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SCUTTLEBUTT 2099 - May 22, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.MOVISTAR ABANDONED Following a night of fighting their keel problems after the aft end of their keel pivot bearing broke away from the hull, Bouwe Bekking and the movistar crew abandoned their vessel and have safely transferred via life raft to ABN Amro Two which has been standing by since approximately 2200 GMT Saturday night. The sea state is rough, but the wind has temporarily eased to seven knots, which has made the transfer of the crew easier. The weather is forecast to deteriorate and 40 – 50 knots winds are expected in the vicinity within the next four to six hours. “The hardest decision I ever taken in my life, was the call to abandon ship,” said Bouwe Bekking, movistar, skipper. This morning we gybed over to check how the keel would cope with that angle. Straight away we saw that the water intake nearly doubled and had to start the second emergency pump. That made me realize that we were actually in way bigger trouble. Seb and his crew have been fantastic over the last 24 hours. We all realized that turning around had been a very hard call for them, and hopefully they can find a little comfort that they have saved 10 lives. A boat is just a boat, you can replace it, but lives you cannot. Saying thank you is not big enough right now, it is more than that.” The telemetry from movistar’s sailing instruments stopped Sunday afternoon and speculation suggests that the rig might have gone over the side. If it has, it might mean that the boat wouldn't turn over if the keel did fall off which would make life easier for whatever possibility the movistar shore team use to recover the drifting craft. At the moment the possibility of sending tugs or trawlers to the area is taxing the logistics machine. Meanwhile . . . Mike Sanderson and his crew brought ABN Amro One safely into Portsmouth Harbour Saturday, after crossing the finish line at 2330 GMT, 0030 local time. First round the scoring gate at the Lizard, and first over the finish line of leg seven from New York to Portsmouth, ABN Amro One has now amassed 81 points, which makes Sanderson’s overall position in the Volvo Ocean Race unassailable. “It is such a special moment,” said Mike Sanderson, ABN Amro One skipper. “For me this is the Olympic medal, the climbing Everest, it’s a childhood dream to have skippered a boat and to have won the Volvo Ocean Race. I have been trying to hold back my emotions this whole race and now I can let them out.” Thirteen hours later, the Ericsson Racing Team with Britain’s Neal McDonald in charge, finished. This is the best offshore result for Ericsson so far in the Volvo Ocean Race after the promising start they made when winning the first in port race in Sanxenxo, Galicia, at the start of the event in November last year. Just 28 minutes later, Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean finished bringing their overall points up to 55 and solidifying the Pirates hold on second place overall. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 Sunday: 1. ABN Amro One, finished after 9d 06h 30m 42s 2. Ericsson Racing Team, 9d 19h 26m 39s 3. Pirates of the Caribbean, 9d 19h 54m 20s 4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, 9d 21h 30m 57s 5. Brunel, Matt Humphries, 213 miles to finish 6. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, 302 mtf 7. movistar, Bouwe Bekking, Retired OVERALL POINTS STANDINGS 1. ABN Amro One, 81 2. Pirates of the Caribbean, 55 3. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, 48 3. movistar, 48 5 ABN Amro Two, 44 (projected) 6. Ericsson Racing Team, 43.5 7. Brunel, 5.5 (projected) NEWPORT-BERMUDA RACE WEATHER ADVISORY Racers in the Newport-Bermuda Race are advised to study the weather and Gulf Stream situation to improve their chances to win and prepare for whatever nature will toss their way. Review the weather & currents with people who make weather preparation a profession. Join Bill Biewenga as he discusses forecasts / options with meteorologists from Commanders’ Weather, Lee Chesneau from the OPC and oceanographer Dr. Frank Bohlen. The two-hour interactive, live online seminar starts at 1200 EDT, June 13th. For further details and to get the early bird reduced fee, visit online at http://www.weather4sailors.com today. DEATH AND DRAMA OVERSHADOW AMAZING WIN The overall victory by ABN Amro One in the Volvo Ocean Race - with two legs still to come - has been over-shadowed by a loss of a life and Movistar's dramatic abandonment yesterday. Bouwe Bekking's crew were picked up by Seb Josse's ABN Amro Two aboard which the body of Hans Horrevoets is being carried. A Dutch naval vessel is expected to rendezvous with ABN Amro Two off the Cornish coast and Horrevoets' body sent back to Holland following Thursday's man-overboard tragedy. Bekking's crew will also disembark from ABN Amro Two, leaving Josse's grief-stricken team to complete the seventh leg from New York to Portsmouth later today. It was the cruelest of circumstances that placed Josse's yacht closest to Bekking's when on Saturday at 5pm Movistar notified race headquarters of the failure of the rear hinge of their canting keel. By 9pm ABN Amro Two had been diverted. With a deep depression threatening 50-knot winds, the two skippers agreed around 9.30 am yesterday to grab the opportunity of low winds in the eye of the depression to shuttle Bekking's crew by life raft from Movistar on to ABN Amro Two. Carbon-fibre failures are sudden and Bekking's concern was that the violent action of a loose six-ton keel being thrown about by big Atlantic seas could be catastrophic. Movistar's generator was left running to power her pumps and satellite communication systems so that the yacht's position could be monitored. -- Tim Jeffery, the Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/zktap EASY ACT The three super-powers in the Challengers camp for the 32nd America's Cup lost to a boat designed in 2002 owned by the team that holds the Cup. In the three day fleet racing series of Act 11, Alinghi made winning look easy and left three brand new boats to scrap for the positions for the also-rans. On the face of it an embarrassment to the trio who want more than anything else to prise the Cup off Alinghi come 2007. Or was it? SUI-75 may be a boat designed four years ago but she, like many others in the fleet, has been modified extensively since her original launching. And while there have been changes to the rule to form version 5, there are plenty of other modified boats that suggest that the changes may not have been that great after all. -- Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World, full story: http://tinyurl.com/k4gdh ACT 11 FINAL STANDINGS (finishing positions in parenthesis): 1. Alinghi (6, 1, 1, 3, 1) 53 points 2. Luna Rossa (10, 2, 11, 3, 1, 4) 45 3. Emirates Team New Zealand (4, 7, 2, 11, 5, 2) 45 4. BMW Oracle (9, 6, 4, 2, 3) 41 5. Mascalzone Latino (2, 10, 5, 4, 5) 39 6. Shosholoza (5, 5, 6, 8, 8) 33 7. Areva Challenge (7, 4, 8, 7, 7) 32 8. +39 (3, 12, 7, 6, 6) 31 9. Desafio Espanol (8, 3, 10, 9, 9) 26 10. Victory Challenge (1, 8, 11, 10, 11) 24 11. United Internet Team Germany (11, 11, 9, 11, 10) 13 12. China Team (12, 9, 12, DNF, DNS) 6 2006 SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 1. Luna Rossa, 22 2. Alinghi, 21 2. BMW Oracle, 21 4. Emirates Team New Zealand, 20 5. Mascalzone Latino, 14 6. Shosholoza, 12 6. Desafio Espanol, 12 8. Victory Challenge, 10 9. +39, 9 9. Areva Challenge, 9 11. United Internet Team Germany, 4 12. China Team, 2 ISAF WORLD SAILING GAMES Lake Neusiedl, Austria -- American Paige Railey took the Gold medal in the Laser Radial class at the ISAF World Sailing Games in a very impressive fashion - scoring a seven point win over Sophie de Turckheim from France. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) ended up seventh in the same class. In the Hobie 16s, Annie Nelson/ Susan Korzeniewski (USA) took third place with Pamela Noriega/ Andrea Mier y Teran (MEX) in seventh place. Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (CAN) were the only top ten North American finishers in the Hobie Tiger fleet - finishing in seventh. Teams from the USA took first and third place in the team racing event sailed in 420s. At our distribution time, the names of the winning USA 1 Team were not available online (unbelievable, and very sad), but the bronze medal winners were Tim Wadlow, Ery Largay, Tim Fallon and Karen Renzulli. (If someone will please help us out, we’ll publish the names of the USA Team Racing Gold medallists in our next issue.) Australia has claimed the King’s Trophy. -- Complete results: http://www.worldsailinggames2006.at Hot photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/wsg/ DEFINITIVE DIFFERENCE SR-91. America’s Cup breeze readers depend on it. Volvo Ocean Race crew demand it. Olympians win medals with it. SR-91 is the definitive difference the best sailors in the world are requiring. SR-91 is the patented and proprietary polarized lens technology developed by Kaenon Polarized. Unless your polarized lens is a genuine SR-91 Kaenon Polarized lens, you’re denying yourself the definitive difference. Also available in prescription - SR-91 Rx lenses are available in every Kaenon frame. For men and women. Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically (and luxuriously). View the 2006 collection and locate a dealer nearest you at http://www.kaenon.com SINGING IN THE RAIN It is always a moving sight to see a single-hander finally come ashore after months at sea, especially when they have scaled one of the peaks of sailing, and Dee Caffari’s formal arrival at Ocean Village in Southampton yesterday was no different. Not only was the woman herself fighting back the tears, many of her supporters, who braved a horrible wet day to see her in, had moist eyes as they watched their heroine finally return safely after an epic and gruelling 178-day voyage in which Caffari battled some of the worst weather any singlehanded sailor has faced in recent years. The welcome in Southampton followed her finish on Thursday night off Falmouth, since when Caffari and members of her shore crew, among them her boyfriend, Harry Spedding, sailed Aviva slowly up the English Channel ready for yesterday’s ceremony. A blizzard of yellow and white ticker-tape drifted in the rain and shouts of “well done Dee” and “you are a hero” went up as the boat came slowly alongside where Sir Chay Blyth, the first man to complete the voyage in 1971, was waiting with Caffari’s mother, Barbara, and the Princess Royal, who was also on hand to welcome Blyth 35 years ago. -- Edward Gorman, The Times, full story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-2191087,00.html PIONEERING It is their pioneering quality and rarity that makes any 'first' a record of enduring significance. So Dee Caffari and her yacht, the 72ft steel cutter Aviva, will be recorded as the first solo, non-stop circling of the world in a westerly direction against the prevailing winds and currents by a woman. Dame Ellen MacArthur has achieved some notable firsts, though none in the voyages which projected her to wide public recognition at home and overseas. She was runner-up in the 2001-02 Vendee Globe and remains the fastest woman around the world on this, the classic downwind eastabout route where the Southern Ocean's winds and currents are favourable. She remains the swiftest single-handed circumnavigator of all time with B & Q's 71-day record last year. Recall the extraordinary 1960s. Sailing alone around the world was considered every bit as audacious and awe-inspiring as the conquest of Everest, which had preceded it, and the orbiting of the earth and moon landings which overlapped some of the most famous voyages. It was Sir Francis Chichester's 1966-67 226-day voyage in Gipsy Moth 1V that proved one person could navigate, sail and maintain a small yacht over extended periods, though Chichester spent 47 days in Sydney at the mid-point. Until then, such voyages had been the preserve of large vessels. It took 313 days in 1967-68 for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to show a solo circumnavigation was possible without any stops or assistance at all. And 392 days some three years later for Sir Chay Blyth to prove that a comparable voyage could be achieved not on the traditional clipper route of heading east at the Cape of Good Hope but by turning east at Cape Horn instead. It is this route that Caffari has conquered as the first woman. And now Caffari has completed her loop around the planet; without pause or assistance, but with enormous fortitude and bravery. She has done it in 178 days - a remarkable first. -- Excerpts from a remarkable story by Tim Jeffery in the Daily Telegraph. Read the complete story: http://tinyurl.com/enyo8 MELGES 24NAs The final day of racing at the Melges 24 North American Championship was, quite literally, a wash out with torrential rain and light cyclonic winds. The race committee, jury and 31 Melges 24 crews left the dock ready to attempt a 1230 start as scheduled but it was not to be. Periodically the rain stopped and everyone's hopes were raised as the wind did its best to fill in, but it never became stable enough to actually get underway so the championship comes to a close with only six of the ten scheduled races completed. Fortunately six races is sufficient to constitute a championship and so Brian Porter from Winnetka, IL, and his Full Throttle crew of Harry Melges III, Dave Navin and John Porter are declared the 2006 Melges 24 North American Champions by just one point from Newport Beach's Dave Ullman sailing Pegasus 505 with Bill Hardesty, Brian Hutchinson, Casey Smith and Shana PhelanThird place goes to Seadon Wijsen from San Francisco sailing Pareto Optimal with Bruce Ayres from Newport Beach aboard Monsoon fourth overall. -- Fiona Brown, http://www.melges24na2006.com/index.html Hot photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/m24na/ SAILING SHORTS * The Press Release was terse, brief, and lacking detail. Both paid hands on the Gipsy Moth IV, the 32 year old Skipper Antonia Nicholson and First Mate Chris Bruce, 24, both from Cowes have been sacked. There is still nothing known of the last minutes of the sailing journey of Gipsy Moth IV which put her onto a reef in Tahiti. -- Sail-world website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/kmryx * Some earlier rumors about problems aboard the VOR yacht Brunel were dismissed by Grant Wharington who spoke to Yachting World earlier today. According to Wharington, who stepped off the boat as skipper with health problems in New York, the crew is incredibly tired and are