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SCUTTLEBUTT 2809 - Thursday, March 26, 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. Today's sponsors are Mount Gay Rum Gear and Ullman Sails. SALLY BARKOW: OLYMPIC PAST AND FUTURE (March 25, 2009) Sally Barkow won the US SAILING Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award in 2005 and 2007, based largely on the tremendous success she and her Team 7 Sailing teammates - Debbie Capozzi and Carrie Howe - had garnered as they prepared for the women’s keelboat event at the 2008 Olympics. Sally’s team was a huge medal favorite in the event, and with only the medal race to go, the bronze medal was theirs to lose. Unfortunately, that is what happened, and after hit marks and jury penalties, they finished seventh overall. Here Sally discusses what happened: * Have you recovered from the 2008 Olympics? The final race for your team was agonizing to watch. Sally Barkow: “Agonizing to watch? How about racing it…it was a disappointment to say the least. It was a tough series for us, followed by the worst medal race we had ever sailed in the history of medal races. But that is the sport. Can’t be perfect every time, and sometimes when you want it the most, nothing goes your way… “Recovered? Not sure I will ever be able to recover what we lost, but I have moved on and believe me the mistakes that were made will definitely stay with me forever. I have learned a lot and don’t plan on making them again.” * Your team was dominant early in the quad, but seemed to lack consistency near the end. Sally Barkow: “I think it became harder for us to stay fresh in the last two years because we had hit a plateau and started searching for other things that would get us really far ahead, instead of accepting that now we just had to work on the execution of perfection.” * How long had your team been together, and what advice would you give people who are competing in a team event for the Olympics? Sally Barkow: “We had been together for a long time, from Jan 2003 to August 2008 (at the Olympics). We were the only team in our fleet to stay together since before the 2004 Games. This was a major advantage but also had its disadvantages. I think at the beginning the learning curve was always high, then as time went on there was less to learn or change for the big improvements. Most teams reach that plateau and eventually everyone ended up in the same place; we just did it first.” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0325 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Look for the second half of my interview with Sally in Scuttlebutt 2810. TROUBLE IN VALENCIA It is expected that the decision from the Court of Appeals on the fate of the America’s Cup could come as soon as March 26th, providing hope that the future of the event may soon be known. However, now new trouble is brewing in Valencia, as this week the Socialist Government has refused to participate in the finance of the pre-regattas for the next Americas Cup, stating that it considered the demands made by defender Alinghi’s event administrator Americas Cup Management to be exorbitant, after it requested twenty million Euros from the 2007 Valencia Consortium, without taking into consideration the decision of the New York Court. Elena Salgado, the Minister for Public Administrations, stated that the Government would now formally pull out of the talks aimed at ensuring that the next edition of the Americas Cup would take place in Valencia, leaving the ball in the court of the Valencian Government and Valencia Town Hall. According to Miss Salgado, the contract as presented by the Swiss consortium as being definitive was exorbitant on three counts: the amount of money being demanded, the refusal to allow BMW Oracle Racing to compete and the construction of five new bases in Valencia Port. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0325c/ HAVE YOU BURNED YOUR SOCKS OR NEVER PUT THEM ON? Wherever your location is, Spring has arrived and sailors are looking to sail in the best available gear. You can find this leading sailing gear in The Pirate’s Lair Mount Gay Rum line. Items for on or off the water - moisture wicking t-shirts and polos, soft shell jackets, microfleece vests and jackets, sailing shorts, accessories and more. All at competitive pricing. To order this top offered apparel and gear, all with the legendary Mount Gay Rum logo, log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/store/index.html NATIONS CUP GRAND FINAL The 2009 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Nations Cup Grand Final - a global competition to find the world’s top match racing nation - are being held this week in Porto Alegre, Brazil, with Dave Perry (USA) and Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) representing North America. Here is Anna’s latest report: (Mar. 25, 2009) - Day two of racing at the 2009 Nations Cup Grand Finals provided with very shifty/puffy racing as the race committee wrapped up the first round robin. The wind was off shore again as the women completed their last three flights of racing. We had a great day and won all three of our races to finish the round 7-1 and are in first place overall. Our first race of the day was against ISAF World ranked #1 Clare Leroy from France. Clare and her team have been at the top of the world rankings for over a year and we knew going into the race that it would be tough. At one point in the pre-start we thought we were in a bit of trouble as we were being lead back to the start and both boats were barely laying the pin, but the wind came back to the right and allowed us to get to the line with 20 seconds to spare. We managed to start to the right of Clare and defended the right during the race. We rounded the first mark ahead by 2 boat lengths, but in the puffy conditions Clare pulled us back in; we barely hung on and rounded the leeward mark ahead. We held the lead on the upwind and then on the downwind she caught up to us again. We just held her off to finish ahead by a couple of feet at the finish line. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0325b * Dave Perry’s team finished the round robin at 5-4, and will be competing in the repechage round on Thursday among the teams between 4th and 7th, with the winner being the last entry into the semi-final. -- Full report: http://johnloe.com/2009/03/25/nations-cup-day-2/ Event site: http://www.sailing.org/nations-cup.php HUTCHINSON REMAINS IN CONTROL Long Beach, CA (Mar. 25, 2009) - Don't look now but there's a wonder boat dominating the Long Beach Yacht Club's 45th Congressional Cup. No sooner did the USA's Terry Hutchinson step off Catalina 37 number 11 after winning all six of his races Tuesday than it proved to be the magic tool to resurrect Finland's Staffan Lindberg from 1-5 oblivion to sweep his way through four races back into contention Wednesday. And as soon as Hutchinson swapped it for number 1, his streak ended with a loss to France's Sebastien Col in Wednesday's opening round . . . somewhat to his relief, though it meant he wouldn't go undefeated through 22 races to the title and claim a bonus choice between $30,000 and a new Acura. "I would have bet 30 grand that we weren't going to win the car," Hutchinson said. "And now that the monkey's off my back I won't hear the comments from the committee boat, 'Hey, you're still winning the car!' " Be assured that Hutchinson, leading at 9-1, lost honestly; his 22-second setback may have had something to do with Col being ISAF's top-ranked match racer in the world coming into the event, while Hutchinson, who hadn't done much match racing the last couple of years, was ranked … uh, 921st. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0325d Standings (after 10 of 18 rounds): 1. Hutchinson, 9-1; 2. Ainslie, 8-2; 3. Bruni, 6-4; 4. tie among Lindberg, Richard, Col and Minoprio, 5-5; 8, Berntsson, 4-6; Presti, 2-8; 10. Angel, 1-9. SHIELD OF IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS (Mar. 25, 2009; Day 40) - Utilizing the tactical option to not report their position, long-time Volvo Ocean Race leader Ericsson 3 entered StealthPlay at 10:00 GMT today and at 13:00, sistership Ericsson 4 followed suit to add one final twist to the never-ending story of this marathon Leg 5 from Qingdao to Rio. Once entering StealthPlay, the teams will reappear in 24 hours’ time or when they are within 50 nm of the finish in Rio. Ericsson 3’s last-known whereabouts was parallel with São Paulo – 194 miles from the finish line and the notoriously fickle winds in Guanabara Bay. Ericsson 4 was 254 miles from the Brazilian’s home patch prior to entering Stealth, and third-placed PUMA was 86 miles behind Ericsson 4 at the time. -- Full report: http://linkbee.com/LOG9 * Ian Walker, Green Dragon skipper: “Our fuel situation has become critical as the alternator on the generator isn't working and we have to charge off the main engine which takes more fuel. We have switched off all non essentials and are trying not to move the keel (which draws a lot of power) and have calculated we have six days left. I think it will still take us six days to get to Rio but I am scared of making any more predictions. We have approximately five meals left and a bit of porridge so nobody will starve, but this is on top of being hungry for weeks - each watch now has its own ration pack and a black market is rapidly developing.” -- Full report: http://linkbee.com/LOHB Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janiero, Brazil is 12,300 nm, with the finish estimated on March 25th. Current positions (as of Mar. 25, 10:15 pm GMT): 1. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, Stealth 2. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, Stealth 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 260 nm Distance to Finish 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 386 nm DTF 5. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 587 nm DTF Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Did Not Start Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, DNS Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, DNS Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com WINGS WINS AT SAN DIEGO NOOD REGATTA This last weekend San Diego Yacht Club hosted the NOOD Regatta with one-design classes challenging each other in the light conditions the first two days followed by a windy final Sunday. The largest fleet was the J/105 class which featured 19 boats with the big winner being Ullman Sails customer Dennis and Sharon Case’s Wings taking the top spot. Another big win was Mile High Klub in the Flying Tiger fleet sailed by father and son team of Philip and Payson Infelise. Make an investment in your performance. Contact a local loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com THE ROCKET RETURNS TO THE LAUNCH-PAD. by Paul Larson, pilot Well...it's great to be back. The fact that VESTAS SAILROCKET now sits outside this here container 100% ready for another assault on the Walvis Bay Speed sailing course bears testimony to the effort put in by the team since the violent crash 13 days ago. I still shudder when I look at the video as it all happened in an instant. I will show you all the video one day... but first we will focus on the job at hand. You can just make out the slack back beam stay arcing out to the left of the roll-bar. This means the beam is coming back. I've already gone to full lock on the steering and the boat is skidding sideways. We are still doing 45 knots and are about to pull -3.5G's forward and 3.2G's sideways as the whole show comes to a thumping halt in less than a second. I remember this bit. -- Read on: http://www.sailrocket.com/live/?q=node/110 * As it stands, this will be the VESTAS SAILROCKET’s final attempt to set a new outright world speed record, and the team anticipates