|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1848 - May 27, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. US SAILING TEAM'S PAIGE RAILEY At the age of only 17, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) is the top-ranked laser radial sailor in the United States and she's making a splash on the international scene as well. Railey recently won the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, defeating 35 boats from 10 countries. Prior to that, she also won U.S. Sailing's Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta. The win that means the most to her though, came in July of 2003 in Madeira, Portugal. It was there that Railey took home the title at the International Sailing Federation Youth Sailing World Championships. "I have to say the feeling of winning is amazing," she said. "That's the thing that motivates me the most. When I had won the worlds and I went up onto the podium and they played the anthem for me and put the flag up, that was a pretty cool feeling." It's a feeling Railey plans to continue having in the future. \Although she states Olympic gold as her "ultimate" goal, Railey tries to take each regatta as it comes and not think too far ahead. "I just kind of take one race at a time and try to sail my best," she said. "If you think about the end results too much then you get nervous, but it's always in the back of my head to win or place. You just have to take one race at a time and learn as much as possible." Hard work is nothing new for Railey, who trains every day of the week. As the international Olympic sailing community completes the transition from Europe to Laser Radial equipment in Singlehanded Women Dinghy division, other sailors may now have to work harder to keep up with Railey, who has been using radial equipment all along. Although it should give her a slight advantage, Railey is quick to point out that most of her competitors have an edge over her in a different area. "I think it gives me an advantage in a way, but I'm also young, so in the racing aspect people have an advantage over me," she said. "It all evens out." Although Railey's talents may be "different" for a sailor her age, the Florida native said off the water she enjoys doing "girl things" and spending time with friends. Despite sailing three days a week to train, she also loves to spend her free time out on the water. - Excerpts from a story by Angela Pinder, USOC, posted on the US Sailing website, full story: www.ussailing.org/News/2005/USOCRailey.htm TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE May 26 - Over the last 24 hours, the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge's two leaders, Robert Miller's Mari-Cha IV and Charles Brown and Bill Buckley's Maximus, have finally moved in front of the virtual position of the 1905 transatlantic race winner Atlantic. Slowly, they have turned north, having had a difficult night of big winds and lumpy seas. "This race so far seems to have been all about no wind or too much," reported Mari-Cha IV's racing helmsman Mike Sanderson last night. "Over the past eight hours, we have got back to the stage of having to slow the boat down to try and make sure that we don't break anything major that will stop us racing the boat. It is easy to forget, at times, that there are still 2,300 miles or so to go in this transatlantic race. We are happy to give up some of our lead to Maximus just so that we can be sure to be there when the reaching and running conditions start in a few days time." At the time, the 140-foot schooner was sailing in 37 knots in "survival conditions." The British match race for the on-the-water lead in Performance Cruising class 1 also continues, with just two miles DTF separating Mike Slade's Leopard from Peter Harrison's Sojana. Leopard, too, has split on the course with Sojana and is 48 miles to the northwest. In a third match race between what are now the two largest boats in the fleet (following Stad Amsterdam's retirement), the 170-foot ketch Drumbeat is now 57 miles ahead of her sloop-rigged near-sistership Tiara. "Earlier this morning we had 40 knots of wind, and we have just broke the head of the staysail," recounted Tiara's captain Pascal Pellat-Finet. "It is nothing dramatic, but we have had to slow down quite a bit. We will wait for nicer weather to pull out a bigger sail." - www.transatlanticchallenge.org QUOTE / UNQUOTE * "We have been sailing at around 80% with just the #4 jib, a trisail and a triple reefed mizzen but because of the considerable extra force put on the mizzen, we have now also damaged the mizzen luff track. This means that we're back to the #4 jib and a trisail only. Our plan is to continue racing as hard as possible with the sails that we have and, as soon as the weather allows, we will start affecting repairs in the hope that we will be able to get the boat back to full strength as soon as possible." - Mari-Cha IV's owner, Robert Miller on The Daily Sail subscription