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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 750 - February 13, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome. VOLVO OCEAN RACE This is the first time that Nautor has entered the realm of pure grand prix sailing. World class yachtsman, and most recent winner of the Whitbread Race, Paul Cayard, is the Chairman of this new Nautor division. Currently in Auckland preparing for the next America's Cup Cayard had this to say, "To win the Volvo you need a fast design, well built boat, strong sailing team, and good logistical organisation. Nautor Challenges has all of these." Nautor is using a specialised yard on the French Mediterranean coast. This Nautor/French yard, dedicated to custom build and special projects, currently has two Volvo Ocean 60 hulls, the class used for the Volvo Ocean Race, in mid-construction. The first of these boats, to be launched in May, will be a German Frers design. The second boat, to be launched in late June, will be a Bruce Farr design. Once launched, the two boats will engage in an intensive two-boat testing programme before both boats start the Volvo Ocean Race from Southampton on 23rd September 2001. Sailing director and sports project manager for this exciting Volvo 60 build and test programme will be New Zealander Grant Dalton. Dalton is currently at sea, as skipper aboard the Maxi-catamaran Club Med. For this Volvo project, Dalton is being supported by Dutch-born sailor Bouwe Bekking. The Nautor Challenges' boats will fly the burgees of two yacht clubs, the Finnish NJK Yacht Club and the Italian Yacht Club Costa Smeralda which was the first Italian yacht club to challenge in an America's Cup. This dual flagged Challenges reflects the history and current status of Nautor, a Finnish boat building company established in 1965 and recently acquired by an Italian Group, and the early backing brought to the project by Amer. Several other sponsorships are under development with multinational groups, and will be finalised in the near future. Presently, there are six other syndicates with built programs underway for the Volvo Ocean Race: á Assa Abloy Racing Team, Co-Skippers Roy Heiner /Navigator Mark Rudiger - USA Designer Farr Yacht Design Builder: Green Marine, Lymington, UK (2 boats) á Illbruck Challenge, Skipper John Kostecki - USA Designer Farr Yacht Design Builder Killian Bushe, Germany á Djuice Dragons, Skipper - Knut Frostad - Norway Designer Laurie Davidson - NZ Builder: Cookson Boats, Auckland, NZ (2 boats) á Team News Corp, Skipper - Jez Fanstone - UK Designer Farr Yacht Design Builder: Cookson Boats, Auckland, NZ á Team SEB, Skipper Gurra Krantz - Sweden Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Richard Gillies/Tim Smythe á Team Tyco, Skipper Kevin Shoebridge - New Zealand Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Eric Goetz - Rhode Island Event website: www.VolvoOceanRace.org SEATTLE TO KEY WEST AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN THE RACE Club Med has already consigned all but the last theory (but don't bet against it) to the waste-heap of ocean records. Dalton, like all true masters of their art, refuses to be drawn into false boasts. He is still worried. "The stretch of ocean between the Falklands and Rio is one of the most dangerous stretches in The Race," he said on Monday. With a lot of current heading south there is always a reason for the sea to be confused, short and random - basically able to destroy boats quickly." True. Round the world boats have emerged shell-shocked from a torrid Southern Ocean pummeling, followed by The Horn spitting them out into a waiting South Atlantic primed to finish off any weakened vessels. The St Helena high represents the next major obstacle for the big blue cat, but don't bet against Dalton completing a humiliating double on her. He had he temerity to sail straight through her midriff on the way down. Innovation Explorer is enduring the anger of a piqued Cape Horn. Fierce winds, a confused sea state and strong currents are combining to send the French challenger slamming into waves. "They are very short seas and we are tending to plough into the next wave and sticking the front beam in quite often and stopping," said Skip Novak. Innovation was expected round the Horn at 21:00 GMT on Monday and head NE towards the Falkland Islands. - Martin Cross, NOW Sports website Full story: * WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, February 