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SCUTTLEBUTT 2976 - Thursday, November 19, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors are Ullman Sails and Mount Gay Rum gear. U.S. MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIP The finale of US SAILING’s 2009 National Championship season takes place this week as top teams compete for the Prince of Wales Bowl at the U.S. Match Racing Championship (USMRC). St. Petersburg Yacht Club (Fla.) will host four days of racing in Sonars on Nov. 19-22 that features three multiple time winners and an Olympic Gold Medalist. Defending U.S. Match Racing Champion Dave Perry (Southport, Conn.) leads the field, also having won the title in 2006. His team will be challenged by two-time U.S. Match Racing Champion Brian Angel (El Segundo, Calif.) who won in 2007 and 2005, and David Dellenbaugh (Easton, Conn.) who won in 2002 and 1984. US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) member and Olympic Gold Medalist in the Laser Radial Fleet, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), will race in her second match racing championship this month and her first U.S. Match Racing Championship. The newly crowned 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, Tunnicliffe, finished second at US SAILING’s 2009 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship last weekend in St. Thomas, USVI. Women’s match racing will make its Olympic debut in 2012, and Tunnicliffe has committed to this discipline for her next Olympic campaign. As a reflection of the increasing interest for match racing in the U.S., the entire field is exceedingly deep this year. Here are the entrants: Brian Angel/ Mike Delanty/ Payson Infelise (El Segundo, CA) Taylor Canfield/ Charlie Enright/ Brett Clark (St. Thomas, VI) David Dellenbaugh/ Ralf Steitz/ Rick Dominique (Easton, CT) Bill Hardesty/ David Hughes/ David Gerber (San Diego, CA) Mark Johnson/ Denise Cornell/ Tom Gleeson (Appleton, WI) Chris Nesbitt/ Brian Janney/ Megan Kenney/ Gunnar Torre (Corona Del Mar, CA) Dave Perry/ Chris Museler/ Doug Clark (Southport, CT) Meagan Ruhlman/ Emily Pulos/ Katie Werley/ Jo Ann Fisher (Bratenahl, OH) Russ Silvestri/ Craig Healy/ Christopher Smith (San Francisco, CA) Anna Tunnicliffe/ Liz Bower/ Debbie Capozzi/ Molly O'Bryan (Plantation, FL) Complete results, daily reports, photos, Twitter updates, live race tracking by Kattack and video highlights by Sailgroove available at http://championships.ussailing.org/Adult/USMRC.htm HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE CREWING GUIDE By Brooke F. Thomson My freshman year of college sailing at St. Mary’s College of Maryland felt like everything was different from high school, but that nothing was specifically new. How I changed as a crew wasn’t a matter of learning new things, but of refining the skills I already had from high school racing. In the boat, there is very little that a college sailor knows that would be beyond the comprehension of someone in high school. However, college sailing requires a lot more consistency and not letting little things slide in order to make a boat go fast. It’s about being ready to do the same thing every practice, every race, but keeping a fresh perspective. It’s about the transition from knowing tactics to making those same decisions intuitively. Most of the changes I made from high school to college weren’t difficult, and most of them were things I had heard of in high school. The biggest change to me was that all of the details that are considered the extra mile in high school are suddenly what’s expected of a college crew to do for every race, every practice. To help with this transition, or to help any high school or college crew refine their skills, I've written a technical guide of everything I wish someone had told me. What follows is an attempt to pinpoint some of the bigger reasons that contribute to this transition and list all the little details that go a long with it. Enjoy: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/crew_guide/ MAKE YOUR SAILS LAST A few holes in the spinnaker during the douse. An eyelet ripped out. A broken batten. A torn panel. A shrunken bolt rope. A luff recut. A murky vision window. A shredded leach cord. Missing tell tales. Mold. At Ullman Sails, our lofts not only build high quality cruising and racing sails, we also specialize in sail evaluation, maintenance and repairs for any brand of sail. We offer innovative repair solutions backed by the quality and performance that we’re known for worldwide. Ullman Sails - invest in your performance. Check