website, www.thedailsail.com * "On deck its like standing in front of a fire hydrant, all our clothes are soaked through with spray everywhere." - Maximus website, www.supermaxi.co.nz/ TURBO YOUR OCKAM SYSTEM FOR THE 2005 SEASON New sails, rigging, a refinished bottom - ready for the upcoming racing season? What about instruments? Measure your performance gain by upgrading to Ockam's Tryad processor with superior power and speed combined with intuitive autocal capability. Impress the competition by adding the graphical Matryx Display with full functionality and stripcharts and hit shifts like never before. All upgrades are compatible with your existing Ockam system and trade-in credits are available on your existing equipment. Known around the world for performance, accuracy and reliability in all conditions. Ockam offers instrument solutions for a distinct competitive advantage. Contact Ockam: mailto:lat@ockam.com SWEDISH MATCH TOUR With four flights remaining in the double round robin of the ACI H1 Match Race Cup, Stage 7 of the 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour, Bertrand Pacé (FRA), of BMW Oracle Racing, has clinched the No. 1 ranking with the semifinals looming. Pacé, the event's reigning champion, continued defeating all of his opponents today. His four wins in light winds extended his record to 17-0 and guaranteed him the opportunity to choose his opponent in the semifinal round. Ed Baird (USA), of Team Alinghi, went 3-1 in today's trying conditions and gained a firm grip on second in the round robin. He's two wins ahead of third-placed Philippe Presti (FRA), who has a 10-6 record. While Pacé has moved on to the semis, Baird and Presti aren't guaranteed a spot in the next round. They're in a dog fight that includes Staffan Lindberg (FIN) and Peter Gilmour (AUS), of Pizza-La Sailing Team. At the end of today Lindberg held the fourth and final spot in the semis. Lindberg won his three matches today to push his record to 9-7 with four to race. Gilmour went 1-3 on the day also has a 9-7 record, but Lindberg scored a big triumph over the reigning Swedish Match Tour champion in the final match of the day, which concluded after 8:00 p.m. Today's racing didn't begin until after 4:00 p.m. The day's first warning signal was scheduled for 12:50 p.m., but a postponement was issued instead as the winds off Split were light and shifty. Racing finally commenced shortly after 4:00 p.m. in a west/southwesterly breeze between 5 and 8 knots. Four flights (20 matches) were conducted in about four and a half hours. Principal Race Officer Alen Kustiæ kept the sailors on the water so late today because of tomorrow's forecast. Light winds are again forecast for the morning, and the afternoon brings the hope of a 10-knot westerly. Either way, gone is the boisterous 30 knots of yesterday. - Sean McNeill ACI H1 Match Race Cup Standings (After 18 of 22 scheduled flights) 1. Bertrand Pacé (FRA) BMW Oracle Racing, 17-0 2. Ed Baird (USA) Team Alinghi, 12-4 3. Philippe Presti (FRA) le Défi, 10-6 4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 9-7 5. Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 9-7 6. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 5-8 7. Kelvin Harrap (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 8-5 8. Björn Hansen (SWE), 5-11 9. Dario Kliba (CRO), 5-12 10. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, 5-12 11. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 2-15 Event website: www.swedishmatchtour.com NOBODY'S PERFECT "What can I say? We got this all wrong not spotting the way out of here with BG Spirit early enough." SAIC La Jolla Global Challenge skipper Eero Lehtinen regrets their decision to try and cover the main pack. "For now we must try to get north a quickly as possible to pick on the new breeze," he added. In the span of just a few hours, BG Spirit has moved up from sixth into a substantial lead - 36 miles ahead of Barclays Adventure and SAIC, with Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer just a few miles further back. But no one is going very fast - the boats are averaging just 2-5 knots with some 1500 miles still to go to the Boston finish line of Leg 5. www.globalchallenge2004.com/en/ NEWS BRIEFS * For the record - Francis Joyon crossed the Ambrose light starting line of the West to East Transatlantic record at 19h03'36'' GMT (15h03'36'' local time). The trimaran set off at more than 15 knots, and the French skipper hoped to catch a more solid breeze further away from the coast. To beat Laurent Bourgnon's record, IDEC has to reach the Lizard (GB) before June the 2nd, at 21h37'16'' GMT. - www.trimaran-idec.com * While neck and neck with Ecover at the front of the Calais Round Britain Race, the Lombard designed Open 60 Bonduelle dismasted. The crew is safe. The incident occurred at around 1800 GMT, about 16 miles after rounding the north of the Shetlands while skipper Jean Le Cam was sleeping. The boat was on a close reach in a strong