13, 2001 -The American catamaran Team Adventure has been slowed by light winds in the Tasman Sea about 700 miles from here where an international team is assembling and making preparations to repair her main crossbeam. The beam was first damaged in the Southern Ocean and was repaired in Cape Town, South Africa during a four and a half day stopover there. The 110-foot catamaran was originally expected here on tonight, Tuesday, local time, but is not forecast to arrive until late on Wednesday, or possibly later. Today Skipper Cam Lewis, from Lincolnville, ME, reported that last night the boat and her crew of ten were enduring "drifting conditions" on a warm and clear night with a nice moon. The boat was northwest of Milford Sound at the southwest corner of New Zealand's South Island. "It would have been nice to start off the week with some fantastic news like recording big mileage, spotting whales, having dolphins playing in our wakes and seeing albatross by the hundreds, but it is not to be," said Lewis. "We have just had more than three days of hard sailing with big winds and waves, and have discovered that the outer carbon skin on the repaired main beam fairing has started to peel off and delaminate. "This is terrible news, especially because we had great confidence in the repair. Luckily the internal structure that was repaired in Cape Town is still perfect. However we discovered the skin peeling, and some small areas are bad enough that we can see the core coming through. "What does this mean for Team Adventure? It means that we will continue our adventure with a side tour of the Wellington waterfront, and stop for a second time to get outside assistance. Because we have already stopped once, the rules of The Race of The Millennium require that we stay in port for a minimum of 60 hours. "Right now we are sailing in light winds with no hope for a big change in the next 36 hours. The leaders are sailing away from us very fast and the two boats behind us are also moving well. The plan here is to push on to Wellington. We will start immediately on the repair. My friend Eric Goetz from Bristol, Rhode Island, and Goetz Custom Boats, has made a great offer and has sent two of his top men from the USA to Wellington to do the repair work. - Keith Taylor, http://www.TeamAdventure.org STANDINGS: 1. Club Med 6,239nm to finish, 2. Innovation Explorer +916nm, 3. Team Adventure +5,708nm 4. Warta Polpharma +6,372nm, 5. Team Legato +7,339nm. Event website: www.thereace.org LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) * From: Chris Welsh <cawelsh@home.com> (Re: Albatross Yacht Club) - Congratulations for the now vindicated Club Officials who were banned for life from being officials or some such nonsense by US Sailing over this issue. And shame on US Sailing for having to come to its inept decision to ban them in the first place. Other than eligibility to race in a number of events, I perceive no benefit from this organization - in fact, I perceive detriment to the sport as a result. How did we end up in this strangle hold? In contrast, kudos to Michel Desjoyeaux, Ellen MacArthur, and the rest of the Vendee and The Race competitors - you are the ones carrying forward the mix of courage, adventure and drama that make the sport exciting. * From: "J. Joseph Bainton" <bainton@baintonlaw.com> (Regarding Albatross Yacht Club Decision) - It was troubling to observe the Executive Committee of US Sailing usurp the power of a jury and in turn an appeals committee to (a) find that Alabaross Yacht Club had improperly rejected an entry under RRS 76.1 amd (b) use that "finding" as a bootstrap to suspend the membership of Albatross Yacht Club in US Sailing. As noted in the last 'Butt, every certified judge has upheld the propriety of the conduct of the Yacht Club. It appears, however, that the suspension remains in effect. Is it now time for a formal inquiry into this apparent usurpation of authority by the Executive Committee. * From: Chuck Voeltner <Voeltner@aol.com> I've been reading with interest the letters on the ISAF eligibility Codes and the new start system. After reading so many letters about the subject, I thought it might be a good idea to actually read the RRS itself. Reading those Rules brought two thoughts to mind. I work on the RC for a local association and if you think getting new people involved in sailing is a hard thing to do, try getting them to do RC work. I know we have shanghaied people, grossly exaggerated what fun