your local loft for winter servicing and storage options! -- http://www.ullmansails.com * HARD WING SAIL TECHNOLOGY: On December 2nd, Pete Melvin from Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. will give a presentation at the Ullman Sails Newport Beach loft on current hard wing sail technology as it relates to the current America’s Cup, the 1988 America’s Cup, and other wing sail projects that M&M have under development. M&M are part of BMW/Oracle Racing’s design team and have been involved with wing sail development on Oracle’s AC trimaran. Details at http://ullmansailsnewportbeach.blogspot.com/ WIND LIMITS On November 11th, the defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, Société Nautique de Genève, published the Notice of Race that will govern the 33rd America’s Cup, which calls for the first race to take place in Valencia (Spain) on Monday February 8th, 2010. Among the details included in the NOR is that there would be weather limitations within which the defender and challenger would race. The NOR states: “To ensure the safety of competitors, officials and spectators, and taking into account the length of the courses to be sailed and the nature of the boats, RRS 27 and RRS 32 shall apply. It is anticipated that races shall be sailed in winds having a windspeed of not more than 15 knots, and in waves of not more than 1 metre in height.” During a recent interview, Peter Montgomery asked Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth about the wind limit, and if 15 knots had been categorically agreed to. Said Brad, “No, that is a number that has been bantered around. It would be nice to have that limit because these boats have a lot of power, they are extreme. But that is something that we can probably talk to the other challenger to see if they are keen on that, I think somewhere around there would be a good number. “We want to make sure that the racing is good, and that the boats stay together, and that everybody goes home at the end of it. Both teams have had failures with their boats, and so it is a difficult situation with the winds sailing in the northern hemisphere winter. Having a wind limit would be good, and a sea limit would be even better.” Complete audio interview: http://tinyurl.com/yf2jeyo 33rd Match Notice of Race: http://tinyurl.com/yhlu3v5 * Wind limits were in place for the 32nd Match in 2007, where the NOR stated “The Race Committee intends to conduct races when the approximate average true wind speed is between 7 and 23 knots as measured on the Race Committee Signal Boat at six (6) metres above the water.” -- http://acregatta.americascup.com/multimedia/docs/2007/06/nor_32_match.pdf GROUPAMA 3 HEADING TO CAPE TOWN (November 18, 2009) - After having envisaged making directly for the technical base in Lorient, France, Franck Cammas and his crew on the 105-foot trimaran Groupama 3 have finally decided to make for South Africa to carry out repairs under good conditions. Cape Town is around five days away and Groupama 3 could be ready to head for France at the start of December... for a new attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy Trophy - the fully crewed round the world record attempt under sail - in January! Lionel Lemonchois, the designated `foreman' in effecting temporary repairs to the beam bulkhead, explains the conditions required to totally resolve this structural problem that Groupama 3 suffered on the tenth day of this Jules Verne Trophy attempt. "Yesterday, there was still a chance that we could find a calmer zone of sea in which we could work on the breakage and then head straight back to Brittany. However, given that the boat is constantly in motion, we wouldn't be able to do a good job. We're still on the edge of the Deep South, in a grey seascape and messy seas, with birds gliding about and chilly temperatures. “It was necessary to work in a rate of humidity bordering on 100%, on our knees inside the float: it's not ideal for composite work! This has enabled us to make a good repair, but it's not sufficient to get the boat sailing at her full potential in complete safety: the wisest thing is to repair her properly in South Africa, as it's imperative that the float and the beam are immobile. We're 1,400 miles from Cape Town and, according to the weather forecasts, there isn't a zone which is sufficiently calm to resolve the problem at sea. “Groupama's shore crew is going to join us, but if all goes to plan it shouldn't be necessary to lift the trimaran onto the hard or unstep her mast. We're also going to reinforce the corresponding starboard bulkhead in the same way, all of which is likely to take around a week.