westerly wind and big seas sailing under ORC (small sized jib) and three reefs in the mainsail. Shortly prior to her dismasting Bonduelle had been holding second place. - www.calaisroungbritainrace.com * Alinghi Skipper Peter Holmberg and his crew battled testing conditions to beat fellow America's Cup yachtsman Francesco Bruni of Luna Rossa in the final of the 2005 Laureus Regatta last week. Holmberg received a sparkling new Mercedes CLK 200 AMG, while each crew member collected a specially crafted limited edition IWC watch kindly donated by sponsors. - The Daily Sail subscription website, www.thedailysail.com * With over 99 potential marks available for use for every course at Cowes Week, hours of preparation are normally essential. To make matters worse, the mark names and numbers have changed from 2004. However, Ockam Europe has come to the rescue - a Marks database has been created from the Cowes Week 2005 Buoy list, and was enhanced by 'pinging' of some of the Solent marks. This list is available for download, and contains full instructions on how to import the marks into Expedition. - www.OckamEurope.com/Cowes05Marks UK-HALSEY: THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS UK Sailmakers and Halsey-Lidgard Sailmakers, two organizations sharing an identical commitment to sailmaking excellence, customer service, and great product performance, have merged to become UK-Halsey. More than 50 lofts in 20 countries will now deliver the same advantages, including UK's laminated loadpath technologies (Tape-Drive and UK Ultra construction), dominance in PHRF and among production racer-cruisers, plus Halsey's expertise in mega-yachts and multihulls (from PlayStation and other RTW racers to Caribbean charter cats). The combined website is worth visiting, whether for the latest animated Rules Quiz or for news, loft locations, and sail quotes: http://www.ukhalsey.com OUTTA HERE Like most Americans, the 'entire Scuttlebutt staff' is taking a day off for the Memorial Day holiday, so our next issue will be Tuesday, May 31. 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. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Steve Johnson (In replay to Mr. Max Rosenburg regarding J-24's not coming to the rescue of the sinking boat at the Seattle Nationals): As a participant (and one who rescued one of the crew on a sinking J-24 last fall) I feel obliged to answer. As the nearest up-wind J-24 at the time, we arrived at the scene of the capsize very shortly after the boat turned turtle and already standing by were a CYC whaler, a photo boat and a 30' sailboat under power. To get to the scene safely, we dropped our jib and chicken-jibed over. Our crew realized that a J-24 with sails up in those conditions would be useless as a rescue platform. Getting a 4-horsepower motor on deck, on the transom and started and attempting to motor into 35-knots plus was not even a consideration. No other J nearby was both under control and up-wind. As we approached, all five crew could be seen standing on the hull and wearing PFD's. The boat then righted itself and went down incredibly quickly. The swimmers were promptly pulled from the water by the attending power boats as we watched. I realize, as do all sailors, that lending assistance is the very first rule. However, I have no doubt that in this circumstance, we and the rest of the fleet (many of whom didn't even know there was a sinking 'till informed at the dock) acted responsibly within the possibilities of the situation. Last fall in a similar capsize and sinking, but in much milder conditions, every single Seattle J-24 dropped out of the race and stood by for rescue. * From Jim Burns: As a competitor in the recent J24 U.S. Nationals, I found Mr. Rosenberg's comment that "other J's are not coming to the rescue" uncharitable at best and at worst, ignorant and mean spirited. How can he possibly know what it was like on the water at the time and whether any other J's did, or indeed could, come to the rescue. In fact, most of us didn't even know about the incident until we got back to the dock. Perhaps Mr. Rosenberg doesn't appreciate that the distance from the front runners to the tail end charlies in a 47 boat J24 fleet can be a 1/2 mile or more. Perhaps he doesn't know what it like to be hanging on as a 37 knot line squall rolls through the fleet. For ourselves, we not see the unfortunate "Magic Hat" as we were more than a little busy retrieving one crew member and the remains of our spinnaker from over the side. In any event Majic Hat was well attended by both the R.C. whalers and the photography boats (you need to see the entire sequence of pictures on the Rhumbline Photo web site) and all were retrieved. The skipper of the Majic Hat has been particularly gracious and praiseworthy of the R.C. So, enough with the cheap shots. * From Ted Jones (re emergency airbags for yachts to add buoyancy and avoid sinking): In the late 1970s, Gary Hoyt and I worked on an inflatable system