it is, told them we were just going on a cruise, etc. to get newcomers involved. After reading the eligibility code, I'm glad it applies only to competitors and not to the RC. We can still grab people off the street to help without worrying whether they belong to a recognized organization (of course, carrying a supply of blank SSC membership cards would have resolved that problem anyway). With respect to the starting system, I note the 1-minute signal calls for the prep flag to come down with one long sound. Many of the races I participate in here on the Chesapeake are run by organizations that use a shotgun for sound signals. How do you make a long sound with a shotgun :-) * From: Richard Clark <richard@kiwicafe.com> (Heavily edited to our 250-word limit) Racing sailors, Professional Fishermen, Recreational Boaters and especially Cruise Liners are all responsible for the garbage that floats in rafts of litter to be found in sheltered Rivers and Bays, from Japan to Stewart Island, from the pristine waters of Booth Bay Harbor to the Scilly Isles. No one, and I say again, NO ONE, is free of this responsibility. Every can, bottle top, marine part, container and more, doesn't come from "them", it comes from "us". It is a problem, a growing problem and for readers of this truly great newsletter to argue otherwise is to sink collective heads beneath the waves of ignorance and refuse to acknowledge the truth of the matter. I sold my Wetsnail 32 a few years back and now backpack the mountains of Southern California and New Zealand, I make absolutely sure, not only myself but my Dog as well, to carry ALL our refuse back to the appropriate containers. All I have to do is take responsibility for my place on the Planet, This is a pretty simple philosophy that we need to embrace, practice and pass on to those who follow behind. Our children. It is a shift in attitude more than anything that creates true change in both our own lives and in the environment around us and it starts with all of us who enjoy the privilege and responsibility of venturing forth, be it on Oceans, Mountains, Deserts or City Streets. * From: Philip Crebbin <U2CanRace1@aol.com> A good TOT rule, like IRC & IRM, gives much more enjoyment. Like one-design, you know where you are and what is needed to defend a position or get a better result. That makes good racing. Any system that nobody can work out while racing does not. In IMS in the 1999 Admiral's Cup, A beat B in one race, but B won on corrected. In comparable conditions, B then beat A, but A won on corrected. Nobody could predict either result. Hurrah that IMS is almost dead (9 boats in a record Key West entry)! IRC aims to level the field between racers and cruiser/racers and is partly secret to reduce designing to the rule. IRM is the racer measurement rule, like IMS in concept, and is producing exceptionally good, fast boats. A 35.5ft IRM yacht in the 2000 Commodore's Cup sometimes beat 4 out of 6 Farr 40s and the Sydney 40s on the water! The new 37.5ft production development boat's VPPs show it is faster than the 40ft one-designs. Under IMS, by contrast, you have to slow the boat down and reduce the stiffness to be able to compete. IRC is not designed for windward/leewards or tidal waters. Where did that idea come from? It is successful for offshore and inshore racing on all courses, with or without tides. IRM and IRC over IMS and complicated systems any day! When IRM boats are sailing in the USA there will be a change of heart - guaranteed! AMERICA'S CUP "As soon as a billionaire walks in, there's no limit to the number of well-funded campaigns you could have in the States," said Cayard, before checking himself. "Actually there is: it's talent. You can see we're all spread around and mixed in with Kiwis, Australians and so on to get the right talent. Basically, between four teams, we've hired 340 people in six months." Big teams mean big payrolls. And with the Cup back on a three-year cycle, it's a pertinent question to ask whether the billionaire teams are going to move the game substantially forward, rather than operate more expansively. Are we, for instance, going to see a repeat of America3 where, if there was an idea outside the square, there were resources to explore it? "Yes," said Cayard simply, knowing that Oracle is spending double on design research and design compared with AmericaOne. "The sail budget is quadruple and salary budget is triple. But remember, with AmericaOne we operated as a full team