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yj7bugo SEIZING UPON THE OPPORTUNITIES The semi-finals for the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Cote d’Azur will commence on Thursday between Team New Zealand (NZL), Synergy Russia Sailing Team (RUS), TeamOrigin (GBR), and Azzurra (ITA). The Nice event is the inaugural series of the World Sailing Teams Association, which was launched this year to provide a cost-effective format for teams with America’s Cup aspirations to maintain active and provide value to their corporate supporters. However, the host city also was seizing upon the opportunities presented by the event. Team Côte d’Azur, a promotion and economic development agency for the region, had reached out to a small number of company leaders from Telecom and Life Science sectors to partake as visitors in the Louis Vuitton Trophy event. Company heads, mostly sailing buffs, responded immediately to the development agency’s invitation, where these leaders spent a day enjoying the competition while discussing also the reasons that had led them to invest in the Nice Côte d’Azur region to grow their business. “It is very interesting for us to bring together prospects from different sectors for such a prestigious, exciting venue as the Louis Vuitton Trophy,” explains Team Côte d’Azur’s director Philippe Stefanini. “The exchanges among our guests allow them to grasp the reasons why similar international companies have chosen to locate here and that helps them in their decision making.” This operation was made possible thanks to the excellent cooperation of its organizers, Louis Vuitton, and the Nice Côte d’Azur chamber of commerce which operates the ports as well as Team Côte d’Azur. -- http://www.investincotedazur.com/en/newsletter/index.php?txt=act8937 Event website: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/ Video interviews: http://www.youtube.com/user/btsbroadcast BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Cote d’Azur is the inaugural event of the World Sailing Teams Association. The WSTA event is designed to be a cost-effective format for the teams, with the four America’s Cup class boats being used in Nice on loan from three teams: ALL4ONE (FRA-93), Mascalzone Latino (ITA-90, ITA-99) and TeamOrigin (GBR-75). The boats have been equalised as much as possible to create a level playing field. Racing concludes on Nov. 22nd. COUNTDOWN TO THE HOLIDAYS IS ON!! Hassle-free and easy Holiday shopping for the sailor on your gift list at The Pirate’s Lair, the official supplier of Mount Gay Rum gear and apparel. Whether the sailor you are shopping for is spending the Holidays with a warm breeze, frostbiting or by the fire, the ideal gift is Mount Gay Rum gear or apparel - waterproof softshell jacket, technical gear, burgees, and more are available. BONUS: one moisture wicking t-shirt with any purchase over $150.00. To order and look at entire line: http://www.pirateslair.com/store/index.html Visit the new Mount Gay Rum website at http://www.mountgay.com IMOCA 60’S FIT FOR THE JOB? By Elaine Bunting, Yachting World When the Transat Jacques Vabre race set off from France I wrote that this might be race that demonstrates whether the latest generation of IMOCA 60s is inherently weaker or stronger - or at least not so calamitously accident-prone. Now we can see the answer. In spite of the catastrophic damage to BT, I think by and large they are stronger. Look at the leading three boats. Safran had keel problems in the Vendée Globe. Groupe Bel was dismasted on day two; Mike Golding in the Southern Ocean. Yet by surviving two successive North Atlantic storms in shape to begin racing full pelt again afterwards they have proven to be properly battle-hardened. The destruction of BT can't be excused. Whether the root cause is the design, the engineering or the build, the broken coachroof put the two crew in mortal danger - Seb Josse told me the piece punched through into the cabin stretched from front to back and measured "about 4m by 2m". The boat was left, he said: "like a cabriolet". The same yacht suffered three cracks in the coachroof on the same side during the Vendée Globe, albeit smaller fissures, so one assumes something is seriously wrong here. --Read on: http://tinyurl.com/y9en28j * The ninth edition of the 4800-mile doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre race from France to Costa Rica began on November 8th, with 10 of the 14 Open 60 monohulls and 4 of the 6 Open 50 multihulls starters still competing. On Nov. 18th, Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier Benac on Safran continue to lead the Open 60 fleet by a 61 mile margin with 1769 nm to go. -- Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en SAILING SHORTS * In the Sailing World college rankings as of November 18, 2009, Boston College now assumes the top spots in the Coed and Women's rankings after sweeping the top spots in both events at the Atlantic Coast Champs. Full rankings at http://tinyurl.com/ylawn9c * US SAILING, the national governing body of the sport, has extended their sponsorship with LaserPerformance, a leading world manufacturer and largest U.S. supplier of recreational and high performance small sailboats. The four-year sponsorship extension runs through 2014. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yk82b9p * ICOMIA and NMMA president Thom Dammrich addressed delegates at the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) on Tuesday in the show's customary Breakfast Briefing. With the strap line 'Keeping Things in Perspective' Dammrich gave a brief account of where the US marine market currently finds itself and why there are reasons for optimism. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20091018093531ibinews.html WHO SAYS THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH? The Scuttlebutt Event Calendar is a free, self-serve tool that is powered by the most utilized database in the sport. The calendar - sponsored by West Marine - is used primarily for event marketing, with the crew list feature widely accessed to help connect available people with skippers in need. To view all the events, or to post your own event, visit the calendar at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Toby Reiley: With their exclusion from the 2012 Olympics, one door closes for the Yngling while another one opens. Pleon Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA now has now had three Ynglings donated to its Jr Sailing Program, where the boats will be used for 1. Training boat for beginners (4 kids and an instructor) 2. General instruction for the kids who love sailing but maybe not the racing 3. Team racing and Match Race training for Older juniors 4. Fleet Keel boat racing 5. Teach your parents to sail. Two of the boats are already in Marblehead, but the third is on a high speed trailer and waiting for a friendly tow from the Minnetonka Yacht Club in Wayzata MN to PYC. We would love to have someone driving from MN to MA to haul this boat out for us. We can pay for gas, tolls and meals. Contact me at 978-815-2282 or jtreiley@comcast.net. * From Amy Gross-Kehoe, Dir. of Sailing Programs, Stanford Athletics (01-08): What Kimball doesn't mention (in Scuttlebutt 2975) is that Tuesday of Big Game week is the biggest week-day lunch service of the entire year for St Francis Yacht Clu. Not including feeding the band members (which they do), St. Francis serves over 500 lunches to Cal and Stanford fans alike on Big Sail Tuesday. This includes Athletic Directors and non-members who just have to participate in the week-long lead up to the game. In 2002, dedicated Cal and Stanford alums Ron Young, David Wiard and Jaren Leet worked with Head Coach Jay Kehoe and I to revive the event after a 12-year hiatus. It has grown like gangbusters ever since, even tapping AC Hall of Fame's Malin Burnham to drive the Master's Boat one year. Of course, Stanford Sailing supporters are still waiting for the Cal alums to write the check to bring their Sailing Team to a Varsity level. * From Rich Roberts: (regarding sighting the start line) Appendix E of the RRS clearly defines the location of the starting line in Rule E3.7: "The starting and finishing lines shall be tangential to, and on the course side of, the starting and finishing marks." Of course, Appendix E applies only to Radio-Controlled Boats. * From Adrian Morgan: Say what you like about Ernesto and Larry, but it is the ambiguity and muddled judgments by the Supreme Court that have contributed hugely to this current mess. What happened to the Wisdom of Solomon? Time and again the judges have made rulings that allow for different interpretations, allowing yet more litigation. The absurdity stems from the fact that a court of law is no place from which to run a yacht race. If we don't see the spectacle of these incredible machines facing off, then it's George Schuyler and the Supreme Court who will bear much of the blame. CURMUDGEON’S DICTIONARY Parasites (n): What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Mount Gay Rum gear. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
