations and fundraising make it possible for BYC to award these scholarships to its Junior Sailing Program. The scholarships are awarded to students selected by local public schools, the Sag Harbor Boy Scouts, the Sag Harbor Girl Scouts and the Sag Harbor Youth Center. -- http://www.breakwateryc.org * Garmin reports first-quarter sales of US$437m, down 34 per cent compared to the same period ago. Its net income dropped 67 per cent to US$48.5m for the quarter. Sales in its marine segment fell 32 per cent to US$38m for the quarter. -- IBI Magazine, http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20090408154835ibinews.html * Dame Ellen MacArthur has no immediate plans to return to the competitive sailing circuit insisting that for now she has a far more important role to play in her charity and environmental awareness work. The 32-year-old, who is currently on a voyage around the British Isles raising money for the Ellen MacArthur Trust, has turned the focus of her attentions to the issue of resource sustainability. Admitting it would feel hypocritical to continue sailing around the world in the face of such a serious global problem, MacArthur attributes her passion for increasing awareness to her experiences at sea. -- http://tinyurl.com/pnp3b9 THE YACHTIES ARE COMING Weather has morphed into spring.... occasional light clothing; yachts flocking north. Newport unfurling, Belle's filling with old friends, pansies appearing in the flower boxes at Newport Shipyard. Colors made, varnish cans open, Travel-Lift lumbering around...... Game on! -- http://www.newportshipyard.com EIGHT BELLS * Peter Gales: The passing of a local legend. - Peter Gales started sailing Skimmers in Long Beach in the 1930s with his brothers, Don and Bob. Pete's love for sailing was a lifelong passion that included many years sailing the International 14, teaching himself to windsurf in his 60s and Sabot sailing until his mid-80s. Pete was also a gifted photographer. Educated at Art Center in Pasadena, he eventually went to work for Eastman Kodak. Pete enlisted in the Navy in 1942. His photographs of the Pacific during WWII are rare treasures, along with a lifetime of sailing photographs and award winning work at Kodak. A Belmont Shore Peninsula resident since 1968, Pete enjoyed riding his bike to Alamitos Bay YC and throughout Belmont Shore until last year when a bike crash ended such adventures at the age of 90. Pete passed away Sunday, April 19, just shy of his 91st birthday.
Pete passes on his love for photography, water sports and the outdoors to his three boys, and his six grandchildren who will always enjoy "Pop's Beach" on 63rd Place. Pete will be remembered at ABYC Monday at 10 a.m.. * Vicki Ericksen: SCYA manager - Victoria Whitcomb Ericksen, who for nearly 10 years managed the Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) Service Center in Long Beach, passed away on Friday, May 8, 2009, at the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center after a short illness. She was 59. A lifelong resident of Long Beach, Vicki was born August 18, 1949, in Long Beach and graduated from Long Beach Poly High School, where she was editor of the school newspaper, and California State University, Long Beach, where she earned a teaching credential. Vicki was a member of Alamitos Bay YC where her husband, Chris, had been commodore. She served on the race committee and was a former editor of the Sou'Wester, the club newsletter. Vicki is survived by her husband of 34 years; her sister, Lucy Whitcomb, of Long Beach, and dozens of cousins CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 John Oliver: Could someone enlighten me? What is the material on those MIT 420s in the photos in 'Butt 2840. Looks like very high tech cloth and cut, but a school would surely choose the most durable option. Has MIT discovered something other sailors need to know? * From Don Becker: Regarding your Curmudgeon's Observation about the Chevy Nova - it's just another Urban Legend! Check this out: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION One of life's greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn't good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world. Special thanks to Southern Spars, West Marine, and Newport Shipyard. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