for one year. Here it's going to be for two and half years." However, he is keen to point out that, big though Oracle's R&D budget is, it is a finite amount. Choices have had to be made. "It's healthy to have to make some choices," reasoned Cayard. "In a short period of time, it is possible to have too much money. You can branch into so many areas, and we all admit that some will have lower chance of a yield. So from the point of view of good management, you should shut some of those things off." And that's Cayard has been doing, along with Chris Dickson, chief designer Bruce Farr, sailing manager John Cutler and CEO Bill Erkelens, the advisory board driving Oracle Racing. - Tim Jeffery, QuokkaSailing website. Full story: TRANSPAC Paragraph 13.2 of this year's Notice of Race dictates that "at least 30% of a yacht's crew including the skipper must have attended a US Sailing-sanctioned Safety at Sea Seminar within the last five years before the start of the race." The March 10 event fulfills that requirement. Information on seminars in other locations is available by contacting US Sailing at (401) 683-0800 or by e-mail: offshore@ussailing.org. EASIER SAIL HANDLING VENDEE GLOBE Not only were the crowds bigger than they were for the winner, but they were vastly more animated. "Ellen! Ellen!" they shouted, and the young girl from Derbyshire who'd saved up school dinner to buy her first boat 10 years ago - an 8-foot dinghy - beamed back. No sooner had MacArthur stepped ashore, than British Prime Minister Tony Blair phoned. His French counterpart, Lionel Jospin, sent his felicitations by fax and spoke glowingly of MacArthur's "courage, talent and jeunuese" in her "exploit magnifique." And herein lies the reason why MacArthur's runner's-up result has captured the imagination. This is Darwinian yacht racing at its most selective: 24 set out on Nov. 9, 16 are still at sea and in Desjoyeaux and MacArthur the best have shattered records for racing alone around the world. MacArthur has beaten older and more experienced sailors. Half the fleet was new boats capable of winning. Six of them had skippers with the caliber to do it. Desjoyeaux mastered them all; MacArthur all but one. Story by Tim Jeffery, for Quokka Sports Full story: * Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere) is now the third skipper expected into Les Sables d'Olonne. Positioned at 1100hrs, 249 miles from the finish and sailing at 12.9 knots gybing in with the following winds. He will soon reach lighter winds, he declared this morning: "I'm doing my best to arrive before the low tide at 1100hrs, but it may be at the end of the afternoon, with the tide at 1730hrs. I'm a little tired, my radarÕs broken down so I didn't really sleep last night as I've been sailing through the cargo lane. I'm helming a lot, staying on deck savouring these final hours. Sill would like to go faster, always, but I say No, I'm giving you the staysail and main sail and you just have to fly along with them. " Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) has gone West in his final push to negotiate the Azores anticyclone. It began paying as he picked up speed right away, but is now plagued with unfavourable winds, and a string of unpredictable squalls. "I had nearly 50 knots. As I can't furl my genoa, I had to get it in the shute rapidly which got my adrenaline pumping. Two pretty hard days." For Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool), the laborious upwind navigation is
taking it's toll on her physically. Repeated shocks to the boat reverberate
through her body, which has caused her lumbago. "Yesterday was one of the
hardest days in this whole race: a chaotic sea, a NW swell and an opposing
one from the NE, loads of rain squalls and manoeuvres on deck. It was
unbearable. I have real back pains now and my body feels tired to the bone.
I slept so much in my bunk last night to get over it." - Philippe Jeantot, STANDINGS: 1. PRB Michel Desjoyeaux, Finish: 10 February 2008hrs 32 sec, 2. Kingfisher, Ellen MacArthur, Finish: 11 February 2036hrs 40 sec, 3. Sill Matines & La Potagere, Roland Jourdain, 253 miles from finish, 4. Active Wear, Marc Thiercelin, 1044nm, 5. Union Bancaire Privee, Dominique Wavre, 1430nm, 6. Sodebo Savourons la Vie, Thomas Coville, 1524nm LASER MASTERS CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * July 7-13: Swan American Regatta 2001 hosted by New York Yacht Club. OUTTA HERE THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