still struggling to get back on track following the repair of their split sail, which happen last Thursday. -- Sue Pelling/Yachting World, http://tinyurl.com/k3735 * Team Tybee Island sailors John Casey and Kenny Pierce completed the 500 miles from Hollywood, FL to Tybee Island, GA to win their 3rd Tybee 500 victory. Team Tybee made history by being the first team to win each individual leg in addition to the overall title. Five other teams finished the race with three teams dropping out or being disqualified for receiving outside assistance. Daily event videos, pictures, and updates may be viewed at http://www.Tybee500.com & http://www.catsailor.com * Ernesto Bertarelli’s wife and daughter officially christened SUI91, the latest addition to the Alinghi stable on Sunday 21 May. The event was a very casual family affair, with music, sundowners and a BBQ. The Bertarelli family attended, plus Alinghi team members, family and friends, and the Mayoress of Valencia Rita Barberá, on the final day of Act 11. -- http://www.alinghi.com “MAN OVERBOARD!” Words no crew wants to hear, especially at night, in poor visibility or cold waters. SeaMarshall personal rescue systems can mean the difference between successful recovery and tragedy. For information on how SeaMarshall automatic marine beacons and direction finder receivers fit into your safety plan, contact Chip Barber: mailto:admin@chbarber.com, http://www.chbarber.com/seamarshall.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Capt. John T Holmberg (re the loss of Hans Horrevoets): This was given to me by a cousin for the service for my father. It seemed so fitting … and still does: "I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails in the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a ribbon of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There! She is gone!' "Gone where? Gone from my sight---that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her and just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There! She is gone!" there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "There! She comes!" And that is dying. -- Found on the body of Col. David Marcus * From Jim Stevralia: It is with sadness that all the readers of Scuttlebutt are reflecting on your column today. I am certain sailors everywhere share in the loss of Hans Horrevoets from ABN Amro 2. Our enjoyment of arm chair sailing around the world has been tempered by the sobering reality of the dangers of going to sea. This coming weekend, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club will be hosting the sailors of Long Island Sound in commemorating the life and love of the sea of Jamie Boeckel who perished off Blue Yankee during the Block Island Race in 2002. Jamie, like Hans went sailing and made his living doing what he loved. Both of these men serve as an inspiration to all of us and should be in our thoughts. Jamie and Hans, with their enthusiasm for life remind us of why we all sail and the excitement and rewards it brings to us. They should also serve to alert us to the dangers we face whether sailing across the Oceans or across our own bays and sounds. We should always be mindful of the perils that are waiting for us in every step of our lives both at sea and ashore. On Long Island Sound, as we honor Jamie's life this weekend, we will also be thinking of our brother Hans and his family! * From Larry Meed: The loss of Hans Horrevoets, washed overboard from ABN Amro 2, is truly a loss to all who wish to spread their sails before the wind and to journey across the seas; be they racers, cruisers or nomads. For everyone heading to Portsmouth, The remainder of the journey will be a long, sad and lonely time. This is a reminder that, no matter how exciting, exotic or adventurous ocean racing may seem, this is a dangerous game, with no room to say “wait, let me try that again”. * From Art Weekley (re Boots full of water): True - boots in the water weigh just what they do on dry land but the water trapped in them must be moved by leg power when you try to swim. The effect is heavier boots and if Jack Lockwood (Scuttlebutt 2098) had no trouble swimming with them on he's one lucky dude. Drag? Yes. Weight? Yes! * From Frank Betz: Ahhh, let's add another dimension to the pleasures of sailing: the post race ice bath! What a great idea! Who will be the first manufacturer to capitalize on meeting the tremendous demand certain to develop as the next high technology idea derived from AC racing! A giant ice-filled Jacuzzi like they mix frozen marguritas in? Ahead of the curve Harken engineering may be just the company to launch this equipment! This innovative concept is sure to attract legions of enthusiastic new participants to our sport! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION A clean tie attracts the soup of the day. Special thanks to Weather4Sailors, Kaenon Polarized, and C.H. Barber. |
