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SCUTTLEBUTT 3689 - Wednesday, October 3, 2012Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: IYRS, North Sails, and e sailing yachts. UNEXPECTED REUNION Jeremy Leonard of Sail Revolution shares a story about a sailing community coming together to get a sailor's lost Velocitek back to him against massive odds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Even though Santa Cruz (CA) is a small, tight knit beach community, Warren Pelz and Doug Wood might have never crossed paths if not for a set of random circumstances. Culminating with an epic act of good samaritanism, and aided by the technology built into an incredibly sturdy Velocitek ProStart, Warren and Doug met at the hoist in front of the Santa Cruz Yacht Club to make an amazing exchange. Doug begins, "I was walking my dog on the beach, and there was this thing lying upside-down in the surf. I thought it must be a GPS of some sort." It certainly was a GPS, it was a Velocitek ProStart that had fallen overboard a week prior as Warren and his family were sailing in the Jack and Jill Regatta off of Santa Cruz. Doug had to do some legwork to figure out what he found on the beach that day. He recalls, "I didn't know what a Velocitek was, so I took it home, cleaned it off, put some batteries in it, looked it up on the web, and figured out what it was. I contacted Velocitek, and they were able to use the data files to pinpoint a dock location right in front of the Santa Cruz Yacht Club. I contacted the Yacht Club, and several people from the club hung fliers here on the docks and spread the word." So after rolling around in the surf at one of Santa Cruz's more crushing beach breaks for more than a week, not only did the computer fire up, but the track data was still useable! Velocitek immediately posted the track on their blog and the word was out. The news spread like wildfire on various sailing centric social media sites, and the hunt was on! The story gets better...Read on: http://blog.velocitek.com/2012/10/01/castaway-prostart-update/ SO MUCH FOR PIT ROW After seemingly endless negotiations with the City of San Francisco to secure Piers 30-32 so the America's Cup fans could see all the competing teams at one location, it was announced Monday that the teams were no longer required to be based at that location. So much for pit row at the 34th America's Cup. What happened? "The vision remains to give the fans interaction with the teams," explained Stephen Barclay, CEO of the AC Event Authority. "After observing the fans during the August AC World Series event in San Francisco, we under-estimated the desire for people to watch the races from the Marina Green and the peninsula. The popularity for this viewing area and the hospitality provisions that were provided showed us how 2013 should unfold. "So we decided to use the budget that was dedicated to hospitality and fan engagement at Piers 30-32, which was going to cost in excess of $1 million, and move it to the Marina Green region. This, by the way, does not affect our commitment to creating an engaging fan experience in the Event Village at Piers 27-29, which is where the stage and big screen viewing area will be. "The push for this change came from the lack of foot traffic at Piers 30-32 during the August AC World Series event, which is where the AC45s were based. It is our expectation now that people who come to watch the America's Cup will primarily locate either at the Event Village or the Marina Green region. The distance between the Marina Green and Piers 30-32 may have simply been too great, so we are focusing our funds on where the fans want to be." While these changes may prove beneficial for the fans, at least one team isn't too thrilled with the bait and switch. "I am sitting here completely stunned," said Dean Barker, skipper for Emirates Team New Zealand. "We are a little over 6 months from relocating our base to San Fran to what we have been told would be a fully functioning base area complete with Team hospitality spaces and full access for the public to watch the teams preparing and launching their boats. It is now going to be a concrete slab with absolutely nothing on it which will now require us to secure cranes, jettys, and all services required to function. We have never budgeted for this and to be dropped on us now is quite unbelievable." Barclay admits this move will adversely affect the Kiwis, who were counting on the facilities at Piers 30-32 to stage an extensive hospitality program, but he clarifies that each team was already responsible for their share of the costs for the launching equipment needed. However, if some teams elect not to base themselves now at Pier 30-32, these costs will proportionately increase. "I have to say we are a long long way from the vision presented to us back in September 2010," adds Barker. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14570 COMMENT: Non-sailors might not know much about racing, but they are easily impressed when up close to the buzz of the fleet. The lack of foot traffic at Piers 30-32 in August may have had less to do with desire and more to do with transportation logistics. Given the longer schedule of the Louis Vuitton Cup (July 4 - Sept. 1) and America's Cup (Sept. 7-22), it's hard to imagine the promotion of a single venue for all team bases wouldn't draw interest. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt VISIT IYRS AT THE ANNAPOLIS BOAT SHOWS A trip to the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis is not only a chance to indulge your passion for all things boating: it is also an opportunity to learn if the industry holds a professional future for you. IYRS will be at the Annapolis sail and power shows to talk about the school's programs in Boatbuilding & Restoration, Marine Systems and Advanced Composites. Now run on a six-month schedule, the next Composites and Systems classes will begin in March. Visit http://www.iyrs.org, or connect with IYRS in Annapolis this week. HUGE EXPECTATIONS FOR MASSIVE CROWDS The second America's Cup World Series San Francisco begins Wednesday with qualifying racing for the match racing championship. A day later, the first two of seven scheduled fleet races kick off the event championship, which concludes Sunday, Oct. 7. The America's Cup World Series San Francisco is part of what is being billed as the busiest week of events in the city's history. As many as one million people are expected for events such Oracle OpenWorld (the largest technology conference in the world), the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, home games for the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco's annual Fleet Week. Due to the AC World Series regatta coinciding with Fleet Week, racing this week will start later than at previous events. "We have a challenging program this week," said regatta director Iain Murray. "We're working with Fleet Week, so most of our racing will be later in the day. On Super Sunday we'll be participating in the air show with Fleet Week. The air show will start and then stop, we'll sail our Super Sunday fleet race (scheduled to start at 1:55 pm PDT), and then the air show will resume. "We have huge expectations for massive crowds that have never really been seen before in sailing to be here on Marina Green watching our event," Murray said. All 11 teams that raced the first AC World Series San Francisco in August return, including (in order of standing): ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL (Jimmy Spithill), Luna Rossa Piranha (Chris Draper), Team Korea (Peter Burling), Energy Team (Loick Peyron), Luna Rossa Swordfish (Iker Martinez), Artemis Racing - White (Terry Hutchinson), Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker), ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS (Russell Coutts), Artemis Racing - Red (Nathan Outteridge), J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) and China Team (Phil Robertson). Complete story: http://media.americascup.com/pressreleases/?id=945 BROADCAST: Here's some information on how to follow the AC World Series in San Francisco (Oct. 3-7)... * For live spectating, the broadcast commentary (Oct. 4-7) can be heard on marine VHF channel 20. * All the racing this week (October 2-7) can be followed using the free CupExperience app which brings the LiveLine data to your smartphone. For both Android and iPhones, search for the 'AC Race Tracker' app by CupExperience. * The racing on Wednesday will be available at VirtualEye, with the racing Thursday through Sunday picked up by 35 networks throughout the world. In the U.S., commentators Gary Jobson and Todd Harris will host the YouTube broadcast Thursday through Saturday, and then will move over to NBC to host the 'Super Sunday' final races. Details: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-093012 BEST IN THE WORLD The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and Rolex have announced the nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2012. The nominees are put forward based on achievements made during the qualifying period of 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012. Only one nominee wins from both the male and female category. The nominees are: Male Ben Ainslie (GBR) - Finn, Olympic Gold Medal Mathew Belcher/ Malcolm Page (AUS) - Men's 470, Olympic Gold Medal Nathan Outteridge/ Iain Jensen (AUS) - 49er, Olympic Gold Medal Loick Peyron (FRA), Outright Around the World Record Tom Slingsby (AUS) - Laser, Olympic Gold Medal Female Tamara Echegoyen/Angela Pumariega/Sofio Toro(ESP) - WMR, Olympic Gold Medal Helena Lucas (GBR) - 2.4mR, Paralympic Gold Medal Saskia Sills (GBR) - RS:X, ISAF Youth Sailing World Champion Lijia Xu (CHN) - Laser Radial, Olympic Gold Medal The qualifying accomplishments for each nominee can be read here: http://www.sailing.org/news/32630.php COMMENT: This will be an interesting vote. Among the men, it is hard to match the star power of Ben and Loick, but the accomplishments of the other three nominees are arguably superior. Among the women, I predict Helena will win on a close vote over Lijia. Helena won the gold medal in an open event, dominating a field that included three former Paralympic gold medalists to become Great Britain's first ever Paralympic sailing medalist. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt QUICK START FOR ISLAND TEAMS Hamilton, Bermuda (October 2, 2012) - Bermuda National Match Racing Champion Blythe Walker and youngster Lance Fraser have gotten their Argo Group Gold Cup challenge off to a strong start on the first day of competition, as the local favourites both posted 3-1 scores at the Alpari World Match Racing Tour's (AWMRT) penultimate stage. Walker (BER) and Fraser (BER) draw the majority of local support on the island and finished first and second respectively at the National Championships. "Having the local support out there is great for all of us and it feels good. When we're racing we have to be single-minded but it certainly helps to know that people want us to do well." Taylor Canfield, another islander representing the US Virgin Islands, got off to a hot start, posting a 3-0 score in hopes of improving on his Semi Final finish at the Chicago Match Cup Tour event earlier in the season. The 20 teams competing in IODs will continue their qualifying until the Finals on October 7. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-100212 CONGRATS MELGES 32 WORLD CHAMPIONS ONBOARD SAMBA PA TI! Congratulations to John Kilroy, Jr. and his crew onboard Samba Pa Ti for winning the 2012 Melges 32 Worlds in Newport, RI last week! Powered by a complete North sails inventory, Kilroy and crew won the World Championship by an impressive 10 points! North-powered boats took 7 of the top 10 spots finishing 1st, 2nd and 6th-10th! When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com HOW TO TACKLE A SPEED PROBLEM By David Dellenbaugh, Speed & Smarts When you are trying to cure a case of the 'slows,' ask a lot of questions. Find out what other people think, especially those sailors who are always faster than you. Most racers are willing to share their knowledge! In sailboat racing, speed is almost everything. It's important to be smart at tactics and strategy, of course, but if you're not pretty fast you will never be consistently at the top of your fleet. Therefore, good speed is worth a large investment of time and effort. Every racing sailor has issues with speed from time to time, but these won't normally turn into big problems unless you don't make any concerted effort to fix them. The key for curing a case of 'the slows' is to be logical, organized and persistent in your search for an answer. Attack the problem before it destroys your confidence. Speed issues often cannot be solved in just an hour or a day. If you really want to be faster and win more races, you need to be ready for a long-term "speed improvement campaign," not just a quick fix. Once you realize you are going slow, the key is to figure out why. Approach this as you would look for a solution to any other major problem - explore the situation from many different angles so you can understand everything possible about your boat, yourself, your class, the conditions in which you sail and your teammates. Here are a bunch of ideas for tackling a speed problem.... read on: http://www.onedesign.com/tabid/38221/Default.aspx?news_id=3614 SAILING SHORTS * The Endeavour Trophy is taking place at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch on October 5-7. This invitation-only event, to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK's most popular dinghy racing classes, is recognised as an ultimate achievement in British dinghy racing. A total of 25 British national champions are signed up for the event, including 470 Olympic silver medallists Stuart Bithell and Luke Patience, plus last year's Endeavour champions Nick Craig and Toby Lewis. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14569 * The 2012 RC44 season has its grand finale this week in Rovinj on Croatia's Istrian peninsula. In addition to this being the showdown for the five event match racing and fleet racing series, it also stands alone as the class' World Championship. Valentin Zavadnikov and Leonid Lebedev's Synergy Russian Sailing Team with American helm Ed Baird lead the match race series while Chris Bake's Team Aqua with tactician Cameron Appleton (NZL) leads the fleet race series. Racing gets under way Wednesday for the 15 teams. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/RC44-100212 * For the 34 teams at the 2012 Long Island Sound Sonar Championship (Sept. 29-30), host Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT could only offer a weekend of traditional July weather with light and remarkably shifty northerly zephyrs during the event. But the cream rises to the top even when the milk is a bit sour, and Colin Gordon demonstrated remarkable consistency in such squirrely conditions. Gordon was guided through the bumps and potholes by tactician Bill Lynn, Bill's son Peter and sail maker Tom "TK" Kinney. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14571 E33 PERFORMANCE DAYSAILER Hurry! Last of our 2012 demo sails happening now. Test the e33, the performance daysailer celebrated for her elegant lines, easy handling and stellar performance Practical Sailor called "sinfully easy" to obtain. Limited building slots available at Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding for spring 2013 delivery. http://www.esailingyachts.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Hugh Elliot: I read Glenn McCarthy's piece in Scuttlebutt 3688 with interest. He is right as far as he goes. This last weekend I was working a Snipe regatta as a judge (it was a qualifier for the 2013 Worlds) and we were doing Appendix P on water. For Sunday, we were short one judge and it seemed like a no-brainer to ask if one of the High School kids that sail out of our club would like to come over to the 'Dark Side' and see Rule 42 enforcement from a judge boat. Of the 24 kids who were practicing at our club on Friday afternoon, not one - not a single one - was interested in working with two International Judges and a Canadian Provincial Judge. Sounds a bit like self segregation to me. * From Jay Cross: I loved Glenn McCarthy's piece. So true and, by the way, I would have given anything to sail on Inferno but growing up in Toronto had to make do with Bonaventure - those great days of C&C! * From Larry Colantuono: The lead article by Glenn McCarthy in Scuttlebutt 3688 is spot on. * From Tom Priest: Two items jumped at me in Scuttlebutt 3688 that needed comment: #1: In the letter's section Roger Vaughan said, "This is not just about sailing. It reflects a national malaise. The concept of 'risk,' upon which this country was founded, has become a bad word in some ever-expanding circles." No truer words were ever spoken! That's why/how we got to the moon in seven years back in the 60's and now it would take DECADES to get back there (there is absolutely no appetite for risk.) #2: Curmudgeon's Observation: "Do women really think that giving their spouse the 'silent treatment' is punishment?" Shhhhhhhh! Are you crazy?!? THAT is a married-dude's well-kept secret...thus far! * From Skip Novak: Zach Berkowitz's interview with Scott Oslter hit the nail on the head (Scuttlebutt 3687). You can say the same phenomenon exists in the Volvo Ocean Race. Not many Americans compete, in spite of the American stopovers as a feature since Volvo took over the event in the early 90's. In the Whitbread era there was only a handful of American crew involved. It was perceived as a crackpot game by the mainstream sailors of those years. I used to ask myself, while I was searching for American sponsorship in the 80's, albeit prematurely for many reasons, where is the sense of adventure? There was none. There were no takers. And where were the icons of the sailing genre? We had none. The French had Tabarly and Moitessier, the British had Knox-Johnston and Blyth, New Zealand had Blake. Well, we did have Dennis, but he hardly fit the bill as an adventurous sort - sorry Dennis. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14567#14567 * From Captain Paul Warren: Congrats to Michael Holden ('Not Just a Snacktician', SBUTT 3688)! Obviously, he's a great Dad and a note-worthy sailor. He's helping to fill in the ranks of future sailors by showing them both the fun of sailing as well as the responsibility-side of the sport. Getting young Jack involved makes him a legitimate part of the crew/team and helps to solidify his involvement in our sport. Good on you, both Mike and Jack. Keep up the good work! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The happiest people don't have the best of everything...they just make the best of everything. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Point Loma Outfitting - Summit Yachts - Premiere Racing Atlantis WeatherGear - US Sailing - KO Sailing - IYRS - North Sails e sailing yachts - Ullman Sails - APS - Allen Insurance and Financial Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