to float one of his Freedom 25s. Garry's hypothesis that it is better to stay with a flooded boat which contains most of the items needed to sustain life and the means to sail to safety (albiet slowly), is a better bet than tumbling downwind in a runaway life raft. To prove the concept I connected several truck tire inner tubes to a manifold of air hoses connected to a scuba tank. The uninflated inner tubes (stand-ins for something more sophisticated if the concept proved worthwhile) were stowed unobtrusively in canvas pouches placed along the inside of the hull close to the deck. We inflated the system. It worked fine, and would not have trapped even a sleeping crew inside. We never actually sank the boat, as basic mathematics proved that the tubes would float it if it was flooded. Before we got any further, Garry's marketing research indicated that there was little consumer interest in paying the price for an "unsinkable" sailboat, and the project was abandoned. * From J. Paul Riou: I am glad to see both Zach de Beer and Brett Phillips e-mails on the CBTF fuss. Looks like our "patent holders" have just forgotten to check what other had done before. - I, too, very well remember Red Herring and her canting keel being extensively featured and getting the cover in Yacht Racing magazine, yes it was in the early eighties and Duncan Mc Lane was, I believe, involved in the design. I still can see a Lucas design (Orleans-Painsol) starting in the 1981 Mini-Transat with a "canard" rudder forward - the boat sank during the race so was not much publicized except in France. Incidentally the designer was also designing "canard "ultra-light aircrafts. Michel Desjoyaux introduced the canting keel to the Mini-Transat class in the race of 1991, and won at least 1 of the legs. All components were already there, ready to be observed, when the patents were issued, so if the patents are for some reason useful to some, they probably do not cover any canting keel or any forward rudder, probably just a very specific combination of a canting keel and two rudders. * From Bill Gibbs: It looks like CBTF technology may not be the only stuff being copied these days. The Pumpabike human powered hydrofoil looks and sounds exactly like the Trampofoil I purchased from Sweden in 1998. While no longer in commercial production, you can still Google threads from owners around the web. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roberthodgen/tramp.htm/ www.trampofoil.com * From Steve Clark: Two things about invention: Students of hydrofoils will recall that the Trampofoil, developed by Jens Osterlund and Alexandr Salin, is essentially the same device as the "Pumpabike." Only it was produced about 10 years ago. Osterlund and Salin are the key players in the Swedish speed sailing effort. They were denied a patent because the concept had been tried successfully and documented by Parker McCready's "Pogofoil" in 1989. Others will recall that the first documented reference to canting keels is L. Francis Herreshoff's "Sailing Machine" in his 1946 book," The Common Sence of Yacht Design." Van Alan Clark's "Red Herring" was designed by Dave Hubbard and first incorporated the concept of separating the keel's stability function from its lateral force function. Thus daggerboards and a slender canting strut with a lead bulb at the end. The CBTF innovation was to incorporate a bow rudder instead of a forward dagger board. Alberto Calderon first incorporated this concept on the Mull designed 12 meter USA for the 1987 America's Cup. Sorting out how the two rudders should work in relationship to each other and the hull was a major piece of work. It was later with Matt Brown that the concept was applied to lighter high performance boats. So in this case, you can see that there is a series of developments. CBTF refers to a single canting keel solution, but not to all of them. Hate to be pedantic, but I also like to have the record well understood. * From Bob Buell: As a veteran windsurfer, with over 20 years sailing on North Shore of Oahu, we are now forced to share the waves with inexperienced kite-boarders, often getting tangled in their 100' lines in the surf. Some are former windsurfers, but most are not, and share a "Skateboard Mentality" to get "big air", and have no clue about sailing rules of the road, creating a dangerous arena. Also, I'm a former container ship captain, and used to transit the Golden Gate every 2 weeks on our route from Oakland to Honolulu. The Kiters would often get in front of our bow right in the shipping lane, and this latest idea to race them in that area sounds dangerous too. I recently read of a downed lady kiter there, being rescued by a sailboat just prior to being run down by an outbound ship. We need kite boards separated from shipping, and from windsurfers, as they do on Maui where kiters have their own area, and its not near the ship channel. CURMUDGEON'S DEFINITIONS Sudafed: Brought litigation against a government. |
