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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 851 - July 6 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
IMS WORLDS Bowmen spoke of having to peel one sail after another as the wind climbed above the working range of their equipment. Some changed gear too late, including Bribon, which saw two spinnakers blown to shreds. Alexia, the only Maxi in the event, arrived long before the rest of the 64-boat fleet just before 0200 hours. Tactician Chris Larson (former Rolex Yachtsman of the year) was very pleased with their performance. "We had a lot more wind than we expected from the forecast, but we coped well with the sail changes," he commented. "There was sometimes a little too much wind for comfort but we didn't break anything." Standings after three races:
Class A - Susannah Bourne, www.orc.org
TRANSPAC Philippe Kahn's Pegasus slipped from first place to third in Division 1 of the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race, position reports showed Thursday, after making a tactical move south in a tight battle among the three fastest boats. At the 8:30 a.m. roll call Bob McNulty's Chance from Corona del Mar, Calif. was in first place 1,313 nautical miles from Honolulu, five miles ahead of Roy E. Disney's record-holding Pyewacket and eight miles ahead of Pegasus, not quite halfway along in a race beset by abnormalities. Their speeds had slowed by about 1 1/2 knots from the previous 24 hours. Pyewacket had the best day with 265 miles to Chance's 261 and Pegasus' 248, but Merlin's Reata closed distance on all three with a 279-mile run. In Division 2, pharmacist Bob Lane's Medicine Man from Long Beach jumped two spots in the standings to fifth place with a 273-mile day and was three miles behind the legendary Ragtime, which is under charter to Trisha Steele and Owen Minney. - Rich Roberts Class Leaders - DIVISION 1: Chance (R/P 74), Bob McNulty (1,313 miles to go) DIVISION 2: Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), James McDowell (1,403) DIVISION 3: Cantata (Andrews 53), Brent Vaughan (1,200) DIVISION 4: Bull (Sydney 40 OD-T), Seth Radow (1,278) ALOHA DIVISION A: Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal( 717) ALOHA DIVISION B: Stardust (Wylie 46), Peter and Patricia Anderson (608) www.transpacificyc.org
CALIBRATION
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Sandy Martin, Commodore, Transpacific YC: Jim Pugh's comments on movement of sails is correct. Transpac YC believes it to be nearly impossible to police the movement of sails in a race like ours. Everyone can and wants to move their sails, so let them, within reason of course. Thus the "inside the lifelines" rule. With 2 or 3 sails on deck just waiting to go up, we don't need half that weight on the leeward rail waiting to go overboard. Besides they make great chairs! * From: Reynald Neron: I am writing regarding the fact that each country member of the ISAF has one vote. Stating that the EC should also have one vote as its (quote) "political boundaries are fading" is proof of a lack of knowledge about the development of the EC. I am aware that most (not all!!!) Americans see us (European) as "just another continent on the other side of the pond", but this is simply so not true! Unfortunately, I do not have the space here to elaborate... Also, as Ron Baerwitz mentioned, there is a huge difference in the aspect of sailing between the East and West coast of the US. Just imagine how huge the difference is between say Norway and Spain, England and Greece? Finally, if the EC should have only 1 vote, I suggest that you look into the economical agreements between the US, Canada and Mexico. Would that mean that the US now should share their vote with those countries? * From Ralph Taylor: Readers Baerwitz, Heintz and Mohler suggest decentralizing US Sailing geographically. The idea deserves more discussion and thought about the implications and how to accomplish it. A geographical basis for decentralization (the areas) currently exists within USS Sailing, though it has little power within the national structure. Each geographical area, "A" through "HW", has a council of sailing associations and each sailing association likewise has a geographical base of individual and organizational (club and fleet) members. As an aside, the recent Irish and Danish votes against the proposal for EC countries to cede more power to the European Community indicate that perhaps Europe isn't one country after all. * From John R. Welty: So now US Sailing has an official brand of alcohol. What's next, an official cigarette? Let's set a proper example for youth. Let the alcohol industry fund adult events, but not the National Authority.
STORM TRYSAIL On boats with reasonable righting moments, the trysail may become a viable option at the point where the breeze tops 40 knots in sustained strength. It is around this wind speed that the sail will become an invaluable tool to help keep some boat speed to maneuver, as well as to keep the bow from blowing off in the wind and to keep the helm balanced. How is it set? The answer to this depends on the type of mainsail luff groove or track system on the mast, but in either type the foot of the sail is loose and the clew is sheeted independently of the boom. On luff groove systems, the trysail is simply fed into the mast groove after the mainsail is removed (and either flaked on the boom, or removed entirely band stowed below as we did on Blue Yankee). On track systems, the process is more complex, since the luff slides on the mainsail are stacked on the accessible portion of the track above the gooseneck. In this case, either the luff slides must be removed, or on many cruising boats a parallel track is installed just off-center so that the trysail can be hoisted without removing the main slides from the mast. In either case, the main halyard should not be hoisted until the tack and clews are secured. For the clew, either a ring or a strop is used to attach two sheets, port and starboard, which are in turn led aft through snatch blocks on the rail to winches for trimming. Because the angle from the mast to these sheet turning blocks is fairly broad, the set up is not ideal for trying to go to windward. On Blue Yankee, we modified the rig to attach the clew strop to the main boom, thereby allowing us to use the main traveller to bring the sail closer to centerline. Having two sheets on the sail is important, both for tacking (if that's necessary), and as a safety in case the primary sheet breaks from either load or chafe. - Dobbs Davis, SailNet website. Full story: www.sailnet.com
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Tom Schnackenberg
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * August 24-26: Schock 35 Nationals, Dana Point YC, Dana Point, CA. www.schock35.org * November 3-10: Annual Meeting of the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club, held concurrently with the Pro-Am regatta at the Bitter End YC on Virgin Gorda in the BVI. SSC members will race for the SSC Club Championship, plus have the opportunity to crew for Ken Read, Russell Coutts, Ed Baird, Peter & J.J. Isler, Keith Musto, Butch Ulmer, Rod Johnstone, Lowell North and/ or the curmudgeon. - www.beyc.com
SIMILARITY
IMAGES
TWELVE METRE MATCH RACING
OPTIMIST NAs
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS |
