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SCUTTLEBUTT 2470 – November 7, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. JULIAN EVERITT - IN HIS WORDS Yacht designer Julian Everitt, formerly the Editor of Seahorse magazine, shares excerpts from his monthly column for the Dubai-based Boat Owner magazine. * Bernie Ecclestone. Now what could he possibly have to do with the future of the America’s Cup? The chaos that has been created by the Swiss decision to rewrite the America’s Cup Rules reminds me of the lack of direction that Formula One car racing had before Bernie took it by the scruff of the neck and organised it into the well-oiled mega-buck machine it is today. He could head up an impartial Management Committee and bring his immense organisational skills to not only representing the Challengers, but bringing much greater media attention and with it sponsorships to the benefit of all participants. Even Alinghi boss, Ernesto Bertarelli, shouldn’t object to this. He already has a vision of linking the America’s Cup to certain Formula One events so Ecclestones’ involvement could kill two birds with one stone. But it is not a job for anybody, as the person in charge has to gain the respect of a whole gang of billionaires. Bernie is the man for the job and you heard it here first! ----------------------------------------- * Keels falling off racing yachts seems to be becoming an almost acceptable ‘event’ in offshore racing. Over the past two years, five yachts, and that is not including high profile, high risk Open 60s, have suffered catastrophic structural failure resulting in the loss of the keel, capsize and the death of eight people. Back in the heyday of IOR, when design parameters were being pushed to the limit, the joint area between keel and hull got smaller and smaller. I remember at the time writing a paper for the International Technical Committee, who oversaw the development aspects of the rule, that there should be minor rating adjustments to help curb this potentially dangerous development. But in those days, tiny attachment areas were offset by the fact that the structure of the hull in the keel area was immensely strong as weight in this area was an advantage. Now, however, with the drive to put as much weight as possible in a bulb, structure is being removed from the hull itself to a dangerous degree to allow as much weight as possible to go into the keel. This might be acceptable in a one-off, inshore boat that is built in highly controlled conditions, but is totally unacceptable for an offshore boat and for any production boat. So why are these failures happening? Enquiries have led to talk of technical failures, but actually it is a failure of common sense. Complete text: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1025/ ISAF SAILING HALL OF FAME The International Sailing Federation announced Paul Elvström, Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, Dame Ellen Macarthur, Olin Stephens, Barbara Kendall and Éric Tabarly as the first six inductees for the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame as part of the ISAF Annual Conference in Estoril, Portugal. Many of sailing’s star names together with members of royalty were in Estoril to celebrate the achievements of the six inductees at a gala Dinner and Presentation, one of the centrepiece occasions of ISAF’s Centenary celebrations. Over the past 100 years, sailing has seen many heroes and legends, and the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame has been created to recognize the achievements of those who have made the sport what it is today. His Majesty King Constantine, ISAF President of Honour and Honorary Chairman of the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame, said: “One hundred years of sailing has created many worthy sailors, but tonight we are here to recognise a few that have made sailing their life. Their achievement has contributed to enhancing, promoting and evolving the sport of sailing, but overall they have amazed, influenced and inspired both on and off the water.” Paul Elvström (DEN), Robin Knox-Johnson (GBR), Ellen Macarthur (GBR) and Olin Stephens (USA) were in Estoril to receive their awards, whilst Jacqueline Tabarly, widow of the late Éric tabaraly (FRA), accepted his award. Barbara Kendall (NZL) accepted her award from PJ Montgomery on film. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/21206.php * In attendance for the Hall of Fame festivities was ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year nominee Rohan Veal (of Moth fame), who had this to say of the night: “It was a pretty special night with plenty of red carpet rolled out and photographers awaiting at the Estoril Casino entrance for the VIP's to rock up. There was no shortage of VIP's, which included Princess Anne, Prince Frederick of Denmark and King Harold of Norway. We had a pretty good seat up near the front and was entertained after dinner by an amazing aerobatic display, many of whom I saw as potential Moth sailors. The highlight of the night was to recognise sailors who had achieved amazing results in their career. There were six inductees, including Paul Elvstrom, Dame Ellen and Sir Knox Johnson. Once it all wrapped up, it was an honour to have a short chat with the great Paul Elvstrom and his daughter. Both of them commented to say that they had seen video of the foiler Moth's before and were hoping that one day we would be in the Olympics.” The selection of the Male and Female award winners will be revealed in Issue 2471. -- http://www.rohanveal.com J BOATS LAND IN ASIA San Diego's JK3 Yachts opened its J/Boats Asia office in Hong Kong last month, and will soon open a branch in Xiamen, China as the exclusive dealer for J/Boats throughout Asia. “These are exciting times to see the country aggressively embrace the sport of sailing," said Jeff Brown, CEO of JK3 Yachts. “Between the enthusiasm surrounding the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao, and the anticipation of the next Volvo Ocean Race coming to both Singapore and Qingdao, the awareness of the sport within the country is quickly growing.” JK3 will initially focus on introducing the J/80 to Asia, with Brown and J/Boats President Jeff Johnstone racing identical J/80s in November's hotly contested Asia International Sportboat Championship at the RHKYC. -- http://www.jk3yachts.com WHAT THE WOMEN WANT Estoril, Portugal (November 6, 2007) The debate surrounding the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition is heating up at the ISAF Annual Conference, with a packed audience for today’s meeting of the Women’s Sailing Committee. The Committee took a tiered approach to looking at the events question. They began by voting for an equal split of five male and five female events (currently there are three open events, four male and four female). Next followed a secret ballot on the Women’s Keelboat event: should it be match racing or fleet racing? The Committee decided by a clear majority on match racing. This left a slate of six possible women’s events: Windsurfer One Person Dinghy Two Person Dinghy Two Person Dinghy (High Performance) Keelboat Match Multihull The debate around these six events focused on two keys areas – participation and media appeal. This vote left the following five events: Windsurfer - women One Person Dinghy - women Two Person Dinghy - women Two Person Dinghy (High Performance) - women Keelboat Match - women The Committee also took into consideration the fact that the ISAF Council may decide to stick with the current slate of four women’s events at the Olympic Games. In that case the Committee selected the following four events: Windsurfer - women One Person Dinghy - women Two Person Dinghy - women Keelboat Match - women The recommendations of the Women’s Sailing Committee will now be passed on to the Events Committee, before the ISAF Council makes the final decision on the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition during their meeting from November 8-10. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/21230.php PATENTS IN A DEVELOPMENT CLASS by Toby Heppell, The Daily Sail Two weeks ago in an update on the Bladerider one design foiling Moth we reported that the company was attempting to patent a couple of their design ideas. This is causing a considerable stir within the Moth community with arguments on-going over the moral right to patent within a development class, a debate with possible consequences not just within the Moths. Essentially much of the debate revolves around two central themes: the rights of Bladerider International to protect their intellectual property and the Moths being a development class where designs are regularly copied and adapted. “It is an emotive issue simply because the class has contributed so much to sailing over the years due to its collaborative and inventive nature,” explains 2006 Moth World Champion, Simon Payne. “Ideas are copied and developed and then copied again and made right. That has always been the case” Of course irrespective of whether or not patents are in the true nature of the class, clearly Bladerider does have the right to protect its original designs. However, there has been some discussion as to whether Bladerider International will be able to patent the two specific parts of their design they are attempting to - which are the way in which the tramps attach to the wing bars and the way the foils slot together. To Payne and many others, though, it is not the nature of the patent that is the worry, simply the principle of it. -- Read on (subscription required): http://tinyurl.com/ysm32y TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE Reporting on the Transat Jacques Vabre, a 4,300-mile doublehanded ocean race from Le Harve, France to Salvador, Brazil, that started last weekend: (November 6, 2007) Most of the skippers have been desperately seeking the slightest puff of wind since the start. Beginning Monday, the weather conditions changed radically as they sailed down the Bay of Biscay. They had to deal with up to 25-30 knots in rough seas. Such weather conditions usually need to be handled with caution, but it is even truer for the newer boats. Not only because of the possible material breakage, but also because the skippers need to haul the right sails (as many have not yet determined the correct sail range) to keep the boat manageable and competitive. It seems most of the crews found the right balance between pushing the boat and keeping her within her “safe limit” with a foot on the brake. The wind is gradually filling up in the Bay of Biscay to push the rest of the fleet to Cape Finisterre where the conditions are rough. The ORMA is now level with the IMOCA, which set out one day earlier and should pass them overnight. -- Daily update: http://tinyurl.com/you2r5 * Artemis Ocean Racing was dismasted Tuesday afternoon off the coast of Spain on Day Four of the Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre to Bahia in Brazil. The British IMOCA Open 60, skippered by Jonny Malbon and Graham Tourell, was sailing in 35 knots of breeze when the incident occurred at around 1420 GMT. The cause of the dismasting is not yet known. Both skippers were on deck at the time. Malbon said that while conditions had got worse during the course of the day and the wind has strengthened to 35 knots, the boat was performing well in the rough seas. "We had the masthead spinnaker and the full mainsail up this morning but knew that the wind was forecast to increase, so we put one reef in the mainsail and changed to the jib. We surfed down a wave, a pretty steep one, and then hit this wall of water in front of us. The boat literally came to a standstill and the rig just fell forwards towards the bow of the boat. We tried to save the boom and the bottom section of the mast but to save the hull, we had to cut them free and throw everything over the side - the rig, the boom and the sails." -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/2cmpgc Current Standings - Monohulls * IMOCA Open 60 (17 entered): Safran, Marc Guillemot/Charles Caudrelier * Class 40 (30 entered): Siegena Aubi, Marc Le Pesqueux/Felipe Cubillos Current Standings - Multihulls * ORMA 60 (5 entered): Gitana 11, Lionel Lemonchois /Yann Guichard * Class 50 (8 entered):Crèpes Whaou!,Franck Yves Escoffier/Karine Fauconnier Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/2jvkt4 Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en DOYLE SUPERYACHT TEAM EXPANDS Simon Lacey, with over 20 years industry experience, has joined the Doyle Sailmakers superyacht team. English born Lacey is the former captain of the J Class Velsheda and most recently the 122' Ghost. In addition to his work as captain of several highly visible yachts, he has been a sailmaker and designer for both Hood and Doyle Sailmakers. He will be dividing his time between the US and Europe. Simon is also an experienced offshore sailor, having logged over 150,000 miles at sea sailing offshore multihulls, superyachts, and maxi racers. For more information on Doyle Sailmakers, please visit http://www.DoyleSails.com JONATHAN MCKEE - THE ACCIDENTAL PRO by David Schmidt, SAIL Magazine The Barcelona World Race is a new two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race starting on the November 11, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain. For most dinghy sailors, co-skippering an Open 60 in this inaugural race would be a suicide mission. Luckily, Seattle based Jonathan Mckee, 45, isn’t your typical dinghy sailor: His resume includes three years on the All American College Team during his time at Yale, a Gold medal in Flying Dutchman in the 1984 Olympics, a Bronze medal in 49er’s in the 2000 Olympics with his brother Charlie, a near victory in the 2003 Mini Transat Race (he dismasted 700 miles from the finishing line after dominating the first leg), two America’s Cup stints as mainsail trimmer (2003 with OneWorld Challenge; 2007 with Luna Rossa), and victory in the 2005 Melges 24 Worlds. Plus, McKee has also raced on top-level Open 60 programs including Ellen McArthur’s Kingfisher (he was aboard for Kingfisher’s win in the 2001 EDS Atlantic Challenge) and Johnny Malbon’s Artemis. Usurping these heady achievements is the fact that McKee is a humble, down-to-earth father of two. He is also the only American participating in the 2007/2008 Barcelona World Race. While McKee’s teammate, Spaniard Guillermo Altadill, 45, has completed six circumnavigations, this will be McKee’s first. Further spicing the sauce, McKee and Altadill have barely sailed together, and they will be competing on a latest-generation Farr-designed Open 60. I caught up with McKee via telephone while he was in Seattle, 10 weeks before the race’s start. -- Read on: http://sailmag.com/features/JonathanMcKee/ Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com EIGHT BELLS Eamon Fearon, one of the founding members of Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor, NY, passed away this week at his home in Sag Harbor. To honor Eamon, his family has requested for everyone to participate in one last Wednesday Night Race send off to celebrate his life. First gun will be at Breakwater Yacht Club this Wednesday, Nov. 7th, at 6 PM. -- http://www.breakwateryc.org SAILING IN THE CITY The Proper Course blog has initiated a special project and is seeking assistance, and while this isn’t quite as worthy as donating blood or helping at your child’s school, the collection of everyone’s efforts should make for a pretty slick tribute to the sport. Read on: “There's something especially thrilling about sailing against a backdrop of one of the world's major cities. And not just because of those weird shifts and puffs coming from in between all the skyscrapers. So, for this month's sailing bloggers' group participation project I propose that we scour the world to identify the best photos of Sailing in the City. To qualify a photo must be not only an excellent photo of sailing but also have a background of a readily identifiable city, or city landmark. Golden Gate Bridge. Sydney Opera House. Statue of Liberty. Whatever. You get the idea.” -- Complete details: http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2007/11/sailing-in-city.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Peter Harken: In Issue 2469, DJ Parker and John Wade hit it on the head regards our Homeland Security and their new expanded role inspecting small boats for bombs. Mr. Chertoff and HS are running amuck. What planet does our federal administration get these fear mongers from? Good grief, try LIFE gentlemen, or hide yourself in a hardened closet surrounded by mattresses and an IV tube to feed you. Please do, so the rest of us can live and sail, not without risk, which is LIFE! * From Glenn Selvin, Long Beach, CA: The discussion on homeland security (beginning in Issue 2468) reminds me of an incident that we found somewhat comical this past summer. During the summer beer can races, me and my crew on our Capri 25 decided not to race, but instead, since this was a new boat to us, we decided to go out for a Wednesday evening practice, heading upwind and going out through the Los Angeles Harbor opening. Just as were getting ready to set the pole and launch the kite, I laughed and told my foredeck guy to hang tight. Up roars the Coast Guard, lights flashing with big ol' machine gun on the front of their RIB. They asked where we were going, before beginning to speed off. I hailed them back, and asked if they had a camera by any chance, because the new to us Capri 25 was powered up and lookin' sharp! * From Colin Park: (Re: problem of "keying" on a VHF mentioned in Issue 2469). It has been our experience at St Pete that if the broadcast is on high power, it will overcome an open mike. LOOKING FOR YOUR CLUB’S NEXT KEELBOAT? A group of sailors at Beverly Yacht Club wanted a modern, flexible, fun class that would excite a range of sailors, work for weeknight series, regattas and team racing, thrill teenagers, attract new members, plus give members the option for international competition. The result? A new J/80 fleet for 2008. http://www.jboats.com CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS When you do a good deed, get a receipt, in case heaven is like the IRS. Special thanks to JK3 Yachts, Doyle Sailmakers, and J Boats. |