having until middle of April to do so. SAILING SHORTS * The numbers of teams from each conference that will be permitted to compete in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Spring 2009 and Fall 2009-2010 National Championship has been confirmed. The numbers for each conference are based on Regular and Provisional members in each. -- Details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0325a * After 76 days at sea, Oman’s Mohsin Al Busaidi became the first Arab to ever sail non-stop around the world when they completed their journey at Muscat, Oman on March 25th at 15:43:12 Local Time (11:43:12 GMT). Sailing onboard Ellen MacArthur’s former record-breaking 75-foot trimaran ‘Musandam’ alongside four international teammates, 33-year-old Mohsin Al Busaidi has made history and was welcomed home to Muscat a hero. In 2005, MacArthur singlehanded the same trimaran to a record time of 71 days. -- Full story: http://www.omansail.com/article.asp?aid=20469 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: Mar 27-29 - Etchells Midwinters West - San Diego, CA, USA Mar 27-29 - International Rolex Regatta - St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, USVI Mar 28-Apr 3 - Founders' Day Cup Race - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Mar 30-Apr 5 - BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival - Road Town, Tortola, BVI Mar 31-Apr 3 - Star Western Hemisphere Championship - Pass Christian, MS, USA View all the events 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 Herb McCormick, Sailing World: (re, letter in #2808) Peter Bowker is undoubtedly correct with his observations about my story (in #2804) on John Jourdane and what constitutes a true Transpacific voyage (though I've sailed both the Transpac and the Pacific Cup, and crossed the Atlantic, and can testify that the trips are not dissimilar). Semantics aside, as anyone who's sailed from California to Hawaii (or vice versa) knows, it's a helluva adventure and something every sailor who completes the passage will always remember with both pride and a well-earned sense of accomplishment. To knock off FIFTY of them is a remarkable feat, as is John Jourdane's entire, unparalleled sailing career, which was really the point I was trying to make. * From Andrew Bray, Yachting World editor: Like many of your other correspondents I am fair skinned and burn easily. When I started sailing in the 1960s my perpetually-peeling nose was treated as a bit of a joke but in the years since I have taken sun protection much more seriously, especially after I had to have a biopsy recently. The sun does sometimes shine in the UK but as I also do a lot of sailing in warmer waters I have experimented with many different sun screens. None was perfect, most washed off too easily but about three years ago I came across Riemann P20 Sunfilter which ticks all the boxes. I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned it. Maybe it's not available in the USA. It may be only spf20 but it needs only one application a day, dries in seconds, is non greasy and is waterproof - I can happily swim and not re-apply without burning. In the last three years I have used it when sailing in the Grenadines, BVI and the Bahamas. It's also good for skiing. * From Tink Chambers: Growing up in the harsh sun of New Zealand spending summers on the beach and sailing without any hat or sunscreen, then delivering and racing boats full time for several years often through the tropics has resulted in my going through several very uncomfortable Efudex treatments. I have also endured excisions I do not care to count of basal and squamous cells from my head, face, back, arms and legs. I now use an Australian product AquaSun 30+ not available in the US but I find it on-line and order two 500 ml pump bottles at a time. I apply it after showering and it absorbs well, is non greasy, water resistant and does not sting the eyes. The key is to start using sunscreen as soon as you are old enough get exposure to prevent the early damage. I do not think the brand is too important as long as it contains the right ingredients to offer adequate protection and is comfortable to use. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I encourage additional comments to be posted on the Forum thread, and will seek to remind the Scuttlebutt community about the info once we are a little further into spring. Link: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7198 * From Hogan Beatie: I have to take issue with the claim that Stark Raving Mad IV won "line honors" in the NHYC Cabo Race. She may have won line honors for boats that started on Friday, but nine (!) boats beat her elapsed time. Line honors belongs to the boat with the fastest elapsed time on course, which was Doug Baker's Magnitude 80. Due credit should also go to the Criminals, GI, Holua, Flash, Valkyrie, Akela, Alchemy and Westerly, which all had an elapsed time faster than SRM IV. However, congratulations to the SRM IV team for a crushing corrected time win. APRIL FOOLS WRITING ASSIGNMENT In anticipation of April 1st next week, Scuttlebutt is hosting an April Fools writing assignment. There are countless themes to choose - just scroll through recent issues of Scuttlebutt and put your own absurd twist to any event… or make up your own. Don’t forget the America’s Cup legal ruling that we expect any day. We will publish every story, and dig into the prize bin for the most worthy. Deadline is Monday, March 30th, and be sure to indicate on your submission that it is for the April Fools writing assignment (we don’t want to confuse your story with legit news). Send stories to the Scuttlebutt editor at mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM If a firefighter fights fire and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight? Special thanks to Mount Gay Rum Gear and Ullman Sails. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
